In this tool paper we present Harrsh – a tool for unified reasoning about symbolic-heap separation logic. Harrsh supports the analysis of robustness properties of the symbolic heap fragment of separation logic with user-defined inductive predicates. Robustness properties, such as satisfiability, reachability, and acyclicity, are important for a wide range of reasoning tasks in automated program analysis and verification based on separation logic. Harrsh makes use of heap automata, which offer a generic approach to reasoning about robustness properties. We report on experimental results for several robustness properties taken from the literature and compare against satisfiability checkers participating in a recent competition. We conclude that a generic approach to checking robustness is feasible and promising for the extension to further properties of interest.


We are very pleased to present this special section of the Journal of Biomedical Optics on hard tissue optics. Recent developments in lasers and other photonic technologies have enabled novel therapeutic and diagnostic applications targeted towards hard tissues. The chemical, structural, and mechanical properties of calcified tissues vary markedly from those of other biological tissues, leading to fundamentally different optical behavior. The differences are on display in the 10 papers included here. They report advances in dentistry (eight papers), urology (one paper), and orthopaedics (one paper). Several optical imaging methods have been recently introduced for the detection of dental decay. There are four papers that report optical methods for the detection of dental caries; one of those reports fluorescence, two report thermophotonic imaging, and the fourth reports optical coherence tomography (OCT). New diagnostic tools are needed for the detection and characterization of caries lesions in the early stages of development when the caries process is potentially preventable and curable. The paper by Zhang et al. discusses mechanisms for the observed red shift in fluorescence with excitation wavelength between 400 to 532 nm. Analysis of the thermal emission from tooth surfaces can provide information about the depth and severity of natural and simulated caries lesions and there are two papers by Tabatabaei et al. and Hellen et al. employing thermophotonic lock-in imaging and photothermal radiometry to acquire images of caries lesions and monitor early demineralization. Optical coherence tomography can be used for imaging early dental decay and Natsume et al. show that OCT can be used to monitor the severity of demineralization on the surfaces of tooth roots. Lasers are well suited for the selective removal of dental decay and in a paper by Nguyen et al. the thermal effects of a CO2 laser operating at high pulse repetition rates are discussed. Lasers can also be used for caries prevention by thermally modifying the chemical composition of dental enamel to render the outer surface of the tooth more resistance to acid dissolution. In the in vivo study of Rechmann et al. a CO2 laser was employed. Two papers involve dental calculus. The study of Sun et al. involves the use of OCT for imaging calculus while in the study of Schoenly et al. a Ti:sapphire laser is used for its selective removal. Raman, infrared, fluorescence, and other spectroscopic techniques can be used for measuring chemical composition changes in hard tissues. The paper of McElderry et al. reports tissue storage conditions for obtaining valid Raman spectra for bone quality measurements. In addition to cutting bone and removing dental decay, high-power lasers can be used for the fragmentation of kidney stones. The paper by Blackmon et al. demonstrates the use of high-power fiber lasers for lithotripsy. We hope these papers in this special section will be of interest to many researchers in the field of biophotonics and will spur them to join the community of scientists and engineers who already have a specific interest in hard tissues.


Visible-infrared recognition (VI recognition) is a challenging task due to the enormous visual difference across heterogeneous images. Most existing works achieve promising results by transfer learning, such as pretraining on the ImageNet, based on advanced neural architectures like ResNet and ViT. However, such methods ignore the neg-ative influence of the pretrained colour prior knowledge, as well as their heavy computational burden makes them hard to deploy in actual scenarios with limited resources. In this paper, we propose a novel task-oriented pretrained lightweight neural network (TOPLight) for VI recognition. Specifically, the TOPLight method simulates the domain conflict and sample variations with the proposed fake do-main loss in the pretraining stage, which guides the network to learn how to handle those difficulties, such that a more general modality-shared feature representation is learned for the heterogeneous images. Moreover, an effective fine-grained dependency reconstruction module (FDR) is developed to discover substantial pattern dependencies shared in two modalities. Extensive experiments on VI person re-identification and VI face recognition datasets demonstrate the superiority of the proposed TOPLight, which signifi-cantly outperforms the current state of the arts while de-manding fewer computational resources.


In this research we develop a model of mortality rates that parameterizes mortality deceleration and compression, permits hypothesis tests for change in these parameters over time, and allows for formal gender comparisons. Our model fits mortality data well across all adult ages 20–105 for 1968–1992 U.S. white data, and the results offer some confirmation of findings of mortality research using conventional methods. We find that the age at which mortality deceleration begins is increasing over time, that decompression of mortality is occurring, and that these trends vary substantially across genders, although male and female mortality patterns appear to be converging to some extent.


A water sample was collected from each of 1612 lakes. This subset of lakes was selected from within three regions of the eastern U.S. (the Northeast, Upper Midwest, and Southeast) expected to exhibit low buffering capacity. Each region was divided in subregions. Subregions were further stratified by alkalinity map class. A suite of chemical variables and physical attributes thought to influence or be influenced by surface-water acidification was measured for each lake. The results of these measurements and data analyses are described in the report.


More efficient wireless communication in these days are a topic of capital importance. Specially in wireless sensor networks (WSN) where the system is often battery-powered. In wireless Sensor Networks (WSN), where the number of nodes are relatively high, aspects such as communication throughput and lifetime become crucial. In order to design a system which fulfills the constraints imposed, it is important to have adequate tools to perform both design and simulation. Narrow-band communication is proposed as a reasonable approach for this system, in view of the fact that such implementation will keep the system's design simple and inexpensive. This thesis also proposes a method to characterize the system and prove the hypothesis about the use of the narrow-band communication instead of a spread spectrum approach. The use of a discrete event simulator to achieve the modeling of a communication system will prove its flexibility. The results obtained throughout this thesis are optimistic about the use of a narrow-band communication that fulfills the specifications proposed. The simulations performed also give a good foundation for further investigation within the area.


We assess the tradeoffs and synergies involved in reducing agriculture-generated nutrient loads with different levels of resilience. We optimize the selection of least-cost patterns of agricultural conservation practices for both the expected performance of the conservation actions and its variance. Securing nutrient loads with a higher level of resilience is costly, with marginal costs of resilience generally declining with lower loads. We find that the main tradeoff dimension is between cost of conservation investments and ecosystem service objectives, as opposed to pronounced mean-variance or between- nutrient objectives tradeoffs. We find relative synergies in agricultural conservation investments aimed at nutrient reductions.


Tree‐cavity‐dependent wildlife faces future shortages of cavities due to a decline in the abundance of large, old trees in many parts of the world. Nest boxes are proposed as a tool to restore habitat value but evidence of their effectiveness for arboreal mammals remains equivocal. This may arise from a poor understanding of design preferences. We conducted investigations in two landscapes in eastern Australia to determine whether species show a preference for specific designs. We observed a preference by some mammal species for particular designs (33–78% occupied/used), suggesting that design refinement can improve the frequency with which nest boxes are used. Although feral species may out‐compete target species for nest boxes, we did not observe this. We recorded feral honeybees (Apis mellifera) in 6–9% of nest boxes but they did not remain, and many occupied boxes were later used by mammals. The introduced common myna bird (Acridotheres tristis) was prevalent in one landscape, but competition for nest boxes was localized. For nest boxes to be an effective habitat restoration tool, they must be able to be occupied over long periods of time. We investigated this for the squirrel glider (Petaurus norfolcensis), an arboreal marsupial threatened through part of its geographic range. Squirrel gliders occupied and bred within nest boxes (100% used) at two locations continuously over a 10‐year period with minimal nest box maintenance. Individuals occupied boxes for up to 7 years. This confirms that targeted nest box programs can be an effective restoration tool for cavity‐dependent arboreal mammals.


. In order to bring the new coronavirus pandemic in the country under control, the government of Sri Lanka implemented a set of control strategies including social distancing, quarantine, lockdowns, travel restrictions and isolation of villages. The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of the overall control process with the aid of classical compartment models and network models. Our results indicate that the prevailing control strategies are effective with at least 50% contact rate reduction or with at least 40% isolation of the contact history of infected population.


Aims: Recently, Vitamin D deficiency is pandemic now. The main reason of vitamin D deficiency is inadequate exposure to sunlight. Vitamin D level in nutrients is low and it can be ineffective to meet the daily requirements. Vitamin D is synthesized in the skin by ultraviolent radiation. In the present study, the authors aimed to investigate serum 25(OH) D levels of the medical staff working in different positions in the Faculty of Dentistry. Subjects and Methods: A total of 51 dentists, 28 dental assistants, 11 secretaries, and 10 nurses working in the Faculty of Dentistry, Erciyes University between November and December 2014 were included to the study. The serum 25(OH) D levels of the participants were evaluated. Results: Of the participants, 62 were females and 38 were males with a mean age of 30.17 ± 5.77 (range: 20–49) years. The mean vitamin D levels were found to be 12.1 ± 8.37 ng/mL (range: 2.1–38.3). A total of 51 participants had severe vitamin D insufficiency, while three participants had normal vitamin D levels with only one dentist. Conclusion: According to the results of present study, dental staff should be considered as a high-risk group for vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency is a common problem among medical staffs as in several working groups such as white-collar workers and bankers. Results of present study suggest that insufficient exposure to the sunlight may lead to severe vitamin D deficiency in dental professionals. Vitamin D supplementation may be recommended to the dental staff.


