textabstractStudies in the human fetus are limited by the methods available for investigation.
Pressure and volume flow measurements in the fetal cardiovascular system
require invasive techniques that are not performed at present. However, information
on fetal circulatory performance may be helpful in the evaluation of
pathologic conditions. With the introduction of Doppler ultrasound non-invasive
examination of the fetal vessels became possible. In the last decade cardiovascular
research in the human fetus has focused on the study of arterial,
cardiac and umbilical blood flows. Four factors mainly determine cardiac performance:
(i) afterload (ii) cardiac contraction force (iii) heart rate {iv) preload.
Examination of the factor afterload in the fetal circulation has been characterized
by Doppler studies of the fetal descending aorta and umbilical artery in the
second half of pregnancy (Marsal et al. 1984; Trudinger et al. 1985;Tonge 1987).
The second factor, cardiac contraction force, is even more difficult to study in the
fetus. Efforts have been made by a number of investigators (Maulik et al. 1985;
Kenny et al. 1986; Reed et al. 1986; Allan et al. 1987), who all tried to quantify
cardiac stroke volume and force by means of Doppler velocimetry at the level of
the atrioventricular valves and in the outflow tracts. However, it was pointed out
that the reproducibility of these data is disappointingly low and large within and
between variation was documented (Beeby et al. 1991).
The third factor is the fetal heart rate, which is relatively easy to obtain. Studies
have shown that as a result of the Frank-Starling mechanism fetal heart rate
changes within the normal heart rate range do not seem to considerably influence
fetal cardiac output (Kenny et al. 1987; van der Mooren et al. 1991).
Finally, little is known about the factor preload and the hemodynamics of the fetal
venous vasculature, although it has become clear from animal experimental work (Rudolph and Heymann 1967; Rudolph 1983) that venous return is an important
factor in cardiac functioning. With the presence of three shunts (foramen ovale,
ductus arteriosus and ductus venosus) and the placenta as a third circulation
venous blood flow and pressures in the normally developing fetus are significantly
different from the physiologic situation in adults.
In this thesis data are presented o~ Doppler venous cardiac inflow, in particular
from the umbilical vein, ductus venosus and inferior vena cava in (i) the late first
and early second trimester fetus and (ii) the late second and third trimester fetus.
The inclusion of early pregnancy flow studies was based on the significant
changes occurring at placental level around 13 to 14 weeks of gestation with
emphasis on the process of trophoblast invasion, resulting in low resistance
placental vascular dynamics (Pijnenburg et al. 1980; Jauniaux et al. 1991). The
transvaginal approach now allows fetal flow velocity waveform recording as early
as 9 to 10 weeks.
Late pregnancy studies were mainly performed to establish the effect of fetal
variables such as breathing movements, behavioural states and cardiac arrhythmias
on fetal venous cardiac inflow.
Obviously, proper interpretation of venous inflow velocity parameters is only
feasible when related to other parameters of cardiovascular performance, such
as afterload and heart rate.


In recent years, fast development of video editing software has made video forgery applicable. One of the most frequently encountered forgery types in video forensics is the frame duplication forgery. Researches have proposed methods to deal with this type of forgery. The two main drawbacks of this methods reported in the literature are execution time and low detection accuracy. In this work a new frame duplication forgery detection method that uses correlation between neighboring frames to extract features from video is proposed. Experimental results show that the proposed method has lower execution time with better detection accuracy compared to similar works reported in the literature.


Aims. To understand the cosmic-ray propagation mechanism in galaxies and its correlation with the sites of star formation, we compare the spatially resolved radio spectral index of three spiral galaxies with their IR distribution. Methods. We present new low-frequency radio continuum observations of the galaxies NGC 0628, NGC 3627, and NGC 7331, taken at 327 MHz with the Very Large Array. Results. We complemented our data set with sensitive archival observations at 1.4 GHz and studied the variations in the radio spectral index within the disks of these spiral galaxies. We also compared the spectral index distribution and the IR distribution, using 70 μm Spitzer observations. Conclusions. We find that in these galaxies the nonthermal spectral index is anticorrelated with the radio brightness. Bright regions, like the bar in NGC 3627 or the circumnuclear region in NGC 7331, are characterized by a flatter spectrum with respect to the underlying disk. Therefore, a systematic steepening of the spectral index with the increasing distance from the center of these galaxies is observed. Furthermore, by comparing the radio images with the 70 μm images of the Spitzer satellite, we find that a similar anticorrelation exists between the radio spectral index and the infrared brightness, as expected from the local correlation between the radio continuum and the infrared emission. Our results support the idea that the electron diffusion must be efficient in regions of intense star formation. The observed anticorrelation between radio brightness and spectral index may imply that the cosmic ray density and the magnetic field strength are significantly higher in these regions than in their surroundings.


Collaboration between government agencies, an old joke goes, is an unnatural act committed by nonconsenting adults. Eugene Bardach argues that today's opinion climate favoring more results-oriented government makes collaboration a lot more natural--though it is still far from easy. In this book, Bardach diagnoses the difficulties, explains how they are sometimes overcome, and offers practical ideas for public managers, advocates, and others interested in developing interagency collaborative networks. Bardach provides examples from diverse policy areas, including children, youth, and family services; welfare-to-work; antipollution enforcement; fire prevention; and ecosystem management.


This study focuses on the impact of knowledge collaboration and knowledge spillovers on the innovative performance of Schumpeterian-type firms. Building on the innovation and entrepreneurship literatures, it first examines the innovation strategies used by highly-innovative firms, which can involve knowledge spillovers, knowledge collaborations or both. Secondly, it demonstrates how and why the relationship between knowledge flows and innovative performance changes with geographical proximity between knowledge-source and knowledge-recipient firms and across industries.

External collaboration may bestow a significant advantage for innovation, such as helping to leverage the lack of knowledge and technology and teaching skills, but at a cost – the involuntary knowledge outflows to external partners. The results have relevant implications for the academic community, national and European policy-makers, and managers in highly-innovative firms who may want to rethink their innovation strategy.


Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress". Abstract Watchers are defined as entities that request (i.e., subscribe to) information about a resource. There is fairly complex state associated with these subscriptions. The union of the state for all subscriptions to a particular resource is called the watcher information for that resource. This state is dynamic, changing as subscribers come and go. As a result, it is possible, and indeed useful, to subscribe to the watcher information for a particular resource. In order to enable this, a format is needed to describe the state of watchers on a resource. This specification describes an XML document format for such state.


A noncoherent optical vector-matrix multiplier using a linear LED source array and a linear P-I-N photodiode detector array has been combined with a 1-D adder in a feedback loop. The resultant iterative optical processor and its use in solving simultaneous linear equations are described. Operation on complex data is provided by a novel color-multiplexing system.


This study replaced semolina with red cod (P. bachus) fish powder in pasta at 5, 10, 15 and 20 g/100 g levels. The effects on the chemical composition, physical properties (optimal cooking time, cooking loss, water absorption index, swelling index and colour) and textural properties (firmness and extensibility) of the supplemented pasta samples were evaluated compared with a control sample. Fortification with fish powder increased protein, lipid and ash contents significantly (P < 0.05). Cooking loss increased (P < 0.05) with increasing levels of fish powder. However, all pasta samples were in the acceptable range (8 g/100g) for cooking loss. Fish powder incorporation decreased optimal cooking time, swelling index and water absorption significantly (P < 0.05), whilst increasing firmness and resistance to uniaxial extension of pasta. The addition of fish powder increased yellowness (b*) of the pasta significantly (P < 0.05) compared to control sample. Thus, pasta fortified with fish powder has the potential to be a technological alternative for the food industry to provide nutritional enriched pasta.


Abstract Magneto-rheological (MR) elastomers contain micro-/nano-sized ferromagnetic particles dispersed in a soft elastomer matrix, and their rheological properties (storage and loss moduli) exhibit a significant dependence on the application of a magnetic field (namely MR effect). Conversely, it is reported in this work that this multiphysics coupling is associated with an inverse effect (i.e. the dependence of the magnetic properties on mechanical strain), denoted as the pseudo-Villari effect. MR elastomers based on soft and hard silicone rubber matrices and carbonyl iron particles were fabricated and characterized. The pseudo-Villari effect was experimentally quantified: a shear strain of 50 % induces magnetic induction field variations up to 10 mT on anisotropic MR elastomer samples, when placed in a 0.2 T applied field, which might theoretically lead to potential energy conversion density in the mJ cm-3 order of magnitude. In case of anisotropic MR elastomers, the absolute variation of stiffness as a function of applied magnetic field is rather independent of matrix properties. Similarly, the pseudo-Villari effect is found to be independent to the stiffness, thus broadening the adaptability of the materials to sensing and energy harvesting target applications. The potential of the pseudo-Villari effect for energy harvesting applications is finally briefly discussed.


