In the first stage of viral replication, Covid-19 may cause a remarkable inflammatory response in patients. Molnupiravir is an oral antiviral medicine which functions through inhibiting the viral replication of RNA viruses including Corona virus (SARS-CoV-2). The present study intends to help the policymakers decide on using of this medication in Iran.
This study is conducted on Jan. 22, 2022 (from Jan. 2014 -the year of molnupiravir production for treatment of RNA virus diseases), using a rapid review of evidence as well as reviewing reliable databases including the Cochrane library, PubMed and Google scholar. The inclusion criteria were the randomized controlled trials that investigated the safety and efficacy of Molnupiravir at different doses in patients with Covid-19, comparing with placebo or other routine care methods (Population: Covid-19 patients, Intervention: molnupiravir, Control: placebo or other routine care methods, Outcome: Safety, Efficacy and Economic status, Study design: the randomized controlled trials or HTA reports). Prescription for oral administration in 800 mg dose twice daily for 5 days to inpatients and outpatients with mild, moderate or severe symptoms in the early stages of the disease (viral phase) had the most desirable level of efficacy. This medicine has no serious side effects; since the mutations caused by this medication have not been clarified yet, it is not recommended during pregnancy and/or for women planning to become pregnant. According to the manufacturing company, in the United States, each drug package is priced at $712 for a 5-day treatment period. Molnupiravir can be used in outpatients and inpatients (Over 18 years old) with moderate or severe symptoms in the early stages of the disease. But it is not recommended during pregnancy and/or for women planning to become pregnant.


Increasing pressure to reduce pollutant emissions such as NOx and CO, while simultaneously increasing the efficiency of gas turbines, has led to the development of modern gas turbine combustors operating at lean equivalence ratios and high compression ratios. These modern combustors use a large portion of the compressor air in the combustion process and hence efficient use of cooling air is critical. Backside impingement cooling is one alternative for advanced cooling in gas turbine combustors. The dome of the combustor is a primary example where backside impingement cooling is extensively used. The dome directly interacts with the flame and hence represents a limiting factor for combustor durability. The present paper studies two aspects of dome cooling: the impingement heat transfer on the dome heat shield of an annular combustor and the effect of the outflow from the spent air on the liner heat transfer. A transient measurement technique using Thermochromic Liquid Crystals (TLCs) was used to characterize the convective heat transfer coefficient on the backside of an industrial heat shield design provided by Solar Turbines, Inc. for Reynolds numbers (with respect to the hole diameter) of ∼ 1500 and ∼ 2500. Reynolds-Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) calculations using the k-ω SST turbulence model were found to be in good agreement with the experiment. A standard heat transfer correlation for impingement hole arrays overestimated the mean heat transfer coefficient compared to the experiment and computations, however this could be explained by low biases in the results.Steady state IR measurements were performed to study the effects that the spent air from the heat shield impingement cooling had on the liner convective heat transfer. Measurements were taken for three Reynolds numbers (with respect to the hydraulic diameter of the combustor annulus) including 50000, 90000, and 130000. A downstream shift in the flow features was observed due to the secondary flow introduced by the outflow, as well as a significant increase in the convective heat transfer close to the dome wall.Copyright © 2015 by ASME


ABSTRACT Embedded Markov chains may be used to describe rock sequences in which a lithology is not or cannot be observed following itself. Such chains lead to a transition matrix with zeros on the main diagonal. To test the hypothesis of randomness in an embedded Markov chain, we apply Goodman's (1968) model of quasi-independence and compare it to previously used methods (which we now believe are invalid) in the geological literature. Data in the literature show quite different results (depending on the original method) when reanalyzed in this way. We present tests for homogeneity, a spatial analogue to stationarity, of multiple embedded chains and for symmetry and Markov chain order. Matrices from vertical or laterally spaced sequences can be tested for homogeneity and conclusions drawn regar ing variations of processes over space. A normalized difference is proposed as an aid in interpreting the difference between observed transition frequencies and transition probabilities estimated with a model of independence or quasi-independence.


Justifications of community penalties and the role of the probation officer — remarks on the background of generic community penalty in Poland and England and WalesIn Poland in the last years the provisions regulating the content of both the penalty of liberty limitation and the manner of its implementation were significantly changed. In 2015 the penalty was converted into generic penalty. Generic community penalty also exists in other countries, including England and Wales. Unlike Poland, the introduction of the penalty to the English criminal justice system was preceded by multiannual and multidirectional changes in the areas of justifications for community penalties and the model of probation activities. In the last decades the changes resulted from the adaptation of community sanctions and measures to current trends in the criminal policy, such as managerism, punitivism and 'new resocialization'. At the same time, the traditional role of the probation officer connected with the offender support and help on the basis of mutual trust was remodeled.In England, generic community penalty is a coherent element of the criminal justice system. In Poland, the legislator did not provide courts with a broad scope of information about the accused person which would allow the purposeful choice of components of the generic penalty. As a result, in the Polish criminal justice system the generic community penalty seems to be based more on the intuition of judges than on bright and clear principles of its imposition.


In the 1969 Le Thor seminar, Heidegger stated that his philosophical journey could be characterized by three different themes: meaning, truth, place. The first two of these have been the subject of countless studies and discussions, but the question of place is still relatively unexplored in Heidegger's thought, despite the increased interest for this topic in his writings. Even though scholars like Jeff Malpas, Edward Casey, Stuart Elden and Miguel de Beistegui have written books and essays on the importance of the conception of place in Heidegger's thinking, there are still many important aspects of this theme to be discussed, given the importance Heidegger himself ascribed to this topic.In this essay, I therefore wish to pose the question of how one can understand the relation between place and the role of tragedy in Heidegger's conception of truth. My bearing thesis will be that these three concepts: place, truth and tragedy stand in a symbiotic relationship to each other and thus form the foundation of the Heideggerian thinking of place, or topological thinking.For this reason, the purpose of this paper is to present an interpretation of how the tragic is grasped in its relation to place. This I will do by turning to three texts from the period in Heidegger's thought which has come to be known as 'the turn', a period which usually is understood to have occurred in the 1930s and the early 1940s. The texts I have in mind are for one the aesthetic essayThe Origin of the Work of Art, and secondly the two interpretations of the first chorus from Antigone, found in Introduction to Metaphysics and Holderlin's Hymn 'The Ister'. The Origin of the Work of Art can thus be said to serve as a theoretical introduction or framework to Heidegger's conception of truth, whereas my analysis of the two interpretations from Antigone will look closer into how truth explicitly can be said to stand in a dependent relationship to place and tragedy. This becomes particularly relevant in the part of the interpretation where Heidegger puts emphasis on the word polis, a word he understands as the place or the There where truth resides. However, one cannot write on this topic without mentioning the political problems this gives rise to, considering the time and place and by whom the texts were written. Therefore I will have an ongoing discussion of this problematic aspect in the topological thinking of Heidegger, which I will intertwine in the text. This is not to say that my sole ambition is to point out the despicable in Heidegger's political engagement (which should be obvious), but rather to try to give a foundation for discussion on whether it's possible to find a way to think productively on the theme of place, truth and tragedy.


In this paper we apply molecular simulation techniques to analyse the dynamics and thermodynamics of nine solvents, i.e. water, 1-butanol, toluene, cyclohexanone, cyclohexane, acetonitrile, trichloromethane, methanol and ethyl acetate, at the interface with the morphologically relevant crystal faces {100}, {002}, {011} and {110} of ibuprofen. The insight obtained from this analysis is used to rationalise the impact of the solvent choice on the growth shape of crystals.


Apart from technology, the information age has up to now badly served its idol. It has failed sufficiently to recognize specific features of information. This is shown with respect to the question whether legal rights on information can take the form of ownership. The answer is negative considering that communication by its very nature is free and constitutes a basic value, and furthermore that law is itself information and cannot systematically dispose of information flows. Analyzing the phenomenon of information, the differences of its properties as compared with those of a physical object are illustrated and assessed as fundamental; ownership would therefore be for information a Procrustean bed leading to mere arbitrariness. Intellectual property, although granting exclusive rights concerning information is not by itself opposed to these findings. But the conflict arises, if its purpose of shaping competitive advantages is spoiled to the detriment of information flows by lack of neutrality in two senses: the lack of balance between the title holder's value generation and the reward, and of neutrality towards the various kinds of communicative relationships.


Post-shooting stress reactions were studied in a large police force to develop a psychological services policy and procedures in support of members of the force. Two empirical studies were conducted using a mail survey of a total of 66 members involved in shootings plus clinical interviews of a sample of these members. The results showed that members experienced most stress reactions within three days of the shooting. The average time for feeling that they were back to normal working, social, and family life was 20 weeks. There was strong support for various proposed psychological services and actions to support members involved in shootings. Recommendations were made concerning the conduct of psychological debriefings, counselling and brief therapy, the use of peer counsellors, services for affected police families, and stress training in the force.


This study investigates the existence of the day-of-the-week effect on stock returns in the stanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) for the period between 1988 and 1999. ISE that was established in 1986 is a rapidly growing emerging market for which there are only a few studies that have been conducted and reported. Since emerging markets are becoming good diversification alternatives for international investors, the analysis of stock return behaviour of ISE will be of interest to all investors, domestic and foreign. With this purpose, both ISE National 100 Composite Index, and 30 stocks of ISE for which trade volume is the highest are analysed. The analysis of ISE National 100 Composite index reveals strikingly low Tuesday and dominantly high Friday returns, with return variances at their lowest on Fridays. It is also observed that for most of the stocks among the 30 highly traded stocks of ISE, maximum return is on Fridays whereas minimum return is either on Mondays or Tuesdays with return variances at their highest on Mondays. Moreover for all individual ISE-30 stocks, the day with the maximum return is one of the days after the day with the minimum return.


