The use of non-starch polysaccharide (NSP) enzymes has increased in recent years with most of the growth coming from the market segment which uses non-viscous diets. A variety of product choices are available to the feed industry. These range from mono-component, single enzymes, to cocktails of more than one activity, to so-called 'complex' enzymes, displaying, in addition to the main activity, several non-targeted (i.e. quality controlled or assured) activities within one product. The relative abundance of the substrate or the number of substrates presented by a given diet may not be viewed as the sole criterion for the fitness of an enzyme solution. An argument can be made that NSP enzymes should not be considered as classical digestive enzymes and any response may not be regarded simply as a function of the extent of in vitro or in vivo substrate hydrolysis. The idea of having additional non-NSP or NSP activities to 'strengthen' a xylanase response, as well as the notion 'complex diet needs a complex enzyme' appear to lack sufficient scientific backing. Measures based on alternative responses e.g. gut morphology, nutrient or energy digestibility, gut-flora and its metabolites or fermentation profiles, are useful in developing a wider understanding of the phenomenon but require careful interpretation as the stand-alone criteria of usefulness of an NSP enzyme. Performance data is always the ultimate judge of the efficacy of a feed enzyme. This review addresses the practical question of selecting an NSP enzyme. The aim is to discuss the data supporting some of the common views held in the industry today, and how these views significantly influence the process of selecting an NSP enzyme for commercial in-feed application.


Benchmarks are provided for the evaluation of the effective coefficient for species diffusion, or electrical/thermal conduction, in structured porous media. The cases considered correspond to doubly-periodic rows of circular cylinders, for which a power series solution has been previously obtained, from complex variable theory. Both inline and staggered geometries are considered for three common configurations; inline square, rotated square, and equilateral geometries. From these mathematical solutions, values for the effective conduction/diffusion coefficient are readily constructed. The results are presented in terms of correlations for the ratio of effective-to-bulk conductivity/diffusivity, or microstructural parameter, as a function of porosity. It is shown that near identical results with the present analytical analysis are obtained using calculations based on a finite volume method, and also with a previous mathematical analysis for the case of inline square geometry. The present analytical solutions are also compared with two well-known correlations for random porous media, based on effective-medium and percolation theory. It is shown that agreement with the analytical solution, is not in general particularly good, and depends on the choice of parameters. The present results may be used as canonical data for comparative studies with numerical procedures used to enumerate microstructural parameters for arbitrary-shaped occlusions in random geometries.


Objectives To develop and validate a protocol for MRI assessment of the distal radial and ulnar periphyseal area in gymnasts and non-gymnasts. Methods Twenty-four gymnasts with wrist pain, 18 asymptomatic gymnasts and 24 non-gymnastic controls (33 girls) underwent MRI of the wrist on a 3T scanner. Sequences included coronal proton density-weighted images with and without fat saturation, and three-dimensional water-selective cartilage scan and T2 Dixon series. Skeletal age was determined using hand radiographs. Three experienced musculoskeletal radiologists established a checklist of possible (peri)physeal abnormalities based on literature and clinical experience. Five other musculoskeletal radiologists and residents evaluated 30 MRI scans (10 from each group) using this checklist and reliability was determined using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Fleiss' kappa. A final evaluation protocol was established containing only items with fair to excellent reliability. Results Twenty-seven items were assessed for reliability. Intra-rater and inter-rater agreement was good to excellent (respective ICCs 0.60–0.91 and 0.60–0.78) for four epiphyseal bone marrow oedema-related items, physeal signal intensity, metaphyseal junction and depth of metaphyseal intrusions. For physeal thickness, thickness compared with proximal physis of first metacarpal, metaphyseal intrusions, physeal connection of intrusions and metaphyseal bone marrow signal intensity, intra-rater agreement was fair to excellent (ICC/kappa 0.55–0.85) and inter-rater agreement was fair (ICC/kappa 0.41–0.59). Twelve items were included in the final protocol. Conclusion The Amsterdam MRI assessment of the Physis protocol facilitates patient-friendly and reliable assessment of the (peri)physeal area in the radius and ulna.


Typical myocardial SPECT imaging using Tc99m labelled sestamibi or PET imaging using N-13 labelled ammonia assumes that the amount of tracer uptake within the myocardium correlates directly with myocardial blood flow. However, this assumption has been seen to only be accurate over a limited range of blood flow rates. The uptake of alternative ligands such as Tc99m labelled Tebororime or O-15 labelled H/sub 2/O have been seen to better correlate with actual blood flow rates. Difficulties arise however in imaging these pharmaceuticals due to the relatively fast washout of tracer from the myocardium, thereby making simultaneous measurements of perfusion and wall motion difficult. An alternative image reconstruction strategy is presented in which both myocardial blood flow and myocardial wall motion can be determined in a single study from very low count projection data. The proposed method uses the dynamic expectation maximization (dEM) algorithm in combination with temporal filtering across cardiac gates in order to improve reconstructed image quality. Data acquisition can be performed from any tomographic acquisition type ranging from a single head, slow rotation SPECT acquisition, to a fixed ring, PET geometry. A computer simulation has been performed in order to evaluate the image quality produced when using this imaging approach with a variety of SPECT acquisition parameters.


In the autonomous environment of Vehicular Ad hoc NETwork (VANET), vehicles randomly move with high speed and rely on each other for successful data transmission process. The routing can be difficult or impossible to predict in such intermittent vehicles connectivity and highly dynamic topology. The existing routing solutions do not consider the knowledge that behaviour patterns exist in real-time urban vehicular networks. In this article, we propose a fuzzy-assisted social-based routing (FAST) protocol that takes the advantage of social behaviour of humans on the road to make optimal and secure routing decisions. FAST uses prior global knowledge of real-time vehicular traffic for packet routing from the source to the destination. In FAST, fuzzy inference system leverages friendship mechanism to make critical decisions at intersections which is based on prior global knowledge of real-time vehicular traffic information. The simulation results in urban vehicular environment for with and without obstacles scenario show that the FAST performs best in terms of packet delivery ratio with upto 32% increase, average delay 80% decrease, and hops count 50% decrease compared to the state of the art VANET routing solutions.


views and opinions of the authors and do not reflect or represent the views of Charles River Associates or any of the organizations with which the authors are affiliated. Any opinion expressed herein shall not amount to any form of guarantee that the author or Charles River Associates has determined or predicted future events or circumstances, and no such reliance may be inferred or implied. The author and Charles River Associates accept no duty of care or liability of any kind whatsoever to any party, and no responsibility for damages, if any, suffered by any party as a result of decisions made, or not made, or actions taken, or not taken, based on this paper. Detailed information about Charles River Associates, a registered trade name of CRA International, Inc., is available at www.crai.com.


In vitro fermentation and in vivo feeding experiments were conducted to characterize the effects of soybean (Glycine max) husk on the fecal fermentation metabolites and microbiota of dogs. An in vitro fermentation study using feces from three Toy Poodle dogs (6.5 ± 3.5 months in age and 2.9 ± 0.4 kg in body weight) revealed that the fecal inoculum was able to ferment soybean husk (supplemented at 0.01 g/mL culture) and increased levels of short chain fatty acids (SCFA) and Bifidobacterium, irrespective of pre-digestion of the husk by pepsin and pancreatin. In a feeding experiment, four Shiba dogs (7-48 months in age and 7.5 ± 1.7 kg in body weight) fed a commercial diet supplemented with 5.6% soybean husk showed an increase in SCFA, such as acetate and butyrate, and lactate, and a decrease in indole and skatole in the feces compared to those fed a 5.6% cellulose diet. Real-time PCR assay showed that soybean husk supplementation stimulated the growth of lactobacilli, Clostridium cluster IV including Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, Clostridium cluster XIVa, Bacteroides-Prevotella-Porphyromonas group but inhibited the growth of Clostridium cluster XI. Both in vitro and in vivo experiments indicated that soybean husk supplementation improves gastrointestinal health through optimization of beneficial organic acid production and increase of beneficial bacteria. Therefore, soybean husk is suggested to be applicable as a functional fiber in the formulation of canine diets.


Pest insects cause great financial losses in the forest and food industry every year. To fight these pests industries have used insecticides, which are sometimes harmful to nature and humans. One potential way of avoiding insecticides is the use of integrated pest management based on insect communication, which would offer species-specific methods for protecting forest and food resources. Insects use chemicals known as semiochemicals for both intra- and interspecies communication. By learning how insects use these semio-chemicals to talk to each other we can eavesdrop and mimic their communication for our benefit. One research area dealing with these questions is chemical ecology, which is an interdisciplinary area as knowledge in chemistry and biology is required. Collaborations between groups within and outside of Sweden are essential in order to make progress in this field of research.This thesis presents the identification and synthesis of semiochemicals from several insect species, most of which are considered to be pests. Synthesised compounds have been sent to collaboration partners around Sweden and Europe for biological evaluations.Studies of the African butterfly, Bicyclus anynana, have unravelled particular biological phenomena that may aid in the understanding of the Bicyclus genus, though recognizing individual species variation is crucial. In 2008 the putative male sex pheromone of B. anynana was determined to consist of three compounds: hexadecanal, (Z)-9-tetradecenol and 6,10,14-trimethylpentadecan-2-ol, and the specific stereoisomer for 6,10,14-trimethylpentadecan-2-ol has been determined in this thesis. The ratio of 6,10,14-trimethylpentadecan-2-ol and the corresponding ketone were investigated for seventeen Bicyclus species (including B. anynana) that live in overlapping regions in Africa. The stereochemistry was determined for most of the species and may provide a way to chemically distinguish them.The orchid bees, Euglossa spp, are important pollinators of many orchids in Central America. Insight about pollination and conservation of endangered orchid species may be possible by gathering more information about the Euglossa genus. Males of the Euglossa genus have pouch-like structures on their hind legs where they store compounds collected from their surroundings. 6,10,14-Trimethyl-pentadecan-2-one is a common component of leg extracts from Euglossa imperialis, E. crassipunctata and E. allosticta, the specific stereochemistry of which has been determined in this thesis. Another, different compound was found in high amounts in E. viridissima and its structure has been elucidated; several synthetic pathways are under investigation to obtain the target compound.Bed bugs (Cimex lectularius and C. hemipterus) are an ectoparasite that feed on human blood, and the number of reported infestations of these parasites has increased considerably during the last decade. Two 5th instar nymph-specific compounds, 4-oxo-hexenal and 4-oxo-octenal, were identified and synthesised.Utilizing domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) in the identification of bed bug infestations has become popular during recent years. Their training is usually conducted using live bed bugs, however this thesis describes an alternative method of teaching dogs to find infestations. This alternative method is based on synthetic compounds and dogs trained in this manner have achieved a high positive indication rate.Two species of the tiny, Acacia leaf-eating insect pests in Australia known as thrips, Kladothrips nicolsoni and K. rugosus, have been investigated by means of larval extracts and have been shown to contain large amount of (Z)-3-dodecenoic acid which was synthesised and tested in bioassays.Fruit flies are common pests on fruit in almost every private household. Even though fruit flies has been investigated extensively, their chemical communication has not been completely elucidated. (Z)-4-undecenal was identified as a compound emitted by females, it was synthesised in high stereoisomeric purity and evaluated in biological assays.


