Nb-Si-Cr-Al-Mo base in situ composites with nominal compositions Nb-18Si-5Al-5Cr-5Mo (JG1), Nb-24Ti-18Si-5Al-5Cr-5Mo (JG2), Nb-24Ti-18Si-5Al-5Cr-2Mo (JG3), Nb-24Ti-18Si-5Al- 5Cr-2Mo-5Hf (JG4) and Nb-24Ti-18Si-5Al-5Cr-2Mo-5Hf-5Sn (JG6) were prepared by arc-melting followed by heat treatment. The effects of Mo, Ti, Hf and Sn additions on phase selection, phase transformations, microstructure and oxidation behaviour in the as cast and heat-treated in situ composites were investigated using XRD, SEM, and EPMA. All the alloys are classified as hyper-eutectic alloys since the betaNb5Si3 phase was formed in all the as cast microstructures. After heat treatment, the betaNb5Si3 partly transformed to the alphaNb5Si3 in the presence of Ti. The addition of Ti stabilised the betaNb5Si3 to lower temperatures and increased the solubilities of A1 and Cr in the Nb88. The lattice parameter of the Nb88 increased after heat treatment. This is attributed to the redistribution of solutes between the Nbss and the intermetallic phases and in particular the reduction in Si content. The NbaSi phase was formed in the as cast Hf-free alloys (JGl, JG2 and JG3). However, this phase was unstable at 1500°C and decomposed by a eutectoid transformation to Nb88 and alphaNb5Si3. The eutectoid decomposition was enhanced considerably by the Ti addition. The formation of Nb3Si was suppressed by the Hf addition. In the presence of Ti and Hf, there were Ti and Hf segregations in the Nb5Si3 phase. The Ti solubility in the Hf-rich Nb5Si3 was higher than in the Nb5Si3. The structure of the Nb5Si3 phase was mainly affected by the Hf addition, which prompted the formation of the alphaNb5Si3. The Hf-rich regions in the 5-3 silicide probably corresponded to the alphaNb5Si3, which was stable up to 1500° C in the presence of Hf. The alloying elements Hf and Sn preferentially substituted for Nb in the Nb5Si3 and Nbss, respectively. The addition of Sn had a significant effect on the Nbss, essentially leading to the formation of Sn-rich and Sn-poor parts in the solid solution in the as cast microstructure. In the presence of Sn, the Si solubility in the Nbss increased considerably whilst the Cr solubility decreased. The Sn addition promoted the formation of the Si-rich 014 Laves phase and stabilised this phase at 1300°C. The solubility range of Si in the C14 Laves phase formed in alloys of this study was ~ 6.6 to 10.5at.%. For the Ti containing alloys, titanium nitride formed near the surface of the specimen during heat treatment. Alloy Nb-18Si-15Cr (JG5) was studied to clarify the disputed three-phase fields (Nbss-1-0144- alphaNb5Si3 or Nbss-CrNbSi-l-alphaNb5Si3) near the Nb corner. The C14 Laves formed in both the as cast and heat treated samples. The results confirmed that the C14 Laves phase in the binary Nb-Cr system was stabilised by Si to lower temperatures.


YB-1 cDNA clones were isolated by binding site screening of a Hela expression library using a human papillomavirus type 18 enhancer oligonucleotide. YB-1 belongs to a family of transcription factors which bind to recognition sequences containing a core CCAAT element. YB-1 bound to its single stranded recognition sequence on the sense strand but not to the anti-sense strand. A synthetic peptide antiserum derived from the predicted YB-1 amino acid sequence identified a 42 kD nuclear protein in immunoblots. A protein with the same size was detected by binding site blotting experiments using the HPV18 enhancer oligonucleotide which bound YB-1. YB-1 gene expression was restricted in tissues from a human 24 week old fetus. High levels of YB-1 mRNA were present in heart, muscle, liver, lung, adrenal gland and the brain, in contrast, low amounts of YB-1 mRNA were found in thymus, kidney, bone marrow and spleen. In pancreas, bladder, stomach and testis YB-1 mRNA could not be detected by Northern hybridization. Finally, we have identified four YB-1 related loci in the mouse genome and have mapped these loci to four different mouse chromosomes by interspecific backcross analysis.


This paper deals with the development of a discrete numerical 2D and 3D solid pile model with a discontinuity and defects to simulate non-destructive testing using the pile integrity test (PIT). The pile discontinuity and defects were modelled by reducing the specific finite elements and the elastic modulus of concrete. The wave-propagation response of the pile was analyzed based on a step-by-step numerical integration using the Hilber-Hughes-Taylor (HHT) method in the time domain. The concept of a system-response analysis was originally formulated based on the integration of individual reflectograms into a reflectogram surface, which is generated in a 3D cylindrical coordinate system. The use of reflectogram surfaces enables an understanding of wave propagation based on their velocity to a higher level than is usually the case with standard, one-dimensional reflectograms. Changes in the velocity responses on the reflectogram, shifting from a positive to a negative value, point to the locations of discontinuities and defects in the discrete 3D pile model, and there is a clear difference in the reflectograms, depending on the position of the measuring point. The study defines the typological models of the reflectogram: without discontinuities and defects, pile-head defect, defect in the middle of the pile length or a reduced modulus of elasticity in the middle of the pile length, pile-base defect or reduced modulus of elasticity in the pile-base zone and reduced modulus of elasticity in the pile-head zone.


Since the submission of the previous report (S/2016/466), in May 2016, the overall security situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has not improved. Recent months were characterized by an increase in political tension owing to the de facto postponement of the national elections initially scheduled for December 2016. This led to protests on 19 September, during which dozens of civilians were killed or arrested in the capital, Kinshasa. While there was a political dialogue between the Government and some opposition groups, the risk of further election- related violence remains.
Foreign armed groups remained active in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Forces democratiques de liberation du Rwanda continued to pose a threat to the security of North Kivu. The group was seriously weakened, however, by continuing military operations and an internal split that led to the loss of one third to one half of its members to the newly created Conseil national pour le renouveau et la democratie-Ubwiyunge. Both of these groups collaborated with local armed groups, such as Nyatura.
The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) continued to operate in Beni territory and recruited nationals of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Uganda in 2016. At least one group within ADF attacked civilians in the period under review.
The Group notes that efforts to launch gold traceability programmes have not yet become operational. Meanwhile, gold remains by far the mineral most used to finance armed elements and criminal networks. A positive development was the launch of investigations into the involvement in natural resources of some Congolese military officers previously mentioned in the Group's reports for such involvement. Nevertheless, some senior officers continue to be implicated in gold exploitation and trade, on occasion in collaboration with private companies.
Challenges in fully implementing due diligence in the tin, tantalum and tungsten sector remain a threat to the positive developments noted by the Group in previous reports. While traceability and certification processes are expanding, armed actors do occasionally interfere in sites certified as conflict free.
The Garamba National Park continued to be the main source of trafficking in ivory, although elephant poaching in general is diminishing as a source of financing for the Lord's Resistance Army.
The Group remains concerned about the widespread violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In Beni territory, the killing of civilians, such as in a massacre in Rwangoma in August 2016, continued unabated. In addition, the tit-for-tat violence previously investigated by the Group in Lubero territory spread south into Rutshuru, involving some of the same dynamics and actors.
The crossing of armed members of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army in Opposition into the Democratic Republic of the Congo was a violation of the arms embargo. The Group also remains concerned about the persistent inefficiency of stockpile management and the challenges of marking the estimated 300,000 small arms in a timely manner. These deficiencies make it difficult to track weapons and ammunition diverted from government stocks to armed groups.


The Student Voice approach in educational research simples listening to students and taking into account their opinions in order to consider their points of view in research and in changes for education policies. In the field of inclusive education this issue is particularly relevant as it makes research methods more participative and inclusive. It is also a very demanding because it requires data collection instruments that can give voice to all students –also students with disabilities- in a reliable way.In this research project a digital instrument for interviewing in structured way students with intellectual disabilities and communication difficulties has been developed. The instrument was created and tested with the collaboration of the Italian Association of Persons with Down Syndrome and experts in the field of Augmentative and Alternative Communication. The interview has been conceived on 4 different levels that can be chosen according to the students' intellectual and communicative abilities. On the first level the student works autonomously and answers open questions; on the fourth level a teacher guides him through multiple choice questions represented through images and symbols. The investigated topics are: activities in class, push and pull out and socialization within and outside school. The article describes the way the instrument has been created and tested.


In this paper, I quantify the contribution of occupation-specific shocks and skills to unemployment duration and its cyclical dynamics. I quantify specific skills using microdata on wages, estimating occupational switching cost as a function of the occupations' difference in skills. The productivity shocks are consistent with job finding rates by occupation. For the period 1995-2013, the model captures 69.5% of long-term unemployment in the data, while a uniform finding rate delivers only 47.2%. In the Great Recession, the model predicts 72.9% of the long-term unemployment that existed in the data whereas a uniform finding rate would predict 57.8%.


Spatially-resolved transcriptomics uncovers patterns of gene expression at supercellular, cellular, or subcellular resolution, providing insights into spatially variable cellular functions, diffusible morphogens, and cell-cell interactions. However, for practical reasons, multiplexed single cell RNA-sequencing remains the most widely used technology for profiling transcriptomes of single cells, especially in the context of large-scale anatomical atlassing. Devising techniques to accurately predict the latent physical positions as well as the latent cell-cell proximities of such dissociated cells, represents an exciting and new challenge. Most of the current approaches rely on an 'autocorrelation' assumption, i.e., cells with similar transcriptomic profiles are located close to each other in physical space and vice versa. However, this is not always the case in native biological contexts due to complex morphological and functional patterning. To address this challenge, we developed SageNet, a graph neural network approach that spatially reconstructs dissociated single cell data using one or more spatial references. SageNet first estimates a gene-gene interaction network from a reference spatial dataset. This informs the structure of the graph on which the graph neural network is trained to predict the region of dissociated cells. Finally, SageNet produces a low-dimensional embedding of the query dataset, corresponding to the reconstructed spatial coordinates of the dissociated tissue. Furthermore, SageNet reveals spatially informative genes by extracting the most important features from the neural network model. We demonstrate the utility and robust performance of SageNet using molecule-resolved seqFISH and spot-based Spatial Transcriptomics reference datasets as well as dissociated single-cell data, across multiple biological contexts. SageNet is provided as an open-source python software package at https://github.com/MarioniLab/SageNet.


