Thiopurine drugs remain pivotal therapies for the wide varieties of diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Here, thiopurine S-methyltransferase (TPMT) phenotype, the main metabolizing enzyme of thiopurine-drugs, was studied. This is for the first time that TPMT activity is measured in Iranian IBD patients. We used an improved direct liquid chromatography assay without need for solvent extraction and minimize excess labor handling making it ideal for use in routine referral medical centers. TPMT activity in whole blood was determined by a non-extraction HPLC method. We evaluated 427 individuals including 215 IBD patients and 212 unrelated healthy individuals as control group from Iran's western population. TPMT phenotyping of this study demonstrated no frequency for deficient, 2.8 % for low and 97.2% for normal activity, which is different with results of other studies. There was a significant negative correlation between TPMT activities as calculated based on nmol/grHb/h and the Hb-levels in IBD and control groups (r= -0.54, P<0.001 and r= -0.27, P<0.001), respectively. Interestingly a significant positive correlation between Hb levels and TPMT-activities were seen when the activity calculated in mU/L in IBD patients and control subjects (r=0.14, P=0.05 and r=0.43, P<0.001), respectively. We strongly suggest the use of international unit (mU/L) is more appropriate than nmol6MTG/grHb/h for expressing TPMT-activity in IBD patients. In addition, in comparison with other providers of TPMT test activity and centers around the world the risk of toxicity is much lower after utilizing thiopurine drugs for IBD patients in this region.


If you compare two identical images on two different monitors, they will likely appear different. Every display device is supposed to adhere to a particular set of standards regulating the color and intensity of the image it outputs. However, in practice, very few do. Color calibration is the practice of modifying the signal path such that the colors produced more closely match reference standards. This is essential for graphics professionals who are mastering original content. They must ensure that the source material appears correct when viewed on a reference monitor. When viewed on a consumer panel, however, some error will appear on an uncalibrated panel. On low-end devices, calibration helps to maximize picture quality, producing an image comparable to a more expensive panel out of the box. On high-end devices, it can reduce color error to levels imperceptible to the human eye. Type of Report: MS Project Report Department of Computer Science & Engineering Washington University in St. Louis Campus Box 1045 St. Louis, MO 63130 ph: (314) 935-6160 Automated Color Calibration of Display Devices


Given a logic presented in a sequent calculus, a natural question is that of equivalence of proofs: to determine whether two given proofs are equated by any denotational semantics, ie any categorical interpretation of the logic compatible with its cut-elimination procedure. This notion can usually be captured syntactically by a set of rule permutations.
Very generally, proofnets can be defined as combinatorial objects which provide canonical representatives of equivalence classes of proofs. In particular, the existence of proof nets for a logic provides a solution to the equivalence problem of this logic. In certain fragments of linear logic, it is possible to give a notion of proofnet with good computational properties, making it a suitable representation of proofs for studying the cut-elimination procedure, among other things.
It has recently been proved that there cannot be such a notion of proofnets for the multiplicative (with units) fragment of linear logic, due to the equivalence problem for this logic being Pspace-complete.
We investigate the multiplicative-additive (without unit) fragment of linear logic and show it is closely related to binary decision trees: we build a representation of proofs based on binary decision trees, reducing proof equivalence to decision tree equivalence, and give a converse encoding of binary decision trees as proofs. We get as our main result that the complexity of the proof equivalence problem of the studied fragment is Logspace-complete.


Abstract Background Despite the availability of safe and efficacious coronavirus disease 2019 vaccines, a significant proportion of the American public remains unvaccinated and does not appear to be immediately interested in receiving the vaccine. Methods In this study, we analyzed data from the US Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey, a biweekly cross-sectional survey of US households. We estimated the prevalence of vaccine hesitancy across states and nationally and assessed the predictors of vaccine hesitancy and vaccine rejection. In addition, we examined the underlying reasons for vaccine hesitancy, grouped into thematic categories. Results A total of 459 235 participants were surveyed from 6 January to 29 March 2021. While vaccine uptake increased from 7.7% to 47%, vaccine hesitancy rates remained relatively fixed: overall, 10.2% reported that they would probably not get a vaccine and 8.2% that they would definitely not get a vaccine. Income, education, and state political leaning strongly predicted vaccine hesitancy. However, while both female sex and black race were factors predicting hesitancy, among those who were hesitant, these same characteristics predicted vaccine reluctance rather than rejection. Those who expressed reluctance invoked mostly "deliberative" reasons, while those who rejected the vaccine were also likely to invoke reasons of "dissent" or "distrust." Conclusions Vaccine hesitancy comprises a sizable proportion of the population and is large enough to threaten achieving herd immunity. Distinct subgroups of hesitancy have distinctive sociodemographic associations as well as cognitive and affective predilections. Segmented public health solutions are needed to target interventions and optimize vaccine uptake.


rate for cancer fell to 9%. If slides are not rehydrated before development, the Hemoccult test has a relatively low sensitivity. In a screening programme, test conditions must be carefully set to give optimal sensitivity and specificity. When positive results are obtained the only point in repeating occult blood testing would be to use a test more specific for blood. Such testing must then be performed over a period long enough to exclude intermittent bleeding. In our view the strategy of simply repeating the initial test when slides are positive carries the risk of failing to identify pathologically significant occult bleeding.


Scientific-knowledge commercialisation has become a primary objective for universities worldwide. Science-industry exchange is a prerequisite for innovation. Collaborations are viewed as key to this objective. Despite government financing, artificially supporting the development of such networks has proved difficult.

This study extends relationship marketing's B-2-B model by using a unique multiple-stakeholder research design to explore why, how and by whom scientific-knowledge-commercialisation networks are established and managed. The study uses qualitative evidence from 82 stakeholders in 17 collaborative projects in Irish and German universities. This approach facilitates an analysis of the true value of the stakeholders' roles. This provides for a holistic view, as opposed to prior research which reported findings based on analysis of one or two stakeholders. The study demonstrates how contextual differences impact on scientific-knowledge commercialisation in Ireland and Germany.

The study finds that network capabilities are the main reason that collaborative networks are established. It finds that enduring networks are conduits for innovation and scientific-knowledge commercialisation due to continuously improving capabilities. Stakeholder retention is a catalyst for improving collaborative networks. Stakeholder retention results from stakeholder loyalty. Stakeholders become loyal because they are content with the overall relationship and quality of the commercialisation service. It is fundamental that stakeholders understand each other's roles and motives as incongruities hamper network development.

The findings highlight the central role that PIs play in building and managing relationships. The PI, like the entrepreneur, has to be 'a jack of all trades', taking on the roles of negotiator and project/ relationship manager. These roles are in addition to the traditional role of teaching, researching, acquiring funding, Ph.D. supervision and mentoring and administration. The findings suggest that PIs are better placed than TTO managers to act as boundary spanners between science and industry.


Forecasting the speculative-grade default rate provides an informational edge in managing both corporate bond risk and loan default risk. Credit analysts have developed three types of models for this purpose: actuarial, econometric, and market-based. Fridson and Sterling introduce a market-based model derived from the distress ratio, which is defined as the percentage of issues within the high-yield bond index quoted at spreads greater than 1,000 basis points, or 10 percentage points, over the rate on U.S. Treasuries. The Default Rate Projector estimates the one-year-forward default rate using historical default rates on distressed and non-distressed issues. Comparison of the model's forecasts with subsequent, actual default rates shows that the market's assessment of default risk is generally accurate.


With the growing global threat of antimicrobial resistance, novel strategies are required for combatting resistant pathogens. Combination therapy, in which multiple drugs are used to treat an infection, has proven highly successful in the treatment of cancer and HIV. However, this practice has proven challenging for the treatment of bacterial infections due to difficulties in selecting the correct combinations and dosages. An additional challenge in infection treatment is the polymicrobial nature of many infections, which may respond to antibiotics differently than a monoculture pathogen. ABSTRACT With the growing global threat of antimicrobial resistance, novel strategies are required for combatting resistant pathogens. Combination therapy, in which multiple drugs are used to treat an infection, has proven highly successful in the treatment of cancer and HIV. However, this practice has proven challenging for the treatment of bacterial infections due to difficulties in selecting the correct combinations and dosages. An additional challenge in infection treatment is the polymicrobial nature of many infections, which may respond to antibiotics differently than a monoculture pathogen. This study tests whether patterns of antibiotic interactions (synergy, antagonism, or independence/additivity) in monoculture can be used to predict antibiotic interactions in an obligate cross-feeding coculture. Using our previously described weakest-link hypothesis, we hypothesized antibiotic interactions in coculture based on the interactions we observed in monoculture. We then compared our predictions to observed antibiotic interactions in coculture. We tested the interactions between 10 previously identified antibiotic combinations using checkerboard assays. Although our antibiotic combinations interacted differently than predicted in our monocultures, our monoculture results were generally sufficient to predict coculture patterns based solely on the weakest-link hypothesis. These results suggest that combination therapy for cross-feeding multispecies infections may be successfully designed based on antibiotic interaction patterns for their component species.


