This breadth section examines, compares, contrasts, synthesizes, and integrates major theories of human development. For example, the psychological perspective of Adler's value-oriented psychology theory, and Piaget's cognitive developmental theory. Socio-cultural perspective of Bandura's social cognitive and self efficacy theories, and Kohlberg's theories of moral development. The biological perspective of Erikson's psychological development stages theory in relation to human developmental stages i.e. adolescence development, and developmental success indicators that enabled human to acquire leadership skills. Thus, examining how these theories contributed to behavior modification and development. For example, psychological, socio-cultural, and moral developmental that contributed leadership development will be explored. Precisely exploring women leadership attributes development will provide guidelines to establish recommendations for such development. Additionally, the report examined leadership attributes in correlation to both human development theories and various motivation theories. For example, Skinner operant conditioning theory and McClelland's theory of need, Maslow's hierarchy need theory, Vroom's expectancy theory, and how these factors affect leadership skills and attributes development. Moreover, the Depth section examined the human development theories in depth, including contemporary theoretical studies, in regard to human developmental factors based on the socio-cultural, psychological, and moral prospective that shaped human attitudes and destiny. The paper explored the developmental issues that affecting and/or hindering leadership attributes development. For example, examining socio-culture, environment, and social parameters and variables that may implicitly or explicitly inhibit limitations that hindered human psychological development and/or shaped human lives accordingly. Hence, these limitations, hinderances and/or barriers might have led us to develop psychological barriers. Such as resistance to change attitudes that have had affected many of us to develop various positive attributes. The paper critically analyzed and researched women adolescents' development against the general theories of Bandura, Piaget and Erikson. For example, analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of human development success and failure factors that introduced in the Breadth section. In correlation to the role of women psychological, socio-cultural, and moral developmental, factors that may have affected women leadership attributes development.The Application section analyzed, assessed, and synthesized the human behavior development aspects, based on the psychological, socio-cultural, socio-economic, and moral aspects. And how they have had influenced the development of tolerant attitudes, and the possibility of modifying such attributes. The paper examined leadership attributes developmental factors because understanding how these factors developed will enhance our understanding of its development. Enhance our ability to develop such attributes and/or enable us to fulfill our own intellectual inquiries. Importantly, the development of women leadership role will provide many with the knowledge of themselves and how to develop such traits. Finally, recommendations presented as presentation that will be available to various groups concerned with enhancing human behavior i.e. leadership. For example, women will be able to understand leadership attributes development, and breakaway from the socio-economic cultural hindrances. Consequently, be able to enhance the positive aspects of their behaviors and the ability to develop leadership quality and traits. Accordingly, women will be bale to contribute to human well-being and to the positive social change, because to me women intellectual capacities underutilized, and they should be part of the social change and human development. Findings will assist me in providing a meaningful consultation to businesses as a management consultant and lecturer as part of my profession. Assist me in delivering effective meaningful lectures on leadership development.


Woman's two piece suit of suede with prints and plain, including dark brown suede partly printed with diagonal stripes of silver, and partlyl with pink and silver paisley inspired floral print; and with golden brown plain suede. The suit consists of:

Jacket. Styled with band collar and center front opening of one covered button and loop closure near neckline and 7 hook & eyes. Padded shoulders. Long semi-fitted modified raglan sleeves. Straight cut bodice. Hemline with center front and back points. Floral printed suede at collar and center front yoke, and at outside sleeves, banded by orange and gold suede. Panel of gold suede with silver stripes at center back. Remainder of jacket with dark brown suede printed with silver stripes. Unlined. Total length: 22" (55.9cm).

Designer's label at center back neckline: "Roberto Cavalli / Firenze / Made in Italy"
Content/care and size "S" tags attached to base of designer label.

Skirt. Medium length. Gold suede full cut skirt gathered all-around to dark brown printed suede yoke of modified paisley print, pointed at center front and back. Fitted waistband of same suede. Band of print suede with orange down each side of skirt. Inseam pocket each side. Left side closure by plastic zipper with one covered button at waistband. Unlined. Total length: 26" (67.3cm).

Designer's label at center back waistline: "Roberto Cavalli / Firenze / Made in Italy"
Content/care and size "S" tags attached to base of designer label.


Light is usually coupled to a whispering gallery mode cavity using a tapered fiber. However, it is difficult to stabilize the optical coupling against mechanical vibration because it requires sub-μm control of the gap distance between the fiber and cavity. In this study, we experimentally demonstrate mechanically robust coupling that we realize by allowing the tapered fiber to touch the sidewall of the cavity. By using an octagonal toroid microcavity, we prevent the cavity-waveguide system from over coupling and achieve critical coupling even when the fiber is in contact with the surface of the cavity. We show by numerical analysis that such a deformed microcavity is required if we need to control the coupling, since a circular cavity usually overcouples when the fiber contacts the surface. The fabricated octagonal silica toroid microcavity exhibits a quality factor of 2.2 × 104 when the tapered fiber touches a cavity with a diameter of 80 μm.


Deer-vehicle collisions are on the rise and are a costly side-effect of increasing deer populations and expanding trans-portation systems. We evaluated the efficacy of sound as a deterrent for reducing deer-vehicle collisions by observing the behavioral response of captive and free-ranging white-tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ) to 5 pure-tone sound treatments: 0.28 kHz, 1 kHz, 8 kHz, 15 kHz, and 28 kHz. We conducted preliminary trials with semi-tame deer at the University of Georgia Captive Deer Research Facility. We exposed 8 deer in a 0.25-ha outside paddock and 5 deer in individual stalls (2.7 m x 4.8 m) to the various treatments at >70 dB Sound Pressure Level. We recorded 406 observa tions and determined that the behavior of captive deer did not change when presented with any of the 5 pure-tone sound treatments. We also conducted field trials at Berry College Wildlife Refuge, Georgia and gathered 319 behavioral observations of free-ranging deer relative to a moving automobile (56.45 kph). The automobile was fitted with a sound-producing device and speakers that emitted one of the pure-tone sound treatments or no sound treatment as a control. For the 1 kHz, 8 kHz, 15 kHz, and 28 kHz sound treatments, we observed no change in deer behavior relative to the control. When exposed to the 0.28 kHz treatment, deer reacted in a manner more likely to cause deer-vehicle collisions. Our results indicate that deer within 10 m of roadways did not alter their behavior in response to the pure-tone sound treatments we tested in a manner that would prevent deer-vehicle collisions. Commercially available wildlife warning whistles (aka deer whistles) are purported to emit similar consistent, continuous sounds as pure tones at various frequencies within the range of those presented in this study. Our data suggests that deer-whistles, as they are purported to operate, are likely not effective in preventing deer-vehicle collisions.


stress corrosion cracking in cathodically protected high-pressure gas transmission pipelines DTU Orbit (01/11/2019) Microbial corrosion and cracking in steel. A concept for evaluation of hydrogen-assisted stress corrosion cracking in cathodically protected high-pressure gas transmission pipelines An effort has been undertaken in order to develop a concept for evaluation of the risk of hydrogen-assisted cracking in cathodically protected gas transmission pipelines. The effort was divided into the following subtasks: A. Establish a correlation between the fracture mechanical properties of high-strength pipeline steel and the concentration of hydrogen present in the steel. B. Determine the degree hydrogen absorption by cathodically protected steel exposed in natural soil sediment, which include activity of sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB). C. Compare the above points with fracture mechanical considerations on the level of stress intensity actually present in pipelines during normal operational conditions. The results were used for a discussion based on well established fracture mechanical relations on which set of conditions (CP-level and operating pipeline pressure) could give crack propagation. This resulted in threshold curves that can be used for assessment of the risk of hydrogen-assisted cracking as a function of operating pressure and hydrogen content having the flaw size as discrete parameter. The results are to be used mainly on a conceptual basis, but it was indicated that the requirements for crack propagation include an overprotective CP-condition, a severe sulphatereducing environment, as well as a large flaw (8 mm or a leak in the present case). A 1 mm flaw (which may be the maximum realistic flaw size) is believed to be unable to provoke crack propagation in this steel.


The paper presents the costs and returns, economic and financial feasibility of fig cultivation in North Eastern region of Karnataka, India. Data collected from 60 fig cultivators by adopting multistage sampling design were analyzed using tabular analysis, economic and financial feasibility measures like Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Benifit Cost (BC) ratio and Pay Back Period (PBP). The results revealed that, per acre total establishment cost was ` 1,23,626.73 of which, ` 55,607.30 (44.98%) were variable cost and ` 68,019.40 (55.02%) were fixed cost. Further, the analysis of investment in fig orchard suggests that, the investment made in fig cultivation in the study area was economically viable with BCR greater than unity (3.01), positive NPV (` 749986.40) and IIR higher than prevailing rate of interest (12.00%). The payback period (3.44 years), was also desirable considering the total economic life of fig orchard. There is higher initial investment in fig orchards, therefore there is a need to provide financial assistance through enhanced scale of finance to the fig cultivators by institutional agencies to enhance the income of the farmers.


This article presents results of a wide-band measurement campaign conducted at 38 GHz. The objective of the research was to determine multipath and time varying channel behavior of short-hop millimeter-wave point-to-multipoint radio links during various weather events. 73963 power delay profiles (PDPs) were captured on three links, each comparable to proposed local multipoint distribution systems (LMDS) in a campus environment. Multipath was observed in unobstructed LOS links during rain but not during clear weather. Short-term variation of the received signal over 1-2 min observation periods is described by a Rician distribution with a K factor which varies as a function of rain rate. Measured rain attenuation exceeds Crane's (1996) model predictions by several decibels. A novel prediction technique is presented that applies canonical antenna patterns and site specific information to estimate worst case multipath channel characteristics including relative power, time of arrival (TOA), and angle of arrival (AOA) of each multipath component. New metrics, the excess delay zone and relative power zone, are defined and contour plots are developed to determine potential reflectors from an area site map. These results and models provide useful guidelines for the design of millimeter-wave wireless communication systems.