We investigate the problem of heat conduction across molecular junctions connecting two nanoparticles, both in vacuum and in a liquid environment, using classical molecular dynamics simulations. In vacuum, the well-known result of a length independent conductance is recovered; its precise value, however, is found to depend sensitively on the overlap between the vibrational spectrum of the junction and the density of states of the nanoparticles that act as thermal contacts. In a liquid environment, the conductance is constant up to a crossover length, above which a standard Fourier regime is recovered.


A detailed measurement of distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) fine structure was used to extract estimates of the two major components believed to contribute to the overall DPOAE level in the ear canal. A fixed-ratio paradigm was used to record DPOAE fine structure from three normal-hearing ears over a range of 400 Hz for 12 different stimulus-frequency ratios between 1.053 and 1.36 and stimulus levels between 45 and 75 dB SPL. Inverse Fourier transforms of the amplitude and phase data were filtered to extract the early component from the generator region of maximum stimulus overlap and the later component reflected from the characteristic frequency region of the DPOAE. After filtering, the data were returned to the frequency domain to evaluate the impact of the stimulus-frequency ratio and stimulus level on the relative levels of the components. Although there were significant differences between data from different ears some consistent patterns could be detected. The component from the overlap region of the stimulus tones exhibits a bandpass shape, with the maximum occurring at a ratio of 1.2. The mean data from the DPOAE characteristic frequency region also exhibits a bandpass shape but is less sharply tuned and exhibits greater variety across ears and stimulus levels. The component from the DPOAE characteristic frequency region is dominant at ratios narrower than approximately 1.1 (the transition varies between ears). The relative levels of the two components are highly variable at ratios greater than 1.3 and highly dependent on the stimulus level. The reflection component is larger at all ratios at the lowest stimulus level tested (45/45 dB SPL). We discuss the factors shaping DPOAE-component behavior and some cursory implications for the choice of stimulus parameters to be used in clinical protocols.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the payout policy for public firms in different countries. The authors are interested to understand the similarities and differences in the behavior of firms across different countries.

Design/methodology/approach
The authors use firm-level data collected from Compustat Global for public firms across the world. The sample consists of more than 23,000 firms for the period 1990–2015 in 94 countries. The authors estimate the corporate payout in an empirical model that incorporates other corporate financing decisions, such as investment and debt policies.

Findings
The findings support recent corporate governance theory, which asserts that payout policy is influenced by investment and debt policies, and cannot be determined independently. Furthermore, the authors find that geographic/cultural/institutional variation influence the response of payout policy to other corporate financing decisions. Additional tests are presented to demonstrate the robustness of the main findings.

Research limitations/implications
The interpretation of the results for certain regions could be limited due to data availability. The authors believe the authors have a good coverage especially for countries in Asia, relative to the other regions.

Originality/value
To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first one to look at payout policy and its relationship with investment and debt policy in such a large scale of firms across the world with coverage of 94 countries and 16 years. The authors document differences in public firms' attitudes toward payout policy according to geographic/cultural/institutional reasons.


A mountain climber, high in The Andes, falls into a strange valley. In London a man is looking for a green door. A third man tries to help an unhappy ghost. Each of these exciting stories shows us two very different worlds. But which is better? And can we be happier in another world?


The antitumour activity of Rhinacanthone (3,4-dihydro-3,3-dimethyl-2H-naphtho-[1,2-B] pyran-5,6-dione) has been evaluated against Dalton's ascitic lymphoma (DAL) in Swiss albino mice. A significant enhancement of mean survival time of tumour bearing mice and peritoneal cell count in normal mice was observed with respect to the control group. When these Rhinacanthone treated animals underwent i.p. inoculation with DAL cells, tumour cell growth was found to be inhibited. After 14 d of inoculation, Rhinacanthone was able to reverse the changes in the haemotological parameters, protein and packed cellular volume consequent to tumour inoculation.


Rosin, a natural resin, was used as an insoluble matrix forming material for studying the release of diltiazem HCI, which was taken as a model drug. The granules prepared were free flowing with good compressibility. The tablets prepared were flat faced, which retained their shape throughout. The method of preparation of matrix system and its concentration were found to have a pronounced effect on the release of diltiazem HCI. Various physical parameters of the granules and the tablets were evaluated. The release mechanisms and the release rate kinetics of the tablets were examined using different release models. The release was found to follow both the first order kinetics and Fickian diffusion. Marked differences in the release rate of the drug from different formulations were observed when % cumulative release was plotted against time. The drug delivery was analyzed using the paddle method according to USP XXIII. All the studies were done in distilled water.


Starting from an age structured partial differential model, constructed taking into account the mosquito life cycle and the main features of theWolbachia-infection, we derived a delay differential model using the method of characteristics, to study the colonization and persistence of theWolbachia-transinfectedAedes aegyptimosquito in an environment where the uninfected wild mosquito population is already established. Under some conditions, the model can be reduced to a Nicholson-type delay differential system; here, the delay represents the duration of mosquito immature phase that comprises egg, larva and pupa. In addition to mortality and oviposition rates characteristic of the life cycle of the mosquito, other biological features such as cytoplasmic incompatibility, bacterial inheritance, and deviation on sex ratio are considered in the model. The model presents three equilibriums: the extinction of both populations, the extinction ofWolbachia-infected population and persistence of uninfected one, and the coexistence. The conditions of existence for each equilibrium are obtained analytically and have been interpreted biologically. It is shown that the increase of the delay can promote, through Hopf bifurcation, stability switch towards instability for the nonzero equilibriums. Overall, when the delay increases and crosses predetermined thresholds, the populations go to extinction.


The importance of inference in Machine Learning (ML) has led to an explosive number of different proposals in ML, and particularly in Deep Learning. In an attempt to reduce the complexity of Convolutional Neural Networks, we propose a Volterra filter-inspired Network architecture. This architecture introduces controlled non-linearities in the form of interactions between the delayed input samples of data. We propose a cascaded implementation of Volterra Filtering so as to significantly reduce the number of parameters required to carry out the same classification task as that of a conventional Neural Network. We demonstrate an efficient parallel implementation of this Volterra Neural Network (VNN), along with its remarkable performance while retaining a relatively simpler and potentially more tractable structure. Furthermore, we show a rather sophisticated adaptation of this network to nonlinearly fuse the RGB (spatial) information and the Optical Flow (temporal) information of a video sequence for action recognition. The proposed approach is evaluated on UCF-101 and HMDB-51 datasets for action recognition, and is shown to outperform state of the art CNN approaches.


In this work, an optical study by photoluminescence on the influence of different buffer layers on a Cu(In, Ga)Se2 (CIGS) thin film is presented. Chemical bath deposited CdS was compared with atomic layer deposited ZnxSn1-xOy (ZnSnO). The CIGS bulk and CIGS/buffer interface in both samples are strongly influenced by fluctuating potentials, being less pronounced for the sample with the ZnSnO buffer layer. This study emphasizes the potential application of the ZnSnO semiconductor in CIGS based solar cells.


Background Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the UK. The national CVD prevention strategy centres on the NHS Health Check Programme, which involves offering a vascular risk assessment to those aged 40-74 years without established disease. It is estimated that the programme could prevent 9,500 cardiovascular events and 2,000 deaths each year, if there is universal uptake. Durham County Council commissioned a health check service to be delivered in the community by health trainers. Socioeconomic deprivation is associated with higher risk of CVD, yet response rates for screening programmes tend to be lower in deprived areas. The service targets those who would not usually access screening and offers them tailored lifestyle support, thereby addressing health inequalities. Methods A mixed methods design was used to evaluate the implementation, acceptability and impact of this service, involving: i) Secondary analysis of monitoring data from all clients between January and June 2012 (n = 774). Descriptive and summary statistics were produced. ii) Interviews and focus groups with a purposive sample of staff and key stakeholders (n = 20). A thematic content approach was used to analyse all transcripts and field notes. iii) Summary data obtained from anonymous patient experience questionnaires (n = 181). Results Women who accessed the service were more likely than men to be eligible for a health check (34% vs. 27%); yet eligible men were more likely to attend the health check (59.4% vs. 33.8%). More than half (57.6%) of clients were under the age of 50 and a similar proportion (60.5%) were from socioeconomically deprived areas. However, only 32.7% of those from the least affluent areas accepted the offer of a health check, in comparison with 44.4% from more affluent areas. More than half (57.4%) of the health checks resulted in a low CVD risk score, whereas 12.9% were high risk. Stakeholders perceived the service to be an effective way of engaging people from target communities in conversations about their health. It was felt that many clients would not have accessed support regarding their cardiovascular health from other providers. The vast majority (99%) of respondents to the patient experience questionnaire were satisfied with the service. Discussion A community-based, health trainer-led service can add value by offering an alternative to health checks delivered in primary care settings. The service appears to be successful in engaging men and younger age groups. However, there is the potential for intervention-generated inequalities.


High-resolution Fourier-transform spectra of a 232ThI4–230ThI4 electrodeless discharge lamp were obtained between 5600 and 36 000 cm−1. These spectra were used to measure the splittings of more than 800 isotopic Th ii doublets to an accuracy of about 0.001 cm−1. From these isotope shifts, 184 even- and 167 odd-level isotope shifts were determined. Level isotope shifts were determined for all known levels below 20 000 cm-, except for the even J = ½ level at 19 594 cm−1. An empirical correlation of the level isotope shifts with a theoretical, configuration-mixing calculation was used to derive pure-configuration level isotope shifts.


