BACKGROUND Antiplatelet therapy is recommended as part of a strategy to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events in patients with type 2 diabetes. However, compliance with these guideline-recommended therapies appears to be less than ideal. OBJECTIVE To assess the effect of adding pharmacists to primary care teams on initiation of guideline-concordant antiplatelet therapy in type 2 diabetic patients. METHODS Prespecified secondary analysis of randomized trial data. In the main study, the pharmacist intervention included a complete medication history, limited physical examination, provision of guideline-concordant recommendations to the physician to optimize drug therapy, and 1-year follow-up. Controls received usual care without pharmacist interactions. Patients with an indication for antiplatelet therapy, but not using an antiplatelet drug at randomization were included in this substudy. The primary outcome was the proportion of patients using an antiplatelet drug at 1 year. RESULTS At randomization, 257 of 260 study patients had guideline-concordant indications for antiplatelet therapy, but less than half (121; 47%) were using an antiplatelet drug. Overall, 136 patients met inclusion criteria for the substudy (71 intervention and 65 controls): 60% were women, with mean (SD) age 58.0 (11.9) years, diabetes duration 5.3 (6.0) years, and hemoglobin A1c 7.6% (1.5). Sixteen (12%) had established cardiovascular disease at enrollment. At 1 year, 43 (61%) intervention patients and 15 (23%) controls were using an antiplatelet drug (38% absolute difference; number needed to treat, 3; relative increase, 2.6; 95% CI 1.5–4.7; p < 0.001). Of these 58 patients, 52 (90%) were using aspirin 81 mg daily. CONCLUSIONS Adding pharmacists to primary care teams significantly and substantially increased the proportion of type 2 diabetic patients using guideline-concordant antiplatelet therapy.


An increase in drought frequency, duration and severity is expected for the Central European region as a direct consequence of climate change. This will have profound effects on a number of key sectors (e.g. agriculture, forestry, energy production and tourism) and also affect water resources, biodiversity and the landscape as a whole. However, global circulation models significantly differ in their projections for Central Europe with respect to the magnitude and timing of these changes. Therefore, analysis of changes in drought characteristics during the last 54 yr in relation to prevailing climate trends might significantly enhance our understanding of present and future drought risks. This study is based on a set of drought indices, including the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), the Palmer Zindex (Z-index) and the Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), in their most advanced formulations. The time series of the drought indices were calculated for 411 climatological stations across Austria (excluding the Alps), the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Up to 45% of the evaluated stations (depending on the index) became significantly drier during the 1961-2014 period except for areas in the west and north of the studied region. In addition to identifying the regions with the most pronounced drying trends, a drying trend consistency across the station network of 3 independent national weather services was shown. The main driver behind this development was an increase in the evaporative demand of the atmosphere, driven by higher temperatures and global radiation with limited changes in precipitation totals. The observed drying trends were most pronounced during the April-September period and in lower elevations. Conversely, the majority of stations above 1000 m exhibited a significant wetting trend for both the summer and winter (October-March) half-years.


As shown in 91 embryos and fetuses in the 41–235 mm crown-rump length, brachymesophalangia-5 may be identified in prenatal time. Although the ratios involving different combinations of length of mid-5 relative to other segments yield different frequencies of BMP-5, the short middle segment of the little finger is already associated with clinodactyly and developmental eccentricity as early as the ninth week of prenatal development.


Batch production plants provide a wide range of scheduling problems. In pharmaceutical industries a batch process is usually described by a recipe, consisting of an ordering of tasks to produce the desired product. In this research work we focused on pharmaceutical production processes requiring the culture of a microorganism population (i.e. bacteria, yeasts or antibiotics). Several sources of uncertainty may influence the yield of the culture processes, including (i) low performance and quality of the cultured microorganism population or (ii) microbial contamination. For these reasons, robustness is a valuable property for the considered application context. In particular, a robust schedule will not collapse immediately when a cell of microorganisms has to be thrown away due to a microbial contamination. Indeed, a robust schedule should change locally in small proportions and the overall performance measure (i.e. makespan, lateness) should change a little if at all. In this research work we formulated a constraint programming optimization (COP) model for the robust planning of antibiotics production. We developed a discrete-time model with a multi-criteria objective, ordering the different criteria and performing a lexicographic optimization. A feasible solution of the proposed COP model is a schedule of a given set of tasks onto available resources. The schedule has to satisfy tasks precedence constraints, resource capacity constraints and time constraints. In particular time constraints model tasks duedates and resource availability time windows constraints. To improve the schedule robustness, we modeled the concept of (a, b) super-solutions, where (a, b) are input parameters of the COP model. An (a, b) super-solution is one in which if a variables (i.e. the completion times of a culture tasks) lose their values (i.e. cultures are contaminated), the solution can be repaired by assigning these variables values with a new values (i.e. the completion times of a backup culture tasks) and at most b other variables (i.e. delaying the completion of at most b other tasks). The efficiency and applicability of the proposed model is demonstrated by solving instances taken from a real-life pharmaceutical company. Computational results showed that the determined super-solutions are near-optimal. Keywords—Constraint programming, super-solutions, robust scheduling, batch process, pharmaceutical industries.


Resveratrol (Res) has been associated with protective effects against oxidative stress. This study evaluated the effect of Res over lipid peroxidation, antioxidant defense, hepatic sirtuin 1 (SIRT1), which up-regulates antioxidant enzymes, and copper/zinc superoxide dismutase (Cu/Zn SOD) in adult offspring whose mothers were protein restricted during lactation. Lactating Wistar rats were divided into control (C) group, which were fed a normal diet (23% protein), and low-protein and high-carbohydrate (LPHC) group, which were fed a diet containing 8% protein. After weaning (21 days), C and LPHC offspring were fed a normal diet until they were 180 days old. At the 160th day, animals were separated into four groups as follows: control, control+Res, LPHC, and LPHC+Res. Resveratrol was given for 20 days (30  mg/kg per day by gavage). LPHC animals showed a higher total antioxidant capacity (TAC) without change in lipid peroxidation and SIRT1 expression. The treatment with Res increased TAC only in the control group without effect on lipid peroxidation and SIRT1. LPHC animals treated with Res had lower lipid peroxidation and higher protein and mRNA expression of SIRT1 without any further increase in TAC. No significant difference in liver Cu/Zn SOD expression was observed among the groups. In conclusion, maternal protein restriction during lactation programs the offspring for a higher antioxidant capacity, and these animals seem to respond to Res treatment with a lower lipid peroxidation and higher hepatic SIRT1 expression that we did not observe in the Res-treated controls. It is probable that the protective effect can be attributed to Res activating SIRT1, only in the LPHC-programmed group.


Obesity remains a major public health challenge across OECD countries and policy-makers globally require successful policy precedents. This paper analyzes New York City's innovative experiences in regulatory approaches to nutrition. We combined a systematic documentary review and key informant interviews (n = 9) with individuals directly involved in nutrition policy development and decision-making. Thematic analysis was guided by Kingdon's three-streams-model and the International Obesity Task Force's evidence-based decision-making framework. Our findings indicate that decisive mayoral leadership spearheaded initial agenda-change and built executive capacity to support evidence-driven policy. Policy-makers in the executive branch recognized the dearth of evidence for concrete policy interventions, and made contributing to the evidence base an explicit goal. Their approach preferred decision-making through executive action and rules passed by the Board of Health that successfully banned trans-fats from food outlets, set institutional food standards, introduced menu labeling requirements for chain restaurants, and improved access to healthy foods for disadvantaged populations. Although the Health Department collaborated with the legislature on legal and programmatic food access measures, there was limited engagement with elected representatives and the community on regulatory obesity prevention. Our analysis suggests that this hurt the administration's ability to successfully communicate the public health messages motivating these contentious proposals; contributing to unexpected opposition from food access and minority advocates, and fueling charges of executive overreach. Overall, NYC presents a case of expert-driven policy change, underpinned by evidence-based environmental approaches. The city's experience demonstrates that there is scope to redefine municipal responsibilities for public health and that incremental change and contentious public discussion can impact social norms around nutrition.


Summary: In the production of high titre staphylococcus phage K lysates from concentrated liquid bacterial cultures the upper limit of phage concentration appears to be at about 1010 particles/ml. This concentration, the 'ceiling titre', can be raised to 4 × 1011 particles/ml. by the addition of ammonium sulphate to the medium after phage infection. It is concluded that this effect depends upon the ability of ammonium sulphate to lower the rate of adsorption of phage upon host cells, thus preventing a high rate of phage loss by adsorption and inactivation towards the end of lysis. The possibility is discussed that this mechanism may explain some puzzling observations in lysing systems.


The establishment of complex continental ecosystems is probably the most important event in the history of multicellular life after the Cambrian and Ordovician radiations that revolutionized the marine world and led to the formation of the first complex ecosystems (see The first complex ecosystems). Plants were the first to colonize the mainland during the Ordovician, 470 million years ago, fundamentally changing the geosphere through oxygenation of the atmosphere, soil formation and the establishment of new climatic and sedimentary regimes. Arthropods were the first animals to take the first steps on land along with myriapods ("centipedes") and arachnids (spiders, scorpions, mites) at the end of the Silurian, 430 million years ago, then hexapods (insects) followed at the beginning of the Devonian (410 million years). Terrestrial vertebrates, tetrapods, only appeared in the middle of the Devonian (-380 million years ago), while the first complex terrestrial ecosystems, formed by highly diversified forest communities, were already well established. However, the anatomy of the first tetrapods reveals that they remained subservient to the aquatic habitats present on the continents (rivers, streams, ponds) in order to integrate literally terrestrial ecosystems only from the Carboniferous (-345 million years).