Synopsis To isolate and quantify possible determinants of any increased prevalence of depressive disorders in women we studied a select group of men and women, initially similar in terms of a number of putative social determinants of depression, and reviewed the sample five years later when social role diversity was anticipated. We used the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS) to generate DSM-III and RDC diagnoses to estimate lifetime depressive disorders, and established (via corroborative reports) the likely accuracy of those data. Despite lifetime depression being a relatively common experience, no significant sex differences in depressive episodes were demonstrated, suggesting the possible irrelevance of biological factors in determining any sex difference. As there was not major social role divergence over the five year study, we interpret the lack of a sex difference as a consequence, and suggest that findings support the view that social factors are of key relevance in determining any female preponderance in depression described in general population studies.


Circuits implemented with high-performance amorphous-indium-gallium-zinc-oxide thin-film transistors (TFTs) are realized on polyimide/polyethylene-terephthalate plastic substrates. The TFTs on plastic exhibit a saturation mobility of 19 cm2/V·s and a gate voltage swing of ~0.14 V/dec. For an input of 20 V, an 11-stage ring oscillator operates at 94.8 kHz with a propagation delay time of 0.48 μs. A shift register, consisting of ten TFTs and one capacitor, operates well with good bias stability. AC driving of pull-down TFTs gives the gate driver an improved lifetime of over ten years.


If, during the operation of a foam application unit, a change in the foam production is introduced, the change in the flow becomes noticeable at the point of application onlyafter a certain response delay time. During the operation of the unit it is necessary to take this response delay into consideration. By varying the flow of foam in the application unit, the mass content of foam in the unit is changed as a result of the changed pressure inside the unit. The response delay has been mathematically derived for the flow of agiven type of foam through pipes, as well as through a foam printing unit as a whole. A deviation in the yield of foam on the substrate can be avoided by considering the respons delay caused by a change in the foam production process.


THE EFFECT OF SOFT TISSUE AND BONE MORPHOLOGY ON THE STRESSES IN THE FOOT AND ANKLE Jinhyuk Kim Old Dominion University, 2022 Director: Dr. Stacie I. Ringleb The foot and ankle interface with the ground, thus they absorb reaction forces and initiate load distribution through the body. The plantar fascia (PF) is a flexible structure that absorbs reaction forces and distributes loading across the foot. It is frequently a source of foot pain especially when people have plantar fasciitis and/or diabetes mellitus. Finite element (FE) models of the foot and ankle were created to examine the function however, the plantar fascia is frequently modeled as a 1D tension only spring, which does not represent variations caused by injury and/or disease. As models move toward being patient specific, understanding what components of a model can be generic versus what should be patient specific is critical when minimizing the time to create and simulate results. The purpose of this dissertation was to develop 3D finite element foot and ankle models including different thickness of 3D solid plantar fascia (i.e., 3mm, 4mm, and 5mm) and different ankle positions (i.e., neutral position, 10° dorsiflexion, and 10° plantarflexion). Additionally, the effect of different thicknesses of cartilage (i.e., 0.5mm, 1.0mm, and 1.7mm) and bone morphology (health and injured) was investigated in a model of the talocrural joint. As the thickness of plantar fascia increased, the strains of plantar fascia were increased, and the peak plantar pressure moved from hindfoot to forefoot. Also, the peak plantar pressures were highest when the foot was in 10° of plantarflexion and lowest in the neutral position. Finally, contact area decreased with decreasing cartilage thickness, with a greater decrease in contact area in healthy ankles. In 3 models, contact stress increased as cartilage thickness decreased. The fourth model had little decrease in contact area, thus the contact pressures may have been affected more by bone morphology. In conclusion, in models of the foot and ankle, the plantar fascia can be generic if it is less than 4 mm thick, a variety of foot positions should be considered, and specific bone morphologies should be included in the ankle if there is a known pathology.


Monoclonal antibodies (MABs) were produced after fusion of spleen cells of Fasciola antigen immunized BALB/c mice and non secreting murine myloma cells (P3x63 Ag8). Six MAbs, showing the highest reactivity with purified Fasciola antigen, were prepared. All 6 MABs were IgG2 with Kappa light chain. Reactive epitopes recognized by the six MAbs were glycoprotein in nature, and each MAb recognized a single epitope of Fasciola antigen. No cros reactions were observed with Schistosomal AWSA, hydatid Ag and Entamoeba Ag. EITB technique showed a specific diagnostic band at 17.5 kDa for each of the six MAbs. Anti-Fasciola MAb (AD2) was conjugated with peroxidase and was used with anti-rabbit anti-Fasciola polyclonal antibody in sandwich-ELISA to detect circulating Fasciola antigen in serum and urine samples of 57 fascioliasis patients, 51 schistosomiasis patients, 45 patients infected with other parasites and 47 healthy controls. Sensitivity of the assay in detection of circulating Fasciola antigen in sera and urines of Fasciola infected patients was 100%. The specificity of the assay was calculated among patients infected with schistosomiasis and other parasites and was 98% in serum and 97% in urine. A positive correlation was found between levels of circulating Fasciola antigen in serum and urine samples of fascioliasis patients (r = 0.825, p < 0.05).


Performance requirements such as increased bandwidth and lower power are driving the adoption of 3D ICs designed with through silicon vias. Many companies and research organizations have described the advantages of stacking chips vertically. There is no question that 3D TSV will be adopted, but the timing for mass production depends on how the cost of the new technology compares with that of existing technologies. As companies move from R&D into production the difficult work begins in addressing the issues of design, thermal management, test, and assembly. Different needs and economic factors determine the timing of adoption in each application. Issues in moving to volume production include the installation and qualification of high-volume 300mm production lines, assembly and test capability, the availability of TSV interposers, and reliability data. This presentation provides an assessment of the infrastructure for 3D TSV and provides an update on the remaining barriers to adoption.


BACKGROUND Chemical matricectomy is performed mainly by 2 agents, phenol and sodium hydroxide. Chemical matricectomy with phenol has a low recurrence rate and good cosmetic results, but it produces extensive tissue destruction and can result in drainage and a delayed healing time. These adverse effects have brought forward the use of chemical agents such as sodium hydroxide and trichloroacetic acid for matricectomy. OBJECTIVE This prospective study aimed mainly to evaluate the efficacy of partial nail avulsion and selective chemical cauterization of the matrix using 90% bichloracetic acid (BCA) in the treatment of the ingrown nails. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 30 patients with 58 ingrown toenail edges were included in this study. All of the patients underwent chemical matricectomy with 90% BCA after partial nail avulsion. Adverse effects such as postoperative pain and drainage were minimal in most of the patients. RESULTS One patient who underwent matricectomy had recurrence in a single nail edge (1.8%) at the 12th month of the follow-up. No recurrence was observed in 29 patients during mean follow-up period. This was considered to be statistically significant (p < .001). CONCLUSION This is the first study to use BCA for the treatment of ingrown toenail. Partial nail avulsion followed by BCA matricectomy is a safe, simple, and effective method with low rates of postoperative morbidity and high rates of success. Therefore, partial nail avulsion and BCA matricectomy can be used as an alternative treatment method for the treatment of ingrown toenails.


Africa is a continent of approximately 1.24 billion people, yet it is estimated that there are only 7,000 certified security professionals, or one for every 177,000 people. Africa's information and communications technology (ICT) sector grew by 7,000 percent between 2000 and 2016, with Internet penetration increasing to nearly 28%. The use of ICT, and in particular the Internet, has become a matter of strategic importance. Not only do these technologies spur economic development, but they also improve productivity, efficiency, and innovation across the continent, and encourage the free flow of ideas and information. The rapid growth of the Internet has also created new opportunities for perpetrating cybercrime, which costs African economies an estimated total of over one billion US dollars every year. Once considered a trivial matter in Africa, cybercrime is now identified as a significant barrier to development. With African nations increasingly aware of the issue, they are starting to take legislative and regulatory steps to counter the rising trend of cyber attacks. However, as of 2016, only 11 out of 54 African countries have enacted specific laws against cybercrime. Another 12 countries have partial laws, and 30 have no meaningful cyber-crime laws. There is no global consensus on how to regulate and respond to cyberattacks; therefore, African countries tend to adopt policies and laws intended for developed nations that possess much higher response capabilities. Even countries with cybercrime laws remain vulnerable as efforts to date have been mostly ineffective in preventing or prosecuting attacks. The goal of this paper is to provide insight regarding the current cybersecurity status in six representative countries in Africa that have enacted laws against cybercrime. Particularly, to investigate why security policy frameworks and legislation in these countries currently have had little or no impact on preventing cybercrime. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods are used. These methods aim to identify and review the implementation of cybersecurity policies and relevant literature relating to security in each of these countries. The following key performance indicators (KPIs) are measured and analyzed for each country in the study: - The existence of computer emergency response teams (CERTs). - Threat landscape identification. - The existence of cybercrime legislation. - The number of security professionals. - Security breach notifications. - Conviction rates for cybercriminals. - Accession to the Budapest convention. The quantitative evaluation is based on analyzing statistical data related to cybersecurity incidents to: - Measure the cost of cybercrime before and after legislation. - Quantify the impact of cybersecurity legislation and policies. - Develop a security index based on KPIs. - Perform a sensitivity analysis to measure the impact of KPIs on legislation. We use these measures to construct a Cybersecurity Liability Index (CLI) using an additive utility function. A swing-weighting approach is used to design the CLI, where individual attributes are compared to other alternatives with a goal of quantifying the KPIs. The findings and results of this analysis form the foundation to provide policy recommendations to improve existing regulatory infrastructures and guide countries that have not yet adopted relevant legislation.


