What is scientifically indisputable is the fact that sex is among the basic biological motives or drives in human life. The other fact is that over the years humans have set rule governing sexuality. While we define sexuality as everything that defines us as girls and boys, women and men, regulating sexuality requires more than simply explaining anatomy and reproduction. First and foremost, sex should be understood as a social construct: That its meaning, the interdicts and imperatives surrounding sex, are socially constructed. Today as the African Communities are facing "sex lawlessness" information on sexuality can be accessed easily and from different forms of media- radio, television, and print. Amidst this is a great concern on how sex content created and presented by the media is affecting the behavior and attitude of the youth. The youth in need of sex knowledge are having the radio as their favorite avenue and the end result is that most of the youth are consuming sex content aired through radio without much restrictions. The fact the youth are consuming sex content aired through radio and the fact that they request for more time is confirmation that the youth consider the topics that are aired on radio to be relevant to them and to add value to their lives. In Kenya today a big share of audiences who tune in to listen to the programs on air are the young who are seeking entertainment as well as information on issues they think are important to them. Among the popular topics Kenyan youth listen to, participate in by way of discussion and questions& answers when they are aired and which they prefer to be allocated more air time are topics on love, HIV/AIDS testing, abstinence, contraceptives, dating, abortion, alcohol & sex, drugs & sex and safe sex. These topics have finally found their way into a "public and unrestricted space" (open to all who choose to participate either as creators or consumers) as opposed to the earlier "closed and guided space" (where there were clear guidelines of who should discuss what with who taking into consideration the age, gender and relationship of the interacting parties) the topics had in the traditional African Society. This shift of space for sex content has raised a lot of concern especially amongst parents who are polarized between those who are opposed to sex content aired on radio and those who find nothing wrong with the content. Whether something is wrong or not, what needs to be considered is how the present society has constructed sex regardless of the primary orientation of any member of the African Society today. Otherwise as it is now the African Society is experiencing the strain of social change (which is normal) and soon the society will strike equilibrium in a new socially constructed meaning of sex. It is at this point that radio and other avenues of communication will be guided to air content that is "universally" acceptable (acceptable by majority if not all).


Deep convolutional neural network (ConvNet) is a promising approach for high-performance image classification. The behavior of ConvNet is analyzed mainly based on the neuron activations, such as by visualizing them. In this paper, in contrast to the activations, we focus on filters which are main components of ConvNets. Through analyzing two types of filters at convolution and fully-connected (FC) layers, respectively, on various pre-trained ConvNets, we present the methods to efficiently reformulate the filters, contributing to improving both memory size and classification performance of the ConvNets. They render the filter bases formulated in a parameter-free form as well as the efficient representation for the FC layer. The experimental results on image classification show that the methods are favorably applied to improve various ConvNets, including ResNet, trained on ImageNet with exhibiting high transferability on the other datasets.


Analysis of human living environmental quality of Shenyang-Dalian urban agglomerations has important theoretical and practical significance in rapid development region. A lot of investigations have been carried for Shenyang-Dalian urban agglomerations, including 38 counties. Based on the carrying capacity of resources, natural and socioeconomic environmental factors and regional changes of human living environmental evaluation are analyzed with the application of geographic information systems (GIS) software. By using principal component analysis (PCA) model and natural breaks classification (NBC) method, the evaluation results are divided into five categories. The results show that the human living environmental evaluation (HLEE) indexes of Dalian, Shenyang, and Liaoyang are higher than other counties. Among these counties, the human living environmental evaluation (HLEE) indexes of coastal counties are significantly higher than inland counties. The range of the human living environmental evaluation index in most of the study area is at III, IV, and V levels, accounting for 80.01%. Based on these results, it could illustrate the human living environment is in relatively suitable condition in Shenyang-Dalian urban agglomeration.


In the present communication a simple and efficient synthesis of some new Pyrano-[2,3-c]- Pyrazoles derivatives are described by the one-pot condensation of a mixture of 3-methyl-1- phenyl-1H-pyrazol-5(4H)-one, substituted heterylaldehydes and malononitriles in Polyethylene glycol (PEG-400) as green reaction solvent, The chemical structure of the compounds was confirmed by IR,1H NMR and Mass spectral data. All the compounds of the series screened for their antimicrobial activity studies. The result revealed that most of the compounds showed good to moderate antimicrobial activity.


Since the discovery of the two systems of moving emission lines in the optical spectrum of SS433, this peculiar object has stimulated intense study and speculation. A generally accepted dynamical model for the binary system comprises an early-type supergiant and a compact object surrounded by a precessing thick accretion disk along the axis of which are ejected two opposing,mildly relativistic, collimated jets. The polarisation of the system, providing information into the distribution of matter in the system is, therefore, a valuable test for this model. Hence, in this thesis, we consider the theory of optically thin, Thomson scattering polarisation and model the observed polarisation of SS433. in order to provide further independent constraints on the dynamical model. The introductory section of this thesis is contained in the first two chapters. Chapter 1 is a review of the observations that have been made of SS433 as well as a description of the basic kinematic model and its development to the present dynamical model. In Chapter 2, we review the constraints on the system imposed by the observations, and the physi problems which arise from the observations and dynamical model. In Chapter 3, we develop the theory of Thomson electron scattering polarisation in the optically thin limit. The simple case of a point light source is extended to allow for arbitrary source shapes, the effect of which can be expressed as a 'depolarisation factor'. This factor is found explicitly in the two relevant special cases viz. a spherical (stellar) source and a luminous (accretion) disk source. The equations for the normalised Stokes Parameters for a general coro- tating scattering region in a binary system are then derived. A simple geometrical model for the polarisation of SS433 is developed in Chapter 4, including the effect of spherical light sources. Although this model has many limitations, they are either not important to the polarisation or can be compensated for by smoothing the data, particularly if only the precession variation is studied and the size and orbital phasing of the data set permit those data points taken during eclipses to be omitted. Finally, we predict the broad characteristics of the polarisation, such as the expected dominant frequency in the data, based on this model. In Chapter 5, we analyse the presently available polarisation data of SS433 which span 3 1/2 years of observations. The power spectra of both the observed Q and U Stokes Parameters clearly show the precession period and its first harmonic, as expected from the previous chapter, but no other periods show above the noise. We, therefore, develop an optimisation procedure to fit a simple, precession only models to the data and compare the results of this procedure with others. Finally, we attempt to fit a model including the binary/orbital effects to the data using the best-fit parameter values of the precession only model, thereby reducing the number of free parameters. A significant reduction in the x2 parameter is found if only the first harmonic of the orbital period is added to the precession model. No reduction in x2 is found when the full model developed in Chapter 4 is fitted to the data. Chapter 6 investigates the dust grain model developed by Ramaty etal., (1984), to explain the narrow gamma-ray lines claimed to be observed from SS433. Although this model could, in principle, produce narrow gamma-ray lines, as it is presented by Ramaty et al., it is neither self-consistent nor consistent with the observations at other wavelengths. In particular, the process which produces the gamma-rays is highly inefficient and the grains must, therefore radiate the waste energy deposited in them. This implies an IR flux from SS433 many orders of magnitude greater than observed. Moreover, the restrictions on the dimensions of the emitting region and the small observed polarisation imply that the emitting region must be optically thick in grains and, therefore, that the temperature of the grains would, in fact, be too high for them to survive. Chapter 7 concludes the thesis with a reprise of the conclusions and suggestions for future work arising from the detailed investigations presented here.


Many Internet events exhibit periodical patterns. Such events include the availability of end-hosts, usage of internetwork links for balancing load and cost of transit, traffic shaping during peak hours, etc. Internet monitoring systems that collect huge amount of data can leverage periodicity information for improving resource utilization. However, automatic periodicity inference is a non trivial task, especially when facing measurement "noise". In this paper we present two methods for assessing the periodicity of network events and inferring their periodical patterns. The first method uses Power Spectral Density for inferring a single dominant period that exists in a signal representing the sampling process. This method is highly robust to noise, but is most useful for single-period processes. Thus, we present a novel method for detecting multiple periods that comprise a single process, using iterative relaxation of the time-domain autocorrelation function. We evaluate these methods using extensive simulations, and show their applicability on real Internet measurements of end-host availability and IP address alternations.


Inhibition of the overt mitochondrial carnitine palmitoyltransferase by malonyl-CoA is important in the regulation of fatty acid oxidation. In the past, the contribution of peroxisomal carnitine acyltransferase activity to the generation of medium- and long-chain acylcarnitines in the cytoplasm has been ignored. On the basis of marker enzyme levels, we now estimate that peroxisomal palmitoyltransferase activity constitutes about 20% of the peroxisomal plus overt-mitochondrial pool in fed rat liver. When assayed in situ, both the palmitoyltransferase and decanoyltransferase activities of gradient-purified peroxisomes are sensitive to malonyl-CoA, with up to 90% inhibition reached at less than 10 microM-malonyl-CoA. Very similar results were obtained with intact gradient-purified mitochondria from the same livers. In addition, the acyl-CoA substrate chain-length specificity was identical in both the peroxisomes and the mitochondria, with a decanoyltransferase/palmitoyltransferase ratio of 2. Thus the overt carnitine acyltransferase activities in peroxisomes and mitochondria have the same properties. Further, the malonyl-CoA sensitivity of the peroxisomal activity is lost on solubilization, as has been observed for the overt mitochondrial enzyme. It is suggested that malonyl-CoA inhibition of the peroxisomal enzyme as well as of the mitochondrial enzyme is important for the regulation of mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation.


