Objective: A protocol was implemented to ease Emergency Department (ED) crowding by moving suitable admitted patients into inpatient hallway beds (HALL) or off-service beds (OFF) when beds on an admitting service's designated ward (ON) were not available. This study assessed the impact of hallway and off-service oncology admissions on ED patient flow, quality of care and patient satisfaction. Methods: Retrospective and prospective data were collected on patients admitted to the medical oncology service from Jan 1 to Dec 31, 2011. Data on clinician assessments and time performance measures were collected. Satisfaction surveys were prospectively administered to all patients. Results: Two hundred and ninty-seven patients (117 HALL, 90 OFF, 90 ON) were included in this study. There were no significant differences between groups for frequency of physician assessments, physical exam maneuvers at initial physician visit, time to complete vital signs or time to medication administration. The median (IQR) time spent admitted in the ED prior to departure from the ED was significantly longer for HALL patients (5.53 hrs [1.59-13.03 hrs]) compared to OFF patients (2.00 hrs [0.37-3.69 hrs]) and ON patients (2.18 hrs [0.15-5.57 hrs]) ( p < .01). Similarly, the median (IQR) total ED length of stay was significantly longer for HALL patients (13.82 hrs [7.43-20.72 hrs]) compared to OFF patients (7.18 hrs [5.72-11.42 hrs]) and ON patients (9.34 hrs [5.43-14.06 hrs]) ( p < .01). HALL patients gave significantly lower overall satisfaction scores with mean (SD) satisfaction scores for HALL, OFF and ON patients being 3.58 (1.20), 4.23 (0.58) and 4.29 (0.69) respectively ( p < .01). Among HALL patients, 58% were not comfortable being transferred into the hallway and 4% discharged themselves against medical advice. Conclusions: The protocol for transferring ED admitted patients to inpatient hallway beds did not reduce ED length of stay for oncology patients. The timeliness and frequency of clinical assessments were not compromised; however, patient satisfaction was decreased.


The chronic effects of carbamazepine administration (5, 10, 20 mg/kg i.p. daily for 14 days) on the anxiogenic response to pentylenetetrazole were studied in the light/dark aversion test. In mice, these effects were compared with those of sodium valproate (100, 200 and 300 mg/kg i.p.), a putative anxiolytic drug, and lorazepam (0.025, 0.05 and 0.10 mg/kg i.p.), a well-established anxiolytic drug. The results showed that the anxiogenic-like behavior induced by subconvulsant doses of pentylenetetrazole (15 mg/kg i.p.) was antagonized by the chronic administration of lorazepam as well as sodium valproate, a GABA agonist. In fact, the increased aversion of mice for the light compartment of the light/dark box was reduced. Carbamazepine failed to significantly alter the anxiogenic-like behavior of mice. These findings provide further evidence for the absence of anxiolytic properties of carbamazepine and for a behavioral anxiolytic profile of valproate similar to that of benzodiazepines.


Abstract Evidence for species range shifts in response to climatic change is common in the Pleistocene and earlier fossil record. However, little work has been done to model how such shifts in species range limits would change compositions of species assemblages over different spatial scales. Here I present a simple model that explores the role of biogeography in constraining changes in the compositions of species assemblages under the null hypothesis of random range shifts. The model predicts that localities where most species are far away from the edges of their ranges (e.g., localities at the center of a biogeographic province) would show relatively stable diversity patterns even during episodes of climatic change. Only localities with many range endpoints (such as those near the edges of biogeographic provinces) would show large fluctuations in species composition (and richness) in response to changes in the ambient climatic conditions. I test the predictions of the model using (1) simulations and (2) the Pleistocene bivalve fauna of California. The simulations as well as the empirical data from the Pleistocene terraces are consistent with the model predictions. These results show that attempts to quantify temporal trends in local and regional diversity and assemblage compositions need to take biogeographic structure into account.


Purpose: The main objective of this study is to examine the importance of digital libraries during the COVID-19 pandemic in dissemination of information services, to know the users' perspectives towards its success and also examines the challenges faced by the libraries during this pandemic and also about how the librarians cope up with the challenges and function in the new normal situation.Methodology: An online Pan-India survey was conducted among library professionals and user communities. By using survey instrument, Google Form, a total of 12 questions were asked from general to specific towards use of digital libraries during pandemic period. Total 250 responses were received. The responses received were categorized, analyzed and presented in this paper. The research data were primarily collected from blogs, social media and online survey which were carried out among various library professionals to know their perspective towards digital libraries, new skill requirement and current challenges faced by the libraries in the new normal imposed on us due to COVID-19 pandemic.Findings: This study reveals that the library professionals are eager to learn online technologies for developing and delivering information services. It also identifies that to remain connected and to spread knowledge, large numbers of online webinars are conducted in library fields. The major challenges the librarians faced during COVID-19 are physical distancing from workplace, fear of disease contraction, Lack of high speed internet connection, low response of users in social media platforms etc.Originality/ value: This is an original study conducted in India which gives an overview on the transformation of libraries by using digital library services to meet the need of the users during COVID-19.


Busbar distribution system is widely preferred in low-voltage grid to carry electrical energy. In case of the busbar distribution system working as a power line communication system to transfer data besides energy, the influence of different network topologies on the system performance should be analyzed. This paper investigates the effects of load impedance and line length on not only transfer function but also channel capacity and BER performance of busbar PLC system. It is clearly seen from the obtained results that the depth of notches and attenuation in the transfer function increase with increasing line lengths as their positions do not vary. In addition to line length and frequency, load impedances also affect the depth of notches. As the load impedances increase to characteristic impedance of busbar, the depth of notches tends to increase, and attenuation tends to reduce. Both the channel capacity and BER performances decrease with an increase in line length and are minimum when the load impedances are equal to characteristic impedance. The minimum channel capacity, worst BER performance and maximum attenuation were realized for L2-N signal path in each case.


Artificial neural network is based on human brain structure and operational mechanism based on knowledge and understanding of its structure and behavior of simulated an engineering system. BP artificial neural network is an important component of neural networks, as it can on the linear or nonlinear multivariable without preconditions in the case of statistical analysis, with the traditional statistical methods, analysis of the variables need to be consistent with certain conditions compared to its own advantage. The BP neural network does not need the precise mathematical model, does not have any supposition request to the material itself. Its processing non-linear problem's ability is stronger than traditional statistical methods. This article uses two groups of data to establish the BP neural network model separately, and carries on the comparison to the model fitting ability and the forecast performance, discovered BP neural network when data distribution relative centralism fits ability, forecasts the stable property. But the predictive ability is unable in the discrete data application to achieve anticipated ideally.


This paper aims to explore and compare the metaphysical entailments of the conventional psychopharmacological approach in the treatment of depression to those of a psychedelic approach. We will examine the thesis by which knowledge of how drugs act upon us shapes our self-image and our understanding of psychopathology––and defend that this process can only take place in a supportive environment. It is commonly claimed that the nature of depression was shaped after the therapeutic success of antidepressants; nevertheless, psychedelic drugs were at least as successful as antidepressants, and they didn't end up having the same power to influence our views. It was possible for first and second-generation antidepressants to influence our views because of a supportive environment, where social, political, economic and even metaphysical issues were at play to create that result. We will compare the unfolding of the two paradigms elicited by these two kinds of drugs, one where pills are seen as magic bullets aimed to restore biochemical balance, and another where drugs are seen as therapeutic tools capable of inducing a life-changing experience, provided there is an adequate context. We will review different factors that contributed to the establishment of a reductionist paradigm, such as the aspirations of psychiatry and the assumed objectivity of biologically oriented explanations. Finally, we will reflect on the new paradigm that unfolds with contemporary research.


Auxin and ethylene have been largely reported to reduce root elongation in maize primary root. However the effects of auxin are greater than those caused by ethylene. Although auxin stimulates ethylene biosynthesis through the specific increase of ACC synthase, the auxin inhibitory effect on root elongation is not mediated by the auxin-induced increase of ethylene production. Recently it has been demonstrated that root inhibition by the application of the synthetic auxin NAA (1-naphtalenacetic acid) is increased if combined with the ethylene precursor ACC (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxilic acid) when both compounds are applied at very low concentrations. Root elongation is basically the result of two processes: a) cell divisions in the meristem where meristematic cells continuously generate new cells and b) subsequently polarized growth by elongation along the root axis as cells leave the meristem and enter the root elongation zone. Our results indicate that exogenous auxin reduced both root elongation and epidermal cell length. In a different way, ethylene at very low concentrations only inhibited root elongation without affecting significantly epidermal cell length. However, these concentrations of ethylene increased the inhibitory effect of auxin on root elongation and cell length. Consequently the results support the hypothesis that ethylene acts synergistically with auxin in the regulation of root elongation and that inhibition by both hormones is due, at least partially, to the reduction of cell length in the epidermal layer.


The thermo-hygrometric sensation of pedestrians in outdoor environments can be quantified by means of bioclimatic indices. In this work, the Mediterranean Outdoor Thermal Comfort Index (MOCI) is applied in the city of Rome (Italy) for the purpose of investigating the effect of local environmental conditions (urban, suburban, rural) on pedestrian thermal comfort. Hourly values of MOCI are calculated for the May–September period in the years 2015–2021 using weather quantities acquired by the four monitoring stations of the Regional Agency for Environmental Protection included in the metropolitan area of Rome. MOCI data are analyzed based on the comfort and (cold/hot) discomfort conditions during both daytime and nighttime. At the urban station, 26% of daily records exceed the comfort threshold revealing the effect of urban overheating, whereas only 0.1% of hot discomfort occurrences are recorded overnight. Here, greater nighttime thermal comfort is experienced than in non-urban locations suggesting that the nocturnal thermo-hygrometric conditions are satisfactory for inhabitants in downtown Rome, despite the urban heat island. It also suggests that other factors, such as orography and atmospheric circulation, influence outdoor thermal comfort. The development of this work will therefore include at least these two elements.