Introduction and objective Cough is prominent in pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) and transmits infection, yet no tool has been validated for assessing cough symptoms. We evaluated the Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ) for measuring cough-related quality of life (QOL) in TB. Method The face validity of the LCQ was evaluated by structured interviews with patients and a multi-disciplinary team (MDT) discussion (respiratory physicians and nurses). Consecutive patients with TB completed the LCQ just before or within 7 days of starting therapy; a subgroup completed a repeat questionnaire approximately two weeks after the first. Internal reliability (inter-relatedness between items), concurrent validity (association with cough severity visual analogue scale [VAS] score and 24-hour cough frequency measured with the Leicester Cough Monitor), and responsiveness were evaluated. Results The MDT and patients thought the LCQ to be relevant, comprehensive and useful in TB and no modifications were suggested. Forty patients completed the questionnaire before (n = 29) or just after (n = 11) the start of treatment. Internal reliability of responses was high (Cronbach's α = 0.93). LCQ scores were correlated with both the VAS (Spearman's ρ = -0.69 [95% confidence intervaI -0.83 to -0.46], p < 0 0.0001) and 24-hour cough frequency (ρ = -0.36 [-0.62 to -0.04], p = 0 .023), and were worse pre-treatment in culture-positive compared to culture-negative disease (median 12.4 [IQR 8.5–17.4] vs 18.7 [17.8–19.6] respectively, p = 0 .052). There was no evidence of association with other markers of disease severity (sputum smear positivity, lung cavities and radiographic extent of disease), but a trend towards worse LCQ scores amongst current smokers than non-smokers (12.6 [8.3–14.4] vs 17.1 [11.1–21.0] respectively, p = 0 .075). All patients who repeated the questionnaire appeared adherent to TB medication. There were substantial improvements in LCQ responses after a median of 14 (10–14) days' treatment (n = 12; median [IQR] score 9.1 [8.1–14.5] at baseline, 18.3 [14.5–19.4] at two weeks, median improvement 5.1 [1.8–9.7], p = 0 .003; Figure 1). The effect size of the change in LCQ scores was 1.17.Abstract P240 Figure 1 Changes Leicester Cough Questionnaire score during early treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis Conclusion The LCQ is a valid instrument for evaluating cough-related QOL in TB and may be a useful outcome measure to evaluate therapy.


The paper estimates the demand for new digital cameras sold in eBay auctions. EBay data seems to offer significant advantages over traditional transactions data for estimating demand for differentiated products. However, there are a number of concerns including censoring bias and the interpretation of the bidding behavior. This paper discusses these problems as well as possible solutions. The paper presents results from three different methods for estimating demand for differentiated products on eBay. The results suggest that the demand for digital cameras is highly elastic and there isn't a lot of substitution, particularly across brands.


The aim of this study was to investigate the factors that influence the enrolment in B. Ed (Arts) programme in distance learning at the University of Nairobi. Distance learning is often described as the formalized learning received while the student is on a location outside the university campus. Both the teacher and student are expected to have minimal physical contact, but much reliance on electronic communication and independent studying. The study investigated the flexibility of distance learning, affordability of the programme, personal development and continuity of education after the programme factor. The researcher employed descriptive survey design in which both qualitative and quantitative data were obtained. The target population of the study were the Bachelor of Education (Arts) by distance learning students in the University of Nairobi that were continuing with their studies in the year 2012. Data collection was done by use of structured questionnaires. Analysis of data was done using descriptive statistics for quantitative data while qualitative information was analysed thematically according to the objectives and presented inform of averages, range and percentages and presented in tables using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17. The results indicated that flexibility of distance education increased the enrolment rates, affordability was also widely considered by potential distance learners before they joined. The effect on their personal development was also a factor that contributed as well as the provision for continuity after completing B.Ed (Arts). The researcher recommends that the University of Nairobi make fees payments more flexible, the government should also enhance affordability by giving loans to distance learners through Higher Education Loans Board.


In this paper, the milling process of WO3 and aluminum particles is studied. Influences of rotate rate, milling time and ball-to-powder weight ratio on the morphology and grain size of the particles are studied by scanning electronic microscope and X-ray diffraction techniques. Al particle size decreases firstly and then increases with increasing milling time, while Al grain size decreases gradually as the milling time increases. WO3 particle is distributed uniformly in Al particles after milling for 9h, and has no marked change as further extension of milling time. With increasing the ball-to-powder weight ratio and rotate rate, both particle size and grain size of Al decreases. milling parameters have almost no effect on the grain size of the WO3 particles.


Using numerical simulations, we explore the mechanism for propagation of rate signals through a 10-layer feedforward network composed of Hodgkin–Huxley (HH) neurons with sparse connectivity. When white noise is afferent to the input layer, neuronal firing becomes progressively more synchronous in successive layers and synchrony is well developed in deeper layers owing to the feedforward connections between neighboring layers. The synchrony ensures the successful propagation of rate signals through the network when the synaptic conductance is weak. As the synaptic time constant τsyn varies, coherence resonance is observed in the network activity due to the intrinsic property of HH neurons. This makes the output firing rate single-peaked as a function of τsyn, suggesting that the signal propagation can be modulated by the synaptic time constant. These results are consistent with experimental results and advance our understanding of how information is processed in feedforward networks.


1. Suppose you are given a directed graph G = (V, E) and two vertices s and t. Describe and analyze an algorithm to determine if there is a walk in G from s to t whose length is a multiple of 3.


Cumulative research with animal, normative, and clinical populations over several decades shows that the mechanisms underlying anxiety disorders differ from those of the normal emotion of anxiety. In persons with anxiety disorders, fear and tension are disproportionate to the actual threat and may be present when no real threat exists, thereby generating an expectation of danger and distorted perceptions related to danger and various types of threats. The most common anxiety disorders are social anxiety disorder (SAD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Persons with SAD can experience a wide range of social fears as well as severe functional consequences, whereas persons with GAD tend to experience emotional, interpersonal, and somatic symptoms of high levels of chronic anxiety. Persons with PTSD have vivid memories of and thoughts about a terrifying event or ordeal that lead to the development of anxiety, depression, and functional impairment. Effective treatment options-pharmacotherapy; psychotherapy, particularly cognitive-behavioral therapy; or a combination-can be discussed openly with the patient to make a collaborative, informed decision. A variety of medications can be used to successfully manage anxiety disorders, of which SSRIs and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors are the most effective. When properly used, medications can enhance a patient's own efforts to master anxiety; overcome fearful avoidance; and address troubling behaviors, patterns, or memories. (Drug Benefit Trends. 2008;20:101-113)


Recently, Rayleigh distribution has received considerable attention in the statistical literature. This paper describes the Bayesian prediction of the one parameter Rayleigh distribution when the data are Type II censored data. Suppose we are planning to collect a Type II censored sample from the one parameter Rayleigh distribution in order to find a point predictor for a future order statistic with smallest mean squared prediction error (MSPE) among other point predictors. Although, considering large values for failure numbers yields a point predictor with smaller MSPE, the average cost may increase considerably. One question arises here that "How many failure is enough?". The aim of this paper is finding the optimal value for number of failures in Type II censoring by considering two criteria, total cost of experiment and mean squared prediction error. Towards this end, we find the Bayesian point predictor for the parameter of distribution. Then, the optimal value for number of failures is obtained when the mean squared prediction error and the total cost of experiment are bounded. To show the usefulness of the obtained results, a simulation study is presented.


OBJECTIVES
To determine whether telephone preauthorization for reimbursement of ED care (medical "gate-keeping") by managed care organizations (MCOs) is associated with adverse outcomes.

METHODS
A structured review was performed of case reports solicited during 1994 and 1995 with possible adverse outcomes related to managed care gatekeeping. Gatekeeping was defined as the requirement imposed by an MCO that ED staff contact on-call gatekeepers (i.e., clinical or nonclinical MCO personnel) to request preauthorization for ED treatment (a requirement that such MCOs enforce by refusing payment for the ED care unless preauthorization is obtained). Cases in which gatekeeper denial of preauthorization occurred were sought. Two physicians agreed on patient eligibility and classification criteria, then independently, retrospectively classified case reports identified as MCO ED payment denials into 1 of 4 categories: 1) adverse outcome; 2) patient placed at increased risk of death or disability; 3) "near miss" (emergency physicians prevented adverse outcome by caring for patient despite denial); and 4) none of the above.

RESULTS
Of the 143 cases reviewed, 29 reports represented MCO ED payment denial. Of these 29 eligible cases, there were 4 (14%) patients with adverse outcomes, 4 (14%) patients placed at increased risk, and 21 (72%) near misses. All of the 29 cases came from different EDs, representing 9 different states, with the majority from California. Adverse outcomes included respiratory failure from fulminant meningococcemia, hypovolemic syncope from ruptured ectopic pregnancy, hypovolemic arrest from vascular fibroid hemorrhage necessitating emergency hysterectomy, and prolonged postoperative course following ruptured duodenal ulcer. Patients placed at increased risk were diagnosed as having epiglottitis, myocardial infarction, ruptured ectopic pregnancy, and delayed treatment of hip septic arthritis. Near misses included diagnoses of ectopic pregnancy (n = 2), pneumothorax (n = 2), alcohol withdrawal seizures and pancreatitis necessitating intensive care unit admission, appendicitis, bacterial meningitis, cerebrovascular accident, cryptococal meningitis in immuno comprised host, endocarditis, incarerated inguinal hernia, meningocococemia, meninoccocal meningitis, peritonsillar abscess, pneumococcal meningitis, ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm, shock from gastrointestinal bleeding, small bowel obstruction, schizophrenic crisis resulting in psychiatric hospitalization, suicidal depression resulting in psychiatric hospitalization, and unstable angina.

CONCLUSION
Adverse outcomes occur with MCO gatekeeping, Although the present study cannot ascertain whether this is a frequent event or a rare one, the safety of MCO gatekeeping deserves further study.