Urban flooding in developing countries represents a growing threat to sustainable development efforts, yet the tools needed to study these infrastructure systems in data-scarce environments are woefully inadequate. This study seeks to propose a standardized approach and methods for mapping urban drainage systems in developing communities. The research draws on a case study from the Philippines, which sought to conduct rapid elevation surveys and drainage assessments employing open source geographical information system (GIS) tools. We develop a standardized procedure for digitizing drainage systems using OpenStreetMap and Field Papers, as well as discuss applications of this data for drainage design. The results contribute to a methodological framework that can be replicated in other similar developing communities where study of urban drainage is needed for sustainable development and disaster risk reduction efforts.


Ocular signs developing as a result of increased intracranial pressure help the early diagnosis and prevention of severe and progressive pathological processes. Functional signs of the forming papillary oedema and central eye movement disorders may be predictors of increasing intracranial pressure. The functional tests of the antechiasmal optic nerve (i.e. the measurement of the visual fi eld, fl uorescein angiography of the retinal vessels, optic coherent tomography, ultrasound examinations of the carotid or vertebral arteries, and state-of-the-art neuroradiological methods) may provide help in determining the progression/remission of the increasing intracranial pressure and the effi cacy of the treatment, and in differential diagnosis, as well. Adequate systemic therapy in time allows preventing irreversible incomplete or complete blindness, accompanied by the atrophy of the optic nerve, which is caused by increased intracranial pressure.


An investigation was conducted to evaluate the clinical and histologic results of bone and soft tissue healing around a two-piece zirconia dental implant in a human model. A healthy female patient requiring tooth replacement with dental implants received a two-piece zirconia implant together with conventional titanium implants to be implemented in a prosthesis. Clinical and radiographic evaluations at 6 months revealed stable osseointegrated zirconia and titanium dental implants. Light microscopy and backscatter scanning electron microscopic analyses confirmed the biocompatibility and achievement of osseointegration, in addition to maintenance of the crestal bone level. The findings suggest that the bone-to-implant contact with a zirconia implant surface is sufficient to provide clinical and histologic evidence of osseointegration. The biopsied two-piece zirconia dental implant with platform switching demonstrated osseointegration occlusal to the implant-abutment junction, eliminating the significance of the microgap.


Summary

1. A geographical gradient in the relative impact of generalist and specialist predators on small rodent populations has been hypothesized to be responsible for the gradient in cyclicity found in Fennoscandia. Population oscillations resulting from weasel–vole interactions are said to be dampened by the increasing stabilizing impact of generalist predators in southern Fennoscandia resulting from: (i) a greater abundance and diversity of predators sustained by alternative prey; (ii) the absence of significant snow cover leading to constant exposure of voles to generalist predators; and (iii) a heterogeneous habitat that makes dispersing voles more vulnerable to predators.

2. Changes in the abundance of field voles (Microtus agrestis L.) in a man-made spruce forest in northern England were recorded during 1984–98 using sign indices at 14–18 sites calibrated with capture–recapture estimates of vole density.

3. Field vole populations exhibited cyclic dynamics which were in many ways similar to those reported from Fennoscandia, including population declines taking place during the breeding season and long periods with no recovery in numbers following population crashes.

4. The density dependence structure of the time series was explored by means of partial autocorrelation functions, which suggested second-order density dependence. Analyses based on two density estimates per year (spring and autumn) reveal significant negative values for lags of 1, 1·5 and 2 years, suggesting that the time-lag might be somewhat shorter than 2 years.

5. Estimates of predation on field voles by red foxes and tawny owls at high vole density were above the value predicted for this site and for the whole generalist predator community by a published model assuming that predation by generalist predators stabilizes vole populations. However, empirical estimates of the parameter used both for designing and testing the model are inherently imprecise.

6. A qualitative evaluation of the three variables (see 1) correlated to the Fennoscandian gradient and assumed to contribute to variations in generalist predation pressure did not support the hypothesis that low predation rates by generalist predators are necessary for vole dynamics to be dominated by the destabilizing impact of weasel–vole interactions. The specialist/generalist predation hypothesis must therefore be modified to account for the regular population cycles occurring in northern Britain.


Most Australian law academics will recall (many with horror) the journal ranking exercise that took place in 2008-2010. The aim then was to produce a journal ranking list with international scope and validity. Unsurprisingly, this grandiose result was not achieved and the process was abandoned in 2011 – but not before damage was done. The then Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (Senator Kim Carr) noted:"There is clear and consistent evidence that the rankings were being deployed inappropriately within some quarters of the sector, in ways that could produce harmful outcomes, and based on a poor understanding of the actual role of the rankings. One common example was the setting of targets for publication in A and A* journals by institutional research managers." The urge to rank – and to use ranking in the assessment of quality – remains strong in Australian law schools. There is a risk this discredited process will be given new impetus following the release of the latest Australian journal ranking list involving law; this time by the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC). The ABDC describes itself as 'the authoritative and collective voice of pro vice-chancellors, executive deans and heads of all 40 business faculties and schools in Australia'. Its list ranks 2,767 different journal titles, including selected law journals. The ranking method used involved, 'public submissions, qualitative and quantitative data assessment, public exposure feedback and international expert consultation'. Rankings like these should be formally abandoned for at least three reasons. First, as the CALD/ERA process demonstrated, the ranking process is practically difficult. It is arbitrary and infected by subjective opinion. That leads to perverse outcomes for legal academics whose career advancement is tied to this uncertain standard. Secondly, the urge to rank is the product of a damaging misconception of the proper role of legal academics and the legal academy. The rankers appear to see law as another social science rather than a professional discipline. Thirdly, the rankings have in any event been rendered redundant by the recent decision to deregulate fees. In the brave new world, markets will provide surprisingly nuanced and rigorous measures of quality that cannot be captured in a crude ranking. We explore these reasons below.


Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are a cardioprotective class of proteins induced by stress and regulated by the transcription factor, heat shock factor (HSF)-1. 17β-estradiol (E(2)) indirectly regulates HSP expression through rapid activation of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) and HSF-1 and protects against hypoxia. As males experience a loss of protective cellular responses in aging, we hypothesized that aged menopausal (old ovariectomized) rats would have an impaired HSP response, which could be prevented by immediate in vivo E(2) replacement. After measuring cardiac function in vivo, cardiac myocytes were isolated from ovariectomized adult and old rats with and without 9 weeks of E(2) replacement. Myocytes were treated with E(2) in vitro and analyzed for activation of NF-κB, HSF-1, and HSP expression. In addition, we measured inflammatory cytokine expression and susceptibility to hypoxia/reoxygenation injury. Cardiac contractility was reduced in old ovariectomized rats and could prevented by immediate E(2) replacement in vivo. Subsequent investigations in isolated cardiac myocytes found that in vitro E(2) activated NF-κB, HSF-1, and increased HSP 72 expression in adult but not old rats. In response to hypoxia/reoxygenation, myocytes from adult, but not old, rats had increased HSP 72 expression. In addition, expression of the inflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-1β, as well as oxidative stress, were increased in myocytes from old ovariectomized rats; only the change in cytokine expression could be attenuated by in vivo E(2) replacement. This study demonstrates that while aging in female rats led to a loss of the cardioprotective HSP response, E(2) retains its protective cellular properties.


This report explores the future of the information revolution in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The development gap in information and communication technology between MENA and OECD countries and between rich and poor sectors within MENA countries is likely to increase. It is unlikely that most MENA countries will fully enjoy an information revolution during the next decade. They have too many impediments and too few resources.


Research was conducted to study the morphological, physiological and anatomical aspects after different level of temperature treatments on pre-sowing maize seeds. Sample seeds were treated with 4 different levels of temperature stress viz. 0⁰C (T1), 6⁰C (T2), 35⁰C (T3) and 60⁰C (T4) respectively for 24 hrs. Experiment was performed in CBD with triplicates and sow at 35⁰C soil temperature. The germination percentage of vernalized seeds did not affect at 35⁰C because seeds were vernalized before sowing. The morphological characters like seedling length (root+shoot), No. of leaves, length of flag leaves, leaf area, fresh weight, dry weight, moisture content, yield, cob length and physiological parameters like chlorophyll content (a, b and carotene) and 17 selected parameters of anatomy under 3 magnification of microscope (4x, 10x, 40x) were studied after staining. Chlorophyll content studied with 2 extraction methods (i) 80% acetone (ii) Distilled H2O. Leaf extract centrifuge at 3000rpm for 10mins and studied with the help of AAS at different wavelength (chl a, 645nm; chl b, 663nm; carotene, 652nm). The chilling temperature treatment (0⁰C) of seeds extremely damages the plants due to crystal formation. At 60⁰C plants were largely affected because 66% moisture content of seeds decreased due to heat shock. Seeds which treated with both high and chilling temperature were shown the thin stem, root, low amount of chlorophyll content, lowest value of morphological parameters and narrow leaf after emergence but vernalized seeds were shown the antagonistic characters as compared to heat shock plants. The maize at 6⁰C had shown the fast emergence process and highest germination percentage.


Despite substantial evidence that resources and outcomes are transmitted across generations, there has been limited inquiry into the extent to which antipoverty programs actually disrupt the cycle of bad outcomes. We leverage the rollout of the United States's largest early-childhood program, Head Start, to estimate the effect of early-childhood exposure among mothers on their children's long-term outcomes. We find evidence of intergenerational transmission of effects in the form of increased educational attainment, reduced teen pregnancy, and reduced criminal engagement in the second generation. These effects correspond to an estimated increase in discounted second-generation wages of 6%–11%, depending on specification. Exploration of earlier outcomes suggests an important role for changes in parenting behavior and potential noncognitive channels.


