1,2 Department of Veterinary Public Health, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, Thrissur, Kerala, India 680 651 ________________________________________________________________________________________ Abstract Investigations were carried out to study the inhibitory effect of ginger (Zingiber officinale) and garlic (Allium sativum) extracts at 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 7.0 and 10.0 per cent level in vitro on Escherichia coli and Listeria monocytogenes by spectrophotometer method. Both the spices exhibited bacteriostatic effect against both the test organisms. The inhibitory effect increased with the increase in the concentration of extracts. The garlic extract was more effective against E. coli than L. monocytogenes. Ginger extract was effective in restricting the growth of E. coli at 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 per cent level. The minimum inhibitory effect of ginger extract was found to be 8.7 and 8.5 for E. coli and L. monocytogenes respectively, whereas in case of garlic extract it was 9.1 and 8.0, respectively. It was concluded that both the spices possess a good potential to act as natural preservative. _________________________________________________________________________________


We propose and evaluate a down-sampled controller which reduces the network usage while providing a guaranteed desired linear quadratic control performance. This method is based on fast and slow sampling intervals, as the closed-system benefits by being brought quickly to steady-state conditions while behaving satisfactorily when being actuated at a slow rate once at those conditions. This mechanism is shown to provide large savings with respect to network usage when compared to traditional periodic time-triggered control and other aperiodic controllers proposed in the literature.


Assessing anthropogenic effects on biological diversity, identifying drivers of human behavior, and motivating behavioral change are at the core of effective conservation. Yet knowledge of people's behaviors is often limited because the true extent of natural resource exploitation is difficult to ascertain, particularly if it is illegal. To obtain estimates of rule‐breaking behavior, a technique has been developed with which to ask sensitive questions. We used this technique, unmatched‐count technique (UCT), to provide estimates of bushmeat poaching, to determine motivation and seasonal and spatial distribution of poaching, and to characterize poaching households in the Serengeti. We also assessed the potential for survey biases on the basis of respondent perceptions of understanding, anonymity, and discomfort. Eighteen percent of households admitted to being involved in hunting. Illegal bushmeat hunting was more likely in households with seasonal or full‐time employment, lower household size, and longer household residence in the village. The majority of respondents found the UCT questions easy to understand and were comfortable answering them. Our results suggest poaching remains widespread in the Serengeti and current alternative sources of income may not be sufficiently attractive to compete with the opportunities provided by hunting. We demonstrate that the UCT is well suited to investigating noncompliance in conservation because it reduces evasive responses, resulting in more accurate estimates, and is technically simple to apply. We suggest that the UCT could be more widely used, with the trade‐off being the increased complexity of data analyses and requirement for large sample sizes.


The last two decades have seen a major resurgence of interest, both commercial and scientific, in the early Paleogene stratigraphy of northwest Europe. The commercial interest has arisen primarily as a result of major oil and gas finds in the central and Northern North Sea, mostly in deep-water sandstones of late Paleocene to mid Eocene age. Increased interest in the onshore sections has been stimulated partly in response to the offshore hydrocarbon exploration, but largely through the activities of international (IUGS/IGCP) working groups, whose primary concern is the establishment of a globally standardized system of series and stages. The onshore sections of the southern North Sea Basin area are of particular importance in these investigations, because they include the historical stratotypes for the Paleocene and Eocene series and for their constituent stages. Unfortunately, these historical stratotypes are inappropriate as global stratotypes because of their stratigraphic incompleteness, and their limited representation of the standard Paleogene biozones. Only through the fullest understanding of these historical stratotype sections, however, can we ensure that the standard stages are defined in a way that ensures the maximum compatibility with traditional assignments in NW Europe (Knox 1994; Schmitz 1994). For a long time the commercially driven and scientifically driven lines of investigation proceeded more or less independently, partly because of the confidential nature of the offshore investigations and partly because of difficulties in correlating widely separated sections of strongly contrasting lithofacies and biofacies. For these reasons, the earlier stratigraphic compliations for the Paleogene of northwest. Europe


In this article, we describe a simplified approach to teach students to assess information obtained from diverse sources. Three broad categories (credibility, content, and currency; 3C) were used to evaluate information from textbooks, monographs, popular magazines, scholarly journals, and the World Wide Web. This 3C approach used in an inquiry course for freshmen in an undergraduate science program can be readily transferred to other settings.


This study was aimed at comparing the optimal thermodynamic performance of subcritical and supercritical organic Rankine cycle (ORC) plants for waste heat recovery from ship engines. The technical impacts of adopting a supercritical ORC scheme relative to the usual subcritical one have not been explicitly reported in the literature for heat recovery in ship engines, hence this study. The fluids R245fa, R134a, and R600a were employed for analysis due to their versatility in real systems. The ORC plants were modeled and optimized in MATLAB using established zero-dimensional models to satisfy the First Law mass and energy balances. Results showed that introducing a recuperator would increase ORC performance. For the R600a which exhibited the best performance among the 3 working fluids, a net power output of 488.3 kW was obtained for the subcritical ORC without a recuperator (SYS A) and 543.7 kW for the one with a recuperator (SYS B). Furthermore, a switch to a supercritical ORC configuration increased the net power by about 29% for R134a and 10% for R600a, and increased the thermal efficiency by about 2.2 percentage points for R134a and 0.5 percentage points for R600a, referencing the supercritical configuration without a recuperator (SYS C) and SYS A.


With examples from Scandiaconsult, a Scandinavian engineering consultant company, this paper is an exploration of some of the constructive mythological aspects of living knowledge emerging in the symbolic interaction of organizational work life. Framed within the overall challenge of organizational knowledge sharing, and the approach of the communal resource as a (partial) solution to that, we more specifically look at ways of broadening the opportunity structures for knowledge sharing through the twin principles of organizational myths and rituals ‐ as processes whereby people can identify and tap into the reservoir of living knowledge in the organization life, often in the realm of the informal or shadow organization. We explore in what ways the myths and rituals can leverage knowledge sharing especially in the face of distributed work environments inhabited by multiplex interested knowledge workers, and in our case with the additional challenge of mergers and acquisitions. We argue that active mythmaking is very far from manipulation or plain rhetoric, but rather a complex and interwoven processes of displaying cultural premises and transforming barriers and misbelieves into trustworthy relationships, and thus rendering possible conditions for lowering the costs of knowledge sharing. The mythmaking, of course, has to be deeply interwoven with the already existing mythic reservoir.


Multi‐decadal to centennial‐scale shifts in effective moisture over the past two millennia are inferred from sedimentary records from six lakes spanning a ~250 km region in northwest Ontario. This is the first regional application of a technique developed to reconstruct drought from drainage lakes (open lakes with surface outlets). This regional network of proxy drought records is based on individual within‐lake calibration models developed using diatom assemblages collected from surface sediments across a water‐depth gradient. Analysis of diatom assemblages from sediment cores collected close to the near‐shore ecological boundary between benthic and planktonic diatom taxa indicated this boundary shifted over time in all lakes. These shifts are largely dependent on climate‐driven influences, and can provide a sensitive record of past drought. Our lake‐sediment records indicate two periods of synchronous signals, suggesting a common large‐scale climate forcing. The first is a period of prolonged aridity during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA, c. 900‐1400 CE). Documentation of aridity across this region expands the known spatial extent of the MCA megadrought into a region that historically has not experienced extreme droughts such as those in central and western north America. The second synchronous period is the recent signal of the past ~100 years, which indicates a change to higher effective moisture that may be related to anthropogenic forcing on climate. This approach has the potential to fill regional gaps, where many previous paleo‐lake depth methods (based on deeper centrally located cores) were relatively insensitive. By filling regional gaps, a better understanding of past spatial patterns in drought can be used to assess the sensitivity and realism of climate model projections of future climate change. This type of data is especially important for validating high spatial resolution, regional climate models.


Background. Evidence remains mixed as to the effectiveness of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in treating mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Objective. In this study, we examined the short- and long-term effects of patterned rTMS. Methods. We randomly assigned 35 patients with PD with MCI to two groups. One group received intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS; n = 20), and the other received its sham counterpart (n = 15). The stimulations were applied over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex for 10 consecutive weekdays. Measurements based on the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) were conducted at three time points: at baseline, immediately after the last intervention and at 3-month follow-up. Each patient received a 99mTc-TRODAT-1 single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) brain scan at baseline. Results. The iTBS group exhibited significantly greater improvement than the sham group did in total RBANS and MoCA scores (p < .001 for both) immediately after intervention and at the 3-month follow-up. Radiotracer uptake in the bilateral basal ganglion in baseline SPECT was positively correlated with response to iTBS conditioning with respect to improvements in MoCA scores (p = .021). Conclusion. This randomised controlled trial provides evidence that a consecutive iTBS protocol can achieve a persistent and wide-ranging therapeutic effect in patients with PD with MCI.


BACKGROUND
Oral sucrose (75 g) ingested 40 minutes before exercise improves exercise tolerance in McArdle disease.

OBJECTIVE
To determine whether a lower dose of sucrose administered closer in time to exercise could have a similar beneficial effect on exercise capacity in patients with McArdle disease.

DESIGN
Placebo-controlled crossover.

SETTING
Neuromuscular Research Unit at the Department of Neurology, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark.

PATIENTS
Six patients with biochemically and genetically diagnosed McArdle disease.

INTERVENTIONS
On separate days, the patients were tested after ingestion of either 75 g of sucrose or a placebo 40 minutes before exercise, or 37 g of sucrose or a placebo 5 minutes before exercise. Patients were blinded to test substances.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Treatment effectiveness was assessed by monitoring heart rate and perceived exertion during exercise.