Background and Objectives: Farmers and agricultural workers are vulnerable because of exposed to a wide range of occupational hazards and Facing with problems and obstacles in their work, so the main purpose of this study was analysis of occupational health challenges among farmers Materials & Methods : The tool of the research was a questionnaire that designed to analysis of occupational health challenges among farmers. Validity of questionnaire was confirmed by experts and reliability by Cronbach's alpha (alpha = 0.85). Also for data analysis used SPSS. Results: Research findings indicated that factor analysis extracted five factors a bout occupational health challenges among farmers. Including; educational factors, economical factors, individual factors, a kind of equipment design and social factors. These five factors determined about 67.69 percent of total variance. Conclusions: Farmers and agricultural workers are exposed injuries that lead to death and disability more than of the workers in other industries. So education and awareness is will be useful to empowerment them for protective in these hazards.


Generating fluent natural language responses from structured semantic representations is a critical step in task-oriented conversational systems. Avenues like the E2E NLG Challenge have encouraged the development of neural approaches, particularly sequence-to-sequence (Seq2Seq) models for this problem. The semantic representations used, however, are often underspecified, which places a higher burden on the generation model for sentence planning, and also limits the extent to which generated responses can be controlled in a live system. In this paper, we (1) propose using tree-structured semantic representations, like those used in traditional rule-based NLG systems, for better discourse-level structuring and sentence-level planning; (2) introduce a challenging dataset using this representation for the weather domain; (3) introduce a constrained decoding approach for Seq2Seq models that leverages this representation to improve semantic correctness; and (4) demonstrate promising results on our dataset and the E2E dataset.


The stress corrosion cracking process is at this moment an unknown mechanism of deterioration. It is a process that implies the joint action of the media, the presence of corrosion or a surface defect and of stress in the metal. Prestressing tendons can suffer SCC jointly with hydrogen embrittlement which dramatically changes not only the type of fracture (from ductile to brittle) but also the kinetics of the process leading to unexpected collapses. The metal should be resistant to this type of process which can be characterized by its toughness and therefore by its damage tolerance. This research shows that the Fracture Toughness change when the steel corrodes, questioning the idea that is an intrinsic characteristic of the material. The reduction in the fracture toughness of steel wires when they are in contact to aggressive media involve that the material fractures with a lower crack depth for the same stress level. That means that the material becomes less damage tolerant, which implies that it is necessary to detect defects of smaller size, as for example, small notch, pits or superficial cracks. In the paper some results of the percentage of decrease of the toughness of prestressing wires suffering corrosion are presented.


I don't know how others are introduced to Leon Thomsen, but my introduction came in two forms. The first was via e-mail — my request to interview him during the GSH-SEG 2015 Annual Spring Symposium on 10–11 March in Houston, where he was to be honored for his "lifetime achievements and contributions to the industry." Thomsen promptly responded to my last-minute request with warmth and flexibility. Like other great interviewees, he even gave me a head start on my homework for the exchange. I could not have been more appreciative.


Abstract: Viola beati, a hitherto unknown species of V. sect. Andinium (Violaceae) is described and illustrated. It is an inconspicuous, diminutive, perennial forb currently known from only one locality in NW Argentina. We draw attention to its morphology, ecology, rarity and endemism. The differences between V. beati and its apparently only close relative, V. singularis J. M. Watson & A. R. Flores, are defined.


In most layered additive manufacturing processes, a tool solidifies or deposits material while following pre-planned trajectories to form solid beads. Many interesting problems arise in this context, among which one concerns the planning of trajectories for filling a planar shape as densely as possible. This is the problem we tackle in the present paper. Recent works have shown that allowing the bead width to vary along the trajectories helps increase the filling density. We present a novel technique that, given a deposition width range, constructs a set of closed beads whose width varies within the prescribed range and fill the input shape. The technique outperforms the state of the art in important metrics: filling density (while still guaranteeing the absence of bead overlap) and trajectories smoothness. We give a detailed geometric description of our algorithm, explore its behavior on example inputs and provide a statistical comparison with the state of the art. We show that it is possible to obtain high quality fabricated layers on commodity FDM printers.


The clinical success of immunotherapy of tumors is still rather limited. Here we show that the tumor vasculature contributes to this failure. In general, the vasculature of solid tumors displays an aberrant morphology characterized by dilated and fragile vessels, intensive vessel sprouting, and loss of hierarchical architecture. Such an aberrant vasculature is also found in Rip.Tag mice developing autochthonous insulinomas in a multi-step process, therefore resembling the clinical situation. Vaccination against the Tag tumor antigen or transfer of tumor-specific T lymphocytes fails to eliminate the tumors, because the aberrant tumor endothelium forms a barrier against infiltration by tumor-specific lymphocytes. However, induction of an inflammatory environment in the tumor, e.g. by irradiation or immunostimulatory CpG oligonucleotides, will result in activation of the endothelia and in efficient infiltration of effector cells into the tumor tissue and tumor eradication. Gene expression profiling identified RGS5 (regulator of G protein signalling 5) as a master gene that seems to be involved in the barrier function as suggested by its selective overexpression in pericytes of the tumor vasculature. Interestingly, tumors developing in RGS5 knockout mice display a normalized tumor vasculature. Moreover, this normalized vasculature permits strong T cell infiltration resulting in tumor eradication. In conclusion, we suggest that for successful immunotherapy of cancer vaccination or adoptive T cell transfer should be combined with an anti-angiogenic therapy resulting in modulation or normalization of the tumor vasculature, and, thereby, to enhanced T cell infiltration. These observations open the way for novel therapeutic interventions. This abstract was published in Cancer Immunity, a Cancer Research Institute journal that ceased publication in 2013 and is now provided online in association with Cancer Immunology Research.


COVID-19 has affected different people in Zimbabwe in different ways. Most infected people have developed mild to moderate illness and some has recovered without hospitalization. The first cases of COVID-19 were reported in China in December 2019. Since then, the disease has evolved to become a global pandemic. Zimbabwe reported its case on 20 March 2020 and the number has increasing steadily. The outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to impact the lives of the people in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe has 12,544 confirmed corona virus (COVID-19) cases and 326 deaths as of December 23, 2020 (usembassy.gov, 2020). In addition to the risk imposed to the risk imposed by the virus to human lives, there is an imminent risk to the social and economic lives of Zimbabweans. The COVID-19 pandemic is expected to regress some of the gains Zimbabwe has made in poverty reduction and towards social indicators. This situation necessitates the Government to prepare a response plan, which enshrines the social and economic wellbeing of the people of Zimbabwe, a plan which lays out the multidimensional aspects of the COVID-19 response, with a clear strategy to efficiently and effectively minimize, mitigate and manage the adverse effects of the pandemic. This also means mobilizing technical and financial resources through the government's own sources, donors' assistance and engagement with development partners to define and implement new economic priorities, making precise planning to protect economic activities and jobs, ensuring food security and safeguarding and protecting social and health needs of the most vulnerable in a cohesive and collaborative manner. Underpinning this, a COVID-19 Socio-economic impact assessment and response plan has been developed through a joint effort of the Government of Zimbabwe, its relevant ministries and various agencies. These risk assessment and guidelines is on the risk management of COVID-19 in Zimbabwe. These guidelines reflects both a short term immediate response to cope with the most exigent socio-economic risks and risks and impacts of the COVID-19, along with medium to long term policy, hazard identification, hazard characterization, dose or response assessment, risk assessment matrices, exposure assessment, risk characterization, risk management and recommendations.


Background & Aim: New graduate nurses bear high levels of stress which could lead to unpleasant personal and professional outcomes. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral group intervention on the stress levels of new graduate nurses. Material & Methods: It was a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest study with control group. A total of 80 new graduate nurses were first recruited by purposeful sampling and then were randomly assigned into two experimental and control groups (n=40). Eight, 90 minutes sessions of cognitive behavioral group intervention was performed for the experimental group two times a week. Control group received no intervention. The data was collected before and after the intervention by ―Expanded Nursing Stress Scale‖ and analyzed by inferential statistics such as chi-square and independent T test using SPSS- PC (v. 20). Results: The findings showed that the mean score of stress level has reduced significantly after the intervention (from 44/44 to 29/44) (p<0/001). No significant reduction was found in the stress levels of control group (p=0/276). There was also a significant difference between the mean score of stress levels of the two groups after intervention (p<0/001). Conclusion: According to the findings cognitive behavioral group intervention can reduce the stress levels of new graduate nurses. Therefore, using this intervention in the beginning of new graduate nurses' work is suggested.


In Australia, Q181C Test Method of Direct Shear Testing to estimate the Effective Angle of Internal Friction at Constant Volume Conditions for Granular (Coarse Grained) Materials is commonly applied to assess the suitability of backfills for reinforced earth walls. This paper presents a comparison between the results of three series of shear box tests on a typical ripped rock material, of marginal quality, that might be considered as a possible backfill material for a reinforced earth wall. Tests performed used 300 mm and 60 mm shear boxes, soil samples prepared to sub-19 mm and sub-4.75 mm sizes, and a range of shearing rates. The effect of pre-testing samples was also considered. The results show that accurate effective friction parameter measurements for coarse grained, granular backfill soils require the use of fresh soil specimens for each shearing test; the use of a large shear box that can accommodate soils with relatively large particles; and careful selection of shearing rates so that shearing takes place under drained conditions. If the above requirements are compromised, the measured effective friction angle is likely to be a significant under-estimate of the true effective friction angle, increasing the likelihood of the material failing to meet prescribed material quality standards.


