Two main spectrophotometric methods have been used to determine silica: those using the yellow molybdosilicic acids and those using the molybdenum blue complex. Conditions for the production of a stable molybdenum blue complex have been re-investigated. Using suitable conditions, and a modern spectrophotometer with high reproducibility, a rapid and accurate method for the determination of silica has been developed. An important feature of the procedure is the inclusion of an "activation" stage for the silicic acid before complex formation.The method has been applied to a variety of international standards and gives accurate results with a coefficient of variation of 0.5% at the 50% silica level.


Abstract Engineering design is typically a collaborative process, and in the era of digital engineering, online collaboration platforms are increasingly being used to perform the work. Despite the development of e-collaboration technologies, there is a significant gap between actual collaboration and what is really needed. However, improving collaboration requires a proper measurement system. Yet, the common methods to measure and improve collaboration are challenging, usually not compatible with digitalized collaboration, and have limited scalability. This paper presents a new data-driven method for measuring, visualizing, and monitoring Active Engagement (AE) in web-based teamwork, which is a key element of effective collaboration. We applied the method in a case study of four engineering teams during a Technology Planning and Road-mapping course. The results suggest that measuring AE in web-based teams, with an available history log, is technically feasible and can meaningfully represent the team's collaboration. The presented approach can be used to upgrade e-collaboration platforms as a toolkit or for further investigation on improving web-based collaborative design and learning through monitoring dashboards and feedback systems.


Abstract In this study, we explore the role of education in explaining the labour market outcomes for a sample of graduates in medicine. More specifically, the following research question is answered: To what extent are labour market outcomes of physicians explained by the skills acquired in education, as indicated in the theory of human capital, or by competences already present at the start of education, as suggested by the screening theory? The study uses separate measurements of competence at the start and at the end of education. Moreover, we use a direct measurement of competence development during medical education. This enables us to disentangle the effects of the suggested mechanisms. The results suggest that after graduation human capital factors do not explain subsequent differences in labour market outcomes. The medical degree seems a sufficient signal of screening device as such. However, selection processes during education take place on human capital acquired before and during medical education.


Numerous chemotherapeutic regimens exist for the treatment of symptomatic or progressive chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL). However, once the disease becomes refractory to nucleoside-based therapy the prognosis is poor. In this study we investigated the cytotoxicity of thalidomide in combination with dexamethasone, fludarabine and cyclophosphamide. Cells from a cohort of 25 CLL patients were incubated for 72 h with each of these three agents, at 3 concentrations, both with and without thalidomide. Cell viability was assessed using the Annexin V:FITC assay. Fludarabine was highly toxic to the cells, producing very high levels of cell death; however, thalidomide did not increase this effect. Cyclophosphamide combined with thalidomide showed a small, non-significant improvement in toxicity compared with monotherapy. Median cell death for 5 µM dexamethasone monotherapy and for combination with thalidomide was 15% [interquartile range (IQR) 0-38%] and 17% (IQR 0-54%), respectively (Wilcoxon Signed Rank analysis, p=0.034). Cell death for 10 µM dexamethasone monotherapy was 15% (IQR 0-45%) and 16% (IQR 0-62%) in combination with thalidomide (Wilcoxon Signed Rank analysis, p=0.035). At the highest doses tested 11 of 25 cases displayed an enhancement of cyclophosphamide-mediated cytotoxicity, and 14 of 25 cases showed enhanced dexamethasone-mediated cytotoxicity in the presence of thalidomide. Some CLL cells in which dexamethasone-mediated killing was enhanced were derived from patients with poor prognostic markers, including p53 mutations and unmutated IgVH genes. In summary, thalidomide enhances cyclophosphamide- and dexamethasone-mediated cytotoxicity of CLL cells in vitro in a proportion of cases.


Previous data demonstrated that one rat insulinoma cell line, RINm5F cells, which is a rat β-cell line derived from a pancreatic tumor, express mRNA coding for both the low- and the high-affinity nerve growth factor receptors. Goals of this study were to extend our data to other β-cell lines and fetal islets in primary culture and to study further the binding characteristics of nerve growth factor receptors on β-cells. Northern blot analysis revealed that not only a panel of endocrine β-cell lines (RINm5F, INS-1, β-TC3) but also fetal rat islets in primary culture express mRNA coding for trk-A, which has been proposed to be the neuronal high-affinity nerve growth factor receptors. Reverse polymerase chain reaction followed by sequencing revealed that the sequence of trk-A receptor in RINm5F cells is identical to that of trk-A expressed in PC12 cells. The expression of the low-affinity nerve growth factor receptor was examined by Northern blot analysis that showed low-affinity nerve growth factor receptor to be expressed in RINm5F and INS-1 cell lines, in fetal rat islets in primary culture, but not in β-TC3-cells. Binding experiments revealed the presence of low- and high-affinity nerve growth factor binding sites, identical to those described for PC12 cells, on RINm5F and INS-1 cells and only high-affinity binding sites on β-TC3 cells. Exposure of all three β-cell lines to nerve growth factor increased NGFI-A and c-fos mRNA steady-state levels, showing that these receptors are functional. These data demonstrate that the entire machinery required for nerve growth factor action is present in β-cells in culture.


ODYSSEUS is an autonomous walking robot, which makes use of three wheels and three legs for its movement in the free navigation space. More specifically, it makes use of its autonomous wheels to move around in an environment where the surface is smooth and not uneven. However, in the case that there are small height obstacles, stairs, or small height unevenness in the navigation environment, the robot makes use of both wheels and legs to travel efficiently. In this paper we present the detailed hardware design and the simulated behavior of the extended leg/arm part of the robot, since it plays a very significant role in the robot actions (movements, selection of objects, etc.). In particular, the leg/arm consists of three major parts: The first part is a pipe attached to the robot base with a flexible 3-D joint. This pipe has a rotated bar as an extended part, which terminates in a 3-D flexible joint. The second part of the leg/arm is also a pipe similar to the first. The extended bar of the second part ends at a 2-D joint. The last part of the leg/arm is a clip-hand. It is used for selecting several small weight and size objects, and when it is in a 'closed' mode, it is used as a supporting part of the robot leg. The entire leg/arm part is controlled and synchronized by a microcontroller (68CH11) attached to the robot base.


Satellite-based remotely-sensed observations of snow cover fraction (SCF) can have data gaps in spatially distributed coverage from sensor and orbital limitations. We mitigate these limitations in the example fine-resolution Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data by gap-filling using auxiliary 1-km datasets that either aid in downscaling from coarser-resolution (5 km) MODIS SCF wherever not fully covered by clouds, or else by themselves via regression wherever fully cloud-covered. This study's prototype predicts a 1-km version of the 500 m MOD10A1 SCF target. Due to non-collocatedness of spatial gaps even across input and auxiliary datasets, we consider a recent gap-agnostic advancement of partial convolution in computer vision for both training and predictive gap-filling. Partial convolution accommodates spatially consistent gaps across the input images, effectively implementing a 2-dimensional masking. To overcome reduced usable data from non-collocated spatial gaps across inputs, we innovate a fully generalized 3-dimensional masking in this partial convolution. This enables a valid output value at a pixel even if only a single valid input variable and its value exist in the neighborhood covered by the convolutional filter zone centered around that pixel. Thus our gap-agnostic technique can use significantly more examples for training (~67%) and prediction (~100%), instead of only less than 10% for the previous partial convolution. We train an example simple 3-layer legacy Super-Resolution Convolutional Neural Network (SRCNN) to obtain downscaling and regression component performances that are better than baseline values of either climatology or MOD10C1 SCF as relevant. Our generalized partial convolution can enable multiple earth science applications like downscaling, regression, classification and segmentation that were hindered by data gaps.


Aim: This study aims to explore the feasibility of using prior images and deformable image registration to generate onboard multimodality images to improve the soft tissue contrast of cone beam computed tomography (CBCT), for target localization in radiation therapy. Methods: B-spline-based deformable registration is used to register magnetic resonance/computed tomography (MR/CT) images with CBCT images to generate synthetic onboard MR/CT images for onboard target localization. Liver, prostate, and breast patient data were used in the study to investigate the feasibility of the method. Results: Most of the tumor volume defined by the onboard synthetic images was covered by the planning target volume (PTV) based on the shifts applied in clinical practice. For 6 liver cases, 5 prostate cases, and all the breast cases, the synthetic images allowed the reduction of the PTV margin to 1.5–7 mm, 1–4 mm, and 1–1.5 mm, respectively. The dose to the normal tissue can be reduced based on the optimized margin. Conclusion: This study demonstrated the feasibility of using onboard synthetic multimodality imaging to improve the soft tissue contrast for target localization in low contrast regions. This new technique holds great promises to optimize the PTV margin and improve the treatment accuracy in radiation therapy.


In men and in "masculine" shape of the abdomen as compared with women and "feminine" shape of the abdomen the following features of the topography of the anterior-lateral abdominal wall were revealed: a narrower white line, wider straight muscles of the abdomen in their medial and upper parts, less square surface of the lateral muscle-free portions. The inguinal region of men and the "musculine" type of the abdomen are characterized by great dimensions of the superficial and profound rings, weaker aponeurosis of the external oblique abdominal muscle in formation of the anterior wall of the inguinal canal. In elderly and senile age there occur dilatation of the white line, the increase of the amount of chinks and apertures in it as well as of the length of aponeuroses. The superficial inguinal ring expands.