Stocks earn significantly negative abnormal returns before earnings announcements and positive after them. This "earnings announcement return cycle" (EARC) is unrelated to the earnings announcement premium, and it is a feature of stocks widely covered by analysts. Analysts' forecasts follow the same pattern as returns: analysts' forecasts become more optimistic after an earnings announcement and more pessimistic as the next one draws near. We attribute one-half of the earnings announcement return cycle to this optimism cycle. The EARC may stem from mispricing: both the return and optimism patterns are stronger among high-uncertainty and difficult-to-arbitrage stocks, and the EARC strategy is more profitable on days when it would accommodate larger amounts of arbitrage capital.


Games have been socially entrenched throughout history as a form of entertainment. Current rapidly changing technological advances have permitted an increasingly prominent means of utilizing these sources of entertainment in an instructional capacity for educational purposes. Serious gaming as a result, focuses on engaging learners in activities which are not solely developed for enjoyment purposes. Goal oriented pursuits based in either an authentic or fictitious scenario can be designed to improve a learner or players motor and cognitive abilities or knowledge (de Freitas & Jarvis, 2006; Lamb et al., 2018; Protopsaltis et al., 2011). Serious gaming promotes intentional, active, and mobile learning that can be successfully used as a supplemental educational tool to facilitate a situated understanding of specific content (Admiral et al., 2011; Gee, 2005). This paper is a brief overview of game-based learning, or serious games, as an innovative instructional strategy in higher distance education.


Recent advances in innovative energy storage devices such as supercapacitors have made battery-supercapacitor hybrid energy storage systems technically attractive. However the field of hybrid energy storage system control is relatively new, involving the major challenge of developing control techniques optimised for improved battery-life or other performance metrics. This thesis presents the design and analysis of an actively controlled hybrid energy storage system. Detailed information is given regarding the system implementation and dynamic controls developed as a part of the research. Novel use of the sliding-mode or hysteretic current-controlled DC/DC converter is shown to provide a versatile and robust power electronic building block for the power-control hardware implementation. Current state of the art in the field has converged around a frequency-domain approach to the overall power sharing strategy within hybrid energy storage systems employing batteries and high-power, low-energy density storage such as supercapacitors, with benefits in terms of reduced battery current maxima and an (un-quantified) increase in battery life having been reported. This research extends previous studies by considering the frequency-domain approach in further detail and providing quantitative simulation results confirming how an estimated increase in battery cycle-life of ~18% can be achieved. A systematic simulation framework used for the development and assessment of novel hybrid energy storage system control strategies is described and demonstrated in the context of a remote wind power application. The hardware design of all systems considered is described in detail and demonstrated by experiment.


This book reveals and discusses existing and potential problems derived from the transport economics domain in relation to their environment, and the social, political and economic impacts, with reference to a wide range of transport modes. It is suitable not only for academics or students, but also for people working in the transport industry. From this book, readers will learn how to apply economic principles to transport, drawing specifically upon a number of case studies of different areas of Great Britain. This book is particularly useful for those who are interested in the subject of transport economics, but may not have studied economics, statistics or mathematics.


Performance characteristics of a hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA quantification assay comprised automated specimen extraction [COBAS AmpliPrep (CAP) using total nucleic acid isolation reagents (TNAI)], and real-time polymerase chain reaction [COBAS TaqMan 48 HCV with analyte-specific reagents (CTM48)] were determined. CAP TNAI/CTM48 performed linearly from approximately 2.0 to at least 6.7 log10 IU/ml for HCV genotypes (Gts) 1, 2, and 3. The limit of detection for the World Health Organization International Standard was 23 IU/ml. Variabilities ranged from 1.3 to 2.1%. Excellent quantitative agreement was observed in clinical samples using CTM48 and two different methods for HCV RNA extraction (CAP TNAI and BioRobot M48; regression line slope, 0.98; y-intercept, 0.11; R2, 0.98; mean difference, 0.003). Good agreement was also observed between CAP TNAI/CTM48 and COBAS Amplicor Monitor (regression line slope, 0.94; y-intercept, 0.08; R2, 0.96), although HCV RNA concentrations were on average greater by COBAS Amplicor Monitor (mean difference -0.27 log10 IU/ml). Better overall agreement was observed for Gt 1 than non-Gt 1 specimens when comparing extraction and quantification methods; however, no consistent genotype-dependent quantification bias was observed. These data suggest that CAP TNAI/CTM48 offers an alternative method for the quantification of HCV in plasma samples.


Aggressive driving is not only the result of simple lapses and errors while driving. The main goal of this study was to determine the ways in which personality traits was related to aggressive behaviour during driving; the research tools represented by DECAS inventory used to find out if there are correlations between personality traits and types of driving. In our analyses, we selected participants betwen 20 and 55 years of old and their driving experience; gender was not a significant factor and as such was not controlled for in the analyses. Regression analyses showed that the data fit well with our theoretical model. The relationship between openness and aggressive driving is mediated by the driver's anger, whereas agreeableness and conscientiousness had both a direct and indirect relations with aggressive driving. Our research study accounts for a relatively high percentage of the aggressive driving variance, suggesting the usefulness of assessing global personality traits for the prediction of aggressive driving.


BACKGROUND
The Data Collection on Adverse Events of Anti-HIV Drugs (DAD) study has reported an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases in people with human immunodeficiency virus who were exposed to darunavir (DRV) but not to atazanavir (ATV). Our objective was to evaluate associations between ATV or DRV exposures and the risk of myocardial infarction (MI) in a nested case-control study within ANRS-CO4 French Hospital Database on HIV (FHDH).

METHODS
Cases were individuals who had a first validated MI between 2006 and 2012. Up to 5 controls were selected at random with replacement among individuals with no history of MI, followed at the time of MI diagnosis, and matched for age and sex. Conditional logistic regression models were used to adjust for potential confounders (MI risk factors and HIV-related parameters) and for cumulative exposure to each antiretroviral drug (ARV).

RESULTS
Overall, 408 MI cases and 1250 controls were included: 109 (27%) cases and 288 (23%) controls had been exposed to ATV, and 41 (10%) cases and 107 (9%) controls had been exposed to DRV. There was no significant association between exposure to ATV (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 1.54; 95% confidence interval [CI], .87-2.73) or DRV (adjusted OR = 0.51; 95% CI, .11-2.32) and the risk of MI.

CONCLUSIONS
In FHDH, exposures to ATV or to DRV were not significantly associated with the risk of MI, adjusting for complete ARV history, contrary to the analysis in DAD.


The future of the $51 billion Australian National Broadband Network (NBN) remains unknown, with the Government still to commit to a course of action after the current build phase. Industry representatives have recently voiced their concerns about a potential future sale of the NBN and how this would occur. In response, the Telecommunications Association is hosting a public forum on the future of the NBN on 31 July 2019 at RMIT University. Papers in the June 2019 issue of the Journal include discussion on consumer interest in 5G in New Zealand, the history of Australian mail handling and technical papers covering a range of interesting topics. This month we include a paper titled Measuring Digital Inequality in Australia: the Australian Digital Inclusion Index that provides an important insight into digital inclusion. The Journal welcomes further contributions on telecommunications and the digital economy.


From 1999 to 2005 the former Red-Green government in Germany enacted a series of ambitious tax cuts that were snpposed to boost the German Economy. The article argues that these tax cuts instead of boosting the economy involved major costs. The revenue losses induced substantial expenditures cuts which reduced citizens' utility from public goods and services and at the same time dampened economic activity thereby extending Germany's stagnation. Additionally, they increased income disparity. In spite of these disillusioning experiences it is likely that German tax and fiscal policies are going to repeat their errors in the future.


An extension of the partial element equivalent circuit (PEEC) method for magnetic materials modeling in the frequency domain applied on toroidal magnetic inductors with rectangular cross section is presented in this paper. The extension is performed by coupling the PEEC method and the boundary element method (BEM). The influence of magnetic material is modeled by distributions of "fictitious magnetic currents and charges" existing on the surface of a magnetic body. To verify the developed 3-D PEEC model, calculated and measured impedances are compared for two winding arrangements employing a ferrite T38 core. A good agreement between the PEEC simulation and measurements is presented up to the first resonant frequency. The described PEEC modeling approach enables 3-D electromagnetic simulations with much less computational effort than given for existing finite element method (FEM) simulators.


The goal of the work presented in this thesis was to realize a robotic device that is able provide suitable gait training to stroke patients.
It is believed that motor training in general, but specifically for stroke patients should be intensive and task-specific in order to reach optimal outcome. Meanwhile, the training of severe stroke patients has proven to be physically very demanding to therapists. For this reason it is believed that robotic aids can be useful alternative for physical therapists to provide gait training. In this research we supposed a training setting in which a therapist is in control of the training, while the robot carries out the physical labor in guiding, assisting and correcting the patient.


We define and study positional marked patterns, permutations $\tau$ where one
of elements in $\tau$ is underlined. Given a permutation $\sigma$, we say that
$\sigma$ has a $\tau$-match at position $i$ if $\tau$ occurs in $\sigma$ in
such a way that $\sigma_i$ plays the role of the underlined element in the
occurrence. We let $pmp_\tau(\sigma)$ denote the number of positions $i$ which
$\sigma$ has a $\tau$-match. This defines a new class of statistics on
permutations, where we study such statistics and prove a number of results. In
particular, we prove that two positional marked patterns $1\underline{2}3$ and
$1\underline{3}2$ give rise to two statistics that have the same distribution.
The equidistibution phenomenon also occurs in other several collections of
patterns like $\left \{1\underline{2}3 , 1\underline{3}2 \right \}$, and $\left
\{ 1\underline234, 1\underline243, \underline2134, \underline2 1 4 3 \right
\}$, as well as two positional marked patterns of any length $n$: $\left \{
1\underline 2\tau , \underline 21\tau \right \}$.