Since convective boiling or highly subcooled single-phase forced convection in micro-channels is an effective cooling mechanism with a wide range of applications, more experimental and theoretical studies are required to explain and verify the forced convection heat transfer phenomenon in narrow channels. In this experimental study, we model the convective boiling behavior of water with low latent heat substance Freon 113 (R-113), with the purpose of saving power consumption and visualizing experiments. Both heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics were measured in subcooled and saturated concentric narrow gap forced convection boiling. Data were obtained to qualitatively identify the effects of gap size, pressure, flow rate and wall superheat on boiling regimes and the transition between various regimes. Some significant differences from unconfined forced convection boiling were found,and also, the flow patterns in narrow vertical annulus tubes have been studied quantitatively.


ABSTRACT This article presents installation as a professional learning site for early childhood teachers to visualise relationships between key events, people and places influencing their professional identity journeys. Aesthetic processes of collecting, creating and representing the ways teachers see their evolving identities offer opportunities to reveal connections and influences that impact identity development. This investigation of teachers' unfolding stories provoked the methodological design of seven 'aesthetic frames' for uncovering and sharing what was revealed about self-as-teacher. Contributions from six early childhood teachers were shared with the primary researcher over a period of 14 weeks before being assembled and viewed collectively in a final focus group as installation. Selected frames are offered in this article as storied forms of visual narrative that present participating teachers with opportunities for critical reflection. As an arts-informed research process, installation provided teachers with a uniquely aesthetic model for understanding and transforming their identity journeys. The immediacy of lived teaching experience captured through image and text also prompting teachers to see with refreshed perspective, new ways for expressing and evaluating pedagogy–practice connections.


The adoption of additive manufacturing methods is becoming prevalent in industry. Socio-economic trends seek more customization and sustainability in production. An increase in unique service components will warrant the need for more flexible repair methods. This is particularly important for components that are difficult to access or disassemble — thus requiring an on-site repair. This paper introduces the use of 3D printing pens as a means to perform repair to additively manufacturing components. A study was conducted to assess the feasibility of using a 3D printing pen in maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) applications on polymer-based service products. A series of tensile tests were conducted on printed specimens, pre- and post-repair, to examine the tensile retention of the mended region. Results indicate significant retention in tensile strength in the mended specimens, supporting the notion of the pens relevance in repair and overhaul applications. Specimens that fractured within the repair region were seen to have retained (81 ± 10) % of their original tensile strength while specimens that fractured outside the region retained (86 ± 4) %. Considering the limited control of the study, results acquired encourage further analysis of the underlying mechanisms in the process, with the intent to more efficiently exploit this approach for practical structure-based repair applications.


We experiment with various techniques of monitoring and tuning UPC programs while porting NAS NPB benchmark using the recently developed GCC-SGI UPC compiler on the Origin O3800 NUMA machine. The performance of the NAS NPB on the SGI NUMA environment is compared to previous NAS NPB statistics on a Compaq multiprocessor. In fact, the SGI NUMA environment has provided new opportunities for UPC. For example, the spectrum of performance analysis and profiler tools within the SGI NUMA environment made the development of new monitoring and tuning strategies that aim at improving the efficiency of parallel UPC applications possible. Our objective is to be able to project the physically monitored parameters back to the data structures and high-level program constructs within the source code. This increases a programmer's ability to effectively understand, develop, and optimize programs; enabling an exact analysis of a program's data and code layouts. Using this visualized information, programmers are able to further optimize UPC programs with a better data and threads layouts potentially resulting in significant performance improvements. Furthermore, the SGI CC-NUMA environment provided memory consistency optimizations to mask the latency of remote accesses, convert aggregate accesses into more efficient bulk operations, and cache data locally. UPC allows programmers to specify memory accesses with "relaxed" consistency semantics. These explicit consistency "hints" are exploited by the CC-NUMA environment very effectively to hide latency and reduce coherence overheads further by allowing, for example, two or more processors to modify their local copies of shared data concurrently and merging modifications at synchronization operations. This characteristic alleviates the effect of false sharing.


PURPOSE OF REVIEW
The purpose of this review is to outline the current understanding of the molecular mechanisms and natural history of osteogenesis imperfecta, and to describe the development of new treatments for this disorder.

RECENT FINDINGS
The introduction of next-generation sequencing technology has led to better understanding of the genetic cause of osteogenesis imperfecta and enabled cost-effective and timely diagnosis via expanded gene panels and exome or genome sequencing. Clinically, despite genetic heterogeneity, different forms of osteogenesis imperfecta share similar features that include connective tissue and systemic manifestations in addition to bone fragility. Thus, the goals of treatment in osteogenesis imperfecta extend beyond decreasing the risk of fracture, to include the maximization of growth and mobility, and the management of extraskeletal complications. The standard of care in pediatric patients is bisphosphonates therapy. Ongoing preclinical studies in osteogenesis imperfecta mouse models and clinical studies in individuals with osteogenesis imperfecta have been instrumental in the development of new and targeted therapeutic approaches, such as sclerostin inhibition and transforming growth factor-β inhibition.

SUMMARY
Osteogenesis imperfecta is a skeletal dysplasia characterized by bone fragility and extraskeletal manifestations. Better understanding of the mechanisms of osteogenesis imperfecta will enable the development of much needed targeted therapies to improve the outcome in affected individuals.


Foodborne diseases are those caused by the consumption of water and food contaminated by different causal agents such as: viruses, bacteria, parasites, toxins, among others, being considered an important public health problem global due to its incidence and mortality and for several years for the isolation of microorganisms that cause these diseases resistant to antimicrobials. Salmonella species is considered a food pathogen frequently responsible for infectious outbreaks through the consumption of contaminated food, also presenting resistance to different antimicrobials. Fishery products are recognized as an important source of food, nutrition, income and a source of livelihood for a large part of the world's population. However, fish is also considered to be a vehicle that transmits different pathogens (Salmonella spp., Shigella species, Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes among others) mainly due to inadequate hygiene practices along the food chain. The purpose of this article is to show in a general way a perspective of foodborne diseases, specifically those caused by bacteria of the genus Salmonella spp., through fish such as tilapia, the control and prevention measures of these pathogens in food, the phenomenon of resistance to antimicrobials by these bacteria isolated in food and fish around the world that exacerbates the problem in food safety and public health.

 Key words: Salmonella, food, fish, processing, antimicrobial.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the 'Incredible Years Program' (IYP) in reducing juvenile delinquency in Kenya. Juvenile delinquency in Kenya is on the increase. The number of children in conflict with law has risen significantly from 483 in 2006 to 927 in 2010. This necessitated the assessment of the effectiveness of this program. There was therefore need to conduct a research to determine whether the 'Incredible Years' Program training for house-parents and teachers is effective in the rehabilitation of juveniles in Kenya. It is for this reason that the current research embarked on trying out the 'Incredible Years Program' with a hope that it will improve juvenile rehabilitation services in Kenya and reduce the tendency of children falling back into crime. The design in this study was Quasi-Experimental research design. The target population in the study composed of all the children, house-masters/mistresses and teachers of Kenyan Rehabilitation Schools. Purposive sampling design was used in sampling procedure. A sample of hundred and fifty (150) children from two (2) Rehabilitation Schools took part in the study. Seventy five (75) from Dagoretti Girls' Rehabilitation School and seventy five (75) from Kabete Boys' Rehabilitation School. Both Rehabilitation Schools are in Nairobi. The two Rehabilitation Schools cater for medium-risk children. Medium-risk offences include being in bad company, being in possession of drugs and stealing. Low-risk offences are non-criminogenic in nature like dropping out of school. High-risk child offenders come in with murder, robbery with violence, arson and drug trafficking. Four House-parents and four teachers were also part of the sample, to make a total of 158. Two instruments were used to collect data. They included an adapted Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman, 1999) which was filled by house-parents and teachers and an Observation Schedule filled by the researcher. A pilot study was also conducted in order to validate the research instruments. Data was analyzed using frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviations. The study findings indicated that there was a significant relationship between the 'Incredible Years Program' and behaviour change among the rehabilitees. There were significant differences between 'Incredible Years Program' and the Traditional Rehabilitation Methods and there was no significant relationship between effect of 'Incredible Years Program' and gender of the rehabilitees. Conclusively, results show that the 'Incredible Years Program' is effective in the rehabilitation of juvenile delinquents which was also indicated by other studies cited. This study has revealed salient features influencing rehabilitation outcomes that are amenable to change in terms of rehabilitation policy. If 'Incredible Year's Program' is introduced in Kenya, the policy makers should ensure that it is implemented fully. The researcher recommends the following for further research: study on the behavior of children in the Juvenile Remand Homes, The role of the family in influencing conduct problems and the type of learning climate and its impact on offending.


This paper sketches a new approach using Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCMs) to operably map and simulate digital transformation in architecture and urban planning. Today these processes are poorly understood. Many current studies on digital transformation are only treating questions of economic efficiency. Sustainability and social impact only play a minor role. Decisive definitions, concepts and terms stay unclear. Therefore this paper develops an open experimental testbed for sustainable and innovative environments (ETSIE) for three different digital transformation scenarios using FCMs. A traditional growth-oriented scenario, a COVID-19 scenario and an innovative and sustainable COVID-19 scenario are modeled and tested. All three scenarios have the same number of components, connections and the same driver components. Only the initial state vectors are different and the internal correlations are weighted differently. This allows for comparing all three scenarios on an equal basis. The Mental Modeler software is used. This paper presents one of the first applications of FCMs in the context of digital transformation. It is shown that the traditional growth-oriented scenario is structurally very similar to the current COVID-19 scenario. The current pandemic is able to accelerate digital transformation to a certain extent. But the pandemic does not guarantee for a distinct sustainable and innovative future development. Only by changing the initial state vectors and the weights of the connections an innovative and sustainable turnaround in a third scenario becomes possible.