The Hubbard model extended by both nearest‐neighbour (nn) Coulomb correlation and nearest‐neighbour Heisenberg exchange is solved rigorously for a triangle and tetrahedron. All eigenvalues and eigenvectors are given as functions of the model parameters in a closed analytical form. For fixed electron numbers we found a multitude of level crossings, both in the ground state and in the excited states in dependence on the various model parameters. By coupling an ensemble of clusters to an electron bath we get the cluster gas model or the cluster gas approximation, if an extended array of weak‐interacting clusters is considered. The grand‐canonical potential Ω (μ, T, h) and the electron occupation N (μ, T, h) of the related cluster gases were calculated for arbitrary values (attractive and repulsive) of the three interaction constants. For the cluster gases without the additional interactions we found various steps in N (μ, T = 0, h = 0) higher than one. The reason is the degeneration of ground states differing in their electron occupation by more than one electron. For the triangular cluster gas we have one such degeneration point. For the tetrahedral cluster gas two. As a consequence, we do not find areas with one electron in the μ‐U ground‐state phase diagram of the triangular cluster gas or with one, two and five electrons in the case of the tetrahedral cluster gas. The degeneration point of the triangular cluster gas can not be destroyed by an applied magnetic field. This holds also for the lower degeneration point of the tetrahedral cluster gas. Otherwise, the upper degeneration point breaks down at a critical magnetic field hc. The dependence of hc on U shows a maximum for strong on‐site correlation. The influence of nn‐exchange and nn‐Coulomb correlation on the ground‐state phase diagrams is calculated. Whereas antiferromagnetic nn‐exchange breaks the degeneration points of the tetrahedral cluster gas partially only, a repulsive nn‐Coulomb correlation lifts the underlying degeneracies completely. Otherwise both ferromagnetic nn‐exchange and attractive nn‐Coulomb interaction stabilise the degeneration points. The consequences of the cluster gas results for extended cluster arrays are discussed.


Hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) takes advantage of the hydrophobicity of proteins by promoting its separation on the basis of hydrophobic interactions between immobilized hydrophobic ligands and nonpolar regions on the surface of the proteins. In this study, poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) poly(HEMA) beads having methacryloylamido-phenylalanine (MAPA) ligand, as a comonomer, providing hydrophobic functionality to the adsorbent were prepared. MAPA was synthesized by reacting methacryloyl chloride with L-phenylalanine. Spherical beads with an average size of 150-200 μm were obtained by suspension polymerization of HEMA and MAPA, conducted in an aqueous dispersion medium. The beads had a specific surface area of 19.1 m 2 /g, and were characterized by means of swelling studies, pore size analysis, elemental analysis, FTIR, NMR, and SEM. Beads with a swelling ratio of 68% and containing 3.2 mmol MAPA/g were used for the separation of lysozyme. Adsorption studies were performed under different conditions in a batch system (i.e., medium pH, protein concentration, temperature, and ionic strength). Lysozyme adsorption capacity of poly(HEMA) and poly(HEMA-MAPA) beads were 2.1 and 114.3 mg/g, respectively. It was observed that after 5 adsorption-desorption cycles poly(HEMA-MAPA) beads can be used without significant loss in lysozyme adsorption capacity. Purification of lysozyme from egg white was also investigated. Purification of lysozyme was monitored by determining the lysozyme activity using Micrococcus lysodeikticus as substrate. The purity of the desorbed lysozyme was about 82% with recovery about 74%. The specific activity of the desorbed lysozyme was high as 42.800 U/mg.


Immunity to infections with measles virus (MV) can involve vigorous human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I-restricted CD8+ cytotoxic T cell (CTL) responses. MV, albeit regarded monotypic, is known to undergo molecular evolution across its RNA genome. To address which regions of the MV proteome are eligible for recognition by CD8+ CTLs and how different HLA class I loci contribute to the epitope display, we interrogated the naturally processed and presented MV peptidome extracted from cell lines expressing in total a broad panel of 16 different common HLA-A, -B, and -C molecules. The repertoire and abundance of MV peptides were bona fide identified by nanoHPLC–MS/MS. Eighty-nine MV peptides were discovered and assignment to an HLA-A, -B, or -C allele, based on HLA-peptide affinity prediction, was in most cases successful. Length variation and presentation by multiple HLA class I molecules was common in the MV peptidome. More than twice as many unique MV epitopes were found to be restricted by HLA-B than by HLA-A, while MV peptides with supra-abundant expression rates (>5,000 cc) were rather associated with HLA-A and HLA-C. In total, 59 regions across the whole MV proteome were identified as targeted by HLA class I. Sequence coverage by epitopes was highest for internal proteins transcribed from the MV-P/V/C and -M genes and for hemagglutinin. At the genome level, the majority of the HLA class I-selected MV epitopes represented codons having a higher non-synonymous mutation rate than silent mutation rate, as established by comparison of a set of 58 unique full length MV genomes. Interestingly, more molecular variation was seen for the epitopes expressed at rates ≥1,000 cc. These data for the first time indicate that HLA class I broadly samples the MV proteome and that CTL pressure may contribute to the genomic evolution of MV.


The real challenge pertaining to high aspect ratio drilling is the rapid increase in chip evacuation force due to the chip clogging phenomenon occurring at higher drilling depths. The clogged chips will further impede the reachability of cutting fluid at the machining zone leading to the tool temperature buildup. This will eventually result in the catastrophic failure of the tool. Hence, in the present work, an attempt has been made to minimize the chip evacuation force by functionalizing the drill tool surfaces based on the laser microtexturing principle. Microscale textures in the form of circular dimples were created on the flute and margin side of the drill tool with an objective to control the sliding friction, thereby minimizing the chip clogging effect. The effectiveness of the functionalized drill tools were assessed mainly based on the variation in thrust force and torque. Drilling experiments showed a net reduction of 17.18% in thrust force and 26.98% in torque while machining Ti–6Al–4V using the flute and margin textured tool, which justified the effectiveness of micro scale textures in minimizing the chip evacuation forces. The experimental analysis was further extended in terms of burr height evaluation, where FMT tools were found to be highly effective in burr height reduction (1.29 mm), showing a net reduction of 54.26% when compared with the non-textured tool. The outcomes from this research work will be highly beneficial for the manufacturing industries including aerospace, automobile, and spacecraft as high aspect ratio drilling of titanium alloys are still categorized to be the most challenging machining process owing to its lower thermal conductive property.


In the study of automated guided vehicles systems (AGVS), one assumption often made in the management of vehicles is the existence of either home locations or a circulatory loop to buffer or hold idle vehicles. A review of AGVS literature reveals that different researchers pursue one idle vehicle management policy or the other. In some studies, idle vehicles are assumed to circulate in some loops in the system while others assume they are routed to some dwell point locations where they are held until they are reassigned. When the dwell point option is implemented, different strategies for implementation are also available. However, what is generally lacking in references to dwell point strategies are the techniques for selecting the optimal or best dwell points for a given facility. In this study, the problem of dwell point or home location specification is addressed. The problem was modelled mathematically to determine the optimal home locations. The emphasis in the paper is on a unidirectional AGVS guide path. The criterion of optimization employed is the minimization of the system response time to vehicle demand points when dispatched from home locations. Solution methodologies are presented and example problems solved to illustrate the applications of the models presented.


Current enforcement efforts are largely directed toward individual wrongdoers within the corporate entity, or "bad apples." In many cases, however, wrongdoing is encouraged by executive directives and corporate practices and policies. These corporations are "bad trees" that will continue to produce "bad apples" even after some employees are convicted. This essay draws on the doctrine of accomplice liability to consider when and how it is appropriate to hold corporations liable for crimes of their agents. When a corporation induces or encourages criminal conduct, the firm has behaved as an accomplice, and punishment is justified because the firm shares responsibility for the crime. Relying on this standard for corporate criminal liability rather than on respondeat superior would restrict corporate punishment to cases in which the entity can fairly be said to have acted through its executives and policies. Further, the goals of providing just deserts and deterring future crime support assigning criminal liability for such fault-based conduct.


SUMMARY We compared serotype distributions of Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates from patients aged <5 and ⩾5 years with invasive pneumococcal disease in New South Wales, Australia, and antibiotic susceptibilities of isolates from the <5 years age group only, before (2002–2004) and after (2005–2009) introduction of the 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7). Overall, there were significant decreases in the mean annual number of referred isolates (770 vs. 515) and the proportion belonging to PCV7 serotypes (74% vs. 38%), but non-PCV7 serotypes, particularly 19A, increased (5% vs. 18%). All changes were more marked in the <5 years age group. Susceptibility testing of isolates from the <5 years age group showed variation in resistance between serotypes, but significant overall increases in penicillin non-susceptibility (23% vs. 31%), ceftriaxone resistance (2% vs. 12%) and multidrug resistance (4% vs. 7%) rates; erythromycin resistance fell (32% vs. 25%). Continued surveillance is needed to monitor changes following the introduction of 13-valent PCV in 2012.


The purpose of this research is to investigate how indoor air quality might be improved by installing particular ornamental plants available in Thailand. Traditionally, ventilation fans have been used to encourage fresh air into living areas in order to reduce CO2 levels. This consumes more energy than using ornamental plants. Our research screens three types of ornamental plants and selects one to investigate its potential for enhancing indoor air quality by reducing carbon dioxide levels. The three plants are epipremnum aureum, spathiphyllum wallisei, and dieffenbachia sp. The propensity to reduce carbon dioxide levels of each plant was preliminary screened using a closed flux chamber method over a 24-hour period. It was found that epipremnum aureum had the ability to absorb carbon dioxide better than the others. The epipremnum aureum was then put in a classroom to investigate variables in two further experiments. The ability to improve air quality in terms of sensitivity to various light concentrations and the number of plants in the room are explored. It was found that epipremnum aureum should be placed within a distance of 1.5 meters from windows to achieve the appropriate light concentration to enhance indoor air quality. It was also found that 150 pots of epipremnum aureum had the propensity to reduce CO2 by 430 ppm in a classroom of 20 students for an 80-minute class. The use of sufficient amounts of epipremnum aureum can improve air quality in classrooms. A model to estimate numbers of such plants needed in classrooms is also presented.