Documenting within species group size variation is important to completely understand social organization within species and to interpret variation among species. Here, I investigated group size of African buffalo Syncerus caffer over 2 years in a heterogeneous landscape. African buffalo use closed continuous forest and vast open savannas, and anecdotal observations suggest that habitat type influences their social structure. While the Cape buffalo Syncerus caffer caffer is well studied, few data exist for the forest-dwelling Syncerus caffer nanus. I observed forest buffalo at Lope National Park, Gabon, and examined variation of group size. Eighteen forest buffalo herds used the study area with an estimated population of 342 individuals (∼5 buffalo km−2). The mean group size for the 18 herds was 12 ± 2 (range of means=3–24), considerably smaller than Cape buffalo herds. For eight radiocollared forest buffalo, the mean group size was stable, varying little with time of day, across seasons, or between savanna and marsh habitat. However, herd size varied widely across herds, from fewer than 10 individuals in the smallest herds to more than 20 buffalo in the largest. Large herd size is associated with home ranges that contain substantial areas of open habitat, and thus more food resources than forested habitats.


Due to the open-source nature of the blockchain ecosystem, it is common for new blockchains to fork or partially reuse the code of classic blockchains. For example, the popular Dogecoin, Litecoin, Binance BSC, and Polygon are all variants of Bitcoin/Ethereum. These"forked"blockchains thus could encounter similar vulnerabilities that are propagated from Bitcoin/Ethereum during forking or subsequently commit fetching. In this paper, we conduct a systematic study of detecting and investigating the propagated vulnerabilities in forked blockchain projects. To facilitate this study, we propose BlockScope, a novel tool that can effectively and efficiently detect multiple types of cloned vulnerabilities given an input of existing Bitcoin/Ethereum security patches. Specifically, BlockScope adopts similarity-based code match and designs a new way of calculating code similarity to cover all the syntax-wide variant (i.e., Type-1, Type-2, and Type-3) clones. Moreover, BlockScope automatically extracts and leverages the contexts of patch code to narrow down the search scope and locate only potentially relevant code for comparison. Our evaluation shows that BlockScope achieves good precision and high recall both at 91.8% (1.8 times higher recall than that in ReDeBug). BlockScope allows us to discover 101 previously unknown vulnerabilities in 13 out of the 16 forked projects of Bitcoin and Ethereum, including 16 from Dogecoin, 6 from Litecoin, 1 from Binance, and 4 from Optimism. We have reported all the vulnerabilities to their developers; 40 of them have been patched or accepted, 66 were acknowledged or under pending, and only 4 were rejected. We further investigate the propagation and patching processes of discovered vulnerabilities, and reveal three types of vulnerability propagation from source to forked projects, as well as the long delay (over 200 days) for releasing patches in Bitcoin forks.


The infectious disease CoViD-19 is caused by a new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), also referred to as hCoV-19. A possible infection mechanism includes dual host receptor recognitions by the SARS-CoV-2 transmembrane spike (S) glycoproteins. SARS-CoV-2 S contains two different domains, the receptor-binding domain (RBD) and the N-terminal domain (NTD), which interact with the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and the ganglioside-rich domain of the plasma membrane at the surface of respiratory cell, respectively. The NTD amino acid residues (111-162) form a functional ganglioside-binding domain (GBD) that is conserved in all clinical isolates. Herein, the single point mutations (SPMs) of the GBD residues to which the virus is prone during genetic adaptation are predicted using an in silico protein engineering approach. Consequently, their effects on the attachment of SARS-CoV-2 S to the ganglioside-linked 9-O-acetylated sialic acid (9-O-Ac-Sia) are explored using molecular docking simulations. Val120Tyr and Asn122Trp are found to be the most likely SPMs in the GBD of SARS-CoV-2 S being involved in very specific recognition with 9-O-Ac-Sia through electrostatic interactions. Val120Tyr and Asn122Trp are also found to be the most likely SPMs in the GBD of SARS-CoV-2 S that is involved in conspicuously hydrophobic recognition with hidroxychloroquine (Hcq), thereby indicating the ability of Hcq to competitively inhibit GBD interactions with lipid rafts. However, the considerably non-specific binding of Hcq and the micromolar range of the dissociation constants of the SARS-CoV-2 S/Hcq complexes do not support the proposal of treating Hcq as a drug candidate. Maintaining a clear resemblance of the structure of a potential drug candidate to a natural substrate, accompanied by essential functional group modifications, may be a usable guideline for the structure-based design of anti-CoViD-19 drugs.


Abstract The discovery of gravity waves from the mergers of black hole binaries has focused the astronomical community on the high mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) as the potential progenitors of close pairs of compact stars. This symposium gathered experts in observational and theoretical work for a very timely review of our understanding of the processes that drive the X-ray luminosity of the diverse kinds of binaries and what evolutionary stages are revealed in the observed cases. Here I offer a condensed summary of some of the results about massive star properties, the observational categories of HMXBs, their accretion processes, their numbers in the Milky Way and other galaxies, and how they may be related to the compact binaries that merge in a burst of gravity waves.


Purpose: Modeling metabolic interactions between chemicals can be a formidable model development task. Here I demonstrate a new approach and the capabilities of new tools to facilitate that development. Methods: Individual models of metabolic pathways are automatically merged and coupled to a template physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model, using the GNU MCSim software. The global model generated is very efficient and able to simulate the interactions between a theoretically unlimited number of substances. Development time increases only linearly with the number of substances considered, while the number of possible interactions increases exponentially. Results: I show an example of application of that approach to the prediction of the kinetics of a mixture of 30 arbitrary chemicals. The qualitative and quantitative behavior of the corresponding pathway network is analyzed using Monte-Carlo simulations. In our example, the number of significant interactions, given the uncertainty and variability in pharmacokinetics and metabolism of those substances, is much lower than the theoretically possible number of interactions. Conclusion: The integrative approach to interaction modeling is efficient and can be extended beyond metabolic interactions. It relies on the availability of specific data on the rate constants of individual reactions. Such data could be obtained thought unconventional enzyme kinetics Experiments, or thought ab initio chemistry modeling of enzymatic reactions. We are currently exploring both approaches


E-commerce is one of the popular areas. In Online Shopping we can perform add, remove, edit, and update the product as per dealers and end users requirement. With the use of semantic web and web 3.0 the system performance will increase. The system should have proper user interface. The customers who visit online shopping system, they will have easy implementation of search item. This will increase the participation of various dealers for their product to get them online. For each Dealer have separate login and they also insert product, tracking products delivery for their products. The proposed system will use semantic web and web 3.0 Therefore, for Customer and also for Dealer it is useful. For both Customer and Dealers it shows own interface.


Objective: Large placental weight and a high placental to birth weight ratio are both known predictors of higher adult blood pressure related to low maternal hemoglobin and a fall in mean cell volume. So we decided to study the association of maternal hemoglobin levels with placental weight, birth weight, and placental ratio. Methods: This prospective study was performed on 500 pregnant women who were hospitalized in Amir- Almomenin Hospital in Semnan, Iran, for delivery from September 2001 to September 2002. Maternal hemoglobin concentration was measured at first trimester during prenatal care and before delivery using Coulter counter method. Birth and placental weights were measured at delivery. The patients with systemic disease, history of smoking, poly or oligohydramnious, placental abnormality, twin or multiple pregnancies, high blood pressure and fetal congenital anomaly were excluded from the study. Stepwise regression analysis was used to determine this association and p value<0.05 was significant. Results: Krusskall Wallis and anova analysis showed that the lowest range of birth weight was associated with hemoglobin concentration of < 10 gr/dl in pregnancy (p=0. 1) and maternal age of less than 25 years old (p=0.007). The maximum of placental weight was in pregnant women with parity of 3 to 4 (p=0.005). The maximum of placental ratio (placental weight / birth weight) was with hemoglobin concentration of 9-9.9 gr/dl in third trimester. (p=0.001) Conclusion: Using multiple regression analysis, we detected a positive correlation between birth weight and late maternal hemoglobin levels (p=0.0179), between placental weight and parity (p=0.0008) and a negative association of placental ratio with maternal hemoglobin concentration in first trimester (p=0.0034).


ABSTRACT Vapor intrusion (VI) is the migration of subsurface vapors, including radon and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), from the subsurface to indoor air. The VI exposure pathway extends from the contaminant source, which can be impacted soil or groundwater, to indoor air-exposure points. VOC contaminants of concern typically include halogenated solvents as well as petroleum hydrocarbons. Radon, a colorless radioactive gas that is released by radioactive decay of radionuclides in rock and soil, migrates into homes through VI in a similar fashion to VOCs. This project focused on the performance of permanent versus temporary sub-slab sampling ports for the determination of VI of halogenated VOCs and radon into an unoccupied house. VOC and radon concentrations measured simultaneously in soil gas using collocated temporary and permanent ports appeared to be independent of the type of port. The variability between collocated temporary and permanent ports was much less than the spatial variability between different locations within a single residential duplex. Post sampling leak test results suggested that the temporary SSP desiccation and cracking of the clay portion of the seal were not as detrimental to the port seal performance as would have been expected, this suggests that the Teflon tape portion of the seals served an important function. Pre and post sampling leak tests are advisable when temporary ports are used to collect a time-integrated sample. These results suggest that temporary sub-slab sampling ports can provide data equivalent to that collected from a permanent sub-slab sampling port.


