This work demonstrates how to improve the size distribution of silicon nanocrystals (Si-NCs) synthesized in a remote plasma, in which the flow dynamics and the particular chemistry initially resulted in the formation of small (2–10 nm) and large (50–120 nm) Si-NCs. Plasma consists of two regions: an axially expanding central plasma beam and a background region around the expansion. Continuum fluid dynamics simulations demonstrate that a significant mass flow occurs from the central beam to the background region. This mass flow can be gradually reduced upon confinement of the central beam, preventing the mass transport to the background region. Transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy analyses demonstrate that the volume fraction of large Si-NCs decreases from ∼77% to below 45% in parallel with the decrease of mass flow to the background region upon confinement, which indicates that large Si-NCs are synthesized in the background and small Si-NCs are synthesized in the central beam. Spatially resolved ion flux analyses demonstrate that the ions are localized in the central beam despite the mass flow to the background, indicating that the formation of small Si-NCs is governed by ion-assisted growth while the formation of large Si-NCs is governed by radical-neutral-assisted growth in the absence of ions. According to these observations, a better uniformity in the size distribution of Si-NCs can be obtained by creating a more uniform plasma flow and controlling the density of plasma species in the plasma.


PURPOSE
Human extraocular muscles (EOM) are preferentially susceptible to thyroid eye disease. Although the specific cause of this autoimmune disorder is unknown, it is often associated with elevated thyroid hormone levels. Thus, the effect of elevated thyroid hormone levels on cross-sectional area, myofiber size, satellite cells, and myosin heavy chain (MyHC) isoform expression was examined in adult rabbit EOMs, to determine how elevated thyroid hormone alters EOM biology.

METHODS
After 1 month of elevated thyroid hormone levels, the EOMs were removed and prepared for histologic examination. Total muscle mass, myofiber size, patterns of MyHC isoform expression, and the number of satellite cells were determined.

RESULTS
Elevated thyroid hormone levels significantly decreased muscle mass, total number of myofibers, and mean cross-sectional area of the myofibers. Alterations in MyHC isoform expression were extremely complex, but several basic patterns emerged. The percentages of neonatal- and developmental-positive myofibers decreased in almost all EOM regions examined, and the percentages of slow-positive myofibers significantly increased. In contrast to normal EOMs, which retain a population of activated satellite cells throughout life, elevated thyroid hormone levels resulted in the virtual disappearance of MyoD-positive cells and a decrease in Pax7-positive cells.

CONCLUSIONS
The reductions in EOM size, number of fibers expressing developmental and neonatal MyHC, and number of MyoD- and Pax7-positive satellite cells suggest that elevated thyroid hormone levels decrease the ongoing myofiber remodeling normally seen in the EOM. These catabolic changes have important implications for maintenance of function in the EOMs.


MCrAl (M = Fe, Ni, or Co) alloys have exceptional corrosion and oxidation resistance and can be used as both oxidation resistant structural materials and coatings. As coatings, they protect high temperature steels or Ni based alloys by forming a dense alumina layer on the surface and thus impeding further oxidation. In order to assess its potential usage as an overlay coating on components used in supercritical water-cooled nuclear reactors (SCWRs), an Fe-2 3Cr-5Al alloy in the form of wire was tested under two different super-heated steam (SHS) conditions (625 °C and 800 °C) and also in supercritical water (SCW) (625 °C and 26 MPa), for 500 h. The corrosion behavior of samples was assessed by measuring the weight change per unit surface area and by examining the surface, cross-sectional microstructure and the phase compositions using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The tested samples showed different oxidation behavior after exposure to these three conditions. SEM and XRD results showed that FeCrAl has the ability to form protective Al- and Cr-containing oxide(s) under all three conditions. Based on the findings, it is concluded that the oxidation behavior of Fe–23Cr–5Al is highly influenced by pressure and temperature within the range of testing conditions. SHS exposure at low temperature led to greater weight gain while that in SCW resulted in weight loss. Overall, its performance is better under SHS conditions compared to CoCrWC S16 but worse under the SCW condition.


Hysterectomy remains a commonly performed gynecologic surgery. An estimated 650,000 women in the United States undergo surgical removal of the uterus annually at a considerable cost to patients, payers, and society at large. Currently, two-thirds of hysterectomies are performed by abdominal surgery and approximately one-third by vaginal surgery. Most research supports laparoscopic-assisted hysterectomy as a safe, effective, and less intrusive alternative to open surgery. Laparoscopy is far less costly, results in less pain, and has a much shorter recovery period. This paper discusses such advantages of the laparoscopic approach over the standard abdominal hysterectomy and reviews 158 laparoscopic-assisted hysterectomies performed at a 100-bed rural Minnesota hospital. Techniques, equipment, patient mix, and complications are discussed. Patients experienced few complications, and most left the hospital in 48 hours.


Background:
 CPR saves lives. Community-based, bystander CPR increases survivability by reducing time to compressions. Inadequate chest compressions have been associated with poor patient outcome. There is substantial inter-operator variability in quality and duration. While training laypersons in CPR, we observed that individuals lacking upper body strength had difficulty sustaining effective compressions. An improvised compression technique, transferring the force to the operator's forearm, immediately resolved this issue.

 Objective/hypothesis:
 We hypothesized that a modified technique would be associated with increased duration of adequate compressions relative to standard CPR.

 Methods:
 Using a convenience sample of 18 paramedic students, we standardized this forearm technique and compared duration of adequate compressions with Standard CPR using Laerdal PC SkillReporting software. Trials were terminated upon 5 consecutive inadequate compressions. Evaluators were blinded to which sequence-randomized technique was being used. Our case-crossover study was approved by the university IRB.

 Results:

 Limitations:
 The small, convenience sample of young, fit providers trained in CPR was not representative of the group for whom the improvisation was originally devised. Larger scale testing with greater diversity is indicated.

 Conclusions:
 Our pilot study supported our hypothesis that the forearm CPR method was not inferior to the standard method with respect to time to fatigue. Having the mannequin at hospital bed height likely influenced the effectiveness of both techniques, so ensuing studies will use a mannequin on the ground.


Many reports have now confirmed the teratogenic potential of alcohol in humans and in laboratory animals. A characteristic pattern of congenital anomalies is present in infants born to mothers suffering from chronic alcoholism. The pathogenesis of this condition is unclear. Chronic consumption of ethanol causes a depletion of essential fatty acids, partly by blocking gamma-linolenic acid formation and partly by depleting dihomogammalinolenic acid. Whether this action of ethanol on essential fatty acid and prostaglandin metabolism may account for its teratogenic potential was investigated in the rat. Treatment of pregnant rats with ethanol and evening primrose oil (efamol), a rich source of gammalinolenic acid, led to a significant reduction in the embryopathic activity of ethanol.


Studies of resonant magnetic perturbations (RMP) have been an active topic in the tokamak research. The RMP technique involves the use of magnetic perturbations generated by external coils installed on a tokamak device. The resonant interaction between the plasma and RMP has favorable effects on magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) stability and other plasma parameters in tokamaks. The RMP experiments are carried out in the Saskatchewan Torus-Modified (STOR-M) tokamak using (l = 2, n = 1) helical coils carrying a static current pulse. The effect of RMP on the (m = 2, n = 1) magnetic islands is examined during ohmic discharges with high MHD activities. The amplitude and frequency of (2, 1) Mirnov fluctuations are significantly reduced after application of RMP. A phase of improved plasma confinement, characterized by a reduction in the Hα emission level and an increase in the soft x-ray (SXR) emission, is induced after application of RMP. It is also observed using the ion Doppler spectroscopy (IDS) that RMP can strongly affect the plasma rotation in STOR-M. It is found that during the RMP pulse, the toroidal velocity of CIII impurities (located at the plasma edge) increases in the co-current direction. However, the toroidal velocities of OV and CVI impurities (located near the plasma core) change direction from counter-current to co-current. The reduction of the toroidal flow velocity is accompanied by a reduction of the MHD frequency. It is also found that radial profiles of ion saturation current and floating potential in the edge region can be modified by RMP. An increase in the pedestal plasma density and a more negative electric field are observed at the plasma edge region during the RMP pulse. An internal probe array is assembled and installed in STOR-M to study the RMP penetration and the plasma response to RMP.


This paper proposes a sensor-fusion technique where the data sets for the previous moments are properly transformed and fused into the current data sets to enable accurate measurement, such as, distance to an obstacle and location of the service robot itself. In the conventional fusion schemes, the measurement is dependent on the current data sets. As the results, more of sensors are required to measure a certain physical parameter or to improve the accuracy of the measurement. However in this approach, instead of adding more sensors to the system, the temporal sequence of the data sets are stored and utilized for the measurement improvement. Theoretical basis is illustrated by examples and the effectiveness is proved through the simulations. Finally, the new space and time sensor fusion (NSTF) scheme is applied to the control of a mobile robot in an unstructured environment as well as structured environment.


The scheduling of generalized pinwheel task systems is considered. It is shown that pinwheel scheduling is closely related to the fair scheduling of periodic task systems. This relationship is exploited to obtain new scheduling algorithms for generalized pinwheel task systems. When compared to traditional pinwheel scheduling algorithms, these new algorithms are both more efficient from a run-time complexity point of view, and have a higher density threshold, on a very large subclass of generalized pinwheel task systems.