General Circulation Model simulations of the mid‐Pliocene warm period (mPWP, 3.264 to 3.025 Myr ago) currently underestimate the level of warming that proxy data suggest existed at high latitudes, with discrepancies of up to 11°C for sea surface temperature estimates and 17°C for surface air temperature estimates. Sea ice has a strong influence on high‐latitude climates, partly due to the albedo feedback. We present results demonstrating the effects of reductions in minimum sea ice albedo limits in general circulation model simulations of the mPWP. While mean annual surface air temperature increases of up to 6°C are observed in the Arctic, the maximum decrease in model‐data discrepancies is just 0.81°C. Mean annual sea surface temperatures increase by up to 2°C, with a maximum model‐data discrepancy improvement of 1.31°C. It is also suggested that the simulation of observed 21st century sea ice decline could be influenced by the adjustment of the sea ice albedo parameterization.


Plicopurpura pansa is a cultural resource with economic importance since ink can be extracted from it to dye clothes. This snail inhabits the rocky intertidal zone of Mexican Pacific, is found attached to rocks in crevices and holes. The objective was to analyze the P. pansa population structure in Costa Chica of the State of Guerrero based in density, sex ratio, size and weight, besides to realize observations on mating and recruitment, for which quarterly sampling was made during an annual cycle in three beaches. The density was 4.83 snails/m2. Sex ratio ranged from 0.76:1.00 to 1.00: 0.96 (F:M). Average size was 20.91 mm. The best represented sizes in females were from 10.5 to 28.5 mm and in males 13.5 to 28.5 mm. Averaged weight was 1.99 g, females showed a coefficient of variation in weight of 96.53%. Recruitment occurred for the entire year. In December 2006 and September 2007 a larger frequency of recruits was shown. Sex ratio showed a 1:1 tendency. Snail population was characterized by being small sized and in high densities. Weight variations in females were found related to their reproductive cycle.


Our understanding of the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis has evolved from a lipid deposition disorder to a focal, chronic inflammatory disease of medium-large arteries characterised by inflammatory plaques susceptible to rupture and thrombosis. Atherogenesis shares certain pathogenic features with other inflammatory diseases including the autoimmune disease rheumatoid arthritis (RA). These include macrophage-activating cytokines such as tumour necrosis factor α (TNFα), interleukin-1 (IL-1) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), the presence of CD4+CD28− regulatory T-cells, raised inflammatory markers including C-reactive protein (CRP) and enhanced expression of endothelial adhesion molecules including VCAM-1.1 However, the association between atherosclerosis and RA extends beyond common pathogenic mechanisms. Standardised mortality ratios for cardiovascular disease in RA range from 1.2 to 5, and cardiovascular death accounts for up to 50% of mortality with life expectancy reduced by 10–15 years.2 A similar alarming trend is observed in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), with a marked increase in stroke and myocardial infarction (MI) reported.3 These outcome data reflect the presence of increased carotid artery intima thickening, vascular stiffness and impaired flow-mediated vasodilatation (FMD) in RA and SLE, indicating endothelial dysfunction and subclinical atherosclerosis.4

Atherosclerosis may be considered a stereotypical inflammatory response to vascular injury initiated and propagated by traditional risk factors, and the latter may be exacerbated by systemic inflammatory disease. RA and SLE patients …


Abstract One of the two air distribution systems serving the office rooms of a 25-year-old large office building was balanced in autumn 2002. The supply and extract air flow rates of 173 office rooms were measured before and after balancing. Before balancing, the air flow rates varied considerably from room to room and many of the office rooms were over pressurised. The average extract air flow rate in the whole of the building was 20.7 L/s.person and the standard deviation 11.0 L/s.person. The aim of the balancing process was to meet the design values dating from 1978. The original air distribution plan was very disparate, presumably taking into consideration both room size and number of occupants in the room. Balancing achieved the design air flow rates remarkably well but the person-specific air flow values still varied considerably between the office rooms. After balancing, the average extract air flow rate was 29.3 L/s.person and the standard deviation 13.6 L/s.person. The paper discusses whether design air flow values should be followed when the occupancy within the building has changed and whether energy saving aspects should be taken into account. Balancing is recommended after duct cleaning or major building renovations to accommodate for changes that have taken place in the air distribution system.


Individuals exposed to odors from livestock facilities do not report annoyance uniformly. The reaction to a detectable odor depends on perceptions of the odor and its source which are mediated by odor attributes and personal factors. Correlations among these factors were tested in a rural context using date from a pilot study of seventeen households neighboring two swine operations in Michigan. Annoyance was measured as the impact of the neighboring facility on enjoyment of property. Characterization of odor as a problem was positively correlated with offensiveness, frequency and duration of exposure. Annoyance was negatively correlated with term of residence, current employment on a farm, and acquaintance with the facility owner. Annoyance was positively correlated with suburban characterization of the residence, unacceptability of the facility's appearance and perception of odor as a problem. Strategies to minimize exposure augmented by increasing familiarity with the operation and owner can reduce annoyance.


Advances in proteomic methodologies based on quantitative mass spectrometry are now transforming pharmacology and experimental biology more broadly. The present review will discuss several examples based on work in the author ' s laboratory, which focuses on delineating relationships between G protein – coupled receptor signaling and trafficking in the endocytic network. The examples highlighted correspond to those discussed in a talk presented at the 2019 EB/ASPET meeting, which was organized by Professor Joe Beavo to commemorate his receipt of the Julius Axelrod Award.


We present a method to estimate dense depth by optimizing a sparse set of points such that their diffusion into a depth map minimizes a multi-view reprojection error from RGB supervision. We optimize point positions, depths, and weights with respect to the loss by differential splatting that models points as Gaussians with analytic transmittance. Further, we develop an efficient optimization routine that can simultaneously optimize the 50k+ points required for complex scene reconstruction. We validate our routine using ground truth data and show high reconstruction quality. Then, we apply this to light field and wider baseline images via self supervision, and show improvements in both average and outlier error for depth maps diffused from inaccurate sparse points. Finally, we compare qualitative and quantitative results to image processing and deep learning methods.


Reproduction is an essential part of a human life and being unable to conceive marks a great impact on mind and body of both males and females. Infertility being on a rise among the couples, urogenital infections are considered to be one of the major causes. A broad range of organisms including bacteria, fungi, virus, and parasites are well documented to interfere with the reproductive function in both the sexes. They affect different sites, in males, sperm morphology, its motility and eventually its function can be affected at different levels of their development, maturation, and mobility. In females, cervical areas, tubal obstruction, and peritoneal damage are the common sites that are affected by infections, thus, interfering with human fertility. Other than direct infections, co-infections are also nowadays suspected to be responsible for impairment of sperm quality, motility, and mobility. In light of these facts, this review aims to report the complex relation between infection and fertility. The following core competencies are addressed in this article: Medical knowledge, Patient care.


Background Long-term conditions often coexist with depression and anxiety. Aims To assess the effectiveness of stepped-care psychological therapies for patients with long-term conditions. Method Data from 28 498 patients were analysed using regression to model depression (Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9)) and anxiety (Generalised Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7)) outcomes. Post-treatment symptoms and effect sizes (d) were estimated for individuals with and without long-term conditions, controlling for covariates. The likelihood of access and response to intensive psychological interventions was also examined. Results Higher post-treatment symptoms were predicted for patients with musculoskeletal problems (d = 0.22–0.27), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (d = 0.26–0.33), diabetes (d = 0.05–0.13) and psychotic disorders (d = 0.50–0.58). Most long-term conditions were associated with greater odds of accessing high-intensity therapies, yet individuals who accessed these continued to have higher average post-treatment symptoms. Conclusions Some long-term conditions are associated with greater intensity of care and poorer outcomes after therapy.


Forage harvesting techniques that reduce losses in yield and quality that normally occur during field wilting of silage and curing of hay are needed. A 2-yr field study was conducted to evaluate mechanical dewatering of first-cutting forage of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), red clover (Trifolium pratense L.), and birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.) harvested at four stages of maturity. Each species, grown on Plano silt loam soil (fine-silty, mixed, mesic Typic Argiudolls), was harvested at weekly intervals beginning on 27 May 1980 and 26 May 1981, and the forage was macerated and pressed at 6.9 × 10⁵ Pa for 2 min. Samples of the whole crop collected immediately after cutting and of the pressed forage were dried at 55°C to constant weight. Birdsfoot trefoil was the highest in N concentration of the three whole crops, and red clover was higher in N than alfalfa in 1 of the 2 yr. Pressed forage of alfalfa averaged 6.0 g kg⁻¹ less N than the whole crop. Pressed forage averaged 106, 151, and 49 g kg⁻¹ more neutral detergent fiber (NDF) than whole crop for alfalfa, red clover, and birdsfoot trefoil, respectively. Birdsfoot trefoil in vitro dry matter disappearance (IVDMD) was affected least by Pressing, and red clover IVDMD was affected most. Results of this 2-yr experiment indicate that mechanical dewatering reduced IVDMD and generally N, and increased NDF concentration. Differences in legume species response to pressing were substantial and would preclude generalization of mechanical dewatering responses across species. However, whole crop dry matter, N, and IVDMD predicted 0.81 or more of the variation in pressed forage IVDMD of the three species, indicating that pressed forage IVDMD predicted from whole crop composition. Contribution of the Dep. of Agronomy, University.of Kentucky, and the Dep. of Agronomy, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706. Research supported in part by the International Harvester Company. Article no. 86-3-215.