Electrocatalytic N2 reduction reaction (eNRR) is a promising alternative to the traditional Haber-Bosch method for large-scale ammonia production because of its low pollution and low energy consumption. By means of density functional theory (DFT) calculations, a thermodynamically stable Pd-Nb heteronuclear diatom catalyst supported on 2D black phosphorus (PdNb@BP) is designed, which is predicted to exhibit excellent catalytic activity toward eNRR with an ultralow overpotential (0.20 V) and a small NH3 desorption free energy (0.17 eV), by combining the advantages of Nb atoms for N2 activation and of Pd atoms for NH3 desorption, and a high eNRR selectivity over the competing hydrogen evolution reaction. It is highlighted that the participation of one additional N2 molecule in the mechanism is important for the catalyst to realize the catalytic process.


In this study, Russell explores the ways in which Willa Cather and Toni Morrison subvert the textual expectations of gendered geography and push against the boundaries of the official canon. As Russell demonstrates, the unique depictions Cather and Morrison create of the American landscape challenge existing assertions about American fiction. Specifically, Russell argues that looking at the intimate connections between space, gender, race, and identity as they play out in the fiction of Cather and Morrison refutes the myth of a unified American landscape and thus opens up the territory of American fiction.


Materials with a core–shell structure have received considerable attention owing to their interesting properties for their application in supercapacitors, Li-ion batteries, hydrogen storage and other electrochemical energy storage systems. Due to their porosities mimicking natural systems, large surface area for reactions and high dispersion of active sites, carbon-based core–shell (CBCS) materials can provide fast interfacial transport at different length scales of pores, and reduce the diffusion effect or shorten diffusion paths, which can be efficiently harnessed in energy storage. This review systematically outlines the significant advances in the synthesis strategies and different structures of CBCS nanocomposites, including C/C core–shell nanostructures, C core or C shell combined with metal/metal oxides (including hollow core–shell nanostructures), and carbon material (CM) supported core–shell nanostructures. The corresponding properties and recent applications in electrochemical energy storage of the three classes of CBCS nanostructured composites were analyzed in detail. We focus on how to promote the design of novel structures with advanced properties and performance in energy storage. Finally, we propose a perspective and challenges for the development of these controllable CBCS structured materials.


The author describes attempts to introduce laws in the United States which would control illegal immigration. He focuses on reforms that the Bush administration tried to introduce, and failed, and on the criteria that successful reforms under the Obama administration would have to meet. He demonstrates the complexity of the political situation and, in so doing, shows why it is that effective reform is unlikely.


Pump–probe experiments are used as a controllable way to investigate the properties of photoexcited semiconductors, in particular, the absorption saturation. We present an experiment–theory comparison for ZnSe quantum wells, investigating the energy renormalization and bleaching of the excitonic resonances. Experiments were performed with spin-selective excitation and above-bandgap pumping. The model, based on the semiconductor Bloch equations in the screened Hartree–Fock approximation, takes various scattering processes into account phenomenologically. Comparing numerical results with available experimental data, we explain the experimental results and find that the electron spin-flip occurs on a time scale of 30 ps.


The forward dynamic approach is different from the inverse dynamic one, and could set up the relation between the angles and controls. The author tries to analyze the optimal rowing movement patterns between the catch and finish configurations in drive phase. The relation between the angles and controls is collected as a set of dynamic equilibrium equations. These equations utilize a finite element time discretization, and are solved simultaneously for the time T (Kaphle and Eriksson, 2008). Finally, the moving trajectory is obtained, and also the change of the angles and controls could be found.


Lecture recording, as a form of technology enhanced learning, has been purported to support equality in Higher Education. The introduction of lecture recording is often controversial, with some lecturers having concerns as to how recordings may change teaching and learning. A commonly reported motivation for incorporating lecture recordings is supporting the needs of widening participation students, students who are otherwise under-represented in higher education. In this study, we used focus groups to explore the experiences of widening participation students in higher education as they navigated their university programmes. We held four focus groups in three Scottish universities, and discussed and developed findings alongside a stakeholder group. We then applied a social capital lens to the data to explore whether recordings can be used to overcome a lack of social capital in widening participation students. Our participants identified areas where they lacked social 'credit', such as a lack of peer parity among colleagues and experiences which could be described as microaggressions. Students discussed reasons why the 'cost' of asking questions in class was too high, and how recordings support them by allowing them to save on this perceived cost. However students also recognised the tension of a lack of trust between lecturers and students, which could be exacerbated by recordings. We found good evidence to support a social capital view of 'trust as credit' in interactions between students and lecturers, and provide suggestions for how lecture recording can be used to support widening participation students in this area.


The origin of the thorium deposits on the West Coast of India is not well established though a number of studies on the various aspects of these deposits have been carried out for more than 50 years. The deposits are believed to be washed down from highlands through water streams. It is proposed that atom ratios of various radioactive and stable products in the uranium and thorium series as a function of time could be effectively used for the purpose. Accordingly, the various ratios have been calculated as a function of the age in the time range of 100-70,000 years. The stable products are included for the first time.Pb-208/Th-232 in Th-232 series, Pb-207/U-235, Pb-207/Pa-231, and in U-235 series and Pb-206/U-238, Pb-206/U-234, Pb-206/Th-230, and Pb206/Ra226 in U-238 series, are presented. The ratios show significant variations in the time range studied. The ratio Pb-206/Pb-207 from the two uranium series is of interest and is examined. This ratio shows a variation of up to 100 times whereas, the natural isotopic ratio is around unity. It is suggested that an extensive measurement of these ratios and their correlation in samples from the hypothesized source in highlands, in river beds, and on the beach sand might give some idea of the transport path for these minerals. Further, it is suggested to measure the ratio of all the lead isotopes from the three series with Pb-204 which is purely of primordial in origin which would also be useful to indicate the contribution from radiogenic sources. In order to undertake such a project which, of course, involves many disciplines large efforts in sampling, in modeling of possible transport paths and strategies for analysis are required.


AIM: We reasoned that addition of musicotherapy -a simple and convenient method with no adverse effects- in the preoperative period would have favorable effects pertaining to postoperative pain.
METHODS: One hundred patients, between the ages of 20-40 years, who were undergoing elective caesarean delivery under general anaesthesia, were enrolled. The patients were randomly allocated into two groups (with 50 patients in each) and in group 1, patients listened to music through a headphone for one hour immediately before surgery whereas in group 2, patients did not listen to any music during the same period. The anaesthetic technique was standardized. All neonates were also assessed and Apgar scores were recorded. In the postanaesthesia care unit, patients were connected to i.v.-PCA device when they were able to respond to commands. The patient's level of satisfaction with perioperative care was assessed by a 10-cm visual analogue scale and the severity of postoperative pain was assessed with VAS.
RESULTS: Postoperative tramadol consumption, total amount of tramadol consumption, additional analgesic use and all VAS values were lower in group 1 (p


The Sortino Group of carbonates consists of three formations which developed on a shallow marine shelf during Tortonian and lower Messinian times. The two lower formations contain three bioherms and are intercalated with thick volcaniclastic sequences. The youngest formation is dominated by shoal water, lagoonal and peri-tidal carbonates. Early submarine lithification is well-developed within the bioherms and consists of construction by both algae and invertebrates, the development of peloidal micrites and isopachous fringe growth. Superimposed upon these are a series of both meteoric phreatic and vadose textures related to episodic emergence of the bioherms. These features include bladed cements showing cathodoluminescence, pendent cements, brecciation, alveolar texture and palaeosols. The Sicilian strata may be directly correlated with the Maltese Islands sequence, and collectively exhibit the effects of fluctuating Mediterranean sea levels at an early stage in the late Miocene salinity crisis.


When he died in 1955 Sir Arthur Tansley had fortunately acceded to a standing request from the Council of the Royal Society for biographical information and in 1953 had supplied them with a typescript of what he called 'factual biographical notes'. These were in fact a good deal better than 'notes', for they are carefully composed and constitute an excellent example of his own delightfully lucid and almost laconic style of writing. Since moreover that part of them which concerns his earliest school and university career is nearly unavailable from other directions, and contains his own characteristically objective comments upon the teachers and scientists of those days, it has seemed appropriate to derive this biography, up to the turn of the century and Tansley's migration to Cambridge in 1906, almost directly from his own notes. This is signified below by the quotation marks and the concluding bracketed initials (A.G.T.). 'Tansley was born on 15 August 1871, at 33 Regent Square, W.C., the only son of George Tansley and his wife, Amelia Lawrence. He had one sister, seven years older than himself. '[His father] was opposed to Arthur's engaging in business, and very anxious that he should go to one of the old universities, for which George had the deepest respect and admiration. Arthur showed scientific leanings, especially towards botany, which had been stimulated by a member of the Working Men's College—a wood turner by trade—who was an excellent and enthusiastic field botanist. From the age of 12 to 15 (1883-6) Arthur was at a preparatory school at Worthing where two successive masters were keen field naturalists, and their example fostered his attraction to field botany.