This dissertation represents an attempt at demonstrating the process of technology transfer from developed countries to developing countries by focusing on the role of the multinational companies in such transfer in the car industry in Egypt.
Apart from in-depth discussion of the theoretical issue of technology transfer and multinational firms, this study, based on the Egyptian experience as well as experiences of other countries in the 20[sup]th century, has attempted to criticise traditional technology transfer models by first reinterpreting technologies as knowledge in general and secondly by offering a new model of technology transfer within the context of today's globalised world economy.
The thesis charts the history of Egyptian industrialisation from the 19[sup]th century to the late 20[sup]th century. It addresses questions about government policy toward industrialisation, private sector development and general macroeconomic policies of the Egyptian government since the 1950's.
The thesis attempts a detailed analysis of the car industry in Egypt in the context of both national aspiration and the role of multinational companies in the transfer of technology in the car industry in Egypt.
The thesis offers insights both on the practical intricacies of the technology transfer process and the theoretical aspects of this process.


Optical trapping is a well-established technique that is increasingly used on biological substances and nanostructures. Chirality, the property of objects that differ from their mirror image, is also of significance in such fields, and a subject of much current interest. This review offers insight into the intertwining of these topics with a focus on the latest theory. Optical trapping of nanoscale objects involves forward Rayleigh scattering of light involving transition dipole moments; usually these dipoles are assumed to be electric although, in chiral studies, magnetic dipoles must also be considered. It is shown that a system combining optical trapping and chirality could be used to separate enantiomers. Attention is also given to optical binding, which involves light induced interactions between trapped particles. Interesting effects also arise when binding is combined with chirality.


The multispecies fisheries management looks at a bigger picture in addressing the long-term consequences of present decisions. This implies an ecosystem management that includes a number of species and their physical, biological and economic interactions. These interactions make the growth of resources stochastic and increase complexity in understanding stock dynamics and optimal catch for such a stochastic and multiple stocks´ system. To address the issue of identifying optimal catch of stochastically growing multi stocks, we have formulated and applied a time-continuous stochastic model. The model contributes to multispecies bioeconomic management of marine ecosystems. An application of model in a predator-prey relationship in Barent Sea revealed that the optimal catch for stochastically growing stocks in a multispecies interaction model is different from the deterministic model.


Background There is concern regarding the increasing rates of fractures that are being attributed to osteoporosis. It is estimated that around 60 000 hip fractures occur annually in the U.K. The majority being in the elderly, resulting in considerable morbidity and mortality ( DoH, 1998). Investigations into the causes, prevention and treatment of fractures are therefore of both clinical and economic importance.

Aim The aim of this study was to compare a group of elderly, fractured neck of femur patients (female, 60–102 years, n 64) with a group of healthy age-matched controls (female, 63–90, n 45). Differences in their current dietary intake, intake in the recent and distant past, anthropometric indices lifestyle factors and food choice were all investigated.

Methods Interviewer administered questionnaires were used to obtain the information necessary and three consecutive 24 h recalls determined current dietary intake (analysed using 'Dietplan'). Anthropometric indices examined included; weight, height, demispan, mindex, demiquet, body mass index (BMI), triceps skinfold thickness (TSF), mid upper arm circumference (MUAC), mid upper arm muscle circumference (MUAMC) and maximum calf circumference.

Independent t-tests and chi-square were used to assess statistical significance.

Results Current dietary intake data revealed that the control group consumed almost all nutrients in greater amounts. Energy, carbohydrate, protein, thiamine, pyridoxine, calcium, phosphate, magnesium, potassium, iron, selenium, iodine and fibre were all significantly greater in the control group (P = < 0.01). Although, neither the cases nor controls achieved 100% of the RNI for energy (mean values).

There was also found to be a significant difference between the majority of the anthropometric indices measured. The controls were significantly heavier than the cases (P = 0.001) and had a greater mean mindex value (P = 0.001). Also, significantly lower TSF and MUAC values were seen in the cases (P = 0.005 and 0.001, respectively). All these results suggest that the fractured neck of femur patients were nutritionally compromised and would benefit from supplementation to aid recovery.

Analysis of past calcium intake produced surprising results, in that a greater percentage of the cases than controls stated consuming a 'high' calcium intake in both childhood and early adulthood. The effect of recall bias needs to be considered here. But, although these results contradict the majority of findings in this field, similar results have previously been found ( New et al., 1998 ).

Conclusions Various potential risk factors for hip fractures have been highlighted in this study (including; low body weight, low muscle mass and low activity level). Therefore, in conclusion, improved nutrition could help to prevent hip fracture occurrence and supplementation of the diet is an important part of the treatment for fractured neck of femur.


Abstract After the global corona pandemic that spread throughout the globe, new terms appeared that demonstrate what is called the 'new normal,' that will affect the current lifestyle behavior starting from the various indoor spaces and methods of seating, to the outdoor urban spaces and means of moving from one space to another. This 'new normal' is governed by the 'social' or currently the term is moving more toward 'physical' distancing and hygiene behaviors that should be followed. This paper raises a new argument regarding the impact of this new pandemic: there is no long term for the 'new normal', and the procedures related to spatial organization and social distancing will vanish after a very short period of time when spatial behavior reverts to its 'old typical normal' ways of living. The paper's hypothesis is based on an analysis of previous pandemic situations that countries and the globe have faced and their impact on outdoor urban social behavior, in addition to understanding the role of density in spreading or containing the virus. As an assumption, two parameters prevent the emergence of a long-term 'new normal' particularly with regard to open outdoor spaces. The reader might assume that the economic factor is the driving force, which is not the case, as discussed in the paper. The first factor is bottom-up, based on individual and collective group cultural and daily behavior as the main driving force. Monitoring cities that have started to return to their normal condition and observing people's gathering spaces, especially outdoor spaces, shows that people are using the spaces as usual, with minor social or physical distancing. In countries that are enforcing a partial lockdown, still people are gathering and using the spaces as they used to previously. The second factor is a top-bottom, economic-related factor of the general conditions. Counties cannot afford a series of long, full lockdowns, especially developing ones. They cannot afford to force airlines, restaurants, entertainment facilities and other related economic facilities to work at 30-40% of their capacity. The facilities would not survive economically, and nor could they afford huge re-designs. The only affordable method is to change people's personal hygiene behaviors when using the spaces, which might be temporary if a vaccine is discovered. This method suits, psychologically and economically, the individual, the economy, and the government, although it might not be the most effective path. As a result, after a few months, I argue that, gradually, the 'old normal' will return, as it is the most affordable solution for everyone. This corona pandemic is not the first and will not be the last health problem to arise. However, it is not strong enough to change the above two factors: cultural and economic behaviors. As a result, this paper suggests that there will be no 'new normal' and that the urban open spaces will be used as the 'old normal,' just as they were prior to covid-19.


Although universal digital identification systems are explored by many and personal learning record stores as part of LTI or xAPI collectors do exist, the creation of a global digital identification systems is currently contested by Google, Microsoft and Facebook as most widely used 3rd-party authentication systems. Furthermore, open access to educational resources is despite the digitalization a dream for many. Aggregating formal and informal learning data and collecting them in a personal learning record store is a very sensitive issue and can't be trustworthy offered by companies or countries. This might be a reason there are currently no initiatives that succeed to implement a global system of digital identification nor a personal learning record store for everyone. Creating a biometric digital identity verification system to grant access to a personal learning record store where informal and formal learning achievements get aggregated by xAPI-protocol, is building the ground for further use. An artificially intelligent, tokenized, value-backed platform that analyzes personal achievements, badges and certificates and further learning opportunities according to culture and field of experience will offer additional educational resources, job opportunities or new fields of interest. The combination of institutional or open educational resources and informal learning opportunities with selectable educational achievement maps and a tokenized value system for further access to payed learning resources has not been realized yet. By creating a token system that is backed up with real funds as part of a personal learning record store, also the un-banked population can experience learning as value and gets invested in further educational resources. Achievement maps and a non-biased evaluation and matching-system will give orientation and offer individual, personalized learning paths for further exploration as well as new possibilities to proof or certify achievements and competences. By constantly adding new resources, learning results and achievements the data can be crunched and analyzed by artificial intelligent systems to offer clusters, trends and insights. The results in combination with an engaged community of learners can be used for further, also collaborative learning, the creation of new educational resources or for paid projects, job recruitment and job offerings. The semantic matching-system will help to find fits according to industry according to its cultural backgrounds. A blockchain as ledger will store all sensible data and build the trusted system for the users. The concept is highlighting the elements needed for an educational solution to UNESCO's SDG 4 goals and is part of a Master thesis at Zurich University of Arts and Zurich University of Teacher Education. It should be shared and further developed in the sense of "Working Out Loud" together with interested individuals, organizations, developers, educators, NGOs and learners. The realization of a working prototype is planned early 2020 in cooperation with UNICEF or other international organizations.