Decisions regarding endangered species recovery often face sparse data and multiple sources of uncertainty about the effects of management. Structured decision making (SDM) provides a framework for assembling knowledge and expert opinion and evaluating the tradeoffs between different objectives while formally incorporating uncertainty. The Atlantic Coast piping plover provides an illustrative case for the utility of SDM in endangered species management because its population growth is simple to model, most populations are monitored, decision alternatives are well defined, and many managers are open to recovery recommendations. We built a model to evaluate the decision to use nest exclosures to protect piping plover eggs from predators, where the objective was to maximize λ and the tradeoff was between nest survival and adult survival. The latter can be reduced by exclosures. We used a novel mixed multinomial logistic exposure model to predict daily nest fates and incorporated the results into a stochastic projection matrix that included renesting after nest failure, and adult mortality associated with abandonment. In our test data set (n = 329 nests from 28 sites over four years), the mean nest survival over 34 days was markedly higher for exclosed nests (0.76 ± 0.03 SE) than for unexclosed nests (0.37 ± 0.07). Abandonment rates were also higher for exclosed nests (0.092 ± 0.017) than for unexclosed nests (0.045 ± 0.017), but the difference was not statistically significant and the loss rate to "other sources" (mostly predators) was much lower for exclosed nests (0.15 ± 0.03) than for unexclosed nests (0.58 ± 0.07). Population growth rate (λ) was clearly improved by exclosure use at the sites with high background nest loss rates, but λ was still <1 with exclosure use. Where the background nest loss rates were low, the decision to use exclosures was ambiguous, and λ could benefit from reducing uncertainty in vital rates. Our process demonstrated that geographic and temporal variation in nest mortality determines whether exclosures will be useful in attaining positive population growth rates and that other management options must be considered where the background nest mortality rates are high.


A quantitative analysis of the proliferative response induced in murine thymocytes by concanavalin A (Con A) is described. Exogenous 3H-thymidine labels 35 to 40% of the newly incorporated TMP residues under optimal conditions. The density label 5-bromo-2-deoxuridine (BrUdR) does not affect DNA metabolism in this system. With this nucleoside, it is shown that newly synthesized DNA is the result of semi-conservative replication, not repair. Double labeling of DNA provides a monitor for cells traversing the cell cycle (S phase to subsequent S phase). The average cycle time is 12.5 hr, and the shortest cell cycle time is 10 hr. The growing fraction of active cells is about two-thirds. The data show that different subpopulations of thymocytes begin proliferating after various times in culture. Once effectively stimulated by Con A, some of the cells can traverse the cell cycle at least twice more after the mitogen is removed.


The induction of insulin-dependent diabetes in outbred male and female mice was examined using a combination of the usually nondiabetogenic B-variant of encephalomyocarditis (EMC-B) virus and single low doses of streptozocin (STZ). Neither EMC-B virus nor low doses of STZ were overtly diabetogenic when administered alone; however, when these two insults occurred 1 day apart, diabetes resulted in male but not in female mice. The induction of diabetes was dependent on the time interval between these two insults, since EMC-B virus and STZ given 4 days apart did not induce diabetes. Unexpectedly, when the order of these two insults was reversed, diabetes occurred. The absence of diabetes when EMC-B virus was given before STZ suggested the possibility that virus-induced interferon blocked the cytotoxic effects of STZ. This suggestion was supported by the observation that an antiserum against beta interferon abrogated the virus-mediated protection against STZ-mediated cytotoxicity. Also, Poly I:C administered before a single diabetogenic dose of STZ delayed the onset of severe hyperglycemia.


Recent extensive observations of Type Ia Supernovae (SNe Ia) have revealed the existence of a diversity of SNe Ia, including SNe Iax. We introduce two possible channels in the single degenerate scenario: (1) double detonations in sub-Chandrasekhar (Ch) mass CO white dwarfs (WDs), where a thin He envelope is developed with relatively low accretion rates after He novae even at low metallicities, and (2) carbon deflagrations in Ch-mass, possibly hybrid C+O+Ne WDs, where WD winds occur at [Fe/H] ∼ − 2.5 ?> at high accretion rates. These subclasses of SNe Ia are rarer than "normal" SNe Ia and do not affect the chemical evolution in the solar neighborhood, but can be very important in metal-poor systems with stochastic star formation. In dwarf spheroidal galaxies in the Local Group, the decrease of [α/Fe] ratios at [Fe/H] ∼ − 2 ?> to −1.5 can be produced depending on the star formation history. SNe Iax give high [Mn/Fe], while sub-Ch-mass SNe Ia give low [Mn/Fe], and thus a model including a mix of the two is favored by the available observations.


Only around 30 % of the 27.1 million tonnes of plastic waste recovered annually in Europe is being recycled efficiently into new products. The most common way to recycle plastics nowadays is through mechanical recycling methods that involve sorting plastics by type, melting them and reprocessing into recycled products. Mechanical recycling requires clean, high-purity mono-material streams, that must be obtained by separation at source (by the citizen or industry) or by manual or automated sorting of mixed waste streams. However, this degree of separation is very difficult or even impossible due to composition or contamination of the plastic waste, such is the case for example of complex materials like composites, made of more than one material that in most cases cannot be separated, and of highly contaminated plastic residues (e.g. food packaging). In economic terms, plastic recycling is not always cost-efficient since many times recycling costs are not covered by the prices of the recycled plastics. As a result, approximately 70 % of European plastic waste is not recycled due to technical or economic reasons, so, they are sent to landfill or to incineration. One of the possible solutions to deal with this type of plastic wastes is the pyrolysis process which allows taking profit of plastics organic matter and tolerates a certain degree of contamination. Pyrolysis products have good quality. Gases have high calorific value and liquids have high energetic content and stability characteristics, including well-defined distillation point, stability of physical properties, low acidity, and high miscibility with conventional fuels. However, products obtained by plastic waste pyrolysis depend on the operational conditions and are strongly affected by the type of plastic waste used. The main purpose of this study is to validate the application of the pyrolysis process for treatment and transformation of plastic mix (essentially derived from MSW and from end-of-life composites) into mainly profitable liquids, together with gases and solid by using thermal (or catalytic) pyrolysis. The raw materials studied were waste streams from municipal solid waste (MSW), containing mainly plastic (i.e. PE, PP, PS, and small amounts of PET and PVC) separated from organic waste pool, as well as end-of-life composites (i.e. packages, electrical wastes, vehicles, etc.). After sorting of these waste materials, plastic fractions of different composition were processed in the pyrolysis reactor. The pyrolysis experiments were carried out in batch 5.5 L reactor using different mixtures, operational conditions and catalysts. All gaseous hydrocarbons produced were measured and collected for direct analysis by gas chromatography (GC), whilst liquid hydrocarbons were distilled and solids were extracted with hexane. Liquid fractions were analysed using a GC-MS (gas chromatography-mass spectrometry) to identify their main compounds, which were quantified by GC. The experimental results obtained showed that, for instance, the use of polystyrene favoured highly the formation of aromatic compounds, mainly toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene, while in presence of polyethylene the hydrocarbons produced are mainly paraffins. Also, the presence of PS, PET and PVC increases the solid content, decreasing the liquid yield.


This entry gives an overview of the debate about private security. It can not pretend to cover everything in equal detail. It is geared to highlight the parts of the discussion about commercial security practices that are of most immediate interest to New Security Studies. Very succinctly put, the entry shows the pertinence of the emerging research agenda where commercial security practices are part of a broader analysis of evolving insecurities, of (in)security spaces and of everyday practices, insisting on the scope for further developments with regard to these issues (section 2). The entry also suggests that the although the more conventional literature on the subject—mostly framed in terms of privatization—has made valuable contributions to the debates about commercial security, it has limited analytical clout for analyzing the politics of commercial security. Worse it sometimes obscures it (section 1). It is therefore not surprising that commercialization is currently tending to replace privatization as the vantage point from which analysis is taking place.


Public health has moved away from its original mission to address and promote health on a societal level towards an individually focused, victim-blaming paradigm. In particular, research regarding women's reproductive health is heavily reliant on the biomedical paradigm to document and explain existing health trends related to women's fertility. This research often targets behavior in isolation of its social context. In order to promote the integration of a population health perspective into the current medically dominated realm of women's reproductive health, this dissertation highlights the issue of unintended pregnancy (UIP).The United States (US) continues to have the highest rate of UIP of all industrialized countries. These UIPs, and their negative health consequences, are disproportionately experienced in the high-risk populations of low-income, young and minority women. In efforts to foster greater understanding of UIP and of these disparities, this dissertation encompasses three distinct manuscripts. Based on a review of public health and women's health literature, the first manuscript argues for the adoption of a broadened perspective that focuses on external factors that impact women's reproductive behavior. Manuscript 2 discusses the first component of a mixed-methods research study involving surveys of women at high-risk for UIP who sought pregnancy tests in Pittsburgh, which reveal that assessing women's pregnancy intentions prior to pregnancy testing is feasible and may provide a more accurate portrayal of women's intentions to become pregnant than existing retrospective measures. The third manuscript, which highlights qualitative interviews with ten women from the above sample, presents evidence for the influence of external factors on women's experience of UIP. This dissertation challenges current individually focused paradigms for understanding UIP among US women. The public health significance of this dissertation lies in the findings of the research presented, which demonstrate that a reciprocal relationship exists between the social context of women's lives and their UIP experiences and which emphasize the need to broaden the perspective of current UIP research. Future research, programs, and policy should integrate the perspective and findings highlighted in this dissertation in order to reduce negative health consequences of UIP and promote population-level healthy pregnancy outcomes.


