Solid-phase adsorption toxin tracking (SPATT) is founded on the observation that when low levels of toxic dinoflagellates are present in the water column significant amounts of toxins are dissolved in seawater. Previous researchers demonstrated a lag between detection of dissolved toxins adsorbed onto porous synthetic resin, phytoplankton peak cell densities and highest toxin concentrations in shellfish. Here we report on optimised protocols (resin type, type and volume of solvent extraction) for SPATT and subsequent field trials at Loch Ewe (Scotland) which used SPATT in the form of suspended SEPABEADSreg SP700 held within a mesh sachet. Sachets were suspended at 7 m and retrieved weekly with new ones put in and water samples for phytoplankton collected. Phytoplankton cells were identified using conventional light microscopy. The resin from the mesh bags was extracted and analysed for lipophilic toxins using liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Results demonstrate the potential of SPATT to provide time integrated sampling to monitor the occurrence of toxic events.


The uppermost Middle Triassic Leikoupo Formation in the western Sichuan Basin of China has recently been shown to host as much as 5.3 tcf (1.5 × 1012 m3) of natural gas resources. The reservoir rocks, composed mainly of microbially derived dolomudstone (e.g., thrombolites and stromatolites), are characterized by low porosity (<8%) and permeability (<0.001 to 10 md). The limestone is commonly tight and not of reservoir quality because of abundant meteoric calcite cementation, whereas the dolostone has various types of pores dominated by solution-enlarged pores and vugs, microbial framework pores, and micropores. Breccias are well developed in places, probably because of dissolution of underlying evaporites (e.g., anhydrite) by an influx of low-salinity fluids (e.g., freshwater and seawater) during an early burial stage. Early dolomitization created micropores in the dolomudstone, and subsequent diagenetic events were dominated by calcite, dolomite, quartz cementation, pyrite replacement, compaction, fracturing, and development of stylolites. Localized hydrothermal activity has been evidenced by high homogenization temperatures (∼160°C–200°C) obtained from fluid inclusions in fracture-filling cements. Bacterial sulfate reduction probably resulted in H2S generation, pyrite precipitation, and solution-enlarged pore and vug formation, whereas part of the current H2S in these reservoirs may have been sourced from thermochemical sulfate reduction or an underlying formation (e.g., the Feixiangguan Formation). Development of microfractures and associated micropores was probably the final diagenetic event, which improved pore interconnectivity. This study confirms the effect of diagenesis on the development of a microbial dolomudstone reservoir, which may be applicable to other similar microbial carbonate reservoirs elsewhere, for example, Middle Triassic sections of the Tethys region and offshore Brazil.


Background:Skyrocketing house prices and land values have driven the rise of medium density housing in Aotearoa. Tight building codes and high construction cost have resulted in ubiquitous townhouses becoming the go-to architectural typology of medium density. Typical townhouses compress the components of traditional family homes into a compact floor plate. Rooms have hierarchical amenity and low privacy.
The homogenous typology fails to respond to the needs of consumers who are most drawn to medium density housing. The demographics of young adults, empty nesters, and retirees are mostly compatible with increased density. But the current form of medium density architecture in Aotearoa is unresponsive to their specific needs.
Research objectives:Crafting medium density architecture to the requirements of these groups will evolve public perception of medium density from an unpleasant necessary evil to attractive and desirable place to live. Developing housing solutions targeted at Aotearoa's ageing population will increase their wellbeing whilst freeing up traditional standalone homes for the next generations of kiwi families to enjoy. Designing responses to the needs of young adults will enable cohabitation in an equitable manner. Increasing access to housing through more appealing opportunities for partnered ownership.
Research method:Built examples of compact, prefabricated, and predesigned architectures are reviewed to understand the opportunities and efficiencies of modern building delivery. Informed by the review, prefabricated modules are designed to harness the specific requirements of construction in Aotearoa. The modules are used to develop a set of self-contained and shared housing forms. The predesigned architectural responses are then crafted into targeted outer and inner suburb development proposals.
Potential implications:The current form of medium density architecture in Aotearoa is of high importance. The assent of the Resource Management (Enabling Housing Supply and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2021 in December positions Aotearoa's cities for a major expansion of medium density housing. However, the current performance of medium density is concerning, driven by low consumer expectations and demands. An innovative and demonstrative architectural response to context and consumers is necessary to evolve performance and perception of medium density architecture in Aotearoa. Evolution is necessary to ensure a prosperous future for our cities and their inhabitants.


(1) Background: Soyasapogenol C (SSC), a derivative of soyasapogenol B (SSB), is specifically found high in many fermented soybean (Glycine max) products, including Cheonggukjang (in Korean). However, the biological activities for preventing and treating hepatic steatosis, and the precise underlying mechanisms of SSC, remain to be explored. (2) Methods: A novel SANDA (structural screening, ADMET prediction, network pharmacology, docking validation, and activity evaluation) methodology was used to examine whether SSC exerts hepatoprotective effects in silico and in vitro. (3) Results: SSC had better ADMET characteristics and a higher binding affinity with predicted targets chosen from network pathway analysis than SSB. SSC induced the phosphorylation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and stimulated the nuclear translocation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARα), further enhancing PPAR response element (PPRE) binding activity in HepG2 cells. Concurrently, SSC significantly inhibited triglyceride accumulation, which was associated with the suppression of lipogenesis genes and the enhancement of fatty acid oxidation gene expression in HepG2 cells. (4) Conclusions: Soyasapogenol C, discovered using a novel SANDA methodology from fermented soybean, is a novel AMPK/PPARα dual activator that is effective against hepatic steatosis. Dietary supplementation with soyasapogenol C may prevent the development of hepatic steatosis and other diseases associated with fat accumulation in the liver.


Fungal diseases have been emerging as an important public health problem worldwide with the increase in host predisposition factors due to immunological dysregulations, immunosuppressive and/or anticancer therapy. Antifungal therapy for systemic mycosis is limited, most of times expensive and causes important toxic effects. Nanotechnology has become an interesting strategy to improve efficacy of traditional antifungal drugs, which allows lower toxicity, better biodistribution, and drug targeting, with promising results in vitro and in vivo. In this review, we provide a discussion about conventional antifungal and nanoantifungal therapies for systemic mycosis.


Meat quality has an inherent complexity due to the multiple interrelated causative factors and layers of feedback regulation. Understanding the key factors and their interactions has been challenging, despite the availability of remarkable high throughput tools and techniques that have provided insights on muscle metabolism and the genetic basis of meat quality. Likewise, we have imbibed our knowledge about mineral metabolism and its role in cell functioning. Regardless of these facts, complex traits like mineral content and meat quality have been studied under reductionist approaches. However, as these phenotypes arise from complex interactions among different biological layers (genome, transcriptome, proteome, epigenome, etc.), along with environmental effects, a holistic view and systemic-level understanding of the genetic basis of complex phenotypes is in demand. Based on state of the art, we addressed some of the questions regarding the interdependence of meat quality traits and mineral content. Furthermore, we sought to highlight potential regulatory mechanisms arising from the genes, miRNAs, and mineral interactions, as well as the pathways modulated by this interplay affecting muscle, mineral metabolism, and meat quality. By answering these questions, we did not intend to give an exhaustive review, but to identify the key biological points, the challenges and benefits of integrative genomic approaches.


Background. Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) has been one of the most performed surgical procedures for more than 30 years. Recent research has shown severe cognitive disorders accompanying cardiac surgery. However, mild cognitive dysfunction, which is more amenable to prevention and correction, has been less studied because of difficulties in diagnosing it. objective. For this reason, we set out to analyze the dynamics of cognitive functioning in CHD patients undergoing CABG. Our study focuses on the main indicators of cognitive functioning and on comparing cognitive functioning with normative data, as well as on the emotional state which accompanies cardiac surgery. Methods. The present study enrolled 70 patients (of average age 59.71 ± 7.32 years) who underwent CABG with the standard cardiopulmonary bypass technique. Our examination used a pathopsychological test battery (including the WAIS, TMT, Stroop test, TAS, Benton test, etc.), and was performed in three stages: two days before, and both 12–14 days and three months after the surgery. Results. The results obtained suggest that the majority of cognitive complaints are connected with memory decline after CABG. Patients with CHD experience significant postoperative cognitive decline mostly in verbal memory and attention. A significant cognitive improvement three months after the operation occurred in the following cognitive domains: visual memory, logical memory, and spatial thinking. An analysis of the patients' trait anxiety leads to the conclusion that the highest intensity of anxiety was observed in relation to the following indicators: "emotional discomfort," "asthenic component," and "anxious assessment of the future."


Abstract In this paper new filters for removing unspecified form of heteroscedasticity are proposed. The filters build on the assumption that the variance of a pre-whitened time series can be viewed as a latent stochastic process by its own. This makes the filters flexible and useful in many situations. A simulation study shows that removing heteroscedasticity before fitting a model leads to efficiency gains and bias reductions when estimating the parameters of ARMA models. A real data study shows that pre-filtering can increase the forecasting precision of quarterly US GDP growth.