The responses of vestibulospinal neurons to 0.5-Hz, whole-body rotations in three-dimensional space and static tilts of whole-body position were studied in decerebrate and alert cats. The neurons' spatial properties for earth-vertical rotations were characterized by maximum and minimum sensitivity vectors (R(max) and R(min)) in the cat's horizontal plane. The orientation of a neuron's R(max) was not consistently related to the orientation of its maximum sensitivity vector for static tilts (T(max)). The angular difference between R(max) and T(max) was widely distributed between 0 degrees and 150 degrees, and R(max) and T(max) were aligned (i.e., within 45 degrees of each other) for only 44% (14/32) of the neurons. The alignment of R(max) and T(max) was not correlated with the neuron's sensitivity to earth-horizontal rotations, or to the orientation of R(max) in the horizontal plane. In addition, the extent to which a neuron exhibited spatiotemporal convergent (STC) behavior in response to vertical rotations was independent of the angular difference between R(max) and T(max). This suggests that the high incidence of STC responses in our sample (56%) reflects not only canal-otolith convergence, but also the presence of static and dynamic otolith inputs with misaligned directionality. The responses of vestibulospinal neurons reflect a complex combination of static and dynamic vestibular inputs that may be required by postural reflexes that vary depending on head, trunk, and limb orientation, or on the frequency of stimulation.


The UK has been taking its time on major company law reform. Comprehensive company law reform has been under discussion for more than six years but a full set of legislative proposals to achieve this goal has not yet been published. The leisurely pace can be interpreted positively: Since high-quality law reform in such a complex field takes time, it could be a good sign that the UK is proceeding slowly. This benign interpretation of events has some accuracy but it does not tell the full story of a project that appears to have lost its way. Yet company law in the UK has not stood still in recent years. This paper reports several notable recent amendments to the legislative framework, including new requirements on disclosure of directors' remuneration, statutory strengthening of the arrangements for the institutional oversight of auditors and relaxation of the ban on companies giving indemnities to their directors. A new reporting obligation, in the form of a mandatory annual operating and financial review by directors of quoted companies, is also in prospect. Such developments prompt questions about why the UK Government has made certain changes ahead of the intended general overhaul of the corporate framework and whether that general review is a project that is in danger of being left behind as Government policy adapts to changing events. This paper considers these questions and assesses what the responses to them tell us about the substantive merits of conducting a general review of company law and about the usefulness of the reform process employed in the UK as a possible model for other countries.


The two main causes of microcytic and hypochromic anaemia are iron deficiency (IDA) and thalassaemia (THAL) traits. In the Mediterranean area there is a high prevalence of beta and delta-beta THAL minor. The differentiation between these causes of microcytosis can be significantly improved with two new indices, percentage of microcytes (%Mi) and percentage of hypochromic red blood cells (%Hy), and the direct determination of MCHC, provided by the technological advances of the H*2 analyser. Our discriminant analysis, based on the minimization of Wilk's lambda (lambda) criterion, was used to select the best predictive variables to differentiate between IDA and THAL and has resulted in the highest diagnostic efficiency published to date. The discriminant function obtained is a simple linear combination of the following variables: D = 1.145 RBC-0.174 MCV + 0.091 MCHC + 0.787 square root of (%Hy/%Mi)-22.119. The overall correct classification was 97.6% on the training sample (79 THAL and 90 IDA) and 96.7% on a validation sample of microcytic patients (72 THAL and 80 IDA). The sensitivity and diagnostic specificity were 97.5% and 97.8%, respectively, for the training sample, and 95.8% and 97.5% for the control group.


In article results of the analysis of negative factors of family education, the analysis of the reasons of difficulties in interaction of teachers and parents are presented. Principles of cooperation of the teacher with a family of the schoolboy and connected with the given kind of professional work psihologo-pedagogical risks are considered.


Despite the social importance of universities and their significance as receivers of public funds, hardly any research exists about their disclosure of financial information. The scarce research that has been done has focused on countries such as the United States, New Zealand, Austria, the United Kingdom and Norway. In addition, the Internet is used widely on behalf of public bodies as a way to improve their relations with citizens, through greater disclosure of information and the possibility of doing administrative business and paperwork online. Considering both topics, this work has a twofold objective: (1) to analyse the disclosure of information revealed online by Spanish universities, focusing on several issues, such as financial information, corporate governance, social responsibility and strategy, teaching and research activities, etc.; and (2) to observe the factors that explain the disclosure of financial information through Spanish universities� websites, focusing mainly on size, leverage, university profitability, governance, type of university, research orientation, age of the university and its internationality etc. This study takes into account the whole population of Spanish universities (70 universities: 48 public and 22 private). The findings obtained emphasize that university websites mainly disclose information on teaching and research activities and on governing bodies; to a lesser extent, they reveal information on their social responsibility and strategic aspects; and finally, the volume of financial information disclosed remains quite small, mainly including their budgets. Furthermore, the universities with lower levels of leverage disclose more information online, whereas those with higher volumes of debt are more reluctant to reveal their internal situation on the Internet.


As the need for higher information throughput increases, standard solutions such as copper lines and radio links seem to approach their limits. Therefore, optical solutions, after having conquered the long and medium-range networks, are nowadays also migrating into short-range data communication scenarios, offering the possibility of high capacity information transfer for both professional as well as consumer applications. The challenge is to offer cost-effective and robust optical solutions at relatively short (? 1 km) transmission distances, where traditional single-mode fiber for long-haul transmission systems are unsuitable. Solutions such as multimode glass fibers (MMF), plastic optical fibers (POF), using light-emitting diodes (LED) or low-cost vertical cavity surface emitting laser diodes (VCSEL), and optical wireless links (based on LEDs) are therefore being proposed and seem to be promising candidates. These solutions feature low costs, easy handling and installation, flexibility, and robustness, which are all very suitable characteristics for consumer needs. However, this comes at the expense of less bandwidth when compared to single-mode fiber systems. This thesis investigates the use of digital signal processing in order to overcome the bandwidth limitations in short-range optical communication systems, ensuring that such solutions are future-proof. In particular, discrete multitone (DMT) modulation is proposed and investigated in order to increase the capacity of such systems. Derived from the more general orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), DMT is a baseband multicarrier modulation technique that is already widely employed in copper-based digital subscriber lines (DSL) systems such as asymmetrical DSL (ADSL) and very high data rate DSL (VDSL). By dividing a high-speed serial data stream into multiple parallel low-speed sub-streams and transmitting them simultaneously using different frequencies, DMT can be used to efficiently combat various signal impairments such as dispersion and narrowband interference. Due to the use of intensity-modulation and direct-detection (IM/DD) in low-cost optical systems, where only the intensity of light is modulated and not the phase, the application of DMT is different from standard electrical systems. Characteristics such as high crest factor, which is the ratio of the peak to root-mean-square amplitude value of the DMT signal, and clipping have different consequences and are studied in this thesis. After an introduction to the principles of DMT and rate-adaptive bit-loading, an analytical model of the optical IM/DD channel for short-range optical communications is presented. Making use of this model, the theoretical capacity of such a channel is derived for both a Gaussian and a first-order low-pass electrical-to-electrical channel response by means of the water-filling method. It is found that the crest factor of the modulation signal plays a dominant role in defining the capacity of the optical IM/DD channel. Furthermore, by including characteristics of DMT modulation such as clipping and quantization, it is shown that the calculated capacity values can be refined and optimum parameters for DMT transmission over an optical IM/DD channel exist. Following this, the optimum clipping values and number of subcarriers for maximizing DMT transmission performance over an optical IM/DD channel are investigated. It is shown that the optimum clipping value, which depends on various system parameters such as receiver noise power and modulation order, can be determined by using an analytical expression. In the case of the number of subcarriers, larger values generally lead to better performance when DMT with bit-loading is used. Additionally, various experiments to explore the system limits of DMT techniques have been performed and the results for POF, MMF, and optical wireless are presented. It is shown that record bit-rates of up to 47 Gbit/s can be achieved using DMT. Finally, an efficient way to implement DMT is presented, together with results regarding the implementation of a real-time DMT transmission system operating at 1.25 Gbit/s. System complexity issues of real-time hardware implementation are also discussed, showing that pipelining and parallelization are essential in high-speed designs, adding to the need of extra hardware resources. Moreover, it is verified that for DMT, the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) operations require most hardware resources. After the presentation of some alternative modulation techniques such as pulse-amplitude-modulated DMT (PAM-DMT), which also were investigated by the author, this thesis ends with the conclusions and some recommendations for further research work.


Purpose: The objective of this study was to determine the effects of an 8-week core exercise programme performed on Swiss ball and BOSU ball that on dynamic balance, flexibility, spinal Range of Motion (ROM), back muscle endurance, back muscle strength, abdominal muscle strength, and body composition for healthy young males. Methods: Twenty-two young males (Age: 20.68 ± 2.27 years, height: 175.23 ± 5.17 cm, body weight: 66.81 ± 7.85 kg) volunteered for the study. Prior to the training period, all participants completed anthropometric measurements, body composition measurement, back muscle strength and endurance tests, sit-up test, lateral bending and spinal ROM measurements, Y Balance Test (YBT). After measurements, the participants were divided into randomly two groups. The exercise group (N:12) performed the core exercise 3 days per week for 8 weeks. The control group (N:10) did not participate in any type of exercise. "Indepented t-test" and "Paired-Samples T test" were used for analysis of all parameters between the pre and post training measurements for exercise and control groups. Results: The present findings show that there were significant increases between pre and post-training values for back muscle strength, abdominal muscle strength, spinal ROM and dynamic balance in the exercise group compare with control group. Following the core strength training programme, back muscle strength (+10%) (p < 0.05) and endurance (+18.61%) (p < 0.00), abdominal muscle strength (+20.39%) (p < 0.03), leg strength (+12.66%) (p < 0.01), spine ROM, lateral flexibility and dynamic balance values of the exercise group showed a significant increase when compared with the pre test values. The control group did not show any significant changes pre and post training values when compared with exercise group. Conclusions: The results demonstrated that the 8-week a core training programme with Swiss ball and BOSU ball was effective to increase flexibility, dynamic balance, strength and muscular endurance, but not effective to decrease body fat. In this context, it can be said that this strength and flexibility training program may be a pleasurable alternative training type by coaches and physiotherapists that increased the above-mentioned physical fitness parameters for athletes or sedanter individuals.