This book answers both theoretical and practical questions on the teaching of reading. The author offers numerous suggestions on how to teach expository prose, non-prose reading, fiction, poetry and songs, as well as advice on how to help students discern opinion from fact. Textbook examples are complemented with a chapter on how teachers can develop their own materials.


Monitoring structural change is performed not by hypothesis testing but by model selection using a modified Bayesian information criterion. It is found that concerning detection accuracy and detection speed, the proposed method shows better performance than the hypothesis-testing method. Two advantages of the proposed method are also discussed.


Thesis Problem / Target Audience / Design Research / Design Considerations / Technical Issues / Conclusion / Bibliography Abstract http://www.mei-ling.blastohosting.com/dbase.swfhttp://www.mei-ling.blastohosting.com/dbase.swf There is no doubt development of digital media has had a great impact on the way that people create and view art. Some of the most innovative advances in digital media and graphic design have been developed for advertising and sales through the Internet. The exponential growth in availability of broadband cable Internet access for private residences is providing an opportunity to attract consumers in new and engaging ways. This fact combined with a general perception of a scarcity of free time and a desire to purchase unique goods that may not be readily available in ones local area has made shopping online more popular than ever before. Many retailers have attempted to target this growing audience by providing online shopping features to consumers but most have failed to provide an engaging user-friendly online store. I made an attempt to address what I see as a deficiency in interactivity and creativity in online fashion websites by developing a site that is uniquely navigated and fun to view. The motivation for developing an Interactive Digital Fashion Catalogue originates from my long-time passion for both fashion design and interior design. I used my computer graphic design skills as a "spring board" to allow me explore and develop my interests in these different fields of design. Pop-up books have always fascinated me and I sought to develop some of these complex geometrical art form attributes into my digital catalogue. By employing current design software Digital Media Artists are able to create new and innovative ways for people to experience art. In developing my site I employed several programs, Adobe Flash CS3, Adobe Photoshop CS3, and Autodesk Maya 2008, were employed to achieve the desired results. The site was developed primarily with Adobe Flash and the 3D objects and animations were created with Autodesk Maya. Rochester Institute of Technology D-base: Interactive Digital Fashion Catalogue Mei-ling Chen Abstract / Thesis Problem / Target Audience / Design Research / Design Considerations / Technical Issues / Conclusion / Bibliography Thesis Problem / Target Audience / Design Research / Design Considerations / Technical Issues / Conclusion / Bibliography


Abstract This article deals with the social democratic aspiration of equitable access to health care in Bulgaria, a country in transition since 1989 from communism and a command economy to democracy and a free market. The focus is on access to health services and resources after the introduction of a universal health insurance system, with particular reference to formal and informal out-of-pocket payments for health care. The paper reports empirical results from a national household expenditure survey, supplemented with a semi-structured interview, conducted at the end of the survey period (April-May 2002). The results bring to light the groups in society who suffer most in this scenario: the poor, Roma, older persons and those living in towns and villages. The study reveals that the stated aim of the National Health Insurance Fund, to provide equitable access to health care, is a mirage rather than a reality, as the vast bulk of health care is self funded. This paper has particular significance for understanding the challenges faced by post-communiststates in their attempts to achieve social democratic health care reforms.


Objective Impaired gastric accommodation is one of the major pathophysiological factors in functional dyspepsia (FD). Gastrointestinal electric stimulation (GES) as a potential therapy for treating patients with motility disorders has been applied in animal models and clinical practice. However, the response of proximal gastric tone to different GES has not been fully understood. Therefore, the aims of this study were to investigate the effects of GES with different parameters on gastric tone and to estimate the relationship between gastric volume, stimulation energy, and symptoms. Material and methods Seven dogs equipped with a gastric cannula and two pairs of serosal electrodes in the greater curvature were studied with different GES via a pair of electrodes located 10–14 cm above the pylorus. The gastric volume under constant pressure was measured using a barostat device. Results The results showed that 1) GES increased the gastric volume in a dose-dependent manner with the increase of stimulation frequency or pulse amplitude. 2) The increase in gastric volume with GES was significantly correlated to stimulation energy. 3) Mild symptoms were noted with stimulation and the score of the induced symptoms was linearly and significantly correlated with gastric volume. Conclusions GES decreases the proximal gastric tone in an energy-dependent manner. These data suggest that GES could be used to treat patients with impaired gastric accommodation.


How does political preference affect categorization in the political domain? Eight studies demonstrate that people on both ends of the political spectrum—strong Republicans and strong Democrats—form simpler and more clustered categories of political stimuli than do moderates and neutrals. This pattern was obtained regardless of whether stimuli were politicians (Study 1), social groups (Study 2), or newspapers (Study 3). Furthermore, both strong Republicans and strong Democrats were more likely to make inferences about the world based on their clustered categorization. This was found for estimating the likelihood that geographical location determines voting (Study 4), that political preference determines personal taste (Study 5), and that social relationships determine political preference (Study 6). The effect is amplified if political ideology is salient (Study 7) and remains after controlling for differences in political sophistication (Study 8). The political domain appears simpler to the politically extreme than to political moderates.


Abstract Removal of noxious materials such as heavy metal ions (which are hazardous above certain ppm concentration) from wastewater is one of the biggest environmental challenges that suffers the economy nowadays. On the basis of their versatility, environmental friendliness, the adsorption was proved to be a most economical and efficient technology, which is used extensively for their removal from the aqueous media. Among the various developed adsorbents used so far, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) show a unique impact on the fast adsorption and rapid removal of noxious impurities from the aqueous source. CNTs festooned on the sources like activated carbon, nanoparticles, and nanocomposities enhanced the efficiency and potential of the adsorbent. Due to their unique structural, electronic, optoelectronic, semiconductor, as well as mechanical, chemical, and physical properties, they have been extensively used to remove heavy metals in wastewater treatment. The adsorption mechanisms are majorly contributed by the chemical interactions between the metal ions and the functional groups present on the surface of the CNTs. Greater the surface area more will be the number of reducing groups hence more attributable to better CNT sorption performances.


DENORMS Action's Training School "Experimental techniques for acoustic porous materials and metamaterials", Le Mans, 4-6th December 2017 Website of DENORMS Action Programme of the Training School Lecturer: Philippe Leclaire (University of Burgundy) Abstract: Acoustic models of the acoustics of porous and perforated media involve a set of physical parameters. Some of the parameters, the tortusity, the viscous and thermal characteristic lengths are defined for a perfect incompressible and inviscid fluid saturating the porous medium. It is shown that ultrasonic propagation in air-saturated materials can be used to determine these parameters. A basic method involving air-coupled ultrasonic transducers is presented. Variants of this method and a practical implementation of one of these is proposed.


Propylthiouracil (PTU) is a thionamide used for hyperthyroidism. Numbers of PTU induced adverse reactions such as leukopenia, rash, fever, arthritis, vasculitis, and lupus-like syndrome are reported. In addition, antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis during PTU therapy was reported. Pulmonary-renal syndrome is one infrequent but life-threatening presentation of PTU-associated ANCA-positive vasculitis. We report a 45-year-old woman with pulmonary-renal syndrome presented as hemoptysis, normocytic anemia, and microscopic hematuria during the treatment of Graves' disease with PTU. Her serum perinuclear-ANCA was positive and dysmorphic red blood cells were found in urinalysis. After discontinuing PTU and starting immunosuppressive agent treatment, the fever, hematuria, and pulmonary hemorrhage subsided but the p-ANCA was still present several months later. ANCA-associated pulmonary-renal syndrome may be a complication of PTU therapy. The proportion of ANCA-positive case increases with the prolongation of PTU therapy. In contrast, there are rare reports of ANCA-associated vasculitis in the other thionamide i.e. carbimazole and methimazole. Therefore, carbimazole or methimazole may be the drug of choice when long-term treatment for hyperthyroidism is required.


