The purpose of the study was to find out the impact of school feeding programme on participation of learners in primary school education in Mogotio District-Baringo County. The specific objectives of the study were: to investigate the extent to which school feeding program affect enrolment of learners in primary school education, to establish the effect of school feeding programme on attendance of learners in primary school education, to find out whether school feeding programme affect retention of learners in primary school education and to establish the extent to which school feeding programmes influence performance of learners in primary school education in Mogotio District-Baringo County. The findings of this study may be of use to the various primary schools for it would assist them understand better the issues related to school feeding programmes. This would see school managers in the various centres provide learners with balanced feeding programs and create awareness to parents on its importance to proper learning and holistic development of their children. The study would also go a long way to helping the government in making relevant policy to safeguard the wellbeing of primary school learners by providing well balanced feeding programs to these centres as well as budgetary allocation to the same. The study adopted an exploratory approach using a descriptive survey design to obtain information that will be used to describe the existing phenomena. The study was done in 10 primary schools in Mogotio Division. The unit of analysis constituted of 70 respondents (Head teacher/ Heads of school feeding program, Teachers, parent representatives and pupils). Purposive random sampling was used in this case whereby all the 70 respondents were picked to fill the questionnaire. A research questionnaire was used. In this approach, the instrument was designed in such a way that there were two parts. Subject's scores from one part were correlated with scores from the second part to test the reliability. Descriptive statistics analysis was used whereby the SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) programme is used. Tables and graphs were used to present data as was found appropriate. On enrolment, study concludes that feeding programme in the centre enhance enrolment to a very great extent. The study further concludes that the primary schools sampled by the research study had enrolment of between 2130 pupils and over 30 pupils per school and that enrolment of most schools was done early every year. The study concludes feeding programs enhance attendance levels in the centres to a very great extent that there were cases of children who miss school because of the feeding program in place and that children miss school because of sickness, family affairs, lack of school uniform and food at home, poor performances which make them shy away, lack of parental support and guidance as well as poor characteristics developed by students. On improved learning, School feeding program increase pupils participation in class assignment duties and discussion, there are only a few meals provided during the day hence pupil do not fully participate in class work rendering to low performance, the healthy pupils in the centre are always active and perform well in the exam and a feeding program is important than other factors towards the improved performance. On retention, the study concludes that there were transfer cases in the centre and that most parents take their children to private schools citing many reasons which range from poor performance in public early childhood education centres, poor teaching methods, lack of skilled staff in public centres, and to a little extent due to poor feeding habits in the local primary schools.


Total reliability management for telecommunications software is essential in achieving high quality network products and a high level of network integrity. The special characteristics and reliability goals of telecommunications software are reviewed, followed by a description of the components of an effective strategy for comprehensive software reliability management. The programs of fault prevention, fault detection, fault removal, failure detection, failure diagnosis, and failure tolerance are shown to accomplish these goals. In addition, specific and advanced techniques for building these programs are discussed. The relationship of these techniques to the special characteristics of telecommunications software, and their coordination with each other is explained. The total reliability management for telecommunications software requires efforts from both suppliers and services providers.<<ETX>>


Background: Post-operative pain, nausea, and vomiting (PONV) are significant causes of morbidity among patients undergoing outpatient diagnostic laparoscopy. However, the optimal strategy for prevention of these side effects remains unclear. Many drugs and their combination have been used to attenuate these adverse responses. We conducted a study to evaluate the effect of intravenous (IV) paracetamol on attenuation of acute post-operative pain and opioid consumption and as a result PONV at the same time in infertile women undergoing diagnostic laparoscopy. Methods: A total of 104 American Society of Anesthesiologists  Class I-II infertile women aged 18-40 years, who were scheduled for elective diagnostic laparoscopy under general anesthesia, were included and anesthetized with the same technique. The paracetamol group received IV infusion of 1000 mg paracetamol in 100 ml saline, and the placebo group received the same volume of saline after induction of anesthesia. Pain score at the end of surgery and 1 hour later, PONV and fentanyl consumption as rescue analgesic at the recovery room were all recorded and compared between the two groups. Results: There were no significant differences between the two groups regarding demographic data. Mean pain score was 2.8 ± 2.7 in paracetamol group and 4.3 ± 3.5 in placebo group at the end of surgery (P = 0.016). Mean pain score was 3.7 ± 2.1 in paracetamol group and 4.6 ± 2.2 in placebo group 1 hour after surgery (P = 0.030). Nearly 36% of patients in placebo group and 14% in paracetamol group need additional fentanyl for pain relief after surgery (P = 0.008). Incidence of post-operative nausea was 16.3% and 14.5% in placebo and paracetamol groups, respectively, (P = 0.150). Incidence of post-operative vomiting was 6% and 0 in placebo and paracetamol groups, respectively, (P = 0.040). Conclusions: IV paracetamol reduced post-operative pain and nausea in infertile women undergoing diagnostic laparoscopy for assisted reproductive techniques.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the prevalence of tinnitus in temporomandibular disorder (TMD) patients affected by either jaw muscle pain, temporomandibular joint (TMJ) internal derangements, or TMJ arthrosis.

METHODS
The presence of self-reported tinnitus was assessed in 250 consecutive TMD patients and correlation analysis was performed with clinical TMD signs and symptoms.

RESULTS
Tinnitus prevalence in the TMD population was 30.4%. Any significant patterns of correlation were shown for the overall study group, despite a higher tinnitus prevalence in patients with (32.8%) than without masseter pain (24.8%; p = 0.176) as well as in those with (33.7%) than without TMJ arthrosis (26.1%; p = 0.082). Age-stratified analysis showed correlations with masseter pain in older patients (48.3% vs 16; p < 0.05), and with arthrosis in younger patients (57.1% vs 22.2%; p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
Any correlation patterns were shown between tinnitus and TMD. Age-stratified analysis suggested possible hypotheses for a symptom-specific clinical correlation that should be assessed with future research.


This paper considers ∃*∀* prenex sentences of pure first-order predicate calculus with equality. This is the set of formulas which Ramsey's treated in a famous article of 1930. We demonstrate that the satisfiability problem and the problem of existence of arbitrarily large models for these formulas can be reduced to the satisfiability problem for ∃*∀* prenex sentences of Set Theory (in the relators ∈, =). We present two satisfiability-preserving (in a broad sense) translations Φ ↦ $\dot{\Phi}$ and Φ ↦ Φσ of ∃*∀* sentences from pure logic to well-founded Set Theory, so that if $\dot{\Phi}$ is satisfiable (in the domain of Set Theory) then so is Φ, and if Φσ is satisfiable (again, in the domain of Set Theory) then Φ can be satisfied in arbitrarily large finite structures of pure logic. It turns out that | $\dot{\Phi}$ | = $\mathcal{O}$ (|Φ|) and |Φσ| = $\mathcal{O}$ (|Φ|2). Our main result makes use of the fact that ∃*∀* sentences, even though constituting a decidable fragment of Set Theory, offer ways to describe infinite sets. Such a possibility is exploited to glue together infinitely many models of increasing cardinalities of a given ∃*∀* logical formula, within a single pair of infinite sets.


At our institution, oesophago-gastro-duodenoscopy is following an intravenous induction using alfentanil and performed in children under general anaesthesia. Recently, propofol. The children were allowed to breathe sponI have used the laryngeal mask airway (LMA) during this taneously and anaesthesia was maintained using nitrous procedure on several occasions. They (all size 3) were placed oxide, oxygen and enflurane. Although there is an initial slight resistance to passage of the fibre-optic gastroscope, the procedure can be performed satisfactorily (Fig. I ) . Passage of the gastroscope niay be made easier by partial deflation of the LMA cuff and adequate lubrication. The airway is satisfactorily maintained without the need for tracheal intubation. Although it is known that gastric tubes and even tracheal tubes may be placed into the oesophagus while the LMA is in situ [ I , 21, use of the LMA during oesophago-gastro-duodenoscopy has not been previously reported.


The present study explored differences between United States (US) and Ukrainian undergraduates ( N =378) in terms of their academic motivation and its relation to their beliefs and behaviours related to academic misconduct. Specifically, this study investigated differences between US and Ukrainian students' task value, goal orientations, moral beliefs about cheating and engagement in cheating behaviour. Results revealed several significant differences between US and Ukrainian students. While similar in their level of academic task value and mastery goal orientation, Ukrainian students had reported being less performance goal oriented than their US counterparts. Ukrainian students also reported lower judgments about the wrongness of cheating and higher levels of engagement in cheating behaviour than US students. Finally, regression analyses revealed a significant culture x task value interaction on both cheating beliefs and behaviours: among Ukrainian undergraduates, increases in task value both strengthen beliefs about the wrongness of cheating and reduce engagement in it. These results and their theoretical and educational significance are
discussed.


Abstract The Columbia Arabic Treebank (CATiB) is a database of syntactic analyses of Arabic sentences. CATiB contrasts with previous approaches to Arabic treebanking in its emphasis on faster production with some constraints on linguistic richness. Two basic ideas inspire the CATiB approach. First, CATiB avoids the annotation of redundant linguistic information that is determinable automatically from syntax and morphological analysis, e.g., nominal case. And secondly, CATiB uses linguistic representation and terminology inspired by the long tradition of Arabic syntactic studies. This makes it easier to train annotators and not be restricted to hire annotators who have degrees in linguistics. This paper describes CATiB's representation and compares it to other Arabic treebanking efforts.