Abstract The question of what constitutes an authentic speaker, particularly with regard to African American Vernacular English (AAVE), has been the subject of some debate in sociolinguistics (Butters, 1984; Labov, 1980; Sweetland, 2002) and arises anew in the case of white hip-hop–affiliated youth (WHHs) who converge toward AAVE in their speech. This paper takes a quantitative approach to this question by examining how speech style alters the relationship between the frequencies of a variable in different linguistic environments. Guy (1991b) showed that the exponential relationship in English among rates of coronal stop deletion (CSD) in several morphological categories is systematically distorted by constraints on the surface-level phonology. Because stylistic variation appears to operate at this level, such distortion provides an internal measure of a speaker's stylistic shifting away from their neutral vernacular usage. Data on CSD deletion from WHHs who style shift toward AAVE show this kind of distortion when compared with the speech of AAVE speakers. This data provide strong internal evidence in support of the idea that some WHHs are "performing" a speech style that diverges from their unmarked style.


Background The aim of this study was to compare the pharmacokinetic profile, tolerability, and safety of a novel once-daily extended-release formulation of tacrolimus (LCPT) with that of once-daily prolonged-release tacrolimus (ODT) in stable adult lung transplant (LT) recipients. Methods Phase II, open-label, single-arm, single-center, prospective pilot pharmacokinetic study. Study population comprised 20 stable LT recipients receiving ODT, mean age 55.9 years (range, 38-67 years), 13 (65%) men. Patients were switched to LCPT in a 1:0.7 (mg/mg) conversion dose. Follow-up was 6 months, and cystic fibrosis patients were excluded. Two 24-hour pharmacokinetic profiles were obtained for each patient, the first on day −14 and the second on day +14 after switching to LCPT. Pharmacokinetic parameters and safety were compared. Results Mean (SD) area under the concentration-time curve from 0 to 24 hours was 253.97 (61.90) ng/mL per hour for ODT and 282.44 (68.2) ng/mL per hour for LCPT. Systemic exposure was similar in both (Schuirmann two 1-sided test). Mean (SD) dose was 5.05 (1.67) mg in ODT and 3.36 (1.03) mg in LCPT (P = 0.0002). Time to maximum concentration was 125 minutes for ODT and 325 minutes for LCPT (P < 0.001). Correlation between area under the concentration-time curve from 0 to 24 hours and C24 was 0.896 (r2) for ODT and 0.893 (r2) for LCPT. There were no differences in adverse effects. At 6 months, conversion dose was 1:0.59 (mg/mg) in patients with unchanged minimum plasma concentration target levels. Conclusions Switching from ODT to LCPT was safe and well tolerated in stable LT recipients without cystic fibrosis. A significantly lower dose of LCPT allows similar bioavailability. A conversion ratio 1:0.6 could be enough to maintain similar target levels.


One of the most northern representatives of the family Atyidae, an amphidromous shrimp Paratya borealis Volk, 1938 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Atyidae), is considered as a junior synonym of Paratya compressa (De Haan, 1844 [in De Haan, 1833-1850]) based on morphological and genetic investigations of the specimens collected in rivers flowing into Peter the Great Bay and Posyeta Bay along the Russian coasts of the Sea of Japan. The study greatly increases the area of distribution of P. compressa to north for more than 1000 km and suggests that the species probably inhabit rivers flowing into the Sea of Japan also along North and South Korean coasts.


The paper presents an example of regeneration of a common rail piezoelectric fuel injector, which was carried out with using used parts. The most important stages of maintenance activities are listed, as well as the types of diagnostic tests performed on separate test benches. The obtained results indicate that this process can be effectively carried out with existing technological problems and lack of support from the manufacturer. At the same time, it was shown that, contrary to popular belief, cannibalisation does not have to be limited only to minor elements, but also to key components important from the point of view of the satisfactory technical condition and correct working of the fuel injector during further operation.


The thermal anemometry is a method which allows to estimate wind magnitude be the mean of measuring heat transfer to the ambient in a forced convection process. For Earth's atmosphere condition, this method is typically applied to the hot wires made of temperature dependent electrical conductor, typically platinum or tungsten, which working with overheat in reference to the ambient temperature estimate wind velocity. In case of the low pressure atmospheres, like this on Mars, the mean free path for molecules, due to the rarefied ambient conditions, is much bigger, Using hot wires designed for Earth in this conditions gives that heat exchange at macroscopic scale which does not to obey medium continuum model but rather reveals ballistic behavior Thus, instead of using hot wire, a structure of bigger dimension like hot films are usually propose for such a kind of application. The work included in this thesis is the contribution of the author Lukasz Kowalski to the goal of developing a new generation of wind sensors for the atmosphere of Mars. The work consists in the conception, design, simulation, manufacture and measurement of two novel types wind sensors based on thermal anemometers.
The first kind of concept has been developed in this thesis by using hot silicon die made out of silicon wafer of approximate size: 1.5 x 1.5 x 0.5 mm with platinum resistances deposited on top in order to heat it and sense its temperature. These work was been a part of the bigger undertaking under the project name: "Colaboracíoon en el desarrollo de la estación medioambiental denominada REMS ". Inside the project REMS author of thesis was responsible for sensor shape development and concept validation of proposed geometry. Thermal-fluidical model of the device as well as characterization and behavior were analyzed for a simplified 2-D wind model for typical Martian atmospheric conditions. REMS was a Spanish contribution to the NASA mission MSL which has been a great success since rover Curiosity has landed on Mars on 8th August 2012 on Mars near to the Gale Crater location. Since then has been constantly running experiments on the Red Planet sending data to Earth for interpretation.
From the experience and knowledge gained during REMS project, the author came out with an idea of the novel spherical sensor structure overcoming some fragility problems detected in the REMS wind sensor. The new 3-D wind sensor concept, besides this advantage, also provided a radical simplification of data post-processing providing comprehensive thermal model based on numerical simulation for any possible wind occurrence. This new device has been developed under Spanish Ministry of the Science and Innovation project: "Sensor de viento para la superficie de Marte para la mission Metnet''. This project, denominated as MEIGA, was a joint effort of many Spanish institution under leadership of Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aeroespacial (INTA) for the development of space technology for Mars oriented application in a framework of upcoming space mission.
To sum up, author's work include contributions to the development of two wind sensor concepts:
1. REMS wind sensor on board of the rover Curiosity in the surface of Mars since August 8th 2012
2. Spherical wind sensor concept developed in a course of MEIGA project


OBJECTIVE
This study is to evaluate the soft tissue change of Angle's Class II division 1 malocclusion patients with vertical growth pattern after tooth extraction orthodontic treatment, and to provide experimental results to help to make orthodontic treatment plan and treatments.

METHODS
38 Angle's Class II division 1 malocclusion patients with vertical growth pattern and with tooth extraction orthodontic treatment were included in this study. The pre- and post-treatment cephalometric X-rays were made and 26 measurement items were measured. The change value of pre- and post-treatment, youngsters and adults were compared.

RESULTS
TUL-EP, TLL-EP, upper and lower lip position, Stoms-Stomi, U1-Ptm were reduced after treatment. Upper lip sulcus and flange thickness, upper and lower lip length, upper and lower lip inclination angle, nasolabial angle, Z angle, mentolabial sulcus inclination angle were enlarged after treatment. The upper lip sulcus thickness, lower lip length and A'-Ptm of adolescent were enlarged, but adult were on the contrary. The change of upper lip length, mentolabial sulcus inclination angle and U1-Ptm between adolescent and adult was statistically different.

CONCLUSION
The best treatment period of patients with Angle's Class II division 1 malocculsion with vertical growth pattern was in the rapid growth and development period of adolescent.


PurposeFinancial management is defined as the overall arrangement for planning, directing, monitoring, organizing, and controlling of the economic resources of an organization, with a view to efficient accomplishment of the enterprise objectives. It is well recognized that financial management practice has a key reason for the success of those enterprises and it is the main issue for any business type. However, the status of effective financial management practice in developing countries especially in Ethiopia is at its infant stage. Thus, the main objective of the study is to investigate the determinants of financial management practice of micro and small enterprises in East Gojjam Zone. MethodThe type of research applied in this study is explanatory/causal/ in nature. Questionnaires were used to collect primary data. The combination of purposive stratified and systematic sampling techniques were applied to select respondents. A multiple linear regression model was used to test the casual relationship between the study variables.FindingsThe findings indicated that financial management knowledge, financial management attitude, size of enterprise, locus of control, and use of information technology have positive and significant effect on financial management practice. However, gender, owner's age, and enterprise age have no statistically significant effect on financial management practice of micro and small enterprises.SuggestionThe study suggested that financial management experts should provide financial management training for micro and small enterprise owners/managers.


