Any building's design should sustain thermal comfort for occupants and promote less energy usage during its lifetime using accurate building retrofits to convert existing buildings into low-energy buildings so that the heating and cooling loads can be minimized. Regarding the methodology adopted in this research, an energy model of an educational building located at the German Jordanian University in Jordan was constructed utilizing DesignBuilder computer software. In addition, it was calibrated utilizing real energy consumption data for a 12-month simulation of energy performance. Subsequently, a computerized evaluation of the roles of building envelope retrofits or the adaptive thermal comfort limits in the reduction of the overall building energy consumption was analyzed. The results of the study show that the current building's external wall insulation, roof insulation, glazing, windows, and external shading devices are relatively energy-efficient but with high cost, resulting in significant financial losses, even though they achieved noticeable energy savings. For instance, equipping the building's ventilation system with an economizer culminated in the highest financial profit, contributing to an annual energy savings of 155 MWh. On the other hand, in an occupant-centered approach, applying the adaptive thermal comfort model in wider ranges by adding 1 °C, 2 °C, and 3 °C to the existing operating temperatures would save a significant amount of energy with the least cost (while maintaining indoor thermal comfort), taking over any retrofit option. Using different adaptive thermal comfort scenarios (1 °C, 2 °C, and 3 °C) led to significant savings of around 5%, 12%, and 21%, respectively. However, using different retrofits techniques proved to be costly, with minimum energy savings compared to the adaptive approach.


Abstract The paper introduces a biography of prominent scientific activists, journalists, ethnographers and writers Roman Reinfuss i Yulian Tarnovych. Intercessors Polish - Ukrainian affairs who expressed it through scientific activity. Similarities and differences in the biography and method of transferring the content are shown, and an amazing love for Lemko's region this Polish and Ukrainian authors. The article presents the similarities into the method of transferring popular science content by two ethnic- different journalists – scientist inhabitant in the same Lemko region. The analysis of the content they published in magazines, newspapers and scientific papers was also carried out. The purpose of the article is to compare the presented media content by two scientists - journalists from different social environments living in the same region, in the service of saving the Lemko's hertiage by the example of ethnic journalism.


Access to an improved water supply is essential for health. The water safety plan (WSP) approach developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) can provide safe drinking water. This study evaluated the progress of the Garmsar drinking water supply system (DWSS) through WSP. First, using the WSP quality assurance (QA) tool and its checklist, the implementation rate of this approach was examined. After classifying the most critical risks, the reliability of the risks was obtained with intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC), and then the risks were prioritized and evaluated by the semi-quantitative matrix recommended by WHO. The results showed that 80.4% of the drinking water was supplied from the system under study, and six persons (13.95%) participated in the implementation of the WSP team. The "system description" and "verification" steps with scores of 75% and 65%, respectively, had the highest levels of compliance, and the "supporting programs" and "review of the WSP" steps with scores of 29% and 25%, respectively, had the least consistent with WSP. The points obtained by the catchment, treatment, distribution, and point of use were 43%, 38%, 35%, and 35%, respectively. Risk identification demonstrated that "direct discharge of wastewater/ sewage in the sources by the villagers living in the basin in the catchment area" had poor reliability (ICC = 0.25), and so it was discarded. The risk assessment of the DWSS identified the "microbial contamination, pesticides, and fertilizer caused by agricultural use and activities in the catchment area" as high-risk. The lack of implementation of some steps in this program prevented the realization of many goals of this approach. The awareness of drinking water supply organizations with the aims and benefits of this program and increasing the skill of the WSP team can enhance these conditions.


A reason given by cash-grain farmers for not using manure from neighboring livestock operations is that manure may cause greater field weediness. To address this concern, trials were established in corn on 11 cash-grain farms, in which manure from six nearby dairy farms was spread for the first time in at least 10 yr. A split-plot design was used in which manured and nonmanured treatments were established as whole-plots, and split-plot treatments were either with or without the farmer's regular weed control. In the multisite analysis, weed seedling density at the time of corn emergence was not greater in the manured vs. nonmanured treatments. At 7 to 8 wk following planting, weed density was not greater in the manured plots. Just before corn canopy closure, weed biomass also did not differ between manured and nonmanured treatments. Although neither weed species richness nor species diversity differed significantly between manured and nonmanured treatments, these measures did have significant environment-by-manure interactions, indicating that weed species distributions responded differently to manure across the different trial environments. However, farmers' weed control practices were highly successful in both the manured and nonmanured plots. Large portions (280 m2) of all whole plots were visually inspected for introduced weed species after all weed control practices had been completed. The manured treatments did not differ significantly in the set of species observed, suggesting that manure did not introduce new weed species. Thus, this exploratory study showed that, contrary to some farmers' concerns, an application of dairy manure neither increased field weediness nor required alterations in the farmers' weed control programs. Nomenclature: Corn, Zea mays L.


The growth of Information Technology (IT) within organisations has created the need for organisational evolution. These evolutions particularly concern the IT department which develops and manages the IT programs and infrastructures within the organisation. Not only the evolution of IT leads to areassessment of individual knowledge and expertise within the IT department but it also has an impact on the collective competencies necessary to cooperate with internal customers, suppliers and consultants. This paper presents the organisational framework implemented within the IT department of a French car manufacturer in order to acquire and share knowledge better. We distinguish capitalisation tools, which, by creating standardised procedures and references, contribute to the collective memory and socialisation devices which produce tacit and fragmented knowledge. Finally, we identify a number of difficulties linked to the technical, professional and organisational rules of the IT department.


For a company or organisation, it has become very important to 'exist on the web', that is
to provide a webpage where information, goods available for purchase and services etc. are
available for the customers. As a natural consequence of an increased interest for the Internet
and its fast growth, software developing companies sometimes needs to adapt their solutions
for the web. In this thesis, several methods and solutions for web development within .NET
are proposed.
The solutions are in most cases related to Microsoft Office Excel where the possibilities
and limitations for web publishing of workbooks are investigated. The main focus is on
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and ASP.NET solutions. In SharePoint, several
solutions are proposed for dealing with limitations with Excel Services and Excel Web Access
when publishing workbooks. SharePoint is also examined further for solutions for database
handling and COM automation. An application that publish Excel workbooks on the web is
developed with ASP.NET, and presenting ways of displaying and interacting with a workbook
published to a server. We also look at a way of presenting data visually on the web, using
Microsoft Chart Controls for .NET Framework 3.5 which can present data in chart format.
Office Open XML are proposed as an alternative for COM automation when publishing Excel
workbooks on the web.


This article analyses the labour history of Italy's recruitment of workers for settlement in the Italian colony of Eritrea. The quest for full employment, both in Italy and within its nascent colonial 'empire', was the main driving force behind Italian colonialism in general. Italy's labour policy, which started to take shape in the 1890s, was never linear. Unlike the previous liberal Governments, the Fascist regime's policy was far more determined to use its colonies as places to settle the Italian peasant masses (the same that were migrating to the Americas for a better life, a trend which Fascist Italy considered humiliating to the mother country). In keeping with its vision of the colonies as a means to attain full employment, Fascist ideology characterised the Italian colonial empire as an 'empire of labour'. In fact, the reality of the labour situation that Italian workers found themselves in after settling in Italy's African colonies would soon show the fallacy underlying Fascist colonial ideology.


SUMMARY. The center of diversity for white pine blister rust (WPBR) (Cronartium ribicola J.C. Fischer) most likely stretches from central Siberia east of the Ural Mountains to Asia, possibly bounded by the Himalayas to the south. The alternate hosts for WPBR, Asian five-needled pines (Pinus L.) and Ribes L. native to that region have developed WPBR resistance. Because the dispersal of C. ribicola to Europe and North America occurred within the last several hundred years, the North American five-needled white pines, Pinus subsections, Strobus and Parya, had no previous selection pressure to develop resistance. Establishment of WPBR in North American resulted when plants were transported both ways across the Atlantic Ocean. In 1705, Lord Weymouth had white pine (P. strobis L.), also called weymouth pine in Europe, seed and seedlings brought to England. These trees were planted throughout eastern Europe. In the mid-1800s, WPBR outbreaks were reported in Ribes and then in white pines in eastern Europe. The pathogen may have been brought to Europe on an infected pine from Russia. In the late 1800s American nurserymen, unaware of the European rust incidence, imported many infected white pine seedlings from France and Germany for reforestation efforts. By 1914, rust-infected white pine nursery stock was imported into Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Wisconsin, and in the Canadian provinces of Ontario, Quebec, and British Colum- bia. The range of WPBR is established in eastern North America and the Pacific Northwest. New infection sites in Nevada, South Dakota, New Mexico and Colorado have been observed during the 1990s.


Histochemically demonstrable glycogen may be found in the human epidermis when the level of glycogen is above 400 to 500 mμg/mg of fresh tissue, and it may be found normally in the malpighian cells of the epidermis. Seven to 12 hours after ultraviolet light irradiation glycogen accumulates in the malpighian cells, reaches a peak at 24 hours, and may persist for at least 18 days. Increases in malpighian cell glycogen may also be found in nonexposed areas after ultraviolet irradiation. Basal cell glycogen is not found in normal epidermis nor does it appear in nonexposed areas after ultraviolet irradiation. In exposed areas it appears 4½ hours after irradiation, reaches a peak at 7½ to 12 hours, and disappears by 24 to 44 hours. Changes in the activities of the enzymes glycogen synthetase and phosphorylase do not correlate with the changes in epidermal glycogen content.