When domains expire and are released to the public, adversaries can re-register them with the hope of exploiting residual trust from clients that are unaware of the change in ownership. Because domain name resolution is integral to the web, possible clients run the gamut from humans browsing the web to automated and periodic processes such as system updates. For an adversary, this trivially yields access to an attack vector that can affect a multitude of diverse systems and devices. We reason that some domains which experience residual trust and are valuable from a security perspective are not valuable from a dropcatching perspective and, as such, can be re-registered by an adversary without participating in fiercely competitive auctions for expired domains. In this paper, we present an investigation into this attack vector using a top-down, opportunistic approach, as opposed to bottom-up approaches used by prior work that target specific systems and infrastructure. Throughout a one-month re-registration period, we identify potentially valuable dropped domains using a threshold of passive DNS resolutions, re-register, and deploy them with basic honeypot services. We then analyze the traffic to these domains to find instances of residual trust that can be exploited. Our honeypot services recorded, over a four-month period, 650,737,621 requests from 5,540,379 unique IP addresses situated in 22,744 different autonomous systems to the 201 re-registered domains. Although a majority of these domains may not pose significant security risks, we are most concerned with and thus focus our discussion on unusual domains which receive orders of magnitude more traffic and types of traffic that are significantly different from the other domains. These include domains which previously functioned as a torrent tracker, an API for a computer lab usage statistics service used by many universities, an API that was a point of contact for a common Android haptics library, security company DNS sinkhole servers, an Internet radio and music station, command-and-control servers for malware and potentially unwanted programs, and an email tracker. Our findings demonstrate that expired domains pose a real threat to the security of the Internet ecosystem and that adversaries with modest budgets can compromise a wide range of systems and services by merely registering previously-popular domains that were left to expire.


The monostatic RCS of a large rectangular cavity mounted in a finite ground plane was modeled. Aperture integration (AI) of the waveguide modes was used for the cavity, and ground plane edge effects were accounted for via the uniform geometrical theory of diffraction (UTD). The relative importance of various diffraction mechanisms was investigated, in particular, RCS due to (a) the cavity, (b) the ground plane, and (c) interactions of the cavity with the ground plane. Results from the AI/UTD model were compared with the physical theory of diffraction (PTD) based RAPPORT code; agreement was found to be very good.


Vitamin D is known to affect the contractility of the heart, vascular tone and cardiac collagen content and tissue metabolism. A strong correlation exists between vitamin D deficiency and the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases. Scientific data indicates that raising vitamin D levels to normal can substantially reduce the elevated cardiovascular risk associated with this deficiency. Measurement of vitamin D levels is readily available and supplementation is easy. Vitamin D deficiency is present in approximately 30% to 50% of the general population. Our study reveals that an unusually high number (91.2%) of patients being treated in a cardiologist's office exhibit low levels of vitamin D. This high prevalence in this cohort may be partly related to a high latitude location, a significant presence of African Americans and associated factors like diuretic use and obesity. Given the strong association between vitamin D deficiency and cardiovascular disease, this data is of utmost clinical importance.


Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) functionality has been shown to dramatically increase the capacity of wireless communication systems when the environment provides rich multipath scattering. In a predominantly Line-of-Sight (LOS) environment, the loss of diversity reduces the potential gain considerably. Recent studies have shown that systems which use a fully -polarimetric antenna such as triad antenna at the both end of the link can provides stability in performance across a full range of propagation environments from LOS to pure Rayleigh scattering. These systems also provide resilience to arbitrary rotations of the transmit and receive antennas. This paper considers the multiuser downlink where both the base station and each user is equipped with a triad antenna. The system uses a CDMA transmitting scheme in which each user is assigned a two dimensional subspace and the transmitted information symbol for each user is coded across this subspace. The received signal for each user after despreading is equivalent to the decoding problem of a single user with space-time block code (STBC) system. We demonstrate that the transmitted information symbols can be chosen to have the structure of STBC with full rate, full-diversity and low complexity decoding. We also show how to generalize our basic MIMO CDMA scheme to apply to an inhomogeneous multiuser scenario where the base station has two transmit antennas, but each user is equipped with either one or two receive antennas and wish to use different STBCs.


The molecular machinery responsible for DNA expression, recombination, and compaction has been difficult to visualize as functionally complete entities due to their combinatorial and structural complexity. We report here the structure of the intact functional assembly responsible for regulating and executing a site-specific DNA recombination reaction. The assembly is a 240-bp Holliday junction (HJ) bound specifically by 11 protein subunits. This higher-order complex is a key intermediate in the tightly regulated pathway for the excision of bacteriophage λ viral DNA out of the E. coli host chromosome, an extensively studied paradigmatic model system for the regulated rearrangement of DNA. Our results provide a structural basis for pre-existing data describing the excisive and integrative recombination pathways, and they help explain their regulation. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.14313.001


— A sequence of different Reservoir Engineering methods and tools in reservoir characterization and field development are presented in this paper. The real data of Jin Gas Field of L-Basin of Pakistan is used. The basic concept behind this work is to enlighten the importance of well test analysis in a broader way (i.e. reservoir characterization and field development) unlike to just determine the permeability and skin parameters. Normally in the case of reservoir characterization we rely on well test analysis to some extent but for field development plan, the well test analysis has become a forgotten tool specifically for locations of new development wells. This paper describes the successful implementation of well test analysis in Jin Gas Field where the main uncertainties are identified during initial stage of field development when location of new development well was marked only on the basis of G&G (Geologic and Geophysical) data. The seismic interpretation could not encounter one of the boundary (fault, sub-seismic fault, heterogeneity) near the main and only producing well of Jin Gas Field whereas the results of the model from the well test analysis played a very crucial rule in order to propose the location of second well of the newly discovered field. The results from different methods of well test analysis of Jin Gas Field are also integrated with and supported by other tools of Reservoir Engineering i.e. Material Balance Method and Volumetric Method. In this way, a comprehensive way out and algorithm is obtained in order to integrate the well test analyses with Geological and Geophysical analyses for reservoir characterization and field development. On the strong basis of this working and algorithm, it was successfully evaluated that the proposed location of new development well was not justified and it must be somewhere else except South direction.


An easy technique is presented for the treatment of simple transversal fractures of the sternum when loss of alignment of the fractured extremities occurs. This technique produces instant relief and will avoid open reduction and wiring in most instances of uncomplicated fractures.


In this study, energy distributions of the various wormholes which connect two different parts of the universe have been investigated. We have obtained the energies of several types of wormholes as the statical wormholes, wormholes with scalar fields, electrical charged wormholes, zero density wormholes, zero radial tides wormholes, conformal wormholes, inflating wormholes, wormhole model in the Friedmann–Robertson–Walker (FRW) cosmology and Visser–Kar–Dadlich (VKD) wormholes using the Einstein, Weinberg and Landau–Lifshitz energy–momentum prescriptions. The Weinberg and Landau–Lifshitz energies of the statical wormholes, wormholes with scalar fields, electrical charged wormholes, zero density wormholes, zero radial tides wormholes or VKD-wormholes give the same results. Also, Weinberg, Landau–Lifshitz and Einstein energies of the conformal wormholes, inflating wormholes or wormholes in the FRW-cosmology give the different results.


Innovation has been recognised as a major source of modern productivity and constitutes a central process of economic development and in the case of developing countries, poverty reduction. However, Sub-Saharan Africa, and particular Uganda, has been left out in innovation because of the concentration of its intellectual property legislation processes on the transfers of technology that does not take the deliberate and conscious effort in building indigenous capacity in innovation and inventiveness. This paper entails a discussion an analysis of the factors shaping patent law reforms in Uganda in the absence of a national system of innovation and thus exposes the disjuncture of patent legislation with the national system of innovation. It is argued, herein, that for the reforms to be more meaningful, there is need for harmonization of the two processes, lest the reform process will be irrelevant to Uganda and continue serving global north patent interests. As a colony of Britain, Uganda adopted her patent law from England as part of the colonial heritage (Uganda was put under British influence following the Anglo-German Agreement of 1800). A Royal Chartered company trading in the name and style of Imperial British East African Company (IBEACO) was at the earliest tasked with trading as well as administering the geographical extent that came to be known as Uganda. In 1894, Capt. Fredrick Lugard a colonial administrator was sent and formally declared Uganda a British Protectorate. The interest of the British was at the onset imperialist, tied to economic exploitation. This economic imperialism arrested the autonomous development of Uganda and divorced it into an integrated world commodity economy as Nabudere aptly puts it:


By their nature the proceedings of any conference are highly vulnerable reports, readily subject to extensive criticism. This publication is no exception. One cannot help but admire, however, the efforts of workers to relate endocrinology and behavior. As a science, endocrinology remains operationally very diffuse with many almost independent subunits or specialized interests. Despite the years of study, behavioral inquiries defy even the simplest summary statements that meet with universal acceptance. Central nervous system involvement in the regulation of endocrines is serving as one of the few unifying approaches in endocrinology. Historically, the various endocrine glands have served as subject material for largely independent and unrelated subspeciality studies. Perhaps the most commendable contributions at this conference were the rather lucid reviews of the current state of information concerning the functional ``geography'' of the hypothalamus in effecting the integrated responses of a number of the endocrine


[1] Observations made by a unique constellation of Cluster (at 14–16 RE), TC2, Goes10, and LANL spacecraft (near 6.6 RE) have allowed us to study the details of three reconnection events in the middle of a thick plasma sheet with the reconnection X-line located unusually close to Earth (10–12 RE). We use mapping along field lines with magnetospheric models adapted to magnetic field observations to confirm that the reconnection region mapped onto localized auroral brightenings. Using simultaneous observations in the inflow and outflow regions, we describe an encounter with a localized tailward Alfvenic jet produced by a short isolated reconnection pulse. A good correlation between intense E and ion [BV] indicates that the concurrent strong turbulence could not destroy the frozen-in ion behavior in the reconnection outflow. We find that a steady quadrupole-like distribution of the magnetic By component in the turbulent reconnection outflow extended far beyond the ion diffusion region and existed for several minutes. We demonstrate an apparent Vx flow reversal, formed owing to the reappearance (switch-on) of reconnection at another location, rather than to a continuous motion of the active X-line. Using the Liouville mapping technique, we show that the acceleration of outflow electrons, after the particles passed a potential drop of 180 V, is consistent with Fermi/betatron acceleration. We also suggest another interpretation of the energetic particle bursts at the onsets, to emphasize the role of seed population and explain the sudden burst as a consequence of changing magnetic topology.