It is demonstrated that glucose fluctuations, such as postprandial hyperglycemia, and hypoglycemia due to diabetes treatment could be implicated in the development of diabetic complications. There is evidence for the involvement of oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of diabetic neuropathy. It has been elucidated that hyperglycemia induced oxidative stress and caused peripheral nerve dysfunction. However, the effects of hypoglycemia and blood glucose fluctuation on diabetic neuropathy remain unclear. In the present study, we investigated the mechanisms of recurrent short-term hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia on apoptosis and oxidative stress in Schwann cells, and we also examined the involvement of polyol pathway and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress pathway in these abnormalities. Immortalized adult mouse Schwann cells were exposed to five different glucose treatments over 3 days: 1) normal glucose (NG), 2) constant low glucose (LG), 3) constant high glucose (HG), 4) intermittent low glucose (ILG; 1 h three times per day), 5) intermittent high glucose (IHG; 1 h three times per day). Cell viability was reduced not only HG, but also LG. Furthermore, either IHG or ILG also decreased cell viabilities. TBARS levels were increased by HG, LG, IHG, and ILG. High glucose (HG and IHG) and low glucose (LG and ILG) increased the expression of cleaved caspase-3 and reduced that of Bcl-2. Epalrestat, an aldose reductase inhibitor, as well as 4-PBA, an ER stress inhibitor, recovered cell death and oxidative stress which were induced by LG, HG, ILG and IHG. These results suggest that intermittent hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia enhanced apoptosis and oxidative stress through both polyol pathway and ER stress pathway in Schwann cells, and that not only hyperglycemia, but also hypoglycemia and glucose fluctuations might cause nerve dysfunction in diabetes, resulting in the onset and progression of diabetic neuropathy. Disclosure A. Kato: None. Y. Tatsumi: None. H. Yako: None. T. Himeno: None. M. Kondo: None. Y. Kato: Speaker9s Bureau; Self; Merck & Co., Inc. H. Kamiya: Speaker9s Bureau; Self; Astellas Pharma Inc., Eli Lilly Japan K.K., MSD K.K., Novartis Pharma K.K., Novo Nordisk Oharma Ltd., Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Sanofi K.K. K. Sango: None. J. Nakamura: Research Support; Self; Astellas Pharma Inc., Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited, Eli Lilly and Company, Japan Tobacco Inc., Kissei Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Novo Nordisk Inc., Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Sanofi K.K., Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., Ltd., Taisho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited. Speaker9s Bureau; Self; Astellas Pharma Inc., AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited, Eli Lilly and Company, Kowa Pharmaceu. Co. Ltd., Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Novo Nordisk Inc., Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Sanofi K.K., Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Terumo Medical Corporation. K. Kato: None. Funding Japan Society for the Promotion of Science


Domestication is one of the fundamental process that has shaped our world in the last 12,000 years. Changes in the morphology, genetics, and behavior of plants and animals have redefined our interactions with our environments and ourselves. However, while great strides have been made towards understanding the mechanics, timing, and localities of domestication, a fundamental question remains at the heart of archaeological and scientific modelling of this process—how does domestication fit into a framework of evolution and natural selection? At the core of this is the ontological problem of what is a species? In this paper, the complicated concepts and constructs underlying 'species' and how this can be applied to the process of domestication are explored. The case studies of soybean and proto-indica rice are used to illustrate that our choice of 'species' definitions carries with it ramifications for our interpretations, and that care needs to be made when handling this challenging classificatory system.


Systems thinking is one of the skills necessary for sustainable behavior, especially regarding sustainable consumption. Students are faced with complexity and uncertainty while taking part in it and other daily life aspects. There is a need to foster their competence in this field. From a classroom point of view, the mystery method is an example for implementing education for sustainable consumption and working with complex and uncertain content. With the mystery method students construct an influence diagram, which consists of concepts and requires several skills, especially in decision-making. Using these diagrams as a form of assessment is desirable but also very difficult, because of the mentioned complexity and uncertainty that is part of the task itself. The study presented here tackles this problem by creating an expert based reference diagram that has been constructed with the help of educational data mining. The result shows that it is possible to derive such a reference even if parts remain ambiguous due to the inherent complexity. The reference may now be used to assess students' systems thinking abilities, which will be undertaken in future research. Beside this, the reference can be used as a reflective tool in lessons, so students can compare their own content knowledge and discuss differences to the experts' reference.


A distillation of many years' work on a therapeutic milieu ward of the Maudsley Hospital, in which psychotic patients were treated with an integral combination of psychiatric and psychological care anchored in the use of advanced psychoanalytic concepts of psychosis. Compelling clinical material is reproduced to help illuminate the meaning of illnesses such as paranoid schizophrenia, catatonia, psychotic anorexia and manic-depression. Several depth interviews by Murray Jackson, an authority on the application of psycho-analytic thought to the problems of psychosis are reproduced for the first time.


Transformational leadership is part of a very interesting and unique leadership model. This transformational leadership has implemented on four dimensions by Bass and Riggio: ideal influence of transformational leadership, inspirational motivation of transformational leadership, intellectual stimulation of transformational leadership, individual consideration of transformational leadership. This leader is as an agent of change who strengthen his knowledge, experience and ability. Especially if it is associated with the development of prophetic culture. At present, the study of prophetic culture can be categorized as a new trend. Although the nature of this prophetic culture has existed since the Prophets, it highlights more aspects of prophetic values. These prophetic cultural values carry Kuntowijoyo theory which is based on three pillars namely transcendence, humanization, and liberation. The research questions presenter on this dissertation are as follows: How is transformational leadership to build prophetic culture in SDI Makarimul Akhlaq Jombang and SDI Roushon Fikr Jombang? While purpose of the research is to explain the quistions that have been asked. This research is a qualitative research with a naturalistic phenomenological approach with multisite design. Techniques used for collecting the data are observation, interview, and documentation. Data analysis includes single site analysis and cross-site analysis. The techniques for analyzing the data are data reduction, data display and verification and conclusion. The results of this study are made of conclusion the dimension of transformational leadership in building by Bass and Riggio's theory need to be added, namely partner stimulation because this partner stimulation can produce total leadership in building a professional culture. Likewise in Kuntowijoyo's prophetic culture about theocentric-humanization that the concept of humanism-theocentric that Kuntowijoyo built from the findings of the study also provided additional as an existing development, namely theocentric-humanism-liberation because of the findings of researchers who showed infaq practices not only humanizing humans with based on faith alone, but indeed included in it is to free or free someone from distress.


Leishmaniases is a tropical disease caused by protozoa of the genus Leishmania for which the current treatment is expensive, besides increasing reports of parasite resistance. This study investigated the anti-Leishmania amazonensis activity of the essential oil from Aloysia gratissima (AgEO) and guaiol, the major sesquiterpene constituent in the oil. Our results showed that AgEO killed promastigotes and intracellular amastigotes at an IC50 of 25 and 0·16 μg mL, respectively, while guaiol killed amastigotes at an IC50 of 0·01 μg mL . Both AgEO and guaiol were safe for macrophages up to 100 μg mL, as evaluated by the dehydrogenase activity, membrane integrity and phagocytic capacity. AgEO and guaiol did not induce nitrite oxide (NO) in resting macrophages and inhibited the production of NO in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated macrophages. The ultrastructural analysis suggested that AgEO and guaiol act directly on parasites, affecting promastigotes kinetoplast, mitochondrial matrix and plasma membrane. Together, these results pointed out that AgEO and guaiol could be promising candidates to develop anti-Leishmania drugs.


Inadequate bowel preparation for colonoscopy can lead to increased procedural time, decreased diagnostic yield and an increase in complication rate. Fear, anxiety and lack of information reported by patients are barriers for optimal colonoscopy screening procedures. The successful outcome of colonoscopy procedure depends on how well the colon is prepared enhancing accurate visualisation. This study intended to determine the effectiveness of video instruction regarding bowel preparation on anxiety, knowledge of procedure and quality of bowel cleanliness among patients undergoing colonoscopy. Using quantitative approach, an experimental study was undertaken for 6 weeks. One hundred and twenty patients undergoing colonoscopy were selected using consecutive sampling techniques and were randomly allocated to the control and experimental group. State trait anxiety inventory, knowledge questionnaire and the Boston bowel preparation scale were used to collect the data. The experimental group received the video-assisted teaching on bowel preparation and the control group received the standard teaching. The quality of bowel cleanliness was found to be excellent in 25% of patients in the control group and 75% of patients in the experimental group. There was a significant decrease in the mean score of anxiety level from 45.05 to 34.40 in the experimental group. The study revealed that there was a significant relationship between knowledge of procedure and quality of bowel cleanliness in the experimental group (r = 0.35, P < 0.001). There was an increase in the knowledge of patients, which corresponded with a better quality of bowel cleanliness after the video instruction. Nurses play an important role in patient outcomes during the diagnostic procedure. This study shows that teaching with appropriate aids such as video relieves anxiety, improves knowledge and also improves outcomes in patients. It enhances the excellent quality of bowel cleanliness and aids in accurate diagnosis.


Robotic harvesting offers a solution to reducing labor costs, optimizing harvest scheduling, enabling selective harvesting, and increasing operation efficiency. These attributes allow the users of robotic harvesters to maximize production efficiency and profits. This article reviews automated fruit harvesting systems of sweet pepper, tomato, apple and kiwifruit as an example to demonstrate the recent advances in intelligent automatic harvesting robots in horticulture.


Governing after Crisis: The Politics of Investigation, Accountability, and Learning. Edited by Arjen Boin, Allan McConnell, and Paul 'T Hart. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008. 336p. $99.00 cloth, $34.99 paper. Learning from Catastrophes: Strategies for Reaction and Response. Edited by Howard Kunreuther and Micheel Useem. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Wharton School Publishing, 2010. 352p. $37.99 paper. The Next Catastrophe: Reducing Our Vulnerabilities to Natural, Industrial, and Terrorist Disasters. By Charles Perrow. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007. 388p. $29.95 paper. Developed and developing nations alike face low-probability but high-consequence exogenous shocks, including ice storms, chemical spills, terrorist attacks, and regional blackouts. Recently, "natural" disasters have dominated the airwaves; mega-catastrophes that claim more than 1,000 lives have become an almost yearly occurrence. In 2010, the Haiti and Chile earthquakes killed more than 200,000 people between them and felt all too familiar to many observers in the West. Before them were Cyclone Nargis in Burma, which took 130,000 lives in 2008; Hurricane Katrina, which killed more than 1,500 New Orleans residents and left 80% of the city flooded in 2005; and the Indian Ocean tsunami, which claimed roughly a quarter of a million lives in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand in 2004.


Background
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) exhibits great genetic diversity and is classified into 7 genotypes (GTs), with varied geographic prevalence. Until the recent development of pangenotypic direct-acting antiviral regimens, the determination of HCV GT was necessary to inform optimal treatment.