Abstract Health evaluations were conducted in the northwestern Atlantic for 19 leatherback turtles, which included 12 turtles directly captured as part of a satellite telemetry study and 7 turtles entangled in fishing gear. Assessment included physical examination; determination of heart rate and respiratory rate; and hematologic, plasma biochemical, nutritional, toxicologic, parasitologic, and microbiological investigations. Significant differences were found between directly captured and entangled turtles for curved carapace length, curved carapace width, blood urea nitrogen, chloride, sodium, triglycerides, relative heterophil count, relative monocyte count, relative and absolute eosinophil count, pH, bicarbonate, lead, and beta-hydroxybutyrate. Directly captured turtles showed evidence of mild respiratory acidosis. Significant differences were found between sexes for curved carapace length, curved carapace width, total protein, globulin, sodium, relative monocyte count, gamma-globulin, and anion gap. Relatively high blood concentrations of selenium and cadmium were found in all turtles.


The experimental analysis is arranged to evaluate the thermal hydraulic performance on nanofluid flow in helical screw insert with tube at a number of strips and different twist ratios in laminar flow regime. The single strip (SS) helical screw inserts are also compared with the double strip (DS) helical screw inserts. The heat transfer enhancement is achieved with nanofluid flow in double strip as compared with single strip helical screw insert at decreased values of twist ratio and increased values of Reynolds number. A maximum enhancement of 421% is found in the value of Nusselt number with double strip helical screw insert at twist ratio of 1.5 and low value of Reynolds number in the flow of nanofluid than water in plain tube. The common correlations of Nusselt number and friction factor are generated. The thermal performance factor (TPF) is achieved at a maximum value of 2.42 with double strip than single strip helical screw inserts at twist ratio of 2.5 and low value of Reynolds number. The present analysis shows suitability of the double strip helical screw insert to enable miniaturization of the heat exchangers. A compact heat exchanger decreases the size of thermal application such as solar water heater, solar power plants, electronic cooling systems, radiator, etc., which could save environment by pollution reduction with utilization of energy.


The current mode of production and consumption in the context of technological development has brought devastating effects on the environment and its ecosystems. As various issues on sustainable development were raised, several discourses in literature emerge which provide conceptual and philosophical approaches on the notion of sustainable development. This paper presents a philosophical framework on technology and its links to the current views of sustainable development. It highlights that the current view of sustainability supports the development of technology as substitute capital of natural resources for generations to come. This stimulates philosophical questions regarding our view of technology and natural resource. It is maintained that fundamental change is prescribed on two significant areas: our behavior towards technology and our perspectives on sustainable development. The contribution of this work lies in providing an approach that promotes sustainable development by way of changing our perspectives on the development of technology and its use.


Pre-trained language models like BERT achieve superior performances in various NLP tasks without explicit consideration of syntactic information. Meanwhile, syntactic information has been proved to be crucial for the success of NLP applications. However, how to incorporate the syntax trees effectively and efficiently into pre-trained Transformers is still unsettled. In this paper, we address this problem by proposing a novel framework named Syntax-BERT. This framework works in a plug-and-play mode and is applicable to an arbitrary pre-trained checkpoint based on Transformer architecture. Experiments on various datasets of natural language understanding verify the effectiveness of syntax trees and achieve consistent improvement over multiple pre-trained models, including BERT, RoBERTa, and T5.


Background & Objectives: Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) is one of the most prevalent bacterial infection in children. Awareness of the antibiotic resistance of common bacteria causing UTI in each area has a large impact on infection improvement. The objective of this study is to evaluate the antibiotic resistance of bacteria causing UTI in two to 15 years old children referring to Fasa Vali-e-Asr hospital during 2012 and 2014. Materials & Methods: This cross sectional - descriptive study was done on 283 children with UTI that had positive urine culture. After identification of strains, the antibiotic sensitivity definition test, using antibiogram disk diffusion method, was done. Results: In this study, the most frequent isolates were Escherichia coli 64.3%, Klebsiella 14.5%, and staphylococci 6.4%. The highest sensitivity rate was to Ciprofloxacin and Nitrofurantoin and the highest resistance was to Co-trimoxazole and Cefalotin. Conclusion: Regarding the results, it is recommended to use Ciprofloxacin and Nitrofurantoin for outpatient treatment of UTI. Selecting proper antibiotics for UTI treatment should be on the basis of the local prevalence of pathogenic bacteria and antibiotic resistance pattern.


Introduction: Preeclampsia is a potentially devastating disease of pregnancy that complicates 2%-8% of all pregnancies in the United States and can threaten the life of both the mother and her unborn child. Manifesting after 20 weeks of gestation, preeclampsia is a multi-organ disorder defined as de novo hypertension. Objectives of the study: The main objective study is to analyses the maternal serum triglycerides levels in women with pre-eclampsia. Methodology of the study: This study was conducted at Allied Hospital, Faisalabad during 2019 to 2020. The data were collected from 100 pregnant females. According to the criteria for the definition of pre-eclampsia given by the International Society for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy. Peripheral fasting blood specimens were collected from all control and pre-eclamptic subjects. Blood was always collected before onset of labor. Serum was separated for analysis. Triglycerides were determined after enzymatic hydrolysis with lipases. The indicator was a quinoneimine formed from hydrogen peroxide, 4-aminop- henazone and 4-cholorophenol under the under the catalytic influence of peroxidase. Results: The age of the studied pregnant females ranged between 16 and 42 years. The mean age of cases (pre-eclamptic) and controls (normal) pregnant women was 29.6 (6.1) and 29.5 (6.1) years respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in the maternal ages of both groups. Body mass index, which was only recorded at the time of blood sampling was not significantly different. Mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures were significantly higher in pre-eclamptic group than in the normal pregnant groups. Conclusion: It is concluded that the women who develop pre-eclampsia had disturbed lipid profile due to abnormal lipid metabolism. Increased triglycerides levels and delayed triglycerides clearance and high blood pressure are the reasons for the development of preeclampsia.


Improper disposal of agricultural waste after harvesting season has posed serious health and environmental issues. Alternative methods to utilize agricultural waste to produce a value-added product, especially biofuel, have become the focus of research and industrial stakeholders. To make the process feasible, the maximum conversion should be achieved with the optimum operational condition. This research applied Response Surface Methodology (RSM) with the Box-Behnken design (BBD) to optimize sulfuric acid pretreatment of sugarcane bagasse by varying three pretreatment factors namely, acid concentration (0.5–3.5%), temperature (60–140℃), and time (20–100 min). Pretreated biomass was enzymatically hydrolyzed, and the effectiveness of pretreatment was examined according to the reducing sugar concentration. However, inhibitors namely, acetic acid, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF), and furfural were produced during pretreatment, which was analyzed through GC-MS analysis. The Box-Behnken design could optimize and correlate the effect of pretreatment parameters on the hydrolysis of sugarcane bagasse. The optimum pretreatment condition was predicted at an acid concentration of 3.50%, the temperature of 136.08℃, and the time of 75.36 min to obtain the maximum sugar production. Sugarcane bagasse pretreatment at optimum condition could produce a reducing sugar of 180.15 mg/g-sugarcane bagasse, which is 3.06 folds higher than untreated sugarcane bagasse. However, ethanol yield from pretreated biomass was less than unpretreated biomass because of the inhibitor formation. This study provides a new insight into utilizing agricultural waste in a more efficient and eco-friendly manner.


Banks are often excluded in corporate finance research mainly because of the regulatory concerns. Compares to non-bank firms, banks are heavily regulated due to its special economic role of money and the uncertainty. Heavy regulation on banks could reduce the information asymmetry between the managers and investor by limiting the behaviour of banks at the time of the Seasoned Equity Offering (SEO), and by increasing the incentive for banks to avoid excessive risk-taking. Therefore, the market may be less likely to assume that bank issued securities signal information that the bank is overvalued compared to their non-bank counterparts.
The objective of this thesis is therefore to examine commercial banks issued securities announcement effect. Three interrelated research questions are addressed in this thesis: 1) What is the difference in convertible bond announcement effect between banks and non-banks firm? 2) What is the difference in SEO announcement effect between banks and non-banks? 3) How do the stringency levels of bank regulation impact on the announcement effects of bank issued SEO?
By using the U.S. convertible bond and SEO data from 1982 to 2012, I find that the bank issued a convertible bond and SEO announcement experience higher cumulative abnormal return than non-bank. This is consistent with the view that bank regulation reveals positive information about banks. Since banks are heavily regulated, the market is less likely to assume that the issuance of the convertible bond and SEO by banks signals information that is overvalued. These results are robust after controlling for a number of firm-, issue-, and market-specific characteristics. These results are robust by considering the different categories of non-bank industries by undertaking tests in relation to the differences in the CARS upon convertible bond/ SEO across industries, as well as the unbalanced sample between banks and non-banks by using the matched sample analysis. However, the relation between the stringency level of bank regulation and bank issued securities announcement effect may be nonlinear. As hypothesised, I find that bank regulation has an inverted U-shaped relation with the announcement effect of bank SEO by using the SEO data across 21 countries from 2001 to 2012. Under a less bank regulation environment, the market reacts more positively to the bank SEO announcement for an increase in the level of bank regulation. However, the bank SEO announcement effects become more negative if the bank regulation becomes too stringent. This inverted U-shaped relationship is robust after I use the exogenous cross-country, cross-year variation in the timing of the Basel II adoption as the instrument to assess the causal impact of bank regulation on SEO announcement effects.
However, the stringency of regulation does not have a significant impact on the announcement effects of involuntary bank equity issuance.


OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the correlation between the pallidal local field potentials (LFPs) activity and the cortical oscillations (at rest and during several motor tasks) in two freely moving patients with generalized dystonia and pallidal deep brain stimulation (DBS).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Two women with isolated generalized dystonia were selected for bilateral globus pallidus internus (GPi) DBS. After the electrodes' implantation, cortical activity was recorded by a portable electroencephalography (EEG) system simultaneously with GPi LFPs activity, during several motor tasks, gait, and rest condition. Recordings were not performed during stimulation. EEG and LFPs signals relative to each specific movement were coupled together and grouped in neck/upper limbs movements and gait. Power spectral density (PSD), EEG-LFP coherence (through envelope of imaginary coherence operator), and 1/f exponent of LFP-PSD background were calculated.