An analysis was performed of differential splicing of primary transcripts in the noncollagenous variable region located in the amino terminus of the pro-alpha 1(XI) and pro-alpha 2(XI) collagen chains. The results for the pro-alpha 2(XI) chain showed that human cartilage or fibroblasts in culture contain transcripts in which a single highly acidic exon encoding for 21 amino acids is present or absent. For the chicken pro-alpha 1(XI) chain a more complex pattern of alternative splicing was detected with six possible variants. Of special interest was the alternative use of two exons (called IIA and IIB) in which IIA encodes for 39 amino acids and is highly acidic (estimated pI = 3.2), whereas IIB encodes for 49 amino acids and is highly basic (estimated pI = 10.6). A similar alternative use of exon IIA or exon IIB was also observed for human chondrocytes. Northern blotting with probes specific for IIA or IIB showed that both exons are present in transcripts from cartilage but exon IIB is preferentially utilized in transcripts from tendon. Present results suggest that both the pro-alpha 1(XI) and pro-alpha 2(XI) chains of type XI collagen undergo limited processing in vivo and that the noncollagenous variable region is initially retained on the surface of the fibrils. Differential splicing in the variable region may potentially influence the interaction of collagen fibrils with other molecules of the extracellular matrix and more specifically with sulfated glycosaminoglycan chains or with hyaluronan. Such interactions may play a key role in establishing both the organization of the collagen fibrils within the extracellular matrix and in limiting the diameter of collagen fibrils.


Cobalt modified TiO2 nanotube was prepared by wet impregnation method from anodized nanotube. The microstructure and phase characteristic were studied by SEM, EDX and XRD analysis. The photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue under UV illumination was studied. Enhanced degradation efficiency could be obtained after sodium borohydride reducing. For the samples using low concentration of CoCl2 in wet impregnation process, the degradation efficiency increased with the increase of CoCl2 concentration and for high concentration, the degradation efficiency decreased. With increasing the post-treatment temperature, the degradation efficiency decreased.


Landslides and slope failures represent critical hazards for both the safety of local communities and the potential damage to economically relevant infrastructure such as roads, hydroelectric plants, pipelines, etc. Numerous surveillance methods, including ground-based radar, InSAR, Lidar, seismometers, and more recently computer vision, are available to monitor landslides and slope instability. However, the high cost, complexity, and intrinsic technical limitations of these methods frequently require the design of alternative and complementary techniques. Here, we provide an improved methodology for the application of image-based computer vision in landslide and rockfall monitoring. The newly developed open access Python-based software, Akh-Defo, uses optical flow velocity, image differencing and similarity index map techniques to calculate land deformation including landslides and rockfall. Akh-Defo is applied to two different datasets, notably ground- and satellite-based optical imagery for the Plinth Peak slope in British Columbia, Canada, and satellite optical imagery for the Mud Creek landslide in California, USA. Ground-based optical images were processed to evaluate the capability of Akh-Defo to identify rockfalls and measure land displacement in steep-slope terrains to complement LOS limitations of radar satellite images. Similarly, satellite optical images were processed to evaluate the capability of Akh-Defo to identify ground displacement in active landslide regions a few weeks to months prior to initiation of landslides. The Akh-Defo results were validated from two independent datasets including radar-imagery, processed using state of the art SqueeSAR algorithm for the Plinth Peak case study and very high-resolution temporal Lidar and photogrammetry digital surface elevation datasets for the Mud Creek case study. Our study shows that the Akh-Defo software complements InSAR by mitigating LOS limitations via processing ground-based optical imagery. Additionally, if applied to satellite optical imagery, it can be used as a first stage preliminary warning system (particularly when run on the cloud allowing near real-time processing) prior to processing more expensive but more accurate InSAR products such as SqueeSAR.


Background: Clostridium difficile is the main agent causing antimicrobial associated nosocomial diarrhea. Chronic renal failure is a risk factor for this type of diarrhea. Aim: To study the incidence and complications of Clostridium difficile diarrhea in a university hospital and among patients with renal diseases. Patients and methods: Retrospective review of all cases of Clostridium difficile diarrhea that occurred in a university hospital, between June 2000 and May 2001. Results: In the Nephrology Unit, 48 episodes of Clostridium difficile diarrhea occurred in 35 patients (7 cases per 100 discharges/year). This figure is higher than the global incidence in the hospital (0.53 cases per 100 discharges/year, p <0.001). The mean age of the 33 patients with renal diseases was 63 years old and 17 of them were female. Their main diagnoses were chronic renal failure in hemodialysis in 48%, uremic syndrome in 36% and renal transplant in 6%. Seventy nine percent had a history of antimicrobial use (42% quinolones and 36% cephalosporins). In 3 patients, the only risk factor was chronic renal failure. Seventy five percent responded to metronidazole and in 27%, diarrhea recidivated, compared with a 6% recurrence rate in other units, p <0.02). Eight patients died during hospital stay. Conclusions: Among patients with renal diseases, Clostridium difficile is frequent and associated with a high recurrence rate and mortality. Chronic renal failure may be a risk factor for its development (Rev Med Chile 2003; 131: -).


The 12,13-epoxytrichothecenes, a group of sesquiterpenoid fungal antibiotics, inhibit protein synthesis in eukaryotic cells but do not share a common mode of action. Trichodermin stabilizes polyribosomes, prevents their disaggregation by puromycin, and also prevents the release of nascent peptides from ribosomes by puromycin. Nivalenol, T-2 toxin, and verrucarin A cause rapid and almost quantitative breakdown of polyribosomes in H-HeLa cells, a process which is inhibited by anisomycin, cycloheximide, or trichodermin. Similar effects of trichodermin, nivalenol, and verrucarin A are also observed in yeast spheroplasts. We conclude that nivalenol, T-2 toxin, and verrucarin A are potent and highly selective inhibitors of polypeptide chain initiation in eukaryotes, whereas trichodermin inhibits chain elongation and (or) termination. We have compared the structural formulae of various trichothecenes and suggest that the presence of substituents on carbon-15 of the common trichothecene ring may be important in determining the precise modes of action of this group of compounds.


The political economies of the oil rich GCC countries are generally contextualized within the framework of rentier state theory. The picture the theory portrays is that of an autonomous state with abundant revenues generated from oil which are in turn distributed to the larger population to gain political legitimacy within prevailing non-democratic cultures. Albeit having a democratically elected parliament with a vibrant political environment for a comparatively long time, rentierism is also applied to the political economy of Kuwait.

This study, hence, aims to explore the development of Kuwait into a rentier constitutional state beyond the generally accepted notions put forward by rentier state theory. Its focus is to understand the perceptions and ideas behind the economic and political policy decisions in the context of the oil boom of the 1950s and early 1960s. Economically, therefore, the main aim is to explore and critically analyze why distributive policies, which constitute a main feature characterizing the country's economy, were initiated in the post-oil era.

The study also critically analyzes the diverse influences oil had on the concurrent rise in political activity and direction towards democratization, crowned by the framing of the constitution in 1962. In examining these developments, the study stresses the importance of looking not only at internal factors, but also at foreign and international influences that are brought about by oil booms. In the case of Kuwait, these include the primary role Britain played, in light of its oil interests, in the country's internal affairs, and the ways in which oil sparked, for a small and newly rich Arab state, international dynamics that shaped the thinking of policymakers as to the importance of undertaking certain crucial reforms.

An examination of the relevant archival record makes it is clear that the framework provided by rentier state theory is insufficient in capturing the complex factors that influence the economic and political decisions of policymakers in countries experiencing oil booms. The findings, therefore, challenge rentier state theory's core assumptions, such as its stress on 'political utility' as the main, if not sole, driver of socioeconomic policy, and the 'materialistic approach' in which political activity is contextualized.

The study shows that much of the socioeconomic policies that created what is referred to as a 'distributive state' stemmed from much deeper influences than those postulated by the theory, such as certain perceptions of tradition and culture; views of citizen 'rights' and social justice in a specific historical context; and influences of social currents overtaking the region at the time. Furthermore, the study demonstrates how, in the period concerned, contrary to the position of the rentier state literature, oil played a significant role in the democratization of Kuwait, transforming it from a primitive patriarchal autocracy to a modern 'rentier constitutional state'. The latter embodies, as the study argues, the concept of a rentier state combined with a constitutional form of government in which citizens are directly involved in the economic and political decision-making process.

The study concludes that Eurocentric theoretical frameworks as expressed in rentier state theory may not always be sufficient in explaining the complex realities of countries such as Kuwait. There is a need, therefore, for a new approach that engages directly with the internal and external dynamics of individual countries in order to understand their respective political economies beyond assumptions imported largely from foreign experiences.


The Coronavirus Time Capsule features the voices and experiences of over 3,000 teenagers from all over the world. Through weekly themes young people from youth theaters and youth organisations film themselves and their lives, documenting the trials and tribulations of life in lockdown. All material is edited and presented on Company Three's website, alongside a Best Bits compilation video. This review considers the context in which this piece of performance art was created; during a global pandemic in which the voices of young people are rarely heard. As the title of the project suggests, its aim was to create a way, i.e., a time capsule, for teenagers to record and remind themselves about how and what they felt during the pandemic in years to come. However, this review argues the potential wider impact a virtual project of this scale can have and what we as theater-makers can learn from it.


PURPOSE
To evaluate early changes in the visual response properties of Y cells in the detached feline retina.

METHODS
The retinas of young adult cats were detached by injection, with a glass micropipette, of a solution of 0.004% sodium hyaluronate in a balanced salt solution between the neural retina and the retinal pigment epithelium. At 1, 3, and 7 days after detachment, the eyes were removed. The eyecup was prepared as a flat mount in a recording chamber and superfused with medium. Extracellular single-unit responses from Y cells in the retinas were recorded.

