AIM
To determine the effectiveness of non-pharmacological therapies for sleep disturbances in people with Parkinson's disease (PD).

BACKGROUND
Sleep disturbances, which are common in people with PD, may diminish their quality of life. Non-pharmacological therapies are preferred over pharmacological therapies for improving sleep quality, owing to fewer adverse effects.

DESIGN
Systematic literature review.

DATA SOURCES
A systematic search of eight databases and hand searching was conducted for papers published between 1 January 2000 - 1 January 2016.

REVIEW METHODS
The Cochrane methods were followed. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration Risk of Bias Tool.

RESULTS
Eight studies were identified for data extraction. Therapeutic domains included physical exercise, cognitive behavioural and complementary interventions. Therapies in four of the eight studies significantly improved sleep quality and the unified PD rating scale score. Other studies showed no clear effects on sleep (N = 1), limited effects on sleep (N = 1) or effects in both the intervention and control groups, indicating that the intervention had no distinctive effects (N = 2).

CONCLUSIONS
The non-pharmacological intervention types and sleep-related measured outcomes were heterogeneous. Most therapies had inconsistent effects on sleep. The insufficient evidence for non-pharmacological treatments seems related to the unique motor-associated clinical features of PD, which restrict the use of physical exercise therapy, or to individual "wearing-off" periods, which limit group therapy. Further studies on non-pharmacological therapies are required to identify the best interventions for improving sleep quality in people with PD.


Accomplishing the objective of the current climate policies will require establishing carbon budget and flux estimates in each region and county of the globe by comparing and reconciling multiple estimates including the observations and the results of top-down atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) inversions and bottom-up dynamic global vegetation models. With this in view, this study synthesizes the carbon source/sink due to net ecosystem productivity (NEP), land cover land use change (ELUC), fires and fossil burning (EFIRE) for the South Asia (SA), Southeast Asia (SEA) and South and Southeast Asia (SSEA = SA + SEA) and each country in these regions using the multiple top-down and bottom-up modeling results. The terrestrial net biome productivity (NBP = NEP – ELUC – EFIRE) calculated based on bottom-up models in combination with EFIRE based on GFED4s data show net carbon sinks of 217 ± 147, 10 ± 55, and 227 ± 279 TgC yr−1 for SA, SEA, and SSEA. The top-down models estimated NBP net carbon sinks were 20 ± 170, 4 ± 90 and 24 ± 180 TgC yr−1. In comparison, regional emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels were 495, 275, and 770 TgC yr−1, which are many times higher than the NBP sink estimates, suggesting that the contribution of the fossil fuel emissions to the carbon budget of SSEA results in a significant net carbon source during the 2000s. When considering both NBP and fossil fuel emissions for the individual countries within the regions, Bhutan and Laos were net carbon sinks and rest of the countries were net carbon source during the 2000s. The relative contributions of each of the fluxes (NBP, NEP, ELUC, and EFIRE, fossil fuel emissions) to a nation's net carbon flux varied greatly from country to country, suggesting a heterogeneous dominant carbon fluxes on the country-level throughout SSEA.


The S-12 fractions of lung peripheral parenchyma obtained from 80 male individuals, aged 17-71 years, were assayed as blind samples for the ability either to convert promutagens into bacterial mutagens or to decrease the potency of direct-acting mutagens in the Ames reversion test. In this system, lung preparations were completely ineffective in activating an N-nitroso compound (i.e., N-nitrosomorpholine) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons [i.e., 3-methylcholanthrene and benzo(a)pyrene] or their metabolites [i.e., 3-hydroxy-benzo(a)pyrene and benzo(a)pyrene-trans-7,8-diol]. They yielded a borderline and sporadic activation of a cigarette smoke condensate, and a weak but frequent activation of an aromatic amine (i.e., 2-aminofluorene), of a heterocyclic amine (i.e., 2-amino-3,4-dimethylimidazo[4,5-f] and of a diamide (i.e., cyclophosphamide). The pulmonary metabolism was more oriented in the sense of detoxification, as shown by the consistent decrease of potency of direct-acting mutagens, including a metal (i.e., sodium dichromate), an acridine and nitrogen mustard derivative (i.e., 2-methoxy-6-chloro-9-[3-(2-chloromethyl)aminopropylamino]acridine or ICR 191), an epoxide (i.e., epichlorohydrin) and an N-oxide (i.e., 4-nitroquinoline-N-oxide). As assessed by means of a numerical score quantifying the variation of mutagenicity, a marked interindividual variability (up to 20-fold) was detected in the ability of lung specimens to affect the mutagenicity of test compounds. Such variability was not significantly related to the protein concentration of S-12 fractions, nor to the age of the patients under scrutiny, who during hospitalization were on normal institutional diets and did not receive any special drug treatment. The only significant difference between 20 noncancer and 60 lung cancer patients, irrespective of the histological type, was a decreased activation of cyclophosphamide in the latter group. Probably due to the high prevalence of smokers among lung cancer patients, a significantly decreased activation of cyclophosphamide was also observed in the group of smokers. Smoking habits were associated with a stimulation of detoxifying mechanisms which, in agreement with the results of a previous study with human alveolar macrophages (F. L. Petrilli et al., J. Clin. Invest., 77:1917-1924, 1986), was significant in the case of sodium dichromate. Such effect was further enhanced by considering only individuals smoking during the last 24 h before collecting lung specimens, and under these conditions it became significant also for ICR 191.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


The Berd River flows along the southwestern part of the low-mountain Salair ridge and in the middle reaches has distinct mountain character. Within the Novosibirsk region, Berd and its tributaries create a unique mountain landscape area with suitable habitat for Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) nesting group with density of up to five nesting pairs per 100 km2 (Karyakin, 2005). There is only indirect evidence for Golden Eagle nesting in the Novosibirsk region outside this area. The only publication that mentions nests found in the northern areas of the region (Northern, Kyshtovsky) is Red Data Book of the Novosibirsk region (RDB NR), here data is presented as personal communications and as unpublished. The nesting density in the northern part of the Novosibirsk region is estimated to be two orders of magnitude lower than in the Berd river valley (RDB NR). Thus, Berd river valley is the most important Golden Eagle nesting area within the region. However, all nest findings here were made more than 20 years ago: in 1995, 2002, and 2003 (Karyakin, 2005). Later, evidence of Golden Eagle presence in Berd basin was limited to single sightings of adult birds. For example, on January 14, 2018, a pair of soaring adult birds was observed near Iskitim city in bad weather (snow, blizzard) (observation in iNaturalist34 database). On August 2, 2020, an adult bird soared over a river section near one of the nests found by the expedition in 2002. However, back in 2017 we examined this breeding territory and found it devastated by fire that destroyed all large trees. On July 17, 2021, during rafting on the route between villages Kinterep and Starososedovo, with a total route length of 40 km, three Golden Eagles were encountered during the day: fledgling with undergrown flight and tail feathers35 soared above the river and, eight kilometers away in a straight line, a pair of adult eagles rose from a perch on the rocky cliffs of the right river bank36. Thus, two possible breeding territories' locations were determined. It is interesting to note that according to I.V. Karyakin (2005), all eagle observations at breeding territories during expeditions in 2002–2003 were made after nests discovery. In September–October of 2021, field trips were made to summer observation points of fledgling and pair to find nests. On September 4, 2021, a search for a nest was carried out in areas adjacent to the location of fledgling encounter. Breeding territory number one, discovered by the 2002 expedition, was examined first (see Karyakin, 2005: Fig. 1). A dead clump of old pines was found here, one of which most likely was a nesting tree back in 2002. No remains of the nest were found. At a distance of about 800 m from this breeding territory, on the rocky cliffs of the right Berd riverbank, in the immediate vicinity of the fledgling observation point, we discovered Golden Eagle perches with remains of prey (rook feathers and skeletonized remains of the harrier Circus sp.). Fresh Golden Eagle down was found on the thorny caragana bushes along the slope. An adult eagle was encountered on the territory and a nest was found. The nest was located on the left bank of the right Berd river tributary, 300 m away from its mouth in the middleof the slope overgrown with birch trees interspersedwith individual old pines. The nest was located near the trunk in the lower third of the crown, on side branches facing the stream valley, and was visible from the opposite slope. During visits to the breeding territory on February 20, 2022, and March 13, 2023, individual adult eagles were encountered. On March 13, 2023, another nest was found on the territory as well. The distance between nests was 350 m. The nest was located in the upper quarter of the right Berd riverbank slope in the middle of the crown and was clearly visible from the opposite bank. On June 11, 2023, a feathered nestling with patches of unshedded down on its back was found in the nest that we located on September 4. On October 9, 2021, a search for a nest was conducted in another area near the location where Golden Eagle pair was encountered on July 17 of the same year. Similar to the previous territory, the nest was found on the left (northern) bank of the right Berd river tributary, approximately 130 m from its mouth, in the middle of a slope overgrown with birch forest interspersed with single pines and small pine clumps, in the lower third of a crown of single old pine with a nest base at a height of 13 m above ground. The height was measured during a visit to the nest on October 23, 2021, using laser rangefinder. The thickness of the nest was estimated at 2.5–3 m. Judging by the nest size and its deviation from the vertical of the upper part of the trunk, the nest age is probably at least 20 years old. This is indirectly confirmed by the fact that in 2021 eagles used the same perch as in 2003, and its position relative to the nest coincides with the positions of perches relative to the nest in the breeding territory found on September 4, 2021. Individual adult eagles were observed in the territory during visits on October 9 and 23, 2021, and during winter visits on February 8, 2022, and February 12, 2023. However, there is no evidence of eagles nesting in a discovered nest in this breeding territory in 2022 and 2023, and an attempt must be made to find other nests here. Human economic activity is a major threat to the existence of Golden Eagle nesting groups in the Berd river basin. The constant increase in volumes of anthracite mining in the basin of the right Berd tributary, the Elbash river, have already caused Golden Eagle to stop nesting in the oldest known breeding territory on the left bank of the Elbash River. In particular, no birds were encountered, and no evidence of nesting was found when visiting the territory in 2006, 2007, 2016, and 2021. Agricultural activity has been actively developing in recent years in the Berd basin, close to Golden Eagle breeding territories. Tourism develops even more actively. The rocks of the Berd river are unique for Novosibirsk region: picturesque landscapes, the possibility of rock climbing, rafting, the use of cross-country motorcycles, ATVs, jeeps, and snowmobiles – all this attracts a large number of vacationers, increases the recreational load, and contributes to the constant disturbance of birds in breeding territories. And if such birds as, for example, Peregrine Falcons (Falco peregrinus), although suffer from disturbance, have been increasing their numbers in recent years, the situation with Golden Eagle will most likely worsen in the coming years. For example, right along the edge of the bank cliff, which was used by Golden Eagle as a hunting perch between 2003 and 2021, there is now a road used by off-road vehicles to transport vacationers to a viewing point located directly above the perch.