In this paper I review the ethical, theoretical and practical cases for the free movement of people and money. I provide a commentary on the debates before and after the events of '9/11', noting how the self-limiting conditions in historical debates on the free movement of labour contrast with neo-liberal demands for the unfettered market in the case of the free movement of money. Extensive restrictions on the movement of both money and people have been made in the post-'9/11' period, either in the name of cultural nationalism or the threat of terrorism. I examine whether these further measures are working or can be justified by reference to 'the harm principle' and to general concepts of social justice and the public good.


Two-factor authentication (2FA) schemes aim at strengthening the security of login password-based authentication by deploying secondary authentication tokens. In this context, mobile 2FA schemes require no additional hardware (e.g., a smartcard) to store and handle the secondary authentication token, and hence are considered as a reasonable trade-off between security, usability and costs. They are widely used in online banking and increasingly deployed by Internet service providers. In this article, we investigate 2FA implementations of several well-known Internet service providers such as Google, Dropbox, Twitter and Facebook. We identify various weaknesses that allow an attacker to easily bypass 2FA, even when the secondary authentication token is not under attacker's control. We then go a step further and present a more general attack against mobile 2FA schemes. Our attack relies on a cross-platform infection that subverts control over both end points (PC and a mobile device) involved in the authentication protocol. We apply this attack in practice and successfully circumvent diverse schemes: SMS-based TAN solutions of four large banks, one instance of a visual TAN scheme, 2FA login verification systems of Google, Dropbox, Twitter and Facebook accounts, and the Google Authenticator app currently used by 32 third-party service providers. Finally, we cluster and analyze hundreds of real-world malicious Android apps that target mobile 2FA schemes and show that banking Trojans already deploy mobile counterparts that steal 2FA credentials like TANs.


Grid computing solves high performance and high-throughput computing problems through sharing resources ranging from personal computers to supercomputers distributed around the world. One of the major problems is task scheduling, i.e., allocating tasks to resources. In addition to Makespan and Flowtime, we also take reliability of resources into account, and task scheduling is formulated as an optimization problem with three objectives. This is an NP-hard problem, and thus, metaheuristic approaches are employed to find the optimal solutions. In this paper, several versions of the Chemical Reaction Optimization (CRO) algorithm are proposed for the grid scheduling problem. CRO is a population-based metaheuristic inspired by the interactions between molecules in a chemical reaction. We compare these CRO methods with four other acknowledged metaheuristics on a wide range of instances. Simulation results show that the CRO methods generally perform better than existing methods and performance improvement is especially significant in large-scale applications.


The Semantic Web aims to extend the current Web with formal semantics in order to improve how users experience the Web, by ameliorating current activities and supporting the automation of some others. So far, current Semantic Web prototypes mostly aim at collecting and exposing information. Still, a semantic layer can support applying Knowledge-Based Systems techniques to the development of brand-new fully-fledged Knowledge-Based Services for the Web. In this paper, we present the technical issues that have to be faced in the development of such a kind of application by presenting the Online Design of Events Application: a Semantic Web-based design support system that assists event organisers in the process of preparing events such as workshops and conferences, by effectively reasoning over an inter-organisational process across the Web.


The object of the work was to reveal the unique possibilities of a highly effective noninvasive method NMR-tomography in evaluating the functional condition of extracardiac conduits in experiments. Conduit models with a stationary flow of blood and 10 dogs with implanted left ventricular-aortic conduit were studied. The studies were conducted on a Soviet MT-1000 NMR tomograph. In all studies with diverse cross sections a distinct location of the heart and the large blood vessels and a "new" left ventricular outlet tract was achieved. Minute features of the inner architectonics of the pumping chamber and the lining of the conduit were detected which could not be found by the routine methods. The study allowed certain conclusions to be made concerning the promising application of NMR tomography in the cardiosurgical clinic. With the use of the method some recommendations may be given for optimization of the designs of extracardiac conduits.


Guava and jackfruit are popular fruits in East Africa. With consideration of the high post-harvest losses of these two fruits and only seasonal availability, this study aimed to produce nutrient rich fruit-based snacks to decrease this problem and make use of surplus fruits during on-season. Given the nutritional situation in East Africa, these products were also developed to have a high content of desired nutrients. Next to either guava or jackfruit also mango, different nuts and lemon juice was partly added. Processing methods included cooking and drying, which are suitable for local households and small processing groups. Chemical analyses were implemented to determine nutrient contents before cooking, after cooking and after drying. Major results included that bars with guava and lemon juice contained the highest content of ascorbic acid, 81.19 and 48.18 mg/100 g FM before and after cooking, respectively; jackfruit-based samples without lemon juice after drying contained more phenolic content than guava-based samples; fruit bars with lemon juice had higher acidity; samples of guava contained more β-carotene than jackfruit. In conclusion, the fruit-nut-bars can provide a good option to process surplus fruits and provide essential nutrients to the local population in East Africa.

 Key words: Guava, jackfruit, fruit-nut-bars, East Africa.


In axiological argumentation that refers to issues concerning matters of ethics, politics, or aesthetics, a warrant is derived from a general axiological base, which consists of propositions that are accepted by a particular social group. Such a warrant is supported by ideology, understood as a relatively well organised set of evaluative propositions (justified within frames of the given system). In axiological argumentation beliefs are represented by cultural objects that serve as the arguments. Cultural objects are universals, which have a culturally developed interpretation. Without proper recognition of the interpretant, the correct reading of the sign and its appraisal is impossible. The main purpose of this article is to show how ideological objects constitute the base of the discourse. In analysis of chosen texts I will demonstrate, how at every stage of argumentation arguers exploit the topic and interactive potential of argumentation.


Information on reproduction and growth in the canebrake rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus atricaudatus) was obtained from specimens collected over a three year period on the Savannah River Plant near Aiken, South Carolina. Mean litter size is 12.5 and apparently does not increase as a function of female body size. A biennial, or possibly triennial female reproductive cycle occurs in the region. Size of the fat bodies seems related to the reproductive state of the adult females. The amount of fat increases during the first summer of yolking but it is significantly reduced in females with embryos the following spring. Immediately after parturition in late summer the fat stores are extremely diminished. Canebrakes average 38 cm in snout-vent length and 31 g in body weight shortly after birth in late summer. A length of 65-85 cm is attained by the end of the following summer. They are over 90 cm long by the end of the third summer. Females exceed 100 cm in snout-vent length and weigh over 700 g when mature. They presumably have their first litter in late summer or fall, six years after birth. Males are mature at 90-100 cm in length and are probably reproductively active in their fourth year. Male C. horridus get longer and heavier than females. It is suggested that size superiority in combat dances may be a factor that has favored selection for larger males.


Seeking to improve software development, many organizations attempt to deploy formalized methodologies. This typically entails substantial behavioral change by software developers away from previous informal practices toward conformance with the methodology. Developers' resistance to such change often results in failure to fully deploy and realize the benefits of the methodology. The present research draws upon theories of intention formation and innovation diffusion to advance knowledge about why developers accept or resist following methodologies. Results from a field study within a large organization indicate that developers' intentions are directly influenced by their perceptions of usefulness, social pressure, compatibility, and organizational mandate. This pattern of intention determinants is quite different from that typically observed in studies of information technology tool adoption, revealing several key differences between the domains of tool versus methodology adoption. Specifically, although organizational mandate had a significant effect on intentions, the strength of its direct influence was the lowest among the four significant constructs, and usefulness, compatibility, and social pressure all influenced intentions directly, above and beyond the effects of organizational mandate. The findings suggest, contrary to popular belief, that an organizational mandate is not sufficient to guarantee use of the methodology in a sustained manner.


Hog farmers' preferences for autonomy are assessed through the use of eight questions dealing with their preferences for general decision making and with respect to specific management actions. Farmers generally preferred to make a higher percentage of the decisions about their operations, especially older producers and those who operated farrowing units. Farmers who placed lower values on autonomy finished hogs, were nearing retirement, valued social relationships with other farmers more highly, had higher off-farm income, or were larger farmers.


This book, a member of the Series in Affective Science, is a unique interdisciplinary sequence of articles on the cognitive neuroscience of emotion by some of the most well-known researchers in the area. It explores what is known about cognitive processes in emotion at the same time it reviews the processes and anatomical structures involved in emotion, determining whether there is something about emotion and its neural substrates that requires they be studied as a separate domain.


Hardware associative or content-addressable memory (CAM) which finds in one operation the nearest match to input data among several templates is very crucial in the design of effective pattern recognition systems. We call this type of memory a relaxative CAM (RCAM) as opposed to the traditional exact-match CAM design. A compact implementation of an RCAM calls for the employment of a neural network model. In the paper we present the design and silicon implementation of an RCAM using a neural mutual inhibition network as the relaxation circuit. Spice simulations of the mutual inhibition and the RCAM performance are presented. A 16-word 12-bit IC has been fabricated through MOSIS using 2 μm double-metal CMOS technology. The RCAM chip was tested and its correct functionality has been fully verified.


Introduction: Information on the fluoride content in toothpastes commercialised in Indonesia is not yet available. Objectives: The objective of this study is to determine the fluoride content of toothpastes marketed in Indonesia and to determine if the fluoride content is in accordance with the information provided on the packaging and following the standards from evidence-based dentistry and Indonesian regulations. Material and methods: In vitro analysis of total fluoride (TF) in 10 brands of toothpaste for adults and eight for children, purchased from different stores. The toothpastes were analysed in triplicate using a fluoride ion-selective electrode. Statistical analyses were performed using a one-sample t-test or one-sample Wilcoxon signed-rank test to compare the difference between the fluoride concentration stated on the tube and the measured value. Results: The TF concentration in toothpastes for adults and children did not match the fluoride content provided on the packaging for most samples. Eleven toothpaste brands contained fluoride > 1000 ppm F, whereas the others contained fluoride  <  1000 ppm F. Only one toothpaste contained fluoride that matched the  standard from evidence-based dentistry and Indonesian regulations. Conclusions: Most toothpastes for adults marketed in Indonesia do not meet the required fluoride concentration for caries control. The results call for strengthened regulation and quality control of fluoride toothpaste in Indonesia to provide the maximum anti-caries effect.