The last few years have seen a decisive move of the movie making industry towards rendering using physically based methods, mostly implemented in terms of path tracing. While path tracing reached most VFX houses and animation studios at a time when a physically based approach to rendering and especially material modelling was already firmly established, the new tools brought with them a whole new balance, and many new workflows have evolved to find a new equilibrium. Letting go of instincts based on hard-learned lessons from a previous time has been challenging for some, and many different takes on a practical deployment of the new technologies have emerged. While the language and toolkit available to the technical directors keep closing the gap between lighting in the real world and the light transport simulations ran in software, an understanding of the limitations of the simulation models and a good intuition of the tradeoffs and approximations at play are of fundamental importance to make efficient use of the available resources. In this course, the novel workflows emerged during the transitions at a number of large facilities are presented to a wide audience including technical directors, artists, and researchers.


The global urbanisation and worldwide economic growth have caused a high rate of food waste generation, resulting in environmental pollution. Food waste disposed on landfills decomposes to produce methane (CH4), a greenhouse gas. Inadequate waste management practices contribute to food waste polluting the environment. Thus effective organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) management and treatment are attracting widespread attention in many countries. This problem can be minimised by the employment of anaerobic digestion process, since food waste is rich in organic matter and highly biodegradable, resulting in energy generation and waste volume reduction. The current study investigated the Biomethane Potential (BMP) of the Vaal University of Technology canteen food waste using anaerobic digestion. Tests were performed on canteen food waste, as a substrate, with total solids (TS) of 22%, volatile solids (VS) of 21% and moisture content of 78%. The tests were performed in batch reactors, at a mesophilic temperature of 37 °C, with two different types of inoculum, primary and digested sludge. The resulting CH4 yields for both food waste with digested sludge and primary sludge were equal, being 357 Nml/g VS. This indicated that food waste form this canteen is rich in organic and highly biodegradable. Hence it can be used as a substrate for the anaerobic digestion process. The food waste with digested sludge and primary sludge both fitted the first order kinetic model with k for primary sludge inoculated food waste being 0.278 day-1 with R of 0.98, whereas k for digested sludge inoculated food waste being 0.034 day-1, with R2 of 0.847. Keywords—Anaerobic digestion, biogas, biomethane potential, food waste.


In order to improve semiconductor manufacturing performance, companies typically utilize various metrics such as cycle time, throughput and yield. By tracking the progress of one or more of these metrics and setting achievement goals, many companies are able to make significant metric improvements. However, metric improvement is only beneficial if it results in actual manufacturing improvement. Metrics may be influenced by forces outside manufacturing, they may conflict with other metrics, or they may actually increase undesirable outcomes in the fab. This paper highlights some of the current problems with metric utilization in semiconductor fabs. Examples from industry and results using data from the Competitive Semiconductor Manufacturing Study at the University of California at Berkeley are given. We present some practical solutions, highlighting the Overall Equipment Effectiveness Teams at Texas Instruments which have been designed to minimize many of the semiconductor metric problems.


In this paper, we present simultaneous observations of temporal and spatial variability of total electron content (TEC) and GPS amplitude scintillations on L1 frequency (1.575 GHz) during the time of equatorial spread F (ESF) while the MST radar (53 MHz) located at Gadanki (13.5° N, 79.2° E, Dip latitude 6.3° N), a low latitude station, made simultaneous observations. In particular, the latitudinal and longitudinal extent of TEC and L-band scintillations was studied in the Indian region for different types of ESF structures observed using the MST radar during the low solar activity period of 2004 and 2005. Simultaneous radar and GPS observations during severe ESF events in the pre-midnight hour reveal that significant GPS L band scintillations, depletions in TEC, and the double derivative of the TEC index (DROTI), which is a measure of fluctuations in TEC, obtained at low latitudes coincide with the appearance of radar echoes at Gadanki. As expected, when the irregularities reach higher altitudes as seen in the radar map during pre-midnight periods, strong scintillations on an L-band signal are observed at higher latitudes. Conversely, when radar echoes are confined to only lower altitudes, weak scintillations are found and their latitudinal extent is small. During magnetically quiet periods, we have recorded plume type radar echoes during a post-midnight period that is devoid of L-band scintillations. Using spectral slopes and cross-correlation index of the VHF scintillation observations, we suggest that these irregularities could be "dead" or "fossil" bubbles which are just drifting in from west. This scenario is consistent with the observations where suppression of pre-reversal enhancement (PRE) in the eastward electric field is indicated by ionosonde observations of the height of equatorial F layer and also occurrence of low spectral width in the radar observations relative to pre-midnight period. However, absence of L-band scintillations during post-midnight event, when radar observed plume like structures and scintillations were recorded on VHF band, raises questions about the process of evolution of the irregularities. A possible explanation is that whereas small scale (~3 m) irregularities are generated through secondary waves that grow on the walls of km scale size irregularities, in this case evolution of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability itself did not extend to irregularities of scale sizes of a few hundred meters that produce scintillation on a L-band signal.


The seminal vesicle secretions of guinea pig and rabbit were analyzed for semen coagulum proteins. Using SDS-PAGE we discovered a previously not fully recognized semen coagulum protein, Svp5, in the guinea pig and a single predominant component, SVP200, in the rabbit. Potential genes of these proteins were identified in genome databases by their homology with human and murine genes. The structure of their fullength transcripts was determined using seminal vesicle cDNA and sequencing primers based on genomic sequences. Homology searching indicated that both Svp5 and SVP200 were synthesized from composite genes that were the result of merger between two genes showing homology with human SEMG2 and PI3. For a deeper understanding of the evolution of the genes, we retrieved and analyzed genome sequences from the REST gene loci, encompassing genes of semen coagulum proteins and related rapidly evolving seminal vesicle-transcribed genes, of 14 rodents and 2 lagomorphs. The analysis showed that rodents of the suborders myomorpha, hystricomorpha, and castorimorpha had unique sets of REST genes, whereas sciuromorpha seemed to be lacking such genes. It also indicated a closer relationship between myomorpha and castorimorpha than to rodents of the two other analyzed suborders. In the lagomorph species, the pika appeared to be devoid of REST genes, whereas the rabbit had a single expressed REST gene, SVP200, and two pseudogenes. The structural similarity of semen coagulum proteins in rabbit and hystricomph species suggests that they are closely related. This was also supported by other similarities at their REST gene loci, e.g. the finding of a PI3-like gene in the rabbit that also had features in common with caltrin2 of hystricomorph rodents. The homologies indicate that hystricomorpha may have separated from myomorpha and castorimorpha before the separation of hystricomorpha from lagomorpha.


Recently, experimental collaborations have reported O ( 10 ) upper limits on the signal strength of four-top production at the LHC. Surprisingly, we find that the constraining power of four-top production on the qqtt type of operators is already competitive with the measurements of top-pair production, even though the precision level of the latter is more than two orders of magnitude better. This is explained by the enhanced sensitivity of the four-top cross section to qqtt operators, due to multiple insertion of operators in the squared amplitude, and to the large threshold energy of four-top production. We point out that even though the dominant contribution beyond the standard model comes from the O ( C 4 / Λ 8 ) terms, the effective field theory expansion remains valid for a wide range of underlying theories. Considering the possible improvements of this measurement with higher integrated luminosity, we believe that this process will become even more crucial for probing and testing the standard model deviations in the top-quark sector, and will eventually provide valuable information about the top-quark properties, leading to significant improvements in precision top physics.


In the ultraviolet range, Venus shows various cloud patterns due to the absorption by an "unknown" absorber, and wind velocities can be measured by tracking these patterns in ultraviolet images obtained sequentially. In previous cloud tracking studies, equirectangular projection images have mostly been used (Limaye, 2007; Kouyama et al. 2013); however, the cloud pattern in the high latitude tends to be stretched in the east-west direction in equirectangular projection, making the tracking of small-scale features difficult. In this study, we apply cloud tracking to Venus images in the polar region with polar projection and using the rotation invariant phase correlation method to account for the rotation of the image around the pole. The data used are 365 nm images taken by UVI onboard JAXA' Akatsuki. Initial results show sporadic occurrence of high-latitude jets that are faster than the average wind speed derived from the ultraviolet images taken by VIRTIS by Hueso et al. (2015) in the latitude of 50-70 degrees.


Internal displacement which is caused by natural and man-made disasters remains a global humanitarian challenge. There were about 3.3 million IDPs in 2014 scattered all over Nigeria in various camps and host communities. They face untold economic hardship, psychological trauma and social dislocation. To ameliorate their sufferings, social work intervention is required. The main objective of this paper therefore is to investigate the role of social workers in ameliorating the plight of IDPs in Nigeria. Anchoring on the theory of sufficiency of well-being and system theory, secondary sources were reviewed to collect data. Content analysis was employed to analyze the data. It was revealed that social workers in Nigeria have not been visible in assisting the IDPs and this is because the profession has not yet been recognized. Government has made efforts to address the plight of IDPs by providing camps but still they are facing severe socio-economic, health, security and environmental challenges therefore they require urgent attention of social workers to ensure that they turn to their normal lives and be re-integrated into the society. Also suggested is that Social Work Professionalization Bill should be passed into law to enable all concerned to see the need for the deployment of social work expertise in the rehabilitation of IDPs.


Escherichia coli is the most frequent microorganism involved in urinary tract infection (UTI). Acute UTI caused by uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) can lead to recurrent infection, which can be defined as either re-infection or relapse. E. coli strains causing relapse (n = 27) and reinfection (n = 53) were analysed. In-vitro production of biofilm, yersiniabactin and aerobactin was significantly more frequent among strains causing relapse. Biofilm assays may be helpful in selecting patients who require a therapeutic approach to eradicate persistent biofilm-forming E. coli strains and prevent subsequent relapses.