RESULTS
Both sucrose treatments dramatically improved exercise tolerance, compared with the placebo. The low-dose, 5-minute sucrose trial had a more sustained effect on exercise capacity than the 40-minute trial. The more sustained effect was probably related to more continuous glucose uptake from the intestine and correspondingly higher circulating glucose levels later during exercise.

CONCLUSIONS
This study shows that 37 g of sucrose ingested shortly before exercise has a marked and prolonged effect on exercise tolerance in patients with McArdle disease. This treatment is more convenient for the patients and saves more calories than the currently recommended sucrose treatment.


Recent concern about the nature of different literacies points to the need to examine the place of language in differentiating literacies, as a factor which shapes the nature of literacy acquisition and practices. This paper looks at evidence for the relationship between languages and literacies, their purposes, and social meanings, in the multilingual context of Northern Ghana. After describing the characteristics of this multilingualism, the paper reports observed literacy practices in the religious, economic, personal, and "meetings" domains, in an attempt to understand how multilingual usage by individuals and communities affects such practices. The paper concludes by asking in what ways languages, in this context, are determinants of different literacies.


We compute the one loop corrections from quantum gravity to the self-mass-squared of a massless, minimally coupled scalar on a locally de Sitter background. The calculation was done using dimensional regularization and renormalized by subtracting fourth order BPHZ (Bogoliubov-Parasiuk-Hepp-Zimmerman) counterterms. Our result should determine whether quantum gravitational loop corrections can significantly alter the dynamics of a scalar inflaton.


One of the main challenges in biomedical text mining is the identification of terminology, which is a key factor for accessing and integrating the information stored in literature. Manual creation of biomedical terminologies cannot keep pace with the data that becomes available. Still, many of them have been used in attempts to recognise terms in literature, but their suitability for text mining has been questioned as substantial re-engineering is needed to tailor the resources for automatic processing. Several approaches have been suggested to automatically integrate and map between resources, but the problems of extensive variability of lexical representations and ambiguity have been revealed. In this paper we present a methodology to automatically maintain a biomedical terminological database, which contains automatically extracted terms, their mutual relationships, features and possible annotations that can be useful in text processing. In addition to TermDB, a database used for terminology management and storage, we present the following modules that are used to populate the database: TerMine (recognition, extraction and normalisation of terms from literature), AcroTerMine (extraction and clustering of acronyms and their long forms), AnnoTerm (annotation and classification of terms), and ClusTerm (extraction of term associations and clustering of terms).


Agents with the ability to comprehend and reason about the dynamics of objects would be expected to exhibit improved robustness and generalization in novel scenarios. However, achieving this capability necessitates not only an effective scene representation but also an understanding of the mechanisms governing interactions among object subsets. Recent studies have made significant progress in representing scenes using object slots. In this work, we introduce Reusable Slotwise Mechanisms, or RSM, a framework that models object dynamics by leveraging communication among slots along with a modular architecture capable of dynamically selecting reusable mechanisms for predicting the future states of each object slot. Crucially, RSM leverages the Central Contextual Information (CCI), enabling selected mechanisms to access the remaining slots through a bottleneck, effectively allowing for modeling of higher order and complex interactions that might require a sparse subset of objects. Experimental results demonstrate the superior performance of RSM compared to state-of-the-art methods across various future prediction and related downstream tasks, including Visual Question Answering and action planning. Furthermore, we showcase RSM's Out-of-Distribution generalization ability to handle scenes in intricate scenarios.


With a new round of rapid development of the reform and opening up, energy demand is increasing. China as an energy power, it will have great significant implications for the future of coal industry if we can clearly understand the laws of the development of the coal industry. This article selects the coal enterprise business turnover in China from 2003 to 2012, establishes the nonlinear regression model which takes the cost data as sample, uses the Eviews6.0 software to thoroughly analyze the relationship between the variables and draws the conclusions as follows: Specifically, the total profit changes into the positive relation with Revenues, taxes, number of the enterprises, and the reverse relation with cost. The results of this paper provides some reference for the evaluation of coal enterprises.


The migration and simulation of IC test programs among the heterogeneous ATE systems are a very difficult task. An unifying IC test software-integrated environment from simulation to test for digital circuit has been developed. The environment, TeDS which is designed by using object-oriented paradigm, supports two kinds of CAD systems and three kinds of ATE (Automatic Test Equipment). The paper focuses on issues and techniques in developing TeDS based on object-oriented paradigm.


The goal with antibiotic therapy in community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is to cure the patient, ideally without causing side effects and without contributing to the further development of antibiotic resistance. Although patients with severe CAP should be treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics, patients with non-severe CAP should preferably receive pathogen-directed therapy. Rapid aetiological tests, such as sputum Gram stain and urinary antigen tests, are useful for targeting initial pathogen-directed therapy. Non-rapid tests, such as cultures, can subsequently support a switch from initial broad-spectrum therapy to narrow-spectrum therapy and direct therapy changes in case of treatment failure. As conventional diagnostic methods often fail to identify the aetiology of CAP, PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests for respiratory pathogens have become useful and should be further developed. Based on the test specificities, aetiological tests may provide diagnoses with varying reliability, i.e. definite aetiologies (e.g., blood culture and Legionella urinary antigen test), probable aetiologies (e.g., sputum culture and PCR for Mycoplasma pneumoniae), or possible aetiologies (e.g., culture of nasopharyngeal secretions and PCR for Streptococcus pneumoniae). A definite or probable aetiology can often be used to target antibiotic therapy.


One of the most common causes of death is Ischaemic heart disease (IHD). Clinical decisions are often made based on doctors' intuition and experience rather than on the knowledge-rich data hidden in the database, which leads to unwanted errors and excessive medical costs that affects the quality of service provided to patients. On the other hand, there is lack of cardiologist and IHD specialist in developing countries. Therefore, the development of an expert system that improves the diagnostic and therapeutic decision model of IHD creates a universal need. The expert system is developed based on the cardiologist expertises in diagnosing IHD symtomps and the given prescriptions. This work attempts to increase the accuracy and the effectiveness of the expert system to treat IHD patient by leveraging deep neural networks and adopting deep learning strategy for Retristic Boltzman Machine (RBM). The deep neural network in this work has 152 neurons in the input layer, 52 neurons in the output layer, and 4 hidden layer. Experimental results show that the proposed system achieves up to 0.00974 error level in the training sessions and average improvement of 0.7322% in term of accuracy compared to expert system with standard machine learning in the testing phase. Some results that have discrepancies are consulted to the cardiologist to confirm the results.


I have reported a case of pregnancy in a patient with exstrophy of the bladder. Early establishment of renal function and status is most important, and detailed counseling of the patient is preferred ideally before conception. The patient should be reassured that her defect has not been proven to have a genetic link. Patients with ureterosigmoidostomy diversion should be observed closely for renal obstructive symptoms.


The purpose of this article is to investigate the effect of compaction pressure on the sintering of PTFE moldings. The major factor of this process are both compaction pressure and dwell time, which lead to high compactability of moldings. Bulk density of the moldings compacted at a lower pressure increases by sintering due to coalescence of particles by viscous flow. On the other hand, there is no change of the density by sintering in higher compacted moldings, since the coalescence of particles has been already finished in the pre-forming process and sintering does not eliminate inter-particle cavities. In this case, even if the moldings are sintered in shorter times nearly at the melting temperature, their bulk density reaches a constant value.


The revenue collected from the value added tax constitutes the main income of the Kosovo government. For this reason, this research has a great importance in the formulation of effective policies in Kosovo that will subsequently improve the efficiency of tax collection of Value Added and growing fiscal and budgetary stability. This research it will have a descriptive analysis of the trends of VAT collection in Kosovo from 2005- 2015 years using different analytical techniques to examine trends and data structure over the years. We have used two types of analysis; One is the descriptive analysis of trends and the other is the contrast of the descriptive analysis of trends that is the econometric technique used to analyze the VAT effect on economic growth in Kosovo. The source of data for this study is secondary through the Annual Financial Report of the Ministry of Finance of Kosovo and the IMF. In order to analyze the data generated for the study, the statistical tool utilized is OLS technique (multiple regression). One of the key findings in the collection of VAT has been its dependence on the border. Revenue collection is among the most pressing problems and such situation does not guarantee a country's budgetary stability. Also, based on the findings we noted that the VAT share of the gathering in gross domestic product of the Interior of the country has been low compared to other countries in Europe developing, reflecting a low level of economic development. Also from econometric analysis is confirmed that the regression coefficient shows that we have a VAT impact on GDP in Kosovo, because the level of significance is .000, or includes the rate of 1%. Also, the correlation between VAT and GDP shows a strong positive relationship, or statistically interpreted with the increase of VAT, will increase the GDP of Kosovo, these two elements conclude that VAT has a significant impact on economic growth in Kosovo. Furthermore, this research highlight some key issues that policy makers should consider dealing with the collection and effective use of revenue collected from VAT, to improve growth.


Abstract The genera Lasiodorides Schmidt & Bischoff, 1997 and Thrixopelma Schmidt, 1994 are preliminarily revised, and their taxonomy stabilized. Both sexes of Lasiodorides polycuspulatus Schmidt & Bischoff, 1997, and the male of Lasiodorides striatus (Schmidt & Antonelli, 1996) are redescribed, and the genus Lasiodorides is rediagnosed. Lasiodorides rolinae Tesmoingt, 1999 is proposed as a junior synonym of L. polycuspulatus syn. nov., based on colouration and spermathecal morphology. Lasiodorides remotus Schmidt, 2007 is proposed as a junior synonym of L. polycuspulatus syn. nov., based on spermathecal morphology. Thrixopelma aymara (Chamberlin, 1916) and Thrixopelma lagunas Schmidt & Rudloff, 2010 are redescribed. Thrixopelma ockerti Schmidt, 1994 is illustrated from the syntype series and redescribed based on a non-type female from Iquitos, Peru, held in the collections of the Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru. Thrixopelma longicolli (Schmidt, 2003) comb. nov. is newly transferred from Lasiodorides to Thrixopelma based on palpal bulb morphology, and the holotype male is redescribed. The inherent problems of the paratype exuviae of this taxon are also discussed. Thrixopelma peruvianum (Schmidt, 2007) comb. nov. is newly transferred from Euathlus Ausserer, 1875 following examination of the holotype female exuvia and a conspecific non-type female exuvia. Thrixopelma cyaneolum Schmidt, Friebolin & Friebolin, 2005 is discussed ad illustrated from the syntype female exuviae. Thrixopelma pruriens Schmidt, 1998 is discussed and illustrated from the holotype female exuvia, and the problematic non-type material discussed. Finally, we argue that future designation of exuviae as type specimens of novel theraphosid spiders should be considered an unacceptable practice in arachnology.