Safe anaerobic metabolism Naked mole-rats live in large colonies deep underground in hypoxic conditions. Park et al. found that these animals fuel anaerobic glycolysis with fructose by a rewired pathway that avoids tissue damage (see the Perspective by Storz and McClelland). These results provide insight into the adaptations that this strange social rodent has to make for life underground. They also have implications for medical practice, particularly for understanding how to protect tissues from hypoxia. Science, this issue p. 307; see also p. 248 Naked mole-rats use fructose for glycolysis in low-oxygen conditions. The African naked mole-rat's (Heterocephalus glaber) social and subterranean lifestyle generates a hypoxic niche. Under experimental conditions, naked mole-rats tolerate hours of extreme hypoxia and survive 18 minutes of total oxygen deprivation (anoxia) without apparent injury. During anoxia, the naked mole-rat switches to anaerobic metabolism fueled by fructose, which is actively accumulated and metabolized to lactate in the brain. Global expression of the GLUT5 fructose transporter and high levels of ketohexokinase were identified as molecular signatures of fructose metabolism. Fructose-driven glycolytic respiration in naked mole-rat tissues avoids feedback inhibition of glycolysis via phosphofructokinase, supporting viability. The metabolic rewiring of glycolysis can circumvent the normally lethal effects of oxygen deprivation, a mechanism that could be harnessed to minimize hypoxic damage in human disease.


Direct numerical simulation is used to assess the importance of compressibility in turbulent channel flow of a mixture of air and water vapor with dispersed water droplets. The dispersed phase is allowed to undergo phase transition, which leads to heat and mass transfer between the phases. We compare simulation results obtained with an incompressible formulation with those obtained for compressible flow at various low values of Mach number. Results for flow properties obtained with the compressible model converge quickly to the incompressible results in case the Mach number is reduced. In contrast, thermal properties such as the Nusselt number, display a systematic difference between the two formulations on the order of 15%, even in the low-Mach limit. Second, a new efficient numerical algorithm for droplet-laden turbulent channel flow at low Mach numbers is proposed. In order to avoid very small time steps at low Mach numbers that would arise from stability requirements associated with explicit time-stepping we propose a new semi-explicit time integration method. We perform a perturbation analysis in powers of the Mach number of the system of governing equations. An important feature of the new numerical approach is the independence of the maximum allowed time step on the Mach number. We validate the new method by comparing it with a fully explicit code for compressible flow at general Mach numbers showing a good agreement in all quantities of interest. Finally, we consider turbulent droplet-laden channel flow with phase transition in the presence of gravity in the wall-normal direction and a thin film of water at the bottom wall. We maintain the film thickness constant by draining water from the bottom wall to compensate for (a) the droplets that fall onto the film and (b) evaporation/condensation. We also maintain on average the total mass of water in the channel by inserting new droplets at the top wall to compensate for the water that has been drained from the bottom wall. We analyze the behavior of the statistically averaged gas and droplet quantities focusing on the heat exchange between the two phases.


The Constitution prohibits Members of the Seimas from working in any other work and from receiving any other remuneration, with the exception of remuneration for creative activities. Under the Constitution, the mandate of a Member of the Seimas may be used only in the manner so that the Member of the Seimas might exercise the rights and duties of the representative of the Nation, might participate when the Seimas—the representation of the Nation—executes its functions and powers. The mandate of a Member of the Seimas may not be used for personal gain or for the private gain of other persons. The Constitution does not tolerate any such situation when Members of the Seimas conclude agreements with commercial televisions regarding their participation in various television entertainment projects (shows) and assume corresponding obligations, since in this manner the mandate of a Member of the Seimas is indirectly used for private gain of other persons and for private gain of the Member of the Seimas. It is incompatible with the essence of the mandate of a Member of the Seimas and with the constitutional status of a Member of the Seimas.


DRIVING: VICTIM SERVICES by ERIN KATHERINE ADAMS (Under the Direction of Alan Stewart) ABSTRACT The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate the Victim Services provided by the Georgia State Office of Mothers Against Drunk Driving to victims of drunk driving crashes. In order to attain this objective, a survey was developed to assess the utilization and perceived efficacy of MADD Georgia Victim Services as well as to elicit input regarding changes which could enhance the current format or delivery of services. Results reveal high familiarity with and utilization of MADD Georgia services. Satisfaction ratings indicate that the victims served by this organization had generally positive evaluations of the services they utilized. Respondents expressed a need for more expansive and varied services and provided suggestions for the improvement of current services offered. Limitations of the study and implications for practice and research are discussed. Overall, the results of this study suggest that MADD Georgia Victim Services play an important role in meeting the needs of the victims of drunk driving crashes.


Listening practices have widely been conducted face to face in language laboratory for years in language laboratory. However, students' interaction and collaboration were not much emphasized because of teacher-centred learning. The teaching of listening in language laboratory focuses primarily on how to answer comprehension questions correctly without any interactive discussion. Students just relied on teacher's absolute role in language laboratory. Thus, the students were not independent in learning listening. Meanwhile, limited materials used in listening instruction are mostly influenced by teacher educator's textbooks whose content lacked of authenticity. Promoting online learning in listening practices and evaluating students' outcomes through peer-corrective feedback through learning platform were needed to enhance their comprehension. This article highlighted five central issues, including: (1) theoritical framework of online learning; (2) edmodo as a learning platform for online mediated listening tool; (3) the selection of authentic listening materials; (4) peer-collaborative correction in listening tasks; and (5) the development of students' autonomous listening through online corrective feedbacks. The impacts of this article findings successfully contributed to support teachers' educators face-to-face language laboratory based listening practices while promoting students' collaboration, autonomy, and comprehension.


Older persons in nursing homes often describe their situation as difficult and hopeless. They face an all-encompassing dependence on care, a lack of control in daily routines of clothing, washing, eating and socializing, and loneliness. Reports show cases in which residents were actually harmed by a lack of care given by nurses. This inadequate care is morally reprehensible. The aim of this research is to develop a philosophy for nurses as a counterstory that relates the problems of nursing home residents and suggests solutions in terms of good care. The quality of this counterstory is measured by its coherence, its credibility and its validity. This dissertation concentrates on accomplishing the first criterion: coherence. The research question is: What is good daily nursing care for vulnerable nursing home residents? In a spiraling research model, empirical data and theoretical insight are continually connected, compared, tested against each other and then merged step-by-step into a coherent whole. Empirical data were collected through participative observation and structured interviews in various care practices. The theoretical insights derive from the literature on needs led care and the ethics of care. In this philosophy of care for nurses, nursing home residents are viewed as vulnerable persons. Often they are not recognised or acknowledged for either who they used to be or who they have become now: a particular person in a situation of dependence. This demands, as it were, a special kind of protection. Nurses, as no other, are in a position to offer this protection by continually attuning their care to this unique person in this unique situation. In so doing, they are sustaining or holding the personhood of the unique person in the context of nursing home care. This expression of protection is thus a special kind of preservative care, a moral practice. The moral test of preservative care is 'recognising the uniqueness of the other in this particular community'. Preservative care strongly emphasizes the life the person led both before and after landing in their current vulnerable context, which ideally should sustain the person's personhood. Awareness of the moral context of care-giving to nursing home residents may help nurses determine what may or may not be good actions to undertake in the circumstances and the manner in which they should carry out these actions. It is up to the reader to judge the coherence of the counterstory presented, and to the nursing profession and nursing home residents to judge its credibility, but the ultimate test is how well preservative care is received and valued by the nursing home residents themselves. The dissertation concludes with a proposal outlining a program of further research to test the validity of preservative care. Given the crucial role that nursing attitudes and skills play in the accomplishment of preservative care, and also taking into account its relative complexity, this dissertation closes by suggesting that future nurses should be given a thorough grounding in the philosophy of preservative care during their training.


In a high-purity 8Y-CSZ, the doping of 0.15 - 5 mass% pure silica introduces a glass phase dispersing uniformly along grain-boundary facets and at multiple junctions. For materials with grain sizes of 0.75 - 2.4 m, the dispersion of the glass phase decreases the elastic modulus, the Vickers hardness and the elastic modulus-to-hardness ratio, whereas it affects little in the fracture toughness measured by a Vickers-indentation method and a single-crack-precracked-beam method. Inspection of crack propagation paths shows that the glass phase with sizes smaller than those of the matrix grains is not a site for easy crack-propagation, but provides a site for a crack-deflection mechanism.


OFDM communication systems are widely used in today's wired and wireless system such as ADSL, IEEE 802.11a/g, and DVB-T/H. Current OFDM systems are built on custom ASIC which suffers from a tedious and costly design cycle. In this work we first present an overview of HERS, a heterogeneous reconfigurable system. HERS is a flexible and programmable software defined radio platform and is comprised of a set of heterogeneous reconfigurable engines connected using a high speed bus. Each reconfigurable engine is a specialized reconfigurable processor designed for a class of algorithms and is highly optimized for power and performance. Next, we report on implementation of the most computationally intensive constituent algorithms of IEEE 802.11a/g and DVB-T/H standards.


Human hypertension arises from a combination of genetic factors and lifestyle influences. With cardiovascular disease set to become the number 1 cause of death worldwide, it is important to understand the etiologic mechanisms for hypertension, because these might provide new routes to improved treatment. The British Genetics of Hypertension Study has recently published a primary genome screen that identified 4 chromosomal regions of interest. We have now genotyped additional markers to confirm the most promising regions for follow-up studies. Thirty-four additional microsatellites were genotyped in our severely hypertensive affected sibling pair resource (now 1635 families with 2142 affected sibling pairs), leading to a substantial increase in information content in the regions of interest. We found increased support for linkage of chromosome 5q13 to human hypertension (multipoint logarithm of odds=2.50) with 3 adjacent markers yielding single point logarithm of odds scores of 3.22, 2.84, and 2.51. The placement of additional markers on 2q, 6q, and 9q diminished support for linkage in these regions. However, the addition of new data and families identified novel regions of interest on chromosomes 1q and 11q. The 3 positive markers in the chromosome 5 region were also genotyped in 712 distinct parent–offspring trios with the same severe phenotype to replicate linkage and association. Borderline support for replication was found (P=0.07). We found increased evidence for linkage and borderline-significant evidence for association for a hypertension susceptibility locus on chromosome 5q13 that is worthy of detailed fine mapping and assessment of candidate genes.