Towards the end of the 13th century the kingdom of Majorca strengthened its relationships with the Crown of Aragon, once it obtained its renounciation to its claims upon the Balearic islands, through the Argelers agreemenet. Together, the two states created by James I the Conqueror's anachronistic policy towards his own succession, opposed the French advance towards the Pyrenees and the Corberes mountains; they also resisted Ligurian hostility towards them in both basins of the Meditarranean. The alliance, however, entailed costs for James II of Majorca, who was not able to force the Catalan merchants to the payment of the new Balearic Islands tariff. It also entailed costs for his homonymous nephew in Aragon, who had to accept the setting up of an independent monetary system in the Balearic enclave as well as the proliferation of Majorcan consulates in the Maghrib. Joint diplomatic pressure obtained substantial results by 1313, at the Treatise of Poissy. The prohibition to wool and semi-elaborated cloth exports –established by the Capetians in Languedoc– was lifted, while the Valley of Aran was returned and reintegrated into Catalonia.


A stochastic model is introduced for predicting the stress-strain cutve of a woollen yarn under longitudinal extension. The important features of a woollen yarn that are included in this model are the distributions of fibre length, diameter and strength, the effect of fibre reversals, the variation in linear density and twist along the length of a yarn, the radial variation in fibre packing, and the non-uniform arrangement of fibres in any particular yarn cross-section. The key deformation mechanisms within the model include variation in the stress between and along individual fibres, fibre breakage, fibre slippage, non-uniform strain along the yam, and twist flow within the extending yam. It is shown that the model can predict with reasonable accuracy the tenacity of woollen yarns which are made from fibres with a wide range of properties, and which contain a wide range of twist levels.


ABSTRACT The Cape Romano-Ten Thousand Islands area of southwestern Florida is roughly at the southern end of quartz sand littoral drift. Shell hash is prominent offshore, and silt, clay, and peaty materials are important in the mangrove-barrier-and-lagoon strip. The area therefore appeared to offer an excellent opportunity for a study of changes in facies of modern sediments. Field investigation was carried out primarily by a five-man team in June, 1960, and laboratory work was completed in 1961. The shoreline is one of low-to-moderate wave energy. where wave energy is dominant (in the up-drift direction), quartz sand beaches appear; where wave energy is very low and tidal energy is important, a mangrove swamp barrier separates the lagoon from the Gulf of Mexico. Wave energy seems to be decreasing toward the southeast. The combination of decreasing energy and tidal current circulation produces a quartz sand island-and-shoal complex in the vicinity of Cape Romano. Wave refraction appears to have given the shoal area its present form. The sediments of the area are essentially quartz sand and shell hash along the beaches and on the Gulf floor, and fine-grained sand, silt, clay, peaty material, and oyster bars in the mangrove-barrier-and-lagoon strip. Analysis of the microfauna (foraminifera and ostracodes) permitted a separation of samples into four suites: marsh-river (mainland), lagoon, mangrove-island, and open Gulf. Organic and other fine-grained matter suspended in the water prevented a systematic study of sediment surface markings.


The adsorption of sodium on Ru(0001) is studied using 3He spin-echo spectroscopy (HeSE), molecular dynamics simulations (MD) and density functional theory (DFT). In the multi-layer regime, an analysis of helium reflectivity, gives an electron-phonon coupling constant of λ = 0.64 ± 0.06. At sub-monolayer coverage, DFT calculations show that the preferred adsorption site changes from hollow site to top site as the supercell increases and the effective coverage, θ, is reduced from 0.25 to 0.0625 adsorbates per substrate atom. Energy barriers and adsorption geometries taken from DFT are used in molecular dynamics calculations to generate simulated data sets for comparison with measurements. We introduce a new Bayesian method of analysis that compares measurement and model directly, without assuming analytic lineshapes. The value of adsorbate-substrate energy exchange rate (friction) in the MD simulation is the sole variable parameter. Experimental data at a coverage θ = 0.028 compares well with the low-coverage DFT result, giving an effective activation barrier Eeff = 46 ± 4 meV with a friction γ = 0.3 ps-1. Better fits to the data can be achieved by including additional variable parameters, but in all cases, the mechanism of diffusion is predominantly on a Bravais lattice, suggesting a single adsorption site in the unit cell, despite the close packed geometry.


This paper designs and implements IPv6 protocol in WebitOS, an embedded real-time OS which is a self-owned intellectual property of Lab. of Embedded Technology, Northeastern University, China. WebitOS is developed on processor of ATmega128 MCU, and is designed to be a configurable embedded operating system and all of its function modules must be published in the form of software component. So the IPv6 module is designed to be in the form of software component too, and to be a co-existing module with IPv4 module. Then, the design of IPv6 header, IPv6 extend header, ICMPv6 header, IPv6 input process and output process, error message echo request and echo reply, neighbor solicitation and neighbor advertisement are fully implemented, respectively. Under the limited resource environment, IP address exhaustive problem is solved by the implementation of IPv6. Besides, the performance analyses between IPv6 and IPv4 are performed through some experiments.


Multiple sclerosis is a condition that affects about twice as many women as men. I am a man with multiple sclerosis (an insider in this work) and my aim within this thesis is to relate the stories of our involvement within the support group environment. For the purpose of examining the individual and group process, I have found it useful to adopt a combination of narrative and feminist post modernist methods for understanding our ways of knowing and systems of helping. I was influenced by women of colour who argue about patriarchy and post colonialism to guide my thinking about the oppression of people with difference. The guiding principles of my study are inclusion, participation and emancipation. Inclusion occurred through involving the entire group in the research process. Active participation ensured that the theory presented in this study was grounded in the experiences of the individuals . Emancipation was achieved through presenting the voices of participants and working to provide better conditions for those concerned. This is an in-depth study of eight men who meet on a regular basis to share our interests, and life stories. We are people who are searching, surviving, succeeding and/or failing in our daily tasks. We are guys who are rational thinking human-beings and are just trying to be "normal" and included in our community. This thesis examines the process of surrendering power and the ways in which this causes the alienation of this group of individuals by our wider society. It looks at the social


Transfer-defective mutants of the Tra1 region of RP1 were isolated. Complementation studies involving stable heterozygotes combined with the mapping of Tn5 insertion mutations revealed two pilus cistrons, pilA and pilB, at positions 46.9 to 48.2 kb and 46.0 to 46.4 kb, respectively. All pilB mutants were Dps- (i.e., resistant to donor-specific phages PR4 and PRR1), whereas pilA mutants were Dps- (promoter-proximal mutations), Dps+/- (sensitive only to PR4 [more centrally located mutations]), or Dps+ (sensitive to both phages [promoter-distal mutations]). The correlation between the site mutated and the Dps phenotype, together with the finding that certain Dps+ pilA mutants continued to mobilize nonconjugative plasmids, suggested that pilA is bifunctional, contributing both to pilus function (at the promoter-proximal end) and to RP1 mobilization. It was also shown that the 43.5- to 49.5-kb region that includes pilA and pilB encodes all of the Tra1 pilus functions required for propagation of donor-specific phages and hence, probably, for pili that are active in conjugation. Finally, three cistrons that specifically affect RP1 mobilization were identified. Two of these, mobA and mobB, occur immediately anticlockwise to oriT and probably correspond to the traJ and traI genes characterized by other workers. The third cistron, mobC, occurs clockwise to oriT and may be a new mobilization gene, since its function can be substituted by IncP beta plasmids, a feature different from that of the traK mobilization gene which occurs in the same region but is RP1 specific. None of the mob cistrons was required for mobilization of nonconjugative plasmids, except for mobB, which was required by pVS99.


The underdetermined blind source separation (BSS), which based on sparse representation, is discussed in this paper; moreover, some difficulties (or real assumptions) that were left out of consideration before are aimed. For instance, the number of sources, , is unknown, large-scale, or time-variant; the mixing matrix is ill-conditioned. For the proposed algorithm, in order to detect a time-variant mixing matrix, short-time Fourier transform is employed to segment received mixtures. Because is unknown, our algorithm use more estimates to find out the mixing vectors by particle swarm optimizer (PSO); and then, surplus estimates are removed by two proposed processes. However, the estimated accuracy of PSO will affect the correctness of extracting mixing vectors. Consequently, an improved PSO version called the cluster guide PSO (CGPSO) is further proposed according to the character of sparse representation. In simulations, several real assumptions that were less discussed before will be tested. Some representative BSS algorithms and PSO versions are compared with the CGPSO-based algorithm. The advantages of the proposed algorithm are demonstrated by simulation results.


Scouring around cylinders is greatly affected by the value of bed shear stress entered on sediment materials of the bed. Regarding the importance of the bed shear stress fluctuations and their influence on the initiation and development of scouring around cylinders, in this paper, the dynamic bed shear stress distributions around a circular cylinder in high Reynolds numbers flow is investigated using various turbulence closures. Since the bed shear stress can be regarded as one of the key parameters in scouring and erosion predictions, then the accurate calculation of this parameter would be the first step in scour prediction and calculation. As the vortex shedding at the downstream of a cylinder depends on the turbulence intensity of flow, a similar behavior may be anticipated for the dynamic bed shear stress. To evaluate the bed shear stress distribution, several numbers of numerical simulations are conducted to predict the bed shear stress using the CFD solver FLUENT. Various turbulence models of time-and space-averaged types are used to simulate the turbulence effects. Regarding the importance of the turbulence models in accurate simulation of the cylinder wake region, three models of , RSM and LES are evaluated using a comparison of the flow pattern and the fluctuation of near wake vortices. Results revealed that in the simulation with LES turbulence model, the wake remains very symmetrical, consisting primarily of two large vortices in the near wake at two sides of the cylinder. With time passing, a transition occurs between the two states, from the initially symmetrical to the asymmetrical. Also, comparing the critical bed shear stress pattern in different phases show that the bed shear stress is repeated again after a certain time period. This is in good agreement with the fluctuation time period of wake vortices.