Objective: This study aimed to compare the metacognitive functions of patients diagnosed with trichotillomania (TTM) and skin picking disorder (SPD) with those of healthy controls (HCs). Method: The study was conducted with 125 participants, 32 of whom had TTM, 47 had SPD, and 46 were HCs. A Sociodemographic Data Form, the Metacognition Questionnaire-30 (MCQ-30), Clinical Global Impression (CGI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) were administered to the participants. Results: It was determined that the subscale scores of "uncontrollability and danger" and "need to control thoughts" were significantly higher in patients with TTM and SPD compared with the HCs. There was a positive correlation between the patients' CGI scores and their MCQ-total scores. A positive and significant relationship was found between BDI and "uncontrollability and danger," "need to control thoughts," "cognitive self-consciousness," and MCQ-total scores. There was a positive correlation between the BAI and other subscales except for "positive beliefs" and MCQ-total scores. Conclusion: Our study reveals dysfunctional metacognitions in TTM and SPD patient groups. The subdimensions of "uncontrollability and danger" and "need to control thoughts" are dysfunctional metacognitions that are prominent in both patient groups. These prevent It also


The relations between interfacial properties of clad composite and process conditions are studied. Adherence on interface of two materials is most significant property of clad composite. Properties of composite material are manifestation of its microstructure, and process conditions are decisive factor to the microstructure in interfacial area. In-depth understanding about the composite's properties is only achieved through appreciation of the mechanism by which the process conditions affect the microstructure. Aluminum and copper clad composite bars are extruded at the various process conditions. Interfacial adherence of the extruded composite is examined. Microstructure of the dispersed layer and its vicinity is investigated.


By examining restoration projects completed by the Outfest Legacy Project for LGBT Film Preservation—a collaboration between Outfest and the UCLA Film & Television Archive—this essay articulates the unique challenges that the preservation and conservation of lesbian moving images have historically posed for traditional archives.


In order to make the by-products generated from the porcine industry more valuable, pig livers were used in this trial to obtain protein hydrolysates. Three proteases (alcalase, bromelain, and papain) were utilized for enzymatic hydrolysis with two different durations, 4 and 8 hours. Ultrafiltration process was used for the recovery of the extracts, employing three different membrane pore sizes (30, 10, and 5 kDa). The porcine livers contained considerable amounts of protein (19.0%), considering they are almost composed of water (74.1%). The antioxidant activity of the obtained hydrolysates was investigated using four antioxidant methods (2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity, 2-2′-Azino-di-[3-ethylbenzthiazoline sulfonate] (ABTS) radical scavenging activity, ferric reducing antioxidant power assay (FRAP), and oxygen radical absorbance capacity assay (ORAC)). Antibacterial properties were also measured against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. Results indicated that the three studied factors (type of enzyme, membrane pore size, and time) significantly affected the parameters evaluated. Hydrolysates obtained at 8 hours with alcalase had the best antioxidant properties. The 30 kDa alcalase extracts exhibited the highest DPPH (562 µg Trolox/g), FRAP (82.9 µmol Fe2+/100 g), and ORAC (53.2 mg Trolox/g) activities, while for ABTS the 10 kDa alcalase showed the higher values (1068 mg ascorbic acid/100 g). Concerning the antibacterial activity, 30 kDa hydrolysates obtained with bromelain for 4 hours exhibited the highest antimicrobial capacity, providing an inhibition of 91.7%.


The purpose of this Masters Research Paper is to analyze the methods of crisis communication utilized by H&M and Dolce & Gabbana in response to their racially charged ads launched in January 2018 and November 2018 respectively. After thorough research, it is clear that many retail groups have suffered irreparable damage to their images from a crisis (Liu et al., 2011). Image Restoration Theory (IRT) and the Social-mediated Crisis Communication model will act as a lens through which the companies' techniques will be examined. The Literature Review aiding the research gathered in this paper will provide insight into the growth of the advertising industry, examples of modern corporate crises, and a recap of each corporation's controversial pasts. The review will also cover theories of crisis communication and social media's role in crisis communication. After manually collecting data from Dolce & Gabbana's Instagram and Twitter accounts, it is clear that the Italian fashion house misused denial in combination with William Benoit's other strategies within IRT. The public swiftly accused Dolce & Gabbana of lying and avoiding blame. After Dolce & Gabbana turned to mortification, their image had been damaged as many users labeled the apology as insincere. Similarly, the data collected on H&M reveals that the retail group attempted to evade responsibility. Later, H&M retracted their statement and released an apologized. The apology received a marginally warmer reception by Instagram users, where as many users on Twitter were demonstrably skeptical of its genuineness. When corrective action is employed the public recalls each company's racist past. After thorough analysis, it is evident that in racially charged corporate crises it may be in the best interest of the company's image to take full responsibility for the act and release a denial free apology.


Solution phase affinity constants of the glycopeptide antibiotic alpha- and beta-avoparcin, with a range of bacterial cell-wall receptor-mimicking model peptides, were determined by a relatively new method: affinity electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). This method is relatively efficient and allows the parallel determination of several affinity constants in mixtures of antibiotics and receptors. The determined binding constants for alpha- and beta-avoparcin were compared with those of the related glycopeptide antibiotic vancomycin. The solution phase binding affinities of alpha- and beta-avoparcin on one hand, and vancomycin on the other, were found to be in the same order, at least for the range of receptor-mimicking peptides studied. However, beta-avoparcin displayed slightly higher binding affinities than alpha-avoparcin, particularly for strong binding receptor-mimicking peptides. The evidence that alpha- and beta-avoparcin and vancomycin are structurally similar, combined with the present data revealing their similar affinity for bacterial cell-wall receptor-mimicking peptides, supports the hypothesis that the appearance of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) might be linked to the widespread use of avoparcin.


The present studies address two criticisms of the theory of evolved sex differences in jealousy: (a) that the sex difference in jealousy emerges only in response to hypothetical infidelity scenarios, and (b) that the sex difference emerges only using forced-choice measures. In two separate studies, one a paper-and-pencil survey with a student sample and the other a web-based survey targeting a non-student sample, men and women showed significant sex differences in jealousy in response to actual infidelity experiences; men experienced more jealousy in response to the sexual aspects of an actual infidelity, whereas women experienced more jealousy in response to the emotional aspects of the infidelity. Sex differences emerged using both continuous measures of jealousy as well as the traditional forced-choice measure. Overall, our results demonstrate that sex differences in jealousy are not limited to responses to hypothetical infidelity scenarios; they also emerge in response to actual infidelity experiences.


In the wake of Hurricane Harvey and a slew of other natural disasters affecting the United States, all Americans cannot help thinking about effective damage control for current and future disasters. I grew up in Houston, Texas where we went through countless hurricanes, torrential rainstorms, and the resulting power outages, and after surviving each one, we inevitably thought: What can we do to prepare better for the next one? Preparing to be self-sufficient in the aftermath of a life-changing disaster should be a top priority not just for individuals but for the government as well. After all, the more prepared individuals are in the face of a disaster, the less assistance the government needs to provide. Unfortunately, government bodies of all levels are actually part of the problem underlying the devastating effects of natural disasters because, whether by accident or design, the government has disseminated the message that preparing oneself to be self-sufficient far too difficult, or even illegal. Scholars have tip-toed around this topic by discussing ways to minimize disaster risk through macro-level preparation efforts. But this article is the first to address the problems confronting disaster preparation at the individual and more personal level.
This article starts by laying out the foundation of why self-sufficient preparation is vital. Then, it walks through a wide variety of actual and apparent legal barriers and disincentives to self-sufficient disaster preparation at all government levels — federal, state, and local. Finally, it briefly touches on existing and prospective legal incentives for self-sufficiency and contends that incentivizing disaster preparation should be the goal of all governments throughout the nation.


Kenyans use mobile money services to transfer money to friends and relatives via mobile phone text messaging. Kenya's M-Pesa is one of the most successful examples of digital money for financial inclusion. This article uses social network analysis and ethnographic information to examine ties to and through women in 12 mobile money transfer networks of kin, drawn from field data collected in 2012, 2013, and 2014. The social networks are based on reciprocal and dense ties among siblings and parents, especially mothers. Men participate equally in social networks, but as brothers and mother's brothers more often than as fathers. The matrilineal ties of mobile money circulate value within the hearthhold (Ekejiuba 2005) of women, their children, and others connected to them. Using remittances, families negotiate investments in household farming or work, education, and migration. Money sending supports the diverse economic strategies, flexible kinship ties, and mobility of hearthholds. Gifts of e-money are said to express a natural love and caring among mothers and siblings and are often private and personal. Consequently, the money circulations of the hearthhold avoid disrupting widely shared ideals of patrilineal solidarity and household autonomy.