RESULTS
One, 3, and 7 days after retinal detachment surgery, Y cells showed clear signs of functional deterioration. At each time point, more ON center cells than OFF cells were encountered. Y cells in the detached retinas showed a statistically significant elevation in the average threshold irradiance after 1-, 3-, and 7-day detachment, respectively. The average contrast threshold recorded from cells in the normal retina was 3.6%, but it increased to 14.5%, 21.8%, and 47.5% after 1-, 3-, and 7-day detachment, respectively. Furthermore, at each time point, the capability of Y cells to process contrast information decreased significantly more because of detachment than because of luminance task performance.

CONCLUSIONS
Retinal detachment induced rapid functional remodeling that resulted in degenerated Y-cell function, including an elevated luminance threshold and a deteriorated contrast threshold. Detachment had a greater impact on the latter. These physiological changes after retinal detachment could be used as objective indicators of early deterioration of visual function in future studies of retinal remodeling.


At the beginning of this century, local governments, local self-government units, were reaffirmed as an important participant in development policy. The growing importance of the local business environment for local economic development, but also development at all other levels, has been recognized. The local business environment can be explored from different perspectives. In this paper, the topic is the local business environment from the perspective of the business community, because there is a lack of research and works of the local business environment from this perspective in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In this context, the focus is on three dimensions of the business environment. The first dimension includes procedures, activities and services provided by local governments that have or may have an impact on the business community. The second dimension refers to land use, spatial planning, spatial, urban, regulatory and implementation plans and other relevant documents, as well as the process of issuing a building permit. Finally, the third dimension includes the prices and quality of utilities and local infrastructure. All three dimensions have their basis in the rights and responsibilities of local self-government units determined by the statutes of the local self-government unit, constitutions of higher levels of government, relevant European documents, laws, regulations, provisions, practices at relevant levels and theories. In this context, three research questions were asked. The answers to the questions asked are generated by elements to solve the observed problem. The paper uses the survey method as the basic method. 400 companies from Bosnia and Herzegovina were surveyed. In addition, other relevant methods were used. Theoretical foundations of the research are provided by location theories and growth and development theories.The results can be used as inputs in evaluating existing policies and strategies of local governments or creating new local economic development strategies for the third decade of this century.


BACKGROUND Macrodystrophia lipomatosa (MDL) is characterized by progressive overgrowth affecting soft tissues and bony structures and is part of lipomatous overgrowth syndromes. MDL has been associated with lipomatosis of the nerve (LN), an adipose lesion of nerve that has a pathognomonic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) appearance as well as a mutation in the PIK3CA gene. The authors present a case of occult LN in the setting of MDL. OBSERVATIONS A 2-year-old boy with progressive soft tissue overgrowth of his proximal right lower extremity was initially diagnosed with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). At our institution, NF1 as well as other overgrowth syndromes including PTEN hamartoma tumor syndrome were excluded. He was diagnosed as having so-called MDL. Upon reinterpretation of the patient's MRI studies, short-segment LN involving the proximal sciatic nerve and part of lumbosacral plexus was identified. He underwent 2 debulking/liposuction procedures for soft tissue overgrowth. Genetic testing of tissue revealed a mutation in PIK3CA. LESSONS Thorough clinical examination (for signs of overgrowth) as well as an MRI study of the entire neural pathway is a critical part of the diagnostic workup to evaluate for LN. The authors believe that an increasing association of LN, even when occult, will emerge that will explain many cases with marked nerve-territory overgrowth.


The Vrancea region, at the south-eastern bend of the Carpathian Mountains in Romania, represents one of the most puzzling seismically active zones of Europe. Beside some shallow seismicity spread across the whole Romanian territory, Vrancea is the place of an intense seismicity with the presence of a cluster of intermediate-depth foci placed in a narrow nearly vertical volume. Although large-scale mantle seismic tomographic studies have revealed the presence of a narrow, almost vertical, high-velocity body in the upper mantle, the nature and the geodynamic of this deep intra-continental seismicity is still questioned.
High-resolution seismic tomography could help to reveal more details in the subcrustal structure of Vrancea. Recent developments in computational seismology as well as the availability of parallel computing now allow to potentially retrieve more information out of seismic waveforms and to reach such high-resolution models.
This study was aimed to evaluate the application of a full waveform inversion tomography at regional scale for the Vrancea lithosphere using data from the 1999 six months temporary local network CALIXTO. Starting from a detailed 3D Vp, Vs and density model, built on classical travel-time tomography together with gravity data, I evaluated the improvements obtained with the full waveform inversion approach.
The latter proved to be highly problem dependent and highly computational expensive. The model retrieved after the first two iterations does not show large variations with respect to the initial model but remains in agreement with previous tomographic models. It presents a well-defined downgoing slab shape high velocity anomaly, composed of a N-S horizontal anomaly in the depths between 40 and 70km linked to a nearly vertical NE-SW anomaly from 70 to 180km.


The author investigates the forecasting performance of a number of simple prediction techniques for short-term interest rates. In particular, quarterly forecasts of Canadian three-month T-bill rates, from one to forty quarters in the future, are generated during 1963-92 using several time-series methods and market-based yield curve strategies. Comparison is made with the martingale and, for a shorter recent sample, with the predictions made by several economic forecasters. For the most part, utilization of the yield curve proved best, though it must be granted that no methodology was able to outperform the martingale for horizons up to a year.


Summary Serum and cells, collected from mice immunized by infection either with newborn larvae (NBL) or per os with infective larvae of Trichinella spiralis, were passively transferred to mice which were challenged with NBL. Serum always gave very strong protection if given before challenge but not if given within 2 h after challenge. Cells from mice immunized with NBL also gave good protection, whereas those from mice immunized per os did not. If NBL were incubated in serum from immunized mice their infectivity was reduced, but if the serum was pre‐absorbed with NBL this effect was lost. Such absorbed serum did not confer immunity on recipient mice.


Interfacial structures of c-axis-oriented YBa_2Cu_3O_7-y (Y123) and Nd_1+ x Ba_2- x Cu_3O_7- y (Nd123) films were investigated by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) in conjunction with geometrical lattice matching and molecular orbital calculations. These films were formed on MgO(001) substrates by liquid-phase epitaxy. Despite the similarity in lattice constants between Y123 and Nd123, the in-plane orientation relationship (OR) to the substrates is different: [100]film//[100]substrate(I) for Y123 and [110]film//[100]substrate(II) for Nd123. From the results of HRTEM observations and image simulations, it was found that the Y123 and Nd123 films are terminated by BaO and CuO-chaun layers at the interfaces, respectively. For both the Y123/MgO and Nd123/MgO systems, the OR(I) is assessed to be the most favorable in point of geometrical matching and the OR(II) is the second among the rotational misorientations on the [001]film and [001]MgO. The molecular orbital calculations reveal that the interface with the OR(II) and the CuO-chaun layer termination is preferable in terms of covalent bonding for both the systems. Consequently, we suggest that the preferential interfacial structures are delicately determined by a balance of the geometrical and chemical factors at the interfaces, resulting in making the lowest interfacial free energies.


OBJECTIVES
Formulation is argued to be of central importance in most psychotherapeutic approaches, yet little is known about client's experience of this. This study sought to explore the client experience of receiving cognitive analytic therapy (CAT). It aims to gain a better understanding of the use of specific CAT tools (e.g., reformulation letters and diagrams) and how these tools relate to clients' understanding of change.

DESIGN
Grounded theory methodology utilizing a three-stage analysis process was used to explore client's retrospective accounts of change in CAT.

METHODS
Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine participants who had received CAT. Data analysis involved initial coding of transcripts and further theoretical sampling and interviewing followed. This led to the production of a model that was then taken to three further participants for exploration in further interviews. An audit was conducted of the analysis process.

RESULTS
A core conceptual framework of 'doing with' the therapist emerged from the analysis and represented clients' experience of receiving CAT and participating in the reformulation process. This framework subsumed four interrelated themes; 'being with the therapist', 'keeping it real', 'understanding and feeling', and 'CAT tools'.

CONCLUSIONS
CAT was seen as an active and emotional experience facilitated by a trusting and collaborative therapeutic relationship. The CAT reformulation was seen as important but only when embedded within this context. Whilst, this was a small study theoretical generalizations are discussed about the process of change and further clinical and research recommendations are presented.


The observation that some adults with childhood-onset GH deficiency have low bone mineral density, low lean body mass, diminished quality of life, abnormal lipids, and impaired cardiac function, all of which may improve after treatment with GH, has prompted pediatric endocrinologists to reevaluate the practice of discontinuing GH in all patients after attainment of final adult height. The treatment of adolescents to prevent the metabolic complications of GH deficiency is an emerging practice. Studies addressing the evaluation and care of adolescents during this period and the benefits of GH in this setting are conflicting. Our approach in determining which adolescents to retest, when and how to test for persistent GH deficiency, and which subjects to treat is discussed in the context of available clinical data.


The purpose of this article is to retrieve the work presented in (Gildersleeve, 2015a and Gildersleeve, 2015b) on the transcendent function and complexes as well as an ontological interpretation of Jung's work on the Rosarium Philosophorum (Gildersleeve, 2015c) to project a new meaning of the phenomenology and ontology of the transcendent function. This article enables complexes and the Rosarium Philosophorum to be understood in connection to the ontology of the transcendent function that was presented in (Gildersleeve, 2015a). This article can hermeneutically retrieve the transcendent function because when complexes and the Rosarium Philosophorum are explained ontologically they unconceal new possibilities that were not available in (Gildersleeve, 2015a).  By retrieving the transcendent function in this way, this article will explain more detail of the phenomenological and ontological meaning of the transcendent function which will include complexes and the Rosarium Philosophorum .