Accumulation of l‐kynurenine and quinolinic acid (QUIN) in the brain occurs after either ischemic brain injury or after systemic administration of pokeweed mitogen. Although conversion of l‐[13C6]tryptophan to [13C6]‐QUIN has not been demonstrated in brain either from normal gerbils or from gerbils given pokeweed mitogen, direct conversion in brain tissue does occur 4 days after transient cerebral ischemia. Increased activities of enzymes distal to indoleamine‐2,3‐dioxygenase may determine whether l‐kynurenine is converted to QUIN. One day after 10 min of cerebral ischemia, the activities of kynureninase and 3‐hydroxy‐3,4‐dioxygenase were increased in the hippocampus, but local QUIN levels and the activities of the indoleamine‐2,3‐dioxygenase and kynurenine‐3‐hydroxylase were unchanged. By days 2 and 4 after ischemia, however, the activities of all of these enzymes in the hippocampus as well as QUIN levels were significantly increased. Kynurenine aminotransferase activity in the hippocampus was unchanged on days 1 and 2 after ischemia but was decreased on day 4, at a time when local kynurenic acid levels were unchanged. A putative precursor of QUIN, [13C6]anthranilic acid, was not converted to [13C6]‐QUIN in the hippocampus of either normal or 4‐day postischemic gerbils. Gerbil macrophages stimulated by endo‐toxin in vitro converted l‐[13C6]tryptophan to [13Ce]QUIN. Kinetic analysis of kynurenine‐3‐hydroxylase activity in the cerebral cortex of postischemic gerbils showed that Vmax increased, without changes in Km. Systemic administration of pokeweed mitogen increased indoleamine‐2,3‐dioxygenase and kynureninase activities in the brain without significant changes in kynurenine‐3‐hydroxylase or 3‐hydroxyanthranilate‐3,4‐dioxygenase activities. Increases in kynurenine‐3‐hydroxylase activity, in conjunction with induction of indoleamine‐2,3‐dioxygenase, kynureninase, and 3‐hydroxyanthranilate‐3,4‐dioxygenase in macro‐phage infiltrates at the site of brain injury, may explain the ability of postischemic hippocampus to convert l‐[13C6]tryptophan to [13C6]QUIN.


In this paper, we provide multiuser performance analysis of a multicarrier frequency-hopping (MC-FH) code-division multiple-access system as first introduced in the work of Lance and Kaleh. We propose to use a practical low-rate convolutional error-correcting code in this system, which does not require any additional bandwidth than what is needed by the frequency-hopping spread-spectrum modulation. We provide multiuser exact performance analysis of the system for both uncoded and coded schemes in additive white Gaussian noise and fading channels for a single-user correlator receiver. We also derive the performance analysis of the system based on a Gaussian distribution assumption for multiuser interference at the receiver output. Our numerical results first indicate that the coded scheme significantly increases the number of users supported by the system at a fixed bit error rate, in comparison with the uncoded MC-FH scheme. Moreover, it shows that the Gaussian analysis in some cases does not accurately predict the number of users supported by the system.


Atrophic rhinitis is a chronic embarrassing debilitating disease involving nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses. It is characterized by foul smelling crusts (greenish) inside the nasal cavity. Nasal mucosa tends to bleed when these crusts are removed. Nasal cavity appears to be excessively roomy. Foul stench emanates from the patient. Patient is mercifully unaware of this stench because of the presence of anosmia. This article discusses the various features of this disease and the various management modalities available.


The objective of this study is to formulate niosomes of pentoxifylline, characterize niosomes in terms of entrapment efficiency, particle size distribution, in vitro release and stability and investigate the bronchodilatory activity of plain and niosomal pentoxifylline in vivo in guinea pigs. Pentoxifylline was entrapped in niosomes by lipid layer hydration method using Span 60, cholesterol and dicetyl phosphate. The entrapment efficiency of niosomes of pentoxifylline was determined by separating the entrapped drug from the free drug by centrifugation. The in vitro release profile of the drug from niosomes was carried out in phosphate buffer saline (pH 7.4). The stability of niosomes was assessed by storage at 4 plus minus 1 degree, 25 plus minus 1 degree, 37 plus minus 1 degree and 45 plus minus 1 degree for one month. The plain (20, 40 and 80mg/kg) and niosomal pentoxifylline (5, 10, 20 and 40 mg/kg) was injected intraperitoneally to guinea pigs for evaluating bronchodilatory activity. The entrapment efficiency of niosomes of pentoxifylline was found to be 9.26 plus minus 1.93 percent giving a sustained release of drug over a period of 24h and better stability over the period of storage. The plain and niosomal pentoxifylline produced significant bronchodilatory effect in guinea pigs on histamine-induced bronchoconstriction. The study indicates that pentoxifylline may be an effective bronchodilator.


Julian Assange is the most well-known person in the world currently facing extradition. His case highlights some concerning developments in the law of extradition, in particular, the system of European Arrest Warrants ('EAW'). Whatever the merits of the case against Assange under Swedish law, like everyone facing an EAW, he has every right to challenge the basis of his extradition. His case provides an insight into the more general problems of EAWs, which should concern all human rights advocates, extradition practitioners and policy-makers. Such insights may serve as a warning in Australia of what might happen if an overly expedient approach is taken to extradition treaty provisions.


We developed force field parameters for fluorinated aromatic amino acids enabling molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of fluorinated proteins. These parameters are tailored to the AMBER ff15ipq protein force field and enable the modeling of 4, 5, 6, and 7F-tryptophan, 3F- and 3,5F-tyrosine, and 4F- or 4-CF3-phenylalanine. The parameters include 181 unique atomic charges derived using the Implicitly Polarized Charge (IPolQ) scheme in the presence of SPC/Eb explicit water molecules and 9 unique bond, angle, or torsion terms. Our simulations of benchmark peptides and proteins maintain expected conformational propensities on the μs-timescale. In addition, we have developed an open-source Python program to calculate fluorine relaxation rates from MD simulations. The extracted relaxation rates from protein simulations are in good agreement with experimental values determined by 19F NMR. Collectively, our results illustrate the power and robustness of the IPolQ lineage of force fields for modeling structure and dynamics of fluorine containing proteins at the atomic level.


Bioorthogonal tools enable cell-type-specific proteomics, a prerequisite to understanding biological processes in multicellular organisms. Here we report two engineered aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases for mammalian bioorthogonal labeling: a tyrosyl ( ScTyrY43G) and a phenylalanyl ( MmPheT413G) tRNA synthetase that incorporate azide-bearing noncanonical amino acids specifically into the nascent proteomes of host cells. Azide-labeled proteins are chemoselectively tagged via azide-alkyne cycloadditions with fluorophores for imaging or affinity resins for mass spectrometric characterization. Both mutant synthetases label human, hamster, and mouse cell line proteins and selectively activate their azido-bearing amino acids over 10-fold above the canonical. ScTyrY43G and MmPheT413G label overlapping but distinct proteomes in human cell lines, with broader proteome coverage upon their coexpression. In mice, ScTyrY43G and MmPheT413G label the melanoma tumor proteome and plasma secretome. This work furnishes new tools for mammalian residue-specific bioorthogonal chemistry, and enables more robust and comprehensive cell-type-specific proteomics in live mammals.


We report on a 34-year-old woman who presented with acute anterolateral myocardial infarction 12 weeks postpartum. Cardiac catheterization documented a left main coronary artery dissection with complete occlusion of the left anterior descending artery. The surgical treatment and the complicated postoperative course are discussed here.


Pediatric oncology patients frequently need several painful procedures during their diagnostic and therapeutic process. During the past decades, most centers abroad have developed safe and effective protocols for procedural sedation and analgesia in children. This report describes procedural sedation and analgesia as performed in pediatric oncology unit and tries to report success of sedation and incidence of complication. Materials and Methods: Between 1998 and 2004, all invasive procedures for oncologic children presented in Aliasghar and Dastgheyb hospitals in Shiraz, were performed with deep sedation or general anesthesia and the failure(s) and side effects were evaluated. Results: totally 1381 deep sedations or general anesthesia were carried out and 1792 invasive procedures were performed For 166 children (103 boys and 63 girls) with suspected or proved oncologic disease with age range of 1.5 to 15 years Lumbar puncture (LP) and intratechal injection were performed in 73% of patients mean while bone marrow aspiration and biopsy were performed in 26% and 1% of patients; respectively. The main side effects were nausea and vomiting in about 7% of patients. No failure of the invasive procedures especially LP happened.


We examine competition amongst ridesharing platforms where firms compete by choosing both the price of rides and the extent of idleness. Idleness means drivers who are compensated without picking up passengers, instead acting to reduce passenger wait time. We show that when consumers are the only agents who multihome, idleness falls compared with when they face a monopoly ridesharing platform. When drivers and consumers multihome, idleness further falls to zero as it involves costs for each platform that are appropriated, in part, by their rival. Interestingly, socially superior outcomes may involve monopoly or competition under various multihoming regimes, depending on the density of the city, and the relative costs of idleness versus consumer disutility of waiting.


Background and Aim: Anxiety is one of the emotional and psychological factors that the studying of its effects considering existing variables can solve some of the athletes' psychological problems. The current study was performed with the aim of surveying the relationship between coaching anxiety with Footsal players' anxiety and performance in Gonabad city in 2010. Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive and correlational study conducted with the use of sport competitive anxiety questionnaire of Martinez consisting of 15 questions, a demographic questionnaire and an athletic performance checklist. The study population were 600 players and Footsal coaches compromised of 60 Footsal teams. Each team was consisted of 10 members (five major players, four reserves and one coach). All the study population was studied and no sampling was conducted. The data were analyzed using SPSS software version 14. For data description, descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation were used; X and Pearson correlation coefficient test were used for statistical analysis of the data. Results: The findings showed that there was a direct and significant relationship between coaching anxiety levels with sport competitive anxiety level in athletes (p=0.019). It also showed that there was a significant and negative relationship between coaching anxiety levels with the performance level of the athletes (p=0.012) and there was a significant and negative relationship between athletics' sport anxiety levels with their performance level (r=-0.81, p=0.01,). And it showed a significant and negative relationship between athletes' sport anxiety levels with their athletic experiences (r=-0.45, p=0.001) and with their age as well (r =-0.37, p=0.001). Conclusion: Sport competitive anxiety has deeper and more effective relationship in locomotors skills performance in competition status in comparison with the other psychological factors. Finally, some recommendations were presented for reduction of sport competitive anxiety in athletes.


