Problem statement: The objective of this study was to evaluate pain sensitisation in rats following the induction of an intracerebral hemorrhage by injecting a collagenase solution in the caudoputamen nucleus of the right basal ganglia and to evaluate gabapentin as an analgesic for central pain. Approach: Thirty male Sprague-Dawley rats weighing between 175-300 g were used. In a first experiment, 3 groups of 6 animals were used to evaluate pain threshold using the Hargreaves test (thermal sensitivity) only. Following 3 days of behavioral testing (baseline values), animals in each group were injected intracerebrally either with 0.5, 1 or 2 μL of a collagenase solution (0.5 U 2 μL-1 Type VII collagenase) inducing a hematoma in the right caudoputamen nucleus and/or thalamus. They were then tested for the next 9 consecutive days. In a second experiment, gabapentin was evaluated for the reversal of thermal hyperalgesia and mechanical allodynia (using von Frey filaments) following the intracerebral injection of 3 μL of the collagenase solution. Results: No pain-related behavioral changes were observed following injections with 0.5 and 1 μL of the collagenase solution. However with 2 μL, reaction times were significantly faster on days 3-7 in the right and left hind paws compared to baseline values. The lesion was localized only in the caudoputamen nucleus for animals receiving 0.5 and 1 μL of collagenase whereas lesions extended in the ipsilateral thalamic nuclei (lateral-dorsal and lateral-posterior nuclei) for animals receiving 2 μL of collagenase. Gabapentin reversed mechanical allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia in animals with caudoputamen and thalamic lesions. Conclusion: These preliminary results suggest that central pain was induced in rats with a collagenase-induced intracerebral hemorrhage localized in the thalamus and that mechanical allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia were reduced with gabapentin treatment.


In recent decades, the relation of carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) as a marker of atherosclerosis with snoring and sleep disorders has been drawing attention. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relation of carotid arteries IMT with snoring in type 2 diabetic patients. This cross-sectional study was performed on type 2 diabetes patients referring to Mashhad University of Medical Sciences' clinics. The stop Bang, Epworth sleepiness scale, and Stanford questionnaires were used for evaluation of daily sleepiness and snoring. For assessment of carotid artery thickness, Madison X8 ultrasound with 10 MHz superficial probes was utilized. The data were entered into SPSS software, and then the ANOVA test with Turkey, chi-square comparison technique, and Kruskal Wallis with Mann-Whitney U technique was used. The level of significance was considered P≤0.05. In total 80 patients (37 snorers and 43 non-snorers) entered the study. The mean carotid artery IMT in the group of snoring patients (0.72±0.17) was significantly higher than non-snorers (0.56±0.17) (P<0.001). Frequency of daily based on Stanford and ESS questionnaires was 23.8% and 39.2%. The association of sleepiness and snoring was confirmed by Stanford and ESS questionnaires with P=0.026 and P=0.007. Patients with higher risk of apnea had higher thickness of the mean carotid artery IMT (P<0.001). The mean carotid artery IMT had a positive significant relation with age (P=0.002), serum creatinine level (P<0.002), blood cholesterol (P=0.02) and HbAIC level (P=0.04). Findings of this study provides evidence on the relation of carotid artery IMT in diabetic patients with snoring independent of other effective factors. Also, results showed that snoring is associated with increased daily sleepiness and patients with higher risk of apnea had higher thickness of the mean carotid artery IMT.


Our broken healthcare system badly needs the attention of the (UX) design (research) communities. But for these communities to have an impact, they must become better aware of: what about their typical work limits what they can achieve in fixing healthcare; the socio-cultural characteristics that offer substantive resistance to healthcare system change; what is happening in healthcare that might go part way to achieve the change needed; and what they can do differently to prepare themselves to have a substantive impact. This presentation will elaborate, referencing select examples of what these communities have done to date.


This paper aims to analyze the nexus between firm fundamentals and financial leverage in Nepalese non-financial firms for the period 2000/01-2017/18 applying descriptive and causal comparative research design. Short-term, long-term and total financial leverage ratios are dependent variables and firm-fundamental variables are considered as explanatory variables. The result of this paper shows that Nepalese firms are highly levered. Regression results of this study reveals that profitability, earning variability, liquidity are major determinants of financial leverage. This study concludes that short-term financial leverage is positively affected by growth and earning variability whereas negatively affected by profitability, tangibility, and liquidity of firms. Similarly, long-term financial leverage is positively influenced by size, assets tangibility, and earning variability whereas negatively influenced by profitability and liquidity. Further, result of the paper reveals positive effect of assets tangibility and earning variability and negative effect of profitability and liquidity on total financial leverage. Finally, this paper concludes that firms' non-debt tax shield and age of firms have no significant impact on financial leverage in Nepalese non-financial firms.


The purpose of this study was to determine the leadership style, motivation, work discipline and employee performance at PT. Trakindo Utama Pontianak and the influence of leadership, motivation and work discipline styles on employee performance both simultaneously and partially. The research method used is survey research method. The type of data / information used is primary data with data collection techniques by observation, questionnaire and literature study. The research population is all employees of PT. Trakindo Utama Pontianak is 50 people. Sampling technique is census method. The analytical tool used was with the help of SPSS Data analysis techniques were carried out using path analysis approach, correlation test, determination test, simultaneous test and partial test. Findings from the results of this study are leadership style, motivation, work discipline and employee performance of PT. Trakindo Utama Pontianak is in a pretty good category, so it still needs attention, improvement and improvement. Simultaneously the influence of leadership style, motivation and work discipline has a significant effect on employee performance. Partially only work discipline has a positive and significant effect on employee performance, while leadership and motivation styles do not significantly influence employee performance, but have a positive impact on employee performance. Work discipline has the greatest influence on employee performance.


Tungsten carbide based hardmetals with cobalt binder phase are widely used in engineering industries for their excellent mechanical properties and outstanding wear performance. Reciprocative sliding wear behaviour of a number of WC-Co based hardmetal grades was investigated using a small-scale pin-on-plate tribometer. Test samples were manufactured by electro-discharge machining (EDM) with various surface finishing regimes. SEM topographies and cross-section views of the cemented carbides were obtained both before and after dry friction tests, revealing distinctive wear mechanisms. The generated wear loss was quantified topographically using surface scanning equipment. Wear debris particles were collected and examined by EDX and TEM analysis. Based on experimental results, the execution of consecutive gradually finer EDM cutting steps was found to considerably enhance wear performance. Furthermore, a significant influence of contact load, sliding movement duration, application of lubricant and wear debris formation on wear rate and friction was established.


PURPOSE
To determine the diagnostic accuracy of the finite verb morphology composite (FVMC), number of errors per C-unit (Errors/CU), and percent grammatical C-units (PGCUs) in differentiating school-aged children with language impairment (LI) and those with typical language development (TL).

METHOD
Participants were 61 six-year-olds (50 TL, 11 LI) and 67 eight-year-olds (50 TL, 17 LI). Narrative samples were collected using a story-generation format. FVMC, Errors/CU, and PGCUs were computed from the samples.

RESULTS
All of the three measures showed acceptable to good diagnostic accuracy at age 6, but only PGCUs showed acceptable diagnostic accuracy at age 8 when sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratios were considered.

CONCLUSION
FVMC, Errors/CU, and PGCUs can all be used in combination with other tools to identify school-aged children with LI. However, FVMC and Errors/CU may be an appropriate diagnostic tool up to age 6. PGCUs, in contrast, may be a sensitive tool for identifying children with LI at least up to age 8 years.


The effect of high temperature sintering and high cooling rate on shifting the microstructural composition to the favourably of martensite-bainite structures and thus effective improvement of mechanical properties of sintered steels based on Astaloy CrL powder with an addition of 1 and 2% Cu or 50% Distaloy AB powder and 0.65% C was investigated. All the systems were processed by both sinter-hardening and conventional sintering. The vacuum sintering at high-temperature of 1240 0C and at common temperature of 1180 0C were integrated with high (6 0C/s), medium (3 0C/s) and slow (0.1 0C/s) cooling rates; conventional sintering at 1180 0C with cooling rate of ~0.17 0C/s was carried out in a N2+10%H2 atmosphere. In dependence on chemical composition, the yield and tensile strengths of 890-1150 MPa and 913-1230 MPa respectively and impact energy of 10-15 J were achieved by sinter-hardening. The yield and tensile strengths are approximately double than those resulting from conventional sintering.


These studies compared the effects of total abdominal vagotomy (VGX) on ingestive actions produced by peripheral serotonergic and cholecystokinergic (CCKergic) stimulation in rats. Subcutaneous injection of 0.01-0.16 mumol/kg of the serotonin (5-HT) analogue 5-carboxamidotryptamine (5-CT) dose-dependently reduced mash intake equally in VGX rats and their laparotomized (LAP) controls but concurrently stimulated drinking only in the controls. The sulfated octapeptide of cholecystokinin (CCK-8, 4.0 nmol/kg ip) also reduced food intake only in the controls. In a second set of rats, vagotomy did not alter anorexia after intraperitoneal administration of either 2.0 or 8.0 mumol/kg of 5-HT or of 0.03 mumol/kg of 5-CT but abolished anorexia after a large dose of CCK-8 (8.0 nmol/kg). The completeness of vagotomy was verified histologically by immunohistochemical staining of the vagal bundles for the high molecular weight form of neurofilament-H protein. We report for the first time that 5-CT produces anorexia by a vagally independent mechanism. In contrast, 5-CT stimulates drinking by a pathway that does involve vagal function. Finally, we confirm the prediction that vagotomy dissociates the neural mechanisms for the anorectic action of peripheral 5-HTergic and CCKergic stimulation.