The last decade has witnessed major reductions in child mortality and a focus on saving lives with key interventions targeting major causes of child deaths, such as neonatal deaths and those due to childhood diarrhea and pneumonia. With the transition to Sustainable Development Goals, the global health community is expanding child health initiatives to address not only the ongoing need for reduced mortality, but also to decrease morbidity and adverse exposures toward improving health and developmental outcomes. The relationship between adverse environmental exposures frequently associated with factors operating in the prepregnancy period and during fetal development is well established. Also well appreciated are the developmental impacts (both short- and long-term) associated with postnatal factors, such as immunostimulation and environmental enteropathy, and the additional risks posed by the confluence of factors related to malnutrition, poor living conditions, and the high burden of infections. This article provides our current thinking on the pathogenesis and risk factors for adverse developmental outcomes among young children, setting the scene for potential interventions that can ameliorate these adversities among families and children at risk.


The design features desirable in a Raman source for the study of crystalline powders are analyzed. The analysis shows that the best simple source is a helical arc equipped with suitable chemical filters.The Raman tube should be in the shape of a cone fitted to the spectrograph aperture. The Rayleigh line is to be suppressed with a band-stop filter based on multilayer interference filters used in reflection.A source based on these principles was designed, constructed, and tested with a variety of crystalline powders. Results were good except for very fine powders which yielded poor spectra. Exposure times were one to six hours.Fluorescent and colored samples are still beyond the reach of this source. For such samples, the use of a yellow exciting line with suitable filters is recommended.


Canine parvovirus enteritis is highly contagious acute enteritis associated with high morbidity and mortality, with very low survival rates in untreated dogs. It is caused by canine parvovirus type 2. It generally affects dogs up to 6 months old. All breeds of dogs are affected although Rottweiler, Doberman pinscher, American Pit-bull terrier, Labrador retriever and German shepherd are at increased risk of infection. Blood is regarded as fluid that aid in the assessment of the health status of animals. Hematology of infected dogs can help in giving an idea about the severity of infection, guide in deciding the treatment protocol and prognosis of the disease. Twenty-nine dogs with clinical signs consistent with canine parvovirus presented at Health Veterinary Clinic in Sumy, Ukraine were analyzed. They were diagnosed using rapid in-clinic enzyme immunoassay test kits (SensPERTreg, VetAll Laboratories, Kyunggi-Do, Korea). Data indicated that 31.0% (9/29) of the puppies had received at least 1 dose of multivalent vaccine which included Biocanreg, Vanguard 5 plusreg and Novibacreg. Temperature and Hematology were collected on the day of admission. 2mL of blood were collected from the cephalic vein of each dog into a test tube containing ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid. The Hematologial parameters (RBC, HGB, PCV, WBC, NEU, MON, EOS, LYM and PLT) were determined by using automated blood counter. The most common hematological finding in all dogs was anemia, thrombocytopenia, pancytopenia (leucopenia, neutropenia and lymphopenia), leucocytosis, neutrophilia, eosinophilia, lymphocytosis and monocytosis.nbsp All the hematological abnormalities witnessed in this study are consistent with CPVE. This is an indication that different dogs will present different cell mediated immune responses during the course of the disease.


It is proposed that by using computing analysis software and 3D fabrication techniques, low cost plastic trumpet bells could be produced for different music genres by altering their timbres. These may be attached to the trumpet in a similar manner to that of a tuning bell trumpet. The novel bells are designed to eliminate or enhance particular harmonics to change their brightness by altering the thickness of material, thus altering the impact of the vibrations to the sound column within it. This initial paper focuses on a comparison between the natural resonances of a current trumpet brass bell and various modified plastic bells using simulation software. Various designs are presented that show the resulting changes of the resonance harmonic mode frequencies and deformation amplitudes for Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) can be shifted toward that of brass depending on the thickness of the material thus paving the way for designed plastic trumpet bells with similar tones.


We examine which firms are targets of cyberattacks and how they are affected. We find that cyberattacks cause firms to reassess the risks that they are exposed to and their consequences, so that they have real effects on firm policies even when targets are not financially constrained. Cyberattacks are more likely to occur at more visible firms, firms with more intangible assets, and firms with less board attention to risk management. Attacks where personal financial information is appropriated are associated with a negative stock-market reaction, a decrease in sales growth for large firms and retail firms, an increase in leverage, a deterioration in financial health, and a decrease in investment in the short run. Firms further respond to cyberattacks by reducing CEO bonuses and risk-taking incentives and by strengthening their risk management.


For most papers, you will need to format your bibliography according to the citation style specified by your professor or publisher. APA, MLA and the Chicago Manual of Style are commonly used in writing. EndNote, RefWorks, Mendeley, Zotero


Abstract. To the authors' knowledge there are relatively few studies that try to answer this question: "Are humans able to add value to computer-generated forecasts and warnings?". Moreover, the answers are not always positive. In particular some postprocessing method is competitive or superior to human forecast. Within the alert system of ARPA Piemonte it is possible to study in an objective manner if the human forecaster is able to add value with respect to computer-generated forecasts. Every day the meteorology group of the Centro Funzionale of Regione Piemonte produces the HQPF (Human Quantitative Precipitation Forecast) in terms of an areal average and maximum value for each of the 13 warning areas, which have been created according to meteo-hydrological criteria. This allows the decision makers to produce an evaluation of the expected effects by comparing these HQPFs with predefined rainfall thresholds. Another important ingredient in this study is the very dense non-GTS (Global Telecommunication System) network of rain gauges available that makes possible a high resolution verification. In this work we compare the performances of the latest three years of QPF derived from the meteorological models COSMO-I7 (the Italian version of the COSMO Model, a mesoscale model developed in the framework of the COSMO Consortium) and IFS (the ECMWF global model) with the HQPF. In this analysis it is possible to introduce the hypothesis test developed by Hamill (1999), in which a confidence interval is calculated with the bootstrap method in order to establish the real difference between the skill scores of two competitive forecasts. It is important to underline that the conclusions refer to the analysis of the Piemonte operational alert system, so they cannot be directly taken as universally true. But we think that some of the main lessons that can be derived from this study could be useful for the meteorological community. In details, the main conclusions are the following: – despite the overall improvement in global scale and the fact that the resolution of the limited area models has increased considerably over recent years, the QPF produced by the meteorological models involved in this study has not improved enough to allow its direct use: the subjective HQPF continues to offer the best performance for the period +24 h/+48 h (i.e. the warning period in the Piemonte system); – in the forecast process, the step where humans have the largest added value with respect to mathematical models, is the communication. In fact the human characterization and communication of the forecast uncertainty to end users cannot be replaced by any computer code; – eventually, although there is no novelty in this study, we would like to show that the correct application of appropriated statistical techniques permits a better definition and quantification of the errors and, mostly important, allows a correct (unbiased) communication between forecasters and decision makers.


Summary Long-term results on the use of structural allografts (≥10 cm) to reconstruct large skeletal defects sustained during high-energy, open lower extremity fractures have not been reported. Eight patients are retrospectively reviewed at postallograft time periods ranging from 18 to 93 months. Two patients required reoperation for noninfectious causes, and each healed uneventfully. Four individuals developed infectious complications, but only one required complete allograft removal (amputation). The others remain infection free at follow-up. Using any of three different rating systems, excellent functional outcome results from this method of reconstruction in an otherwise exceptionally challenging extremity for limb salvage.


The ethical rules of the legal profession, while ostensibly designed to reduce agency costs that arise between lawyers and clients, may actually exacerbate these costs by frustrating the operation of structural devices within law firms that would constrain lawyer-client agency costs in the absence of regulation. This article traces these effects of ethical rules on non-lawyer ownership of law firms, vicarious liability, noncompetition agreements and conflicts of interest. It also analyzes possible causes of perverse effects of ethical rules in the motivations of lawyers, judges and law professors, and considers possible cures, including enforcing lawyers' contractual selection of the applicable state ethical code.


A verbal interaction is defined as a eurhystic method of learning. In artificial intelligence verbal interactions for teaching purposes, the ludic component may play the role of a catalyst in the process of knowledge acquisition. This variation from the purely cognitive standard may lend itself to different functions within the learning process, e.g. from providing tension relief between successive steps, or unusual memorizing solutions, to innovative ways of reinforcing knowledge, or from devising distractors for the evaluation stage, to certain unconventional learning strategies. The efficiency of the ludic element in didactic verbal interactions is unquestionable, and it can be achieved at any learning stage, as well as various levels of depth, e.g. from the stylistic, to the structural one. Within the interpersonal communication for teaching purposes, the pleasure of playing the game has already been acknowledged as an important element that supports the learning process. This paper tries to examine the ludic element within the process of e-learning, where changes in the nature and relationship between the participants in verbal interactions for teaching purposes highlight surprising aspects of educational impact on the human- artificial intelligence communication. The application part includes a brief analysis of the ludic elements, detectable in the process of learning foreign languages by means of commercially available software, both at the linguistic elementary level, as well as the structural one, in the design of the various types of exercises. The typology of didactic games will be approached particularly from the viewpoint of the exchange of replies in the register of diversion. The advantages, as well as potential disfunctions will be examined, less from the viewpoint of the unknown vocabulary, which can possibly cause involuntary, unintentional humour, but starting from the different perception of the ludic elements, depending on the cultural differences between the producers and the beneficiaries of the educational software for foreign language learning.