The federal approach to punishing bias-motivated crimes is more limited than the state approach. Though the federal and state methods overlap in some respects, two features of the federal approach restrict its range of application. First, federal law prohibits a narrower range of conduct than do most state bias crimes laws. In order to be punishable under federal law, bias-motivated conduct must either constitute a federal crime or interfere with a federally protected right or activity-requirements that exclude racially motivated assault, property damage and many other common violent or destructive bias offenses. In most states, however, hate crimes encompass a wider range of criminal conduct. In some states, any crime may be punished as a hate crime if bias motivated the criminal conduct. Second, federal law, particularly civil rights law, protects against fewer types of discrimination than do many state laws. Most federal civil rights laws do not cover crimes motivated by gender, sexual orientation, or disability, while many state laws do.Proposals to expand the scope of federal hate crimes law aim towards making federal law more closely resemble state bias crimes laws. While these expansions may be needed in order to fill the gaps in current federal law, the most common state law approach itself suffers from incomplete coverage. The prevailing approach tends to focus on only one set of cases and fails to recognize and address the full range of cases that merit attention. Accordingly, I argue that the prevailing state law model could in turn expand appropriately by considering an approach from federal sentencing law. The federal vulnerable victim sentence adjustment offers a basis for understanding why the state law model should be expanded, as well as a starting point for outlining the careful expansion of that model.


This paper examines three models for the academic development of English as an Additional Language (EAL) students: The Academic Support model, the Academic Development model and the Higher Education Development model. It describes how these models were realised in the South African context when black students previously designated 'the other' became the mainstream. A pedagogical approach for Higher Education in Australia involving a merger of the latter two models is suggested with a particular focus being placed on the important role that assessment plays in developing and directing student learning. Practical examples of how these models facilitate the achievement of such goals are then given.


This paper explores how the landscape of London and its suburb are translated into mindscapes of the protagonist, hence reflecting his roles of socio-cultural production in different time-spaces. I would first appropriate the idea of place and space from Yi-Fu Tuan and Mike Crang, both affirming that space is more abstract than place. Place is defined as a geographic location brought forth by common experiences of a crowd or a community, easily ignored for people rarely find it difficult to know their residential areas. On the other hand, space represents freedom and opportunity on account of its uncertainty. While the protagonist long resides in the suburb as a place, London's urbanscape turns to be his imaginative space. Yet the latter soon loses its glamour after the hero has finally become a Londoner. This process illuminates that while landscape and mindscape are mutually molded, each of them constantly escapes the subsuming power of the other party. In this way, the inevitable mental portrayal of the landscape has made it something other than the place recognized by its residents, which turns to be land-(e)scape as this paper calls it. Following the route taken by the hero, together with socio-economic relationships with which he is entangled, I would like to divide this paper into three parts. The first part examines that the suburban landscape, which is always dreary for the protagonist, is never devoid of the geographic in-betweenness and cultural heterogeneity. This is because the hero's suburban residence as a place fascinates him that London is a space. He has never found that his adolescent privilege of leisure enables him to look into the fine texture of his residence, while at the same time includes the landscape of London into his mindscape. Unsatisfied with the suburban mediocrity then, the protagonist is a cultural consumer yearning to upgrade his lower-middle class in the metropolis. The "real" landscape hence escapes his imaginary mindscape. The second part excavates a process in which urban space rapidly comes down to a place after the hero immigrates into London with other major characters. At this moment he is obsessed with how his ethnic outlook is to facilitate a budding acting career. Since the protagonist is inlayed in the relations of production in London and serves to be a part of its cultural landscape, the urbanscape as space is constantly ignored. The hero's short stay in New York and final homecoming in London turns to be the research object of the third part. Unable to accommodate himself to a social web revolved around his lover Charlie, the protagonist re-attaches himself to London. A successful career and the reassurance of his interpersonal relationship render London as a city where place coexists with space, and landscape overlaps mindscape.


From 6 April 2011 it will be age discrimination to dismiss someone by reason of retirement unless notice has been been given to that employee. This article examines the implications for employers: Alternatives to retirement: performance management or a 'gentle' conversation - that could that lead to claims of discrimination and constructive dismissal Difficulties of performance managing an older colleague: indirect age discrimination in performance measures and are these a genuine operational requirement? Positive action: since the Equality Act, s. 159 came into force in April, employers will be able to treat a person with a relevant characteristic more favourably if both are equally qualified - in this case, the relevant characteristic could be age. Therefore, could employers choose to hire older or younger people to 'balance out' their workforces? Should they? Will age be another check added to the 'equal opportunities' checklist that employers make new starters sign, so that employers will show they are 'age-neutral'? How to deal with employees you wish to retain for a set period but you could retire now - get them to sign a Compromise Agreement now with a termination date in that agreement, plus a second agreement (which they agree to sign in the .first) which they will sign on their termination date.


We present details on the observing strategy, data-processing techniques, and spectroscopic targeting algorithms for the first three years of operation for the Dark Energy Survey Supernova Program (DES-SN). This five-year program using the Dark Energy Camera mounted on the 4 m Blanco telescope in Chile was designed to discover and follow supernovae (SNe) Ia over a wide redshift range (0.05 < z < 1.2) to measure the equation-of-state parameter of dark energy. We describe the SN program in full: strategy, observations, data reduction, spectroscopic follow-up observations, and classification. From three seasons of data, we have discovered 12,015 likely SNe, 308 of which have been spectroscopically confirmed, including 251 SNe Ia over a redshift range of 0.017 < z < 0.85. We determine the effective spectroscopic selection function for our sample and use it to investigate the redshift-dependent bias on the distance moduli of SNe Ia we have classified. The data presented here are used for the first cosmology analysis by DES-SN ("DES-SN3YR"), the results of which are given in Dark Energy Survey Collaboration et al. The 489 spectra that are used to define the DES-SN3YR sample are publicly available at https://des.ncsa.illinois.edu/releases/sn.


AIMS To compare the ultrasound (US) evolution and neurodevelopmental outcome of infants with localised (grade II) and extensive (grade III) cystic periventricular leucomalacia (c-PVL). METHODS Over a nine year period, c-PVL was diagnosed in 96/3451 (2.8%) infants in two hospital cohorts. Eighteen were excluded from the study. Thirty nine infants with grade II PVL were compared with 39 infants with grade III PVL. RESULTS The two populations were comparable for gestational age and birth weight. In infants with grade II PVL, cysts were noted to develop more often after the first month of life (53%) in contrast with grade III PVL (22%) (odds ratio (OR) 3.81 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.19 to 12.63)). Cysts were also more often unilateral in grade II (54%) than in grade III PVL (0%) (OR indefinite; RR 3.17 (95% CI 2.16 to 4.64)). At 40 weeks postmenstrual age (PMA), cysts were no longer seen on US in 13/38 infants with grade II PVL, with ventriculomegaly being the only visible sequel in nine cases. In grade III PVL, cysts were still present in 25 of the 27 surviving infants. Nine infants with grade II PVL were free of motor sequelae at follow up compared with one infant with grade III PVL (OR 8.07 (95% CI 0.92 to 181.66)). Twenty two out of 29 children with grade II PVL who developed cerebral palsy achieved independent walking compared with 3/26 with grade III PVL (OR 75 (95% CI 11.4 to 662)). CONCLUSIONS In the cohort studied, 50% of the infants with c-PVL had a more localised form (grade II). In grade II PVL, the cysts developed beyond the first month of life in more than half of the cases and were often no longer visible, on US, at 40 weeks PMA. In order not to miss this diagnosis, sequential US should also be performed beyond the first month of life. Mild ventriculomegaly noted at term can sometimes be due to grade II c-PVL. Cerebral palsy was slightly less common and tended to be less severe in infants with grade II PVL than in those with grade III PVL.


Abstract. Geomatics is a discipline of collecting, processing and analysing geospatial data. Data collection is a core process of geomatics which usually adopt precise equipment to measure geospatial data. With the development of technology, a smartphone in this present era is not simply for communication; several low cost measurement devices such as Global Positioning System (GPS), gyro and camera are assembled in a smartphone. Although the devices assembled in a smartphone could not meet the needs of accuracy requirement for many geomatics applications, millions of mobile applications (Apps) can be downloaded and installed from Google Play and Apple Store freely, and a variety of sensors can be chosen for user. Considering that the popularity and convenience of a smartphone, and assuming that the accuracy of those collected data is acceptable for learning purposes, it is expected that a smartphone can be employed in geomatics for hand-on education. For example, Vespucci OSM Editor is an App to edit the OpenStreetMap on Android. The user may have the hand-on experience on GPS positioning, web services and mapping via Vespucci OSM Editor. The aim of this paper is to collect and analyze different Apps for geomatics education. The Apps are classified into four categories, namely, surveying, remote sensing, GPS and Geographic Information System (GIS). In this paper, more than 20 free Apps are collected and analysed for different hand-on studies in geomatics education. Finally, all the related Apps are listed on a website for updating.