The Bi2Te3 compound was synthesized by mechanical alloying (MA) of highly pure constituents of Bi and Te powders, and then was consolidated by spark plasma sintering (SPS) method. The MA-derived alloy formation was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), and the microstructure change was investigated through scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The thermoelectric properties were measured using a Seebeck Coefficient/Electrical Resistance Measuring System. The influence of MA time on the thermoelectric properties of the SPS-sintered samples was investigated to find the optimal MA condition for the powder synthesis and thermoelectric properties. The obtained results showed that the sample with the MA time of 6 h exhibited the optimal electrical transport properties. The maximum power factor of over 2.0 × 10-3 W/m K2 was obtained between 323 K and 423 K.


RNA plays a central role in controlling cellular functions. Research of the content and distribution of RNA in living cells is of great significance to both biochemistry and biomedicine. However, ratiometric fluorescent probes for the detection of RNA in the cytoplasm and nucleoli are still rarely reported. We herein present the first example of a novel ratiometric fluorescent composite nanomaterial by using graphene quantum dots (GQDs) and a fluorescent probe molecule for the sensitive and selective detection of RNA. HVC-6 was selected as the detection group. The fluorescence was excited at 365 nm and the fluorescence emission at 470 and 610 nm increased gradually with the addition of RNA. The fluorescence intensity ratio of I610/I470 displayed a linear response to RNA. Furthermore, the developed nanomaterial HVC-6@GQDs showed potential for utilization as a fluorescent RNA probe in living cells.


Abstract. Possible reasons for deviations from Griffith's criterion in slab avalanche triggerings are examined. In the case of a major basal crack, we show (i) that the usual form of Griffith's criterion is valid if elastic energy is stored in a shallow and hard slab only, and (ii) that rapid healing of broken ice bonds may lead to shear toughnesses larger than expected from tensile toughness experiments. In the case of avalanches resulting from failure of multi-cracked weak layers, where a simple Griffith's criterion cannot be applied, frequency/size plots obtained from discrete elements and cellular automata simulations are shown to obey scale invariant power law distributions. These findings are confirmed by both frequency/acoustic emission duration and frequency/size plots obtained from field data, suggesting that avalanche triggerings may be described using the formalism of critical phenomena.


The current economic situation and its effects on the situation of public finances thus place the tax system, even more than before, at the heart of economic and social policy debates. This debate can only be fruitful and lead to relevant recommendations on the basis of a global diagnosis of this system, both in terms of its structure and legislative construction, as well as in terms of its day-to-day practice and management by the administration and taxpayers, and its perception by all parties concerned. The aim is to establish a fairer tax system in which each taxpayer pays his taxes according to his ability to pay and an effective tax system to promote economic growth.


An interpretation of the infrared optical properties of gold smoke deposits is presented together with new experimental results. This interpretation is based on an application of classical electromagnetic theory. The gold smoke deposits are assumed to interact with infrared radiation as if they were sheets of an essentially uniform material which is characterized by an average electrical conductivity small compared to that of ordinary metals. The electrical conductivity of gold black deposits is found to be ~10−5 times that of bulk gold, and the volume percent of gold in a gold black deposit is found to be ~0.2 percent.


This article looks at New Zealand's oil consumption at a disaggregated level and discusses the consequences of movements in international oil prices for inflation, taking into account New Zealand's industry structure as well as the tax treatment of different fuel types. Relative to the size of its economy, New Zealand uses a comparatively large amount of oil as transport fuel. The evidence suggests that the indirect (cost-push) effects of higher oil prices on consumer prices could be quite large, substantially driven by higher transport services costs. How large they turn out to be, and whether they matter for medium-term inflation and monetary policy, will depend on factors such as the state of the economic cycle, the degree of competition in particular industries, and the extent to which inflation expectations are anchored.


A method for assessing likelihood of brittle fracture in cyclically loaded steel assemblies subjected to inelastic strains is proposed. The method proposed is based upon relationships between monotonic and cyclic endurance of steel specimens proposed by Kuwamura and Takagi, and analysis of crack tip opening displacement (CTOD), Charpy V-Notch (CVN) and tensile results of pre-strained, fatigue pre-cracked and side-grooved specimens of constructional steel. The proposed method allows the influence of displacement ductility classification (as used in seismic design of structures), notch geometry, and cyclic strain amplitude history on crack initiation to be incorporated into a single design analysis approach. Small scale CTOD testing of steel materials with various levels of pre-strain may be used to identify stress intensity and crack tip displacement at crack initiation for use in the analysis. The integration of a fracture mechanics based approach to analysing stress intensity in conjunction with assembly plastic deformation characteristics derived from finite element modeling offers the promise of an improved approach to steel assembly design for cyclic plastic endurance and should result in more reliable structures and reduced need for large scale testing. This has particular relevance to the structural design of seismic resisting steelwork assemblies which are expected to develop dependable ductile behaviour under high strain variable amplitude cyclic actions.


Two aquifers are extensively used by residents of small communities and rural areas in northern Searcy County, Arkansas. The Mississippian Boone-St. Joe aquifer is generally the less productive and the shallower of the two. Ground-water yields for the Boone-St. Joe range from 0.5 to 75 gpm witha median yieldof5 and a mean of 9.8 gpm. Well depths range from 100 to 754 feet witha median depth of 350 feet and a mean of 360 feet. Confined conditions are indicated by the greater depths, whereas the Boone-St. Joe aquifer is unconfined when exposed at the surface. Underlying the Boone-St. Joe aquifer is an aquifer zone composed of sands, sandy limestones, and/or dolomitic limestones below the Chattanooga Shale and above and including the Everton Formation. This aquifer can be composed of one or more of the followingunits: upper Everton, St. Peter, Clifty,Sylamore, Lafferty, St. Clair and/or Plattin. The range in yields for this aquifer is 1 to 80 gpm with a median yield of 9and a mean of 17 gpm. Well depths range from 200 to 875 feet withamedian and mean depth of 570 feet. A statistical correlation was found among well yields (gpm), regolith thickness, depth of well, and cave intersection by the well. The results indicate that greater yields can be obtained in areas of thicker regolith. Cave presence was also found to enhance yields. A strong relationship between cave presence and deeper regolith was observed. These three relationships demonstrate increased weathering, and thus water flow along fractures. The effect of joints closing off at depth produced a strong relationship between shallower wells and greater yields within the Boone-St. Joe aquifer.


• Received: 11 December 2017 • Revised: 08 January 2018 • Accepted: 15 January 2018 • Published: 05 February 2018• ABSTRACT This study investigated some physicochemical and heavy metals concentration in soils from around the bank of waste retention pits receiving municipal and industrial waste water from the vicinity of oil and gas facilities in Rivers state, Nigeria. Soil samples were collected during the rainy season month of June 2010 from the bank of two waste dump pits with one control sample being established 100 meters away from the waste point sources. The soils were collected and analyzed following standard field and analytical protocols. Results revealed the following soil characteristics: 6.08 – 7.53 (pH), 140 490 μS/cm (conductivity), 26.4 – 887.8 mg/kg (oil and grease), 1.05 – 1.66 mg/kg (ammonium), 85 – 320 mg/kg (chloride), 0.039 – 2.240 mg/kg (nitrite), 40.6 564 mg/kg (nitrate), 1.40 – 5.2 mg/kg (phosphate), 1.4 – 5.2 mg/kg (sulphate), 72.31 – 240.85 mg/kg (sodium), 27.20 – 78.5 mg/kg (potassium), 17.12 – 210.83 mg/kg (calcium), 13.94 – 41.19 mg/kg (magnesium), <0.01 mg/kg (mercury), 572.7 – 1,858.8 mg/kg (iron), 0.57 – 2.87 mg/kg (chromium), 0.01 – 0.130 mg/kg (cadmium) and 0.94 – 5.28 mg/kg (zinc). The waste pits showed an apparent enrichment in their various physicochemical attributes especially in waste pit 2. Therefore, the municipal and industrial waste water discharged in these pits could be contributing to an alteration in soil physical and chemical characteristics of the receiving environment since soils rich in organic matter actively retains metallic elements while the significant levels of toxic heavy metals and hydrocarbon in the control soil when compared to waste pit 1 may have resulted from the tendency of soils to retain persistent toxicants in an acidic environment since metal solubility tends to increase at lower soil pH. The elevated concentrations of oil and grease in the soils of waste bank 2 and control locations as compared to DPR target values also suggests that runoff from rainfall may have resulted in the transportation of organic constituents of improperly disposed municipal and industrial wastes into nearby surface or open water bodies depending on the retention time of the micro pollutants in the soil matrix and the relative topography of the area.


Gaining sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) is a desire for almost every organization; however, acquiring such advantage is not an easy task. Many organizations implement information technology (IT) systems to be competitive in the market, and many researchers have examined the link between IT and SCA. Organizations need to focus not only on IT resources but also on how to manage these resources to be competitive in the marketplace. In this paper, a new model is proposed based on resource-based view and strategic alignment model. By linking strategic IT resources to alignment mechanisms, this model shows the ability of IT as a facilitator in gaining competitive advantage.


In a survey of carrot diseases of the Nile delta region of northern Egypt, Pythium sulcatum (Pratt and Mitchell) and P. ultimum (Trow) were isolated from 74 and 26%, respectively, of carrot roots showing cavity spot disease. In laboratory and glasshouse pathogenicity tests, P. sulcatum caused significantly (P < 0.05) more severe damage than P. ultimum. The greater level of pathogenicity of P. sulcatum was associated with its ability to produce a wider array of cell-wall-degrading enzymes with significantly (P < 0.05) higher enzymatic activities compared to P. ultimum. Polygalacturonase, pectin lyase, pectate lyase and cellulase were detected in cavity spot lesions induced by both P. sulcatum and P. ultimum. Pectin methylesterase was detected in tissues invaded by P. sulcatum and not by P. ultimum. This is the first record of cavity spot disease of carrots in Egypt and indicates P. sulcatum and P. ultimum as the causal agents of this disease in the region surveyed. Key words: Carrots, cavity spot, cell-wal...