The real-time periodic performance of a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) system strongly depends on the choice of key decision variables and operational considerations such as processing steps and column pressure temporal profiles, making its design and operation a challenging task. This work presents a detailed optimization-based approach for simultaneously incorporating PSA design, operational, and control aspects under the effect of time variant and invariant disturbances. It is applied to a two-bed, six-step PSA system represented by a rigorous mathematical model, where the key optimization objective is to maximize the expected H2 recovery while achieving a closed loop product H2 purity of 99.99%, for separating 70% H2, 30% CH4 feed. The benefits over sequential design and control approach are shown in terms of closed-loop recovery improvement of more than 3%, while the incorporation of explicit/multiparametric model predictive controllers improves the closed loop performance. © 2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 59: 120–131, 2013


A series of studies have revealed the among-population components of genetic variation are higher for the paternal Y chromosome than for the maternal mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which indicates sex-biased migrations in human populations. However, this phenomenon might be also an ascertainment bias due to nonrandom sampling of SNPs. To eliminate the possible bias, we used the whole Y chromosome and mtDNA sequence data of 491 individuals from the 1000 Genomes Project Phase I to address the sex-biased migration dispute. We found that genetic differentiation between populations was higher for Y chromosome than for the mtDNA at global scales. The migration rate of female might be three times higher than that of male, assuming the effective population size is the same for male and female.


Inhalation of albuterol aerosol, 200 micrograms, delivered from metered dose inhalers via Aerochamber, elicited a highly significant improvement in peak expiratory flow rate from 70% to 84% and 91% predicted normal 5 and 20 minutes after treatment, respectively, in 30 asthmatic children 3 to 6 years of age. No significant increase in peak expiratory flow rate followed inhalation of placebo by a similar group of 16 asthmatic children. Use of the Aerochamber permits effective delivery of medication from metered dose inhalers to children as young as 3 years of age.


The political meaning of user involvement – Consensus, individualization, and de-politicization in the national policy discourseDuring the last 25 years "user involvement" has emerged as a prominent concept within the welfare sector, and the aim of the article is to review the Swedish national policy on "user involvement". Through a policy discourse analysis inspired by Carol Bacchi, the constitutive effects of the policy are revealed. Three distinctive features of the policy discourse are (1) its open and imprecise formulation, (2) its dominating consensus perspective, and (3) the tendency to focus the argumentation on the service users as individuals, rather than the service users as a collective. The policy has several discursive consequences, such as constructing the service users as subjects responsible for their own well-being; that potential value conflicts are avoided; and that the service users' ambitions to influence are directed towards welfare organizations rather than political decision-making.


This paper addresses two central questions for Asia and the world: (1) What is the purpose of Asian regional policy coordination going forward? (2) Will Asian regional policy coordination substitute or complement global policy coordination? The paper examines the potential coverage and content of such policy coordination, what is meant by Asia in this context, and how Asia fits in with global policy coordination processes. I address three related aspects of Asian regional policy coordination: macroeconomic policies, reserve management, and crisis management. I conclude that while the countries in the Asian region have not completely exploited the scope for regional policy coordination, more ambitious efforts focused on close integration are not likely to bear fruit, in particular, if they are conceived and promoted under the banner of Asian exceptionalism. These conclusions are based on two main considerations: First, Asian economies differ, and will continue to differ, sufficiently in size and stage of development such that it is difficult to conceive of a successful voluntary blending of their interests. Second, the central lesson of the global financial crisis and its current European coda is that global economic and financial integration has advanced sufficiently that countries can run but they cannot hide individually or in sub-global groups of countries.


Cenozoic volcanism in the Andes occurs near the boundary of convergent oceanic and continental lithospheric plates. In Chile, the K concentration in the calc-alkalic volcanic rocks increases with the calculated depth to the Benioff zone; however, the correlation is very poor. The Sr concentration in the andesitic rocks correlates very well with the calculated depth to the Benioff zone, with the Sr concentration increasing with depth.


Starch overfeeding is a simple mismanagement in modern dairy farming that causes complex problems in animal health and farm economics. The temporary increases in milk production makes over-modernized farmers mostly blind to oversee jeopardized prospects of longevity and long-run efficiency and profitability. In addition, over-focus on grain processing technologies keeps farmers from paying adequate deserving attention to optimizing dietary inclusion rate of starchy grains. This article establishes a global policy to help dairy farmers improve farm economics and minimize health issues in the postmodern era.


Many analytical models have been proposed for evaluating the performance of event-driven 802.15.4 Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), in Non-Beacon Enabled (NBE) mode. However, existing models do not provide accurate analysis of large-scale WSNs, due to tractability issues and/or simplifying assumptions. In this paper, we propose a new approach called Event Chains Computation (ECC) to model the unslotted CSMA/CA algorithm used for channel access in NBE mode. ECC relies on the idea that outcomes of the CSMA/CA algorithm can be represented as chains of events that subsequently occur in the network. Although ECC can generate all the possible outcomes, it only considers chains with a probability to occur greater than a pre-defined threshold to reduce complexity. Furthermore, ECC parallelizes the computation by managing different chains through different threads. Our results show that, by an appropriate threshold selection, the time to derive performance metrics can be drastically reduced, with negligible impact on accuracy. We also show that the computation time decreases almost linearly with the number of employed threads. We validate our model through simulations and testbed experiments, and use it to investigate the impact of different parameters on the WSN performance, in terms of delivery ratio, latency, and energy consumption.


UK inflation is low. It is well below the government's 2% target and is expected to stay that way for at least the next 18 months. On Tuesday, the Office for National Statistics reported it had dipped to just 0.5% – the joint lowest since records began. It marks a rapid change in the UK economy and it may offer chancellor George Osborne and the Conservative party a useful electoral tool.


Based on the train routing mode ascertained by suitability analysis, we construct a multi-objective problem to optimize the train routing, marshaling number and train headway from the perspective of general cost and segment load ratio by analyzing relevant characteristics like trip time, trip cost, operation cost, spatial distribution characteristics etc. Then the Singular Value Decomposition method and simulation software RailSys have been adopted to calibrate related parameters for the subsequent calculation. By comparison, the Genetic Algorithm is recommended to get an optimal solution to this multi-objective problem, and we improve the traditional algorithm by modifying the coding type, fitness function and cross over operation to enhance the efficiency and convergence. Finally, an operational mode which both satisfies the techno logical and passenger conditions has been identified to guar antee travellers' safety, improve operation efficiency, save trip time and decrease cost.


Adaptive online advertising is a rapidly expanding marketing tool that delivers personalised messages and adverts to Internet users. At a time when the Internet is burgeoning, many websites use an adaptation process to tailor their advertisements, however, often in an ad-hoc manner. Thus, a new model that guarantees a systematic integration of adaptive features on existing business websites has become an urgent requirement to satisfy customers. This paper aims to solve this issue, by presenting an innovative model for e-advertising adaptation: the Layered Adaptive Advertising Integration (LAAI). LAAI is building upon previous models and frameworks from different domains, by selecting and adding novel features appropriate for e-advertising. Based on this model, a new adaptation system -AEADS - is developed, to test and evaluate the LAAI model. This research also reports on the perception on the methods towards obtaining generalisation, portability and efficiency, as proposed by the LAAI model, by evaluating how a range of businesses are enabled to adapt their advertisements based on user profiles and behaviours.


Dynamic searchable symmetric encryption (SSE) enables clients to update and search encrypted data stored on a server and provides efficient search operations instead of leakages of inconsequential information. The amount of permitted leakage is a crucial factor of dynamic SSE; more leakage allows us to design an efficient scheme, while leakage attacks tell us that the leakage has a real-world impact. Leakage-abuse attacks (NDSS 2012) and subsequent works suggest that dynamic SSE schemes should not unnecessarily reveal extra information during the search procedure, and in particular, file-injection attacks (USENIX Security 2016) showed that forward privacy, which restricts the leakage during the addition procedure, is a vital security notion for dynamic SSE. In this paper, we propose a new dynamic SSE scheme with a good balance of efficiency and security levels; our scheme achieves both high efficiency and forward-privacy and only requires the decent leakage, i.e., only allows the leakage of search and access patterns during search operations. Specifically, we first show there is still no such scheme by uncovering a flaw in the security proof of Etemad et al.'s scheme (PoPETs 2018) and showing that extra leakage is required to fix it. We then propose the first forward-private dynamic SSE scheme that only requires symmetric-key primitives and the standard, decent leakage to prove the security. Although the client's information is slightly larger than existing schemes, our experimental results show that our scheme is comparable to Etemad et al.'s scheme, which is the most-efficient-ever scheme with forward privacy, in terms of efficiency.


The locus responsible for the dark form of the peppered moth is identified. The rapid spread of a novel black form (known as carbonaria) of the peppered moth Biston betularia in 19th-century Britain is a textbook example of how an altered environment may produce morphological adaptation through genetic change. However, the underlying genetic basis of the difference between the wild-type (light-colored) and carbonaria forms has remained unknown. We have genetically mapped the carbonaria morph to a 200-kilobase region orthologous to a segment of silkworm chromosome 17 and show that there is only one core sequence variant associated with the carbonaria morph, carrying a signature of recent strong selection. The carbonaria region coincides with major wing-patterning loci in other lepidopteran systems, suggesting the existence of basal color-patterning regulators in this region.


