Learning to rank from relevance judgment is an active research area. Itemwise score regression, pairwise preference satisfaction, and listwise structured learning are the major techniques in use. Listwise structured learning has been applied recently to optimize important non-decomposable ranking criteria like AUC (area under ROC curve) and MAP (mean average precision). We propose new, almost-linear-time algorithms to optimize for two other criteria widely used to evaluate search systems: MRR (mean reciprocal rank) and NDCG (normalized discounted cumulative gain) in the max-margin structured learning framework. We also demonstrate that, for different ranking criteria, one may need to use different feature maps. Search applications should not be optimized in favor of a single criterion, because they need to cater to a variety of queries. E.g., MRR is best for navigational queries, while NDCG is best for informational queries. A key contribution of this paper is to fold multiple ranking loss functions into a multi-criteria max-margin optimization. The result is a single, robust ranking model that is close to the best accuracy of learners trained on individual criteria. In fact, experiments over the popular LETOR and TREC data sets show that, contrary to conventional wisdom, a test criterion is often not best served by training with the same individual criterion.


In this paper, a ridge-loaded folded-waveguide slow-wave structure (SWS) for millimeter-wave traveling-wave tube (TWT) is presented. The theory of high-frequency characteristics, which includes: 1) the dispersion properties; and 2) the beam-wave interaction impedance of this structure, is analyzed. The theoretical results agree well with those obtained by the 3-D electromagnetic simulation software HFSS. The relationships of the dispersion characteristics and the interaction impedance versus ridge dimensions are numerically calculated and discussed. It is indicated from the investigation that the ridge loading can decrease the phase velocity and the relative bandwidth; however, the interaction impedance increases noticeably. A ridge-loaded folded-waveguide SWS with proper ridge dimensions may be applied for higher gain and electron efficiency in millimeter-wave regimes.


One of the fundamental problems encountered when debugging a parallel program is determining the possible orders in which events could have occurred. Various problems, such as data races and intermittent deadlock, arise when there is insufficient synchronization between the tasks in a parallel program. A sequential trace of an execution can be misleading, as it implies additional event orderings, distorting the concurrent nature of the computation. Algorithms to generate, from the trace of an execution, those event orderings that can be relied on by the programmer are described. By its very nature, the information in an execution trace pertains only to that execution of the program, and may not generalize to other executions. This difficulty is mitigated by defining an inferred program based on the trace and original program, analyzing this inferred program, and showing how the inferred program relates to the original. The results of the algorithms can be used by other automated tools such as a data race detector or constraint checker. >


The Medellin v. Dretke line of capital cases challenging U.S. non-compliance with the notification provisions of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR) provides an example of effective transnational horizontal integration of international human rights norms notwithstanding lack of domestic vertical enforcement and persistent government objection to the outside norm. As an international treaty that codifies the right of nation states to mediate between two legal systems on behalf of their nationals detained abroad, the VCCR acts as a "norm portal" - a formal gateway permitting the entry of an international human rights norm into the legal system of a state that has persistently rejected the norm. In the Medellin death penalty cases, a transnational advocacy support network comprised of defense counsel, NGOs, and foreign governments adopted the VCCR as a norm portal through which to mediate between the external abolitionist norm and the U.S. criminal justice system. The result was increased compliance with consular notification and assistance, which in turn has led to a decline in death sentences for foreign nationals and the avoidance of several executions. The VCCR norm portal has thus helped chip away at the application of capital punishment in the United States, notwithstanding consistent official U.S. government objection to importation of the international abolitionist norm and the refusal of the Supreme Court in Sanchez-Llamas to give domestic legal effect to an International Court of Justice decision requiring creation of a judicial remedy for violations of the VCCR notification provisions. The Medellin cases demonstrate that while transnational vertical processes of norm enforcement play an important role in elaborating rules and framing legal arguments, the ability to engage actors at the local and state level may prove most salient to shifting practices and attitudes toward the international standard. These cases further suggest that formal procedural mechanisms that permit direct norm mediation by transnational advocates have an important role to play in the integration of international human rights norms across borders. Extradition treaties and international refugee law are other examples of norm portals that permit the import and export of international human rights norms across state borders. Because they reflect formal legal obligations adopted through treaty and are subject to political reversal, norm portals may prove more robust and less potentially dilutive of democratic processes than the use of non-binding foreign and international legal authority in judicial opinions. Human rights advocates are therefore likely to continue to seek out and exploit norm portals as a means through which to bring U.S. human rights practice in line with external standards.


This guide is for students in MG252 sections and covers finding credible information on culture for the short functional report.


This study addresses the problem of tuning Mamdani-type fuzzy Proportional-Integral-Derivative controllers by solving a constrained nonlinear optimisation problem. Two different schemes are discussed. One considers merely the scaling factors optimisation, while assuming the membership functions width unchanged. In second methodology both scaling factors and membership functions width adjusted. The cost function under minimisation is chosen as the closed loop performance index, with the system dynamics described by a nonlinear model. In addition, a set of constraints to the optimisation problem are taken into account, namely bounds on scaling factors, control actions and also on the system outputs. For the second approach, extra constraints on membership functions width are also included in problem formulation. Experimental results carried out on a Multi-Input Multi-Output benchmark system shows the out-performance of considering the optimising of both scaling factors and membership function widths.


In this study, a development of nonlinear continuum damage mechanics (CDM) model for multiaxial high cycle fatigue is proposed in which the cyclic plasticity constitutive model has been incorporated in the finite element (FE) framework. T-joint FE simulation of fillet welding is implemented to characterize sequentially coupled three-dimensional (3-D) of thermo-mechanical FE formulation and simulate the welding residual stresses. The high cycle fatigue damage model is then taken account into the fillet weld joints under the various cyclic fatigue load types to calculate the fatigue life considering the residual stresses. The fatigue crack initiation and the propagation in the present model estimated for the total fatigue is compared with the experimental results. The FE results illustrated that the proposed high cycle fatigue damage model in this study could become a powerful tool to effectively predict the fatigue life of the welds. Parametric studies in this work are also demonstrated that the welding residual stresses cannot be ignored in the computation of the fatigue life of welded structures.


Molybdenum based alloy having a nominal composition Mo–0.5Ti–0.1Zr–0.02C (wt%) popularly known as TZM alloy possess high temperature strength, high creep resistance, low coefficient of thermal expansion and high thermal conductivity. Processed TZM alloy contains TiC, ZrC and complex carbides which inhibit recrystallization at high temperatures and also improve the working conditions. In this study, the effect of sintering temperature, holding time and pressure on densification, microstructure and hardness of the spark plasma sintered TZM alloys were investigated. The sample sintered at 1575 °C for 150 second under 40 MPa exhibited the highest relative density, ∼98%. Microstructural characterization was performed by using FESEM and it was observed that TiC and ZrC dispersed through the microstructure. The average size of precipitates were measured as 7.5 and 3.5 µm for TiC and ZrC, respectively.


Interfacial areas between an immiscible organic liquid (NAPL), and water were measured for two natural porous media using two methods, aqueous‐phase interfacial partitioning tracer tests and synchrotron X‐ray microtomography. The interfacial areas measured with the tracer tests were similar to previously reported values obtained with the method. The values were, however, significantly larger than those obtained from microtomography. Analysis of microtomography data collected before and after introduction of the interfacial tracer solution indicated that the surfactant tracer had minimal impact on fluid‐phase configuration and interfacial areas under conditions associated with typical laboratory application. The disparity between the tracer test and microtomography values is attributed primarily to the inability of the microtomography method to resolve interfacial area associated with microscopic surface heterogeneity. This hypothesis is consistent with results recently reported for a comparison of microtomographic analysis and interfacial tracer tests conducted for an air‐water system. The tracer test method provides a measure of effective, total (capillary and film) interfacial area, whereas microtomography can be used to determine separately both capillary‐associated and film‐associated interfacial areas. Both methods appear to provide useful information for given applications. A key to their effective use is recognizing the specific nature of the information provided by each, as well as associated limitations.


The psychological effects of trauma are accompanied by biologic changes in the stress response that persist when people develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This article explores the nature of this altered stress response; provides a review of the symptomatology of PTSD; describes how developmental level affects the biology of the trauma response, the stress response, and the psychobiology of PTSD; and discusses the implications for psychopharmacologic treatment.


Experimental evidence exists for magnetoreception in termites, a major component of the soil macrofauna in many tropical countries. This preliminary study identifies, probably for the first time, the presence of biogenic ferrimagnets (magnetite?) in two species of termite (Nasutitermes exitiosus and Amitermes meridionalis), based on magnetic measurements of whole termite specimens and individual body sections, and analysis by electron microscopy of magnetically extracted grains. The magnetic measurements indicate the presence of very small concentrations of magnetic material, with more magnetic grains in the thorax and abdomen region compared with the head. Magnetic interaction, due to clustering of grains, is also identified by the measurements. Analysis of magnetic extracts by transmission electron microscopy identifies the presence of uniquely ultrafine (10 nm) and unidimensional grains of ferrimagnetic material, unequivocally distinct from any possible extraneous magnetite sources, such as ingested soil. Hence, this provides firm evidence for biogenic formation of this magnetic material by these two termite species. Such ultrafine grains would be superparamagnetic, i.e. incapable of carrying a permanent magnetic moment, unless they were sited in clusters of interacting grains, when some remanence–carrying ability—and hence magnetotaxis—would be possible.