Semiconductor device parametric test data collected by lot, wafer, and die form a hierarchical data structure that lends itself to two relational models reflecting two data views. The two models may be integrated by carefully considering relationships, and the resultant structure is applicable to in-process data collection. Semiconductor device parametric data models are discussed from the two viewpoints, and a practical database based on the set-theoretic relational data model is developed. Application of the developed model to semiconductor in-process and functional test data is also discussed. >


The development of new vaccines for EV71 relies on the availability of small animal models suitable for in vivo efficacy testing. Monkeys and neonatal mice have been used, but the use of these animals has several drawbacks, including high costs, limited susceptibility, and poor experimental reproducibility. In addition, the related ethical issues are considerable. The new efficacy test based on hSCARB2 Tg mice and virulent EV71 strains propagated in genetically modified cell lines presented here can overcome these disadvantages and is expected to accelerate the development of new EV71 vaccines. ABSTRACT Enterovirus 71 (EV71) is a causative agent of hand-foot-mouth disease, and it sometimes causes severe neurological disease. Development of effective vaccines and animal models to evaluate vaccine candidates are needed. However, the animal models currently used for vaccine efficacy testing, monkeys and neonatal mice, have economic, ethical, and practical drawbacks. In addition, EV71 strains prepared for lethal challenge often develop decreased virulence during propagation in cell culture. To overcome these problems, we used a mouse model expressing human scavenger receptor B2 (hSCARB2) that showed lifelong susceptibility to EV71. We selected virulent EV71 strains belonging to the subgenogroups B4, B5, C1, C2, and C4 and propagated them using a culture method for EV71 without an apparent reduction in virulence. Here, we describe a novel EV71 vaccine efficacy test based on these hSCARB2 transgenic (Tg) mice and these virulent viruses. Adult Tg mice were immunized subcutaneously with formalin-inactivated EV71. The vaccine elicited sufficient levels of neutralizing antibodies in the immunized mice. The mice were subjected to lethal challenge with virulent viruses via intravenous injection. Survival, clinical signs, and body weight changes were observed for 2 weeks. Most immunized mice survived without clinical signs or histopathological lesions. The viral replication in immunized mice was much lower than that in nonimmunized mice. Mice immunized with the EV71 vaccine were only partially protected against lethal challenge with coxsackievirus A16. These results indicate that this new model is useful for in vivo EV71 vaccine efficacy testing. IMPORTANCE The development of new vaccines for EV71 relies on the availability of small animal models suitable for in vivo efficacy testing. Monkeys and neonatal mice have been used, but the use of these animals has several drawbacks, including high costs, limited susceptibility, and poor experimental reproducibility. In addition, the related ethical issues are considerable. The new efficacy test based on hSCARB2 Tg mice and virulent EV71 strains propagated in genetically modified cell lines presented here can overcome these disadvantages and is expected to accelerate the development of new EV71 vaccines.


The increasing popularity of virtual computing environments such as Cloud and Grid computing is helping to drive the realization of ubiquitous and pervasive computing. However, as computing becomes more entrenched in everyday life, the concepts of trust and risk become increasingly important. In this paper, we propose a new graph-based theoretical approach to address trust and reputation in complex ubiquitous networks. We formulate trust as a function of quality of a task and time required to authenticate agent-to-agent relationship based on the Zero-Common Knowledge (ZCK) authentication scheme. This initial representation applies a graph theory concept, accompanied by a mathematical formulation of trust metrics. The approach we propose increases awareness and trustworthiness to agents based on the values estimated for each requested task, we conclude by stating our plans for future work in this area.


This paper consists primarily of an empirical study of summary process actions in the Boston Housing Court, and proposals for reform based on the findings of that study. To compile our data we reviewed the case files of 500 summary process actions commenced in 1982. We were interested primarily in studying the default rate, the impact of representation and legal advice on the parties, and the ability of tenants to present and prevail upon the defenses and counterclaims afforded them by Massachusetts law. Our findings, presented in Part II of this paper, include the observations that a large number of tenants default, that most of the tenants who appear in Court are unrepresented, while most landlords are represented, and that while representation in most cases has little impact on how landlords fare, tenants who either are represented or have access to legal advice fare significantly better and are better able to present their claims than unrepresented tenants. To lower thedefault rate and alleviate the imbalance between tenants with advice or representation and tenants without, we propose a series of reforms, presented in Part IV. The reforms are designed primarily to increase the access of tenants to the court, enhance the ability of unrepresented and unadvised tenants to recognize and raise substantive claims, and improve the Court's response to those claims once they have been raised. Each of our reforms also is designed to educate both tenants and landlords regarding their rights and duties. We recognize that the Court is overburdened considerably by its present caseload. Perhaps,as a consequence, the last thing the Court would want at this time is to be criticized or bombarded with proposals for reform. Nonetheless, where we have criticized the Court, we believe that criticism is both justified and constructive. Furthermore, some of our reforms actually could decrease the Court's caseload, while others require merely the substitution of one form for another, or a change in the attitude of court personnel. Finally, we offer these criticisms and reforms in the belief that the Court personnel genuinely are concerned with the Court's treatment of the parties before it, and therefore in the hope that the Court will be receptive to these criticisms and reforms.


For thin-film silicon solar cells, light trapping schemes are of uppermost importance to harvest all available sunlight. Typically, randomly textured TCO front layers are used to scatter the light diffusively in p-i-n cells on glass. Here, we investigate methods to texture the back contact with both random and periodic textures, for use in n-i-p cells on opaque foil. We applied an electrically insulating SiOx-polymer coating on a stainless steel substrate, and textured this barrier layer by nanoimprint. On this barrier layer the back contact is deposited for further use in the solar cell stack. Replication of masters with various random and periodic patterns was tested, and, using scanning electron microscopy, replicas were found to compare well with the originals. Masters with U-grooves of various sub micrometer widths have been used to investigate the optimal dimensions of regular patterns for light trapping in the silicon layers. Angular reflection distributions were measured to evaluate the light scattering properties of both periodic and random patterns. Diffraction gratings show promising results in scattering the light to specific angles, enhancing the total internal reflection in the solar cell.


This paper documents the growth of Aboriginal children in remote communities and gazetted towns of the Kimberley region in the far north of Western Australia over the past 20 years. The study's specific aim was to compare the height and weight growth of children in different environments from birth to five years of age. From 1979 to 1983, children living in towns were significantly taller and heavier than their counterparts in remote communities. From 1984 to 1988 and thereafter, there were no significant differences in the growth patterns of children in towns and remote communities. Overall, weight‐for‐age and height‐for‐age of children in remote communities has improved since the 1970s relative to their town‐dwelling counterparts. These changes in growth shed light on the quality of the social and physical environment over the past 20 years and may assist with the development of future programs for child health.


This book surveys a 'cluster' of works that seek to explore the cultures of cyberspace, the Internet and the information society. It introduces key ideas, and includes detailed discussion of the work of two key thinkers in this area, Manuel Castells and Donna Haraway, as well as outlining the development of cyberculture studies as a field. To do this, the book also explores selected 'moments' in this development, from the early 1990s, when cyberspace and cyberculture were only just beginning to come together as ideas, up to the present day, when the field of cyberculture studies has grown and bloomed, producing innovative theoretical and empirical work from a diversity of standpoints. Key topics include: * life on the screen * network society * space of flows * cyborg methods. Cyberculture Theorists is the ideal starting point for anyone wanting to understand how to theorise cyberculture in all its myriad forms.


The paper presenting our lightning talk explores the efficiency of the Finnish Library Association (FLA) mentoring program in providing professional development opportunities for library professionals. This paper discusses the benefits for the participants, how the goals of the program were met and the best practices for future programs discovered.

In order to improve communication and professional growth, the FLA decided to offer its first mentoring program. The theme international collaboration set a functional frame for the program.

The aims for the mentoring program were:
1. To define the demand for this type of a program.
2. To explore the reasonability of the theme-based working approach.
3. To lay the foundation for future programs.

The program was presented in a FLA member newsletter, the application process was carried out online and the mentor pairs were decided based on the applications.

The participants of the program identified key factors required for successful mentoring. It was considered essential to have well-functioning mentor-actor pairs. In general, the interaction between the mentor and the actor should be based on trust and openness. A good mentoring program also demands a competent facilitator and rules based on mutual understanding. It was also considered important to have a theme for the program. The participants found it useful to have meetings in various formats: online and face-to-face, two by two and occasionally in a bigger group. The feedback from the participants will be used when planning the next mentoring program.

The FLA mentoring program familiarized the participants with the theme of the program, and brought new ideas on how to share information about international opportunities even within the larger professional community. The mentor pairs' work was based on mutual learning. To make the program results a wider audience, the participants will write a guide focusing on international collaboration opportunities for Finnish librarians.


The article presents the results of analysis of mortality as a medical social problem in the Priamurye. The statistical data of population mortality including able-bodied population are presented. The indicators of mortality are analyzed in dynamics with determination of most well and most unwell regions of oblast. The indicator of infant mortality is analyzed too as one of main indicators of nation health. The indicators of children and maternal mortality are investigated and risk factors and main causes of mortality are established.


Inducible gene-targeting experiments have shown that Igμ expression is essential for maintaining survival of mature B cells, but the role of Igμ expression in immature B cell survival has not been determined. To assess whether continued B cell receptor (BCR) expression is required for bone marrow B cell precursor development and survival, we developed a method for conditional gene deletion in these cells. Recombination-activating gene regulatory elements were used to express Igβ cDNA as a transgene to complement Igβ−/− mice. Transgenic Igβ expression was found in proB and small preB cells and was extinguished in large preB and immature B cells. Igβ deletion from large preB cells and immature B cells resulted in cell death that could be rescued by transgenic bcl-2 expression. However, transgenic bcl-2 expression was unable to restore B cell development in the absence of Igβ. We conclude that Igβ expression is essential to maintain preB cell and immature B cell survival and to mediate B cell differentiation. In addition, complementation of null mutations with cDNAs under the control of heterologous bacterial artificial chromosomes is a useful method for cell-type-specific and developmentally regulated gene ablation in vivo.


