The electron-catalyzed formation of phenanthridines starting from isonitriles initiated by an electrochemical reduction of the Togni reagent is presented. The required number of faradays per mole of starting material and the respective yields clearly show the catalytic character of the electron in this reaction. The mechanism is supported by cyclic voltammetry experiments.


Objective:To report a multiinstitutional experience of men presenting with infertility secondary to inguinal hernia repair using polypropylene mesh. Summary Background Data:An estimated 80% of inguinal hernia operations involve placement of a knitted polypropylene mesh to form a "tension-free" herniorrhaphy. The prosthetic mesh induces a chronic foreign-body fibroblastic response creating scar tissue that imparts strength to the floor and leads to fewer recurrences. However, little is known about the long-term effects of the polypropylene mesh on the vas deferens, especially with regard to fertility. Methods:Eight institutions in the United States reported a total of 14 cases of azoospermia secondary to inguinal vasal obstruction related to previous polypropylene mesh herniorrhaphy. Patient characteristics and operative findings were forwarded to 1 center for tabulation of data. Results:Mean patient age was 35.5 years with an average duration of infertility of 1.8 years. Mean number of years between urologic evaluation and herniorrhaphy was 6.3 years. Types of inguinal hernia repair previously performed were: open (10), laparoscopic (2), or both (2). Nine patients had bilateral obstruction and 5 patients had unilateral obstruction with contralateral testicular atrophy or epididymal obstruction. Surgical exploration revealed a dense fibroblastic response encompassing the polypropylene mesh with either trapped or obliterated vas in all patients. Surgical reconstruction was performed in 8 of 14 men (57%). Conclusion:Reconstruction to restore fertility can be difficult secondary to fibrotic reaction. Before undergoing polypropylene mesh herniorrhaphy, men, especially of young reproductive age or with a solitary testicle, need to be carefully advised of potential obstruction and compromise to future fertility.


Elongated soft palate is a common upper airway anomaly in brachycephalic dogs. The scientific literature considering this pathology in nonbrachycephalic dogs is limited. The aim of this study was to estimate the importance of the elongated soft palate in nonbrachycephalic dogs (n = 10), carrying out, at the same time, a comparison with selected brachycephalic dogs (n = 19), on the effect of carbon dioxide laser staphylectomy. The selected population had only elongated soft palates and no other disorders. The surgery was rapid and uncomplicated; no suture material was used. The comprehensive recovery was significant (P < 0.0001): 68.4% of brachycephalic dogs and 100% of nonbrachycephalic dogs had complete recovery. The incomplete recovery in older brachycephalic dogs matched a more advanced pathologic phase. This study suggests that, in the case of high respiratory tract alteration and poor exercise tolerance, it is imperative to consider in differential diagnosis the elongated soft palate in nonbrachycephalic breeds, too; their clinical signs are less severe and frequently underestimated. The surgical treatment has a favorable prognosis when the only alteration is elongated soft palate. The carbon dioxide laser has been confirmed as an useful option for staphylectomy in dogs.


Orographic Gravity Wave Drag (GWD) is known to be affected by vertical wind shear.
Linear variation in the magnitude of the wind with height causes GWD to be decreased,
whilst negative wind profile curvature (which usually occurs in directional shear, i.e.
wind turning with height) causes an increase. Analytical formulae have previously been
derived which evaluate this correction to the drag due to shear relative to its value for
vertically uniform wind and static stability.
The corresponding drag enhancement formulae are tested here for their sensitivity both
to the height in the atmosphere at which the associated vertical derivatives of the wind
velocity are evaluated and to the anisotropy of the subgrid-scale orography. It is found
that whilst the correction is qualitatively robust to changes in calculation height, results
show significant quantitative variation between the two heights chosen. Use of an axisymmetric
orography profile causes an overestimation of the drag relative to a realistic
orography anisotropy. Directional shear effects, which increase the drag, are found to be
dominant for a high fraction of the time over a large proportion of the Antarctic region.
Inclusion of a simulated boundary layer is found to reduce the magnitude of wave activity
seen in idealized simulations. The magnitude of the GWD is thus reduced, in some
cases by a factor as large as 3. This highlights the need to apply a corrective factor to the
theory to account for the effects of the boundary layer on the surface GWD. This corrective
factor is deduced using simulations with and without a boundary layer.
Further idealized simulations are carried out to try to identify the optimum height at
which to evaluate the shear-induced drag correction. Drag enhancement values are calculated
using both linear theory and WRF model output, which are then compared in
order to deduce at what height the two methods are closest. It is not possible to identify
a single optimum height, however the error between the model derived and analytical
drag enhancements is frequently found to be minimised at a level within the boundary
layer.


We consider robust signal processing techniques for inference-centric distributed sensor networks operating in the presence of possible sensor and/or communication failures. Motivated by the multiple description (MD) principle, we develop robust distributed quantization schemes for a decentralized detection system. Specifically, focusing on a two-sensor system, our design criterion mirrors that of MD principle: if one of the two transmissions fails, we can guarantee an acceptable performance, while enhanced performance can be achieved if both transmissions are successful. Different from the conventional MD problem is the distributed nature of the problem as well as the use of error probability as the performance measure. Two different optimization criteria are used in the distributed quantizer design, the first a constrained optimization problem, and the second using an erasure channel model. We demonstrate that these two formulations are intrinsically related to each other. Further, using a person-by-person optimization approach, we propose an iterative algorithm to find the optimal local quantization thresholds. A design example is provided to illustrate the validity of the iterative algorithm and the improved robustness compared to the classical distributed detection approach that disregards the possible transmission losses.


Burns remain a major public health problem all over the world, especially in developing countries. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a major cause of infection and a contributing factor in the death of patients with burns. So, there is a growing need to develop drugs which will prevent infections and complications more effectively than the presently used drugs. Ocimum sanctum L. (Holy basil in English and Tulsi in Hindi) has been shown to have antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and wound healing properties. The present study was carried out to evaluate the epithelial regeneration property of Ocimum sanctum in thermal burns with and without supportive treatment of Ointment Silver Sulfadiazine. After the end of treatment at 28 th day, group treated with Ointment Silver sulfadiazine + Ocimum sanctum showed significant epithelial generation (p-value 0.02, p<0.05 Significant).


Graph partitioning is important for optimizing the performance and communication cost of large graph processing jobs. Recently, many graph applications such as social networks store their data on geo-distributed datacenters (DCs) to provide services worldwide with low latency. This raises new challenges to existing graph partitioning methods, due to the costly Wide Area Network (WAN) usage and the multi-levels of network heterogeneities in geo-distributed DCs. In this paper, we propose a geo-aware graph partitioning method named G-Cut, which aims at minimizing the inter-DC data transfer time of graph processing jobs in geo-distributed DCs while satisfying the WAN usage budget. G-Cut adopts two novel optimization phases which address the two challenges in WAN usage and network heterogeneities separately. G-Cut can be also applied to partition dynamic graphs thanks to its light-weight runtime overhead. We evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of G-Cut using realworld graphs with both real geo-distributed DCs and simulations. Evaluation results show that G-Cut can reduce the inter-DC data transfer time by up to 58% and reduce the WAN usage by up to 70% compared to state-of-the-art graph partitioning methods with a low runtime overhead.


Illegal fishing activities are reported to be on the increase in South Africa, including in its marine protected areas (MPAs). Research is presented on the nature and the scale of illegal fishing in Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) by analysing the numbers of abalone Haliotis midae and West Coast rock lobster Jasus lalandii confiscated from fishers operating in the park's marine protected area between 2000 and 2009. Data were collected from offence logbooks maintained by South African National Parks rangers and managers, the South African Police Services, and interviews with alleged or self-confessed illegal fishers. The research findings indicate that the annual numbers of illegally fished abalone and rock lobsters have increased significantly over time. Spatial analysis suggests that confiscations of abalone occur predominantly on the east coast of the park, whereas higher confiscations of illegally fished rock lobsters occur on the west coast. It is clear from this research that new and more efficient approaches will need to be designed and implemented to minimise illegal fishing in the TMNP MPA. Context-specific conservation targets that acknowledge and integrate social as well as developmental needs are required, and may be essential for limiting biodiversity loss in the longer term, which will ultimately ensure the success of fisheries management and conservation in TMNP.


Short-duration flares at millimeter wavelengths provide unique insights into the strongest magnetic reconnection events in stellar coronae and combine with longer-term variability to introduce complications to next-generation cosmology surveys. We analyze 5.5 yr of JCMT Transient Survey 850 μm submillimeter monitoring observations toward eight Gould Belt star-forming regions to search for evidence of transient events or long-duration variability from faint sources. The eight regions (30′ diameter fields), including ∼1200 infrared-selected YSOs, have been observed on average 47 times with integrations of approximately half an hour, or one day total, spread over 5.5 yr. Within this large data set, only two robust faint source detections are recovered: JW 566 in OMC 2/3 and MGM12 2864 in NGC 2023. JW 566, a Class II T Tauri binary system previously identified as an extraordinary submillimeter flare, remains unique, the only clear single-epoch transient detection in this sample with a flare eight times bright than our ∼4.5σ detection threshold of 55 mJy beam−1. The lack of additional recovered flares intermediate between JW 566 and our detection limit is puzzling if smaller events are more common than larger events. In contrast, the other submillimeter variable identified in our analysis, Source 2864, is highly variable on all observed timescales. Although Source 2864 is occasionally classified as a YSO, the source is most likely a blazar. The degree of variability across the electromagnetic spectrum may be used to aid source classification.