The aim of this study was to investigate the perinatal outcomes of delivery by various methods in patients with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Methods and Results: The study included 403 pregnant women (gestational age of 37.0–41.0 weeks) with GDM and 68 without disorders of carbohydrate metabolism, who gave birth from the second quarter of 2018 to the third quarter of 2020 in the maternity ward of the City Clinical Hospital No. 29 named after N.E. Bauman. All patients with GDM were divided into 2 groups. Group 1 included 187 patients receiving insulin therapy; Group 2 included 216 patients receiving a well-balanced diet. The main indicators of the health status of newborns in the early neonatal period were assessed taking into account the methods of delivery: programmed labor (PL), planned cesarean section (PCS), and spontaneous delivery. The 1-minute Apgar score in newborns from mothers of Groups 1 and 2 was higher at the PL, compared with PCS. The 5-minute Apgar score in newborns from mothers of Group 2 was also statistically significantly higher at the PL, compared with planned CS. The incidence of hypoglycemia in newborns from mothers of all groups was minimal at the PL, including a statistically significant low rate in newborns from mothers of Group 1. Symptoms of neonatal CNS depression were significantly more common in newborns born by abdominal delivery from mothers with GDM. Conclusion: PL in women with GDM reduces the incidence of the main complications of the early neonatal period: hypoglycemia and symptoms of neonatal CNS depression. PL may be considered more acceptable than abdominal delivery for women with GDM.


This study is aiming at estimating the patient volumes of hospitals by using artificial neural
networks. In order to train the artificial neural network models in this study, historical patient
applications data from a Turkish hospital were used. All patient applications counted as daily
numbers during three years and dependent variable of our study (patient_count) is derived. A
different approach used in this study and instead of a single independent variable (which is
time), four different time periods were used as input variables of the artificial neural network
models. These input variables were day of month, day of week, month, and year. Several
artificial neural network models have been generated and compared with each other by their
predictive performance measures. The best predictive artificial neural network architecture
has an estimation accuracy of 94.22 percent. This artificial neural network model has an input
layer with four neurons, an output layer with one neuron, and only one hidden layer with
nineteen neurons. The arithmetic mean of patient application in a day is 755.93
(S.d.=486.60). Mean error of the artificial neural network model is -0.047 and mean absolute
error is 105.64. The linear correlation between the actual values and the predicted values of
the number of patients is 0.918.
Keywords: artificial neural networks, decision support systems, modeling, estimation,
hospital management.


We estimate the causal effect of harsher speeding punishments on future driving behavior of cited drivers. To account for the fact that punishments are not randomly assigned, we leverage variation in ticket-writing practices across highway patrol officers in Florida. The fine associated with a ticket written for 10-14 MPH over the speed limit is, on average, $75 higher than that with a ticket for 9 MPH over the limit. Over 30% of tickets are written for exactly 9 MPH above the limit, while less than 3% are written for 10 MPH over, suggesting that officers manipulate the ticketed speed, and by extension, the fine faced by the driver. Officers vary considerably in their propensity to write tickets for the lower fine amount, and we instrument the punishment faced by a ticketed driver with the stopping officer's average lenience towards other drivers. Our estimates suggest that, compared with those receiving a higher fine, drivers receiving the lenient fine are over 25% more likely to receive an additional speeding ticket in the following year. We also find that drivers receiving the lenient fine are about 14% more likely to be involved in a car accident in the following year, although this result is more sensitive.


The CDEX (China Dark matter EXperiment) Collaboration will carry out a direct search for WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles) using an Ultra-Low Energy Threshold High Purity Germanium (ULE-HPGe) detector at the CJPL (China JinPing deep underground Laboratory). A complex shielding system was designed to reduce backgrounds and a detailed GEANT4 Monte Carlo simulation was performed to study the achievable reduction of γ rays induced by radionuclides and neutron backgrounds by D(γ,n)p reaction. Furthermore, the upper level of allowed radiopurity of shielding materials was estimated under the constraint of the expected goal. Compared with the radiopurity reported by other low-background rare-event experiments, it indicates that the shielding used in the CDEX can be made out of materials with obtainable radiopurity.


An important consideration in the asexual propagation of woody stem cuttings is the management of stock plants, which the propagator can manipulate to improve adventitious rooting. Selection depends on the condition of the potential donors as well as project-specific criteria such as sample size and geographic distribution. Decisions regarding cultivation reflect crop value; anticipated demand; project scope and duration; and the accessibility, physiological condition, and longevity of wildland donors. Projects requiring numerous local ecotypes may present unique selection and cultivation challenges. Optimal stock plant environment varies by species but includes proper timing of cutting removal, photoperiods that avoid flowering and dormancy, an appropriate level of cutting irradiance based on stock plant intensities, moderate levels of nutrition, threshold levels of carbohydrates, and a satisfactory water balance. Stock plant manipulation via light exclusion and the arresting or reversing of ontogenetic aging are reliable techniques for improving the rooting of numerous difficult-to-root species.


The objective of this paper is to study the effects of hydrated lime on the engineering properties of interest for road design and construction for three tropical clays, two highly plastic potentially expansive soils from Republic of Sudan and one red tropical "lateritic" soil from Republic of South Sudan. The studied properties include Atterberg limits, compaction parameters, permeability, CBR, MR and unconfined strength. The effects of compaction energy on the end result compaction material property parameters were studied. Also, the effect of salinity/sodicity on the plasticity and strength of lime stabilized swelling soils was studied. The study showed that lime efficiently reduces the plasticity of the three soils considered and that for the same increment of lime content the reduction in plasticity is higher for montmorillonitic clays compared to kaolinitic clays. The addition of lime to the three soils increased their maximum dry density and reduced their optimum moisture content. Substantial improvement in the strength and compaction characteristics of lime stabilized tropical clays could be expected on increasing the compaction effort. Permeability substantially increased on adding the optimum lime content to the three soils. Lime increased the strength and stiffness of the treated soils and the amount of lime needed to improve lateritic clay soils is less than that needed to improve swelling soils. The MR test results indicate increased stiffness of the lime stabilized kaolinitic clay soils compared to montmorillonitic clays. The increase in salinity/sodicity resulted in decrease of plasticity and increase in strength for the natural untreated and lime treated sodic soil tested.


Homeostasis parameters, level of endotoxicosis, free radical lipid peroxidation, and antiradical defense were studied in young children administered laser exposures and antioxidants unithiol and vitamin E within the protocol of intensive case for pyoinflammatory diseases. The patients were divided into three groups with different protocols of treatment. Clinical and biochemical findings indicate the efficacy of laser therapy and antioxidants.


This book constitutes the proceedings of the 4th Enterprise Engineering Working Conference (EEWC), held in Funchal, Madeira Island, Portugal, during May 5-8, 2014. EEWC aims at addressing the challenges that modern and complex enterprises are facing in a rapidly changing world. The participants of the working conference share a belief that dealing with these challenges requires rigorous and scientific solutions, focusing on the design and engineering of enterprises. The goal of EEWC is to stimulate interaction between the different stakeholders, scientists, as well as practitioners, interested in making enterprise engineering a reality.The 13 papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected for inclusion in the book. EEWC 2014 had 42 submissions and accepted 13 for publication. The topics of the presented papers allowed for active participation in interesting discussions and exchange of ideas and stimulated future cooperation among the participants. This made EEWC a real working conference contributing to the further development of enterprise engineering as a mature discipline. Topics covered include: enterprise engineering in general, the DEMO methodology, the REA ontology, financial applications, business processes management and enterprise simulation.


Coating TiO2 thin film with the thickness of 50 nm and the planar size of 6×6 mm2 onto a dual band meander-planar patch radiator being printed on a FR4 substrate (relative permittivity εr= 4.4) by the size of 0.4×7×33.5mm3 is demonstrated in this report. The system is for the application of 2.4/5.2 GHz WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) dual-band operation. Experimentally, the radiation gain was increased about 30% when part of the radiator governing the lower band coated with TiO2 thin film. It is thus revealed the TiO2 thin film can be a functional device to tune the radiation gain for the patch radiator.


A new moderately thermophilic, alkaliphilic, sulfate-reducing, chemolithoheterotrophic bacterium, strain S1T, was isolated from a mixed cow/pig manure with neutral pH. The bacterium is an obligately anaerobic, non-motile, Gram-positive, spore-forming curved rod growing within a pH range of 8.0-9.15 (optimal growth at pH 8.6-8.7) and temperature range of 30-58 degrees C (optimal growth at 50-55 degrees C). The optimum NaCl concentration for growth is 0.1%. Strain S1T is an obligately carbonate-dependent alkaliphile. The G+C content of the DNA is 40.9 mol%. A limited number of compounds are utilized as electron donors, including H2+acetate, formate, ethanol, lactate and pyruvate. Sulfate, sulfite and thiosulfate, but not sulfur or nitrate, can be used as electron acceptors. Strain S1T is able to utilize acetate or yeast extract as sources of carbon. Analysis of the 16S rDNA sequence allowed strain S1T (= DSM 12257T) to be classified as a representative of a new species of the genus Desulfotomaculum, Desulfotomaculum alkaliphilum sp. nov.


MOTIVATION
A key goal of computational personalized medicine is to systematically utilize genomic and other molecular features of samples to predict drug responses for a previously unseen sample. Such predictions are valuable for developing hypotheses for selecting therapies tailored for individual patients. This is especially valuable in oncology, where molecular and genetic heterogeneity of the cells has a major impact on the response. However, the prediction task is extremely challenging, raising the need for methods that can effectively model and predict drug responses.