The 1st May 2004 10 new countries joined the European Union. It is one of the most impor-tant events in the history of the European Union and all of Europe. New nations are accessing the Community and so new challenges are emerging. An important challenge is the exchange of information in order to better understand each other. This article aims to outline informa-tion on the social services in selected accession countries - Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary (hereinafter "Visegrad countries").


Abstract This research aimed to investigate the effect of different extraction methods and chemical composition of the essential oil (EO) and solid-phase microextraction (SPME) from Campanula latifolia L. sub-sp. latifolia which is native to Turkey, with different medicinal properties. Phenolic components, antioxidant and enzyme inhibitory effects of essential oil (EO), n-hexane, acetonitrile, methanol and water extracts of C. latifolia subsp. latifolia were also studied. The volatile components of the EO, SPME and SPME of n-hexane extracts, obtained from the Campanula latifolia L. subsp. latifolia, were analyzed by GC-FID/MS. A total of 32, 31 and 36 compounds were identified comprising 99.8 %, 99.9 % and 94.4 % of the SPME, SPME of n-hexane extract and EO of C. latifolia subsp. latifolia, respectively. The major compounds identified in the SPME and SPME of n-hexane extract were limonene (44.0 %) and 1,2,3-trimethyl benzene (27.4 %), respectively. Whereas the EO of Campanula latifolia subsp. latifolia was rich with capro aldehyde (23.1 %), nonanal (9.3 %), 2(E)-hexenal (6.8 %), benzene acetaldehyde (6.8 %), E-β-caryophyllene (4.4 %) and E-β-ionone (3.3 %). The phenolic content of extracts was analyzed by RP-HPLC. Results revealed the sinapic, benzoic, syringic and p-coumaric acids as major constituents. Antioxidant activities (DPPH, PRAP and FRAP) and enzyme inhibitory (tyrosinase, acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and α-glucosidase) effects of the EO, n-hexane, acetonitrile, methanol and water extracts obtained from C. latifolia subsp. latifolia were investigated. The acetonitrile extract, among the other extracts of C. latifolia subsp. latifolia, was found to have the highest antioxidant activity and inhibitory effect for all tested enzymes due to its high phenolic content.


A series of luminescent ruthenium(II) polypyridyl complexes containing an extended aromatic moiety derived from triptycene and 1,10-phenanthroline were synthesized and their photophysical, theoretical, and biological properties were investigated. These complexes rapidly condense DNA into nano-aggregates at room temperature. The DNA interactions and DNA condensation properties of these complexes were investigated by absorption and emission spectroscopy, electrophoretic mobility assay, and atomic force microscopy. Their DNA cleavage inactivity and low toxicity of the complexes satisfy the requirements of a good non-viral gene delivery vector.


Govintharaj, P., S. Manonmani and S. Robin, 2018. Trait associations' analysis of blast resistant segregating populations of rice. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 24 (2): 259–262 Improvement of blast resistance hybrid rice parents is one of main target of rice breeding in blast endemic areas. The three F2 blast resistant introgressed segregating populations were used to study the association and the effects of yield related traits on single plant yield in rice. Thousand grain weight was strongly correlated with the single plant yield (r = 0.84**, p < 0.01) in CB 87R × Zenith > (r = 0.46**, p < 0.01) in TNAU CMS 2B × Zenith. Plant height was the important yield determining component for CB 174 R × Zenith (0.34), thousand grain weight for CB 87 R × Zenith (0.74) and number of productive tillers for (0.54) TNAU CMS 2B × Zenith showing a direct effect. The obtained genetic information from the present study indicated that variation exists in available material, thus allowing the selection of desirable segregants for further improvement in future rice breeding program.


The actions or reactions of social workers toward the challenges of neoliberal ideology in Italian probation policies will be explored through the analysis of an episode related to the approval of a draft Probation Act: the so-called Mastella Act. The results of a qualitative analysis of social workers' statements and opinions concerning the debate surrounding this episode confirm Trivellato and Lorenz's (2010) findings of the tendency of Italian social workers to underestimate political aspects in their work. The controversy over the Mastella draft Act represents a rich field of research because it traces the effects of a general shift from welfare to control in Italian social politics. In confirming the hypothesis, the findings point towards a one-sided understanding of social workers' professional role which underestimates the importance of political analysis against individualized casework, thereby rendering the profession vulnerable to substitution by the police force.


The world is considering various solutions to reduce exhaust emissions, the use of alternative fuels and the development of more efficient marine engines. IMO the company gave guidance for future borders of individual exhaust components, taking into account a variety of applications and conditions for the operation of marine engines. Engine manufacturers have been forced to develop new technologies, to meet the existing IMO rules and regulations that are yet to come, for the emission of harmful exhaust emissions.This paper describes the experimental procedure that support the modeling of the operating parameters of marine internal combustion engines in order to diagnose the condition, optimization of engine and reduce exhaust emissions. Special attention was given to verify the adequacy of the investigation, its accuracy and relevance. It outlines experiments that support the selection procedure tests during sea trials and later in the exploitation of the ship.


In the Brandeis University Joseph Heller Collection are two items of particular interest for their connection with Pynchon. When Catch- 22 was published (1961), Candida Donadio was acting as literary agent for both Heller and Pynchon. It is not surprising therefore that she should have sent a copy of Catch-22 to Pynchon for his comments. In a note dated November 2, 1961, and addressed from Seattle, where he was then working for the Boeing Company, Pynchon expressed his enthusiasm for the novel. The main part of the note reads: "I love it. I won't tell you how much, or why, because I always sound phony whenever I start running off at the mouth like a literary critic. But it is close to the finest novel I've ever read." The note is typed on the quadrille paper Pynchon prefers for correspondence and is signed tersely just "Pynchon." Brief though it is, this note has a real historical importance in that it documents the reaction of one major contemporary novelist to another. It must also encourage critical comparisons between the two writers, particularly over their suspicion of systems and officialdom as well as their sense of the absurd.


. We introduce a new Swarm-Based Gradient Descent (SBGD) method for non-convex optimization. The swarm consists of agents, each is identified with a position, x , and mass, m . The key to their dynamics is communication: masses are being transferred from agents at high ground to low(-est) ground. At the same time, agents change positions with step size, h = h ( x , m ), adjusted to their relative mass: heavier agents proceed with small time-steps in the direction of local gradient, while lighter agents take larger time-steps based on a backtracking protocol. Accordingly, the crowd of agents is dynamically divided between 'heavier' leaders, expected to approach local minima, and 'lighter' explorers. With their large-step protocol, explorers are expected to encounter improved position for the swarm; if they do, then they assume the role of 'heavy' swarm leaders and so on. Convergence analysis and numerical simulations in one-, two-, and 20-dimensional benchmarks demonstrate the effectiveness of SBGD as a global optimizer.


Silencing individual C (constant region) lambda genes in a kappa(-/-) background reduces mature B cell levels, and L chain-deficient (lambda(-/-)kappa(-/-)) mice attain a complete block in B cell development at the stage when L chain rearrangement, resulting in surface IgM expression, should be completed. L chain deficiency prevents B cell receptor association, and L chain function cannot be substituted (e.g., by surrogate L chain). Nevertheless, precursor cell levels, controlled by developmental progression and checkpoint apoptosis, are maintained, and B cell development in the bone marrow is fully retained up to the immature stage. L chain deficiency allows H chain retention in the cytoplasm, but prevents H chain release from the cell, and as a result secondary lymphoid organs are B cell depleted while T cell levels remain normal.


Background Gallbladder (GB) hypomotility has been reported in adults with celiac disease (CD), but there is no literature on GB dysfunction in children with CD. We aimed to study GB motility in children with CD, before and after a gluten-free diet (GFD), using ultrasonography (USG) and technetium-99 labeled mebrofenin hepatobiliary scintigraphy (HBS). Methods Children with newly diagnosed CD were enrolled and evaluated for GB ejection fraction (GBEF) using HBS and USG. Those with reduced GBEF on initial HBS were again evaluated after 6 months of strict GFD and the results were compared. Results Of the 50 children with CD (mean age 9±2.1 years, 54% boys), 16% (n=8) had a low GBEF at baseline (19±13%). These children had a significantly greater delay in diagnosis compared to those with normal GBEF (6.5±2.0 vs. 2.3±1.2 years, P<0.001). A significant improvement in GBEF was noted on HBS post GFD (74±12%1 vs. 9±13%, P<0.001). GBEF also improved significantly as assessed by USG parameters after GFD (P<0.001). The fasting GB volume decreased (5.7±1.4 vs. 10.2±2.6, P=0.002), with a significant improvement in percentage postprandial GB volume change (52±10.5% vs. 24±16.5%, P=0.007) compared to baseline pre-GFD values. Orocecal transit time was also increased in children with reduced GBEF. Conclusions GB function is impaired in at least 16% of children with CD at diagnosis and is reversible with GFD. GB dysfunction is significantly associated with a delayed diagnosis and may be a part of general gastrointestinal dysmotility.


There are now about twelve substances, many of them peptides, that are thought to act as neurotransmitters in the enteric nervous system. Most of the studies of peptides have relied on immunochemical methods for their detection. However, difficulties arise in these studies because of the close similarities between peptides. Related peptides can be grouped in several ways according to similarities of origin, function, effects in bioassays and amino acid sequences. Peptides with the same function in different species, and only slight differences in amino acid sequence, have been called isopeptides. Peptide families that have sequences of amino acids in common, but do not necessarily have similar functions are described. In the guinea-pig small intestine, used as a model, the concentrations of fourteen nerve-related peptides and amines are compared. The actual chemical natures of the peptides are discussed. It is concluded that nerves containing authentic leu- and met-enkephelin, somatostatin and substance P are present. VIP in guinea-pig enteric nerves is different from the porcine standard. Peptides similar to authentic CCK8 and amphibian skin bombesin are present. Angiotensin and neurotensin-like peptides shown immunohistochemically are not the authentic peptides. In the longitudinal muscle plus myenteric plexus, most neuropeptide concentrations are in the range of 10-500 pmole/g. The exception is met-enkephalin (1,300 pmole/g). The amine transmitters have considerably higher concentrations, noradrenaline having a concentration of about 3,500 pmole/g and acetylcholine 1-2 x 10(5) pmole/g.