Treatment for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in women during pregnancy is challenging. Current standard treatment for ACS includes coronary angioplasty with guideline-directed medical therapy including aspirin, P2Y12 inhibitors, beta-blockers, angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors, which may portend adverse effects to the fetus. ACS increases ischemic and obstetric complications during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Management of these patients necessitates balancing the potential risks and benefits to both maternal and fetal health. We present a case of a 37-year-old female with a background of hypertension and hyperlipidemia who presented with Non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI). The urine pregnancy test that was performed turned positive with an estimated gestational age of four weeks. After counselling on the potential risks and benefits, a diagnostic angiogram was performed which revealed triple vessel disease with critical stenosis in all three vessels. Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) was performed successfully with precautions taken to minimize radiation exposure to the fetus. In such cases, there is a fundamental trade-off between maternal and fetal health in the treatment of NSTEMI. Medications used for the treatment of acute coronary syndrome will need to be balanced against the potential risks to the fetus. Invasive coronary angiogram results in exposure to potentially teratogenic ionizing radiation and hence all efforts must be made to minimize exposure. Thus, risks and benefits of treatment ought to be discussed with patients and measures need to be taken to minimize potential harm to both the mother and fetus.


MUC1 mucin is a high molecular weight transmembrane glycoprotein expressed on the apical cell surface of normal glandular epithelia. In many human adenocarcinomas, this protein is up-regulated and/or underglycosylated, and its expression changes from apical to the entire cell membrane. It is thought that entire cell membrane expression of MUC1 reduces cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix interactions and therefore may facilitate invasive growth and development of metastases. In this study, we determined immunohistochemically the expression of normal and underglycosylated MUC1 in normal breast tissue (n = 8) and in a spectrum of breast lesions, including usual ductal hyperplasia (n = 23), atypical ductal hyperplasia (n = 7), and ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) (n = 22). We used 4 monoclonal antibodies; 115D8 is directed to a glycopeptide, the other 3 to the peptide core of the molecule, of which 139H2 is not affected by the degree of glycosylation of MUC1, whereas SM3 and VU-4-H5 stain only underglycosylated forms. All cases showed apical positivity for 115D8 and 139H2. Entire cell membrane expression of fully (normal) glycosylated MUC1 was mainly found in DCIS lesions. Apical staining of SM3 was found in 38% of normal cases and 60% of the ductal lesions with no difference between the different subgroups. Apical staining of VU-4-H5 was found more often in DCIS (27%) than in normal tissue or ductal hyperplasia (3%). Membrane expression of underglycosylated MUC1 was found only in poorly differentiated DCIS. In conclusion, aberrant expression of MUC1, i.e., on the entire cell membrane and/or underglycosylated forms, can be found in ductal hyperplasia with atypia and especially in DCIS of the breast. This finding implies that these lesions with aberrant expression are at higher risk for developing subsequent invasive breast carcinoma.


The purpose of this paper is to compare new developments on the monetary policy front, or what is known as inflation targeting, with some of Keynes's ideas as propounded in a pamphlet in 1932. A number of the ingredients of the new monetary policy approach can be found in Keynes, especially that of central bank independence. However, new monetary policy is a major policy prescription closely associated with the New Consensus Macroeconomics. The ideas and policy implications of this new consensus, however, are very different from Keynes's ideas on central banking and monetary policy. We explore these propositions in this contribution.


Opportunities for Cost Reduction in Diabetic Retinopathy lkatment in Mexico A study was performed in order to explore the costs of treating diabetic retinopathy at a large eye hospital in Mexico with a view to identifying opportunities for improving efficiency. Clinical records of a random sample of 69 diabetic patients were reviewed for data on each patienfs background, medical history, and treatment; and the costs of all resources utilized in each type of procedure provided were documented and priced. The resulting data on clinical costs was complemented by data on the private costs of treament (medical fees, accommodation costs, transportation costs, and lost wages) that were gathered from patient interviews. The study found that the patients, who were generally poor, shouldered a substantial economic burden associated with treatment at the hospital; however, less than half this burden was in the form of fees. The rest involved other out-of-pocket expenditures on food, travel, and accommodation (45% of the total) and lost wages (10% of the total). Suggestions for reducing various of these costs without endangering treatment quality are presented. These include suggestions for reducing waiting time; reducing the number of patient visits required by increasing the strength of individual laser treatments, completing more procedures in a single visit, and reviewing hospital policy on fluoroangiograms; and increasing the chances for early and effective treatment by educating at-risk relatives accompanying the patients about the need for early treatment.


The design critique process, used to provide expert feedback on a building design concept to students in architecture schools throughout the world, is reinterpreted within the context of an ITbased collaborative virtual environment. IT support for design critique allows new modes of participation where the experts do not have to be co-located to carry out their tasks and, through the ability to record criticisms, can join, or leave, a critique session as their time pressures allow. Students can guide tours through their virtual designs, yet those making the critique still have the ability to explore other aspects of the design which intrigue or concern them. Commentary and annotation on the design is attached to various aspects and views within the model and dialogues between the student designer and those making the critique can be built up over time. The resulting discussions recorded against the design can then be used for future reference by the student or as instructive commentary for newer students reviewing previous design approaches. A game engine provides the real-time 3D visualisation, base interactivity and multi-participant support upon which critique specific functionality has been incorporated.


Abstract Small-scale fishers depend on fishery resources, which have been declining continuously in Thailand and elsewhere; thus, understanding their perceived ability to adapt to future fishery declines is crucial. This study examines factors affecting perceptions of resilience among small-scale fishers in the Gulf of Thailand. Findings indicate that fishers' responses to the fishery's decline are associated with four components of resilience including: ability (1) to get work elsewhere; (2) to compete, survive and adapt more effectively; (3) to increase confidence by planning for financial security and learning new skills; and (4) to cope when there is a change. Perceived resilience of fishers to future fishery decline depends on a combination of several factors. Our results indicate that fishers with more education, those from households that do not depend exclusively on fish for income, younger fishers, those who had been fishing for a shorter time, those with higher levels of individual well-being and basic needs components, and those that would not become a fisherman if they had their lives to live over are more likely to be found in the high resilience group. In addition, fishing communities living in an industrial context (developed urban areas) manifest high levels of competitiveness, survivability and adaptability, which are mainly due to the diverse livelihoods provided in such areas in comparison with non-industrial areas. Equitable benefit sharing among fishing association members could be the concern, likely to impact fishers' perceived resilience. The paper provides recommendations as to how the findings can aid in design of fishery development and governance programs appropriate to the attitudes, beliefs and values of fishers; hence, increasing the likelihood of their relative success.


The work described in this paper aims to address the limitations of conventional techniques for predicting the risk of slagging in pulverised coal fired boilers by developing a set of laboratory based slagging parameters and a predictive model which can be easily scaled up for full scale boiler application. The predictive model is based on artificial neural networks (ANNs) which are known for their robustness and the ability to learn complex data relationships. In the current study, the ANN models were further optimised by using a genetic algorithm (GA) which searches for an optimum set of training data so as to minimise overfitting of the data. This GA based approach was also compared with several other more conventional methods of selecting data for ANN training and the results suggested that GA based data selection outperformed all other methods in this exercise. In the final part of the paper, the ANN based predictive model was coupled with a simple heat transfer calculation and implemented on a full scale boiler. The results from this validation exercise suggest that the approach is useful and offers plant operators a tool to quickly assess the risk of slagging.


We introduce a nonlinear correlation coefficient metric derived from partial moments that can be substituted for the Pearson correlation coefficient in linear instances as well. The flexibility offered by partial moments enables ordered partitions of the data whereby linear segments are aggregated for an overall correlation coefficient. Our coefficient works without the need to perform a linear transformation on the underlying data, and can also provide a general measure of nonlinearity between two variables. We also extend the analysis to a multiple nonlinear regression without the adverse effects of multicollinearity.


: Epidermolysis bullosa (EB), often referred to as the butterfly disease, is a group of rare genetic conditions characterized by skin that is delicate and fragile as butterfly wings. The skin blisters in response to friction, minor injury, or trauma. In certain types of EB, other organs, such as the esophagus, can also be affected, and secondary complications may require multiple interventions. While there has been significant progress in classifying the disease – identifying genes and proteins involved – there have been few advances in the treatment of the disease. The care of the EB patient focuses on management of symptoms, protecting the skin, and preventing complications. In this case report, the use of a multivalent wound-healing ointment (Terrasil®) was evaluated in a 60-year-old patient with a history of junctional EB. A polymerase chain reaction-based culturing was utilized to quantitatively test for bacteria and fungi at baseline and follow-up visits. Pain assessment and wound area were also documented at each visit. Following the application of the wound care ointment, there was a reduction in wound surface area on central (96%) and distal mid-back (92%) by treatment visit three, and there was a 96% reduction on the left shoulder blade ulcer by treatment visit four. Moreover, there was a noticeable drop in the percentage of bacteria detected by polymerase chain reaction. The wound care ointment was also effective in eliminating the fungal species and reducing pain, itching, blistering, and cracking around the wound.