We measured changes in P pools and cycling 1 year after a Ca fertilization treatment at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in central New Hampshire. We hypothesized that by increasing soil pH and available Ca, the treat- ment would change the amount of readily available P in the forest floor and the biogeochemical cycling of P in the forest ecosystem. One year after the Ca addition, significant increases occurred in soil pH (one pH unit), resin-sorbed P (2- to over 10-fold), and the microbial respiratory quotient (27%) in the Oe horizon of the treated watershed com- pared with a reference watershed. Additionally, we observed significant increases in foliar P concentrations (20-133% across six species) and in P retranslocation in the treated watershed between pre- and post-Ca-addition years ( p < 0.05). Foliar P was strongly correlated (r = 0.74) with resin-sorbed P. Microbial biomass P, microbial C to P ratios, and available organic and inorganic P fractions were lower in the Oe horizon of the treatment watershed than in the reference watershed, but no differences were observed in soil solution or fine root P concentration. Apparently, by changing soil pH, Ca addition increased rates of P cycling in forest floor horizons at Hubbard Brook Experimental For- est.


"Off the Wall", the first book from Vans, tells the multi-generational story of Vans' do-it-yourself community, which encompasses boards, bikes, art and music, as well as the one shoe keeping it all together. With oral histories from Tony Alva, Joel Tudor, Neckface, Shepard Fairey, Sunny Garcia, Marc Jacobs, Steve Caballero, Stacy Peralta, Robert Williams, Oliver Peck, and others, "Off the Wall" provides an intimate, visually-stunning account of how the company changed the face of popular culture, since its founding in 1966. The book features photography by the top action-sports photographers in the world, including Bryce Kanights, Grant Brittain, Jeff Divine, and Trevor Graces, presented with an energetic design that evokes both punkzine aesthetic and California coastal cool.


In the present work, investigation of the functional property of piezoelectric graded monomorph actuator systems is presented. The functional graded actuators were fabricated by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) using pure PZT and doped PZT materials. Actuators developed have shown gradual gradient variation in microstructure. It is noted that trend in microstructural gradient does not represent similar trend in piezoelectric property gradient. The displacement of microstructural graded and both piezoelectric and microstructural graded actuators were measured. The results show that the gradient distribution of the piezoelectric properties is important to improve the electromechanical performance of the actuator.


Affordability of products and services is an economic benefit that should accrue to consumers, whether they are corporations, government agencies or individuals. This concept of affordability goes beyond conventional wisdom that considers affordability as the ability to pay the price of a product or service. This dissertation defines and explores a broader concept of affordability – one of fitness to perform at the level of quality required by the consumer, to perform at that level whenever the product or service is used, and to do so with minimum consumption of resources. This concept of affordability is applied to technological systems by using the complexity sciences concept of fitness as the metaphor for technological systems' fitness. During a system design evolution, the specific design outcome is determined by that set of design search paths followed – it is path dependent. Dynamic mechanisms create, dictate and maintain path dependence. Initial conditions define the start and direction of a path. During subsequent design steps, positive feedback influences the designer to continue on that path. This dissertation describes underlying mechanisms that create, dictate and maintain path dependence; discusses the effects of path dependence on system design and system affordability; models these effects using system dynamics modeling; and suggests actions to address its effects. This dissertation also addresses several types of fitness landscapes, and suggests that the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) solution space is a form of fitness landscape suitable for evaluating the efficiency, and thus the fitness, of research and development (R&D) projects. It describes the use of DEA to evaluate and select Department of Defense (D0D) R&D projects as a new application of DEA.


We present a 38-year-old woman who suddenly developed erythema with follicular papules and pustules on her face during the second trimester of pregnancy. The diagnosis 'rosacea fulminans' was made. This is an uncommon skin condition that predominantly affects younger women. Treatment with erythromycin was successful.


An examination of the calcareous nannoplankton and planktonic foraminifera of the lectostratotype Castle Hayne Formation, New Hanover County, North Carolina, has shown that it is of late middle Eocene (latest Lutetian or earliest Bartonian) age (upper zone NP16 to lower NP17 and P12–13, respectively), rather than latest Eocene (Zone NP19–20) as has been reported recently. Dinoflagellate biostratigraphy supports this age assignment.

A Rb-Sr glauconite isochron date of 34.8 ± 1 Ma reported from the lectostratotype in support of an age estimate of about 33 Ma for the Eocene-Oligocene boundary is shown to be irrelevant to the boundary age problem, anomalously young, and, indeed, about 8 to 10 rn.y. younger than the age estimated on the basis of magnetobiochronology.


The artherosclerotic artery has been tested for its response to impact strength. The intima has very little impact strength and an external blow delivered by a dull blade held against the vessel severs the intima without injuring the other coats. The impact strength of the intima was measured. From these measurements, an instrument has been devised which imparts an impact of proper strength. This instrument is used in vascular surgery to transect the intima at either end in the operation of endarterectomy. The device has been successfully used in more than 150 operations. Since the intima is not detached on sectioning, the distal intima is not sutured to outer walls of the vessel. No complications have arisen by omitting the suture of the intima to the outer vessel wall.


Structured real world data can be represented with graphs whose structure encodes independence assumptions within the data. Due to statistical advantages over generative graphical models, Conditional Random Fields (CRFs) are used in a wide range of classification tasks on structured data sets. CRFs can be learned from both, fully or partially supervised data, and may be used to infer fully unlabeled or partially labelled data. However, performing inference in CRFs with an arbitrary graphical structure on a large amount of data is computational expensive and nearly intractable on a reseacher's workstation. Hence, we take advantage of recent developments in computer hardware, namely generalpurpose Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). We not merely run given algorithms on GPUs, but present a novel framework of parallel algorithms at several levels for training general CRFs on very large data sets. We evaluate their performance in terms of runtime and F1-Score.


BACKGROUND
Trauma is the fifth leading cause of death worldwide, and in people younger than 40 years of age, it is the leading cause of death. During the resuscitation of trauma patients at the emergency department, there are two different commonly used diagnostic strategies. Conventionally, there is the use of physical examination and conventional diagnostic imaging, potentially followed by selective use of computed tomography (CT). Alternatively, there is the use of physical examination and conventional diagnostics, followed by a routine (instead of selective) use of thoracoabdominal CT. It is currently unknown which of the two strategies is the better diagnostic strategy for patients with blunt high-energy trauma.

OBJECTIVES
To assess the effects of routine thoracoabdominal CT compared with selective thoracoabdominal CT on mortality in blunt high-energy trauma patients.

SEARCH METHODS
We searched the Cochrane Injuries Group's Specialised Register, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (Issue 4, 2013); MEDLINE (OvidSP), EMBASE (OvidSP) and CINAHL for all published randomised controlled trials (RCTs). We did not restrict the searches by language, date or publication status. We conducted the search on the 9 May 2013.

SELECTION CRITERIA
We included RCTs of trauma resuscitation algorithms using routine thoracoabdominal CT versus algorithms using selective CT in this review. We included all blunt high-energy trauma patients (including blast or barotrauma).

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two authors independently evaluated the search results.

MAIN RESULTS
The systematic search identified 481 references; after removal of duplicates, 396 remained. We found no RCTs comparing routine versus selective thoracoabdominal CT in blunt high-energy trauma patients. We excluded 381 studies based on the abstracts of the publications because of irrelevance to the review topic, and a further 15 studies after full-text evaluation.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
We found no RCTs of routine versus selective thoracoabdominal CT in patients with blunt high-energy trauma. Based on the lack of evidence from RCTs, it is not possible to say which approach is better in reducing deaths.


The wireless local area network is a flexible data communications system implemented as an extension to, a wired LAN. Using radio frequency technology, wireless LANs transmit and receive data over the air, minimizing the need for wired connections. Thus, wireless LANs combine data connectivity with user mobility. Quality of service (Qos) is major research issue in the development of wireless LAN. So Qos need to be improved as the advancements in wireless technology goes on In this paper, effects of various access mechanisms on the performance of WLAN have been analyzed and compared using network simulators. The network simulators provide an ease in estimating the performance of networks. Among the various network simulators available, OPNET gains an edge in analyzing the performance of the networks through simulations. The metrics like throughput, delay and retransmission attempts have been used for performance analysis of the wireless computer networks using simulation through OPNET Modeler 14.0(1)


We present a method for constructing almost-everywhere curvature-continuous, piecewise-quadratic curves that interpolate a list of control points and have local maxima of curvature only at the control points. Our premise is that salient features of the curve should occur only at control points to avoid the creation of features unintended by the artist. While many artists prefer to use interpolated control points, the creation of artifacts, such as loops and cusps, away from control points has limited the use of these types of curves. By enforcing the maximum curvature property, loops and cusps cannot be created unless the artist intends for them to be. To create such curves, we focus on piecewise quadratic curves, which can have only one maximum curvature point. We provide a simple, iterative optimization that creates quadratic curves, one per interior control point, that meet with G2 continuity everywhere except at inflection points of the curve where the curves are G1. Despite the nonlinear nature of curvature, our curves only obtain local maxima of the absolute value of curvature only at interpolated control points.


We have incorporated technology in many of our everyday activities like working, socialising, eating and exercising. These technologies alter how we behave, and often do so quite deliberately in service of aspirations such as fitness or weight loss. Moreover, they frequently impinge upon the things that we think are important in our lives, our values; things like family, intimacy, privacy or the environment. A design methodology called Value Sensitive Design [68] aims to account for values in technology design. However, VSD often focusses on the level of technological artefacts [49,140] rather than the broader 'context of use' that a piece, or pieces, of technology might be deployed in. this limits the kind of values that it can consider, and the influence that artefacts have on the broader human activities in which they are embedded. To make it easier to consider values in contexts of use, it could be helpful to combine VSD with theories about how human activity is structured. One such theory, often used with HCI, is called Activity Theory [41,100]. However, values are not explicitly accounted for within Activity Theory, which complicate its applicability to VSD. In this thesis, I report on investigations in two domains; privacy, and wellbeing; both of which bring values and everyday behaviours together, Through these investigations, I identify ways that Activity Theory can account for the observed practices, propose ways in which values can be made explicit within Activity Theory, and consider some design implications that arise. In doing so, I contribute a theoretical account of human activity in which values are explicit, which may be used as a model for conducting VSD at a 'context of use' level.