Methods
Plasma samples with unresolved GT using standard commercial genotyping methods were subjected to HCV full-genome sequencing, and phylogenetic analysis was performed to assign GT.

Results
Four patients, previously classified as GT5 by LiPA or Abbott RealTime polymerase chain reaction assays, were identified as infected with a novel HCV GT. This novel HCV GT, GT8, is genetically distinct from previously identified HCV GT1-7 with >30% nucleotide sequence divergence to the established HCV subtypes. All 4 patients were originally from Punjab, India, but now reside in Canada and are epidemiologically unlinked. Despite presence of baseline resistance-associated substitutions within the GT8 virus of all 4 patients (NS3: V36L, Q80K/R; NS5A: Q30S, Y93S), all patients achieved a sustained virologic response; 2 treated with sofosbuvir/velpatasvir/voxilaprevir for 8 weeks, 1 with sofosbuvir/ledipasvir plus ribavirin for 24 weeks and 1 with sofosbuvir plus daclatasvir for 12 weeks.

Conclusions
The discovery of a novel HCV GT8 confirms the circulation of this newly identified lineage in the human population.


Background: Preoperative anxiety is a common problem in all patients. The reason could be incomplete information regarding the anesthesia and surgical procedure. Cesarean section (CS) is a common surgery and treatment of postoperative pain after CS continues to be an ongoing challenge. Aim: The present study was carried out to assess if preoperative education with a handout about spinal anesthesia can reduce anxiety and postoperative pain in parturients undergoing CS under spinal anesthesia. Methods and Materials: We randomized 64 parturients into two equal groups; study (Group A) and control group (Group B). The study group was given a handout and a structured education about spinal anesthesia. The control group was given routine preoperative information. The Amsterdam preoperative anxiety and information scale (APAIS) was used to measure anxiety preoperatively and visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain at 5 h and 24 h postoperatively. Statistical Analysis: The two groups were compared using Student's t test and non-parametric Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney U test. Result: The median difference in preoperative anxiety scores (APAIS) in the two groups was found to be 8.00 (P < 0.001), which was significant statistically. The median value of postoperative pain analyzed using VAS after giving education, at 5 h was significantly reduced in Group A (5.00) as compared to Group B (9.00). The median value of VAS score at 24 h was significantly different in both groups. It was 1.0 in Group A, whereas the same was 5.50 in Group B (P <.00). The median difference in hours in the duration of analgesia between the two groups was 0.62, which was not significant statistically (P < 0.10). Conclusion: A planned preoperative education and handout with details about spinal anesthesia can have a significant impact on reducing the preoperative anxiety and the postoperative pain in parturients undergoing elective CS under spinal anesthesia.


Absolute second-order rate constants for the reaction between the hydroxyl radical (*OH) and eight water samples containing non-isolated effluent organic matter (EfOM) collected at different wastewater and reclamation sites were measured by electron pulse radiolysis. The measured rate constants ranged from 0.27 to 1.21 x 10(9) Mc(-1) s(-1), with an average value of 0.86 (+/-0.35) x 10(9) Mc(-1) s(-1). These absolute values were 3-5 times faster than previously reported values using natural organic matter and wastewater isolates. The obtained rate constants were correlated (R2 > 0.99) to bulk EfOM properties through an empirical equation that included terms relating to the polarity, apparent molecular weight, and fluorescence index of the effluent organic matter. The obtained data were used to model steady state *OH concentrations during UV advanced oxidation. The steady-state *OH concentration was lower than that obtained using previously reported values for the reaction with dissolved organic matter, indicating that accurate measurement of reaction rate constants at specific sites would greatly improve the design and prediction of the removal of organic contaminants. These results will improve the ability of researchers to accurately model scavenging capacities during the advanced oxidation processtreatment of wastewaters.


The aim is to modify the activated carbon from sewage sludge with γ-Al2O3 by sol-gel, investigate its performances on the SO2 adsorption and the desulfurization mechanisms in the presence of gaseous oxygen. The modification of the activated carbon from sewage sludge was carried out by adding γ-Al2O3 to improve the SO2 adsorption in a simulated flue gas. The results indicated that γ-Al2O3 porous membranes addition was very effective in promoting the BET area and pore volumes of the activated carbon from sewage sludge. γ-Al2O3 porous membranes in the presence of gaseous oxygen had much effect on the adsorption performance and benefited the SO2 adsorption capacity. The physically adsorbed adsorption took place first. And the following reactions should be occurring on the active sites (*) because of the specific pore construction, BET area and surface functional groups on γ-Al2O3/activated carbon from sewage sludge: (1)SO2 + *→SO2* , (2) O2 + *→O2* , (3)SO2* + O2* → SO3* , (4) 3SO3* + Al2O3 → Al2(SO4)3.


The article examines the bilateral relations between Ukraine and the UAE as well as prospects of their development.
It comes as no surprise that nowadays these relations are flourishing and even have reached a strategic level. The introduction of the visa free regime for travels at the end of 2017 has had a significant impact on the state of bilateral relations. In the middle of August 2018, the third meeting of the Intergovernmental Ukrainian-UAE Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation was held in Kyiv. The upshot was that the bilateral trade turnover in goods and services for 2018 reached almost $1 billion and counting in 2019. The number of flights between the states has also shown an upward trend. It is stated that the participation of Ukrainian enterprises in the UAE exhibitions is the most significant factor for penetrating into the UAE market and facilitating the development of bilateral cooperation to reach the medium-term target of $2 billion of trade turnover.
It is mentioned that due to the efforts of both parties cultural cooperation between Ukraine and the UAE is now thriving. In April 2019, a delegation of 60 artists presented Ukrainian culture and traditions in the UAE in the course of Sharjah Heritage Days. The Embassy of the UAE in Ukraine has contributed to establishment of the Centre for Arabic Studies and Arabic Language at the Institute of International Relations of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Semen Kuznets Kharkiv National University of Economics, and Hennadii Udovenko Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. Mention is also made of the fact that Mr Ambassador became the winner of the 23rd Nationwide Programme 'Person of the year 2018.'
The article concludes that the UAE pays equal attention to economic, cultural, and humanitarian interaction, whilst also remaining committed to cultivating it.
Key words: the UAE, bilateral relations, cultural cooperation, trade, the Embassy of the UAE to Ukraine.


There has been much recent activity on developing and testing high-frequency seafloor volume scattering models and on the related high-resolution characterization of seafloor volumes. This paper will address another plausible volume scattering mechanism that has not yet received much attention-distributions of broken shell fragments in sediment (commonly referred to as shell hash). The shell fragments are modeled as nonaggregating spherical scatterers, and the spatial distribution of the shell pieces is determined using the Percus-Yevick packing factor. Computer simulations of the multiple scattering and a single scattering model are used to study the power backscattered by shell hash sediments as a function of the volume of scatterers and the frequency of the incident wave (10-100 kHz). Parameter values for simulations are obtained by stereological analysis of x-ray computed tomography scans of sediment cores


Perceived quality of care is a determinant of uptake of health services. This study aimed to assess the determinants of quality of care of enrollees in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in Nigeria. The outcome was satisfaction with health care services, which was used as a proxy for quality. Findings will assist in the intervention to enhance enrollment in the scheme and for universal health coverage attainment. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted among enrollees in selected NHIS facilities in Ibadan, Nigeria. Data on satisfaction with health care were collected among selected 432 enrollees with the aid of an adapted semi-structured WHO-USAID interviewer-administered questionnaire. Data were analyzed using chi-square and multiple logistic regression models (α = 0.05). Among predictors of satisfaction with health services were younger age (OR = 1.85, 95% CI = 1.05–3.25, p = .024), working in the private sector (OR = 1.84, 95% CI = 1.03–3.28, p = .022), and seeking information about quality of services prior enrollment (OR = 1.63, 95% CI = 1.04−2.53, p = .013). Targeted intervention based on the findings of this study should be implemented to improve satisfaction with the services offered.


Early work on proteins identified the existence of helices and extended sheets in protein secondary structures, a high-level classification which remains popular today. Using the Snob program for information-theoretic Minimum Message Length (MML) classification, we are able to take the protein dihedral angles as determined by X-ray crystallography, and cluster sets of dihedral angles into groups. Previous work by Hunter and States has applied a similar Bayesian classification method, AutoClass, to protein data with site position represented by 3 Cartesian co-ordinates for each of the alpha-Carbon, beta-Carbon and Nitrogen, totalling 9 co-ordinates. By using the von Mises circular distribution in the Snob program, we are instead able to represent local site properties by the two dihedral angles, phi and psi. Since each site can be modelled as having 2 degrees of freedom, this orientation-invariant dihedral angle representation of the data is more compact than that of nine highly-correlated Cartesian co-ordinates. Using the information-theoretic message length concepts discussed in the paper, such a more concise model is more likely to represent the underlying generating process from which the data came. We report on the results of our classification, plotting the classes in (phi, psi) space; and introducing a symmetric information-theoretic distance measure to build a minimum spanning tree between the classes. We also give a transition matrix between the classes and note the existence of three classes in the region phi approximately -1.09 rad and psi approximately -0.75 rad which are close on the spanning tree and have high inter-transition probabilities. This gives rise to a tight, abundant and self-perpetuating structure.