The purpose of this study was twofold. The first was to detect the wrong transition mistakes of the Turkic originated foreign students in written expression while studying Anatolian Turkish, within the frame of European Language Development File Criteria, and the second was to determine their reasons regarding doing these mistakes. Based primarily on the European Language Development File Criteria, "Personal Information Form" was prepared in order to analyze the "Language Passport, Language Biography, and Language File" of the students. The form was prepared in four main parts consisting of Personal Records (I.D. and Education Records, Family Members), Language Learning Past (Different Languages S/he Learned and the Language Courses S/he Attends, Which Way / Channel S/he Learned Anatolian Turkish, Turkish Course Completion Level), a multiple choice test prepared in order to measure the Turkish knowledge level and planned sample scripts that the students were made to write in Anatolian Turkish. The prepared form was applied on 30 foreign students that study in different faculties and departments in Ataturk University and most of whom are Azerbaijanis from Iran and Azerbaijan and Turkmens. The personal records and the language learning past in the first two parts were classified as per the objectives of the study, and graphically expressed by means of Excel 0.6 program. The Anatolian Turkish sufficiency levels of the students were detected as per the multiple choice questions in the third part. Finally, the planned sample scripts that the students were made to write were examined through "document examination" method and were applied to "conceptual analysis." In the conceptual analysis, the wrong transition mistakes were examined under four topics of "phonetic level," "morphologic level," "vocabulary level," and "syntactic level". The results showed that the foreign Turkic originated students of mostly tended to make mistakes in phonetic level, and that they made frequent wrong transitions due to their mother tongues. According to the results of this study, in preparing "Turkish writing curriculum or courses", it"s necessary to pay attention to the related wrong transitions and the related features of the mother tongues of the target groups.


Alexander X. Douglas offers a new understanding of Spinoza's philosophy by situating it in its immediate historical context. He defends a thesis about Spinoza's philosophical motivations and then bases an interpretation of his major works upon it. The thesis is that much of Spinoza's philosophy was conceived with the express purpose of rebutting a claim about the limitations of philosophy made by some of his contemporaries. They held that philosophy is intrinsically incapable of revealing anything of any relevance to theology, or in fact to any study of direct practical relevance to human life. Spinoza did not. He believed that philosophy reveals the true nature of God, and that God is nothing like what the majority of theologians, or indeed of religious believers in general, think he is. The practical implications of this change in the concept of God were profound and radical. As Douglas shows, many of Spinoza's theories were directed towards showing how the separation his opponents endeavoured to maintain between philosophical and non-philosophical (particularly theological) thought was logically untenable.


Na-ion batteries represent an effective energy storage technology with slightly lower energy and power densities but potentially lower material costs than Li-ion batteries. Here, we report a new polyanionic intercalation cathode material of an unusual chemical class: sidorenkite (Na3MnPO4CO3). This carbonophosphate compound shows a high discharge capacity (∼125 mAh/g) and specific energy (374 Wh/kg). In situ X-ray diffraction measurement suggests that sidorenkite undergoes a solid solution type reversible topotactic structural evolution upon electrochemical cycling. Ex situ solid state NMR investigation reveals that more than one Na per formula unit can be deintercalated from the structure, indicating a rarely observed two-electron intercalation reaction in which both Mn2+/Mn3+ and Mn3+/Mn4+ redox couples are electrochemically active.


Information on the temporal distributions of tropical fish larvae is scarce. Early stage larval fishes were sampled using towed bongo plankton nets at sites on the southern North West Shelf of Australia (21°49′S, 114°14′E), between October and February of 1997/98 and 1998/99. The first summer was characterised by El Nino–Southern Oscillation-driven upwelling and high primary productivity, whereas in the second summer water temperatures were warmer and primary production was lower. Benthic percoid shorefishes dominated surface assemblages in both summers and this pattern may be typical of tropical shelf environments.The abundance and diversity of larval fishes were lowest in October and increased from November through to February. Assemblages displayed weak cross-shelf patterns, with a few taxa being more abundant at inshore sites (e.g. monacanthids), whereas others were more abundant offshore (e.g. scombrids). Although the composition of assemblages remained relatively consistent, many taxa (e.g. pomacentrids and carangids) showed differences in abundance between summers. Multivariate analyses found no relationships between abundance patterns of larval fishes and biophysical variables, such as temperature, salinity, and zooplankton biomass. Thus, seasonal changes in abundance may reflect differences in the spawning activities of adult fishes and/or larval survival.


In the spring of 1927, Picasso produced a large painting known as The Painter and His Model, now in Tehran. Perhaps because of its current location, the work has, until recently, gone largely unremarked in the literature on the artist. Nonetheless, it stands as his most arresting single canv as of the late 1920s—perhaps the strangest period of the artist's production—and indeed as one of the supreme achievements of his career. In ways we have yet to grasp fully, the late ′20s marked a crucial turning point for Picasso: a moment of crisis, which seemed to require a tot al reexamination of his means. Over the course of 1927 in part icular, his work took on a troubled, almost desperate air as Picasso reengaged wit h Cubism's most difficult lessons, and const ant ly courted—at times even willed—aesthet ic failure. At no t ime had the art ist worked against himself with such intensit y, or with such bewildering results.


The aim of the study was to investigate the development of Executive Information
Systems (EIS) in twenty large British companies and to also determine what role,
if any, the company library played. Also investigated was the future of the
library and other corporate information systems as a provider of information
services to business. A multiple-case study methodology was adopted for
carrying out the research. Interviews were conducted with nearly 70 respondents;
these included librarians, EIS developers and senior manager users of the EIS, and
EIS vendors.
All three corporate respondent groups have poor perception of Information
Management policy, politics and culture. Most EIS are developed using
prototyping or CSF method without reference to any frameworks or strategic
business plan, and a lack of co-operation from senior managers.
EIS are developed because of internal pressures. Their main use is as an
operational tool and for monitoring/analysis. EIS has made managers more aware
of information as corporate asset but few request improvements to the system.
Most EIS are successful and percolate further down the management hierarchy,
but they have not lived up to their original expectations. EIS impact on both the
library and company is slight.
Most librarians know about EIS, mainly by chance. Only four company libraries
were involved in the development of EIS because most EIS are internal financial
systems, and the library is seen as irrelevant. However, they are more likely to be
involved if the library reports to a corporate strategy department, be physically
near EIS teams, and personally know the EIS developers. Libraries are consulted
because they are seen as extemal data experts; their main role is acting as external
information consultants or as a conduit for external sources directly into the EIS.
Despite many librarians being proactive many also have a pessimistic view of
their future. They believe they are seen by senior management as increasingly
irrelevant and targets for cost cutting, and as such few openly promote themselves
within the company. However, the study also shows that librarians may have new
roles to play as information becomes much more widely accessible in business
through knowledge management technology such as Lotus Notes and intranets.


Cholinergic signaling, which modulates cell activities via nicotinic and muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (n- and mAChRs) in response to internal or external stimuli, has been demonstrated in mammalian non-neuronal cells that synthesize acetylcholine (ACh). One of the major pathways of excitatory transmission in the enteric nervous system (ENS) is mediated by cholinergic transmission, with the transmitter ACh producing excitatory potentials in postsynaptic effector cells. In addition to ACh-synthesizing and ACh-metabolizing elements in the ENS, the presence of non-neuronal ACh machinery has been reported in epithelial cells of the small and large intestines of rats and humans. However, little is known about how non-neuronal ACh controls physiological function in the intestine. Here, experiments using crypt–villus organoids that lack nerve and immune cells in culture suggest that endogenous ACh is synthesized in the intestinal epithelium to drive organoid growth and differentiation through activation of nAChRs. Treatment of organoids with nicotine enhanced cell growth and the expression of marker genes for stem and epithelial cells. On the other hand, the nAChR antagonist mecamylamine strongly inhibited the growth and differentiation of organoids, suggesting the involvement of nAChRs in the regulation of proliferation and differentiation of Lgr5-positive stem cells. More specifically, RNA sequencing analysis revealed that Wnt5a expression was dramatically upregulated after nicotine treatment, and Wnt5a rescued organoid growth and differentiation in response to mecamylamine. Taken together, our results indicate that coordinated activities of nAChR and Wnt signaling maintain Lgr5-positive stem cell activity and balanced differentiation. Furthermore, we could clearly separate the two groups, neuronal ACh in the ENS and non-neuronal ACh in the intestinal epithelium. Dysfunction of the non-neuronal cholinergic system is involved in the pathogenesis of disease. The data will increase our understanding of the cholinergic properties of non-neuronal cells and lead to optimization of drug therapy.


T cells with helper and suppressor functions arising during graft-versus-host reaction (B6 vs. BDF1) have been characterized with respect to their Ly surface antigens. Helper cells were found to express the phenotype Ly 1+2- and suppressor cells the phenotype Ly 1+2+. Ly 1-2+ T cells had no suppressive effect in this system. T cells of the host did not contribute to either activity.


HYUNDAI SCHEDULED SERVICES Maintenance Items Service 1 2 3 Replace engine oil and filter. Inspect exterior lights. Inspect tire pressures. Check coolant, battery, brake and washer fluid levels. Inspect and lubricate all latches, hinges and locks. Inspect all drive belts. Inspect vacuum, crankcase ventilation hoses. Inspect driveshafts and boots. Rotate tires. Inspect front brake pads, rotors. Inspect rear brake drums/linings, parking brake (or rear discs/pads). Inspect brake fluid. Inspect suspension mounting bolts. Inspect steering gear box, linkage, boots and lower arm ball joint. Inspect engine coolant. Inspect automatic transaxle fluid. Inspect brake hoses and lines. Inspect fuel lines, fuel hoses and connections. Inspect fuel filter/fuel air filter. Service Front and Rear Brakes. Inspect exhaust pipes and muffler (after manifold). Inspect battery terminals. Inspect vapor hose and fuel filler cap. Replace engine air cleaner filter. SCHEDULE INTERVALS KM Service


This paper examines the impact of neighbourhood on the income and mental health of individuals living in social housing in the UK. It exploits a dataset that is representative and longitudinal to match people to their very local neighbourhoods. Using this, the paper examines the effect of living in a neighbourhood in which the population is more disadvantaged on the levels and change, over a 10-year window, of income and mental health. It is found that social renters who live with the most disadvantaged individuals as neighbours have lower levels of household income and poorer mental health. However, neighbourhood appears to have no impact on changes in either household income or individual mental health.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the antimicrobial effect of bioceramic endodontic cements with and without silver nanoparticles on Enterococcus faecalis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Six groups were evaluated (n=8), and divided according to the materials: MTA Flow + AgNP ; MTA Flow Group; Bio C Repair + AgNP; Bio C Repair; PBS Cimmo + AgNP; PBS Cimmo. The groups were maintained for 72 h in the suspension of Enterococcus faecalis in Simulated Body Fluid (SBF). Samples of 100 μL were removed from the suspension at 0, 24, 48 and 72 h and seeded in triplicate in a Petri dish. Colony forming units (CFU) were counted using a colony counter. All procedures described were performed in a laminar flow chamber. Two-way ANOVA followed by Tukey's post hoc test and paired t-test were used for statistical analyses (α = 0.05).