The numerical modeling is carried out for research of major factors of load and physical-mechanical characteristics at impulse pressure processing of metals and alloys, in particular to impulse magnetic field (IMF), for decreasing a porosity arising in master schedules of manufacturing of parts. The full model of mechanics of a deformed solid in bivariate and axisymmetrical statement is used at a numerical modeling. Amplitude and valid time of impulsive load are major factors, which influence closing of fractures of pores. A fractional porosity and dynamic yield strength of metal or alloy determine the amplitude of load. The momentum of pressure in a zone of a pore (I/sub /spl Pi//) is the characteristic of process of closing of fractures of pores irrespective of a way of pulse processing. The momentum of pressure in a zone of a pore has extreme value. The maximum rating of value I/sub /spl Pi// meets to minimum load indispensable for the achievement of full closing of the fractures of pores. Thus, this property can be used for statement of problems of optimization. With the help of numerical calculations and the optimizations for an impulse forming of metals and alloys, in particular by pressure of IMP, the nomographs of definition of demanded technological modes taking into account properties of metals and alloys and parameters of processing can be executed.


We studied the effect of disorder on the superconducting properties of polycrystalline MgB2 by specific-heat measurements. In the pristine state, these measurements give a bulk confirmation of the presence of two superconducting gaps with 2Δ0/kBTc = 1.3 and 3.9 with nearly equal weights. The scattering introduced by irradiation suppresses Tc and tends to average the two gaps although less than predicted by theory. We also found that by a suitable irradiation process by fast neutrons, a substantial bulk increase of dHc2/dT at Tc can be obtained without sacrificing more than a few degrees in Tc. The upper critical field of the sample after irradiation exceeds 28 T at T → 0.


Low-precision computation, which has been widely supported in contemporary hardware, is considered as one of the most effective methods to accelerate convolutional neural networks. However, low-precision computation is not widely used to speed up Winograd, an algorithm for fast convolution computation, due to the numerical error introduced by combining Winograd transformation and quantization. In this paper, we propose a low-precision Winograd convolution approach, LoWino, based on post-training quantization, which employs a linear quantization method in the Winograd domain to reduce the precision loss caused by transformations. Moreover, we present an efficient implementation that integrates well-designed optimization techniques, thereby adequately exploiting the capability of low-precision computation on modern CPUs. We evaluate our approach on Intel Xeon Scalable Processors by leveraging representative convolutional layers in prevailing deep neural networks. Experimental results show that LoWino achieves up to 2.04 × speedup over state-of-the-art implementations in the vendor library while maintaining the accuracy at a reasonable level.


This case report of a young man with a testicular germ cell-teratoma tumor illustrates the necessity of a multidisciplinary sequential approach to ensure chance of cure. The outcome of patients with advanced germ cell tumor depends on the optimal clinical management. Residual masses are frequent, and their histology can be different than the initial one (i.e., only residual mature teratoma cells or necrosis-fibrosis). Therefore a second surgery on residual masses with curative intent, may be important to optimalize the treatment and follow up.


This paper focuses on current aspects of the lexicography of two minority languages in Scotland, Scottish Gaelic and Scots, and looks at two projects at either end of the lexicographical spectrum: Faclair na Gàidhlig, an on-line full historical dictionary of Gaelic and the new edition of the Concise Scots Dictionary (CSD, 1985), a one-volume derived dictionary of Scots. A brief outline of the history of both languages is given. Each in turn was the dominant language in Scotland until both were replaced by English. The paper looks at how Scotland's minority languages have benefited from the skills of the Scots who contributed to English lexicography. Sir James Murray, first Editor of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), pioneered the application of historical principles to English lexicography and his colleague, Sir William Craigie, applied those same principles to the Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (DOST) which covers the Scots language from the 12 century to 1700. These skills are now being transferred into Scottish Gaelic. Faclair na Gàidhlig will be an on-line historical dictionary of Gaelic compiled on similar principles to OED and DOST. The major challenge in establishing a project of this magnitude is to create a lexicographical tradition as effectively and efficiently as possible. The paper outlines the approach adopted. A draft noun entry is examined with discussion of entry structure and organisation. Scots is equipped with two historical dictionaries, DOST and its modern counterpart the Scottish National Dictionary (SND). CSD is a one-volume distillation of these works. The second edition will use a more user-friendly structure and update coverage to the 21 century. Sample entries are examined. Scottish lexicography will continue to build on its historical tradition providing Gaelic and Scots with resources comparable to English.


The structure and evolution of the pre-Alpine basement of Europe have been recently subject of active research. The results of this research clarified many of the features of the periGondwanan elements in this basement. Several advantages characterize the pre-Early Palaeozoic basement in the considered here region compared to that of alpine Europe. Most of ese advantages are related to the lesser degree of reworking of the analysed basement during e Variscan and Alpine tectogenesis. Both terranes treated are the basement of the Balkan terrane (Haydoutov, Yanev, 1997) and e eastern part of the Rhodope Massif.


Introduction. The Modified Early Warning Score (MEWS) is a tool for estimating risk of death or poor outcome in the Emergency Department (ED). It is a 0-14 point score based on initial physiological observations including heart rate, respiratory rate, systolic blood pressure, temperature and level of consciousness. In Acute medical patients, a score > 4 has been found to be associated with increased risk of death. The score is being widely adopted for use as a risk stratification tool for patients admitted through EDs and in Acute Medical Assessment Units and has been used in stroke patients but has not been validated for acute stroke. We applied the score to a population of acute stroke patients admitted through ED to determine its utility. Methods. Records on consecutive patients admitted through ED to an acute stroke service of an inner city university teaching hospital over 8 months were identified and MEWS calculated for each. Patients dying within 6 months or with a prolonged hospital stay (>42 days) were identified. Results. 132 subjects (Mean age 71, 59% male) were admitted to the service, 122 were admitted through ED. Median MEWS was 1 (range 0-4) and 18 (17%) died within 6 months. Subjects with a MEWS>2 were significantly more likely to die (10/91 vs 10/31 p=0.006 Chi square. O.R. 3.9 (1.4-10.5)) and those who survived more likely to have a prolonged length of stay (21/81 vs 11/21 p=0.02. Chi square. O.R 3.1 (1.2-8.5)). As a tool for identifying those with acute stroke risk of dying the MEWS performed only moderately well (PPV 0.5, NPV 0.68). Conclusion. As part of a screening test for stroke patients a MEWS>2 at ED admission is associated with worse outcome however it is neither sensitive or specific enough to be used in isolation as a means of triaging stroke patients into risk categories.


Monitoring systems based on fiber optic technology have proved to exhibit meaningful benefits when compared with the current solutions of an electricnature. A novel low cost sensing system for measuring temperature, strain and pressure based on practical fiber Bragg grating (FBG) to be embedded into concrete is given in this paper. At the same time, the main principles of multi-parameter are introduced. The wavelength scanning demodulation system based on continuous wave tunable frequency is designed. The practical FBG sensors have been successfully used in monitoring cable-stayed bridge's health monitoring. The system's conception, the adopted sensors network architecture, and the practical installation of a monitoring system based on FBG sensors are discussed. The experimental results indicate that practical FBG sensors can monitor the structure parameters for a long time, as well as have higher stability.


AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
This systematic review explores the nursing role in the management of poststroke depression and identifies effective non-pharmacological interventions that nurses can use in the daily care of patients with stroke.

BACKGROUND
Depression is a common complication poststroke and affects one-third of patients with stroke. It has a negative impact on functional recovery and social activities and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Detection and diagnosis of poststroke depression is inconsistent, and many depressed patients are under-treated. Although nurses recognise that observation and assessment are parts of their role in rehabilitation care, little is known about their role in assessing depression or the interventions they can use.

DESIGN
A systematic review was conducted using the Cochrane method.

METHODS
Literature for the period 1993-2008 was searched in the electronic databases of CINAHL, Medline (PubMed), Nursing Journals (PubMed) and PsycINFO using the following keywords: cerebrovascular accident, stroke, depression, poststroke depression, treatment, therapy, treatment outcome, management.

RESULTS
Fifteen articles and one systematic review were identified. There was strong evidence that information provision reduces the severity of depression. Other interventions with positive effects on the occurrence or severity of poststroke depression were as follows: life review therapy, motivational interviewing, a specific nursing support programme and physical exercise.

CONCLUSION
Depression after stroke is an important problem with adverse effects on the patient's ability to participate in rehabilitation and on rehabilitation outcome. The interventions described can be implemented in nursing care of patients with poststroke depression. The variety of such interventions and the diversity of their nature and design are consistent with the practice of rehabilitation nursing.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE
  The findings of this review enable nurses to intervene effectively to reduce the occurrence and severity of depression in patients with stroke.


Four isomeric products were isolated and purified from the reaction of 1,3-propanediol with the tetra-spirane cyclophosphazene-organophosphate compound ( 1 ): viz . the di-monospiro ( 2a ), di-monoansa ( 2b ) and two monospiro-monoansa derivatives ( 2c ) and ( 2d ). It is shown by 31 P NMR spectroscopy on addition of a chiral solvating agent (CSA) that both the di-monospiro ( 2a ) and di-monoansa ( 2b ) derivatives are racemates, as expected, whereas no splitting of NMR signals occurred on addition of CSA to solutions of ( 2c ) and ( 2d ). It is found by X-ray crystallography that the two monospiro-monoansa spirane derivatives, ( 2c ) and ( 2d ), are meso diastereoisomers, which represent a new case of the stereochemistry of bis di-substituted cyclophosphazene derivatives of ( 1 ). It is also observed from the 31 P NMR spectrum of the reaction mixture, supported by the yields of pure compounds, that formation of a spiro group is about 4.5 times more likely than that of an ansa moiety under the conditions of the reaction.