Techniques of operational semantics do not apply universally to all language varieties: techniques that work for simple functional languages may not apply to more realistic languages with features such as objects and memory effects. We focus mainly on the characterization of the so-called finite elements. The presence of finite elements in a semantics allows for an additional powerful induction mechanism. We show that in some languages a reasonable notion of finite element may be defined, but for other languages this is problematic, and we analyse the reasons for these difficulties. We develop a formal theory of language embeddings and establish a number of properties of embeddings. More complex languages are given semantics by embedding them into simpler languages. Embeddings may be used to establish more general results and avoid reproving some results. It also gives us a formal metric to describe the gap between different languages. Dimensions of the untyped programming language design space addressed here include functions, injections, pairs, objects, and memories.


The public health threat from pathogens creates controversy for the land application of biosolids, a sewage treatment byproduct. Previous work has demonstrated that some enteric viruses are not detected with a plaque assay, the current method for virus detection in biosolids. The Integrated Cell Culture Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (ICC-qPCR) assay, which combined quantitative PCR with seven days incubation in cell culture, allows for detection of more viruses. To compare method sensitivities, a biosolid sample was seeded with mammalian orthoreovirus. 3x105 plaque forming units (PFU) per ml were detected by the plaque assay and 108 PFU equivalents per ml were detected by ICC-qPCR. To determine the ability of ICC-qPCR to detect mammalian orthoreovirus, twenty-four environmental samples were tested. No viruses were detected by the plaque assay based on the EPA method; however ICC-qPCR detected infectious mammalian orthoreovirus in thirteen samples. ICC-qPCR was more sensitive than the plaque assay.


Developmental stages resulting from inoculation of isolates and concentrates of toxigenic Dinophysis norvegica are described. Similarities exist in the developmental stages of D. acuminata, D. acuta, D. pavillardi and D. norvegica. Physical oceanographic mechanisms explain only the distribution of the cells in a red tide resulting from Dinophysis, but not the biomass. However, sexual reproduction as a prerequisite can account for the abundance of cells and therefore the formation of the red tide.


Both goal and threat modelling are well-known activities related to high-level requirements engineering. While goals express why a system is needed, threats tell us why security for our system is needed. Still, you will often find that goals and threats are treated in separate modelling processes, perhaps not being influenced by each other at all. The research question we try to address in here is to what extent should we include threats in goal-oriented modelling? There is for instance a trade-off between expressiveness, usability and usefulness that must be considered. To improve this situation we believe that a well-defined methodology with good tool support will make the modelling process easier, and give a more useful result. In this paper we first give an overview of previous work on the use of threats within goal-modelling. We explain the use of threats within a goal-oriented socio-technical security modelling language and how tool support enables reuse of threats and automatic analysis of threat propagation in the models. This is exemplified with a case study from Air Traffic Management (ATM) from which we extract some of the the practical challenges that we have. We are able to conclude that threats provide a useful foundation and justification for the security requirements we derive from goal modelling, but this should not be considered to be a replacement for risk assessment methods. Having goals and threats before thinking of the technical solutions of a system allows us to raise awareness on situations that are not just exceptions from regular execution flow.


This paper describes the surface environment of the dense plasma arcs that damage rf accelerators, tokamaks, and other high gradient structures. We simulate the dense, nonideal plasma sheath near a metallic surface using molecular dynamics (MD) to evaluate sheaths in the non-Debye region for high density, low temperature plasmas. We use direct two-component MD simulations where the interactions between all electrons and ions are computed explicitly. We find that the non-Debye sheath can be extrapolated from the Debye sheath parameters with small corrections. We find that these parameters are roughly consistent with previous particle-in-cell code estimates, pointing to densities in the range 10 24 ‐10 25 m � 3 . The high surface fields implied by these results could produce field emission that would short the sheath and cause an instability in the time evolution of the arc, and this mechanism could limit the maximum density and surface field in the arc. These results also provide a way of understanding how the properties of the arc depend on the properties (sublimation energy, for example) of the metal. Using these results, and equating surface tension and plasma pressure, it is possible to infer a range of plasma densities and sheath potentials from scanning electron microscope images of arc damage. We find that the high density plasma these results imply and the level of plasma pressure they would produce is consistent with arc damage on a scale 100 nm or less, in examples where the liquid metal would cool before this structure would be lost. We find that the submicron component of arc damage, the burn voltage, and fluctuations in thevisible light production of arcs may be the most direct indicators of the parameters of the dense plasma arc, and the most useful diagnostics of the mechanisms limiting gradients in accelerators.


Introduction: Perinatal major depressive disorder affects 20% of women, while perinatal anxiety affects 10% of women. Although pharmacological treatment has shown effectiveness, many pregnant women are concerned about potential adverse effects on the fetus, maternal–infant bonding, and child development. Approximately 38% of American adults use complementary and alternative medicine, including yoga and other mind–body strategies. Although complementary and alternative medicine has been less studied in the perinatal population, it potentially offers women and their providers alternatives to traditional medication for treatment of perinatal depression and anxiety. Thus, the purpose of this systematic review was to examine existing empirical literature on yoga and its effects on women's health and well-being during the perinatal period. Method: Following PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines for systemic literature reviews, literature searches using relevant search terms were performed in four major electronic databases: CINAHL, PubMed, PsycINFO, and EMBASE. Thirteen publications met inclusion criteria. Results: Results indicated that yoga interventions are generally effective in reducing anxiety and depression in pregnant women. Discussion: The use of yoga in the perinatal period shows promise in improving mental health and well-being for women and infants. This review can inform future yoga intervention studies and clinical practice with the perinatal population.


Many entrepreneurship courses do an excellent job of teaching students the mechanics of creating their own businesses and provide them with the basics to get started. Where courses fall short is in encouraging students to be innovative, creative, and to think outside the box. The Integrated Science, Business and Technology department at La Salle University created an entrepreneurship course entitled Entrepreneurship and High Technology Business. The goal of this course is to assist students in creating technology-intensive businesses. Students select their own ideas; all concepts must be making something new or significantly modifying something that currently exists. Technology must be included in the product idea, manufacturing, and/or sales and marketing. The strength of this course is that students do become very innovative and inventive; some very creative ideas have been conceived. The weakness is that sometimes the students do not have the expertise to make their ideas a reality.


Effect of fluorides in drinking water on fluorine content in breast milk, the food for infants of the 1-sty year of life, was investigated. On determining fluorine concentration in urine and its excretion, fluorine intake by the infants was calculated under various alternatives (breast, mixed and artificial) of feeding. It has been found the in mixed and especially in artificial feeding, fluorine intake by the infants acquires uncontrollable character exceeding several times the dose of fluorine intake with breast milk under natural feeding. That was predominantly fluorine of drinking water. Mathematical formula for calculation of fluorine content in the food cooked for feeding of infants was elaborated. A computer program was formed be means of which calculation, control and management of fluorine intake are carried out in feeding alteration.


1, 10-phenanthroline and triethylamine modified palygorskites were prepared by microwave irradiation, and characterized with FT-IR technique. The effects of contact time, adsorbent dosage, and pH value of the initial solution on the adsorption characters of Mn2+ were investigated. The adsorption of Mn2+ from aqueous solutions using 1, 10-phenanthroline or triethylamine modified palygorskites were investigated. Experiment results indicated that 1,10-phenanthroline and triethylamine molecules have been successfully grafted to palygorskite. The adsorption was rapid during the first 5 minuts and equilibrium were attained within 60 minutes in the initial concentration of Mn2+ of 50 and 100 mg•L-1, and fast adsorption in the first 10 minutes and slowly increased with the contact time due to the adsorption of palygorskite. The 1, 10-phenanthroline modified palygorskites had higher adsorption capacity than triethylamine modified palygorskites. Compared with natural palggorskites, the Mn2+ ions adsorption capacities of palggorskite modified by 1, 10-phenanthroline or triethylamine were significantly improved. There were less difference in the adsorption capacity between different dasages of 1, 10-phenanthroline modified palygorskites, but the adsorption capacity of Mn2+ adsorbed onto triethylamine modified palygorskites decreased with increasing the dosages. A Lagergren pseudo-second order model best described the kinetics of adsorption of Mn2+ onto the modified palygorskites.