Cloud computing is now a mature technology with a high degree of adoption by a wide area of institutions and companies, regardless of their size. Having its philosophy built around essential characteristics like on-demand self service, broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity, measured services and having a convenient pay-as-you-go financial model, it has become an attractive platform for an increased number of activities. Higher education and e-learning are no exceptions and they fully benefit from its technical and economical advantages. The economical crisis have led to drastic reduction of the education budgets, the educational institution changed their focus to some effective and affordable solutions. E-learning environments provisioned in the cloud have demonstrated to be an inspired movement due to variable and decreased operational costs combined with the highly available and reliable provided infrastructure. An essential component of an e-learning environment is a collaborative workspace allowing the participants of the educational process to take part to an interesting and interactive experience, regardless of their physical location. These collaborative workspaces are sustained by powerful storage systems designed to perform in highly distributed environments, aiming to offer great performances in terms of data processing and scalability. This paper focuses on evaluating some of these databases in terms of performance and features, in order to integrate them in a collaborative workspace designed to work in a Cloud computing environment. An architecture for data storage supporting the collaborative environment is proposed and various aspects related to the data model and data security are discussed.


This chapter starts with a brief review of research concerning work stress, coping, gender, and health. We also present results from a study which is part of a larger ongoing project: Collective stress and coping at work from a gender perspective. The study puts forth a complementary approach to the individualistic perspective by viewing coping as both an individual and a collective phenomenon. The aim of the study was to investigate the link between health problems and the collective and individualistic coping strategies among women and men in managerial and non-managerial positions in the organization. An internet-based questionnaire was sent to 1345 female and male employees at both managerial and non-managerial levels working in a Swedish telecom company (the response rate 71%.). The results showed that the individualistic coping strategies were not beneficial for either women's or men's health at the managerial level. Among the non-managers, one individualistic strategy, positive reinterpretation and growth, was linked to fewer health problems for both women and men. The collective strategies were associated with perceived health problems only among the females, both managers and non-managers. One strategy, seeking instrumental social support, was beneficial and one strategy, social joining, was maladaptive. (Less)


This paper is a case study involving a class of 54 first year students of English and their teacher in a public national high school in Batangas in SY 2006-2007. The result of the study shows that subject students have difficulties in recognizing words, developing vocabulary skills, and processing texts using higher level reading processes such as inferring and critical thinking. The teacher used a repertoire of strategies; however, every session was focused on the mastery of text content, and assessment procedures dealt dominantly with simple recall of the details in the text content which does not encourage students to elaborate their responses. Thus, students failed to build reading skills required in processing complex reading tasks. To address the difficulties, teachers should do reflective teaching using the results of the Phil IRI to enrich instruction and to continuously strive to produce proficient readers. The existing reading program of the school must be reviewed and evaluated; reading materials should be made available to both teachers and students; and instruction strategies should be designed to promote proficient reading.


An improved understanding of lean fuel turbulent premixed flames must play a central role in the fundamental science of these new concepts.


A 512 Mb two-channel mobile DRAM (OneDRAM) is developed with 90 nm technology. It can operate on a 1.8 V power supply as two separate mobile DDR or SDR DRAMs through each channel with maximum data rate of 333 Mbps/pin because of its exclusive accessibility from each channel to memory arrays. Data exchange between two channels is also possible by sharing one common memory array, and a new control scheme of DRAM for this sharing is proposed. The new control scheme is based on direct addressing mode to achieve compatibility with normal DRAM interface together with fast data transfer speed between two channels.


The presence of carcinogenic compounds in the coastal waters was monitored to assess the health effects to human and the marine environment. The details on the level of hydrocarbon contamination in the coastal waters of some small islands and the port in Kota Kinabalu were provided to initiate the management and monitoring plan for ecosystem management and restoration of the target places.
This paper reports the occurrences of oil and grease and 16 USEPA listed polyaromatic hydrocarbons in the selected locations of coastal waters of Sabah. A baseline reading on the oil and grease level was established using partition-gravimetric method while detection for polyaromatic hydrocarbons was studied using GC-MS. The level of oil and grease tested were all above the limit set by the Malaysian interim standards (0.04 mg/L), while the level of monitored polyaromatic hydrocarbons were still within an acceptable level. Most polyaromatic hydrocarbons monitored were detected in trace amount and many compounds were found to be below the detection limit of 0.02 I¼g/mL. The highest concentration of total polyaromatic hydrocarbons detected was 1.16 I¼g/mL, which was detected in the coastal waters of Manukan Island. Pyrene, benzo (a) anthracene and chrysene were detected in trace amounts in all locations. The levels of monitored carcinogenic hydrocarbon compounds were below the detection limit. Though detected at low levels, the presence of these elements in the coastal water is a cause for concern, hence continuous monitoring is recommended. The cumulative concentration of these compounds in molluscs and fish should be initiated to determine the accumulated level and the xenobiotic effect to humans and marine fauna. The main contributor of these pollutants was identified to originate from boating and shipping related activity in the vicinity of these area.


Rotor and stator stacks consist of laminated electrical steel sheets and represent the essential components of an electric drive. The process chain for the production of laminated stacks comprises two core steps: first, the separation of the final contour of the electrical sheets and, second, the joining of individual sheets to a laminated stack. Both steps can be executed by different technologies. In this contribution, the influences of the separation technologies stamping and laser cutting on material properties of the individual sheets were investigated. In addition, different joining possibilities for stacking of the electrical sheets were also part of the study. Here, gluing, interlocking, baked varnish joining and laser welding were considered. For the laminated stack, a single tooth geometry was chosen, which was produced in three different lengths. In addition, a wide variety of sheet material was used - given a range of material thicknesses between 0.1 and 0.35 mm. Sheets and single teeth were measured with respect to their mechanical, geometrical and electro-magnetic properties, respectively. The measurements of the sheets, for instance, comprised burr height, contour and microhardness. In all stamped materials a significant increase in microhardness can be seen at the stamped edge. The geometrical properties of the laminated stack, namely dimensions, form and orientation are relevant for the assembly of the electric drive and were measured with tactile coordinate metrology. These measurements show that gluing as well as stamping lead to an increase of manufacturing variances with increasing length of the laminated stacks. On the other hand, baked varnish stacking shows very stable results with low deviations. Laser welding shows good results in the geometric measurements as well. Depending on the application, laser welding can thus be seen as a future alternative to common stacking technologies. The measurement of the electro-magnetic properties reveal a higher increase in power loss on stacks produced from laser cut sheets than on those made from stamped material. This difference is visible only on measurements of stacked sheets such as laminated ring cores or single teeth. Non-laminated sheets measured at the Epstein frame show no difference in deterioration of the electro-magnetic properties between both separation technologies.


Rhodopsins convert light into signals and energy in animals and microbes. Heliorhodopsins (HeRs), a recently discovered new rhodopsin family, are widely present in archaea, bacteria, unicellular eukaryotes, and giant viruses, but their function remains unknown. Here we report that a viral HeR from Emiliania huxleyi virus 202 (V2HeR3) is a light-gated proton channel. V2HeR3 absorbs blue-green lights, and the active intermediate contains the deprotonated retinal Schiff base. Site-directed mutagenesis study revealed that E191 in TM6 constitutes the gate together with the retinal Schiff base. E205 and E215 form a proton accepting group of the Schiff base, whose mutations converted the protein into an outward proton pump. Three environmental viral HeRs from the same group, as well as a more distantly related HeR exhibited similar proton-transport activity, indicating that HeR functions might be diverse similarly to type-1 microbial rhodopsins. Some strains of E. huxleyi contain one HeR that is related to the viral HeRs, while its viruses EhV-201 and EhV-202 contain two and three HeRs, respectively. Except for V2HeR3 from EhV-202, none of these proteins exhibit ion-transport activity. Thus, when expressed in the E. huxleyi cell membranes, only V2HeR3 has the potential to depolarize the host cells by light, possibly to overcome the host defense mechanisms or to prevent superinfection. The neuronal activity generated by V2HeR3 suggests that it can potentially be used as an optogenetic tools, like type-1 microbial rhodopsins.


This paper reports on the synthesis of 2-formyl-6-hydroxybenzoic acid (8) and 4methoxyisobenzofuran-1,3-dione (10) from a renewable natural material Cashew Nut Shell Liquid (CNSL) achieved in five and seven steps, respectively. Anacardic acid was isolated from CNSL, dimethoxylated into (E)-methyl 2-methoxy-6-(pentadec-8-enyl)benzoate which was subsequently hydrogenated into methyl 2-methoxy-6-pentadecylbenzoate. Benzylic bromination of the methoxyester, and dehydrobromination afforded (E)-methyl 2-methoxy-6-(pentadec-1-enyl)benzoate which upon ozonolysis gave methyl 2-formyl-6-methoxybenzoate. Oxidation and dehydration of 8 formed methoxyphthalic anhydride (10). The work reported in this paper has further demonstrated the resourcefulness of cashew nut shell liquid as a renewable natural resource for synthesis of fine and industrial chemicals.


The issue of presenting alternatives to the decision maker in multiple criteria decision support is addressed. The traditional approach, advocated in many multiple criteria techniques, suggests that alternatives should be presented to the decision maker as a vector of criteria scores. We consider the merits of an augmented approach which, in addition to presenting the criteria scores to the decision maker, also makes the values of the underlying decision variables directly available to the decision maker. We describe an experiment where decision makers compare the traditional approach with this augmented approach. In this experiment, a group of decision makers solve a multiple criteria decision making problem which is constructed to uniquely reflect each decision maker's perceptions concerning the decision scenario. We are able to demonstrate that the augmented approach results in 1) the selection of markedly different alternatives than those selected using the traditional approach, 2) an increase in user satisfaction with tile information system product, 3) a higher level of satisfaction with the alternative selected.