Abstract Experimental evidence has shown that cigarette smoking potentiates ulcer formation and delays ulcer healing. The exact mechanisms are still not completely defined. We investigated the effects of cigarette smoking on P selectin expression and its actions on neutrophil infiltration and nitric oxide formation in ethanol‐induced gastric mucosal damage. In the present study, rats were exposed to cigarette smoke for three 1 h periods. Cigarette smoke exposure significantly up‐regulated P selectin expression in the gastric mucosa. Cigarette smoke exposure following ethanol challenge substantially potentiated the mucosal damage, which was accompanied with an increase in myeloperoxidase and inducible nitric oxide synthase activities. Anti‐neutrophil serum completely abolished these changes, whereas aminoguanidine produced similar effects without affecting myeloperoxidase activity. Taken together, cigarette smoke exposure can up‐regulate P selectin expression, which facilitates neutrophil rolling, margination and infiltration when challenged with ethanol. These actions activate inducible nitric oxide synthase activity, which may contribute to the potentiating effect of cigarette smoking on ethanol‐induced gastric ulceration in rats.


Ferroptosis results from metabolic dysregulation and is closely linked to liver cancer. Although a ferroptosis-related gene signature in liver cancer has been established, the precise regulatory mechanism is still unclear. To identify shared pathogenic genes linked to ferroptosis across liver cancer patients from diverse racial backgrounds, we evaluated various ferroptosis-related genes, constructing a signature for both Asian and White patients using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Based on the differential expression and functionality of ferroptosis-associated genes, we selected Farnesyl diphosphate farnesyl transferase 1 (FDFT1), Acyl-CoA synthetase long-chain 4 (ACSL4) and Endoplasmic reticulum membrane protein complex 2 (EMC2) for further study in liver cancer cells. FDFT1, ACSL4 and EMC2 induced ferroptosis of liver cancer cells though upregulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels and downregulation of glutathione peroxidase (GPX4). Current data indicate no notable influence of racial differences on the functionality of ferroptosis-related genes. Our data suggests potential novel therapeutic avenues for liver cancer treatment.


In this article we focus on the creation of debt relations between workers and their workplace as a tool of managerial control in the garment factories of Bangalore, India. The currency of indebtedness in this case is working time and our focus is the manipulation of hours of work at the base of the international, buyer-driven, garment supply chain. In illuminating debt relations and worker dependency as an element of managers' repertoire of control, we compare a system known as 'comp-off' in contemporary Indian factories with the historical precedent of a system known as 'working dead horse' in Britain. Our comparison illuminates how value is extracted from workers and how old control systems are updated within the labour process, in a feminized sector where workers' associational power is weak and social downgrading is one means by which employers can offload risk, maximize flexibility and secure their position at the local level.


This dissertation documented the political disability identities of nine disabled adults. It also explored how these disabled adults enacted their political disability identities. I used narrative analysis to analyze the data, which included life history interviews and the authoring of memoirs. From these memoirs, the participants (Narrators) and I selected critical moments in the formation of the political disability identities. The findings show Narrators shifted or shaped their political identities when strangers pushed them beyond their personal limits by spouting ableist norms. Narrators also developed their political disability identities when they had access to political discourse and the relative freedom of postsecondary education. Other Narrators developed their political identities when they experienced significant changes in their lives, which included freedom from abuse and interacting with underserved disabled students. The Narrators enacted their political disability identities in various ways. Some Narrators were advocates for the elimination of ableism and during their struggles with it, showed that they also reinforced ableist norms. Some Narrators had been oppressed for so long that they first developed a new ethic of care for themselves and then worked to help other disabled people implement a similar way of life that was dignified, equitable, and without shame. Finally, Narrators selected careers where they could simultaneously sustain themselves and fight against ableism. This dissertation shows the political disability identity contextualized in the Narrators' lives, because isolating a component of identity both skews the findings and removes the necessary human aspects, which are unpredictable and complex. This research and additional research of the personal and cultural components of disability identity sheds a new light on our current understanding of the disability identity as a whole. Narrating Political Disability Identity


Abstract Ocean warming and acidification are expected to influence the biology of the ecologically and economically important red king crab, Paralithodes camtschaticus. We investigated transcriptome responses of adult, larval and juvenile red king crab to assess sensitivity to reduced pH and elevated temperature. In adults, gill tissue (but not heart or cuticle) responded to reduced pH by differentially regulating many genes involved in metabolic, membrane and cuticular processes, but not ionic or acid/base regulation. In larval crabs, we found little evidence for a strong transcriptomic response to pH, but did observe large differences in the transcriptomes of newly hatched and one-week old larvae. In juvenile crabs, we found that there was a strong transcriptomic response to temperature across all pH conditions, but that only extreme low pH caused transcriptomic shifts. Most of the genes in juveniles that were differentially expressed were for cuticular and calcification processes. While inferences regarding the specific biological responses associated with changes in gene expression are likely to change as resources for red king crab genomics enabled studies continue to improve (i.e. better assemblies and annotation), our inferences about general sensitivities to temperature and pH across the life stages of red king crab are robust and unlikely to shift. Overall, our data suggest that red king crab are more sensitive to warming than acidification, and that responses to acidification at the transcriptomic level occur at different levels of pH across life stages, with juveniles being less pH sensitive than adults.


National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance suggests that carers of individuals with a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder experience high levels of psychological distress, yet few services in the UK offer specific support to this group of carers. This article
 will describe the development of a psychoeducational carers' group based on schema theory (Young et al, 2003), including the development of the role of carer experts-by-experience as group co-facilitators. Initial outcome data from the pilot suggest that carers are highly satisfied with
 the group and that it improves their knowledge, understanding and personal well-being.


The computer industry is at a cross-roads. The problems associated with scaling uniprocessor performance has forced all major computer manufactures to turn to multi-and many-core architectures. This sea change in processor design has created many opportunities for field programmable logic. In the RAMP project, we are developing an affordable and versatile multiprocessor emulation platform being built as a large collaborative effort. RAMP hardware, from processors to caches to networks, is implemented in FPGAs for flexibility, accuracy, visibility, cost and performance. It is designed to be composable, where different components can be quickly written, assembled and run. By using hardware rather than simulation, RAMP will be fast enough to run real codes and be useful to software. By using conventional instruction set architectures and providing peripheral support required by operating systems, RAMP will run full, unmodified software stacks. RAMP's intended audience includes anyone designing and using multiprocessor systems, including architecture researchers, software developers, and end users. In this talk, I will describe the background and current state of the RAMP development and related projects using our FPGA platform, the Berkeley emulation engine (BEE).


BACKGROUND
Sarcoidosis is a systemic granulomatous disease of unknown cause which has diverse clinical impacts, ranging from benign to very severe, which may therefore require systemic treatment. Only a few tools are currently available to monitor management in these patients.

OBJECTIVES
As sarcoidosis is known to affect salivary glands, we hypothesized that analysis of saliva could reveal valuable biomarkers for disease management. We designed a comparative analysis of salivary metabolomics in patients and controls using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR).

METHODS
Metabolomic profiles of saliva collected from 24 sarcoidosis patients and 45 controls were obtained by proton NMR spectroscopy with multivariate statistical analysis, followed by metabolite identification and pathway analysis. Oral and dental examinations were performed concomitantly, together with assessment of smoking habits.

RESULTS
A predictive salivary metabolomic signature associated with sarcoidosis was computed with the Orthogonal Partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS) model. Six metabolites were altered in samples from sarcoidosis patients compared to controls, including decreased levels of methanol and butyrate and increased levels of lactate, acetate and N-butyrate.

CONCLUSION
This study showed that NMR metabolomics can discriminate saliva samples from sarcoidosis patients and controls. According to these preliminary results, saliva studies in sarcoidosis patients would be particularly useful to identify potentially relevant biomarkers. A study based on a larger number of patients at different stages of the disease or with treated patients is needed to assess the clinical relevance of NMR metabolomics in sarcoidosis.


Every men's basketball game the Clemson University Tigers have played as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference, through the 2005-2006 season, is detailed in this unique resource. For each season since 1953, it contains the following: ?????? A yearly overview of the conference??????overall season statistics, team and individual statistical leaders, MVPs, ACC Tournament results, performance of ACC teams in the NCAA Tournament and more ?????? Clemson team and player statistics for the season (including conference and non-conference games) ?????? Notes on important awards, milestones, individual and team achievements and other significant events ?????? Detailed box scores of all Clemson games, including the regular season, the ACC tournament, the NCAA tournament and the NIT, and often featuring comments on notable aspects of the games Drawn from the 3-volume book Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Basketball Games (McFarland, 2008), this is the definitive record of Clemson basketball.


