In their paper, R. Merkle et al [R. Merkle, J. Maier, K.D. Becker and M. Kreye, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 6, 3633 (2004)] conducted an experimental study on the chemical diffusion of oxygen in Fe-doped SrTiO3 single crystals driven by large changes in the oxygen ambient partial pressure. The stoichiometry dependence of the chemical diffusion coefficient was derived on the basis of the concept of conservative ensembles for two independent trapping reactions, which then served for calculating the evolution of vacancy profiles. The theoretical predictions were compared to the experimental results. In the framework of the same model, in the present communication, the chemical diffusion of oxygen was analyzed by the concept of a dynamic reaction front [M. Sinder, J. Pelleg, Phys. Rev. E 61, 4935 (2000); Z. Koza, Phys. Rev. E 66, 011103 (2002)]. We show, that by using a quasi-chemical reaction rate profile, it is possible to obtain information relating to the position and width of the zone where the reaction takes place. It is indicated, that the reaction rate distribution can be directly calculated from measured concentration profiles of the immobile reactant.


Epigenetic variation, such as changes in DNA methylations, regulatory small RNAs (sRNAs) and chromatin modifications can be induced by environmental stress. There is increasing information that such induced epigenetic modifications can be transmitted to offspring, potentially mediating adaptive transgenerational responses to environmental changes. However, it is unclear if this phenomenon is common and relevant for adaptation under natural conditions. My thesis study aimed to examine epigenetic inheritance in common and widespread apomictic dandelions (Taraxacum officinale Wig.). Due to their asexual reproduction mode by producing clonal seeds offspring from seeds are genetically uniform and thus suitable to investigate epigenetic effects that are not confounded with genetic variation. I exposed apomictic dandelion lineages to drought and salicylic acid (SA) stress, which induces plant defense responses following pathogen attack, and found effects on patterns of DNA methylation up to two stress-free offspring generations after exposure. However, a heritable stress signal was not present in all tests and was stress- and lineage-dependent. Drought stress triggered a weak and lineage-dependent signal that was lost again in the second offspring generation. SA treatment revealed a stress-related increased rate of DNA methylation changes in the two offspring generations, but no stress signal was found in the stressed generation itself. I also observed changes in small RNA production due the drought and SA stress experienced two generations ago. These transgenerational sRNA effects showed association with gene functions related to grandparental drought and SA stress, which suggests functional relevance of the transgenerational effects. I used a reciprocal transplantation field experiment to investigate whether exposing dandelions to natural field stresses also triggers DNA methylation changes. The experiment revealed evidence of adaptive divergence between the populations, suggesting that non-native habitats are experienced as more stressful. However, under these field conditions no induction-based DNA methylation changes were found that persisted into offspring. By using AFLP and MS-AFLP screening of natural apomictic dandelion populations across a north-south transect in Europe I examined if natural, heritable DNA methylation variation reflects underlying genetic variation, or if it shows patterns that are not predictable from underlying genetics. I found that a large part of heritable DNA methylation differentiation along the north-south transect was correlated with genetic differentiation. However, a fraction of differentiation in heritable DNA methylation was independent from genetic variation. This suggests a potential of epigenetics to play an evolutionary role independently, at least to some extent, from underlying genetics. Overall, I found indications of epigenetic inheritance in apomictic dandelions. Whether epigenetic variation would result in adaptive phenotypic variation in nature and whether it would persist long enough to play a relevant role in adaptation remains unclear and requires further study.