Women often resort to surgical abortion because they lack information on contraception or fear the side
effects of medical methods of abortions. A safe medical or combined medical and surgical method is the
need of hour and would save many lives. An effective cervical priming agent would aid surgical
abortions or would be effective alone.
Objective: To compare various dosage, regime and safety of intravaginal misoprostol (posterior fornix)
prior to surgical evacuation for cervical priming in first trimester.
Materials & methods: It was a prospective study which consisted of 75 patients divided into 3 groups,
25 patients each, with control group of 75 patients who did not have cervical priming .Both groups
underwent surgical evacuation.
Group 1: 200 microgram of misoprostol inserted, 6 hours prior to procedure.
Group 2: 200 microgram of misoprostol inserted, 12 hours prior to procedure.
Group3: 400microgram of misoprostol inserted, 12 hours prior to procedure.
Results: Successful priming defined as passage of no.10 Hegar's dilator without resistance was noted in
96% in group 3 compared to 88% in group 2 and 60% in group 1.Success rate was significant in 8-12
weeks period of gestation. Only 4% needed operative dilation in group 3 compared to 16% in group 2
and 36% in group 1. Nausea, vomiting and abdominal cramps were noted in 12% in group 1, 4% in
group 2 and none in group 3. Blood loss was less in group 3 compared to other groups.
Conclusion: Misoprostol has proved to be a safe , cost effective, easily acceptable cervical priming
agent in the first trimester termination of pregnancy in the dose of 400micrograms vaginally 12hours
prior to surgical evacuation .


Abstract This paper is an original approach about the informal physical activities and the preferences of the youngsters. Digital generation is the young generation born after the PC (personal computer) and Internet was largely introduced. From the early years of life they grow up with computer games, having accounts on social online communities and searching for information on Internet. Sports have their own place in this contemporaneous trend and are in tight relationship with web cultural elements, exploring new spaces and possibilities. Rollers, skateboarders, bikers or the ones who use just their own body for creating new, original movements, and tricks are using new patterns of learning, exercising and communicating. Instead of explanations they use the mobile phone to video recorder and watch the drills. The young people communities formed by common interests, sharing experiences and knowledge have a certain social and cultural value. The high speed, the high technology (IT gadgets) and a high level of adrenaline are, in author's opinion, the three main factors that define the spirit of the young generation physical activity.


Familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy (FAP) is a systemic amyloidosis mainly caused by amyloidogenic transthyretin (ATTR). This incurable disease causes death ∼10 years after onset. Although it has been widely accepted that conformational change of the monomeric form of transthyretin (TTR) is very important for amyloid formation and deposition in the organs, no effective therapy targeting this step is available. In this study, we generated a mouse monoclonal antibody, T24, that recognized the cryptic epitope of conformationally changed TTR. T24 inhibited TTR accumulation in FAP model rats, which expressed human ATTR V30M in various tissues and exhibited non-fibrillar deposits of ATTR in the gastrointestinal tracts. Additionally, humanized T24 (RT24) inhibited TTR fibrillation and promoted macrophage phagocytosis of aggregated TTR. This antibody did not recognize normal serum TTR functioning properly in the blood. These results demonstrate that RT24 would be an effective novel therapeutic antibody for FAP.


PURPOSE
To quantify the reflectance of the swine fundus as a function of illumination angle and wavelength using a novel technique of intravitreal illumination.

METHODS
Enucleated swine eyes were illuminated with a scanning monochromator coupled to a fiber-optic probe placed in the vitreous at several locations. Intravitreal illumination was used to reduce the effects of extraneous reflections and scatter from the anterior structures of the eye, including glints from the internal limiting membrane and blood vessels. Intravitreal illumination provided different light paths and additional information to apply to retinal reflectance modeling. A 25-mm(2) region of the illuminated fundus was imaged while the angle of illumination was varied over a maximum range of 22 degrees . Multispectral images from areas free of large blood vessels were acquired. The diffusely reflected intensity was integrated over the pupil with a solid angle of 0.028 steradians. The spectral reflectance function was calculated for multiple illumination angles.

RESULTS
Multispectral fundus image sets were obtained for two enucleated swine eyes by using intravitreal illumination. The fundus spectral reflectance function showed decreasing reflectance with increasing illumination angle, rapid changes in the 430- to 480-nm range, and a fairly consistent reflectance decrease for 480 to 700 nm.

CONCLUSIONS
Variations in fundus spectral reflectance with change in the illumination angle were found to deviate from Lambertian behavior, varying from Lambertian by 5% across the spectrum in one sample and 20% in a second sample. Intravitreal illumination resulted in markedly decreased extraneous reflections.


Background: There is a growing interest in the considerable benefits of dietary supplementations, such as folic acid, on the glycemic profile. We aimed to investigate the effects of folic acid supplementation on glycemic control markers in adults. Methods: Randomized controlled trials examining the effects of folic acid supplementation on glycemic control markers published up to March 2021 were detected by searching online databases, including Scopus, PubMed, Embase, and ISI web of science, using a combination of related keywords. Mean change and standard deviation (SD) of the outcome measures were used to estimate the mean difference between the intervention and control groups at follow-up. Meta-regression and non-linear dose-response analysis were conducted to evaluate the association between pooled effect size and folic acid dosage (mg/day) and duration of the intervention (week). From 1814 detected studies, twenty-four studies reported fasting blood glucose (FBG), fasting insulin, hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C), and Homeostatic Model Assessment for Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) as an outcome measure. Results: Results revealed significant reductions in FBG (weighted mean difference (WMD): −2.17 mg/dL, 95% CI: −3.69, −0.65, p = 0.005), fasting insulin (WMD: −1.63 pmol/L, 95% CI: −2.53, −0.73, p < 0.001), and HOMA-IR (WMD: −0.40, 95% CI: −0.70, −0.09, p = 0.011) following folic acid supplementation. No significant effect was detected for HbA1C (WMD: −0.27%, 95% CI: −0.73, 0.18, p = 0.246). The dose-response analysis showed that folic acid supplementation significantly changed HOMA-IR (r = −1.30, p-nonlinearity = 0.045) in non-linear fashion. However, meta-regression analysis did not indicate a linear relationship between dose, duration, and absolute changes in FBG, HOMA-IR, and fasting insulin concentrations. Conclusions: Folic acid supplementation significantly reduces some markers of glycemic control in adults. These reductions were small, which may limit clinical applications for adults with type II diabetes. Further research is necessary to confirm our findings.


The Indian parliament passed the Scientific Policy Resolution, generally referred to as SPR, in 1958. Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of a decade old yet the largest democracy, introduced the draft.  As the 'Papers' were 'laid on the table' Nehru who also held the charge of External Affairs and Finance, began, "Sir, I beg to lay on the table a copy of Government of India, Scientific Policy Resolution No 131/CF/57, dated 4 th March, 1958." He continued, "I shall read it out because we consider this resolution as an important one, defining our attitude to Science and Technology, generally". For him, the key to national prosperity, apart from the spirit of the people lay in three factors, technology, material and Capital. Pt. Nehru after introducing read the entire draft.


in Arizona's portfolio. Set aside at statehood, the Arizona State Land Department manages more than 9 million acres of trust lands on behalf of 14 beneficiaries. The largest of which by far is Arizona Public Education K through 12.The mission of the Land Department is to maximize revenues from these trust lands. In FY 2005, state trust lands generated $115 million for all beneficiaries, of which $101 million was designated to support public K-12 schools.These amounts are increasing rapidly as more state trust land becomes attractive for development in Arizona's urban areas. The parcel discussed in this report, " Superstition Vistas, " stands out as the jewel among Arizona's trust lands. Not only is it situated in the path of metro Phoenix growth, but it also borders thousands of acres of public land managed by the Tonto National Forest and U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Estimates of its total value run well into the billions of dollars. With so much at stake, we at the Land Department sincerely appreciate Morrison Institute for Public Policy's research, and the ideas and vision of all who have contributed to this thoughtful discussion regarding the future of the Superstition Vistas property. The Treasure of the Superstitions sets the stage for a continuing dialogue about the potential for Superstition Vistas, and indeed, all of Arizona's trust lands. We look forward to listening to and working with our beneficiaries, citizens, counties, municipalities, real estate businesses, and other interested parties to make the most of Arizona's " treasure. " ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many organization leaders, elected officials, design and development professionals, public agency professionals, scholars, and community activists contributed important information and insights to this report. A SPECIAL TRIBUTE Dave Longey helped to point out the importance of Superstition Vistas to the future of greater Phoenix and was a dedicated participant in this study's early stages. Dave worked tirelessly to preserve and plan land, especially in the southeast Valley, so it would serve the people who live there now and in the future. Dave passed away in November 2005.The authors of and contributors to this report want to acknowledge Dave's critical role in getting people to think about Superstition Vistas and how its development could be of the greatest benefit to future generations of Arizonans.


Engaging with commercial partners is increasingly required by public science funding agencies and encouraged by government officials. Reasons for this shift include alleviating the strain on government science budgets and opening up possibilities for scientists to secure jobs in private companies. Universities have also begun to advocate for strategies and policies that facilitate commercial collaborations. Similarly, there is interest—although still scattered in Portugal—among the business sector to look for "something different" in order to prepare for the complex problems that await in an uncertain future. This essay addresses the process of gaining entree to a major Portuguese food retailer by making use of the metaphors of flirting and dating. The slow process of engagement with this retailer is described, in particular a two-day "backstage" visit of its food retail operations. During these interactions the challenges of commercial–science collaborations with regard to differing expectations and objectives—in areas such as trust issues; confidentiality agreements; integrity of scientific objectives versus the pressures of market-driven organizations; the different nature and uses of information—are unveiled. The disparate conceptions of time and output delivery, together with the different rhythms of making business and making science, are discussed. To conclude, the "dating" and "flirting" stages of the relationship between social researchers and food retailers reflect a slow process that involves diplomatic skills, open minds, and the constant juggling of "familiar" and "unfamiliar" ways of thinking and doing.