Neurofibrillary tangles and senile plaques are the characteristic neuropathological lesions of Alzheimer's disease. Neurofibrillary tangles are composed of a microtubule-associated protein, the tau protein. This protein plays a role in the development of neuronal polarity and the stabilisation of microtubules. In Alzheimer's disease, tau proteins are abnormally phosphorylated on several sites. This abnormal phosphorylation might induce the modifications of the microtubule network observed in affected neurones. The main component of the senile plaque is an amyloid deposit made of a polypeptide (beta/A4 amyloid) which derives from a larger precursor. The overexpression of this precursor in experimental models or mutations of its gene leads to the development of neuropathological lesions. The relationships between cytoskeletal abnormalities and beta/A4 amyloid are further discussed.


Subjective status refers to the way in which individuals perceive themselves in relation to others in society, in terms of social status. Lower subjective status has been linked to poorer health outcomes, particularly depression. Individuals with lower subjective status report more symptoms of depression, even when their objective socio-economic status (i.e., education, occupation, and income) is taken into account. Previous research has largely ignored individuals' personality differences, particularly individuals' level of neuroticism, when looking at the relation between subjective status and depression. Neuroticism is a core personality characteristic that negatively impacts many different areas of life. Individuals with higher neuroticism are more likely to report symptoms of depression. In addition, individuals with higher neuroticism have lower socio-economic status and poorer health, factors which may influence their subjective status. In light of such observations, the aim of the present research was to determine whether neuroticism plays a role in the relation between subjective status and depression. Participants were 371 retirees participating in a longitudinal study on life adjustment after retirement. Cross-sectional analysis of the data indicated that individuals with lower subjective status reported more symptoms of depression, even when their objective socio-economic status was taken into account. When neuroticism was taken into account, however, individuals with lower status did not report more symptoms of depression. Further analyses indicated that negative affect was not a sufficient proxy for neuroticism in the relation between subjective status and depression. In other words, when negative affect was taken into account, subjective status continued to play a statistically significant role in predicting symptoms of depression.
Keywords: subjective status, socio-economic status, depression, neuroticism, negative affect


Background: Although free flap transfer is commonly performed to reconstruct defects of the upper two-thirds of the face and scalp, the superficial temporal artery and vein have historically not been considered adequate for microsurgical reconstruction and have rarely been described as recipient vessels. The purpose of this study was to determine the indications for and effectiveness of using the superficial temporal vessels for scalp and face reconstruction. Methods: Retrospective chart review on all patients undergoing microsurgical reconstruction for defects of the upper two-thirds of the face between 1996 and 2003 revealed 45 free tissue transfers in which the superficial temporal artery and vein were considered for use as recipient vessels. Flap success rates and postoperative course were evaluated. Results: Forty-three patients underwent 45 free flap transfers. The superficial temporal artery was used as the recipient artery in every case. In three cases, the superficial temporal vein was not suitable as the recipient vein and required use of a vein in the neck. The median length of follow-up was 4 years. Flap survival was 96 percent. Five patients required reoperation for vascular compromise. One of these patients ultimately had flap failure. In that patient, a subsequent attempt at microvascular flap reconstruction was successful using the same superficial temporal artery and vein as recipient vessels. Conclusions: Use of the superficial temporal artery and vein for scalp and face reconstruction is reliable and safe. The superficial temporal artery and vein should be considered as primary recipient vessels in microsurgical reconstruction of the upper two-thirds of the face and/or scalp.


This article is based on a partial study of an R&D programme with various theory-informed teaching arrangements aimed at describing and further developing knowledge of what characterizes preschool teaching. The aim of this study is to contribute knowledge about how teachers and children can create attention in relation to an example when teaching focuses on mathematical aspects and programming from a didaktik and variation theory perspective. The guiding question is: What can characterize attention-forming acts of teaching in preschool? The analysed material in this article consists of an example with just over ten minutes of audio-visual data – videos of teaching. An abductive analysis has been carried out. Preschool teachers' interactions with children while teaching is studied and analysed based on didaktik questions and with a didaktik triangle as the didaktik model and based on three dimensions representations of attention: sharing, creating and alternating attention and attention-forming acts. Concepts of variation theory is connected to the didaktik questions and didaktik triangle. Overall, the representations of sharing, creating and alternating attention and attention-forming acts of teaching can be summarized in the concept of didaktik attention.


Copyright for each article published in Informal Logic belongs to its author(s). Informal Logic has the right of first publication. Permission to reprint any article that appears in Informal Logic MUST be obtained in writing from the author(s). In addition to any form of acknowledgement required by the author(s), the following notice must be added to the statement of copyright permission made in the reprint (with the appropriate numbers replacing the ellipses): [Article Title] was originally published in Informal Logic, [year], Volume ..., Number ..., pp. ...-... .


The United States Supreme Court settled legal disputes concerning four different Larimer County (Colorado) locations where water is moved by gravity across the high elevation North Platte-South Platte River drainage divide, which begins as a triple drainage divide with the Colorado River at Thunder Mountain (on the east-west continental divide and near Colorado River headwaters) and proceeds in roughly a north and northeast direction across deep mountain passes and other low points (divide crossings) first as the Michigan River (in the North Platte watershed)-Cache la Poudre River (in the South Platte watershed) drainage divide and then as the Laramie River (in the North Platte watershed)-Cache la Poudre River drainage divide. The mountain passes and nearby valley and drainage route orientations and other unusual erosional features can be explained if enormous and prolonged volumes of south-oriented water moved along today's north-oriented North Platte and Laramie River alignments into what must have been a rising mountain region to reach south-oriented Colorado River headwaters. Mountain uplift in time forced a flow reversal in the Laramie River valley while flow continued in a south direction along the North Platte River alignment only to be forced to flow around the Medicine Bow Mountains south end and then to flow northward in the Laramie River valley and later to be captured by headward erosion of the east-oriented Cache la Poudre River-Joe Wright Creek valley (aided by a steeper gradient and less resistant bedrock). Continued uplift next reversed flow on the North Platte River alignment to create drainage routes seen today. While explaining Larimer County North Platte-South Platte drainage divide area topographic map drainage system and erosional landform evidence this interpretation requires a completely different Cenozoic history than the geologic history geologists usually describe.


This study investigated the influence of soft-start polymerization on the effectiveness of cure and post-gel shrinkage of a visible light cured resin composite (Z100). Three cure modes (LH-high intensity; LA-soft-start polymerization involving step-wise modulation of light intensity and LL-low intensity) of a commercial light-cure unit (Kavo PolyLUX II) were examined and compared to another light-cure unit (Spectrum). The effectiveness of cure with the different cure modes was assessed by computing the hardness gradient between top and bottom surfaces of 2 mm composites specimens after different light exposure times. A strain-monitoring device was used to measure the linear polymerization shrinkage associated with the different cure modes and exposure times over 180 minutes. A sample size of five was used for both experiments. Data was analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Scheffe's post-hoc test at significance level 0.05. Results showed that effectiveness of cure generally increased with increase cure time. Although modulation of light energy intensity (LA 40/80 seconds) resulted in lower polymerization shrinkage compared to LH 40 seconds, no significant difference was observed between these three cure regimes. Curing with the Spectrum curing light resulted in the lowest polymerization shrinkage.


Spatial convolutions are widely used in numerous deep video models. It fundamentally assumes spatio-temporal invariance, i.e., using shared weights for every location in different frames. This work presents Temporally-Adaptive Convolutions (TAdaConv) for video understanding, which shows that adaptive weight calibration along the temporal dimension is an efficient way to facilitate modelling complex temporal dynamics in videos. Specifically, TAdaConv empowers the spatial convolutions with temporal modelling abilities by calibrating the convolution weights for each frame according to its local and global temporal context. Compared to previous temporal modelling operations, TAdaConv is more efficient as it operates over the convolution kernels instead of the features, whose dimension is an order of magnitude smaller than the spatial resolutions. Further, the kernel calibration brings an increased model capacity. We construct TAda2D and TAdaConvNeXt networks by replacing the 2D convolutions in ResNet and ConvNeXt with TAdaConv, which leads to at least on par or better performance compared to state-of-the-art approaches on multiple video action recognition and localization benchmarks. We also demonstrate that as a readily plug-in operation with negligible computation overhead, TAdaConv can effectively improve many existing video models with a convincing margin.