The calpain system has been identified as a potential candidate in muscle growth and development due to its role in a variety of cellular processes such as cytoskeletal remodeling and myogenesis. The objective of this study was to evaluate growth and development of skeletal muscle in μ‐calpain knockout mice (KO) compared to wild type C57/BL6 mice (WT). At 3, 5, 10, 20 and 30 weeks of age WT and KO mice (n=6) were sacrificed and extensor digitorum longus (EDL), tibialis anterior (TA), quadriceps, gastrocnemius and soleus muscles were quantitatively dissected. Body composition was evaluated by proximal analysis on WT and KO mice (n = 6) for each age group. Muscle weights and total RNA, DNA and protein were unaffected by genotype. At 30 weeks there was an increased potential for protein synthesis and muscle hypertrophy in the KO mice as indicated by the increased protein:DNA (P = 0.0349) and RNA:DNA (P = 0.016). This is reflected in the body composition analysis, which showed KO mice had increased protein content at the expense of lipid content at 30 weeks (P = 0.0102). These data suggests the calpain system is involved in muscle growth and appears to be involved in muscle wasting at 30 weeks of age.


We consider a manufacturer without any frozen periods in production schedules so that it can dynamically update the schedules as the demand forecast evolves over time until the realization of actual demand. The manufacturer has a fixed production capacity in each production period, which impacts the time to start production as well as the production schedules. We develop a dynamic optimization model to analyze the optimal production schedules under capacity constraint and demand-forecast updating. To model the evolution of demand forecasts, we use both additive and multiplicative versions of the martingale model of forecast evolution. We first derive expressions for the optimal base stock levels for a single-product model. We find that manufacturers located near their market bases can realize most of their potential profits (i.e., profit made when the capacity is unlimited) by building a very limited amount of capacity. For moderate demand uncertainty, we also show that it is almost impossible for manufacturers to compensate for the increase in supply-demand mismatches resulting from long delivery lead times by increasing capacity, making lead-time reduction a better alternative than capacity expansion. We then extend the model to a multi-product case and derive expressions for the optimal production quantities for each product given a shared capacity constraint. Using a two-product model, we show that the manufacturer should utilize its capacity more in earlier periods when the demand for both products is more positively correlated.


Bumble bees (Bombus Latreille) occupy a wide diversity of habitats, from alpine meadows to lowland tropical forest, yet they appear to be similar in morphology throughout their range, suggesting that behavioural adaptations play a more important role in colonizing diverse habitats. Notwithstanding their structural homogeneity, bumble bees exhibit striking inter- and intraspecific variation in colour pattern, purportedly the outcome of mimetic evolution. A robust phylogeny of Bombus would provide the framework for elucidating the history of their wide biogeographical distribution and the evolution of behavioural and morphological adaptations, including colour pattern. However, morphological studies of bumble bees have discovered too few phylogenetically informative characters to reconstruct a robust phylogeny. Using DNA sequence data, we report the first nearly complete species phylogeny of bumble bees, including most of the 250 known species from the 38 currently recognized subgenera. Bayesian analysis of nuclear (opsin, EF-1α, arginine kinase, PEPCK) and mitochondrial (16S) sequences results in a highly resolved and strongly supported phylogeny from base to tips, with clear-cut support for monophyly of most of the conventional morphology-based subgenera. Most subgenera fall into two distinct clades (short-faced and long-faced) associated broadly with differences in head morphology. Within the short-faced clade is a diverse New World clade, which includes nearly one-quarter of the currently recognized subgenera, many of which are restricted to higher elevations of Central and South America. The comprehensive phylogeny provides a firm foundation for reclassification and for evaluating character evolution in the bumble bees. © 2007 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2007, 91, 161–188.


An ultrasonic method for measuring shear wave (SW) propagation properties in soft tissues was investigated for viscoelasticity characterization. A continuous SW was induced into a specimen by an external vibration source. The displacements within the specimen due to the SW propagation were measured by a speckle-echo tracking method using a conventional B-mode scan of focused ultrasound. SW velocity and absorption coefficient of the specimen were retrieved from the measured SW waveforms with the compensation of the SW diffraction. The effect of positioning error of the ultrasound probe on the diffraction calculation was studied by numerical simulations. It was shown that the estimation error of the SW absorption could be reduced by selecting an appropriate SW measurement region where the diffraction estimation precision is less sensitive to the positioning error of the probe. Finally, the shear elasticity and viscosity of a soft tissue mimicking phantom were estimated.


The article aims at providing an analysis of the peculiarities of book publishing in national languages in Western and Soviet Belarus within the context of political events during the period of 1921–1939. Statistical and source analysis methods have been used to analyse linguistic situation in the fields of education (schools) and publishing. Such analysis makes it possible to more comprehensively understand the situation in question, defining the need for books in various ethnic groups and describing the particularities of book publishing policy in Belarus SSR and West Belarus, which was part of the Polish state. According to statistical data, ethnic composition of the population both in Belarus SSR and Western Belarus, with the majority being Belarussians, Poles, Jews and Russians, was similar in 1920–1930. The article seeks to compare the policy of education in ethnic languages; qualitative data of national Belarus, Jewish, Ukrainian, Lithuanian and other ethnic schools in BSSR and Western Belarus as well as the changes in their development. A more comprehensive analysis is provided on the statistical data about Belarus schools and book publishing in Western Belarus. Starting with the 30-ties of the 20th century, the education policy with regard to ethnic groups in BSSR was becoming more restricted; schools gradually shifted to instruction in the Russian language. Russian gained dominance in book publishing as well. The period of 1921–1929 was the most favourable for satisfying the needs of ethnic minorities both in Belarus SSR and Western Belarus. During the above mentioned period, ethnically engaged literature, including the ethnic literature for schools, belles-letters and informational literature was prevailing in BSSR. Thus, in 1925–1926, publishing of literature in the Belarus language accounted for 68 percent, in Jewish – 15 percent, in Russian – 10 percent, in Polish – 5 percent, in Lithuanian – 2 percent, of all the volumes of publishing, in both parts of Belarus, respectively. However, at a later time, publishing in Russian started to grow increasingly. During the period of 1932–1939, publishing in the Russian language increased even by 27 times. Such changes were aimed at implementing the policy of sovietisation and denationalization. In Western Belarus, the main channel of spreading the Belarussian word was the periodical press. The development of the Belorussian book both in BSSR and Western Belarus was directly dependent on the political policy. Books in the ethnic languages can be defined as a tool of political propaganda. At the same time, publications in the native ethnic languages helped national minorities maintain their ethnic and cultural identity and resist assimilation attempts.


Quality reporting that relies on coded administrative data alone may not completely and accurately depict providers' performance. To assess this concern with a test case, we developed and evaluated a natural language processing (NLP) approach to identify falls risk screenings documented in clinical notes of patients without coded falls risk screening data. Extracting information from 1,558 clinical notes (mainly progress notes) from 144 eligible patients, we generated a lexicon of 38 keywords relevant to falls risk screening, 26 terms for pre-negation, and 35 terms for post-negation. The NLP algorithm identified 62 (out of the 144) patients who falls risk screening documented only in clinical notes and not coded. Manual review confirmed 59 patients as true positives and 77 patients as true negatives. Our NLP approach scored 0.92 for precision, 0.95 for recall, and 0.93 for F-measure. These results support the concept of utilizing NLP to enhance healthcare quality reporting.


Following a comparative study on shape morphing and
adaptive systems to improve rotorcraft efficiency, the
Green Rotorcraft consortium has selected the Gurney
flap technology as demonstrator of a smart adaptive
rotorblade within the Clean Sky Joint Technology Initiative
[1]. The aim of such a system is to actively
increase helicopter overall performance by improving
lift and alleviating static and dynamic stall on the retreating
side of the helicopter [2, 3]. The Gurney flap
technology will be subjected to various tests, prior to
manufacturing a full-scale demonstrator. Along with
wind tunnel and whirl tower tests on full blade sections,
a reduced-scale blade is required to be tested
on a rotary support in a wind tunnel. The aim is to
have a fully operational mechanism in a 1/8th-scale
blade. A specific system needs to be designed for this
smaller model blade. The specifications for the model
blade mechanism are more challenging compared to
the full model blade. The blade tip speed must remain
the same between the two blades. Therefore, the model
blade rotation speed and centrifugal loads greatly increase.
Piezoelectric patch actuators combined with
flexible beams are chosen to design a fast and robust
mechanism, which would fit inside the model blade and
support the large centrifugal loads. A mechanism is
modeled using Finite Element Analysis tools and its geometry
is optimised using a surrogate optimisation to
maximise displacement and force. The optimised geometry
has a Z-shape profile and maximise displacement
and force. The force generated is sufficient to
counter directly the force of the airflow on the flap.
However, the displacement and the mechanical work
are not large enough to deploy directly the Gurney flap
as a conventional flap. The deployment time remains
insufficient as well. Building on these results, refined
geometries are under investigation using the same optimisation
process.