RESULTS
In this study, we propose a novel formulation of multi-task matrix factorization that allows selective data integration for predicting drug responses. To solve the modeling task, we extend the state-of-the-art kernelized Bayesian matrix factorization (KBMF) method with component-wise multiple kernel learning. In addition, our approach exploits the known pathway information in a novel and biologically meaningful fashion to learn the drug response associations. Our method quantitatively outperforms the state of the art on predicting drug responses in two publicly available cancer datasets as well as on a synthetic dataset. In addition, we validated our model predictions with lab experiments using an in-house cancer cell line panel. We finally show the practical applicability of the proposed method by utilizing prior knowledge to infer pathway-drug response associations, opening up the opportunity for elucidating drug action mechanisms. We demonstrate that pathway-response associations can be learned by the proposed model for the well-known EGFR and MEK inhibitors.

AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION
The source code implementing the method is available at http://research.cs.aalto.fi/pml/software/cwkbmf/

CONTACTS
email@example.com or firstname.lastname@example.com

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.


We propose a novel scene representation that encodes reaching distance -- the distance between any position in the scene to a goal along a feasible trajectory. We demonstrate that this environment field representation can directly guide the dynamic behaviors of agents in 2D mazes or 3D indoor scenes. Our environment field is a continuous representation and learned via a neural implicit function using discretely sampled training data. We showcase its application for agent navigation in 2D mazes, and human trajectory prediction in 3D indoor environments. To produce physically plausible and natural trajectories for humans, we additionally learn a generative model that predicts regions where humans commonly appear, and enforce the environment field to be defined within such regions. Extensive experiments demonstrate that the proposed method can generate both feasible and plausible trajectories efficiently and accurately.


Voice quality of life outcomes research is in its infancy, with its definitions and applications still rapidly evolving. Several voice outcomes instruments have been developed and validated recently. Such instruments include the Voice Handicap Index, the Voice Outcomes Survey, and the Voice-Related Quality of Life. The Voice Handicap Index and the Voice-Related Quality of Life are both applicable to a wide variety of voice disorders, whereas the Voice Outcomes Survey applies only to unilateral vocal cord paralysis. The Voice Handicap Index and the Voice-Related Quality of Life provide slightly different foci (handicap vs. quality of life) and also differ in questionnaire length (30 vs. 10 items). The Voice Handicap Index was developed and validated before the Voice-Related Quality of Life, and more studies have established its applicability to voice outcomes research. Some Voice Handicap Index studies suggest that patients with specific vocal demands, such as singers, may benefit from the development of more specific instruments to focus on their unique impairments or handicaps. Although more studies are needed to determine the use of these instruments, those currently available suggest a wide range of applications.


The role of "bystanders" has been a central theme in discussions about the ethical legacy of the Holocaust. In early Holocaust historiography, "bystander" was often used as a generalized catchall term designating passivity toward Nazi crimes. "Bystander behavior" became synonymous with passivity to the plight of others, including the failure to speak out against injustice and/or assist its victims. More recent scholarship has documented the extent to which local populations and institutions were actively complicit in Nazi crimes, participating in and benefiting from the persecution of Jewish citizens, not only in Germany but across Europe. This newer research has sparked a debate about the very use of the term "bystander" and the concomitant assumptions about passivity. The historiographical shift has also altered ethical interpretations about the role of "bystanders" in a way that has broader implications for contemporary discussions about analogous situations. Traditionally, ethical behavior has been understood and addressed as an individual phenomenon, yet the Holocaust and other cases of genocide represent collective forms of violence and victimization, raising complex questions about the links between individual responsibility and collective behavior. The political and ethical implications of the role of "bystanders" remain as complex as they were in the immediate wake of the Holocaust.


As more and more innovative drug products (e.g., chemical drug and biological drug products) are going off patent protection, the development of generics/biosimilars products have become the center of attention of many pharmaceutical companies. In addition, as new drug research and development has reached the bottle-neck, the pharmaceutical industry begin to focus on the search for new or alternative medicines such as traditional Chinese medicine that can treat critical and/or life-threatening diseases. To ensure that there is high probability of success, advanced technology and/or methodology and innovative thinking of trial designs are necessarily applied. The advanced technology/methodology include two-way translational process from bench-to-bedside in translational research, micro-dosing approach for safety evaluation, and big-data analytics for identifying hidden clinical benefits of some test treatments. The innovative thinking of trial designs are referred to adaptive trial designs for identifying optimal clinical benefits of the test treatment under investigation and/or biomarker induced targeted clinical trials for personalized (precision) medicine. Along this line, this short commentary provides perspectives of future pharmaceutical development of biosimilar products and traditional Chinese medicine.


In this paper we point out that the theoretical predictions concern-ing Employment Protection Legislation (EPL) are not fully confirmed by empirical evidence in Italy, a strict EPL country in the nine-ties, according to OECD indexes. In particular, worker and job flow rates are remarkably high, also in comparison with the other Euro-pean countries. Furthermore, the differences in regional worker flow rates -computed on both the social security database and the LFS- are relevant, no matter which measure of worker flows is considered. While EPL is the same across regions, the highest worker flow rates are observed in the South, an area generally recognised as the least dynamic of the country, followed by the Northeast, the Centre and the Northwest. For possible alternative explanations of regional differences investigation focuses on economic structural composi-tion, the black labour market, non-standard contracts, the public sector and self-employment incidence, labour productivity and firm seniority. Using Logit estimates we find that none of these factors can fully explain these differences. Moreover, the predicted nega-tive relation between worker flows and unemployment duration does not seem to hold in the case of Italy.


ABSTRACT Objective: The Haitian earthquake of January 12, 2010, was a disaster essentially unprecedented in the Western Hemisphere's recorded history. The USNS Comfort departed from Baltimore, Maryland, within 72 hours of the earthquake and arrived in Port-au-Prince harbor on January 19. During the subsequent 40 days, the ship provided one of the largest relief efforts in the US Navy's history. Methods: The data analyzed included all patients evaluated and treated by the USNS Comfort between January 19 and February 27, 2010. A medical chart with a unique identifier was created for each patient on admission. A patient database was created from these records and used for this analysis. Results: A total of 872 patients and 185 patient escorts were processed aboard the ship. Ages ranged from younger than 1 day to 89 years: 635 were adults and 237 were children. Of those admitted, 817 of the patients were admitted for longer than 24 hours; the average length of stay was 8.0 days. The need for surgery was substantial: 454 patients went to the operating room (OR) 843 times for 927 cumulative procedures. A total of 58 patients underwent amputations. Conclusions: Haiti was almost completely reliant on foreign medical teams for trauma care. Analysis of the data illustrates the challenges of triage and treatment in a humanitarian mass-casualty response. The remarkable coordination and cooperation among the Haitian Ministry of Health, nongovernmental humanitarian aid organizations, and the US military highlighted the responders' respective capabilities and demonstrated the importance of collaboration in future disaster response efforts. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2012;6:370–377)


Development of new fuels and engine combustion strategies for future ultra-low emission engines requires a greater level of insight into the process of emissions formation than is afforded by the approach of engine exhaust measurement. The paper describes the development of an in-cylinder gas sampling system consisting of a fast-acting, percussion-based, poppet-type sampling valve, and a heated dilution tunnel; and the deployment of the system in a single cylinder engine. A control system was also developed for the sampling valve to allow gas samples to be extracted from the engine cylinder during combustion, at any desired crank angle in the engine cycle, while the valve motion was continuously monitored using a proximity sensor. The gas sampling system was utilised on a direct injection diesel engine co-combusting a range of hydrogen-diesel fuel and methane-diesel fuel mixtures. In-cylinder gas sample composition was investigated at two sampling locations; within the diesel fuel spray and between adjacent spray cones. Concentrations of NOx were found to be higher between the two diesel sprays relative to within the spray cone for both hydrogen and methane addition. In the case of hydrogen-diesel fuel co-combustion, the particulate levels were observed to be higher in the diesel fuel spray relative to between two sprays; however, in the case of methane-diesel fuel co-combustion, higher particulate levels were measured in the region between the two sprays. This was attributed to methane contributing significant quantities of particulates to the total particulate concentration produced from the methane-diesel fuel mixture in between two sprays.


In this paper, a novel multi-phase architecture for an accurate math word translation system is proposed. This system, "MathMaster", was designed to help students to gradually develop skills required to solve math word problems. Math word problems are difficult for students because they require the student to comprehend the verbal problem, to identify relevant information in a word problem and to translate word problem into equation. MathMaster guides students at their own pace through step-by-step instructions and at a level adapted to each student automatically to the solution. In addition, MathMaster keeps the performance record of each student and provides them feedback at the end of the practice. MathMaster performs the translation in three phases: word problem understanding, information extraction and equation formation. Word problem understanding provides the word meaning requested by a student and help a student to understand the word problem through a question and answer process. Next, information extraction extracts the questions asked in the problems which will be used as the clues to eliminate irrelevant information. Then, equation formation selects the appropriate operators and operands for forming a complete equation. The initial experiment and examples are discussed throughout the paper.


Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) is a rare low-grade malignant epithelial tumor that usually originates in the salivary glands. It shows a slow progression and metastasizes rarely. A 74-year-old male patient was admitted to our clinic due to pulmonary lesions seen on a chest-X ray coincidentally. The patient, 6 years before admission, was operated on for a peptic ulcer perforation and a right hilar mass lesion, and bibasilar pulmonary nodular lesions were also found on his chest radiograph. A bronchoscopic biopsy revealed ACC and surgical treatment was offered to the patient; however, he refused it. The patient, who had a 130-pack-year smoking history, was asymptomatic on admission to our clinic. Since metastatic pulmonary lesions were present, the patient was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer and given chemotherapy. Thorax computerized tomography, performed after treatment, revealed no change in the size or number of pulmonary lesions, and the patient has been followed since then and is still asymptomatic. This case of metastatic ACC was reported, after a review of the literature, as being a rare case, as the patient revealed no symptoms from the time of diagnosis until the end of treatment.