: National immunostimulators and interferon inducers (poludan, ridostin, larifan, myelopide, vegetan) in combination with a commercial herpes vaccine (HV) were used for experimental immunization of mice. A 3-fold or greater rise of specific antibody titres was observed after a single immunization of intact BALB/c mice. In experiments in chronically infected animals a single inoculation of HV resulted in a 3-fold rise of specific antibody titres at 6 days postimmunization but not in later periods (20, 30 days). Administration of larifan, an interferon inducer, but not the immunostimulator myelopide, induced a synergic effect in these experiments. Activation of alpha-interferon production was observed early after combined use of HV and immunostimulators. It is concluded that combined experimental use of HV and immunostimulators activated both specific antibody production and interferon production.


Male fin whales sing by producing 20 Hz pulses in regular patterns of inter-note intervals. While singing, fin whales may also alternate the frequency ranges of their notes. Different song patterns have been observed in different regions of the world's oceans. New song patterns suddenly emerging in an area have been hypothesized to either be indicators of new groups of whales in the area or signs of cultural transmission between groups. Since the status of fin whales around Hawaii is unknown and visual surveys are expensive and difficult to conduct in offshore areas, passive acoustic monitoring has been proposed as a way to monitor these whales. We used passive acoustic recordings from an array of 14 hydrophones to analyze the song patterns of 115 fin whale encounters made up of 50,034 unique notes off Kauai, Hawaii from 2011 to 2017. Fin whale singing patterns were more complicated than previously described. Fin whales off Hawaii sang in five different patterns made of two 20 Hz note types and both singlet and doublet inter-note interval patterns. The inter-note intervals present in their songs were 28/33 s for the lower frequency doublet, 30 s for the lower frequency singlet, 17/24 s for the higher frequency doublet, 17 s for the higher frequency singlet, and 12/20 s for the doublet that alternated between both note types. Some of these song patterns were unique to these fin whales in Hawaiian waters, while others were similar to song patterns recorded from fin whales off the U.S. west coast. Individual fin whales often utilized several different song patterns which suggests that multiple song patterns are not necessarily indicators of different individuals or groups. The dominant song pattern also changed over these years. Cultural transmission may have occurred between fin whales in Hawaiian waters and off the U.S. west coast, which has resulted in similar songs being present at both locations but on lagged timescales. Alternatively, groups occupying the Hawaiian waters could shift over time resulting in different song patterns becoming dominant. This work has implications for the population structure and behavior of Hawaii fin whales.


This dissertation is concerned with trends in poverty, inequality and living standards among the counties and villages of Anhui and Yunnan since 1978. Trends in absolute poverty, measured by both income- and nutrition-based poverty lines, show only a small decline during the 1980s. Based on province-specific poverty lines, there is a substantial increase in the incidence of poverty during the late 1980s, over the incidence based on a national poverty line. The overall trend in living standards is of increasing dispersion, for Anhui and Yunnan relative to the national average, and between the counties of the two provinces. Living standards show little change for the counties of Yunnan, with declines outnumbering increases. In Anhui, the large increase in mortality between the 1982 and 1990 censuses contribute to declines in absolute living standards as well. Increases in spatial inequality are apparent from the output data; differentials in the rate of economic growth fuelling this increase in the 1980s. In essence counties thrive or languish based on the performance of their agricultural sector. Rapid improvements in yields for basic food stuffs, and expanding cash crop production in many regions, together cause income levels to rise, and therefore living standards, based on commodities, to increase as well. Where this is not the case, there is a lack of investment funds for the establishment of private and collective rural enterprises, and a lack of consumer demand. The low level of income, and the small size and slow growth in the xiangzhen give sector in disadvantaged areas also means that local governments are short of revenue, and therefore the costs of health care and education are left to the individuals requiring these services, exacerbating the gap between rich and poor in terms of achieved functioning. The question of how to increase the profitability of the agricultural sector in poor areas of China remains unsolved. Without a source of investment funds and increasing incomes to foster modern sector enlargement growth in rural areas, it is difficult to imagine an increase in either commodity or non-commodity based functioning in the poor regions of rural China in the near future.


Electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers were decorated with TiO2, ZnO and TiO2/ZnO nanoparticles for the first time to prepare flexible multifunctional nanofibrous membranes. First, the arc-discharge process was utilized to prepare TiO2, ZnO and TiO2/ZnO nanoparticles and then the hybrid electrospun nanofibers were spun from PAN/nanoparticle colloids. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were utilized to characterize the resulting nanoparticles and nanofiber loaded nanoparticles. The microscopic investigations revealed that the specifically TiO2 nanoparticles tend to agglomerate within the PAN nanofiber resulting increased surface roughness; however, ZnO nanorods with 1D morphology are aligned as parallel to the fiber axis. Photocatalytic activity of the hybrid nanofibers was performed by pursuing the degradation of malachite green (MG) dye under UV light irradiation. The fabricated TiO2/ZnO/PAN hybrid nanofibers showed excellent photocatalytic efficiency with at least two times higher reaction rates compared to the bare PAN nanofibers. The results suggest that the photocatalytically active TiO2/ZnO/PAN hybrid nanofibers can be considered as filtering materials for a variety of applications in the fields of wastewater systems without the need of post processing stages for separating catalysts from the liquid medium.


Report describes the development of a suitable speed nozzle for the first few thousand airplanes made by the United States during the recent war in Europe, and to furnish a basis for more mature instruments in the future. Requirements for the project were to provide a suitable pressure collector for aircraft speed meters and to develop a speed nozzle which would be waterproof, powerful, unaffected by slight pitch and yaw, rugged and easy to manufacture, and uniform in structure and reading, so as not to require individual calibration.


Libya is mostly desert, has few water sources and only four amphibian species (all anurans) have been historically reported to occur there, although ancient reports of Hoplobatrachus occipitalis have not been confirmed in recent surveys. Amietophrynus xeros is confined to the Ghat area in the southwest, Pelophylax saharicus is restricted to the north and Bufotes boulengeri is found in various localities within the country. Although no quantitative data have been reported for amphibian population declines, some factors (habitat degradation, drought, and high temperatures contributing to disappearance of some bodies of water) seem to be behind the local decline of amphibian populations in Libya.


Incorporation of Nonconventional Crystalline Materials onto the Integrated Photonics Platform Ophir Gaathon Applications that span from sensing, to large bandwidth communication, to acoustic filtering, to high-resolution imaging and display, to quantum information processing (QIP) and to advance electronics have a growing need for new device types and materials. These advanced devices require electrical and optical properties that, in some cases, can only be provided by truly single-crystal thin-films of nonconventional materials, such as lithium niobate (LN, LiNbO3), yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG, Y3Al5O12) and diamond. In order to incorporate those crystals into existing multi-scale integrated system platforms, new technologies must be developed that can supply high-quality, single-crystal, thin-films in the desired thin-film architecture. Unfortunately, production of thin-films of single-crystals is not always possible via growth. Here, the use of Crystal Ion Slicing (CIS) technique to realize single-crystal thin-films of three of the nonconventional crystals is described. The fabrication techniques vary greatly between different crystals. Thus, new exfoliation chemistries must be developed for each material system. Detailed description of the investigation into exfoliation of LN, YAG and diamond is presented. The most mature CIS application is for LN crystals. Here, the development of several important complementary fabrication methods is presented. This includes description of polishing and bonding techniques that are necessary for successful incorporation of thin-films. Further, a lateral patterning technology of thin-films using femtosecond laser ablation is demonstrated. In addition, an ion-implantation patterning method and its application in nonlinear optics is presented. Finally, a novel polarization dependent plasmonic filter is described. In addition, a detailed description of the fabrication methods of single-crystal thin-films of YAG for acoustical and optical applications is presented. It is shown that the thermal exfoliation is the preferred method for YAG. After the thermal exfoliation, the films are subject to additional thermal cycle to anneal the films. This process high-temperature annealing is introduced to promote relaxation of film by eliminating residual strain and increasing the films' radius of curvature, both attributed to the ion-implantation process. Thus, detailed description of the postexfoliation process is presented. The mechanical quality of the films is investigated with specific attention to the annealing behavior. Finally, the fabrication process and optical characterization of single-crystal thin-films of diamond is described. The work on diamond is focused on developing a parallel fabrication process for high-optical-quality single-crystal diamond membranes for quantum information processing (QIP) applications. The diamond membranes, with thickness as small as 200 nm and over 100 μm on their side, exhibit nitrogen-vacancy emission spectra including the zero phonon line (ZPL) peak of negatively charged centers. The films are patterned and sliced in parallel from a single-crystal diamond sample. The compatibility of the membrane with planar optical devices is demonstrated by the formation of two-dimensional photonic crystal patterns in 200 nm films. The films are produced by a combination of thermal annealing, chemical etching and oxygen plasma. Analysis of the films quality and optimization of the exfoliation process is evaluated by a verity of experimental techniques including: Atomic force microscope (AFM), optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman and fluorescence spectroscopy, optical profilometry and nanoindentation.


Experiments on male rats have shown that the inhibitory effect of peritol on the hypothalamohypophyseal-adrenal system (HHAS) is determined both by its influence on the regulatory mechanisms of the CNS and direct action on secretion and, possibly, synthesis of steroids. The degree of the antiserotonin and the HHAS-inhibiting effects depends on the frequency of drug administrations rather than on its dose. The experimental studies made it possible to successfully apply peritol to the treatment of inpatients suffering from Icenko-Cushing's disease. Almost 60% of the inpatients manifested a remission, which was confirmed by the reduced blood content of ACTH, hydrocortisone and aldosterone.