Human gestures form an integral part in our everyday communication. We use
gestures not only to reinforce meaning, but also to describe the shape of objects,
to play games, and to communicate in noisy environments. Vision systems that
exploit gestures are often limited by inaccuracies inherent in handcrafted models.
These models are generated from a collection of training examples which requires
segmentation and alignment. Segmentation in gesture recognition typically involves manual intervention, a time consuming process that is feasible only for a
limited set of gestures. Ideally gesture models should be automatically acquired
via a learning scheme that enables the acquisition of detailed behavioural knowledge only from topological and temporal observation.
The research described in this thesis is motivated by a desire to provide a framework for the unsupervised acquisition and tracking of gesture models. In any
learning framework, the initialisation of the shapes is very crucial. Hence, it would
be beneficial to have a robust model not prone to noise that can automatically correspond the set of shapes. In the first part of this thesis, we develop a framework
for building statistical 2D shape models by extracting, labelling and corresponding
landmark points using only topological relations derived from competitive hebbian learning. The method is based on the assumption that correspondences can
be addressed as an unsupervised classification problem where landmark points
are the cluster centres (nodes) in a high-dimensional vector space. The approach
is novel in that the network can be used in cases where the topological structure of
the input pattern is not known a priori thus no topology of fixed dimensionality is imposed onto the network.
In the second part, we propose an approach to minimise the user intervention
in the adaptation process, which requires to specify a priori the number of nodes
needed to represent an object, by utilising an automatic criterion for maximum
node growth. Furthermore, this model is used to represent motion in image sequences by initialising a suitable segmentation that separates the object of interest
from the background. The segmentation system takes into consideration some illumination tolerance, images as inputs from ordinary cameras and webcams, some
low to medium cluttered background avoiding extremely cluttered backgrounds,
and that the objects are at close range from the camera.
In the final part, we extend the framework for the automatic modelling and
unsupervised tracking of 2D hand gestures in a sequence of k frames. The aim
is to use the tracked frames as training examples in order to build the model and
maintain correspondences. To do that we add an active step to the Growing Neural Gas (GNG) network, which we call Active Growing Neural Gas (A-GNG) that
takes into consideration not only the geometrical position of the nodes, but also the
underlined local feature structure of the image, and the distance vector between
successive images. The quality of our model is measured through the calculation
of the topographic product. The topographic product is our topology preserving
measure which quantifies the neighbourhood preservation.
In our system we have applied specific restrictions in the velocity and the appearance of the gestures to simplify the difficulty of the motion analysis in the gesture representation. The proposed framework has been validated on applications
related to sign language. The work has great potential in Virtual Reality (VR) applications where the learning and the representation of gestures becomes natural
without the need of expensive wear cable sensors.


Fatty acid composition comprising at least 80% by weight of omega-3-fatty acids, salts or derivatives thereof, wherein (all-Z)-5,8,11,14,17-eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and (all-Z)-4,7,10,13,16,19-docosahexaenoic acid comprises at least 75% by weight of the total fatty acids. The compositions can be used for the treatment or prophylaxis of multiple risk factors for cardiovascular diseases.


The role of strategic delay is analyzed in an infinite-horizon alternating-offer model of bargaining. A buyer and seller are engaged in the trade of a single object. Both bargainers have private information about their own preferences and are impatient in that delaying agreement is costly. An equilibrium is constructed in which the bargainers signal the strength of their bargaining positions by delaying prior to making an offer. A bargainer expecting large gains from trade is more impatient than one expecting small gains, and hence makes concessions earlier on. Trade occurs whenever gains from trade exist, but due to the private information, only after costly delay.


Hate speech is a form of online harassment that involves the use of abusive language, and it is commonly seen in social media posts. This sort of harassment mainly focuses on specific group characteristics such as religion, gender, ethnicity, etc and it has both societal and economic consequences nowadays. The automatic detection of abusive language in text postings has always been a difficult task, but it is lately receiving much interest from the scientific community. This paper addresses the important problem of discerning hateful content in social media. The model we propose in this work is an extension of an existing approach based on LSTM neural network architectures, which we appropriately enhanced and fine-tuned to detect certain forms of hatred language, such as racism or sexism, in a short text. The most significant enhancement is the conversion to a two-stage scheme consisting of Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) classifiers. The output of all One-vs-Rest (OvR) classifiers from the first stage are combined and used to train the second stage classifier, which finally determines the type of harassment. Our study includes a performance comparison of several proposed alternative methods for the second stage evaluated on a public corpus of 16k tweets, followed by a generalization study on another dataset. The reported results show the superior classification quality of the proposed scheme in the task of hate speech detection as compared to the current state-of-the-art.


The method of transcutaneous determination of oxygen and carbon dioxide tension was used in examinations of healthy men (26 extremities) and 66 patients with obliterating atherosclerosis of the lower extremity arteries with different stages of the insufficient peripheral blood circulation. It was shown that oxygen tension in the foot skin was decreased in proportion to the decrease of the humero-malleolar index. In patients with obliterating atherosclerosis of the vessels and the II stage of insufficiency of blood circulation of the lower extremity the decrease of the humero-malleolar index and capillary blood flow of the foot skin did not result in a sharp disturbance of the gas regimen of the skin. In the III and IV stages of disturbances of blood circulation there occur failure of compensatory-adaptational mechanisms of tissue respiration accompanied not only by pronounced hypoxia but also by hypercapnia.


"Child Survival Activities in Turkey" are: growth monitoring programs, expanded programs of immunization (elimination of neonatal tetanus, reducing morbidity and mortality of measles, eradication of polio), control of diarrheal diseases (oral rehydration therapy), control of deaths from pneumonia (ARI), baby-friendly hospitals initiative and promotion of breast-feeding, salt iodization programs, elimination of vitamin A deficiency, safe motherhood projects, and phenylketonuria screening programs. Furthermore, family planning, nutrition and education of the mother were among the subjects covered because of their role in child health. The activities, aims and strategies related to these programs are taken up separately. The status of child health and some of the child survival and development programs (growth monitoring program, expanded program of immunization, control of diarrheal diseases, control of deaths from pneumonia, baby-friendly hospitals initiative and promotion of breast-feeding) are discussed in the article.


Background: COVID-19, a disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 has become a public health emergency of worldwide concern. Originated in Wuhan District of China, it has spread globally at a very rapid rate causing millions of deaths worldwide. Aims and Objectives: To summarize findings from all the current literature available from different databases regarding the epidemiological, clinical characteristics, laboratory diagnosis, treatment, prevention and control of the SARS-CoV-2. This will help out the reader to have a fine gist of all the data available on SARS-CoV-2 in an effective manner. Methods: All the research literature from Jan-March 2020 and available on the following online databases: bio-Rxiv, PubMed, Google Scholar, Embase as well as CNKI and Wang Fang data were included in the review. The keywords used for data search were "coronavirus," "nCoV," "2019-nCoV," and "COVID-19." Conclusion: After undergoing extensive literature search, it can be concluded that it mainly effects elderly male population. Mode of transmission is droplet transmission and human to human transmission is present. The main diagnostic modality remains molecular assays though several rapid testing methods are on the way. Due to lack of specific treatment guidelines, Infection control and supportive treatment remain the mainstay. Plethora of experiments are under trails for development of effective vaccine which can be a ray of hope in future.


Abstract The research presented in the paper aims to find out whether the public support (subsidies) received by cluster organizations for their development and activities is efficient. That means whether the state receives a return on investment in the form of increased revenues to public budgets. The research was conducted on a sample of seven cluster organizations that include the following sectors: furniture, packaging and textile production, engineering, the automotive industry, IT and nanotechnology. For each cluster organization, the data on subsidies was drawn from the moment of their establishment until 2017. At the same time, a list of the cluster member organizations was drawn up, with financial data being collected only for business entities. For each enterprise, information about paid corporate income tax, income tax on employment from employee wages, and social and health insurance paid by the companies and their employees was collected. In the next phase, increases in taxes and insurances were monitored and compared to the year in which the cluster organization drew a subsidy for the first time. Subsequently, the public support efficiency rate and payback period were calculated. The research results show that public support for cluster organizations is efficient, with a relatively short payback period.


This paper reviews progress in hyperspectral remote sensing (HRS) in China, focusing on the past three decades. China has made great achievements since starting in this promising field in the early 1980s. A series of advanced hyperspectral imaging systems ranging from ground to airborne and satellite platforms have been designed, built, and operated. These include the field imaging spectrometer system (FISS), the Modular Airborne Imaging Spectrometer (MAIS), and the Chang'E-I Interferometer Spectrometer (IIM). In addition to developing sensors, Chinese scientists have proposed various novel image processing techniques. Applications of hyperspectral imaging in China have been also performed including mineral exploration in the Qilian Mountains and oil exploration in Xinjiang province. To promote the development of HRS, many generic and professional software tools have been developed. These tools such as the Hyperspectral Image Processing and Analysis System (HIPAS) incorporate a number of special algorithms and features designed to take advantage of the wealth of information contained in HRS data, allowing them to meet the demands of both common users and researchers in the scientific community.


The silanol groups on Silica gel surface are sites for adsorption of polar molecules. Alcohols and other polar molecules are easily adsorbed by forming hydrogen bondings with OH groups on silica gel surface. A study on the adsorption of methanol on silica gel was carried out by using NIR spectroscopy in combination with ssecond derivative techniques. Four of the well characterised silica gel samples were used in this study. Each of the silica gel (0.25g) samples with different surface areas and silanol number was pressed into a small disc, placed in a glass vial and the physically adsorbed water molecules from the surface of the silica gel particles were removed by heating the sample to 200 °C under vacuum. The near infrared spectra of the cooled sample was recorded by a Perkin Elmer spectrum one NIR spectrometer equipped with a transflectance accessory and a deuterated triglycine detector at a resolution of 16 cm-1. The glass vial was then opened and a tiny tube filled with methanol was inserted in the glass vial. Then the near infrared spectra of the sample during the adsorption of methanol were recorded at regular time intervals until there is no apparent change in the spectra. The second derivative profiles of the spectra were obtained using the instruments' software. The mass of the silica gel pellet was determined by an analytical balance and the methanol adsorbed on the surface was calculated. The number of methanol layers on the silica gel surface was calculated using the silica gel particle characteristics of the samples. The results show that the adsorption evolution of methanol progresses on the samples and the surface was covered by a mono layer within the first 60 minutes. Furthermore, it appears that the adsorption of multilayer on methanol starts after all the surface silanol groups are exhausted.