Past research has shown that most offshore IS outsourcing projects were failed. Communication and coordination problems caused by culture differences between clients and vendors are important reasons for the failures. The theory of boundary spanning capability provides a new theoretical perspective for research of coordination and communication mechanisms between clients and vendors in offshore IS outsourcing. This paper takes culture differences as mediator to study the impact mechanisms of vendors' boundary spanning capability on success of offshore IS outsourcing. The research model is empirically tested on a sample of 102 offshore IS outsourcing projects from 20 vendors in China. The results suggest that vendors' boundary spanning capability significantly improves outsourcing success. Moreover, vendors' boundary spanning capability has a negative impact on culture differences and culture differences negatively influence the outsourcing success. Finally, we find that culture differences mediate partly the relationship between boundary spanning capability and outsourcing success.


Preliminary investigations have been made of the possibility of correlating changes in infrared absorption spectra of dried films of human blood sera with the occurrence of diseases of the hypersensitive state. These diseases, which may include rheumatic fever, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, and many others, are thought to be due to an antigen-antibody reaction which might produce observable changes in the proteins of the circulatory system. Definite qualitative and quantitative changes have been observed comparing normal serum with various types of pathological serum. Absorption spectra of pure dried films of human albumin and gamma-globulin have also been determined and some of the changes in the blood spectra are possibly explainable on the basis of an altered A/G ratio, which is known to occur. However, all of the changes cannot be explained on this basis. The films of sera, albumin, and gamma-globulin were air-dried at room temperature on thin disks of KRS-5, and examined in the Perkin-Elmer spectrometer in the spectral range 850–1400 cm−1 (7 to 12 microns).


Aims. We investigated the photometric properties of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars of the dwarf irregular galaxy IC 1613 and its metallicity. Methods. We used near-infrared JHKs photometric data obtained with the WIRCam array on Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT). The optical gi imaging data of a previous study were cross-matched with ours to distinguish the stellar populations in the galaxy and to select the AGB stars. We also separated the C stars from the M-giant stars in the JHKs color−color diagram. Results. We identified 140 C stars and 306 M-giant stars in IC 1613. The (J − Ks) color histogram of AGB stars shows the main peak of M-giant stars and the red tail of C stars. The broad color distribution of M-giant stars and the isochrones in the color magnitude diagram indicate that IC 1613 has a wide range of intermediate-age stars. We also know that most C stars were formed over the past 2−8 Gyr according the Mbol-age relation. The C/M ratio of 0.46 ± 0.05 was estimated and [Fe/H] abundance of −1.23 ± 0.06 was derived from the C/M ratio. Radial distributions of C/M ratio and metallicity show the shallow trend of the negative metallicity gradient from the center. The local C/M ratio also indicates that the HI cavity has higher C/M values than the bright HI spot and HI gas region. However, the low [Fe/H] value near the central region of the galaxy is likely to be caused by the change in age of the dominant stellar population according to the radial distance, not the real metallicity variation. It might also be that relatively younger and metal-rich C stars are concentrated in the center of the galaxy, while the M-giant stars were homogeneously distributed from the center to the borders of the galaxy.


The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of different oocytes harvesting  methods on retrieval and quality of oocyte from ovarian of local cows.  The ovaries (n = 600) were collected from 300 non-pregnant cows their ages ranged between (3-10 years old), slaughtered at the abattoir of Babylon province during the period between September 2017 to March 2018. The oocytes were collected by slicing method, puncture method and aspiration of follicle method and classified according to layers of cumulus cells and the homogenous of cytoplasm into three groups , first group : good quality oocytes with more than 3 layers of cumulus cells and homogeneous of cytoplasm, second group : fair quality oocytes with less than 3 layers of cumulus cells and homogeneous of cytoplasm , third group : poor quality oocytes , denuded oocyte from cumulus cells with heterogeneous cytoplasm . The results showed that the total number of oocytes recovered and the number of oocytes recovered  per ovary was significantly higher (P<0.05) by using slicing method (1639 and 8.195 ± 1.03 respectively) compared with the Puncture (923 and 4.610 ± 0.86 respectively ) and aspiration of follicle method (776 and 3.880 ± 0.34 respectively). The results of study also indicated that the total number of oocytes recovered , the average number of oocyte per ovary and the percentage of well recovered by slicing method (751,3.750 ± 0.95 and 45.90 % respectively) and puncture technique (399,1.99 ± 0.03 and 43.30 % respectively) were significantly higher ( P<0.05) compared with aspiration of follicle (299 , 1.14 ± 0.01 and 29.60 % respectively). We conclude from this study that slicing method is the appropriate and good method for oocyte recovering with ideal morphological aspect and quality.


We use scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) to characterize different plasmonic-nanoparticle situations with high spatial and spectral resolution in this comparative study. The near-field enhancement is measured with an aperture probe (Al coated glass fiber) and two CCD spectrometers for simultaneous detection of reflection and transmission. The images of transmission and reflection show a correlation to the topography. We present a new way to access the relative absorption and discuss the results with consideration of artifact influences. Near-field enhancements are deeper understood by imaging isolated particles. This near field will be compared to measurements of random-particle distributions. Therefore, we will show normalized reflection and transmission images of random structures that lay the foundation for an absolute interpretation of near-field images. The normalization considers both the far-field UV/VIS results and a reference image of the substrate. The near-field reflection of nanoparticle arrays shows an enhancement of 25 %. In view of specific applications, particle distributions implemented in two ways: as far-field scatters and as near field enhancing objects.


In the US, the services sector provides employment to about 100 million, while the manufacturing sector provides employment to about 20 million. These sectors are highly automated, and driven by sophisticated business processes forming an integral part of the digital economy. While the applications themselves may be distributed over the Internet in time and space, the core business, regulatory, and financial aspects of the digital economy are still centralized, with the need for centralized agencies (such as banks, customs authorities, and tax agencies) to authenticate and settle payments and transactions. These centralized services often are manual, difficult to automate, and represent a bottleneck to facilitating a frictionless digital economy. The next revolutionary step in the services and manufacturing economy of the future is the development of automated distributed applications that do not depend on these traditional centralized agencies for controlling, facilitating and settling multi-party transactions that may themselves be subject to complex contractual constraints. The blockchain technology is an integral part of these next steps that promises a smart new world of automation of complex services and manufacturing processes. Blockchain is a distributed and public ledger which maintains records of all the transactions on a blockchain network comprising suppliers of products and services and consumers. With the blockchain's ability to establish trust in a peer-to-peer network through a distributed consensus mechanism rather than relying on a powerful centralized authority, the technology is being seen by the industry experts as one of the greatest innovations since the invention of the Internet. As per Santander, blockchain technologies can reduce annual costs for financial firms by $20b by streamlining processes and improving efficiency. In addition, investment and spending on blockchain technology is expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 52% through 2019. We have written this textbook, as part of our expanding "A Hands-On Approach"(TM) series, to serve as a textbook for senior-level and graduate-level courses on financial and regulation technologies, business analytics, Internet of Things, and cryptocurrency. This book is also written for use within industries in the FinTech and RegTech space that may be interested in rolling out products and services that utilize this new area of technology. An accompanying website for this book contains additional support for instruction and learning (www.blockchain-book.com). The book is organized into three main parts, comprising a total of ten chapters. Part I provides an introduction to blockchain concepts, design patterns, and architectures for blockchain applications. A blockchain stack comprising a decentralized computation platform, a decentralized messaging platform, and a decentralized storage platform is described. Part II introduces the readers to tools and platforms for blockchain, such as Geth, PyEthApp, TestRPC, Mist Ethereum Wallet, MetaMask, Web3 JavaScript API and the Truffle Dapp framework. Implementation examples of various smart contracts and decentralized applications (Dapps) are provided. Part III focuses on advanced topics such as the security and scalability related challenges for the blockchain platforms.


The taxonomic position of some telluric non-fermenting Gram-negative bacteria collected into a phenon representing about a quarter of the soil isolates by an earlier numerical analysis is specified. The Shapiro–Chargaff coefficient determined by thermal-transition curves of the DNA and their hybridization by nitrocellulose filters method show a close affinity with Pseudomonas maltophilia.


In vitro fertilisation (IVF) and embryo transfer has established itself as a modality in the treatment of infertile patients. Estimates of the cost of this relatively new procedure were investigated with specific assumptions. The maximum cost per (first) cycle totalled R1611.16. Laboratory expenses were the single most expensive entity, accounting for 39.2% of the total cost. Patient contribution was established at 32.6% of total cost and the approximate breakdown of cost for an IVF and embryo transfer programme for a university-based unit is given.


Solid oxide fuel cell positive-electrolyte-negative (SOFC PEN) structures were fabricated by complex tape casting and co-firing technologies. La0.8Sr0.2FeO3 (LSF20) powders for cathode and 8 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) powders for electrolyte were synthesized through glycine-nitrate process (GNP). The slurries for cathode, electrolyte and anode (NiO-YSZ) were cast in sequence to form green PEN structures. Co-fired at 1200oC for 6 h, there were no delamination, crack or curl occurred in PEN structures. SEM analysis showed that YSZ electrolyte film had been sintered to full dense and the interface combinations were compact. No evident reaction product between YSZ and LSF20 was detected by XRD.