Vertical equity or fairness is an important aspect in many settings, yet has received relatively little attention in the literature. Recent developments underline the practical relevance (e.g., COVID-19 vaccination policies). It plays an important role in the performance evaluation of many (nongovernmental) organizations. For example, donors might require a family-planning organization to allocate a minimum fraction of the total utility (client volume) to a particular player (the "high-impact" subgroup of the population, e.g., young and poor clients). However, the price (decrease in client volume) of such requirements is not well-understood. Consequently, this price is not accounted for in decision making. We provide an analytical upper bound on the price (i.e., loss of overall utility) of vertical equity considerations in resource allocation. We assume that these concerns are expressed via outcome constraints, specifying a minimum percentage of the total utility for each player. Our set-up considers a decision maker maximizing total utility over a general convex set, subject to outcome constraints. The set-up is general and applicable to many practical problems. Our results depend only on high-level parameters and are therefore well-suited for strategic decision making. We conclude with two applications. First, we apply our results to practical instances in health delivery. We confirm that outcome constraints can entail a substantial price and analyze the factors driving this price close to the worst-case bound. Second, we analyze how our results can help bound the impact of prioritization in vaccine allocation. This paper was accepted by Jeannette Song, operations management.


Improving the energy performance of educational buildings is important for the promotion of an energy efficient culture among future generations. The examination of energy usage with maintained comfort levels is especially relevant for buildings like schools and colleges, where the occupancy has high variability within small time intervals and often periods of low to zero occupancy. This variation in occupancy is currently not taken into consideration on campus with the majority of classrooms run on a set heating schedule. With public sector
bodies expected to reduce energy consumption by 33% by 2020 under Ireland's National Energy Efficiency Action Plan, there is an onus on universities in Ireland to reduce their energy consumption. This work aims to evaluate the benefit of incorporating timetable and
occupancy information. The deployment of an adequate number of sensors and meters in retrofit applications can be cost prohibitive with installation costs alone accounting for 70% of the costs. Data gathered from the deployment of cheap off the shelf sensors in combination
with occupancy information obtained from the schools timetable information resulted in a reduction in heating use of 25%. The incorporation of the j48 tree as a machine-learning technique helped create a decision network with 90% accuracy that could inform a new
heating system that is responsive to current need.


Cytokine production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) is a sensitive indicator of cytokine-inducing substances which may cross from contaminated dialysate into the blood compartment. The objective of this study was to compare the transfer of cytokine-inducing substances from dialysate contaminated with a culture filtrate from Pseudomonas aeruginosa across dialyzers with low (hemophan) or intermediate ultrafiltration coefficients (modified cellulose triacetate, CTA), under conditions where either 10% plasma or whole blood was circulated in the blood compartment. Eight paired experiments of in vitro dialysis were carried out at 37 degrees C using a countercurrent recirculating loop dialysis circuit with either a new CTA or hemophan dialyzer. 10% plasma in standard tissue culture medium was circulated through the blood compartment and bicarbonate dialysate was circulated in the dialysate compartment. The dialysate was challenged sequentially by log-fold dilutions (10(2), 10(3) or 10(4)) of a Ps. aeruginosa culture filtrate. Samples were drawn from the blood compartment 5 and 15 minutes after each challenge and incubated with suspensions of PBMC in the absence or presence of polymyxin B, in order to block endotoxin. After 24 h at 37 degrees C, total interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1 alpha) was measured by RIA. Although the dialysate contained potent cytokine-inducing substances, there was no significant IL-1 alpha production by PBMC incubated with the plasma mixture from the blood compartment in the majority of experiments with both dialyzers and with each of the three dilutions of the bacterial challenge. Eight experiments were also performed with CTA dialzyers using heparinized whole blood in the blood compartment. Samples of whole blood and dialysate were drawn at baseline, after one hour of dialysis with uncontaminated dialysate and 15 minutes and three hours after dialysis with dialysate contaminated with Ps. aeruginosa filtrate. There was no significant IL-1 alpha production by PBMC isolated from the whole blood 1 h after dialysis with uncontaminated dialysate, and 15 min and 2 h after adding the Ps. aeruginosa filtrate to the dialysate side. In contrast, production of IL-1 alpha by PBMC from the same donors incubated with samples from the dialysate were 263 +/- 50, 1074 +/- 306, 2333 +/- 774 and 2602 +/- 702 pg/2.5 x 10(6) PBMC, respectively at the same four time points. These data suggest that although the Ps. aeruginosa culture filtrate present in the dialysate was a potent inducer of IL-1 alpha, neither dialyzer permitted transfer of cytokine inducing substances from the dialysate into the blood compartment.


Thirteen female ballet dancers had an operative release of the flexor hallucis longus tendon because of isolated stenosing tenosynovitis, and the results were reviewed after a mean duration of follow-up of six years and six months (range, two to ten years). All of the patients danced at the advanced or professional level, and all had failed to respond to non-operative management. The mean age of the patients at the time of the operation was twenty years (range, thirteen to twenty-six years). Symptoms, which included pain and tenderness over the medial aspect of the subtalar joint, had been present for a mean of six months (range, two to twelve months) preoperatively and were exacerbated by jumping and by attempts to perform en pointe work. Crepitus was present in six patients, and triggering was present in three. No patient had evidence of a symptomatic os trigonum. Postoperatively, all patients participated in a formal physical-therapy program for a mean of nine weeks (range, four to thirteen weeks). All patients returned to dancing, within a mean of five months (range, two to nine months), and eleven reached a level of full participation in dancing without restriction. At the time of the most recent follow-up, all patients noted improvement compared with the preoperative condition. Eight patients were professional ballet dancers, four were students at advanced ballet schools, and one had stopped performing ballet for reasons unrelated to the tenosynovitis of the flexor hallucis longus. In addition, two of the students had decided not to pursue careers in dancing because of persistent, but greatly diminished, symptoms. No complications were noted in this series. We concluded that an operative release of the flexor hallucis longus is effective for the treatment of isolated stenosing tenosynovitis in female ballet dancers who place high demands on the foot and ankle and for whom non-operative treatment has failed.


Municipal governments in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic , have the exclusive competence to regulate , authorize and control the exploitation of aggregates and stone products called building materials, which are in the beds of rivers , lakes, beaches sea and quarrying, the Constitution determines that the hierarchical enforcement , consider the principle of competition, in particular the ownership of the exclusive competence of the Autonomous Decentralized Governments. The Organic Law on Territorial Organization , Autonomy and Decentralization , establishes exclusive jurisdiction of the Autonomous Government decentralized Municipal among other " regulate, authorize and control the exploitation of aggregates and stone materials " shall mean materials of construction rocks and their derivatives , are these sedimentary or morphological fiery nature such as , andesites , basalts, dasitas , rhyolite , granite , pumice , calcareous materials , surface clay, sand of fluvial origin or gravel : deposits alluvial type , flows, and in general all materials which process not involve a different crushing and / or particle size classification or in some cases cutting and polishing treatment , including its management and other end-use and technically established by the Ministry / Sectoral industrial process. The natural or legal person performing mining activities in the territory of the Canton , be done by a function of regulatory laws, and those contained in the Municipal Ordinances under good environmental practices , seeking the restoration of the environment and mitigating potential negative effects on the environment . The anti technique aggregates and stone materials exploitation, causing the destruction of the environment and landscape , putting at risk the neighbors and causing environmental pollution , making it necessary to have a law regulating their use and allow autonomous governments decentralized Municipal technical and environmental control thereof. The Constitution of the Republic and the Organic Law on Territorial Organization , Autonomy and Decentralization COOTAD provide that any decision or municipal authority that may affect the environment must be consulted prior to, the community , which will be informed promptly and giving it wide citizen and in case of that consultation proves overwhelming opposition of the respective community , the decision to implement or not the project will be adopted by resolution duly reasoned request higher administrative surveillance.


Arthur Lovejoy's history of unit-ideas and the history of concepts are often criticized for being historically insensitive forms of history-writing. Critics claim that one cannot find invariable ideas or concepts in several contexts or times in history without resorting to some distortion. One popular reaction is to reject the history of ideas and concepts altogether, and take linguistic entities as the main theoretical units. Another reaction is to try to make ideas or concepts context-sensitive and to see their histories as dynamic processes of transformation. The main argument in this paper is that we cannot abandon ideas or concepts as theoretical notions if we want to write an intelligible history of thought. They are needed for the categorization and classification of thinking, and in communication with contemporaries. Further, the criterion needed to subsume historical concepts under a general concept cannot be determined merely on the basis of their family resemblances, which allows variation without an end, since talk of the same concepts implies that they share something in common. I suggest that a concept in history should be seen to be composed of two components: the core of a concept and the margin of a concept. On the basis of this, we can develop a vocabulary for talking about conceptual changes. The main idea is that conceptual continuity requires the stability of the core of the concept, but not necessarily that of the margin, which is something that enables a description of context-specific features. If the core changes, we ought to see it as a conceptual replacement.


The author was born and raised in an Arab country that he left forever after a bloody pogrom, the third in the history of his family in just over twenty years. Over the course of two decades, between fifties and sixties, hundreds of thousands of Jews were forced to abandon their homes and possessions in every part of the Arab and Islamic world. The Jewish minorities had not participated in the war of destruction waged by the armies of the Arab League against the nascent State of Israel and were of no danger to anyone. They were in fact hostages. Their escape was a silent one, ignored by the international press. When the Jews disappeared from the Arab world, it was the turn of the remains of the ancient civilizations that had populated the Near East before the Arab invasions. Only recently has the enormous symbolic value for a more balanced vision of the conflict begun to be understood. Remembering the suffering of Jews in the Arab countries is a healthy reminder of the complexity of the problems and of reality. If one accepts that they too are an element of the complex and multi-faceted Middle Eastern mosaic, things appear in a different light.