Embryonic stem cells, ESC are the foundation for all the tissue and organ, in the body. They are unique and have the ability to differentiate into any type of cell in the human body. Large number of experiments is usually required in order to establish how stem cells can be effectively grown outside the body before they can be effectively used in regenerative medicine to cure life-style related diseases. These can range from the determination of the optimum growth factors to the cell differentiation mechanism. Such experiments if they were to be truly exhaustive are not only costly in terms of the scientist's effort but require large sterilised incubation space, particularly if they were to be carried out manually using Petri dishes based on 10 reagents - requiring a combination of 10! In order to comprehensively explore all the possible combination of the reagent and growth factors required, high throughput automated dispensing and high density micro-wells are critically required. The viability of the cells for large scale experiments depends on many factors. The main aim of the research describe in this paper is to establish the key factors to ensure cell viability. This include the determination of most effective number of wells per plate; its ideal size, diameter and depth; amount of fluid to contain; effective number of cells in a colony; level of humidity; salinity and evaporation rates of the medium. It is through these research findings, that a micro-fluidic level sensing and dispensing system for cell cultivation is developed as a base for high throughput experiments.


The aim of the present study was to isolate and reveal the active components present in the whole plant of Leptadenia reticulata. The plant was extracted with ethanol. The phytochemical results show the presence of Carbohydrates, glycosides, saponins, phenolic compounds, Taninns, flavonoids and terpenes. The ethanol extract of Leptadenia reticulata was undergone coloumn chromatography with different solvent fractions. Two compounds were isolated from ethanolic extract. Compound 1 was eluted with benzene: Chloroform 40:60 v/v and it has been named as 6-amino-3-hydroxy-4-(4'-methylphenyl)-2H-chromen-2-on(C16H13NO3). and compound 2 was eluted with ethyl acetate: ethanol, 50:50, v/v named as Squalene (C30H50)


On January 20, 2022, the Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies (CASIS)-Vancouver hosted a Digital Roundtable titled Memes, Viruses, and Violence: A Nation Guide to Managing Contagious Threats, conducted by Dr. Joel Finkelstein, the director of the Network Contagion Research Institute. The presentation was followed by a question-and-answer period with questions from the audience and CASIS-Vancouver Executives. The main discussion topics included the intersectionality of memes, violence, and viruses; their impact on the culture of escapism; and how big data mapping could model predictions for memetic violence before it manifests into violence.


Nurses without prior psychiatric experience need to acquire certain information and skills if they are to practice with a sense of competence as they begin their careers in psychiatric/mental health nursing. Essential content for a suggested orientation program includes: key theoretical concepts; maintenance of a safe environment; and interacting with clients who are delusional/hallucinating, behaving seductively, or are suicidal. The importance of clinical supervision is addressed.


This paper is a resubmission of a paper I already made comments about as a reviewer (https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2020-327). I thank the authors for re submitting an updated version of their work, and congratulate them for the general improvement of the manuscript, and for taking into account most of my comments. Especially, I appreciate that they use longer time spans for the sensitivity tests. The statistical analysis of the results is also much improved.


Introduction: Disturbance in the lymphatic drainage during D2 dissection is associated with signi�cant morbidity. We aimed to assess the effect of �brin glue on reduction of postoperative seroma formation. Methods: Prospective double-blinded randomized clinical trial with forty patients in each study arm was conducted. All patients diagnosed, staged and became candidate for D2 dissection based on NCCN 2019 guideline for gastric cancer. Intervention group received 1 cc of IFABOND® applied to the surgical bed. Results: The difference between study groups regarding age, gender, tumor stage was insigni�cant. (All p values > 0.05). The median of daily drainage volume was 120 milliliter with the �rst and the third interquartile being 75 and 210 milliliter, respectively for intervention group. The control group had median, the �rst and the third interquartile of 350, 290 and 420 milliliter. The difference between daily drainage volumes was statistically signi�cant (p value < 0.001). The length of hospital stay was signi�cantly different between two groups and intervention group were discharged sooner (median of 7 Vs 9 days, p value: 0.001). Conclusion: This study showed possible role of �brin glue on reducing postoperative seroma formation after gastrectomy and D2 dissection.(


Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have gained significant attention in many
applications due to their porous crystalline structures with high architectural and
chemical robustness and customized topologies. A high-quality extended
two-dimensional (2D) hexagonal porous COF-1 network can be obtained through
cyclocondensation of three 1,4-benzenediboronic acid (BDBA) monomers by using
excess water as the chemical-equilibrium-manipulating agent on a highly oriented
pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) substrate. The surface-confined COF-1 can be used as
template to recognize different guest molecules, allowing formation of a host/guest
(H/G) structure. The intrinsic features of H/G structures lead to their wide
applications in molecular recognition, catalysis, gas storage, separation and directed
crystallization. Driven by the potential applications, the present work in this thesis
concentrates on the preparation and properties of H/G structures based on COF-1
templates at the solution/solid interface.
Firstly, scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) images show that the surface-supported
two-dimensional COF-1 can act as a host architecture for C60 fullerene molecules,
predictably trapping the molecules under a range of conditions. C60 adsorbs in the
COF-1 template in two different sites, the top-site (T) and the pore-site (P). The
fullerenes occupy the COF-1 lattice at the heptanoic acid/HOPG interface, and in
dried films of the COF-1/fullerene network that can be synthesized through either drop-deposition of fullerene solution or by a dipstick-type synthesis in which the
surface-supported COF-1 is briefly dipped into the fullerene solution.
COF-1 can be synthesized from different solvents. When 1,2,4-trichlorobeznene
(TCB) is used, STM images reveal the adsorption of TCB in the hexagonal pore of
COF-1 template at TCB/HOPG interface. A well-defined loop boundary formed by a
chain of pentagonal and heptagonal pores allowed us to investigate the effect of pore
shape and size on TCB adsorption, suggesting that both geometrical and size effects
are important in binding the TCB. When both C60 and TCB are present at the
TCB/HOPG interface, TCB molecules are selectively trapped in the pore-site,
whereas fullerenes adsorb on the top-site of COF-1. While the former structure is
stabilized by Cl…H hydrogen bonds, the latter is controlled by van der Waals (vdW)
interactions. These results suggest that surface-supported 2D porous COFs can
selectively bind different molecules at specific sites via different types of interactions
and COFs may offer a powerful platform for the recognition and patterning of guest
molecules.
Moreover, a 2D COF-1 can template solution-processed C60 guest molecules to form
several solvent-dependent structural arrangements and morphologies via a 2D to 3D
growth process. When TCB is used as solvent, C60 molecules form a template-defined
close packed structure. When heptanoic acid is used as solvent, a range of lower
density architectures that deviate from the template-defined close packing are
observed. This difference is attributed to the co-adsorption of the heptanoic acid solvent molecules, which is only achieved in the presence of the template. This work
demonstrates the possibility to precisely control molecular self-assembly to form
designed 3-dimensional (3D) structures through the synergistic combination of
template and solvent effects.


Pigmented villonodular synovitis (PVNS) is a metaplastic process that can occur in the synovium, bursae or tendon sheaths and can be localized or diffuse. Its features on radiographs and computed tomography are nonspecific, but magnetic resonance imaging is diagnostic. Its appearance on fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) is not well described. We present a case of recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the floor of the mouth with an FDG-avid lesion of the left upper arm on a whole-body PET scan that was shown to be PVNS on subsequent biopsy. To our knowledge, this is one of the very few cases reported in the literature describing FDG avidity of PVNS. We explore the features of PVNS on various imaging modalities and its potential for being mistaken for malignancy. J Med Cases. 2014;5(4):253-255 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14740/jmc1691w


Ethnoveterinary medicine is frequently used for treating livestock diseases by many different ethnic groups in Ethiopia. Nearly 90% of livestock population in Ethiopia use plant based traditional medicines as their major health care system. This study was conducted to identify ethnoveternary medicinal plants used for the treatment of livestock ailments in Seharti-Samre district, northern Ethiopia. Ethnoveterinary data were collected from 36 informants using semi-structured interviews. Twenty two species of ethnoveterinary medicinal plants were collected and identified for treating 18 different livestock ailments. Most of the ethnoveterinary medicinal plants were collected from the wild stands and leaves were most commonly used plant parts for ethnoveterinary medicine preparations. The ethnoveterinary medicinal plant preparations were applied through different routes of administration like dermal, oral, nasal, ocular and anal routes. Evaluation of the ethnoveterinary medicinal plants for their efficacy and possible toxicity would be very important.


The experiments on pure-strain laying hens of meat direction showed that the mineral supplement consisting of sodium metasilicate, sodium sulfate, sodium bicarbonate and sodium selenite added to the standard feed of PK-1-26 composition improved the biological value of incubation eggs as a results of the increased quantity of glycogen, RNA, total lipids and carotenoids. This promotes and increase in hatchability of chicken by 0.45%.