Background: The paper presents results of 27year epidemiological study of screening and follow-up haemoglobinopathies in Slovakia. Aims: The incidence of haemoglobinopathies in Slovek Republic Methods: Between 1993 – 2020, in two centres in Bratislava and in one centre in Kosice, carriers of beta-thalassaemic genes or other haemoglobinopathies were searched for. Patients with a probability of having a haemoglobinopathy were sent to the research facilities. Diagnosis was performed by haematologists, whereby the family history was evaluated, together with overall clinical condition, blood count and blood smear, iron and haemolysis parameters, mutations of hereditary haemochromatosis, and haemoglobin electrophoresis testing. Results: A clinical suspicion of the heterozygous form of beta-thalassaemia or other haemoglobinopathies was documented in 694 patients. Of them 25 (6.04%) patients were foreigners. 415 (59.85%) patients were genetically examined. In 385 (92.99%) of them heterozygote beta-thalassaemia was confirmed (in 98 families). Five patients (1.21%) were diagnosed for delta,beta-thalassaemia, 4 patients (0,97%) for delta,beta-gama1-thalasaemia or persistent hereditary fetal haemoglobin. In total we diagnosed 20 mutations of beta-globin gene. The most frequent mutations were IVS 1.110 (G-A), IVS II-1(G-A) and codon 39. Evidence of haemoglobin S (heterozygote sickle cell anaemia) was also notable in two non-relative children, whose fathers were of African origin, in one patient of Ghana and in one patient from Nigeria. One female patient was followed up for haemoglobin Santa Ana (mutation de novo), one family for haemoglobin Bishopstown and one patient for mutation KLF1 gene. In our group were 14 patients (3.14%) diagnosed for alpha-thalassaemia. All patients were heterozygotes, only one female patient from Macedonia was a double heterozygote for beta-thalasaemie. Clinicaly all of the patients had a minor or intermedia form. In the years of 2012–2019 we observed 12 pregnant patients with beta-thalasaemie. One of them had multiple pregnancies, all deliveries were without haematological complications. Conclusions: The study showed that in the west and eastern Slovakia there is a higher number for thalassaemia and other haemoglobinopathies. Mutations are of historical origin or over the past years we have recorded an increase number of mutations from areas with high incidence of haemoglobinopathies. It is necessary to continue in search of pathological gene carriers to avoid serious forms of the disease.


We analyzed the impact of remittance receipt and other socioeconomic characteristics on the conservation technology adoption among farmers in Chitwan, Nepal. Out of 25 soil and water conservation practices generally seem prevalent among farmers in the Country, most farmers seemed to have adopted only five of those practices. We compared the factors affecting the number of adoption of these practices using Poisson quasi-likelihood and semiparametric Poisson models. Results favor the choice of semiparametric Poisson model to understand the choice of conservation practices by farmers.


To establish a mathematical model of the tree like arteries for the purpose of hemodynamic analysis, a complete set of morphometric data of pig coronary arteries is presented. For the purpose of mathematical modeling, three innovations in morphometry are introduced: 1) a rule for assigning the order numbers of the vessels on the basis of diameter ranges, 2) a connectivity matrix to describe asymmetric branching, and 3) a measurement of the fraction of vessel segments connected in series. The morphometric measurements were made with the silicone elastomer-casting method. Data on smaller vessels were obtained from histological specimens by optical sectioning. Data on larger vessels were obtained from vascular casts. The order number, diameter, length, connectivity matrix, and fractions of the vessels of a given order connected in series were measured for all orders of vessels of the right coronary artery and the left anterior descending and left circumflex branches. The data can be used to analyze the longitudinal distribution of blood pressure and volume and spatial distribution of perfusion in myocardium.


Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected mental health, with children and adolescents being particularly vulnerable. Evidence on the association between childhood trauma and mental health outcomes in schoolchildren during the pandemic is limited. This study aimed to evaluate this relationship in Chiclayo city, northern Peru, during the second wave of COVID-19. Methods A cross-sectional secondary data study was conducted, measuring childhood trauma using the Marshall's Trauma Scale, depressive symptomatology (PHQ-9), and anxiety symptomatology (GAD-7). Additional variables assessed were alcohol use (AUDIT), resilience (abbreviated CD-RISC), and socio-educational data. Prevalence ratios were estimated using generalized linear models. Results Among 456 participants, 88.2% were female, with a mean age of 14.5 years (SD: 1.33). Depressive symptomatology prevalence was 76.3% (95%CI: 72.14–80.15) and increased by 23% in schoolchildren with childhood trauma (PR: 1.23; 95%CI: 1.10–1.37). Factors positively associated with depressive symptomatology included increasing age, seeking mental health help during the pandemic, and severe family dysfunction. Anxiety symptomatology prevalence was 62.3% (95%CI: 57.65–66.75) and increased by 55% in schoolchildren with childhood trauma (PR: 1.55; 95%CI: 1.31–1.85). Anxiety symptomatology was positively associated with mild, moderate, and severe family dysfunction. Conclusion Schoolchildren exposed to childhood trauma are at increased risk for depressive and anxiety symptoms. Monitoring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescent mental health is vital. These findings can assist schools in establishing effective measures to prevent mental health outcomes.


The deposition of energy into the solar wind beyond 1 AU is thought to result from the dissipation of low frequency magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence via kinetic processes at spatial scales comparable to the ion gyroradius. Beyond 1 AU, solar wind turbulence is comprised of both a decaying component generated in the corona and turbulence generated dynamically in situ by processes such as stream shear, interplanetary shocks, and, beyond the ionization cavity, the pickup of interstellar neutral atoms. A turbulence-theoretic model describing the radial evolution of the power in magnetic fluctuations in the solar wind has been developed recently and the predictions were compared successfully with Voyager data. Using the dissipation rate predicted by this model, we evaluate the expected heating of the solar wind by MHD turbulence. The effective adiabatic index of the solar wind is reduced from 5/3 and the theory accounts for the apparent heating of ions in the outer heliosphere.


Hepatic resection of metastatic colorectal cancer is being performed with increasing frequency. Reports describe wide variations in survival after resection of solitary of multiple metastases. In 23 consecutive patients having major hepatic resection for metachronous metastases from colorectal cancers, 18 patients had one, two, or three metastases and five had four or more individual metastases; the cure rate of one, two, or three metachronous metastases was comparable to reports of resected solitary simultaneous metastases. The median maximum diameter of metastases in patients both surviving and dead was 7 cm. Features separating surviving from dead patients were resection margins of at least 1 cm and fewer than four metastatic nodules. All patients with four or more hepatic metastases died of disease, 80% with further liver metastases. Only three of 18 (17%) patients with one, two, or three metastases developed further hepatic lesions. This study suggests that the biology of the hepatic metastatic disease is paramount; timing of the hepatic resection is of little importance. Delayed resection of suitable biologic situations does not impair survival opportunities, and early resection of inappropriate biologic situations with more than three hepatic metastases does not improve survival. Therefore, programs of early detection with the use of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) screening or "second look" operations will not increase cure rates.


In 4 series of experiments a dependence between 3,4-benzpyrene (BP) output and the temperature of fir sawdust pyrolysis under isothermic conditions has been investigated. The experimental series differed in the duration of wood pulp particles stay in the reaction zone (tau). Also EPR spectra of pyrolysis products have been recorded. The experimental series did not differ in an output of ether extract from pyrolysis products, while BP output temperature curves in their shape were found to be largely dependent on tau: with an increased tau these curves definitely showed the maximum in the range of 300-350 degrees C and the BP output raised in the range of this maximum and also at the temperature of 600 degrees C. In the temperature range over 350 degrees C the character of dependence of the EPR signal value on temperature would correlate well with the temperature-dependent BP output, in the range of lower temperatures the EPR signal was not detected. The data obtained are considered as an evidence of two processes of BP formation in wood pyrolysis-a high-temperature process (temperature over 500 degrees C) and low-temperature one (300-350 degrees C). The high-temperature process seems to have the free-radical mechanism of BP formation, whereas in low temperatures it is evidently the result of a ion type reaction.


Radical thiol-yne chemistry is used for the modification of microporous networks with aliphatic alcohols. The degree of functionalization can be tuned by varying the reacted amount of thiol. Porosity analysis indicates that the microporosity can be preserved within a certain range, however, a decrease in pore size is observed.


Discusses prominent TV programmes and their influence within the industry An engaging and provocative study of the contemporary prime-time 'quality' serial television format, this book gives a timely account of prominent programmes such as 24, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, ER, The Sopranos and The West Wing and explores their influential position within the television industry. Divided into the areas of history, aesthetics and reception, the text provides an illuminating overview of an increasingly hybrid television studies discipline. Chapters consider the formal and aesthetic elements in the contemporary television serial through approaches ranging from those concerned with issues of gender and sexuality, national identity, and reception to industry history and textual analysis. The book also includes British examples of 'quality' serial television emphasizing not only their cultural specificity but also the transnational context in which these programmes operate.


In this paper we obtain the bispectrum of dark matter density perturbations in the frame of covariant cubic Galileon theories. This result is obtained by means of a semi-analytic approach to second-order perturbations in Galileon cosmologies, assuming Gaussian initial conditions. In particular, we show that, even in the presence of large deviations of the linear growth-rate w.r.t. the ΛCDM one, at the bispectrum level such deviations are reduced to a few percent.