RESULTS
In both patients, the pallidal LFPs PSD at rest was characterized by prominent 4-12 Hz activity. Voluntary movements increased activity in the theta (θ) band (4-7 Hz) compared to rest, in both LFPs and EEG signals. Gait induced a drastic raise of θ activity in both patients' pallidal activity, less marked for the EEG signal. A coherence peak within the 8-13 Hz range was found between pallidal LFPs and EEG recorded at rest.

CONCLUSIONS
Neck/upper limbs voluntary movements and gait suppressed the GPi-LFPs-cortical-EEG coherence and differently impacted both EEG and LFPs low frequency activity. These findings suggest a selective modulation of the cortico-basal ganglia network activity in dystonia.


Abstract Despite the ever-progressing technological advances in producing data in health and clinical research, the generation of new knowledge for medical benefits through advanced analytics still lags behind its full potential. Reasons for this obstacle are the inherent heterogeneity of data sources and the lack of broadly accepted standards. Further hurdles are associated with legal and ethical issues surrounding the use of personal/patient data across disciplines and borders. Consequently, there is a need for broadly applicable standards compliant with legal and ethical regulations that allow interpretation of heterogeneous health data through in silico methodologies to advance personalized medicine. To tackle these standardization challenges, the Horizon2020 Coordinating and Support Action EU-STANDS4PM initiated an EU-wide mapping process to evaluate strategies for data integration and data-driven in silico modelling approaches to develop standards, recommendations and guidelines for personalized medicine. A first step towards this goal is a broad stakeholder consultation process initiated by an EU-STANDS4PM workshop at the annual COMBINE meeting (COMBINE 2019 workshop report in same issue). This forum analysed the status quo of data and model standards and reflected on possibilities as well as challenges for cross-domain data integration to facilitate in silico modelling approaches for personalized medicine.


In the short run, the Bush tax cuts were one of the largest and best-timed uses of fiscal policy in history, helping to prevent a much worse downturn (but it would have been better still if the tax rate cuts had been immediate and real spending controls enacted simultaneously to take effect well into the economic expansion). In the medium run of five-to-ten years, the CBO projects gradually declining deficits and a debt-GDP ratio that rises slightly to peak at about 40% in two or three years, and then stabilizes for the rest of the decade through 2014 even as the tax cuts are made permanent, so long as the post-1998 splurge in non-defense discretionary spending is slowed substantially. This is hardly a debt spiraling out of control. The deficits will reduce domestic investment, but less than dollar-for-dollar. The effect is important, but hardly a cause for hysteria. Of course, President Bushs tax cuts and Senator Kerrys spending increases have ramifications well beyond the next decade, when fiscal pressures will become even more pronounced. In the long run of decades, the deficits in Social Security and Medicare are projected to be much larger than the unified deficit in the next ten years. Standard projections exceed fifty trillion dollars in present value, but may overstate the problem by assuming quite modest long-run annual growth, increases in health care outlays far in excess of GDP growth for the better part of a century (the only way that will happen is if the health benefits are sufficient for citizens to want to spend that much), large real benefit increases in Social Security, and continuous tax cuts to offset real bracket creep and the AMT. But even with less stark projections, there would still be large deficits and large tax increases looming. To avoid them, continuously rigorous spending control and major program reform is essential.


This article is based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out among what Lian Si (2009) has called China's 'ant tribe', referring to the millions of unemployed Chinese college graduates who live in the outskirts of Beijing and to some extent share the predicament of China's migrant workers. Education has been the main route to social mobility for centuries in China, but today college graduates are outnumbering jobs in China's large cities. I focus on the relationship between the fantasy of education as a route to social mobility and the actuality. By narrating the biographies of two university graduates, Jing Jing and Bai Gang, who attempted but partly failed to transcend the boundary between rural and urban China, I show how their quests for social mobility and a more fulfilling life were tied to economic, legal and cultural constraints. I argue that the quest for a better life through educational migration may lead to physical mobility, but that existential mobility is lacking and this sometimes leads to instances of suicide, just as is the case for Chinese migrant workers who feel trapped in appalling working conditions.


BACKGROUND
Psychotropic drugs are being used increasingly for the purpose of neuroenhancement. A survey conducted by Nature revealed that neuro-enhancing drugs were also being used quite widely by non-medical academics.

AIM
To investigate the extent to which psychiatrists and other doctors working in psychiatry in the Netherlands actually take neuro-enhancing drugs themselves, and to record their views on the use of such drug. The findings form a basis for an ethical debate about the use of neuro-enhancing drugs in the Netherlands.

METHOD
We transmitted an online questionnaire, based on the survey conducted by Nature, to as many as possible psychiatrists, trainees and other doctors working in psychiatry in the Netherlands.

RESULTS
11% of the respondents reported that they had occasionally taken neuro-enhancing medication without any medical reason in order to improve their own mental functioning. 66% of respondents felt that no-one should be allowed to take psychotropic drugs unless these have been prescribed for a strictly medical reason.

CONCLUSION
Compared to those who responded to the Nature survey, respondents to the Dutch survey seemed to have considerably more reservations about the private use of neuroenhancing drugs and seemed to be more critical about their use in general.


Linear regression models a relation between a response variable with regressor variables and produce regression model. Ordinary least squares (OLS) method is often utilized to estimate parameters of linear regression model. OLS method will produce the best linear unbiased estimates when all the assumptions are met. The "best" means the estimate is unbiased and has the minimum variance. However, in real data, those assumptions are often violated, such as the multicollinearity and outliers. Multicollinearity will produce a large variance of the regression parameters, while outliers will cause a biased estimate. Jackknife ridge M-estimator is recommended to be implemented in the model when these problems are present. Jackknife ridge M-estimator is a parameter estimation method of the regression with robust property, which makes robust to outliers, and ridge method is utilized to overcome multicollinearity. Whereas the jackknife method is utilized to reduce the bias from the result of the ridge method. In multiple linear regression, regression model could possibly contain many candidates for regressor variables. Subset selection method is utilized to select some of those regressors that best predicts the response variable. The selection criterion that can be utilized on the subset selection method when outlier and multicollinearity are present is the GSp criterion. The reason for this is because the GSp criterion is based on jackknife ridge M-estimator, which is able to solve the problem of outlier and multicollinearity. Furthermore, GSp criterion is implemented to obtain the best model on predicting IQ based on several predictors. It was found that IQ could be predicted by only doing 3 personality test which is test 1, test 3 and test 5 instead of all 5 different personality test.


In this paper, we analyze the occurrence of jitter due to random and deterministic disturbances in nonautonomous current-mode logic circuits. First, we present an analytical model that explains the transformation of noise into jitter as a linear time-variant process, with its time-domain impulse response function and a frequency-domain system function. The model is then used to analyze jitter in two different circuits, with different sources of noise. In the first example, we use the model to predict jitter due to device noise in a frequency divider, and identify devices that are the main contributors to the jitter. In the second example, we examine jitter of a buffer with deterministic ground noise. Jitter predictions are compared to the results obtained through exhaustive simulation. According to the comparison, the method predicts jitter with an error of up to 3.4%.


ABSTRACT Background Self-reported meat consumption is associated with disease risk but objective assessment of different dimensions of this heterogeneous dietary exposure in observational and interventional studies remains challenging. Objectives We aimed to derive and validate scores based on plasma metabolites for types of meat consumption. For the most predictive score, we aimed to test whether the included metabolites varied with change in meat consumption, and whether the score was associated with incidence of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and other noncommunicable diseases. Methods We derived scores based on 781 plasma metabolites for red meat, processed meat, and poultry consumption assessed with 7-d food records among 11,432 participants in the EPIC-Norfolk (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition-Norfolk) cohort. The scores were then tested for internal validity in an independent subset (n = 853) of the same cohort. In focused analysis on the red meat metabolite score, we examined whether the metabolites constituting the score were also associated with meat intake in a randomized crossover dietary intervention trial of meat (n = 12, Lyon, France). In the EPIC-Norfolk study, we assessed the association of the red meat metabolite score with T2D incidence (n = 1478) and other health endpoints. Results The best-performing score was for red meat, comprising 139 metabolites which accounted for 17% of the explained variance of red meat consumption in the validation set. In the intervention, 11 top-ranked metabolites in the red meat metabolite score increased significantly after red meat consumption. In the EPIC-Norfolk study, the red meat metabolite score was associated with T2D incidence (adjusted HR per SD: 1.17; 95% CI: 1.10, 1.24). Conclusions The red meat metabolite score derived and validated in this study contains metabolites directly derived from meat consumption and is associated with T2D risk. These findings suggest the potential for objective assessment of dietary components and their application for understanding diet–disease associations. The trial in Lyon, France, was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT03354130.


Image processing is basically the use of computer algorithms to perform image processing on digital images. Digital image processing is a part of digital signal processing. Digital image processing has many significant advantages over analog image processing. Image processing allows a much wider range of algorithms to be applied to the input data and can avoid problems such as the build-up of noise and signal distortion during processing of images. Wavelet transforms have become a very powerful tool for de-noising an image. One of the most popular methods is wiener filter. In this report four types of noise (Gaussian noise , Salt & Pepper noise, Speckle noise and Poisson noise) is used and image de-noising performed for different noise by Mean filter, Median filter and Wiener filter . Further results have been compared for all noises.