Gravitational settling experiments show that conodont elements settle with a wide spectrum of velocities, ranging from 0.5 to 5.5 cm/s in synthetic seawater. Significant differences in settling velocity exhibited by representatives of the three major shape classes of conodonts (pectiniform, coniform, and ramiform elements) are due to differences in grain mass and cross-sectional area exposed to fluid shear and normal forces during settling. Settling trajectory is a spiral or helical pattern that is less variable than settling velocity, but differs from models that characterize most skeletal carbonate grains. Conodont elements exhibit viscosity-dominated (Stokesian) settling and are hydraulically equivalent to phosphate spheres of coarse silt to fine sand size. Thus, even under conditions of modest net horizontal currents, lateral separation and sorting due to differences in size and shape of conodont elements belonging to a single animal will occur during gravitational settling. Differential sorting related to gravitational settling probably influenced the formation of most preserved conodont assemblages. The disparity between observed element types, forms, and sizes compared to known or proposed species apparatus compositions can be used both as an indication of taphonomic disruption and as a useful factor in interpreting sedimentary environment.


This paper proposes a new method for measuring vehicle geometric parameters, which is based on image processing. In the method, a black and white bar-cord ruler is applied to calculate the vehicle dimensions. Canny edge detection algorithm and image mosaic algorithm based on Image-Based Rendering (IBR) technique are utilized to deal with the target images. According to the relationship between the vehicle and the bar-cord ruler in the target images, the geometric parameters of the vehicle can be measured. Furthermore, the experiments indicate that the method has a good performance in measuring the dimensions of a vehicle.


The financial resources needed for globally implementing the Aichi Biodiversity Targets have been estimated at US$ 150-440 billion per year (CBD COP11, 2012) - of which only a fraction is currently available. Significant efforts have been undertaken in many countries to increase funding for biodiversity conservation. Nonetheless, this funding shortage remains immense, acute and chronic. However, we do not lose biodiversity and ecosystems primarily for lack of conservation funding but also due to poor governance, wrong policies, perverse incentives and other factors. This begs the question: How should limited conservation resources be used? For directly tackling biodiversity threats, for addressing the underlying drivers, or rather for strengthening the financial management and fundraising capacity of implementing organisations? As country contexts differ, so do the answers. This report synthesizes experiences of German development cooperation working towards improved biodiversity finance in eight countries: Viet Nam, Namibia, Tanzania, Cameroon, Madagascar, Mauritania, Ecuador and Peru. Our findings suggest a shift in perspective in the international biodiversity financing debate: We need to move from a focus on innovative financing mechanisms towards thinking "innovation" more broadly. Financial resource mobilisation needs to go hand in hand with efforts to slow the drivers of conservation costs and to improve effective spending capacity. For this, the constraints to financial sustainability of biodiversity conservation need to be better understood at country level. Innovative financing mechanisms can be part of the solution and deliver multiple benefits only if their design is carefully fitted to context. Beyond that, landscape approaches to conservation make clear that investing in healthy ecosystems is critical for livelihoods and development.


The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) on aggression in patients with thalassemia. Methods: This is an applied study in terms of objective and it is semi-experimental due to the nature of the subject, pre-test, post-test and follow-up conducted in the control group. The sample consisted of 30 patients with thalassemia city in Bojnourd, they were selected by convenience sampling method and voluntarily participated in the study. The participants were randomly divided into two groups. The first group received cognitive - behavioral therapy and the second group received no therapy. Both groups were assessed by the pre-test, post-test, and one month follow up. The assessment tool in this study were Aggression Questionnaire AGQ. Data were analyzed using SPSS software and variance analysis with repeated measures. Findings: the results showed that there is a significant correlation between the experimental group that received cognitive behavioral therapy and the control group that received no therapy in reducing aggression. These findings have important theoretical and clinical interventions. Conclusion: The results of this study will be to assess and validate detection and more precise controls used in the treatment of aggression in children with thalassemia in clinics. As well as services (CBT) to this group of clinical population as a nonpharmacologic (NMT) are effective.


The design of processes containing information on phase equilibria must be carried out through a series of steps, experimentation verification modeling simulation. Each of these steps should be rigorously performed to guarantee a good representation of the behavior of the system under study, whose adequate modeling could be used to simulate the corresponding process. To carry out the different previous tasks, two representative systems, extracted from known database, are used. The quality checking of experimental data series is certified through several thermodynamic consistency methods. The modeling is done by applying a multi-objective optimization procedure, which allows to define a solution front (Pareto front) for different sub-models that are established in this work. The fitness of trade-off solutions, obtained from the efficient front, on the design of distillation processes is analyzed through a simulation.


The processes driving and maintaining variable immune responses are poorly understood compared with other aspects of an organism's ecology. This is particularly true from an evolutionary perspective, as the evolutionary relationships between immune responses and other traits and processes in nature remain inadequately explored. I investigated these associations in this thesis using the three-spined stickleback system as an evolutionary and immunological model. I combined sampling of wild individuals with genomic analyses to demonstrate phenotypic and genomic associations between immune responses and life history evolution across multiple populations. I also observe how experimental changes in daylength, a seasonal cue, modulate immune responses and increase parasite susceptibility in a controlled laboratory experiment. These findings occur independently of natural variation in parasite resistance. Stickleback are also a model for studies of speciation. I used sampling of wild hybrids to assess the significance of immune variation in postzygotic isolating mechanisms between diverging ecotypes; although my findings suggest a minor role. Finally, I demonstrate that genomic responses to parasitism and abiotic environmental variation are repeatable across independent, intercontinental adaptive radiation events in sticklebacks; conferring a repeatability of the evolutionary relationships of immune variation documented in this thesis. The findings within this thesis therefore provide novel insights into poorly explored or open areas of research regarding how variable immune responses evolve in nature.


Lead contamination is of great concern because of its adverse effects on human health, especially children. This research evaluated the effects of phosphate rock on chemical associations of Pb in eight Pb-contaminated soils using a sequential extraction procedure. The chemical fractions are operationally defined by an extraction sequence in the order of increasing ability to dissolve Pb of lower solubilities. Additionally, more soluble forms of Pb are considered to be potentially more bioavailable than the less soluble forms. Lead in these soils was primarily associated with the carbonate and Fe-Mn oxide fractions (63-85%). Up to 21% of the Pb in these soils was associated with either the organic or the residual fraction and <11% was associated with the water-soluble and the exchangeable fractions. Phosphate rocks effectively converted Pb from the water soluble, exchangeable, carbonate, Fe-Mn oxide, and organic fractions (collectively the nonresidual fraction) to the residual fraction, thus reducing Pb solubility and presumably bioavailability. Lead precipitation as a fluoropyro-morphite-like mineral in these contaminated soils was suggested as the primary mechanism for reduced Pb solubility and Pb reduction in the nonresidual fraction. The effective conversion of Pb from potentially available fractions to the residual fraction suggests that phosphate rock has potential for in-situ immobilization in Pb contaminated soils.


Arc brazing technology for joining has been recently developed. Because of its advantages, it has been used more and more frequently in the automobile industry, and this technology is widely used in practical joining applications. Many welding researchers have paid more and more attentions in this field. Based on the experimental analysis of CuSi3 filler metal spreading, wetting behavior on galvanized steel sheet and its interfacial microstructure in tungsten inert gas (TIG) arc brazing process, the governing equations and boundary conditions of filler metal droplets under the actions of gravitational force, surface tension and arc pressure force is conducted, then they have been transformed into finite volume equations, The flow behavior at different arcing time in filler metal droplet was calculated by PHOENICS code using SIMPLEST algorithm. It can be concluded that the flow adjacent to the surface controls the final droplet profile, and the fluid flow does great contribution to the whisker-like intermetallic compound fragmentation behavior due to its stirring force at the interface. The simulation is useful to interpret the free surface evolving behavior and the final profile of filler metal droplet in arc brazing, it also provide a new idea about the interface growth behavior study and offer a practical guide in production.


The COVID-19 outbreak created one of the largest pandemics globally, with the world health organization (WHO) declaring several measures, including restriction of movement to curtail the spread of the virus. Reducing food waste is critical to achieving healthy nutrition and sustainability in food systems. In this regard, private households have consistently been regarded as key actors in food waste generation. Hence, this study examined the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on food waste in homes. A total of 1098 respondents were asked questions on how the pandemic affected their food preparation and consumption pattern, food purchasing and food waste. Compared with the situation before COVID19, there is a significant increase in kitchen spending and bread-making at home. Moreover, food waste generation and the frequency of eating out and food purchasing were reduced. Waste generation was higher in bakery products, left-over foods, and fruits and vegetables. Respondents suggested prudent meal preparation and consumption, increased awareness, and food purchasing restrictions as measures to reduce food waste. Overall, the pandemic has led to more stringent planning in household spendings and attitudinal changes regarding food preparation and consumption, resulting in a significant reduction in food waste and may have contributed to curtailing the spread of the COVID-19 virus. © 20222,International Journal on Food System Dynamics. All Rights Reserved.