Aflatoxins (AF), a group of closely related, extremely toxic mycotoxins, produced by Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus can occur as natural contaminants of foods and feeds. Aflatoxins have been shown to be hepatotoxic, carcinogenic, mutagenic, and teratogenic to different animal species. Zizyphus spina-christi L. extract was investigated for its antifungal and antimicrobial activities. The aim of the present work was to evaluate the antioxidant activity of the methanol extract of Z. spina-christi L. leaves against the oxidative stress of aflatoxin in rats. Fourty male Sprague-Dawley male rats were divided into four groups including the control group, the group fed aflatoxin-contaminated diet (3 mg/kg diet) and the groups treated with Zizyphus extract (5 mg/kg b.w) alone or in combination with AF for 15 days. Biochemical analysis revealed that treatment with AF resulted in a significant increase in ALT, AST, cholesterol, triglycerides, uric acid, TNFa, LPO, NO and CEA, whereas it decrease significantly GPX and SOD. The histopathological examination of the liver, kidney and testis showed sever histological changes typical to those reported for aflatoxicosis. Animals treated with Zizyphus extract alone or plus AF showed a significant improvement in all biochemical parameters and histological picture of liver, kidney and testis. It could be concluded that Zizyphus extract have a power protective role against aflatoxicosis.


The correspondence between mean sea surface temperature (SST) biases in retrospective seasonal forecasts (hindcasts) and long-term climate simulations from five global climate models is examined to diagnose the degree to which systematic SST biases develop on seasonal time scales. The hindcasts are from the North American Multimodel Ensemble, and the climate simulations are from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project. The analysis suggests that most robust climatological SST biases begin to form within 6 months of a realistically initialized integration, although the growth rate varies with location, time, and model. In regions with large biases, interannual variability and ensemble spread is much smaller than the climatological bias. Additional ensemble hindcasts of the Community Earth System Model with a different initialization method suggest that initial conditions do matter for the initial bias growth, but the overall global bias patterns are similar after 6 months. A hindcast approach is more suitable to study biases over the tropics and subtropics than over the extratropics because of smaller initial biases and faster bias growth. The rapid emergence of SST biases makes it likely that fast processes with time scales shorter than the seasonal time scales in the atmosphere and upper ocean are responsible for a substantial part of the climatological SST biases. Studying the growth of biases may provide important clues to the causes and ultimately the amelioration of these biases. Further, initialized seasonal hindcasts can profitably be used in the development of high-resolution coupled ocean–atmosphere models.


Pre-congestion notification (PCN) is a mechanism designed to protect
the quality of service of inelastic flows. It does this by marking
packets when traffic load on a link is approaching or has exceeded a
threshold below the physical link rate. This document specifies an
extension to the two-state PCN baseline encoding that enables three
encoding states to be carried in the IP header without using more than
one Diffserv codepoint. It presupposes a standards action has removed
the limit of two encoding states in current tunnelling mechanisms.


The evaluation of the hydrodynamic performance of planing vessels has always been one of the most attractive study fields in the maritime agenda. Resistance and self-propulsion studies have been performed using experimental and numerical methods by researchers for a long time. As opposed to this, the seakeeping performance of planing hulls is assessed with 2D approximation methods, but limitedly, while the experimental campaign is not cost-effective for several reasons. With this motivation, pitch and heave transfer functions and accelerations were obtained for a monohedral hull and a warped hull using a state of art commercial Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) solver, in this study. Moreover, 2-DOF (degree of freedom) dynamic fluid–body interaction (DFBI) equations were solved in a coupled manner with an overset mesh algorithm, to find the instantaneous motion of the body. After verification, obtained numerical results at three different Froude numbers and a sufficiently large wave frequency range were compared with the experiments. The results showed that the employed RANS method offers a very accurate prediction of vertical motions and accelerations for planing hulls.


In this paper, a security problem in remote estimation scenario is studied. We consider a multi-sensor system where each sensor transmits its local innovation to a remote estimator through a wireless communication network. A centralized residue-based detection criterion is adopted to monitor system anomalies. We propose a linear attack strategy and present the corresponding feasibility constraints to guarantee stealthiness. For a resource-limited attacker, who is able to listen to all the channels while only launches an attack on one sensor at each time instant, we investigate which sensor should be attacked and what strategy should be used such that the remote estimation error covariance is maximized. A closed-form expression of the optimal linear attack strategy is obtained. Simulation examples are provided to illustrate the theoretical results.


Background: Structural and magnetic properties of binary Mn–Pt and ternary Fe1–xMnxPt nanoparticles in the size range of up to 2.5 nm (561 atoms) have been explored systematically by means of large scale first principles calculations in the framework of density functional theory. For each composition several magnetic and structural configurations have been compared. Results: The concentration dependence of magnetization and structural properties of the ternary systems are in good agreement with previous bulk and thin film measurements. At an intermediate Mn-content around x = 0.25 a crossover between several phases with magnetic and structural properties is encountered, which may be interesting for exploitation in functional devices. Conclusion: Addition of Mn effectively increases the stability of single crystalline L10 particles over multiply twinned morphologies. This, however, compromises the stability of the ferromagnetic phase due to an increased number of antiferromagnetic interactions. The consequence is that only small additions of Mn can be tolerated for data recording applications.


Summary form only given. What is innovation? It's not always about inventing something entirely new (Sam Palmisano, 2003). Innovations have been considered the primary driver for economic growth for many key economies. Therefore, it is critical to develop a clear understanding of innovation, and its main characteristics. IBM has been an innovation leader in many computer-related hardware and software systems. More recently, service-oriented innovations have been emerging as the single most important contributor to the future growth of our industry. Interestingly, it presents many challenges as well as opportunities for our profession. Naturally, it would require one to extend the innovation ecosystem into service oriented space to ensure the realization of an on demand business vision.


The purpose of this paper is to extend the understanding of Intellectual Capital (IC) in the context of Italian listed firms. In this study, the Valued Added Intellectual Coefficient (VAIC) is employed as a measure of IC to investigate the relationship between IC, firms' financial performance and market value. The empirical investigation is developed by using data drawn from a sample of 135 Italian listed companies for the period from 2008 to 2017 and performing different Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression models. The findings suggest that, when taken in its aggregated form, IC exerts a positive impact on firms' financial performance measured as firms' profitability and growth in revenues as well as on market value. However, when considering its components, only Human Capital efficiency shows a positive effect on firms' financial performance while Structural Capital efficiency and Capital Employed efficiency exhibit a negative effect. Astonishingly, each of the individual IC components negatively influences firms' market value.

 Key words: Intellectual capital, intangible assets, valued added intellectual coefficient (VAIC), Italian listed firms, market value, financial performance.


Abstract Over the recent years, potential associations between Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) infection and cancer risk have attracted a lot of attention. Nevertheless, the association between T. gondii infection and oral cancer remains relatively unexplored. We performed a case–control study of 861 oral cancer patients and 861 control subjects from eastern China with the aim to detect antibodies to T. gondii by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in these patients. The results showed that oral cancer patients (21.72%, 187/861) had a significantly higher seroprevalence than control subjects (8.25%, 71/861) (P < 0.001). Among them, 144 (16.72%) oral cancer patients and 71 (8.25%) control subjects were positive for IgG antibodies to T. gondii, while 54 (6.27%) oral cancer patients and 9 (1.05%) controls were positive for IgM antibodies to T. gondii. In addition, multiple logistic analysis showed that T. gondii infection in oral cancer patients was associated with blood transfusion history, keeping cats at home, and oyster consumption. To our knowledge, this is the first study that provided a serological evidence of an association between T. gondii infection and oral cancer patients. However, further studies are necessary to elucidate the role of T. gondii in oral cancer patients.


Abstract: As the digital economy has become an important driving force for a new round of global industrial change, live ecommerce has become a new outlet, and the "agriculture assisted live broadcasting" has emerged. This paper combs the existing literature and combines the characteristics of "agriculture assisted live broadcasting" to get a theoretical research model of consumers' purchasing behavior in the context of "assisted farmer direct broadcast". Using questionnaire survey method to collect data for empirical analysis, the research found that consumers' perceived risk negatively affects purchase intention; efficacy positively affects purchase intention; consumer purchase intention positively affects purchase behavior; consumer perceived value and social norms have no significant effect on purchase intention. Finally, this article makes suggestions for businesses and relevant departments of the live broadcast industry.


Virulence plasmid expression in the Yersinia has been shown to vary depending upon which species harbors the virulence plasmid suggesting that chromosomal regulation may in some way be involved. In this study, fertility plasmid expression in Y. pestis was investigated as a means of evaluating mechanisms of virulence plasmid regulation in this bacterium. The F plasmid was found to be minimally expressed in Y. pestis transferring at a rate of 8.8 $\times$ 10$\sp{-5\%}.$ In addition, Y. pestis failed to express F pili as determined by infection with the male specific phage MS2. When F plasmids containing at least 2 E. coli F regulatory genes were transferred to Y. pestis and monitored for MS2 sensitivity, they were found to confer MS2 sensitivity to Y. pestis. In an attempt to determine if these known plasmid regulatory genes could influence virulence plasmid expression, three clones arcA, rfaH, and cpxA were observed in Y. pestis. All of these genes were found to increase the frequency of F transfer from Y. pestis, but none were able to alter virulence plasmid expression. The effects of anaerobic growth on plasmid expression were investigated. While anaerobicity was observed to have no effect on F plasmid expression, surprisingly virulence plasmid expression was found to be repressed in strains with and without the arcA gene. Further analysis of two $\beta$-galactosidase insertion mutants of Y. pestis revealed that both yopJ and yopE genes failed to be induced by the normal stimuli when the mutants were grown anaerobically. However, it was noted that when these strains were returned to an aerobic environment plasmid expression returned to normal. Varying gas mixtures were studied for their ability to repress plasmid expression, but only the original mix of 85%N$\sb2,$ 5%CO$\sb2,$ and 10%H$\sb2$ was able to repress plasmid expression. NaHCO$\sb3$ at a final concentration of 10mM was found to relieve growth restriction aerobically suggesting that the anaerobic repression was due to the formation of HCO$\sb{3\sp-}$ in the presence of CO$\sb2$ and H$\sb2.$. These results represent a new means of relieving Yersinia plasmid-mediated growth restriction in vitro which may be related to the physiological environment encountered in vivo by this bacterium.