In Malawi there has been significant progress in reducing post-neonatal and under-5 deaths over the past decade but very little progress in reducing neonatal deaths. The major causes of neonatal deaths in Malawi are prematurity, infections and birth asphyxia. Neonatal sepsis has been shown to have long term complications ranging from motor deficits to cognitive impairment, epilepsy and behavioural disorders in preterm very low birth weight infants in the developed setting. Contrary to the epidemiology in the developed setting where neonatal sepsis is predominantly seen in preterm low birth weight infants, in the developing setting neonatal sepsis is also common among term babies. However, very little is known on the long term outcome of neonatal sepsis in the resource restrained setting. In this thesis the aetiology and outcome of neonatal sepsis and meningitis is investigated.
METHODOLOGY
This was study had 2 components; a cross sectional arm and a prospective cohort arm. The cross sectional study was looking at the aetiology, resistance pattern and in hospital outcome of severe neonatal infection cases presenting at QECH in Blantyre. The prospective cohort arm involved participants who were recruited in the cross sectional arm at QECH and were residing within Blantyre urban and infants that never had an episode of severe neonatal infection were recruited from Zingwangwa health Centre. The infants from Zingwangwa acted as controls. The participants in the prospective cohort arm were followed up to the age of 1 year where neurodevelopmental outcomes were assessed using the Bayley's assessment tool. These participants also had detailed neurologic examination during the follow up visits at 6 and 12 months of age. A comparison between the cases and controls was made to ascertain the impact of neonatal infection outcome.
RESULTS
During the study a total of 412 cases were enrolled in the cross sectional arm. 75% of the cases had late onset disease. GBS was the commonest organism grown in blood culture 17/42(40%) and CSF culture 16/33(48%). 44% had abnormal serum sodium levels on admission and hypernatraemia was independently associated with an increased risk of dying in hospital (8.34[95% CI 1.95-35.7]). 51% of the gram negative organisms were multidrug resistant. In the long term outcome neonatal sepsis without overt meningitis was associated with an up to 6.6 –fold {95% CI (2.38-18.4} increased risk of developmental delay at 1 year of age. Meningitis was associated with a 17-fold {95% CI 4.89- 61.7} increased risk of developmental delay at 1 year of age. Positive blood or CSF culture and being HIV exposed were independent predictors of delay at I year of age.
CONCLUSION
GBS is a significant cause of neonatal infections in Malawi. The magnitude of developmental delay observed in infants who had neonatal sepsis without meningitis is worrying up to 35% of these infants were delayed. It is therefore important to employ measures that can prevent neonatal infections. Follow up is recommended in infants who had an episode of severe neonatal infection.


In wild type Neurospora crassa, we previously observed an unexpectedly low proportion of label in unsaturated fatty acids that should have been derived from deuterated palmitate (16:0). Interpretation of whether the position of deuteration could account for these results was inconclusive, because wild type had a low proportion of total fatty acids derived from the deuterated supplement. The N. crassa cel-1 strain is ideally suited for studies of fatty acid enrichment, because cel-1 must obtain its fatty acids exogenously. We supplemented cel-1 with 16:0's deuterated at different positions. With each of the labelled 16:0's, cel-1 desaturated the stearate (18:0) derived from the 16:0 more efficiently than wild type. However, when the 16:0 was deuterated at the site of future desaturation, we indeed observed effects on fatty acid composition and label distribution consistent with inhibition of the 18:0 desaturase. Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 License. This regular paper is available in Fungal Genetics Reports: http://newprairiepress.org/fgr/vol46/iss1/4


We examine the middle atmospheric odd‐hydrogen (HOx) chemistry by comparing the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) OH and HO2 measurements with a photochemical model simulation. The model underestimates mesospheric OH and HO2 concentrations if the standard chemical kinetic rates are used, whether the model H2O and O3 are constrained with observations or not. To resolve the discrepancies, we adjust the kinetic rate coefficients of three key reactions (O + OH → O2 + H, OH + HO2 → H2O + O2, and H + O2 + M → HO2 + M) and the O2 photo absorption cross section at Lyman α (121.57 nm) using the Bayesian optimal estimation. A much better model‐observation agreement can be achieved if the kinetic rate coefficients for H + O2 + M → HO2 + M is increased by 134–310%, and the O2 photo absorption cross section at Lyman α is reduced by 33–54%, while the kinetic rate coefficients for O + OH → O2 + H and OH + HO2 → H2O + O2 remain consistent with the current laboratory values. The kinetic rate coefficient for H + O2 + M → HO2 + M requires a very large adjustment beyond the uncertainty limits recommended in the NASA Data Evaluation, suggesting the need for future laboratory measurements. An alternative explanation is that the radiative association reaction, H + O2 → HO2 + hν, plays a significant role, which has never been measured. Our results demonstrate that high‐quality satellite observations can be used to constrain photochemical parameters and help improve our understanding of atmospheric chemistry.


Three strains of gram-positive, facultatively anaerobic, sporeforming, rod-shaped bacteria were isolated from composts of manure with grass and rice straw. These organisms grew well in an alkaline medium and digested xylan both in strictly anaerobic cultures when titanium(III) citrate was used as a reducing agent and in aerobic cultures with shaking. The cells contained meso-diaminopimelic acid, and their cellular fatty acids consisted of iso- and anteiso-branched acids and considerable amounts of straight-chain acids. The DNA base composition of these strains ranged from 36 to 38 mol% guanine plus cytosine. Cytochromes, isoprenoid quinones, and catalase activity were not detected. DNA-DNA homology determinations did not show relatedness to strains of representative species of the genera Bacillus, Clostridium, and Sporolactobacillus. Considering the uniqueness of the characteristics, the sequence of the 5S rRNA, and the unique metabolic pathways, we propose Amphibacillus xylanus gen. nov., sp. nov., for these strains. The type strain is strain Ep01 (= JCM 7361).


BACKGROUND
To ensure the safety of plasma derivatives, some countries have been screening for the human parvovirus B19 (B19V) antigen or DNA in blood donors. We investigated the prevalence of B19V DNA and anti-B19V antibodies in Korean plasmapheresis donors to evaluate the necessity of B19V DNA screening test.

METHODS
Plasma samples were collected between March and July 2008 from 10,032 plasmapheresis donors. The B19V DNA test was performed using the LightCycler 2.0 (Roche, Germany) with quantification kits. Anti-B19V IgM and IgG were tested in 928 randomly selected samples from the 10,032 donors using recomWell Parvovirus B19 ELISA IgM, IgG assay (Mikrogen, Germany). RecomLine Parvovirus B19 LIA IgG, IgM assay (Mikrogen, Germany) was used to analyze the epitopes of antibodies in donors showing positive results for B19V DNA and anti-B19V antibodies. DNA sequencing was performed to identify the genotypes.

RESULTS
The prevalence of B19V DNA was 0.1% (10/10,032). Virus titers in B19V DNA positive donors were less than 10(5) IU/mL (range: 2.7 x 10(1)-3.2 x 10(4) IU/mL) except for 1 donor (1.33 x 10(8) IU/mL). All the isolated B19V DNAs from 6 donors were identified as genotype I. Nine out of 10 B19V DNA positive donors also possessed anti-B19V IgG only or IgG and IgM. The prevalence of anti-B19V IgG was 60.1% (558/928).

CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of B19V DNA in Korean blood donors was not high and most donors also possessed neutralizing anti-B19V antibodies. Thus, the implementation of a B19V screening test for Korean blood donors does not appear to be imperative.


Recently, Internet of Things (IoT) deployments have shown their potential for aiding the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Concerns regarding how the IoT can specifically drive SDGs 6, 11 and 9 in developing countries have been raised with respect to the challenges of deploying licensed and unlicensed low-power wide area network (LPWAN) IoT technologies and their opportunities for IoT consumers and service providers. With IoT infrastructure and protocols being ubiquitous and each being proposed for different SDGs, we review and compare the various performance characteristics of LoRaWAN and NB-IoT networks. From the performance analysis of our networks, NB-IoT, one of the standardised promising cellular IoT solutions for developing countries, is more expensive and less energy-efficient than LoRaWAN. Utilising the same user equipment (UE), NB-IoT consumed an excess of 2 mAh of power for joining the network and 1.7 mAh more for a 44-byte uplink message compared to LoRaWAN. However, NB-IoT has the advantage of reliably and securely delivering higher network connection capacity in IoT use cases, leveraging existing cellular infrastructure. With a maximum throughput of 264 bps at 837 ms measured latency, NB-IoT outperformed LoRaWAN and proved robust for machine-type communications. These findings will help IoT consumers and service providers understand the performance differences and deployment challenges of NB-IoT and LoRaWAN and establish new research directions to tackle IoT issues in developing countries. With Nigeria as a case study, for consumers and organisations at a crossroads in their long-term deployment decisions, the proposed LPWAN integrated architecture is an example of the deployment opportunities for consumer and industrial IoT applications in developing countries.


Carredano, S. 2015. Environmental Bolivia? - Perceived of climate There has been an on-going discussion between researchers regarding the economic and climate induced reasons for migration (Renaud et al. 2011, Afifi, 2011). There also seems to be insufficient data when it comes to internal migration within low-income countries (Tacolí, 2009). This study focuses on the impact of climate change and climate variability on migration processes to the area of Cochabamba, Bolivia. Two communities were chosen as study areas: Lopez Rancho and Alto Paraíso, both located in the growing city of Sacaba in the department of Cochabamba. In total 13 semi-structured interviews were made, including three key-informants and ten migrants, of which nine were female and one was male. The results show that while perceived environmental changes had an impact on the decision to migrate for six out of the ten respondents, other factors, such as education, infrastructure, health services, economy and decisions based on the family as a whole, were also important. Future studies on this subject can include these factors into various frameworks and surveys so that the nature of migration flows can be understood better.