We examined the effects of soybeans, a soy product (miso) and biochanin A, an isoflavone derivative, on N‐nitroso‐N‐methylurea (MNU)‐induced rat mammary carcinogenesis. Seven‐week‐old female CD/Crj rats received a single i.v. dose (40 mg/kg body weight) of MNU. After administration of MNU, rats were fed diet containing 0% (control), 2% or 10% soybeans, or 10% miso as a soy‐supplemented diet, or 10 or 50 mg/kg biochanin A. All rats were observed for 18 weeks after MNU administration. At 18 weeks, the multiplicity (mean tumors/rat) of palpable mammary tumors was significantly decreased in the 10% soybean (1.1) and 10% miso (1.2) diet groups compared to the control (2.2) (P<0.05, respectively). In the biochanin A‐supplemented diet groups, the incidence (percentage of rats with tumors) was significantly decreased in the 50 mg/kg (32%) diet group compared to the control (80%) (P<0.01), and the multiplicity was significantly decreased in both the 10 mg/kg (0.7) and 50 mg/kg (0.5) diet groups compared to the control (2.2) (P<0.01 and P<0.001, respectively). The proliferative cell nuclear antigen labeling index of mammary tumors was significantly decreased in both biochanin A‐supplemented diet groups compared to the control. The present results indicate that soybeans, miso, and biochanin A are useful for the prevention of mammary cancer.


We describe a man with manifestations of the Adams-Oliver syndrome: congenital scalp defect with hypoplastic fingers and toes. The patient has normal first-cousin parents: among seven sibs, three sisters and two brothers are normal; two brothers born with the same scalp lesion died as a consequence of bleeding from this abnormal area. There is no evidence of other affected relatives. The family of our patient is suggestive of autosomal recessive inheritance of this disorder with phenotypic manifestations identical to those present in the autosomal dominant form. Dermatoglyphic findings are discussed.


Fog computing promises to enable machine learning tasks to scale to large amounts of data by distributing processing across connected devices. Two key challenges to achieving this goal are (i) heterogeneity in devices' compute resources and (ii) topology constraints on which devices communicate with each other. We address these challenges by developing a novel network-aware distributed learning methodology where devices optimally share local data processing and send their learnt parameters to a server for periodic aggregation. Unlike traditional federated learning, our method enables devices to offload their data processing tasks to each other, with these decisions optimized to trade off costs associated with data processing, offloading, and discarding. We analytically characterize the optimal data transfer solution under different assumptions on the fog network scenario, showing for example that the value of offloading is approximately linear in the range of computing costs in the network when the cost of discarding is modeled as decreasing linearly in the amount of data processed at each node. Our experiments on real-world data traces from our testbed confirm that our algorithms improve network resource utilization substantially without sacrificing the accuracy of the learned model, for varying distributions of data across devices. We also investigate the effect of network dynamics on model learning and resource costs.


Abstract The present study presents a draft national Clean Coal Technologies and Carbon Capture and Storage Technology Roadmap to policy makers. Various technical and non-technical (economic and social) challenges that currently prevent clean coal technologies and carbon capture and storage from being a widely used commercial technology are discussed and the goals for each research pathway are defined. The process of creating the roadmap started with a review and assessment of the existing national and international technology roadmaps, which represent a global picture of the state of the art and national and international plans for the future on clean coal technologies and carbon capture and storage research development, demonstration, and deployment. Following this step, the national situation, capacities, and priorities were examined. Finally, research development, demonstration, and deployment actions discussed in the existing roadmaps and/or new actions were carefully selected and suggested as a draft Turkish Clean Coal Technologies and Carbon Capture and Storage Roadmap that needs further development and discussion by the input of interdisciplinary national stakeholders. As a conclusion, a number of technical and non-technical suggestions are delivered.


Source regions for the westward propagating zonal wavenumber one and three components of the semidiurnal tide observed in the summer mesosphere and lower thermosphere over Antarctica are identified by correlating local tidal variations with global planetary wave one activity in the stratosphere and lower mesosphere. The advantages of using zonal wavenumber resolved tidal amplitudes for such a study are described. The results support the prediction of a source region in the northern hemisphere.


edited by Anthony Polonsky and Joanna B. Michlic. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2004. 489 pp. $19.95. On June 22, 1941, German forces captured the town of Jedwabne, in the Lomza region in northeastern Poland. Less than three weeks later, on July 10, 1941, the Jewish community of Jedwabne, whose roots go back more than 300 years, was destroyed by local townspeople. With the publication of Sasiedzi: Historia zaglady ydowskiego miasteczka (Sejny, 2000) and its English translation Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland (Princeton, 2000), Jan Tomasz Gross (Polish emigre, now Professor of Politics and European Studies at New York University) challenged Poles to confront the Polish involvement in the Jedwabne massacre: "[H]ad Jedwabne not been seized by Germans, the Jedwabne Jews would not have been murdered by their neighbors." Gross's thesis elicited a plethora of apologetics and polemics. Many seethed in overt antisemitism and revisionism, and others raised the issue of "Poles as heroes and victims." Remarks from the leadership of the Polish State and Church at the 60(th) anniversary of the Jedwabne pogrom (July 10, 2001) reflected the intensity and kind of Polish self-criticism: "I apologize on my own behalf and on behalf of those Poles whose consciences have been stirred by that crime, who believe that one cannot be proud of Polish history's greatness without simultaneously feeling pain and shame at the evil committed by Poles against each other" (President Aleksander Kwasniewski); "Nevertheless, we cannot allow the case of Jedwabne to disseminate false ideas about Poland's co-responsibility for the Holocaust or innate antisemitism in Poland" (Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek); and the absence of Josef Cardinal Glemp, the Primate of Poland, who "didn't want politicians to tell the Church how it should express its sorrow for crimes committed by some group of its believers." An attempt to understand contested views on the Jedwabne pogrom and its affect on Polish-Jewish relations is the purport of the book under review. Editors A. Polonsky and J. Michlic's Introduction sets the stage for the chapters that follow. They summarize the murky history of Jewish-Polish relationship. Jews began living in Poland in approximately the tenth century. To be sure, individual Jewish communities coexisted tolerably with Poles in "this land of blessed refuge."(1) But with the coming of such traumas as the Chmielnicki massacres of 1648-1649 and all the successive acts of discrimination, fanaticism, ghettoization, persecution, and finally extermination that followed, the deep alienation between Jews and Poles became the foremost means by which these respected groups defined each other. Needless to say, Gross's Neighbors raises the issue of Polish reaction towards mass murder of Jews on Polish soil during World War II in general and in Jedwabne in particular. The editors respond by evaluating Polish national character, identity, and memory thereof and suggest pointed directions to normalize the traumatic Jewish-Polish past. Following the Introduction, the volume is divided into seven parts, with introductory matter provided by the editors, and contributions from Catholic clergy, historians, intellectuals, journalists, and jurists; all are of Polish birth or descent. …


The crack gauge sensor and pencil core sensor are two kinds of elements commonly used to monitor the crack propagation velocity; both of them have the advantage of easy operation, low price, etc. However, they also have the disadvantage, namely, bigger measuring error. In this paper, the work principles of these two sensors are introduced, next, these two sensors are used to measure the crack propagation velocity in the fracture mechanics experiment of gypsum plates, then according to the experimental results, the measuring errors are analyzed and the correcting methods are suggested; at last, the crack propagation velocity are discussed, and the conclusion that the starting velocity of propagation is a variable and related to the dynamic process and the restrained conditions is pointed out.


Two interference-based subcarrier group assignment strategies in dynamic resource allocation are proposed for MC-CDMA wireless systems to achieve high throughput in a multicell environment. Least interfered group assignment (LIGA) selects for each session the subcarrier group on which the user receives the minimum interference, while best channel ratio group assignment (BCRGA) chooses the subcarrier group with the largest channel response-to-interference ratio. Both analytical framework and simulation model are developed for evaluation of throughput distribution of the proposed schemes. An iterative approach is devised to handle the complex interdependency between multicell interference profiles in the throughput analysis. Illustrative results show significant throughput improvement offered by the interference-based assignment schemes for MC-CDMA multicell wireless systems. In particular, under low loading conditions, LIGA renders the best performance. However, as the load increases BCRGA tends to offer superior performance.


This report presents the results from a Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) to address the question "Can land use and land management make a difference to water availability?"
Conclusions from this review are:
• It may take many decades for the impacts of land use and land management practices on surface and groundwater resources to become apparent.
• Trees never use less water than other vegetation, and usually use more water, leaving less water for surface runoff and groundwater recharge. Any land use/management intervention that promotes tree growth will use more water. Mature forests use less water than growing forests, and plantation forestry goes through stages, some of which (drainage and felling) can increase runoff and recharge.
• The key messages from the biofuels articles are that there is no clear evidence about the water use of Miscanthus and switchgrass compared to traditional crops in the UK, but there is evidence that short rotation coppice (e.g. willow) can use very much more water than traditional crops.
• Land use that leaves bare soil reduces evaporation and increases surface runoff or groundwater recharge.
• Small (field) scale interventions to hold more water locally in the soil (e.g. tillage practices, soil treatments) are generally successful. This has the effect of reducing surface runoff and groundwater recharge, with the extra water being available for crops.
• Some agricultural land use/management practices are dependent on very location-specific conditions, and are not regarded as replicable in other places. Other practices, whilst replicable, may not produce the same results because of different physical and climatic characteristics. Potential impacts of change may need to be considered on a case-by-case basis.
• All of the above impacts are generally localised, with what appear to be large changes at the field, plot or sub-catchment level manifested as only small changes at the catchment or basin level.
Concerning the process used to reach these conclusions the following recommendations are made:
• The primary question and initial scoping to determine feasible search parameters are critical: future REAs should explicitly include stakeholder consultation from an early stage in order to better to understand the question. Focusing this review solely on UK studies would have significantly reduced the number of articles in the final set. To increase the number of UK articles, it would have been necessary to widen the search.
• Future REAs should concentrate on a particular land use or land management intervention (e.g. tillage practices, certain crops, land drainage, etc), and on a particular hydrological or hydrogeological impact, which may facilitate a broader search and, thereby, consider more articles on that topic, or at a particular geographical location, within the time frame of the review.
Land use, climate change and water availability: Phase 2a Results and synthesis
iv
It is further recommended that:
• In order to generate a larger body of UK-specific evidence, there is a need for coordinated, targeted research and long-term monitoring to investigate the water-related impacts from the most important land uses and land management interventions, across a variety of catchment types.
• There is a need to consider the impacts of land use and land management on water quality, as well as on water quantity.