RESULTS
The addition of silver nanoparticles resulted in a statistically significant difference for MTA and CIMMO PBS cements (p⟨0.05), with the lowest bacterial growth being shown by the MTA group. For all groups, only the times of 48 and 72 h presented results without differences.

CONCLUSION
The addition of silver nanoparticles to bioceramic cements was efficient to promote an acceleration of bacterial death.


The concentration of myometrial and decidual oxytocin receptors increases dramatically in normal women in late pregnancy, causing enhanced uterine sensitivity to physiologic levels of oxytocin. Similar increase in myometrial oxytocin receptors has been found in women in preterm labor, indicating a role for oxytocin also in idiopathic preterm labor. A newly synthesized oxytocin analogue, 1-deamino-2-D-Tyr-(OEt)-4-Thr-8-Orn-oxytocin, has been found to be a competitive inhibitor of oxytocin. The present study was conducted to test its efficacy in suppressing uterine contractions during preterm labor in women. Twelve patients with established, uncomplicated preterm labor between 27 and 33 weeks of gestational age were given intravenous infusions of the analogue for 1.5 to 13 hours during continuous external cardiotocographic monitoring. In nine patients inhibition of uterine contractions was achieved and further progression in cervical scores was arrested. In three patients, all at 27 weeks of gestational age, no significant tocolytic effect was observed during a 1.5-hour infusion of the analogue and the patients were then given ritodrine intravenously. No side effects were observed in any of the patients. These preliminary findings support the concept that an increased concentration of uterine oxytocin receptors is an important etiologic factor in uncomplicated preterm labor and therefore oxytocin receptor blockade may be a therapeutic alternative for this condition.


Blockchain and distributed ledger technology (BC/DLT) provides distributed databases with decentralized governance, tamper-proof recording, high availability and non-copyable digital assets, which have made it a natural technological basis for supply chain management. In this paper, we introduce REALISTIC, a novel event-based modeling framework for supply chain networks (SCNs) that includes production processes. It extends McCarty's Resources-Events-Agents (REA) accounting model with secure transformations, which, across the entire SCN, guarantee that certified output resources cannot be digitally produced ex nihilo, but require certified input resources of at least the same amount as what is produced. This generalizes the no-double-spend guarantee of current BC/DLT to (digital twins of) physical resources and their production. Authenticated human or robotic Internet of Things (IoT) actors digitally sign and cryptographically commit to the veracity of real-world events on an immutable database, without having to take responsibility for their aggregate consequences. User-specifiable interpretations, corresponding to queries and analytical functions in database systems, provide auditable aggregate information computed from recorded events across the entire SCN. This includes fine-grained and trustworthy tracing of final products through multiple stages of production processes, semi-finished products, quality certifications and transportation all the way back to their raw materials. We present a case study for an end-to-end coffee supply chain that tracks fine-grained and detailed information from a farmer's coffee cherries to retail coffee bags, involving all its actors. Our model handles product provenance; auditable sustainability, quality and trade information; production processes from parchment via green to roasted coffee; product quality tests; farmer certifications; and transportation across the entire coffee supply chain. It is based on field work involving farmers, cooperatives, processors, traders, importers, and a major roasting company stretching from Colombia to Scandinavia. Its REALISTIC-based modeling is the foundation for the design of our prototype implementation, which includes Ethereum blockchain code, RDBMS-based server code and a web app client. Their source code is publicly available on GitHub.


Census 2000 showed that the United States population on April 1, 2000 was 281.4 million. Of the total, 36.4 million, or 12.9 percent, reported Black or African American. This number includes 34.7 million people, or 12.3 percent, who reported only Black in addition to 1.8 million people, or 0.6 percent, who reported Black as well as one or more other races. The term Black is used in the text of this report to refer to the Black or African American population, while Black or African American is used in the ext tables and graphs. Census 2000 asked separate questions on race and Hispanic or Latino origin. Hispanics who reported their race as Black, either alone or in combination with one or more other races, are included in the numbers for Blacks. This report, part of a series that analyzes population and housing data collected from Census 2000, provides a portrait of the Black population in the United States and discusses its distribution at both the national and subnational levels. It is based on the Census 2000 Redistricting Data (Public Law 94-171) Summary File, which was among the first Census 2000 data products to be released and is used by each state to draw boundaries for legislative districts. The term "Black or African American" refers to people having origins in any of the Black race groups of Africa. It includes people who reported "Black, African Am., or Negro" or wrote in entries such as African American, Afro American, Nigerian, or Haitian. Data on race has been collected since the first U.S. decennial census in 1790.


Background: The significance of access to dental care on oral conditions in older subjects is limited. We hypothesized that dental care control for aging effects on oral and periodontal conditions. Materials and methods: 1020 randomly selected subjects between age 60 and 96 from the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care Blekinge study received comprehensive medical and dental examinations. Results: Dentate women and men had, on average,18.4 teeth (S.D. ± 7.6), and 18.9 teeth (S.D.±7.5) (P = 0.37) respectively. In the youngest age group with infrequent dental visits 37% had > 20 teeth, and 73% had > 20 teeth if they had annual visits. Among old-old infrequent dental visitors 1.8% had > 20 teeth and 37% had > 20 teeth with annual visits. Across age groups, the overall % bleeding on probing was 23%. When adjusting for age, GLM univariate analysis failed to demonstrate an effect of frequency of dental visits and ABL scores (P = 0.18) but frequent dental visitors had significantly more teeth than infrequent visitors (P = 0.001). Conclusions: Tooth loss and extent of alveolar bone loss increase with age. Frequent dental visits seem to preserve teeth but has no impact on the amounts of deposits, gingival inflammation, or alveolar bone levels.


Objective: To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of ceftolozane/tazobactam + metronidazole (C/T+M) and ceftolozane/tazobactam (C/T) compared with 8 alternatives used in the treatment of complicated intraabdominal infection (cIAI) and complicated urinary tract infection (cUTI) respectively. Methods: A Monte Carlo simulation decision model was used for the estimation and comparison of treatment-related costs, and quality adjusted life years for patients with cIAI treated with C/T+M in comparison with cefepime + metronidazole, ciprofloxacin + metronidazole, doripenem, levofloxacin + metronidazole, meropenem, piperacillin/tazobactam, ceftazidime + metronidazole or imipenem/cilastatin and patients with cUTI treated with C/T in comparison with cefepime, ciprofloxacin, doripenem, levofloxacin, meropenem, piperacillin/tazobactam, ceftazidime or imipenem/cilastatin. Local costs were estimated using base cases identified by experts and consulting local databases. Sensitivity values of the PACTS (Program to Assess Ceftolozane/Tazobactam Susceptibility) study in Latin America were used in the model. Results: C/T+M and C/T obtained incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICER) that were below the Colombian cost-effectiveness threshold (3 GDP per capita) in most comparisons, and were dominated by meropenem, considering only gram-negative microorganisms. Sensitivity assessments were also carried out, in which only the population with P. aeruginosa infections was considered, showing positive results for C/T+M and C/T (cost-effective or dominant with regards to all comparators). Conclusions: C/T+M and C/T could be cost-effective alternatives in the treatment of CIAI and CUTI in Colombia, when there is an adequate and rational use of antibiotics. The results of the sensitivity analyses showed dominance and cost-effectiveness with regards to every comparator in patients infected with P. aeruginosa


Abstract. Windstorms are a major natural hazard in many countries.
The objective of this study is to identify and characterize intense
windstorms during the last 4 decades in the US Northeast and determine
both the sources of cyclones responsible for these events and the manner in
which those cyclones differ from the cyclone climatology. The windstorm
detection is based on the spatial extent of locally extreme wind speeds at
100 m height from the ERA5 reanalysis database. During the top 10
windstorms, wind speeds exceed their local 99.9th percentile over
at least one-third of land-based ERA5 grid cells in this high-population-density region of the USA. Maximum sustained wind speeds at 100 m during
these windstorms range from 26 to over 43 ms−1, with wind speed return
periods exceeding 6.5 to 106 years (considering the top 5 % of grid cells
during each storm). Property damage associated with these storms, with inflation
adjusted to January 2020, ranges from USD 24 million to over USD 29 billion. Two of these windstorms are linked to decaying tropical cyclones,
three are Alberta clippers, and the remaining storms are Colorado lows. Two
of the 10 re-intensified off the east coast, leading to development of
nor'easters. These windstorms followed frequently observed cyclone tracks
but exhibit maximum intensities as measured using 700 hPa relative vorticity
and mean sea level pressure that is 5–10 times the mean values for
cyclones that followed similar tracks over this 40-year period. The
time evolution of wind speeds and concurrent precipitation for those
windstorms that occurred after the year 2000 exhibit good agreement with in
situ ground-based and remote sensing observations, plus storm damage
reports, indicating that the ERA5 reanalysis data have a high degree of
fidelity for large, damaging windstorms such as these. A larger pool of the
top 50 largest windstorms exhibit evidence of only weak serial clustering,
which is in contrast to the relatively strong serial clustering of
windstorms in Europe.