The three-dimensional structure of ICRF (Ion Cyclotron Range of Frequency) waves in a tokamak plasma is investigated. In a two-ion-species plasma (majority deuterium and minority hydrogen) with radial density inhomogeneity, the wave equation is solved numerically by employing a cold-plasma approximation. The plasma is immersed in a toroidal magnetic field with a gradient and is surrounded by the vacuum region and the conducting wall. Waves are launched by a Faraday-shielded poloidal-current antenna of finite extent in toroidal and poloidal directions. The wave field and the energy deposition profile are obtained by introducing a simple model for the collision. The wave accessibility condition is examined for plasma parameters and density profiles. In a cold-fluid approximation, two mechanisms of power absorption, i.e. two-ion hybrid resonance and cavity resonance, are found, and the differences between them are studied. The antenna loading impedance is also calculated for each case. High-and low-field-side excitations are compared. Non-plasma losses at the wall are considered in obtaining the coupling efficiency. Good coupling conditions and desirable antenna designs are also discussed. It is found that efficient coupling is expected in a wide range of plasma parameters.


To control the inertial forces and moments, the new type of the reciprocating cam engine with counter-position placement has been invented. Such a thermodynamic model based on the kinematic and dynamic analysis is developed and the engine performance is simulated. Under the same structural design parameters, the counter-position placement cam engine would have the inadequate work due to the increase of throttle loss. Then effects of the gas distributions to the dynamic performance of the engine are researched. Six variables are selected to optimize maximum average indicated power and the minimum indicated specific consumption with the method of discrete variable gridding. The results indicate that: (a) The new engine structure design can present advantage of excitation forces balance. (b) The structural design parameters and the thermal efficiency of the engine should be optimized especially those of the valve actuating mechanism to achieved desired power. (c) The parameters optimized of valve train can conform to the requirements of speed and economy, and it is feasible and reasonable to put forward the scheme of cam engine with the counter-position placement.


A digital image can be created by different digital devices, such as digital cameras, X-ray scanners, etc. In practice, such devices can give unexpected defects, for example, noise. The Gaussian noise and Poisson noise are very important, but their combination is important too. This mixed noise usually appears in electronic microscopic images, in aerospace images, etc. Our goal is to combine ROF model (for Gaussian noise removal) and modified ROF model (for Poisson noise removal) to create new model that can treat this combination effectively. Our model will treat this combination with considering proportion of noise between them.


Abstract Background: Genetic factors have been studied extensively for their role in the pathogenesis of primary open angle glaucoma (POAG). This study was conducted to investigate whether manganese superoxide dismutase (SOD2) variants play a significant role in POAG in a Chinese population. Methods: This study included of 416 unrelated POAG patients and 997 unrelated control subjects. Four SOD2 tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), including rs6917589 rs2842980, rs5746136 and rs4880, were genotyped by dye terminator-based SNaPshot method. The genotype and allele frequencies were evaluated using the χ2 tests. Results: Allelic association analysis showed that there were suggestive differences in the allelic distributions between POAG cases and controls for SNPs rs6917589 and rs5746136 (p = 0.0.046 and p = 0.032, respectively), but no statistically significant association was detected between the two SNPs and POAG after Bonferroni correction (p > 0.0125). The allele and genotype frequency in SNPs rs2842980 and rs4880 showed no statistically significant difference between POAG cases and controls (p = 0.128 and p = 0.867, respectively). SNP rs5746136 had a significant association with POAG in the recessive model (p = 0.003155). Haplotype ATGT generated from the four SNPs showed a trend of association with POAG (p = 0.0098). Conclusion: Our results showed a trend of association with POAG, suggesting that SOD2 may play a significant role in the development of POAG in the Chinese population. Further work with a larger sample size and functional study is needed to confirm the importance of the SOD2 gene in the pathogenesis of glaucoma.


Aristotle says in the De Sensu that other colours are produced through the mixture of black bodies with white (440a31–b23). The obvious mixture for him to be referring to is the mixture of the four elements, earth, air, fire, and water, which he describes at such length in the De Generatione et Corruptione. All compound bodies are produced ultimately through the mixture of these elements. The way in which the elements mix is described in i. 10 and 2. 7. They mix in such a way as to produce an entirely new substance, in which the characteristics of the original earth, air, fire, and water survive only in modified form.


Objective There is no standard tool for assessing risk of bias (RoB) in prevalence studies. For the purposes of a living systematic review during the COVID-19 pandemic, we developed a tool to evaluate RoB in studies measuring the prevalence of mental health disorders (RoB-PrevMH) and tested inter-rater reliability. Methods We decided on items and signalling questions to include in RoB-PrevMH through iterative discussions. We tested the reliability of assessments by different users with two sets of prevalence studies. The first set included a random sample of 50 studies from our living systematic review. The second set included 33 studies from a systematic review of the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorders, major depression and generalised anxiety disorder. We assessed the inter-rater agreement by calculating the proportion of agreement and Kappa statistic for each item. Results RoB-PrevMH consists of three items that address selection bias and information bias. Introductory and signalling questions guide the application of the tool to the review question. The inter-rater agreement for the three items was 83%, 90% and 93%. The weighted kappa scores were 0.63 (95% CI 0.54 to 0.73), 0.71 (95% CI 0.67 to 0.85) and 0.32 (95% CI −0.04 to 0.63), respectively. Conclusions RoB-PrevMH is a brief, user-friendly and adaptable tool for assessing RoB in studies on prevalence of mental health disorders. Initial results for inter-rater agreement were fair to substantial. The tool's validity, reliability and applicability should be assessed in future projects.


At a time when European integration faces many crises, the efficacy of public policies decided in Brussels, and in member state capitals, for managing the everyday lives of average Europeans demands scrutiny. Most attuned to how global uncertainties interact with local realities, anthropologists and ethnographers have paid scant attention to public policies that are created by the EU, by member state governments and by local authorities, and to the collective, organised, and individual responses they elicit in this part of the world. Our critical faculties and means to test out established relations between global–local, centre–periphery, macro–micro are crucial to see how far the EU's normative power and European integration as a governance model permeates peoples' and states' lives in Europe, broadly defined. Identifying the strengths and shortcomings in the literature, this review essay scrutinises anthropological scholarship on culture, power and policy in a post-Foucaultian Europe.


This paper examines the organization, structure and conduct of the citrus marketing system between Benue and Kano States of Nigeria. Market concentration measures were applied to a cross sectional data of sampled wholesalers and retailers. Gini coefficient of 0.43 and 0.22 and Herfindal index of 0.0158 and 0.0036 were obtained for the wholesalers and retailers respectively. The paper concludes that the citrus market system tends towards pure competition. Keywords: Benue, citrus, gini coefficient, Kano, marketing, pure competition, traders


The present study aimed to select plant extract or mix. of plant extracts have inhibition effect on Cancer cells from untreated CML patients the results showed the following. Some plants extracts were used (aqueous, alcoholic, oily, alkaloid and flavonoids) from Nigella sativa seeds, Allium sativum Sativum and Allium sativum ophioscordon fruits and the inhibitory effects five different concentrations (0.1,1,10,10,1000) µg/ml was investigated on peripheral lymphocytes from healthy persons by using cytogenetic analysis BI,MI,RI,CA,SCE and CCP. The alcoholism mix. have the greatest inhibitory effects by reducing all cytogenetic parameters, this was selected to study its effect on patient's lymphocytes.


Objectives. To study the changes in aromatase, Ki-67 and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression during the menstrual cycle in both endometrial polyps and normal endometria. Patients and methods. Paraffin-embedded tissue samples from 118 premenopausal patients were submitted to immunohistochemistry for measurement of aromatase, COX-2 and Ki-67 expression. Fifty cases of endometrial polyps and 68 cases of disease-free endometrium were included. Results. The presence of aromatase expression was significantly higher in endometrial polyps than in disease-free endometria. On the other hand, changes in COX-2 and Ki-67 expression followed a similar pattern during the menstrual cycle in both groups, expression peaking during the proliferative phase and falling during the late luteal phase. Conclusion. A significantly higher proportion of endometrial polyps express aromatase compared with disease-free endometrium; however, no correlation was found between aromatase expression and changes in either Ki-67 or COX-2 expression during the menstrual cycle.


The 500-km-long Late Jurassic Independence dike swarm in California extends from the central Sierra Nevada through the Mojave Desert to the Eastern Transverse Range. The dikes are mostly vertical, and their azimuth in the Sierra Nevada is ∼ 315°. However, in the Mojave region, their azimuth varies significantly: 300°–320° in the Argus Range, the Spangler Hills, and the Stoddard Well and Soda Mountain areas, and 340°–350° in the Granite Mountain, Alvord Mountain, and Eagle Mountain areas. Apparently the dikes in the Granite, Alvord, and Eagle mountains areas have rotated ∼ 50° clockwise about vertical axis relative to the Sierra Nevada and the Stoddard Well area. These rotations are remarkably consistent with known post–early Miocene paleomagnetically derived rotations. The clockwise rotations are associated with the east-west–trending left-lateral strike-slip faults in the northeastern Mojave and the Eastern Transverse range regions. In contrast, the data show that little or no rotation occurred in the central Mojave domain, which is characterized by northwest-trending faults.


Camless internal combustion engines offer improvements over traditional engines in terms of torque performance, reduction of emissions, reduction of pumping losses and fuel economy. Theoretically, electromagnetic valve actuators offer the highest potentials for improving efficiency due to their control flexibility. For real applications, however, the valve actuators developed so far suffer from high power consumption and other control problems. One key point is the design of the reference trajectory to be tracked by the closed loop controller. In this brief, a design technique aimed at minimizing power consumption is proposed. A constrained optimization problem is formulated and its solution is approximated by exploiting local flatness and physical properties of the system. The performance of the designed trajectory is validated via an industrial simulator of the valve actuator.