Microbial fuel cells (MFC) stacked with bipolar plates have been constructed and their performance was tested. In this design, single fuel cell unit was connected in series by bipolar plates where an anode and a cathode were made in one graphite block. Two types of bipolar plate stacked MFCs were constructed. Both utilized the same glucose oxidation reaction catalyzed by Gram negative bacteria, Proteus vulgaris as a biocatalyst in an anodic compartment, but two different cathodic reactions were employed: One with ferricyanide reduction and the other with oxygen reduction reactions. In both cases, the total voltage was the mathematical sum of individual fuel cells and no degradation in performance was found. Electricity from these MFCs was stored in a supercapacitor to drive external loads such as a motor and electric bulb.


Malignant phyllodes tumours are rare fibroepithelial tumours of the breast. The tumours consist of a benign looking epithelium surrounded by a cellular stroma with malignant features. Two cases of a malignant phyllodes tumour are presented. Both cases showed recurrence before metastasizing. One case was treated by a radical mastectomy and the other needed only a toilet mastectomy. Radiotherapy had no effect in one of the cases.


The last financial crisis in 2008 has weakened the Euro-zone countries. Most of them were deeply affected, and their economic growths have not returned to their pre-crisis rates. Moreover, the inflation rate is still very low despite the European Central Bank's interventions. Twelve years later, a health crisis occurred. The ECB have reacted to this event by using monetary tools. We can cite for example the famous temporary Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP) to save the Euro-zone countries from a systemic disaster. The current interest rate is negative, and it seems to raise some questions about the efficiency of policies and the threat to economic, monetary, and financial stability. Negative interest rate may also generate the next crisis. This paper is dedicated to recommendations based on the role of Central Banks in the health crisis management and, more generally, environmental crisis management instead of evaluating the impacts of the monetary policies on Eurozone countries because it is too early to measure with acuity the COVID-19 effects. © 2021, University of National and World Economy. All rights reserved.


This report investigates two approaches for online pattern-matching in files compressed with the Burrows-Wheeler transform (Burrows & Wheeler 1994). The first is based on the Boyer-Moore pattern matching algorithm (Boyer & Moore 1977), and the second is based on binary search. The new methods use the special structure of the BurrowsWheeler transform to achieve efficient, robust pattern matching algorithms that can be used on files that have been only partly decompressed. Experimental results show that both new methods perform considerably faster than a decompress-and-search approach for most applications, with binary search being faster than Boyer-Moore at the expense of increased memory usage. The binary search in particular is strongly related to efficient indexing strategies such as binary trees, and suggests a number of new applications of the Burrows-Wheeler transform in data storage and retrieval.


The gyrokinetic toroidal code (GTC) capability has been extended for simulating internal kink instability with kinetic effects in toroidal geometry. The global simulation domain covers the magnetic axis, which is necessary for simulating current-driven instabilities. GTC simulation in the fluid limit of the kink modes in cylindrical geometry is verified by benchmarking with a magnetohydrodynamic eigenvalue code. Gyrokinetic simulations of the kink modes in the toroidal geometry find that ion kinetic effects significantly reduce the growth rate even when the banana orbit width is much smaller than the radial width of the perturbed current layer at the mode rational surface.


Törnqvist et al. accept the usefulness of our data but confuse hurricane landfall location with hurricane storm surge impacts, misrepresent our data interpretation, and misattribute conclusions to our study. Our study did not attempt to address the overall effectiveness of river diversions used for management purposes. We agree that river mouth sedimentation is an important geological process that may lead to marsh colonization.


Experience is reported of short-circuit testing of large power transformers during the past 14 years by KEMA in the Netherlands. In total, 119 transformers > 25 MVA participated in the survey. KEMA shows that at initial access to standard IEC short-circuit tests, 28% failed initially in a wide range of power (119 transformers 25 - 440 MVA, 20 – 500 kV tested). No clear single cause for major failures could be identified; instead, a variety of defects was observed, mostly because of the dynamics associated with passage of short-circuit current. It is the author's observation that change in winding impedance due to short-circuit current passage is an excellent indicator for the short-circuit withstand capability. The authors comment on often heard considerations to replace short-circuit testing by design review procedures, mainly because of costs: ?? "There is no necessity to test because calculation methods are sufficiently adequate". ?? "There is no necessity to test because service experience with transformers is so good". ?? "The costs of testing have become prohibitively high and testing takes too much time". ?? "Short-circuit testing may have a deteriorating influence on the transformer under test". The authors conclude that design review, as the only component of quality assessment of power transformers, is not sufficient since 1/3 of the transformers that failed in service passed design review. No transformer failed in service had been short-circuit tested prior to installation. In addition, it is demonstrated that a major leap in quality improvement could be realised through full-power testing. It is concluded that although statistically every transformer faces several full short-circuits during its life, the current that really occurs at such a full shortcircuit current is smaller than the rated short-circuit for which the transformer is designed. In the future, however, this gap will narrow due to more efficient utilisation of the networks and growth of energy consumption. A brief overview is given on test methods and test installations of the author's laboratory.


MLL gene rearrangement is common in both adult and childhood acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), and its role in oncogenesis has been investigated. While over 50 translocated‐partner genes have been identified so far, few studies have detailed the molecular mechanism of partial tandem duplication (PTD) of the MLL gene. The prognostic impact and contribution to leukaemogenesis of MLL‐PTD, especially in childhood cases, remain unknown. We have established a novel cell line containing MLL‐PTD derived from an 11‐year‐old patient with AML and designated as KOPM‐88. KOPM‐88 cells exhibited certain characteristics associated with the myeloid lineage including abundant primary granules in the cytoplasm and the expression of myeloperoxidase. The cell growth of KOPM‐88 was cytokine independent but was accelerated by granulocyte colony‐stimulating factor and granulocyte‐macrophage colony‐stimulating factor. MLL‐PTD of exon 2 to exon 6 and exon 2 to exon 8 was revealed using Southern blotting, fluorescence in situ hybridisation, and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction/DNA sequencing. Furthermore, non‐obese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficient mice inoculated with KOPM‐88 cells exhibited leukaemic infiltrations in the bone marrow and hemiparalysis because of compression myelopathy. This is the first report of an in vivo animal model exhibiting the systemic involvement of childhood AML containing MLL‐PTD. KOPM‐88 cells and our murine model may be useful for investigating the pathogenesis of childhood AML associated with MLL gene rearrangement.


IGR J17285−2922 is a known X-ray binary with a low peak 2–10 keV X-ray luminosity of ∼ 1036 erg s−1 during outburst. IGR J17285−2922 exhibited two outbursts in 2003 and 2010 and went into outburst again in 2019. We have monitored this ∼ 4-month long 2019 outburst with Swift in X-ray and the Very Large Array in radio. We have also obtained four optical spectra with the Gran Telescopio Canarias and Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope, three optical photometry measurements with the Las Cumbres Observatory, and one near-infrared spectrum with the Gemini South telescope. The ratio between its X-ray and radio luminosity is consistent with both samples of neutron star and black hole (BH) X-ray binaries, while the ratio between the X-ray and optical luminosity is consistent with BH X-ray binaries. Studying the evolution of its X-ray power-law index throughout the outburst, we find additional evidence for a BH as compact object. The four optical spectra show no H α emission and the nIR spectrum shows no Brγ emission, suggesting that the donor star could be hydrogen-poor and hence that IGR J17285−2922 might have an ultracompact binary orbit. The shape of the X-ray light curve is well described by an exponential, followed by a linear decay, from which we obtain a relation between the orbital period Porb and the binary mass ratio. We discuss how this relation is consistent with theoretical predictions and known ultracompact X-ray binaries. Lastly, we discuss how the observed properties are reminiscent of short-Porb BH X-ray binaries.


: Hypoventilation in children with hypertrophied tonsils can cause hypoxemia, hypercarbia, acidosis and pulmonary vasoconstriction resulting in cardiac arrhythmias or cor pulmonale. In addition, cerebral symptoms such as day-time hypersomnia or even seizures may be present. Early recognition of hypertrophied tonsils is necessary to avoid development of severe cardiac symptoms. If cardiac incompensation is present, medical treatment is advocated prior to tonsillectomy. Anaesthesia for tonsillectomy in these children is associated with special considerations. Preoperative sedation should be excluded, and inhalational induction with O2 and Halothane is recommended. On induction a difficult intubation should be expected.