Hsp90 is a protein of 90 kD that belongs to the family of the Heat Shock Proteins that are over expressed by the cells in response of a range of cellular stresses. Among the other functions, Hsp90 folds and maintains the proper conformation of a wide range of "client" or "substrate" proteins and hence acts as a molecular chaperone. It was observed that Hsp90 derived from tumor cells has particularly high ATPase activity and higher binding affinity for its inhibitors than the latent form in unstressed cells. In this context, Hsp90 has received significant recent attention as a therapeutic target for cancer treatment. Multiple research efforts have followed the initial discovery that two natural products [geldanamycin (GA) and radicicol] are potent inhibitors of Hsp90 therefore a plethora of compounds were planned and synthesized in the last times. Among these, resorcinolisoxazole inhibitors were demonstrated to possess a good solubility and in vivo potency so the lead of this class, VER-52296/NVP-AUY- 922, is now in Phase II clinical trials. As a part of our antitumor drug discovery project, we have recently undertaken a detailed structural investigation on 3,4-isoxazolediamides as new members of the above mentioned class of compounds (Figure 1). We mainly focused our attention on the C-4 position of the isoxazole scaffold where we found that compounds possessing a nitrogen atom directly attached to the heterocycle ring possess in vitro and in vivo Hsp90 inhibitory activity comparable and for some aspects better than the structurally related 4,5-diarylisoxazoles. In continuation of our efforts in search of potential antitumor agents, we planned to synthesize a new hits containing the 4,5,6,7-tetrahydro-isoxazolo-[4,5-c]pyridine scaffold. In particular, one compound of this series has shown an important binding property and a notable antiproliferative activity


Unpredictable mechanical stresses that occur during the operation of hard disk drives can degrade the recorded signal. On the basis of a micromagnetic analysis and the calculated stress field during head-disk impact, inverse magnetostriction effects in longitudinal recording thin film media are considered and demagnetization due to head-disk impact is simulated numerically. Thin film media are modeled as planar hexagonal arrays of hexagonally shaped grains. The computation uses the conjugate gradient algorithm to minimize the variation of the total energy. In particular, the effect of the stress on the relaxation process is investigated. Also the change in the remanent magnetization due to repetitive head-disk impacts is calculated. We obtained results indicating that the effect of the impact stress during dynamic loading is not so significant as to cause data loss during operation for the longitudinal thin film media. >


Background: Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, a doctoral-level public health qualitative research methods course was moved to a web-based format. One module originally required students to conduct in-person observations within the community, but the curriculum was adapted using a web-based video game exercise. Objective: This study sought to evaluate students' perceptions of this adaptation and determine whether the new pilot format successfully met the module's original learning objectives. Methods: Recorded footage of a video game session was used for students to observe, take field notes, and compare the results. Qualitative methods were used to evaluate student feedback on the curriculum and determine whether the original learning objectives were met. Data were analyzed using a directed content analysis. Results: The findings demonstrate that all the learning objectives of this adapted qualitative observational research assignment using a web-based video game exercise were successfully met; namely, the students learned how to compare and contrast the observational notes of peers and to evaluate how personal bias and environmental factors can affect qualitative data collection. The assignment was also positively received by the students. Conclusions: The results align with the constructivist learning theory and other successful COVID-19 implementations. Our study demonstrates that the learning objectives of a qualitative observational assignment can be addressed given that there are proper forethought and delivery when the assignment is adapted to a web-based context using a video game exercise.


This article looks at how Chevron deference has fared at the Supreme Court since John G. Roberts became Chief Justice. The article looks at Chevron deference at the Roberts Court from three distinct angles. First, the voting records of individual Justices in cases citing Chevron are examined to shed light on the strength of each Justice's commitment to deference to agency statutory construction. Second, a select sample of opinions citing Chevron are qualitatively examined to see whether the Roberts Court has been any more successful than its predecessor in constructing a coherent Chevron doctrine. Third, the article looks closely at how the Roberts Court has handled one of the most important issues under Chevron, namely the boundary between Chevron deference and judicial review under other standards of judicial review such as the arbitrary, capricious standard that governs all reviewable agency action. On the first angle, in an earlier article, I presented data on Justices' voting records. In that article, I looked at all of the Supreme Court decisions during Chief Justice Roberts' first four terms in which Chevron was applied by the majority or argued or in a dissent. What I found was that the Court generally split along familiar ideological lines most of the time, with liberals deferring to liberal agency interpretations and conservatives deferring to conservative agency interpretations. The updated data presented in this article confirm this general pattern although in recent years the Court has deferred to agency decisions in a higher proportion of the cases. On the second angle, a perusal of decisions citing Chevron shows that the Roberts Court has not been more successful than the Rehnquist Court in bringing a measure of coherence to the Chevron doctrine. On the third angle, the Roberts Court has failed miserably to clarify the boundary between Chevron and other standards of review such as arbitrary, capricious review. In short, there is no way to know in advance whether a case should be decided under the Chevron doctrine or under the arbitrary, capricious standard specified in the Administrative Procedure Act.


The kinetic and equilibrium characteristics of interaction of thyroxine (T4) and its structural analogs with a high density lipoprotein (HDL) fraction isolated from human serum by T4-Sepharose affinity chromatography and containing apolipoprotein A-I (apo A-I) as a sole protein component, were studied. The binding of [125I]T4 to apo A-I-HDL reached a maximum after 40 min and did not change during the next 80 min of incubation at 0 degrees--22 degrees C. Dissociation of [125I]T4 induced by the addition of excess unlabeled T4 to the complex solution proceeded more intensely on a time scale at 0--2 degrees C than at 22 degrees C. Incubation of apo A-I-HDL with increasing concentrations of T4 showed that the binding is saturable. The data analysis using different computer programs revealed the presence in apo A-I-HDL of a single class of binding sites with K alpha = (4.0 +/- 2.1).10(-7) M- and Bmax = 1.7 +/- 0.8 nmol T4/mg of protein. Naturally occurring iodothyronines, their analogs and D-isomers of thyroid hormones competed with [125I]T4 for the binding sites on apo A-I-HDL with the following inhibitory potencies: L-T4 = D-T4 greater than or equal to 3,3',5-triiodo-L-thyronine = 3,3',5-triiodo-D-thyronine greater than 3,5-diiodo-L-thyronine = 3,3',5- triiodothyroacetic acid greater than 3,3',5-triiodothyropropionic acid greater than or equal to 3,5-diiodo-L-thyrosine.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


BACKGROUND
The objective of this study was to estimate the cost-effectiveness of denosumab for fracture prevention compared with no treatment, generic bisphosphonates, and strontium ranelate in a cohort of osteoporotic postmenopausal women in Spain.

METHODS
A Markov model represented the possible health state transitions of Spanish postmenopausal women from initiation of fracture prevention treatment until age 100 years or death. The perspective was that of the Spanish National Health System. Fracture efficacy data for denosumab were taken from a randomized controlled trial. Fracture efficacy data for alendronate, ibandronate, risedronate, and strontium ranelate were taken from an independent meta-analysis. Data on the incidence of fractures in Spain were either taken from the published literature or derived from Swedish data after applying a correction factor based on the reported incidence from each country. Resource use in each health state was obtained from the literature, or where no data had been published, conservative assumptions were made. Utility values for the various fracture health states were taken from published sources. The primary endpoints of the model were life-years gained, quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios for denosumab against the comparators.

RESULTS
Denosumab reduced the risk of fractures compared with either no treatment or the other active interventions, and produced the greatest gains in life-years and QALYs. With an annual acquisition cost of €417.34 for denosumab, the incremental cost-effectiveness ratios for denosumab versus no treatment, alendronate, risedronate, and ibandronate were estimated at €6,823, €16,294, €4,895, and €2,205 per QALY gained, respectively. Denosumab dominated strontium ranelate. Sensitivity analyses confirmed the robustness of these findings.

CONCLUSION
Our analyses show that denosumab is a cost-effective intervention for fracture prevention in osteoporotic postmenopausal women in Spain compared with alendronate and risedronate, and is a dominant treatment option compared with strontium ranelate.


Quad Flat No lead (QFN) packages are being used as alternative components to some of the large form-factor packages due to their smaller footprint, improved thermal and electrical performance. During the past few years, there has been a surge of published papers by end users and component manufacturers on the topic of assembly and reliability of the QFN packages. Both empirical and simulation data has been published, which has helped several manufacturers to develop design guidelines and assembly processes for these packages. There exists a gap in the current published work on the assembly and reliability of high I/O count QFNs on thick boards. In addition, reliability of the rework process on QFNs is not well documented. Therefore, objectives of this research were the following: • Evaluate the second level reliability in thermal cycling for reworked and non-reworked QFNs; • Evaluate the reliability of different sized QFNs on 125 mil thick boards and compare with existing literature; • Failure analysis and recommendations for reliability improvement; • Land pattern comparison; and • Rework process improvement. Studies have been conducted on different QFN packages between 32 pins and 164 pins on 125 mil thick boards with Organic Solder Preservative (OSP) surface finish. Experimental design includes the use of different package sizes, alternate thermal pad patterns, and use of tin-lead versus lead free processes. A subset of some of the package types has also been reworked using variations of the standard BGA rework processes to evaluate its reliability. All packages were daisy chained. Boards were subjected to thermal cycling test between 0 to 100 deg C for 6000 hours. Data is analyzed using Weibull distribution. Failure mechanisms have been analyzed using dye penetration tests and cross sections. The reliability results are discussed in terms of package construction, type of land patterns and rework. Recommendations for process improvement are delineated.Copyright © 2009 by ASME


This essay is the subject of national eleventh five support schemes: The analysis of key technology on emission reduction and comprehension utilization of solid waste from large iron ore mine (Number:2008BAB32B14). The purpose of this test is to replace natural sand with the same amount of iron tailings and find a new technology method to utilize solid waste, iron tailings, efficiently and valuably. Pre-determined cement, fly ash and cellulose ether are reasonable, which guaranteed the expected results of iron tailings instead of natural sand test .The proportion of iron tailings to replace natural sand is 0, 30%, 50%, 80%, 100%. Proportion design of M5, M7.5, M10, M15, M20 iron tailings dry mortar is determined by preliminary test. Respectively test water consumption, consistency and folding strength and compressive strength in 3d, 7d and 28d. Experiment results showed that the cementing material, PO42.5 cement made in Heng-sheng-ran Building Material Technology Co., Ltd. Beijing, has a good effect on smaller solid particles of iron tailings. After analyzing test data result, according to the provisions of "Specification for mix proportion design of masonry mortar" (JGJ 98-2000), In accordance with the principles of maximum using iron tailings and higher strength in 28d, recommended proportion of M5, M7.5, M10, M15, M20 iron tailings dry mortar has been determined. The test result will be used by actual production test.