Based on ethnographic research with over four hundred Congolese refugees in Kampala and Kyaka II refugee settlement, Uganda, this article interrogates the politics of education—both historically in the Democratic Republic of Congo and currently in migration contexts in Uganda. Formal education was an aspiration for all young people in the study, irrespective of current educational level. Moreover, it is a priority for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and many other organizations working with refugees. Drawing on the experiences and views of Congolese young people, this article analyzes the socio-political importance they accord to formal schooling. It then analyzes the degree to which these political aspects of education are manifested in daily decision-making processes in families, households, communities, and high-level politics. The author concludes with some reflections on how researchers and practitioners working in migration contexts can recognize and take into account the politicized nature of education.


Social navigation and social tagging technologies enable user communities to assemble the collective wisdom, and use it to help community members in finding the right information. However, it takes a significantly-sized community to make a social system truly useful. The question addressed in this paper is whether collaborative information finding is feasible in the context of smaller communities. To answer this question, we developed two social systems specifically focused on smaller communities - CoMeT and Conference Navigator II - and explored several techniques to increase the volume of user contributions. This paper reviews the explored techniques and presents empirical evidence that demonstrate their effectiveness.


Antigen-specific immunotherapy represents an attractive approach for cancer treatment because of the capacity to eradicate systemic tumors at multiple sites in the body while retaining the requisite specificity to discriminate between neoplastic and nonneoplastic cells. It has been shown that certain domains of bacterial exotoxins facilitate translocation from extracellular and vesicular compartments into the cytoplasm. This feature provides an opportunity to enhance class I and/or II presentation of exogenous antigen to T lymphocytes. We investigated previously whether the translocation domain (domain II) of Pseudomonas aeruginosa exotoxin A with a model tumor antigen, human papillomavirus type 16 E7, in the context of a DNA vaccine could enhance vaccine potency. We then attempted to determine whether this chimeric molecule could also generate strong antigen-specific immunologic responses and enhance the potency of cancer vaccine in the protein format. Our results show that vaccination with the PE(DeltaIII)-E7-KDEL3 fusion protein enhances MHC class I and II presentation of E7, leading to dramatic increases in the number of E7-specific CD8+ and CD4+ T-cell precursors and markedly raised titers of E7-specific antibodies. Furthermore, the PE(DeltaIII)-E7-KDEL3 protein generates potent antitumor effects against s.c. E7-expressing tumors and preestablished E7-expressing metastatic lung tumors. Further, mice immunized with PE(DeltaIII)-E7-KDEL3 protein vaccine also retained long-term immunologic responses and antitumor effects. Our results indicate that retrograde-fusion protein via the delivery domains of exotoxins with an antigen greatly enhances in vivo antigen-specific immunologic responses and represents a novel strategy to improve cancer vaccine potency.


TiAl alloys are powerful candidates for light weight high temperature structural materials because of their excellent high temperature strength, low density and good oxidation resistance. Unfortunately, TiAl alloys are difficult to machine and hot working due to ordered structure, which impede large-scale application. Synthesis and superplastic deep drawing of a TiAl alloy were studied. Mechanically synthesized fine crystalline Ti/Al composite powders as precursor of TiAl alloy. The TiAl alloy with fine grain via reactive sintering was obtained. The deformation behavior under biaxial stress by means of deep drawing was achieved. The optimum temperature is 1100°C≤T≤1150°C. The microstructures corresponding to deep drawing in the part were studied.


DNA methylation and demethylation regulate the transcription of genes. DNA methylation-associated gene expression of adrenal steroidogenic enzymes may regulate cortisol production in cortisol-producing adenoma (CPA). We aimed to determine the DNA methylation levels of all genes encoding steroidogenic enzymes involved in CPA. Additionally, the aims were to clarify the DNA methylation-associated gene expression and evaluate the difference of CPA genotype from others using DNA methylation data. Twenty-five adrenal CPA and six nonfunctioning adrenocortical adenoma (NFA) samples were analyzed. RNA sequencing and DNA methylation array were performed. The methylation levels at 118 methylation sites of the genes were investigated, and their methylation and mRNA levels were subsequently integrated. Among all the steroidogenic enzyme genes studied, CYP17A1 gene was mainly found to be hypomethylated in CPA compared to that in NFA, and the Benjamini-Hochberg procedure demonstrated that methylation levels at two sites in the CYP17A1 gene body were statistically significant. PRKACA mutant CPAs predominantly exhibited hypomethylation of CYP17A1 gene compared with the GNAS mutant CPAs. Inverse associations between CYP17A1 methylation in three regions of the gene body and its mRNA levels were observed in the NFAs and CPAs. In applying clustering analysis using CYP17A1 methylation and mRNA levels, CPAs with PRKACA mutation were differentiated from NFAs and CPAs with a GNAS mutation. We demonstrated that CPAs exhibited hypomethylation of the CYP17A1 gene body in CPA, especially in the PRKACA mutant CPAs. Methylation of CYP17A1 gene may influence its transcription levels.


Irradiation hardening and embrittlement of reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steels having different contents of copper and nickel have been investigated as a part of the phase II of IAEA Coordinated Research Program (CR P). Seven kinds of materials which were made by Japanese steel manufacturers for the CRP were used. Neutron irradiation was conducted in Japan Materials Testing Reactor (JMTR). Mechanical properties of the materials were examined by conducting the hardness, tensile, Charpy impact and fracture toughness tests before and after irradiation. Some relationships between the changes of the mechanical properties due to irradiation were established. The increase in yield strength was correlated with hardness increase and the shift of Charpy transition temperature. In the upper shelf temperature range, the decrease in fracture toughness was well correlated with the degree of the increase in yield strength.


Using the dielectric tensor for a relativistic electron beam with finite strength axial magnetic field, saddle-point analysis for absolute and convective instabilities in the corrugated metal-wall slow-wave structure of backward-wave oscillators (BWOs) has been carried out. The parameters used in experiments at the University of Maryland were assumed. It is shown that the absolute instability of the BWO ceases, and a convective instability appears instead for a wide range of B near the condition of cyclotron absorption. The experimental results can be explained quantitatively taking into account the effect of finite length of the BWOs.


Eschewing the traditional focus on object/viewer spatial relationships, Timothy Scott Barker's Time and the Digital stresses the role of the temporal in digital art and media. The connectivity of contemporary digital interfaces has not only expanded the relationships between once separate spaces but has increased the complexity of the temporal in nearly unimagined ways. Invoking the process philosophy of Whitehead and Deleuze, Barker strives for nothing less than a new philosophy of time in digital encounters, aesthetics, and interactivity. Of interest to scholars in the fields of art and media theory and philosophy of technology, as well as new media artists, this study contributes to an understanding of the new temporal experiences emergent in our interactions with digital technologies.


The American criminal justice system has experienced a significant expansion in the number and severity of penalties triggered by misdemeanor convictions. In particular, legislatures have increasingly attached severe collateral consequences to misdemeanor offenses — penalties such as being required to register as a sex offender, prohibitions on owning or possessing a firearm, and deportation. While there is a wealth of scholarship studying the effect this development has had on defendants and their attorneys, little attention has been paid to the impact collateral consequences have on prosecutorial incentives. This Article starts to remedy that gap by exploring the influence collateral consequences exert on initial charging decisions in low-level prosecutions. Critically, the ability to impose certain collateral consequences through a misdemeanor conviction unlocks an array of additional charging options for prosecutors. As a result, prosecutors are now more likely to engage in a practice I term "strategic undercharging." A prosecutor engages in strategic undercharging when she charges a lesser offense than she otherwise could, but does so for reasons that advance her own aims — and not as an act of prosecutorial grace or leniency. In other words, prosecutors can sometimes gain more by charging less. By explaining why (and when) prosecutors are likely to engage in strategic undercharging, this Article complicates the conventional wisdom that prosecutors reflexively file the most severe charges available. This Article also proposes that collateral consequences be factored into the determination of what procedural safeguards are afforded a criminal defendant. Under existing law, collateral consequences are generally deemed irrelevant to that inquiry; the degree of procedural protection provided in a given case turns exclusively on the threatened term of incarceration. Changing this approach could have several salutary effects on the administration of collateral consequences. At a minimum, it would honor a basic principle underlying our criminal justice system: the threat of serious penalties warrants serious procedures.


Background:This study aims to investigate the prevalence and incidence of venous thromboembolism in intensive care unit (ICU) patients receiving thromboprophylaxis. Methods: Seventy-four consecutive patients (34 females, 40 males; mean age 55.8±19.4 years; range 20-86 years) admitted to the medical-surgical ICU, who were ≥18 years old and expected to stay in ICU for ≥72 hours, were included. Demographic data, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II scores, baseline and time-dependent deep vein thrombosis (DVT) risk factors were recorded. Bilateral lower extremity compression ultrasound was performed twice weekly, and one week after discharge from ICU. If DVT was suspected at any time during ICU stay, compression ultrasound was repeated. All patients were administered low molecular weight heparin or mechanical thromboprophylaxis. Also, passive extremity exercises were applied by physiotherapist to all patients every day. Results: Mean Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score was 17±6.1. The prevalence of DVT was 2.7% (CI 95% 3.3-9.42) on ICU admission. Of the patients, 89.1% were administered low molecular weight heparin, and 10.9% were administered mechanical thromboprophylaxis. We did not detect new DVT or pulmonary embolism during the ICU stay. Conclusion:Although DVT prevalence in ICU was 2.7%, appropriate and effective thromboprophylaxis prevented the development of new DVT during ICU stay.