The article interrogates Neil Walker's theory of constitutional pluralism in order to bring out the importance of ideas for how we theorise the EU legal order. To that end, the article introduces two conceptual tools or prisms, the imaginary and the unconscious. The first part of the article situates Walker's work in relation to the body of state-centric constitutional theory. It shows the steps Walker takes to attach his theory to past constitutionalisms, and it argues that the focus on theory leads him to blank out the question of state practice. The second part of the article considers the ideas and conceptual moves that pass from the body of constitutional theory to Walker's theory. What the analysis brings into view is a stock of basic ideas, an imaginary around which Walker's theory revolves. In the third part the article shows that the continuity between past and present formats of constitutional theory rests upon a determinate, and historically specific, intuition of political life. It argues that the changes Walker shall make to his theory can be explained in terms of the passing of a specific historical conjuncture, in which law could transcribe politics and keep economic rationality at bay.


This article aims to analyse the reasons for the intensive use of child labour in the 19th century and its subsequent decline in the first third of the 20th century in the context of an economy with a highly flexible labour supply like that of Catalonia. During the second half of the 19th century, factors relating to family economies, such as numerous families and low wages for adults, along with the technologies of the time that required manual labour resources, would appear to explain the intensive use of child labour to the detriment of schooling. The technological changes that occurred during the first third of the 20th century, the demographic transition and adult wage increase (for both men and women) explain the schooling of children up to the age of 15 and the consequent practical abolition of child labour in that new era of economic modernisation.


Over the last two decades, researchers have promised "neuroprosthetics" for use in physical rehabilitation and to treat patients with paralysis. Fulfilling this promise is not merely a technical challenge but is accompanied by consequential practical, ethical, and social implications that warrant sociological investigation and careful deliberation. In response, this paper explores how rehabilitation professionals evaluate the development and application of BCIs. It thereby also asks how the BCIs come to be seen as desirable or not, and implicitly, what types of persons, rights, and responsibilities are assumed in this discourse. To this end, we conducted a web-based survey (N=135) and follow-up interviews (N=15) with Canadian professionals in physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology. We find that rehabilitation professionals, like other publics, express hope and enthusiasm regarding the use of BCIs for assistive purposes. They envision BCI devices as powerful means to reintegrate patients and disabled people into social life but also express practical and ethical reservations about the technology, positioning themselves as uniquely qualified to inform responsible BCI design and implementation. These results further illustrate the nascent "co-production" of neural technologies and social order. More immediately, they also pose a serious challenge for implementing frameworks of responsible innovation; merely prescribing more inclusive technology development may not counteract technocratic processes and widely held ableist views about the need to augment certain bodies using technology.


The flight control surfaces, such as ailerons and spoilers, of present day large civil aircraft are controlled by hydraulic actuators. At present, there is considerable interest in the concept of the 'all- or more-electric aircraft' in which traditional technologies, such as hydraulic actuators, are replaced by their electromechanical counterparts. Potential advantages include savings in weight (and hence reduced fuel consumption) and improved reliability and maintainability. The work described in the paper forms part of a broader two year feasibility study of electromechanical actuation of flight control surfaces based on a case study of a spoiler application. Its specific focus is the suitability of switched reluctance (SR) motor technology. SR motor drives are considered to be robust and fault tolerant: these are important attributes given the hostile environment of an aircraft in flight and the safety critical nature of the application. In the case of the spoiler application it was found that the dynamic requirements were modest and that thermal issues dominated the motor and converter design. Detailed simulation studies indicate that the proposed system can meet the performance requirements.


ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to introduce a new method which corrects residual variances for the butterfly distributed residuals (BDR). Distribution theory, confidence intervals, and tests of hypotheses are valid and meaningful only if the standard regression assumptions are satisfied. Heteroskedasticity is one of the violations of these assumptions and BDR is another type of heteroskedasticity. This study reveals an alternative approach to correct the BDR type of heteroskedasticity by the weighting re-estimated absolute residuals (WRAR). After giving brief information about heteroskedasticity and BDR type of heteroskedasticity, WRAR is introduced. WRAR and the usual variance stabilizing techniques are compared on multiple and simple regression models.


D Menidia humboldtiana, a native species of Mexico, is a common inhabitant of local reservoirs. It represents a highly appreciated fish of economic importance in the central part of the country because of its delicate flavor. Trophic behavior of this species is important to understand the relationships with other fish species in reservoirs. With the aim to study this specific topic, the trophic spectrum, selectivity coefficient and overlap, were determined among different sizes of the Silverside M humboldtiana. For this, both zooplankton and fish samples were taken during four different seasons of 1995. Zooplankton samples were taken through a mesh (125 micron), and all organisms were identified to generic level. Fish were captured and grouped into standard length intervals per season, and the stomach contents were obtained and analyzed. Trophic interactions included the stomach contents analysis (Laevastu method), the coefficient of selection (Chesson) and the trophic overlap (Morisita index modified by Horn) between sizes. A total of 14 zooplankton genera were identified, of which Bosmina was the most abundant (29 625 ind./10 L) followed by Cyclops (9496 ind./10 L), during the spring. Small size fishes (1-4.9cm) consumed high percentages of Cyclops in the spring (61.24%) and winter (69.82%). Ceriodaphnia was consumed by fish sizes of 3-10.9cm (72.41%) and 13-14.9cm (95.5%) during the summer; while in autumn, small sizes (1-4.9cm) ingested Mastigodiaptomus and Ceriodaphnia; Daphnia and Bosmina were consumed by fishes of 5-8.9cm and the biggest sizes (9-14.9 cm) feed on Ceriodaphnia. M. humboldtiana makes a selective predation by the genera Ceriodaphnia, Daphnia, Mastigodiaptomus, Bosmina and Cyclops, depending on the size length interval. The trophic overlap was very marked among all sizes on spring, autumn and winter, unlike in summer fish of 1-2.9 and 11-12.9 cm did not show overlap with other length intervals. M humboldtiana is a zooplanktivore species, which performs a selective predation and a marked trophic overlap between the different fish sizes.


Abstract The aim of the study was to verify the accuracy of calculations of dose distributions for electron beams performed using the electron Monte Carlo (eMC) v.10.0.28 algorithm implemented in the Eclipse treatment planning system (Varian Medical Systems). Implementation of the objective of the study was carried out in two stages. In the first stage the influence of several parameters defined by the user on the calculation accuracy was assessed. After selecting a set of parameters for which the best results were obtained a series of tests were carried. The tests were carried out in accordance with the recommendations of the Polish Society of Medical Physics (PSMP). The calculation and measurement of dose rate under reference conditions for semi quadratic and shaped fields were compared by individual cut-outs. We compared the calculated and measured percent depth doses, profiles and output factors for beams with an energy of 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18 MeV, for semi quadratic fields and for three different SSDs 100, 110, and 120 cm. All tests were carried out for beams generated in the Varian 2300CD Clinac linear accelerator. The results obtained during the first stage of the study demonstrated that the highest compliance between the calculations and measurements were obtained for the mean statistical uncertainty equal to 1, and the parameter responsible for smoothing the statistical noise defined as medium. Comparisons were made showing similar compliance calculations and measurements for the calculation grid of 0.1 cm and 0.25 cm and therefore the remaining part of the study was carried out for these two grids. In stage 2 it was demonstrated that the use of calculation grid of 0.1 cm allows for greater compliance of calculations and measurements. For energy 12, 15 and 18 MeV discrepancies between calculations and measurements, in most cases, did not exceed the PSMP action levels. The biggest differences between measurements and calculations were obtained for 6 MeV energy, for smallest fields and large SSD distances. Despite these discrepancies between calculations the model was adopted for clinical use.


INTRODUCTION: Anemia is the most prevalent nutritional deficiency in the world. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of anemia among infants receiving routine health care in the Hacettepe University Ihsan Doğramacı Children's Hospital Well Baby Clinic in Ankara, Turkey, we conducted a cross-sectional study by using data from 469 healthy infants who had data available on their hemoglobin values at 6 months of age for the last 3 years. METHODS: Infants with acute or chronic illness or thalassemia and infants who had taken or were taking iron supplementation at the time were not included in the study. Information regarding the children was obtained from hospital files. Infants with a hemoglobin level of <10.5 and <9.5 g/dL were considered to be mildly and moderately anemic, respectively, at 6 months of age. RESULTS: The mean level of hemoglobin was 10.7 g/dL (SD: 0.90). The prevalence of anemia was 41.4%. Boys had significantly lower hemoglobin and hematocrit levels and mean corpuscular volume than girls. Infants born before 37 weeks' gestational age had moderate anemia more frequently. Infants born in spring or summer had anemia more frequently than those born in fall or winter (49.2% and 26.8%, respectively; P < .001). Birth weight and monthly weight gain from 6 to 9 months were positively correlated with hemoglobin value at 6 months (r = 0.14, P = .003 and r = 0.10, P = .041, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Anemic infants aged 6 months had an increased risk of developing growth failure from 6 to 9 months. In this study, the prevalence of anemia observed was of severe public health significance and justifies the need to emphasize, in prenatal and infant health programs, intervention measures that consider season of birth for anemia control.


Summary: We used a custom designed dilatometer to measure quantitatively the time evolution of the specific volume of (semi-crystalline) polymers for an unusual combined wide range of cooling rates and elevated pressures, covering processing conditions. For an isotactic poly(propylene), applying the Schneider rate equations for quiescent crystallization, experimental results are compared to numerical predictions. Average cooling rates imposed during crystallization of the material vary from 0.1 to 35 °C · s-1 while pressures range from 20 to 60 MPa. The results show the well-known profound influence of pressure and cooling rate on the specific volume. An increasing cooling rate shifts the crystallization temperature Tc towards lower temperatures, increases the final specific volume, and the transition due to crystallization is more gradual and widespread. For the highest cooling rate applied, the shift in Tc is as much as 30 °C, while the final specific volume increases up to 1.4%. Increasing pressure has an opposite effect on the shift in Tc, while the final specific volume, after pressure release, also increases. Finally, a comparison of numerical predictions with experimental data shows that the crystallization temperature Tc is consistently predicted too low, and that the predictions at high cooling rate are sensitive to (small) variations in model parameters.