Histotripsy with ultrasound is an emerging noninvasive therapeutic modality that uses cavitation to precisely destroy diseased soft tissue. Accurate simulations of histotripsy are needed for treatment planning and device design. These simulations must model transient pressure fields, span hundreds of wavelengths, and must handle strong shocks and discontinuities between materials, such as the brain and the skull. The discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method is an outstanding candidate for such simulations. DG methods possess the following qualities: 1) high order accuracy, 2) geometric flexibility, 3) excellent dissipation properties, and 4) excellent scalability on massively parallel machines. The objective of this work is to introduce our efforts to develop a model nonlinear ultrasound simulations that are ultimately intended for histotripsy simulations in the brain. We have developed a 3D nonlinear wave equation solver using a time-explicit DG method [1]. The governing equations are expressed in first-order flux form, which models the effects of diffraction, attenuation, and nonlinearity. A Rusanov numerical flux is formulated and the eigenvalues of the flux Jacobian are calculated. A third-order, strong stability preserving Runge-Kutta (RK) time-integrator is used for time-discretization. Frequencysquared attenuation is modeled via a second-order diffusion term, which is evaluated using the local DG method. To stabilize the method and guarantee a non-oscillatory solution near shocks, a parameter-free stabilization scheme is implemented [2]. Full-wave 3D simulations are simulated for both linear and nonlinear problems. Numerical results for a planar waveguide and a pulsed rectangular piston are presented and compared to existing analytical solutions and to the FOCUS package [3]-[7]. Our nonlinear DG captures strong shocks and resolves diffraction, absorption, and nonlinear for all problems considered. An approach for coupling DG with FOCUS is proposed. These results suggest DG is a competitive method for transient biomedical acoustics simulations.


The hypothesis presented in this article offers a new way of explaining a number of discrepancies in the biblical text. Perhaps more importantly, it opens the door to the identification of a place known from the biblical tradition with a known site of archaeological importance. Finally, the identification of Ophra with Ramat Rahel, which in ancient times was very likely called sheds light on the tradition of connecting Ephratah (????) with Judah, (1 Chr 1,19. 50), and the hitherto difficult in Mic 1,10.


The aim of this introduction and the ensuing discussion is to explore the role of the Internet in postsocialist Russian penitentiary practice and the social economy of punishment. The Internet has multiple functions in modern societies, as an information resource, communication tool, and instrument of government. This introductory essay is based on what could be called a digital phenomenology of the Russian Internet, supplemented by interviews with experts and a small selection of photographs from the personal archive of Ol'ga Romanova. As such, it provides only an outline of questions, with few tentative answers, which suggest how one might problematize the social significance of Internet-based services that have been offered in Russian penitentiaries since 2009 alongside the growth of the Internet as a medium of information exchange on penitentiaries. In sharp contrast to the language of modernization that governments and corporations tend to apply when they introduce digital technologies, their practical implementation in penitentiaries suggests at best uneven levels of modernity. Looking at the Russian case through the way it presents itself on the Internet, this essay and the following contributions by Judith Pallot and Yvonne Jewkes invite future studies to apply theories of "uneven modernity" and "normalization" in order to lay out critical perspectives for understanding the Russian case in comparative and diachronic perspective. In English .


Aquaculture is the fastest-growing food producing industry sector in the world. Demand for feed ingredients, particularly for preferred protein sources such as fishmeal, fish oil and 'trash fish', has also increased, raising questions about sustainability and uses of fish for aquaculture feeds or directly as human food. Approximately 30 million metric tonnes (MMT) of fish from capture fisheries are used each year to produce fishmeal and fish oil. The species used are not usually consumed directly by humans. Production of fishmeal and fish oil has remained relatively static over many years, with the increasing amount going to aquaculture feeds being balanced by reducing amounts going to other animal feeds. Trash fish are generally smaller or lower-value species captured in the wild and are increasingly used to directly feed aquaculture species in Asia. Although there is no reliable estimate of the total amount of trash fish used by aquaculture, the figure is probably >5 MMT y–1. As aquaculture expands, the potential for conflict between uses and users of different fish products is increasing. There is an urgent research priority to identify potential impacts of increasing demand on trash fish for aquaculture on fish resources and to identify practical alternatives. The identification and use of alternative ingredients for aquaculture feeds has been an international research priority for at least 15 y, and significant advances have been made. Fishmeal has been completely replaced in feeds for many species and included at very reduced levels in feeds for many others. These trends need to continue and ongoing research in this field remains a priority. Research to replace fish oil is more difficult, but blends of vegetable oils have been used to successfully reduce reliance on fish oil for a number of species. Coldwater marine algae called thraustochytrids, with very high contents of 'marine' fatty acids, may provide an alternative if industrial-scale fermentation can be made cost effective.


Broa is an example of bread that is a good candidate for inclusion in functional diets, so it deserves further in-depth study of its chemical composition—namely with regard to evolution of the lipid profile throughout breadmaking, in order to assess whether mixing, fermentation, or baking affect its nutritional value (in terms of unsaturated fatty acids, UFA) based on the assumption that neutral lipids (NL) can be protein- or carbohydrate-bound. Hence, constituent fatty acids in NL of maize (Zea mays) and rye flour (Secale cereale), and in sourdough and final broa manufactured from a mixture therefrom were quantitated. Methodologies of esterification of fatty acids, as well as of transesterification of acyl lipids and sterol esters (SE) were improved. The n-hydrocarbons containing between 4 and 24 carbon atoms were then resolved and identified by gas–liquid chromatography. Regarding total neutral lipids (TNL) in all samples, 79–89% were TAGs, and 87–93% were TAGs and DAGs in the case of free lipids (FL). Furthermore, 73–85% of TNL in bound lipids (BL) and 65–80% of TNL in starch lipids (SL) were TAG and free fatty acids (FFA). Conversely, only 4–5%, 6–16%, and 7–10% of TNL in FL, BL, and SL, respectively, were SE and MAGs. TAGs and DAGs underwent partial hydrolysis during fermentation and baking; palmitic, oleic, and linoleic acids were dominant as products released. The nutritional value of broa lipids was apparent owing to their proportions of SE (4%) and DAG (9%), coupled with 52% of linoleic acid in all samples—as well as to the high contents of polyunsaturated versus monounsaturated or saturated fatty acids, and to the general dominance of UFA.


The embedded laboratory experience associated with engineering technology curricula is an added benefit to the engineering technology students and their preparation to immediately make an economic contribution upon employment after graduation. However, in the era of web enabled education, a challenge is posed by the need to replicate live laboratory experiences using electronic media processes. The Microelectronics program at Arizona State University East is sincerely attempting to deliver the laboratory courses through distance learning to accommodate compressed work schedule of students and to reach the students who must be at remote sites. The purpose of the paper is to survey the existing distance education formats that are currently in use to deliver laboratory courses and also cover the work-in-progress at ASU East. This paper will categorize and discuss various formats that are being used or tested in engineering technology programs nation wide. Goal one is to collect and present information that will help the reader to draw conclusions about the urgency of creating electronic laboratory workbooks that support comparable experiences for students, whether they are participating through distance learning or in live laboratories. Goal two is to provide and discuss the methods and best practices that are currently in use.


The Education of the Eye offers a novel and provocative account of "visuality" as a contested cultural formation in mid-eighteenthcentury Britain. Peter De Bolla, a fellow at King's College Cambridge and one of the more rigorously theoretical historians of eighteenth-century British culture, contends that "the culture of visuality," referring to the full range of optical and interpretative experience, can be divided into two competing regimes. The first De Bolla calls the regime of the picture, which "develops a grammar of looking at artworks that utilizes non-visual material. It is based on what one knows," and it is the relatively exclusive preserve of the educated classes (9). The second he calls the regime of the eye, "which is developed within a grammar of the phenomenology of seeing" (9). and gains its clearest formulation in William Hogarth's Analysis ofBeauty (1753). Despite Hogarth's phenomenological slant, these concepts would have been unfamiliar to contemporaries, and De Bolla is hesitant to set firm limits on their boundaries. Indeed, De Bolla creates a third regime, the sentimental look, which offered an idyllic golden mean between the two. Poised between naive vision and aristocratic privilege, the sentimental look flourished briefly in a series of environments including the early London art exhibitions, Vauxhall Gardens, the landscape gardens of the Leasowes and Hagley Park, and (most anti-intuitively) the neo-classical splendour of Kedleston Hall. Out of this nexus emerges what De Bolla describes as "the birth of visual culture" (4), raising the eyebrows, one would expect, of scholars of Italian and Netherlandish culture in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. As he did in The Discourse ofthe Sublime (1989), of which this is very much a sequel, De Bolla frames solid textual and visual analysis within a largely indefensible set of claims about the birth of modem subjectivity, and now visual culture, in 1760s Britain. There is a disconcerting gap i n The Eilucation of the Eye between the insightful, highly detailed analyses taking place in De Bolla's four case studies and the broader claims with which they are introduced. This is not to detract, however, from some of the truly inspired moments in De Bolla's book, such as his discussion of conceptual shifts within landscape discourse that sought to increase the franchise for a "republic of visuality" (148) without entirely yielding its privileges. It is in the intersection of cultural and political entitlement that The Education ofthe Eye is at its most compelling, and it is here that De Bolla makes a significant intervention in ongoing debates concerning gender, politeness, and the public sphere.


The phenology of 78 agricultural and horticultural events from a national survey in Germany spanning the years 1951–2004 is examined. The majority of events are significantly earlier now than 53 years ago, with a mean advance of 1.1–1.3 days per decade. The mean trends for 'true phases', such as emergence and flowering, of annual and perennial crops are not significantly different, although more trends (78% vs. 46%) are significant for annual crops. We attempt to remove the influence of technological advance or altered farming practices on phenology by detrending the respective time series by linear regression of date (day number) on year. Subsequently, we estimate responses to mean monthly and seasonal temperature by correlation and regression in two ways; with and without removing the year trend first. Nearly all (97%) correlation coefficients are negative, suggesting earlier events in warmer years. Between 82% and 94% of the coefficients with seasonal spring and summer temperatures are significant. The conservative estimate (detrended) of mean temperature response against mean March–May temperature (−3.73 days °C−1) is significantly less than the full estimate (−4.31 days °C−1), the 'true' size of phenological temperature response may lie in between. Perennial crops exhibited a significantly higher temperature response to mean spring temperature than the annual crops.