As a consequence of the groundbreaking work of E. Scarborough and L. Furumoto (1987), the contributions of the pioneering first generation of American women psychologists are now well recognized within the history of psychology; however, the generation that followed the pioneers is less well known. The lack of recognition that most women psychologists of the interwar era experienced during the majority of their working lives resulted from sexism institutionalized through practices such as anti-nepotism rules that effectively excluded many married women from the academy, informal hiring practices operating in "old-boy network" fashion, and exclusion from certain key graduate training centers. Yet, many women were productive psychologists during this era and contributed to the growth and expansion of the discipline. Examination of published literature generated biographical information for 107 eminent women; C. A. Murchison's (1932b) Psychological Register provided a less detailed but more inclusive inventory to yield data on a total of 320 women. This article recounts our systematic search for this "lost generation" and emphasizes the extent and diversity of their contributions to psychology.


This study was carried out in order to determine the emotional intelligence level of the boys and girls who participated in the final competitions of Turkey inter-high school Teenage boys and Teenage girls Futsal Championship in 2014. A total of 150 athletes, including 76 males and 74 females in the age between 15-19 constituted the search group. Schutte Scale of Emotional Intelligence test was used in this study. Arithmetic mean, standard deviation, ANOVA and t-test on SPSS 15.0 statistics software was used in data analysis. As a result of the study, it was determined that there is a no difference in the sub-dimensions of the futsal players', in terms of gender factor depending on their situations of becoming national or nonnational team athlete and number of becoming national team athlete.


Objective This study investigated the effects of intervention with a combination of nutrients in the amyloid precursor protein-presenilin (APP-PSN) C57BL/6J double transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Methods A total of 72 2-month-old APP-PSN mice were randomly assigned to three groups. The model group (MG) was fed regular, unsupplemented chow, while the low- and high-dose treatment groups (LG and HG, respectively) were given a combination of nutrients that included phosphatidylserine, blueberry extracts, docosahexaenoic acid, and eicosapentaenoic acid as part of their diet. An additional 24 wild-type littermates that were fed unsupplemented chow served as the negative control group (NG). After 3 and 7 months of treatment, the cognitive performance was assessed with the Morris water maze and the shuttle box escape/avoidance task, and the biochemical parameters and oxidative stress were evaluated in both the blood and brain. Results An improvement in antioxidant capacity was observed in the treatment groups relative to the MG at 3 months, while superior behavioral test results were observed in the mice of the HG and NG groups. In the MG, pycnosis was detected in neuronal nuclei, and a loss of neurons was observed in the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus. At 7 months, the β-amyloid1–42 peptide accumulation was significantly elevated in the MG but was markedly lower in the mice fed the nutrient combination. The antioxidant capacity and behavioral test scores were also higher in these mice. Conclusions Early intervention with a combination of nutrients should be considered as a strategy for preventing cognitive decline and other symptoms associated with AD.


Pumped by a 940 nm fiber-coupled diode laser, a passively mode-locked Yb:YAG thin disk oscillator was demonstrated with a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM). 12.1 W mode-locked pulses were obtained with pulse duration of 698 fs at the repetition rate of 57.43 MHz. Measurement showed that the beam quality was close to the diffraction limit.


With the rapid development of information technology, the streaming media information services that transmit the streaming video and audio information based on the internet become increasingly popular. The development of network streaming media information service has brought a lot of pressure to the information transmission of internet, and for the services provider of the streaming media information, it also greatly increased the bandwidth cost, which is brought by supporting the transmission of a huge amount of information. The information transfer mode, which is integration of two technologies: CDN and P2P, can effectively solve this problem. This article analyzed the basic mode of the streaming media information service and the main areas in which is applied, and discusses the features of CDN and P2P, puts forward a kind of streaming media information services architecture based on CDN and P2P, which can be better applied in the streaming media information content services, and further analyzed the information service strategies of the streaming media content providers.


The organic carbon stock in biomass and soil profiles sampled from nearby paddocks with different land-use histories was estimated at 7 sites in the upper Liverpool Plains catchment and the Manilla district of north-western New South Wales, Australia. The distribution of soil carbon concentrations over a depth of 2 m was significantly affected by site and land use. Continuous cultivation and cropping over ≥20 years significantly depleted carbon concentrations compared with grassy woodlands in the surface 0.20 m at all sites and to a depth of 0.60 m at 3 sites. Depth of sampling (0–0.20 v. 0–1.0 m) significantly affected the differences between land uses at most sites regarding estimates of the stock of soil carbon. These results show that differences in soil carbon concentrations and stock size do not remain constant with depth between contrasting land uses. However, comparisons between land uses of the total amount of carbon stored were dominated by the number of trees per ha and the size of the trees in grassy woodlands. The implications of these results for carbon accounting are discussed.


Treatment decisions in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutated lung cancers are continuing to evolve. There are now five FDA approved EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) commercially available. Treatment options can be an EGFR TKI alone or in combination with chemotherapy or anti-VEGFA/VEGFR-2 monoclonal antibodies. With next-generation sequencing (NGS), additional non-driver co-occurring mutations are being identified in association with the actionable and targetable driver mutations. The impact of co-occurring mutations in EGFR mutated lung cancer can be adversely prognostic yet are not therapeutically fully or prospectively studied. kinase insert domain receptor (KDR) mutations through the VEGF pathway are associated with EGFR TKI resistance. Uniquely KDR mutations could plausibly indicate a predictive benefit of combination EGFR TKI with either bevacizumab or ramucirumab. This has yet to be fully clinically studied but there is a strong preclinical rationale. The prognostic and predictive utility of non-driver co-occurring mutations has an important role in the optimal treatment of patients with EGFR mutated lung cancer.


This article assessed the performance, carcass yield, and meat quality of finishing broilers fed increasing levels of hydroethanolic extract of guavira fruit peel (HEGP) were assessed. A total of 480, threeweeks-old male broilers were randomly allocated to dietary levels of HEGP (0, 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500 mg/kg), with five replicates and 16 birds each. There was a quadratic effect of HEGP inclusion on weight gain (WG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR), with the greatest WG and FCR being calculated at levels of 314 and 219 mg/kg HEGP, respectively. Broilers fed diets containing the extract had better performance than those fed an extract-free diet. There was no effect of extract inclusion on carcass yield and cuts. There was a quadratic effect of HEGP inclusion on a* (redness) of thigh meat at 15 min post-mortem, and on waterholding capacity (WHC), with the lowest and highest values being calculated at 270 mg/kg and 263 mg/kg HEGP, respectively. There was a quadratic influence of HEGP inclusion on the malonaldehyde content at 30-day storage, with highest value being calculated at 218 mg/kg HEGP. Dietary inclusion of 219 mg/kg of HEGP resulted in better FCR for broilers in the finishing phase but without improvement in meat quality. ______________________________________________________________________________________


Since live rubeola vaccine became available in 1963, routine immunization of children at age 15 months has been the recommended strategy for eliminating measles in the United States. However, due to increasing measles outbreaks, especially among previously immunized populations, the Immunization Practices Advisory Committee (ACIP) recently recommended modifying the one-dose measles vaccination policy to a two-dose schedule, one at 15 months and one at age 5 or 6 years. To address the present college population, ACIP recommended vaccinating all college students who lack proof of immunity. We used the methods of decision analysis to examine the cost effectiveness of implementing such a program in a specific college population, namely, students at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). We developed a model to examine three possible vaccination strategies: "wait," "screen," and "vaccinate all." Estimates of probabilities and cost were derived from several outbreaks at UCLA as well as statewide data. In the baseline case, the least expensive strategy is to wait until an outbreak occurs before implementing a vaccination program. The additional cost incurred by screening per measles case avoided is $122,871. However, using sensitivity analysis, we found that the overall cost of elective vaccination strategies is driven by the cost of the vaccine itself. If vaccine could be provided at a nominal cost to the university, a strategy of vaccinating all students without proof of immunity (by either history of two vaccinations or positive titer) would provide the high level of immunity needed to prevent outbreaks and still be most cost effective ($16,644 per measles case avoided).


Robots operating in real world settings must navigate and maintain safety while interacting with many heterogeneous agents and obstacles. Multi-Agent Control Barrier Functions (CBF) have emerged as a computationally efficient tool to guarantee safety in multi-agent environments, but they assume perfect knowledge of both the robot dynamics and other agents' dynamics. While knowledge of the robot's dynamics might be reasonably well known, the heterogeneity of agents in real-world environments means there will always be considerable uncertainty in our prediction of other agents' dynamics. This work aims to learn high-confidence bounds for these dynamic uncertainties using Matrix-Variate Gaussian Process models, and incorporates them into a robust multi-agent CBF framework. We transform the resulting min-max robust CBF into a quadratic program, which can be efficiently solved in real time. We verify via simulation results that the nominal multi-agent CBF is often violated during agent interactions, whereas our robust formulation maintains safety with a much higher probability and adapts to learned uncertainties.


Archaeology is the study of societies of the past, through the discovery of the material elements that they have left behind. The research field is extremely varied, stretching from gigantic monuments from great civilisations of antiquity, to the most understated traces of human activity such as the pollen grains of cultivated plant species. This range includes Prehistoric art, tombs from the Middle Ages, the traces of an abandoned village from the 1st millennium BC, and so on. From excavation site to laboratory, from the trowel to the scanning electron microscope, archaeology is characterised by a research process and a methodological diversity that are both quite remarkable. The Archaeological Science pathway, which falls under the undergraduate Licence Art History and Archaeology, is an original and innovative programme on a national level. The programme's aim is to introduce students to this range of approaches, via varied teaching methods that place great importance on the practical aspects of the discipline. The fact that this programme is offered by Bordeaux Montaigne University is not a matter of chance. With two laboratories that are closely involved in Archaeological Science (the Ausonius lab and the IRAMAT-CRPAA lab), the university has a considerable research infrastructure at its disposal. This has been recognised on a national level, as demonstrated by the university's involvement in the LaScArBx Cluster of Excellence. The teaching staff represents a wide variety of competences and expertise. Its active and continuous role in research activities, on site, and in the laboratory, serves to benefit the learning experience of students during their undergraduate studies. This pathway represents an expansion of the previous archaeology pathway, which allowed for specialisation from the In a nutshell...