Glycogen-free synthase I from human polymorphonuclear leukocytes is activated by its own substrate, glycogen, in a slow, time-dependent process (hysteretic activation). This lag in response to addition of glycogen depends on the concentration of glycogen, pH and temperature. At pH 7.4 and at a temperature of 30 degrees C, the half-time of activation t 1/2 decreases from 89 min at 0.004 mg/ml glycogen to 6 min at 25 mg/ml. The activation is accelerated by increasing temperature and pH, but is not influenced by enzyme concentration, glucose 6-phosphate, UDP, high ionic strength, EDTA, mercaptoethanol, glucose, sucrose or amylase limit dextrin. The Km for UDP-glucose (0.024 mM) and the activity ratio were unchanged during the activation process. The activation can be described by vt = vf + (vo - vf) e-kt where vt, vf and vo are velocities at times t, O and infinity and k is a complex rate constant. Evidence from ultracentrifugation and kinetic studies is presented to substantiate the hypothesis that the underlying mechanism is a simple biolecular process: enzyme + glycogen in equilibrium enzyme-glycogen complex, with the dissociation constant Ks = 0.003 mg/ml. The hysteretic activation may become rate-limiting during experiments in vitro with synthase. The possibility of a physiological role in glycogen metabolism, perhaps in the form of a concerted hysteresis with H+ is discussed.


Abstract. The production and use of plastics increases rapidly as they are widely used in packaging, construction materials, furniture, foils, etc. As a consequence of their widespread use and often disposable character, vast streams of plastic wastes are continuously generated, a considerable fraction of which are combusted in households worldwide. In this paper, various types of commonly used plastics (PE, PET, PP, PU, PVC, PS, ABS), as well as treated wood samples (LDF) and firewood were combusted separately in a test stove under controlled conditions. The particulates emitted during the combustion test were collected on filters, and potential tracers for each waste type were identified by GC-MS, and their relative abundances were determined. The emission factor of 1,3,5-triphenylbenzene was found to be higher for polymers containing aromatic rings in their structure. The application of terphenyls and quarterphenyls as tracer compounds has also been investigated. The trimer of styrene was found to be a potential tracer for the combustion of polystyrene and/or styrene containing copolymers. Novel tracers were proposed for the burning of PET and furniture plates (LDF), which are among the most widely used waste types burned in households.


Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) persistently infected (PI) calves represent significant sources of infection to susceptible cattle. The objectives of this study were to determine if PI calves transmitted infection to vaccinated and unvaccinated calves, to determine if BVDV vaccine strains could be differentiated from the PI field strains by subtyping molecular techniques, and if there were different rates of recovery from peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL) versus serums for acutely infected calves. Calves PI with BVDV1b were placed in pens with nonvaccinated and vaccinated calves for 35 d. Peripheral blood leukocytes, serums, and nasal swabs were collected for viral isolation and serology. In addition, transmission of Bovine herpes virus 1 (BHV-1), Parainfluenza-3 virus (PI-3V), and Bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) was monitored during the 35 d observation period. Bovine viral diarrhea virus subtype 1b was transmitted to both vaccinated and nonvaccinated calves, including BVDV1b seronegative and seropositive calves, after exposure to PI calves. There was evidence of transmission by viral isolation from PBL, nasal swabs, or both, and seroconversions to BVDV1b. For the unvaccinated calves, 83.2% seroconverted to BVDV1b. The high level of transmission by PI calves is illustrated by seroconversion rates of nonvaccinated calves in individual pens: 70% to 100% seroconversion to the BVDV1b. Bovine viral diarrhea virus was isolated from 45 out of 202 calves in this study. These included BVDV1b in ranch and order buyer (OB) calves, plus BVDV strains identified as vaccinal strains that were in modified live virus (MLV) vaccines given to half the OB calves 3 d prior to the study. The BVDV1b isolates in exposed calves were detected between collection days 7 and 21 after exposure to PI calves. Bovine viral diarrhea virus was recovered more frequently from PBL than serum in acutely infected calves. Bovine viral diarrhea virus was also isolated from the lungs of 2 of 7 calves that were dying with pulmonary lesions. Two of the calves dying with pneumonic lesions in the study had been BVDV1b viremic prior to death. Bovine viral diarrhea virus 1b was isolated from both calves that received the killed or MLV vaccines. There were cytopathic (CP) strains isolated from MLV vaccinated calves during the same time frame as the BVDV1b isolations. These viruses were typed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and genetic sequencing, and most CP were confirmed as vaccinal origin. A BVDV2 NCP strain was found in only 1 OB calf, on multiple collections, and the calf seroconverted to BVDV2. This virus was not identical to the BVDV2 CP 296 vaccine strain. The use of subtyping is required to differentiate vaccinal strains from the field strains. This study detected 2 different vaccine strains, the BVDV1b in PI calves and infected contact calves, and a heterologous BVDV2 subtype brought in as an acutely infected calf. The MLV vaccination, with BVDV1a and BVDV2 components, administered 3 d prior to exposure to PI calves did not protect 100% against BVDV1b viremias or nasal shedding. There were other agents associated with the bovine respiratory disease signs and lesions in this study including Mannheimia haemolytica, Mycoplasma spp., PI-3V, BRSV, and BHV-1.


This study aims to identify the fundamentals that drive the academic tutorship of the Mais Médicos para o Brasil (More Doctors for Brazil) project in Santa Catarina, based on the unit of analysis entitled values achieved. It is an exploratory and comprehensive study carried out in 2015, with tutors of the State of Santa Catarina, decentralized reference professionals of the Education and Health Ministries, and key reference professionals of the Education Ministry. Focus groups were used as the instrument for collection of data, through semi-structured interview. Based on the category Emergency care as a force of innovation in the Mais Médicos Program, the analysis was conducted from an ethical-political approach. Three fundamentals emerged: 'Putting out fires', 'Qualification of the Project', and 'the procedural point of view'. It was concluded that academic tutorship of the productive activities of doctors in emergency care is not an isolated pedagogical approach, since it is a part and a consequence of the historic development of the theory and of the practice. The activity corresponds, dialectically, to movements of rupture, resistance, emancipation and also requires collective reflection about the values chosen and achieved in the acts of decision.


In this paper, we model the production and acceleration of thermal runaway electrons during negative corona flash stages of stepping lightning leaders and the corresponding terrestrial gamma ray flashes (TGFs) or negative cloud‐to‐ground (−CG) lightning‐produced X‐ray bursts in a unified fashion. We show how the source photon spectrum and fluence depend on the potential drop formed in the lightning leader tip region during corona flash and how the X‐ray burst spectrum progressively converges toward typical TGF spectrum as the potential drop increases. Additionally, we show that the number of streamers produced in a negative corona flash, the source electron energy distribution function, the corresponding number of photons, and the photon energy distribution and transport through the atmosphere up to low‐orbit satellite altitudes exhibit a very strong dependence on this potential drop. This leads to a threshold effect causing X‐rays produced by leaders with potentials lower than those producing typical TGFs extremely unlikely to be detected by low‐orbit satellites. Moreover, from the number of photons in X‐ray bursts produced by −CGs estimated from ground observations, we show that the proportionality between the number of thermal runaway electrons and the square of the potential drop in the leader tip region during negative corona flash proposed earlier leads to typical photon fluences on the order of 1 ph/cm2 at an altitude of 500 km and a radial distance of 200 km for intracloud lightning discharges producing 300 MV potential drops, which is consistent with observations of TGF fluences and spectra from satellites.


It is widely accepted that angiogenesis is required for tumor progression. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a key molecule for tumor angiogenesis; however, its expressional regulation is not well understood during all stages of tumorigenesis. Using cell lines and surgical specimens of human non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs), we here show that platelet-derived growth factor-AA (PDGF-AA) is an essential autocrine regulator for VEGF expression. To directly assess the expression of PDGF-AA-dependent VEGF and its roles in tumorigenesis, we stably transfected established cell lines with their antisense genes. In addition, the levels of PDGF-AA and VEGF expression in surgical sections were measured and compared with clinicopathologic findings such as tumor size and patient prognosis. PDGF-AA tightly regulated VEGF expression and had a greater effect on tumor size and patient prognosis than did VEGF in both cell lines and surgical sections. PDGF-AA expression was not seen in the atypical adenomatous hyperplasia at all, whereas VEGF was occasionally seen. Furthermore, the frequency of VEGF expression was higher in advanced NSCLCs than in precancerous lesions, which was tightly correspondent to the results for PDGF-AA. These results indicate that PDGF-AA is an important regulator of the frequency and level of VEGF expression during the transition from a precancerous lesion to advanced cancer. The PDGF-AA/VEGF axis, therefore, may be a ubiquitous autocrine system for enhancing angiogenic signals, and PDGF-AA, and its related pathways could be a more efficient target of antiangiogenic therapy for cancers than VEGF and its pathways.


Severe muscle weakness in osteomalacia may mimic a primary neuromuscular disorder like spinal muscular atrophy. A 32-year-old woman, initially diagnosed as a case of spinal muscular atrophy based on clinical presentation, electromyography and muscle biopsy, was later found to have osteomalacic myopathy due to primary hyperparathyroidism complicated by vitamin D deficiency. Before diagnosing a progressive, inevitably fatal degenerative condition like spinal muscular atrophy, one must rule out all possible treatable conditions with a similar presentation.


BACKGROUND
Proteinuria is an indicator of renal disease. Measurement of protein excretion is important for diagnosis and follow-up of renal disease, but measuring 24-hour protein excretion is a cumbersome procedure.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
A simplified validated method for measuring excretion is obtained by measuring urine protein/creatinine concentration in a spot urine sample.

RESULTS
We have implemented such ratios for clinical routine measurements of proteinuria at Rikshospitalet University Hospital in Oslo. Whenever protein or albumin in urine is requested, the laboratory also measures urine creatinine and reports the ratio in mg protein/mmol creatinine. 24-hour excretion is approximately 10 times the ratio. The rationale for using the ratio is given and proteinuria pathophysiology and potential risks and treatment options are discussed.

INTERPRETATION
Our experience is that use of the urine protein/creatinine ratio is a significant improvement. Measurements are now routinely made whereas quantification was rarely performed when 24-hour urine samples were used. We recommend that physicians and laboratories implement the use of this ratio in their daily routines.