Starting from a set of different two- and three-nucleon interactions from chiral effective field theory, we use the importance-truncated no-core shell model for ab initio calculations of excitation energies as well as electric quadrupole (E2) and magnetic dipole (M1) moments and transition strengths for selected p-shell nuclei. We explore the sensitivity of the excitation energies to the chiral interactions as a first step towards and systematic uncertainty propagation from chiral inputs to nuclear structure observables. The uncertainty band spanned by the different chiral interactions is typically in agreement with experimental excitation energies, but we also identify observables with notable discrepancies beyond the theoretical uncertainty that reveal insufficiencies in the chiral interactions. For electromagnetic observables we identify correlations among pairs of E2 or M1 observables based on the ab initio calculations for the different interactions. We find extremely robust correlations for E2 observables and illustrate how these correlations can be used to predict one observable based on an experimental datum for the second observable. In this way we circumvent convergence issues and arrive at far more accurate results than any direct ab initio calculation. A prime example for this approach is the quadrupole moment of the first 2^+ state in C-12, which is predicted with an drastically improved accuracy.


We consider finite horizon conditioning paths for nominal interest rates in New Keynesian monetary policy models. This is done two ways. First, we develop a simple way to use policy interventions in the form of interest rate shocks to achieve the conditioning path and show this yields a unique solution. We then modify this method to generate an infinity of solutions making the model better behaved but effectively indeterminate. Second, we use two-part rules where a specially designed targeting rule generates fixed interest rates endogenously over the initial period before reverting to a more conventional instrument rule. We show that the two approaches are equivalent. We discuss appropriate selection criteria over the resulting equilibria.


Henoch-Schönlein purpura (HSP) is a common childhood vasculitis. Despite its first description in the 1800s, aetiology remains unclear. Initial intestinal symptomatology may be severe and mislead the underlying vasculitic process. HSP may have delayed development of rash which makes the diagnosis challenging. We describe two cases of HSP with prominent initial abdominal symptomatology, and one case with refusal to walk to illustrate the protean features. In the first case, the gastrointestinal symptoms subsided rapidly with the onset of florid dermatological manifestations, whereas the second case presented as acute gastrointestinal emergency. The third case had more severe limb pain and relatively mild abdominal symptoms. A high index of suspicion with prompt diagnosis is pivotal to avoid unnecessary treatment such as antibiotics, corticosteroid or surgery for this systemic disease with cutaneous manifestations. We address clinical questions on the usage of empirical antibiotics and corticosteroids by performing literature search. Unlike other vasculitis, literature review suggests that a definite bacterial agent is usually not associated with HSP and corticosteroid is only indicated with severe renal involvement.


A comprehensive project to study all aspects of sound transmission through floors has just been initiated at the National Research Council of Canada. As well as airborne sound transmission, measurements will include: impact sound transmission using a standard tapping machine, a special rubber ball, a walker, and a tire machine meeting the relevant Japanese standard. As well as these measurements on complete floor systems, all material properties will be measured to provide a complete characterization of the floor systems. Vibration measurements to determine modal characteristics and damping will also be made. These measurements will be made in the new floor facility at NRC which has been found to give more reliable results than the old facility, which is no longer in use. Floors in the new facility measure 3.8 × 4.7 m, a more realistic size than the 2.4 × 2.4 m floor in the obsolete facility. An outline of the project will be given. Initial measurements on wood joist floors to look at the effects of metho...


Streaming services have been gaining much popularity in the Internet. The widespread adoption of broadband residential access enables individual users to use new bandwidth demanding services. Peer-to-Peer (P2P) multicasting approach using an overlay network to provide communication between peers is a valuable proposal for streaming since it provides rapid deployment at relatively low cost. Most of previous research on optimization problems related to P2P multicasting is limited only to optimization of network flows. In this work we focus on a new problem of P2P multicasting network design, i.e. flows and links' capacity are optimized jointly. We assume that the P2P multicasting system is static with low membership change rate (e.g. corporate videoconferencing, distance learning, delivery of important messages). The objective is to minimize the overlay network cost. We propose an effective heuristic algorithm. (umerical experiments are run in order to examine the proposed method against optimal results and Lagrangean relaxation algorithm as well as to illustrate the dependency of the network cost on various parameters related to P2P multicasting. The proposed algorithm can be applied to a wide range of overlay network design problems including not only streaming services but also computing and storage systems using the overlay network approach.


Objectives: The text aims to present a comparison of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) and English-Medium Instruction (EMI), followed by a discussion of CLIL-ised EMI, a new educational phenomenon, regarding its feasibility in content-based bilingual programmes. Method: The ideas presented in this paper are principally drawn from previous research and literature about CLIL and EMI, as well as from my personal experience with content-based bilingual education programmes. Results: Although CLIL and EMI differ in nature, CLIL-ised EMI supplements traditional EMI, which has a single objective of content learning, with special attention to students' needs, particularly their linguistic needs. It may pose challenges to teachers, especially in relation to their language-teaching activities. Conclusions: CLIL-ised EMI shows considerable feasibility in bilingual education and can overcome the linguistic challenges faced by students in content-based programmes. Implication for Practice: CLIL-ised EMI teachers are advised to be attentive to students' linguistic demands and engage in professional collaboration with language specialists to design and provide well-planned language learning activities. Standardisation and quality control of bilingual programmes are also necessary at an institutional level.


The oscillating water column wave energy converter (OWCWEC) is an established device which produces electricity by causing an ocean wave to drive air through a turbine. A system to control the operation can improve the device's performance. In varying sea conditions, different objectives for control may be appropriate. For example, in some seas the controller might shut off the plant because the waves could damage the structure, while in others the controller should operate purely to maximise the energy passed to the electricity grid. The fundamentally nonlinear dynamics of the OWC-WEC influence the choice of control algorithm for the WEC. Different outcomes in performance may be caused by very small changes in controller action. This is especially true for those OWC-WECs whose characteristics include stalling under certain conditions for optimal performance. Robustness to uncertainty in inputs and prevention of damage to the structure are necessary. However, too much conservatism will lead to unnecessarily low extracted powers. In the present paper, the advantages and disadvantages of feed-forward controllers and artificial neural networks previously used on OWC-WECs are discussed, as well as the testing of model predictive control and fuzzy logic controllers in the OWC-WEC context.


The role of contact-line evaporation on spray impingement heat transfer is systematically studied by spraying de-ionized water on silicon substrates with micropillar arrays. The height, the pillar diameter, and the spacing of the micropillar array were varied from 5 to 50 μm while keeping the porosity constant at 0.75. An air-assisted nozzle was used to create a liquid spray with a Sauter mean diameter (SMD) of ∼22 to 42 μm depending on flow conditions. Most test runs were conducted at a water flow rate of 30 ml/min and an air-liquid mass flow rate ratio of ∼0.57. The results show a continuous increase in the critical heat flux (CHF) as the pillar diameter is decreased. The effects of pillar height are nonmonotonic, with CHF and peak heat transfer coefficient attaining a maximum as the height-to-diameter ratio approaches unity. Values of CHF as high as 830 W/cm2 were achieved, along with cooling efficiencies of 49%. The effect of liquid flow rates and air-flow rates were also investigated independently using textured surfaces.


Cobalamin, also known as Vitamin B12, is an essential part of life. It plays a crucial role in the ocean, regulating the metabolic activities of oceanic microbes, which in turn play dynamic roles in carbon cycles and subsequent atmospheric regulation. This research quantifies cobalamin production in two species of bacteria under high and low carbon environments, and in environments enriched with two compounds that may originate from other microbial community members and indicate cobalamin stress. Using liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry, this research shows that for most bioavailable cobalamin, both R. pomeroyi DSS-3 and Sulfitobacter sp. SA11 produce more but statistically insignificant cobalamin molecules per cell when grown in high carbon environments, as opposed to when grown in carbon starved conditions. When bacteria were grown in enriched environments, overall cobalamin production was unaffected by stress signaling compounds, although adenosylcobalamin showed significant change in production. Overall, the figures were statistically inconclusive due to small sample size and high intra-sample variation. However, these findings lay groundwork for further research. An important symbiosis involving cobalamin between primary producers and subsections of bacteria and archaea has recently been the subject of metabolomics and proteomics research. The results from this paper provide valuable data for more analysis in this area, by supplying precedent for growing organisms in diluted Seawater Tryptone, and quantitative values of cobalamin production in normal conditions for use in cobalamin models. The findings of this paper highlight both the importance of cobalamin in the ocean microbiome, and the complexity of the microbial interactions in the ocean.


OBJECTIVE
To isolate human antibodies against hepatitis E virus from phage display library by a new method of panning phage antibody library based on immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC).

METHODS
Phage antibody library was allowed to mix with hex-His tagged expressed HEV specific antigen, NE2, in solution for adequate binding before affinity resin for hex-His was added. The non-specific phage antibodies were removed by extensive washing and the specific bound phage antibodies could then be eluted to infect TG1 or repeat the binding process for subsequent rounds of purification. The specificity of the selected human antibodies were tested by antigen competitive ELISA, human sera blocking ELISA, scFv expression, and sequence analysis.

RESULTS
His-NE2 specific recombinant phages were successfully enriched after panning procedure. Two individual phage clones, 126 and 138, showed 50% inhibition in NE2 antigen competition ELISA and obvious blocking effect by HEV positive serum in blocking ELISA. Soluble scFv of 126, 138 bound to NE2 specifically.

CONCLUSION
Two specific human phage antibodies against hepatitis E virus (HEV) from phage display library were isolated by immobilized metal affinity chromatography. The immobilized metal affinity chromatography applied to phage antibody selection was a helpful supplement to the selection in solution.