This essay is an attempt to combine theories of sojourner adaptation with the qualitative results of my field work among Scottish immigrants in Copenhagen. I argue that theories of acculturation often presuppose a limited time-frame; that the usefulness of Lysgaard's acculturation model may be questioned; and that companies lose valuable intercultural competence by recalling sojourners before they have completed their process of integration. Learning from practice, I argue that sojourners will change as a result of their stationing overseas; that the intercultural skills obtained by employees during their sojourn represent a valuable resource for international business; and that companies have an obligation to assist sojourners upon their return to their home culture.


Near-linear increases in life expectancy at birth in industrialized countries during the postwar period have been interpreted by some as indicating convergence to a single, universal mortality schedule. Although there has been much convergence in the mean age at death conditional on surviving to any age, convergence in the variance of the age at death has followed a different pattern. Universal reductions in infant and child mortality have raised life expectancies and lowered unconditional variances of the age at death, but there are differential trends in variances in the age at death conditional on early survival among advanced economies. Vastly different patterns of later-life variance in the age at death during the postwar period are suggestive of differential individual-level heterogeneity in health outcomes that may be connected to differential mortality decline.


High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is a non-invasive method of selective placental vascular occlusion, providing a potential therapy for conditions such as twin–twin transfusion syndrome. In order to translate this technique into human studies, evidence of prolonged fetal recovery and maintenance of a healthy fetal physiology following exposure to HIFU is essential. At 116 ± 2 days gestation, 12 pregnant ewes were assigned to control (n = 6) or HIFU vascular occlusion (n = 6) groups and anaesthetized. Placental blood vessels were identified using colour Doppler ultrasound; HIFU-mediated vascular occlusion was performed through intact maternal skin (1.66 MHz, 5 s duration, in situ ISPTA 1.8–3.9 kW cm−2). Unidentifiable colour Doppler signals in targeted vessels following HIFU exposure denoted successful occlusion. Ewes and fetuses were then surgically instrumented with vascular catheters and transonic flow probes and recovered from anaesthesia. A custom-made wireless data acquisition system, which records continuous maternal and fetal cardiovascular data, and daily blood sampling were used to assess wellbeing for 20 days, followed by post-mortem examination. Based on a comparison of pre- and post-treatment colour Doppler imaging, 100% (36/36) of placental vessels were occluded following HIFU, and occlusion persisted for 20 days. All fetuses survived. No differences in maternal or fetal blood pressure, heart rate, heart rate variability, metabolic status or oxygenation were observed between treatment groups. There was evidence of normal fetal maturation and no evidence of chronic fetal stress. There were no maternal injuries and no placental vascular haemorrhage. There was both a uterine and fetal burn, which did not result in any obstetric or fetal complications. This study demonstrates normal long-term recovery of fetal sheep from exposure to HIFU-mediated placental vascular occlusion and underlines the potential of HIFU as a potential non-invasive therapy in human pregnancy.


We study in detail sub-GeV dark matter scattering off electrons in xenon, including the expected electron recoil spectra and annual modulation spectra. We derive improved constraints using low-energy XENON10 and XENON100 ionization-only data. For XENON10, in addition to including electron-recoil data corresponding to about $1-3$ electrons, we include for the first time events with $\gtrsim 4$ electrons. Assuming the scattering is momentum independent, this strengthens a previous cross-section bound by almost an order of magnitude for dark matter masses above 50 MeV. The available XENON100 data corresponds to events with $\gtrsim 4$ electrons, and leads to a constraint that is comparable to the XENON10 bound above 50 MeV. We demonstrate that a search for an annual modulation signal in upcoming xenon experiments (XENON1T, XENONnT, LZ) could substantially improve the above bounds even in the presence of large backgrounds. We also emphasize that in simple benchmark models of sub-GeV dark matter, the dark matter-electron scattering rate can be as high as one event every ten (two) seconds in the XENON1T (XENONnT or LZ) experiments, without being in conflict with any other known experimental bounds. While there are several sources of backgrounds that can produce single- or few-electron events, a large event rate can be consistent with a dark matter signal and should not be simply written off as purely a detector curiosity. This fact motivates a detailed analysis of the ionization-only ("S2-only") data, taking into account the expected annual modulation spectrum of the signal rate, as well as the DM-induced electron-recoil spectra, which are another powerful discriminant between signal and background.


This work addresses the macroscopic deformations of spin-crossover (SC) thin sheets upon their cooperative transformation between the low-spin (LS) and the high-spin (HS) states from the viewpoint of electro-elastic interactions among molecules. When the size of each molecule changes depending on its spin state, the elastic interaction among the lattice distortions provides the cooperative interactions between the spin states, resulting in a macroscopic volume change. In this prospective contribution, we study the elasto-electronic properties of SC sheets in which the atoms can move according to the three directions of space. We predict that when HS and LS domains coexist, the system undergoes tremendous strain by compressing and expanding to differing degrees along the sheet, and it becomes far more favourable energetically to the sheet to buckle out of the plane. According to the elastic interaction between the SC atoms, we found the existence of a phase transition between flat and highly crumpled surfaces. This phenomenon was also investigated on two elastically coupled SC membranes where we demonstrate the existence of specific features of electro-elastic HS:LS interface. To enhance the quality of the surface layers, we have implemented the radial basis functions (RBF) interpolation which allowed to study small systems in a very accurate way. This method gives rise to a functional representation of a solid model, where gradients can be determined analytically, thus promising better understanding of the macroscopic crystal deformations and morphologies during the phase transition. Dedicated to Prof. François Varret on the occasion of his 72nd birthday.


Medical student journals (MSJs) refer to a group of student-run and edited periodicals that publish student authored or coauthored peer-reviewed articles.1 Their main objective is to promote academic research and publishing among the medical student community serving as an avenue for students to share their scholarly work, exchange research ideas and familiarise themselves with the publishing and peer-review processes.2

Peer review is the process of evaluating manuscripts for validity, quality and originality. It is widely regarded as the most basic obligation of scholarly journals and an essential step to safeguard the integrity of scientific communication.3 The peer-review process adopted by MSJs is often 'student-friendly',1 4 which caters for the relative inexperience of such junior authors. Implementing a supportive and informative peer-review process is hoped to encourage students to continue participation in both the research and publication enterprises regardless of the outcome of their submission.

MSJs continue to face challenges with a relatively high attrition rate compared with mainstream biomedical journals.1 Due to the low visibility and presumed poor quality of published articles, the feasibility of MSJs as stand-alone journals has recently been debated.1 4 Transparency of the peer-review process has been shown to reliably predict the quality of academic journals.5 We sought to examine peer-review practices and policies employed by MSJs in order to investigate whether they offer transparent peer review; this is hoped to inform student-authors about the peer-review process prior to submitting their work to MSJs.

Google (www.google.com …


Any examination of newspaper editorials and reform group positions will indicate that the most commonly perceived problem with U.S. elections at the moment is that they are rarely competitive. This absence of competition has prompted recent proposals in several states, most prominently in California and Ohio, to reform the redistricting process to increase the frequency of competitive elections. These propositions failed, but that is unlikely the end of such attempts. The reason for these proposals is obvious. Political education in the U.S. indoctrinates us at a young age to believe that competition is good. In economics, market competition provides social benefits, and, by analogy, political competition must provide similar benefits. This argument is frequently made explicitly, such as by Schumpeter (1942), and it has its roots as far back as the often-assigned Federalist Papers #10 and #51. Of course, the economic definition of competition has little to do with the political definition of a competitive election. Broadly speaking, there are two economic definitions of competition: (1) competitive behavior, which generally means innovation, and (2) competitive market structures, which means many buyers, many sellers, and perfect information. In contrast, a competitive election generally means one in which the candidates' vote shares are roughly equal, or similarly, one in which each candidate has a roughly 50% chance of winning. The only obvious relationship between these definitions is that we might equate vote shares with market shares, but the benefits of a competitive market accrue regardless of whether sellers have equal market shares—they simply must charge the same price for the same goods, as determined by the intersection of the supply and demand curves. In fact, in a competitive market, each firm should have such a small market share that no firm is a price-giver, and the idea of an election for a single-member district in which there are so many candidates that no candidate has a significant vote share seems untenable. Alternatively, we might draw an analogy between pressure on sellers to charge the same price for the same good and pressure on candidates toward policy convergence, but the idea of all candidates offering the same bundle of policies makes many people uncomfortable as well. So, the analogy between the efficiency of a competitive market and the benefits of a competitive election falls apart. Of course, Schumpeter's (1942) argument was that political leaders should compete for votes by innovating with respect to policy based on the first definition of competition, but again, that means that the economic analogy has little to say about whether elections should be uncertain and decided by narrow margins. The fact that we happen to use the same word for different circumstances does not logically allow us to say the following: because competition is good in the marketplace, close elections are good. Free market economics cannot be used to defend the drawing of competitive districts without straining the analogy beyond its limits, regardless of how intuitively appealing the analogy is.