Objective: To correlate blood lead levels and clinical manifestations. Participants: Battery workers and painters (occupationally exposed to lead in and around Mangalore, India) and occupationally unexposed controls. Main outcome measures: We measured the blood lead levels by anodic stripping voltammetry, and a clinical examination was carried out on all participants. Results: There was a statistically significant difference between the lead-exposed group and controls with respect to clinical manifestations. The prominent findings among the lead-exposed group were fatigue, abdominal colic, abdominal discomfort, backache, muscular exhaustability, myalgia and paresthesia, at a blood lead level ranging from 0.4 to 116.6 μg/dL. Conclusions: Such a study on battery workers and painters has not been reported in India. Several attempts have been made over the years to relate blood lead levels to adverse health effects. It was not possible to determine a precise blood lead level below which symptoms never occur or a blood lead level at which symptoms are always reported. Toxicology and Industrial Health 2006; 22: 405-413.


The main cause of Euromaidan and the subsequent social revolution that took place in Ukraine in 2013-2014 has been the subject of vigorous debate and inquiry. Why was the former peaceful and short-lived, while the latter was violent and enduring? More importantly, what motivated Ukrainian citizens to protest?
This dissertation posits that although the Orange revolution does not fall within the definition of a classical social revolution, it started a process of transformation of the political culture of Ukraine. Utilizing the classical approaches to the study of the political culture combined with the literature on political identities in the post-communist countries, this thesis submits that some components of the political culture of Ukrainians transformed during the studied period. The biggest changes occurred regarding citizens' orientations towards others and towards oneself in the political process. Although a low level of confidence in the political institutions and the political regime as the whole, Ukrainians increased their support for such democratic values as protection of human rights, fair and consistent enforcement of the law as well as intolerance towards the presence of corruption. Younger and more educated Ukrainians increased their trust and tolerance towards "others"- people that you meet for the first time, people of another nationality and religion.
The most important findings were about political competence and political actions. The presence of free media during the initial years after the Orange revolution combined with an increase in alternative forms of social interaction and activity such as online discussion groups and blogging, allowed citizens to freely communicate and express their opinions without fear of being punished. This and an increase in interpersonal trust, created favorable conditions for a new form of political socialization, interaction, and collaboration. It also was correlated with an increased in alternative forms of political actions, including political protests.
However, other aspects of political culture have not changed - low confidence in the main political institutions; low membership in political and non political organizations, low political efficacy. Hence, Ukrainians participation in alternative political activities increased in the absence of confidence in traditional forms of political activities such as elections.


Theory of mind (ToM) is commonly measured in young children by the false belief task. Many researchers claim that 3-year-olds' failure on false belief tasks is due to task constraints. Experiment 1 empirically tested the claim made by Wellman, Cross, and Watson (2001), that even when variables that enhance performance on the false belief task (deception; participation in transformation; salience; and item not real and present) are included in one task, 3-year-olds will still fail to perform above chance level. On the standard task 4-year-olds did perform significantly better than 3-year-olds, although there was no significant difference on the adapted task. Compared to the standard task, 3-year-olds performed better on the adapted task, although this improvement was not significant and performance was still not above chance level. Experiment 2 examined the influence of two additional variables; presence of protagonist at the time when the false belief question is asked, and the order in which test questions are asked (memory preceding false belief or vice versa). Results found no significant effects of either presence of the protagonist or question order on the performance of participants. Results are discussed with reference to reasons behind the failure of some children on false belief tasks.


Abstract:This article asserts the necessity of a twenty-first century movement for achieving excellence with equity. For most of our nation's history, it was taken for granted that academic skill levels among some groups would be lower, on average, than for others. Indeed, a culture of White supremacy maintained a division of labor that relegated people of color disproportionately to jobs in which academic skill was not a requirement. Now, several contemporary trends warrant birth-to-career changes in how the nation prepares all children for life in the twenty-first century. I describe those trends and propose key elements of a movement befitting this moment in history.


As previously discussed in an article "The Virtual Environment - A Learning Environment?" (Scoda, 2014), this environment represents an imperative issue especially today when we think of how pupils learn and how important it is to ensure quality in our learning environment. This paper analysis and poses in addition questions as seen thru the looking glass, viewed from a different angle, focusing mainly on parent's opinions referring to the impact of these new technologies on our children.
The design of the paper is based on the responses obtained from the "community of parents" with different backgrounds and different goals for their children. Thus, their opinions and perceptions concerning our new technologies developed and how these technologies effects their learning in general, as well for the education system in the present and for the future are just some of the questions analyzed throughout the paper. The key question at heart is this environment adequate for today and tomorrow in preparing our children for their future? The opinions and perceptions obtained from the "community of parents" will bring into light an imagine on the one hand, on the topic of the importance and impact of this environment for our children (needs, advantages/disadvantages etc.) and on the other hand, it will offer a portrait of the "child" who uses this virtual environment as means for learning (proper age, digital skills that could be developed with these tools etc.). The methods and techniques: analysis of documents - recent studies, theory, case studies in the field etc., and a survey questionnaire addressed to the "community of parents".


The Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE) was designed to demonstrate a measurable reduction in beam emittance due to ionization cooling. The emittance of a variety of muon beams was reconstructed before and after a "cooling cell", allowing the change in the phase-space distribution due to the presence of an absorber to be measured. The core of the MICE experiment is a cooling cell that can contain a range of solid and cryogenic absorbers inside a focussing solenoid magnet. For the data described here, a single lithium hydride (LiH) absorber was installed and two different emittance beam have been analysed. Distributions that demonstrate emittance increase and equilibrium have been reconstructed, in agreement with theoretical predictions.
Data taken during 2016 and 2017 is currently being analysed to evaluate the change in emittance with a range of absorber materials, different initial emittance beams and various magnetic lattice settings. The current status and the most recent results of these analyses is presented.


Scope of online learning in higher education now more widely assumed to be a repository of teaching materials for both teachers and students. Nevertheless there are still many things that can still be developed and studied with an experimental model for online learning can be more participatory in the learning context given that the scope of the college is more directed to andragogik. One innovation that leads to this is to make the application of model-based learning wiki adopting crowdsourcing. This paper explores theoretical study attempted as a first step in the research development of wiki-based online learning model. The results of this study should be the basis for experiments to be conducted in order to adapt contextually in real state.


Sidewalls of acid-treated, shortened single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) with long alkyl chains at the open ends and defect sites have been functionalized by Bingel reaction to examine the structures and spectroscopic properties in details. Microwave-assisted Bingel reaction has been successfully applied to the sidewall functionalization of which the reaction rate is ca. 50 times faster than that under the conventional conditions. The degree of the sidewall functionalization (one diester unit per 75 – 300 carbon atoms of SWNT) was found to be controllable by changing the output power of microwave under the same temperature. Atomic force microscopy and transmission electron microscopy showed the progressive exfoliation of the SWNT bundles by the double chemical modification. Resonant Raman and UV–vis–near IR absorption spectroscopies revealed that the electronic properties of SWNTs are largely retained after a significant degree of the sidewall modification by Bingel reaction without apparent selective reactivity for metallic and semiconducting SWNTs. This is in remarkable contrast with conventional sidewall functionalization of SWNTs leading to the loss of their electronic properties (one functional group per 10 – 100 carbon atoms on the sidewall). Thus, the covalent functionalization methodology presented here can provide SWNT materials with both excellent solubility and inherent electronic properties which are highly desirable in solution-phase processing for the fabrication of SWNT-based molecular devices.


Abstract In this work, the fundamentals of upstream flow over cylinders and forming fabrics are investigated, and measures for characterization of fabrics are proposed. Two-dimensional flow over one cylinder, two cylinders, and one and two rows of cylinders, are analysed numerically. By studying different configurations and various Reynolds numbers, the upstream flow features are characterized. It is concluded that cylinders have a short range of upstream flow impact, shortest for rows of cylinders with small spacings. For R e ∈ [ 10 , 80 ]Re\in [10,80], the Reynolds number dependency is weak. It is shown that a downstream row positioned in tandem has negligible impact on the upstream flow, while a displaced second row influences the upstream flow if the spacing in the first row is larger than one diameter. The pressure drop required to drive the flow over the cylinders depends non-linearly on the porosity of the configuration. Flow measures of the upstream flow are proposed, which in addition to the volume flow per area are used to characterize fabric flow properties. The conclusions from the cylinder study also hold for industrial fabrics, and it can be explained how properties of the fabric influence the final paper. The wave-length of flow periodicity is studied in relation to drainage marking. This study demonstrates that simulations can greatly improve pure experimental-based fabric characterization.


A consecutive series of 38 lung carcinoid tumours (36 surgical and two necropsy specimens) was studied. Histopathological features and amine and peptide hormone immunoreactivity were correlated with gross characteristics (size, location) and clinical data. Peripheral carcinoids were detected a decade later than central carcinoids and tended to be bigger. In general, the histological characteristics of peripheral and central carcinoids were similar; atypical features, however, were more common in peripheral carcinoids. Most carcinoids contained many argyrophilic cells (58%). Although argentaffinic cells were not found, serotonin immunoreactive cells were present in 32% of the tumours. Peptide hormone immunoreactivity (adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH), calcitonin, somatostatin, gastrin) was rare. In one case massive ACTH production had caused clinically manifest Cushing's syndrome. In two other cases few ACTH immunoreactive cells were found and in one case calcitonin immunoreactive cells were present. The relative rarity of hormone production in lung carcinoids and the predominantly benign course of the tumour preclude the use of peptide hormone production as a prognostic indicator.


Ever since environmental ethics (EE) began to take form as an academic discipline in the early 1970s, the notion of intrinsic value has occupied a prominent position within the field. Recently, however, various types of critique have emerged within EE against invoking this notion. Contrary to these critiques, I argue that appeals to intrinsic value are not problematic, given the reason-implying sense of 'intrinsic value' that is most relevant to EE. I further argue that also those who criticise 'intrinsic-value-talk' in EE actually need this reason-implying concept of intrinsic value. However, once we realise that this is the sense of 'intrinsic value' that is most relevant to EE, it also becomes clear that it is the concept of a reason, rather than that of intrinsic value, that is most important to EE.