It is becoming of a paramount importance for the ultimate success of modern enterprises to be governed by adept 'councils of directors' with adequate international exposure and comprehension of contemporary business environment with its challenges and opportunities. The current study renders a conceptualised facilitation framework for international integration of Russian enterprises by drawing a boardroom-centred governance perspective. Focusing on four fundamental areas of corporate board directorship: functions and responsibilities, configurations of the corporate boards, outside directors' contributions and effective involvement of board members, our research question addresses imperativeness of corporate boardrooms in international harmonisation process and strategic corporate development. The main aim of this paper is to examine the strategic role of the boards of directors in Russia with specific attention to their independence, engagement and tendency of successful adaptation to the internationally acceptable corporate governance standards.

Using a survey questionnaire on a sample obtained from companies listed on the Russian Trading Systems (RTS) Stock Exchange, we explored perceptions of the Russian board
directors towards the current obstacles to international integration and strategic corporate development in Russia. In 2009, a sample of 200 companies was randomly selected for the survey and two hundred questionnaires were distributed via corporate emails of the board members. There were 55 responses with 28% overall response rate. An independent sample t-test analysis was employed to test the hypotheses. We found that (1) further improvement of
the corporate boards' functions and responsibilities will positively impact on fostering strategic corporate development of the Russian companies; (2) improving contributions of the independent board members and (3) the boards of directors' professional involvement will have a positive impact on successful international harmonisation of the corporate governance practices in Russia.

This study provides analytical discussion and rare empirical support at firm-level for the strategic importance of efficient institute of corporate boards of directors in achieving sustainable economic development. As such we suggest new dimensions for research on international integration of Russian corporate enterprises through professional boardroomcentred governance from new institutional perspective. We also offer insights to policy
makers interested in enhancing legitimacy of corporate governance within the Russian context at micro level and provide a macro-level analysis for the executives of multinational companies either already operating in Russia or considering direct investments in the largest transition economy of the Post-Soviet period.


It is necessary for mobile vendors to provide a user-friendly interface for mobile websites due to the limitations of mobile devices, such as small screen size and complexity of use during transactions. However, very few studies have examined the factors influencing the success of mobile websites. This research investigates the influencing factors of website design on the adoption intention of mobile commerce (m-commerce). Researchers have previously examined gender difference in terms of website preference and acceptance of new technology, but the gender difference has been rarely investigated in the m-commerce domain. Therefore, this research also examines how gender as a moderator influences the relationship between website design and the adoption intention of m-commerce. The survey method was used to collect data. Results show that navigation design most significantly impacts consumers' perceived ease of use of mobile websites. It also reveals that perceived ease of use of a mobile website is more important to females when considering their intention to use m-commerce.


The Dutch army is central to all discussions about the tactical, strategic and organisational military revolution of the early modern period, but this is the first substantial work on the subject in English. This book addresses the changes that were effected in the tactics and organisation of the Dutch armed forces between 1588 and 1688. It shows how in the first decades of this period the Dutch army was transformed from an unreliable band of mercenaries into a disciplined force that could hold its own against the might of Spain. Under the leadership of Maurits of Nassau and his cousin Willem Lodewijk a tactical revolution was achieved that had a profound impact on battle. However, the Dutch army's organisational structure remained unchanged and the Dutch Republic continued to rely on mercenaries and military entrepreneurs. It was not until the latter half of the seventeenth century that the Dutch, under William III of Orange, Captain-General of the Union, introduced revolutionary changes in military organisation and established an efficient standing army. This army withstood attacks by Louis XIV and the Dutch reforms were copied by the English. OLAF VAN NIMWEGEN has held a number of research posts in the Netherlands. He has an extensive publication record in Dutch and has published several articles on the Dutch army in English. In 2004 he was awarded the Schouwenburg Prize for an outstanding publication on Dutch military history for De Republiek der Verenigde Nederlanden als grote mogendheid (The Republic of the United Netherlands as a great power), about the role and position of the Dutch Republic in the European system of states in the period 1713 to 1756.


Blogs are a new type of media that have recently become popular users on the World Wide Web and have influence throughout society. The purpose of this study is to examine social motivations influencing intention of blog usage. Based on Technology Acceptance Model and Motivation Theory, This study considered perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, reputation, reciprocity, enjoyment of helping, social identity as the determinants of influencing the intention of blog usage. The purposed model was empirically evaluated using online survey data collected from 342 user of popular blog site in Korea (NAVER Blog , cyworld mihompy, daum blog, yahoo blog etc) The results revealed that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, reciprocity, social identity affected directly the intention of blog usage. Also social identity has moderate effect via reciprocity and enjoyment of helping on blog usage. This study contributes to a theoretical understanding of the factors as social motivation that affect the usage of blogs. Practically this study results provide blog service providers useful strategic insights and service guideline to enhance user's intention of blogs.


Abstract In this paper I will defend a limited right to exclusion. Legitimate states are entitled to refuse the entrance of unwanted immigrants, if necessary with force. However, I will also work out leverage points for a cosmopolitan critique of this view, one that starts with national borders as they are and constructs human rights conditionalities as they could be. In particular, I propose an immanent critique of Michael Blake's jurisdictional theory of immigration. Blake gives a compelling argument that sovereign states have a prerogative to decide upon their own border policies, a prerogative that is only constrained by the international human rights regime. However, even if cosmopolitans accept this argument (which I think they should), they still have good reasons to expand the prevailing human rights regime in three respects: with regard to the classification of basic human rights, the domain of human rights obligations, and blind spots of the current human rights regime.


Sir, We read with interest this article on the use of overlapping dorsal and ventral grafts for focal severely stenotic or obliterative urethral segments [ 1 ] . We do not agree with the ventral incision on the penis that the authors have described for approaching isolated pendulous strictures. As the authors have then performed a ventral urethrotomy there is a risk of fi stula formation later on. A circumcoronal incision with penile degloving is a much better option [ 2 ] . The authors describe double graft placement in two men with panurethral stricture also. We were wondering whether adequate buccal graft can be harvested for covering such long segments. In our experience, the amount of buccal graft available falls short in men with panurethral disease, even when it is applied on one side only. Double graft placements in such situations may prove diffi cult.


Objective: Carbon monoxide related deaths, which are generally preventable accidents, and more common when compared with other toxic substance consumption, arouse public attention in our country.
Materials and Methods: In this study, the aim is to investigate different features of carbon monoxide poisoning related deaths autopsied in Trabzon in 8-year period of time and demonstrate medico-legal aspects of this issue.
Results: Our study consists of all deaths due to carbon monoxide poisoning and autopsied by Trabzon Morgue Department of the Council of Forensic Medicine of Turkey between 2009 and 2016. Records of a total of 7133 criminal cases who were autopsied between these years were examined and 215 cases who died due to CO poisoning were evaluated for age, sex, the month of the event occurred, origin, death time, CO source and carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) values. 215 criminal cases were constituting 3.01% of 7133 criminal cases who were autopsied within 8 years in Trabzon. 91 of the cases were (42.3%) female and 124 were (57.7%) male and the male/female case ratio was 1.4. Mean age of the cases was 48.8±27.1years. 24.1% of deaths occurred in January 74% at home. CO source was found to be charcoal in 55.3% of cases. Mean COHb level detected in cases was 54.9±17.6%.
Conclusion: Carbon monoxide poisoning is an important social problem in our country as in many developing countries. It is concluded that with their medicolegal experiences and suggestions, forensic medicine specialists can play an important role to manage carbon monoxide poisonings which are mainly...


This article focuses on social work research with displaced families in the Western Cape, South Africa, who have experienced both the historical trauma of their slave past and the trauma of displacement during apartheid. In a similar context, aboriginal academic writers have found that initial studies of intergenerational trauma did not take into account the historical ordeal of colonialism which they believe has left its mark on aboriginal communities today. Intergenerational trauma has also been based on research with holocaust survivors. For this research paper, a postcolonial indigenous research paradigm was implemented owing to the colonial history of Cape Town. Collective narrative practice and participatory learning action techniques were used to decolonise the theoretical and methodological approach. Foucault's counter-memories and counter-histories were applied to critically engage with the research findings to include the "unofficial" stories of slave descendants in social work discourse where these stories have largely been ignored.


Instruments for credit risk transfer arise endogenously from and interact with optimizing behavior of their users. This is particularly true with credit derivatives which are usually OTC contracts between banks as buyers and sellers of credit risk. Recent literature, however, does not account for this fact when analyzing the effects of these instruments on banking. The present paper closes this gap by explicitly modelling the market for credit derivatives and its interaction with banks? loan granting and deposit taking activities.