New integrated optical all-pass filters are presented that can be used for tunable dispersion compensation, dispersion slope compensation, and as building blocks in tunable bandpass filters. The dispersion slope compensation capability is demonstrated using ring resonators in /spl Delta/=2% Ge-doped silica planar waveguides. In addition, a tunable four-stage filter with free-spectral range (FSR)=25 GHz, a passband width of 14 GHz (0.56/spl times/FSR), and D=1800 ps/nm is reported.


Regression based methods are not performing as well as detection based methods for human pose estimation. A central problem is that the structural information in the pose is not well exploited in the previous regression methods. In this work, we propose a structure-aware regression approach. It adopts a reparameterized pose representation using bones instead of joints. It exploits the joint connection structure to define a compositional loss function that encodes the long range interactions in the pose. It is simple, effective, and general for both 2D and 3D pose estimation in a unified setting. Comprehensive evaluation validates the effectiveness of our approach. It significantly advances the state-of-the-art on Human3.6M [20] and is competitive with state-of-the-art results on MPII [3].


SIR: In October, 1967, at a public meeting called in Melbourne, an Australian and New Zealand Society of' Criminology was formed, with the Honourable Sir John Barry as Foundation President and an executive representing all Australian Statee and New Zealand. At this meetingit was also agreed, and endorsed by the Executive, that the Society should publish a quarterly journalThe Australianand New Zealand Journal of Oriminology. The first number' of this journal will be published in March, 1968, and will besent directly to all members of the Society, or may beobtained from the publisher, Southdown Press Pty, Ltd., Melbourne.


This research was aimed to find the appropriate combination of glycerol and tapioca concentration in the production of Eucheuma cottonii seaweed dreg-based biodegradable films.  A two factors experiment was arranged in a Complete Randomized Design with three replications.  The first factor was three levels of glycerol concentration : 0.25%; 0.5% and 0.75%.  The second factor was three levels of tapioca concentration: 5%; 6% and 7%.  The data of visual observation, Fourier transform infra red  analysis, biodegradability and water vapor permeability were analyzed descriptively.  The tensile strength, elongation and solubility of biodegradable films were analyzed using by ANOVA.  The homogenity was use barlett test and the aditivity was use Tukey test.  The data were continue by HSD test at 5% level of significant.  The concentration of glycerol and tapioca significant effects on tensile strength and percent elongation, but not on solubility.  The best characteristics of the Eucheuma cottonii seaweed dreg-based biodegradable film was produced from a combination of 0.25% of  glycerol and 7% of tapioca concentration. The best biodegradabe film had  characteristic of an f 53.92  MPa tensile strength, an 3.647 % elongation, 86.17% solubility, 14 day biodegradability, 6.13 g/(m 2 /day) water vapor permeability .  The addition of glycerol and tapioca concentration in producting of Eucheuma cottonii seaweed dreg-based biodegradable film has caused the film characteristics more plastic and homogeneous. Keywords:  Biodegradable film, Fourier transform infra red, percent elongation, seaweed dreg, tensile strength, water vapor permeability


The article presents a qualitative research – a questionnaire survey performed in 2018, which involved representatives of general education school management and teachers, as well as 7-12 grade gymnasium students and their parents. The current study is a part of the research "The Conception of School Community of General Education School Progress in terms of the Good School Concept". The article addresses the scientific problem that the viewpoint of general education school community towards school progress as well as the perception of its dissemination are not sufficiently analysed. The following problembase issues are formulated: what is the attitude of school community towards factors reflecting school progress best of all, who should be informed about school progress and why? The research object is school progress and the dissemination of information about it from the viewpoint of general education school community. The aim of the research is to reveal features of school progress identified by general education school community and dissemination of information about it. The statistical analysis of the questionnaire survey was performed using software SPSS Statistics17.0. Pearson's non-parametric chi-squared (χ2) test, which helps to identify the statistical independence of variables. The research data reveals that personal maturity of pupils is the main feature of school progress. It is indicated by one-fourth of the participating teachers, students and their parents respectively. Learning outcomes corresponding to individual capabilities of every student is another important feature of school progress that is specified by onefourth of teachers and parents respectively. Nearly a fourth of students indicate continuous learning progress and their sport, art and creative achievements as an important feature of school progress. A half of the representatives of school administration and more than a third of teachers maintain that the main aim of disseminating information about school progress is an aspiration to make joint decisions by the school community regarding the improvement of school activity. Students and their parents associate it with the aim to provide information about the quality of student education and learning to the society.


Filled with glorious full-colour and black & white illustrations, this is the most comprehensive guide to pre-Renaissance Florentine painting available. Begun in 1930 by renowned art historian Richard Offner, "A Corpus of Florentine Painting" offers researchers, students, scholars, and fine-art enthusiasts an unrivalled scientific, historical, and critical exploration of pre-Renaissance Florentine art. Each volume consists of an historical and critical study on an artist, group of artists, or art-related topic, alongside a comprehensive and magnificently illustrated catalogue of their works and related documents.


Tapered optical fibers with special geometries are desired for probing monolithic in-plane nanophotonic devices, as well as for optical trapping and manipulation. In this work, we demonstrate two special geometries of tapered optical fibers, namely fiber loops and helices. The fiber loops in this work are distinct from previous ones in terms of their superior mechanical stability and high optical quality factors in air, thanks to a post-annealing process. We experimentally measured an intrinsic optical quality factor of 32,500 and a finesse of 137 for a fiber loop. A fiber helix was used to characterize a monolithic cavity optomechanical device. Moreover, a microfluidic "roller coaster" was demonstrated, where microscale particles in water were optically trapped and transported by a fiber helix. Tapered fiber loops and helices can find various applications ranging from on-the-fly characterization of integrated photonic devices to particle manipulation and sorting in microfluidics.


Aim: Synthesis of silver nanoparticles (SNPs) from plant-derived callus seems to be a convenient and easy approach in comparison to traditionally used physical and chemical methods. Introduction: Highly active, young mass of cells of callus not only produce chemicals (reducing/oxidizing agent) used for the reduction of silver ions to SNP but also prevent the formation of aggregates, and thus, highly dispersed nanosilver were obtained from embryogenic calli. Methods: In the present studies, Alhagi maurorum explant (nodal portion of stem) was cultured on the MS medium supplemented with different combinations of BAP, NAA, and kinetin along with other adjuvants for callusing, shoot formation, multiplication, and rooting of elongated plantlets. Highly differentiated calli, thus, obtained were used for the synthesis of SNP. Results and Discussion: The change of the color of the reaction mixture after 15 min from yellow to dark reddish brown indicated the synthesis of nanoparticles from callus. Ultraviolet–visible spectra at 450 nm showed the characteristic of SNP in the callus. Transmission electron microscopic observations and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy studies confirmed the formation of nano-sized silver crystallites (10–30 nm), and role of different functional groups (carboxyl, amine, and hydroxyl) in the synthetic process, respectively. Conclusions: Thus, callus derived SNP was biocompatible, non-toxic, eco-friendly, and cost-effective and could be used as decontaminating agent in plant tissue culture.


Aimed at the potential overload problems caused by the uncertainty of the arrived data in a data stream management system, the load shedding issue of the data stream system is researched. Focus on the condition that exists join operators of two streams, a semantic-based load shedding technique is applied. A data stream load shedding model is designed and implemented, which solves four problems including load shedding and anti-shedding time, amount, location and selecting predicate. The experiment result is analyzed, which shows that the load shedding model presented can effectively avoid the low processing efficiency when system is overload, and guarantee the coordination of arrived data and system processing capability, and make a combination of system stability and correctness as a result.


This study was aimed at investigating the current issues related to the role of affective domain in enhancing effective learning. In particular, the study aimed at investigating whether or not students' attitude towards mathematics can serve as a predictor of their academic achievement in the subject, and whether or not there exist any significant difference between boys and girls in their attitudes towards mathematics. A descriptive correlational design was employed in the study with the population of 114,504 senior secondary school students spread across the 34 local government areas of Katsina state, Nigeria. The subjects were a sample of 383 students from 8 schools, selected using mixed / multistage sampling procedure and the Research Advisors 2006 guideline. The Modified Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitude Scale (FSMAS) was the instrument for data collection, and the data collected were analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. It was found that there was a significant relationship between students' attitudes towards mathematics and their academic achievement in the subject (r= .756, P = .00). Similarly, the findings revealed that significant gender difference exist in students' attitudes towards mathematics (t= 5.736, P = .00) in favour of male students. Based on the research findings, it was concluded that students' attitudes towards mathematics predict their academic achievement in the subject and that students have different attitudes towards mathematics. It was recommended that mathematics teachers in the country should have a means of assessing students' attitudes towards mathematics. Students identified with positive attitudes should be encouraged, while those with negative attitudes should be guided appropriately. Keywords: Students' Attitude; Predictor; Academic Achievement; Mathematics.