Background Animal behaviour is under strong selection. Selection on behaviour, however, might not act in isolation from other fitness-related traits. Since predators represent outstanding selective forces, animal behaviour could covary with antipredator defences, such that individuals better suited against predators could afford facing the costs of riskier behaviours. Moreover, not all individuals undergo equivalent degrees of predation pressure, which can vary across sexes or habitats. Individuals under lower predation pressure might also exhibit riskier behaviours. Methods In this work, I tested these hypotheses on natterjack toads (Epidalea calamita). Specifically, I gauged activity time, exploratory behaviour and boldness in standard laboratory conditions, and assessed whether they correlated with body size and antipredator strategies, namely sprint speed, parotoid gland area and parotoid gland colour contrast. Additionally, I compared these traits between sexes and individuals from an agrosystem and pine grove, since there is evidence that males and agrosystem individuals are subjected to greater predation pressure. Results Sprint speed as well as parotoid gland contrast and size appeared unrelated to the behavioural traits studied. In turn, body mass was negatively related to activity time, boldness and exploration. This trend is consistent with the fact that larger toads could be more detectable to their predators, which are mostly gape unconstrained and could easily consume them. As predicted, females exhibited riskier behaviours. Nonetheless, agrosystem toads did not differ from pine grove toads in the behavioural traits measured, despite being under stronger predation pressure.


Purpose: To establish a high-glucose (HG) stressed cell model and study the expression of main components of the Dll4/Notch-VEGF signaling pathway under high-glucose stimulation. Methods: A model of HG-conditioned cells (human umbilical vein endothelial cells, HUVECs) was first established, and then the expression of Dll4, Notch1, Notch4 and VEGF in HG-stressed cells with or without Notch pathway blockage was analyzed by RT-PCR and Western blot. To observe cell migration, we also evaluated the Transwell assay. Results: HUVECs stimulated with 30mmol/L HG was selected as a cell model. RT-PCR and Western blot results showed that HG stimulation induced the expression of Dll4, Notch1 and VEGF and downregulated Notch4. The expressions were reversed after Notch pathway blockage; meanwhile, the blockage of Notch pathway inhibited cell migration under HG condition. Conclusion: The function of Notch4 in responses to HG stimulation deserves further researching. Combination therapy by blocking Dll4/Notch and VEGF pathways may provide us with a new way for anti-neovascularization.


Since the beginnings of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, pedagogy has been a crucial survival strategy, especially when government agencies failed to prevent mass deaths. However, contemporary sex education on HIV/AIDS—if taught to undergraduates before they arrive on campus—often does not account for the disproportionate effects of the pandemic on racial minorities and global South countries. In this teaching essay, the author describes how his course on the history of HIV/AIDS takes a global approach to highlight that the AIDS crisis is not over. Starting with histories of HIV/AIDS in the United States, Haiti, China, and elsewhere that sought to find a scapegoat for the pandemic, the course then turns to the global power of the pharmaceutical industry. It examines the marketing and lobbying strategies of companies such as Gilead, which use the stigma of HIV/AIDS to transform impoverished global South countries into new markets for research and capital extraction. Finally, it also highlights how the AIDS crisis remains an ongoing struggle against racial disparities in health care that prevent access to life-saving treatments and preventative drugs such as Truvada and Descovy for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Using a range of materials from podcasts to pills, the author introduces students to the globalizing forces that take the bodies of the poor, women, and Black, Latinx, trans, and global South citizens as expendable in the fight against HIV/AIDS.


The CT examination of 36 patients with masses in the thymus (three thymus hyperplasias, 33 thymomas) were evaluated retrospectively. Three tumours in atypical positions posed problems in differential diagnosis from bronchial carcinomas and two cases with extensive pleural metastases had to be differentiated from pleural mesotheliomas. There were no certain morphological features on CT which indicated whether the mass was malignant. Eleven patients with thymomas had metastases; in seven of these they were extra-thoracic, with preference for supraclavicular lymph nodes, adrenals and the axial skeleton. Tumour progression and distant metastases were found particularly in malignant thymomas of the epithelial type. Calcification in a thymoma tends to indicate that it is malignant.


The main objective of the study is to find out the problem and prospect of mobile banking in Bangladesh. For this research primary data were used. This study adopts with descriptive in nature. Total respondents were 120 within that 61 % respondents think it saves time than traditional banking, the highest number of respondents use mobile banking for Air-time top-up service, that is 21%, out of 120 respondents 56% replied it is less costlier than traditional banking, 100% respondents did agree that it is speedy, and 38% respondents are upper class. Although this concept is new in Bangladesh but its potentiality is high. From this research, other researchers and policy makers will get an insight about the problems and prospects of mobile banking in Bangladesh. Key words: Problem, prospect, Mobile banking.


Tremendous advances in nanoscience during the past decades have drawn a new horizon for the future of science. Many biological and structural elements such as DNA, bio-membranes, nanotubes, nanowires and thin films have been studied carefully in the past decades. In this work we target to speed up the computational methods by incorporating the structural symmetries that nanostructures have. In particular, we use the Objective Structures (OS) framework to speed up molecular dynamics (MD), lattice dynamics (phonon analysis) and multiscale methods. OS framework is a generalization of the standard idea for crystal lattices of assuming periodicity of atomic positions with a large supercell. OS not only considers the translational periodicity of the structure, but also other symmetries such as rotational and screw symmetries. In addition to the computational efficiency afforded by Objective Structures, OS provides us with more flexibility in the shape of the unit cell and the form of the external deformation and loading, comparing to using the translational periodicity. This is because the deformation and loading should be consistent in all cells and not all deformations keep the periodicity of the structures. For instance, bending and twisting cannot be modeled with methods using the structure's periodicity. Using OS framework we then carefully studied carbon nanotubes under non-equilibrium deformations. We also studied the failure mechanism of pristine and twisted nanotubes under tensile loading. We found a range of failure mechanisms, including the formation of Stone-Wales defects, the opening of voids, and the motion of atoms out of the cross-section. We also used the OS framework to make concrete analogies between crystalline phonons and normal modes of vibration in non-crystalline but highly symmetric nanostructures.


Stochastic gradient descent (SGD) has been shown to generalize well in many deep learning applications. In practice, one often runs SGD with a geometrically decaying stepsize , i.e., a constant initial stepsize followed by multiple geometric stepsize decay, and uses the last iterate as the output. This kind of SGD is known to be nearly minimax optimal for classical finite-dimensional linear regression problems (Ge et al., 2019). How-ever, a sharp analysis for the last iterate of SGD in the overparameterized setting is still open. In this paper, we provide a problem-dependent analysis on the last iterate risk bounds of SGD with decaying stepsize, for (overparameterized) linear regression problems. In particular, for last iterate SGD with (tail) geometrically decaying stepsize, we prove nearly matching upper and lower bounds on the excess risk. Moreover, we provide an excess risk lower bound for last iterate SGD with polynomially decaying stepsize and demonstrate the advantage of geometrically decaying stepsize in an instance-wise manner, which complements the minimax rate comparison made in prior works.


Two subtypes of the mammalian cannabinoid receptor have been identified and successfully cloned since 1990. The CB(1) receptor is primarily located in the central nervous system and the CB(2) receptor is almost exclusively expressed in cells of the immune system. The CB(1) and CB(2) receptors are both G-protein coupled receptors and are involved in the inhibition of adenylate cyclase. The CB(2) receptor is of particular importance due to its involvement in signal transduction in the immune system, making it a potential target for therapeutic immune intervention. A number of these selective ligands are derivatives of traditional dibenzopyran based cannabinoids. These include the very recently synthesized (2'R)-1-methoxy-3-(2'-methylbutyl)- Delta (8)-THC (JWH-359) which has a 224 fold selectivity for the CB(2) receptor, readily comparable to the well known 1-deoxy-3-(1',1'-dimethylbutyl)- Delta (8)-THC (JWH-133) which has 200 fold selectivity for the CB(2) receptor. Several 9-hydroxyhexahydrocannabinols have also been synthesized and are found to be selective high affinity ligands for the CB(2) receptor. These are 1-deoxy-9beta-hydroxy-dimethylhexylhexahydrocannabinol (JWH-361, K(i) = 2.7 nM) and 1-deoxy-9beta-hydroxy-dimethylpentylhexahydrocannabinol (JWH-300, K(i) = 5.3 nM). CB(2) selective cannabi-mimetic indoles include 1-(2,3-dichlorobenzoyl)-2-methyl-3-(2-[1-morpholine]ethyl)-5-methoxyindole (L768242), (R)-3-(2-Iodo-5-nitrobenzoyl)-1-(1-methyl-2-piperidinylmethyl)-1H-indole (AM1241) and 1-propyl-2-methyl-3-(1-naphthoyl) indole (JWH-015), which exhibit significant selectivity for the CB(2) receptor coupled with weak affinity for the CB(1) receptor. Bristol-Meyer Squibb has produced a phenylalanine derived cannabimimetic indole which possesses high CB(2) affinity (K(i) = 8 nM) and very low affinity for the CB(1) receptor (K(i) = 4000 nM). This review will discuss the current advances and recent results in the structure-activity relationships (SAR) of selective ligands for the cannabinoid CB(2) receptor.