Currently there are contradictory observations regarding the associations between the isoflavone intake and inflammatory bowel disease in terms of its prevention and treatment, and this may be attributed to the diversity of applied doses and influence of various isoflavones. The aim of the presented cross-sectional study is to analyze the association between intake of various isoflavones (daidzein, genistein, glicytein and total isoflavones) and ulcerative colitis symptoms (fecal blood, mucus and pus) in Polish Caucasian individuals in confirmed remission. Assessment of diet was based on self-reported data obtained from patients' three-day dietary records and their individual assessments of symptoms. A total of 56 Caucasian patients with ulcerative colitis in confirmed remission were recruited for the study (37 females and 19 males, aged 18–80). For individuals with no fecal mucus observed, higher daidzein (p = 0.035, 122 vs. 19 µg) and total isoflavone intakes (p = 0.034, 302.2 vs. 123.7 µg) were observed in comparison with individuals not declaring this symptom, while for daidzein it was confirmed for the component density of their diets. The opposite association was stated for fecal pus, as for individuals with a lack of this symptom, lower daidzein intake was stated in comparison with individuals declaring this symptom (p = 0.049, 103.3 vs. 206.7 µg), but it was not confirmed for the component density of the diets. It was stated that the high intake of isoflavones by Caucasian individuals, as in a western diet, may influence the symptoms of ulcerative colitis, with the strongest influence by daidzein. Taking this into account, isoflavones may be included into the diets of ulcerative colitis patients in remission if well-tolerated, but there is a need for further study.


PURPOSE
The indications for surgical perforator interruption remain undefined. Previous work has demonstrated an association between clinical status and the number of incompetent perforating veins (IPVs). Other studies have demonstrated that correction of IPV physiology results from abolition of saphenous system reflux. The purpose of this study was to identify which, if any, patterns of venous reflux and obstruction are particularly associated with IPV.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Two hundred thirty patients and subjects (103 men, 127 women, 308 limbs) with varying grades of venous disease were examined both clinically and with duplex ultrasound scan. The odds ratios (ORs) for the presence of IPVs were calculated for different anatomical distributions of main-stem venous reflux and obstruction. The base group are those with no main-stem venous disease.

RESULTS
There were no significant associations between the proportions of limbs demonstrating IPVs and patient age or sex. The ORs for the presence of IPVs in association with other venous disease are as follows (age/sex adjusted): long saphenous vein reflux, OR = 1.86, range = 1.32-2.63; short saphenous vein reflux, OR = 1.36, range = 1.02-1.82; deep system venous reflux, OR = 1.61, range = 1.2-2.15; superficial system reflux, OR = 3.17, range = 1.87-5.4; and deep system obstruction, OR = 1.09, range = 0.51-2.33. The ORs for combinations of venous disorders were calculated. Combinations of disease produced higher odds for the presence of IPVs than those above, the highest being long saphenous vein, short saphenous vein, and deep reflux combined, OR = 6.85 (95% CI, 2.97-15.83; P =.0001).

CONCLUSIONS
Although the presence of IPVs is associated with venous ulceration, the highest ORs for the presence of IPVs were found in patients with superficial disease alone or in combination with deep reflux. Many of these may be corrected by saphenous surgery alone.


This paper discusses leather-workers making sandals from the Old Kingdom to the New Kingdom, as a hand-made craft disrespected in ancient Egyptian society, although the workshop produced a perfect made sandals used by all the pharaohs and high officials. The worker in leather and sandal-maker was identical where leather-workers Tbw referring also to "sandal-maker," and Sandal-makers term used for leather worker in general. The workshop of leather worker making sandals was rarely depicted in ancient Egyptian tombs in comparison with other crafts, although tombs' scenes recorded that sandals were made inside the leather workshop, so no sandal made of plant fiber or papyrus has been shown. The paper also describes the hardship of working conditions of this craft which led to portray the craft as a humble and misery profession by Egyptian society. Some letters records the assignment of animal skins to sandal-maker from the regular daily sacrifice inside the temple. it also reflected a link between good quality of leather and sandal maker. Various Egyptian literature texts connected the hardship and misery life of sandal-maker with the leather worker.  Keywords : Sandal, sandal-maker, leather, tools, papyrus, workshop, footwear


The period under review has been one of steady consolidation rather than spectacular change. The agricultural sector has accommodated itself to the deregulated environment and has indeed benefited from the macro-economic emphasis on stable exchange rates and low interest rates. Further reform of the state marketing boards has proceeded; the situation exacerbated by a failure of the Kiwifruit Marketing Board to control its payouts within current income. Over the period 1984 to 1993 there has been sustained growth in real net output of agriculture reflecting a considerable improvement in the use of resources. Incomes in the sheep and beef sector have been static in the period but not disastrous, and the dairy sector continues in a phase of steady growth in farmer incomes. Government and the public appear to Underestimate the economic performance of the agricultural sector.


In this paper, an alternative for essential oil and pectin extraction from orange peel (Citrus sinensis) as an integral process was presented. The extraction units were simulated using commercial simulator software for real process conditions. Experimental tests were carried out with a kilogram of orange peel with the same conditions used in of the simulation with the aim of comparing the experimental and calculated yields. Subsequently, the process was scaled to 1000 kg. Advantages of the integrated process and its possibilities of implementation at industrial level were showed. Moreover, it was concluded that simulation techniques are powerful tools that allows minimizing time, costs and experimentation in the design of processes such as essential oil extraction and pectin extraction.


: Plastic reorganization of the vestibular-thalamic system was studied in adult cats. It was shown, that preliminary (3 months before) injury of the cerebellar contralateral nucleus interpositus or lateral vestibular nucleus of Deiters leads to reorganization of vestibular-thalamic projections. Ipsilateral projections to the ventrolateral nucleus of thalamus arised from vestibular nuclear complex since the pattern of normal representations to mentioned thalamic nucleus were changed. The peculiarities of distribution and morphological structure of vestibular neurons forming new projections to the ventrolateral thalamic nucleus were studied as well.


An existing challenge in the use of continuous fiber reinforcements in additively manufactured parts is the limited availability of suitable fiber materials. This leads to a reduced adaptability of the mechanical properties to the load case. The increased design freedom of additive manufacturing allows the flexible deposition of fiber strands at defined positions, so that even different fiber materials can be easily combined in a printed part. In this work, therefore, an approach is taken to combine carbon and aramid fibers in printed composite parts to investigate their effects on mechanical properties. For this purpose, tensile, flexural and impact tests were performed on printed composite parts made of carbon and aramid fibers in a nylon matrix with five different mixing ratios. The tests showed that the use of hybrid composites for additive manufacturing is a reasonable approach to adapt the mechanical properties to the loading case at hand. The experiments showed that increasing the aramid fiber content resulted in an increase in impact strength, but a decrease in tensile and flexural strength and a decrease in stiffness. Microstructural investigations of the fracture surfaces showed that debonding and delamination were the main failure mechanisms. Finally, Rule of Hybrid Mixture equations were applied to predict the mechanical properties at different mixture ratios. This resulted in predicted values that differed from the experimentally determined values by an average of 5.6%.


Background and Purpose— Genetic variation in a number of MMP and TIMP genes have been implicated as risk factors for atherosclerosis, although such studies have been generally small and produced conflicting results. We have therefore sought to address this issue in a large, well-phenotyped community population to assess the effect of a number of polymorphisms in both MMP and TIMP genes on carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT). Methods— In a community population (n=1000), IMT was determined using ultrasound in the common carotid artery, carotid bulb, and bifurcation. Eight polymorphisms in 6 MMP genes were genotyped (MMP1 A-519G, MMP2 C-1306T, MMP2 C-735T, MMP3 -1171 5A/6A, MMP9 R279Q, TIMP2 G853A, TIMP3 A-915G, and T-1296C) and assessed for their effect on carotid IMT alone and by interaction with common cardiovascular risk factors. Results— An association was found between MMP9 R279Q and internal carotid artery bulb IMT (P=0.002), but there was no linear trend between allele number and IMT and no association with common carotid artery or bulb IMT. In addition, 3 interactions were found between polymorphisms and hypertension (MMP1 A-519G, MMP3 5A/6A, TIMP3 T-1296C), the latter 2 of which showed a significant trend test for linearity with increasing copy number and increased internal carotid artery bulb IMT. All remained significant after correction for multiple testing. Conclusions— Our findings provide little support for genetic variants of MMP as direct risk factors for IMT. However, the interaction findings between MMP variants and hypertension suggest that hypertensive carriers of these alleles may be at greater risk for increased IMT and future cardiovascular disease. These findings need replication in hypertensive populations to assess their effects more fully.


The approach of this paper is broad and historical; it attempts to expand a narrow technical view by looking at historic art media together with contemporary media art. By focusing on recent art against the backdrop of historic developments, it is possible to better analyze and grasp what is really new in media art and, using cornerstones from the history of media of illusion and immersion, it is a material and theoretical contribution to a new, emerging discipline: the science of the image. Where and how does the new genre of virtual art fit into the art history of illusion and immersion in the image, that is, how do older elements continue to live on and influence this contemporary art? What part does this play in the current metamorphosis of the concepts of art and the image?


In the not-too-distant past, infectious disease was viewed as akin to fire, earthquake, and tornado in its propensity to impact wild primates. Outbreaks were considered inherently unpredictable, "sweeping through" primate populations, wreaking havoc, and then subsiding. Primates were generally thought to rebound, such that the overall effect was a "blip on the radar," a transient reduction in population numbers. The last approximately 10 years have demonstrated the "disease as natural disaster" paradigm to be woefully inaccurate. Infectious disease has emerged as a major threat to primate conservation. The case of Ebola virus and its devastating effects on chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ) and gorillas ( Gorilla gorilla ) in Gabon and Congo is perhaps the most dramatic example, with some estimates of local population declines above 80% (Leroy et al ., 2004; Bermejo et al ., 2006). Other pathogens such as Bacillus anthracis (the causative agent of anthrax), polio virus, and yellow fever virus have also caused epidemic mortality in apes and monkeys, to the extent that they are now seen as important drivers of primate population declines (Chapman et al ., 2005; Leendertz et al ., 2006; Nunn and Altizer, 2006). Despite these dramatic examples, the majority of primate pathogens probably exert chronic, sublethal effects on primates in the wild (most parasitic protozoa, helminths, and arthropods probably fall into this category). Although researchers are paying increasing attention to such agents, most studies to date have been either "prevalence surveys" or comparisons of prevalence across locations or habitat types.