This paper presents an optimal motion planning framework to generate versatile energy-optimal quadrupedal jumping motions automatically (e.g., flips, spin). The jumping motions via the centroidal dynamics are formulated as a 12-dimensional black-box optimization problem subject to the robot kino-dynamic constraints. Gradient-based approaches offer great success in addressing trajectory optimization (TO), yet, prior knowledge (e.g., reference motion, contact schedule) is required and results in sub-optimal solutions. The new proposed framework first employed a heuristics-based optimization method to avoid these problems. Moreover, a prioritization fitness function is created for heuristics-based algorithms in robot ground reaction force (GRF) planning, enhancing convergence and searching performance considerably. Since heuristics-based algorithms often require significant time, motions are planned offline and stored as a pre-motion library. A selector is designed to automatically choose motions with user-specified or perception information as input. The proposed framework has been successfully validated only with a simple continuously tracking PD controller in an open-source Mini-Cheetah by several challenging jumping motions, including jumping over a window-shaped obstacle with 30 cm height and left-flipping over a rectangle obstacle with 27 cm height. (Video*)


BACKGROUND
For the assessment of nasal symptoms in allergic rhinitis patients, most of the questionnaires evaluate the impact of symptoms on patient's quality life.

OBJECTIVE
To assess the consistent and reliability of a nasal symptom questionnaire in patients with allergic rhinitis.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
224 patients (10 to 19 years old) accepted to participate in the study. All the patients completed a questionnaire, which evaluates the severity and frequency of four nasal symptoms using a maximum total score of 12 points. The consistent was studied after the questionnaire was administered to 62 patients with allergic rhinitis and 62 patients without it. The reliability after one to four weeks was studied on 100 healthy subjects with the Bland and Altman's method.

RESULTS
The total score of patients with allergic rhinitis was significantly different to the score of the patients without it (7.1 +/- 2 and 1.9 +/- 1, respectively). The alpha coefficient for the total score was 0.86. The repeated measures showed a repeatability of 96% with a repeatability coefficient of 2.

CONCLUSION
The nasal symptom questionnaire is a reliable tool for the follow up of allergic rhinitis during periods of one to four weeks.


There is little information available on milk intake and energy and nitrogen requirements of growing yak calves. This study aimed to fill this important gap, as this information could be beneficial in designing a system to wean yak calves earlier than in natural time. We determined the average daily gain and energy and nitrogen balances and requirements of 4-month-old female yak calves (48.8 ± 2.45 kg, n = 8). The calves were allowed to suck once a day and were fed an ad libitum concentrate: hay diet at a ratio of 60:40. Milk intake averaged 540 ± 26 g/d, yielding 2.28 ± 0.112 MJ/d, which was 13% of the gross energy intake (GEI). The digestible energy intake (DEI):GEI ratio was 0.681, metabolizable energy intake (MEI):DEI was 0.913, and MEI:GEI was 0.621. The average daily gain of the calves was 433 ± 153.1 g/d, which consisted of 78.0 ± 8.99 g protein, 52.7 ± 23.74 g fat, and 302.3 ± 95.1 g water, that is, 18.0% protein, 13.0% fat and 69.8% water. There were 130.7 g of body solids and 9.06 MJ of energy in every kg of body mass gain. Of the MEI, 25.17 kJ were required for 1 g of body mass, 83.40 kJ for 1 g of body solids, and 2.62 kJ for 1 kJ of retained energy (RE), and RE was 36.6% of MEI. The maintenance energy requirement was 5.35 MJ/d, the efficiency of utilization of energy for growth (kg) was 0.72, and the heat increment of feeding for growth was 0.28 (1.55 MJ/d). Digestible nitrogen (N) was 0.685 while retained N (RN) was 0.489 of N intake. The N requirement for maintenance was 11.73 g/d or 0.61 g N/kg0.75 per day, while the biological value (BV) of N was 91.1%. The energy and N requirements for yak calves were relatively low, which could be explained, at least in part, by the high efficiency of utilization of energy and high BV of N when compared to other livestock. These findings could be beneficial in designing early weaning systems for the many Himalayan households depending on yak production for their livelihoods.


Abstract. Hydrothermal quartz crystals, which occur in the Rusey Fault Zone (Cornwall, UK), show feathery textures and network-like filamentous textures. Optical hot-cathodoluminescence (CL) analysis and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) investigations on quartz samples revealed that positions exhibiting feathery textures (violet luminescence) contain higher amounts of Al and Li than quartz positions without feathery textures (blue luminescence), while concentrations of Al and Li are significantly lower in feathery textures. Both Al and Li correlate negatively with Si. Raman spectroscopy investigations revealed the presence of a weak peak at 507–509 cm−1 in quartz affected by feathery textures, which we attribute to the presence of  ≤  5 % moganite, a microcrystalline silica polymorph, intergrown with chalcedony. The combined occurrence of feathery textures and network-like filamentous textures in quartz samples from the Rusey Fault Zone points to the presence of a metastable silica precursor (i.e., amorphous silica or silica gel) before or during the crystallization.


Five-axis machining area of free surface is proposed by based on ARM9 and Linux open CNC system's overall structure of the CNC system hardware and software architecture. The system adopts the mode of the host computer PC, the lower computer ARM9 development board. PC completes the model of space surface and generates tool path by Simultaneous Multi-objective Optimization Algorithm on Free-form Surface Five-Axis Machining Tool Path and Tool Posture. The lower computer applies MYSQL database to storage and manage cutter location point information. Other modules access the database through ODBC standard interface. ARM9and PC utilize the way of cross-platform socket data transmission, the stepper motors is controlled by the way of constant acceleration - deceleration.


This study explores depictions of various modes of transport in the fiction and non-fiction of the author and journalist Will Self (1961- ). These modes of transport range from the mechanical (cars, planes) to the physical (walking), but the argument at the centre of this thesis is that they all form valuable metaphors when it comes to analysing the inherent link between the significant technological developments of the last century, and the mental health of both individuals and collective societies that use and come to rely on said technologies.

This study argues that Self's depictions of transport form a criticism of the implicit commercial and ideological systems that exist within these technologies, and that both transport and other developments such as social media and the internet play an insidious and active role in the ways that users experience place and time. In addition to this, the study examines the impacts that these technologies have – in Self's view – on the broader contemporary literary and cultural landscape (drawing on the influences upon and contemporaries of Self, such as J. G. Ballard, W. G Sebald and Martin Amis), and even the individual capacity for imagination.

It will also argue that transcending these entrapping ideological systems is extremely complex, and that Self's fiction is a literary counterpart to this form of complexity, through both his manipulation of language and his highly imaginative but also often disturbing subject matter. To this end, the main body of the thesis draws on close literary analysis of some of Self's major novels and short fiction – works that more explicitly focus on transport – to demonstrate how these ideological, technological and literary complexities become an important source of literary innovation in light of what Self believes is a simplistic contemporary culture.


Repetitive and restricted behaviours have been considered as a core symptom of autism since the first descriptions provided by Leo Kanner (Kanner, 1943) and Hans Asperger (Asperger, 1944), and this view has been supported through all the incarnations of international diagnostic systems. However, when compared with other core features: problems in communication and problems in reciprocal social interaction, repetitive behaviours have been relatively neglected in terms of research. In particular, little is known about the triggers for repetitive behaviours and what functions they might serve for individuals with autism. Early theoretical accounts of autism proposed that sensory problems and anxiety are the key triggers for repetitive behaviours. Research in the field of developmental psychology has also demonstrated that in very young children, repetitive behaviours serve the function of constraining sensory unpredictability and warding of anxiety and this relationship has also been found in individuals with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, a condition defined by anxiety and ritualism. However, the three way relationship between repetitive behaviours, sensory problems and anxiety has not been explored in the autism literature before. The main aim of the thesis (Part 1) was to explore this relationship in children with autism. In addition to this main focus, the work of the thesis also included a study of the mothers of the same children (Part 2), investigating mothers' own anxiety, sensory correlates of this anxiety and other factors.
The main effects of autism are on the individual who is on the autism spectrum, however, impact is also felt by families. Parents of children with autism have been found to have higher prevalence of affective disorders when compared to both parents of typically developing children and parents of children with other disabilities. The second main aim of the thesis was to explore correlates of anxiety in mothers of children with autism.
In Part 1, a series of studies are reported using questionnaire data to investigate repetitive behaviours (RRBs), anxiety and sensory problems in children with autism. Part 2, focused on anxiety in the mothers of these children and correlates of their anxiety.
The first empirical chapter (Chapter 3) examined RRBs in children with and without autism and validated the Repetitive Behaviour Questionnaire-2 (RBQ-2; Leekam et al., 2007) for the first time with children with autism. Results indicated that the RBQ-2 provides a highly reliable measure of repetitive behaviours for children with autism aged from 2 to 17 years. Factor analysis revealed that a two-factor structure with the repetitive motor and sensory behaviour (RSM) factor and the insistence on sameness (IS) factor best represented
the data. Internal consistency was high for both the total RBQ-2 scale and for each RSM and IS subscale separately. This chapter also explored moderators of repetitive behaviours in children and adolescents with autism and found that while RSM behaviours were negatively associated with lower chronological age, and lower expressive language levels, IS behaviours were not. Further analysis was conducted using a secondary dataset from a longitudinal study of RRBs in typically developing children at age 15, 24 and 72 months old. Results showed that IS and RSM behaviours represent relatively independent classes of behaviours in developmental terms.
The second empirical chapter (Chapter 4) examined anxiety in children with autism and provided validation for the school age and preschool version of the Spence Anxiety Scales. Using this scale it was found that as many as 49% of children with autism met the criteria for elevated overall anxiety and that separation anxiety and physical injury fears were the most prevalent anxiety subtypes. Good agreement on total anxiety scores between children's and parents' reports was found. Analysis on the mediators of anxiety suggested that anxiety was not associated with chronological age, impairments in communication and social interaction, and expressive language levels.
The third empirical chapter (Chapter 5) provided evidence that sensory problems in children and adolescents with autism are both multisensory and multimodal in nature. More precisely, only 2 children had problems in a single sensory modality while on the other hand, 40% of children had problems simultaneously across all five primary sensory modalities. Almost 91% of children and adolescents showed mixed types of sensory modulation problems, with 65.3% of children having problems in all four sensory quadrants (sensory hyper- and hypo-sensitivity, seeking, and avoidance). This chapter also explored the mutual relationship between the four sensory subscale (quadrants) of the Sensory Profile. Results indicated that children and adolescents with autism fluctuate between the states of hypo- and hyper-responsiveness; that avoidance behaviours are compensatory strategies related to being over-stimulated, and that seeking behaviours are more related to being over-stimulated rather than hypo-stimulated.
The final chapter in Part 1, Chapter 6, examined the interrelations between RRB, sensory problems and anxiety. Results showed that both insistence on sameness (IS) and repetitive motor (RM) behaviours were associated with sensory problems. However, only IS behaviours were associated with anxiety while RM behaviours were not. Meditation analyses models showed that sensory sensitivity and anxiety were reinforcing each other in the relationship with IS behaviours.
The two chapters in Part 2 examined the frequency and correlates of anxiety in mothers of children with autism. Findings from these two chapters (Chapters 8 and 9) suggested that anxiety is very prevalent among mothers of children with autism with 46% of mothers meeting the cut-off criteria for clinically significant anxiety. For the first time, sensory problems in mothers were examined, and were also found to be very prevalent in mothers, appearing in 60% per cent of mothers. The frequency of sensory features in mothers was correlated with the frequency of sensory features in their children. Further analysis suggested that higher levels of sensory over-sensitivity, higher levels of intolerance of uncertainty, and the dominant use of escape-avoidance coping style contributed to anxiety levels in mothers. Furthermore, it was found that sensory sensitivity in mothers was related to their higher use of escape-avoidant coping strategy and the mediation analysis suggested that sensory sensitivity, escape-avoidance coping and anxiety reinforced each other.
The importance of these findings for future theoretical and clinical work is considered in detail in the general discussion chapter (Chapter 10).