The suitability of conventional distance relays to operate correctly under variations in such factors as source impedance, prefault load and fault resistance is still a problem. This paper describes an alternative approach to nonunit protection of transmission lines using artificial neural networks (ANNs). Particular emphasis is placed on describing a methodology whereby the extraction of the input features (from the measured voltage and current signals) to the ANNs is near optimal; with this approach, the results presented clearly demonstrate that the protection technique gives satisfactory performance under a wide variation in practically encountered system operating and fault conditions.


Antitrust & Associations: Two Association Related Output Restriction Cases – One Settling (Doctors), the Other Starting Up (Eggs)* On my media sweep earlier, two interesting trade association…


The synthesis of 3-[5-(4-chlorophenyl)-1-(4-methoxyphenyl)-1H-pyrazol-3-yl]propionic acid, C(19)H(17)ClN(2)O(3), (I), and its corresponding methyl ester, methyl 3-[5-(4-chlorophenyl)-1-(4-methoxyphenyl)-1H-pyrazol-3-yl]propionate, C(20)H(19)ClN(2)O(3), (II), is regiospecific. However, correct identification of the regioisomer formed by spectroscopic techniques is not trivial and single-crystal X-ray analysis provided the only means of unambiguous structure determination. Compound (I) crystallizes with Z' = 2. The propionic acid groups of the two crystallographically unique molecules form a hydrogen-bonded dimer, as is typical of carboxylic acid groups in the solid state. Conformational differences between the methoxybenzene and pyrazole rings give rise to two unique molecules. The structure of (II) features just one molecule in the asymmetric unit and the crystal packing makes greater use than (I) of weak C-H...A interactions, despite the lack of any functional groups for classical hydrogen bonding.


279 Recent evidence suggests that multiple cross talk among tumor cells and various host cells trigger the metastatic pathways. However, there are no drugs available to inhibit the metastasis of cancer cells. Accordingly, there have been many studies aimed at screening natural products for their anti-metastatic potentials. Xanthorrhizol is a sesquiterpenoid compound from the rhizome of Curcuma xanthorrhiza and is widely used as a traditional medicine in Indonesia. Therefore, this study used an in vivo mouse lung metastasis model (using a tail vein injection of a murine colon cancer cell line, CT26, onto Balb/c mice) and a tumor mass formation assay (using an intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of a metastatic melanoma cell, B16BL6, onto C57BL6 mice) to evaluate the anti-metastatic activity of xanthorrhizol. Interestingly, xanthorrhizol inhibited the intra-abdominal tumor masses formation and the formation of tumor nodules in the lung tissue. These results suggested that xanthorrhizol possesses anti-metastatic activity in vivo. In order to examine the mechanism of the anti-metastatic action of xanthorrhizol in the mouse lung metastasis model, the expression pattern of several intracellular signaling molecules with the lung tissues including tumor nodules were evaluated. Higher expression levels of COX-2, MMP-9, p-ERK, Akt, and procaspase-9 in the metastatic group were observed, but these were attenuated by a treatment with xanthorrhizol. Furthermore, xanthorrhizol exhibited anti-proliferation and pro-apoptotic activity in colon cancer cells via the inhibition of the cell proliferation, the induction of the DNA fragmentation and the morphological changes in xanthorrhizol-treated cancer cells. Overall, xanthorrhizol exerts its anti-metastatic activity in vivo and its anti-cancer activity in vitro via the metastasis-related multiplex signal pathway.


Bluetooth is an emerging technology for personal wireless communications and is being applied in many scenarios. We investigate the data scheduling policy for Bluetooth piconets. In general the performance evaluation of most piconet scheduling algorithms recently proposed do not consider the packet losses in the wireless channel. However in environments with high interference or mobility, the channel conditions can mitigate the performance of the polling strategies. We propose a new piconet scheduling algorithm based on the estimated channel state information. The channel is modeled using the Nakagami-m distribution. The channel quality estimation is based on the received signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and on the Nakagami fading parameter m. These two metrics are used by the scheduling algorithm to define the best polling strategy. Simulation results demonstrate the good algorithm performance for different traffic conditions.


The Hox gene complement of zebrafish, medaka, and fugu differs from that of other gnathostome vertebrates. These fishes have seven to eight Hox clusters compared to the four Hox clusters described in sarcopterygians and shark. The clusters in different teleost lineages are orthologous, implying that a "fish-specific" Hox cluster duplication has occurred in the stem lineage leading to the most recent common ancestor of zebrafish and fugu. The timing of this event, however, is unknown. To address this question, we sequenced four Hox genes from taxa representing basal actinopterygian and teleost lineages and compared them to known sequences from shark, coelacanth, zebrafish, and other teleosts. The resulting gene genealogies suggest that the fish-specific Hox cluster duplication occurred coincident with the origin of crown group teleosts. In addition, we obtained evidence for an independent Hox cluster duplication in the sturgeon lineage (Acipenseriformes). Finally, results from HoxA11 suggest that duplicated Hox genes have experienced diversifying selection immediately after the duplication event. Taken together, these results support the notion that the duplicated Hox genes of teleosts were causally relevant to adaptive evolution during the initial teleost radiation.


East Indian Dragon's blood – a resin from Daemonorops draco blume – has played and continues to play an enormous role in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). This resin, highly priced in ancient times, is used against a variety of physical discomforts, in particular, to improve tissue generation, stimulate blood circulation and to alleviate pain. As a source of interesting and unique flavonoid natural products, renewed interest in finding biological active natural products has led to the recent isolation and characterization of the complex flavonoid trimers dragonbloodin A1 and A2. These remarkable natural products, with an unprecedented spiro hexadienone core represent the first representatives of a new class of trimeric flavonoids featuring the [3.3.1] bicyclic ketal moiety of A type proanthocyanidins. Its densely functionalized and unique structure in combination with its unknown biogenetic origin render it a highly challenging and attractive synthetic target for biomimetic synthesis approaches. Starting from phloroglucinic acid the building blocks dracorhodin perchlorate and flavan II were synthesized in a divergent route via the shared intermediate I. Trimerization under buffered conditions in a biphasic system revealed the flav-2-en containing intermediates III as intermediates towards the dragonbloodins. Exceptional sensitivity against aerial oxidation led to the investigation of the exact autoxidation products and finally revealed an unprecedented cascade reaction forging the complex skeleton of dragonbloodin A1 & A2 accompanied by endoperoxide formation towards the diastereomers IV. Reduction or hydrolysis of these peroxo semiketals gave access to a mixture of both natural products in a racemic fashion.

The second part of this thesis describes the investigations on the total synthesis of salimabromide, a novel secondary metabolite from the marine myxobacterium strain enhygromyxa salina SWB007. While more than 100 natural products from terrestrial myxobacteria are known, only seven classes have been isolated from the marine counterpart. Salimabromide represents one of these classes and was only reported in 2013 from the Konig group. Bearing a fascinating and unprecedented carbon framework featuring two contiguous quaternary carbon centers and two aromatic bound bromide substituents, especially the difficulties in isolation and the resulting lack of material for biological studies render it an attractive and challenging target for total synthesis. Starting with inexpensive meta-anisaldehyde we were able to quickly access tetraline VI bearing both quarternary carbon centers by an unprecedented Wagner–Meerwein rearrangement/ Friedel–Crafts alkylation sequence of epoxide V. By subsequent well-orchestrated and high-yielding transformations, the ethyl side chain was introduced and all carbons of the framework assembled. A keteniminium mediated [2+2] cycloaddition affords tetracyclic cyclobutanone VIII in impressive regioselectivity and yield. A variety of late-stage oxidations including a regioselective directed Baeyer–Villiger oxidation finish the first successful total synthesis of salimabromide. By employing robust and scalable methodologies the route gives access to quantities of salimabromide in the three-digit milligram range and allows easy late-stage modifications for structure–activity relationship studies.


The Erosion-Productivity Impact Calculator (EPIC) model was used to predict spring wheat (Triticum aestivum) yields from long-tenn (1960 to 1989) crop rotations at the Agriculture Canada Research Station at Melfort. These predictions were compared to actual yields using the paired t test and linear regression analysis. Simulated mean yields of wheat for the different rotations were generally similar to actual yields, when daily maximum and minumum temperatures and precipitation were input into the model. The fertilized continuous wheat rotation gave the highest yield when averaged over the 30-yr period. EPIC was also satisfactory in predicting yield when weather was generated from long-term climate data. However, regression analyses indicated no significant relationship between . simulated (using actual and generated weather data) and actual annual yields over the 30-yr period. Therefore, EPIC predicts long-term average yields with sufficient accuracy, but is not recommended for yield prediction for individual years. It can be a valuable decision-making tool for identifying crop rotations and management practices that offer potential yield benefits over a long time period.