The paper analyze the economic models of the well-known Eurasianist doctrine of Russian imperial thinking and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). In the modern era of globalization, an alliance of countries on the basis of the Eurasianist economic model is impossible to establish. The newly established EAEU rests on a redistribution mechanism for oil and gas revenues, whereby Russia deliberately relinquishes a part of its due gains in favor of other member-states in order to not only induce economic interest to remain within the Union, but also to maintain and enhance its political influence via this economic output. Western economic sanctions imposed against Russia as a countermeasure to the invasion and annexation of Crimea and the military and political support provided to the breakaway regions of Eastern Ukraine, as well as the retaliatory anti-sanctions levied by Russia against the West, have demonstrated the fragility and instability of the EAEU. A comparison of the EU with the EAEU does not favor the later. Although attaining membership of the EAEU is much easier than that of the EU, the negative aspects described above ensure that this option holds no appeal for post-Soviet Georgia.


The integral equation (IE) method is commonly used to model time-harmonic electromagnetic (EM) phenomena. One of the major challenges in its application arises in the solution of the resulting ill-conditioned matrix equation. Here, we introduce a new domain decomposition (DD) based iterative method for the IE solution of time-harmonic electromagnetic problems. There are two major ingredients in the proposed IE-DDM: (a) the method is a type of non-overlapping DD method and provides a computationally efficient and effect preconditioner for the dense matrix equation from the IE method. (b) The presented method is very suitable for dealing with multi-scale EM problem. Each sub-domain has its own characteristics length and will be meshed independently from others. Numerical results demonstrate superior performance of the IE-DDM.


Purpose: The typical referral for clinical or research bone densitometry requests a "non-dominant" limb exam. While hand dominance reliably predicts upper extremity skeletal dominance, our experience suggests that functional dominance does not predict lower limb skeletal dominance. In the absence of a single reliable technique to determine lower extremity functional dominance, the extrapolation of the upper extremity rule is widespread; to the extent that scanning devices such as densitometers are generally designed to facilitate scanning of the left hip rather than the right to accommodate the preponderance of right handed individuals in the population. The aim of the current work was to determine the true nature of the association between functional and skeletal dominance of the lower limb. The ultimate goal is to establish a simple and reliable determinant of lower extremity skeletal dominance. Methods: 100 healthy men and women (age 32.5 ᱰ.2 years) were recruited for anthropometry and bilateral hip densitometry (BMD; Norland XR-800), calcaneal quantitative ultrasonometry (BUA; QUS-2, Quidel) and tibial peripheral quantitative computed tomography (cortical and trabecular density and area, cortical width and stress strain indices [SSI]; XCT3000 Stratec). Side dominance questionnaires and physical tasks were completed including the Waterloo Footedness Questionnaire(Revised) (WFQ-R), hop distance test, step test, handedness and footedness questions, and side preference for a number of common postures (e.g. folding arms). Correlation analyses and chi square tests with crosstabs were run on all bone and functional dominance parameters using SPSS(17). Results: Significant negative relationships were found for handedness and WFQ-derived dominance with femoral neck BMD dominance (r = -0.35, p = 0.01 and r = -0.32, p = 0.03 respectively), as well as arm folding dominance with tibial SSI dominance at the 14% site (r = -0.62, p = 0.003). While significance was not reached for other measures, a consistent trend for lower limb skeletal dominance in the functionally non-dominant limb was observed for 70% of all bone parameters. Conclusions: Contrary to conventional thinking, the functionally dominant lower extremity exhibits lower bone mass than the functionally non-dominant lower limb. Findings bring into question the standard practice of scanning left lower extremity regions of right handed individuals when skeletally non-dominant lower limb measures are desired.


The furnace of steel plant is a complex controlled object which has the properties of nonlinear, time-varying and delay. Its modeling and control are very difficult. The temperature control of the furnace mainly depends on the control of gas flow. Therefore, the study of a reasonable gas flow control program is the key to increase the level of heating control. In this paper, an improved fuzzy PID control algorithm is proposed, in which, PID control algorithm and fuzzy control algorithm are integrated together, and its characteristics are improved according to feature of furnace. This made the algorithm to has good adaptability and Interference capability. The simulation results show that the improved control algorithm is better than traditional algorithm in overcoming the non-liner, delay of the object and the performance is excellent.


Localization is a crucial skill in mobile robotics because the robot needs to make reasonable navigation decisions to complete its mission. Many approaches exist to implement localization, but artificial intelligence can be an interesting alternative to traditional localization techniques based on model calculations. This work proposes a machine learning approach to solve the localization problem in the RobotAtFactory 4.0 competition. The idea is to obtain the relative pose of an onboard camera with respect to fiducial markers (ArUcos) and then estimate the robot pose with machine learning. The approaches were validated in a simulation. Several algorithms were tested, and the best results were obtained by using Random Forest Regressor, with an error on the millimeter scale. The proposed solution presents results as high as the analytical approach for solving the localization problem in the RobotAtFactory 4.0 scenario, with the advantage of not requiring explicit knowledge of the exact positions of the fiducial markers, as in the analytical approach.


The general perception of unions in the Guatemalan business community has been that they have a negative effect on firms. Although this is a strong statement, there are very few studies of unionization in Guatemala, and most of them are only descriptive. This paper provides an econometric analysis of the impact of unions on productivity in Guatemala, specifically on the production of coffee. Although union density is low, we conclude from the empirical analysis that there is evidence that unions when present have a negative effect on the productivity of large coffee plantations. We use different estimations of a production function and the effect of unions on productivity. The first uses a union dummy and other independent variables, such as a capital proxy, the proportion of administrative and permanent workers, land per worker, total workers, farm elevation above sea level and a union dummy. The second uses these same equations, but with interaction terms between the original variables and the union dummy. The results show that these other variables, when significant, had a positive effect on productivity. The only is total workers, which could be indicating that diseconomies of scale are present. As for the interaction terms, when a union is present, the productivity of variables such as land per worker and height is reduced significantly. Also, it seems that capital has a larger effect on unionized farms productivity than on non-unionized farms. The presence of permanent workers on farms, both in unionized and non-unionized settings, has a negative effect on productivity.


Rieske iron-sulfur protein (RISP) is a key protein subunit of mitochondrial complex III which plays an important role in the respiratory electron transport chain. The complete cDNA of RISP was cloned from Spodoptera exigua by real time quantitative PCR and rapid-amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) technology and named as SeRISP (GenBank Accession Number: JN992290). Multiple alignments and the creation of a phylogenetic tree revealed that RISPs are highly conserved among different insects, and the highly conserved region of RISPs is mainly located at the C-terminal which serves as the functional domain. Expression pattern analysis demonstrated that SeRISP is expressed in all developmental stages of S. exigua; the expression levels increased during larval growth, remained stable during development from fourth instar to pupa and reached a peak in the adult. In addition, SeRISP was significantly suppressed at both the mRNA and protein levels by feeding the instar stage with dsRNA; levels of suppression increased with increasing dsRNA concentration and continuous treatment time. The silencing of SeRISP in larvae led to the significant inhibition of ATP synthesis and larval growth, which could result in energy reserve deficiency in pupae and the suppression of fecundity and hatchability in adults. Our findings confirmed that it is possible to silence target genes in S. exigua by simple dsRNA feeding, and provided evidence of the essential role of RISP in the process of ATP synthesis, growth and reproduction.


PURPOSE
Failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) is a subjective risk mitigation technique that has not been applied to physics-specific quality management practices. There is a need for quantitative FMEA data as called for in the literature. This work focuses specifically on quantifying FMEA severity scores for physics components of IMRT delivery and comparing to subjective scores.

METHODS
Eleven physical failure modes (FMs) for head and neck IMRT dose calculation and delivery are examined near commonly accepted tolerance criteria levels. Phantom treatment planning studies and dosimetry measurements (requiring decommissioning in several cases) are performed to determine the magnitude of dose delivery errors for the FMs (i.e., severity of the FM). Resultant quantitative severity scores are compared to FMEA scores obtained through an international survey and focus group studies.

RESULTS
Physical measurements for six FMs have resulted in significant PTV dose errors up to 4.3% as well as close to 1 mm significant distance-to-agreement error between PTV and OAR. Of the 129 survey responses, the vast majority of the responders used Varian machines with Pinnacle and Eclipse planning systems. The average years of experience was 17, yet familiarity with FMEA less than expected. Survey reports perception of dose delivery error magnitude varies widely, in some cases 50% difference in dose delivery error expected amongst respondents. Substantial variance is also seen for all FMs in occurrence, detectability, and severity scores assigned with average variance values of 5.5, 4.6, and 2.2, respectively. Survey shows for MLC positional FM(2mm) average of 7.6% dose error expected (range 0-50%) compared to 2% error seen in measurement. Analysis of ranking in survey, treatment planning studies, and quantitative value comparison will be presented.

CONCLUSION
Resultant quantitative severity scores will expand the utility of FMEA for radiotherapy and verify accuracy of FMEA results compared to highly variable subjective scores.


Abstract SAP is the world leader in the enterprise resource planning (ERP) market with 25% market share. The objective of this study is to analyze and integrate several dynamics that have an impact on the adoption of SAP ERP system depending upon the modified technology acceptance model (TAM). Drawing from the TAM, four variables – actual usage, behavioral intention to use, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness – are synthesized and integrated with panoptic empowerment, consultant support, learner-learner interaction, learner-teacher interaction, mastery goal orientation, personal innovativeness, satisfaction, top management support, trialability, and user guidance to develop a research model. Our sample is gathered through the end users that have experience on the SAP ERP system in an emerging country, Turkey. The structural equation modeling approach is able to be applied since our sample size (N = 584) is large enough. The SmartPLS is used to conduct the analyses which indicate that out of 23 hypotheses, 20 of them are supported. Moreover, this paper conducts a mediation effect analyses. The implications of the results are reviewed, and the recommendations are provided for further studies. This article links the theory and practice in SAP ERP systems by proposing a model, which offers novel perceptions for engineering managers who are in search of adopting the SAP ERP system.