Despite the Supreme Court's opinion from last term in Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, it seems like the debate over laws that require prospective voters at the polls to present government-issued photo identification will continue to rage in both legislatures and courtrooms throughout America. However, one of the fundamental missing pieces in this debate is an empirical assessment of how many prospective voters are unable to cast a countable ballot because of photo identification laws. This article analyzes data related to the 2008 Indiana primary election to determine: (1) how many voters arrived at the polling place without a photo identification and then cast a provisional ballot; and (2) how many of the photo identification-related provisional ballots were ultimately counted. Importantly, the analysis presented here takes a unique empirical approach because as part of this research actual documents related to provisional ballots were obtained. In the end, it is estimated that at the 2008 primary election nearly 400 persons cast provisional ballots because they lacked photo identification and the vast majority (80% of those ballots) were not counted. After presenting the numbers, this Article concludes with a discussion of the limits of this study and how opponents and proponents of photo identification might employ this research in the ongoing debate over photo identification.


This research explores the important activities and principles of the teaching of drama in learning English as a foreign language. This research is qualitative in nature and the analysis is based on theoretical grounds and a strong theoretical framework. It concentrates on the brief history of drama in education, its basic principles, techniques, and the possibilities and advantages that drama in education brings into English language learning. The aim of this research, Drama in Learning English as a Foreign Language, is not only to introduce drama in education to the readers but also present drama in the context of English language learning, and subsequently support the concept of drama being an English language learning method. I define drama, its general concepts, principles, and aims. I concentrate on the role of drama in learning English as a foreign language, its techniques, and the benefits that drama brings into the learning. This research is helpful for the teachers to understand the drama and activates related to it in the classroom.


This paper looks at the origins of the British tea industry of India from the standpoint of colonial and semicolonial involvement in, respectively, British India and Qing China. The imposition of the tea industry in Assam was integrally tied to the wars in East Asia fought in order to open markets for the movement of opium and other commodities. British officials championed both policies in the name of modern economic progress, liberalizing trade with the Qing and establishing a productive industry in Assam. The agricultural science of political economy aimed to extract the value of various objects which could then be united in a land hitherto considered a wasteland. Plants, soil and labor were each viewed as isolatable things whose values were objective and calculable. Such static representation, however, was already belied by the dynamic process of gathering and transporting these "things" across the vast and unevenly developed regions of Asia, ultimately valoriz- ing them as a breakfast drink commodity enjoyed worldwide. The origins of the Assam tea plantations, mirroring developments elsewhere, relied upon spatio- economic connections that force us to reevaluate how the specific histories of British India, Qing China and Southeast Asia are inseparably linked. *****


The paper Puts forward a novel feedback chaotic block cipher algorithm based on external key control. The prominent advantage of the algorithm is that the cipherkey of the system is composed of 128-bit external keys. The system parameters, initial conditions and iterations of the chaotic system generate dynamically in line with the ciphertext feedbacks. In this way, the randomness and complexity of the cryptosystem have been greatly improved. Meanwhile, theories and experiments have also shown that, the algorithm has higher security and robustness, and can resist the differential cryptanalysis and linear cryptanalysis.


This research was conducted to determine the potential for the use of Conservation Agriculture Production Systems (CAPS) in the hill region of Nepal, an area highly prone to food insecurity and soil losses. Conservation agriculture (CA) includes the practices of tillage reduction, soil cover maintenance, and optimal crop rotation. Farming in Nepal consists of two main cropping seasons: rainy and postrainy. Therefore, the annual production system includes different CA practices suitable for each cropping season. Due to conflicting criteria for maximizing farm profits while minimizing soil losses from CA, this study used a dynamic multiobjective linear programming model with a 20-year horizon to predict the optimal solution. Seven systems combining varying tillage practices (full versus strip tillage), cropping patterns (sole versus intercropping), and four crops were used for analysis. The results showed the optimal CAPS as strip tillage of maize (Zea mays L.) followed by intercropping millet (Eleusine coracana) and legumes; however, there are some variations in net present value (NPV) of profits due to the length of the planning horizon and discount rates. For long planning horizons of 20 years, farmers' objectives would be optimized when all land is allocated to strip tillage systems by year 2. The results show that the economic gains from practicing strip tillage–based CA varies among villages, ranging from 29% to 110% using discount rates of 10% and 48% to 274% under lower/social discount rate of 3%. In addition to profit, adoption of a CA system reduces the amount of soil loss by 83% to 88% over 20 years. Despite long-term benefits from CA, the short-term differences in the economic returns from CAPS are not enough for farmers to abandon their traditional practices. Therefore, from a societal welfare standpoint, it is recommended that the government provide short-term financial support to pay for the environmental services provided by the CAPS, and that CAPS education and training be made available to farmers. Additionally, long-term research to develop locally adapted CA practices may be necessary to fully realize the benefits for smallholder farmers.


Multiple antennas can be used for increasing the amount of diversity (diversity gain) or increasing the data rate (the number of degrees of freedom or spatial multiplexing gain) in wireless communication. As quantified by Zheng and Tse [1], given a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) channel, both gains can, in fact, be simultaneously obtained, but there is a fundamental tradeoff (called the Diversity-Multiplexing Gain (DM-G) tradeoff) between how much of each type of gain, any coding scheme can extract. Space-time codes (STC's) can be employed to make use of these advantages offered by multiple antennas. STC's can be broadly classified in two categories; namely space-time block codes (STBC) and space-time trellis codes (STTC). STTCs are known to have better bit error rate performance than STBCs, but with a penalty in decoding complexity. Also, for STTCs, the frame length is assumed to be finite and hence zeros are forced towards the end of the frame (called the trailing zeros), inducing rate loss. In this paper, we derive an upper bound on the DM-G tradeoff of full-rate STTCs with non-vanishing determinant (NVD). Also, we show that the full-rate STTCs with NVD are optimal under the DM-G tradeoff for any number of transmit and receive antennas, neglecting the rate loss due to trailing zeros. Next we give a explicit generalized full-rate STTC construction for any number of states of the trellis, which achieves the optimal DM-G tradeoff for any number of transmit and receive antennas, neglecting the rate loss due to trailing zeros.


This reinterpretation of Biblical and ancient Egyptian history demonstrates that King David can be identified as Pharaoh Tuthmosis III and that the historical Jesus lived several centuries before the standard versions of history atttribute his existence. The author contends - with evidence that includes the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Koran, the Talmud and Biblical sources - that the real Jesus can be identified as the Pharaoh Tutankhamun. Ahmed Osman is the author of "Stranger in the Valley of Kings" and "Moses: Pharaoh of Egypt".


Drug combinations are extensively used to treat cancer and are often selected according to complementary mechanisms. Here, we describe a cell-based high-throughput screening assay for identification of synergistic combinations between broadly applied platinum-based chemotherapeutics and drugs from a library composed of 1280 chemically and pharmacologically diverse (mostly FDA approved) compounds. The assay was performed on chemoresistant cell lines derived from lung (A549) and pancreatic (PANC-1) carcinoma, where platinum-based combination regimens are currently applied though with limited success. The synergistic combinations identified during the screening were validated by synergy quantification using the combination index method and via high content fluorescent microscopy analysis. New promising synergistic combinations discovered using this approach include compounds currently not used as anticancer drugs, such as cisplatin or carboplatin with hycanthone and cisplatin with spironolactone in pancreatic carcinoma, and carboplatin and deferoxamine in non-small cell lung cancer. Strong synergy between cisplatin or carboplatin and topotecan in PANC-1 cells, compared to A549 cells, suggests that this combination, currently used in lung cancer treatment regimens, could be applied to pancreatic carcinoma as well. Several drugs used to treat diseases other than cancer, including pyrvinium pamoate, auranofin, terfenadine and haloprogin, showed strong cytotoxicity on their own and synergistic interactions with platinum drugs. This study demonstrates that non-obvious drug combinations that would not be selected based on complementary mechanisms can be identified via high-throughput screening.


Microfluidic reactors are investigated as a mechanism to control the growth of semiconductor nanocrystals and characterize the structural evolution of colloidal quantum dots. Due to their short diffusion lengths, low thermal masses, and predictable fluid dynamics, microfluidic devices can be used to quickly and reproducibly alter reaction conditions such as concentration, temperature, and reaction time, while allowing for rapid reagent mixing and product characterization. These features are particularly useful for colloidal nanocrystal reactions, which scale poorly and are difficult to control and characterize in bulk fluids. To demonstrate the capabilities of nanoparticle microreactors, a size series of spherical CdSe nanocrystals was synthesized at high temperature in a continuous-flow, microfabricated glass reactor. Nanocrystal diameters are reproducibly controlled by systematically altering reaction parameters such as the temperature, concentration, and reaction time. Microreactors with finer control over temperature and reagent mixing were designed to synthesize nanoparticles of different shapes, such as rods, tetrapods, and hollow shells. The two major challenges observed with continuous flow reactors are the deposition of particles on channel walls and the broad distribution of residence times that result from laminar flow. To alleviate these problems, I designed and fabricated liquid-liquid segmented flow microreactors in which the reaction precursors are encapsulated in flowing droplets suspended in an immiscible carrier fluid. The synthesis of CdSe nanocrystals in such microreactors exhibited reduced deposition and residence time distributions while enabling the rapid screening a series of samples isolated in nL droplets. Microfluidic reactors were also designed to modify the composition of existing nanocrystals and characterize the kinetics of such reactions. The millisecond kinetics of the CdSe-to-Ag2Se nanocrystal cation exchange reaction are measured in situ with micro-X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy in silicon microreactors specifically designed for rapid mixing and time-resolved X-ray spectroscopy. These results demonstrate that microreactors are valuable for controlling and characterizing a wide range of reactions in nL volumes even when nanoscale particles, high temperatures, caustic reagents, and rapid time scales are involved. These experiments provide the foundation for future microfluidic investigations into the mechanisms of nanocrystal growth, crystal phase evolution, and heterostructure assembly.