In today's world cost optimization and better service are becoming the essential components ofthe retail supply chain. The thesis tries to contribute to the understanding of the RFIDtechnology in the retail industry. The basic concepts and the research contribution of the variousauthors are briefed in the theoretical framework made for a better understanding to the readers.After gained the relevant theoretical knowledge, the interviews were conducted with the RFIDexpert and some retailers. The empirical data collected from the interviews and surveys areprojected. With the empirical results and the relevant theoretical results, an analysis is madewhich explicitly gives the basis of implementation of RFID in the retail supply chain and itsassociated practical scenarios. Another outcome of the thesis is the result of the checkoutanalysis of the Willys retail store, and researchers try to show the potential benefit of adoptingthe RFID technology at item level at the point of sales, also cost estimation and savings areshown in the analysis. In a bird's eye view, this research thesis work is a contribution to theimplementation of RFID technology in the retail industry and its integration among the differententities of retail supply chain and improves the overall performance of supply chain and providea framework for RFID implementation for the case company.


Epilepsy is a chronic illness of the brain characterized by recurring seizure attacks. Electroencephalogram (EEG) can record the electrical activity of the brain and is extensively used to analyze and diagnose epileptic seizures. However, the EEG signals are highly non-linear and chaotic and are difficult to analyze due to their small magnitude. Hence, empirical mode decomposition (EMD), a non-linear technique, has been widely adopted to capture the subtle changes present in the EEG signals. Hence, it is an added advantage to develop an automated computer-aided diagnostic (CAD) system to detect the different brain activities from the EEG signals using machine learning approaches. In this paper, we focus on the previous works which have used the EMD technique in the automated detection of normal or epileptic EEG signals.


Author(s): Rusan, Zeid Marwan | Advisor(s): Tanouye, Mark A | Abstract: Seizure disorders, including the epilepsies, are debilitating misfortunes suffered by over 1% of the world's human population. Spontaneous recurrent seizures--paroxysmal events characterized by large groups of hyperexcited and hypersynchronized neurons--are hallmarks of epilepsy and destructive to the quality of life of many individuals. Although antiepileptic drug (AED) development is continuingly improving, available cures for attenuating and reducing the frequency of seizures are completely ineffective for a third of epileptics. Basic research concerning properties of seizures and their causes will yield critical insight required for the design of novel therapeutics. Such scientific advances may arise from experimentation using model organisms, with one such promising animal model being the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. Flies, like most other organisms with complex nervous systems given a sufficient stimulus, exhibit transitions between behavioral seizure states with a detectable underlying neural correlate. Conservation of nervous system genes and functions throughout evolution has made the fly a relevant model for human seizure disorders. In addition to such relevance, the advantages of the Drosophila system techniques enable finer dissection and identification of members in molecular pathways related to seizure-genesis, seizure-propagation, seizure-termination and recovery. For my thesis work I capitalized on the powerful tools available in Drosophila to attempt to tease apart the pleiotropic functions of cation-chloride cotransporters (CCCs) throughout the nervous system that are important for seizure manifestation. I also screened a collection of chromosomal deletions for their effect on behavioral paralysis after a seizure in hope of eventually identifying endogenous seizure-suppression and recovery mechanisms.kcc mutants are more seizure-susceptible than wild-type flies. kcc is the highly conserved Drosophila ortholog of K+/Cl- cotransporter genes (KCCs) thought to be expressed in all animal cell types. I examined the spatial and temporal requirements for kcc loss-of-function to modify seizure-susceptibility in flies. Targeted RNAi of kcc in various sets of neurons is sufficient to induce severe seizure-sensitivity. Interestingly, kcc RNAi in glia was found to be particularly effective in causing seizure-sensitivity. kcc knockdown during development causes reduction in seizure induction threshold, lengthening of seizure refractory period, cell swelling and blood-brain barrier (BBB) degradation in adult flies. Results suggest that a threshold of K+/Cl- cotransport dysfunction in the nervous system during development, and concomitant malformation of the BBB, are major determinants of seizure-susceptibility in Drosophila.Although many genes and synaptic/non-synaptic mechanisms linked with seizure-susceptibility have been described, relatively much less is known about how seizures stop, regardless of etiology. Theoretically, given the significant chance of seizure occurrence, there exist mechanisms for terminating, and recovering from, seizures. I hypothesized that defects in such mechanisms would affect post-seizure states such as the postictal or refractory state of flies. To identify such possible mechanisms, I screened over 150 chromosomal deletions for their affect on the duration of paralysis of the seizure-susceptible bang-sensitive (BS) mutant, parabss1. 5 deletions gave rise to significant lengthening of parabss1 mean recovery time (MRT). charlatan, chn, a gene encoding a NRSF/REST transcriptional repressor, was identified as the causative gene for one of these deletions. chn RNAi caused an increase in paralysis times and synaptic failure duration after a parabss1 seizure, but seizure induction threshold was not significantly altered. RNAi of chn lengthened MRT of another BS mutant, eas, suggesting that chn is a general seizure-enhancer. Although identification of chn as a general seizure-enhancer did not expose specific molecular mechanisms, the screen was a proof of principle for the postulate that genetic factors may impact different aspects of seizures, some of which have been overlooked during the history of seizure disorder research.My thesis lays a foundation for better understanding the role of CCCs in nervous system disease and draws needed attention to the relatively neglected postictal state. Specific manipulation and marking of glia in Drosophila has implicated CCC functions in these cells as important factors in seizure-susceptibility before and after seizures. Seizure-sensitivity arising from CCC loss can be further examined with precision using manipulations and rescue experiments already possible with today's techniques. Extracellular ion regulations are critical factors affecting seizure-onset, and perhaps also, seizure-recovery and refractory states. Nervous system parameters unique to seizures might trigger specialized mechanisms involved in restoring normal conditions after seizures and rendering the reoccurrence of seizures less-likely for some time. Examining effects of well-controlled perturbations on all aspects of seizures is critical for solving problems presented by seizure disorders.


AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the relationship between nurse-patient-initiated participation, nurses' attitudes towards patient's participation, and patients' adherence to treatment. Specifically, to (1) explore nurse-patient participation during haemodialysis and quantify the information into measurable indices; (2) determine the haemodialysis patient's adherence to treatment; (3) describe nurses' attitudes towards patient participation; and (4) establish the relationships between nurse-patient-initiated participation, nurses' attitudes towards patient participation and patients' adherence to treatment.

BACKGROUND
To improve haemodialysis patients' health, it is crucial to identify nurses' and patients' factors facilitating adherence to treatment.

DESIGN
An exploratory-sequential mixed-methods (quantitative and qualitative) design.

METHODS
All nurses working at a dialysis ward (n = 30) and their randomly selected patients (n = 102) participated. Qualitative data on nurse-patient-initiated participation were derived from transcribed nurse-patient conversations and quantified for further analyses. Nurses' attitudes towards patient participation were collected via questionnaire, and adherence to treatment via observed reduction in prescribed haemodialysis time. [CONSORT-SPI guidelines].

RESULTS
Content analysis of the conversations indicated that nurse-initiated participation focused on patient's medical condition, treatment plan and education; while patients initiated more small talk. Non-adherence to treatment was significant (Mean = 0.19 h; SD = 0.33). Regression analyses indicated that nurses' attitude towards participation was negatively linked to patient adherence, while patient-nurse-initiated participation was unrelated. Nurses' attitudes towards patient participation moderated the relationship between nurse-patient-initiated participation and patient adherence: the more positive the attitude towards inclusion the more negative the link between patient or nurse-initiated participation and patient adherence.