Abstract. Gully expansion in the Ethiopian Highlands dissects vital agricultural lands with the eroded materials adversely impacting downstream resources, for example as they accumulate in reservoirs. While gully expansion and rehabilitation have been more extensively researched in the semiarid region of Ethiopia, few studies have been conducted in the (sub)humid region. For that reason, we assessed the severity of gully erosion by measuring the expansion of 13 selected permanent gullies in the subhumid Debre Mawi watershed, 30 km south of Lake Tana, Ethiopia. In addition, the rate of expansion of the entire drainage network in the watershed was determined using 0.5 m resolution aerial imagery from flights in 2005 and 2013. About 0.6 Mt (or 127 t ha−1 yr−1) of soil was lost during this period due to actively expanding gullies. The net gully area in the entire watershed increased more than 4-fold from 4.5 ha in 2005 to 20.4 ha in 2013 (> 3 % of the watershed area), indicating the growing severity of gully erosion and hence land degradation in the watershed. Soil losses were caused by upslope migrating gully heads through a combination of gully head collapse and removal of the failed material by runoff. Collapse of gully banks and retreat of headcuts was most severe in locations where elevated groundwater tables saturated gully heads and banks, destabilizing the soils by decreasing the shear strength. Elevated groundwater tables were therefore the most important cause of gully expansion. Additional factors that strongly relate to bank collapse were the height of the gully head and the size of the drainage area. Soil physical properties (e.g., texture and bulk density) only had minor effects. Conservation practices that address factors controlling erosion are the most effective in protecting gully expansion. These consist of lowering water table and regrading the gully head and sidewalls to reduce the occurrence of gravity-induced mass failures. Planting suitable vegetation on the regraded gully slopes will in addition decrease the risk of bank failure by reducing pore-water pressures and reinforcing the soil. Finally, best management practices that decrease runoff from the catchment will reduce the amount of gully-related sediment loss.


Abstract A bellows combined with an inside liner and an outside braid is commonly used as a flexible joint in automobile exhaust systems to reduce transmission of engine movements to the exhaust system. It greatly influences the dynamics of the complete system. Understanding of its dynamic characteristics and a modelling method that facilitates systems simulation are therefore desired. This has been obtained in earlier works for the bellows itself. In this work an approach to the modelling of the combined bellows and liner joint is suggested and experimentally verified. Simulations and measurements show that the liner adds significant non-linearity and makes the characteristics of the joint complex. Results are presented for the axial and the bending load cases. In torsion, influence of the liner is negligible. Peak responses are significantly reduced when the excitation level approximately corresponds to the friction limit of the liner. The complexity of the combined bellows and liner joint is important to know of and consider in exhaust system design and proves the necessity of including a model of the liner in the theoretical joint model when this type of liner is present in the real joint to be simulated.


Uros population from the Titikaka Lake live in about 42 floating reed ('totora') islands in front of Puno City (Peru) at a 4000 m high altiplano. They present both an mtDNA and a human leucocyte antigen (HLA) profile different from the surrounding populations: mtDNA A2 haplogroup is common to Uros and Amazon forest lowland Amerindians. HLA genetic distances between populations have been calculated and neighbour‐joining dendrograms and correspondence analyses were carried out. Approximately 15 006 HLA chromosomes from worldwide populations have been used for comparisons. Only eight HLA‐A alleles have been found, three of them accounting for most of the frequencies. The same phenomenon is seen for HLA‐B, HLA‐DRB1 and HLA‐DQB1 alleles: a few alleles (3, 4 and 3, respectively) are present in most individuals. The presence of HLA‐B*4801 and HLA‐DRB1*0901 alleles in a relatively high frequency (although not the most frequent alleles found) is a characteristic shared with Asians and some populations from the Andean altiplano. Three specific Uros haplotypes have been found among the most frequent ones: HLA‐A*680102‐B*3505‐DRB1*0403‐DQB1*0302; HLA‐A*2402‐B*1504‐DRB1*1402‐DQB1*0301; and HLA‐A*2402‐B*4801‐DRB1*0403‐DQB1*0302. The present study suggests that Uros may have been one of the first populations from the shores of the Titikaka Lake coming from the Amazonian forest, which might have given rise to other later differentiated ethnic group (i.e. Aymaras). Uros HLA profile is also useful to study genetic epidemiology of diseases linked to HLA and to construct a future transplant waiting list by adding up regional lists in order to get a bigger pool for transplanting with better HLA matching.


All in all, graphic-design has a wide use in newspapers, magazines, books, symbol, advertisements, packing and many other media. It is to improve functional and aesthetic identification of the information and embody the aesthetic characteristics of brevity, which is a rare element in modern design. When Mr. Lei Guiyuan discussed the image Taichi in his book The First Exploration of Chinese Design Method, he put forward an important viewpoint that why the design is beautiful is that not only does it has the beauty in essence, but also has beauty in form.


Wearable devices have become essential in our daily activities. Due to battery constraints, the use of computing, communication, and storage resources is limited. Mobile cloud computing (MCC) and the recently emerged fog computing (FC) paradigms unleash unprecedented opportunities to augment the capabilities of wearable devices. Partitioning mobile applications and offloading computationally heavy tasks for execution to the cloud or edge of the network is the key. Offloading prolongs the lifetime of the batteries and allows wearable devices to gain access to the rich and powerful set of computing and storage resources of the cloud/edge. In this paper, we experimentally evaluate and discuss the rationale of application partitioning for MCC and FC. To experiment, we develop an Android-based application and benchmark energy and execution time performance of multiple partitioning scenarios. The results unveil architectural tradeoffs that exist between the paradigms and devise guidelines for proper power management of the service-centric Internet-of-Things applications.


A novel three-dimensional construct was designed to serve as a substitute for the natural meniscus tissue, and tested in vitro. The design consisted of mats of aligned collagen micro/nanofibers, entrapped within a macroporous poly(l-lactic acid)/poly(lactic acid-co-glycolic acid) foam coated with Ca+2-cross-linked alginic acid. Fibrochondrocytes derived from human meniscus were tested in vitro to study cell attachment and proliferation. After a 21-day culture, the cells populating the constructs were shown to produce extracellular matrix components specific for fibrocartilages, such as collagen Types I and II and aggrecan. Coating the foam with alginate increased the compressive modulus of the collagen-containing constructs (from 320 to 381 kPa, after 21 days of incubation with fibrochondrocytes) but decreased cell attachment and proliferation, as well as aggrecan production. Collagen fibers substantially increased the tensile modulus of the cell-seeded constructs (from 0.98 to 1.71 MPa for uncoated and from 0.67 to 1.32 MPa for coated samples). All constructs produced extracellular matrix components specific for fibrocartilages. These findings indicate that these constructs have potential for use as meniscus substitutes.


In its simplest and most abstract form, libertarianism is a theory of political and economic organization which states that once a set of basic rights has been defined and allocated ("self-ownership" in particular), any distribution of resources, goods, and welfare that arises from this initial allocation of rights is just provided no individual rights have been violated. The converse claim is also part of the libertarian doctrine: in order to achieve a just allocation of resources, goods, and welfare, we only need to determine a special set of rules that define for each individual what they may or may not do and the outcomes they can bring about. In a libertarian society (made up of libertarian citizens who adhere to these rules), rights settle most and—depending on the libertarian theory in question—perhaps even all of the relevant issues. We take this to be true for all libertarian traditions, left and right. Any differences between libertarians pertain only to the nature and domain of rights and not to the fact that a rights structure is primary for determining the just society or that the social order is derived solely from a rights


Background: In carcinogenesis, methylation of DNA promoter regions results in inactivation of tumor-suppressing genes. MG98 was designed to inhibit DNA methyltransferases enzyme 1 production. Methods: This multicenter study explored two schedules of MG98 with Interferon-α-2β to identify schedule and dose for patients with metastatic RCC. Results: Doses of IFN 9 MIU/MG98 125 mg/m2 for a continuous schedule and IFN 9 MIU/MG98 200 mg/m2 for an intermittent schedule were considered the MTDs. Treatment resulted in one PR and eight SD. Conclusion: MG98 combined with IFN was safe and resulted in clinical activity.


Performance of lactating dairy cows fed diets containing either mechanically delinted whole cottonseed (DWCS; 3.7% lint) or linted whole cottonseed (LWCS; 11.7% lint) was measured. Forty primiparous (86 +/- 39 d in milk) and 40 multiparous (88 +/- 30 d in milk) cows were fed a total mixed ration containing 13% (dry matter basis) DWCS or LWCS in two blocks of 112 d (n = 53 and 27, respectively). Other total mixed ration ingredients (dry matter basis) were corn silage (28.1%), alfalfa silage (23%), high moisture shelled corn (27.8%), soybean meal (1.8%), expeller soybean meal (1.8%), blood meal (2%), and mineral-vitamin supplements (2.5%). Dry matter intake and milk yield were measured daily and milk composition every other week. Fecal grab samples were taken during wk 3 and 13 of each block to estimate excretion of intact whole cottonseeds. Milk yield, 3.5% fat-corrected milk, energy-corrected milk, milk composition and dry matter intake were not affected by whole cottonseed source. Body condition score tended to increase more with DWCS (0.22 vs. 0.11) for primiparous cows, although this was not reflected in body weight change. Dry matter digestibilities, based on indigestible ADF, were 63.5 and 64.8% for the DWCS and LWCS diets. It was calculated that 2.5 and 1.5% of the consumed seeds were excreted as whole cottonseeds in feces with the DWCS and LWCS diets, respectively. Although statistically significant, treatment differences in the proportion of intact seeds in the fecal DM would have little nutritional consequence. Mechanically delinted WCS performed as well as LWCS for all of the cow performance and milk composition variables measured.


The systemic administration of human rIL-6 to mice resulted in the regression of established, 3-day pulmonary micrometastases from two weakly immunogenic tumors, but not from a nonimmunogenic tumor, in the absence of observable toxicity. Although IL-6 alone failed to have a significant therapeutic impact on advanced, 10-day pulmonary macrometastases from weakly immunogenic tumors, substantial cure rates of mice could be achieved when this cytokine was combined with cyclophosphamide. Histologic analysis of the lungs of mice receiving IL-6 revealed infiltration with lymphoid cells during the regression of pulmonary nodules from a weakly immunogenic tumor. IL-6-mediated tumor regression could be abrogated after selective in vivo depletion of either CD4 or CD8 T cell subsets by the systemic administration of specific mAb. In vivo generation of tumor-specific CTL, but not of lymphokine-activated killer cells, was detected in the lungs of IL-6-treated mice during regression of pulmonary metastases. Collectively, these findings demonstrate a role for IL-6 in the treatment of established solid tumors that have the capacity to elicit T cell responses in the host. Differences in host cellular mechanisms involved in tumor regression mediated by immunotherapy using IL-6 vs IL-2 are discussed.