BACKGROUND
Bleeding after a major pancreatic resection, although uncommon, has serious implications and substantial mortality rates.

AIM
To analyse our experience with severe post-pancreatoduodenectomy haemorrhage (PPH) over the last 7 years to establish the incidence, causes, intervention required and outcome.

METHOD
All patients who underwent a pancreatoduodenectomy (PD) between January 2008 and December 2015 were identified from a prospectively maintained database. Data analysed included demographic information, operative details, anastomotic technique, histology, postoperative complications including pancreatic fistula and PPH, length of hospital stay, need for blood products and special investigations. Pancreatic fistula was classified according to the International Study Group of Pancreatic Surgery (ISGPS) classification. A modified ISGPS classification was used for PPH.

RESULTS
One hundred and eighteen patients underwent PD during the study period of whom 6 (5.0%) died perioperatively. Twenty patients (16.9%) developed a pancreatic fistula and 11 patients (9.3%) had a severe PPH of whom one (9.1%) died. No patients had a severe bleed during the first 24 hours postoperatively. Four patients bled within the first 5 days and the remaining 7 after five days. Six patients bled from the gastroduodenal artery and were all preceded by a pancreatic fistula. Three of the 7 patients who bled late presented with extraluminal bleeding, 3 presented with intraluminal bleeding and 1 with a combination of both. Patients presenting in the first 5 days were all successfully managed either endoscopically or surgically. Five patients who presented beyond 5 days postoperatively were managed primarily with interventional angiography, either with coiling or deployment of a covered stent. Three patients who had radiological intervention developed a liver abscess or necrosis.

CONCLUSION
Severe PPH is associated with substantial morbidity. Clinical factors including the onset of the bleeding, presentation with either extra and/or intraluminal haemorrhage, and the presence of a pancreatic fistula give an indication of the likely aetiology of the bleeding. A management algorithm based on these factors is presented.


research and analysis in developed and developing countries of the interface between strategic planning instruments, transportation, spatial and statutory planning instruments supporting integration in decision making demonstrate that the application of such instruments on all spatial scales is not optimized due to internalities, externalities and factors such as focus, content and output. the purpose of assessment of planning instruments is to promote urban system sustainability and resilience through alignment and integration of strategic and statutory planning instruments with specific reference to regional urban spatial; transportation planning and traffic generation in supporting decision making. a precondition for regional and urban sustainability and resilience pivots on multi-disciplinary practice applications to optimally align the development and application of planning instruments such as integrated development plans (idp's), Spatial development plans (Sdf's), integrated transport plans (itp's), land use management Systems (lumS's), housing Sector plans (hSp's), environmental management plans (emp's) and related precinct plans (pp's). application of selective professional strategic, regional and urban planning results in ad hoc planning practices in decision making and project implementation. Strategic and regional planning practices on all scales are considered to be the root cause of not attaining spatial sustainability and resilience. identification of macro spatial measures (norms) to assess spatial plans and consequent transportation impacts are developed and prosed in this paper. the results will be of value to articulating the content of sectoral plans and to promote sustainability and resilience in spatial system planning. the research deals with the theoretical and empirical realities underpinning the formulation and application of spatial planning instruments. the research illustrates the need to identify, assess and to relate macro spatial norms to promote spatial system sustainability and resilience. it will underpin plan assessment, alignment, integration, planning coordination and improved planning implementation integration. the research demonstrates that planning processes and resources are fundamental in integration and alignment in enhancing sustainability and resilience spatial system planning and development


BACKGROUND
There has been a considerable reduction in the frequency of autopsies over the past few decades. We wanted to investigate whether doctors consider this a proper and natural development, or whether they consider that autopsies should be given a higher priority, and in such case, how.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Resources, organisation and opinions on autopsy practice were registered using a questionnaire sent to all pathology departments at Norwegian hospitals, and to all doctors in the clinical departments of Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen, Norway.

RESULTS
392 clinicians replied (percentage of replies 50.3 %). Of these, 82 % considered autopsies to be a good means of quality assurance and quality control of the clinical work. 83 % considered that more autopsies should be performed on a national basis, and 65 % considered autopsies to be just as important today as previously, in spite of technological advances in medicine. However, 80 % of the clinicians attended autopsy demonstrations less than twice a year. The waiting time for autopsy reports was long - 66 days, on average. A majority of clinicians considered that reducing this time would lead to more autopsies being ordered.

DISCUSSION
Hospital doctors still consider autopsy to be a good means to assure the quality of clinical work. A reduction in the time needed to complete an autopsy report and better communication between clinicians and pathologists should be given priority.


Cardiac catheterization and determination of the ))true endogenous creatinine clearance, and para-amino-hippuric acid clearance were carried out pre-operatively on 20 children with patent ductus arteriosus. A decreased renal plasma flow was demonstrated in children with a big shunt through the patent ductus. The ratio of endogenous creatinine clearance to renal plasma flow was increased if the left-to-right shunt was above 40 per cent, even in the presence of a normal pressure in the pulmonary artery.


Market channel alternatives that include garden centers, landscapers, mass merchandisers, and rewholesalers have contributed to the growth of ornamental crops sales in the United States. The impact of growers' business characteristics on shares of sales to these channels by firm size was estimated using the two-limit Tobit model. Important explanatory variables were regions of the United States, sales of plant groups, kinds of contract sales, and channel diversity. There were important differences in behavior by grower size. Overall, the results indicate a stronger than expected role for the rewholesaler channel as a preferred channel for ornamental plant sales.


Effective management of Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by General Practitioners is likely to be compromised by respiratory physiology training that has main focus on acute respiratory diseases with high mortality and little focus on empowering medical and nursing students and practitioners on respiratory care. Results of this study indicate that lack of responsiveness of respiratory physiology courses for undergraduate and postgraduate and lack of structured in-service training programmes on respiratory care and inadequate training facilities for lung function assessment are key challenges to the medical schools. It is concluded that concerted effort is required through global partnership to enhance training and re-training of general practitioners and nurses on primary respiratory care and making accessible relevant resources needed for building competencies in lung function assessment and interpretation of results.

 Key words: Respiratory care, respiratory care practitioners, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.


A number of Western physicians have highlighted shortcomings in Japanese medical education over the years. In recent years, however, there has been dramatic change in the system of medical education in Japan that renders some of these observations inaccurate and others worthy of several caveats. Using a recent review article in the Keio Journal of Medicine as a starting point for discussion, the author responds to a number of historical concerns about medical education in Japan and includes updated information on recent reforms.


Investors have long appreciated monetary policy's influence on investment performance. Little research exists, however, that rigorously examines the connection between monetary policy and investment performance. In this Research Foundation monograph, Gerald R. Jensen; Robert R. Johnson, CFA; and Jeffrey M. Mercer provide a thorough investigation of the relation between directional changes in the discount rate and returns on various asset classes. In perhaps their most remarkable finding, they demonstrate that for U.S. stocks, an initial reduction in the discount rate is followed by several months of above–average returns and an initial discount–rate increase is followed by several months of below–average returns. The authors also examine how their findings can be used to enhance investment performance.


Abbasid caliphate in the fourth/tenth century suffered from a sharp economic decline. This was the result of several factors, mainly civil wars, the Zanj and Qarmatian revolts, political interference by the Turkish and Daylamite soldiers, military iqta' and the activity of the 'ayyarun. The civil wars had a destructive effect on the city of Baghdad and its citizens, ruined most of the land and caused a devaluation of dirham and dinars. The revolts of the Zanj and Qarmatians paralyzed trade in southern Iraq leading to a stagnation of currency and the banking system and a decrease in financial activity. The involvement of the Turkish and Daylamite soldiers in politics, and rivalries among them to gain power, led to the devastation of canals, dams and consequently ruined the agricultural sector. In addition, the introduction of military iqta' during this period resulted in the damage of cultivated lands due to their excessive exploitation and abandonment of their irrigation system. Finally, the activities of the 'ayyarun in looting merchants' goods, burning many houses, and killing people, inflicted considerable loss on the merchants, encouraging the latter to leave Baghdad and do business in other cities.


David R. "Buff" Honodel was a cocky young man with an inflated self-image when he arrived in 1969 at his base in Udorn, Thailand. His war was not in Vietnam; it was a secret one in the skies of a neighboring country almost unknown in America, attacking the Ho Chi Minh Trail that fed soldiers and supplies from North Vietnam into the South. Stateside he learned the art of flying the F-4, but in combat, the bomb-loaded fighter handled differently, targets shot back, and people suffered. Inert training ordnance was replaced by lethal weapons. In the air, a routine day mission turned into an unexpected duel with a deadly adversary. Complacency during a long night mission escorting a gunship almost led to death. A best friend died just before New Year's. A RF-4 crashed into the base late in Buff's tour of duty.

The reader will experience Buff's war from the cockpit of a supersonic F-4D Phantom II, doing 5-G pullouts after dropping six 500-pound bombs on trucks hidden beneath triple jungle canopy. These were well defended by a skillful, elusive, determined enemy firing back with 37mm anti-aircraft fire and tracers in the sky. The man who left the States was a naive, self-centered young pilot. The man who came back 137 missions later was much different.