Objective: The objective of this selective EBM review is to determine whether or not viscosupplementation is effective in reducing osteoarthritis knee pain Study Design: Review of three randomized, double blind, placebo control trials between 20092010 Data Sources: Three randomized, double blind, placebo control trials were found via PubMed and NCBI Outcomes Measured: Each randomized control trial measured knee pain and/or patient satisfaction following their intervention (placebo or hyaluronic acid) in patients with knee osteoarthritis, which was measured via WOMAC pain scale and patient global assessment forms. Results: All three randomized studies showed treatment with hyaluronic acid (hylan G-F 20) were statistically significant (P<0.05) for change in pain at 14-26 weeks after injection (NNT=68 for Chevalier et al and 4 for Kul-Panza & Berker). Patient satisfaction was higher in the experimental groups as compared to the control with conclusions of NNT between 11 and 20 for Chevalier et al and Kul-Panza & Berker respectively. Chavelier et al found adverse events such as arthralgias and joint effusion in <10% of their study population (NNH=39). No dichotomous data was presented in Diacoglu et al; however an ANOVA was deemed statistically significant (p<0.01) Conclusions: Review of these articles concludes that the use of hyaluronic acid is beneficial in reducing knee pain and exhibits patient satisfaction. The use of hyaluronic acid needs to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis and should not be used in every patient with osteoarthritis, particularly if other additional knee injuries or significant surgical history are present.


The use of polyvalent erythrocyte diagnosticum prepared on the basis of 5 polysaccharide antigens of P. aeruginosa slime, isolated from strains belonging to the most widespread serovars, makes it possible to check up the humoral response of donors after their immunization with P. aeruginosa polyvalent corpuscular vaccine with the aim of obtaining anti-P. aeruginosa donor plasma. Antibody titers, determined in the passive hemagglutination test with the use of the proposed diagnosticum and corresponding to a serum dilution of 1:320 and greater, age tentatively diagnostic, which may be indicative of P. aeruginosa in the development of purulent septic complications in patients. The use of the passive hemagglutination test with the newly developed polyvalent erythrocyte diagnosticum makes it possible to check up the specific response of patients having P. aeruginosa infection in the process of their treatment with anti-P. aeruginosa hyperimmune plasma used as a part of complex therapy.


This report examines policy drivers of electric vehicles (EVs), and what potential role policy can play in enhancing the innovation and market development of EVs. We start with a policy review of key targets in the Nordic countries and the EU, up to 2030, and discuss to what extent they are consistent with industry, government and expert estimates of how the EV innovation systems can grow. On the basis of this, the second part examines what policy drivers might be needed to enable a breakthrough scenario, using a technological innovation systems (TIS) perspective to describe the needed processes, drivers and developments in policy and technology.


Hypothesis/Purpose
The purpose of this study was to assess relationships between active trunk rotation range of motion (TROM), upper quarter dynamic stability, and composite and individual item KJOC scores in collegiate baseball pitchers. A secondary purpose was to determine whether differences exist between baseball pitchers with and without an injury history in terms of their performance on TROM, upper quarter dynamic stability, and composite and individual KJOC scores. It was hypothesized that increased TROM and upper quarter dynamic stability are associated with better (higher) KJOC scores and pitchers with an injury history would exhibit lower KJOC scores compared to uninjured pitchers.

Study Design
Cross-sectional Cohort Study.

Methods
Thirty-six college pitchers were assessed for TROM, performance on the Upper Quarter Y-Balance Test (YBT-UQ) and they also completed the KJOC. Subjects were grouped based on previous injury history: injured, required surgery, (IS, n=9), injured, no surgery, (INS, n=6), and uninjured (UI, n=21). Pearson's Correlations were used to assess relationships between clinical measurements and the KJOC. One-way ANOVAs were used to assess differences in TROM, YBT-UQ, and KJOC scores between groups (P<0.05).

Results
No significant relationships were detected between TROM measures and KJOC composite scores (throwing arm: r = .239, p = 0.16; non-throwing arm: r=.291, p = 0.09). A moderate relationship was found between the YBT-UQ and the KJOC scores (throwing arm: r = .413, p = 0.01; non-throwing arm: r=.380, p = 0.02). The mean KJOC scores for item 1 (warm-up limitations) were significantly different between all three groups (IS: 6.7, INS: 9.7, UI: 9.1; p = 0.015). Mean scores on item 5 (strain on relationships with coaches) and item 8 (limitations in competition endurance) were significantly different between the IS and UI groups (Item 5 = IS: 7.8, UI: 9.5, p = 0.02; Item 8=IS: 6.4, UI: 8.8, p = 0.04).

Conclusion
A positive moderate association was found between upper quarter dynamic stability as measured by the YBT-UQ and the KJOC. Pitchers with no surgical history had better KJOC scores for warm up time, competitive endurance, and impact on team relationships.

Level of Evidence
3.


The beta 2-integrin (CD18) family members bind to their ligands subsequent to activation of a number of well defined and diverse signal transduction pathways. The precise molecular changes associated with activation of the integrin family members have remained elusive. Here, we characterize a monoclonal, CBR LFA-1/2, that binds to the beta 2-subunit and is able to mimic activation induced upon stimulation by phorbol esters. The Ab induces binding of the LFA-1-expressing cell line, JY, to ICAM-1 (CD54) and ICAM-3 (CD50). Activation of binding by this Ab is independent of Fc interactions and does not occur through cross-linking at the cell surface, because the Fab fragment of the Ab is able to modulate the same effect. Stimulation of neutrophils with CBR LFA-1/2 induces binding to ICAM-1 through activation of both LFA-1 and Mac-1. Activation of Mac-1 by CBR LFA-1/2 was further confirmed by stimulation of neutrophil binding to fibrinogen, a ligand for Mac-1. CBR LFA-1/2 lowers by 10-fold the concentration of Mg2+ required to achieve maximal binding of LFA-1 to ICAM-1. It therefore appears that CBR LFA-1/2 induces a conformational change that directly increases the avidity of beta 2-integrins for ligands.


The book presents a ground-breaking view of the navigational landscape of the Nile in medieval Egypt by drawing on a broad range of sources: medieval Arabic geographies; traveler accounts; archaeology; and meteorological, hydrological, and geological studies.Its first major section charts the changing geography of the Nile waterways, particularly in the Delta, from the eve of Islam to the early modern period, and logs the "rise and fall" of these waterways for natural and/or anthropogenic reasons. The book then presents a new perspective on the Nile: it draws on traveler accounts and environmental data to portray the river as a uniquely challenging and sometimes dangerous navigational environment requiring extensive local knowledge by skilled and hard-working Nile navigators.Finally, the book looks at how the main Delta and Red Sea ports of medieval Egypt fitted into the navigational landscape described: it explains how these ports were effected by changes occurring to the navigational landscape, and how they reflected the navigational conditions of the Nile and surrounding seas. The book is richly illustrated with maps and images.


As countries strive to reform education systems and improve student results, school leadership is high on education policy agendas. But in many countries, the men and women who run schools are overburdened, underpaid and near retirement. And few people are lining up for their jobs. What leadership roles contribute most to improving student learning? How best to allocate and distribute leadership tasks? How to develop the right skills for effective school leadership? How to make the profession attractive to high-quality candidates; This book is based on an OECD study of school leadership practices and policies around the world. Offering a valuable cross-country perspective, it identifies four policy levers and a range of policy options to help governments improve school leadership now and build sustainable leadership for the future.


The main focus of this dissertation is on classical combinatorial optimization problems in two important areas: scheduling and network design.
In the area of scheduling, the main interest is in problems in the master-slave model. In this model, each machine is either a master machine or a slave machine. Each job is associated with a preprocessing task, a slave task and a postprocessing task that must be executed in this order. Each slave task has a dedicated slave machine. All the preprocessing and postprocessing tasks share a single master machine or the same set of master machines. A job may also have an arbitrary release time before which the preprocessing task is not available to be processed. The main objective in this dissertation is to minimize the total completion time or the makespan. Both the complexity and algorithmic issues of these problems are considered. It is shown that the problem of minimizing the total completion time is strongly NP-hard even under severe constraints. Various efficient algorithms are designed to minimize the total completion time under various scenarios.
In the area of network design, the survivable network design problems are studied first. The input for this problem is an undirected graph G = (V, E), a non-negative cost for each edge, and a nonnegative connectivity requirement τu ν for every (unordered) pair of vertices u, ν. The goal is to find a minimum-cost subgraph in which each pair of vertices u, ν is joined by at least τu ν edge (vertex)-disjoint paths. A Polynomial Time Approximation Scheme (PTAS) is designed for the problem when the graph is Euclidean and the connectivity requirement of any point is at most 2. PTASs or Quasi-PTASs are also designed for 2-edge-connectivity problem and biconnectivity problem and their variations in unweighted or weighted planar graphs.
Next, the problem of constructing geometric fault-tolerant spanners with low cost and bounded maximum degree is considered. The first result shows that there is a greedy algorithm which constructs fault-tolerant spanners having asymptotically optimal bounds for both the maximum degree and the total cost at the same time. Then an efficient algorithm is developed which finds fault-tolerant spanners with asymptotically optimal bound for the maximum degree and almost optimal bound for the total cost.


The recent years have witnessed three-dimensional (3-D) video technology to become increasingly popular, as it can provide high-quality and immersive experience to end users, where view rendering with depth-image-based rendering (DIBR) technique is employed to generate the virtual views. Distortions in depth map may induce geometry changes in the virtual views, and distortions in texture video may be propagated to the virtual views. Thus, effective compression of both texture videos and depth maps is important for 3-D video system. From the perspective of bit allocation, asymmetric coding of the texture videos and depth maps is an effective way to get the optimal solution of 3-D video compression and view rendering problems. In this paper, a novel asymmetric coding method of multi-view video plus depth (MVD) based 3-D video is proposed on purpose of providing high-quality view rendering. In the proposed method, two models are proposed to characterize view rendering distortion and binocular suppression in 3-D video. Then, an asymmetric coding method of MVD-based 3-D video is proposed by combining two models in encoding framework. Finally, a chrominance reconstruction algorithm is presented to achieve accurate reconstruction. Experimental results show that compared with other methods, the proposed method can obtain higher performance of view rendering under the total bitrate constraint. Moreover, the perceptual visual quality of 3-D video is almost unaffected with the proposed method.