Although SN2 reactions have been thoroughly studied in polar aprotic and protic solvents, not many studies have been done to study the rate of SN2 reaction in nonpolar solvents like alkanes due to the insolubility of anionic nucleophiles in these solvents. In this study, we investigated the use of N,N-diethyl- N-methylammonium-terminated polyisobutylene oligomers as phase-solubilizing agents for nucleophilic anions that could react with hydrocarbon-soluble substrates in alkanes. The results of these kinetic studies showed alkanes were comparable to MeCN as solvents in many reactions. Based on these studies, we developed a solid/liquid catalytic process using insoluble alkali metal carboxylate salts and a recyclable soluble polyisobutylene-bound catalyst that can be used to carry out SN2 reactions both in heptane and in hydrocarbon oligomeric solvents known as poly(α-olefins) (PAOs).


Objective: To study the acceptability, efficacy, adverse effect and user satisfaction of Levonorgestrel intrauterine system (LNG IUS) for treatment of menorrahgia. Method: This was an observational descriptive study conducted in ESI PGIMSR over a period from Jan 2008-June 2011. 70 women presented in O.P.D with heavy menstrual bleeding having no contraindication for device, consenting for LNG IUS underwent its insertion. Menstrual pattern, pictorial blood loss assessment chart score, adverse effects, and rate of acceptability and satisfaction were recorded at 3, 6 and 12 months after procedure. Results: The mean age of the sample was 39.92 yrs ± 3.27. Indication for device insertion was DUB in 81.42% (57), fibroid 8.57% (6), adenomyosis in 10% (7). The expulsion rate was 4.2% (3), removal rate was 7.14% (5) and continuation rate is 88.57% (62). 2.28% (3) patients underwent hysterectomy because of continuous bleeding even after 3 - 4 months of insertion. On follow-up at one year out of 62 patients, 33.87% (21) were amenorrhic and 51.61% (32) have regular period, while 3.07% (2) patients had irregular period. Conclusion: LNG IUS is a less invasive, effective treatment modality for menorrahgia with reasonable efficacy.


The design, modeling and simulation are one of the key technologies of CAD/CAM software system. The mathematical model of the CAD/CAM system for machining spatial surface was given firstly. After the design idea of the CAD/CAM system was describe in detail, the workflow of the CAD/CAM software system was illustrated, and then data exchange mechanism was determined and detailed steps were given simultaneously. Under MFC framework, the CAD/CAM software system was finished using OpenGL, and the configuration and machining process simulation were carried out. All these works provide an effective approach to raising the productivity and precision of machining spatial curve surface part by WEDM-HS.


Abstract. Mining activities in cold regions are vulnerable to snow avalanches. Unlike operational facilities, which can be constructed in secure locations outside the reach of avalanches, access roads are often susceptible to being cut, leading to mine closures and significant financial losses. In this paper we discuss the application of avalanche runout modelling to predict the operational risk to mining roads, a long-standing problem for mines in high-altitude, snowy regions. We study the 35 km long road located in the "Cajon del rio Blanco" valley in the central Andes, which is operated by the Codelco Andina copper mine. In winter and early spring, this road is threatened by over 100 avalanche paths. If the release and snow cover conditions can be accurately specified, we find that avalanche dynamics modelling is able to represent runout, and safe traffic zones can be identified. We apply a detailed, physics-based snow cover model to calculate snow temperature, density and moisture content in three-dimensional terrain. This information is used to determine the initial and boundary conditions of the avalanche dynamics model. Of particular importance is the assessment of the current snow conditions along the avalanche tracks, which define the mass and thermal energy entrainment rates and therefore the possibility of avalanche growth and long runout distances.


A 36 year old female patient with two weeks history of right sided facial paralysis, presenting with inability to close right eye, which also had tearing and a burning sensation.In present time, due to fast life style, anxiety, stress etc., incidence of Vatavyadhi like Pakshaghata, Ardita etc is increasing. Aggravation of Vata is responsible to cause Ardita. On the basis of its origin and symptoms mentioned in Sushruta Samhita, Ardita can be correlated with facial paralysis or Bell's palsy caused by involvement of VII cranial nerve.  The great Indian sage Caraka, in his medical tome scripted in the second century BC describes the aetiology and management of Ardita. Bearing this idea in mind Nasya karma with panaspatra sveda was selected in present case.  There was no previous history of similar symptoms or a recent infection. Prior treatment had included oral steroids. The patient perceived a 70% to 80% improvement of facial movement after the first treatment. After the second treatment, the patient reported full control of his facial movement.


Today's indoor navigational systems are more and more in demand, commonly used for applications such as smart cities, robots and visually impaired people. As far as outdoor navigation is concerned, the Global Positioning System (GPS) technology is still one of the most (if not the most) commonly used approaches. Even though it is still considered an ideal solution for navigating in outdoor areas, challenges and problems arise when GPS is considered for navigation inside buildings due to obstacles (e.g., shopping malls, hospitals, etc.) and because signals cannot be absorbed by the building walls. To tackle the aforementioned issue, other technologies have emerged aimed at indoor navigation, such as Wireless-Fidelity (Wi-Fi), Bluetooth and sensors. This paper's contribution is towards indoor navigation and, more specifically, it targets designing and developing a tracking and navigation system aimed at people that experience difficulties in indoor orientation using a wearable device. The user takes direction from the wearable device for the indoor orientation through voice commands helping him to avoid obstacles. The central part of the system is a device that provides the ability to navigate and find a route by voice commands, based on the device's location and orientation capabilities. Keywords-GuideMe; indoor navigation; trilateration; pathfinding; UWB; BLE: people with special needs.


No attempt will be made to summarize in any formal way the "pot-pourri" of experiments we have considered in this chapter. It may occur to some that immunologists as a group have been somewhat removed from the advances made in cellular biology during the last decade. Specifically, they may appear to lack an appreciation of the many ways in which durgs like the cytochalasins can affect cell function. Perhaps because of this naivety however, the immunologists have used the cytochalasins to probe systems so complex that they would never have been comtemplated by more conservative investigaors. In doing so they have revealed insight into many systems that will hopefully be of broad biolgical interest. To date the insights have been mostly of a rather superficial nature and clearly demand more thorough investigation. If they are to be done, such studies will have to be performed by non-immunologists bringing new tools and new perspectives to bear on the immunologists' problems.


Cardiac conduction system (CCS) disease, which results in disrupted conduction and impaired cardiac rhythm, is common with significant morbidity and mortality. Current treatment options are limited, and rational efforts to develop cell-based and regenerative therapies require knowledge of the molecular networks that establish and maintain CCS function. Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous loci associated with adult human CCS function, including TBX5 and SCN5A. We hypothesized that TBX5, a critical developmental transcription factor, regulates transcriptional networks required for mature CCS function. We found that deletion of Tbx5 from the mature murine ventricular conduction system (VCS), including the AV bundle and bundle branches, resulted in severe VCS functional consequences, including loss of fast conduction, arrhythmias, and sudden death. Ventricular contractile function and the VCS fate map remained unchanged in VCS-specific Tbx5 knockouts. However, key mediators of fast conduction, including Nav1.5, which is encoded by Scn5a, and connexin 40 (Cx40), demonstrated Tbx5-dependent expression in the VCS. We identified a TBX5-responsive enhancer downstream of Scn5a sufficient to drive VCS expression in vivo, dependent on canonical T-box binding sites. Our results establish a direct molecular link between Tbx5 and Scn5a and elucidate a hierarchy between human GWAS loci that affects function of the mature VCS, establishing a paradigm for understanding the molecular pathology of CCS disease.


Mudrock strength parameters are required to improve the prediction of fracture gradient during drilling in poorly consolidated formations. Understanding the influence that mineral composition and consolidation stress have on the mechanical properties of mudrocks aids safe well design. Small changes in the mudrock clay content are shown to have significant effects on two important engineering parameters: the lateral stress ratio at rest, K0, and the critical state effective friction angle, ϕ′cs. A laboratory-testing programme using quartz silt and a Gulf of Mexico clay mixture investigates the effects of mudrock clay content on K0 and ϕ′cs at two stress levels: 1 and 10 MPa. Values of K0 and ϕ′cs were obtained by subjecting composition-controlled clay–silt specimens to a drained uniaxial vertical strain (K0 consolidation) phase, followed by an undrained compression triaxial shear phase. Triaxial tests illustrate consistent and systematic increases in K0 and decreases in ϕ′cs, with increases in clay content at both stress levels. Stress dependence is observed through increases in K0 and decreases in ϕ′cs with increases in stress level. Stress-dependent behaviour is shown to be more pronounced in mudrocks of high clay content. A predictive model is presented for K0 in normally consolidated mudrocks, as a function of clay content and effective stress. The model is used to calculate the fracture gradient (least horizontal stress) profile at the International Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 308 Site 1324. The estimated fracture gradient illustrates the effects of clay content and consolidation stress on safe mud weight design. Thematic collection: This article is part of the Geopressure collection available at: https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/geopressure