User fatigue is an important issue in interactive evolutionary computation (IEC). A user's evaluation will guide the evolution in IEC and a tired user probably misleads the algorithm. Firstly, the impact of the user fatigue is given. Secondly, the cause of the user fatigue is discussed: he/she will have to keep rational, which means that the user will have to keep the consistency between his/her evaluation and preference. And the necessity for the user to keep rational is also analyzed, which will ensure IEC to converge to the user-most-satisfactory individuals. The study of user fatigue established necessary foundation for future research.


Radiography inspection (X-ray or gamma ray) is one of the most commonly used Non-destructive Evaluation (NDE) methods. More and more digital X-ray imaging is used for medical diagnosis, security screening, or industrial inspection, which is important for e-manufacturing. In this paper, we firstly introduced an automatic welding defect inspection system for X-ray image evaluation, defect image database and applications of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) for NDE. Then, feature extraction and selection methods are used for defect representation. Seven categories of geometric features were defined and selected to represent characteristics of different kinds of welding defect. Finally, a feed-forward backpropagation neural network is implemented for the purpose of defect classification. The performance of the proposed methods are tested and discussed.


Providers of community health and social services to families with young children are aware of increasing poverty in particular localities and amongst particular social groups. They are also aware that their own sphere of influence which they could previously activate on behalf of their clients is diminishing. Community midwives, health visitors, social service workers and workers in voluntary sector organizations in two areas of Greater Manchester were asked about the needs of young children and their carers and their own role in fulfilling some of those needs. They located the difficulties facing their clients in both the structural constraints of poverty and in individual histories and capabilities. In so doing they construct a model of how social welfare is managed personally which has implications for the way in which they understand their own role as providers of health and social services. The study on which this paper is based was concerned with the role of 'social support' in the lives of families deemed to be 'in need', from the perspective of workers. The study shows that while service providers understand and emphasize the value and importance of certain types of support in the lives of their clients, time restrictions and a delimitation of their role lead them, in certain contexts, to devalue their role in providing such support. At the same time, in order to make sense of, and give meaning to, the limits of the support they feel able to provide, they draw on notions of self‐help and dependency arguing that, ideally, people should not rely on formal service provision for their support needs.


The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) contains a class of complex reasoning tests known as logical reasoning problems. These problems are demanding for human reasoners and beyond the competence of any existing computer program. This article applies the mental model theory of reasoning to the analysis of these problems. It predicts 3 main causes of difficulty, which were corroborated by the results of 4 experiments: the nature of the logical task (Experiment 1), the set of foils (Experiment 2), and the nature of the conclusions (Experiments 3 and 4). This article shows how these factors can be applied to the design of new problems.


Moringa oleifera Lam. belongs to the Moringaceae family, popularly known as Sahijana, Shigru, Shobhanjana, Krishnagandha etc. The importance of Shigru in treatment has been mentioned in various classical texts for ages. Different parts of the drug, i.e., stem bark, leaves, seed, pods, root, etc., contain many chemical constituents that are significant in pharmacology. Pharmacognostical and phytochemical analyses are essential for proper identification and authentication of the drug. Materials and method: Shigru kanda twaka churna and Shigru patra churna were evaluated separately for pharmacognostical, physicochemical, and phytochemical studies. It also included a qualitative test for detecting protein, carbohydrate, ascorbic acid, sterols, and terpenes as per the Ayurvedic pharmacopoeia of India (A.P.I.). Results: The correct identity and authenticity of the drug sample were confirmed by its organoleptic study, powder microscopy, and phytochemical study, comparing them with features mentioned in A.P.I., and then certified by subject experts in Govt. Drug testing laboratory, Dist. Gwalior M.P. and Institute of Pharmacy, Vikram University Ujjain M.P. Conclusion: Based on the present study, we can conclude that both the sample drugs were authentic, pure and followed standard parameters of A.P.I.


Biochemical responders maintain normal alanine aminotransferase levels after interferon (IFN) therapy despite persistent presence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA in their sera. There have been few reports on predictive factors for biochemical response. A region associated with sensitivity to IFN was identified in the nonstructural protein 5 A of genotype 1b [aa 2209–2248; IFN sensitivity‐determining region (ISDR)]. The substitutions in ISDR correlate with sustained response to IFN. In this report, we assessed the association of ISDR with biochemical response. The sequences of ISDR were determined in 62 patients with HCV genotype 1b treated by IFN in two randomized controlled trials. 30 patients had wild ISDR (identical to HCV‐J), 20 intermediate ISDR (1–3 amino acid substitutions compared with HCV‐J), and 12 mutant ISDR (four or more amino acid substitutions). All 12 patients with mutant ISDR had a sustained response, while only one of those with wild or intermediate ISDR had a sustained response (P < 0.0001). In the 49 patients other than sustained responders, the patients with intermediate ISDR obtained biochemical response significantly more frequently (52.6%, 10/19) than those with wild‐type ISDR (20.0%, 6/30) (P < 0.05). Multivariate analysis indicated the number of substitutions in ISDR as the most important predictor for biochemical response (discriminant coefficient=1.08, P < 0.05) and sustained response (discriminant coefficient=6.13, P < 0.0001). In phylogenetic analysis, clustering of sustained responders and biochemical responders was observed. These results demonstrate that the substitutions in ISDR are the most important predictor for biochemical response to IFN in patients infected with genotype 1b as well as for sustained response.


Introduction: Previous reports have suggested that the use of continuous‐wave Doppler for nonimaging heart rate monitoring or in utero Doppler imaging increased fetal activity. In this study, 11 fetuses (EGA 20–28 weeks) underwent a cardiac 2‐D ultrasound and pulsed Doppler examination (since pulsed Doppler is more often used for fetal cardiac diagnosis) with 2‐D and Doppler performed in a randomized order and with 10‐minute ultrasound observation periods with as little transducer movement as possible before, during, and after 2‐D only, and Doppler evaluation. Methods: All studies were performed with informed consent at the lowest available Doppler power < 90 mW/cm2 spatial peak temporal average. Fetal heart rate, the number of fetal gross movements / min, and the percent time occupied by fetal movements were evaluated by two blinded observers from video taped records. Patients had been referred to rule out fetal heart disorders but all echoes showed normal cardiac anatomy. Results: Fetal heart rate after pulsed Doppler study was statistically higher by analysis of variance (mean 127 beats/min) than in the pre‐Doppler evaluation period (mean 120) and was highest during the Doppler exam period (mean 136; P < 0.05) in 10 of 11 fetuses. The percent time of fetal movements was highest during the Doppler exam period and in 9 of 11 fetuses movement increased. The raw number of gross movements / min, however, was highest after the Doppler. No such changes occurred during or after 2‐D alone. Conclusion: Whether associated with slightly higher energy output, minimal thermal changes, or audible switching or electronic output sounds transmitted from the instrumentation through the uterus, fetal heart rate and activity increased in our study both during and after pulsed Doppler examination.


Thermally induced lensing and depolarization by an Nd:YAG amplifier rod with a maximum pump power of 8 kW were measured. The beam waist position exhibited a nonlinear dependence on the pump power. From this, a linear relation between the refractive index change and pump power is derived, considering the propagation of the Gaussian probe beam in the laser rod with a quadratic index profile. The measured degree of polarization behind the laser rod confirms the thermal lens result that refractive index changes depend linearly on the pump power. Pumping above 5 kW leads to deviations of the refractive index distribution in the rod from radial symmetry.


Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) is now well established as a major risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) impact upon endothelial function by decreasing nitric oxide (NO°) bioavailability. Asymmetric dimethylarginine, an endogenous analog of l -arginine, is able to inhibit the activity of endothelial-nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), promoting endothelial dysfunction. Prediabetes is characterized by a reduced endotheliumdependent vasodilation and increased ADMA levels. Asymmetric dimethylarginine is strongly associated with microand macrovascular diabetic complications. Asymmetric dimethylarginine activity is strongly correlated with CVD in prediabetes. Materials and methods: This study was a cross-sectional, descriptive type of study. In total, 815 participants were involved in this study, out of which 250 suffered from type II diabetes and 265 were prediabetic patients. 290 controls were involved from hospital OPD. Biochemical parameters including fasting plasma sugar, postprandial plasma sugar (after 2 hours of 75 g oral glucose), fasting lipid profile (serum total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) cholesterol) were done by enzymatic methods. The quantitative sandwich enzyme immunoassay technique was used to determine plasma ADMA level by using commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results: The level of ADMA in prediabetes was 0.55 ± 0.11 and of type II diabetes was 0.70 ± 0.14 compared with controls (0.41 ± 0.14). p value was <0.05, which was significant. In the present study, there was a significant increase in serum TC, TG, LDL, VLDL, TG/HDL, and LDL/HDL ratio compared with those of normal healthy subjects, while HDL was significantly decreased in prediabetic as compared to normal healthy subjects. Conclusion: The current study shows that increased ADMA levels can indicate the risk of CVD in prediabetic stage. Prediabetes people are under risk of CVD and type II diabetes. Individuals who are prediabetic are at risk of CVD and type II diabetes. The evaluation of the ADMA levels may improve the early diagnosis of CVD of prediabetes.