The risk of acquisition of multidrug-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (MRE) and of occurrence of diarrhoea is high when travelling to tropical regions. The relationships between these phenomena and the composition of human gut microbiota have not yet been assessed. Here, we investigated the dynamics of changes of metabolically active microbiota by sequencing total RNA from faecal samples taken before and after travel to tropical regions. We found that the occurrence of diarrhoea during the travel was associated with a higher relative abundance of Prevotella copri before departure and after return. The composition of microbiota, before travel as well as at return, was not correlated with the acquisition of MRE. However, the clearance of MRE one month after return was linked to a specific pattern of bacterial species that was also found before and after return.


Continued progress in many areas of science depends on access to advanced modern instruments and the data they provide. Costly instruments have been shared in a number of disciplines for many years, and common patterns of shared usage have developed independently. The scientific and financial aspects of large instrument usage are discussed from the points of view of the instrument centers, the users, and the funding agencies. The instrument problem is not one problem but many, and coordinated solutions must be implemented with well-defined goals based on knowledge of the needs of the users and developers of instruments.


At present, the main methods of analyzing the reasons why construction cost always got out of control are qualitative analysis based on the practical construction experiences in the construction cost management. And these analyses were easily affected by subjective factors. By introducing a complete decomposition model, the influencing factors of the incontrollable construction cost in the construction stage can be decomposed to the effect of quantity changes and the effect of unit price changes of each kind of construction. A quantitative analysis will be carried on subsequently to analyzing these effects to find the main effects of the whole construction cost changes. This model made the analysis more objective and scientific, and can accumulate the data for new or planned similar constructions. To illustrate, the decomposition on construction cost changes of a small civil project is carried out.


The thesis is dedicated to studying methods to improve the efficiency of random access schemes and to facilitate their deployment in machine-type communications (MTC). First, a joint user activity identification and channel estimation scheme is designed for grant-free random access systems. We propose a decentralized transmission control and design a compressed sensing (CS)-based user identification and channel estimation scheme. We analyze the packet delay and throughput of the proposed scheme. We also optimize the transmission control scheme to maximize the system throughput. Second, a random access scheme, i.e., the coded slotted ALOHA (CSA) scheme, is designed for erasure channels to improve the system throughput. By deriving the extrinsic information transfer (EXIT) functions and optimizing their convergence behavior, we design the code probability distributions for CSA schemes with repetition codes and maximum distance separable (MDS) codes to maximize the expected traffic load, under packet erasure and slot erasure channels. We derive the asymptotic throughput of CSA schemes over the erasure channels for an infinite frame length, which is verified to well approximate the throughput for a practical frame length. Third, an efficient data decoding algorithm for the CSA scheme is proposed to further improve the system efficiency. We present a low-complexity physical-layer network coding (PNC) method to obtain linear combinations of collided packets and design an enhanced message-level successive interference cancellation (SIC) algorithm to exploit the linear combinations of collided packets. We propose an analytical framework and derive the system throughput for the proposed scheme. The CSA scheme is further optimized to maximize the system throughput and energy efficiency.


This paper reviews recent commentary on and interpretations of the ongoing financial 'crisis' unfolding in many western economies. It finds that a central theme of these readings is the twofold argument that modern finance is too complex, and that this complexity is responsible for the crisis. The paper, inspired both by the economist John Galbraith and by the geographer David Harvey, argues against this widespread ascription and scapegoating of complexity. It does so as part of a wider argument that progress in human geography can be fostered through demystification of modern money and finance.


OBJECTIVE
Primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) is the most common type of glaucoma in Africa. We carried out a study to determine the clinical presentation pattern of patients with primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) at a tertiary hospital in Malawi.

DESIGN
A cross-sectional study.

SETTING
Lions Sight First Eye Hospital-a major referral and teaching state eye hospital in Blantyre, Malawi.

SUBJECTS
Study participants were newly diagnosed POAG patients at specialist eye clinic during study period.

RESULTS
A total of 60 POAG patients were recruited into the study. The mean age was 58.7 years (SD= 16.6, range 18 - 86). There were more male (44, 73.3%) than female (16, 27.7%) patients. The majority of patients (73%) presented one year after onset of visual symptoms. Twenty-six patients (43%) had unilateral blindness (visual acuity < 3/60; WHO classification), while nine patients (15%) presented with bilateral blindness. A vertical cup-to-disc ratio (CDR) of 0.8 or worse was seen in 92 eyes (79%). The mean intraocular pressure (IOP) reading was 35.5 mmHg (SD 13.30). Of the thirty-three eyes that successfully underwent visual field analysis, very advanced defects were recorded in 12 eyes (36%).

CONCLUSION
This study demonstrates delayed presentation and male predominance among POAG patients at a tertiary eye hospital in Malawi. Glaucoma intervention programmes should aim at identifying patients with treatable glaucoma with particular attention to women.


Food processing studies are important for both efficient use of energy and to obtain quality products. Yoghurt is a dairy product which consumes widely. Yoghurt producing facilities consumes high energy and run at low efficiency due to their traditional production methods. In order to produce quality yoghurt, pasteurized milk should be kept at 42-45 oC for 3-5 hours depending on the yeast type, this process called as incubation. After the incubation process, produced yoghurt must be cooled down to 20 oC in two hours depending on the package size of yoghurt. In conventional yoghurt production facilities, required heating and cooling are applied independently and this approach causes high energy consumptions, waste heat and the inefficient use of energy. In this study, a combined system consisting of a heat pump and a heat storage unit which is capable of the simultaneously heating and/or cooling application independently of each other is designed to ensure higher energy performance and efficiency. Thus, the required energy for heat transfer from the evaporator and cooling after the incubation process was ensured from the stored ice and, independently of the weight of the product, 64/68 units of energy (depending of refrigerant) were gained for each 100 units of required heating energy.The coefficient of performance (COP) of the system using R410a and R134a for heating, cooling and dual operation modes were calculated as 2.83, 1.83, 4.66 and 3.16, 2.16, 5.31, respectively. Energy costs for heat pump and conventional natural gas-fuel-oil boilers were compared. High energy efficiency and low energy consumption have been provided with the presented design, and suggestions for use for production facilities are given.


In order to improve coke strength by the technique of coal size control, it is essential to understand the relationship between inertinite size and coke strength. The size and area of the inertinite in coke was measured with a microscope and an image analysis technique and the effect of the inertinite size on coke strength was investigated. Moreover the reason why DI150–6 leveled off at an inertinite size of 1.5 mm was investigated.The results are follows.(1) When the inertinite size is between about 1.5 mm and 5 mm, the surface breakage product (DI150–6) decreases as the size of inertinite in coke diminishes. When the inertinite size is over about 5.0 mm, volume breakage product (DI1506–15) decreases as the inertinite size diminishes.(2) Effects of 1% increase/decrease of different size groups of inertinite on DI150–6 and DI1506–15 were clarified.(3) According to Hertzian contact theory and Griffith equation, it is estimated that cracks under 0.5 mm do not grow by fall of coke in the drum tester. The critical inertinite size (1.5 mm) is an appropriate value for this critical crack size (0.5 mm), because the size of the crack around the inertinite grain is equal to or smaller than the size of the inertinite grain.


We present the general framework to calculate chiral-odd generalized parton distributions in the overlap representation using the Fock-state decomposition in the transversespin basis. In the forward limit we derive the transversity distribution, the tensor charge and the angular momentum sum rule for quarks with transverse polarization in an unpolarized nucleon. Numerical results are obtained by applying the formalism to the case of light-cone wavefunctions of constituent quark models.


We develop wall modeling capabilities for large-eddy simulations (LESs) of channel flow subjected to spanwise rotation. The developed models are used for flows at various Reynolds numbers and rotation numbers, with different grid resolutions and in differently sized computational domains. We compare a physics-based approach and a data-based machine learning approach. When pursuing a data-based approach, we use the available direct numerical simulation data as our training data. We highlight the difference between LES wall modeling, where one writes all flow quantities in a coordinate defined by the wall-normal direction and the near-wall flow direction, and Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes modeling, where one writes flow quantities in tensor forms. Pursuing a physics-based approach, we account for system rotation by reformulating the eddy viscosity in the wall model. Employing the reformulated eddy viscosity, the wall model is able to predict the mean flow correctly. Pursuing a data-based approach, we train a fully connected feed-forward neural network (FNN). The FNN is informed about our knowledge (although limited) on the mean flow. We then use the trained FNNs as wall models in wall modeled LES (WMLES) and show that it predicts the mean flow correctly. While it is not the focus of this study, special attention is paid to the problem of log-layer mismatch, which is common in WMLES. Our study shows that log-layer mismatch, or rather, linear-layer mismatch in WMLES of spanwise rotating channels, is not present at high rotation numbers, even when the wall-model/LES matching location is at the first grid point.We develop wall modeling capabilities for large-eddy simulations (LESs) of channel flow subjected to spanwise rotation. The developed models are used for flows at various Reynolds numbers and rotation numbers, with different grid resolutions and in differently sized computational domains. We compare a physics-based approach and a data-based machine learning approach. When pursuing a data-based approach, we use the available direct numerical simulation data as our training data. We highlight the difference between LES wall modeling, where one writes all flow quantities in a coordinate defined by the wall-normal direction and the near-wall flow direction, and Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes modeling, where one writes flow quantities in tensor forms. Pursuing a physics-based approach, we account for system rotation by reformulating the eddy viscosity in the wall model. Employing the reformulated eddy viscosity, the wall model is able to predict the mean flow correctly. Pursuing a data-based approach, we trai...