Network design and dimensioning often involve trade-offs between different objectives that sometimes may have opposing effects on design. At the same time, some objectives are mandatory while others are optional. In this paper we use the multi-objective optimization package CONSOL-OPTCAD for the design of trunk reservation parameters. We also study link capacity design by using CFSQP along with our model and its sensitivities generated by Automatic Differentiation (AD). Using AD for sensitivity analysis of our reduced load approximation is a novel approach. Using AD for computing derivatives of the fixed point along with the calculation of the fixed point itself is both accurate and efficient. Putting together these techniques we present a systematic way of network design, regardless of the details of the underlying performance evaluation model.


Implementation of a Prediction-Based Cognitive Framework Brian Colder Colder Scientific Abstract: Predictive analysis in many business domains is hampered by the massive quantities of information that must be analyzed. Given the relative strength of computers at processing large volumes of data, increasing the predictive powers of machines is an important goal. This paper describes a framework for human cognition that is based on empirical evidence for the role of prediction in cognition, and discusses how computational models might be derived from the framework. The framework continually produces and verifies predictions of its input data. A description is given of how a particular instance of the framework might be developed that can aid financial analysts in predicting the value of a time series of asset prices. A plan is outlined for how models derived from the framework might be trained. Mature, fully-trained models derived from the framework could be effective assistants to analysts faced with prediction tasks.


The design and performance of the GPS Timing and Control (GTC) System of the High Altitude Water Cerenkov (HAWC) gamma ray observatory is described. The GTC system provides a GPS synchronized absolute timestamp, with an accuracy better than 1$\mu$s, for each recorded event in HAWC. In order to avoid any slack between the recorded data and the timestamp, timestamps are injected to the main data acquisition (DAQ) system after the Front-end Electronic Boards (FEBs). When HAWC is completed, the HAWC main DAQ will use 10 time to digital converters (TDCs). In order to keep all the TDCs in sync, the GTC system provides a synchronized clock signal, coordinated trigger signal, and control signals to all TDCs.


This article presents the most recent historical context (1995-2005) of the translation of Galician literary texts into a British framework. It also provides an analysis of the translation and editing conditions that have had an influence on each book. At the same time, it offers a reflection on the literary relationships that take place between Galicia, a nation without a state whose literary system has not yet attained full autonomy (Anton Figueroa, 2001, p. 130) and the United Kingdom, which has a strong literary system. The aim of this article is twofold: firstly, to stress the importance of the translation of Galician literature into other literary systems [such as British one, on the premise that it foments cultural self-confidence and an awareness of national identity, especially as regards to the Galician literary and cultural system. Secondly, to open new fields of research so that subsequent studies can delve into this topic in more depth.


The use of a contemporary model-based work budget allows the comparison of work and production processes up to total-farm level under otherwise equal conditions. The inclusion of physical load is ensured via expanded OWAS codes with a mass-related load index as well as with the average physically strenuous working-time requirement. Consequently, sectoral statements on manpower potential and workload in farming are also possible. The continuous traceability of the data is ensured, so that expansions and corrections of errors are easily carried out. Data may be exported from the program via interfaces. The software, which is modular in design, is available in four languages. The computer-based work budget therefore represents an internationally applicable tool both for the improvement of work organisation and time planning, as well as for the measurement of workload.


type="main"> The institutional literature emphasizes local conditions in explaining divergent colonial development. We posit that this view can be enriched by an important supply-side cause: the skills with which the settlers arrive. The Huguenots who arrived at the Cape Colony in 1688/9, we argue, possessed skills different from those of the incumbent farmers, and this enabled them to become more productive wine-makers. We demonstrate this by showing that this difference is explained by none of the standard factors of production, nor by any institutional differences between the French and the Dutch. We observe that a group of Huguenot descendants from wine-producing regions maintained their advantage in wine-making at the Cape over several generations. This disparity cannot be satisfactorily explained as resulting from first-mover advantage or social capital. Specialized skills gave the Huguenots from wine-producing regions a sustained competitive advantage. Our results show that colonial institutions are shaped not only by whether immigrants settle or not, which legal system they adopt, or their language, religion, or beliefs, but by the set of skills, knowledge, and experience brought from their country of origin. As such, cross-country comparisons may blur much of the detail when we analyse the effect that settlers have on the destination country.


quality data and network continuity are two important considerations in determining the success of wireless sensor network (WSN) motes deployment in agriculture. Nevertheless, these two factors are closely related to the behavior of antenna position and orientation during deployment which has often been ignored. Although extensive research has been done on antenna heights and characteristics, very few looked into potential antenna misplaced during deployment. This paper presents a study on effect of antenna heights and orientation to wireless sensor network signal power variation. The results showed that although the antenna height affects the signal strength significantly, as long as the transmitter and receiver are higher than the far field distance of the antenna, the power loss is insignificant. On the other hand, misplaced antenna radiating towards receiver in the absence of front lobe, may cause critical data loss and network continuity. The study also showed that Log- distance model is a better fit to signal loss profile in agricultural field compared to Free Space Loss model.


Laser-assisted thermal imprinting (LATI) is a promising high-throughput direct replication method for micro- or nanostructured films. In LATI, only the surface of the mold is heated by laser irradiation and the surface of the polymer is heated by heat transfer; subsequently, the polymer surface lowers its viscosity and fills into the micro-or nanostructures of the mold. After the laser irradiation, the imprinted polymer surface is cooled by heat conduction to the inside of the film and mold immediately after the micro- or nanostructures are replicated. Therefore, not only a short cycle time but also low energy consumption in the imprinting process can be realized. However, the mechanism of heat conduction and polymer flow in the microstructured mold in LATI has not been clarified. In this study, we performed model experiments and simulations of heat conduction to determine the approximate time schedule of heat conduction in the polymer and the flow of the polymer. In the model experiments, we found that the replication speed of scanning irradiation was much higher than that of spot irradiation in spite of the same power density. It was found that the partial contact was decreased in scanning irradiation and the polymer flow easily occurred. This is because the surface profiles were different depending on the filling method. In spot irradiation, the surface exhibited a concave shape owing to the surface tension between the polymer and mold surface; meanwhile, in scanning irradiation, the surface exhibited a convex shape owing to pushing pressure.


The author analyses the text of the "Second Partida" fixed in the ms. 43-11 of the Toledo's Cathedral's Library. The manuscript was made by Juan Alfonso Trujillo, a subordinate of Toledo's archbishop Pedro de Luna, the nephew of the Anti-Pope Benedict XIII. The author affirms that the Archbishop was a direct customer of this manuscript and that he had a plans to make a gift to his vassal and younger friend, the dean of the Toledo Chapter, Juan Martinez de Contreras. The present should include all the Seven "Partidas," but an unexpected death of Pedro de Luna interrupted the work with the manuscript. Having as his goal to fix the place of the ms.43-11 within the frame of the manuscript tradition of the "Second Partida" and of all the "Seven Partidas" as a whole, the author analyses the problem of the existence of these manuscripts and after the 1348 AD. This year the being at the Cortes at Alcala-de-Henares, proclaimed the Partidas as one of the official sources of law of his kingdom and ordered to "collect and concord" all the evidence of this text for prepare its official version. The author concludes that one of the primary results of this order became an appearance of the many manuscripts which contained the text of two or three (or even more) Partidas at once. Until 1348 the Partidas usually existed as separate books. The analysis of the transcription of "Second Partida" fixed in the ms. 43-11 and also of its marginal notes allows fixing one more consequence of the king Alphonse's order. Until 1348 the text of Partidas suffered multiple changes and variations. In particular, there were three (as a minimum) major versions of the "Second Partida", that the author marks as a "versio primitiva", "versio primitiva-1" and "versio elaborata". The main difference between them was a distinct arrangement of the laws in the third part of the text, known as a "treaty on the war". The decision of Alphonse XI fixed the "versio elaborata" as an official text due to its readiness. However, the analysis of the manuscript 43-11 shows that the realization of this royal decision was a long and arduous process: a copyist that had written this text took before his eyes some manuscript with the "versio primitiva" and wanted to make its copy. However, the major scribe, who controlled his work, compelled him to change the text into the "versio elaborata" as an established by a royal will and, therefore, an official.


This review aims to provide a literature survey on how the Natural Antioxidants. Continuous exposure of the skin to oxidative stresses leads to the formation of the reactive oxygen species with in body, skin and cell of the host organism. The accumulation of these reactive species can result in the damage to cellular DNA and cell membrane lipids and proteins. Damage to these organelles produces free radicals that start a vicious cycle that can lead to increase cell damage and senescence. To overcome this problem, our skin contains the cutaneous antioxidants, but it soon gets depleted on exposure to UV rays and also because of environmental stresses. The overload of these oxidative stresses will lead to chronic and degenerative diseases like cancer, autoimmune disorder, aging, cataract, rheumatoid arthritis, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. These antioxidants have to be replenished to overcome these oxidative stresses. Therefore the use of natural antioxidants is a promising strategy to with respect to oxidation of cells.


When image plane speckle intensity integrated over a finite aperture is submitted to a logarithmic transformation, the noise becomes additive and signal independent. The first- and second-order moments of the probability distribution are derived. It is found that the logarithm of speckle noise approaches a normal distribution much faster than speckle intensity. The properties of speckle noise are different from those of film-grain noise; for example, neither Nutting's law nor Selwyn's law is satisfied by speckle.