The paper deals with the study of the dynamics of the oscillating moving ring load acting in the interior of the hollow circular cylinder surrounded by an elastic medium. The axisymmetric loading case is considered and the study is made by employing the exact equations and relations of linear elastodynamics. The focus is on the influence of the oscillation of the moving load and the problem parameters such as the cylinder's thickness/radius ratio on the critical velocities. At the same time, the dependence between the interface stresses and load moving velocity under various frequencies of this load, as well as the frequency response of the mentioned stresses under various load velocity are investigated. In particular, it is established that oscillation of the moving load can cause the values of the critical velocity to decrease significantly and at the same time the oscillation of the moving load can lead to parametric resonance. It is also established that the critical velocity decreases with decreasing of the cylinder's thickness/radius ratio.


In this study we determined the effect of aging on the capability of the human esophagus to generate secondary peristalsis. We studied nine healthy young (35 +/- 2 yr, 25-45 yr) and nine healthy elderly (74 +/- 3 yr, 70-83 yr) volunteers. We stimulated secondary peristalsis by intraesophageal air injection and balloon distension. All young volunteers exhibited secondary esophageal peristalsis. In four elderly volunteers, secondary peristalsis could not be elicited with injection of any of the tested air volumes. Frequency of stimulation of secondary peristalsis and lower esophageal sphincter (LES) relaxation in response to intraesophageal air distension in the elderly was significantly lower than that in the young (P < 0.01). Stimulation of secondary peristalsis by balloon distension was less consistent compared with the air injection. In conclusion, 1) in the elderly, compared with the young, secondary esophageal peristalsis is either absent or is evoked less frequently after esophageal distension, and complete LES relaxation in response to esophageal air distension is less frequent, and 2) in both young and elderly, secondary esophageal peristalsis is induced more frequently after generalized esophageal distension by air than its segmental distension by a balloon.


Objective— To control insulin-induced edema in a patient with poorly controlled IDDM. Research Design and Methods— A 31-yr-old woman with a 14-yr history of poorly controlled IDDM first developed peripheral edema 3 yr after diagnosis of IDDM; the edema worsened whenever insulin dosage was increased. In August 1991, severe edema developed after treatment of ketoacidosis, with body weight increasing from 46 to 61 kg. No evidence of cardiac dysfunction or autonomic neuropathy existed, and serum albumin was consistently normal. Results— Treatment with 15 mg of ephedrine every 8 h produced a prompt diuresis, with body weight falling by 4 kg in 48 h and by 12 kg within 1 wk. Conclusions— Ephedrine may be an effective treatment for insulin-induced edema and may be preferable to the use of diuretics in such patients.


The vicarious liability of employers for the torts of their employees is one of the most firmly established principles in the common law world. Yet in cases of sexual abuse or exploitation, U.S. courts have created an exception to the rule, applying the familiar "course and scope of employment" requirement far more restrictively. Despite growing awareness that sexual abuse constitutes a predictable risk in many workplaces, the sex exception has stubbornly persisted, even in jurisdictions that embrace new, more "liberal" approaches to vicarious liability centered on "enterprise risk." This article, based on the 2013 Valparaiso University Monsanto Lecture on Tort Law and Jurisprudence, examines the confusing body of U.S. cases, finding a double standard in the way courts approach sex abuse cases as compared to cases of intentional non-sexual violence. Drawing upon feminist theory, cognitive psychology and interdisciplinary scholarship on institutional culture, the article critiques the U.S. version of sexual exceptionalism and proposes a new rule that would cover the most common cases of sexual abuse.


Incidence and structure of eye diseases was studied in workers of Novokouznetsk Steelworks who have occupational hazards. High incidence of inflammatory and dystrophic diseases of eyelids and conjunctiva as well as cataract was revealed in steelworkers. The incidence of eye diseases was showed to rise with the increase of work period in hazardous environment.


The workshop intends to analyze the transnational dimension in the recent wave of global protests like the Arab Spring, the European Indignados, and Occupy Wall Street. Literature on transnational social movements flourished in the last decades, exploring social movement networks that organized counter-summits demonstrations and social forums meetings. Most recent protests across the world had, amongst their target, national governments and policies. But they also maintained a strong transnational stance. Starting from a comparative perspective, the workshop focuses on the transnational mechanisms and processes at work in the Arab Spring, the European Indignados, and Occupy Wall Street by paying particular attention to 1) imageries and practices of democracy and 2) communication and mediation processes.


In coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), distal graft to coronary anastomoses are currently performed with running sutures or, to a limited extent, interrupted techniques, which are more time‐consuming. The Heartflo™ anastomotic device, introduced in 2000, automates the suturing process via simultaneous delivery of ten standard polypropylene sutures through the graft and the coronary vessel wall to construct the anastomosis. Clinical testing was performed after extensive animal studies in several centers in Europe and Canada. After the foot shape of the device had been changed in conjunction with a reduction of its diameter, coronary arteries of 1.5 mm were successfully grafted. During the clinical studies and early follow‐up, no device related injuries were reported. However, as suture management was still time‐consuming with the newest versions of the device, development of automated knot tying systems or – at least – a facilitated suture management is mandatory as the next development step.


This paper compiles project-level data from the World Bank's lending history to describe patterns and the composition of its portfolio. The paper focuses particularly on the effect of countries' transition from International Development Association to International Bank for Reconstruction and Development status, which marks the point when countries start borrowing at near market rates, on lending for human development sectors (education, health and social protection). Using country and year fixed effects, which account for unobservable country characteristics (for example, national priorities) and time effects (for example, market interest rates), the paper finds that human development lending decreases when countries graduate from the International Development Association. The average difference in the binary indicator of lending for any sector is 27 percent while it is 60 percent for human development sectors. The share of human development lending (lending by human development Global Practices over total lending) is also 6.9 percentage points (30 percent) lower. This decline in human development lending in International Bank for Reconstruction and Development countries is accompanied by a greater use of budget support. The results are robust to controlling for non-World Bank aid, as well as various alternative specifications and estimation samples.


The development of solar photovoltaic (PV) is increasing,with declining module prices and with a strongenvironmental profile. Policies are developed around theworld to achieve the targets set for renewable energy.In Helsingborg, the local power company Oresundskraft isworking with solar PV to achieve the goals of the city.With their vision: - Energy for a Better World and Powerfor the Region, their work with developing the local solarPV market is continuing and the next step is to create asolar PV policy. Today their offer is 1 SEK/kWh for theexcess electricity delivered to the grid.It turns out that compensating the customer is a vitalpolicy and it has to be dynamic to follow the decisions ofpolitics. The same survey shows indeed, thatenvironmental and technical part is of interest. Solar PVwill be supported locally to act on environmentalsustainability and locally produced electricity and withthis Oresundskrafts vision will be achieved.


Abstract The continental interior platform of the United States is that part of the North American craton where a thin veneer of Phanerozoic strata covers Precambrian crystalline basement. N- to NE-trending and W- to NW-trending fault zones, formed initially by Proterozoic/Cambrian rifting, break the crust of the platform into rectilinear blocks. These zones were reactivated during the Phanerozoic, most notably in the late Palaeozoic Ancestral Rockies event and the Mesozoic-Cenozoic Laramide orogeny — some remain active today. Dip-slip reactivation can be readily recognized in cross section by offset stratigraphic horizons and monoclinal fault-propagation folds. Strike-slip displacement is hard to document because of poor exposure. Though offset palaeochannels, horizontal slip lineations, and strain at fault bends locally demonstrate strike-slip offset, most reports of strike-slip movements for interior-platform faults are based on occurrence of map-view belts of en echelon faults and anticlines. Each belt overlies a basement-penetrating master fault, which typically splays upwards into a flower structure. In general, both strike-slip and dip-slip components of displacement occur in the same fault zone, so some belts of en echelon structures occur on the flanks of monoclinal folds. Thus, strike-slip displacement represents the lateral component of oblique fault reactivation; dip-slip and strike-slip components are the same order of magnitude (tens of metres to tens of kilometres). Effectively, faults with strike-slip components of displacement act as transfers accommodating jostling of rectilinear crustal blocks. In this context, the sense of slip on an individual strike-slip fault depends on block geometry, not necessarily on the trajectory of regional σ1. Strike-slip faulting in the North American interior differs markedly from that of southern and central Eurasia, possibly because of a contrast in lithosphere strength. Weak Eurasia strained significantly during the Alpine-Himalayan collision, forcing crustal blocks to undergo significant lateral escape. The strong North American craton strained relatively little during collisional-convergent orogeny, so crustal blocks underwent relatively small displacements.


Failure to account for human values in software (e.g., equality and fairness) can result in user dissatisfaction and negative socioeconomic impact. Engineering these values in software, however, requires technical and methodological support throughout the development life cycle. This paper investigates to what extent top Software Engineering (SE) conferences and journals have included research on human values in SE. We investigate the prevalence of human values in recent (2015 - 2018) publications in these top venues. We classify these publications, based on their relevance to different values, against a widely used value structure adopted from the social sciences. Our results show that: (a) only a small proportion of the publications directly consider values, classified as directly relevant publications; (b) for the majority of the values, very few or no directly relevant publications were found; and (c) the prevalence of directly relevant publications was higher in SE conferences compared to SE journals. This paper shares these and other insights that may motivate future research on human values in software engineering.


The effects of age on the dopamine (DA) turnover and 6R-L-erythro-5,6,7,8-tetrahydrobiopterin (6R-BH4), a cofactor for monooxygenases, were investigated in the striatum and midbrain of the senescence accelerated mouse (SAM) at 6, 12 and 15 months old. 6R-BH4 and DA levels were decreased significantly in the striatum of 15-month-old SAM-P/1 (senescence accelerated prone) mice. At 12 months old, DA level was decreased significantly in the striatum of SAM-P/1 compared with SAM-R/1 (senescence accelerated resistant) mice. The reduction of striatal DA level was shown to be related to the depletion of 6R-BH4 in the striatum during the processes of aging. Age-related decreases in striatal dopamine function occurred in SAM-P/1 mice earlier than in the SAM-R/1 mice. The striatal [DOPAC]/[DA] ratio, as the index of DA turnover, was increased significantly in the 15-month-old SAM-P/1 mice. On the other hand, the DA, 6R-BH4 levels and the ratio of [DOPAC]/[DA] did not show any changes in the midbrain of SAM-P/1 and SAM-R/1 during the processes of aging. It was suggested that brain vulnerability with aging may be associated with the levels of 6R-BH4.