Yugoslavia as South Slavic state, initially formed in 1918, under the name of Kingdom of three Slavic peoples: Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, and then as communist country, established after the World War II, has played an important role in regional and international politics. The new federation consisted of six republics and two autonomous provinces, which were constitutive elements of federation having the right of veto. Yugoslav state played an important role on the international stage, especially through Non-Aligned Movement which was founded with India and Egypt. Its leader, Josip Broz Tito, has suppressed nationalism in all the republics and thus managed to keep the Yugoslav nations united around the communist idea, by transforming Yugoslavia into a very strong economic and military country. But, after his death in 1980, nationalisms surfaced and began disintegrating the federation. In this regard, the Serbian nationalism has been particularly distinguished, which has by the use of the Yugoslav National Army (JNA) started wars against other peoples of the Yugoslav federation, who sought secession and independence of their republics. Initially the war started against Slovenia, then Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and more recently against Kosovo Albanians. After many bloody wars that left hundreds of thousands of casualties and millions of refugees, two international conferences had to be held, one in Dayton for Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Rambouillet for Kosovo, including 78-day intervention of NATO aviation aimed to put an end to the never ending conflicts. The resolution of the UN Security Council has also established the Tribunal of Hague which would investigate and adjudicate the crimes committed in Yugoslavia. This Tribunal has imposed 1000 years in prison, especially for Serb military and political leaders. The breakup of the former Yugoslavia resulted in formation of seven new states which are in the path of Euro-Atlantic integration as Slovenia and Croatia which are already permanent members of these organizations. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n19p264


The notion of interneuronal neurosecretory synapses, proposed since 1954, was ignored until 1973; dating from this year the equivalent notion of peptidergic synapses becomes progressively recognized. The same holds true for the notion of intranervous transfer of neurosecretory substances, also proposed in 1954 and which (together with the former notion of interneuronal neurosecretory synapses) perfectly agrees with our present state of knowledge concerning peptidergic communications in the central nervous system.


Background Direct head-to-head comparisons among all available biologic agents for efficacy on damage progression in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have not been conducted. Objectives To indirectly compare the 12 months effects of available biologic agents in slowing RA radiographic progression. Methods A systematic review of literature of randomised, double-blind, controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating RA radiographic progression as a primary or secondary endpoint was conducted from Jan 1995 to May 2012. Radiographic progression from baseline, heterogeneity, and effect size (ES [95% CI]) were calculated through a mixed-effect model. Treatment with methotrexate (MTX-experienced or MTX-naïve) before study enrollment and period of study enrolment (PoE) were used as moderators. Results The PubMed search resulted in 183 references and 14 were eligible for the meta-analysis (the first in 2000, the last in 2011). The analysis of study distribution in ES forest plots showed in both subgroups a high correlation between the study PoE and the impact of biological therapy (figure). In MTX-naïve subgroup, ES was statistically lower for infliximab compared with etanercept (P=0.003), abatacept (P<0.001), rituximab (P=0.001), and golimumab (P=0.023). In the MTX-experienced subgroup, ES was statistically lower for infliximab and etanercept versus abatacept (P<0.001 both) and golimumab (P<0.001 and P=0.018, respectively), and for adalimumab versus abatacept (P<0.001). Image/graph Conclusions PoE deeply influences study population propensity to radiographic progression in each trial. This finding does not allow the indirect comparison of various biologic agents, despite our mixed-model significantly reduces heterogeneity among RCTs. References Rahman MU. Ann Rheum Dis 2011;70:1631–40 Disclosure of Interest None Declared


total of 122 samples were examined in this study were trapped by using pitfall traps,
except for Suncus murinus species, which was caught with a rat trap. The 14 skull
characters of seven species measured from the past and present studies were subjected
to principal component analysis. Although Crocidura negligens was never trapped in
this study, earlier studies indicated that this species was distinct from other Crocidura
species. Currently, Crocidura monticola are commonly found in Peninsular Malaysia
and widely distributed in Sundaland. Previous studies indicated that Crocidura
fuliginosa was dominant species in this region. Meanwhile, the smallest shrew Suncus
malayanus formerly known as Suncus etruscus proved distinct morphologically from C.
monticola. Finally, in this study I provide identification keys for shrew species,
morphological measurements and skull drawings that may help in identification of
Malay peninsula shrews for future studies.
Small crocidurinae shrews (weight < 8g) from Southeast Asia have been poorly
studied to date, mainly because of the difficulty to catch them and the concomitant
paucity of reference specimens available in museums. Hence their systematics is still
debated, and most small Crocidura shrews from Sundaland are assigned to the
monticola species complex. Morphometric analyses based on 14 skull measurements
showed that these shrews tend to be larger with increasing altitude, but showed
otherwise no consistent variation. When compared to museum specimens of the
monticola species complex sampled in the Sundaland (total: 77 specimens), the Malay
shrews tend also to be larger than those living on Kalimantan and Sumatra. All are,
however, morphologically distinct from the other species, C. maxi, found in eastern Java
and on the Lesser Sundas. Molecular analyses of a subset of these small shrews based
iv
on a mitochondrial (cytochrome b) and a nuclear gene (Apolipoprotein B) suggest that
samples from the central region of Peninsular Malaysia (Bukit Rengit and Ulu Gombak)
differ genetically from other Malaysian populations (by about 7% K2P distance at the
cyt b gene) and are more closely related to some samples from Sumatra and Borneo.
These differences did not correlate with the altitudinal variation evidenced from the
morphological analysis. Reference sequences from the terra typica of monticola and
maxi (both species were originally described from Java) are however needed to
determine if these unexpected genetic differences warrant additional taxonomic
subdivision within the Sundaland.
A portion of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene was used to investigate the
phylogenetic relationships of Suncus pygmy shrews and to help clarify the taxonomic
status of the Malayan Pygmy Shrew (S. malayanus) and the Malagasy Pygmy Shrew
(S. madagascariensis). Phylogenetic reconstructions were performed using neighbourjoining
and Bayesian analysis methods and revealed that S. malayanus is related to, but
distinct from S. etruscus. The K2P-corrected genetic distance among the Malaysian
taxon and other pygmy shrews for the cytochrome b gene was between 6.1 and 8.5%,
supporting recognition that S. malayanus represents a distinct species from the
geographically widespread S. etruscus species complex. A close (1.5% K2P distance)
sister-group relationship was revealed between S. etruscus from Sri Lanka and S.
madagascariensis from Madagascar, which has been considered an island endemic, and
suggests that these animals are not specifically distinct. The Malagasy population of this
shrew most probably was translocated to the island by human intervention, with the
lineage originating from Southeast Asia or the Indian subcontinent.


Optical functionality has been developed within the confines of an existing CMOS process. As of this writing, 10Gigabit modulators, electrically tunable optical filters, waveguides, and grating coupler technology have been successfully implemented alongside the existing transistors in the Freescale Hip7SOI process. This technology will be used to manufacture high bandwidth optical interconnections directly on silicon chips, allowing a new type of network and computing infrastructure to be developed.

This work is covered in two distinct phases. First, the exploratory work done to gain experience with high index contrast silicon waveguides primarily served to uncover challenges related with simulation of these devices, and with the practical limitations of efficiently coupling the resulting waveguide devices with the outside world.

The second phase began as the grating coupler emerged to address the coupling challenge. It became feasible to conceive of a commercially viable technology based on silicon photonics. The coupler has been evolved to a high level, currently achieving coupling loss of less than 1dB. Once the light is on chip, filtering and modulation technology are implemented. The reverse-biased plasma dispersion modulator has a 3dB roll-off of 10GHz, and an insertion loss less than 5dB. Optical filters based on ring resonators, arrayed waveguide gratings, and interleavers have all been implemented, often with world record performance, and many of the devices have been made electronically tunable to compensate for manufacturing variations and environmental excursions.

Finally, circuitry has been designed and constructed on the same die with the optical functionality, fully demonstrating the ability to achieve monolithic integration of these devices.


To prepare a kind of high performance fiber, Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are used as a filler to produce SWNTs/cellulose composite fibers using ionic liquid as solvent. The thermal properties, mechanical properties and structure of the composite fibers are investigated. The WAXD measurements show that SWNTs/cellulose composite fibers are cellulose Ⅱcrystal structure. The results obtained from thermal gravimetric analysis indicate that the addition of low nanotubes amounts leads to an increase in the degrade temperature. The tensile mechanical properties show that initial modulus and tensile strength considerably increase in the presence of nanotubes with a maximum for 77.8% and 27.2%.


The highly parallel 2D-clustering FPGA implementation used for the input system of the Fast TracKer (FTK) processor for the ATLAS experiment of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN is presented. The LHC after the 2013-2014 shutdown periods is planned to have increased luminosity, which will make it more difficult to have efficient online selection of rare events due to the increase of the overlapping collisions. FTK is a highly-parallelized hardware system that improves the online selection by executing real time track finding using the information from the silicon inner detector. The FTK system requires fast and robust clustering of the hits retrieved from the silicon detector on FPGA devices. We show the development of the original input boards and the implemented clustering algorithm. For the complicated 2D-clustering, a moving window technique is used to minimize the use of FPGA resources. The combination of custom developed boards and implementation of the clustering algorithm provides sufficient processing power to meet the specifications for the silicon inner detector of ATLAS up to the maximum LHC luminosity planned until 2022. The developed algorithm is easily adjustable to other image processing applications that require real-time 2D-clustering.