There is an unavoidable degree of uncertainty associated with future climate projections, and even more unpredictability about the potential impact of different climate scenarios on the ecology and distribution of organisms. Conservationists face a major public communications challenge to both raise awareness and mobilise support for conservation and climate change mitigation/adaptation policies while realistically representing complex and uncertain scientific information. Here, we illustrate the interplay of these competing communication goals through a review of the representations of the golden toad in the print media and peer-reviewed literature (in English and Spanish). Since its disappearance in 1989 the toad has become an important conservation flagship species that has been frequently portrayed as the first verified extinction attributable to global warming. Moreover, there was an increase in the certainty of published news items regarding the toad and its demise, especially in the late 1990s. The uncertainty surrounding the toad's disappearance (apparent in the primary research literature) was poorly represented in the popular press. The transformation of the toad into an iconic species for climate change advocacy may reflect a perceived need to supply tangible evidence of biodiversity consequences arising from climate change and highlights the challenges facing conservation scientists in communicating scientific concerns and uncertainty via the media.


When rearing fleas under laboratory conditions maximum productivity was observed in breeding cages with 100 fleas (80 females and 20 males). When the number of fleas was increased to 250 and 500 specimens the progeny decreased in number. At the ratio between males and females of 1 : 2 and 1 : 4 the productivity of fleas virtually did not change. Of all species studied fleas of X. cheopis are characterized by most high productivity. In all months of the year the average number of hatched fleas per one cage was 13-15 thou. of X. cheopis, 7-8 thou. of C. tesquorum, 1.5-2.5 thou. of X. skrjabini, and 3-4 thou. of Ct. wladimiri.


Although in vivo targeting of tumors using fluorescently labeled probes has greatly gained in importance over the last few years, most of the clinically applied reagents lack tumor cell specificity. Our novel tumor cell-penetrating peptide-based probe (TPP) recognizes an epitope of Hsp70 that is exclusively present on the cell surface of a broad variety of human and mouse tumors and metastases, but not on normal tissues. Because of the rapid turnover rate of membrane Hsp70, fluorescently labeled TPP is continuously internalized into syngeneic, spontaneous, chemically/genetically induced and xenograft tumors following intravenous administration, thereby enabling site-specific labeling of primary tumors and metastases. In contrast with the commercially available nonpeptide small molecule αvβ3-integrin antagonist IntegriSense, TPP exhibits a significantly higher tumor-to-background contrast and stronger tumor-specific signal intensity in all tested tumor models. Moreover, in contrast with IntegriSense, TPP reliably differentiates between tumor cells and cells of the tumor microenvironment, such as tumor-associated macrophages and fibroblasts, which were found to be membrane-Hsp70 negative. Therefore, TPP provides a useful tool for multimodal imaging of tumors and metastases that might help to improve our understanding of tumorigenesis and allow the establishment of improved diagnostic procedures and more accurate therapeutic monitoring. TPP might also be a promising platform for tumor-specific drug delivery and other Hsp70-based targeted therapies.


* Corresponding Author: Azra Ramezankhani Email:: email@example.com Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended the cell culture based rabies vaccines have no significant side effects. PVRV is a type of cell culture based vaccine, which is used for human rabies vaccination in Iran. Because PVRV is produced by a single source provider; other cell-culture derived vaccines, PCECV, has recently been used for vaccination. Methods: In this double blind clinical trial study 1449 people bitten by animals (279 females) were recruited from 4 different cities of Iran and randomly assigned to receive PVRV and PCECV vaccine in 5-dose regimen. The local and systemic adverse reactions to both of two vaccines were reported by the patients and confirmed by a physician. Results: The most common local adverse reaction in both groups was pain at the injection site (4%). Most of the reported systemic adverse reaction was headache (2.5%) and fever (1.9%) in PCECV and PVRV group, respectively. The percentage of subjects had itching after vaccination was fewer In PCECV group than PVRV group (0.1% vs. 1%) (p<0.05). There was no significant difference between two groups in systemic adverse reaction. None of the subjects hospitalized due to vaccination. Conclusion: The result of the present study indicated that PCECV administered to people bitten by animals associated with fewer itching at the injection site. There was no significant difference between PCECV and PVRV vaccine considering local and systemic adverse reaction. Therefore, the PCECV vaccine can be administered instead of PVRV, when the country encounters serious challenges in PVRV vaccine supply.


Recent advances in proteomics and combinatorial synthesis have drawn impetus towards the development of robust technologies for the convenient identification of biologically relevant entities from within diverse chemical sets, as well as rapid strategies for the functional profiling of proteins. Amongst the various exciting platforms that have been developed to address these challenges, spatially addressable microarrays of small molecules have emerged as a versatile, high-density platform for high-throughput screening and analysis. The fabrication process of small molecule microarray demands that diverse molecular species and scaffolds be presented suitably for parallel screening, thereby necessitating unique design and synthetic considerations, particularly in the generation of specialized tags for encoded capture or immobilization on complementary surfaces. Of significance are the strategies that have been established to assemble organized assortments of compounds according to the downstream application requirements on microarrays. Many creative ideas have taken the technology well beyond its initial utility in lead discovery and molecular characterization, to cell-based screenings as well as protein characterization and fingerprinting. The increasing ease and expanding scale of chemical library creation, combined with the massive screening throughput offered, heralds great promise for SMM, which is set to take on wider applications in discovery, diagnostics and medicine.


The best way to stabilize supracondylar femur fractures remains debatable. Previous studies have compared internal fixation to intramedullary fixation, but none have compared the stiffness characteristics and strength of the 95° angled blade plate (ABP) with the 95° condylar side plate and screw (DCS). 14 synthetic femora were cut in half and the proximal pole of the distal fragment was made secure. A 1 cm gap was made parallel to the femoral condylar weightbearing surface to create an extraarticular supracondylar femur fracture (OTA 33-A3). 7 femora were stabilized with an ABP and 7 with a DCS. Using an MTS compression/torsion servohydraulic testing machine, each femur was tested in 7 modes of loading: (1) axial compression; (2) anterior compression; (3) posterior compression; (4) medial compression; (5) lateral compression; (6) torsion in external rotation; and (7) torsion in internal rotation. The stiffness of the construct in each mode, the "maximum load in axial compression", and the fatigue characteristics in axial compression were measured. The DCS showed a statistically significant greater stiffness in axial compression and average maximal load than the ABP. The fatigue tests revealed no evidence of permanent deformation or loosening of either construct.


Nine people with mental health diagnoses wrote a dialogue to discuss how we navigate our conditions and ask for accommodations within an academic setting. We cogitate on the challenges of obtaining a diagnosis, how and when we disclose, the affordances and challenges of our symptoms, seeking accommodations, and advocating for ourselves. We consider how current scholarship and other perspectives are changing the conversation about mental health in the academy. We conclude that while the 2008 revisions to the Americans with Disabilities Act have addressed necessary accommodations, that those with mental health conditions are still seeking access.


This paper discusses the use of so-called high mobility substrates in association with defect generation and its impact on the electrical device parameters. The global or local strain engineering has to be optimized in order to avoid the harmful effects of stress-induced misfit and threading dislocations.


"If you have the good fortune to command a large clinic, remember that one of your chief duties is the tabulation and analysis of carefully recorded experiences." Professor Kinmonth very appropriately quotes these words of Osier in the "Introduction" to his book. When the mantle of duty falls on the shoulders of a man of talent, foresight, and infinite persistence, one sees spectacular results. This volume is a culmination of 25 years of special interest in the third, and too often neglected, member of the triad of peripheral vessels. Kinmonth's breakthrough came early when, seeing the urgent need for a new method of studying the lymphatics, he developed modern lymphography. He saw that the National Health Service, which took the poundsign out of case referrals, would permit the concentration of numbers of patients with a relatively rare group of diseases in the hands of a few. He thus writes


Management literature is renowned for producing concepts and models but few of these are ever translated into software-based tools even though they could offer value to managers. Innovation models are theoretical constructions that attempt to abstract from reality a set of interesting features that are useful in describing, explaining, and predicting the reality of the innovation processes in organisations. But it is troubling to find that even the latest models emanating from the academic discourse fall well short of organisational reality. The objective of this paper is to recast the concept of the innovation model but this time from a strong theoretical base. We, therefore, start by presenting a conceptual framework for the innovation processes in organizations. From this we set out to develop an ontology that defines the words and sentences that can be used to represent innovation models. So we do not seek to present yet another model of innovation but instead we work towards a conceptually derived ontology of innovation models that can provide a foundation for future software-based tools. We suggest that computer-aided innovation modelling is an interesting area of research deserving of future attention.


It has been established that plumbum chloride possesses a marked toxic action on the membranes of the formed elements, in particular, the thrombocytes, activates the release of the factors of thrombocyte aggregations, resulting in an increase of their adhesive and aggregation properties. The research studies the influence of the stable prostacycline analogue MM-706 and thrombocytic-vascular, as well as coagulative hemostasis in rats at a background of plumbum intoxication. We have discovered a marked protective action of MM-706 on the thrombocytes which is manifested through a decrease of the index of a spontaneous thrombocyte aggregation and percentage of adhesive thrombocytes, normalization of the general potential of hemocoagulation and time characteristics of a thromboelastogram.