A four-year (1987-90) trial was conducted to study the effects of timing and rate of N fertilizer application on furrow-irrigated Barbera, Grenache, French Colombard, and Chenin blanc grapevines. The objectives were to further determine optimum N fertilizer practices for important wine cultivars in the San Joaquin Valley and to compare inorganic N constituents, NO 3 - -N and NH 4 + -N, for N status determination. The six treatments included four N fertilizer application timings at budbreak (BB), fruit set (FS), veraison (V), and post-harvest (PH) with a 56 kg N/ha rate, as well as BB with a 2X rate of 112 kg N/ha and control (C0). Vine N status was determined by NO 3 - -N and NH 4 + -N levels and their sum, total inorganic N (TN), in bloom and veraison petioles. Yield and fruit composition parameters were measured for vine response. Cultivar responses varied widely, with Grenache and Barbera being the high and low extreme cultivars, respectively, in petiole TN status and responsiveness to N treatment; French Colombard and Chenin blanc were intermediate. Generally, TN status increased with increasing N rate (C0 • BB56 • BB112). Nitrogen fertilizer timing demonstrated that the more recent N applications often resulted in a higher petiole TN status at the next petiole sampling; i.e. , PH56 and BB56 treatment petioles had higher TN status at bloom while FS56 was higher at veraison. Post-harvest timing was found to be particularly effective in supplying petiole TN in the spring; i.e. , PH56 sometimes resulted in bloom petiole TN levels comparable to BB112 in all four cultivars and higher than BB56 in Grenache, French Colombard, and Chenin blanc. Petiole NO 3 - -N levels were more sensitive than NH 4 + -N levels to fertilizer treatment. The greater contribution of NO 3 - -N to TN and their high correlation coefficients as compared to NH 4 + -N and TN would place in question the utilization of NH 4 + -N as an additional measurement of N status. Grape soluble solids was the most responsive fruit parameter to N treatment. Generally, N fertilizer decreased soluble solids over C0, irrespective of timing, and with the highest rate (112 kg N/ha) resulting in the largest decrease. Grape yields were only affected in Grenache, with all of the N treatments increasing yields over C0 except V56. This result, plus other negative effects of the V56 treatment, suggest that veraison was the least desirable timing of those compared. Otherwise, timing effects on fruit parameters were minor.


Abstract High-resolution transects across amphiboles from the layered mafic-felsic Halfmoon Pluton suggest that amphibole compositions in the outermost ~40 μm of grains analyzed fluctuate in response to P-T-PH₂O conditions during the final stages of pluton emplacement and crystallization. Detailed transects (~10-15 μm point spacing) across 15 crystals from six representative rock types within the compositionally stratified Halfmoon Pluton revealed that in almost all crystals Altot increased over at least the outer 40 μm, coupled with a decrease in temperature and Ti-content. P-T estimates for Halfmoon Pluton amphiboles using the Al-in-hornblende geobarometer and the hornblende-plagioclase geothermometer are consistent with upper crustal emplacement depths. Amphibole Altot within the core and midsections is controlled by the temperature-dependent edenite and Ti-Tschermak exchanges, and is interpreted to reflect the influence of repeated injections of hot mafic magma into the magma reservoir during crystallization. Increases in Altot at all amphibole rims arise from a notable increase in VIAl and small increases in IVAl, indicating that, unlike the core and midsections that exhibit a strong temperature dependence, rim-Altot is a function of the pressure-dependent Al-Tschermak exchange. Pressure estimates calculated for amphibole rims record a rim-ward increase in P equivalent to between 0.2 and 1.9 kbar, which corresponds to increases in depth of crystallization of 0.7 and 6.7 km, respectively. This observed increase in pressure at the rims of all amphibole grains analyzed is not consistent with increasing lithostatic pressure as a result of pluton burial, but to an increase in PH₂O in response to second boiling, a common process during late-stage crystallization of H2O-rich intermediate-silicic magmas. The presence of water escape structures throughout the pluton, and the predominance of biotite-rich mafic enclaves that commonly contain amygdules toward the inferred top of the magmatic "stratigraphy" provide further evidence to support the process of second boiling. These results indicate that caution is required in choosing suitable analytical sites when applying the Al-in-hornblende geobarometer, particularly within plutonic bodies where there is evidence for vesiculation and water escape structures, as the outer rim compositions of amphiboles may not be a function of lithostatic pressure alone.


This paper studies the task of learning transformation models for ranking problems, ordinal regression and survival analysis. The present contribution describes a machine learning approach termed MINLIP. The key insight is to relate ranking criteria as the Area Under the Curve to monotone transformation functions. Consequently, the notion of a Lipschitz smoothness constant is found to be useful for complexity control for learning transformation models, much in a similar vein as the 'margin' is for Support Vector Machines for classification. The use of this model structure in the context of high dimensional data, as well as for estimating non-linear, and additive models based on primal-dual kernel machines, and for sparse models is indicated. Given n observations, the present method solves a quadratic program existing of O(n) constraints and O(n) unknowns, where most existing risk minimization approaches to ranking problems typically result in algorithms with O(n2) constraints or unknowns. We specify the MINLIP method for three different cases: the first one concerns the preference learning problem. Secondly it is specified how to adapt the method to ordinal regression with a finite set of ordered outcomes. Finally, it is shown how the method can be used in the context of survival analysis where one models failure times, typically subject to censoring. The current approach is found to be particularly useful in this context as it can handle, in contrast with the standard statistical model for analyzing survival data, all types of censoring in a straightforward way, and because of the explicit relation with the Proportional Hazard and Accelerated Failure Time models. The advantage of the current method is illustrated on different benchmark data sets, as well as for estimating a model for cancer survival based on different micro-array and clinical data sets.


Large language models (LLMs) have demonstrated remarkable capabilities in natural language understanding and generation across various domains, including medicine. We present a comprehensive evaluation of GPT-4, a state-of-the-art LLM, on medical competency examinations and benchmark datasets. GPT-4 is a general-purpose model that is not specialized for medical problems through training or engineered to solve clinical tasks. Our analysis covers two sets of official practice materials for the USMLE, a three-step examination program used to assess clinical competency and grant licensure in the United States. We also evaluate performance on the MultiMedQA suite of benchmark datasets. Beyond measuring model performance, experiments were conducted to investigate the influence of test questions containing both text and images on model performance, probe for memorization of content during training, and study probability calibration, which is of critical importance in high-stakes applications like medicine. Our results show that GPT-4, without any specialized prompt crafting, exceeds the passing score on USMLE by over 20 points and outperforms earlier general-purpose models (GPT-3.5) as well as models specifically fine-tuned on medical knowledge (Med-PaLM, a prompt-tuned version of Flan-PaLM 540B). In addition, GPT-4 is significantly better calibrated than GPT-3.5, demonstrating a much-improved ability to predict the likelihood that its answers are correct. We also explore the behavior of the model qualitatively through a case study that shows the ability of GPT-4 to explain medical reasoning, personalize explanations to students, and interactively craft new counterfactual scenarios around a medical case. Implications of the findings are discussed for potential uses of GPT-4 in medical education, assessment, and clinical practice, with appropriate attention to challenges of accuracy and safety.


Objectives Oxytocin is used to augment labour in approximately one sixth of cases. We wanted to examine whether a delay in Oxytocin administration causes a change in mode of delivery, overall blood loss or outcome for the baby. Method We performed a retrospective study of the Princess Anne Hospital, Southampton birth database between July 2011 and June 2013, examining cases in which Oxytocin had been used for augmentation of labour. Results A total of 1260 cases of singleton pregnancies in which labour was augmented were reviewed. In 1014 (80.4%) cases, Oxytocin was administered within one hour of the decision time. Delay of more than one hour in administration was usually secondary to a holdup in siting an epidural or an inability to provide one to one care (74.2%); in a small proportion of cases, maternal request was a factor (9.7%). Women who had the start of their Oxytocin infusion postponed for more than one hour were more likely to require an emergency Caesarean section (37.8%) than those who did not (30.2%) (p = 0.0211). No statistical difference was seen in the maternal blood loss or APGAR scores. The same was true when groups were subdivided into primigravida and multiparous women. Conclusions The increased risk of Caesarean section in women, when there is a delay in commencement of Oxytocin infusion for augmentation highlights the importance of prompt action and active management of labour in these women.


The effective use of embedded radial expanding micro-channels with micro-pin fields for two phase cooling of a microprocessor die has been demonstrated. In this first part of a two part paper, the integration of this approach into a functional high performance server is presented. Modeling was conducted to design radial micro-channels, micro-pin fields, and orifices to properly distribute flow according to the anticipated maximum work load distribution of power across the processor chip. This design incorporates modeling of two-phase pressure drop under power, allowing for a tight distribution of exit vapor quality across the radial channels. Integrating this technology into a functioning server requires a packaging design and assembly approach compatible with an originally lidded fully functional organic single chip processor module. Processes for de-lidding, channel etching, and packaging for desired coolant flow and thermal behavior through the chip-embedded channels were developed. The resulting processor modules were re-installed in a commercial server and the fluidic performance was measured. In the second part, the functional performance experiments and results are detailed.