Background and aims The outcome of infants with severe hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE) remains extremely poor. Early identification of these infants could improve patient management and direct care. Our aim was to correlate the metabolomic profile of umbilical cord blood (UCB) with outcome in neonatal HIE. Methods Full term infants with perinatal asphyxia and healthy matched controls were recruited from 2009 to 2011. All had UCB biobanked at -80°C within 3 h of birth and multichannel electroencephalogram (EEG) recorded in the first 24 h of life. The metabolite profile of UCB was analysed using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Infant outcome was assessed using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler development at 3 years. Results The UCB metabolomic profile of 118 infants was described; 59 healthy controls, 34 perinatal asphyxia (no HIE) and 25 HIE defined by Sarnat score and EEG (13 mild, 6 moderate, 6 severe). Of the 6 cases of severe HIE, at 3 years; 4 have died, 1 survived with severe dyskinetic cerebral palsy and 1 had a normal outcome. A characteristic pattern of raised glycerol + succinate occurred in those infants with severe encephalopathy and very low voltage EEG (R2 = 0.49, p < 0.001). Conclusion Alterations in glycerol and succinate at birth reflect critical energy failure in infants with severe neuronal injury. This measurement at birth could help clinicians to identify infants who will not benefit from standard neuroprotection and may need experimental intervention, or limitation of care.


Ondine's curse Syndrome is a central sleep apnoea syndrome caused by medulla respiratory centre dysfunction, with clinical manifestations such as respiratory dysfunction during wake, difficulty breathing, increased partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PCO2), sleep apnoea or death during sleep. This paper presents a case of a patient, who was confirmed with the diagnosis after clinical analysis, PCO2 comparison and tracking two similar cases in the family. Ondine's curse syndrome is rare and easily missed, and there is no specific drug treatment. The disease prognosis is poor. The treatment of this disease is difficult and the use of mechanical ventilation and diaphragm pacing therapy might exhibit some short-term efficacy. Drug treatment still needs further study; the long-term effect was still not good.


Involuntary entrepreneurship is not a new phenomenon, but it is closely linked to indus-trialisation processes and a changing labour market. The note "involuntary" implies that a person is somehow driven into self-employment and does not do this necessarily out of conviction. There are different causes for involuntary entrepreneurship as well as dif-ferent forms of its appearance. In the analysis we first concentrate on the academic discourse on the multifaceted nature of involuntary entrepreneurship. We give an overview on how this topic is reflected in the German academic discussion, how it is addressed, and which aspects are emphasised. Parallel to this we present the different definitions of involuntary entrepreneurship in the German academic literature.
Then we describe the legal discourse on involuntary entrepreneurship and its political aspects in Germany. There, we analyse what kind of initiatives or courses of action policy-makers are currently carrying out or planning to launch in order to address issues relevant to involuntary entrepreneurship. We also look at which factors are the driving motivations behind these initiatives and actions.


Abstract: Valsartan selectively blocks angiotensin II binding to the AT1 receptor. ince platelet activation plays a key role in the pathogenesis of vascular disease, and because AT1 receptors are present on the platelet surface, we assessed the in vitro effects of valsartan and its metabolite, valeryl 4-hydroxy valsartan (V4HV), on platelets in 30 subjects with multiple risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Platelet characteristics in blood samples pretreated and incubated with 10 nmol to 100 μmol concentrations of valsartan and V4HV were assessed by aggregometry, rapid platelet analyzers, and by flow cytometry. Pretreatment of blood with valsartan and V4HV resulted in inhibition of conventional plasma (ADP, P = 0.0001, valsartan; epinephrine, P = 0.0001, V4HV) and whole blood collagen-induced (P = 0.01, valsartan; P = .0001, V4HV) platelet aggregation. Closure time was delayed (P = 0.02, valsartan; P = 0.03, 4VHV), indicating platelet inhibition in whole blood under high shear conditions. Expression of many surface platelet receptors, namely GP IIb/IIIa antigen, and activity, vitronectin, p-selectin, and LAMP–1 was significantly reduced compared with autologous baseline activity. Intensity of platelet-leukocyte formation and other platelet activation markers remained unchanged. Platelet inhibition was not dose dependent and was more potent for 4VHV than valsartan in the therapeutic range. Valsartan and 4VHV exhibited significant in vitro inhibition of human platelets. Their antiplatelet properties, especially more potent activity of the metabolite appear to be independent of those of other antiplatelet agents. Whether valsartan reduces vascular ischemic events via additional pathways of platelet inhibition in patients with myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke requires further clinical research.


Human category learning is known to be a function of both the complexity of the category rule and attentional bias. A classic and critically diagnostic human category problem involves learning integral stimuli (correlated features) using a condensation rule, or separable stimuli (independent features) using a filtration rule. Human category learning shows differential learning based on category rules that either require attentional binding or ignoring features. It has been shown that neural networks learning with backpropagation cannot differentially learn or distribute attention without built in perceptual bias. In effect neural networks fail to integrate the complexity of learning with the representational bias of the stimuli. In this paper we show that Deep Learning networks, through successive re-encoding and the development of more sensitive feature detectors, learn both the category rules while modeling the attentional bias consistent with the human performance in a task of categorizing realistic 3D-modeled faces.


Many countries are contemplating the design of institutions to address 'the greatest market failure the world has ever seen' (Stern, N. (2007) The Economics of Climate Change. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, p.xviii). Australia is currently considering introducing a carbon trading scheme and prominent amongst the proposals being discussed is the 'McKibbin?Wilcoxen hybrid scheme' (McKibbin and Wilcoxen, 2002, 2006, 2007). We examine the literature on this proposal. We conclude that provided long-term goals are not sacrificed, there is much to admire in the institutional arrangements suggested. Short-term permits can address concerns about employment impacts, whilst long-term permits facilitate business planning. Nevertheless, we do seriously question the theoretical framework advanced to justify the hybrid structure ? a framework that is also used in some sections of Stern (Stern, N. (2007) The Economics of Climate Change. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press) and elsewhere. Short- and long-run optimal abatement theories are neither credible nor necessary. In an Australian context, we also argue that there is a strong case for supplementing credits with carbon sinks created in the agricultural sector.


This paper presents a new magnetic polishing liquid (MPL) produced by mixing sub-micron or micron order abrasive particles into a magnetic compound fluid (MCF) and its fundamental performance in surface finishing. MCF is an intelligent fluid, which is developed by mixing a magnetic fluid (MF) and a Magneto-rheological fluid (MRF) into a solvent, and hence reacting upon magnetic fields. In the present work, seven kinds of kerosene-based MPLs were prepared. The hydrodynamic characteristics of MPLs such as the viscosities under different magnetic fields were investigated. The obtained result indicated that the viscosity increases with the growing of the magnetic field and that the type of MPL affects greatly the viscosity. This phenomenon was discussed by observing the magnetic clusters formed in MPL. It was observed that the magnetic clusters are distributed along the magnetic fluxes. An experimental result indicated that the surface roughness varies with polishing time and gets smallest at a certain value of magnetic field strength.


A fast algorithm for accelerating the time-marching solution of time-domain integral equations pertinent to the analysis of free-space electromagnetic scattering from perfectly conducting, platelike and uniformly meshed structures is presented. The matrix-vector multiplications required by the time-marching scheme are accelerated by use of the fast Fourier transform (FFT). This acceleration is achieved in a multilevel fashion by hierarchically grouping sparse interactions to extract denser pieces that are efficiently evaluated by the FFT. The total computational cost and storage requirements of this algorithm scale as O(N/sub t/N/sub s/log/sup 2/ N/sub s/) and O(N/sup 1.5/), respectively, as opposed to O(N/sub t/N/sub s//sup 2/) and O(N/sub s//sup 2/) for classical time-marching methods (N/sub s/ and N/sub t/ denote the total number of spatial unknowns and time steps, respectively). Simulation results demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the algorithm.


S&OP and the balancing act of supply demand have recently been gaining a lot of attention.
The advantages of being able to match supply with demand in the most efficient
way is acknowledged as a way of reducing unnecessary cost and simultaneously achieving
higher service levels, have already reached Volvo and Volvo Aftermarket. This thesis
thus aims to provide with material allowing for further development of the S&OP process
at Volvo Aftermarket.
With that stance four research questions were formulated to aid in substantiating and fulfilling
the aim. How can S&OP practice maturity be assessed? - For which the result
consists in a generic maturity model enabling assessment of companies. How is Volvo's
S&OP process designed? - For which an answer consists in a thorough description of
Volvo's current process design, or as-is analysis, and the affecting business environment.
What performance gaps in Volvo's processes can be identified using synthesised maturity
framework? - This RQ implies the comparison of the established maturity framework and
the as-is analysis, whereas discrepancies in the process can be identified. How can Volvo
improve their current S&OP? - For which the answer contributes with a shortlist of prioritised
gaps that Volvo suggestively would benefit from filling.
The project was executed in accordance with abductive research methods. A constructed
theoretical framework was compared with real-life observations in an iterative theory
matching process. A theoretical suggestion and conclusion is made and finally an application
of the theory become a solution.
As a result of the gap analysis and collaboration with participators of S&OP at Volvo a
shortlist of cover-able gaps are summarised providing with Volvo more hands-on material
for implementable improvements. These cover areas like measuring forecast quality coming
from Volvo's sales department, informing policies for sales initiatives, forecast bias
measuring, process compliance checklists, process templates standardisation and process
name change. The complete list of recommendations is depicted in the recommendations
chapter. The content aspires to provide with Volvo current industry practices and a theoretical
framework indicating how to improve their S&OP internally, wherein part of this
thesis' contribution lies. The created S&OP maturity framework is synthesised to enable
mapping or benchmarking of S&OP not only for Volvo aftermarket but for any given
company with a supply/demand balancing optimisation aspiration.