Abstract Estoque's model for the sea breeze is modified with respect to some essential and other, less essential, details. It is shown among other things that the accelerational terms in the equation for the vertical component of motion are important and should therefore be retained. In addition, the equation of continuity is retained in its original form in order to prevent violation of the mass conservation law. The new model is integrated numerically and the results presented. The results include horizontal and vertical winds, mass conservation, vertical components of vorticity, time hodographs, temperatures (including vertical profiles), vertical transfer of sensible heat, and wind stress at the surface. Particular attention is paid to the land breeze phase of the circulation which so far has received little attention in the published literature. Further, the sea breeze front is discussed in some detail. The integration is carried out for three daily cycles setting out from an atmosphere at rest. The ...


Dr S. N. Kiek has sent the following contribution—I read with great interest the paper by S. A. F. Murrell. In it he discussed relationships between faulting and shear parameters of rocks as they occur in nature. Measurements made on rock cores are only meaningful if the rock is homogenous and unjointed—a rare occurrence. Some years ago I was engaged in a series of experiments in which an attempt was made to assess the shear strength of rockfill. The aim was to discover the angles of internal friction of large rock particles. Experimental difficulties precluded full scale tests on account of the limitations of the apparatus available. The largest size was a little over 100 mm. Many experiments were made using smaller particle sizes with the idea of finding the relationship between particle size and angle of friction. As the relationship is logarithmic, it is possible that some extrapolation to larger sizes is slightly justified, there being no other way of obtaining any estimate whatever. It appeared that probably a maximum is reached at about 30 mm. There is some considerable scatter between rock types and this represents a general average. Angle of friction for this size is about 43°, decreasing above and below it. At 100 mm, it is about 38°, the figure commonly used in design of rockfill zones in earth dams. It was also found that the angle of friction varied very systematically with lateral pressure, although the actual relationship varied between different rock It


Rapid agricultural growth continues to be the key to poverty alleviation and overall economic development of Guyana. Agriculture accounts for about 20% of the Gross Domestic Product and is the source of livelihood for nearly 35% of the population. Research and extension have contributed significantly to the transformation of the Agricultural sector; however, the effectiveness of extension services is challenged in the areas of relevance, accountability and sustainability. It is becoming increasingly evident that public extension by itself can no longer respond to the multifaceted demands of farming systems. Present day agriculture is defined by key concepts of stability, sustainability, diversification and commercialization; therefore, there is urgent need for reorientation of the philosophy of extension from a technology transfer mode to a technology application mode. This paper examines the use of the Farming Systems Approach in agricultural extension and recommends the use of this approach to address issues of financial sustainability, farmers' participation in programme planning, researchextension linkages, marketing and value addition in the Guyana's Agriculture sector.


This paper presents a conceptual design model for user interfaces (MASS) and a general formalism for dialogue specification (Interaction Scripts) which are the most important components of an approach to the methodological, iterative design of Interactive Systems from formal, model-based specification of both the application and the User Interface (UI). This approach allows the integration of both dialogue and application semantics from the beginning of the design process, by using prototypes derived from both specifications. Assuming that all the application semantics is available at early design stages, the MASS model defines a set of guidelines that will enforce the designer to create user interfaces that will present a prophylactic instead of the usual therapeutic behaviour. By a prophylactic behaviour it is meant, metaphorically, that the UI will exhibit a behaviour that prevents and avoids both syntactic and semantic user errors, in contrast with the most usual therapeutic, or error recovery, behaviour. The dialogue specification formalism (Interaction Scripts) despite being general, in the sense that it may be applied to the specification of any kind of dialogue, is specially suited to the specification of UIs with the behaviour prescribed by the MASS design model. In addition, it is independent from concrete environment details, therefore allowing for different implementations of the same specification, that is, different looks and feels. The operational semantics of the Interaction Script notation is also presented in terms of Petri-Nets that are automatically generated from the Interaction Script specification of the dialogue controller.


Lung transplantation (LTx) is an established, well-recognized medical intervention for treating patients with an end-stage irreversible pulmonary disease. Such diseases include interstitial lung disease (ILD), where other standard medical options often have been proven as insufficient. Post-operative survival after LTx depends on various factors such as the general and organ-specific recipient status in addition to donor organ condition and operative technique. The prolonged survival rates obtained during the 1980s and 1990s have established LTx in the medical field. Reflecting the improvements made in the field of organ preservation, operative technique, immunosuppressants, recipient and donor organ selection and prophylactic as well as direct treatment in the wide spectrum of possible infections in the recipient. Despite LTx being the golden standard for treating end-stage irreversible ILD, with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) as the most common cause, postoperative outcome is greatly hampered compared to the outcome of other patient categories within LTx. This chapter will provide insight in the outcome of ILD and subsequently IFP after LTx.


In the past decade since the introduction of temporary urban discourse promising "faster, lighter, and cheaper" planning and a radical reorganization of power between regulators, land owners, and the public, temporary urbanism has become increasingly integrated in formal planning structures. This paper explores how temporary urbanism is being practiced in Toronto and what impact this formalizing process has had on its ability to achieve its claimed goals of democracy, equity, and diversity. This paper specifically assesses the impact that the City of Toronto's regulatory framework has had on these goals. It concludes by examining how three other cities have created temporary use frameworks, Amsterdam, London, and Vancouver and highlights what lessons can be transferred to the context of Toronto.

Key words: temporary urbanism, policy, equity


The conditions needed for an efficient separation together with the most important factors influencing the accuracy of the separation are emphasized. Some relationships that allow the evaluation of the covering degree of the separation surface and the volume of the charge with single dimension particles corresponding to a unit separation surface are presented. The efficiency of spherical shape particles separation and the productivity of the separation process have been analysed. Some technical and practical considerations on the separation process are given.


Many Gram-negative bacterial pathogens use a syringe-like apparatus called a type III secretion system to inject virulence factors into host cells. Some of these effectors are enzymes that modify host proteins to subvert their normal functions. NleB is a glycosyltransferase that modifies host proteins with N-acetyl-d-glucosamine to inhibit antibacterial and inflammatory host responses. NleB is conserved among the attaching/effacing pathogens enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC), enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), and Citrobacter rodentium. Moreover, Salmonella enterica strains encode up to three NleB orthologs named SseK1, SseK2, and SseK3. However, there are conflicting reports regarding the activities and host protein targets among the NleB/SseK orthologs. Therefore, here we performed in vitro glycosylation assays and cell culture experiments to compare the activities and substrate specificities of these effectors. SseK1, SseK3, EHEC NleB1, EPEC NleB1, and C. rodentium NleB blocked TNF-mediated NF-κB pathway activation, whereas SseK2 and NleB2 did not. C. rodentium NleB, EHEC NleB1, and SseK1 glycosylated host GAPDH. C. rodentium NleB, EHEC NleB1, EPEC NleB1, and SseK2 glycosylated the FADD (Fas-associated death domain protein). SseK3 and NleB2 were not active against either substrate. We also found that EHEC NleB1 glycosylated two GAPDH arginine residues, Arg197 and Arg200, and that these two residues were essential for GAPDH-mediated activation of TNF receptor-associated factor 2 ubiquitination. These results provide evidence that members of this highly conserved family of bacterial virulence effectors target different host protein substrates and exhibit distinct cellular modes of action to suppress host responses.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the safety and efficacy of total pelvic reconstruction surgery with Prosima in treatment of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) stage III.

METHODS
From July 2010 to December 2011, 31 patients with POP stage III undergoing total pelvic reconstruction surgery with Prosima were enrolled in this prospective study. Among two cases complicated with stress urinary incontinence underwent transobturator tension-free vaginal tape concomitantly with total pelvic reconstruction surgery with Prosima. Clinical parameters during peri-operation were recorded and compared. Pelvic organ prolapse quantitative examination (POP-Q) and anatomic improvement in these patients after surgery were analyzed. Comparisons of pelvic floor impact questionnaire-short form 7 (PFIQ-7) and pelvic organ prolapse-urinary incontinence sexual questionnaire-short form 12 (PISQ-12) in these patients before and after surgery were used to evaluate quality of life and quality of sexual life.

RESULTS
The mean operating time was (55 ± 13) minutes, mean blood loss was (66 ± 25) ml. No severe intraoperative complications were observed. All patients were able to recover spontaneous micturation within 5 days. Two cases experienced pelvic hematoma with diameters less than 7 cm, and resolved later. Another case was urinary tract infection. At the median follow-up 6 months (1 - 15 months), the rate of anatomic success defined as the leading vaginal edge above the hymen was 94% (29/31). There were significant improvements in Aa, Ba, Ap, Bp, and C (P < 0.01) by POP-Q. Two patients showed recurrent prolapse at 3 months and 1 year after surgery, without the need of further operation. The median score of post-operative PFIQ-7 was 0 point at 6 months and 0 point at 12 months after operation, respectively, which were significantly lower than that of 50 points pre-operation (P < 0.01). And there was no significant difference in the average score of PISQ-12 before and after surgery [(30 ± 6) points versus (31 ± 4) points] (P > 0.05). The rate of mesh exposure was 16% (5/31), all the 5 cases occurred within 6 months and was cut in clinic. There was no case of de novo urinary incontinence and de novo dyspareunia.

CONCLUSIONS
Pelvic reconstruction surgery with Prosima is safe and efficacy in treatment of POP stage III. It could improve quality of life remarkably without influence on sexual quality of life.