This paper deals with online scheduling of tasks to partially reconfigurable devices. Such devices are able to execute several tasks in parallel. All tasks share the reconfigurable surface as a single resource which leads to highly dynamic allocation situations. To manage such devices at runtime, we propose a reconfigurable operating system that splits into three main modules: scheduler, placer, and loader. The main characteristic of the resulting online scheduling problem is the strong nexus between scheduling and placement. We discuss a fast online placement technique and then focus on scheduling real-time tasks. We devise guarantee-based schedulers for two scenarios, namely tasks with arbitrary and synchronous arrival times. The schedulers exploit the knowledge about task properties to improve the system's performance. The experiments show that the developed schedulers lead to substantial performance gains at an acceptable runtime overhead.


Time-Bounded A* (TBA*) is a single-agent deterministic search algorithm that expands states of a graph in the same order as A* does, but that unlike A* interleaves search and action execution. Although the idea underlying TBA* can be generalized to other single-agent deterministic search algorithms, little is known about the impact on performance that would result from using algorithms other than A*. In this paper we propose Time-Bounded Best-First Search (TB-BFS) a generalization of the time-bounded approach to any best-first search algorithm. Furthermore, we propose restarting strategies that allow TB-BFS to solve search problems in dynamic environments. In static environments, we prove that the resulting framework allows agents to always find a solution if such a solution exists, and prove cost bounds for the solutions returned by Time-Bounded Weighted A* (TB-WA*). We evaluate the performance of TB-WA* and Time-Bounded Greedy Best-First Search (TB-GBFS). We show that in pathfinding applications in static domains, TB-WA* and TB-GBFS are not only faster than TBA* but also find significantly better solutions in terms of cost. In the context of videogame pathfinding, TB-WA* and TB-GBFS perform fewer undesired movements than TBA*. Restarting TB-WA* was also evaluated in dynamic pathfinding random maps, where we also observed improved performance compared to restarting TBA*. Our experimental results seem consistent with theoretical bounds.


U-Mo has thus far proven to be one of the most feasible metallic fuel alloys for use in research and test reactors due to its high density and stability during irradiation. However, an adverse diffusional interaction can occur between the fuel alloy and the Al based matrix. This forms an interaction layer (IL) that has undesirable thermal properties and irradiation behavior leading to accelerated swelling and reduced fuel efficiency. This study focused on the effects of ternary alloying additions on the formation of IL between U based alloys and Al. Diffusion couples of U-8Mo-3Nb, U-7Mo-6Zr, and U-10Nb-4Zr (wt.%) vs. pure Al were assembled and annealed at 600°C for 10 hours. Both thickness and phase constituent analyses were performed via electron microscopy. The major phase constituent of the IL was determined to be the UAl3 intermetallic compound. The Nb and Zr alloying additions did not reduce growth rate of IL (1.3~1.4 m/sec1/2) as compared to couples made between binary U-Mo and Al (0.9~1.8 m/sec1/2).


Background Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (DP) and Dermatophagoides farinae (DF) are highly similar disease-associated mites with frequently overlapping geographic distributions. A draft genome of DP was assembled to identify candidate allergens in DP homologous to those in DF, investigate allergen isoforms, and facilitate comparisons with related Acari. Methods PacBio and Illumina whole genome sequencing was performed on DP. Assembly and reconstruction of the genomes were optimized for isoform identification in a heterogeneous population. Bioinformatic analyses of Acari genomes were peformed. Results The predicted size of the DP nuclear genome is 52.5 Mb. A predicted protein set of 19,368 proteins was identified, including all 19 currently recognized allergens from this species. Orthologs for 12 allergens established for DF were found. The population of DP mites showed a high level of heterozygosity that allowed the identification of 43 new isoforms for both established and candidate allergens in DP, including a new isoform for the major allergen Der p 23. Reanalyzing the previous DF data assuming heterozygosity, 14 new allergen isoforms could be indentified. Some new isoforms were observed in both species suggesting that these isoforms pre-dated speciation. The high quality of both genomes allowed an examination of synteny which showed many allergen orthologs are physically clustered but with species specific exon/intron structures. Comparative genomic analyses with other Acariformes mites showed that most of the allergen homologs are widely conserved within this Superorder. Conclusions Candidate allergens in DP were identified to facilitate future serological studies. While DP and DF are highly similar genetically, species-specific allergen isoforms exist to facilitate molecular differentiation.


Abstract Human neurocysticercosis (NCC), caused by the cestode Taenia solium, is responsible for a significant amount of neurological morbidity and epilepsy in developing countries. The disease remains highly endemic in many areas, despite several efforts and interventions to control it. A simple, cheap and fast diagnostic assay that is suitable for use in field conditions is highly desired. In immunodiagnostics based on western immunoblots or standard ELISA, a cathepsin-L-like protein purified from the cysticercus fluid has previously performed well as an antigen. In a recent study in Peru, the same 53/25-kDa antigen was therefore used in the development of a dot-ELISA that could be employed for mass screenings under field conditions. The assay was standardized and tested not only against sera from a large group of NCC cases but also against sera from patients with other common parasitic infections, so that sensitivity and specificity could be assessed. For NCC, the assay gave better sensitivity in the detection of individuals with extraparenchymal cysts (94·4%–100%) or multiple parenchymal cysts (74·6%–80·0%) than in the detection of individuals with single parenchymal cysts (29·4%–45·1%). The assay also showed a high specificity for NCC (99·0%–100%), with a very low level of cross-reactivity with other parasitic infections. The dot-ELISA developed in this study is a highly specific, simple, cheap and rapid test for NCC that could be used under field conditions, even in the low-resource settings that are common in developing countries.


The evolution of floral traits has been thought to be influenced by local, effective pollinators. However, little attention has been paid to the possibility that altitudinal variation in floral traits could be mediated by local pollinator functional groups, particularly a shift from bees to birds. Plant size, floral traits, pollinators and their pollination roles were investigated in the spring‐flowering shrub Elaeagnus umbellata (Elaeagnaceae) at three altitudes (1160, 1676, and 2050 m) in Minshan, Sichuan Province, on the northern rim of the Hengduan Mountains, southwest China. Compared to lower altitudes, higher‐altitude plants were smaller but the floral tubes were longer, with a larger volume of nectar of lower sugar concentration but with a greater proportion of sucrose. The visitation frequency of bees decreased with altitude, whereas the sunbirds did the opposite. Birds and bees foraged for nectar but not pollen, and birds deposited more pollen grains per visit relative to bees and least were syrphid flies. Excluding birds decreased seed set at high but not at mid‐ or low altitude. Our study of E. umbellata revealed an association between altitudinal variation in floral traits and a change in the relative abundance of the major pollinators with altitude from majority bees to majority sunbirds. Although abiotic factors also tend to vary with altitude and can affect floral traits, nectar properties of "pro‐bird" pollination were observed at high altitude.


Abstract The Neoproterozoic (830–815 Ma) Shuangqiaoshan (SQS) and (833–817 Ma) Xikou (XK) groups are two of a series of sedimentary sequences in the Jiangnan Orogen, which are located in the southeastern Yangtze Block, South China and witnessed the assemblage and breakup of the supercontinent Rodinia. Through a multidisciplinary approach, including petrology and geochemistry of the clastic sedimentary rocks, we reconstruct the sedimentary provenance and paleoweathering of the sedimentary basin and characterize the formation and evolution of the Jiangnan Orogen and its role in Rodinia. The SQS Group consists of texturally immature sandstones composed of unsorted and angular to subangular clastic grains dominated by lithic fragments (54–80%) (mostly chert, metasedimentary, and sedimentary grains) accompanied by variable amounts of quartz (14–40%) and feldspar (0–18%). Sandstones from the XK Group are characterized by lower quartz (5–16%) but higher feldspar (16–47%) and lithic fragments (47–78%) (mostly volcanic detritus). All samples lie along a provenance-dependent compositional trend, suggesting that hydraulic sorting and recycling of heavy minerals were insignificant. Moderate Eu/Eu* (0.6–1.0) and (La/Yb)n (4.8–8.4) values and predominant Neoproterozoic euhedral detrital zircons indicate that sedimentary detritus was largely sourced from locally distributed Neoproterozoic intermediate to felsic igneous rocks. Potential sources include the ca. 930–900 Ma Pingshui plagiogranite, the ca. 930–890 Ma Shuangxiwu andesite, and the ca. 850 Ma Zhenzhushan dacite and basalt. The modeled average composition of the SQS detritus consists of 80% dacite, 10% andesite, and 10% basalt, whereas the XK detritus consists of 70% dacite, 20% andesite, and 10% basalt. The SQS and XK rocks record mild to moderate chemical weathering in their source areas. Some samples plot away from the predicated weathering trend in the A-CN-K diagram, reflecting replacement of the detrital calcic plagioclase by authigenic albite during postdepositional metasomatism. Textural and chemical immaturity, non-steady-state weathering, and signatures of immobile elements are indicative of a tectonically active setting, likely a continental arc environment, for deposition of the SQS and XK groups. The Yangtze Block is thus considered to be located in the periphery of Rodinia during ca. 833–815 Ma.