This research has made an endeavor to analyze the practices of community based participatory forest management and its impacts on the incomes of the forest user groups and the forest cover of Chilimo forest, Dendi District, Ethiopia. 380 households were selected from seven peasant association proportionally and simple random sampling was adopted to choose the sample households from each peasant association. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze and interprete the data. The income of forest user groups and the Chilimo forest cover were enhanced as a result of community based participatory forest management. Forest revenue and the introduction of some agricultural activities are attributed to the income improvement of the forest user groups. The statistical test result showed that there is a significant income difference (U=10078.5, P=0.00) between forest user group and non-forest groups. The magnitude of land use in general and forest cover change in particular was drastically changed between 1990 and 2010 at Chilimo forest. A significant forest cover change variation (P=0.00) within 1900-2010 has been observed. Plantation of seedlings and protection of existing trees are the major factor for the regeneration of the forest cover. A better outcome of participatory forest management can be achieved if the government supports the forest user groups to ensure its sustainability and expand the forest user group income generating activities into the whole cooperatives.

 Key words: Community based participatory forest management, income, forest user groups, Chilimo, forest cover change.


Kerosene based magnetic fluid which use kerosene as carrier liquid is characterized by better liquidity and higher magnetization which is qualified enough to use in magnetic fluid based inclination sensor. This paper provides several preparative parameters to control the physical property of kerosene based magnetic fluid during manufacture processing which use ferrous chloride and ferric chloride as forerunner reaction mass. The results show that the proper consistency of ferrous chloride and ferric chloride is 0.6mol/L. Secondly, the saturation magnetization of magnetic nano-particles is highest when the molar ratio between trivalent iron ion and bivalent iron ion is equal to 1.75. Thirdly, the proper reacted temperature is between 60~80°C and pH value should be controlled in a weak alkaline situation while six hours should be necessary for surfactant encapsulated enough around the magnetic nano-particles surface. At last, the saturation magnetization of kerosene based magnetic fluid increases with the increment of density and viscosity of magnetic fluid.


This article proposes a re-assessment of Elisha Coles, the least studied of the six hard-word lexicographers of seventeenth-century England. After presenting an overview of his life and his English Dictionary, it shows the respects in which Coles's lexicographical work was innovative; it asks why his dictionary was so small, suggesting that this was a competitive publishing strategy, designed in particular to ensure that the English Dictionary took over the section of the market which had previously been shared by revised editions of the dictionary of Cockeram; it argues for Coles's liveliness as a reader and thinker; and it gives an account of the pedagogical context of his dictionary.


: Patients with cystic fibrosis of the pancreas show an incidence of diabetes mellitus tenfold higher than is found in the general pediatric population. Considering this fact glucagon and insulin responses to oral glucose and intravenous arginine were studied in 22 CF children and adolescents. Some investigated patients had suffered from the disease for ten years and more. On the one hand the results show that pancreatic alpha cell function is normal. The kinetics of endogenous glucagon release are unaltered. On the other hand the data reveal that there is only a defect in the beta cell function consisting in a delayed insulin release selective to glucose whereas responsiveness to other stimuli for example tolbutamide and arginine is undisturbed. Furthermore there is a diminution in insulin-output to oral glucose as well as to intravenous arginine. Yet in patients with normal oral glucose tolerance endogenous insulin secretion is significantly reduced. Their regular carbohydrate tolerance may be a function of the patient's ability to maintain increased receptor numbers in the face of hypoinsulinemia. Despite greater quantities of secreted hormone a degree of relative peripheral insulin insensitivity has developed in the presence of hyperglycemia. This may be a consequence of impaired affinity of the specific target cell receptors. The insulin secretion pattern is proven to be identical to that of chemical diabetes mellitus in adults. Quantitative diminution in arginine stimulated insulin-output has been found to be independent of the degree of carbohydrate intolerance.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


The daytime foraging depth of swordfish in the North Pacific was investigated with data from an 8 yr tagging program, using 28 Wildlife Computer pop-up archival tags deployed on swordfish in the North Pacific. The tags transmitted data from 1°S to 44°N latitude and from 206 to 249°E longitude. Five tags were recovered, providing a full archival record that showed that when swordfish did not engage in daytime basking behavior, they remained within a narrow range of light level during both day and night, suggesting swordfish stay within a soundscattering layer (SSL) to feed during both day and night. Daytime mean depth of non-basking swordfish ranged from 32 to 760 m. Seventy-seven percent of the daytime mean depth could be explained with a generalized additive model that used 3 environmental indices: satellite-derived surface chlorophyll as a proxy for light at depth, oxygen at 400 m obtained from the World Ocean Atlas, and temperature at 400 m inferred from the tag data. This model, when used in a predictive mode, generated a basin-wide map of swordfish daytime mean depth that showed depths exceeding 600 m to the north of Hawaii, shoaling to 300 m off the coast of California. This information could improve daytime swordfish catch by longliners and potentially allow them to switch from shallow night sets that result in interactions with sea turtles. This approach in effect defines the habitat of swordfish prey, giving us insight into the vertical behavior of those mid-trophic level organisms inhabiting the SSL. Our model could be easily applied to other deep-foraging species.


This paper presents photovoltaic inverter with integrated battery storage used in Distribution power generation purpose. The dual active bridge topology was selected based on following specifications .Galvanic isolation Soft switching operation Simple phase shift power control. The dual active bridge with the storage for which it can be used transferred energy to other elements in the grid .A novel DAB switching scheme was introduced for ac –dc stage of module integrated power converters for PV applications. The modified flyback switching scheme exhibits 8% higher efficiency than DAB mode at 10 W, which comes at the cost of an additional switch. While flyback mode exhibits more core losses and slightly more conduction losses compared to DAB mode, the switching losses are significantly reduced by eliminating most of the switching actions and reducing the frequency. In addition, it was shown that the flyback mode achieves higher accuracy in power regulation for low-power levels compared to the DAB mode, resulting in a more stable operation and avoiding potential limit cycle oscillations. The proposed dual-mode control scheme is simulated using MATLAB software at low power.


Background: Avian infectious bronchitis (IB), with avianinfectious bronchitis virus (IBV) as the causing agent, is a ubiquitous endemicdisease of the chicken with devastating effects on its industry. A viralmembrane surface protein called S  notonly induces neutralizing antibodies but also plays an important role in virusbinding and entry to host cells. Technically, S1 protein gene sequencing alsohelps greatly in IBV genotyping. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study wasto characterize Iranian IBV based on S2 gene. METHODS: After RT-PCRamplification, the S2 gene of nine Iranian IBV isolates were sequenced and thencompared with reference strains. RESULTS: The isolates were classifiedinto genotype I as Massachusetts like IB Vs, genotype VII which clustered intotwo branches, VIIa (IS-1494 like IB viruses), and VIIb, and was related to QX-like viruses and Genotype VIII as 793/B like IBVs. CONCLUSIONS: As faras we know, this is the first S2-based classification study on Iranian IBVisolates providing a firm experimental basis to correlate with genotypiccharacterization


There have been two streams in the 3D detection from point clouds: single-stage methods and two-stage methods. While the former is more computationally efficient, the latter usually provides better detection accuracy. By carefully examining the two-stage approaches, we have found that if appropriately designed, the first stage can produce accurate box regression. In this scenario, the second stage mainly rescores the boxes such that the boxes with better localization get selected. From this observation, we have devised a single-stage anchor-free network that can fulfill these requirements. This network, named AFDetV2, extends the previous work by incorporating a self-calibrated convolution block in the backbone, a keypoint auxiliary supervision, and an IoU prediction branch in the multi-task head. We take a simple product of the predicted IoU score with the classification heatmap to form the final classification confidence. The enhanced backbone strengthens the box localization capability, and the rescoring approach effectively joins the object presence confidence and the box regression accuracy. As a result, the detection accuracy is drastically boosted in the single-stage. To evaluate our approach, we have conducted extensive experiments on the Waymo Open Dataset and the nuScenes Dataset. We have observed that our AFDetV2 achieves the state-of-the-art results on these two datasets, superior to all the prior arts, including both the single-stage and the two-stage 3D detectors. AFDetV2 won the 1st place in the Real-Time 3D Detection of the Waymo Open Dataset Challenge 2021. In addition, a variant of our model AFDetV2-Base was entitled the "Most Efficient Model" by the Challenge Sponsor, showing a superior computational efficiency. To demonstrate the generality of this single-stage method, we have also applied it to the first stage of the two-stage networks. Without exception, the results show that with the strengthened backbone and the rescoring approach, the second stage refinement is no longer needed.


Shinjuku Ni-chōme (an area in central Tokyo) contains the highest concentration of queer establishments in the world, with some estimates suggesting that there are approximately 300 gay male bars within its confines. Each of these bars targets a specific subset of the Japanese gay community, with bars coming to be associated with semiotic structures indexing certain subjectivities (known as Types). Through an ethnographic study of the district, I argue that signage plays a crucial role in differentiating Ni-chōme from the surrounding cityscape, creating a queer space. Furthermore, drawing upon the emerging discipline of Linguistic Landscaping, I analyse how signage can be read as "mapping" particular Types onto areas in Ni-chōme. I suggest that eroticised images of men, Japanese scripts, colour and language choice all act as queer semiotics that gay men visiting the district utilise to determine the Type of a bar. Finally, I discuss how this process of mapping normalises certain identity categories whilst marginalising others and how one particular identity category based in heteronormative understandings of masculinity has come to dominate the district, pushing other "niche" identity categories to the fringes of Ni-chōme.