A key trait of daily conversations between individuals is the ability to express empathy towards others, and exploring ways to implement empathy is a crucial step towards human-like dialogue systems. Previous approaches on this topic mainly focus on detecting and utilizing the user's emotion for generating empathetic responses. However, since empathy includes both aspects of affection and cognition, we argue that in addition to identifying the user's emotion, cognitive understanding of the user's situation should also be considered. To this end, we propose a novel approach for empathetic response generation, which leverages commonsense to draw more information about the user's situation and uses this additional information to further enhance the empathy expression in generated responses. We evaluate our approach on EMPATHETICDIALOGUES, which is a widely-used benchmark dataset for empathetic response generation. Empirical results demonstrate that our approach outperforms the baseline models in both automatic and human evaluations and can generate more informative and empathetic responses. Our code is available at https://github.com/Sahandfer/CEM.


It has been reported that research productivity is a dominant criterion for promotion and tenure decisions involving business school faculty and marketing faculty in particular [2, 3]. Such productivity is typically measured in terms of publications in scholarly journals, publications in conference proceedings, and presentations at conferences. A farily substantial body of published research has emerged in the last ten years dealing with the entire arena of research and publications activity in the discipline of marketing. The criteria utilized to evaluate this body of published research can be broadly grouped together under these categories: How are various marketing journals ranked? Which marketing journals are most influential? Which individual articles in marketing have had the most impact? How do the editorial policies of the marketing journals compare? What type of articles form the content of marketing journals? Exhibit I catalogues individual articles under these categories. (The complete references for the citations in Exhibit I are in Appendix B.) EXHIBIT I CLASSIFICATION OF MARKETING ARTICLES DEALING WITH RESEARCH AND PUBLICATIONS Which schools' faculties are publishing most: In total and per capita basis? Clark and Hanna [13]; Clark and Kaminski [14]; Clark, Hancock, and Kaminski [17]; Clark [12]; Clark [11]; Cook [19]; Geistfeld and Key [22]; Henry and Burch [26]; Kurtz and Boone [27]; Marquardt and Murdock [30]; Milner, Norvell, and Andrus [33]; Moore and Taylor [34]; Robinson and Adler [37]; Wheatley and Wilson [41] Which schools' graduates are publishing the most? Robinson and Adler [37]; Wheatley and Wilson [41] Which graduate programs are most highly regarded and what changes have occurred in such rankings over time? Brooker and Shinoda [7]; Childers and Heckler [10]; Cook [19]; Grant [24] How are the journals in this field ranked? Beltramini, Schlacter, and Kelley [3]; Bertsch [4]; Browne and Becker [8, 9]; Coe and Weinstock [18]; Cook [19]; Fry, Walters, and Scheuermann [21]; Luke and Doke [29]; Parasuraman [36]; Vocino and Elliott [39, 40] Articles in which journals are the most influential? Clark and Kaminski [14]; Michman and Gross [32]; Parasuraman [36]; Vocino and Elliott [39, 40] Which individual articles have had the most impact? Clark and Kaminski [15] Promotion, Tenure, Editorial Policies, Journal Proliferation, etc. Bass [2]; Beltramini, Schlacter, and Kelley [3]; Broad [6]; Ferber [20]; Gerber and Hilger [23]; LaLonde [28]; Mason [31]; Shapiro [38]; Wooten, Stelert, and Ryan [42] Content Analysis, Methodological Issues in Journals, and Other Topics Albaum and Peterson [1]; Black and Gunnigle [5], Geistfeld and Key [22]; Grazer and Stiff [25]; Myers, Massey, and Greyser [35] To the best of our knowledge, there has been no attempt to measure how active researchers in non-marketing areas of business administration view the marketing journals. In fact, very little is known about the awareness, let alone evaluation, of marketing journals. However, this awareness is important, since college and university level promotion and tenure committees are typically interdisciplinary. A marketing faculty member up for promotion and/or tenure typically assembles descriptions of accomplishments and recommendations in a file that proceeds through the department, college, and university level committees before a final decision is reached. Hence, a relevant issue is: how informed are business school faculty researchers outside the marketing area about marketing journals and what do they think of these journals? The research reported here sheds light on both of these issues. DESCRIPTION OF THE SURVEY Data for this research were collected through a mail survey of researchers who had published in "top" business journals. …


Graphene and other single-layer structures are pursued as high-flux separation membranes, although imparting porosity endangers their crystalline integrity. In contrast, bilayer silica composed of corner-sharing (SiO4) units is foreseen to be permeable for small molecules due to its intrinsic lattice openings. This study sheds light on the mass transport properties of freestanding 2D SiO2 upon using atomic layer deposition (ALD) to grow large-area films on Au/mica substrates followed by transfer onto Si3N4 windows. Permeation experiments with gaseous and vaporous substances reveal the suspended material to be porous, but the membrane selectivity appears to diverge from the size exclusion principle. Whereas the passage of inert gas molecules is hindered with a permeance below 10-7 mol·s-1·m-2·Pa-1, condensable species like water are found to cross vitreous bilayer silica a thousand times faster in accordance with their superficial affinity. This work paves the way for bilayer oxides to be addressed as inherent 2D membranes.


- -- - Several studies have been reported with the purpose of storing NG in porous media by adsorption. Experimental data and mathematical models that describe the adsorption phenomena of pure methane, the main component of NG (about 90%) already exist, however they do not describe satisfactorily the behavior of NG storage cycles, b ecause of the presence of several other hydrocarbons like ethane, propane, butane and heavier alkanes. This study presents measurements of experimental data for the adsorption equilibrium of binary mixtures of low-molecular-weight alkanes and compares them with mathematical models for multicomponent adsorption prediction based on each pure component adsorption data. Experiments were performed with the binaries methane-ethane, methane-propane and methane-butane. Experimental results were compared with predictions from the Extended Langmuir model and Ideal Adsorbed Solution (IAS) model.


Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Learning a first language Milestones and patterns in development Early childhood bilingualism Developmental sequences Summary Theoretical approaches to explaining first language learning Behaviourism: Say what I say Activity: Analysing children's speech Innatism: It's all in your mind The interactionist position: A little help from my friends Summary 2. Theoretical approaches to explaining second language learning Activity: Learner problems Behaviourism Innatism Universal Grammar Krashen's 'monitor model' Recent psychological theories Information processing Connectionism The interactionist position Summary 3. Factors affecting second language learning Activity: Characteristics of the 'good language learner' Research on learner characteristics Intelligence Aptitude Personality Motivation and attitudes Learner preferences Learner beliefs Age of acquisition Activity: Comparing child, adolescent, and adult language learners Summary 4. Learner language The concept of learner language Activity: The Great Toy Robbery Developmental sequences Grammatical morphemes Negation Questions Activity: Learners' questions Activity: More about questions Relative clauses Reference to past Movement through developmental sequences New ways of looking at first language influence Summary 5. Observing second language teaching Comparing instructional and natural settings for language learning Activity: Natural and instructional settings Activity: Classroom comparisons: teacher-student interactions Classroom observation schemes Activity: Observing the kinds of questions you ask your students Feedback in the classroom Activity: Analysing classroom interaction Summary of transcripts Activity: Observing how you respond to students' errors Summary 6. Second language learning in the classroom: Five proposals for classroom teaching 1 Get it right from the beginning 2 Say what you mean and mean what you say 3 Just listen ... and read 4 Teach what is teachable 5 Get it right in the end The implications of classroom research for teaching Summary 7. Popular ideas about language learning: Facts and opinions 1 Languages are learned mainly through imitation 2 Parents usually correct young children when they make grammatical errors 3 People with high IQs are good language learners 4 The most important factor in second language acquisition success is motivation 5 The earlier a second language is introduced in school programs, the greater the likelihood of success 6 Most of the mistakes which second language learners make are due to interference from their first language 7 Teachers should present grammatical rules one at a time 8 Teachers should teach simple structures before complex ones 9 Learners' errors should be corrected as soon as they are made in order to prevent bad habits 10 Teachers should use materials that expose students only to language structures they have already been taught 11 When learners are allowed to interact freely they learn each others' mistakes 12 Students learn what they are taught CONCLUSION GLOSSARY BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX


Abstract Prior to the conservation treatment of a late sixteenth-century South-German house altar with seven reverse paintings on glass, technical and scientific research was conducted on the glass substrate, binding media, colourants and metals. Microscopic examination revealed the particularities of the so-called amelierung technique and the glass panel manufacture. For material analysis, gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, amino acid analysis, high performance liquid chromatography, as well as micro X-ray fluorescence spectrometry and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis were applied. The main component of the binder was identified as a heat-treated pine resin (colophony), modified with various softening resins. The red paint layer contains cochineal and small amounts of dragon's blood. The original blue and green areas, which contain smalt and copper resinate, have undergone considerable colour change. The reverse paintings on glass were in a poor state of preservation: due to high moisture (flooding at the museum) and material degradation, the paint layers were severely delaminated, fractured into hundreds of small paint flakes and partially attached to silver foil and paper backing. The detached paint flakes were transferred back to their original positions on the glass with a fine brush and secured using a hydrocarbon resin. This was followed by the application of microcrystalline wax which achieved a brilliant saturation of the reverse paintings on glass. However, the discolouration remained in the blue and green areas. A photograph of the altar's central panel after the conservation treatment was digitally manipulated to recreate the presumed original tonality.