In this study, several Algebraic Reconstruction Technique (ART) algorithms are used to construct the 3 D sliced images from several transparent X-ray images. The speed and quality of image reconstruction are two important requirements when doing the inspection in a printed circuit board (PCB) assembly line. . To fulfill the requirements, several methodologies are discussed. The image qualities of regular ART method, binary ART method and Mixed ART method are developed and compared. The binary ART method uses the property of x-ray absorb rate of metal, silicon and other non- metal material are extremely different. The absorb rates of non-metal part are assumed to be zero and metal parts are assumed to be a single value. By using this method the quality of image reconstruction is improved. The mixed ART method is the combination of the tradition ART method and binary ART. Due to the X-ray sensor's framing time, a method to improve the image reconstruction quality due to effect of X-ray sensor framing time is also discussed. Finally, the best solution algorithm is found to be mixed binary steering ART when consider the signal noise of X-ray detector.


Low-grade inflammation plays a role not only in the pathogenesis of major depressive disorder (MDD) but probably also in the poor responsiveness to regular antidepressants. There are also indications that anti-inflammatory agents improve the outcomes of antidepressants. Aim: To study whether the presence of low-grade inflammation predicts the outcome of antidepressants, anti-inflammatory agents, or combinations thereof. Methods: We carried out a systematic review of the literature on the prediction capability of the serum levels of inflammatory compounds and/or the inflammatory state of circulating leukocytes for the outcome of antidepressant/anti-inflammatory treatment in MDD. We compared outcomes of the review with original data (collected in two limited trials carried out in the EU project MOODINFLAME) on the prediction capability of the inflammatory state of monocytes (as measured by inflammatory gene expression) for the outcome of venlafaxine, imipramine, or sertraline treatment, the latter with and without celecoxib added. Results: Collectively, the literature and original data showed that: 1) raised serum levels of pro-inflammatory compounds (in particular of CRP/IL-6) characterize an inflammatory form of MDD with poor responsiveness to predominately serotonergic agents, but a better responsiveness to antidepressant regimens with a) (add-on) noradrenergic, dopaminergic, or glutamatergic action or b) (add-on) anti-inflammatory agents such as infliximab, minocycline, or eicosapentaenoic acid, showing—next to anti-inflammatory—dopaminergic or lipid corrective action; 2) these successful anti-inflammatory (add-on) agents, when used in patients with low serum levels of CRP/IL-6, decreased response rates in comparison to placebo. Add-on aspirin, in contrast, improved responsiveness in such "non-inflammatory" patients; 3) patients with increased inflammatory gene expression in circulating leukocytes had a poor responsiveness to serotonergic/noradrenergic agents. Conclusions: The presence of inflammation in patients with MDD heralds a poor outcome of first-line antidepressant therapies. Immediate step-ups to dopaminergic or glutamatergic regimens or to (add-on) anti-inflammatory agents are most likely indicated. However, at present, insufficient data exist to design protocols with reliable inflammation parameter cutoff points to guide such therapies, the more since detrimental outcomes are possible of anti-inflammatory agents in "non-inflamed" patients.


Obesity and the metabolic syndrome are health care challenges of not only the industrialized nations but also of the developing countries. BMI-metabolic-risk sub-phenotypes separate obesity from its metabolic consequences. These indices have not been duly studied in Nigeria. One hundred and ninety nine adult Nigerians (52.3% females) were studied. Obesity and metabolic syndrome were defined using World Health Organization and US National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III criteria, respectively. The presence or absence of the metabolic syndrome within the 3 BMI groups (normal, overweight and obese) was used to define 6 BMI-metabolic-risk sub-phenotypes. The results show that 12.1% (13.7% for males and 10.6% for females) of the population were obese. Metabolic syndrome was found in 30.8% (males 34.7%; females 26.9%) of the population. In the obese and overweight subjects, 33.3% and 40.9% respectively were metabolically healthy while 37.6% of the normal weight subjects were metabolically obese. BMI-metabolic-risk sub-phenotypes were found at the rates of 4%-34.2% in the entire population. The results are compared to figures from other studies, and discussed in the light of their implications for a country like Nigeria that is still battling with communicable diseases. Lifestyle modifications that encourage physical exertion and appropriate nutrition are advocated.


In this edition of JPOSNA, we are pleased to present a wide range of high-quality contributions, which include Current Concept Reviews, Invited Perspectives, POGO Travel Journal, and a Tumor Quiz. We also present to our membership two new initiatives.
Michael Vitale will highlight the Master's Surgical Technique concept in his Presidential note. We are indebted to Nick Fletcher and Matt Oetgen, who have volunteered to spearhead this while joining our Editorial Board. Our hope is to have two to three high-level surgical technique submissions with each edition. After publication, these will be housed in POSNAcademy, which has become the go-to reference for online pediatric orthopaedic surgical instruction. All POSNA members are encouraged to submit ideas for potential Master's Surgical Technique manuscripts (with accompanying video or a narrated PowerPoint presentation) to firstname.lastname@example.com.
Second, through Wade Shrader's vision, we present a year-long Tutorial in Gait Analysis in Ambulatory Patients with Cerebral Palsy. In this edition, Kulkarni et al. demonstrate techniques to improve observational gait analysis. The advantage of online publishing is the ability to leverage electronic media, and in the next three editions, Hank Chambers will present case examples of ambulatory patients with cerebral palsy with history, physical examination findings, video, and available gait analysis data. By engaging outside experts in cerebral palsy, Hank will lead us through approaches to evaluation and help us to understand different options in treatment. I hope you are just as excited as I am to take this journey with Hank.
What's consistent throughout JPOSNA content? All submitted content and plans for the future come from you. Nick, Matt, and Hank were not asked to submit material, they contacted us at JPOSNA asking, "How can we help?" Two inquiries came in yesterday from POSNA members on relevant content for the next edition. The future for JPOSNA is bright because our Society is committed to making care for children better by contributing and teaching us all.
Thank you,Ken Noonan


In this paper, we demonstrate a comprehensive analysis of small-signal source-body resistance (R/sub sb/) effect on the RF performances of RF MOSFETs for low-cost system-on-chip (SoC) applications for the first time. Our results show that for RF MOSFETs, both the kink phenomena of S/sub 11/ and S/sub 22/ become more obscure as reverse body bias (V/sub B/) increases due to the decrease of transconductance (g/sub m/). In addition, an increase of source-body spacing enhances both the kink phenomena of S/sub 11/ and S/sub 22/, but deteriorates the current-gain cut-off frequency (f/sub T/), maximum oscillation frequency (f/sub MAX/), and RF noise and power performances due to the increase of R/sub sb/ of the devices. Analytical formulas are derived to explain the kink phenomena of S/sub 11/ and S/sub 22/, and to explain why increasing R/sub sb/ leads to a reduction of equivalent substrate resistance R/sub sub/, or worse f/sub T/, f/sub MAX/, and RF noise performances of the devices. The present analyzes enable RF engineers to understand the S-parameters, noise parameters, and power performances of RF MOSFETs more deeply, and hence are helpful for them to optimize the layout of MOSFETs and to create a fully scalable RF CMOS model for SoC applications.


ABSTRACT:It is common to assess the evolution of a country's export structure as a manifestation of the extent of progress or stagnation in its development process. Performing this exercise requires determining which features of exported products denote higher stages in that process. We argue that exports of differentiated products, especially when sold to developed countries, signal the acquisition of valuable knowledge that reflects development progress. We propose a new classification, denoted Micro-D, that works at the finest aggregation level in customs nomenclatures to provide a more precise identification of differentiated products. Specifically, the classification uses package size as a proxy for product differentiation to identify differentiated food and beverage exports. Thus, it is especially—though not exclusively—suited to capturing export upgrading in land-abundant developing countries. We apply the Micro-D classification to Argentina in 1998–2011 to deliver a new picture of the country's sources of export upgrading in this period.


This paper investigates the effect of dust on
Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) photovoltaic (PV)
modules by the use of a Spatial 3 Dimensional
Model (S3DM) with circuit analysis software
PSPICE. The investigation was carried out to
look into the effect of dust concentration and tilt
angle variation on the PV module. It also looks
into the possibility of hotspot effect due to
different installation positions under dusty
conditions. The simulation results showed a
reduction in the sample performance with
increased dust concentration and reduced tilt
angle. The variation between cell positions
showed that cells in configuration where they are
oriented in a horizontal position to the plane
tended to lead to hotspots when both low shunt
cells and high shunt cells are identified, with cells
identified with lower shunts being the more
vulnerable.


Misinformation can be easily spread with the click of a button, but can cause irreversible harm and negatively impact news consumers' ability to discern false information. Some prior work suggests that older adults may engage with (read, share, or believe) misinformation at higher rates than others. However, engagement explanations vary. In an effort to understand older adults' engagement with misinformation better, we investigate the misinformation experiences of older adults through their perception of prior media experiences. Analyzing 69 semi-structured interviews with adults ages 59+ from the US, the Netherlands, Bosnia, and Turkey, we find that people who have decades of potential exposure or experience with both online and traditional news media have reached a state of media cynicism in which they distrust most, or even all, of the news they receive. Yet, despite this media cynicism, the older adults we study rarely fact-check the media they see and continue to read and share news they distrust. These findings suggest that this paradoxical reaction to media cynicism, in addition to prior explanations such as cognitive issues and digital literacy, may in part explain older adults' engagement with misinformation. Thus, we introduce the misinformation paradox, an additional area of research worth exploring.


A dual-band sounder is used in both trolley and van measurements in the dense urban environment of Manchester city center to characterize the uplink (1920-1980 MHz) and downlink (2110-2170 MHz) frequency-division duplex (FDD) channels allocated to third-generation (3G) mobile radio systems. The data are analyzed with 60- and 5-MHz resolutions, as used for 3G wideband code-division multiple-access systems. Root-mean-square (rms) delay spread and 15-dB widths of mainly temporally averaged delay profile are presented either as cumulative distribution functions (cdfs) for each individual frequency band or as histograms of the difference between uplink and downlink on a local area basis. It was found that the histograms show larger differences between the two bands than the individual cdf and that the differences between the FDD channels are more pronounced on circumferential routes and shadowed locations. Correlations of rms delay spread with excess path loss and distance are on the order of 0.5 and 0.4, respectively.


Bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) visit Disko Bay, West Greenland in winter and early spring to feed on Calanus spp., at a time of year when the copepods are still mostly in diapause and concentrated in near-bottom patches. Combining past observations of copepod abundance and distribution with detailed observations of bowhead whale foraging behaviour from telemetry suggests that if the whales target the highest-density patches, they likely consume 26–75% of the Calanus standing stock annually. A parallel bioenergetic calculation further suggests that the whales' patch selection must be close to optimally efficient at finding hotspots of high density copepods near the sea floor in order for foraging in Disko Bay to be a net energetic gain. Annual Calanus consumption by bowhead whales is similar to median estimates of consumption by each of three zooplankton taxa (jellies, chaetognaths, and predatory copepods), and much greater than the median estimate of consumption by fish larvae, as derived from seasonal abundance and specific ingestion rates from the literature. The copepods' self-concentration during diapause, far from providing a refuge from predation, is the behaviour that makes this strong trophic link possible. Because the grazing impact of the whales comes 6–10 months later than the annual peak in primary production, and because Disko Bay sits at the end of rapid advective pathways (here delineated by a simple numerical particle-tracking experiment), it is likely that these Calanus populations act in part as a long-distance energetic bridge between the whales and primary production hundreds or thousands of km away.


Background: Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) causes significant morbidity and mortality in adults. Aim: To compare the accuracy of four validated rules for predicting adverse outcomes in patients hospitalized with CAP. Patients and methods: We compared the pneumonia severity index (PSI), British Thoracic Society score (CURB-65), SMART-COP and severe CAP score (SCAP) in 659 immunocompetent adult patients aged 18 to 101 years, 52% male, hospitalized with CAP. Major adverse outcomes were: admission to ICU, need for mechanical ventilation (MV), in-hospital complications and 30-day mortality. Mean hospital length of stay (LOS) was also evaluated. The predictive indexes were compared based on sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve of the receiver operating characteristic curve. Results: Of the studied patients, 77% had comorbidities, 23% were admitted to the intensive care unit and 12% needed mechanical ventilation. The rate of all adverse outcomes and hospital LOS increased directly with increasing PSI, CURB-65, SMART-COP and SCAP scores. The sensitivity, specificity and area under the curve of the prognostic indexes to predict adverse events were: Admission to ICU (PSI: 0.48, 0.84 and 0.73; SMART-COP: 0.97, 0.23 and 0.75; SCAP: 0.57, 0.81 and 0.76); use of MV (PSI: 0.44, 0.84 and 0.75; SMART-COP: 0.96, 0.35 and 0.84; SCAP: 0.53, 0.87 and 0.78); 30-days mortality (PSI: 0.45, 0.97 and 0.83; SMART-COP: 0.94, 0.29 and 0.77; SCAP: 0.53, 0.95 and 0.81). CURB-65 had a lower discriminatory power compared to the other indices. Conclusions: PSI score and SCAP were more accurate and specific and SMART-COP was more sensitive to predict the risk of death. SMART-COP was more sensitive and SCAP was more specific in predicting the use of mechanical ventilation.


Mystery shopping is a tool often used for evaluation of providing services quality. It is also a tool, which enables to examine and evaluate communication skills of employees in order to identify their weakness and define the way of improvement. The reason is that their applied abilities are connected with customer´s total perception of providing services. National post operators must learn to listen to their customers through their employees. This process is crucial for the market environment – it enables to gain customer´s loyalty and trust. In order to ensure higher level of customer oriented behaviour between the employees, Slovak Post starts a pilot project called "Mystery Customer". Main goal of the project is to analyze behavior of selected post office personnel towards the mystery customer. The paper also deals with the practical use of mystery shopping in conditions of Slovak Post.


The molecule of the title ZnII complex, [Zn(C9H10NO2)2(C6H6N2O)(H2O)2], contains two 4-(dimethylamino)benzoate (DMAB) ligands, one isonicotinamide (INA) ligand and two water molecules; one of the DMAB ions acts as a bidentate ligand while the other and INA are monodentate ligands. The four O atoms in the equatorial plane around the Zn atom form a distorted square-planar arrangement, while the distorted octahedral coordination is completed by the N atom of the INA ligand and the O atom of the water molecule in the axial positions. Intramolecular C—H⋯O hydrogen bonding results in the formation of a six-membered ring adopting an envelope conformation. The dihedral angle between the carboxyl groups and the adjacent benzene rings are 4.87 (16) and 2.2 (2)°, while the two benzene rings are oriented at a dihedral angle of 65.13 (8)°. The dihedral angle between the benzene and pyridine rings are 11.47 (7) and 74.83 (8)°, respectively. In the crystal structure, intermolecular O—H⋯O, O—H⋯N and N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds link the molecules into a supramolecular structure. π–π contacts between the pyridine and benzene rings and between the benzene rings [centroid–centroid distances = 3.695 (1) and 3.841 (1) Å, respectively] further stabilize the structure. Weak intermolecular C—H⋯π interactions are also present.


New products suffer from notoriously high failure rates. Many new products fail, not because of technical shortcomings, but because they simply have no market. Not surprisingly, then, studies have found that timely and reliable knowledge about customer preferences and requirements is the single most important area of information necessary for product development. To obtain such data, many organizations have made heavy ? but often unsuccessful ? investments in traditional market research.

The authors provide an alternative. Companies including Threadless, Yamaha and Ryohin Keikaku have begun to integrate customers into the innovation process by soliciting new product concepts directly from them. These firms also ask for commitments from customers to purchase a new product before the companies commence final development and manufacturing. This process ? called ?collective customer commitment?? can help companies avoid costly product failures. In essence, collective customer commitment enables firms to serve a market segment efficiently without first having to identify that segment, and it helps convert expenditures in market research directly into sales.


The DCPIM (Deep Convection Process Identification Model) index uses only surface meteorology data to forecast the convective storm class of Mendoza (Argentina). The DCPIM model did not guess right the forecast in about five percent of the studied cases. Then in order to improve the forecast model, we are adding vertical atmospheric information at the index calculation using the radiosonde on Santiago (Chile) and El Plumerillo (Mendoza). This index is calculated by correlating four surface variables: pressure PS ( mb), temperature TS (°C), dew point DPS (°C) and ground ultraviolet solar radiation index UV. Furthermore, two additional atmospheric variables at the 500 mb level were considered: temperature T500 in °C, and dew point DP500 in °C at 500 mb pressure level. The data was taken from radiosonde over Mendoza and Santiago (Chile). We collected 1551 samples, between September 2007 and April 2008. These data were statistically processed, obtaining a multivariate model for each storm convective process class (TPC) in Mendoza. From this correlation, we can observe that the class and severity of the storm convective process do not depend on the dew point at the 500 mb level (DP500), but depend on surface dew point value. This is associated with the fact that the vertical ascendant movement of the circulating air feeds the storm process carrying the water vapor from the ground to upper levels.  Moreover, the class and severity of the convective process depends on the vertical temperature difference between both levels TS and T500, and is associated with the heat flux transfer by thermal conductivity and natural convection. We conclude from the above result, that for higher values of the temperature difference and surface dew point, a more complex and severe storm convective process in Mendoza is expected. The thermodynamic calculations performed by the multivariate model were consistently compared with GOES satellite image, the C and S band radar, and its TITAN system.


In 17- and 18-day-old rat embryos and in 10-, 30-day-old newborn rats, the development of the spinal ganglia neurons was investigated under normal conditions and after intrauterine asphyxia. It was stated that increase in the profile field of the neuronal body development proceded differently before and after birth. Before birth, the most intensive growth was noted in large ganglial cells, while after birth--in middle and especially small cells. It was stated that embryos subjected to asphyxia in the last fourth of their intrauterine life suffered from chronic disorders in their neuronal cells, their intensity increasing with time reaching maximum to the first month of life. This process involved mainly the cells of middle and small size.


Multi-tenant business support system (BSS) is a form of Software as a Service, which can provide business support services for service carriers at a low cost by leveraging economy of scale. In this paper, we present the architecture of multi-tenant BSS and discuss briefly the approach to achieve configurability, security and scalability of the architecture. Focusing on scalability of data, we propose the entity group-based horizontal partitioning by analyzing entity relationships in the system. Experimental results show that the approach improves the performance.


OBJECTIVES
To assess the effects of recombinant human soluble thrombomodulin treatment on 28-day all-cause mortality in subgroups categorized by baseline coagulation biomarker levels (prothrombin fragment 1.2, thrombin-antithrombin complex, D-dimer) in patients with sepsis-associated coagulopathy in the Sepsis Coagulopathy Asahi Recombinant LE Thrombomodulin trial (SCARLET) (NCT01598831).

DESIGN
Post hoc, subgroup analysis of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multinational, multicenter phase 3 study.

SETTING
ICUs at 159 sites in 26 countries.

PATIENTS
Eight-hundred adults with sepsis-associated coagulopathy defined as international normalized ratio greater than 1.40 and platelet count between 30 × 10/L and 150 × 10/L or greater than 30% decrease within 24 hours with concomitant cardiovascular and/or respiratory failure.