Seed plants and lycophytes constitute the extant vascular plants. As a model lycophyte, Selaginalla moellendroffii was deciphered its genome, previously proposed to have avoided polyploidies, as key events contributing to the origination and fast expansion of seed plants. Here, using a gold-standard streamline recently proposed to deconvolute complex genomes, we reanalyzed the S. moellendroffii genome. To our surprise, we found clear evidence of multiple paleo-polyploidies, with one being recent (~ 13-15 millions of years ago or Mya), another one occurring about ~125-142 Mya, during the evolution of lycophytes, and at least 2 or 3 events being more ancient. Besides, comparison of reconstructed ancestral genomes of lycophytes and angiosperms shows that lycophytes were likely much more affected by paleo-polyploidies than seed plants. The present analysis here provides clear and solid evidence that polyploidies have contributed the successful establishment of all vascular plants on earth.


BACKGROUND: Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is an immune-mediated acquired disease characterized by decrease of the platelet count. The majority of adult patients progress to chronic stage with some of them failed to respond or relapsed after the second-line therapy. Romiplostim is a thrombopoietin receptor agonist recently approved for patients with chronic ITP, it was recently licensed and introduced for use in Iraq. The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of romiplostim among patients with refractory ITP. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This prospective study was conducted between April 2017 and June 2018 in two hematology centers in Baghdad and Basra. A group of 56 adult patients with refractory ITP enrolled in this study. The patients were evaluated before the weekly scheduled romiplostim and followed for efficacy and safety of the treatment. RESULTS: the median age was 39 years with a female-to-male ratio of 4:1. The response rate (platelet ≥50 × 109/l) was observed in 75% of the enrolled patient. The time to initial response was 2.5 weeks, and the mean dose of romiplostim used to achieve a sustained response was 3.1 mcg/kg. The response rate was significantly higher among splenectomized (94.4% vs. 65.8%). There was no difference in response regarding the age and gender. The most frequent adverse effects were joint pain (35.7%), followed by headache (32.1%) and fatigue (21.4%), resolved spontaneously within 2 days. Six patients developed thrombocytosis without any thrombotic event. CONCLUSIONS: Romiplostim is an effective option among Iraqi patients with refractory ITP as a long-term treatment or as a bridge for another intervention, with a relatively safe toxicity profile.


A gas chromatographic method for screening trichothecene mycotoxins in feeds is described. Feed is extracted with acetonitrile-water, and the toxins are purified with charcoal-alumina-Celite, Florisil, and silica mini-columns. Deoxynivalenol (DON), nivalenol (NIV), diacetoxyscirpenol (DAS), T-2 toxin, and their fungal metabolites are hydrolyzed to their corresponding parent alcohols (DON, NIV, scirpentriol, or T-2 tetraol) by alkaline hydrolysis. After derivatization to their pentafluoropropionyl analogs, they are quantitated by capillary gas chromatography with electron capture detection. Identity can be confirmed and sensitivity can be increased by using negative chemical ionization mass spectrometry with no additional sample workup. Recoveries of DAS, DON, and T-2 toxin averaged, respectively, 80, 65, and 85% in corn; 84, 65, and 88% in soybeans; and 70, 57, and 96% in mixed feeds at concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 2.0 ppm. Recoveries of 15-monoacetoxyscirpenol (MAS), HT-2, NIV, and T-2 tetraol were 97, 97, 86, and 56%, respectively, in corn at a concentration of 0.25 ppm: A detection limit of 0.02 ppm in corn, soybeans, and mixed feeds, and 0.05 ppm in silages is estimated.


In "Material Culture and Domestic Texts: Textiles in the Texts of Warner, Adams, Wilson, Sadlier, Stoddard, and Phelps," I draw from recently revised notions of the discourse of domesticity to argue that the imagery of textile production, consumption, and containment enables authors to configure experimental domestic forms. Mid-nineteenth-century authors used textiles---including their inherent "textility" and feminine associations--to play out new domestic configurations in response to exigencies of economy, race, intemperance, competitive desire, and labor. Their literature demystifies textiles' ability to invest social hierarchies of race, class, gender, and religion; it also enacts material changes of women's domestic spaces and roles in order to model ideological shifts. Because I trace the externalization of domestic values in material practices and conditions, I use material culture and historical approaches to contextualize textile production and consumption as part of a contested, ever-expanding fabric language. My project begins with consideration of a "normative" imperialism of textiles as productive of white, middleclass domesticity and then turns to study those texts which, through metaphorical and ritualized uses of textiles, resist the domesticity of true womanhood. I consider works by Susan Warner, Canterbury Shaker sister Hester Ann Adams, Harriet Wilson, Irish-Catholic novelist Mary Anne Sadlier, Elizabeth Stoddard, and Elizabeth Stuart Phelps to argue for textiles' role in the defense and negotiation of domesticity. For a few brief decades in the mid-nineteenth century, authors in the United States and also abroad interrogated the potential of the growing textile industry. These women authors plotted a path from passive, angelic, and victimized heroines toward a New Womanhood dictated not by moral pitch but by professional and material engagement with the world. At a time when women were often legally invisible and female literary heroines ethereal and self-effacing, these women authors crafted a material presence not only through their texts but through the use of substantial textile goods to reconfigure domestic space.


Solvothermal reactions of copper salts with NaN3 and carboxylate led to the formation of a new magnetic compound, [Cu(3-fba)(N3)(C2H5OH)]n (3-fba = 3-fluorobenzoic acid) (1). Single crystal X-ray analysis indicates that only one crystallographically independent Cu(II) ion in the asymmetric unit of 1 displays stretched octahedral geometry in which two azido N atoms and two carboxylic O atoms locate in the equatorial square, while two ethanol O atoms occupy the apical positions, yielding a 1D Cu(II) chain with an alternating triple-bridge of EO-azido, syn,syn-carboxylate, and μ2-ethanol. Magnetic measurements reveal that the resulting compound is composed of well-isolated 1D Cu(II) chains with strong intrachain ferromagnetic interactions. The dominant ferromagnetic couplings between neighbouring Cu(II) ions occurring in the compound (J = 59.74 cm−1) are due to the counter-complementarity of the multiple superexchange pathways, contributing to inspiring plots of ferromagnetic order (Tc = 11.0 K) and slow magnetic relaxation that are rarely observed in most reported azido-Cu(II) architectures. Heat-capacity experiments further emphasize the characteristic long-range ferromagnetic ordering in 1. Moreover, density functional theory (DFT) calculations (using different methods and basis sets) have been performed on the compound to obtain the theoretical interpretation of the magnetic behaviors.


Acupuncture has long proven its efficiency in pain relief around the world, however it is still not widely used in medical settings as part of pain management and is used only when drugs and other methods fail. Acupressure (or Chinese massage) and moxibustion, the cousin of acupuncture, also has a proven record of pain relief and is being used widely in Asia today as part of alternative therapies. The use of acupressure is simple and does not have adverse side effect, in comparison to many drugs. The present paper will discuss the efficiency of acupressure, which can easily be practiced by nurses, in pain management.


The role of colour and motion information in 'active vision' tasks is of both practical and theoretical interest. In real world interactions, Levin et al. (2002) have shown that detection performance for unexpected 'person-changes' can be remarkably poor (even as low as 12%). In the recognition of unfamiliar faces from CCTV footage, somewhat surprisingly, Bruce et al., (1999) found no advantage for colour presentation over monochrome black and white (B&W). However, subsequent experiments have shown a benefit for colour over B&W static natural scenes in a recognition memory test (Wichmann, et al., 2002). This latter finding chimes with beliefs held by the general public and many CCTV user groups, but in this faith in colour justified?


Liquid storage tanks are considered essential lifeline structures. Water tanks, in particular , are important to the continued operation of water distribution system in event of earthquakes. Most of the failures of large tanks after earthquakes are suspected to have resulted from the dynamic buckling caused by overturning moments of seismically induced liquid inertia and surface slosh waves. Recent earthquakes have shown that liquid storage tanks are found to be vulnerable to damage. Current knowledge about the behaviour of liquid storage tank is extensive, but many of the analytical and theoretical results are for tanks without roof systems and include number of simplifying assumptions like small deformation and linear elastic material property. The nonlinear wave approach was not attempted at initial stage, in predicting the seismic response of tank structures because of its mathematical difficulties determining the elevation of the unknown moving free surface and in evaluating the geometrically non-linear boundary conditions on the liquid surface. It is noted that under nonlinear conditions, sloshing heights are larger than those calculated under linear condition. In the present study sloshing effect in elevated water tank is studied by using Finite Element Method (FEM) based computer code. Various parameters have been considered such as height of container, depth of water in tank (30%, 50%, 70% and full) and height of staging etc.


This randomized, open-label study evaluated the efficacy of 300 mg metadoxine (given intravenously) added to standard treatment compared with standard treatment alone in managing the physical and psychological signs of acute alcohol intoxication. Fifty-two acutely intoxicated patients were randomly assigned to one of two groups and followed during a 2-h period. Changes in clinical symptoms, degree of intoxication, and blood alcohol level were monitored. More patients receiving metadoxine in addition to standard therapy significantly improved by at least one degree of intoxication (one clinical category) compared with those receiving standard treatment alone (76.9% versus 42.3%, respectively). Metadoxine-treated patients also exhibited a significantly greater decrease in blood alcohol concentration compared with those receiving standard treatment alone (-105.4 +/- 61.5 mg/dl versus -60.1 +/- 38.6 mg/dl, respectively). Metadoxine improved the clinical signs of acute alcohol intoxication and accelerated alcohol clearance from the blood, thus supporting existing data. In contrast to previous data, these effects were concurrent but independent. No adverse effects were observed with metadoxine therapy.