The relationship between obesity and taste, especially sweet taste, has been and is of interest. From this point of view of a small primate, the lesser mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus), is of particular interest. It goes through a yearly cycle of physiological changes, one of which is an extreme variation in body weight of up to 100%. This occurs concomitantly with significant changes of the animal's liking for sucrose; measured by two-bottle preference tests, the threshold for sucrose changes from 28-45 in lean to 77-105 mM in obese animals. It is possible that a change in peripheral taste sensitivity might be the cause for these preference changes. To test this possibility we studied the ability of M. murinus to taste sucrose with electrophysiological and conditioned taste aversion techniques. The electrophysiological recordings were obtained from the chorda tympani proper nerve in two heavy and three lean animals. We did not record any difference between the two groups in their neural response to a series of sucrose concentrations. Conditioned taste aversion experiments with 200 mM sucrose as conditioning stimulus and 50 and 200 mM sucrose as test stimuli gave similar results. No difference was found between three heavy and four lean animals; both groups rejected the sucrose concentrations. The results support the notion that the seasonal variations in preference threshold to sucrose were unrelated to the ability of M. murinus to taste sucrose.


A Qualitative Study of Medical Student Perceptions of the West Virginia University School of Medicine's Competency-Based Electronic Portfolio System's Design and Implementation Carrie A. Calloway The West Virginia University School of Medicine (WVU SoM) created and implemented medical student electronic portfolios in the 2012-2013 academic year as a means to stimulate self-reflection and life-long learning, document competency attainment using both formative and summative assessments of performance and facilitate career counseling and advising. Though existing research explores the benefits and challenges of electronic portfolios in medical education, few studies investigate them from the medical student perspective. This phenomenological qualitative research study examined medical student perceptions—through their stories of the electronic portfolio system as a tool for documenting and reflecting on performance—in order to better understand how electronic portfolios can be effectively designed and integrated in the medical doctor degree curriculum. Convenience sampling was used to recruit medical students (n = 15) in years two and three of the curriculum for in-depth, semistructured interviews to discover student views, experiences and recommendations regarding the use of the portfolio in their medical education. A document analysis of student portfolio contents and structure was conducted as a means to corroborate findings from the interview process (method triangulation). Interviews with graduate medical education residents (n = 5) were also used in order to provide a retrospective view and to triangulate with findings obtained from medical student interviews (source triangulation). Inductive content analysis using a digital card sort was employed to uncover common themes and patterns in participants' lived experiences and a narrative description of findings was reported. The findings revealed that students considered the convenience of the electronic portfolio as an advantage, along with the capability of the electronic portfolio to store and organize documentation and evidence of competency. Medical students also credited the electronic portfolio for aiding them in tracking and selfcorrecting performance and behaviors based on evidence contained within the electronic portfolio. Five conclusions emerged from the findings, including: (1) convenient storage and organization promoted self-assessment of performance, (2) multiple barriers limited students access, and accordingly, the extent to which they embraced the tool; (3) electronic portfolio contents and reflection activities sufficiently demonstrated academic performance, but inadequately demonstrated personal growth and development; (4) limited training opportunities for electronic portfolio use and purpose inhibited student engagement; and (5) electronic portfolio integration and involvement minimally engaged students from all years of the curriculum. Future research should focus on (1) the development of open-ended reflection prompts that both prepare students for residency and aim to understand students as individuals, (2) effective integration strategies that enhance medical student engagement with portfolio activities and reflective practice during pre-clinical education and (3) the creation of training modules and mentoring or advising programs that will aid medical students in meaningful application of the electronic portfolio for residency preparation and reflection on learning.


A four-legged mobile platform increases productivity and improves quality and working conditions for industrial naval applications. It is an automatic welding system for ship construction processes. It increases productivity by increasing total arc time, improving weld quality, and creating better working conditions for operators. The overall system consists of a commercial welding system handled by a commercial manipulator. These subsystems are carried on a mobile platform that provides mobility in the working area. A stereo vision system finds the starting and ending points of the welding seam. All four subsystems are remote-controlled by a computer supervised by an operator located off the work site. The supervisor computer also contains a database of the geometric description of each working cell.


How to Write: Reading Groups (published Image Book)
How to Read: Writing Groups (published Text Book)
Collaboration with Five Years Publications: Public Series No.7
The Reading Group is a curated by Dagmar I. Glausnitzer-Smith Live Performance Reading Group with Participants: Anniken Weber, Sikarnt Skoolisariyaporn, Sadegh Aleahmad
Part 1: How to write: The reading group, : Three Artists, Anniken Weber (Norway-UK), Sadegh Aleahmad, (Iran-UK), Sikarnt Skoolisariyaporn (Thailand-UK) will examine the idea of reading about writing in a live situation over the time span of the allocated two hours. The artists may not collaborate or interact with each other however they occupy the space as three separate entities. Prior to their appearance in the space, they are not aware of the content or concept of each other's work. The margins and formats of their 'reading' will be set as a time frame agreed on location amongst the three artists. Discussions will be initiated by an unpredictable common denominator

Part II: How to Read: Writing Groups
The mentioned artists will issue three an un-prescribed reports, open format, functioning as the base for the text of how to read: 'writing about reading' transcribed by artist, Dagmar I. Glausnitzer-Smith (Germany – UK)
The objective is to examine multiple, simultaneous states of mind brought into notional thinking processes (projected, imagined, read) on the account of the action of the reading group. The writer is the reader of 'writing', the reader of images and documentation, the reader of states of mind. The writer is translator.
Positions are altered, 'slipping' into a 'Doppelbesetzung'*. The writer examines the irrelevance of narrative. The acknowledgment of emotional states during the action of writing and reading cannot be ignored. The operation and the making of text is reclusive and solitary. When momentary reading and reflection of writing happens, it is undisclosed.
The writing of the writer's text is disposed for 'publication'.
The speculation of interchanging positions between the artist, the author, the performer, the publisher, the curator expand to non-transparent and non-sensical relations. The writer and performer has to negotiate with signs of a paradoxical 'Triple-agent' by modeling a de-coding system.
The performance of writing about the reading is not-public (a Five Year's Concept and Term) and the moment of active writing addresses an undiscerning audience. A secret portrayal imbedded in a process with a regard to become public.

* German, multiple deployment of roles diluted in one moment


The Handbook of Physiology is intended to serve somewhat the function of an encyclopedia. It attempts to include references to almost all of the significant work in physiology, and to provide detail on those points considered particularly important by the authors of individual chapters. Cellular Biology of Neurons is the first of several planned volumes of Section 1, The Nervous System, of the revised Handbook of Physiology. The original Section 1, published in 1959-1960, was entitled Neurophysiology, and consisted of three single volumes. Cellular Biology of Neurons alone requires two parts, and contains 1182 pages of double column text. This tremendous increase in the size of Section 1 is not due only to the great increase in our knowledge of the physiology of the nervous system since 1959. As the title of Volume 1 suggests, the scope of this work is expanded to include more morphologic and biochemical information. It reflects a refreshing despecialization among researchers in the nervous system in an age otherwise marked by relentlessly increasing specialization. A scientist originally trained as a neurophysiologist will often attempt, through collaboration or reeducation, to identify and characterize histologically the neurons he has been studying electrophysiologically. He may then attempt to identify the synaptic transmitters used by those neurons. Finally he may apply the techniques of experimental psychology in attempts to establish the role played by those neurons in the behavior of the animal. This approach is typified by the work of the editor of this volume, Dr. Eric Kandel, on the cellular mechanisms underlying certain types of behavior in the gastropod mollusc Aplvsia californica. Because the graduate students of neurophysiologists are increasingly likely to get their degrees in neurobiology , they are better served by the ecumenical approach of this volume. The encyclopedic function of the Handbook of Physiology is served very well by Cellular Biology of Neurons. It consists of 29 chapters, averaging 40 pages, and containing an average of about 350 references per chapter. The authors are all major figures in their fields, and most are still in highly productive phases of their scientific careers. While it is not possible to review each chapter individually, they are on the whole very readable. Many are marked by a high degree of care in establishing relationships between the particular subject at hand and the ultimate goal of understanding animal behavior. This is particularly true of part 2 , which contains chapters concerned with cellular interactions, systems of neurons, and the neuronal mechanisms of invertebrate behavior. One cannot help but be impressed and even exhilarated by the conceptual advances represented by the ability to actually see synaptic vesicles fusing with the presynaptic membrane at morphologically distinct "active sites," so lucidly illustrated by Heuser and Reese in their chapter "Structure of the synapse"; or the ability to see synaptic terminals in vivo by the use of Nomarski optics in the work of Kuffler and colleagues on the differential sensitivities of subsynaptic and extrasynaptic membrane to iontophoretically applied transmitter, as reported i n Takeuchi's chapter "Junctional transmission. I . Postsynaptic mechanisms." Equally impressive are the successes of several physiologists in achieving de novo synapse formation in dissociated cell cultures, and their ability to study isolated synaptic events with intracellular microelectrodes, as reported by Fischbach and Nelson in their chapter "Cell culture in neurobiology." Ramon y Cajal, the founder of the hypothesis of synaptic functional plasticity, would have been gratified by how close neurobiology has come to validating his view of learning in the studies of the cellular mechanisms of habituation of the gill withdrawal reflex ofApiplysia, and of other habituation paradigms, as elegantly set forth by Kandel in his chapter "Neuronal plasticity and modification of behavior." Spencer's chapter, "The physiology of supraspinal neurons in mammals," is clearly written, with attention to historical perspective. It keeps us humble by reminding us that the final test of knowledge gained from the study of model systems must ultimately be its validation in the mammalian brain. It is in the study of mammalian supraspinal neurons and their aggregate behavior that most of our knowledge, though greatly expanded since 1959, is still inferential. Alden Spencer's recent untimely death makes this chapter his last major statement on the neuronal organization of the brain. It is in the nature of such a comprehensive book that it must be a long time in preparation. Consequently, few of the referenced articles are more recent than 1973 or 1974. Several areas of research which have greatly expanded in the past few years are given relatively little coverage. Examples include the actions of peptides as putative transmitters, the concept of "second messengers" in synaptic transmission, and the structure and cellular functions of nerve growth factor. There are two relatively minor weaknesses of this volume. First, many of the great breakthroughs of modem neurobiology have been made possible by the development of specific techniques such as intracellular dye injection, voltage clamping, freeze-fracture electronmicroscopy, and autoradiography . It would have been desirable to devote more space to these techniques than the passing references given to them by most of the authors. Second, the index is organized largely as an alphabetically arranged, expanded table of contents. For example, "voltage clamp," a technique which is described in more detail than most, is not found under "V," but is listed as a sub-subheading under "Neuron cable theory. " Fifteen pages is probably too short to adequately index such a long volume. The size, cost, and degree of detail make this book unrealistic as a textbook for coursework in neurobiology. However, the