This is the first book to comprehensively address, step-by-step, the planning and designing of your first web-based training project. Drawing on their experience with global companies in implementing web-based training (WBT), the authors show you how to apply the proven framework of traditional instructional design to the unique demands of designing web-based training, with case studies from high-tech industries, and detailed discussion of the multicultural and multi-language issues that inevitably arise. This comprehensive primary text is essential reading for both training executives and managers and courseware designers and developers alike. Extensively referenced with 26 graphics, 12 tables, and a glossary, the work includes numerous real examples to illustrate how language and cultural issues are addressed in courses focusing on both soft and technical skills, approaches and considerations for a variety of training scenarios, and reference lists of resources and associations. To keep this valuable resource current, an associated web site provides templates, examples, and links to more information.


Introduction CORONARY is a large international randomised controlled trial comparing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery done with and without a bypass pump. Compared with on-pump, off-pump surgery may prevent acute kidney injury (AKI) in the short term and may better preserve kidney function 1 year following surgery. Secondary analyses may also clarify whether effects are similar in patients with and without pre-operative chronic kidney disease and whether AKI avoidance mediates preserved 1-year kidney function. Methods and analysis With respect to the study schedule, the last of 4752 patients from 79 sites in 19 countries were randomised in November 2011 to cardiac surgery performed with an on-pump or off-pump procedure. The authors will use regression models to compare the groups in the outcome of peri-operative AKI (per cent change in serum creatinine, ≥50% increase in serum creatinine) and 1-year kidney function (per cent change in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), ≥20% eGFR loss 1 year after surgery). The authors will use interaction terms in regression models to determine if there is a differential impact of the intervention in those with and without pre-existing chronic kidney disease. The authors will use regression-based tests to determine the proportion of the total effect of surgery type (off-pump vs on-pump CABG) on 1-year eGFR that is mediated by peri-operative AKI. Ethics and dissemination In the year 2009, the authors were competitively awarded a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to answer these kidney questions in CORONARY. Ethics approval was obtained for additional renal data collection in centres that agreed to study participation (>90% of participating centres). This collection began for patients enrolled after 1 January 2010. Remaining 1-year renal outcome data will be collected throughout 2012. Results will be reported in 2013. Clinical trial registration number NCT 00463294.


Persea americana (Lauraceae) have been used in traditional medicine for a wide range of illness and some of these uses have been proven scientifically. The aim of this present study is to screen for the phytochemical content, determine the proximate parameter and determine the antiproliferative and apoptotic effects of the stem bark of Persea americana in MCF-7 cell line by flow cytometer. Result of the phytochemical screening showed the presence of carbohydrate, reducing sugar, tannins, saponin and alkaloid. Proximate analysis gave moisture content of 13.82 ± 0.24 %, acid insoluble ash of 1.17 ± 0.15 %, alcohol soluble extract 2.13 ± 0.14 % and water soluble extractive 1.67 ± 0.07 %. It lacks both antiproliferative and apoptotic activities in MCF-7 cell line but significantly reduced the percentage of cells in G2 phase of the cell cycle (P < 0.1). These results showed that the stem barks of Persea american a contained compounds that may be responsible for it activity. Keyword : Persea americana, antiproliferative activity, apoptotic effect, flow cytometer, proximate analysis


This article reports the evaluation of a 6-week programme of teaching designed to support the development of phoneme blending skills in children with Down syndrome (DS). Teaching assistants (TAs) were trained to deliver the intervention to individual children in daily 10 –15-minute sessions, within a broader context of reading and language instruction. Ten children with Down syndrome (aged 6 years 11 months to 10 years 6 months) took part in the study; assessments of reading and phonological skills were completed at baseline, after an 8-week control period, and after 6-weeks of intervention. Children made significantly greater gains in phoneme blending skills and single word reading during the intervention period than in the control period. Thus, children with Down syndrome can make gains in blending skills, which may generalize to wider literacy skills, following targeted training over relatively short periods.


The widely used RFID systems are vulnerable to the denial-of-service (DoS) attacks launched by malicious blocker tags. This paper studies how to quickly and completely identify the valid RFID tags that are blocked. The existing work that can seemingly address this problem suffers from either low time-efficiency or serious false positives. This paper proposes a hybrid approach that consists of two complementary component protocols, namely Aloha Filtering (AF) and Poll&Listen (PL). AF is fast but inaccurate, while PL is accurate but slow. Taking the merit of each protocol, our hybrid approach is to first repeat the fast AF for multiple rounds to quickly filter out the target tags that are definitely not blocked. Then, on the size-reduced remaining set that just contains a small number of suspicious tags, we invoke the accurate PL to verify the intactness of each suspicious tag with 100 percent confidence. We optimize the round count of AF that trades off between the time costs of AF  and PL to minimize the total time of AF+PL. As required in the optimization process, we need to know the size of the blocked tag set and that of the unknown tag set, which, however, are not known in advance. To estimate these two set sizes, we propose a supplementary protocol called  Simultaneous Estimation of the Blocked tag size and the Unknown tag size (SEBU). The key advantages of our approach over the prior art are four-fold. First, unlike the detection protocol that just discovers the existence of blocking attacks, our approach exactly identifies all the blocked target tags. Second, our approach is compliant with the C1G2 standard, and does not require any modifications to be made to the commercial RFID tags. It only needs to be installed on readers as a software module. Third, our approach does not involve any false positives. Finally, our approach significantly reduces the execution time when compared with the state-of-the-art schemes that can completely identify the blocked tags.


The broad aims of the present evaluation were, firstly, to describe the information and support needs of callers to a Cancer Helpline and, secondly, to describe the response of the service to these needs. A further aim was to use these results to develop strategies to improve the service. Anonymous caller information collected over a 6-year period was analysed. The setting of the study was the Cancer Helpline service operated by the Cancer Council Victoria within the state of Victoria, Australia. The caller profile was similar to that described in the literature, with the majority of callers being women, younger than the general cancer population and enquiring most commonly about breast cancer. Patients and their relatives called to obtain information about cancer diagnosis, treatment and management and to obtain psychological and emotional support. Callers received emotional support, were supplied with verbal and written information and were referred to a variety of support services. Some population groups are underrepresented in the data. Changes to the Helpline and other services over the 6-year period are described. The pattern of callers to the Cancer Helpline appears similar to that described in the USA and Europe. Many issues and challenges are common. The paper discusses additional strategies for meeting the information and support needs of those affected by cancer and describes current and suggested research areas.


A search is performed for heavy neutrinos in the decay of a W boson into two muons and a jet. The data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of approximately 3.0fb-1 of proton–proton collision data at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8TeV collected with the LHCb experiment. Both same-sign and opposite-sign muons in the final state are considered. Data are found to be consistent with the expected background. Upper limits on the coupling of a heavy neutrino with the Standard Model neutrino are set at 95 % confidence level in the heavy-neutrino mass range from 5 to 50GeV/c2. These are of the order of 10 - 3 for lepton-number-conserving decays and of the order of 10 - 4 for lepton-number-violating heavy-neutrino decays.


The development rate of the salmon louse Lepeophtheirus salmonis is greatly influenced by seawater temperature. This study describes how the growth rate of L. salmonis changes with temperature and identifies the extreme high and low temperatures at which development to the adult stage is compromised. Atlantic salmon Salmo salar were infected with copepodids and development was monitored in 8 temperature groups spanning 3 to 24°C until the lice were adults. Development was severely compromised at 3 and 24°C, while the lice developed normally in the temperature range from 6 to 21°C. At 6°C, most female lice had become adults at 72 d post infection (432 degree-days). At 21°C, development was significantly faster and most females were adults after 13 d, at only 271 degree-days. After infection, lice grew through 5 stages before reaching the adult stage, all of which, with a few exceptions, appeared to last approximately equally long. Thus, a simple model describing the mean daily growth rate (stages per day) as a function of temperature was made for each sex. The relationship between mean daily growth rate and temperature was best described by a second-order polynomial. The term relative age is introduced and used to describe the pattern of development in terms of percent of total development time to the adult stage. This was applied to calculate the timing of developmental events as a function of temperature. Photoperiod and development under rising or decreasing temperatures had minor effects on development rate.


Network survivability is a very important issue due to the sustainability of the network services.  Failure in a network system conduce to disturbance of the network services and causes trouble to millions of applications.  Implement an effective redundancy design is one of method to cope nuisance in terms of sustainability in a network. In this paper, there are two design networks with and without redundancy respectively by Metro Ethernet-based technique to support transmission of data and voice. Furthermore, there is a validation performance of networks by measuring and comparing the throughput, latency and jitter between the two network designs. The value of bandwidth capacity is 100 Mbps as plan bandwidth link. Measurements results denote that network with redundancy design is able to enhance performance of the network, the parameters are: the throughput on single link tends to moderate (25%-50%), on the other hand, the throughput values on the main link and back uplink are in accordance with very good condition (75%-100%). The values of frame loss ratio 69.979% - 56.679% (single link), 6.77% -9.999% (main link) and 6.676 %-9.999% (back uplink). The values of jitter and latency in network with redundancy design are much better than in single link network. The recovery time for each frame length is ranging from 48.999ms to 49.887ms, where it is still meet with the standard that must below 50ms. Finally, when the main link in the network topology with redundancy design undergo link fails condition, the backup link is able to maintain the quality of network throughout that time, on the contrary, network topology without redundancy design is unable.