We propose a pricing scheme for the enhancement of macroeconomic performance of pumped-storage systems, based on the statistical properties of both geophysical and economic variables. The main argument consists in the need of a context of economic values concerning the hub energy resource; defined as the resource that comprises the reference energy currency for all involved renewable energy sources (RES) and discounts all related uncertainty. In the case of pumped-storage systems the hub resource is the reservoir's water, as a benchmark for all connected intermittent RES. The uncertainty of all involved natural and economic processes is statistically quantifiable by entropy. It is the relation between the entropies of all involved RES that shapes the macroeconomic state of the integrated pumped-storage system. Consequently, there must be consideration on the entropy of wind, solar and precipitation patterns, as well as on the entropy of economic processes ‐such as demand preferences on either current energy use or storage for future availability. For pumped-storage macroeconomics, a price on the reservoir's capacity scarcity should also be imposed in order to shape a pricing field with upper and lower limits for the long-term stability of the pricing range and positive net energy benefits, which is the primary issue of the generalized deployment of pumped-storage technology.


. A dual university collaboration challenges students in architecture, wood science and engineering to partner on a timber design and detailing project. Five years of student projects reveal how the mix of backgrounds, design media abilities and design development process impact the learning experience. Team design submissions, individual reflections and observed collaboration activities were analysed along with patterns of design ideation, transformation, and conflict resolution. Learning experiences vary according to the mix of student backgrounds and roles within the team. Teams mixing students of different levels and backgrounds on average performed better than more homogenous teams. While beginners do not have the skills to play a central role in the team, they have the most to learn from more advanced students. Keeping all team members engaged may require giving up some efficiency of a streamlined digital workflow.


We have performed the first-ever numerical N-body simulation of the full observable universe (DEUS "Dark Energy Universe Simulation" FUR "Full Universe Run"). This has evolved 550 billion particles on an Adaptive Mesh Refinement grid with more than two trillion computing points along the entire evolutionary history of the universe and across 6 order of magnitudes length scales, from the size of the Milky Way to that of the whole observable Universe. To date, this is the largest and most advanced cosmological simulation ever run. It provides unique information on the formation and evolution of the largest structure in the universe and an exceptional support to future observational programs dedicated to mapping the distribution of matter and galaxies in the universe. The simulation has run on 4752 (of 5040) thin nodes of BULL supercomputer CURIE, using more than 300 TB of memory for 10 million hours of computing time. About 50 PBytes of data were generated throughout the run. Using an advanced and innovative reduction workflow the amount of useful stored data has been reduced to 500 TBytes.


So far, processing studies on grammatical norm violations (GNVs) in Dutch (i.e., als 'as' in
 comparatives) have mainly focused on general differences between GNVs and their grammatical and ungrammatical counterparts. The
 present study is the first to also systematically investigate between-participant and between-construction variation in the
 processing of GNVs, using a self-paced reading task. Age and educational level were investigated as potential sources of
 between-participant variation, and between-construction variation was assessed by including three GNVs that vary in the amount of
 prescriptive attention they receive in society. Results indeed showed that the processing of GNVs was influenced by the age and
 educational level of participants. Moreover, different results were obtained for different norm violations. Based on these
 results, we conclude that it is very important to take into account differences between participants and constructions when
 studying the processing of GNVs.


This paper reports research on the effects of variations in injection velocity and permeability on the heat transfer and flow through a highly porous medium between two horizontal parallel plates situated at constant distance with constant suction by the upper plate.Due to this type of variation in injection velocity and in permeability the flow becomes three dimensional.The governing equstions are solved by adopting complex variable notations to obtain the expressions for the velocity and temperature field.The skin-friction along the main flow direction and rate of heat transfer are discussed with the help of graphs.


This paper presents a smart postal application, where the Near Field Communication (NFC) technology is applied into the traditional postal system in order to create a new mailing experience. The newly invented smart postal system is capable of facilitating the mail procedure, thus improving the efficiency of the traditional postal system. Moreover by attaching a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag into an envelop, a stamp or a parcel package, it permits users to combine digital media with a physical object, which creates a cross-media tangible mailing experience. The smart postal system consists of a local mobile postal application running on an NFC enabled mobile handheld and a network subsystem. The network subsystem comprises a smart postal agent service, a user profile service, a RFID correlation service and a payment service, where the smart postal agent service is the key invented network component. This is a loosely coupled network architecture that allows the functions of each network component to be split and re-arranged to fit into any specific existing system.


The social, economic, and technological changes of the coming century present significant challenges with which states and cities will have to contend. Policy Perspectives engaged Donald Borut, Executive Director of the National League of Cities (NLC), and Raymond Scheppach, Executive Director of the National Governors Association (NGA), in separate conversations to learn how they see these issues playing out for their member states and cities. Their answers expand on the nature of these issues, what strengths these levels of government bring to the task of addressing them, and in what areas collaboration can be enhanced. Both Borut and Scheppach agree that the changing economy is a central consideration for states and localities as they look to the future. Addressing federal preemption, in particular, seems an area ripe for further collaboration between the two levels of government.


ABSTRACT Little of social work literature provides evidence of best teaching practices for preparing social work students to work with clients from historically excluded racial and ethnic groups. A systematic literature review was conducted to assess studies published in the United States during the 10-year period (2007–2016) that examined: (1) social work educators' pedagogical interventions for teaching about racial and ethnic diversity, (2) components of those interventions, (3) methodological designs to evaluate the interventions, and (4) the students' learning outcomes. Following the systematic review protocol, the authors identified and assessed twenty-five studies (qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods). The studies reflected a variety of teaching interventions, such as diversity courses and projects, instructional technology, and cultural immersion programs. While many reported positive student learning outcomes, as a whole, the studies lacked methodological rigor and sound theoretical grounding. Although social work education attempts to prepare students for multicultural practice, the field lacks an intentional and systematic approach to teaching about racial and ethnic diversity and evaluating learning outcomes in social work students. There is an urgency to expand the empirical evidence on social work diversity education, particularly concerning teaching about race, racism, and Whiteness.


Managerial and academic literature provide only limited guidance on how to drive the digital transformation of sales. This article presents a model for in-depth analysis of sales processes, goals for each process in terms of effectiveness and efficiency, and a structured set of digital responses. For managers, it provides actionable guidelines on how to drive the digital transformation of sales, a large set of inspiring examples, and an international benchmarking opportunity.


ABSTRACT The role of biochar in the mitigation of CO2 emissions has been extensively studied in agricultural soils but is not well understood in Japanese forest soils, especially in relation to CO2 emissions from applied biochar and native soil C (i.e., the priming effect; PE). We hypothesized that the type of biochar and/or the application method (mixed or sprinkled) affect the direction and magnitude of PE in forest soil, and in particular, negative PE can be achieved relatively easily if biochar produced under higher temperature conditions were sprinkled on the soil surface. To test our hypothesis, we measured CO2 emissions from biochar-amended brown forest soil in Japan and examined its PE by conducting a medium-term (~4 months) incubation study. As substrates, we used plain straw from the C4 grass Miscanthus sinensis (SU) and two qualities of biochar produced from it at either 300°C (BC300) or 800°C (BC800) and compared two application methods: mixed into or sprinkled onto the soil. BC800 had a greater C content and C:N ratio as well a lower volatile matter content and higher nonvolatile matter content than BC300. SU had the lowest C content and C:N ratio of all the substrates. We found that biochar quality (volatile and nonvolatile matter content) was clearly related to the decomposition rate when mixed into the soil, but we could not find this relationship when biochar was sprinkled onto the soil. The addition of biochar to the soil induced a positive PE in the early stages (except for BC800 sprinkled) but suppressed CO2 emissions from native soil organic matter (negative PE) in the later stages, whereas the PE with SU application was always positive regardless of application method. Our results suggest that when biochar is sprinkled onto soil it is more likely to suppress soil-derived CO2 emission than when mixed in soil; however, the trend based on biochar quality was unclear.


A comparative study of the effectiveness of two types of lithotripter in fragmenting gall bladder stones is reported. The machines used were a Piezolith 2300, which generates shock waves by the piezoceramic principle, and a Dornier MPL 9000, which produces the shock waves by underwater spark discharge. With each machine, corresponding stones of 45 pairs of weight and volume matched calculi (median volume 0.5 cm3, median diameter 10.5 mm) obtained at cholecystectomy were treated. All stones were successfully disintegrated (fragments smaller than 2 mm) with up to 5400 (median 628) shocks with the Piezolith and 3450 (median 428) shocks with the MPL 9000 lithotripters. With the Piezolith, operating at the highest power setting, a 1.65 fold median higher number of shocks was required for stone fragmentation than with the MPL 9000 at a medium power setting. Stone volume seemed to be the only determinant which affected ease of fragmentation; composition and density of the stones as assessed by computed tomography did not seem to be governing factors.


Hubei Key Laboratory of Resources and Chemistry of Chinese Medicine, Hubei University of Chinese Medicine, Wuhan, Hubei, People's Republic of China Abstract: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the second most common cancer of the urinary system, accounting for approximately 10–15% of kidney cancers in the world. Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most common RCC subtype with the highest mortality. Surgical resection or puncture of tumor tissue is still an important clinical treatment and diagnosis of ccRCC, but its high recurrence rate and poor prognosis often lead to the short survival period of patients. Hence, the development of novel molecular biomarkers is of great clinical importance. miRNAs are endogenous non-coding small RNAs with a length of 19–24 nt. A growing number of studies have reported that miRNAs, as proto-oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes, play a key role in the development of ccRCC and might be effective diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers. In addition, miRNAs can also predict the efficacy of treatment drug, thus improving the accuracy of clinical medication. Furthermore, noninvasive detection of miRNAs or extracellular vesicles (EV) in body fluids has better convenience and repeatability, which shows remarkable advantages compared with tissue detection. In this review, we summarized the typical miRNAs reported in recent years and place emphasis on evaluating miRNAs in different body fluids to provide reference for the clinical diagnosis and prognosis of ccRCC in the future.