Performing motor tasks in virtual environments is best achieved with motion capture and animation of a 3D character that participants control in real time and perceive as being their avatar in the virtual environment. A strong Sense of Embodiment (SoE) for the virtual body not only relies on the feeling that the virtual body is their own (body ownership), but also that the virtual body moves in the world according to their will and replicates precisely their body movement (sense of agency). Within that frame of mind our specific aim is to demonstrate that the avatar can even be programmed to be better at executing a given task or to perform a movement that is normally difficult or impossible to execute precisely by the user. More specifically, our experimental task consists in asking subjects to follow with the hand a target that is animated using non-biological motion; the unnatural nature of the movement leads to systematic errors by the subjects. The challenge here is to introduce a subtle distortion between the position of the real hand and the position of the virtual hand, so that the virtual hand succeeds in performing the task while still letting subjects believe they are fully in control. Results of two experiments $(\mathrm{N}=16)$ show that our implementation of a distortion function, that we name the attraction well, successfully led participants to report being in control of the movement (agency) and being embodied in the avatar (body ownership) even when the distortion was above a threshold that they can detect. Furthermore, a progressive introduction of the distortion (starting without help, and introducing distortion on the go) could even further increase its acceptance.


Data races hidden in concurrent programs have caused severe failures. To improve the reliability, many race detectors are proposed. However, most of the reported races are not harmful, which consumes manual effort to identify the harmful races. This paper proposes RaceChecker that can detect the potential races and identify the harmful races effectively and efficiently. Unlike previous detectors, RaceChecker combines happens-before relation and ad-hoc synchronization to prune the infeasible races so that fewer potential races are required to be verified. Before verification, RaceChecker groups the remaining potential races, guaranteeing the potential races in one group do not interfere with each other. Therefore, multiple potential races in one group can be verified together in one execution. To our knowledge, this is the first effective technique that groups the potential races to improve the efficiency. Unlike previous detectors that verify one potential race in one execution, RaceChecker dynamically controls thread scheduler to create real race conditions to verify multiple potential races in one execution, identifying the harmful races that cause program failures. We have implemented RaceChecker as a prototype tool and have experimented on a number of real-world concurrent programs. Results show that 66% of the potential races are infeasible and nearly 48% of the executions are reduced by the grouping strategy. The known harmful races are also identified effectively. By pruning and grouping, RaceChecker identifies the harmful races more efficiently. Comparing with RaceMob and RaceFuzzer, the time is reduced significantly, with an average of 45% and 81% respectively.


The B isoform of creatine kinase (BCK), which is expressed at a high level in embryonic neural tissues, is also expressed abundantly in developing striated muscle and is an early marker for skeletal myogenesis. Using isoform-specific 35S-labeled antisense cRNA probes for in situ hybridization, we have detected BCK mRNAs in embryonic mouse and chick myotomes, the first skeletal muscle masses to form in developing embryos. These transcripts are detectable as soon as myotomes are morphologically distinguishable. BCK is expressed at high levels in both skeletal and cardiac muscle in mouse and chick embryos. In the mouse, BCK transcript levels fall of rapidly in striated muscle shortly after the onset of MCK gene expression. The M isoform of creatine kinase (MCK), the striated muscle-specific isoform, is expressed later than BCK. In the mouse, BCK transcripts are expressed in myotomes at 8.5 days post coitum (p.c.), but MCK transcripts are not detected before 13 days p.c. In the chick, BCK mRNAs are present at Hamburger-Hamilton stage 13, but MCK mRNAs are not detected before stage 19. We have compared the patterns of expression of the CK genes with those of myogenic differentiation factor genes, which are thought to regulate skeletal muscle-specific gene expression. In the chick, both CMD1, first detected at stage 13, and myogenin, first detected at stage 15, are present prior to MCK, which begins to be expressed at stage 19. Unlike the mouse embryo, CMD1, the chick homologue of MyoD1, is expressed before chick myogenin. In the mouse, myogenin, first detected at 8.5 days p.c., is expressed at the same time as BCK in myotomes. Both myogenin and MyoD1, which begins to be detected two days later than myogenin, are expressed at least two days before MCK. It has been proposed that the myogenic factors, MyoD1 and myogenin, directly regulate MCK gene expression in the mouse by binding to its enhancer. However, our results show that MCK transcripts are not detected until well after MyoD1 and myogenin mRNAs are expressed, suggesting that these factors by themselves are not sufficient to initiate MCK gene expression.


Personal communication services (PCS) standards such as the IS-41 and the GSM use a location management scheme, which is based on registration areas (RA). Overlapping of registration areas has been proposed to reduce the overhead of location updates in such systems. Overlapping provides multiple choices for the selection of a registration area, a feature that does not appear in environments of nonoverlapping RAs. In this paper, we demonstrate how the choice of a registration area affects the number of subsequent registrations and define the problem of optimal choice based on minimization of subsequent registrations. We study two versions of the problem: 1) the deterministic (or offline) version, in which the entire trajectory of the mobile unit is known a priori, and 2) the stochastic (or online) version, in which the trajectory of the mobile unit is not known a priori, but the system has the knowledge of the mobility pattern of the mobile. The mobility pattern is modeled as a random walk across coverage area. In the deterministic case, the method presented computes an optimal solution to the registration problem. In the stochastic case, we present a method that determines the registration that minimizes the expected number of registrations by looking ahead in the probable future paths of the mobile unit. The algorithm's time complexity has exponential dependence on the length of the look-ahead. The cost of search is independent of the choice, therefore the algorithm does not increase the search cost. We also consider an alternative cost model for the stochastic case and propose a preemptive and a nonpreemptive approach each of which incurs different numbers of hard and soft registration operations. Simulation results show a reduction of 25-30 percent in number of registrations over a random-choice scheme. This can be translated to 5-20 percent effective location management load reduction for most cases, subject to the call-to-mobility ratio (CMR) of a mobile unit and search-cost-to-update-cost ratio (CCR) in the network.


Consumers' preferences for meat quality attributes such as color influence their purchasing decisions. Better understanding of consumer preferences can help meat processors and others attain effective product development and marketing and inform public policy decisions on nutrition and food safety education. Modified atmosphere packaging extends the shelf-life of fresh meat and, with the inclusion of carbon monoxide, achieves dramatic color stabilization. The value that US and German consumers' place on ground beef packaging techniques was quantifies by means of non-hypothetical choice experiments. The studies' results can benefit food producers and retailers who make decisions about investing in new packaging methods by providing quantitative measures of how packaging affects consumers' preferences and willingness to pay for products.


The purposes of this study were to investigate the effects of goal-setting and imagery programs, as well as a combined goal-setting and imagery training program, on the free-throw performance among female collegiate basketball players over the course of an entire season. A multiple-baseline, single-subject A-B-A design was employed in which participants were randomly assigned to one of three interventions: (a) goal-setting (n = 4), (b) imagery (n = 4), or (c) goal-setting and imagery (n = 4). Free-throw data were collected during practice sessions. Data were examined by way of changes in mean, level, trend, latency, and variability between baseline and intervention, and then between intervention and a second baseline phase. Three participants in the goal-setting program, and one participant in the goal-setting and imagery program, increased their mean free-throw performance from baseline to intervention. However, three participants in the imagery program decreased their mean free-throw performance from ba...


The objective of this paper is to examine the relationship between financial development and poverty reduction in 8 MENA countries (Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia and Yemen) over the period of 1990-2012 by using an "ARDL approach". Our empirical results show that the financial development favors the poor. The ratio to domestic credit to the private sector as % of GDP is significant and positive for Algeria, Iran, Jordan, and Tunisia. This country represents a sample of the upper-middle-income economies. While the ratio to liquid liabilities (M3) as % of GDP is significant and positive for our entire sample. This result suggests that access to credit for the poor remains a challenge.


The paper proposes a conceptual framework, informed by activity theory, for designing technological support for meaning making in museum learning. The model describes a complex interaction between two activity contexts, the one associated with learners' own interests, goals and expectations, and the one associated with the design, functionality, and history of a museum artifact. The model is intended to be used as an analytical tool supporting a systematic exploration of specific interaction design solutions for enhancing learners' experience in museum settings.


This paper discusses the prediction of verbalcommunication quality in eating establishments (EEs). EEs contain talkers and listeners who require high speech intelligibility at their tables, and high speech privacy between tables. Using CATT-Acoustic, verbalcommunication quality – quantified by speech transmission index (STI) – in models of three existing EES was predicted. Talker voiceoutput levels were predicted using an existing empirical model accounting for the Lombard effect. With these, CATT-Acoustic predicted impulse responses, speech levels and noise levels at primary and secondary listener positions, and the corresponding STIs. The untreated EEs were first modelled for various talker and listener positions, and occupancies. Then various treated configurations, involving reduced volume, increased absorption and barriers were studied to determine the effectiveness of the treatments. The results suggest that placing barriers around tables can be an effective way to achieve good verbalcommunication quality. Increasing the absorption of the room surfaces or decreasing the ceiling height to control reverberation may not be effective. However, increasing the surface absorption and putting barriers around tables may achieve optimal speech conditions in EEs. Subdividing large EEs into smaller ones can also be effective.