In the standard methodology for evaluating the Hawking radiation emanating from a black hole, the background geometry is fixed. Trying to be more realistic we consider a dynamical geometry for a two-dimensional charged black hole and we evaluate the Hawking radiation as a tunneling process. This modification to the geometry gives rise to a nonthermal part in the radiation spectrum. We exlore the consequences of this new term for the extremal case.


OBJECTIVES
To determine whether patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) have serum antibodies to lipoprotein-related protein 4 (LRP4), a newly identified receptor for agrin that is essential for neuromuscular junction formation, and to establish whether such antibodies contribute to MG pathogenesis.

DESIGN
Serum samples from patients with MG with known status of serum antibodies to the acetylcholine receptor (AChR) and muscle-specific kinase (MuSK) and serum samples from control subjects (healthy individuals and individuals with other diseases) were tested for antibodies to LRP4. Serum samples with such antibodies were tested to determine whether they had the ability to inhibit 2 different functions of LRP4 at the neuromuscular junction.

SETTING
Serum samples were collected at the Hellenic Pasteur Institute and Wayne State University. Samples were tested for LRP4 autoantibodies at Georgia Health Sciences University. Other immunoreactivities of the samples were tested at the Hellenic Pasteur Institute, Athens, Greece, or processed through University Laboratories of the Detroit Medical Center, Michigan. Patients  The study included 217 patients with MG, 76 patients with other neurologic or psychiatric diseases, and 45 healthy control subjects.

RESULTS
Anti-LRP4 antibodies were detected in 11 of 120 patients with MG without detectable anti-AChR or anti-MuSK antibodies (double seronegative) and in 1 of 36 patients without anti-AChR antibodies but with anti-MuSK antibodies, but they were not detected in any of the 61 patients with anti-AChR antibodies. No healthy control subjects and only 2 of the 76 control patients with neurologic disease had anti-LRP4 antibodies. Serum samples from patients with MG with anti-LRP4 antibodies were able to inhibit the LRP4-agrin interaction and/or alter AChR clustering in muscle cells.

CONCLUSIONS
Anti-LRP4 antibodies were detected in the serum of approximately 9.2% of patients with double-seronegative MG. This frequency is intermediate compared with 2 recent studies showing anti-LRP4 antibodies in 2% and 50% of patients with double-seronegative MG from different geographic locations. Together, these observations indicate that LRP4 is another autoantigen in patients with MG, and anti-LRP4 autoantibodies may be pathogenic through different immunopathogenic processes.


The glucocorticoid budesonide and the long-acting beta2-adrenoceptor agonist formoterol are used in asthma therapy for their anti-inflammatory and bronchodilating effects, respectively. Since expression of adhesion molecules on resident cells in the lung plays an important role in asthmatic inflammatory responses, the effects of these drugs on the cytokine-induced intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM)-1 and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM)-1 expression of human lung fibroblasts were investigated. Budesonide and formoterol were added in the absence or presence of interleukin (IL)-1beta, tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) or IL-4 to human lung fibroblasts; ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 expression were measured after 8 h using a cell surface enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). It was found that both budesonide and formoterol significantly inhibited (p<0.05) the increased expression of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 after stimulation with IL-1beta (maximal inhibition (median (25-75% percentiles) 50 (48-52) and 61% (42-69), respectively, with budesonide and 55 (50-73) and 86% (64-94), respectively, with formoterol (10(-7) M)), TNF-alpha (maximal inhibition 49 (46-57) and 57% (44-68), respectively, with budesonide and 44 (40-75) and 62% (52-83) respectively, with formoterol), IFN-gamma (maximal inhibition 64% (41-67) with budesonide and 39% (29-49) with formoterol for ICAM-1) and IL-4 (maximal inhibition 82% (69-92) with budesonide and 43% (33-67) with formoterol for VCAM-1) in a dose-dependent manner. The results show that budesonide, as well as formoterol, in probably clinically relevant concentrations inhibits cytokine-induced adhesion molecule expression on human lung fibroblasts from a concentration of 10(-9) M. This inhibitory effect on resident cells may have implications for the infiltration of inflammatory cells into pulmonary tissue during therapy with these drugs in asthma.


Normal hemopoietic cell differentiation and proliferation is critically dependent upon marrow stromal elements. Long-term liquid culture of marrow provides a model for the study of stromal function. We evaluated the effects of radiation and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) on various aspects of long-term murine hemopoietic cell growth and stromal function. Exposure of C57BL/6J murine adherent cells from long-term marrow cultures to varying doses of irradiation (0-1000 rad) in vitro resulted in the elaboration of growth factors stimulating granulocyte, macrophage, megakaryocyte, mixed megakaryocyte-granulocyte macrophage, and blast colonies. This increased production of growth factors appears to be related to the ablation of normal granulocyte production in the culture system since addition of normal stroma to irradiated stroma blocks growth factor production. Two cell types appear to be mediating stromal factor production and support of liquid culture hemopoiesis: a macrophagelike cell and an alkaline-phosphatase-positive epithelioid cell. Exposure of these two cell types to pokeweed mitogen results in marked enhancement of growth factor production. Furthermore, a cell line isolated from normal murine stroma produced an activity capable of acting at an early hemopoietic stem cell level and of inducing secondary marrow cell lines. The establishment of cultures from 5-FU-treated animals revealed that chemotherapy-depleted marrow was capable of establishing adequate stromal function and that the residual surviving stem cells had a higher than normal proliferative rate. In addition, the function of granulocytes derived from this post-5-FU marrow was normal. Thus, it appears that both chemotherapy and radiation exposure of marrow results in an enhanced capacity of stromal elements to produce growth factors and support hemopoiesis and that post-5-FU marrow represents an enriched source of high proliferative potential bone marrow stem cells.


As it achieves a goal on behalf of its human user, an autonomous agent's actions may have side effects that change features of its environment in ways that negatively surprise its user. An agent that can be trusted to operate safely should thus only change features the user has explicitly permitted. We formalize this problem, and develop a planning algorithm that avoids potentially negative side effects given what the agent knows about (un)changeable features. Further, we formulate a provably minimax-regret querying strategy for the agent to selectively ask the user about features that it hasn't explicitly been told about. We empirically show how much faster it is than a more exhaustive approach and how much better its queries are than those found by the best known heuristic.


Adolescent psychology and mental health needs in China are part of an interdisciplinary area of research. In this area of research, macro and micro processes are closely linked; biological, cultural, and socio-structural influences tightly intertwined; and patterns identified in other societies fall apart due to the impact of powerful societal forces on individual psychology. As a result, there has been a fundamental and long-lasting split between the idea that "Chinese adolescent psychology" should be a distinctive science within China, addressing issues specific to the circumstances of Chinese children and families, and the argument that it should contribute to a universal theory of human development by documenting its applications to Chinese societies. The problem of the first idea lies in its assumption of cultural relativism or the incommensurability of the human experience of growing up in particular sociocultural contexts. In contrast, the problem of the second argument lies in its failure to ask what is "universal," when a universal theory is applicable to China, and when it may not be. Arguably, adolescents in all cultures carry vulnerabilities and strengths as they go through the process of major biological and psychological transitions. Certain psychosocial needs, such as the needs for self-exploration, quality peer relationship, and continuous guidance and support from adults, are shared by adolescents across the world, albeit through different forms. When their basic needs are neglected by ideology-driven policies and practices that are carried to an extreme extent, youth mental health is seriously threatened. It is important for researchers not only to go beyond the dichotomous view of the field by taking an ecological approach and multidisciplinary perspectives to investigate the salient issues in adolescent psychology and mental health needs in their specific sociocultural context, but also to consider their broader implications for understanding universally relevant questions about success and sacrifice in human and social development.


With growing concerns about the Floridan Aquifer in Southeast Georgia, and a 10 mgd reduction required by the Georgia EPD, the city of Savannah began looking for water efficient projects to help reduce their groundwater withdrawal. The first step was to fund a Water Conservation Program to educate and show a measurable result in the reduction of water usage in the system. As part of this program, plumbing retrofits in older neighborhoods began. This paper addresses the plumbing retrofit program in Savannah. In increments, the City of Savannah replaced old, leaky toilets in chosen neighborhoods with low flow plumbing fixtures. Starting in 1998, the city has targeted several areas within the city to reduce water waste. With this program, the city has seen a 16% to 28% reduction in water use from the targeted neighborhoods.