Nanosciences and nanotechnology (NST) currently constitute a major research field all over the world. NST deal with the study of phenomena and manipulation of materials at atomic, molecular and macromolecular scales, where properties differ significantly from those at the larger scale. The properties of materials can be different at the nanoscale for two main reasons: size and quantum effects. In this work, some effects of geometry at the nanoscale are considered: enhanced specific area, adsorption, chemical reactivity. The cases of nanocrystals, fullerenes and carbon nanotubes are studied.


This paper examines different models and theories of leadership with a view to discern relevance, meaning and applicability to a small state, St Lucia. It reviews the evolution and distinguishing features of leadership and compares selected models in order to determine significance to St. Lucia context for achieving effective schools. Different school leadership models evolved to suit societal changes, educational reforms and demands and perceptions of educational researchers who viewed schools as organizations based on corporate -organization models, but exhibited greater complex and dynamism. Other researchers viewed schools as communities with a network of interconnecting people and relationships, with varying degrees of commitments and conflicting expectations, thus creating a unique environment in each school.  Apprehension about the degree of applicability of these models with regard to outcomes and the quality of schooling that students require in this challenging era, led to the development of new leadership theories. These new leadership models suggest that school leaders should to be driven by a noble and morale purpose.  However the literature seems to indicate that transformational models and new leadership concepts are theoretical and have not been empirically tested in schools. Then again, if available, the few empirically based theories are context specific; they are researched in developed and different countries with completely different circumstances and may not be easily transferable. Adoption and application of these models are dependent on the prevailing circumstances and environment.


Introduction Cystic hygroma is a rare condition of the lymphatic system that occurs mainly in children. They are found around the neck, axilla, inguinal, or thoracic regions. Case Presentation. A newborn female baby with a right-sided axillary mass since birth was admitted to our center. She was otherwise a healthy baby with noncontributory prenatal history. The mass was 12 cm in diameter and cystic. Wide excision of the mass was done, and histology confirmed cystic hygroma. Postoperatively, the baby did well clinically and was discharged. Conclusion Due to its rare incidence, reports and literature on management of cystic hygroma are few. A multidisciplinary approach is vital to yield the best prognosis for this rare condition.


About the book: This book examines theories of how citizenship is mediated between lived experiences and formal entitlements in order to map out, confine, extend, name, and enact the boundaries of belonging to a polity. The authors introduce the concept "acts of citizenship" as an alternative way to investigate citizenship. This concept constitutes a significant departure from the way in which citizenship studies has been orientated over the last decade.The authors argue that to investigate acts of citizenship in a way that is irreducible to either status or practice, while still valuing this distinction, requires a focus on those moments when regardless of status and substance, subjects constitute themselves as citizens. Their investigation into acts of citizenship involves a sustained engagement with interdisciplinary thought, drawing from new developments not only in politics, sociology, geography and anthropology but also psychoanalysis, philosophy and history. It also requires crossing genres from science to art to philosophy to grasp the complex ways in which subjects articulate themselves into citizens.The book assembles together deep traditions in social and political thought to provide a focused examination of acts of citizenship in this new way. It also addresses key historical and contemporary issues that are of vital importance to citizenship studies today, using the vantage points of aesthetics, justice, ethics and the political. Its theoretical and analytical chapters are supplemented with shorter essays providing illustrative examples of 'acts'.


There exist three views in the literature on the efficiency of state-owned versus private firms: competition, ownership, and governance. Each view emphasizes on one aspect while ignoring others. In this paper, we use a unique World Bank survey data of 736 Chinese firms across seven sectors and five cities from 1996 to 2001 to assess the relative importance of the above three views, both independently and jointly. It is found that when examined independently each determinant matters in explaining the efficiency of our sample firms; however, when they are jointly examined, ownership type and corporate governance are relatively more important, while the competition effect is less significant generally. We also find there is some degree of substitutability between two pairs: privatization and corporate governance, and privatization and competition. These results suggest that the three views are indeed incomplete, and a complete package requires some combination of these determinants. We also find that non-SOEs seem to have certain advantage in some governance mechanisms than SOEs and that market competition matters greatly for SOEs but not so much for non-SOEs. These results have important policy implications for China's on-going privatization movement and her strive for better corporate governance and market competition.


Between 1996 and 2006, Nepal experienced violent civil conflict as a consequence of a Maoist insurgency, which many argue also brought about an increase in female empowerment. This paper exploits within and between-district variation in the intensity of violence to estimate the impact of conflict intensity on two key areas of the life of women in Nepal, namely education and marriage. Overall conflict intensity had a small, positive effect on female educational attainment, whereas abductions by Maoists had the reverse effect. Male schooling was not significantly affected by either conflict measure. Conflict intensity and Maoist abductions during school age both increased the probability of early female marriage, but exposure to conflict during marriageable age does not appear to have affected women's long-term marriage probability.


In this article, we design and experiment a far-field wireless power transfer (WPT) architecture based on a distributed antenna system (DAS), so-called WPT DAS, that dynamically selects transmit antenna and frequency to increase the output dc power. Uniquely, spatial and frequency diversities are jointly exploited in the proposed WPT DAS with low complexity, low cost, and flexible deployment to combat the wireless fading channel. A numerical experiment is designed to show the benefits using antenna and frequency selections in spatially and frequency selective fading channels for single-user and multiuser cases. Accordingly, the proposed WPT DAS for single-user and two-user cases is prototyped. At the transmitter, we adopt antenna selection to exploit the spatial diversity and adopt frequency selection to exploit the frequency diversity. A low-complexity over-the-air limited feedback using an IEEE 802.15.4 RF interface is designed for antenna and frequency selections and reporting from the receiver to the transmitter. The proposed WPT DAS prototype is demonstrated in a real indoor environment. The measurements show that WPT DAS can boost the output dc power by up to 30 dB in a single-user case and boost the sum of the output dc power by up to 21.8 dB in the two-user case and broaden the service coverage area in a low cost, low complexity, and flexible manner.


INTRODUCTION
We report the outcomes of a small series of patients with refractory chylous ascites following urologic surgery treated with lymphangiography +/- sclerotherapy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Retrospective review revealed three patients who underwent lymphangiography for prolonged lymphatic leak following urological surgery. Contrast material is injected slowly into a lymphatic vessel on the dorsum of the foot and serial imaging is used to capture the location and degree of lymphatic leak in order to guide definitive treatment. Demographic and clinical details were collected and are reported.

RESULTS
Three patients were identified from 2005-2008 (one following donor nephrectomy and two following retroperitoneal lymph node dissection). All patients presented with abdominal distension within 30 days of surgery. Traditional conservative measures failed in all patients. Lymphangiography localized all leaks (renal hilum, paraspinal, and retrocaval). One patient elected for successful surgical repair after localization. The remaining two patients resolved immediately following lymphangiography; one of these patients underwent percutaneous doxycycline sclerosis. With over 1 year of follow up there have been no recurrences or long term sequelae.

CONCLUSIONS
Lymphangiography is a valuable management option for the rare patient with chylous ascites refractory to conservative therapy. Prompt resolution of prolonged chylous ascites following lymphangiography should encourage its use in such difficult cases.


At
the centre of the best outdoor experiences is a person; a leader who
facilitates the individuals, group and environment in such a way that makes
positive and lasting impressions on participants. The skills and abilities
facilitators bring to these encounters are diverse yet require that they are
adept at emotional perception, management and processing as well as
interpersonal connection and communication. The performance and embodiment of
'emotion work' is central to everyday fulfillment of outdoor leader roles.
However, emotion work is largely invisible and thus lacks acknowledgement and
training in outdoor education/certification programs nationally. VET and
university programs present a variety of foci and emphasis on 'soft skills'.
Even then, what is meant by soft skills is ambiguous and rarely articulates the
personal/emotional investment required in delivering meaningful participant
experiences. Hence, a better understanding of what 'soft skills' are required
by and taught to outdoor leaders is necessary in improving outcomes for
participants and leaders in organised outdoor recreations. A clear set of
interpersonal, communication and emotion work skills should be taught to
outdoor leaders in order that they are able to deliver meaningful connections
between outdoor experiences, nature, and positive relationships with others.

Baker, M., & O'Brien, W.
(2017). National 'soft skills' training: Investigating soft skill training in
the outdoor recreation sector. Leura, NSW: BMIHMS@Torrens University Australia.


The United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan developed their product liability laws based on a common desire to protect consumers. Although these regimes are similar in many ways, due to cultural differences, it seems there will always be differences. U.S. and British strict product liability regimes date back to the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Japan's strict product liability regime, however, is still in its infancy. By examining the development of strict product liability in each of these countries, focusing on statutory and common law language, as well as the position of, structure of, and access to the judiciary, this Note concludes, due to the similarities between the United Kingdom and Japan-similarities generally not existing with respect to the United States-that Japan is more likely to develop its product liability regime in accordance with the United Kingdom, rather than the United States.


Animal deaths after drinking water containing toxic cyanobacteria have been known for over a century. Poisonings occur annually and the fate of the toxins in natural and man-made waters is unknown. This article reviews the formation, properties and effects of freshwater cyanobacterial toxins.