Background Serial serum B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP or NT-BNP) testing to guide the titration of drug therapy (known as BNP monitoring) may improve clinical outcomes in patients with heart failure (HF). We used primary care data from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) linked with secondary care data from Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) to determine whether BNP monitoring compared with symptom-guided monitoring (usual care) is associated with reduced risk of death and all-cause hospital admission. Methods This is a population based cohort study. We identified incident HF patients in CPRD between April 2005 and April 2013 from Read codes. Our initial definition of HF included both specific HF diagnosis codes and symptom-based codes. Patients were classified as BNP monitored or not based on the rate of BNP testing; monitoring was defined as: ≥6 months of exposure time and ≥3 BNP tests carried out with ≥2 tests per year. All-cause mortality and hospital admissions were identified through linked Office for National Statistics (ONS) and HES data, respectively. Results Our cohort included 40,125 patients with incident HF. Of these, 100 (0.3%) were BNP monitored, 5,839 (14.6%) were BNP tested but did not meet our monitoring definition, and 34,186 (85.2%) were never tested. The groups were comparable with respect to gender, age, co-morbidities and social deprivation index. Median survival for the BNP monitored, tested and never tested groups was 3.2 years, 5.4 years and 3.6 years, respectively, and median time to first all-cause hospitalisation was 0.7 years, 0.6 years and 0.4 years, respectively. Conclusion The proportion of patients identified as BNP monitored was low. Patients who were BNP monitored had poor survival, indicating that they were sicker. We are currently investigating whether our definition of monitoring represents repeated diagnostic testing (e.g. on admission to hospital with acute HF exacerbation). We are also conducting survival analyses accounting for patient-level confounding. Analyses will be repeated for cohorts identified using different incidence algorithms. There were challenges in setting up and analysing the study: how to manage the large size of the dataset (90,000,000 rows of data in the clinical CPRD dataset alone); there is no standard Read code set that general practitioners use to record HF; data are stored in multiple places (e.g. BNP tests are in the clinical and test datasets) in different ways (e.g. test done/not done or test result) and inconsistently across patients; and medication doses are recorded inconsistently.


Peptoids are a versatile family of oligomeric synthetic molecules that can be customized for many applications. The submonomer solid-phase synthesis of peptoids allows for quick and inexpensive manufacturing and the selection of side chains is nearly limitless. In addition, peptoids that include chiral, aromatic side chains form stable helical secondary structure that leads to the potential for the formation of supramolecular assemblies. The effects of water solubility, helical content, charge placement, and side chain bulk on microsphere formation were studied for seven peptoid sequences. We found that secondary structure and partial water solubility were essential for microsphere formation. In addition, charge placement and side chain bulk affect both the ability to form microspheres and the diameter of the microspheres.


Abstract The waters along the West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) have experienced warming and increased freshwater inputs from melting sea ice and glaciers in recent decades. Challenges exist in understanding the consequences of these changes on the inorganic carbon system in this ecologically important and highly productive ecosystem. Distributions of dissolved inorganic carbon (CT), total alkalinity (AT) and nutrients revealed key physical, biological and biogeochemical controls of the calcium carbonate saturation state (Ωaragonite) in different water masses across the WAP shelf during the summer. Biological production in spring and summer dominated changes in surface water Ωaragonite (ΔΩaragonite up to +1.39; ~90%) relative to underlying Winter Water. Sea-ice and glacial meltwater constituted a minor source of AT that increased surface water Ωaragonite (ΔΩaragonite up to +0.07; ~13%). Remineralization of organic matter and an influx of carbon-rich brines led to cross-shelf decreases in Ωaragonite in Winter Water and Circumpolar Deep Water. A strong biological carbon pump over the shelf created Ωaragonite oversaturation in surface waters and suppression of Ωaragonite in subsurface waters. Undersaturation of aragonite occurred at < ~1000 m. Ongoing changes along the WAP will impact the biologically driven and meltwater-driven processes that influence the vulnerability of shelf waters to calcium carbonate undersaturation in the future.


In soft-tissue sarcoma patients, enhanced expression of NG2/CSPG4 proteoglycan in pre-surgical primary tumours predicts post-surgical metastasis formation and thereby stratifies patients into disease-free survivors and patients destined to succumb to the disease. Both primary and secondary sarcoma lesions also up-regulate collagen type VI, a putative extracellular matrix ligand of NG2, and this matrix alteration potentiates the prognostic impact of NG2. Enhanced constitutive levels of the proteoglycan in isolated sarcoma cells closely correlate with a superior engraftment capability and local growth in xenogenic settings. This apparent NG2-associated malignancy was also corroborated by the diverse tumorigenic behaviour in vitro and in vivo of immunoselected NG2-expressing and NG2-deficient cell subsets, by RNAi-mediated knock down of endogenous NG2, and by ectopic transduction of full-length or deletion constructs of NG2. Cells with modified expression of NG2 diverged in their interaction with purified Col VI, matrices supplemented with Col VI, and cell-free matrices isolated from wild-type and Col VI null fibroblasts. The combined use of dominant-negative NG2 mutant cells and purified domain fragments of the collagen allowed us to pinpoint the reciprocal binding sites within the two molecules and to assert the importance of this molecular interaction in the control of sarcoma cell adhesion and motility. The NG2-mediated binding to Col VI triggered activation of convergent cell survival- and cell adhesion/migration-promoting signal transduction pathways, implicating PI-3K as a common denominator. Thus, the findings point to an NG2-Col VI interplay as putatively involved in the regulation of the cancer cell-host microenvironment interactions sustaining sarcoma progression.


Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is a strong candidate for future wireless communication because it is marked by its higher frequency multiplicity and greater immunity to multipath fading. However, the main drawback of OFDM is its high amplitude fluctuations measured by Peak-to-average Power ratio (PAPR), which leads to power inefficiency and requires expensive High power amplifier (HPA) with very good linearity. In this paper, we propose PTS (partial transmit sequence) with MCS (minimal control synthesis) technique to decrease the non-linear distortion and to improve the power efficiency of the non-linear HPA. In the proposed method PTS reduces the PAPR and improves the power efficiency, MCS improves the bit error rate performance of the system. Keywords—OFDM, PAPR, CPTS, Nonlinear HPA


This output included an 18 residency and solo exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, organised by Gill Saunders (senior curator, Word and Image Department), with support from Arts Council England (£11,200). Due to the residency's, it has recently been extended until December 2008. The work undertaken was part of Bowen's long-term project to pioneer new forms of audience engagement for drawing. Bowen collaborated with curators and conservators to create graphic works to be shown alongside material from the V&A archives. She also sought the expertise of the Science Museum's senior curator, Neil Brown, to help construct a replica 18th century Claude Glass which was used as a drawing tool to observe and record the real-time events that effect exhibited works in the V&A galleries (i.e. ambient light and shifting reflections). A substantial publication accompanies the project (Art Editions North and V&A Publications). This includes essays by Cork, Godfrey, Saunders and Webber. A lecture on the residency was given by Bowen at the launch hosted by the Daiwa Foundation. The residency allowed Bowen to place the intimacy of studio processes within the context of an environment dedicated to the dissemination of cultural knowledge. A weblog (www.vam.ac.uk/sianbowen) charted the unfolding nature of her experiments and the Museum's public lectures series provided opportunities to meet and address museum visitors. Bowen's interest in the external and provisional qualities that effect drawings led to her inclusion in David Buckman's book, 'Artists in Britain Since 1945', Art Dictionaries Ltd, 2006, and Deanna Petherbridge's lecture series on contemporary drawing practice, 'Drawing towards Enquiry. Enquiry towards Drawing', National Gallery, March 2006. Similar works also appeared in 'Drawing Breath - 10 Years of the Jerwood Drawing Prize'. The V&A residency has led to Bowen being nominated for the Northern Arts Prize, Leeds Art Gallery, 2007 (catalogue forthcoming).


This paper presents an analysis on the influence of distance mismatches in the standard gradient-based rigid formation control for second-order agents. It is shown that, akin to the first-order case as recently discussed in literature, these mismatches introduce two undesired group behaviors: a distorted final shape and a steady-state motion of the group formation. We show that such undesired behaviors can be eliminated by combining the standard rigid formation control law with distributed estimators. Finally, we show how the mismatches can be effectively employed as design parameters in order to control a combined translational and rotational motion of the formation.


Understanding scenes in movies is crucial for a variety of applications such as video moderation, search, and recommendation. However, labeling individual scenes is a time-consuming process. In contrast, movie level metadata (e.g., genre, synopsis, etc.) regularly gets produced as part of the film production process, and is therefore significantly more commonly available. In this work, we propose a novel contrastive learning approach that uses movie metadata to learn a general-purpose scene representation. Specifically, we use movie metadata to define a measure of movie similarity, and use it during contrastive learning to limit our search for positive scene-pairs to only the movies that are considered similar to each other. Our learned scene representation consistently outperforms existing state-of-the-art methods on a diverse set of tasks evaluated using multiple benchmark datasets. Notably, our learned representation offers an average improvement of 7.9% on the seven classification tasks and 9.7% improvement on the two regression tasks in LVU dataset. Furthermore, using a newly collected movie dataset, we present comparative results of our scene representation on a set of video moderation tasks to demonstrate its generalizability on previously less explored tasks.


AIM
Healthcare is delivered by teams, but the training of healthcare staff is commonly undertaken in professional silos. This study investigated local perspectives on the sustainability of NetworkZ, a New Zealand national simulation-based multi-disciplinary operating room team training programme.

METHOD
Local course instructors and managers were invited to participate in semi-structured interviews. Diffusion of innovations theory was utilised to frame deductive thematic analysis of interview data.

RESULTS
Twenty-seven people participated. Interviewees described valuing NetworkZ for its multi-disciplinary orientation, in-situ delivery, scenario realism, relevance to teamwork and communication and potential for generalisability to other settings. Interviewees also identified NetworkZ as generating improvements in teamwork and crisis management. NetworkZ was described as complex, due to multidisciplinary participation and the multiple roles and skillsets of instructors needed to run simulations smoothly, making the programme resource intensive to deliver.

CONCLUSION
NetworkZ is appreciated as a valuable and unique programme for developing important teamwork and communication skills. Its sustainability is dependent on adequate resourcing and funding.