CONCLUSIONS
The findings provided paradoxical insights: Nurses' positive attitudes towards participation lead them to accept the patient's position for shortening haemodialysis treatment, so that adherence to care decreases.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE
Nurses require education on negotiating methods to help achieve patient adherence while respecting the patient's opinion. Patients should be educated how to approach nurses, seeking the information they need.


Introduction: Horne and Ostberg Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) is a questionnaire widely used to assess the circadian typology. The aim of this study was to translate the MEQ from English into Croatian. Methods: The translation process included two independent forward translations, integration of the forward translation into a single translation, back-translation, back translation review and drafting of the final translation. Results: No semantic differences were observed when comparing the original and the back-translation thus, only minimal alterations were done to the final translation, compared to the first one. Conclusions: The Croatian version of the MEQ is a reliable translation ready to be tested in a Croatian sample.


Although it has been acknowledged for many years that querying and updating time-varying information using standard (i.e., non-temporal) SQL is a challenging task, the proposed temporal extensions of SQL have not reach acceptance in the standardization committees. Therefore, nowadays database practitioners must still use standard SQL for manipulating time-varying information. This paper shows how to realize temporal aggregates and temporal universal quantifiers using standard SQL.


Tomato (L. esculentum Mill), a popular vegetable in tropics is an excellent source for vitamin A, C, carotenoids and other health related components. It tops the list of industrial crops because of its outstanding processing qualities. It is valued for both its fresh and processed forms. Biochemical analysis in different wild species, varieties and hybrids of tomato showed the wild species, Lycopersicon pimpinellifolium LA 1593 to be a rich source for lycopene specifi c genes. Partial cDNA of lycopene specifi c Phytoene desaturase gene TNAU P was isolated from L. pimpinellifolium LA 1593 by RT-PCR technique. Sequence analysis of the partial cDNA showed 99.6% similarity with already available Phytoene desaturase gene from L. esculentum. Also, the sequence showed considerable homology with Phytoene dehydrogenase, Zeta carotene desaturase and Phytoene desaturase genes from Gentian, Oryza, Momardica, citrus and pea. The high intensity of the amplifi ed product in L. pimpinellifolium coupled with 99.6 % homology to L. esculentum inferred that the level of expression of Phytoene desaturase is more in L. pimpinellifolium. Isolation of Phytoene desaturase genes can be further exploited to produce transgenic plants with increased content of lycopene by transferring the genes from wild species to cultivars.


Seventeen complicated outbreaks of infectious coryza in layer, broiler-breeder, and broiler flocks were studied. In the layer flock outbreaks, drops in egg production of up to 35% were seen. In the broiler flocks and several of the layer flocks, losses due to persistent mortality and/or culling varied between 2 and 5%. Signs of infectious coryza in both layers and broiler-breeders were typical; in broilers, however, swollen head-like syndrome was seen. Except in one flock, no viral diseases were clinically or serologically detected. Excluding broiler-breeders, birds from most other flocks were serologically positive for Mycoplasma gallisepticum, and some were also positive for M. synoviae. Haemophilus paragallinarum was isolated from all of the outbreaks, but only as a pure culture in three outbreaks. Isolation of H. paragallinarum from sites such as liver, kidney, and particularly tarsal arthritis and ocular globes appears to be reported for the first time. Serovar A was isolated in eight outbreaks, serovar B in six, serovar C in one, and untypable serovars in two. The severity of these infectious coryza outbreaks may have been increased by concurrent salmonellosis, pasteurellosis, and mycoplasmosis, although under certain conditions H. paragallinarum is able to cause septicemia. Ten of the outbreaks occurred in birds vaccinated against infectious coryza; this may be due to the use of vaccines that do not provide protection against the types of H. paragallinarum that affect poultry in the region.


Findings of a previous video analysis of creative music therapy (CMT) with premature infants indicate that music therapy in neonatal care may contribute to more than the infant's stabilization and relaxation, as predominantly recognized in the literature to date. The aim of this paper is to further investigate the interactive potential of CMT, by comparing a larger number of cases. Video footage of music therapy sessions with 18 premature infants (and their parents) with a broad range of social and diagnostic diversity, as well as interview data derived from their parents, have been analysed in a qualitative grounded theory-based study. The results confirm that CMT may actively assist premature infants to uncover their communicative musicality, which in turn may promote self-regulation and development. CMT also may empower parents by supporting their well-being, self-confidence, and quality of interactions with their infant through music. However, high-level awareness, responsiveness, and the professional use of CMT by a specially trained music therapist are recommended to continuously adjust to the changing individual needs of both the infant and parents.


Nearly 50% of bladder cancer patients either present with metastatic disease or relapse distantly following initial local therapy. Prior to platinum-based chemotherapy, the incidence of bladder cancer central nervous system metastases was approximately 1%; however, their incidence has increased to 3–16% following definitive treatment as platinum-based regimens have changed the natural history of the disease. Bladder cancer brain metastases are generally managed similarly to those from more common malignancies such as non-small cell lung cancer, with surgery +/– adjuvant radiotherapy, or radiotherapy alone using stereotactic radiosurgery or whole brain radiotherapy. Limited data suggest that patients with inoperable urothelial carcinoma brain metastases who are not candidates for stereotactic radiosurgery may benefit from shorter whole brain radiation therapy courses compared to other histologies, but data is hypothesis-generating. Given improvements in the efficacy of systemic therapy and supportive care strategies for metastatic urothelial carcinoma translating in improved survival, the incidence of intracranial failures may increase. Immune checkpoint blockade therapy may benefit cisplatinineligible metastatic urothelial carcinoma patients as first-line therapy; however, the effectiveness of immune checkpoint blockade to treat central nervous system disease has not been established. In this review, we discuss the incidence and management of bladder cancer brain metastases and considerations regarding variations in management relative to more commonly encountered non-urothelial histologies.


Conflicting results come from epidemiological studies on the correlations between gender and pain in hospitalized patients. No specific data are reported in patients admitted to Internal Medicine Units (IMUs). Post-hoc analysis of the FADOI-DOMINO study, performed in 26 IMUs in Italy, with two cross-sectional surveys interspersed with an educational program. The 5200 medical charts of the FADOI-DOMINO study were re-analyzed. The following sex differences were highlighted: i) a greater pain prevalence was evidenced in women in the Pre-phase; ii) among patients with chronic pain, anxiety and depression were significantly more present in women compared with men; iii) oncologic pain was more prevalent in men; in a specular way, nononcologic pain showed a greater prevalence in women in both phases; iv) strong opioids therapy was higher for men. Some sex differences in pain seem to exist in IMUs, although less evident if compared with those previously reported in other settings. A more careful assessment of coexisting conditions such as anxiety, depression or cognitive impairment can result in a better management of these problems.


This article discusses the power relations which permeate the Nursing Teaching process. It unveils some contradictions between the discourse and the practice of teachers in this area and its negative impact in the insertion of egresses into the work market.


: Motion artifacts of in vivo imaging, due to rapid respiration rate and respiration displacements of the mice while free-breathing, is a major challenge in micro computed tomography(micro-CT). The respiratory gating is often served for either projective images acquisition or per projection qualification, so as to eliminate the artifacts brought by in vivo motion. In this paper, we propose a novel respiratory gating method, which firstly divides one rotation cycle into a number of segments, and extracts the respiratory signal from the projective image series of current segment by the value of the epipolar consistency conditions (ECC), then in terms of the measured average respiratory period, sets next segment's start-up time and rotation speed of the gantry for respiratory phase synchronization, and so on so forth. The gating procedure is through the whole projections of three cycles, only one among three projections at each angle is qualified by their phase value and is retained for future use for tomographic image reconstruction. In practical experiment, the ECC based gating method and the conventional hardware gating method are employed on micro CT imaging of C57BL/6 mice respectively. The result shows that, compared with the hardware based one, the proposed method not only achieve much better consistency in the projection images, but also suppresses the streak artifacts more effectively on the different parts like the breast, abdomen and head of in vivo mice.


We want to detect small obstacles immersed in a fluid flowing in a larger bounded domain Ω in the three-dimensional case. We assume that the fluid motion is governed by the steady-state Stokes equations. We make a measurement on a part of the exterior boundary ∂Ω and then take a Kohn–Vogelius approach to locate these obstacles. We use here the notion of the topological derivative in order to determine the number of objects and their rough locations. Thus we first establish an asymptotic expansion of the solution of the Stokes equations in Ω when we add small obstacles inside. Then, we use it to find a topological asymptotic expansion of the considered Kohn–Vogelius functional which gives us the formula of its topological gradient. Finally, we make some numerical simulations exploring the efficiency and the limits of this method.


ABSTRACT Complex calcite crystals are an integral component of precipitates that form around the orifices of the Loburu and Mawe Moto hot springs on the shores of Lake Bogoria, Kenya. Two types of large (up to 4 cm long) noncrystallographic dendrites are important components of these deposits. Feather dendrites are characterized by multiple levels of branching with individual branches developed through crystal splitting and spherulitic growth. Scandulitic (from Latin meaning "shingle") dendrites are formed of stacked calcite crystals and are generally more compact than feather dendrites. These developed through the incremental stacking of rectangular-shaped calcite crystals that initially grew as skeletal crystals. Feather and scandulitic dendrites precipitated from the same waters in the same springs. The difference in morphology is therefore related to microenvironments in which they grew. Feather dendrites grew in any direction in pools of free-standing water provided that they were in constant contact with the solute. Conversely, scandulitic dendrites grew on rims of dams where water flowed over the surface in concert with the pulses of spring water. Thus, each calcite crystal in these dendrites represents one episode of crystal growth. The orientation of the component crystals in scandulitic dendrites is controlled by the topography of the dam or surface, not crystallographic criteria. The noncrystallographic dendrites formed from spring waters with initial temperatures of 90-99°C. Surficial water cooling, loss of CO2, and presence of other elements that can interfere with crystal growth contributed to the formation of these unusual crystals.