Approximately 20% of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) patients have (borderline) resectable pancreatic cancer [(B)RPC] at diagnosis. Upfront resection with adjuvant chemotherapy has long been the standard of care for these patients. However, although surgical quality has improved, still about 50% of patients never receive adjuvant treatment. Therefore, recent developments have focused on a neoadjuvant approach. Directly comparing results from neoadjuvant and adjuvant regimens is challenging due to differences in patient populations that influence outcomes. Neoadjuvant trials include all patients who have (B)RPC on imaging, while adjuvant-only trials include patients who underwent a complete resection and recovered to a good performance status without any evidence of residual disease. Guidelines recommend neoadjuvant treatment for BRPC patients mainly to improve negative resection margin (R0) rates. For resectable PDAC, upfront resection is still considered the standard of care. However, theoretical advantages of neoadjuvant treatment, including the increased R0 resection rate, early delivery of systemic therapy to all patients, directly addressing occult metastatic disease, and improved patient selection for resection, may also apply to these patients. A systematic review by intention-to-treat showed a superior median overall survival (OS) for any neoadjuvant approach (19 months) compared to upfront surgery (15 months) in (B)RPC patients. A neoadjuvant approach was recently supported by three randomized controlled trials (RCTs). For resectable PDAC, neoadjuvant treatment was superior in a Japanese RCT of neoadjuvant gemcitabine with S-1 vs. upfront surgery, with adjuvant S-1 in both arms (median OS: 37 vs. 27 months, p = 0.015). A Korean trial of neoadjuvant gemcitabine-based chemoradiotherapy vs. upfront resection in BRPC patients was terminated early due to superiority of the neoadjuvant group (median OS: 21 vs. 12 months, p = 0.028; R0 resection: 52 vs. 26%, p = 0.004). The PREOPANC-1 trial for (B)RPC patients also showed favorable outcome for neoadjuvant gemcitabine-based chemoradiotherapy vs. upfront surgery (median OS: 17 vs. 14 months, p = 0.07; R0 resection: 63 vs. 31%, p < 0.001). FOLFIRINOX is likely a better neoadjuvant regimen, because of superiority compared to gemcitabine in both the metastatic and adjuvant setting. Currently, five RCTs evaluating neoadjuvant modified or fulldose FOLFIRINOX are accruing patients.


Pertussis is currently considered an important public health problem in developed countries. In most of these countries, mass immunization for pertussis was initiated in the 1950s and was followed by a marked decrease in disease incidence. In the 1970s, pertussis was apparently under control in countries were vaccine coverage was maintained high. However, in the last two decades of the 20th century, the number of reported cases increased in all age groups, including adolescents and adults, indicating resurgence of the disease. This brief note aims to present the possible reasons for resurgence of this disease and to discuss the prospects of its future dynamics in Brazil. There has been no evidence to date for the resurgence of pertussis in Brazil. However, since mass immunization in Brazil began only in the 1980s, one cannot rule out the possibility that pertussis will resurge in the near future. Therefore, it is important that public health services closely monitor the epidemiological situation of pertussis in order, if necessary, to rapidly update the current immunization strategy.


The accurate and efficient tracing of streamlines is fundamental to any streamline-based simulation method. For grids with irregular cell geometries, such as corner-point grids with faults or Voronoidiagram (pebi) grids, most efforts to trace streamlines have been focused on subdividing irregular cells into sets of simpler subcells, typically hexahedra or simplices. Then one proceeds by reconstructing the velocity field on, and tracing through, the sets by a more basic algorithm. One such basic algorithm applies to incompressible flow on simplices. In that case there is a cell-wise constant velocity that is consistent with given face fluxes, as long as those face fluxes sum to zero for the cell. We give an efficient and simple formulation of this algorithm using barycentric coordinates. Another approach to irregular cell tracing is computing the streamline directly on the complex cell geometry. We give a new method based on generalized barycentric coordinates for direct tracing on arbitrary convex polygons, which generalizes the corner velocity interpolation method of Haegland et al (2007). The method generalizes to convex polytopes in 3D, with a restriction on the polytope topology near corners that is shown to be satisfied by several popular grid types.


Romano-Ward syndrome is a subtype of prolonged QT syndrome with autosomal dominant inheritance. Stress-induced syncope and sudden death are secondary to ventricular tachydysrhythmias. A case report of Romano-Ward syndrome complicating pregnancy is presented. Successful therapy with propranolol for life-threatening dysrhythmias was achieved. An excellent neonatal outcome occurred.


In times of rising antibiotic resistances, there is a high need for fast, sensitive and specific methods to determine antibiotic susceptibilities of bacterial pathogens. Here, we present an integrated microfluidic device in which bacteria from diluted suspensions are captured in well‐defined regions using on‐chip dielectrophoresis and further analyzed in a label‐free and non‐destructive manner using Raman spectroscopy. Minimal sample preparation and automated sample processing ensure safe handling of infectious material with minimal hands‐on time for the operator. Clinical applicability of the presented device is demonstrated by antibiotic susceptibility testing of Escherichia coli towards the commonly prescribed second generation fluoroquinolone ciprofloxacin. Ciprofloxacin resistant E. coli were differentiated from sensitive E. coli with high accuracy within roughly three hours total analysis time paving the way for future point‐of‐care devices. Spectral changes leading to the discrimination between sensitive and resistant bacteria are in excellent agreement with expected metabolic changes in the bacteria due to the mode of action of the drug. The robustness of the method was confirmed with experiments involving different chip devices with different designs, both electrode as well as microfluidics design, and material. Furthermore, general applicability was demonstrated with different operators over an extended time period of half a year.


Atrial fibrillation (AF) is an emerging epidemic of cardiovascular disease (CVD), being responsible for approximately 1% of the National Health Service budget of the United Kingdom.1 AF is linked to both increased morbidity (eg from ischaemic stroke, heart failure and dementia) and mortality.2 Consequently, the quest to elucidate the complexities of AF pathogenesis and perpetuation continues at a great pace, in the hope of developing future novel and effective therapeutic strategies.

Increasing attention has focused on the potential factors that might be involved in both the triggering and the perpetuation of AF. Inflammation has been postulated as a predisposing factor for AF, as well as its complications, including thromboembolism.2 In the first study to identify a potential link between inflammation and AF, Frustaci et al 3 demonstrated evidence of focal myocarditis on left ventricular endocardial biopsies of three out of 14 patients with lone AF. The authors expanded on this initial work 6 years later by performing right atrial biopsies on 12 patients with lone AF, reporting that 67% of these showed evidence of right atrial myocarditis.4

In …


Women's empowerment is essential for socio-economic development as it is considered as one of the major factors for increasing worldwide development efforts. The influence of microfinance on women's empowerment is a debatable topic, as past studies have documented. Some researchers claim that microfinance facilitates women to increase their earning capacity, leading to greater control to tackle cultural irregularities. Others contend that their spouses mostly control micro-loans provided to women, causing severe demotion of women. In this paper, we examined the findings of past studies through word cloud analysis to determine the influence of microfinance on the decision-making power of women and their social empowerment. Among the 54 studies reviewed in this paper, most research studies were found to conclude positive associations between microfinance and women's empowerment. In several studies, results varied due to the measure of empowerment applied gender or socio-political differences. This study is one of its kind in that it evaluated past literature for assessing the relationship between microfinance and women's empowerment.


Information is needed to characterize soybean [ (L.) Merr.] plant responses where cultural practices and environmental conditions are maintained at a level conducive to high yield. Field studies were conducted in 1985 and 1986 to determine the effect of row spacing and plant population on seed yield and yield components of soybean. Two determinate Maturity Group V cultivars, Essex and Deltapine 105, were grown at three row spacings of 25, 51, and 76 cm and three plant populations of 260 200, 390 400, and 520 400 plants ha. Seed yield was significantly higher in narrow rows (25 and 51 cm) than in the wide rows (76 cm) with the 25-cm row spacing averaging 10% higher than the 76-cm row spacing (3740 vs. 3361 kg ha). There was a row spacing × cultivar interaction due mainly to a greater reduction in seed yield of Essex than Deltapine 105 as row width increased. Weight of aerial plant parts during the mid seed-fill growth period (R5) increased with decreasing row spacings. Plant number in plots with 76-cm row spacing decreased approximately 23% between planting and harvest whereas, the plant number in 51- and 25-cm row spacings decreased only 7 and 3% respectively during the growing season. Seed yield per plant was most uniform at the 25-cm row spacing and became more variable as row width increased


BACKGROUND A major goal in Norwegian health politics is that all patients should have equal access to health services irrespective of where they live. Different access to health services may affect prognosis. Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among Norwegian women. In this article we analyse breast cancer survival by Norwegian county. MATERIAL AND METHODS Population-based study including all Norwegian women diagnosed with breast cancer between 1985 and 2004. Breast cancer survival was analysed by county using Cox proportional hazards models. RESULTS 41,833 women with breast cancer were included in the study. After a median follow-up time of 5.8 years, 16,494 (39.4 %) women died; 9953 (60.3 %) of them of breast cancer. Five-year breast cancer specific survival varied from 74.1 to 80.6 % in the different counties. Age-adjusted analyses that excluded women invited to mammography screening, showed a 20 % difference in breast cancer survival (HR 0.80; 95 %KI 0.72-0.90; p < 0.001) between the counties. For women diagnosed with tumours in stage two, the difference was 45 %. Treatment varied between counties, but the treatment trends were similar in the different counties during the study period. INTERPRETATION There is a significant difference in breast cancer survival between Norwegian counties. Possible explanations may be differences in offering of mammography screening, diagnostics and treatment.