We propose a risk-benefit model for studying jobseekers' behavioral intentions to apply for a job in the context of social networking sites (SNSs). Our model integrates classic technology adoption/utilization theories with salient factors such as privacy concerns that have increased in significance with the growing use of SNSs as a recruitment source. We hypothesize that jobseekers' outcome expectancy (degree of optimism with respect to finding a job) and perceived usefulness of SNSs are both impacted by the availability of information about social connections to potential employers and by perceptions of justice in the job candidate selection process. Further, perceived usefulness of SNSs is influenced by outcome expectancy. This model also suggests that perceived risks (in terms of uncertainty and possible adverse consequences) are affected by online information privacy concerns. Finally, outcome expectancy, perceived usefulness of SNSs and perceived risks directly predict intentions to use SNSs to apply for a job.


A dramatic rise in the nonmedical of pharmaceutical opioids has presented the United States with a substantial public health problem. Nonmedical use of prescription pain relievers has become increasingly prevalent in the US over the last two decades, and diversion of medicines obtained by prescription is assumed to be a major source of supply for nonmedical opioid use. Policymakers striving to protect population health by ameliorating the adverse outcomes of nonmedical use of opioid analgesics could benefit from a systems-level model which reflects the complexity of the system and incorporates the full range of available data. To address this need, the current project describes the conceptualization and development of a System Dynamics model that is used to complement and leverage results from existing research. Additional testing is needed to authenticate preliminary intervention simulation results, which suggest that a reduction in the initiation of nonmedical use may have a more profound impact on the total number of opioid overdose deaths than more tamper-resistant formulations, decreases in opioid prescribing, or decreases in rates of abuse among medical users. Results indicate that System Dynamics can help to identify points of high leverage for policy interventions as well as bring attention to the unanticipated negative consequences of these interventions.


We consider two approximation schemes of the one-dimensional supercooled Stefan problem and prove their convergence, even in the presence of finite time blow-ups. All proofs are based on a probabilistic reformulation recently considered in the literature. The first scheme is a version of the time-stepping scheme studied in V. Kaushansky, C. Reisinger, M. Shkolnikov, and Z. Q. Song, arXiv:2010.05281, 2020 , but here the flux over the free boundary and its velocity are coupled implicitly. Moreover, we extend the analysis to more general driving processes than Brownian motion. The second scheme is a Donsker-type approximation, also interpretable as an implicit finite difference scheme, for which global convergence is shown under minor technical conditions. With stronger assumptions, which apply in cases without blow-ups, we obtain additionally a convergence rate arbitrarily close to 1/2. Our numerical results suggest that this rate also holds for less regular solutions, in contrast to explicit schemes, and allow a sharper resolution of the discontinuous free boundary in the blow-up regime.


An explosion is a reaction-physical, chemical or nuclear in nature-resulting in a rapid release of energy in the form of light, heat, sound, and a shock wave. Accidental explosions during the manufacture of fire crackers and safety matches are reported regularly in Sivakasi, India. Sivakasi is well known as "Mini Japan" (or "Kutty Japan"), and is situated in the Virudhunagar District of Tamil Nadu State in India. Industries situated in and around Sivakasi satisfy about 90% of the global demand for fireworks products (for both civilian festival occasions and military needs for signaling).


A patient on hemodialysis for end‐stage renal disease secondary to diabetic nephropathy was admitted in a coma with Kussmaul breathing and hypertension (232/124 mmHg). She had extreme hyperglycemia (1884 mg/dL), acidosis (total CO2 4 mmol/L), hyperkalemia (7.2 mmol/L) with electrocardiographic abnormalities, and hypertonicity (330.7 mOsm/kg). Initial treatment with insulin drip resulted in a decrease in serum potassium to 5.3 mmol/L, but no significant change in mental status or other laboratory parameters. Hemodialysis of 1.75 hours resulted in rapid decline in serum glucose and tonicity and rapid improvement of the acidosis, but no change in mental status, which began to improve slowly after the hemodialysis was stopped, but with ongoing treatment with continuous insulin infusion. The rate of decline in tonicity during hemodialysis (14.5 mOsm/kg/h) was high, raising concerns about neurological complications. In this case, extreme hyperglycemia with ketoacidosis, hyperkalemia, and coma developing in a hemodialysis patient responded to insulin infusion. Monitoring of the clinical status and the pertinent laboratory values is required to assess the need for other therapeutic measures including volume and potassium replacement and emergency dialysis. The indications for and risks of emergency dialysis in this setting are not clearly defined.


By way of "figuration," "implicatedness," and other interdisciplinary concepts, this essay contextualizes and critiques Lincoln Clarkes's acclaimed book of photographs of unnamed women pictured as heroin addicts on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, where many women are missing and murdered. ********** Having one's photograph taken and displayed will not cure a heroin addiction; it does, however, encourage people to remember that addicts are not nameless outcasts, and that we all have a responsibility to recognize their struggle.--Barbara Hodgson, "Foreword," Heroines: Photographs Printed on the cover of Heroines: Photographs by Lincoln Clarkes is a photograph of a blonde figure leaning in the doorway of a seedy cafe (Illus. 1). Her arms are open, her gaze is upon us, the door is open. Captions come to mind: "Welcome to my world," "Take me I'm yours," "She's asking for it," "Women who can't be raped," "Prostitute," "Drug Addict." Readers opening the book, passing through her open door, enter the world which Clarkes makes through his photographs of women he pictures as "heroines": women heroin addicts who live on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. How does she look to you? In this photograph, and in the other unseen photos referred to in this essay, what culturally meaningful signs is Lincoln Clarkes mobilizing? (Signs: seedy cafe; inviting woman; cardigan pushed off bare shoulders; black bra straps; lace halter top; tie dangling between thighs; bare belly; thin; stoned.) Is it meant to look like she is selling sex to get money for drugs she is addicted to; as if she is implicating herself? She is represented corroborating--sexualized, objectified, com-modified, a spectacle. ("The spectacle is not a collection of images, but a social relation among people, mediated by images" [Debord n.p.; emph. mine].) Is she meant to look like she is in "survival sex trade work," which means that for her, then, a pimp, a drug habit, or extreme poverty leaves her with no other option (Gardner)? Still, in a shutter's moment, she's set in perpetuity. Fixed. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In her Foreword, quoted above, Barbara Hodgson encourages people to remember that "addicts are not nameless outcasts" (xiv). Looking through Heroines for the photographed woman's name, I find a "List of Photographs" ordered by page number or photograph number, by date and location. She is "Cover: July 3, 2001|King's Cafe, 350 Powell Street." None of the book's authors explains why the women photographed are nameless in Heroines. If they requested anonymity, if this is for their protection, why not say so? Why not use assumed names? Of the 112 photographs in Heroines, only three women are named in the essays: Leah, who Clarkes says died of a drug overdose (x); Sheila Egan ("missing") (Allen 125); and Patricia Johnson ("missing and presumed dead," Dietrich-Campbell 111). Robert "Willy" Pickton has since been charged with the murders of Patricia Johnson and fifteen other women. "Five of the women whose remains would ultimately be found on the farm" are pictured in Heroines, states Seattle writer Charles Mudede in a tell-all feature article titled "Death Farm: The Geography of Pig Farmer Robert Pickton, the Man Suspected of Having Killed Over 60 Vancouver, BC, Sex Workers." Searching for more names of women Clarkes has pictured as "heroines," I begin to notice that the women's words are absent too, that there are no statements by the women Lincoln Clarkes has photographed. Women missing names, missing words, missing women on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. The thing she got most from me, next to money and a few tears, was time. And I enjoyed every minute of it.--Clarkes, x In his introductory remarks, titled "Leah," Lincoln Clarkes uses this "film noir" tone to tell us his version of Leah's story. This is how he represents his relation to her: a femme fatale. …


This paper presents an interpolation method based on adaptive directional lifting wavelet construction. This approach can not only adaptively choose the best direction as lifting direction instead of horizontal and vertical direction, but also use the Lagrange's interpolation to predict pixels according to the local characteristics between pixels. Experimental result shows that the proposed method has advantages over the traditional lifting wavelet.


A series of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have been conducted to investigate the heat transport in terms of the phonon dynamics in nanoscale silicon (Si). This work is motivated by a concern over the stagnation of heat at the drain region of nanoscopic transistors, owing to this, a large amount of optical phonons with a low group velocity are emitted from hot electrons, which are ballistically transferred through channel region. The point of this work is the explicit inclusion of the SiO2 film in the MD simulation of the Si lattice. The calculation results show that longitudinal optical (LO) phonons decay faster as Si lattice thickness decreases and turn into acoustic phonons. In contrast, thermal diffusion rate decreases with Si lattice thickness. Both the decay rate of LO phonons and thermal diffusion rate are not governed by oxide thickness. These results imply that the phonon scattering at the SiO2/Si interface is enhanced by thinning the Si layer. In nanoscopic devices, a thin Si layer is effective in diminishing the optical phonons with a low group velocity, but it hinders the subsequent heat transport.


Abstract Problems in this research are politeness in English students class XI odd semester SMK Satu Nusa 2 Bandar Lampung academic year 2016-2017.  Modesty speech is assessed based on some maxim, maximal admission, acceptance, generosity, humility, consent, and the maxim of conclusions.  The purpose of research is to know the deviation of politeness in terms and views of the deviation factor. The research used descriptive with a qualitative approach. The subjects of this study were students of class XI who used 219 and only took 35 students as core subjects taken with proportionate stratified random sampling.  The research data were collected by interviewing assignments and analyzed by qualitative analysis.  The results showed there are deviations of politeness in students. Students are judged to be less wise speech so that develops the resource person.  The deviation factor is being less able to formulate interview questions, narrow student vocabulary, and weak student interviewing abilities. Keywords: Modesty, language, interview


The ability to combine exploration and exploitation activities is a critical factor for organizational sustainability and survival. For the large number of companies, achieving ambidexterity is a desired, but a highly challenging process. Many of them fail to compete for both agendas simultaneously. The reason is the inability to implement a fractal ambidexterity, which is able to replicate exploration and exploitation simultaneously at multiple levels of a company. We argue that ambidexterity is fractal and dynamic phenomenon. By crossing levels of analysis, our research shows that in ambidextrous organizations, exploration and exploitation can emerge in diverse structures and take different forms. Both activities able to appear at diverse levels and change the degree of their intensity. To be sustainably innovative, an ambidextrous company needs to define and to achieve the appropriate proportion of exploration and exploitation simultaneously at different organizational levels.