In the Tractatus Wittgenstein argues that what is expressed through language cannot be represented in language, but only shown . He was thinking of logic, but complex spatial relations seem a clearer case. They are present in both minds and worlds, in that human beings live in spatial complexes like buildings and cities, and deal with them competently, but their patterns are nondiscursive and cannot be described in natural language. What language does have, of course, are terms for simple spatial relations involving two or three entities ('inside', 'between', 'through', 'beyond' etc), and these relations can be represented graphically, and so shown . However, by isolating their elementary concepts, it was possible to develop graphical representations of complex spatial relations which first showed how spatial complexity was structured, and then permitted it to be quantified, so in effect rendering space analysable and the nondiscursive discursive. But when we do this, we encounter Wittgenstein again in two senses. First, we find that Wittgenstein's arguments against overarching structures in the Untersuchungen turn out not to be true for spatial relations, since culturally differentiated 'spatial games' can be shown again and again to generate universal emergent structures in the forms of cities, showing that for all its variation in cultural expression, these is a single underlying language of space . But second, although these emergent structures can be represented graphically, and tested against functional evidence, they cannot (so far!) be described within the formal language. So we are back to the Tractatus !


After twelve years of schooling, many students still do not have mature and efficient strategies necessary for independent learning. In an effort to address this problem, most postsecondary institutions are offering courses in basic skills such as reading, study skills, and writing. A search of the professional literature on studying and learning reveals the following reasons for students failing to apply independent learning strategies: lack of instruction, blind training in applying strategies, weak metacognitive strategies, and resistance to changing existing behavior patterns. Students can become independent learners when they overcome these obstacles. PROMOTING LEARNING AUTONOMY: HELPING STUDENTS BECOME INDEPENDENT LEARNERS


IN VIEW of the small number of patients with myasthenia gravis and the risk of administration of pituitary adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) to these patients, a report of observations on the effect of administration of this drug to a relatively large group of patients with myasthenia gravis seemed justifiable. Administration of ACTH to patients with myasthenia gravis was first begun in 1944 by Torda and Wolff.1A partial remission, consisting essentially in the patient's ability to perform more work while taking significantly reduced amounts of neostigmine bromide, resulted from administration of the hormone. ACTH became commercially available in 1948, and confirmation of the first observations was subsequently reported.2 MATERIAL AND METHODS Subject Material. —The effect of ACTH was studied in 15 patients. The series comprised men and women of ages from 18 to 61 yr. who had had myasthenia gravis from one to 17 yr. The patients were mildly


A correlated current-voltage (I-V), electron beam induced conductivity (EBIC) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) study of Au contacts to KOH treated n-type GaN is presented. A strong degradation of I-V characteristics occurs following the KOH treatment, mirrored in a reduction in the magnitude of the EBIC current, even though the EBIC images look visibly unaltered. XPS demonstrates a modification in the surfaces states, e.g. resulting in a –0.3eV shift in the binding energy of Ga3d for MBE GaN following KOH processing.


The problem of compacting a set of test sequences for sequential circuits is modeled here with the help of a covering matrix, where the test sequences are modeled as columns with variable cost to reflect the cost (number of vectors) of covering selected subsets of circuit faults. From this formulation, reduction rules are extracted, particular to this type of problem which, iteratively applied, result in a significant reduction of the size of the initial compaction problem. A characteristic of the reduction rules is that their application will not compromise the optimum solution of the problem. The remaining reduced problem is then solved by a combination of a heuristic and an exact branch and bound algorithm. Experimental results using the above reduction rules show that the sizes of the given sets of test sequences are often significantly reduced and many times these rules directly produce the absolute minimum of the solution. The final results, compared with others from the literature and also with the absolute minima of the examples, computed separately, support the potential of the proposed approach.


The integration of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in classrooms has been a challenge for the educational systems that aim to cope with the needs and the demands of the 21st century. The TPACK framework represents the knowledge needed by teachers bringing together content knowledge, technological knowledge and pedagogical knowledge with the aim of integrating ICTs into teaching-learning processes. The aim of this study is to determine the primary science teachers' perceptions of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) addressing teachers' perceptions of the affordances of technology application in instruction. A total of 133 primary science teachers in Malaysia were surveyed (Female= 67, Male= 66). Data were collected through "Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge" (TPACK) scale. The questionnaire consisted of 47 questions about TPACK and is based on the survey instrument developed by Schmidt et al. (2009). TPACK involving the seven factors of technological knowledge (TK), pedagogical knowledge (PK), content knowledge (CK), technological content knowledge (TCK), technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK), pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), as well as synthesized knowledge of technology, pedagogy, and content (TPC). The findings indicate that primary science teachers perceive higher self-confidence in pedagogical knowledge in general. Further, no differences between science teachers' perceptions according to thier gender, while there are diferences between the teachers perceptions of PK, CK, and PCK according to their age


Understanding the dispersal of wetland plants is important to the conservation of species in patchy or isolated wetland environments. We explored the potential for wetland seed dispersal by white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in a high-elevation wetland complex in Canaan Valley, West Virginia by collecting and germinating deer feces in a controlled environment. Our results suggest that seed dispersal by large herbivores may be a more prevalent mechanism for wetland plants than previously recognized. This mechanism allows for the potential for long-distance dispersal over upland habitat from isolated wetland environments.


Endorsed by the Faculty of Occupational Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians of London Provides comprehensive coverage of occupational health issues, organized by medical condition for ease of reference Contains links to additional resources, including useful addresses, contact details, and further reading Most chapters co-authored by a topic specialist and a specialist occupational physician, drawing on the skills of each to provide a well-rounded perspective


Field experiments were conducted during the 2003 and 2004 cropping seasons at Umudike, Southeastern Nigeria, to assess the effect of liming on the performance of four high yielding soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merril] varieties (early maturing TGX 1485-1D, TGX 1799-8F, TGX 1805-8F and medium maturing TGX 1440-1E). In each year, the experiment was laid out as a split plot in a randomized complete block design using three replications. Five lime rates of 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 t/ha were applied to the main plots while the four soybean varieties were planted in the sub-plots. Liming significantly increased soil pH, number of nodules and number of pods per plant and grain yield, especially in 2004 but did not significantly influence plant height, shoot dry matter, days to 50% flowering and 100-seed weight. The 1.0 t/ha lime rate proved to be optimum and is thus recommended for high grain yield in soybean. Mean grain yield at 1.0 t/ha lime rates was higher than the yield in the control (no lime) by 66%. The medium maturing TGX 1440-1E gave, on the average, significantly higher number of leaves and number of pods per plant and grain yield than other varieties. There were generally no significant effects of lime and crop variety interactions on soybean growth and yield.

 Agro-Science Vol. 6 (2) 2007: pp. 16-24


Modernist literature is a literature of trauma. In the 1920s, it gave form and representation to a psychological condition that psychiatrist would not understand for another fifty years. One of the modernist writers who can brilliantly portrait the life of traumatic survivors is Virginia Woolf. Her novel Mrs. Dalloway is one of the examples. The stream-of-consciousness style of writing in this novel is very supportive in representing the character of the trauma survivor. This kind of writing can correspond to survivor?s perception of time, which is the mixture of the past and future with the present. Furthermore, it is also identical to the trauma survivor?s perception of space, which uses repetition to show the closed system of subjective consciousness. The two main characters that suffer from trauma, Septimus and Clarissa Dalloway, are interestingly tied together although they never meet in the novel. Septimus is considered as Clarissa?s doppelganger, the alternate persona, the darker, more internal personality compared to Clarissa. Although Septimus is Clarissa?s double, or that they are connected to each other, but they have a different ending in the novel. Clarissa survives, while Septimus commits suicide. Two persons may experience similar traumatic events, but their way of thinking and response to them naturally will be different. However, in the case of Septimus and Clarissa it is the opposite. They have similar way of thinking, but they have different responses to their traumatic experience. From this point, the question of how those two main characters respond differently toward their similar causes of traumatic experience becomes my main question. To answer this question, it will be helpful to use psychological approach especially about Freud?s organization of personality, and also the theory about the instinct. After applying those theories in analyzing the characters? psychological problem, can be concluded that Clarissa is able to survive to continue her life is because her ego converts her death instinct into life instinct. On the other hand, Septimus? id manipulates his superego to channel and gratify its death instinct. That is why he commits suicide.


OBJECTIVE
To observe the effects of intermedin preconditioning on hypoxic injury in rat's cardiac myocytes and to provide the hypothetical mechanism of sudden cardiac death in the field of forensic pathology.

METHODS
The H9c2 cultured rat cardiac myocytes were randomly divided into control group, hypoxia group and IMD group. The myocardial cell viability, cellular ultrastructure, intracellular calcium concentration and apoptosis rate were determined by MTT assay, transmission electron microscopy, laser scanning confocal microscope and flow cytometry, respectively.

RESULTS
Compared with the control group, cell viability obviously decreased with inner ultrastructure injury in the hypoxia group (P<0.05), while cell viability significantly increased in the IMD group by reducing the hypoxia injury of cardiac myocytes (P<0.05). Compared with the control group, [Ca2+]i (fluorescence intensity) and apoptosis rate significantly increased in the hypoxia group, but decreased in the IMD group (P<0.05).

CONCLUSION
IMD increases the cell survival rate and decreases the cell apoptosis inhibited by intracellular calcium overload from hypoxia. This finding may reveal the mechanism of protective effects of myocardial hypoxia, and provide a scientific basis for the identification sudden cardiac death.