The relationship of international investment law (IIL) with the rule of law is an increasingly important topic. There is a broad agreement that the rule of law is a guiding notion for IIL and investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS), both in terms of their own operation and regarding the obligations imposed on host States. One of these obligations – the FET standard – has been specifically interpreted as requiring respect for certain fundamental rule of law principles such as predictability, non-arbitrariness and transparency.
The principal argument of this thesis is that the FET standard should be seen, in addition to securing international rule of law for foreign investors, as a tool to strengthen the national rule of law in the host States. Progressive development of the FET subprinciples should be complemented with a systematic taking into account the existing national rule of law framework in a host State. This can both enhance ex ante predictability of FET decision-making, and allow for other broader benefits that come out of rule of law improvement.
The proposed approach would involve a systematic recourse to a holistic set of existing municipal and international obligations beyond the investment treaty so to help interpret and apply the FET standard. These obligations embody a specific national vision of the rule of law that should be given recognition and support, within limits and without jeopardizing the international character of the IIL norms. Furthermore, decision-making can be enhanced by having recourse to comparative benchmarks to provide persuasiveness of determinations and by limiting the role of good faith
considerations. With a complementary focus on the national rule of law, investment awards can become a clearer source for suggesting needed reforms, bringing benefits to a wider circle of domestic stakeholders and more broadly supporting the host State development.


Amid growing concerns about the perceived population decline of shea (Vitellaria paradoxa) and locust bean (Parkia biglobosa) trees in the agroforestry parklands, this article explores the impacts of differing tree tenure regimes on their management and use. Using a case study of two communities in Northern Region, Ghana, the study shows that the differing institutional arrangements governing the ownership, access, and use of these two species have led to different sets of incentive structures that have contrasting effects on the management of these species. Shea, in general, seemed to fare much better than locust bean under the current customary regulations. The research finds that in the absence of proper incentives, old and dying locust bean trees might not be replaced by young ones, thereby further jeopardizing its population, and along with it a variety of benefits it accrues to these rural communities.


In a nuclear power plant, one of the important issues is evaluation of the safety of reactor core and its pipes when an earthquake occurs. Many researchers have conducted studies on constructions of plants. Consequently, there is some knowledge about earthquake-resisting designs. However the influence of an earthquake vibration on thermal fluid inside a nuclear reactor plant is not fully understood. Especially, there are little knowledge how coolant in a core response when large earthquake acceleration is added.Some studies about the response of fluid to the vibration were carried out. And it is supposed that the void fraction or the power of core is fluctuated with the oscillation by the experiments and numerical analysis. However detailed mechanism about a kinetic response of gas and liquid phases is not enough investigated, therefore the aim of this study is to clarify the influence of vibration of construction on bubbly flow structure. In order to investigate it, we visualize changing of bubbly flow structure in pipeline on which sine wave is applied.Bubbly flow is produced with injecting gas into liquid flow through a horizontally circular pipe. In order to vibrate the test section, the oscillating table is used. The frequency of vibration added from the table is from 1.0 Hz to 10 Hz and acceleration is from 0.4 G to 1 G (1 G = 9.8 m/s2). The test section and a high speed video camera are fixed on the table. Thus the relative velocity between the camera and the test section is ignored. In the visualization experiment, the PIV measurement is conducted. Then the motion of bubbles, for example the shape, the positions and the velocity are measured with observation.In addition, by varying added oscillation amplitude, frequency and flow rate of the fluids, the correlation between these parameters and bubble motion was evaluated.It was clarified that the characteristic bubble deformation and velocity profile around bubble is caused by oscillation in each oscillation phase time. When structure vibration affects the flow, two main mechanisms are supposed. One is the addition of body force of the oscillation acceleration to liquid phase and bubble, and the other is the velocity oscillation of the test section and the effect of the boundary layer of the pipe wall. It was also found that the bubble deformation is correlated with the fluctuation of relative liquid velocity field to bubble and pressure gradient in the flow area.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


Peculiar features of surgical treatment of gunshot, non-lethal arm, and cold steel wounds are formulated based on the 20-year experience with managing 20,000 injured subjects having multiple and combined injuries to neck, chest, and abdomen of suicidal and criminal character. The growth in the number of patients with suicidal wounds and hemocontact viral infections (hepatitis, HIV) is emphasized. It is concluded that assessment of the state of gas exchange, lipid peroxidation, antioxidative, and immune systems does not give full idea of pathogenetic mechanisms of traumatic diseases.


The article presents the results of study of character of consumption of alcohol products by representatives of different professional groups. The research data was obtained from representative sampling of working population of Russia. On the basis of probit-modeling estimates of possibility of even if once consumption of alcohol were calculated. On the basis of tobit-modeling relative volume of consumed alcohol was evaluated. The results of analysis indicate that professional membership exerts significant but not determining influence on the character of alcohol consumption. The clear-cut age structure of volume consumption of particular alcohol beverages was established. The stable decrease of consumption of alcohol beverages during last years is mainly determined by financial economic crisis and not by measures of antialcoholic campaign.


Energy is a core concept in the teaching of science. Therefore, it is important to know how students' thinking about energy develops so that elementary, middle, and high school students can be appropriately supported in their understanding of energy. This study tests the validity of a proposed theoretical model of students' growth of understanding about energy that moves from a phenomenological understanding, to being able to explain phenomena using basic energy-related concepts, to being able to explain phenomena using more advanced energy-related concepts, often involving atomic/molecular explanations. The study examines results from the administration of 372 distractor-driven, multiple-choice test items aligned to a wide range of energy ideas from energy forms and transformations, to energy transfers, to energy dissipation and degradation, to energy conservation. Over 20,000 students from across the U.S. participated in the study. Rasch modeling provided linear measures of student performance and item difficulty. For most of the 14 targeted energy ideas, an analysis of the item difficulties validated the study's proposed theoretical model of the growth of understanding of the energy concept. Additionally, a cross-sectional analysis of student performance revealed that the high school students outperformed the middle school students and the middle school students outperformed the elementary school students.


In probabilistic programming languages (PPLs), a critical step in optimization-based inference methods is constructing, for a given model program, a trainable guide program. Soundness and effectiveness of inference rely on constructing good guides, but the expressive power of a universal PPL poses challenges. This paper introduces an approach to automatically generating guides for deep amortized inference in a universal PPL. Guides are generated using a type-directed translation per a novel behavioral type system. Guide generation extracts and exploits independence structures using a syntactic approach to conditional independence, with a semantic account left to further work. Despite the control-flow expressiveness allowed by the universal PPL, generated guides are guaranteed to satisfy a critical soundness condition and, moreover, consistently improve training and inference over state-of-the-art baselines for a suite of benchmarks.


Background We undertook a prospective pilot study in a small cohort of patients with renal replacement therapy to determine the cause of erectile dysfunction (ED) and evaluate the role of testosterone replacement therapy and sildenafil. Methods We investigated 12 patients (eight post-transplant and four on haemodialysis) who presented with ED for hypogonadism and cavernosal insufficiency. We assessed sexual performance before and after treatment by a questionnaire method based on the modified International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) rating. Patients received 250 mg intramuscular monthly injections of testosterone cypionate and 50-100 mg sildenafil orally once or twice weekly for 12 months. Therapeutic response was considered good if the patient could maintain an erection adequate for successful sexual intercourse (NIH criteria) and had a marked improvement in the overall sexual performance (IIEF scoring). Results Before treatment all patients had severe ED with a poor IIEF score while 11 also had diminished libido. Eleven patients had diminished testicular volume and six had elevated follicle-stimulating hormone levels suggestive of germ cell damage. All patients had a good response to the therapeutic trial of testosterone and sildenafil. Conclusions Therapy with testosterone and sildenafil may be indicated for those with both cavernosal arterial insufficiency and reproductive hormone abnormalities. Further longer-term data are needed to determine the safety and efficacy of this novel regimen.


The advance cloud computing has provided an opportunity to resolve the challenges which effects by increasing transportation issues. Two methods of cloud services are available these are parking and mining. Mobile cloud computing has improved the storage capacity, stand by time of mobile terminals by migrating data processing to the remote cloud. The introduction of smart phones, cloud computing the automotive system is shifting toward the internet of vehicles.


Emissions of fast ion and neutral debris from laser-produced lithium plasmas have been investigated. We found that Li+, Li2+, and Li3+ ion energy spectra look similar. The peak positions and maximum energies in their energy spectra were about 700–800 eV and about 800–900 eV, respectively, which were much lower than those of such high-Z targets as Xe and Sn. These indicate that most of the fast Li+ and Li2+ ions were produced by the recombination of Li3+ ions while the plasma expanded, and that they were not accelerated to a high energy range as much as the high-Z targets. We did not observe any fast neutral Li atoms. These results suggest that the use of the Li target for the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) source would be advantageous for practical applications.


Physical and clinical eye refraction was studied in 608 children aged from 3 to 12 years. The formation of refraction of the eye at the time of its growth is based on correlative connexions between anatomo-optic parameters and between refractive media themselves. Spherical and astigmatic refraction are determined by refractive media having, in their most part, astigmatism. In the period of the growth of the eye, its physical and clinical refraction changes. To prevent a fall of visual functions and disturbances in the musculo-accommodative system of the eye, early optic correction of ametropia is recommended and, if indicated, pleoptic-orthoptic treatment.