Fertilization is the main factor and an indicator of the effectiveness of agricultural production. A wide variety and range of mineral fertilizers are currently available on the Polish market. They differ with respect to quality and price, while their names are often similar, which makes it difficult for the farmer to select the best one. There has been a steady increase in the share of multi-component fertilizers in total mineral fertilizer consumption in Poland, which seems very positive. Multi-component fertilizers supply a combination of nutrients at a time, in adequate amounts and proportions, in view of the content of available phosphorus, potassium and magnesium in the soil. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of mixed multi-component fertilizers on spring triticale yield, the content and uptake of macronutrients. A three-year field experiment (2005-2007) was carried out in a randomized block design at the Research and Experimental Station in Tomaszkowo, at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn. The experiment comprised three fertilization treatments: control treatment (simple fertilizers) and two treatments with mixed multi-component fertilizers, Amofosmag 4 (NPKMg 4:15:15:2) and Amofosmag 3 (NPKMg 3:14:20:2). The tested crop was spring triticale (Triticosecale Wittm) cv. Wanad. Amofosmag 4 had the most beneficial influence on the yield of spring triticale grain, which increased by 11% on average, compared with the control treatment. The effect of Amofosmag 3 was similar to that of simple fertilizers. Simple and multi-component fertilizers exerted a comparable effect on the mineral composition of triticale grain and straw, which remained within normal limits. More pronounced differences were observed in this respect between successive years of the study. The highest total uptake of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium by spring triticale was noted in plots fertilized with


Regarding the characteristic of the architecture of the sample redundant flight control computer based on CAN (control area network) bus, a bus protocol of internal communication based on time-triggered is presented. The protocol-frame, data-frame, synchronization arithmetic of internal communication are designed. According to the protocol, the communication between the CPU (central processing unit) and each other function unit can be reliable. At the same time, if some node of the network were failure, CPU can check it reliably and then carry through relevant switch logic to realize the redundancy management. The results of the experimentation show that according to the bus protocol designed in this paper, the internal communication of the FCC (flight control computer) was reliable, at the same time, the fault-detect and redundancy management can be realized.


The purpose of this guide is to assist selectors with collection development and outreach. You will find information on how to get started, book review websites, outreach suggestions, and ordering tips. Resources for Selectors regarding Academic Program Review.


Although the research on electronic commerce is plentiful, there is little empirical research related to Web-Based Shopping Systems (WBSS). This is especially so in global electronic commerce circumstances. WBSS are the fastest growing segment of digital economies and are perceived as driving forces of electronic commerce in terms of global markets and digital business. Using WBSS, organizations have a new chance of their business evolving successfully as global marketers. This paper develops a unified model to assess the diffusion of WBSS, Factors that impact WBSS diffusion are identified and analyzed as the basis for empirical testing. A set of propositions is developed that allows operationalization of the model. The ultimate goal is to provide the new research insights for the academic circles and the practical guidelines for organizations wishing to undertake WBSS.


In order to provide some countermeasures for alleviating severe traffic safety situation on expressways in China, a brief introduction to originality and development of road safety audit in developed countries is firstly provided in the paper. Then, the current practice of road safety audit on expressways in China is described. Also, the factors affecting the implementation of road safety audit are analyzed, and suggestions for promoting the application of road safety audit on expressways are proposed. Lastly, the development tendency of road safety audit on expressways is discussed and a case study based on both analysis of operating speed difference and expert experience is given.


A serious public health crisis is currently unfolding due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 viral entry depends on an interaction between the receptor binding domain of the trimeric viral Spike protein (Spike-RBD) and the dimeric human angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor. While it is clear that strategies to block the Spike/ACE2 interaction are promising as anti-SARS-CoV-2 therapeutics, our current understanding is insufficient for the rational design of maximally effective therapeutic molecules. Here, we investigated the mechanism of Spike/ACE2 interaction by characterizing the binding affinity and kinetics of different multimeric forms of recombinant ACE2 and Spike-RBD domain. We also engineered ACE2 into a split Nanoluciferase-based reporter system to probe the conformational landscape of Spike-RBDs in the context of the Spike trimer. Interestingly, a dimeric form of ACE2, but not monomeric ACE2, binds with high affinity to Spike and blocks viral entry in pseudotyped virus and live SARS-CoV-2 virus neutralization assays. We show that dimeric ACE2 interacts with an RBD on Spike with limited intra-Spike avidity, which nonetheless contributes to the affinity of this interaction. Additionally, we demonstrate that a proportion of Spike can simultaneously interact with multiple ACE2 dimers, indicating that more than one RBD domain in a Spike trimer can adopt an ACE2-accessible "up" conformation. Our findings have significant implications on the design strategies of therapeutic molecules that block the Spike/ACE2 interaction. The constructs we describe are freely available to the research community as molecular tools to further our understanding of SARS-CoV-2 biology.


Escherichia coli mutants lacking alcohol dehydrogenase (adh mutants) cannot synthesize the fermentation product ethanol and are unable to grow anaerobically on glucose and other hexoses. Similarly, phosphotransacetylase-negative mutants (pta mutants) neither excrete acetate nor grow anaerobically. However, when a strain carrying an adh deletion was selected for anaerobic growth on glucose, spontaneous pta mutants were isolated. Strains carrying both adh and pta mutations were observed by in vivo nuclear magnetic resonance and shown to produce lactic acid as the major fermentation product. Various combinations of adh pta double mutants regained the ability to grow anaerobically on hexoses, by what amounts to a homolactic fermentation. Unlike wild-type strains, such adh pta double mutants were unable to grow anaerobically on sorbitol or on glucuronic acid. The growth properties of strains carrying various mutations affecting the enzymes of fermentation are discussed in terms of redox balance.


The use of programme management systems by construction programme managers is critical nowadays. The increasing complexity of multiple construction projects require information and service delivery systems that are more effective and efficient in order for the programme manager to be able to achieve the business objectives or benefits. This paper reports on the main findings from a study of programme managers in the United Kingdom and Malaysia concerning the challenges and issues in the delivery of information and services in multiple construction project environment and explores how the context of a user (such as role, location, time, preference, etc) may be utilised to provide personalised information. The discussion in the paper focuses on the key issues and requirements for programme managers to manage multiple projects using the existing programme management tools. Conclusions are drawn about the potential implementation of context-aware computing technologies in the current context of construction programme management.


Potential visitor effects on captive animals are poorly understand, with most studies focused on non-human primates, it is an area of research which in recent years has become important as a way of understanding welfare in a captive environment. Research into how this effects birds in captivity is limited, therefore this study looks at whether visitor density effects behaviour and enclosure use in six different bird species including red-billed choughs, Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax northern lapwings, Vanellus vanellus, red-crested turacos, Tauraco erythrolophus, Madagascar teal, Anas bernieri, grey gulls, Larus modestus and one Palawan peacock pheasant, Polyplectron napoleonis all housed together in a mixed species aviary at Paignton zoo Environmental Park®. Observations were carried out over a 15 day period, with each bird being observed individually and visitor density being categorised into no visitors, low, medium and high levels. Visitor noise was also measured, however no difference was found between the results of visitor noise and number. Use of space within the enclosure was analysed using the modified Spread of Participation Index (SPI) value. Values varied with all individuals, however all used the enclosure unevenly with choughs CH3, CH4, teal MT2, the Palawan peacock pheasant and the turaco pair using one or two zones predominantly more than any other area in the enclosure. Using the chi-squared test of association, a significant association between visitor number and location within the enclosure was only found in the choughs and the grey gulls and a significant association between increasing visitor density and behaviour was found in all the birds except the Madagascar teal and the Palawan peacock pheasant. There does seem to be some effect by visitors on several of the birds behaviour and their choice of locations within the enclosure, however a reliable conclusion could not be drawn due to limited data collection. More research is needed to investigate further, however this study adds to our understanding of bird welfare in captivity.


The study purpose was to examine the convergent and discriminant validity of the Leisure Time Physical Activity Instrument (LTPAI). This cross-sectional study included 211 adults with chronic pain from U.S. clinics and community networks. Data were collected on the LTPAI and other similar and distinct self-report measures and assessed using multivariate analysis of variance and bivariate correlations. Physical activity levels were higher in action and maintenance stages for physical activity behavior readiness compared to earlier stages of change. Physical activity was also associated with intrinsic motivation for exercise, self-efficacy for exercise, and exercise outcome expectancy. Light-to-moderate physical activity was higher for normal weight groups compared to overweight groups. These results extend the evidence for the validity of the LTPAI. Given the health benefits of incorporating leisure-time physical activity into daily life, it is important to test the applicability of adapted physical activity measurements among persons most in need of physical activity assessments and interventions.


In this paper, accumulation of plastic deformation of AISI 1045 steel plates with circular cutouts under cyclic axial loading is studied. Loading was applied under force-control conditions. Experimental tests were performed using a Zwick/Roell servo hydraulic machine. Under force-control loading with nonzero mean force, plastic strain was accumulated in continuous cycles called ratcheting. Numerical analysis was carried out by ABAQUS software using nonlinear isotropic/kinematic hardening model. The results of the numerical simulations were compared to experimental data. The results demonstrated that the ratcheting response of plates with circular cutouts could be numerically simulated with a reasonable accuracy. It was observed that the local and global plastic deformation increase with increasing the notch diameter. Also, maximum principal stress was the main parameter for initiation of crack around the notch. Based on numerical results, at notch root, both ratcheting strain and local mean stress relaxation was occur simultaneously and due to relaxation of local mean stress, plastic shakedown was occurred.