In relation with other laryngeal neoplasms, sarcomas are uncommon tumours. With the object to put in knowledge one chondrosarcoma and one liposarcoma located in the larynx seen in our hospital in a small period of time, we decided to do this publication, discussing the differential clinical aspects of these laryngeal cancers.


Introduction
Research addressing inequalities has focused predominantly on primary and community care; few initiatives relate to the prehospital environment. We aimed to identify in the literature barriers or facilitators experienced by patients from black and minority ethnic (BME) communities in accessing prehospital care and to explore the causes and consequences of any differences in delivery.
Methods
We conducted a systematic literature review and narrative synthesis. Electronic and journal hand searches from 2003 through 2013 identified relevant evaluative studies (systematic reviews, randomised controlled trials, quasi-experimental, case and observational studies). A researcher extracted data to determine characteristics, results and quality, each checked by a second reviewer. The main outcome measures were delays in patient calls, mortality rates and 30-days survival post discharge.
Results
Eighteen studies met criteria for the review: two concerned services in England and Wales and 15 were United States based. Reported barriers to accessing care were generic (and well-known) given the heterogeneity of BME groups: difficulties in communication where English was the patient's second language; new migrants' lack of knowledge of the health care system leading to inappropriate emergency calls; and cultural assumptions among clinical staff resulting in inappropriate diagnoses and treatment. There were limited reported facilitators to improvement, such as the need for translation services and staff education, but the latter were poorly described or developed. Where outcomes were discussed, there was evidence for race-related disparity in mortality and survival rates. This could reflect differences in condition severity, delays between onset and initiation of calls, or the scope of response and assistance.
Conclusion
The paucity of literature and difficulties of transferring findings from US to UK context identified an important research gap. Further studies should be undertaken to investigate UK differences in prehospital care and outcomes for BME groups, followed by qualitative approaches to understand barriers and enablers to equitable access.


Under high temperature stress, plants synthesize a set of proteins called heat-shock proteins (HSPs). The objective of this research was to investigate HSP gene expression in two diploid wheat (L., = = 14) genotypes differing in thermal tolerance. Genotypes M3 (tolerant) and M9 (susceptible) were determined to be significantly different in acquired thermal tolerance based on the following criteria: reduction in regrowth during recovery from heat stress, reduction in chlorophyll content, and 2,3,5,-triphenyltetrazolium chloride reduction after 12 h of heat hardening prior to a normally lethal heat treatment. Electron micrographs revealed that the cellular ultra structure of M3 was more thermally stable than that of M9 after only 2 h of heat hardening prior to a normally lethal heat treatment. Two.dimensional analysis of in vitro translated heat shock proteins revealed no observable qualitative differences in the HSP profile between the two genotypes. Northern analysis using HSP cDNAs 16.9, 26, and 70 as probes, indicated that M3 had higher steady state levels of HSP mRNA than M9 during the 2-h heat hardening. The results suggest that acquired thermal tolerance in wheat is correlated with the level of heat-shock gene expression during the first 2 h of heat stress.


The most recent UK birth cohort study, known as 'Life Study' was a longitudinal study planned to involve some 80,000 babies and comprised two components. The largest, the 'Pregnancy Component' was to consist of around 60,000 pregnant women who were to be recruited when attending for a routine antenatal ultrasound at selected maternity units in England. The other component, the 'Birth Component' was to be a random sample of intended size 20,000 live births across the UK. Recruitment to the cohort was to take place over a period of four years starting in 2015. Innovative sampling procedures had been designed and tested and a synthetic dataset produced with similar characteristics to the anticipated survey data was produced to study the performance of the sampling procedures and explore analysis strategies. This research note describes the proposed sample design, and discusses how the two components were to be integrated to provide a consistent dataset for users.  Approaches to the provision of suitable sampling weights and modelling approaches are also presented. Lessons are drawn for designs of future cohort studies.


The multipolar cooperation between Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) countries seems to be a significant development in the current phase of restructuring of globalization. This article explores the relationship between the emerging radical readjustment of the world hegemony equilibrium with the past and future dynamics of the global socioeconomic system. It examines the relation of the ongoing institutionalization by the BRICS with the established international institutions and the relation of BRICS to the promotion of global economic development. After presenting a structured interpretation of the actual emergence of a "new globalization," the article focuses on the aspects of BRICS
evolution and dynamics that contribute to the discussion of the rise of a more balanced and more democratic multipolar global regime. It notices that multipolar cooperation at the international level should be more democratic as the BRICS claim, although these countries (China and Russia, in particular) face increasing concerns for their liberal rights
and democratization domestically. In conclusion, it seems that a new and relatively stable global system now requires a repositioned conception of capitalism as an evolutionary socioeconomic phenomenon, in which innovation is the central and predominant organic process within all organizations.


Discourses on the immateriality of digital information have given way to a radical rethinking of digital materiality within information studies, cinema and media studies, and other related fields. This rethinking occurs as media archives are increasingly converting their collections into digital form, stored less and less on shelves in climate-controlled vaults, and instead stored and accessed through data servers. This newfound complexity and potential for the media archive to become "black boxed," call for a critical approach to media archives that takes into account these new realities and their material entanglements at multiple scales of analysis. Newfound scholarly interest in multiple scales of materiality, from the micro (computer code, transmission protocols, etc.) to the macro (large, sociotechnical infrastructures) may offer new directions for rethinking the nature of media archives in the age of digitization. This paper reviews the literature on these recent trends and identifies three intertwined research approaches for analyzing emergent phenomena related to the digitization of media archives: Critical forensic, institutional/infrastructural , and global/ecological perspectives. These approaches help to extend postmodern conceptualizations of the archive by showing how the archive as infrastructure is bound up in unfolding political, ecological and epistemological struggles.


Semicrystalline polymeric materials possessing extraordinary mechanical properties were rapidly fabricated using light from low viscosity liquids at room temperature. Unlike conventional photopolymerizations which form crosslinked networks, this material is a noncrosslinked polymer which renders it meltable and intrinsically reprocessable. This introduces a new class of high performance, recyclable materials applicable for light-based additive manufacturing.


The chemical fixation of CO2 with epoxides to cyclic carbonate is an attractive 100% atom economic reaction. It is a safe and green alternative to the route from diols and toxic phosgene. In this manuscript, we present a new zwitterionic π–conjugated catalyst (Covalent Organic Polymer, COP-213) based on guanidinium and β-ketoenol functionality, which is synthesized from triaminoguanidinium halide and β-ketoenols via the ampoule method at 120 °C. The catalyst is characterized by FTIR-attenuated total reflection (ATR), Powder X-Ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, XPS, and for surface area Brunauer–Emmett–Teller and CO2 uptake. It shows quantitative conversion and selectivity in chemical fixation of CO2 to epoxides under ambient conditions and without the need for cocatalysts, metals, solvent, or pressure. The catalyst can be recycled at least three times without the loss of reactivity.


A review is made of the metabolic side effects of diuretics and beta-adrenoceptorblockers. The review is based on results from a population study, performed by the author, of women and on a survey of the literature. While diuretics give rise to hypokalemia, which may be of clinical importance, beta-adrenoceptorblockers tend to increase the serum potassium levels. This does not, however, seem to be of clinical significance. Both diuretics and beta-adrenoceptorblockers increase serum uric acid levels. Beta-adrenoceptorblockers increase serum triglycerides, which is not observed when diuretics are used. Total cholesterol in serum is usually not changed either by diuretics or by beta-adrenoceptorblockers. These drugs seem to have no influence on body weight when studied during long-term treatment. A further deterioration of glucose tolerance may be expected in subjects with an initially impaired glucose tolerance when diuretics are administered, while results from studies on glucose tolerance in subjects taking beta-adrenoceptorblockers have been controversial. Diabetes mellitus seems to be more common among subjects on diuretics as well as among subjects on beta-adrenoceptorblockers, but as yet it cannot be stated whether this is an effect of the antihypertensive drugs or of the hypertension per se or of some other factor or factors.


Background Implementation of evidence-based treatment for pre-hospital status epilepticus can improve outcomes. We hypothesized that publication of a pivotal pre-hospital clinical trial (RAMPART), demonstrating superiority of intramuscular midazolam over intravenous lorazepam, altered the national utilization rates of midazolam for pre-hospital treatment of status epilepticus, while upholding its safety and efficacy outside the trial setting. Methods and Findings This is a retrospective, observational cohort study of pre-hospital patient encounters throughout the United States in the National Emergency Medicine Services Information System database, from January 2010 through December 2014. We compared the rates and odds of midazolam use as the first-line treatment for status epilepticus among all adult and pediatric benzodiazepine-treated seizures before and after RAMPART publication (February 2012). Secondary analyses were conducted for rates of airway interventions and rescue therapy, as proxies for safety and efficacy of seizure termination. 156,539 benzodiazepine-treated seizures were identified. Midazolam use increased from 26.1% in January 2010 to 61.7% in December 2014 (difference +35.6%, 95% CI, 32.7%-38.4%). The annual rate of midazolam adoption increased significantly from 5.9% per year to 8.9% per year after the publication of RAMPART (difference +3.0% per year; 95%CI, 1.6%-4.5% per year; adjusted OR 1.24; 95%CI, 1.17-1.32). Overall frequency of rescue therapy and airway interventions changed little after the publication of RAMPART. Conclusions These data are consistent with effective, ongoing, but incomplete clinical translation of the RAMPART results. The effects of the trial, however, cannot be isolated. The safety and effectiveness of midazolam for treatment of seizures in prehospital clinical practice appear consistent with trial data, which should encourage continuing increases in utilization.