Although rates of Covid-19 infection are lower for older adults, the mortality rates are higher than all other ages. While the health challenges are evident, the mental health effects of the pandemic are less evident. The term "compassionate ageism" has been used to describe protection of all older adults as vulnerable groups, however it overlooks individual factors that may mitigate risk and enhance mental health aspects of coping with the realities of the pandemic. Isolation and separation from families and once enjoyed activities, whether residing in their own homes or long-term care facilities, has taken an immeasurable physical and mental health toll on older adults. Safety and security for mental health as well as physical health must be considered in any strategy to try mitigate the effects on the quality of life of older adults during this critical time in our history.


When the parameters are independently and identically distributed (initialized) neural networks exhibit undesirable properties that emerge as the number of layers increases, e.g. a vanishing dependency on the input and a concentration on restrictive families of functions including constant functions. We consider parameter distributions that shrink as the number of layers increases in order to recover well-behaved stochastic processes in the limit of infinite depth. This leads to set forth a link between infinitely deep residual networks and solutions to stochastic differential equations, i.e. diffusion processes. We show that these limiting processes do not suffer from the aforementioned issues and investigate their properties.


The 3D vehicle with the hydraulic braking system and disc brake with the wheel has been investigated. The dynamic models of the disk brake assembly and the wheel have been constructed. The automobile hydraulic braking system consisting of two contours is considered. . The mathematical model of the hydraulic braking system is presented, where the flow of liquid and the interaction of liquid with the rigid bodies are taken into account. The flow of fluid in a hydraulic system is described by a system of equations of a hyperbolic type, which is solved by a characteristics method. During the mathematical simulations and natural experimentations the following results were achieved. The systems of equations of dynamic models' motions are solved by numerical methods. The dynamic characteristics of the braking system of the automobile are obtained. The results of extreme braking tests and calculations are presented.


This paper describes further progress in the design of a low mass, biologically inspired nanorover suitable for Mars surface exploration and sample return missions. An advanced legged vehicle is presented, incorporating a hybrid DC motor and Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) actuation system to minimise mass and conserve power. Previous work demonstrated that an ultra low mass vehicle could be designed using composite materials. Innovations in this new design include hybrid lightweight DC motor / SMA technology for high power / mass ratio whilst minimising power use, and steps to achieve proportional control of both DC motors and SMA actuators, although work on this area continues in order to resolve problems with proportional control of SMA. Agility is improved using legs with increased angular displacement, which facilitates attitude control over steep and uneven landscapes and enables implementation of biologicallyinspired locomotion techniques such as crawling and sideways walking, and adding a third degree of freedom which allows the rover to display an extensive array of gait and pose options. System control applies embedded systems technology running a Linux operating system, force sensors are installed on each leg to provide feedback of terrain interaction for gait management purposes, and power storage capacity and efficiency are improved, enabling the vehicle to carry sufficient power reserves for meaningful excursion durations. The vehicle incorporates an innovative lightweight sample collection arm which uses two servo motors and two SMA actuators. This allows it to collect approximately 2cm 3 of sample. Mass is minimised by using a combination of aluminium and Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP). Total system mass is less than 1 kg, offering the opportunity for a swarm of rovers to form part of the overall Mars mission. These vehicles would take advantage of their superior agility and ability to traverse difficult landscapes, and complement the operation of a larger wheeled mother rover the mother vehicle would carry larger scale science and navigation equipment, as well as on board power resources, whereas the smaller vehicle can be dispatched to climb through rocky and steep terrain or deep into fissures to retrieve samples from the most interesting locations, returning to the mother rover for power and to deposit the sample


Dessert apple orchards in the UK have successfully intensified their growing systems to enable a higher yield output per unit area. This agricultural intensification has allowed for more efficient crop management. However, this intensification has come at the detriment to space for non-crop vegetation in the orchards, attributed to sustaining invertebrate populations of pollinators and natural pest enemies with alternative resources and refuge. Therefore, the remaining populations of beneficial invertebrates in these systems might not be able to deliver sufficient or stable regulating ecosystem services such as pollination and pest control to the crop system. To address this concern, I firstly carried out a survey with a select group of top-fruit growers in my study region to understand the practices and perceptions surrounding existing non-crop vegetation in orchards. Non-crop trees were already in place on farms as hedgerow or windbreak structures; however, these had rarely been designed to support beneficial invertebrates. Furthermore, various blockers for annual wildflower adoption were identified. Therefore, this knowledge contributed to the design of a novel ecological experiment to enhance apple orchard edges with perennial lavender and thyme plants. The aim was for these plants to provide successional floral resources in close vicinity to the crops to sustain pollinator populations after the mass apple bloom, whilst not deterring natural enemy populations to thrive on-site during the apple-growing season. Orchard edges with either a mixed lavender and thyme treatment, or a lavender treatment, successfully sustained wild pollinators, such as bumblebees, in the orchards over the late summer months. The wild bee visitation rate to apple flowers in the spring also increased in orchards with a mixed orchard edge treatment. Although no repellent effects of lavender and thymes on natural enemies were found; the effects on ground or tree dwelling natural enemy populations remain uncertain due to sampling methods and agrochemical use. Aerial hoverfly abundances were higher in the orchards with a mixed lavender and thyme edge however, it would need to be confirmed that these were aphidophagous species before concluding that natural enemies with an aerial life stage, which relies on floral nectar or pollen provision, could benefit from this orchard edge enhancement. Apple yield and quality were both unaffected by orchard edge treatments in the first two years after establishment. However, pollinator exclusion experiments confirmed the necessity of pollinators to the apples to achieve good yields and quality. Therefore, any increase to wild bee abundances from the orchard edge treatments could potentially contribute stability to the pollination service delivery by buffering the natural fluctuations in pollinator populations and the potentially inconsistent pollination services from managed honeybees. This research shows how collaborating with the select group of growers that are responsible for non-crop habitat provision and management on farms in the study region can enable the development of novel alternatives to ensure that floral resource provision is available on-site for beneficial invertebrate populations.


Abstract Big data will change market research at its core in the long term because consumption of products and media can be logged electronically more and more, making it measurable on a large scale. Unfortunately, big data datasets are rarely representative, even if they are huge. Smart algorithms are needed to achieve high precision and prediction quality for digital and non-representative approaches. Also, big data can only be processed with complex and therefore error-prone software, which leads to measurement errors that need to be corrected. Another challenge is posed by missing but critical variables. The amount of data can indeed be overwhelming, but it often lacks important information. The missing observations can only be filled in by using statistical data imputation. This requires an additional data source with the additional variables, for example a panel. Linear imputation is a statistical procedure that is anything but trivial. It is an instrument to "transport information," and the higher the observed data correlates with the data to be imputed, the better it works. It makes structures visible even if the depth of the data is limited.


While Muslims universally acknowledge 'Ali ibn Abi Talib as one of the most prominent figures in Islamic history, a number of Malay customs and rituals give him a special status. These customs and rituals point to the historical influence of Sufism, Shi'ism, or a combination of the two during the process of identity formation among Muslims in the Malay Archipelago. This article will explore the special position given to 'Ali ibn Abi Talib in traditional Malay martial arts as well as marriage customs, and will show how ideas generated in other parts of the Islamic world – such as the futuwwah tradition – evolved into uniquely Malay forms of religious and cultural expression which transcend sectarian bounds.


Graph convolutional networks (GCNs) are a widely used method for graph representation learning. To elucidate the capabilities and limitations of GCNs, we investigate their power, as a function of their number of layers, to distinguish between different random graph models (corresponding to different class-conditional distributions in a classification problem) on the basis of the embeddings of their sample graphs. In particular, the graph models that we consider arise from graphons, which are the most general possible parameterizations of infinite exchangeable graph models and which are the central objects of study in the theory of dense graph limits. We give a precise characterization of the set of pairs of graphons that are indistinguishable by a GCN with nonlinear activation functions coming from a certain broad class if its depth is at least logarithmic in the size of the sample graph. This characterization is in terms of a degree profile closeness property. Outside this class, a very simple GCN architecture suffices for distinguishability. We then exhibit a concrete, infinite class of graphons arising from stochastic block models that are well-separated in terms of cut distance and are indistinguishable by a GCN. These results theoretically match empirical observations of several prior works on GCNs. To prove our results, we exploit a connection to random walks on graphs.


A change of cytosolic pH 7 to 4 opens the bacterial potassium channel KcsA. However, the overall gating mechanism leading to channel opening, especially the contribution of the cytoplasmic domain, remains unsolved. Here we report that deletion of the cytoplasmic domain resulted in changes in channel conductance and gating behavior at pH 4 without channel opening at pH 7. To probe for rearrangements in the cytoplasmic domain during channel opening, amino acid residues were substituted with cysteines and labeled with a fluorophore (tetramethylrhodamine maleimide) that exhibits increased fluorescence intensity upon transfer from a hydrophilic to hydrophobic environment. In all cases channel open probability (Po) was ∼1 at pH 4 and ∼0 at pH 7. Major increases in fluorescence intensity were observed for tetramethylrhodamine maleimide-labeled residues in the cytoplasmic domain as pH changed from 7 to 4, which suggests the fluorophores shifted from a hydrophilic to hydrophobic environment. Dipicrylamide, a lipid soluble quencher, reduced the fluorescence intensities of labeled residues in the cytosolic domain at pH 4. These results reveal that a decrease in pH introduces major conformational rearrangements associated with channel opening in the KcsA cytoplasmic domain.


AIMS
The primary aim of this study was to assess whether the postoperative Oxford Knee Score (OKS) demonstrated a ceiling effect at one and/or two years after total knee arthroplasty (TKA). The secondary aim was to identify preoperative independent predictors for patients that achieved a ceiling score after TKA.