INTERVENTIONS
Patients randomized and treated with recombinant human soluble thrombomodulin (0.06 mg/kg/d; n = 395) or equivalent placebo (n = 405) for 6 days.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS
Recombinant human soluble thrombomodulin did not significantly reduce 28-day all-cause mortality in the Sepsis Coagulopathy Asahi Recombinant LE Thrombomodulin trial: absolute risk reduction was 2.55% (p = 0.32) in patients with sepsis-associated coagulopathy. In this post hoc analysis, mortality steadily increased with increasing baseline prothrombin fragment 1.2 and thrombin-antithrombin complex levels in the placebo group; for those values exceeding the upper limit of normal, the mortality increases in the recombinant human soluble thrombomodulin group were lower or negligible with increasing baseline prothrombin fragment 1.2 and thrombin-antithrombin complex. Consequently, absolute risk reductions were greater in subgroups with higher baseline prothrombin fragment 1.2 or thrombin-antithrombin complex. Absolute risk reductions were also greater in subgroups with baseline coagulation biomarker levels at or above median of the entire study population, ranging from 4.2% (95% CI, -5.0% to 13.4%) to 5.5% (95% CI, -4.0% to 14.9%).

CONCLUSIONS
Compared with patients receiving placebo, patients treated with recombinant human soluble thrombomodulin having higher baseline thrombin generation biomarker levels had lower mortality. Further research regarding the predictive role of coagulation biomarkers for recombinant human soluble thrombomodulin treatment response in sepsis-associated coagulopathy is warranted to evaluate clinical relevance.


This Antler model involves incipient subduction of continental crust and miogeoclinal strata beneath an accretionary wedge composed primarily of oceanic sedimentary rocks and lesser outer shelf strata (under-thrusting and sediment obduction). Three phases of associated tectonism are: (1) first emplacement phase, in which only oceanic crust is subducted, evidenced primarily by foreland epeirogeny; (2) second emplacement phase, in which incipient subduction of continental crust occurs and a flysch trough is formed; (3) post-emplacement phase of isostatic uplift of continental margin and allochthon, accompanied by molasse sedimentation. The first two phases, associated with compressive movements of the Antler orogeny of Nevada, occurred between mid-Frasnian and mid-Osagean time. This interval equals about 23 m.y., based on C. A. Sandberg9s estimates of the duration of conodont zones. Overlap of the surface trace of the Roberts Mountains thrust by the Kinderhookian Webb Formation preceded final emplacement of the allochthon. Ordovician, Devonian, and Kinderhookian units in the allochthon, as mapped in the Carlin-Pinyon Range area by Smith and Ketner, overlie the oldest Antler flysch (Kinderhookian age) and are interpreted to have been encased within the Antler clastic wedge during Osagean time.


The American Medical Association's Style Book and Editorial Manual demands that an expression be spelled out the first time used in a manuscript, with the abbreviation immediately following in parentheses. Thereafter, the abbreviation may be used alone. Some standard phrases, such as venereal disease research laboratory (VDRL), come to be known better by the standard abbreviation, so much so that writers will speak of the VDRL test, without knowing what the abbreviation really stands for. Webster's Third New International Dictionary began a bold venture into abbreviations, listing many yet still unknown to much of the editorial world. The need for abbreviations is especially great in chemistry, or in other fields which employ long technical phrases. Dermatology is not exceptionally prone. Absent from Webster's Second International , the abbreviations in the Third scarcely meet the need. It gives nine definitions of MD, but only one for TCA. Consequently, for the present it


Pulmonary sarcomas constitute only 0.1-0.5% of all primary lung malignancies. These tumors may derive from the lung parenchyma, bronchial tree or pulmonary arteries. The most important entity in the differential diagnosis is metastatic synovial sarcoma. A 76-years-old woman was admitted for investigation of a fever, productive cough, dyspnea, weight loss and left-sided chest pain which had been present for one month. A chest computerised tomography showed enlarged mediastinal lymph nodes were observed, as well as a left-sided pleural effusion. Thoracentesis revealed hemorrhagic pleural effusion which was exudate and lymphocyte predominant, closed pleural biopsy showed chronic inflammation. Left sided thoracoscopy was performed under local anesthesia, total collapse of left lung and multiple pleural nodules were observed on the visceral pleura multiple biopsies were obtained from those nodules. Pathologic examinations revealed "synovial sarcoma". As skeleton single photon emission tomography was unremarkable, primary pleuropulmonary synovial sarcoma was decided as diagnosis and chemotherapy was planned for the patient. Primary pleuropulmonary synovial sarcoma is a rare neoplasm of lung and pleura but it is rare entity.


OF THESIS SO BITTER, SO BÖSE: SAMY DELUXE DEFINES A BLACK GERMAN IDENTITY THROUGH HIP-HOP Samy Deluxe, a Black German Hip-Hop artist from Hamburg, Germany, has become a staple in the German Hip-Hop realm. Since the start of his career, he has tried to replicate the genre that originated in the Bronx and apply it to a German setting. Samy Deluxe raps about with social criticism, German political issues, and racism. Not only has Samy Deluxe established a discography of politically driven music, but he has also used his platform to establish a Black German identity for himself in a German context. This has not been an easy feat, due to issues within German society that, while perhaps unknown to most white Germans, make it difficult for Black Germans to become fully accepted as "German." In my research, I explore the history of German identity and the philosophies about Germanness that still linger that make it a challenge for those like Samy Deluxe to find themselves and their identity in Germany. I use this history to analyze Samy Deluxe's autobiography, filmography, interview commentaries, and discography to establish a definition of how Samy Deluxe sees himself fitting with a German society.


The progress in determining the coupling constants of mesonic chiral Lagrangians is reviewed, with emphasis on the work performed in three successive European Networks (Eurodaphne I and II, Euridice). Reliable estimates of those constants are essential for making full use of next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations in chiral perturbation theory. The precision in the values of the strong coupling constants of O(p^4) has been increasing steadily over the years. The situation is less satisfactory in the nonleptonic weak sector where further phenomenological input and more theoretical work are needed. A lot of progress has recently been achieved for electromagnetic coupling constants occurring in radiative corrections for mesonic processes at low energies.


In the Darfur region, located in the West of Sudan, there is a conflict between rebel groups and the government-supported Janjaweed militia. The fighting?s, which started in 2003, has caused the loss of at least 200 000 human life and more than 2 million people have fled their homes. The conflict has been described as a? prolonged Rwanda?. The genocide in Rwanda in 1994 was a well organized and mass murder of the ethnic group Tutsi. The United Nations were aware of what was going on but did not act until it was too late. Now one fears that history is repeating it self. Is the Darfurconflict, which the Sudanese government want to describe as civil war, in fact a war between different ethnic groups? Is the conflict in fact genocide?

My intent with this article is to examine whether the conflict in Darfur can be classified as genocide. If the two situations are comparable the UN has not only a legal obligation but also a moral duty to intervene. I will use Rwanda as an example to see the criteria the UN uses for classifying a conflict. I will then compare the two situations with each other.


The Government of Kayeli village is an integral part of the District government Buru where the administrative elements make the Kayeli village government have to run the administrative tasks strictly in their activities, in fact A involvement in traditional institutions that eventually affect the orientation and implementation of development. The three elements of village institutions namely village Governments, village consultative bodies and indigenous institutions are able to collaborate from planning to monitoring the development of the Kayeli village community. This research is a qualitative study aimed at describing the partnerships that awakened between institutions in the village of Kayeli. The research site is focused on Kayeli village. The number of informant interviews of 30 people consisting of village apparatus, public figures, indigenous people and local communities is taken purposive. The analytical techniques used to follow the concepts given by Miles and Huberman include data reduction, data presentation and withdrawal of conclusions. The results showed that the relationship that awakened from these three institutions was able to create harmonization of village development that materialized through the planning, implementation and supervision conducted jointly with Communication and active role in village development.


The transition from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to dependence on agricultural production is commonly considered one of the most important achievements of human history. This transition, often referred to as the Neolithic Revolution, ushered in a variety of changes in human dietary intake, food processing and procurement methods, settlement patterns, and physical activity. Skeletal analyses of human remains from early agricultural centers throughout the world indicate that this revolution significantly affected overall human health. This paper will address some of the drastic effects of this transition as evidenced by craniofacial changes related to masticatory function, declines in oral health, increased spread of pathogens, infectious disease, and zoonoses, as well as a variety of ailments which have been linked to nutritional deficiencies and increased physical stress on the


Multiple studies have linked podocyte gene variants to diverse sporadic nephropathies, including HIV-1-associated nephropathy (HIVAN). We previously used linkage analysis to identify a major HIVAN susceptibility locus in mouse, HIVAN1. We performed expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) analysis of podocyte genes in HIV-1 transgenic mice to gain further insight into genetic susceptibility to HIVAN. In 2 independent crosses, we found that transcript levels of the podocyte gene nephrosis 2 homolog (Nphs2), were heritable and controlled by an ancestral cis-eQTL that conferred a 3-fold variation in expression and produced reactive changes in other podocyte genes. In addition, Nphs2 expression was controlled by 2 trans-eQTLs that localized to the nephropathy susceptibility intervals HIVAN1 and HIVAN2. Transregulation of podocyte genes was observed in the absence of HIV-1 or glomerulosclerosis, indicating that nephropathy susceptibility alleles induce latent perturbations in the podocyte expression network. Presence of the HIV-1 transgene interfered with transregulation, demonstrating effects of gene-environment interactions on disease. These data demonstrate that transcript levels of Nphs2 and related podocyte-expressed genes are networked and suggest that the genetic lesions introduced by HIVAN susceptibility alleles perturb this regulatory pathway and transcriptional responses to HIV-1, increasing susceptibility to nephropathy.