A large volume of data is routinely collected during the course of typical fermentation and other processes. Such data provide the required basis for process documentation and occasionally are also used for process analysis and improvement. The information density of these data is often low, and automatic condensing, analysis, and interpretation ("database mining") are highly desirable. In this article we present a methodology whereby process variables are processed to create a database of derivative process quantities representative of the global patterns, intermediate trends, and local characteristics of the process. A powerful search algorithm subsequently attempts to extract the specific process variables and their particular attributes that uniquely characterize a class of process outcomes such as high- or low-yield fermentations.The basic components of our pattern recognition methodology are described along with applications to the analysis of two sets of data from industrial fermentations. Results indicate that truly discriminating variables do exist in typical fermentation data and they can be useful in identifying the causes or symptoms of different process outcomes. The methodology has been implemented in a user-friendly software, named db-miner, which facilitates the application of the methodology for efficient and speedy analysis of fermentation process data. (c) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Biotechnol Bioeng 53: 443-452, 1997.


This article examines the neighbourhood governance response to the coronavirus pandemic in Taipei and Wuhan, arguing that in both cities this has been remarkably effective and that it relies on co-operation with the community. It argues that cities around the world have much to learn from the role of neighbourhood governance in public health, regardless of regime type and the efficacy of the national response.
Image: urban neighbourhood, Shanghai ©Gerda Wielander


A new diffuser design is developed for a low specific speed, multistage pump. In this design the diffuser and the de-swirl vanes are integrated into single vanes. This creates diffuser channels that extend from behind the impeller exit through the cross-over, up to the eye of the next stage impeller. Experiments show the occurrence of a saddle type instability in the head curve. At a critical flow rate of close to 50% of the flow rate at Best Efficiency Point (BEP), the head drops by 7% of the head at BEP. In this study Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) are used in an effort to understand the underlying flow phenomena.
 The head curve that is obtained with the transient CFD simulations contains a saddle type instability at a flow rate that is approximately the same as in the experiments, but with a lower magnitude. At flow rates higher than the critical flow rate, the predicted head and power are in very good agreement with the experimental data. At flow rates lower than the critical flow rate, the head and power are slightly over-predicted. An analysis of the pressure distribution in the pump reveals that the head loss at different flow rates in the diffuser shows a discontinuity at the critical flow rate. Since both the impeller head and the head loss in the vaneless gap increase continuously for decreasing flow rate, this is an indication that the cause of the head instability lies in the diffuser. Moreover, a strong increase in the variability of head and power at flow rates below the critical flow suggests that the phenomenon is unsteady.
 Flow patterns in the impeller and in the diffuser, as calculated by CFD, show a high degree of periodicity and are very similar for flow rates down to the critical flow rate. However, for lower flow rates the flow pattern changes completely. A single rotating stall cell is observed that causes two or three neighboring diffuser channels to stall, leading to a significantly lower flow rate or even a reversed flow. This stall pattern rotates in the direction of impeller rotation at a very low frequency of approximately 3.3% of the impeller rotation frequency.


The mercury-containing protein fractions in the brain cytosol of the maternal and infant rats after exposure to low-dose of methylmercury chloride (0.3 mg Hg kg−1 day−1) were analyzed by a SEC-ICP-MS method with the postcolumn isotope dilution analysis. The enriched spiking including 34S, 65Cu, 67Zn and 198Hg was continuously added into the eluate from the HPLC column and then the isotope-diluted fractions were on-line measured by ICP-MS. Therefore, the absolute amounts of sulfur, mercury, zinc and copper in the eluted protein fractions could be attained after calculation of the corresponding peak areas in the mass flow chromatogram. Five mercury-containing protein fractions were monitored in the maternal sample, whereas only one was in the infant sample. The mercury content in the infant sample was about 10 times lower than the one in the maternal sample. In the meantime, two copper- and four zinc-containing fractions were found in both maternal and infant samples. The detection limit for S, Cu, Zn and Hg are 11, 0.1, 1.5 and 0.2 ng, respectively. The results demonstrate that different mercury-containing protein fractions may exist in brain cytosol between maternal and infant rats and the quantitative calculation may be helpful for the toxicological study.


In this paper, optical reflectance properties of an annular photonic crystal (APC) composed of alternate layers of double negative (DNG) material and a non-magnetized plasma (NMP) layer, immersed in free space, have been theoretically investigated and studied. The reflectance spectra of the annular PC have been obtained by employing the transfer matrix method (TMM) for the cylindrical waves in the case of TEpolarized wave only. It has been found that the spectral position and width of the reflection bands of APC are greatly influenced by the variation in the thickness of DNG metamaterial and NMP layer, respectively. Interestingly, it is observed that the presence of NMP layer causes the increase in photonic band gap (PBG) whereas the DNG layer reduces the PBG. Further, the effect of azimuthal mode number (m) on the reflectance spectra shows that for m > 0, splitting in the reflection bands occurs at the frequency corresponding to the zero permeability value of DNG metamaterial layer. Moreover, with the increase in azimuthal mode number one PBG is red-shifted and the second one is blue-shifted. Finally, the effect of change in the starting radius parameter of curved surface and plasma electron density on the reflectance spectra of APC has also been studied and very interesting results have been observed.


We propose novel methods for integrating prosody in syntax using generative models. By adopting a grammar whose constituents have latent annotations, the influence of prosody on syntax can be learned from data. In one method, prosody is utilized to seed the latent annotations of a grammar which is then refined using EM iterations. In an orthogonal approach, we integrate prosody into grammar more explicitly using a model that jointly observes words and associated prosody. We evaluate the two methods by parsing speech data from the Switchboard corpus. The results are compared against baseline results from a model that does not use prosody. The experiments show that prosody improves a grammar in terms of accuracy as well as the parsimonious use of parameters.


Pen input computers combined with interactive software may have substantial potential for promoting active instructional methodologies and for facilitating students' problem solving ability. An excellent example is a study in which introductory physics students improved retention, conceptual understanding and problem solving abilities when one of three weekly lectures was replaced with group problem solving sessions facilitated with Tablet PCs and DyKnow software [1,2]. The research goal of the present study was to isolate the effect of the methodology itself (using additional time to teach problem solving) from that of the involved technology. In Fall 2011 we compared the performance of students taking the same introductory physics lecture course while enrolled in two separate problem-solving sections. One section used pen-based computing to facilitate group problem solving while the other section used low-tech methods for one third of the semester (covering Kinematics), and then traded technologies for the middle third of the term (covering Dynamics). Analysis of quiz, exam and standardized pre-post test results indicated no significant difference in scores of the two groups. Combining this result with those of previous studies implies primacy of pedagogy (collaborative problem solving itself) over technology for student learning in problem solving recitations.Pen input computers combined with interactive software may have substantial potential for promoting active instructional methodologies and for facilitating students' problem solving ability. An excellent example is a study in which introductory physics students improved retention, conceptual understanding and problem solving abilities when one of three weekly lectures was replaced with group problem solving sessions facilitated with Tablet PCs and DyKnow software [1,2]. The research goal of the present study was to isolate the effect of the methodology itself (using additional time to teach problem solving) from that of the involved technology. In Fall 2011 we compared the performance of students taking the same introductory physics lecture course while enrolled in two separate problem-solving sections. One section used pen-based computing to facilitate group problem solving while the other section used low-tech methods for one third of the semester (covering Kinematics), and then traded technologies for ...


Manipulation of the QD surface by changing morphology and surface capping ligands, as well as adjusting nanocrystal size, plays a crucial role on the selectivity and sensitivity exhibited by QDs towards a given target analyte. In this study, a novel aqueous synthesis of CdTe QDs capped with a thiol compound containing a sulfonate (SO3−) terminal group, viz., 2-mercaptoethanesulfonate (MES), was thoroughly investigated with the aim of obtaining a fluorescent probe for chemical analysis. The results obtained with the prepared CdTe-MES QDs in the determination of various metal ions demonstrated the high efficiency of these nanomaterials for determining Hg(II) levels. Upon optimization, linear working calibration curves for Hg(II) concentrations of up to 0.5 μmol L−1 were obtained, with a determination coefficient of 0.9984. The detection limit was 0.0095 μmol L−1 and the quantification limit was 0.0324 μmol L−1. When applied to the determination of Hg(II) in tap water samples, the developed method provided analytical results similar to those obtained with a reference method. The accuracy and precision of both methods were comparatively evaluated using the Student's t-test and the Fischer test, and the tabulated values showed a good agreement at a 95% confidence level.


Nowadays, customers are regarded as a commodity. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in a bank entails important phases such as integrating the communication tools to meet the needs of customers, treating
each customer as individuals, and making the customer relationship an imposing and perpetual experience. The aim of this research is to determine the effectiveness of CRM implementation on customer satisfaction and
perceived business performance. Literature suggests that successful CRM efforts involve proper deployment of the three phases in CRM implementation, i.e. acquisition, enhancement and recovery phases. Furthermore, there
is a strong causal relationship between CRM implementation and customer satisfaction as well as perceived business performance. A survey was carried out using a survey instrument on commercial banks in Taiwan.
Findings revealed that CRM implementation is positively associated with customer satisfaction and perceived business performance as suggested by the literature. Contact rate and recovery management were found to be
associated with customer retention while acquisition management, regular contact and evaluation of customers lead to improved loyalty and employee sentiments. In a managerial point of view, this study provides an outline
of the impact of CRM efforts on the dimensions of customer satisfaction and perceived business performance.


This paper introduces a family of optimal blind feedforward estimators for joint estimation of the carrier phase and frequency offset of general quadrature amplitude modulated transmissions. The asymptotic (large sample) performance of these estimators is established in closed-form expression. A practical implementation of the proposed optimally matched estimator, which is a computationally efficient approximation of the latter and exhibits negligible performance loss, is also derived. It is shown that the proposed family of constellation-dependent optimal estimators outperforms all the existing carrier recovery schemes for large QAM modulations. Finally, computer simulations are presented to show the merit of the proposed optimal estimators.