An urgent challenge facing biologists is predicting the regional-scale population dynamics of species facing environmental change. Biologists suggest that we must move beyond predictions based on phenomenological models and instead base predictions on underlying processes. For example, population biologists, evolutionary biologists, community ecologists and ecophysiologists all argue that the respective processes they study are essential. Must our models include processes from all of these fields? We argue that answering this critical question is ultimately an empirical exercise requiring a substantial amount of data that have not been integrated for any system to date. To motivate and facilitate the necessary data collection and integration, we first review the potential importance of each mechanism for skilful prediction. We then develop a conceptual framework based on reaction norms, and propose a hierarchical Bayesian statistical framework to integrate processes affecting reaction norms at different scales. The ambitious research programme we advocate is rapidly becoming feasible due to novel collaborations, datasets and analytical tools.


This dataset provides a near-real-time estimate of 2017 herbaceous annual cover with an emphasis on annual grass (Boyte and Wylie. 2016. Near-real-time cheatrass percent cover in the Northern Great Basin, USA, 2015. Rangelands 38:278-284.) This estimate was based on remotely sensed enhanced Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (eMODIS) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data gathered through June 19, 2017. This is the second iteration of an early estimate of herbaceous annual cover for 2017 over the same geographic area. The previous dataset used eMODIS NDVI data gathered through May 1 (https://doi.org/10.5066/F7445JZ9). The pixel values for this most recent estimate ranged from 0 to100% with an overall mean value of 7.02% and a standard deviation of +/-9.08. The model's test mean error rate (n = 1664), based on nine different randomizations, equaled 5.2% with a standard deviation of +/- 0.09. Overall statistics between the May and June datasets were similar. However, some individual pixel differences can be considerable and are attributed to changing conditions on the ground that are reflected in the satellite data. These changes can influence how the models relate the dependent variable to the independent variables. Both datasets were generated by integrating ground-truth measurements of annual herbaceous percent cover with 250-m spatial resolution eMODIS NDVI satellite derived data and geophysical variables into regression-tree software. The geographic coverage includes the Great Basin, the Snake River Plain, the state of Wyoming, and contiguous areas. We applied a mask to areas above 2250-m elevation because annual grasses are unlikely to exist at substantial cover above this threshold. To target likely sagebrush ecosystems, the mask also covered pixels classified as something other than shrub or grassland/herbaceous by the 2011 National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD). The model was not trained on any masked pixels. Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) is the most common annual grass in the study area. It grows from seed, usually in spring, matures quickly, produces seed, and dies. After dying, cheatgrass contributes fine fuels that facilitate fire ignition and spread throughout sagebrush ecosystems. These fires remove sagebrush stands. Increasing fire frequencies, land management practices, and development have all contributed to the fragmentation of the once expansive sagebrush ecosystems. These ecosystems are critical for water quality, reduced fire threats, and the survival of sagebrush-dependent wildlife.


PURPOSE
To evaluate the rapid parathyroid hormone assay (rPTH) as a perioperative tool in predicting postoperative symptomatic hypocalcemia following thyroidectomy.

METHODS
We conducted a prospective study of 69 patients undergoing total or completion thyroidectomy. Rapid PTH levels were obtained preoperatively, intraoperatively, and postoperatively upon arrival in the postanesthesia care unit (PACU). All patients were closely monitored postoperatively for the development of symptomatic or asymptomatic hypocalcemia.

RESULTS
Of 60 patients (25%) undergoing thyroidectomy, 15 developed hypocalcemia, 7 (11.7%) were symptomatic, and 8 (13.3%) asymptomatic. An intraoperative rPTH level less than 12 pg/mL was 71% sensitive and 95% specific for predicting postoperative symptomatic hypocalcemia, whereas a PACU rPTH level less than 12 pg/mL was 100% sensitive and 92% specific. A greater than 75% decline in preoperative rPTH level when measured intraoperatively was 71% sensitive and 86% specific, whereas a greater than 75% decline in rPTH level in the PACU was 100% sensitive and 88% specific for predicting symptomatic hypocalcemia.

CONCLUSIONS
The rPTH assay is a highly accurate and effective tool for predicting symptomatic hypocalcemia immediately after thyroidectomy. Routine utilization of this assay is recommended, because it will allow safe and timely discharge of normocalcemic patients and the early identification of patients requiring treatment of postthyroidectomy hypocalcemia.


Members of the Bcl-2 family include pro- and antiapoptotic proteins that regulate programmed cell death of developing tissues and death in response to cellular damage. In developing mice, the antiapoptotic Bcl-xL is necessary for survival of neural and hematopoietic cells, and consequently, bcl-x-deficient mice die around Day 13.5 of embryogenesis. Furthermore, adult bcl-x +/- heterozygous male mice have reduced fertility because of testicular degeneration. Bax, a multi-BH (Bcl-2 homology) domain proapoptotic member of the Bcl-2 family, is regulated by Bcl-xL and is required for the neuropathological abnormalities seen in bcl-x-deficient embryos. The BH3 domain only subgroup of the Bcl-2 family includes proapoptotic members that are essential for the initiation of apoptotic signaling. In this study, we investigated the role for Bim, a BH3 domain only protein, in the embryonic lethality and increased developmental cell death in bcl-x-deficient animals and the perturbed testicular function in bcl-x +/- adults. Our studies show that bim deficiency attenuates hematopoietic cell death in the fetal liver of bcl-x-deficient animals, indicating that Bim contributes to programmed cell death in this cell population. In addition, we found that testicular degeneration of adult bcl-x +/- males was rescued by concomitant Bim deficiency. However, concomitant Bim deficiency had no effect on the embryonic lethality and widespread nervous system abnormalities caused by bcl-x deficiency. Our work identifies Bim as an important regulator of bcl-x deficiency-induced cell death during hematopoiesis and testicular development.


The main aim of this article is to place the report ''The
Future of Mixed Methods: A Five Year Projection to 2020'' to
the context of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). First, the
impact of the heritage of socialist regimes, such as the
institutional discontinuities and the hegemony of historical
methods, on the quality of methodology in research and in
education is described. It is argued that most local academics
typically rejected quantification of social science and
advocated for the use of qualitative and interpretative
approaches, yet (qualitative) methodological rigor was missing.
Second, the persisting specific regional challenges to the
rigorous use of methodology are presented. These include high
levels of inbreeding, lack of methodologically competent PhD
supervision, and a strong path dependency of research career
trajectories. As post-transitional societies have experienced
serious and unique problems, only a limited number of CEE
academics and institutions possess necessary methodological
skills to participate in the current research debates. Finally,
it is asserted that mixed methods research (MMR) is well suited
to overcome the path dependency and help avoid the unproductive
''paradigm war'' fought elsewhere for decades. Based on the
recommendations made by the Report, windows of opportunity for
MMR in the CEE region are introduced, including several
concrete steps that would encourage and facilitate this
transition. The active participation of the MMR community and
an understanding of the context would be extremely helpful for
achieving a more rigorous level of methodology in CEE.


Until now, only a few kinds of poly(azomethine-urethane)s (PAMUs) including aromatic hydroxy benzaldehyde and aminophenol compounds were obtained and studied with thermal degradation steps. However, oligo/polyphenol-based PAMUs have not been synthesized yet. In this study, some kinds of this class of PAMUs were synthesized in three steps. At the first step polyurethane (PU) was synthesized by the copolymerization reaction of 2,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde with hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) under argon atmosphere. At the second step, the poly(azomethine-urethane)s (PAMUs) were obtained by graft copolymerization of the preformed PU with aminophenols (2-aminophenol, 3-aminophenol, and 4-aminophenol). At the last step the obtained PAMUs were converted to the polyphenol derivatives via oxidative polycondensation reaction (OP). The structures of the obtained compounds were confirmed by FTIR, UV-vis, 1H-NMR, and 13C-NMR techniques. The number-average molecular weight (Mn), weight average molecular weight (Mw) and polydispersity index (PDI) values of the synthesized compounds were determined by the size exclusion chromatography (SEC). The synthesized compounds were also characterized by solubility tests, TG-DTA, and DSC. Fluorescence measurements were carried out in various concentrated DMF solutions to determine the optimum concentrations to obtain the maximal PL intensities. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012


Statement of Problem. Laryngocele is a rare laryngeal disease, where there is an abnormal dilatation of the saccule of the laryngeal ventricle. It can either be internal or external, and a laryngopyocele is a rare complication of this anomaly. Internal laryngopyoceles can prove difficult to manage, as they often present with airway compromise. Method of Study. Case Report. Results. We present a case of a laryngopyocele that was successfully managed with suspension laryngoscopy and endoscopic marsupialisation and resection. To our knowledge, this is the first such case described in the literature. Conclusions. Surgical drainage of a laryngopyocele via the external approach is well documented in the literature. We feel that endoscopic resection of laryngopyoceles in an emergency situation is a viable alternative and also prevents the associated surgical morbidity.


A computational approach for resonant frequencies of cylindrical substrate-mounted resonators is presented in this paper. The resonator is made of ferrite material, which is magnetically anisotropic and characterized by a Hermitian tensor. It is mounted on top of a grounded dielectric substrate, and the entire assembly is covered with a tuning plate, leaving the sidewalls open. The generalized impedance boundary conditions (GIBCs) are derived for the ferrite material and are used to formulate the approximate solution to the boundary-value problem. The resulting transcendental equations are solved numerically, and variations of the resonant frequency with respect to bias field, magnetization, and dimensions of the structure are reported.