This thesis work is devoted to low frequency vibration based method, with remote excitation and laser detection for nondestructive testing, characterization of sheet materials and also focus on the permanent deformation introduced by plastic deformation. By this method dynamic properties of different materials can be estimated from the measurement of the resonance frequency in flexural mode. Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE), Ethyl Acid Acrylic (EAA), Aluminium foil (Al) and Paperboard (PPR) are investigated in this work. It is observed that the method allows detection of permanent deformation in sheet materials loaded in tension, as well as determination of Young's modulus with some exceptions. This study also confirms the use of the presented method for health monitoring of materials having no bending stiffness, developed in a previous work.


Fibroblast Growth Factor 21 (FGF21) is a neuroprotective hormone induced by cold exposure that targets the β-klotho co-receptor. β-klotho is abundant in the newborn brain but decreases rapidly with age. RNA-Binding Motif 3 (RBM3) is a potent neuroprotectant upregulated by FGF21 in hypothermic conditions. We characterized serum FGF21 and RBM3 levels in patients enrolled in a prospective multi-center study of pediatric cardiac arrest (CA) via a secondary analysis of samples collected to evaluate brain injury biomarkers. Patients (n = 111) with remnant serum samples available from at least two of three available timepoints (0-24, 24-48 or 48-72 hours post-resuscitation) were included. Serum samples from 20 healthy controls were used for comparison. FGF21 was measured by Luminex and internally validated enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA). RBM3 was measured by internally validated ELISA. Of postarrest patients, 98 were managed with normothermia, while 13 were treated with therapeutic hypothermia (TH). FGF21 increased >20-fold in the first 24 hours postarrest versus controls (681 pg/mL [200-1864] vs. 29 pg/mL [15-51], n = 99 vs. 19, respectively, p < 0.0001, median [interquartile range]) with no difference in RBM3. FGF21 did not differ by sex, while RBM3 was increased in females versus males at 48-72 hours postarrest (1866 pg/mL [873-5176] vs. 1045 pg/mL [535-2728], n = 40 vs. 54, respectively, p < 0.05). Patients requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) postresuscitation had increased FGF21 versus those who did not at 48-72 hours (6550 pg/mL [1455-66,781] vs. 1213 pg/mL [480-3117], n = 7 vs 74, respectively, p < 0.05). FGF21 and RBM3 did not correlate (Spearman's rho = 0.004, p = 0.97). We conclude that in a multi-center study of pediatric CA patients where normothermic targeted temperature management was largely used, FGF21 was markedly increased postarrest versus control and highest in patients requiring ECMO postresuscitation. RBM3 was sex-dependent. We provide a framework for future studies examining the effect of TH on FGF21 or use of FGF21 therapy after pediatric CA.


Monitoring the ratio of 40- and 42-residue amyloid β peptides (i.e., Aβ40 and Aβ42) in human plasma is considered one of the hallmarks of detection of the early stage of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Therefore, development of a specific, yet non-antibody-based method for simultaneous detection of Aβ40 and Aβ42 may have considerable clinical applications. Here, we developed a 'nanoparticle-based colorimetric sensor array' utilizing label-free gold and silver nanoparticles for visual detection of Aβ42 and Aβ40. Different aggregation behaviors of nanoparticles through their conjugation with Aβ42 and Aβ40 followed by the coordination of Aβ42 and Aβ40 with Cu(ii) led to diverse spectral and color changes. The spectral changes were quantitatively differentiated by a supervised pattern recognition approach, linear discriminant analysis (LDA). The proposed sensor array was able to discriminate among Aβ42, Aβ40, and HSA in different concentrations (50 nmol L-1 to 500 nmol L-1) and their mixtures. Moreover, the sensor array had the capability to identify structurally similar Aβ peptides in human plasma samples. The developed sensor array technology might pave the way for a cheap and rapid, yet robust, platform for high-throughput screening of human plasma for defining the at-risk population for AD.


Vocational choice, including career planning and decision-making, depends on numerous factors. It has been proven that while abilities, interests, and values are important in this process, it is also essential to examine how a person sees his or her past experience, present situation, and future goals or expectations. It is thought that the so-called time perspective might play a significant role in career planning, because it relates to strategies that are employed when making decisions.While many young people have quite a clear vision of their future and are able to adequately "connect" the past, the present, and the future, the opposite also exists, often leading to negative consequences. For example, holding to the "living now and here" principle relates to a less thoughtful planning which, in turn, might lead to poor career decisions. Studies on time perspective and career planning are not very frequent; however, an in-depth exploration of these variables might provide a valuable insight into the process of career choice.This study was aimed to explore student career planning in different time perspective clusters. In total, 379 respondents participated in the study (203 high school students and 176 university undergraduates). Two career planning variables reflecting the perceived career planning abilities were measured in the study: 1) career adaptabilities were measured in the high school students' subsample and 2) career decision self-efficacy was measured in the undergraduates subsample. All respondents were asked to fill out a self-report questionnaire comprised of career adaptabilities / career decision self-efficacy and time perspective scales.The results have revealed five time perspective clusters that encompass five different time perspectives and reflect a pattern in a person's relation to time (such as "positive-experience-oriented", "extremely future-oriented", "neutral", etc.). Referring to the cluster composition, statistically significant gender differences were found in the high school students' subsample only. In the students' subsample, gender distribution did not differ significantly across clusters. Moreover, statistically significant differences were found regarding career adaptabilities in the high school students' subsample, those in the "positive-experience-oriented" and "extremely future-oriented" clusters demonstrating significantly higher career adaptability scores. Considerably less differences in career decision self-efficacy were found across the clusters in the undergraduate subsample. According to the results, only self-appraisal and goal selection self-efficacy seem to be higher among the respondents that fall into the "extremely future-oriented" and "neutral" clusters.


ABSTRACT The selection of bacterial resistance was examined in relationship to antibiotic pharmacokinetics (PK) and organism MICs in the patients from four nosocomial lower respiratory tract infection clinical trials. The evaluable database included 107 acutely ill patients, 128 pathogens, and five antimicrobial regimens. Antimicrobial pharmacokinetics were characterized by using serum concentrations, and culture and sensitivity tests were performed daily on tracheal aspirates to examine resistance. Pharmacodynamic (PD) models were developed to identify factors associated with the probability of developing bacterial resistance. Overall, in 32 of 128 (25%) initially susceptible cases resistance developed during therapy. An initial univariate screen and a classification and regression tree analysis identified the ratio of the area under the concentration-time curve from 0 to 24 h to the MIC (AUC0–24/MIC) as a significant predictor of the development of resistance (P < 0.001). The final PK/PD model, a variant of the Hill equation, demonstrated that the probability of developing resistance during therapy increased significantly when antimicrobial exposure was at an AUC0–24/MIC ratio of less than 100. This relationship was observed across all treatments and within all organism groupings, with the exception of β-lactamase-producing gram-negative organisms (consistent with type I β-lactamase producers) treated with β-lactam monotherapy. Combination therapy resulted in much lower rates of resistance than monotherapy, probably because all of the combination regimens examined had an AUC0–24/MIC ratio in excess of 100. In summary, the selection of antimicrobial resistance appears to be strongly associated with suboptimal antimicrobial exposure, defined as an AUC0–24/MIC ratio of less than 100.


Face individuation involves sensitivity to physical characteristics that provide information about identity. We examined whether Black and White American faces differ in terms of individuating information, and whether Black and White perceivers differentially weight information when judging same-race and cross-race faces. Study 1 analyzed 20 structural metrics (e.g., eye width, nose length) of 158 Black and White faces to determine which differentiate faces within each group. High-utility metrics (e.g., nose length, eye height, chin length) differentiated faces of both groups, low-utility metrics (e.g., face width, eye width, face length) offered less individuating information. Study 2 (N = 4,510) explored Black and White participants' sensitivity to variation on structural metrics using similarity ratings. High-utility metrics affected perceived dissimilarity more than low-utility metrics. This relationship was non-significantly stronger for same-race faces rather than cross-race faces. Perceivers also relied more on features that were racially stereotypic of the faces they were rating.


Abstract Three new calix[4]arene-crown-6 derivatives bearing a fluorophoric unit on the ether bridge were synthesized. All these compounds complex alkali metal picrates in chloroform, and the naphthocrown (2) shows the highest efficiency for cesium ion binding among the calix-crown-6 known so far. Cesium over sodium selectivity is remarkably higher in acetonitrile than in chloroform solution. 1H NMR studies, carried out in CDCl3 on the cesium picrate complex of ligand 2, show that the anion is involved in a π-π stacking with the naphthyl unit The lariat calix[4]-crown-6 (4) does not show any relevant change in absorption and fluorescence spectra upon cesium binding, thus indicating that the dansyl unit is not perturbed by metal ion complexation. On the contrary, for ligands 2 and 3 a luminescence intensity decrease is observed upon cation binding, which allows an easy detection of cesium even at very low concentrations (10−7M).


As the development of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) proceeds to advanced scientific and societal applications, there is an emerging need to enhance GIS support for complex spatiotemporal queries. Dynamic GIS representations (as opposed to static, map-based representations) that can integrate proper data elements in the production of geographic information are required. This paper demonstrates the use of a three-domain representation that facilitates compilation of higher-level information (such as frequency and rate) from preliminary data records (such as time and location) stored in a database. The three-domain representation is compared with snapshot, space-time composite, and spatiotemporal object models using a sample data set for forest transitions. While the three-domain representation is a normalization of these data models, it offers a conceptual alternative that enables GIS to represent spatiotemporal behaviors of geographic entities, in addition to entities as well as histories at locations as emphasized in most GIS data models. The comparison shows that the three-domain representation has combined the strengths of the space-time composite and spatiotemporal object models. Moreover, it enables aggregations of analytical use along with dynamic mappings between geographic concepts and locations, a distinct capability that takes GIS query processing beyond the level of information support offered by static map-based data models.