The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis is one of the most debated economic issues. Despite its fascinating appeal for any policy maker, neither theoretical nor certain empirical evidence has been found to clean up all doubt. The aim of this paper is to present an economy where environmental quality and polluting emissions do enter the maximisation problem, and provide a transitional dynamics analysis to pursue a new different version of the EKC, depending on the level of development finally achieved.


Abstract This article examines how the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government squares the welfare circle. Because of the constrained institutional pathway of the established welfare system, the government is not successful in either reducing public expenditures or raising taxes. The article argues that it is important to look into the role of institutional design in the management of public expectations.


I investigate the optimal monetary policy in a New Keynesian macroeconomic framework with the sticky information model of price adjustment. The model is solved for optimal policy, and welfare implications of three alternative monetary policy regimes under this optimal policy are compared when there is a cost‐push shock to the economy. These monetary policy regimes are the unconstrained policy, price‐level targeting and inflation targeting regimes. The results illustrate that optimal policy depends on the degree of price stickiness and the persistence of the shock. Inflation targeting emerges as the optimal policy if prices are flexible enough or the shock is persistent enough. However, the unconstrained policy or price‐level targeting might be preferable to inflation targeting if prices are not very flexible and the shock is not very persistent. The results also show that as prices become more flexible, the welfare loss usually gets bigger.


Future climate changes will affect smallholder farmers in the developing world, posing threats to household food security. Nevertheless, there remains limited comparable evidence across multiple countries and regions regarding the global extent of climate shocks affecting smallholder food security. We examine data from 5,299 household surveys across 15 countries in Latin America, Africa and South Asia to assess the extent of climate shocks and their association with food insecurity, as well as what strategies may help buffer against climate shocks. We find that 71% of households reported experiencing a climate shock in the previous five years. Fifty-four percent reported experiencing food insecurity during one or more months annually. A multilevel statistical model estimated factors correlated with food insecurity as well as factors correlated with food insecurity among households that had experienced a climate shock. Households that reported experiencing a climate shock were 1.73 times more likely to be food insecure. As well, larger and poorer households were associated with higher odds of food insecurity while using pesticides, keeping large livestock, and being more educated are associated with lower odds of food insecurity. Among households that had experienced a climate shock, additional factors are correlated with lower odds of food insecurity when compared to otherwise similar households: use of fertilizers, pesticides, veterinary medicines, large livestock, and household assets. Together, these results demonstrate the extent of existing climate shocks affecting smallholder farmers and how interventions may potentially support adaptation and reduce food insecurity.


Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr.'s decision in Williams v. Wallace, in which Judge Johnson issued an opinion which permitted the Selma March to proceed despite unremitting opposition from local and state authorities, is now a settled part of American history. Furthermore, today few question the underlying correctness of the decision. But in fact, seen in the wider context of modern First Amendment jurisprudence, Judge Johnson's decision was remarkable. Just how remarkable it was becomes apparent when it is contrasted with a decision of the United States Supreme Court just a year later, Adderly v. Florida, in which the Court upheld the trespass convictions of participants in a civil rights protest on the grounds of a county jail. Adderly, authored by that most vociferous defender of civil rights and liberties Justice Hugo Black, demonstrates that the modern First Amendment has rarely been interpreted to require access by protestors to public property when that access might interfere with its regular uses. Yet in Williams Judge Johnson authorized a 54 mile long march by 25,000 protestors along a public highway!

Why did Judge Johnson rule as he did, in the face of precedent and judicial norms? Part of the answer has to lie in the unique back-history of the March, which included stunning acts of violence and brutality on the part of officials and the KKK. But there was a constitutional insight driving Judge Johnson's decision as well, one that Justice Black missed. The opinion in Williams v. Wallace demonstrates an understanding of two fundamental points about the First Amendment that the modern Supreme Court (beginning, in a very meaningful way, in Adderly itself) has forgotten. The first is that the First Amendment protects multiple political rights, not just free speech. The second is that these rights, though related, are distinct and cumulative. More specifically, Judge Johnson recognized that what was at issue in the Selma March was not just free speech, but also association, assembly and petition, and that these rights fortify one another. In other words, Judge Johnson recognized the kaleidoscopic nature of the First Amendment in its relationship to citizenship and democracy. That is an insight that should not have been lost, and which we would do well to recover today.


Abstract Innovation and technological development have led to a proliferation of various low-cost air quality monitors, most of which use light scattering techniques to detect airborne particles. As these monitors are used in various environments, their testing should also be performed in diverse environments and with different particle types. This study evaluated three Foobot units and three AirVisual Nodes in two laboratory environments and in one residential apartment when measuring five types of aerosols (0.72 and 2.00 µm polystyrene latex (PSL) spheres, Arizona Road Dust (ARD), nanosilver-based surface cleaner, and particles created by a cooking event). The low-cost monitors were highly correlated with the DustTrak DRX (TSI) for most aerosol types (r > 0.78), except when measuring nanosilver spray, where the r value decreased to 0.55. For PSL spheres, Foobot overestimated DRX PM2.5 concentrations while AirVisual's readings were closer to those of DRX and aligned relatively well with the 1:1 line. Both Foobot and AirVisual underestimated PM2.5 concentrations for ARD, nanosilver spray, and particles from a cooking event. Overall, the Foobots reported higher PM2.5 concentrations than the AirVisuals, except when measuring particles created by the cooking event. The paired monitors' precision error varied between 0.15 and 0.47, depending on the aerosol type and monitor pairs. The coefficient of variation ranged from 15.2% to 21.0% for the Foobots and from 12.5% to 28.7% for the AirVisuals. Both monitors showed high accuracy and precision when measuring temperature and humidity as compared to the IAQ Meter (TSI Inc.). AirVisual showed high accuracy and precision when measuring CO2, as compared to the IAQ meter. Foobot, however, didn't report accurate CO2 concentrations. Additionally, we found the AirVisual is easier to operate, and it provided more options to read, save, and download data. Copyright © 2020 American Association for Aerosol Research


Maternal smoking during pregnancy (MSDP) is a major public health concern with clearly established consequences to both mother and newborn (e.g., low birth weight, altered cardiorespiratory responses). MSDP has also been associated with higher rates of a variety of poor cognitive and behavioral outcomes in children, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), conduct disorder, impaired learning and memory, and cognitive dysfunction. However, the evidence suggesting causal effects of MSDP for these outcomes is muddied in the existing literature due to the frequent inability to separate prenatal exposure effects from other confounding environmental and genetic factors. Carefully designed studies using genetically sensitive strategies can build on current evidence and begin to elucidate the likely complex factors contributing to associations between MSDP and child outcomes.


Unsupervised domain adaptation aims to transfer and adapt knowledge learned from a labeled source domain to an unlabeled target domain. Key components of unsupervised domain adaptation include: (a) maximizing performance on the target, and (b) aligning the source and target domains. Traditionally, these tasks have either been considered as separate, or assumed to be implicitly addressed together with high-capacity feature extractors. When considered separately, alignment is usually viewed as a problem of aligning data distributions, either through geometric approaches such as subspace alignment or through distributional alignment such as optimal transport. This paper represents a hybrid approach, where we assume simplified data geometry in the form of subspaces, and consider alignment as an auxiliary task to the primary task of maximizing performance on the source. The alignment is made rather simple by leveraging tractable data geometry in the form of subspaces. We synergistically allow certain parameters derived from the closed-form auxiliary solution, to be affected by gradients from the primary task. The proposed approach represents a unique fusion of geometric and model-based alignment with gradients from a data-driven primary task. Our approach termed SALT, is a simple framework that achieves comparable or sometimes outperforms state-of-the-art on multiple standard benchmarks.


Shift work sleep disorder is actually a circadian rhythm disorder, the most common trouble faced by many individuals working in night shifts or rotational shifts, also refers as jet lag syndrome. This problem leads to disturbance in 24 hours body internal clock, as a result the internal clock needs to modify or reset the body sleep time. In this review we explain the complications and injuries faced in rotational shifts by shift work sleep disorders.


Abstract We present results from an experimental study of the speed and shape of the ejecta formed when a solid sphere impacts onto a granular bed. We use high-speed imaging at frame rates up to 100 000 f.p.s. to provide direct measurement of individual grain velocities and ejecta angles as well as the overall evolution of the granular ejecta. For larger grain sizes, the emergence velocities of the grains during the 'early stage flow', i.e. before the main ejecta 'curtain' forms, increase with the kinetic energy of the impacting sphere but are inversely proportional to the time from impact. We also observe that the fastest grains, which can obtain velocities up to five times that of the impacting sphere ( ${V}_{g} / {V}_{0} = 5$ ), generally emerge at the earliest times and with the lowest ejection angles. As the grain size is decreased, a more 'fluid-like' behaviour is observed whereby the ejected material first emerges as a thin sheet of grains between the sphere and the bed surface, which is also seen when a sphere impacts a liquid pool. In this case, the sheet velocity is approximately double that of the impacting sphere ( ${V}_{s} / {V}_{0} = 2$ ) and independent of the bulk packing fraction. For the finest grains we provide evidence of the existence of a vortex ring inside the ejecta curtain where grains following the air flow are entrained through the curtain. In contrast to predictions from previous studies, we find that the temporal evolution of the ejecta neck radius is not initially quadratic but rather approaches a square-root dependence on time, for the finest grains with the highest impact kinetic energy. The evolution therefore approaches that seen for the crown evolution in liquid drop impacts. By using both spherical glass beads and coarse sands, we show that the size and shape distribution are critical in determining the post-impact dynamics whereby the sands exhibit a qualitatively different response to impact, with grains ejected at lower speeds and at later times than for the glass beads.