Characteristics of MHD instabilities and their impacts on plasma confinement are studied in current free plasmas of the Large Helical Device. Spontaneous L?H transition is often observed in high beta plasmas close to 2% at low toroidal fields (Bt ? 0.75?T). The stored energy starts to rise rapidly just after the transition accompanying the clear rise in the electron density but quickly saturates due to the growth of the m = 2/n = 3 mode (m and n: poloidal and toroidal mode numbers), the rational surface of which is located in the edge barrier region, and edge localized mode (ELM) like activities having fairly small amplitude but high repetition frequency. Even in low beta plasmas without L?H transitions, ELM-like activities are sometimes induced in high performance plasmas with a steep edge pressure gradient and transiently reduce the stored energy up to 10%. Energetic ion driven MHD modes such as Alfv?n eigenmodes (AEs) are studied in a very wide range of characteristic parameters (the averaged beta of energetic ions, ?b?, and the ratio of energetic ion velocity to the Alfv?n velocity, Vb?/VA), of which range includes all tokamak data. In addition to the observation of toroidicity induced AEs (TAEs), coherent magnetic fluctuations of helicity induced AEs (HAEs) have been detected for the first time in NBI heated plasmas. The transition of a core-localized TAE to a global AE (GAE) is also observed in a discharge with temporal evolution of the rotational transform profile, having a similarity to the phenomenon observed in a reversed shear tokamak. At low magnetic fields, bursting TAEs transiently induce a significant loss of energetic ions, up to 40% of injected beams, but on the other hand play an important role in triggering the formation of transport barriers in the core and edge regions.


This article examines the experimental use of punctuation in Rimbaud's Illuminations. It argues that this new type of punctuation is central to Rimbaud's conception of the prose poem . His audacious and plastic idiom in the Illuminations is enriched by his imaginative and unpredictable deployment of dashes, parentheses, capitalization, exclamation marks, italics and other such features. It is very much part of his "alchimie du verbe" and creates a new type of scansion for his new prose poem form. Beginning with dashes, the article seeks to shoe how the "tiret" has a range of functions in the collection being linked to colour and sound effects, to particular types of finale and to pivotal structural moments in poems. We also find thick accumulations of dashes at moments of key visionary breakthrough. The piece then considers how parentheses and italics figure in the Illuminations as agents of reorientation and mystification enhancing the complexity and enigmatic quality of many poems. This creates a sense of depaysement as does the widespread capitalization in the collection which adds to the mystery of so many characters - Lulu, the Vampire, H. Exclamation marks are also used prolifically and at times we find an explosion of some or all of the above elements of punctuation to startling effect for the reader as in 'Barbare' and 'Nocturne vulgaire'. This deployment of punctuation is equally apparent in areas of Une Saison en enfer and Rimbaud's dynamic punctuation should be seen in the context of his desire to discover a new language to express the inexpressible.


Zakat is one of the pillars in Islam, a mandatory obligation to the Muslims. The payment of zakat is an expression of thankfulness to the Almighty God (Allah) and recognition of His rewards. Zakat is no longer perceived by many that is merely limited to the domain of religious or syariah studies and discourses, but has been widened to include the issue of social economics. Therefore, a proper treatment of zakat is needed. In Malaysia, an accounting treatment relating to the payment of zakat on business, TR-i1 had been issued by Malaysia Accounting Standard Board (MASB) to facilitate the computation of zakat on business. However, since zakat management is under the jurisdiction of State Islamic Religious Council (SIRC), the Technical Release 1 (TR-i1) issued just becomes a guideline which does not have the same weight as a standard. The objective of the paper is to investigate the level of compliance to the guidelines as being practiced by the listed Government Link Companies (GLCs). The study will focus on the methodology used for zakat computation and the disclosure being made in the annual report. All the 33 listed GLC companies were used for the study. From the result, it was found that the guidelines were not being followed. A practiced by GLC's was totally different from what has been mentioned in the TR-i1.


Exposure to cigarette smoke impairs the pulmonary immune system, including alveolar macrophage function, although the mechanisms by which this occurs are not fully elucidated. This study investigates the effect of cigarette smoke exposure on the antigen-presenting activity of alveolar macrophages, which is required for antigen-specific response to T cells. C57BL/6 mice were exposed to cigarette smoke for 10 days using a Hamburg II smoking machine, and alveolar macrophages were obtained by bronchoalveolar lavage. The antigen-presenting activity of alveolar macrophages was significantly inhibited in mice exposed to cigarette smoke compared with mice not exposed to cigarette smoke. Major histocompatibility complex class II cell surface molecule–positive cells, B7-1 molecule–positive cells, and interleukin-1β messenger RNA gene expression in alveolar macrophages were significantly decreased in mice exposed to cigarette smoke compared with mice not exposed to cigarette smoke. In contrast, DNA damage and generation of superoxide and hydrogen peroxide in alveolar macrophages were significantly increased by cigarette smoke exposure. These results suggest that inhibition of the antigen-presenting activity of alveolar macrophages may result from decreased expression of major histocompatibility complex class II and B7-1 molecules and interleukin-1β messenger RNA gene expression following cigarette smoke exposure. Furthermore, inhibition of antigen presentation in alveolar macrophage may result from DNA damage induced by excessive amounts of reactive oxygen species being generated by alveolar macrophages following cigarette smoke exposure. These findings suggest that cigarette smoke impairs the immunological function of alveolar macrophages and, as a result, increases the risk for pulmonary infection.


■ Abstract The field of computational cell biology has emerged within the past 5 years because of the need to apply disciplined computational approaches to build and test complex hypotheses on the interacting structural, physical, and chemical features that underlie intracellular processes. To meet this need, newly developed software tools allow cell biologists and biophysicists to build models and generate simulations from them. The construction of general-purpose computational approaches is especially challenging if the spatial complexity of cellular systems is to be explicitly treated. This review surveys some of the existing efforts in this field with special emphasis on a system being developed in the authors' laboratory, Virtual Cell. The theories behind both stochastic and deterministic simulations are discussed. Examples of respective applications to cell biological problems in RNA trafficking and neuronal calcium dynamics are provided to illustrate these ideas.


Molecular imprinted thin films (MIFs) of TiO2 were prepared with a liquid phase deposition (LPD) method, and characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy, UV-visible solid-state reflection spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy. Among different approaches of removing the template in the preparation of MIFs, a calcination treatment was the best to produce more 3D "molecular footprint" cavities of the template on the MIF, which promoted further the photocatalytic activity of the MIF in comparison with the films pre-treated by extraction or photodegradation. Compared with the non-imprinted TiO2 film (NIF), the MIF enhanced the photodegradation of the target pollutants by increasing the adsorption of the target pollutants on the surface of the MIF. From the Langmuir–Hinshelwood model, the value of the apparent reaction rate constant on the MIF was obtained, which was much larger than that on the NIF. The equilibrium adsorption constant on the MIF was more than 7 times that on the NIF. Because of this high affinity, the MIF exhibited special molecular recognition ability, leading to selective adsorption and photodegradation of the target pollutant. Moreover, the MIF was confirmed to have good stability during long-time photocatalysis.


Chlamydia trachomatis infection is the most common sexually transmitted disease all around the world. For a long time, Chlamydia trachomatis has been recognized as the common cause of urethritis, cervicitis, and other complications such as pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), ectopic pregnancy, etc. However, today there is more concern on its role in male and female fertility and infertility and many studies have concentrated on this issue all over the world. There is good evidence based on seroepidemiologic studies on relationship between serum Chlamydial antibodies and infertility due to tubal factor in women with or without PID. However, there are many questions about Chlamydia trachomatis and its influence on IVF outcome and the exsisting information is controversial. The impact of Chlamydia trachomatis on male infetility is under investigation and it seems able to cause destruction of different parts of male genital tract in addition to high rate of transmission to women. With regard to these data, it seems that prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of Chlamydial infections are importart and cost effective.


ABSTRACT This paper explores the emerging settlement surrounding vocational education and training in England in the 1990s. It describes and then considers the dangers in the post‐Fordist position that argues a high skills/high trust economy/society offers emancipatory possibilities. Insufficient attention is addressed to the way post‐Fordist concerns are lodged within capitalist social relations oriented to capital accumulation. Educational practices placed within these relations can easily lose their radicalism and sit readily alongside the concerns of curriculum modernisers who are wedded to capitalist rejuvenation.


Anaerobically digested sludge contains an agent that causes irreversible inactivation of poliovirus. It has now been shown that the agent responsible for this activity is ammonia. The effect of ammonia on poliovirus appears to be typical for picornaviruses, but reovirus, an enteric virus of another group, is quite resistant to this compound. Because ammonia is not virucidal in its charged state, it expresses significant activity only at pH values greater than 8. Therefore, increasing the pH of sludge should cause rapid inactivation of indigenous picornaviruses.


As customers get more demanding in product specifications and supply chains get longer and more complex, producers' requirements for better information systems increase markedly, accentuating scale economies. Firm size in Australian food and fibre industries appears to be far below the optimum and, since this leads to higher unit costs, competitiveness is diminished. Australian governments encourage vertical integration, but largely ignore the horizontal integration required to make it viable. The paper outlines a the justification for a recently funded South Australian Government project and its scope, which includes: estimation of optimal firm size in SA food and fibre industries; estimation of the economic, social and environmental pay-off from structural adjustment; evaluation of the factors inhibiting evolution of more efficient industry structures; and development of socially optimal strategies for encouraging that evolution.


Experts forecast that globalization and open economy will be the characteristic of the 21 st century. Industry in developing countries must be well prepared and competitive in order to have a vital role. These countries will not be able to access global markets unless they procure the needed technology to manufacture high quality, up to the standard products. Automated visual inspection is one of these emerging technologies. Higher production speeds require higher inspection speeds which can be implemented best by replacing human visual inspection procedures by machine vision inspection systems. This paper presents an online machine vision system design that is capable of detecting defects in rubber coating of metal lids during manufacturing. The system is simple and low cost consisting of a CCD camera mounted on a conveyer belt and connected to a PC through FireWire (IEEE 1394). Image acquisition, analysis, and inspection are implemented using National Instrument's (NI) Vision Builder tool. The inspection algorithm is realized through a four stage process: starting with acquisition to enhancement, thresholding and finally object matching.