Considering the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, scholars were encouraged to cease collocated meetings. Many researchers have turned to remote collaboration to continue group-based projects. This paper focuses on the structure, processes, and outcomes that a group of physically distanced, embedded researchers used to collaborate across Canada to produce research outputs prior to the pandemic. The intent of this paper is to provide an overview of mechanisms that can facilitate meaningful and productive remote collaboration using online and digital technologies as a feasible and effective alternative mode of communication for research teams.


Topology control in a sensor network balances load on sensor nodes and increases network scalability and lifetime. Clustering sensor nodes is an effective topology control approach. We propose a novel distributed clustering approach for long-lived ad hoc sensor networks. Our proposed approach does not make any assumptions about the presence of infrastructure or about node capabilities, other than the availability of multiple power levels in sensor nodes. We present a protocol, HEED (Hybrid Energy-Efficient Distributed clustering), that periodically selects cluster heads according to a hybrid of the node residual energy and a secondary parameter, such as node proximity to its neighbors or node degree. HEED terminates in O(1) iterations, incurs low message overhead, and achieves fairly uniform cluster head distribution across the network. We prove that, with appropriate bounds on node density and intracluster and intercluster transmission ranges, HEED can asymptotically almost surely guarantee connectivity of clustered networks. Simulation results demonstrate that our proposed approach is effective in prolonging the network lifetime and supporting scalable data aggregation.


We investigate the wave dispersion and attenuation in partially water-saturated sandstones based on the improved Biot/squirt (BISQ) model in which the saturation is introduced. Numerical experiments indicate that the phase velocity of the fast P-wave decreases as the saturation increases in the low-frequency range (10^2-10^4 Hz), and reaches the minimum at the full-saturation state. The behaviour of the phase velocity varying with the saturation in the high-frequency range (10^4-10^6 Hz), however, is opposite to that in the low-frequency range. The peak value of P-wave attenuation increases with increasing saturation, and is the maximum at the fully saturated state. Numerical models and experiments show that the improved BISQ model is better than the traditional Gassmann-Biot model.


An investigation of the undesirable delayed action, or lag, of the spoiler-type lateral control device led to the development of the NACA slot-lip aileron. The tests were made in the 7- by 10-foot wind tunnel with a 4- by 8-foot wing hinged at the tunnel jet boundary and taken of the motion of the control device under test and of the resulting wing motion. First, the lag, as affected by the fore-and-aft location of retractable ailerons or spoilers was determined. The lag was found to increase regularly as the spoiler was moved from the rear of the wing toward the front. Then a combination of spoilers and fixed slot was developed that, with the spoiler retracting into the forward part of the slot, reduced the time lag to a negligible value. In addition, an arrangement was developed using a hinged aileron-type flap as the upper portion, or lip, of a slot through the wing. This arrangement appears to be usable as a form of lateral control device that shows promise of giving improved control and stability at the high angles of attack through stall, with negligible lag, low control forces, and relatively simple construction.


We present color image processing methods for the analysis of images of dermatological lesions. The focus of this study is on the application of feature extraction and selectionmethods for classification and analysis of the tissue composition of skin lesions or ulcers, in terms of granulation (red), fibrin (yellow), necrotic (black), callous (white), and mixed tissue composition. The images were analyzed and classified by an expert dermatologist into the classes mentioned previously. Indexing of the images was performed based on statistical texture features derived from cooccurrence matrices of the red, green, and blue (RGB), hue, saturation,and intensity (HSI), L*a*b*, and L*u*v* color components. Feature selection methods were applied using theWrapper algorithm with different classifiers. The performance of classification was measured in terms of the percentage of correctly classified images and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, with values of up to 73.8% and 0.82, respectively.


We have recently observed several clusters of psychiatric symptoms in the context of COVID-19: (1) increased anxiety in psychiatric in- and outpatients with different diagnoses; (2) more cases of domestic violence often associated with increased drug- or alcohol-consumption in offenders and victims; (3) a nihilistic "apocalyptic" syndrome of elderly patients cut-off from their families; (4) visual and acoustic hallucinoses due to pneumonia and sepsis-related confusional states. Cases of chloroquine-related toxicity have been reported elsewhere, but have not been observed in our hospital so far. Mental issues related to COVID-19 reported from China and practical recommendations are briefly summarized. Many patients with serious mental disorders will suffer world-wide due to a reallocation of medical, social and financial ressources.


We derive closed expressions and useful expansions for the contributions of the tree-level W-boson propagator to the the muon and tau leptonic decay rates. Calling M and m the masses of the initial and final charged leptons, our results in the limit m=0 are valid to all orders in M^2/M_W^2. In the terms of O(m_j^2/M_W^2) (m_j=M,m), our leading corrections, of O(M^2/M_W^2), agree with the canonical value (3/5) M^2/M_W^2, while the coefficient of our subleading contributions, of O(m^2/M_W^2), differs from that reported in the recent literature. A possible explanation of the discrepancy is presented. The numerical effect of the O(m_j^2/M_W^2) corrections is briefly discussed. A general expression, valid for arbitrary values of M_W, M and m in the range M_W>M>m, is given in the Appendix. The paper also contains a review of the traditional definition and evaluation of the Fermi constant.


This thesis explores the relations between democracy and decentralization in
Venezuela during the period from 1989 to 2000. In particular it explores the
emergence of political decentralization as the spatial distribution of power and its
links with the process of democratization within political spaces. The spatial
distribution of power has impacts upon both political institutions and civil society.
This is where its central importance lies. Because of this, the framework of ideas
underlying the thesis is followed within a methodologicalf ocus that emphasizesb oth
the potency of the spatial, as a guiding element of politics and the political, and the
local scale and the political practice of individuals. The backgroundt o the study is establishedth rough an explorationo f territoriality and
the spatiality of power in Venezuela during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
This is followed by an analysis of the centralist form of the state and the state reforms
which were promoted at the end of the 1980s and which gave rise to the political
decentralization of 1989 at the level of states and municipalities. The main period of
study (1989-2000) is divided into three stages according to the dynamics of the
process of democratization itself. Finally, the changes occurring at the local level
through the application of decentralization are analyzed through a case study at the
level of the municipality and of the parish: the Libertador municipality of the state of
Mdrida and the parish of J. J. Osuna Rodriguez. The specific local examples explored in the thesis allow highlighted the ways in
which clientelism can be associated with the vertical structures of power that have
predominated in Latin America. Nevertheless, whilst its importance has been
highlighted here through an understanding of the process of democratisation on the
South American continent, it is interesting to note that it is not often explicitly
considered as another mode of power in western political theory.


The dynamics of air conditioning are of particular interestto energy analysts, both because of the high energy consumption of thisproduct, but also its disproportionate impact on peak load. This paperaddresses the special role of this end use as a driver of residentialelectricity consumption in rapidly developing economies. Recent historyhas shown that air conditioner ownership can grow grows more rapidly thaneconomic growth in warm-climate countries. In 1990, less than a percentof urban Chinese households owned an air conditioner; by 2003 this numberrose to 62 percent. The evidence suggests a similar explosion of airconditioner use in many other countries is not far behind. Room airconditioner purchases in India are currently growing at 20 percent peryear, with about half of these purchases attributed to the residentialsector. This paper draws on two distinct methodological elements toassess future residential air conditioner 'business as usual' electricityconsumption by country/region and to consider specific alternative 'highefficiency' scenarios. The first component is an econometric ownershipand use model based on household income, climate and demographicparameters. The second combines ownership forecasts and stock accountingwith geographically specific efficiency scenarios within a uniqueanalysis framework (BUENAS) developed by LBNL. The efficiency scenariomodule considers current efficiency baselines, available technologies,and achievable timelines for development of market transformationprograms, such as minimum efficiency performance standards (MEPS) andlabeling programs. The result is a detailed set of consumption andemissions scenarios for residential air conditioning.


This study investigated an approach to control the MoSe2 layer formation at the Mo/CIGS interface of hydrazine-free solution-processed CIGS solar cells. The MoSe2 layer thickness reduction was achieved by deposition of a MoNx back contact barrier layer, which effectively acts as a diffusion barrier against selenium (Se). The resulting Mo/MoNx/Mo multilayer was applied in a CIGS device as the back contact. The electrical performance of this device was compared to our baseline approach with bare Mo as the back contact. The MoSe2 layer formed after selenization was dramatically reduced when the barrier layer was present and the corresponding device exhibited a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.2%. More importantly, the application of the barrier layer as an intermediate layer within the Mo back contact allows for longer, or even multiple selenization steps. A longer or a multiple selenization was shown to improve the absorber grain growth and consequently result in higher PCEs.


Microstructural characteristics of friction-stir-welded Al 6061-T651 with varying rotating and advancing speed were examined by the electron backscattering diffraction (EBSD) installed in field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). It was found that FSW produced an equiaxed fine-grained microstructure in weld zone and the grain size in weld zone decreased up to about 4~6 µm with decreasing rotating speed. The primary textures developed in weld zone were {100}<001>, {110}<001> and {111}<110>. In thermo-mechanical affected zone, the change in grain size was not significant, however, large number of low angle grain boundaries were observed, which seems to be concerned with the formation of subgrains due to the development of dislocation cells.