Changes of cytogenetic effectiveness of the therapeutic ray of fast neutrons were studied in water phantom in the Medical-Biological Complex of CyclotronU-120 at the Institute for Nuclear Research of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. Investigations were done in a culture of lymphocytes of the peripheral human blood by means of metaphase method to find out chromosomal aberrations. The neutrons were generated by firing a thick beryllium target with a 13.6 MeV-deuteron ray in the nuclear reaction 9Be (d,n) 10B. The investigated dose range was 25-220 cGy. The results of the studies demonstrate that the cytogenetic effectiveness of radiation is reduced with increasing depth of the water phantom. The maximum reduction of the effect was seen in a depth up to 6 cm, which is attached to absorption of low-energetic neutron fraction. The obtained results confirm necessity of to filter the therapeutically applicable beam of neutron radiation.


This empirical analysis assesses the determinants of firms' capital retirement. Particular attention is paid to the impact of the business cycle and the capital usage intensity. Compared to previous studies, we directly control for the capital utilization and disentangle the short-run mechanisms from the long-run ones. The analysis is carried out with an original and large firm-level dataset. The main results of the analysis may be summarized as follows: (i) the retirement rate increases during slowdowns and decreases during booms. This corresponds to a countercyclical capital retirement; (ii) the capital retirement rate increases with the capital usage intensity in the long run. This corresponds to a wear and tear effect, which is small compared to the countercyclical one; (iii) the capital retirement rate increases with the average age of capital; (iv) the profit rate and the wage cost per capita do not have a significant impact on the retirement rate.


The ethics of care poses a special case for psychotherapy. At first glance, key elements of care ethics such as acknowledging our dependence on others, attention to emotions, and creating a supportive environment for healing overlap substantially with key characteristics of psychotherapy. Care ethics' emphasis on attentiveness and empathetic concern, and related acts such as listening and talking to patients point in the direction of salutary therapeutic relationships, and also of valorizing psychotherapy as a practice. Yet psychotherapy has a long history of critical engagement with the therapeutic relationship, using terms and concepts other than "care." This chapter shows that while relatively little work has been done on care ethics approaches in psychotherapy, such approaches complement traditional attentiveness to the (psycho)therapeutic relationship by asking to what extent psychotherapists are practicing care and what this entails. Conversely, because psychotherapy has long been concerned with intersubjectivity, as exemplified by the concepts of transference and countertransference, it offers valuable theoretical and practical resources for care ethics approaches.


Microbiology is offered each semester at the Allied Health Campus of Pearl River Community College. The evening course meets weekly for 16 sessions from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Most students enrolled in the course are in one of the seven associate degree allied health programs on the allied health campus. Among the challenges of teaching a course in this situation is retention of enrolled students. Although the course is required for most of the allied health programs on the campus, many students enrolled, attended class for a few weeks, and withdrew from the course. During the 1998-1999 school year the retention rates for students enrolled in the night microbiology classes for Fall and Spring semesters were 52% and 47%, respectively. The format for the 1998-1999 academic year was a conventional course with 2½ hours of lecture material followed by 2 hours of laboratory. Little or no effort was made to correlate laboratory and lecture topics. The course format for Fall 1999 was modified to (i) provide the laboratory component at the beginning of the time slot, (ii) tailor the lecture topics to relate to the laboratory component each night, and (iii) add an outside reading component. The laboratory served as an introduction to the lecture topic, and the lecture became more significant since it related directly to the laboratory experience. Following this format change the retention rate for the Fall 1999 semester increased to 80%.


Interventions that grow patient capacity to do the work of health care and life are needed to support the health of cancer survivors. Health coaching may grow capacity. This systematic review of health coaching interventions explored coaching's ability to grow capacity of cancer survivors. The authors included randomized trials or quasi-experimental studies comparing coaching to alternative interventions, and adhered to PRISMA reporting guidelines. Data were analyzed using the Theory of Patient Capacity (BREWS: Capacity is affected by factors that influence ability to reframe Biography ["B"], mobilize or recruit Resources ["R"], interact with the Environment of care ["E"], accomplish Work ["W"]), and function Socially ["S"]). The authors reviewed 2210 references and selected 12 studies (6 randomized trials and 6 pre-post). These studies included 1038 cancer survivors, mean age 57.2 years, with various type of cancers: breast, colorectal, prostate, and lung. Health coaching was associated with improved quality of life, mood, and physical activity but not self-efficacy. Classified by potential to support growth in patient capacity, 67% of included studies reported statistically significant outcomes that support "B" (quality of life, acceptance, spirituality), 75% "R" (decreased fatigue, pain), 67% "W" (increased physical activity), and 33% "S" (social deprivation index). None addressed changing the patient's environment of care. In cancer survivors, health coaching improved quality of life and supported patient capacity by several mechanisms, suggesting an important role for "Capacity Coaching." Future interventions that improve self-efficacy and patients' environments of care are needed. Capacity Coaching may improve health and quality of life of cancer survivors.


Commentary on: Bockting CLH, Klein NS, Elgersma HJ, et al. Effectiveness of preventive cognitive therapy while tapering antidepressants versus maintenance antidepressant treatment versus their combination in prevention of depressive relapse or recurrence (DRD study): a three-group, multicentre, randomised controlled trial. Lancet Psychiatry . 2018; 5:401-410.

Many patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) are treated with maintenance antidepressant medication (mADM) to prevent relapse and recurrence. There is increasing evidence that psychological interventions may be at least as effective in terms of relapse prevention in recurrent MDD.1 However, discontinuing mADM has been demonstrated as potentially difficult and associated with increased relapse risk.2

The current study3 was a three-group, multicentre, single-blind, parallel, randomised controlled trial(supplementary file 1). Patients with recurrent MDD in remission (n=289) were recruited in the Netherlands between 2009 and 2015, via general practitioners (GP), pharmacists, specialised mental healthcare centres and the media, and randomly allocated (10:10:8) to receive either preventive cognitive therapy (PCT) plus mADM (n=104), mADM alone (n=100) or PCT with tapering of mADM (n=85).

### Supplementary file 1

[SP1.pdf]

PCT consisted of …


A purposively recruited, ethnically diverse sample (N = 27) of young adolescents and their mothers in domestic violence shelters described adolescents' coping responses during adult intimate partner violence as part of a qualitative study using Life Story methods. Findings revealed competing demands and several responses, including: leaving home, collaborating with family members for safety, calling police, verbally or physically intervening, seeking help outside the family, and palliative responses. Participants provided context-rich accounts of coping and coping goals during violence, including information on help-seeking and police involvement. Implications are discussed for future research and developing interventions to improve safety and psychological outcomes.


In recent years, natural verbal and non-verbal human-robot interaction has attracted an increasing interest. Therefore, models for robustly detecting and describing visual attributes of objects such as, e.g., colors are of great importance. However, in order to learn robust models of visual attributes, large data sets are required. Based on the idea to overcome the shortage of annotated training data by acquiring images from the Internet, we propose a method for robustly learning natural color models. Its novel aspects with respect to prior art are: firstly, a randomized HSL transformation that reflects the slight variations and noise of colors observed in real-world imaging sensors, secondly, a probabilistic ranking and selection of the training samples, which removes a considerable amount of outliers from the training data. These two techniques allow us to estimate robust color models that better resemble the variances seen in real world images. The advantages of the proposed method over the current state-of-the-art technique using the training data without proper transformation and selection are confirmed in experimental evaluations. In combination, for models learned with pLSA-bg and HSL, the proposed techniques reduce the amount of mislabeled objects by 19.87% on the well-known E-Bay data set.


In order to obtain the total cutting energy and the ratios of the three parts of the total energy during cutting off the rubber, a test method was proposed and a test apparatus was constructed to perform the rubber cutting experiment. In the test, the friction force and the cutting force were obtained. Through the analysis of the test results, the friction work, the deformation energy, the surface fracture energy in cutting different thickness of the rubber were calculated. This work originally proposed a test method to acquire the friction force, the friction work between the cutter and workpiece during punching process.


Introduction: Cystic fibrosis (CF) is caused by a defect in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene. A number of studies have been performed to investigate whether neutrophil dysfunction in CF is primarily as a result of the genetic defect or due to chronic bacterial infection and inflammation. Aim: The aim of this study was to provide support for intrinsic alterations in CF, specifically to determine whether accumulation of CFTR within the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of circulating neutrophils from patients with CF leads to ER stress responses including the release of ER calcium (Ca 2+ ) stores. This study focused on the ER-resident chaperone, GRP78 and ATF6, a transcription factor that coordinates the unfolded protein response (UPR). Methods: Neutrophils were purified from whole blood and the cytosols were analysed using Western blotting for ER stress markers ATF6 and GRP78. Intracellular Ca 2+ was determined using a fluorometric assay. Results: Western blots revealed that markers of ER stress, GRP78 and cleaved ATF6, were increased in neutrophil cytosols of patients with CF homozygous for the ΔF508 mutation, when compared to healthy controls (n=8 for both groups). In addition, densitometric analysis of immuno-bands confirmed significant up-regulation of both GRP78 and active ATF6 in CF neutrophils compared to control cells (p 2+ was increased in the CF neutrophils compared to healthy controls. Conclusions: Our data demonstrates for the first time activation of the UPR in vivo in neutrophils isolated from individuals with CF, which may in part explain the exaggerated inflammatory response of these cells.


Investigation of the performance and operation of complex systems in manufacturing or other environments, analytical models of these systems become very complicated. Because of the complex stochastic characteristic of the systems, simulation is used as a tool to analyze them. The trust of such simulation analysis usually is to determine the optimum combination of factors that effect the considered system performance. The purpose of this study is to use a tabu search algorithm in conjunction with a simulation model of a JIT system to find the optimum number of kanbans.