METHODS
A retrospective cohort of 5,857 patients undergoing a primary TKA were identified from an established arthroplasty database. Patient demographics, body mass index (BMI), OKS, and EuroQoL five-dimension (EQ-5D) general health scores were collected preoperatively and at one and two years postoperatively. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify independent preoperative predictors of patients achieving postoperative ceiling scores. Receiver operating characteristic curve was used to identify a preoperative OKS that predicted a postoperative ceiling score.

RESULTS
The ceiling effect was 4.6% (n = 272) at one year which increased significantly (odds ratio (OR) 40.3, 95% confidence interval (CI) 30.4 to 53.3; p < 0.001) to 6.2% (n = 363) at two years, when defined as those with a maximal score of 48 points. However, when the ceiling effect was defined as an OKS of 44 points or more, this increased to 26.3% (n = 1,540) at one year and further to 29.8% (n = 1,748) at two years (OR 21.6, 95% CI 18.7 to 25.1; p < 0.001). A preoperative OKS of 23 or more and 22 or more were predictive of achieving a postoperative ceiling OKS at one and two years when defined as a maximal score or a score of 44 or more, respectively.

CONCLUSION
The postoperative OKS demonstrated a small ceiling effect when defined by a maximal score, but when defined by a postoperative OKS of 44 or more the ceiling effect was moderate and failed to meet standards. The preoperative OKS was an independent predictor of achieving a ceiling score. Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2020;102-B(11):1519-1526.


M oday, O cber 1, 2018 RESULTS: A total of 56 studies were included in final analysis. The most common diagnosis was osteosarcoma (35.1%) and the most common recipient site was the humerus (57.3%) followed by the radius (36.2%) and ulna (5.8%). FVFG had a median union rate of 93.3%, with the median time to union being 5.0 months. The most common complications were fracture (11.7%), nerve injury (7.5%), infection (5.7%), and hammer toe deformity (3.3%). The reoperation rate was 34.5%. The most commonly reported standardized assessment of clinical outcomes following treatment was the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society Score, which had a mean of 79% and a median of 80% postoperatively.


CONTEXT
Synoptic pathology reports increase the completeness of reporting for colorectal cancer. Despite the perceived superiority of specialist reporting, service demands dictate that general pathologists report colorectal cancer specimens in many centers.

OBJECTIVE
To determine differences in the completeness of rectal cancer reporting between specialist gastrointestinal and nongastrointestinal pathologists in both the narrative and synoptic formats.

DESIGN
Pathology reports from rectal cancer resections performed between 1997 and 2008 were reviewed. A standardized, synoptic report was formally introduced in 2001. Reports were assessed for completeness according to 10 mandatory elements from the College of American Pathologists checklist.

RESULTS
Overall, synoptic reports (n  =  315) were more complete than narrative reports (n  =  183) for TNM stage, distance to the circumferential radial margin, tumor grade, lymphovascular invasion, extramural venous invasion, perineural invasion, and regional deposits (all P < .01). Compared with those by nonspecialist pathologists, narrative reports by gastrointestinal pathologists were more complete for lymphovascular invasion (59.3% versus 35.9%, P  =  .02) and extramural venous invasion (70.4% versus 35.9%, P  =  .001), but there was no difference in completeness once a synoptic report was adopted. Gastrointestinal pathologists tended to report the presence of extramural venous invasion more frequently in both the narrative (18.5% versus 5.1%, P  =  .01) and synoptic formats (25.5% versus 14.6%, P  =  .02).

CONCLUSIONS
Completeness of reporting, irrespective of subspecialist interest, was dramatically increased by the use of a synoptic report. Improvements in completeness were most pronounced among nongastrointestinal pathologists, enabling them to attain a level of report completeness comparable to that of gastrointestinal pathologists. Further studies are required to determine whether there are actual discrepancies in the detection of prognostic features between specialist gastrointestinal and nongastrointestinal pathologists.


We report on high-field electron spin resonance (ESR) studies of magnetic excitations in the spin-1/2 triangular-lattice antiferromagnet Cs2CuBr4. Frequency-field diagrams of ESR excitations are measured for different orientations of magnetic fields up to 25 T. We show that the substantial zero-field energy gap, Δ ≈ 9.5 ?> K, observed in the low-temperature excitation spectrum of Cs2CuBr4, (Zvyagin et al 2014 Phys. Rev. Lett.112 077206) is present well above TN. Noticeably, the transition into the long-range magnetically ordered phase does not significantly affect the size of the gap, suggesting that even below TN the high-energy spin dynamics in Cs2CuBr4 is determined by short-range-order spin correlations. The experimental data are compared with results of model spin-wave-theory calculations for spin-1/2 triangular-lattice antiferromagnet.


Over the past few decades, a consensus picture has emerged in which roughly a quarter of the universe consists of dark matter. I begin with a review of the observational evidence for the existence of dark matter: rotation curves of galaxies, gravitational lensing measurements, hot gas in clusters, galaxy formation, primordial nucleosynthesis and Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) observations. Then, I discuss a number of anomalous signals in a variety of data sets that may point to discovery, though all of them are controversial. The annual modulation in the DAMA detector and/or the gamma-ray excess seen in the Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope from the Galactic Center could be due to WIMPs; a 3.5 keV X-ray line from multiple sources could be due to sterile neutrinos; or the 511 keV line in INTEGRAL data could be due to MeV dark matter. All of these would require further confirmation in other experiments or data sets to be proven correct. In addition, a new line of research on dark stars is presented, which suggests that the first stars to exist in the universe were powered by dark matter heating rather than by fusion: the observational possibility of discovering dark matter in this way is discussed.


This paper presents the control design for a matrix converter, which interfaces a power generator to a passive charge. Matrix converters, which are direct power electronic converters, are able to provide important benefits such as bidirectional power flow and great potential for size reduction. On the other hand, the complexity of the matrix converter topology makes the study and the determination of suitable control strategies a difficult task. A matrix converter is used as an alternative concept to avoid the need for a gearbox upstream the generator in an electrical energy production process. This work also includes a real-time control of the matrix converter, control scheme and experimental results are presented too.


The parallel kinematics machine tool HITA-STT (Stiffness Tracking Technology) developed by Willemin–Machines S.A. and EPFL is now able to machine. This machine can reach accelerations of 5g. It is characterized by a tilt of ± 60° around the B-axis. This characteristics combined with the disposition of the kinematics allows to machine five faces of a cube without changing its position in the rotary table, what means in one set-up. The machine is patented. The first machining tests showed the necessity to develop a good calibration method in order to reach similar precision as the most precise machine tools, without high manufacturing costs. The particularity of this machine is its parallel mechanism. That means that a movement in a single direction needs a combination of all the actuators' displacements. The calibration of this structure is then not obvious due to the combination of the actuators' movements. The goal of this paper is to present a new method to calibrate the 5-dof parallel kinematics and the HITA-STT machine tool in particular. This calibration method could be named "Method of calibration by decomposition in a sum of elementary defects" (DSED). It is based on the observation that the error of position and orientation of the spindle, generated by several defects, is equal to the sum of the errors generated by only one defect at the same time. This calibration method will be integrated to the existing controller so that the calibration process will be totally automatic and will require shortest time to calibrate the machine automatically in manufacturing conditions.


This paper focuses on FuelCell-based electromobility (Commercial and Heavy-Duty Vehicles) to judge its ability to reduce GHG (Greenhouse Gas) emissions in the Transport sector as to fulfill Paris Agreement demands to struggle against Global warming. Current LCA studies and literature show that BEVs (Battery Powered Vehicles) offer lesser emissions and better driving experience to users compared to FCEVs (Fuel Cell Vehicles) with existing German's energy mix, but in the longer run transformation is needed in transportation sector and infrastructure to diminish emissions arising from this sector. Since most of the developed nations are looking beyond 2030 with a vision of renewables integration for Power and Energy so, LCA results proved that: In upcoming decades, FCEVs offer lesser or zero-emissions with same driving experience as provided by BEVs. H2 (Hydrogen) here plays a significant role because its production is very energy-intensive; hence, future Fuel Cell mobility is only beneficial if H2 supply is ensured by renewables. From the historical point of view, Europe always acted as a leader among all continents to fight against climate change, and Germany is the prime economy in Europe and a foremost contributor to GHG emissions. Therefore, it has been chosen for our LCA study.


To the Editor: To date, the rules to obtain fresh plasma either for immediate use, or to be frozen, are based on processing the blood within the first six hours after its collection.' This limited period of time has been set because of the labile character of the factors V and VIII, which we wish to preserve for use in cases of disseminated intravascular coagulation or congenital deficits of these coagulation factors. Recently the stability of the factor VIII in bank blood has been demonstrated to be better than that given in earlier literature. Now it appears that there will still be a n average of 64 per cent of VIII after 24 hours of blood bank storage.' We have studied the survival of the factor V in CPD-collected blood maintained between 2 C and 6 C, and obtained the results shown in Table 1. As far as the survival of the factors V and VIII is concerned, we consider that the rule requiring separation of plasma from blood within the first six hours after collection is no longer reasonable. We consider it appropriate to lengthen the period of time from six to 24 hours after blood collection, which would confer much greater flexibility of handling, and improve plasma availability, particularly when blood has to be obtained at a distance from the blood bank. In the specific case of plasma needed to supply factor V for therapy in congenital deficiencies of that factor, this period of time could even be extended to 72 hours.Dr. J.R. Duran. E. Argelagues, C. Marlin. and J . Triginer. Servicio HematologiaHemoterapia. Ciudad Sanitaria Seguridad Social, Valle de Hebron. Barcelona, Spain.


The mission of the Centre is
to contribute to enhancing the
effectiveness of mediation in major
conflicts in Africa through teaching,
training, research and supporting the
UN, the AU, sub-regional organisations
and African governments.