The intestine contains major subdivisions of the nervous and immune systems. The lymphoid compartments of the intestine contain functionally distinguishable populations of immunologic cells and are innervated differently. The lamina propria has an extensive network of nerves using the neuropeptides SOM, SP, and VIP. Subpopulations of T cells, B cells, cells of the monocyte/macrophage line, and several other immunologically relevant cells have the ability to recognize and respond to these neuropeptide signals. SOM, SP, and VIP can act as potent regulators of lymphoid cell proliferation and interleukin and immunoglobulin production. The unusual effector lymphocytes in the epithelial layer of the intestine can be exposed to SP and VIP, and their responses may be regulated by these peptides. In the organized lymphoid compartments such as Peyer's patches, the neuropeptides VIP and SP may regulate the accumulation or recirculation of affector lymphocytes from the central compartment of the immune system and their subsequent response to antigens. The large array of immunoregulatory effects that have been found with these neuropeptides suggest that local neurophysiologic signals in the intestinal lymphoid microenvironments can regulate selected aspects of immune responses. The intestine is likely to be a highly specialized venue for neuroimmunomodulation in intact animals, and this has important implications in the physiologic and pathologic responses of the gut. Further investigations of these regulatory pathways will lead to new concepts concerning neural-immune interactions in general and the regulation of mucosal immunology in particular.


The dramatic improvements of neglect symptoms after prism adaptation (PA) have been interpreted as evidence that PA reorganizes higher levels of spatial representation. Here the authors demonstrate that while the exploratory eye movements of a patient with neglect were clearly shifted toward the left after PA, he still showed no awareness for the left side of the stimuli he was now actively exploring. PA modulates functions of the parietal lobe, such as eye movement control, but fails to influence the underlying mechanisms of neglect.


Supplemental oxygen therapy is frequently used in the treatment of pulmonary insufficiency, as is encountered in premature infants, and in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome. However, hyperoxia causes lung damage in experimental animals and may do so in humans. Cytochrome P4501A enzymes have been implicated in hyperoxic lung injury. In this study, we investigated the mechanisms of CYP1A1 regulation by hyperoxia and tested the hypothesis that aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR)-dependent mechanisms contribute to induction of CYP1A1 and that modulation of CYP1A by hyperoxia may have implications for lung injury. Exposure of adult male Sprague-Dawley rats to hyperoxia for 24 to 48 h led to increased expression of pulmonary CYP1A1 enzyme, which was preceded by enhancement of the corresponding mRNA, followed by decline of induction at 60 h, when the animals displayed severe respiratory distress and lung inflammation. Similarly, hepatic CYP1A1/1A2 mRNAs were markedly induced between 24 and 48 h of hyperoxia, with induction declining by 60 h. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA) and experiments with AHR (-/-) mice indicated that AHR-dependent mechanisms contributed to CYP1A induction. The AHR (-/-) mice were refractory to CYP1A1 induction by hyperoxia and were more sensitive to lung injury than wild-type mice. Lungs of hyperoxic rats showed increase in the expression of CYP1A1 in airway epithelial cells, type II pneumocytes, and endothelial cells. In conclusion, our results suggest that induction of CYP1A1 by hyperoxia is mediated by AHR-dependent mechanisms and that modulation of CYP1A enzymes by hyperoxia may have implications for hyperoxic lung injury.


Introduction: Globally shortage of nurses has always remained an issue1. To manage this new inexperienced nursing graduates are increasingly being employed in hospitals. More than 10% of hospital staff nurses are new nursing graduates2. Although nurse competence has been evaluated in past studies, the competence levels of nursing students immediately prior to graduation is not explored by many researchers. Thus a methodological study was undertaken to develop a "clinical competence self assessment tool (CCSAT)" to assess perceived clinical competence of upcoming nursing graduates.
Methods: Preliminary draft of CCSAT was developed using extensive literature review and structured questionnaire from purposively selected 40 nurse educators and executives. A total of 160 items were generated. A focus group discussion among randomly selected 10 nurses from the above group reduced the number of items from 160 to 153. To further refine and validate the items using modified Delphi technique, a panel of 12 national nursing experts was selected. The initial item pool of 153 items reduced to 94 in three Delphi rounds.
Results: A CCSAT with three subscales resulted, 19 items in professional behavior, 21 items in knowledge and 54 items in skills subscale. The Content Validity Index for the final CCSAT was 0.94.
Conclusion: Consensus on all the 94 items of CCSAT was obtained among 12 national nursing experts in three Delphi rounds.