Hurricane Andrew made landfall on the Louisiana coast on August 26, 1992, with the eye passing 40 km southwest of a salt marsh pond already under study. Storm surges ranging from 1-3 m in proximity to the pond resulted in the deposition of a mud layer, several centimeters thick, in many areas inundated by the storm surge. Analysis of pond sediment cores distinguished a hurricane mud layer characterized as a composite sediment, containing indicators of estuarine, brackish, and freshwater sources. The composite nature of the hurricane sediment is indicated by a higher diatom species diversity coupled with a more even species representation. Other distinguishing characteristics of the mud layer include lower marine diatom abundance, larger mean grain size, more poorly sorted sediment, and lower amounts of nitrogen in the sediment. Hurricane Andrew appears to have altered the geochemistry of the pond through the reduction of sulfide in the sediment allowing the proliferation of aquatic submerged flora (Najas sp.), resulting in a diatom assemblage shift towards epiphytic species. The submerged stand was still present two years after the hurricane landfall, and the diatom population has yet to revert to the pre-hurricane community.


There has been a trend in applying green practices in restaurants. In lieu of this, Solenad, Nuvali as a famous mall in Sta. Rosa City, Laguna houses different potential restaurants. The researchers aimed to determine and analyse the gathered data concerning the significant difference on the assessment of green practices among selected restaurants in Laguna, grouped according to their profile. The study's main concept is green practices. This concept has four aspects, examined by the researchers, including Energy Conservation, Water Conservation, Proper Waste Disposal, and Food Packaging. Descriptive method and survey questionnaires were used to collect data and information. The respondents were comprised of the selected restaurants' employees. The survey questionnaires were distributed consisting questions related with the research topic. The statistical methods used in the study were Frequency, Percentage, Weighted Mean, and ANOVA (Analysis of Variance). The results show that the respondents recognized energy conservation as one of the green practices often applied by restaurants with the exemption of "the restaurant turns off the steam supply in steam cooking vessels when not in use", which ranked lowest. In terms of water conservation, the respondents assessed that regular inspection for leaks and repair was practiced often by restaurants. The respondents believed that the restaurants often used small portions of food supplies to lessen food waste. However, the respondents evaluated segregation of waste products as the least observed practice by the restaurants. The result also shows that there was no significant relationship between the profile of the respondents such as age, gender, educational attainment and the green practices namely energy conservation, water conservation, proper waste management, and food packaging and furniture.


. Bike-sharing as a human-centred, zero-emission, sustainable, alternative, and easily accessible transport mode has been implemented globally and consistently contributing to communities and the environment by alleviating consumption of natural sources, traffic congestion, and air pollution, which is considered a solution for future cities. The appearance of Covid-19 significantly impacts public transportation modes, including the bike-sharing system. The intention of this study was to investigate the spatiotemporal impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on associations between urban factors and bike-sharing usage in Los Angeles, United States, by analysing a sizeable actual trip dataset and employing geographically weighted regression (GWR) models. GWR was conducted for examining the varying spatial association between bike infrastructure, public transport, and urban land use factors, and bike-sharing trip volume. The results indicated that bike-sharing usage significantly decreased during the pandemic and essential service as restaurant was found consistently and positively associated with bike-sharing use. GWR provided clear spatial patterns of bike usage based on urban land use and big user databases. The outcomes of this study could inspire policymakers and shared mobility operators to support these safe, sustainable transport alters (such as rebalancing bike stations), help city resilience, and shape a sustainable future of mobility in the post-Covid-19 era.


Objective: Kinetics and stoichiometry S-oxidation reaction of sodium Azlocillin (Azl) by means of potassium hydrogenperoxomonosulfate in aqueous solutions using iodometric titration were studied. Materials and Methods: Securopen® - powder Azl sodium in flacons for preparation of solution for injections (Azl 1.0 g; 5.0 g) was used for analysis. A new iodometric method for quantitative determination of sodium Azl in Securopen® preparation using potassium hydrogenperoxomonosulfate (KHSO5) as analytical reagent was proposed. Peroxomonosulfate acid as triple potassium salt 2КНSO5∙КНSO4∙K2SO4 (Oxone®) of "extra pure" qualification was used as oxidant. Results: At pH 2–4 for 1 mole of penicillin, 1 mole of KHSO5 is consumed; the quantitative interaction is achieved within a time of more than 1 minute (observation time). The results were obtained by the recommended procedure for seven replicate titrations of mixtures containing the three species at various concentrations. Relative standard deviation = (0.8 −2.8) %, δ = (+0.2 …−0.31) %. It can be seen that Azl can be determined successively with good accuracy and reproducibility. Conclusion: The new procedure was developed and ability of quantitative determination of penicillin in pharmaceutical preparation Securopen® by iodometric method using potassium hydrogenperoxomonosulfate (KHSO5) as analytical reagent was shown.


Research on the topic of social influence has offered valuable information to marketers in past and recent years. Numerous scholars focusing on the Social Influence Theory have found the work of Herbert Kelman (1958) as an applicable representation of how consumers are influenced by modern advertising. As an application of the theory, this study investigates the impact of fitspiration advertising on purchase intention by how it influences motivation. Recent studies have documented an increase in interest for fitness and health, with many consumers interacting with new forms of advertising on social media such as fitspiration. Participants were 102 adults aged between 18-25 asked to complete a survey containing 40 questions. Significant exposure to the advertising concept was not distinctively supported to impact purchase intentions by affecting consumer motivation. However, relative to the theory, the results did propose the possibility of influence and inform past research.


We consider the problem of estimating the order of a stationary ergodic Markov chain. Our focus is on estimators which satisfy a generalized Neyman-Pearson criterion of optimality. Specifically, the optimal estimator minimizes the probability of underestimation among all estimators with probability of overestimation not exceeding a given value. Our main result identifies the best exponent of asymptotically exponential decay of the probability of underestimation. We further construct a consistent estimator, based on Kullback-Leibler divergences, which achieves the best exponent. We also present a consistent estimator involving a recursively computable statistic based on appropriate mixture distributions; this estimator also achieves the best exponent for underestimation probability.


Science, the Public, and the Press in a Changing Media Landscape: The Case of Climate Change. Economic restructuring in the media industry has eliminated many professional journalists' jobs, reductions that may have been hardest on specialized journalists reporting areas like science, technology, economics, or international affairs. This makes audiences even more dependent on new, often social, media for scientifi c information. The concept of «critical science literacy» is introduced as a way to capture the skills needed to navigate science news in the evolving media landscape. While these same skills were needed to make sense of science in the «old» media world as well, the contempo rary shift resulting in attenuation of authoritative journalistic voices is likely to continue, demanding more from audiences. Climate change illustrates these challenges.


The adenoviral gene E1a is known to enhance the antitumor effect of cisplatin, one of the cornerstones of the current cancer chemotherapy. Here we study the molecular basis of E1a mediated sensitivity to cisplatin in an experimental model of Non-small cell lung cancer. Our data show how E1a blocks the induction of autophagy triggered by cisplatin and promotes the apoptotic response in resistant cells. Interestingly, at the molecular level, we present evidences showing how the phosphatase MKP1 is a major determinant of cisplatin sensitivity and its upregulation is strictly required for the induction of chemosensitivity mediated by E1a. Indeed, E1a is almost unable to promote sensitivity in H460, in which the high expression of MKP1 remains unaffected by E1a. However, in resistant cell as H1299, H23 or H661, which display low levels of MKP1, E1a expression promotes a dramatic increase in the amount of MKP1 correlating with cisplatin sensitivity. Furthermore, effective knock down of MKP1 in H1299 E1a expressing cells restores resistance to a similar extent than parental cells. In summary, the present work reinforce the critical role of MKP1 in the cellular response to cisplatin highlighting the importance of this phosphatase in future gene therapy approach based on E1a gene.


Student worksheet science based on process image is a printed material that presents a series of images of objects (objects, events, or phenomena), the images in the series between each other always appear to be relatively different in terms (state, position, shape, Combinations) which as a whole illustrate a coherent stage of events in a unified whole. A student worksheet is able to facilitate students in reviewing the material independently, so that materialised learning the science of student centred learning. The purpose of this study is to examine the use of student worksheet based on the image of light concept process for practical and effective junior high school student learning. This research design uses one group pretest-posttest design. The result of the research shows that learning activity is increasing up to reach 83,18%, and respondent gives a positive response with 'good' criterion. N-gain increased understanding of the concept of light by 0.628 on moderate criteria and supported with retention of 99.6%. The use of student worksheets based on the image of light concept process is practical and effective for improving students' understanding, as well as knowledge can be stored for longer in student memory.


The current work was focused on predicting the potential of several anticancer drugs as potential inhibitors of COVID-19 disease. The work was accoplished using molecular docking performed using SwissDock tool. Information about COVID-19 proteins and anticancer drugs from databases like PDB, PubChem and Drugbank has been incorporated appropriately in the manuscript. Data analysis has revealed some highly promising anticancer drugs which can further be critically analyzed through both computational and biological validation methods.This work was intended to support the urgent need of finding drugs/remedies against COVID-19. The results can be a foundation for other researchers around the world to further validate/test these anticancer agents against the pathogen.


Natural disasters and acts of terrorism demonstrate a similar critical need for national preparedness. As one of a team of volunteers with a local South African NGO who recently went on a medical mission, I would like to share glimpses of our experience and reflect on the mistakes - and also to state the obvious: that we do not learn from our mistakes. A simple literature search has shown that the same mistakes happen repeatedly. 'Humanitarian disasters occur with frightening regularity, yet international responses remain fragmented, with organizations and responders being forced to "reinvent the wheel" with every new event'. This is the result of an obvious lack of preparedness.