Cleft lip and palate has had a high frequency in the Chilean population. From the year 2000 a flour fortification program with folic acid was initiated in order to reduce the defects of the neural tube. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of the incorporation of folic acid in the incidence of cleft lip and palate of the population of the western area of the Metropolitan Region. Information was collected from clinical records of the Gantz Foundation, selecting newborns from 1990 to 2009, corresponding to the districts of the western sector of the Metropolitan Region. From 2000 to 2004 there was a significant decrease in cleft lip and palate rates, with a rate of 0.88 cases per 1000 live births. Subsequently, an increase was observed from 2005 to 2009, reaching a rate of 1.52 cases per 1000 live births. In conclusion, the protective effect of folic acid is evidenced in the reduction of the rates of newborns with cleft palate during the first years of its implementation. However, an increase in these rates was subsequently observed, which could be due to noncompliance with the standard.


In 2015, meningeal lymphatic vessels (mLVs) were (re)discovered in mice and human dura specimens. Two years later, the first report was published showing that mLVs can be detected in humans in vivo by high-resolution 3 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In 2017 and 2018, two further studies reported the successful MRI-based detection of mLVs in vivo in humans. The aim of our study was to provide further evidence of the possibility to detect mLVs in vivo with MRI in humans. To this end, MR images already available from one subject (the first author) were analyzed. We detected mLVs in the coronal plane at the bilateral superior lateral corners of the superior sagittal sinus (SSS) as well as below the SSS, in agreement with the two other published reports about the in vivo detection of mLVS in humans with MRI. Our report is thus, to the best of our knowledge, the fourth published report about in vivo MR imaging of human mLVs.


A Decision Support System (DSS) aiding in the management of boreal river basins was constructed as a part of the RiverLife project (partly funded by EU). The goals for the DSS were to allow the users an easy access to relevant and accurate information on boreal river ecology and hydrology, and to provide relevant computational methods for analysing and applying the data to practical problems. The main use for the system is to support informed decision making in river basin management, other possible uses are to aid river ecology investigations by providing background information, and as an interactive educational tool in river basin ecology studies. The DSS integrates the knowledge of river ecology experts, available on-line database information related to river catchment, geographical data, and hydrological modelling methods into one system. The database information is available through a map-based graphical query system, which is also used to display geographical data and hydrological modelling results. The expert knowledge, included mostly in a form of www-documents, is linked to other information through task and problem oriented approach. The user can apply predefined management problem cases to a specific location by setting scenario parameters to reflect the current case. An example case could be finding out the quantitative effect of re-ditching to suspended sediment concentration in the river water, and describing the effects to river ecology. The DSS development was done in co-operation with the end users using prototypes. This was seen as a way to create a usable system applicable to real problems. Other goals in development were user friendliness of the system, the possibility to modify and extend it to cover future needs, and www-distribution of the DSS and related data.


There is concern for Toronto's outdated, underutilized, and underdeveloped transit hubs and their subsequent lack of developed public spaces. One such hub is Toronto's Union Station, central portal of the GTA's mass transit system. This site was selected for a comprehensive analysis and critique of the station's physiology, the urban morphology of its immediate context, and its future needs. Research found that the station and its context are poorly organized requiring a redesign to unify the disjointed characteristics of the site. A design proposal formulates a continuous surface of public space over a redesigned train hall that stretches over the rail lands to bind, connect, and integrate an urban park in order to reorganize the area existing venues and to recognize the station's importance as the region's and city's central transit hub.


We compare global methods for solving models with jump discontinuities in policy functions. We find that differences between Value Function Iteration (VFI) and other methods are economically significant and Euler equation errors fail to be a sufficient measure of accuracy in such models. VFI fails to accurately identify both the location and size of jump discontinuities, while the Endogenous Grid Method (EGM) and the Finite Element Method (FEM) are much better at approximating this class of models. We further show that combining value function iteration with a local interpolation step (VFI-INT) is sufficient to obtain accurate approximations. The combination of computational speed, relatively easy implementation and adaptability make VFI-INT especially suitable for approximating models with jump discontinuities in policy functions: while EGM is the fastest method it relatively complex to implement; implementation of VFI-INT is relatively straightforward and it is much faster than FEM.


The chapters in this volume represent some of Dennis Wrong's best and most enduring essays. Initially published as "Skeptical Sociology, " this collection displays his ability to write compellingly for general intellectual audiences as well as for academic sociologists. The book is divided into sections that represent Wrong's major areas of interest and investigation: "Human Nature and the Perspective of Sociology," "Social Stratification and Inequality," and "Power and Politics." Each section is preceded by a short introduction that places the articles in context and elaborates and often sheds new light on the contents. The essays in the first section were written with polemical intent, directed against the assumptions of academic sociology that prevailed in an earlier period. Part two calls attention to the neglect by functionalists of power, group conflict, and historical change; Wrong shows that failure to consider them made functional theories of stratification especially vulnerable. The third section is more heterogeneous in subject and theme than the others; all the essays in it touch in some way on power or politics. Included in this volume is Wrong's celebrated and much-quoted article "The Oversocialized Conception of Man in Modern Sociology." Other significant essays reveal the author's views on many timely topics of sociological concern, such as the quests for "community" and for "identity"; the Freudian, Marxian, and Weberian heritages in sociology; social class in America; meritocracy; a theory of democratic politics; humanist, positivist, and functionalist perspectives; and the sociology of the future. "The Oversocialized Conception of Man" is an indispensable volume for sociologists, political theorists, and historians. "Dennis H. Wrong" is emeritus professor of sociology at New York University. He is the author of "The Problem of Order, Population and Society, Class Fertility Trends in Western Nations, Power: Its Forms, Bases, and Uses (also published by Transaction), and The Modern Condition (forthcoming).


Considering the weapon materiel maintenance condition, intelligence theory and method such as expert system and neural network is introduced in BIT technology. BIT intelligence maintenance decision in materiel maintenance field is discussed. The realization of materiel intelligence BIT reflects the concurrent design concept of system exploitation. Level integrated intelligence BIT system organization framework is adopted. BIT comprehensive decision-making and maintenance expert system structure is designed, and its implementation plan based on BIT is offered, which can enhance the fault diagnosis capability of modern complicated weapon materiel.


A major challenge in heterogeneous catalysis is controlling reaction selectivity, especially in complex environments. When more than one species is present in the gas mixture, the competition for binding sites on the surface of a catalyst is an important factor in determining reaction selectivity and activity. We establish an experimental hierarchy for the binding of a series of reaction intermediates on Au(111) and demonstrate that this hierarchy accounts for reaction selectivity on both the single crystal surface and under operating catalytic conditions at atmospheric pressure using a nanoporous Au catalyst. A partial set of measurements of relative binding has been measured by others on other catalyst materials, including Ag, Pd and metal oxide surfaces; a comparison demonstrates the generality of this concept and identifies differences in the trends. Theoretical calculations for a subset of reactants on Au(111) show that weak van der Waals interactions are key to predicting the hierarchy of binding strengths for alkoxides bound to Au(111). This hierarchy is key to the control of the selectivity for partial oxidation of alcohols to esters on both Au surfaces and under working catalytic conditions using nanoporous gold. The selectivity depends on the competition for active sites among key intermediates. New results probing the effect of fluorine substitution are also presented to extend the relation of reaction selectivity to the hierarchy of binding. Motivated by an interest in synthetic manipulation of fluorinated organics, we specifically investigated the influence of the -CF3 group on alcohol reactivity and selectivity. 2,2,2-Trifluoroethanol couples on O-covered Au(111) to yield CF3CH2O-C([double bond, length as m-dash]O)(CF3), but in the presence of methanol or ethanol it preferentially forms the respective 2,2,2-trifluoroethoxy-esters. The ester is not the dominant product in any of these cases, though, indicating that the rate of β-H elimination from adsorbed trifluoroethoxy is slower than that for either adsorbed methoxy or ethoxy, consistent with their relative estimated β-C-H bond strengths. The measured equilibrium constants for the competition for binding to the surface are 2.9 and 0.38 for ethanol and methanol, respectively, vs. 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol, indicating that the binding strength of 2,2,2-trifluoroethoxy is weaker than ethoxy, but stronger than methoxy. These results are consistent with weakening of the interactions between the surface and the alkyl group due to Pauli repulsion of the electron-rich CF3 group from the surface, which offsets the van der Waals attraction. These experiments provide guiding principles for understanding the effect of fluorination on heterogeneous synthesis and further demonstrate the key role of molecular structure in determining reaction selectivity.


Rockdale County GA performed a watershed assessment to develop a management plan that will provide for water quality protection while achieving other local objectives, including expansion of water supply and wastewater treatment capacity. The project team applied an innovative planning process that links management objectives, assessment information, predictive modeling tools, and stakeholder participation to tailor management to risks. For each management objective, the County established one or more measurable quantities (indicators) to assess current condition and the risk of not meeting the objective in the future. The use of a target (i.e., the value that the County wants to achieve) for each indicator provided a basis for identifying significant risks and for evaluating which management options best achieve the targets. Quantitative models that predict the indicators provided the tools to support both watershed assessment and management planning. The results provided an effective means for the County and stakeholders to evaluate management options, and achieve a higher degree of confidence that the selected plans will be successful.


Brown algae include the strongest accumulators of iodine known among living systems. This paper reviews the current state of bioinorganic research in the field, focusing on the models Laminaria digitata, Macrocystis pyrifera and Ectocarpus siliculosus, and covering uptake and efflux, localization and biological significance of storage, as well as marine and atmospheric chemistry of iodine.