The asteroid 4 Vesta is one of the very few heavenly bodies to have been linked to samples on Earth: the howardite‐eucrite‐diogenite (HED) meteorite suite. This large and diverse suite of meteorites provides a detailed picture of Vesta's igneous and postigneous history. We have used the range of igneous rock types and compositions in the HED suite to test a series of chemical models for solidification processes following peak melting (magma ocean) conditions on Vesta. Fractional crystallization cannot have been a dominant early process in the magma ocean because it leads to excessive Fe‐enrichment in the melt. Models that are dominated by equilibrium crystallization cannot produce orthopyroxene cumulates (diogenites). Our best models invoke 60–70% equilibrium crystallization of a magma ocean followed by continuous extraction of the residual melt into shallow magma chambers. Fractional crystallization in these magma chambers combined with continuous or periodic addition of more melt from the slowly compacting crystal mush (magmatic recharge) can produce all of the igneous HED lithologies (noncumulate and cumulate eucrites, diogenites, dunites, harzburgites, and olivine diogenites). Magmatic recharge can also explain the narrow range in eucrite compositions and the variability of incompatible trace element concentrations in diogenites. We predict an internal structure for Vesta that permits excavation of the HEDs during the formation of the Rheasilvia basin, while remaining consistent with observations from the Dawn mission and most impact models.


Government funding of the arts has received considerable attention in the United States in recent years. Efforts to cut funding to the National Endowment for the Arts and declining budgets for state arts agencies have raised questions about how much individuals value the arts. This paper applies the contingent valuation method to assess this value, using surveys of random households and of arts patrons. Our analysis estimated a mean will- ingness to pay (WTP) among all Kentucky households from $6 to $27, depending on the estimation technique used and on whether the scenario discussed is to increase arts per- formances by 25 per cent, or to avoid a 25 per cent or 50 per cent decrease in the number of performances. Among arts patron households, the mean WTP ranges from $61 to $132. Consumer demand for arts performances in large part follows a predictable pattern. The likelihood of respondents agreeing to make the donation that is requested rises as the size of the donation decreases. The likelihood is higher to avoid a 50 per cent decline in per- formances than to avoid a 25 per cent decline in performances. The mean WTP rises with income, and arts patron households have a much higher WTP than all households. WTP rises with on-site use factors such as frequency of attendance. The WTP also rises for arts patrons households with off-site use such as watching arts events on television or reading about the arts in newspapers and magazines.


A number of studies in the literature support the use of fine aerosols of drug, inhaled at low IFRs to target peripheral airways, with the objective of improving clinical responses to inhaled therapy (Fig. 8). Attempts have been made to separate response due to changes in total administered dose or the surface concentration of the dose from response due to changes in site of deposition--both are affected by the particle size of the aerosol, with IFR additionally influencing the latter. The tools for measuring dose and distribution have improved over the last 10-15 years, and thus we should expect greater accuracy in these measurements for assessing drug delivery to the lung. There are still issues, though, in producing radiolabeled (99m)technetium aerosols that are precise markers for the pharmaceutical product being tested and in quantitating absolute doses deposited in the lung. PET isotopes may provide the means for directly labelling a drug and perhaps can offer an alternative for making these measurements in the future, but deposition measurements should not be used in isolation; protocols should incorporate clinical tests to provide parallel therapeutic data in response to inhalation of the drug by the various patient populations being studied.


With the rise of security attacks on mobile phones, traditional methods to authentication such as Personal Identification Numbers (PIN) and Passwords are becoming ineffective due to their limitations such as being easily forgettable, discloser, lost or stolen. Keystroke dynamics is a form of behavioral biometric based authentication where an analysis of how users type is monitored and used in authenticating users into a system. The use of location data provides a verification mechanism based on user's location which can be obtained via their phones Global Positioning System (GPS) facility. This study evaluated existing authentication methods and their performance summarized. To address the limitations of traditional authentication methods this paper proposed an alternative authentication method that uses Keystroke dynamics and location data. To evaluate the proposed authentication method experiments were done through use of a prototype android mobile banking application that captured the typing behavior while logging in and location data from 60 users. The experiment results were lower compared to the previous studies provided in this paper with a False Rejection Rate (FRR) of 5.33% which is the percentage of access attempts by legitimate users that have been rejected by the system and a False Acceptance Rate (FAR) of 3.33% which is the percentage of access attempts by imposters that have been accepted by the system incorrectly, giving an Equal Error Rate (EER) of 4.3%.The outcome of this study demonstrated keystroke dynamics and location verification on PINs as an alternative authentication of mobile banking transactions building on current smartphones features with less implementation costs with no additional hardware compared to other biometric methods. Keywords : smartphones, biometric, mobile banking, keystroke dynamics, location verification, security


Shear waves recorded at or near the sea‐bed, i.e. a water–sediment interface, may suffer from unwanted phase change, which is detrimental to velocity analysis and processing and degrades the quality of the final stacked or migrated image. In this study, this phenomenon is analysed for P‐SV converted waves recorded at the sea‐bed. Theoretical analysis shows that phase change does not occur if the converted shear waves always maintain raypaths that lie within the critical angle, provided the subsurface layering is horizontal. A phase change that is asymmetric with offset can readily be explained as being due to dipping layers at targets or the dipping sea‐bed. This analysis is extended to multiple layers and anisotropic media and shows that the same conclusions hold. The analysis performed on two sets of ocean‐bottom‐cable seismic data shows that the majority of observations show little evidence of phase change, and occasionally display the asymmetric phase change with offset. This finding underlines the robustness of converted shear waves for imaging the horizontal subsurfaces and sea‐bed as all of the offset information may be used.


The disruption of a 150-km large asteroid filled the inner solar system with dust that cooled Earth and caused faunal turnovers. The breakup of the L-chondrite parent body in the asteroid belt 466 million years (Ma) ago still delivers almost a third of all meteorites falling on Earth. Our new extraterrestrial chromite and 3He data for Ordovician sediments show that the breakup took place just at the onset of a major, eustatic sea level fall previously attributed to an Ordovician ice age. Shortly after the breakup, the flux to Earth of the most fine-grained, extraterrestrial material increased by three to four orders of magnitude. In the present stratosphere, extraterrestrial dust represents 1% of all the dust and has no climatic significance. Extraordinary amounts of dust in the entire inner solar system during >2 Ma following the L-chondrite breakup cooled Earth and triggered Ordovician icehouse conditions, sea level fall, and major faunal turnovers related to the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event.


Filtering device consists of a bundle of curled hollow fibers arranged in a cylindrical filter housing. The fibers have a sinusoidal texture and are curled corresponding to the following equation: 5.d lambda L/12.1/(1 + 2D/L) (where lambda = the wavelength of the curled hollow fibers; d = the outer diameter of the hollow fibers; L = the effective length of the hollow fibers; and D = the diameter of the fiber bundle). Preferred Features: The amplitude a of the sinusoidal curl is formed by the following equation: d/5 a lambda /5.


This paper describes a coordinated control scheme of battery energy storage system (BESS) and distributed generations (DGs) for electric distribution grid operation. The BESS is designed to stabilize frequency and voltages as a primary control after the electric distribution system enters into the islanding operation mode, while the centralized joint load frequency control (CJLFC) utilizing DGs handles the secondary frequency regulation. The BESS with the associated controllers has been modelled in Real-time digital simulator (RTDS) in order to identify the improvement of the frequency and voltage response. The modified IEEE 9-bus system, which is comprised of several DG units, wind power plant and the BESS, has been employed to illustrate the performance of the proposed coordinated flexible control scheme using RTDS in order to verify its practical efficacy.


We use data on lymphoma in families of Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) cases from the Swedish Family Cancer Database ( Hemminki et al. 2001 ) to illustrate survival methods for detecting familial aggregation in first degree relatives of case probands compared to first degree relatives of control probands, from registries that permit sampling of all cases. Because more than one case may occur in a given family, the first degree relatives of case probands are not necessarily independent, and we present procedures that allow for such dependence. A bootstrap procedure also accommodates matching of case and control probands by resampling the matching clusters, defined as the combined set of all first degree relatives of the matched case and control probands. Regarding families as independent sampling units leads to inferences based on "sandwich variance estimators" and accounts for dependencies from having more than one proband in a family, but not for matching. We compare these methods in analysis of familial aggregation of HL and also present simulations to compare survival analyses with analyses of binary outcome data.


At DLR, a new Active-Control-Technology/Flying Helicopter
Simulator is being developed based on EC 135 helicopter.
Accurate derivative models of EC 135 helicopter are required for the design of the model following control system. In the investigations reported in this document, system identification techniques are applied to obtain 6 DOF rigid body and 8 DOF extended models from EC 135 simulated data. Main rotor dynamics are explicitly included in estimation model and their effects on the helicopter on- and off axis response are investigated. Results from the identified models are presented and the obtainable
benefits from the use of 8 DOF model are highlighted.


Word Sense Disambiguation (WSD) aims to determine the meaning of a word in context, and successful approaches are known to benefit many applications in Natural Language Processing. Although supervised learning has been shown to provide superior WSD performance, current sense-annotated corpora do not contain a sufficient number of instances per word type to train supervised systems for all words. While unsupervised techniques have been proposed to overcome this data sparsity problem, such techniques have not outperformed supervised methods. In this paper, we propose a new approach to building semi-supervised WSD systems that combines a small amount of sense-annotated data with information from Word Sense Induction, a fully-unsupervised technique that automatically learns the different senses of a word based on how it is used. In three experiments, we show how sense induction models may be effectively combined to ultimately produce high-performance semi-supervised WSD systems that exceed the performance of state-of-the-art supervised WSD techniques trained on the same sense-annotated data. We anticipate that our results and released software will also benefit evaluation practices for sense induction systems and those working in low-resource languages by demonstrating how to quickly produce accurate WSD systems with minimal annotation effort.