Keywords: Clinical Competence, Upcoming Nursing graduates, CCSAT, Self Assessment Tool


In order to apply to the high-power anode materials of lithium ion battery, various cokes samples were prepared by milling, pitch coating, and following heat treatment. The samples were milled and the larger particles were removed by sieving. Two types of raw cokes and four pitch coated cokes treated at different temperatures were tested as the anode materials for lithium ion battery, and their electrical performance was compared with the cokes without pitch coating. Although the anode materials prepared with cokes showed lower charge-discharge capacity than the graphite anode materials, their power capability was superior to that of graphite. The electrochemical performance of various anodes with the pitch coated cokes was demonstrated as a function of preparation conditions.


In this paper we explore the extent to which privacy enhancing technologies (PETs) could be effective in providing privacy to citizens. Rapid development of ubiquitous computing and 'the internet of things' are leading to Big Data and the application of Predictive Analytics, effectively merging the real world with cyberspace. The power of information technology is increasingly used to provide personalised services to citizens, leading to the availability of huge amounts of sensitive data about individuals, with potential and actual privacy-eroding effects. To protect the private sphere, deemed essential in a state of law, information and communication systems (ICTs) should meet the requirements laid down in numerous privacy regulations. Sensitive personal information may be captured by organizations, provided that the person providing the information consents to the information being gathered, and may only be used for the express purpose the information was gathered for. Any other use of information about persons without their consent is prohibited by law; notwithstanding legal exceptions. If regulations are properly translated into written code, they will be part of the outcomes of an ICT, and that ICT will therefore be privacy compliant. We conclude that privacy compliance in the 'technological' sense cannot meet citizens' concerns completely, and should therefore be augmented by a conceptual model to make privacy impact assessments at the level of citizens' lives possible.


The aim of the present study was to investigate the mutational status of exons 1 and 2 of the p16 gene in the exhaled breath condensate (EBC) of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and determine the feasibility and clinical significance of applying EBC in the diagnosis of NSCLC. Polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequencing were applied to detect exon 1 and 2 alterations of the p16 gene in EBC by comparing 58 samples from NSCLC patients and 30 from healthy controls. Of the 58 EBC samples from NSCLC patients, 54 were successfully tested and 8 cases of mutations were identified, of which 3 were in exon 1 and 5 in exon 2. The mutation rate was 14.81% (8/54). There were no p16 gene mutations in the 30 samples obtained from healthy controls. EBC p16 gene mutations exhibited no statistically significant differences according to gender, smoking history, pathological type, degree of differentiation and presence or absence of lymph node metastasis. The p16 gene mutation rate was proportional to the tumor stage (P<0.05). Therefore, the detection of the p16 gene mutation in EBC may be used as a novel molecular marker to assist in the diagnosis of NSCLC.


We describe an exact branch-and-bound algorithm for the maximum weight clique problem (MWC), called WLMC, that is especially suited for large vertex-weighted graphs. WLMC incorporates two original contributions: a preprocessing to derive an initial vertex ordering and to reduce the size of the graph, and incremental vertex-weight splitting to reduce the number of branches in the search space. Experiments on representative large graphs from real-world applications show that WLMC greatly outperforms relevant exact and heuristic MWC algorithms, and refute the prevailing hypothesis that exact MWC algorithms are less adequate for large graphs than heuristic algorithms.


Abstract A 40-year-old, treatment-naïve, human immunodeficiency virus- (HIV) positive male was found to have a large right adrenal incidentaloma on ultrasound of the abdomen, which was confirmed on adrenal computed tomography imaging. The laboratory workup excluded functionality of the mass lesion. As the radiological examination of the mass raised the suspicion of a non-benign lesion, the patient underwent a right adrenalectomy. Histology, supported by a panel of immunohistochemical stains, confirmed the diagnosis of an adrenal leiomyoma. Most of the reported cases of adrenal leiomyomas in the literature are of patients with HIV and/or latent Epstein-Barr virus infections. This case illustrates that benign tumours, such as leiomyomas, can mimic the imaging phenotype of adrenal cortical carcinomas, and should be included in the differential diagnosis of adrenal incidentalomas, especially in the HIV-positive population.