Fifteen years of cumulative research in the Dry Creek Experimental Watershed in southwest Idaho, USA, has revealed relationships between catchment form and function that would not have been possible through independent short‐term projects alone. The impacts of aspect and elevation on incident energy and water, coupled with climate seasonality, have produced tightly connected landform properties and hydrologic processes. North‐facing hillslopes have steeper slope angles, thicker soil mantles, finer soil texture, and higher water holding capacities than their south‐facing counterparts. This trend is modulated by elevation and vegetation; higher elevation sites, where aspect differences in vegetation are less evident, exhibit less distinct hydrologic properties. The storage of water first as snow, then as soil moisture determines how upland ecosystems survive the seasonal and persistent water stress that happens each year, and sustains streamflow throughout the year. The cumulative body of local knowledge has improved general understanding of catchment science, serves as a resource for conceptual and numerical evaluation of process‐based models, and for data‐driven hydrologic education. WIREs Water 2018, 5:e1267. doi: 10.1002/wat2.1267


: Two cases of necrosis of skin and subcutaneous tissues in patients taking oral anticoagulants are reported, and the English literature is reviewed. The mechanism of coumarin necrosis remains unknown. Most patients are women and the lesions are most common on the abdomen, buttocks, thighs, and breasts. Simple mastectomy is the usual treatment for a breast lesion. Although some cases have been reported in which the skin lesion has healed despite continued anticoagulant therapy, curtailing its use is recommended. Heparin has not been associated with skin necrosis, however, and may be desirable if continued anticoagulant treatment is necessary.


Studies have shown the beneficial effects of soy and high-protein diets on weight loss. The objective of this study was to determine consumer acceptance of a soy-based high-protein breakfast cereal developed to be utilized for weight loss and control. Four formulations with soy flour content of 41%, 47%, 54%, and 60% (w/w) were processed by extrusion. The formulations met the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines to claim the role of soy protein in reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases and guidelines for high-protein and high-fiber foods. The effects of soy flour level, addition of cinnamon flavor, and evaluation with or without milk on acceptance were investigated. Overall acceptance of 3 of 8 cereal products was also compared to the acceptance of 5 commercial products in the "healthy" cereal category. Addition of up to 54% (w/w) soy flour resulted in comparable acceptance ratings to products with lower soy flour content. Addition of milk improved aroma and texture acceptance scores and addition of cinnamon flavor improved overall, aroma, and taste acceptance scores. Acceptance of the developed cereal products was not as high as the commercial products; however, it significantly increased when nutritional and cost information was presented. The results of this study demonstrated that with modification of the formulations, an acceptable high-protein soy-based cereal can be developed to increase protein consumption during breakfast meals, which can consequently aid in weight loss and control.


The mismatch between graduate skills and labour market skills requirements has been
identified as one of the main factors behind graduate unemployment and employer
dissatisfaction, particularly in the Built Environment sector. Higher Education Institutes
(HEIs), despite being a body for knowledge creation and sharing, do not seem to adequately
address this mismatch. Built Environment Lifelong Learning Challenging University
Responses to Vocational Education (BELLCURVE) collaborative research project aims to
identify the ways to reform the HEIs in order to make them more responsive to the labour
market skills requirements and in turn to reduce the mismatch. This conceptual paper
discusses the changing nature of the construction labour market skills requirements. The
conceptual framework governing the research project and the research methodology are
presented. The role of BE professionals in addressing such requirements are also discussed
giving particular focus on professionals attached to disaster management and quantity
surveying sectors. Disaster management (context base sector) and quantity surveying (trade
base sector) have been identified by the project as two specific sectors to be focused in
promoting the lifelong learning due to the constantly changing knowledge and skill base of
these sectors. The responsiveness of HEIs to minimise the mismatch and to support the
lifelong learning through governance reform is explained.


ABSTRACT Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a paediatric motor speech disorder. We investigated the lexical tone perception and production abilities of children with CAS and the relationships between the two. Three children with CAS, aged between 3;7 and 5;8, were given the Cantonese Tone Identification Test (CANTIT) and the Hong Kong Cantonese Articulation Test (HKCAT) for assessment of tone perception and production, respectively. Accuracy and error patterns were investigated based on their performance on the two tests. Correlation analysis was performed on children's perception and production scores. Two children scored at the lowest rank on the CANTIT, while one child obtained a Z score of 0. All children scored three standard deviations below the mean on the HKCAT. No statistical differences were found among the six tones with respect to perception accuracy, H(5) = 3.731, p = 0.589. Error analysis showed that children with CAS demonstrated more confusion on perceiving tones compared with TD peers. There were no main effects for task (F(1,2) = 0.040, p = 0.859) or tone (F(5,10 = 0.997, p = 0.467); nor were there task or tone interaction effects on perception versus production accuracy (F(5,10) = 1.772, p = 0.206). Tone perception and production accuracy were not significantly correlated (r2 = 0.181, p = 0.078). Tone perception deficits were evident in two out of three children with CAS, while all children had lexical tone production difficulties. In this small sample, tone production was more universally affected than tone perception.


The influence of saccharose and poly(ethylene glycol) present in the cultivation medium on production of hypericin and hyperforin by Hypericum perforatum L. was evaluated in in vitro experiments. Hypericin and hyperforin were isolated by modified Soxhlet extraction with 80% ethanol and determined by HPLC with UV-Vis detection at 592 and 292 nm in less than 4 min. Calibration graphs were linear in the concentration interval 20−200 ng per injection (5 μl) with correlation coefficients R2 > 0.999. Limits of detection (for the 3 S/N criterion) were 90 and 270 pg per injection for both hypericin and hyperforin. Addition of saccharose (10, 20 and 30 g dm−3) or PEG (1.25−5 g dm−3) to cultivation medium increased the production of both substances in plant tissues. Synthesis of both substances in most experimental plants was the same or lower at higher contents of PEG. Concentrations of hypericin and hyperforin in plants were of the order 100 and 103 μg g−1, respectively. Morphological changes induced by saccharose and poly(ethylene glycol) were also observed and described.


A 2.25Cr-1Mo steel was subjected to variable amplitude block straining at test temperatures of 22, 350, 450, and 550°C. A loading block having 500 strain peaks with an exponential probability density distribution and a constant diametral strain rate was generated. The loading block was analyzed by the rain flow procedure, closed hysteresis loops were identified, and peaks forming a cycle with stress amplitude smaller than half of the fatigue limit were deleted. The strain block characterized by the maximum strain amplitude was applied to a set of cylindrical specimens in a computer-controlled electrohydraulic testing system. Stress amplitudes of all closed hysteresis loops versus the number of blocks (i.e., the variable amplitude cyclic hardening-softening curves) were plotted. Similar hardening-softening behavior as in constant amplitude straining was observed. A plot of stress amplitudes versus plastic strain amplitudes in a block at the half-life (i.e., the service stress-strain curve) was obtained. The parameters of the service stress-strain curves were evaluated in dependence on the maximum strain amplitude and on the temperature. They were compared with the basic cyclic stress-strain curves. The fatigue life in variable amplitude block loading (i.e., the number of blocks to failure) was plotted versus maximum strain amplitude. The experimental results were compared with the predictions using a linear cumulative rule combined with a rain flow counting procedure and the Manson-Coffin fatigue life curve. The actual to predicted life ratio was 0.4. The observed discrepancy was discussed in terms of the mechanism of fatigue damage under spectrum loading.


In the last decade, the manifestation of chirality in atomic nuclei has become the subject of numerous experimental and theoretical studies. The common feature of current model calculations is that the chiral geometry of angular momentum coupling is extracted from expectation values of orientation operators, rather than being a starting point in construction of a model. However, using the particle–hole coupling model for triaxial odd–odd nuclei it is possible to construct a basis which contains right-handed, left-handed and planar states of angular momentum coupling. If this basis is used, the chirality is an explicit rather than an extracted feature as in any other models with non-chiral bases. The time-reversal symmetry, which relates the basis states of opposite handedness, can be used to reduce the dimension of matrices for diagonalization of the model Hamiltonian, proving the effectiveness of this approach. Moreover, the final model eigenstate wave functions show a concentration of amplitudes among a relatively small number (∼1%) of components compared to the full model space. In that sense, the 'chiral' basis provides a useful tool to examine model predictions providing direct insight into the structure of doublet states. In this work, similarities and differences between the rotational behaviour of an axial and triaxial body provide a starting point for derivation of the basis optimal for valence nucleon coupling to an axial and a triaxial core. The derived 'chiral' basis is optimal for coupling of a valence particle and hole to the triaxial core. Model predictions are presented and discussed. A comprehensive review of current experimental data on observed chiral band candidates is also provided.


Introduction: In this study we aimed to analyze the international and Turkish contribution of the plastic surgery literature in the last 42 years and compare results to each other. Materials and Methods: Web of Science online library (v.5.30) was used as a database. Papers that published between 1976-2018 were analyzed for both international and Turkey separately in terms of distribution of papers according to the years, rankings of source countries, rankings of source organizations, publishing journals, numbers of citations and contributing authors. Results were presented as numerical data. Results: Rohrich RJ is in the first place with 743 publications in the field of plastic surgery history. In the ranking of countries contributing to the plastic surgery literature, Turkey ranks 4th standings. Conclusions: Publishing papers in highly populated journals would add on the papers itself is a false belief. In recent years Turkey's contribution to the international plastic surgery literature has as decreasing trend. Repeating of this type bibliometric analyze studies every five 5 year may aid to understand academical progresses and trends better for both international arena and Turkey.


Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic immune-mediated central nervous system (CNS) disorder with several environmental and genetic factors. To participate in the regulation of immune responses, long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have recently been published. As a result, aberrant expression of lncRNAs has been proposed as an underlying cause of MS. In the current research, by means of quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), we assessed the expression levels of two lncRNAs with putative functions in the regulation of immune response, namely lncRNA-H19 and lincRNA-p21, in serum of 74 Egyptian patients with MS relative to healthy people. Significant downregulation of lncRNA-H19 and lincRNA-P21 expression levels relative to controls in the serum of MS patients was observed (P < 0.001). Correlation analyses of lncRNA expression levels and MS patient clinical data showed a substantial moderate positive linkage among lincRNA-p21 serum expression levels and the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), a substantial moderate negative linkage among lncRNA-H19 expression levels and MS onset age and no substantial correlation among these lncRNAs and patient age. Furthermore, we showed no significant correlation among lncRNA-H19 and lincRNA-p21 serum expression levels. In brief, in MS patients, we have shown dysregulation of two lncRNAs. To explore the precise mechanisms through which lncRNAs engage in the regulation of immune responses, more studies are required.


Abstract. This paper deals with the Rayleigh wave scattering on perturbed half-spaces in the framework of the Lax-Phillips type. Singular parts of the scattering kernel for this scattering are closely connected with singularities of the Rayleigh wave passing through the perturbation on the boundary. This can be described by estimating the singular support of the scattering kernel on the Rayleigh wave channel. The proof is based on a representation formula of the scattering kernel that was obtained in the previous work. However, the formula does not suit the situation of the Rayleigh wave, even though it is a natural extension of Majda's formula for the usual wave equation. Hence, the formula needs to be reformed, and the problem needs to be reduced to a pseudo-differential equation on the boundary governing the Rayleigh wave. Key methods for the reduced problem are construction of an approximate solution for the Rayleigh wave and analysis of an oscillatory integral distilled by using the solution. The phase function of the oscillatory integral is always degenerate along the characteristic curve of the Rayleigh wave. This degeneracy is handled by introducing a certain criterion for the regularity of the distribution defined by the oscillatory integral.


We present transverse momentum distributions of inclusive charged particles and identified hadrons in $pp$ and Pb--Pb collisions at $\rs= 2.76$ TeV, measured by ALICE at the LHC. The Pb--Pb data are presented in intervals of collision centrality and cover transverse momenta up to 50 GeV/$c$. Nuclear medium effects are studied in terms of the nuclear modification factor \raa. The results indicate a strong suppression of high-$p_T$ particles in Pb--Pb collisions, consistent with a large energy loss of hard-scattered partons in the hot, dense and long-lived medium created at the LHC. We compare the preliminary results for inclusive charged particles to previous results from RHIC and calculations from energy loss models. Furthermore, we compare the nuclear modification factors of inclusive charged particles to those of identified $\pi^0$, $\pi^{\pm}$, K$^0_s$, and $\Lambda$.


During the 1980s, a transition to democratic politics occurred in two very different parts of the world: state socialist Eastern Europe and dependent capitalist Latin America. This paper asks, "why'? Why did regime change occur in the 1980s and why in the semiperipheral zone of the world system? Why, for instance, was there no regime instability on a similar scale in the core or the periphery? This paper proposes an answer that links convulsive political restructuring to the downturn phase of long Kondratieff-like economic cycles of the world-economy. Specifically, the generalized downturn that the world-economy entered in the 1970s is seen as the beginning of a Kondratieff B-Phase of economic difficulty, the political response to which is mediated by a state's zonal position in the larger world system. More powerful core nations respond by acting outwardly, in an effort to control the external environment through mechanisms such as the formation of economic blocs, like moves toward Europe an economic cooperation in 1992, and North American free-trade negotiations. Semiperipheral nations, being more constrained and weaker, act inwardly, changing their regimes to better deal with economic hardships. Finally, peripheral nations, weakest and most constrained, take little or no political action.


The analog-to-digital converter (A/D) is a critical component of a signal processing system. GHz-rate A/D's will be required in many future systems. While Si bipolar based A/D's can easily meet 4-6-bit resolution requirements, excessive power dissipation (1 W per bit) limits their operation to 100-400-MHz sampling rates. Recently, GaAs MES-FET's have demonstrated high frequency operation with relatively low power dissipation. This paper describes the design of 2- and 3-bit A/D's using GaAs MESFET's. Monolithic integrated A/D circuits were fabricated and successfully operated at gigahertz sampling rates. This sampling rate is the highest reported for any A\D technology at room temperature. The power dissipation is 150-200 mW per bit. With further improvements in comparator sensitivity, the design can be extended to 4-bit A/D for GHz rate operation.


This paper presents a comprehensive study of the features of growth and development of coriander. The study aims to assess the effect of fertilizers, sowing time and seeding rates on the passage of phenological phases, plant height, sowing quality of seeds, leaf area and essential oil content. The paper addresses the issue of using carbon derivatives (fullerenes) as growth stimulants. The effects of fertilizers and fullerenes on plant height and laboratory seed germination are compared. The effects of the pre-sowing application of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers and of foliar application of double superphosphate are highlighted and described. It is shown that the change in coriander leaves is dependent on the level of plant nutrient supply. The effects of sowing time and soil nutrient levels on the seed yield are considered. The study shows which factors had a greater impact on the content of essential oil in coriander fruits and, accordingly, on its harvest. The practical experience of coriander cultivation in the conditions of the foothill zone of the Republic of Ingushetia is summarized.


The design and implementation of a high-power (2 MW peak) vector control drive is described. The inverter switching frequency is low, resulting in high-harmonic-content current waveforms. A block diagram of the physical system is given, and each component is described in some detail. The problem of commanded slip noise sensitivity, inherent in high-power vector control drives, is discussed, and a solution is proposed. Results are given which demonstrate the successful functioning of the system.


The injection laser can initially turn on in a side mode rather than in the main mode when the risetime of the driving current is short compared to the electron lifetime, causing mode partition noise in digital transmission systems which have wavelength dispersion between the laser and the receiver. It is shown that increased differential loss between the main mode and side modes reduces both the incidence and duration of side-mode turn-ons and is the most desirable approach to reducing mode partition noise. The needed differential loss is a strong inverse function of the signal pulse width. Gain compression has a lesser influence on the rate of occurrence of side-mode turn-ons. Quantitative results from a computer model indicate that significant numbers of such turn-ons occur even when the side-mode power during quiescent bias conditions never exceeds the main-mode power. Biasing slightly above threshold will always increase the pulse rate at which a given laser can be operated and provides an attractive goal for designers of laser transmitter packages. >


The importance of renewable energy exploitation reduces the energy dependence on fossil fuels. Despite technological progress, in several remote areas and small islands the energy production is nowadays dominated by the utilization of fossil fuels. With new, increasingly stringent laws on polluting emissions and the need to lower production costs, it is necessary to exploit as many renewable sources as possible. In order to implement these considerations, it was decided to study renewable energy production. The study was carried out by estimating the energy production on a monthly and annual basis considering a mix of three plants, namely marine, solar, and wind. Simulations on wave production were carried out on a new device developed by the research team at the University of Palermo. In order to be able to perform these simulations, input climate data are required. These data are normally available in literature or obtainable by using specific GIS tools. As criterium, the Levelized Cost of Energy, normally applied to a single technology, is extended to the entire energy mix. Minimizing this parameter, the best solution is individuated, and capable of supplying 50% of the summer electrical load with renewable energy sources. The results carried out from a case study based in aeolian islands show that the solar production reaches 10.2%, the wind production reaches 45.47% and sea wave production reaches 3.04%. In this way, the diesel production decreases to 41.29%. This method can be easily applied for several small islands, estimating for several sites the ability to reduce the energy production from fossil fuels.


To improve cooling effectiveness of gas turbine hardware, various film cooling hole shapes have previously been researched. Unique design modifications have recently been made possible through the design freedom allotted by additive manufacturing. As one example, creating a rounded inlet for a film-cooling hole can mitigate separation at the inlet. This study explores various geometric features by exploiting the uses of additive manufacturing for shaped film cooling holes at engine scale. Both printability and cooling performance were evaluated.
 Resulting from this study, additively manufactured holes with hole inlet and exit rounding were printed with some variations from the design intent. The largest deviations from the design intent occurred from dross roughness features located on the leeward side of the hole inlet. The measured overall effectiveness indicated that an as-built inlet fillet decreased in-hole convection as well as decreased jet mixing compared to the as-built sharp inlet. Including an exit fillet, which prevented an overbuilt diffuser exit, was also found to decrease jet mixing. A particular insight gained from this study is the importance of the convective cooling within the hole to the overall cooling performance. In-hole roughness, which is a result of additive manufacturing, increased convective cooling within the holes but also increased jet mixing as the coolant exited the hole. The increased jet mixing caused low overall effectiveness downstream of injection.


One of the key parameters in determining the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic solar cells (OSCs) is the open circuit voltage . The processes of exciting the donor and acceptor materials individually in a BHJ OSC are investigated and are found to produce two different expressions for . Using the contributions of electron and hole quasi-Fermi levels and charge carrier concentrations, the two different expressions are derived as functions of the energetics of the donor and acceptor materials and the photo-generated charge carrier concentrations, and calculated for a set of donor-acceptor blends. The simultaneous excitation of both the donor and acceptor materials is also considered and the corresponding , which is different from the above two, is derived. The calculated from the photoexcitation of the donor is found to be somewhat comparable with that obtained from the photoexcitation of the acceptor in most combinations of the donor and acceptor materials considered here. It is also found that the calculated from the simultaneous excitations of donor and acceptor in BHJ OSCs is also comparable with the other two . All three thus derived produce similar results and agree reasonably well with the measured values. All three depend linearly on the concentration of the photoexcited charge carriers and hence incident light intensity, which agrees with experimental results. The outcomes of this study are expected to help in finding materials that may produce higher and hence enhanced PCE in BHJ OSCs.