India is the largest agricultural dependent country wherein; the culturally diverse population still depends on 'agriculture' and for them it is not merely a business but is the "True Culture of India". In Indian agriculture, women play multiple roles right from sowing to harvesting. She also plays crucial role in post-harvesting operations. Women are therefore key contributors in agricultural production. A comparative study to know the Knowledge of fi eld level women labourers involved in post-harvest activities of dry chilliA comparative study in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Study was undertaken in Haveri district of Karnataka and Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. A total of 120 respondents were selected for the study (60 respondents from Karnataka and 60 respondents from Andhra Pradesh). The data was collected through personal interview method with the help of pre-structured interview schedule. Statistical tools viz., frequency, percentages, class interval and t-test were used to analyze the data. The overall knowledge index of fi eld level labourers knowledge index was 63.48 in Haveri and 63.61 in Guntur districts respectively. Regarding fi eld level women labourers knowledge there was no signifi cant diff erence between Byadgi and Guntur district fi eld level women labourers.


The depictive secondary predication construction has two subject-predicate relationships in one clause, providing two propositional interpretations. This article proposes that the primary predication, which consists of a main verb, and the secondary predication, made up of a secondary predicate, are simultaneously derived in separate derivational planes; this proposal reflects a property of the secondary predicate that is not included in the θ-grid of the primary predicate. The idea of using Parallel Merge to merge these two planes that share a common element allows us to understand the secondary predication construction in a novel way.


Background Within the framework of the EU health information system, a European Core Health Indictor (ECHI) is foreseen on home and leisure, sport and school injuries (ECHI-29). However in 2010, there were no reasonably comparable injury data available for these areas, but emergency department (ED) records offered a most valuable source of information. Methods Based on previous experiences, the Joint Action on Monitoring Injuries in Europe (JAMIE) project (2010-2013) has developed a comprehensive Minimum Data Set (MDS), which can be recorded in EDs without adding noteworthy burden to staff and patients. MDS contains diagnoses and allows the enumeration of injuries in key areas as road, workplace, home and leisure, sport, school, work place, self-harm and assault. MDS data can be recorded directly or extracted from other datasets as ICD-10 or IDB-FDS (Full Data Set), which is used for recording injuries related to consumer products. Results During 2011–2013, 26 countries have submitted national MDS data sets to the European Injury Data Base (IDB) in MDS format, and 20 countries have provided reference population data, enabling the calculation of ECHI29. There are about 31 million home, leisure, sport and school injuries each year in the EU-28, which is 76% of all injuries treated in EDs. 700.000 injuries occur at school, 5.9 million during sporting, and 24.7 million at home or during other leisure time activities. The average incidence rate was 6.1%, with a variation between 4.9% in Portugal and 8.9% in Luxembourg. Conclusions MDS records from emergency departments can be the source for meaningful injury statistics and allow a differentiation by settings, age-groups and type of injuries. However, considerable variations between countries indicate that improvement of national methods is needed in order to increase cross-country comparability.


MUCH OF THE RESISTANCE TO THE PATIENT PROtection and Affordable Care Act signed by President Obama in March 2010 is encapsulated in the claim that it constitutes a "government takeover" of health care. In this as in other arenas, many US citizens indicate that they would rather entrust their welfare to the operations of private economic markets than to decisions made by government. Because of a combination of economic, social, and legal factors, considerable power over health care has effectively been delegated to medical societies, research organizations, and other institutions, enabling them to function in some respects like government rather than agents in a free market. In particular, the issuance of official statements setting the criteria for the diagnosis and treatment of disease can have much the same effect as the enactment of legislation or promulgation of regulations. In this Commentary, we describe how this "shadow government" evolved and discuss some of the implications of this phenomenon for health policy.


Planned changes to the European Union's Bathing Waters Directive (2006/7 EC) will force member states to produce improvements in a number of parameters of coastal water quality. This study uses the choice experiment method to estimate the economic benefits attached to such improvements, based on a sample of recreationalists on beaches in Ireland. The analysis indicates that improvements in all of the bathing water related attributes studied result in positive willingness to pay, and also show evidence of scope effects. Using random parameters and latent class modelling techniques, potential heterogeneity in preferences is then investigated and shown to be present to a significant degree. One observable determinant of this preference heterogeneity is the degree of exposure of individuals to health risks relating to water quality, as proxied by the type of recreational activity they undertake.


Lumpy jaw is a well-recognised cause of morbidity and mortality in captive macropods (Macropodidae) worldwide. The extent and causes of the disease are largely unknown, although multiple risk factors associated with a captive environment are thought to contribute to the development of clinical disease. Identification of risk factors associated with lumpy jaw would assist with the development of preventive management strategies, potentially reducing mortalities.

A cross-sectional study was undertaken from 2011 to 2015, to determine prevalence and risk factors for this disease through the distribution of a survey to 527 institutions across Australia and Europe; two regions where macropods are popular exhibits. Veterinary and husbandry records from the period 1st January 1995 up to and including 28th November 2016 (the last date when data were extracted from zoo records) were analysed in a retrospective cohort study, examining risk factors for developing disease and treatments used, over time. Computed tomography was used to examine disease occurrence in wild macropods using skulls from population management culls.

The prevalence of lumpy jaw was found to differ between the two regions (p 10 years (Australia IRR 7.63, p < 0.001; Europe IRR 7.38, p < 0.001). Treatment approach varied and prognosis was typically poor with 62.5% mortality for Australian and European regions combined. Lumpy jaw was detected in all captive genera examined, but was absent from the wild populations studied.

Geographic region influenced the incidence of lumpy jaw, the risks associated with developing clinical disease, and preferred treatment approach. Despite advances in antibiotic therapy and surgical techniques, treatment of lumpy jaw is largely unrewarding for the individual and should be approached on an individual basis. This research provides new information about this refractory disease and makes practical recommendations to reduce disease risk. This information may assist institutions in providing optimal long-term health management for captive macropods; such efforts having a positive impact on both welfare and conservation, including but not limited to captive breeding and translocation programs.


Data integrity is a major issue in today's world. Many organizations have faltered due to the nature of the date contained within their databases. Some organizations are failing as a result of inaccurate, modified, or incorrect data that is contained with organizational records. Still others are losing customers and clients, and yet others are the subject of malicious lawsuits based upon inaccurate decisions and subsequent actions derived from inaccurate, modified, or missing data. This article explores many of the sources of and issues relating to the entry, storage, and retrieval of data from databases. The article also examines several avenues for reducing data integrity problems, including the adequate training of users, who too often tend to be the inadvertent source of errors. The article was written to highlight several potential sources of errors, because data integrity is so critical for every organization.


EURO 2 regulation was applied in Vietnam since the 1 July 2007. Although it is an easy regulation but it raises a lot of problems in quality of fuel and engine technology. Under pressure of environment protection laws, emission regulation in our country should be certainly more and more strict. Simultaneous improvement of fuel quality and engine technology satisfying emission regulation needs more investment for vehicles and fuel. The decision depends on economic growth of the country. Basing on analysis of development of future vehicles and perspective of energy resources, the present paper suggests different possibilities for energy-environment issue in transport of Vietnam. According to the analysis, urban common transport should use electricity and gas fuels (LPG, NGV; retrofit instruments are needed to convert taxis, cars and motorcycles from petroleum to gas fuels. In near future, small size hybrid individual cars are suitable for Vietnam conditions. The paper presents also some primaJY results in studying a two-place hybrid car running on electricity and LPG.


We study the radiative properties—the Lamb shift, Purcell decay rate, and spontaneous emission dynamics— of an artificial atom coupled to a long, multimode cavity formed by an array of Josephson junctions. Introducing a tunable coupling element between the atom and the array, we demonstrate that such a system can exhibit a crossover from a perturbative to a nonperturbative regime of light-matter interaction as one strengthens the coupling between the atom and the Josephson-junction array. As a consequence, the concept of spontaneous emission as the occupation of the local atomic site being governed by a single complex-valued exponent breaks down. This breakdown, we show, can be interpreted in terms of formation of hybrid atom-resonator modes with radiative losses that are nontrivially related to the effective coupling between individual modes. We develop a singular function expansion approach for the description of the open quantum system dynamics in such a multimode nonperturbative regime. This modal framework generalizes the normal-mode description of quantum fields in a finite volume, incorporating exact radiative losses and incident quantum noise at the delimiting surface. Our results are pertinent to recent experiments with Josephson atoms coupled to high-impedance Josephson-junction arrays.


Transverse prestressing is an attractive concept with substantial benefits in both economy and improved durability. This report summarizes a series of interrelated physical tests and computer analyses which were conducted to provide necessary information for development of design criteria for transverse prestressing of bridge decks. It addresses such important design areas as the effective distribution of edge prestressing force across a bridge slab as affected by both diaphragm and girder restraints, realistic friction losses in transverse prestressing systems, and the behavior of transversely prestressed decks under typical wheel loadings. The principal attention is focused on slab and girder bridges, but analytical results are extended to box girder bridges. Experimental verification of the analysis programs allowed substantial parameter studies to be carried out with reasonable confidence. The results of the major experimental and analytical studies are summarized in this report.