In a broadcasting scheme, the user's latency is a very important parameter. The harmonic broadcasting scheme has been found to have the best performance for user's latency and staircase broadcasting scheme has been found to have the best performance for local storage as well as for disk transfer rates. In this paper a modified staircase scheme has been proposed which shows that if the video data is downloaded with lesser speed which would save the local storage and hence the disk transfer rate, the users still can be provided with the video in a continuous manner without any jerk or jitter. Further, if the downloading rate of the video is reduced after 3.25 channels, the users' services for viewing the videos does not get affected. In particular, for employing bandwidth of about 40 mbps, the modified staircase data scheme shows the performance for user latency about 29% better and the local storage is same but disk I/O transfer rates are slightly higher (4%) in comparison to staircase scheme. In comparison to harmonic scheme, user's latency is 24% higher but buffer storage and disk I/O transfer rates are about 35% and 30%, respectively, better for the same bandwidth. However the values of the performance parameters converge to those of harmonic scheme as the bandwidth is increased.


Fitness improving innovations occur in populations of organisms as genetic changes (mutations) that allow better fit with the environmental niche of the organisms. Similarly, fitness improving innovations may occur in the context of human communities as well in terms of socio-economic innovations (e.g. new ways of organizing the military, new products or services) that lead to more efficient use of available resources. Here we explore the link between such innovations and the harshness of the environment, where the populations live. Environmental harshness characterizes the availability of population growth supporting resources in the environment. Our analysis shows that if the harshness of the environment varies smoothly with the distance, the expected extent of fitness improving innovations and of the resource utilization efficiency of populations depends in a combined linear and harmonic manner on the harshness of the environment at the location of origin of the populations. We explore the implications of this result for particular cases of both biological and social environments (e.g. gene drives, business innovation).


Background: In 1968, Bentall proposed the artificial vessels with ascending aorta and aortic valve replacement and re-implantation of left and right coronary arteries to treat aortic disease with ascending aortic aneurysmal dilatation. Successful Bentall operation can be achieved by greater myocardial protection, no distortion and unobstructed coronary artery bypass grafting, as well as ensured anastomotic stoma.
Patients and Methods: From June 2007 to November 2013, 421 consecutive patients with a variety of cardiac pathologies underwent beating heart surgery at our institution utilizing the myocardial perfusion strategies described above. Among them, 21 cases underwent beating heart Bentall surgery, the etiology of patients was Marfan syndrome (5 patients; 23.8%), degenerative disease (2 patients; 9.5%), bicuspid aortic valve (2 patients; 9.5%), Takayasu's arteritis (1 patient; 4.8%), and rheumatic disease in the remaining 11 patients (52.4%). Surgical Technique: Surgical procedures were performed and valve was resected, and sutured with artificial blood vessels with valve in continuous or interrupted sutures manner in aortic rings.
Results: None of the patients had perioperative myocardial infarction. Major complications included low output syndrome in 1 patient (4.8%), need for prolonged mechanical ventilation in 2 (9.5%). Postoperative echocardiographic data were available for 17 of 21 patients (81.0%). 17 patients were evaluated; none of the patients had peri valvular leak or prosthetic valve dysfunction.
Conclusion: Bentall operation can improve the functional recovery and quality of life in most of the surviving patients. Outcomes obtained using warm blood retrograde coronary sinus perfusion in beating heart surgery seems to compare favorably to those of traditional cardiac arrest surgery.


The article displays the experience of the activation of a community of philosophical inquiry made up of persons with vision disability (blind and partially sighted people) together with sighted persons, starting from the idea, through the theoretical support, coming to experience. This community of inquiry has been formed of adults: if P4Children founds its pedagogical idea on "thinking education" intended as orientation in a develop path of cognitive, creative, caring capabilities, in P4Community we have to mean the idea of a "pedagogy for adults" as a possibility of an active and continuous training. The community of philosophical inquiry represents in this sense an innovative way of training: people can experiment the possibility to actively enter in relationship to other experiences and other "visions of the world", able to grow the personal knowledge's baggage, living an experience not limited in the duration of the session or the sequence of sessions but carried into pragmatic living. The experience lived in the context of the community of inquiry is infact always tightly joined to what people live out of the community, in the daily life experiences, and it is transported in it through a dialectical process that renews itself. Being the experience of the community fed by participative dialogue and by join-responsibility in its growth's process, inclusion conditions among the partaking are spontaneously determinate. It's a "practical knowledge" gained in a inter-subjective research itinerary, therefore naturally inclusive for all the participants, that results helpful and appropriate to support the complexity of the daily life, mutually fitting each other at disposal questions, knowledge, experiences. This kind of training gives a new value to perceptive experience, because, as the "vision of the world" needs a "multiple sight", the improvement of the complex thinking in its multiple dimensions, is to be intended as contemporaneous involvement of mind and body, inside and outside. In this perspective of valorization of the differences and of enrichment of knowledge on more levels (cognitive, perceptive, ethic) grew up the idea and embodied the experience to activate a community of philosophical inquiry with persons with visual sense disability (blind and partially sighted) together with sighted persons. This co-operative construction of meaning horizons has to be shared with whom who learn and understand reality through experiences that start from "others" perceptive and cognitive categories, that can give also the opportunity to confront everyone with a "way of living different from that the nature put us in". The orientation of partakings the community toward the development of the complex thinking happens by the sharing questioning about reality, that in this particular context is "known", approached, beginning from a different use of the senses. Inquiry and research are originated and defined from the basis of experiences about reality made starting by different consciousness and perceptive prevalence.


We consider the problem of covering a street network with loading stations for electric vehicles (EVs) such that EVs can travel along shortest paths and only require small detours (e.g., at most 3 km) to recharge along the route. We show that this problem can be formulated as a Hitting Set problem. Unfortunately, it turns out that even the explicit problem instance construction requires too much time and space to be practical. Therefore, we develop several approximation algorithms and heuristics to solve the problem. Our experiments show that even though small, the allowed detours lead to a considerable reduction in the number of required loading stations. Moreover, we devise an algorithm for planning high-quality EV-routes in a network with loading stations placed by our approach. We empirically show the usability of the routes by evaluating the number of reloading stops and the actually induced detour.


This article examines the main cultural differences and similarities between American managers and their Russian counterparts. It also explores the applicability of familiar American management concepts concerning leadership styles, motivation approaches, performance appraisal systems, systems for strategic planning, and organizational configurations in the context of the Russian culture. Certain American management concepts—such as legitimate power-based leadership style, employee relations policies, gainsharing, appraisals based on work team performance, strategic improvising, and strategic alliances—can be successfully put into practice in Russia. Differences in managerial values between these two countries, however, require that the application of American management approaches in Russia be carried out patiently and systematically.


The authors have collected a valuable data set that has the potential to support interesting new insights into the marine carbon biogeochemistry of this region. Some interesting and important points are raised along the way such as the discrepancy between a coastal ocean data product (Landschützer et al.) and the higher-resolution data collected here, and the non-negligible difference in seawater pCO2 depending on the point in the tidal cycle that the sample was collected. But the overall narrative of this manuscript is not convincing. An important study could be written based on this data set but I do not think this manuscript hits the mark. I encourage the authors to reconsider the framing and methodology to get the most out of this data set with a different approach.


Rising health-care costs can cause problems in a capitalistic society because they can result in the diversion of funds from new product development. Presently, $500 billion is spent on healthcare, and there are signs that certain treatments are being reduced because of expense. This overall cost reduction will probably impact dentistry most because dentistry is viewed as more discretionary than medical healthcare. Rewarding for systematic prevention in the office is the most ethical solution if treatment funds are reduced.


The RcppEigen package provides access from R (R Core Team 2012a) to the Eigen (Guennebaud, Jacob, and others 2012) C++ template library for numerical linear algebra. Rcpp (Eddelbuettel and Francois 2011, 2012) classes and specializations of the C++ templated functions as and wrap from Rcpp provide the "glue" for passing objects from R to C++ and back. Several introductory examples are presented. This is followed by an in-depth discussion of various available approaches for solving least-squares problems, including rank-revealing methods, concluding with an empirical run-time comparison. Last but not least, sparse matrix methods are discussed.


Abstract The chemical composition of essential oils obtained from fresh leaves and stem bark of Southeastern Brazilian native Drimys brasiliensis Miers were analyzed by GC and GC/MS and 37 compounds were identified. The oils from fresh leaves showed the presence of monoterpenes (53.9%) and sesquiterpenes (38.4%), with sabinene (9.5%), myrcene (10.5%), limonene (10.6%) and cyclocolorenone (16.0%) being the most abundant. The stem bark oil was characterized by predominance of sesquiterpenoids (87.6%) and the absence of monoterpenes, the main components being cyclocolorenone (28.3%) and spathuleneol (22.9%). A small amount of phenylpropanes (6.8–6.9%) was also detected in both oil samples.


This article addresses the core-periphery nexus by looking at some of
the reform packages proposed in the 2000s in these two pivotal countries
in the Middle East, Egypt and Jordan, as well as the resistances they generated. These reform packages include internationalisation and privatisation policies, as well as World Bank–sponsored programmes
intended to enhance the higher education sector. These programmes are marked by a high degree of isomorphism with global trends: they belong to an unquestioned centre, with peripheries as receiving points of policies elaborated elsewhere. In this article, I examine some of the resistances they were met with in Egypt and Jordan and show how their translations were shaped by the logics of the local contexts so that they were rarely implemented. Looking at post–Arab Spring developments, the article reflects on the continuity of reform packages amidst political turmoil, and the ways in which these reforms are altering or reinforcing processes of peripheralisation.