: Brivaracetam (BRV) (UCB 34714) is currently under review by the US Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency for approval as an add-on treatment for adult patients with partial seizures. Similar to levetiracetam (LEV), BRV acts as a high-affinity ligand of the synaptic vesicle protein 2A, however, it has been shown to be 10- to 30-fold more potent than LEV. Moreover, BRV does not share the LEV inhibitory activity on the high volt-age Ca 2 + channels and AMPA receptors, and it has been reported to act as a partial antagonist on neuronal voltage-gated sodium channels. The pharmacokinetic profile of BRV is favorable and linear, and it undergoes an extensive metabolism into inactive compounds, mainly through the hydrolysis of its acetamide group. Furthermore, it does not significantly interact with other antiepileptic drugs and more than 95% is excreted through the urine, with an unchanged fraction of 8%–11%. BRV has a half-life of approximately 8–9 hours and it is usually given twice daily. To date, a wide range of experimental studies have reported the effectiveness of BRV with regards to partial and generalized seizures. In humans, six randomized, placebo-controlled trials and two meta-analyses highlighted the efficacy, or good tolerability, of BRV as an add-on treatment for patients with uncontrolled partial seizures. A wide dose range of BRV has been evaluated in those trials (5–200 mg), but the most suitable for clinical use appears to be 50–100 mg/day. The most common adverse reactions to BRV are mild to moderate, transient, often improve during the course of the treatment, and mainly consist of central nervous system symptoms, such as fatigue, dizziness, and somnolence. The aim of this paper is to critically review the literature data regarding experimental animal models and clinical trials on BRV, and to define its potential usefulness for the clinicians who manage patients with epilepsy.


The impact of Information Technology (IT) has continued to increase in all aspects of our lives; there has been increasing interest in research on the factors that explain user acceptance of new technology. Venkatesh combined eight of the most popular models to formulate a new model, called the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), which since then has become one of the most prominent models. This paper tries to validate a modified UTAUT model for the Bayero University, Kano. Students' registration portal which every university student has to use at the beginning of every academic session was used to test the model. Three hundred and sixty eight valid questionnaires were used to validate research model which comprises five constructs in the modified model namely: performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), social influence (SI), facilitating conditions (FC) and anxiety (AX). In order to evaluate the internal consistency, convergence and discernments validity, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is run on the measurement model and the values of Average Variance Extracted (AVE), Composite Reliability (ρc), and Cronbach's Alpha (CA) are found to be satisfactory. The data collected is analyzed using structural equation modeling techniques. Three major constructs of the model performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE) and social influence (SI) – are found to be insignificant determinants of registration portal usage, showing that there are a number of systems that may neither fit into the UTAUT nor UTAUT2 models because of their special characteristics.


There are many theories of the function of dreams, such as memory consolidation, emotion processing, threat simulation and social simulation. In general, such theories hold that the function of dreams occurs within sleep; occurs for unrecalled dreams as well as for dream that are recalled on awakening; and that conscious recall of dreams is not necessary for their function to occur. In contrast, we propose that dreams have an effect of enhancing empathy and group bonding when dreams are shared and discussed with others. We propose also that this effect would have occurred in history and pre-history and, as it would have enhanced the cohesiveness and mutual understanding of group members, the fictional and engaging characteristics of dream content would have been selected for during human social evolution, interacting with cultural practices of dream-sharing. Such dream-sharing may have taken advantage of the long REM periods that occur for biological reasons near the end of the night. Dream-production and dream-sharing may have developed alongside story-telling, utilising common neural mechanisms. Dream-sharing hence would have contributed to Human Self-Domestication, held by many researchers to be the primary driver of the evolution of human prosociality, tolerance and reduced intragroup emotional reactivity. We note that within-sleep theories of dream function rely on correlational rather than experimental findings, and have as yet untested and speculative mechanisms, whereas post-sleep effects of dream-sharing are easily testable and have mechanisms congruent with the social processes proposed by the theory of Human Self-Domestication.


The anthropogenic organic pollutants have been recognized as one of the important factors in environmental pollution. Strict legislation concerning the quality of drinking water in the EU requires the optimisation of analytical methods for organic pollutants. Commonly used monitoring systems usually only record pollutant concentrations at a specific point in time. Contrary passive samplers cover a long sampling period, integrating the pollutant concentration over time. This paper presents the application of passive sampling for a quality monitoring of organic contaminants in a coarse gravel aquifer Vrbanski plato which presents the main drinking water resource for Maribor, the second largest city in Slovenia. Passive sampling devices with granular activated carbon were applied in 15 observation wells and in the Drava River. In 9 monitoring points, passive samplers were applied at different depths of the saturated zone. Two sampling series covered the period of one year. In both series, 161/166 organic compounds were identified. The frequency and intensity of the identification has been determined for all the compounds. Forty detected organic compounds were classified in different pollutant groups with respect to their origin (urban source, agriculture or industry). An analysis of the presence of organic substances in the two periods, spring-summer and autumn–winter, was carried out. It showed that substances of agricultural origin were more present in the first period, while those of urban and industrial origin occurred more frequently in the second period. Passive sampling was proved as an appropriate tool for assessing aquifer contamination with organic compounds.


The Drosophila Sterile20 like kinase Slik is involved in maintaining epithelial integrity and promotes tissue growth during development. It regulates activity of members of the band 4.1/Ezrin/Radixin/Moesin (ERM) superfamily proteins through phosphorylation. Apart from its kinase activity, Slik also interacts with Raf to promote cell survival and growth. Raf is an important downstream effector of the Bnl/Btl RTK pathway crucial for tracheal development. An immediate target of the RTK-MAPK signalling is SRF (serum response factor), a transcription factor known to be indispensible for terminal cell development. Here, I show that Slik contributes to tracheal terminal cell development through both its kinase-dependent and independent functions. Both Slik and activated Moesin (p-Moesin) are enriched at the apical membrane in terminal cells. slik mutant or knockdown terminal cells show branching defects and destabilised tubes similar to the phenotype of moesin mutants, suggesting that slik is an essential factor in terminal cell growth and development. This is further supported by the effect of expressing a kinase-dead form of slik, which causes a multilumen phenotype similar as the one seen in slik mutant cells. In addition, slik depletion results in the loss of p-Moesin at the apical membrane in the terminal cells indicating that Slik through its kinase dependent function towards Moesin regulates tracheal terminal cell development. This study also reports a novel regulator of Moesin; I have identified Btl as an important factor that post-translationally regulates the phosphorylation of Moesin.

Apart from the luminal defects, slik depletion also resulted in reduced branching of terminal cells. The same phenotype is observed upon knockdown of raf. As Raf is thought not be a kinase substrate of Slik but rather a binding partner, the results suggest an additional, kinase independent function of Slik in tracheal development. The disruption of the downstream target of the Bnl/Btl signalling pathway srf, the signalling transducer Ras, or the receptor btl itself also resulted in similar branching defects. We propose that slik acts in the development of terminal cells through activation of Moesin at the apical membrane and a possible regulation of the Bnl/Btl RTK pathway through its interaction with Raf.


This article seeks to identify circumstances that justify a state's refusal to provide reasonable efforts to reunite parents with their abused or neglected children. While the article focuses on the aggravated circumstances exception to the federal reasonable efforts requirement, it offers an analytical approach useful to any decision-maker charged with protecting the health and safety of an abused or neglected child. Since 1980, federal legislation has explicitly required states receiving federal foster care dollars to make reasonable efforts to reunite parents with children removed because of abuse or neglect. In 1997, Congress responded to widespread concerns that these efforts were responsible for children being returned to unsafe homes or being left in foster care limbo. Congress's response, the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (ASFA), identifies three exceptions to the reasonable efforts requirement, one of which is aggravated circumstances. This article uses the aggravated circumstance exception to identify situations where reunification efforts should be denied. ASFA's exceptions, including aggravated circumstances, recognize the harm that results from making efforts to reunite in situations not appropriate for reunification. The reasonable efforts provision recognizes the harm that results from disrupting the parent-child relationship. To best protect a child against both of these harms, a court should first consider all relevant circumstances, including the effects of the parental conduct, any derivative harm to the child, and any remedial efforts by the parents. Before denying reasonable efforts to reunite, the court should also determine that the past or current harm or parental conduct is sufficient to trigger an ASFA exception; determine that reunification efforts are likely to inflict a very serious harm - either a return to a dangerous home or a stay in foster care that is too long; and identify a nexus between the triggering harm and the predicted harm.


Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Geological Sciences, Honors.

Department of Earth and Enviromental Sciences


Aims: Young nursing students who are engaged in psychiatric nursing practice for the first time have many difficulties. In order to help students learn how to care for elderly patients with mental illness, this study explored student perceptions, evaluated clinical learning experiences using qualitative research methods, and assessed the experiences of student nurses in caring for elderly patients with schizophrenia in Taiwan.Methods: The data presented in this study were derived from an qualitative study based on a phenomenological approach. The 20 participants were selected from the students of a nursing college in Taiwan. Individual in-depth interviews were held with nursing students, these students were selected from the fourth-years of nursing college of associate degree. The mean age of all of the participants were 18.7(±0.46).Results: Colaizzi's analysis method was used to analyze the data. Six main themes were obtained: (1) Assessing clinical problems associated with psychiatric disorders and geriatric diseases; (2) Preparing for and engaging with the clinical internship environment; (3) Establishing relationships with elderly patients; (4) Participating in clinical learning and applying nursing knowledge and skills; (5) Shaping a good attitude towards elderly schizophrenia patients; (6) Gaining confidence in the internship process.Conclusions: Although nursing students lack clinical knowledge and situational experience in geriatric psychiatric nursing, nursing teachers need to help students be more perceptive and evaluate their clinical learning experiences, and to express themselves and reflect on the process of care delivery to hospitalized elderly patients with schizophrenia.