The paper discusses the co-evolution of the EU mode of governance and the objectives of European Union cohesion policy. As EU integration proceeds, collective decision-making in an increasingly diverse political arena has become a central concern for research on EU governance. The literature on experimentalist governance suggests consensus-seeking deliberation and policy-experimentation as two key mechanisms to reduce the trade-off between overall policy responsiveness and democratic legitimacy. However, this paper argues that the inconsistencies which result from making cohesion policy deliver the Lisbon Agenda and EU 2020 objectives growth are a characteristic of meta-governance rather than of reflexive adaptation. These findings emerge from an analysis of the cohesion policy programming periods since 1988 and the parallel developments in European Union governance.


Problems of logical theory choice are current being widely dis- cussed in the context of anti-exceptionalist views on logic. According to those views, logic is not a special science among others, so, in particular, the methodology for theory choice should be the same in logic as for other scientific disciplines. Richard Routley advanced one such methodology which meshes well with anti-exceptionalism, and argued that it leads one to choosing one single logic, which is a kind of ultralogic. We argue that the choice for only one correct system of logic may be rejected on the basis of the methodology proposed by Routley and, furthermore, that taking anti-exceptionalism about logic seriously recommends that a pluralist view of logic should be accepted. We call this view "full-blooded anti-exceptionalism", and the resulting view on logic, lacking a proper name, "local pluralism".


Abstract Lightning flashes recorded in photographs by two satellites in the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) are used to calculate flash frequencies for land and ocean regions in 10° latitude belts between 60°S and 60°N for dusk and midnight local times. Data are analyzed for the first week of each month between March 1974 and February 1975. We find that the annual land-ocean ratio of global lightning at dusk ranges from 8 to approximately 20, depending on whether lightning near the coast is judged to be from thunderstorms produced predominantly by ocean effects or land effects. A similar analysis for data obtained near midnight yields ratios which range from 4 to 8. The global land-ocean lightning ratio is significantly higher during the northern summer than during the southern summer. The dusk lightning flash frequency as a function of latitude peaks at 10–20°N during the northern summer and 0–10°N during the southern summer. The midnight flash frequency peaks at 0–10°N throughout the yea...


This paper deals with experimental investigations and numerical simulations of HELICOIL® inserts in ABS-M30 plastic. The aim is to explore the possibilities of modelling HELICOIL® inserts using Finite Element Method (FEM) and thus predict the load-bearing capacity of these inserts. The motivation was based on a previously published article that dealt with the topological design of the robot manipulator arm shape. During the mechanical tests, the structure of the arm did not collapse, but the HELICOIL® inserts were torn out. To determine the load-bearing capacity of HELICOIL® inserts, the necessary experimental tests were designed and carried out. FEM calculations of the inserts were adjusted to the obtained data. The results from the FEM were verified in an experimental validation test.


Abstract The scientific and medical community is seeking to cure HIV. Several pathways have been or are being explored including therapeutic vaccination. Viroimmunological studies on primary infection as well as on elite controllers have demonstrated the importance of the cytotoxic CD8 response and have mainly oriented research on vaccine constructs toward this type of response. The results of these trials are clearly not commensurate with the hope placed in them. Might there be one or more uncontrolled variables? The genetics of patients need to be taken into consideration, especially their human lymphocyte antigen (HLA) alleles. There is a need to find a balance between the conservation of cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) epitopes and presentation by HLA alleles. The pathway is a narrow one between adaptation of the virus to HLA I restriction and the definition of conserved proviral CTL epitopes presentable by HLA I alleles. It is likely that the genetics of patients will need to be considered for HIV-1 vac...


River reaches downstream of dams with constant residual discharge often lack sediment supply and periodic high flows due to dam sediment retention and flow regulation, respectively. To test a novel multi‐deposit methodology for defining environmental flows for activating the dynamics of the river morphology downstream of dams, a flood was released from Rossens Dam in Switzerland. This event was combined for the first time with a multi‐deposit configuration of sediment replenishment consisting of four artificial deposits allocated as alternate bars along the riverbanks as a restoration measure. To validate the sediment transport behaviour observed in laboratory tests, stones were equipped with radiofrequency identification (RFID) passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags, a fixed antenna was installed at the river bed and a mobile antenna was used to enable the investigation of the erosion, transport and deposition of replenished sediments. The duration of the erosion period was determined for the tracked stones, and average transport velocities were found to be on the order of 10–3 m/s. To estimate the erosion efficiency of the flood, defined as the eroded tagged stones compared with the released water volume, the hydrograph was divided into different periods: rising limb, constant peak discharge, decreasing limb. During the rising limb of the flood, which lasted for 20% of the total flood duration, more than 40% of the PIT tags were transported. The defined erosion efficiency is a measure to support the hydrographic design of artificial flood releases from dams. The deposition of tagged stones resulted in a repeating cluster formation, as expected from previous laboratory experiments, creating an increase in hydraulic habitat diversity. Comparison of the results obtained in the field and from laboratory experiments confirmed the robustness of the multi‐deposit sediment replenishment method. Combined with the knowledge gained on the erosion efficiency, these results could motivate further applications and research into multi‐deposit sediment replenishment techniques as a habitat‐oriented river restoration measure. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


This is the sixth report on a new research programme investigating the electromagnetic (EM) interaction. This paper analyzes the effects of interactions arising from multiple, remote electrons on one or several, local 'target' electrons. These interactions are the result of the new quantized form of the EM impulse introduced in the previous paper. This model is used to re-interpret various optical effects that have previously required the existence of a fundamental object known as 'LIGHT': a basic entity, considered to be either a particle or a wave (or even both? - the 'photon') that travels across space. In contrast, this new EM model is constructed upon the key role of the 'light' emission processes, categorized as either oscillatory (as in antenna) or transitory (as within atoms). These real emission processes are now integrated into the asynchronous action-at-a-distance model of the EM interaction that is the basis of this new theory. Mathematically, this new model describes algebraically how variable or periodic phenomena (that have been assumed require the use of waves) can be explained by periodic, asynchronous, remote interactions between point particles without any use of differential equations (including the wave equation). This paper now extends the earlier pair-wise interaction between two electrons into the many-body world of macroscopic reality. The two key ideas of interaction saturation and selection are now introduced, which totally differentiate this theory from all other theories constructed around universal, continuous interaction (or 'force') models. By eliminating all the ray, wave and photon models of 'light' this paper now extends the original Newtonian mechanical philosophy of nature to the major domain of optics: both classical and quantum. The emphasis is on the electrons and on the relationship between electrons and not on some hypothetical 'carrier' that travels between them – this is the Newtonian action-at-a-distance particulate model extended to multiple times. The idea of selection leads to the introduction of information waves that identify the location and velocities of all other electrons that might participate in a ray-like exchange of momentum between pairs of electrons (saturation) that always act like particles (real trajectories across space). These supra-luminal waves do not carry momentum but ensure that the interaction minimizes the exchange of action across a non-local region of space. This new model resolves the long-time paradox of electrons as waves or particles: electrons are seen here as real point particles that interact periodically (rather than continuously) together; the focus is on the relationship between them that can be described by the discrete mathematics of particles or the periodic mathematics usually associated with waves. This paper includes the first analytical solution to the 3D scattering of two electrons – in the center-of-mass frame of reference both electrons are shown to go in quantized spiraling, conical motions: towards each other and then away from each other. The present theory provides an alternative to Feynman's mathematical approach to "the mysterious properties of light" while providing a physical explanation for some of the calculational diagrams introduced by Feynman in his approach to quantum electrodynamics (QED). This now replaces all field theories of 'light' without introducing the concept of the photon or virtual particles and so eliminates all QED infinities in the physical properties associated with the interactions of electrons arising from the false idea of vacuum polarization, returning the vacuum to its Newtonian role as the passive, empty space between real particles. This new EM theory establishes a firm foundation for a new quantum theory that covers all scales of nature from the macroscopic to the heart of the atomic nucleus, while covering the complete range of interaction sets from a pair of electrons to the myriads of electrons existing in macroscopic objects. The next (companion) paper will explain the wave-like properties of electrons while providing a new, comprehensive theory of quantum measurement. This next paper will finally establish the critical link between the realistic model of the micro-world introduced so far and the macroscopic world of scientific measurements. * Surrey B.C. Canada (604) firstname.lastname@example.com © H. J. Spencer Version 1.340 23-06-201Begun 23-06-2010 (pp. 133; 97Kw, 1900KB)


Cost efficient and long-term stable catalysts are in great demand for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), a key process involved in water splitting cells and metal–air batteries. Here, we demonstrate that the ultrathin amorphous cobalt–vanadium hydr(oxy)oxide we synthesized is a highly promising electrocatalytic material for the OER with a low overpotential of 0.250 V (even lower down to 0.215 V when supported on Au foam) at 10 mA cm−2 and a long stable operation time (170 h) in alkaline media. In combination with in situ X-ray absorption spectral characterization and first-principles simulations, we reveal that the ultrathin, amorphous and alloyed structural characteristics have enabled its facile transformation to the desirable active phase, leading to a dramatically enhanced catalytic activity. Our finding highlights the remarkable advantages of the two-dimensional amorphous material and sheds new light on the design of high-performance electrocatalysts.


Summary Available construction time-cost trade-off analysis models can be used to generate trade-offs between these two important objectives, however, their application is limited in large-scale construction projects due to their impractical computational requirements. This paper presents the development of a scalable and multi-objective genetic algorithm that provides the capability of simultaneously optimizing construction time and cost large-scale construction projects. The genetic algorithm was implemented in a distributed computing environment that utilizes a recent standard for parallel and distributed programming called the message passing interface (MPI). The performance of the model is evaluated using a set of measures of performance and the results demonstrate the capability of the present model in significantly reducing the computational time required to optimize large-scale construction projects.