A pot experiment was carried out at the University of Agriculture, college of plant science (co-plant) Abeokuta. Nigeria, using the Complete Randomizes Design (CRD) to study the effect of compost and the different species of mycorrhizae on the growth and yield of soybean (Glycine max). Significant differences were observed between the treatments on some growth and yield parameters of soybeans at the vegetative stage and the reproductive stage. This implies that the treatments applied showed different responses to the crop. The crop performed better in the number of branches, canopy spread, number of leaves, leaf area and plant height for growth parameters, while significant differences was observed in seed weight/pot and seed weight/ha for yield parameters. The study concludes that the growth of soybean was significantly enhanced by the combine inoculation of Glomus deserticola (GD) and compost, while the yield was significantly enhanced by the combine inoculation of Glomus mosseae (GM) and compost. Also, higher number of spore count and % root infection was recorded in the combine innoculation of Glomus deserticola and compost.


Reciprocal translocations produce imbalances by three types of disjunction which are, in decreasing frequency, adjacent 1, 3:1, and adjacent 2. Adjacent 1 disjunction produces duplication deficiencies of inverse topography to those of adjacent 2. The imbalanced chromosome segments in one of these types are balanced in the other. The disjunction 3:1 produces pure trisomies and monosomies. The following situations predispose to adjacent 2 disjunction: translocations between the long arms of two acrocentric chromosomes or between one of these and that of a No 9 chromosome; centric segments, either short or carrying a heterochromatic zone (9qh); a balanced translocation in the mother. The factors predisposing to the disjunction adjacent 2 operate by selection, or directly on the meiotic configuration. Some of them (shortness of the interstitial segment, shortness of the short arms of translocation chromosomes) act in both these ways. Their influence is probably responsible for the repetitive and exclusive character of this disjunction. The conditions for the occurrence of the 3:1 disjunctions seem less strict than those for adjacent 2, although they should be of the same nature (involvement of acrocentrics or a chromosome 9 in the translocation, maternal origin).


Determined cyber adversaries often strategize their attacks by carefully selecting high-value target machines that host insecure (e.g., unpatched) legacy software. In this paper, we propose a moving-target approach to thwart and countersurveil such adversaries, wherein live (non-decoy) enterprise software services are automatically modified to deceptively emulate vulnerable legacy versions that entice attackers. A game-theoretic framework chooses which emulated software stacks, versions, configurations, and vulnerabilities yield the best defensive payoffs and most useful threat data given a specific attack model. The results show that effective movement strategies can be computed to account for pragmatic aspects of deception, such as the utility of various intelligence-gathering actions, impact of vulnerabilities, performance costs of patch deployment, complexity of exploits, and attacker profile.


While recent times have witnessed a surge of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into the developing world, these inflows remain below optimal levels. In this article, we use data on African, Asian, and Latin American economies to investigate the role of political risk and macroeconomic uncertainty—stemming from the foreign exchange market—as determinants of the patterns of FDI. Moreover, given the low share of FDI going into African economies, we place special attention on the differential impact of these variables on FDI flows into Africa. The results of this study point to the fact that, in general, political risk and exchange rate uncertainty reduce FDI. However, it is shown that the impact of political risk is more severe for FDI flowing into African economies.


As the interconnection density of electronic packaging continues to increase, the fatigueinduced solder joint failure of surface mounted electronic devices become one of the most critical reliability issues in electronic packaging industry. Especially, prediction of the shape of solder joint is a major event in the development of electronic packaging for its practical engineering application. In conventional electronic packages, the geometrical dimensions of solder balls and solder pads of the package are the same. In this research, a hybrid method combined with analytical and energybased methods is utilized to predict force-balanced heights and geometry profiles of solder balls under various solder volume and pad dimensions as well as their relative location during the reflow process. Next, a non-linear finite element analysis is adopted to investigate the stress/strain behavior of solder balls in flip chip package. The results reveal that as the flip chip package contains larger solder balls located at the corner area underneath the chip, the maximum equivalent plastic strain/stress is evidently reduced and the reliability cycles under thermal loading are enhanced. Furthermore, the results presented in this research can be used as a design guideline for area array interconnections.


Are you feeling weird about not having any idea about cryptocurrency? Are you confused with the concept of Bitcoin and blockchain? Do you think the concepts are too technical and that they go over your head? Are you finding yourself in a world of jargons and technical terms when it comes to cryptocurrency? If you are nodding your head for a YES to at least one of the above-mentioned questions, then not to worry - you have got hold of the right book. Cryptocurrency is a digital currency that has no physical form in the real world. Bitcoin is the first cryptocurrency and the most popular of other digital currencies in the digital market. All these digital currencies run on blockchain technology which is a decentralized peer-to-peer network making the transactions transparent and secure at the same time. Through the course of the book, we are intending to discuss understanding the concept of cryptocurrency, the blockchain technology it runs on, the most popular cryptocurrency Bitcoin, the process of mining a Bitcoin and the basic guidelines to invest and trade in cryptocurrencies. Here is a quick snapshot of what is covered in the book: Reasons that led to invention of cryptocurrency Cryptocurrency, its history, and the work process Necessity of miners Properties of cryptocurrencies Most popular cryptocurrencies Background of blockchain technology Blockchain, its work process and the various features it holds Potential applications where blockchain technology can be used Bitcoin and its base technology Ways to buy and sell Bitcoins Things to be done before purchasing a Bitcoin Places to find Bitcoins Bitcoins & its characteristics Disadvantages of Bitcoins Mining process Complexity in mining Proof of work. Bitcoin mining difficulty Bitcoin mining hardware used by miners Bitcoin cloud mining Trading and investing in Cryptocurrency Risks and Regulations in trading or investing Mistakes to be avoided while trading cryptocurrency ...and so much more So what are you waiting for? Click on the Buy Now button and get started right away! Amazon Great Deal: You can read on your PC, Mac, smartphone, tablet or Kindle device.


A study was conducted to isolate and identify strain of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from king grass, and to determine their potential as candidate of probiotic for livestock. The LAB was isolated by culturing king grass extract in De Man, Rogosa and Sharpe (MRS) medium. The pure culture LAB was used to identify strain of bacteria using Analytical Profile Index (API) 50 CH kit. The result showed that the strain bacteria was identified as Lactobacillus plantarum. L. plantarum was able to survive in extreme condition at pH 2 and 0.3% bile salt. L . plantarum also survived against pathogenic bacteria i.e. Staphylococcus aureus , Escherechia coli and Salmonella thypi . It is concluded that L. plantarum isolated from king grass could potentially to be used as probiotic for livestock. Key Words : Bile salt, Lactic acid bacteria, Pathogen, Probiotic, pH.


Analyses of the shape and functioning of systems of political rule need to address informal institutions, which exist alongside and can relate to formal institutions in various ways. In this paper, I first discuss some analytical foundations of the study of such institutions. I then suggest that a focus on political regimes - understood as the configuration of formal and informal institutions shaping and reflecting the access to and the exercise of political power - can be particularly useful for analysing the shape and functioning of autocracies. Finally, I use such a regime focus to study the Chinese Communist Party and its leadership succession process, which is characterised by increasing institutionalisation and complementary as well as substitutive relations between formal and informal institutions.


ABSTRACT Child undernutrition, a form of malnutrition, is a major public health burden in developing countries. Supplementation interventions targeting the major micronutrient deficiencies have only reduced the burden of child undernutrition to a certain extent, indicating that there are other underlying determinants that need to be addressed. Aflatoxin exposure, which is also highly prevalent in developing countries, may be considered an aggravating factor for child undernutrition. Increasing evidence suggests that aflatoxin exposure can occur in any stage of life, including in utero through a trans-placental pathway and in early childhood (through contaminated weaning food and family food). Early life exposure to aflatoxin is associated with adverse effects on low birth weight, stunting, immune suppression, and the liver function damage. The mechanisms underlying impaired growth and aflatoxin exposure are still unclear but intestinal function damage, reduced immune function, and alteration in the insulin-like growth factor axis caused by the liver damage are the suggested hypotheses. Given the fact that both aflatoxin and child undernutrition are common in sub-Saharan Africa, effective interventions aimed at reducing undernutrition cannot be satisfactorily achieved until the interactive relationship between aflatoxin and child undernutrition is clearly understood, and an aflatoxin mitigation strategy takes effect in those vulnerable mothers and children.


The calculation of curvature from Volume of Fluid data has been a challenging task for many years since part of the information about of free-surface shape is lost in the averaging process of the indicator function. This calculation is crucial for the correct computing of interfacial forces present in micro-drop mechanics, capillary flows, flow in porous media and many others. Regarding the available methods one the most widespread techniques is the Continuum Surface Force (CSF) based on the calculation of the curvature using the second derivative of the fraction distribution or an smoothed version of this field to avoid spurious forces. Another techique is the Reconstructed Distance Function (RDF) where the curvature is computed as the second derivative of the distance to the interface. Both methods have been proposed for structured meshes and have extensions to non-structured cases. Within the most accurate methods are the Height Fuctions initially presented in structured meshes and lately extended to the general two dimensional case by Ito et al. [J. of Comp. Phys. 273 (2014) 38-53]. In this context this work presents an extension of Ito's method to three dimensions being able to run in parallel facilities. Mecánica Computacional Vol XXXVI, págs. 1081-1081 (resumen) José G. Etse, Bibiana M. Luccioni, Martín A. Pucheta, Mario A. Storti (Eds.) San Miguel de Tucumán, 6-9 Noviembre 2018 Copyright © 2018 Asociación Argentina de Mecánica Computacional http://www.amcaonline.org.ar