Carcinoma is found unexpectedly in approximately 10% or more of the 400,000 prostatectomies performed annually in the United States. Patients with Stage A2 carcinoma die of their disease in only 35% of the cases. To alter the course of disease in these patients, 65% of Stage A2 patients may be treated unnecessarily by radical prostatectomy, radiation therapy, or hormonal therapy. An accurate method to predict the outcome of patients with Stage A2 carcinoma is needed. Histologic sections from 18 patients with Stage A2 prostatic carcinoma followed without further treatment until progression, or followed without progression, were evaluated by several investigators who did not have knowledge of patient outcomes and who employed standard pathologic grading systems as well as morphometric, cytophotometric, flow cytometric, and immunohistochemical techniques. Outcome was predicted correctly by random sampled absolute (17 of 18 cases) and relative (16 of 18) nuclear roundness factor (NRF), tumor volume expressed as percent of specimen (13 of 16), primary (13 of 18), secondary (14 of 18), sum (15 of 18), and worse (14 of 18) Gleason grades and prostate‐specific antigen immunohistochemical findings (13 of 18) that produced statistically significant separation of the two groups. Significant separation was not obtained with Mostofi's pattern, nuclear, sum, and worse grades, Johns Hopkins' grade, absolute tumor volume, nuclear DNA content measured by image cytophotometric study of Feulgen‐stained histologic sections and flow cytometric study of propidium iodide‐labeled suspensions of nuclei obtained from paraffin blocks, nonrandom sampled NRF of worse and most prevalent neoplastic areas, and prostatic acid phosphatase and peanut agglutinin immunohistochemical study. NRF measured by a random technique best predicted outcome in these patients with A2 prostatic carcinoma and should be evaluated prospectively as a means for selecting patients who require therapy.


Abstract. Depth estimation from images is an important task using scene understanding and reconstruction. Recently, encoder-decoder type fully convolutional architectures have gained great success in the area of depth estimation. Depth extraction from aerial and satellite images is one of the important topics in photogrammetry and remote sensing. This is usually done using image pairs, or more than two images. Solving this problem using a single image is still a challenging problem and has not been completely solved. Several convolutional neural networks have been proposed to extract depth from a single image, which act as encoders and decoders. In this article, we use one of these networks, which has performed well for depth estimation, in order to extract height from aerial and satellite images. Our main goal is to investigate the performance of Google Earth satellite data in order to produce a digital elevation model. At first, we extracted the digital model of the target area using ISPRS benchmark data, then we did the same thing using Google Earth satellite images. The paper presents a convolutional neural network for computing a high-resolution depth map given a single RGB Google Earth image. The results show the proper performance of Google Earth satellite images for height extraction. We achieved values of 2.07 m and 0.36 m for the RMS and REL metrics, respectively, which are very comparable and acceptable to the values of 2.04 m and 0.39 m obtained from the ISPRS benchmark images.


Supervised models suffer from the problem of domain shifting where distribution mismatch in the data across domains greatly affect model performance. To solve the problem, training data selection (TDS) has been proven to be a prospective solution for domain adaptation in leveraging appropriate data. However, conventional TDS methods normally requires a predefined threshold which is neither easy to set nor can be applied across tasks, and models are trained separately with the TDS process. To make TDS self-adapted to data and task, and to combine it with model training, in this paper, we propose a reinforcement learning (RL) framework that synchronously searches for training instances relevant to the target domain and learns better representations for them. A selection distribution generator (SDG) is designed to perform the selection and is updated according to the rewards computed from the selected data, where a predictor is included in the framework to ensure a task-specific model can be trained on the selected data and provides feedback to rewards. Experimental results from part-of-speech tagging, dependency parsing, and sentiment analysis, as well as ablation studies, illustrate that the proposed framework is not only effective in data selection and representation, but also generalized to accommodate different NLP tasks.


Much prior research on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) implementation has been conducted in western countries that have different social and organizational cultures from countries in Africa. In this study, we examined the implementation of a centralized financial management system (CFMS) in the Kingdom of Swaziland, a country in Southern Africa. The Swazi government decided to implement a CFMS to address the over-indebtedness of its government employees. We studied the role of socio-economic and political dynamics during the implementation of CFMS. We found that the Swazi economy benefited immensely from CFMS. However, a certain type of financial organizations (i.e., cooperatives) declined to use CFMS a few months after the implementation resulting in significant financial loss for other financial institutions that were still using CFMS. Based on our findings, we suggest that proactive government decision making, and stakeholder support and commitment are key to the post-implementation success of centralized ICT initiatives in developing countries.


This paper examines a high power factor boost rectifier where the peak switch current is clamped at a constant value during the input voltage line cycle. Optimum parameter values are derived to minimize the harmonic distortion in the input current. Advantages of the clamped current control include overall simplicity, relatively low inductive energy storage and component stresses, and a fixed operating frequency. Results are experimentally verified on a 1.3 kW prototype featuring high efficiency and a high power factor over a wide load range.<<ETX>>


With the agility of cavity control in solid-state-laser, we report abundant experimental phenomena of relatively complete Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) transverse multimodes transformation process including both stable and transitional status in a diode pumped Nd:YVO4 microcavity laser. Cavity structure, absorber, pump power, etc, synthetically have been found to contribute such abundant generation of patterns.


Here we present early findings from a critical investigation of the burgeoning "happiness industry". The happiness industry is an area where science – notably psychology – and the market meet. With 'Positive Psychology' as its foundation, its aims are to increase individual and collective happiness through self-management depicted in"how to" manuals, websites, apps, courses, exhibitions, films and media coverage (e.g. www.actionforhappiness.org). In doing so the industry represents the monetizing of mainstream psychological theory. In line with the development of this market, interest in the study of happiness is growing with Ahmed (2010) speaking of the happiness turn and Burnett (2011) referring to the happiness agenda. This interest in happiness is evident across a variety of different contexts, from micro to macro. Burnett (2012) outlines three ideological shocks driving the cultural circuits of happiness: first, happiness is embraced as a macro-political issue in line with a focus on utilitarianism; second, happiness is embraced at the meso-organisations level as a conduit to productivity and third, happiness is embraced at the micro-sociological level under the guise of positive psychology. Our interest in happiness began at a micro level with the "100 Happy Days" project.


OBJECTIVES
Primary graft dysfunction (PGD) is a major cause of mortality within the first year following lung transplantation. Pulmonary hypertension, elevated body mass index (BMI), prolonged ischaemic time of the graft, intraoperative blood transfusions >1000 ml and the use of cardiopulmonary bypass or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation increase the risk for PGD. We aimed to evaluate whether dyslipidaemia is an additional risk factor for the development of PGD.

METHODS
We retrospectively analysed demographic and clinical data of 264 patients who received their first bilateral lung transplantation between March 2000 and October 2013 at our institution. The endpoint was PGD grade 3 at any time, defined according to the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) criteria. Fasting lipid profiles at listing time or just before transplantation (baseline) were documented and dyslipidaemia was defined as any of the parameters being out of range. Comparisons of continuous variables between patients with PGD grade 3 and patients without were performed with the Mann-Whitney U-test, whereas proportions were compared with the χ(2) test. Continuous variables were presented as arithmetic means with standard deviation for ease of comparison, but levels of statistical significance were computed using the appropriate non-parametric statistical test. To identify PGD risk factors, a forward stepwise logistic regression model was used.

RESULTS
PGD occurred in 63 recipients (24%). Pretransplant dyslipidaemia was documented in 153 recipients (58%) and was significantly more prevalent among recipients developing PGD (45 vs 108, P < 0.013). Despite various underlying pulmonary pathologies, higher triglyceride (TG) levels (1.41 ± 0.78 vs 1.16 ± 0.78, P < 0.012), lower high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) concentrations (1.24 ± 0.55 vs 1.57 ± 0.71, P < 0.0005) and higher cholesterol/HDL-C values (3.80 ± 2.02 vs 3.00 ± 0.92, P < 0.0005) were associated with a lower incidence of PGD. Patients with PGD had significantly longer ischaemic time (350 ± 89 vs 322 ± 91, P = 0.017) and higher BMI (23 ± 5 vs 21 ± 4.4, P < 0.007).

CONCLUSIONS
Dyslipidaemia seems to be an independent risk factor for PGD after lung transplantation: low circulating levels of HDL-C and hypertriglyceridaemia increase the incidence of PGD. Even if HDL-C levels are difficult to alter today, triglyceride and cholesterol levels can be addressed therapeutically and may have a positive influence on the development of PGD.


Background Excess alcohol consumption adversely affects one-carbon metabolism and increases the risk of liver disease and liver cancer. Conversely, higher folate levels have been inversely associated with liver damage. The current study investigated the effects of alcohol and one-carbon metabolite intake on liver cancer incidence and liver disease mortality within the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention (ATBC) Study. Methods Cox proportional hazards modeling was used to calculate hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) in a population of 27,086 Finnish males with 194 incident liver cancers and 213 liver disease deaths. In a nested case-control subset (95 liver cancers, 103 controls), logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios and 95% CIs for serum one-carbon metabolites in relation to liver cancer risk. Results Daily alcohol consumption of more than 20.44 g was associated with an increased risk of both liver cancer incidence (Hazard Ratio (HR) 1.52, 95%CI 1.06–2.18) and liver disease mortality (HR 6.68, 95%CI 4.16–10.71). These risks were unaffected by one-carbon metabolite intake. Similarly, in the case-control study, none of the serum one-carbon metabolites were associated with liver cancer. Conclusions The current study provided no convincing evidence for a protective association of one-carbon metabolite intake or serum level on the risk of liver cancer or liver disease mortality.