In the present study, we explore the central nervous system mechanism underlying the chronic central effects of ghrelin with respect to increasing body weight and body fat. Specifically, using a recently developed ghrelin receptor antagonist, GHS‐R1A (JMV2959), we investigate the role of GHS‐R1A in mediating the effects of ghrelin on energy balance and on hypothalamic gene expression. As expected, in adult male rats, chronic central treatment with ghrelin for 14 days, when compared to vehicle‐treated control rats, resulted in an increased body weight, lean mass and fat mass (assessed by dual X‐ray absorptiometry), dissected white fat pad weight, cumulative food intake, food efficiency, respiratory exchange ratio and a decrease of energy expenditure. Co‐administration of the ghrelin receptor antagonist JMV2959 suppressed/blocked the majority of these effects, with the notable exception of ghrelin‐induced food intake and food efficiency. The hypothesis emerging from these data, namely that GHS‐R1A mediates the chronic effects of ghrelin on fat accumulation, at least partly independent of food intake, is discussed in light of the accompanying data regarding the hypothalamic genes coding for peptides and receptors involved in energy balance regulation, which were found to have altered expression in these studies.


Stall followed by surge in a high-speed compressor can lead to violent disruption of the flow, damage to the blade structures and eventually engine shutdown. Knowledge of unsteady blade loading during surge is crucial for compressor design such as axial gap optimization. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the feasibility of using three-dimensional full assembly unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (URANS) CFD for modeling surge cycles of an eight-stage high-speed compressor rig. Results from this work show stalling of the mid-stages is the surge trigger. During the flow reversal, a strong acoustic reflection occurs when the convected entropy perturbations reach the intake opening, which increase the blade loading significantly. During recovery, a hysteresis loop was recorded due to hot air re-ingestion, which led to a strong shear at mid-span of the inlet guide vane (IGV)/R1 domain and the formation of rotating helical flow structures. The final phase of recovery was accompanied by a four-cell multi-row tip rotating stall, which was cleared as the compressor recovered to the forward flow characteristic. It was also shown that the single passage model, despite its limitations and shortcomings in modeling recovery, can predict reasonably accurate transient flow features during surge and thus provide considerable insight to the flow behavior, which can be used to obtain a first approximation of casing and blade loading.


Introduction: Turner syndrome patients can present lipid profile alterations, which associated with obesity, frequent in these patients, causes increased cardiovascular risk, lowering their life expectancy. This research evaluates lipid profiles of patients with Turner syndrome between 2000 and 2009 and these are associated to the karyotype and other risk factors for coronary disease. Objective: To describe the lipid profile and other cardiovascular risk factors in a group of girls with Turner syndrome. Methods: This is a descriptive study, which evaluated the clinical records of 21 girls with Turner syndrome. We sought metabolic risk factors for coronary disease such as lipid profile, weight, body mass index, and blood pressure. Results: Age at time of diagnostics ranged between 8 months to 17 years, four patients were below 10 years of age and 17 patients were over 11 years of age. The karyotype revealed: 57.3% with 45x monosomy, 33% with 46xx-45x mosaicism, and 9.5% with 46x-qx mosaicism. None of the patients was obese; the total cholesterol levels ranged from 116 mg/dl to 225 mg/dl with a mean of 168.7. When these patients were grouped by age, we found that 25% of those younger than 10 years of age had high levels of cholesterol vs. 58.8% for those over 10 years of age. Regarding the karyotype of the six patients with 46xx-45x karyotype, five (71.4%) presented hypercholesterolemia; 95.2% of the patients were normotensive. Discussion: This research revealed Turner syndrome patients present lipid profile alterations at early ages. Conclusion: It is important to include in the follow up protocol in these patients the lipid profile control and, thus, be able to conduct early interventions to improve their quality of life.


Representing the semantics of words is a long-standing problem for the natural language processing community. Most methods compute word semantics given their textual context in large corpora. More recently, researchers attempted to integrate perceptual and visual features. Most of these works consider the visual appearance of objects to enhance word representations but they ignore the visual environment and context in which objects appear. We propose to unify text-based techniques with vision-based techniques by simultaneously leveraging textual and visual context to learn multimodal word embeddings. We explore various choices for what can serve as a visual context and present an end-to-end method to integrate visual context elements in a multimodal skip-gram model. We provide experiments and extensive analysis of the obtained results.


In the fields of science, engineering and commercial computer, there are many problems that we cannot use existing super computer to solve. For this reason, a novel genetic algorithm is proposed to the grid resource assignment problem. The improved genetic algorithm extracts the heuristic feedback from these obtained solutions, and applies the heuristic feedback to guide the subsequent optimization process. Experimental results suggest that this approach is efficient to the resource optimization problem


Induced earthquakes due to gas production have taken place in the province of Groningen in the northeast of The Netherlands since 1986. In the first years of seismicity, a sparse seismological network with large station distances from the seismogenic area in Groningen was used. The location of induced earthquakes was limited by the few and wide spread stations. Recently, the station network has been extended significantly and the location of induced earthquakes in Groningen has become routine work. Except for the depth estimation of the events. In the hypocentre method used for source location by the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), the depth of the induced earthquakes is by default set to 3 km which is the average depth of the gas-reservoir. Alternatively, a differential traveltime for P-waves approach for source location is applied on recorded data from the extended network. The epicentre and depth of 87 induced earthquakes from 2014 to July 2016 have been estimated. The newly estimated epicentres are close to the induced earthquake locations from the current method applied by the KNMI. It is observed that most induced earthquakes take place at reservoir level. Several events in the same magnitude order are found near a brittle anhydrite layer in the overburden of mainly rock salt evaporites.


Background: Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a rare event, with high numbers of patients unnecessarily immobilised with no potential benefit based on limited evidence from the 1950s and 1960s. Contemporary opinion now challenges the notion that traditional immobilisation prevents movement and protects the spine. Current literature suggests that these methods which include semi-rigid collars can potentially cause more movement of the spine and harm the patient. The purpose of this study was to explore the views and perspectives of pre-hospital care providers on immobilising patients without the use of a semi-rigid collar. Methods: Focus groups were used to allow individuals to discuss and comment on a new method of immobilisation which omits the semi-rigid collar and to capture the thoughts, feelings and experiences of participants. Thematic analysis of the coded transcriptions was used to identify emerging themes. Results: Three focus groups were conducted with 15 participants in each. Participants were all exposed to patients sustaining trauma within their professional roles. Six intertwined themes emerged from the analysis: communication, conflict, education/training, empowerment, risk and the patient. Woven between these themes are the complex interactions that bring together the inter-professional relationships with other emergency services and hospital staff, the patient, the public and pre-hospital care providers. Discussion: Existing immobilisation practices are being challenged, with clinicians empowered to tailor practice to meet specific patient needs. There is limited empirical evidence to support current immobilisation practices. Contemporary literature suggests current practices may potentially cause harm. New pragmatic immobilisation practices are gradually being adopted by some pre-hospital care providers. Conclusion: This study explored the perspectives of pre-hospital care providers on immobilising patients without the use of a semi-rigid collar for potential SCI. The consensus of the participants supports a pragmatic approach to managing potential SCI that provides safe, high-quality patient-centred care.


The concept of education in Western culture is grounded in the ideas of emancipation and freedom, on the one hand, and on the idea of self-improvement, on the other hand. Te will to go beyond, to overcome ourselves and "to get more" has more than a "pacifc meaning," so to speak. To "overcome ourselves" can easily drift into the will to go beyond and to overcome others by abusing and denying them. Contemporary with this awareness we attend to a deep crisis of the Enlightenment's education project, which demonstrates its cultural belonging and internal contradictions. Tus, as educationalists, we are called to work within a problematic notion of truth. On one hand, to educate entails a strong concept of truth, choosing a way to act, and bearing the responsibility for our choice. On the other hand, we work with a weak concept of truth: truth is conceived as openness, as sense and meaning, as an indescribable work towards changing. Te aim of this contribution is to provide some groundwork to argue how these paradoxes can be used as a picklock to open and look inside our ideas about education and democracy, considering others from a diferent perspective. In recognising that our grounding is only one possibility that we have chosen, we can enhance a real dialogue among human beings by attempting to overcome the inner violence of our culture and fostering a cosmopolitan engagement grounded in diferences.


Achieving a satisfactory anterior esthetic outcome is a considerable challenge for most dentists. Multiple interdisciplinary approaches are necessary to resolve esthetic defects, especially in cases of improper tooth alignment and excessive space between anterior teeth. This case report describes an interdisciplinary approach used for a 66-year-old male with diastema and peg-shaped lateral incisors. The interdisciplinary treatments included orthodontic and prosthodotic treatments. All ceramic crowns and porcelain laminate veneers were successfully applied to correct esthetic problems and achieve impr oved esthetic and functional out comes.