The binding properties and structural changes of mushroom tyrosinase enzyme, MT, due to its interaction with phenyl dithiocarbamate (I) and p-phenylene-bis dithiocarbamate (II) were investigated at 27 and 37°C in phosphate buffer (10 mmol.L-1) at pH=6.8 by isothermal titration calorimetric (ITC). Thermodynamic analysis indicated that predominant mode of interaction was hydrophobic in binding of I to MT, meanwhile the binding of II to MT essentially depends on electrostatic interactions. It seems thatII is a more potent MT inhibitor due to its two charged head groups able to chelate copper ions in the enzyme active site. It was concluded that MT has two distinct sites for p-phenylene-bis and phenyl dithiocarbamate.


BACKGROUND
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a liver disease caused by hepatitis B virus, which may lead to serious complications such as cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. People with HBV infection may also have coinfections including HIV and other hepatitis viruses (hepatitis C or D), and coinfections may increase the risk of all-cause mortality. Chronic HBV infection increases morbidity, psychological stress, and it is an economic burden on people with chronic hepatitis B and their families. Radix Sophorae flavescentis, a herbal medicine, is administered mostly in combination with other drugs or herbs. It is believed that it decreases discomfort and prevents the replication of the virus in people with chronic hepatitis B. However, the benefits and harms of Radix Sophorae flavescentis on patient-centred outcomes are unknown, and its wide usage has never been established with rigorous review methodology.

OBJECTIVES
To assess the benefits and harms of Radix Sophorae flavescentis versus other drugs or herbs in people with chronic hepatitis B.

SEARCH METHODS
We searched The Cochrane Hepato-Biliary Group Controlled Trials Register, CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, and seven other databases to December 2018. We also searched the World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (www.who.int/ictrp), ClinicalTrials.gov (www.clinicaltrials.gov/), and the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry for ongoing or unpublished trials to December 2018.

SELECTION CRITERIA
We included randomised clinical trials, irrespective of publication status, language, or blinding, comparing Radix Sophorae flavescentis versus other drugs or herbs for people with chronic hepatitis B. In addition to chronic hepatitis B, participants could also have had cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, or any other concomitant disease. We excluded polyherbal blends containing Radix Sophorae flavescentis. We allowed cointerventions when the cointerventions were administered equally to all intervention groups.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Review authors in pairs individually retrieved data from published reports and after correspondence with investigators. Our primary outcomes were all-cause mortality, serious adverse events, and health-related quality of life. Our secondary outcomes were hepatitis B-related mortality, hepatitis B-related morbidity, and adverse events considered 'not to be serious'. We presented the meta-analysed results as risk ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). We assessed the risk of bias using domains with predefined definitions. We conducted Trial Sequential Analyses to control the risks of random errors. We used GRADE methodology to evaluate our certainty in the evidence (i.e. "the extent of our confidence that the estimates of the effect are correct or are adequate to support a particular decision or recommendation").

MAIN RESULTS
We included 10 randomised clinical trials with 898 participants. We judged all trials at high risk of bias. The trials covered oral capsules, intravenous infusion, intramuscular injection, and acupoint (a specifically chosen site of acupuncture) injection of Radix Sophorae flavescentis with a follow-up period from 1 to 12 months. The drugs being used as a comparator were lamivudine, adefovir, interferon, tiopronin, thymosin, or other Chinese herbs. Two trials included children up to 14 years old. Participants in one trial had cirrhosis in chronic hepatitis B. None of the trials reported all-cause mortality, health-related quality of life, serious adverse events, hepatitis B-related mortality, or morbidity. We are uncertain as to whether Radix Sophorae flavescentis has a beneficial or harmful effect on adverse events considered 'not to be serious' (RR 0.86, 95% CI 0.42 to 1.75; I2 = 0%; 2 trials, 163 participants; very low-certainty evidence), as well as if it decreases or increases the proportion of participants with detectable HBV-DNA (RR 1.14, 95% CI 0.81 to 1.63; I2 = 92%; 8 trials, 719 participants; very low-certainty evidence). Radix Sophorae flavescentis showed a reduction in the proportion of participants with detectable hepatitis B virus e-antigen (HBeAg) (RR 0.86, 95% CI 0.75 to 0.98; I2 = 43%; 7 trials, 588 participants; very low-certainty evidence).Two of the 10 trials were not funded, and one received academic funding. The remaining seven trials provided no information on funding.The randomisation process in another 109 trials was insufficiently reported to ensure the inclusion of any of these studies in our review.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
The included trials lacked data on all-cause mortality, health-related quality of life, serious adverse events, hepatitis-B related mortality, and hepatitis-B related morbidity. The evidence on the effect of Radix Sophorae flavescentis on the proportion of participants with adverse events considered 'not to be serious' and on the proportion of participants with detectable HBV-DNA is still unclear. We advise caution regarding the results of Radix Sophorae flavescentis showing a reduction in the proportion of people with detectable HBeAg because the trials were at high risk of bias, because it is a non-validated surrogate outcome, and because of the very low certainty in the evidence. As we were unable to obtain information on a large number of studies regarding their trial design, we were deterred from including them in our review. Undisclosed funding may have influence on trial results and lead to poor design of the trial. In view of the wide usage of Radix Sophorae flavescentis, we need large, unbiased, high-quality placebo-controlled randomised trials assessing patient-centred outcomes.


The applied laser energy absorbed in a local area in laser thermal stress cleaving of brittle materials using a controlled fracture technique produces tensile thermal stress that causes the material to separate along the moving direction of the laser beam. The material separation is similar to crack extension, but the fracture growth is controllable. Using heat transfer theory, we establish a three-dimensional (3D) mathematical thermoelastic calculational model containing a pre-existing crack for a two-point pulsed Nd:YAG laser cleaving silicon wafer. The temperature field and thermal stress field in the silicon wafer are obtained by using the finite element method (FEM). The distribution of the tensile stress and changes in stress intensity factor around the crack tip are analyzed during the pulse duration. Meanwhile, the mechanism of crack propagation is investigated by analyzing the development of the thermal stress field during the cleaving process.


In this paper, a two-dimensional mutually coupled oscillator array is studied for the application of a beam-scanning and polarization-agile antenna array. In the design of antenna array, a two-dimensional oscillator array is implemented in x-y plane, the polarization agility is provided by one dimension (or y-direction) and the other dimension (or x-direction) is for beam scanning. By properly tuning the free-running frequencies of these oscillators, the array radiation direction can be scanned at the selected polarization states including linearly polarized, left-hand and right-hand circularly polarized states. The maximal phase difference of /spl plusmn/180/spl deg/ between coupled oscillating signals is acquired by utilizing their second-harmonic signals. This then gives well-defined phase differences among oscillators for beam scanning in addition to the required quadrature phase difference for circular polarization. The performances of polarization agility and beam scanning for a four-element antenna array are verified experimentally and shown to have the potential for adaptive antenna array applications.


In order to enhance the quality of the electricity in microgrids powered by renewable energy, this study introduces a three-phase Active Power Conditioner. The six IGBT bridge is managed by three hysteresis controllers. Disturbances in a microgrid, which is a fragile electrical grid, can be crucial. The Active Power Conditioner (APC), which is described in this paper, serves as a bridge between the microgrid's AC bus and renewable energy sources. The implementation of an upgraded control technique allows for the injection of electrical energy from renewable sources while also enhancing power quality inside the same microgrid. THDI (Total Harmonic Distortion), PF (Power Factor), and current can all be improved with the help of the control approach known as Extended Indirect Control Strategy.


Learning in regional innovation systems is a complex phenomenon. Therefore, its analysis is being increasingly approached through computer-simulated strategies. The agent-based model in particular has demonstrated to be a useful approximation to overcome the limitations of other methodological strategies since it allows a more trustworthy representation of the agent's capabilities, their reasoning limitations, of the mechanisms used for decision making, their interaction, and their success formulas to take advantage of market opportunities. Nevertheless, the development of these models represents serious conceptual and methodological challenges. This article proposes a model that represents the agents of a regional innovation system as vectors of capabilities and the learning process as the accumulation of their innovation capabilities. The proximity among agents and the influence of public policies favors the result of the interaction induced by the market. Methodologically, the development of the model starts with a conceptual proposal validated through contrast against. specialized literature. After that, a model verified by computer was elaborated and its behavior was validated. Finally, a simulation of scenarios was performed to prove its potential application. The resulting model contributes to the understanding the learning dynamics and the emerging patterns of the agent's specialization and their influence on the system's performance. Finally, the simulation exercises demonstrate the model's potential to guide policy decisions that seek to improve the performance regional innovation systems.


Seven fasting subjects were fitted with nasogastric and nasoduodenal tubes and received intragastrically a coarsely emulsified test meal. Gastric and duodenal aspirates were collected after 1, 2, 3, and 4 h. In the duodenum, most lipids (> 90%) were present as emulsified droplets 1-100 microns in size. Large droplets and unemulsified material present in the test meal (> 100 micron) disappeared, whereas smaller droplets (1-50 microns) were generated after 1 h of digestion. Thus the median lipid droplet diameter significantly decreased (19.6 vs. 56.5 microns in the test meal) and the droplet surface area significantly increased (1.58 vs. 0.70 micron2/g fat). Intermediate droplet diameters were 34.3, 46.3, and 27.6 microns after 2, 3, and 4 h, respectively. In the stomach, a comparable emulsion particle size pattern was observed, with median droplet diameters of 17.2, 37.9, 52.4, and 41.6 microns after 1, 2, 3, and 4 h, respectively. However, the extent of triglyceride hydrolysis was much lower in the stomach (6-16%) than in the duodenum (42-45%), where small droplets were enriched in lipolytic products, cholesterol, and phospholipids. The present findings show for the first time that most dietary lipids are present in the human duodenum as emulsified droplets 1-50 microns in size and that no further marked emulsification of dietary fat occurs in the duodenum compared with the stomach.