The liposome-based adjuvant AS01 incorporates two immune stimulants, 3-O-desacyl-4′-monophosphoryl lipid A and the saponin QS-21. AS01 is under investigation for use in several vaccines in clinical development. i.m. injection of AS01 enhances immune cell activation and dendritic cell (DC) Ag presentation in the local muscle-draining lymph node. However, cellular and Ag trafficking in the lymphatic vessels that connect an i.m. injection site with the local lymph node has not been investigated. The objectives of this study were: 1) to quantify the in vivo cellular immune response induced by AS01 in an outbred ovine model, 2) to develop a lymphatic cannulation model that directly collects lymphatic fluid draining the muscle, and 3) to investigate the function of immune cells entering and exiting the lymphatic compartments after s.c. or i.m. vaccination with AS01 administered with hepatitis B surface Ag (HBsAg). We show that HBsAg-AS01 induces a distinct immunogenic cellular signature within the blood and draining lymphatics following both immunization routes. We reveal that MHCIIhigh migratory DCs, neutrophils, and monocytes can acquire Ag within muscle and s.c. afferent lymph, and that HBsAg-AS01 uniquely induces the selective migration of Ag-positive neutrophils, monocytes, and an MHCIIhigh DC-like cell type out of the lymph node via the efferent lymphatics that may enhance Ag-specific immunity. We report the characterization of the immune response in the lymphatic network after i.m. and s.c. injection of a clinically relevant vaccine, all in real time using a dose and volume comparable with that administered in humans.


Anisotropic growth of gold nanostructures (AuNS) on an indium tin oxide (ITO) substrate and in growth solution was achieved by in situ electrochemical reduction of Au+ ions from the growth solution. Initially, the growth solution was prepared by adding the shape-directing agent Cu2+ into a solution of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), HAuCl4 and ascorbic acid (AA). The Au+–CTAB complex from the solution was electrochemically reduced to deposit AuNPs on ITO, which act as nucleation centers. The HR-TEM and SEM images exhibit spherical, bipyramidal and wire-like AuNS grown both in solution and on ITO after 1, 3 and 6 h, respectively. The crystallite size and lattice strain were calculated and it was found that the lattice strain decreases with an increase in nucleation time. The ITO/Au-nanowires showed a higher surface coverage (10.1%) and electrochemically active surface area (0.69 cm2) than the other AuNS. Further, the ITO/AuNS exhibited shape-dependent surface enhanced Raman scattering enhancement (SERS) towards 4-aminothiophenol adsorbed on the grown AuNS surface. The ITO/Au-nanowires showed a higher enhancement factor of 9.7 × 105 when compared to the other AuNS. Further, the electrocatalytic activity of the different shaped AuNS was examined towards the reduction of hydrogen peroxide (HP). The Au-nanowire modified ITO electrode exhibited higher electrocatalytic activity towards HP reduction by not only shifting its reduction potential towards less positive potential but also by enhancing its reduction current.


Computer-based methods of measuring joint space width (JSW) could potentially have advantages over scoring joint space narrowing, with regard to increased standardization, sensitivity, and reproducibility. In an early exercise, 4 different methods showed good agreement on measured change in JSW over time in the small joints of the hands and feet. Despite differences in measurement values between methods, measurement of within-joint change over time showed no systematic differences. The within-method variation was small, with intra-operator variation being smaller than inter-operator variation. Although this initial study was limited in terms of the number of patients and timepoints (total 10), the number of joints was relatively high (340 joints), so the results were considered strong evidence supporting the validity of computer-based JSW measurements to continue the study of the potential value of JSW by comparison of measurements to manual scoring of joint space narrowing using the COBRA trial images.


A 42-year-old man was admitted to our hospital with a lower extremity rash, general fatigue, and abdominal discomfort. Laboratory findings revealed elevated serum transaminases as well as positivity for the hepatitis B surface antigen and the immunoglobulin M type anti-hepatitis B core antibody. He was diagnosed with a rash typical of Gianotti-Crosti syndrome due to acute infection with hepatitis B virus, genotype A. After admission, the rash gradually decreased; however, serum transaminases and jaundice increased. Entecavir therapy was initiated on day 11 of admission, and his liver function subsequently improved over two weeks. Gianotti-Crosti syndrome is rarely seen in adult patients. It may be important to pay attention to the typical rash of Gianotti-Crosti syndrome because it may provide an important clue to an otherwise asymptomatic acute hepatitis B infection.


Bread may be described as a fermented confectionary product produced mainly from wheat flour, water, yeast and salt by a series of process involving mixing, kneading, proofing, shaping and baking (Dewettinck et al., 2008). The objectives of this study was to evaluate the nutritional composition of functional bread fortified with Mushroom and Dates and compare to normal white bread, and to see how much protein and iron will be improved to and enhanced in the daily diet and help who are anemic and protein energy malnutrition. The functional bread is developed by taking wheat flour and different percentages (5%,10%,15%) of mushroom and dates and are mixed and fermented with baker's yeast and then baked 30-40 minutes in oven at 200 C o of different samples and functional bread developed. The sensory evaluation was done by panelist of 5 members, and they most accepted sample containing 10% mushroom powder and 10% dry dates chips and that sample by nutritional analysis was done in laboratory, in this the amount of Protein and Iron was increased, and moisture content decreased. The developed functional bread naturally fortified with button mushroom( Agaricus bisporus) and dried dates mejdool variety chips, after development the nutrient quantity of bread is increased – Protein value from 7.30 gm to 10.94gm, Iron from1.1mg/100 gm to 2.2 mg/100 gm. And all the other nutrient contents also enhanced. One important factor moisture percentage decreased from 39% to 19%, so shelf life of bread increased from the normal white bread. The functional bread is valuable in terms of nutritional quality as well as texture is good and shelf life also improved.


Since its introduction more than fifty years ago, the concept of a general seventeenth-century crisis has met with skepticism from most historians of Europe. Yet this historiographical latecomer persists as a seemingly necessary feature of early modern periodization. The economic contraction of the era is broadly accepted, but the crisis concept makes a larger claim—that the economic reversals led, ultimately, to a regrouping, a transformation of basic patterns and possibilities of European economic life. The challenge has always been to find a common thread—a credible theory—capable of tying together the disparate events of the time. The theoretical apparatus of fifty years ago may no longer serve, but more recent research offers possibilities for a rehabilitation of the concept of economic crisis.


Aggregates of hyperphosphorylated tau are prominent in brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease or frontotemporal dementia (FTD). They have been reproduced in animal models following the identification of tau mutations in familial cases of FTD. This includes our previously generated transgenic model, pR5, which expresses FTD (P301L) mutant tau in neurons. The mice are characterized by tau aggregation including tangle (NFT) formation, memory impairment and mitochondrial dysfunction. In 8‐month‐old mice, S422 phosphorylation of tau is linked to NFT formation, however, a detailed analysis of tau solubility, phosphorylation and aggregation has not been done nor have the mice been monitored until a high age. Here, we undertook an analysis by immunohistochemistry, Gallyas impregnation and Western blotting of brains from 3 month‐ up to 20 month‐old mice. NFTs first appeared at 6 months in the amygdala, followed by the CA1 region of the hippocampus. As the mice get older, the solubility of tau is decreased as determined by sequential extractions. Histological analysis revealed increased phosphorylation at the AT180, AT270 and 12E8 epitopes with ageing. The numbers of AT8‐positive neurons increased from 3 to 6 months old. However, whereas S422 appeared only late and concomitantly with NFT formation, the only neurons left with AT8‐reactivity at 20 months were those that had undergone NFT formation. As hyperphosphorylated tau continued to accumulate, the lack of AT8‐reactivity suggests regulatory mechanisms in specifically dephosphorylating the AT8 epitope in the remaining neurons. Thus, differential regulation of phosphorylation is important for NFT formation in neurodegenerative diseases with tau pathology.


In this contribution different techniques and scenarios of all-optical chromatic dispersion (CD) are compared experimentally at transmission speed of 10 Gbit/s. CD was compensated both conventionally in dispersion compensating fibres (DCF) and unconventionally using channelized or broadband fibre Bragg gratings (FBG) or Gires-Tournois etalons (GTE). In our experimental setup eight 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10 GE) channels were transmitted over 225 km of standard single mode fibre (SSMF) with no inline amplification and CD compensation. Signals from 10 GE transceivers were combined in a multiplexer and optionally CD was pre-compensated. Furthermore the composite signal was amplified in a high-power C-band erbium-doped fibre amplifier (EDFA) and launched in the 225 km of SSMF fibre. At the receiver side, signals were first pre-amplified in a low noise EDFA, CD was compensated by one of before mentioned compensating techniques, in case of utilizing DCF additionally amplified in another EDFA, and finally de-multiplexed.


Combining platelet-rich plasma (PRP) with autogenous bone graft materials has recently been advocated as a means of enhancing rate and quality of new bone formation in regenerative procedures. The aim of this case series was to evaluate the potential of PRP in combination with bone allograft to enhance bone regeneration in alveolar ridge defects exhibiting both vertical and horizontal loss prior to the placement of dental implants. Augmentation resulted in clinical and radiographic gains in both vertical and horizontal components of the osseous defects, thereby facilitating subsequent placement of dental implants. Histologic evaluation of the cases revealed the presence of residual allograft particles surrounded by connective tissue as well as newly formed bone within the grafted areas. However, the addition of PRP did not appear to enhance the quality or quantity of new bone formation over that reported in comparable guided bone regeneration (GBR) studies without PRP.