The ORF strain of Cysticercus longicollis represents an important model for the study of heterologous antigens in the immunodiagnosis of neurocysticcreosis (NC). The immunoperoxidase (IP) technique was standardized using a particulate antigen suspension of Cysticercus longicollis (Cl) and Cysitcercus cellulosae (Cc). Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples were incubated on the antigen fixed to microscopy slides; the conjugate employed was anti-IgG-peroxidase and the enzymatic reaction was started by covering the slides with chromogen solution (diaminobenzidine/H2O2). After washing with distilled water, the slide was stained with 2% malachite green in water. Of the CSF samples from 21 patients with NC, 19 (90.5%) were positive, whereas the 8 CSF samples from the control group (100%) were negative. The results of the [P-C] test applied to 127 CSF samples from patients with suspected NC showed 28.3% reactivity as opposed to 29.1% for the IP-Cc test. The agreement index for the IP test (Cl x Cc) was 94.2%, with no significant difference between the two antigens.


Traditionally the construction industry has been expected to provide buildings and constructed assets that are of quality finishes, cheaper, faster to build and durable. With the rising of technology and concern for environment, increasing attention is given on sustainability. As the overall performance of building relies on the service life and performance of its component and materials, research on method for predicting the service life of construction component and materials is on going globally. Balance quality and sustainability to attempt affordability in residential housing is prior challenge to the construction industry. This paper will describe roughly condition of local housing industry and the global issue of sustainability in line to the ISO on service life planning. Theoretical approach to estimates the service life of building component and ongoing research on service live at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia will be the bridge to occupy the challenge.


Abstract Background COVID-19 pandemic completely changed the world during the past year, but its' greatest impact was on healthcare system. As inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are chronic conditions, and patients are in constant interaction with healthcare system and are treated with immunosuppressive therapies, they present a particularly vulnerable group of patients during the pandemic. Methods Aim of this study was to survey IBD patients' opinion on the impact of COVID-19 on their mental health, availability and quality of healthcare and their opinion on vaccination. We created a questionnaire that was posted to web based IBD patient group that gather patients from our geographical, Adriatic-Balkan, region (Croatia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro). Patients answered questions anonymously. Answers were created as yes/no, in grades from 1 (no impact/fear) to 5 (very large impact/very severe fear) or by choosing one of the offered answers. In total, 167 responses were received between December 2020 and March 2021, and were analyzed by descriptive statistics. Results A total of 167 IBD patients filled the questionnaire, of which 116 (69,5%) were female. Median age was 36 years (min. 15, max. 62 ys). Most patients did not have COVID-19 (82,6%). A little over half of patients believe that IBD patients are at higher risk of developing COVID-19 (n=97, 58,1%). COVID-19 pandemic has a moderate to large impact on their mental health in majority of patients (n=106, 63,5%) and 99 patients (59,3%) feel moderate to severe fear for their own health because of the pandemic. Most of the information about COVID-19 patients found on the internet (44,3%), from patients' associations (26,3%) and from their IBD doctor (22,8%). Same number of patients (n=48, 28,7%) feel no impact or very large impact of pandemic on availability to IBD team. Most of patients did not change their IBD therapy during the pandemic (86,8%), and majority (62,3%) felt there was no impact of pandemic on the availability to their therapy. Almost half of patients (49,7%) feel that the quality of healthcare system is worse since the beginning of the pandemic. More than half of patients (57,5%) do not want to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Conclusion COVID-19 pandemic had a moderate to large impact on mental health in majority of patients. It is particularly important that patients receive correct information about COVID-19 from medical professionals, and patients' association groups are very useful channel for patient education that should be used more. More than half of patients do not want to be vaccinated, showing the importance of patient education even more.


We present a systematic computational study based on the density functional theory (DFT) aiming to high light the possible effects of one As doping atom on the structural, energetic, and electronic properties of different isomers of Gen + 1 clusters with n = 1–20 atoms. By considering a large number of structures for each cluster size, the lowest-energy isomers are determined. The lowest-energy isomers reveal three-dimensional structures starting from n = 5. Their relative stability versus atomic size is examined based on the calculated binding energy, fragmentation energy, and second-order difference of energy. Doping Gen + 1 clusters with one As atom does not improve their stability. The electronic properties as a function of the atomic size are also discussed from the calculated HOMO–LUMO energy gap, vertical ionization potential, vertical electron affinity, and chemical hardness. The obtained results are significantly affected by the inclusion of one As atom into a Gen cluster.


Selecting digital material for preservation in libraries, archives, and museums is a necessary task but has not been widely examined, although the nature of digital material challenges traditional methods of selecting. This article examines the social context of selection in institutions, in which the responsibilities of stakeholders and relationships between them can affect the material chosen for preservation by practitioners. A range of stakeholders is identified; relationships between practitioners, information technology staff, and sources of material are found to be crucial. The influence of senior managers is important in providing a mandate and encouraging shared working and networks of expertise.


The deregulation of domestic financial markets, in association with technological progress, has led to an explosion of cross-border financial transactions and the cross-border establishment of premises. In turn, this has led to a need for international agreements on how the business of international finance and banking should be conducted. Private and public sector bodies have generally both been actively involved, but leadership has varied depending on the purpose of the agreement in question. Agreements to facilitate the conduct of cross-border financial transactions have in large measure been driven by private sector agents. Conversely, agreements to deliberately encourage the expansion of cross-border competition and to promote and maintain financial stability have been led by the public sector given the possibility of significant economic externalities. Many agreements to promote financial stability have been reached by committees operating at the Bank for International Settlements under the aegis of the Governors of the Group of Ten. Such agreements have moral authority, being based on discussions among representatives of sovereign states, but are nevertheless enforceable only by domestic legislation or regulation.


Underground pipelines are inevitably installed in unstable geohazard areas associated with the possible development of significant ground deformations. Under ground movement, excessive strains can be generated in the pipe wall, which poses a threat to pipeline integrity. This study aims to develop an industry-oriented calculation tool for safety evaluation of pipes subjected to ground movements induced by a variety of nature and construction-related hazards. The tool, comprised of deterministic and reliability-based analyses, is designed within MecSimCalc which is an innovative online platform for creating and sharing web-based Apps for individuals and groups. Calculation flow behind the tool is developed according to a novel method proposed based upon the finite difference method (FDM). Given grid nodes along the pipe, a large set of simultaneous finite-difference equations are constructed based on nonlinear governing differential equations of the Euler-Bernoulli beam under large deflections. The nonlinearities arising from pipe material, pipe-soil interaction, and geometry of the pipe are considered within the model. As unknowns of the finite-difference equations, the axial and lateral displacement of the pipe at each grid node can be obtained using nonlinear equation solvers. This method is utilized to predict the strain demand in the limit state function for reliability-based assessment. Applying stochastic properties for each basic parameter, the probability of failure can be calculated using Monte Carlo Simulation. Meanwhile, the program is compiled using Numba in Python and then optimized by the parallelization technique to enhance computational efficiency.


Aim The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of dynamic stretching on repeated sprints and jump performances after one night of three hours of sleep deprivation. Methods Ten judo athletes (age: 22.4 ± 1.8 years; height: 172.5 ± 5.1 cm; body-mass: 67.4 ± 3.4 kg) voluntarily participated to the study. They performed four test sessions: Without stretching (WS) or after a dynamic stretching (DS) either after a normal sleep night (NSN) or a partial sleep deprivation night (PSD). For the NSN, the sleep duration was between 22:30 h and 06:00 h. For the PSD, the sleep duration was between 22:30 h and 03:00 h. Test sessions were performed in a random order with a recovery period of at least 48 h in-between. During each session, after 5-min warm-up, participants performed 8 min of DS for the DS session or they were in a rest position for 8 min during the WS session. Then after 3 min they performed the repeated sprints and jump test. The test consisted of sprint 6 × 2 × 12.5 m every 25 s with 180° change of direction. During the recovery period, participants had to decelerate in 10 m, perform a counter movement jump (CMJ), and then to jog and return to the initial starting point. The best (BT) and the mean time (MT) were recorded with photoelectric cells (BROWER timing Systems; precision ∼ 0.01s) and the best and the mean CMJ were recorded using an Optojump device (Microgate, Bolzano, Italy). The DS consisted to perform 5 lower body exercises for 4 sets on a distance of 20 m with a recovery period of 20 s in-between. Data were analysed using a two-way ANOVA [2 (sleep condition) × 2 (warm-up)]. Results For the BT and the MT, the results showed that there was no-significant difference between NSN and PSD after both WS and DS. However, BT and MT were significantly lower after DS in comparison with WS during the PSD (p < 0.05). For the repeated jump performances, there were no-significant effects of sleep condition and warm-up. Likewise, the interaction sleep condition × warm-up was not significant. Conclusion PSD of 3 hours has no-significant effect on judo athletes' repeated short-term maximal performances. DS after a PSD night could improve sprinting times during a repeated sprints exercise; however, DS has no effect on jumping performance during the repeated jump exercise.


A parametrization of the density of states (DOS) near the band edge of phosphorus-doped crystalline silicon is derived from photoluminescence and conductance measurements, using a recently developed theory of band gap narrowing. It is shown that the dopant band only "touches" the conduction band at the Mott (metal-insulator) transition and that it merges with the conduction band at considerably higher dopant densities. This resolves well-known contradictions between conclusions drawn from various measurement techniques. With the proposed DOS, incomplete ionization of phosphorus dopants is calculated and compared with measurements in the temperature range from 300to30K. We conclude that (a) up to 25% of dopants are nonionized at room temperature near the Mott transition and (b) there exists no significant amount of incomplete ionization at dopant densities far above the Mott transition. In a forthcoming part II of this paper, equations of incomplete ionization will be derived that are suitable for implemen...