• Over the past 15 years, we have evaluated 107 hypertensive children. A renal origin of hypertension was identified in 30 patients, and 25 have undergone operative management. In the group undergoing operation, ages ranged from 2 months to 19 years. Twelve patients were male and 13 were female. Anatomic lesions included fibromuscular dysplasia (16 patients), renal artery trauma (two patients), renal artery involvement by aortic coarctation (two patients), chronic pyelonephritis (two patients), renal hypoplasia (two patients) and contralateral renal artery stenosis after irradiation for Wilms' tumor (one patient). The rapid sequence intravenous pyelogram was abnormal in only 52%. Renal revascularization was attempted in 17 patients. Nine patients had nephrectomy and three children had segmental resections. Bilateral procedures have been performed in four children. Follow-up observations from 4 months to 13 years (mean, four years) are available. Seventeen children (68%) were cured, six (24%) improved, and two (8%) had no change in blood pressure. Both children not improved and four of the six children showing only improvement had recurrent or residual renal artery disease limiting the result. Bilateral disease has occurred in seven of the 16 children (44%) with fibromuscular dysplasia. These results support an aggressive approach to the diagnosis and management of hypertension in childhood. The bilateral nature of fibromuscular dysplasia in these children stresses the long-term superiority of revascularization over nephrectomy in their management. ( Arch Surg 112:1307-1316, 1977)


Since 1995, the James Irvine Foundation has invested more than $11 million to support the growth and development of Collaborative Regional Initiatives (CRIs) throughout the state -- nonprofit organizations that engage key players from business, environmental, and a variety of other advocacy groups with players from local governments and public agencies to create improvements in their regions. CRIs work on issues ranging across transportation, land use, housing, and economic development. They work in a variety of ways from developing legislation to media campaigns to practical work on particular projects. All are directed at building civic capacity and filling in gaps where government does not or cannot act. Some CRIs have been in place for years; others are more recently formed. They represent experiments in regional governance. Recently, the Irvine Foundation tapped a team of Berkeley faculty to perform an assessment of the CRIs so the foundation can target its resources in order to make them effective and sustainable over time and assist them in producing valuable outcomes for their regions. City planning professor Judith Innes, who led the complex evaluation, teamed with city planning professors AnnaLee Saxenian, Karen Christensen, Karen Chapple and political science professor Judith Gruber to focus on the projects and programs that a sample of CRIs engage in, asking which are most successful and why. In particular, the researchers examined how variables like leadership, resources, diversity of participation, processes of dialogue and collaboration, and the ways problems have been framed contribute to the degree of success in each program. The work is designed to assist the CRIs with strategies to select and build the successes of their programs and to help them overcome obstacles and identify opportunities for effective work. Together the researchers published case studies of four major CRIs -- the Bay Area Alliance for Sustainable Communities, Joint Venture: Silicon Valley, the San Diego Dialogue and the Sierra Business Council -- as well as an analysis of regional workforce development collaboratives in California. Since 1970, the Sierra Nevada has undergone significant economic and social change as the population of this vast 18-county region has more than doubled, traditional industries in timber and natural extraction have declined and a major tourist industry has evolved. These changes have led to political conflict between long-time residents concerned about property rights and economic development and the new arrivals who tend to be more concerned about the environment. Enter the Sierra Business Council, a Collaborative Regional Initiative (CRI) established in 1994 to address these conflicts and help assure the sustainability of the Sierra. The council developed the novel strategy of helping the business community understand how environmental quality is an essential component to the potential success of the economy. Their fundamental theory of change at the outset was basically to transform businesspeople into environmentalists so they would take different positions in the political debates over the Sierra's future, says city planning professor Judith Innes in a new report on CRIs in California. The Sierra Business Council overall has been a highly successful organization, she says, gaining high marks from participants in most of their activities and being able to demonstrate outcomes from their many initiatives. Among the council's notable achievements have been the development of the Sierra Nevada Wealth Index, which provides and explains indicators on each of the types of capital -- natural, social and financial -- in the Sierra. It has been so widely used that demand has grown for parallel indexes for smaller regions. The council was also instrumental in creating the Sierra Nevada Conservancy recently signed into law by the governor.


This study was conducted in pregnant and aborted sheep to determine Toxoplasma gondiiantibodies. Blood samples were collected from a total of 154 sheep from 22 different herds during the period December 1996-January 1997 in Elazig and vicinity. Of these 154 sheep, 56 were pregnant, 57 aborted in the previous year and the remaining 41 sheep aborted within the period of the study. Sera obtained properly from these blood samples were examined by Sabine-Feldman (SF) test. Seropositivity for Toxoplasma gondiiinfection was determined in 72 (46.8%) of the 154 sheep at the titers ranging from 1/16 to 1/1024. The seropositivity rates of 48.2%, 45.6% and 46.3% were obtained in pregnant sheep, sheep which had aborted in the previous year and sheep which aborted within the study period, respectively.


After publication of the paper, the authors realized that the affiliation of the fourth author (Tiberiu Esanu) was given incorrectly. Its correct version appears above. Moreover, a second funding grant was missed in the acknowledgements. We give their complete correct version below.


Third Party Logistics (3PL) service is one of the core logistics services in the local logistics industry nowadays. However, the business operation among the small and medium-sized 3PL facilitators and their trading partners is still manual-based which is inefficient. Hence, there is a need to develop new approach for them. In this paper, a comprehensive logistics information management platform called Integrated Logistics Information Management System (ILIMS) is proposed to suit this need. It aims to integrate the internal and external logistics' operations and the information flow of 3PL facilitators providing them a systematic mean of doing business. Moreover, it provides an effective channel for them to communicate with different trading partners without geographical restriction at low operating cost. A case study of a local 3PL facilitator is discussed to demonstrate the application of ILIMS. By using this generic system, the performance of both the 3PL facilitator and their suppliers are improved significantly.


Despite extensive research, the fundamental biophysical mechanisms underlying severe heart rhythm disorders such as ventricular fibrillation remain poorly understood. Ventricular fibrillation is an acute and highly lethal medical condition, in which the heart's electrical system, which normally activates the contractions of the cardiac muscle, becomes highly disorganized and ineffective in orchestrating the orderly beating of the heart. Understanding the nature of the underlying abnormal electrical activity is thought to be key to the development of novel diagnostic and therapeutical strategies in treating cardiac arrhythmias. However, current imaging technology provides only very limited insight into the complex spatial-temporal electrical patterns underlying ventricular fibrillation within the heart muscle. In this work, a novel imaging approach is presented, which aims at imaging both electrical and elasto-mechanical activity of the cardiac muscle during cardiac tachyarrhythmias to better understand the correlation of electrical activity and resultant mechanical deformation and to explore the possibility to infer the electrical activity from the mechanical deformation. The work includes computational modeling and data analysis as well as ex vivo imaging experiments with isolated, intact hearts. Using mathematical concepts from nonlinear physics that describe universal pattern formation processes in excitable electrical systems such as the heart, the imaging experiments were guided and potential interpretations and methods for processing of data were validated. It was found that both electrical and elasto-mechanical activity of the cardiac muscle are highly correlated during ventricular tachycardia and fibrillation. For instance, rotating electrical activity, which was filmed on the surface of the fibrillating, contracting heart using fluorescence imaging, was found to induce similarly rotating rate of deformation patterns. Moreover, the rotating elasto-mechanical patterns could simultaneously be imaged within the heart wall using ultrasound. The data suggests that the rotational mechanical patterns are the finger-print of electrical spiral and scroll wave activity during cardiac fibrillation. In computer simulations, it was found that the core regions of spiral and scroll waves can similarly be described by electrical or elasto-mechanical lines of phase singularity, the electrical lines of phase singularity corresponding to electrical scroll vortex wave filaments and the mechanical lines of phase singularity corresponding to topological defect lines that arise in the dynamic elasto-mechanical deformation patterns resulting from the rapid fibrillatory activity of the cardiac muscle. Both the experimental and numerical findings suggest that a mechanical measurement can provide insight into the organizational structure of ventricular fibrillation throughout the volume of the heart muscle tissue. Next to these findings, the development of the methodological approach, including high-speed fluorescence imaging equipment and data processing techniques with which it is possible to perform imaging experiments with contracting cardiac tissue preparations, to perform simultaneous voltage, calcium and strain measurements as well as to perform imaging combined with intramural strain measurements using ultrasound, is the main result of this thesis. The findings presented in this thesis have important implications on potential future clinical applications.


This study has been conducted with the aims of disclosing the levels of emotional intelligence of class teachers and sub-branches of emotional intelligence ( self-consicousness, organizing and managing emotions, selfmotivation and social skills), the levels of teachers at reflective thinking skills, finding out any difference within class teachers regarding the certain variables like sex, professional seniority, educational background, the number of the students of class teachers, uncovering the relation between emotional intelligences of class teachers and reflective thinking skills and the extent to which emotional intelligence influence reflective thinking skills. As data collecting tools, "The frequency scale of use of Emotional Intelligence Competencies in Professional Life of Instructors" which is adapted by Titrek (2004b) and "The scale for determine the level of reflective thinking of class teachers" by Dolapcioglu (2007) were implemented. Research data have been analyzed by means of statistical arithmetic average, t-test, F-test (Variance Analysis), LSD test, linear regression analysis and Pearson correlation coefficient. The study suggests that there is no significant difference regarding the emotional intelligence perceptions of teachers in terms of above-mentioned variables like sex, educational background and number of the students of class teachers. Unlike those variables, class teachers have shown a significant difference as to perception of emotional intelligence according to one variable, "professional seniority". A significant difference has been found out as motivating the emotions in line with sex variable, organizing and managing emotions and self-motivation regarding the "professional seniority" at the statistical level of 0.5. There is no significant difference among class teachers as for the perceptions of reflective thinking skills according to the variables, sex, professional seniority, educational background and number of the students those taught. This study has also revealed a significant relation between sorts of emotional intelligence of teachers and reflective thinking skills of teacher.