The purpose of this study is to validate a neuromechanical model of the virtual arm (VA) by comparing emerging behaviors of the model to those of experimental observations. Hand stiffness of the VA model was obtained by either theoretical computation or simulated perturbations. Variability in hand position of the VA was generated by adding signal dependent noise (SDN) to the motoneuron pools of muscles. Reflex circuits of Ia, Ib and Renshaw cells were included to regulate the motoneuron pool outputs. Evaluation of hand stiffness and variability was conducted in simulations with and without afferent feedback under different patterns of muscle activations during postural maintenance. The simulated hand stiffness and variability ellipses captured the experimentally observed features in shape, magnitude and orientation. Steady state afferent feedback contributed significantly to the increase in hand stiffness by 35.75 ± 16.99% in area, 18.37 ± 7.80% and 16.15 ± 7.15% in major and minor axes; and to the reduction of hand variability by 49.41 ± 21.19% in area, 36.89 ± 12.78% and 18.87 ± 23.32% in major and minor axes. The VA model reproduced the neuromechanical behaviors that were consistent with experimental data, and it could be a useful tool for study of neural control of posture and movement, as well as for application to rehabilitation.


Endodontic disease requires the involvement of micro-organisms. Microbial contamination of the pulp-dentine complex occurs in a number of different ways. The loss of integrity of teeth and the penetration of the pulp-dentine complex by a mixed microbial flora characterises the disease processes which can lead to pulpal and periradicular inflammation and infection. Endodontology is that part of dental science which deals with the biology of the pulp-dentine complex in health and disease, an understanding of which is a prerequisite to the provision of sound conservative care. The principles of endodontic treatment require the control of micro-organisms and potential nutrients by the microbial decontamination of teeth, the denaturing of protein and the sealing of dentine to prevent recolonisation.


This article analyzes the situation of women in Moroccan society. From the viewpoint of social change as a multidimensional process, the main socio-demographic variables are discussed and the course of the pro-rights movement of women and the Family Code reform are examined. The authors find that although real progress has been made over the last 50 years, there is still much more to be achieved. Furthermore, there are indications that the incipient participation by women in the public sphere too often continues to reproduce schemes of subordination.


African American men made considerable contributions to the field of mathematics in the 1700s and 1800s) The earliest African American mathematician is thought to be the slave Thomas Fuller (d. 1790), whose obituary termed him "the famous Africa Calculator" who could, among other feats, "give the number of months, days, weeks, hours, minutes and seconds in any period of time that any person chose to mention, allowing in his calculation for all leap years that happened in the time." (2) Better known is Benjamin Banneker (d. 1806), who taught himself advanced mathematics and astronomical calculations and created a famous almanac featuring astronomical predictions.(3) In 1849, Charles Reason (d. 1893) became the first African American professor at a predominately white college, namely Central College in McGrawville, Cortland County, New York. He was professor of belles lettres, Greek, Latin, and French, and appointed as an adjunct professor of mathematics.(4) Edward Alexander Bouchet (d. 1918) was the first African American to earn a PhD in the U.S. (in geometrical optics, a branch of physics, from Yale University in 1876).(5) In 1886, Kelly Miller (d. 1939) was the first African American to study mathematics at the graduate level, at Johns Hopkins University.(6) In 1925, the first African American to earn a PhD in pure mathematics, from Cornell University, was Elbert Frank Cox (d. 1969).(7) These men, whether informally or formally educated, are famous for their mathematical achievements. One story that has not been told, however, is that of a lesser known and non-formally educated African American man who also was actively involved in the field of mathematics, Charles T. Gidiney. (8) On Saturday afternoon, October 20, 1877, the Troy Times reported a mathematical discovery in its local news section, "Home Matters": Charles T. Gidney [sic], a resident of Troy, New York, claimed to have calculated "The True Ratio Between a Diameter and Circumference of a Circle," or pi (11). This article was then reprinted in the October 22, 1877 issue of the New York Times under the title "A Negro Mathematician's Claim": The Troy Times of Saturday says: "A colored man named Giciney, residing on North Third Street, below Jacob, claims to have discovered the true and exact ratio between the diameter and circumference of a circle. According to the accepted rule, with the diameter or circumference alone given, the other cannot be exactly told. The ratio is 3.14159 plus, or as commonly used, 3.1416 plus. Mr. Gidney claims that by an algebraic calculation he has discovered the exact ratio, and he has in preparation a book on the subject which he intends shortly to publish. The demonstration of this discovery is now receiving the attention of competent mathematicians, and whether it amounts to anything or not will soon be determined. Mr. Gidney possesses little or no education except in mathematics, and in this branch it is said he is able to solve most difficult problems." (9) Notices about this discovery also appeared in several newspapers across the nation. Both the Indianapolis Sentinel of October 24, 1877 (10) and the New Orleans' Weekly Louisianian of November 3, 1877 repeat the Times notice, with an error in the latter claiming that the ratio of pi is "4.14159 plus". (11) The October 29, 1877 Jersey Journal of New Jersey summarizes Gidiney's findings in a section dedicated to humorous and/or unusual news items, quipping that "a Troy publisher is printing a book on the subject. Several lunatics on this subject have already been fed at the State's expense, and the thing is about played out." (12) The March 1, 1879 issue of the Si. Albans Daily Messenger of Vermont focuses on both the poverty and vulnerability of the inventor, claiming that Gidiney, "a poor man, more than sixty years old" is "jealous of his discovery" and thus "is guarding it until he can secure the protection of the law to prevent others from wresting it from him. …


Most prior approaches to offline reinforcement learning (RL) have taken an iterative actor-critic approach involving off-policy evaluation. In this paper we show that simply doing one step of constrained/regularized policy improvement using an on-policy Q estimate of the behavior policy performs surprisingly well. This one-step algorithm beats the previously reported results of iterative algorithms on a large portion of the D4RL benchmark. The one-step baseline achieves this strong performance while being notably simpler and more robust to hyperparameters than previously proposed iterative algorithms. We argue that the relatively poor performance of iterative approaches is a result of the high variance inherent in doing off-policy evaluation and magnified by the repeated optimization of policies against those estimates. In addition, we hypothesize that the strong performance of the one-step algorithm is due to a combination of favorable structure in the environment and behavior policy.


Be abundances at low metallicities have major implications on cosmic ray origin, requiring acceleration out of fresh supernova ejecta. The observed, essentially constant Be/Fe fixes the Be production per SNII, allowing the determination of the energy supplied to cosmic rays per SNII. The results rule out acceleration out of the metal-poor ISM, and favor Be production at all epochs of Galactic evolution by cosmic rays having the same spectrum and source composition as those at the current epoch. Individual supernova acceleration of its own nucleosynthetic products and the collective acceleration by SN shocks of ejecta-enriched matter in the interiors of superbubbles have been proposed for such origin. A new Monte-Carlo based evolutionary code, into which the concept of Be and Fe production per supernova is explicitly built in, yields the supernova acceleration efficiency, 2% for the refractory metals and 12% for all the cosmic rays.


Accepted 26 April 1995 Summary In this study, we measured the soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R) level to evaluate the cellular immune status in 61 patients with different types of glomerular diseases; 40 healthy volunteers were used as control. All patients with glomerular diseases had levels of serum sIL-2R significantly higher than those of the controls (766 ± 59 vs 280 ± 23 U/ml; p< 0.05). Even patients with normal renal function still had higher serum sIL-2R levels than the controls, no matter to which subgroups they belonged (primary glomerulonephritis, lupus nephritis or diabetic nephropathy). Serum sIL-2R levels were similar among the three subgroups. The serum levels of sIL-2R correlated well with age and were significantly higher in older patients, although this was not observed in the control group. Serum sIL-2R levels were significantly higher in patients with active urinary sediment and in patients with impaired renal function and showed a significant negative correlation with creatinine clearance (r = -0.56; p<0.05). Although urinary and serum sIL-2R levels were quite well correlated, (r = 0.35; p <0.05), the urinary levels of sIL-2R did not differ in patients with different disease activity or different renal functions although they had a significant correlation with 24-hour urinary protein (r = 0.39; p< 0.05). Patients with nephrotic syndrome also had higher urinary sIL-2R levels than other patients (529 ± 106 vs 280 ± 31 U/ml; p< 0.05). We conclude that greater T-cell activation might contribute to the pathogenesis ofdifferent glomerulonephritis entities, and serum levels of sIL-2R can serve as a useful clinical marker of glomerulonephritis activity. Renal function influenced the serum levels of sIL-2R significantly. This factor must be considered when we interpret the data. Urinary sIL-2R levels did not reflect the disease activity as well. This might be due to the secondary influence of the extent of the glomerular protein leak. Further investigation is needed to define the exact excretory pathway of this substance.


The Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.) group comprises genetically related spirochetes, mostly associated with tick species belonging to the Ixodes ricinus complex in the Northern Hemisphere. The present study evaluated borrelial infection in the tick Ixodes pararicinus, which is the only representative species of the I. ricinus complex in Uruguay. A total of 137 I. pararicinus ticks were collected from deer, cattle, or vegetation in 2 Uruguayan Departments. A part of these ticks was tested directly by PCR targeting the borrelial gene flagellin (fla), whereas another part of the ticks was inoculated into Barbour-Stoenner-Kelly (BSK)-H medium in an attempt to isolate Borrelia. Overall, Borrelia infection was detected in 9 males and 1 nymphal tick pool. These ticks were found to be infected by unique fla haplotypes, which were shown through phylogenetic analysis to represent possibly 2 new B. burgdorferi s.l. genospecies, 1 associated with B. bissettii, the other phylogenetically closest to B. americana. These results were reinforced by PCR and DNA sequencing analyses of portions of 2 additional borrelial genes, rrfA-rrlB intergenic spacer region (IGS) and 16S rDNA (rrs). Weekly examinations of BSK cultures by dark-field microscopy failed to demonstrate live Borrelia through a 100-day incubation period. However, Borrelia DNA was detected by fla-PCR in culture media from 2 vials up to 90 days after inoculation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of B. burgdorferi s.l. infecting ticks in South America.


: Heart rate, blood pressure, temperature and plasma corticosteroids were measured in pregnant rhesus monkeys during 23 successive 2 hour chair restraint periods beginning in midgestation. Heart rate (15%), blood pressure (13%) and plasma cortisol (23%) declined from first to last sessions. Reduction in physiological indicators of stress was most marked during the first three sessions, but continued in some animals over the 8 week period. Pulse rate and blood pressure were elevated at the beginning of each session and dropped to base-line levels during the second hour. In contrast, plasma cortisol consistently rose during the 2 hour session. Blood sampling and palpation were conducted at weekly intervals during the adaptation series. Immediate physiological responses to these manipulations did not diminish with repetition, although behavioral adaptation was observed. The data suggests that objective measurements of adaptation to chair restraint are important in determining the appropriateness of this procedure. Chair restraint is a valuable alternative to chemical or manual restraint in obtaining sequential evaluations in pregnant monkeys.


We propose a diffusion model for a new product percolating in a social network. Given that consumers differ in their reservation prices, a critical price exists that defines a phase transition from a no-diffusion to a diffusion regime. As consumer surplus is maximised just below a product's critical price, one can systematically compare the economic efficiency of network structures by investigating their critical price. Networks with low clustering turn out to be most efficient, because clustering leads to redundant information flows hampering effective product diffusion. We further show how the more equal a society, the more efficient the diffusion process.


We present a new scheme for the reconstruction of large geometric data. It is based on the well-known radial basis function model combined with an adaptive spatial and functional subdivision associated with a family of functions forming a partition of unity. This combination offers robust and efficient solution to a great variety of 2D and 3D reconstruction problems, such as the reconstruction of implicit curves or surfaces with attributes starting from unorganized point sets, image or mesh repairing, shape morphing or shape deformation, etc. After having presented the theoretical background, the paper mainly focuses on implementation details and issues, as well as on applications and experimental results.


Cognitive radio allows spectrum bands which is a limited supply to be used efficiently and actively. Spectrum sensing which is an important function of cognitive radio detects whether there are licensed users in the environment and the unused spectrum band by scanning all spectrum bands continuously. In this study, the effects of the number of multiple antennas used at the receiver and transmitter side, the mobile speed and the number of multipath on energy based spectrum sensing performance in MIMO systems improving spectral efficiency and data rate significantly are examined. The facts that multiple antennas and the number of multipath affects spectrum sensing performance in the positive direction while the speed of the mobile affects this performance in the negative direction were obtained.


We study the adsorption dynamics of an azobenzene-based photo-responsive charged surfactant to investigate how photo-stimulation impacts the dynamics at an air–water interface. The hydrophobic tail of this photo-responsive surfactant photo-converts reversibly from a cis to a trans conformation when the wavelength switches from UV to blue. This change in conformation results in a decrease of the surface tension. Using a kinetically limited model of adsorption, including the electrostatics effects and the competition between the two photo-isomers, we reproduce the dynamics of adsorption of AzoTAB measured experimentally. We find that the cis isomer adsorbs 10 times faster than the trans isomer but the cis conformation also desorbs 300 times faster. As a result, within a few seconds a non-stimulated interface becomes composed of almost 100% trans isomers. We then focus on the competition between the photo-conversion and the adsorption at the interface. Indeed when the interface is stimulated, part of the adsorbed trans isomers rapidly convert to cis. As the latter quickly desorbs, the surface coverage decreases: the light induces a "pumping-out" of the interface. The photo-stimulated interface reaches a stationary state where a vertical gradient of composition is established below the surface. Finally, this study highlights a new way to stimulate a photo-responsive interface: for a solution prepared under blue light, instead of photo-converting the bulk composition by stimulating under UV (which can be quite slow for high absorbance solutions), one can tune and reach a stabilized value of the surface tension in few seconds by stimulating the interface with a blue light with high enough intensity.


We present here results using two novel active optic elements, an electro-static membrane mirror, and a dual frequency nematic liquid crystal. These devices have the advantage of low cost, low power consumption, and compact size. Possible applications of the devices are astronomical adaptive optics, laser beam control, laser cavity mode control, and real time holography. Field experiments were performed on the Air Force Research Laboratory 3.6 meter telescope on Maui, Hawaii.


Nowadays, Small and medium-sized Manufacturing Enterprises (SMEs) are facing intensive competition from the global market. For these SMEs, how to better manage and record the previous Product Development (PD) knowledge has become a core issue for them to improve PD process, cut down development cost and reduce lead time. In this paper, we present our work in developing a STEP (Standard for the Exchange Product Model Data)-compliant knowledgebase for the development of customized products. The paper focuses on how to develop a STEP-compliant knowledgebase that is applicable to different types of customized products. This knowledgebase uses the STEP as a foundation. Tools are developed to model, record and search information such as customer requirements and expectations, engineering responses, product design, decision making and product machining processes, etc. The recorded product information and knowledge in the knowledgebase will then be reused for the development of customized products of similar types.


We investigate designed InN/GaN superlattices (SLs) grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on c-plane GaN templates in situ by line-of-sight quadrupole mass spectroscopy and laser reflectivity, and ex situ by scanning transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and photoluminescence (PL). The structural methods reveal concordantly the different interface abruptness of SLs resulting from growth processes with different parameters. Particularly crucial for the formation of abrupt interfaces is the Ga to N ratio that has to be bigger than 1 during the growth of the GaN barriers, as Ga-excess GaN growth aims at preventing the unintentional incorporation of In accumulated on the growth surface after the supply of InN, that extends the (In,Ga)N quantum well (QW) thickness. Essentially, even with GaN barriers grown under Ga-excess yielding to 1 monolayer (ML) thick QWs, there is a real discrepancy between the designed binary InN and the actual ternary (In,Ga)N ML thick QWs revealed by the above...


This article describes an optimization process used to schedule the First Division of Argentina's professional volleyball league. The teams in the league are grouped into couples, and matches are held on Thursdays and Saturdays. In each pair of consecutive Thursday–Saturday matches, the two teams in each couple play against two teams from another couple. Minimization of travel distances is critical because the teams' home locations are scattered throughout the country and teams do not return to their home sites between consecutive away matches, making this problem a variation of the well-known traveling tournament problem. The coupled format gives rise to two key decisions: (1) how to couple the teams, and (2) how to schedule the matches. We apply integer programming techniques and a tabu search heuristic to solve these questions. The league successfully used the resulting schedules in its 2007–2008, 2008–2009, 2009–2010, and 2010–2011 seasons, reducing the total travel distance while meeting all of the teams' requirements. This is the first application of the traveling tournament problem to a real-world sports league reported in the optimization literature.


A technique to determine the optimal design of an FDM-FM communications link considering both dollar cost and system performance is established. The four major items of a communications system, transmitter, receiver, transmitting antenna, and receiving antenna, are considered to be stages of a serial-multistage system with the signal-to-noise power ratio as a final boundary value and threshold as a constraint. For eyery combination of the four equipment items, an rms channel modulation index is computed, which for median performance and the system constraint minimizes the required received carrier power. The cost of those combinations of equipment meeting or exceeding the system requirements are computed and compared. Single variable search optimization techniques are used. Rigorous rapid design of analog communications systems is provided. The least cost system and other selected qualifying systems are explicitly determined.


This paper studies the relation between multiple dimensions of education and the transition to parenthood. Previous empirical research has predominantly focused on the effect of female educational attainment on the timing of first births. A positive effect has been reported: higher educated women postpone the entry into parenthood. However, this effect disappears or reverses its sign once the effects of educational enrolment or time elapsed since leaving education are taken into account. The principal aim of this study is to build upon current knowledge and develop new insights on the complex relation between education and the transition to parenthood. The original contribution of my study is to simultaneously consider the influence of educational level, educational enrolment, and time elapsed since leaving education on the transition to parenthood. Empirical results are compared for Belgium and the United Kingdom, using the Panel Study of Belgian Households and the British Household Panel Survey.


This paper aims to improve the feature extraction of Persian handwritten number recognition systems. In this paper, we introduced nine new features for detection and recognition of Persian handwritten digits using the technique of finding the smallest enclosing disc in computational geometry. All these features are based on the geometry form of numbers and are much better than the features in terms of accuracy such as gradient which are mentioned as the strongest feature in the literature. In fact our defined features are highly resistant to resize and rotation operations due to the circular form of Persian digits. In terms of feature extraction performance, our newly defined features are tested on Hoda database and the calculated results confirmed the efficiency of these features. Due to the improvement of recognition rate and acceptable speed, our defined features are better than other common features in digit recognition.


Thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS) is a condition that results from the compression of neurovascular structures as they exit the thorax. Arterial ischemic stroke can occur in TOS due to retrograde embolism from the subclavian artery. We describe a 15-year-old girl who presented with left hemiplegia after 2 weeks of right arm numbness and tingling. Imaging showed an acute ischemic stroke due to a right middle cerebral artery occlusion. She was treated with intravenous tissue plasminogen activator at 1.3 h and mechanical thrombectomy at 2.4 h with successful recanalization. Review of her neck computed tomography angiogram suggested a right subclavian artery aneurysm, and upper-extremity imaging also demonstrated distal thrombosis and fusion of right first and second ribs, which was consistent with thoracic outlet syndrome. Three days later, she underwent a right subclavian artery aneurysm repair, right brachial and ulnar artery thrombectomy, and first rib resection. Three months later, she demonstrated good neurologic recovery. TOS is an uncommon cause of stroke in children, which may be heralded by upper-extremity symptoms. Interventionalists should be aware of the possibility of vascular anomalies in children; however, this finding does not exclude the possibility of acute stroke intervention.