Both tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) and Liquicoat-derived sol-gel films were fabricated by dip-coating onto silicon and glass substrates. For TEOS-derived films, film thickness and temporal stability were monitored as a function of dip-speed, watenprecursor ratio, sol aging time and time after dipping. Refractive indices of films were also studied. Film thickness was found to increase with sol aging time and with watenprecursor ratio. The time to achieve thickness stability was decreased at higher watenprecursor ratios. Film behaviour was interpreted in terms of the dependence of hydrolysis and condensation rates on the interplay between sol pH and water : precursor ratio. For Liquicoat films, refractive index and thickness as a function of time were investigated and compared with TEOS films. Refractive index tailoring was demonstrated using silica / titania Liquicoat mixtures. All films were doped with the oxygen-sensitive ruthenium complex, [Ru(II) - tris(4,7 - diphenyl - 1,10 - phenanthroline)], and optical quenching behaviour was investigated. Surface quality of all films was correlated with processing conditions. The study was motivated by the need to optimise methods and fabrication conditions for optical oxygen sensing.


This thesis examines the role of the European Community in the collapse of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. From their first dealings up until 1968 – when official relations were established – and beyond, the Community and Yugoslavia never achieved a stable relationship that would have come into its own with the outbreak of the Yugoslav crisis in the early 1990s. In this respect, economic, political and social dimensions characterizing cooperation between the EC and the SFRY are analyzed to illustrate the developments between the two parties.

The outbreak of the Yugoslav crisis was a completely new phenomenon for Brussels. Although admittedly unprepared, EC officials stated that 'the hour for Europe has come'. This eleventh-hour intervention, however, opened the door to certain non-state actors who became involved and, more importantly, affected the decision-making at EC level leading to the policy of recognition of Slovenia and Croatia as independent states, and thus the demise of the Yugoslav federation. The thesis focuses on the activism of diaspora communities, the media and the Catholic Church.

As far as the diaspora communities are concerned, their activism was most significant in Austria, a country that enjoyed an outstanding reputation within the European Community at the time. The Carinthian Slovenes used their position within Austrian politics to promote the independence of Slovenia and Croatia. As to the Western media, their reporting of the Yugoslav crisis, with its sympathy for the independence of the two republics, was accepted as a reliable source of information, a view confirmed by statements from Brussels. Finally, the Catholic Church also expressed sympathy for Slovenia and Croatia: the fact that the two SFRY republics were Catholic was reason enough for the Vatican to campaign for their independence at EC level.


Because caching is a pervasive technology in modern computing and networks, characterizing the performance of caches is an important aspect of system performance and scalability analysis. However, analytical models even for the hit ratio of single caches proved to be challenging and many configurations already encompass hierarchies of caches. We build on previous work which showed that Time-to-live (TTL) based caches are more general than (e.g.) LRU, FIFO, or RND cache models. This work introduces an appropriate mathematical abstraction of TTL cache models by constructing a stopping time representation which allows to address these models in a unified manner. We derive an exact equation for the first moment and bounds on all moments of the miss process of a TTLbased cache for which we report preliminary simulation results. Our approach yields explicit closed-form formulas in many cases but is still general enough to capture different previously introduced TTL-based caching models.


Conic optimization is the problem of optimizing a linear function over an intersection of an affine linear manifold with the Cartesian product of convex cones. However, many real world conic models involves an intersection rather than the product of two or more cones. It is easy to deal with an intersection of one or more cones but unfortunately it leads to an expansion in the optimization problem size and hence to an increase in the computational complexity of solving the optimization problem. In this note we discuss how to handle the intersection of two or more cones. In particular we show that the important special case of the intersection of a linear and a quadratic cone can be handled in a computational efficient way.


Many scientific codes consist of memory bandwidth bound kernels. One major advantage of many-core devices such as general purpose graphics processing units (GPGPUs) and the Intel Xeon Phi is their focus on providing increased memory bandwidth over traditional CPU architectures. Peak memory bandwidth is usually unachievable in practice and so benchmarks are required to measure a practical upper bound on expected performance. We augment the standard STREAM kernels with a dot product kernel to investigate the performance of simple reduction operations on large arrays. The choice of programming model should ideally not limit the achievable performance on a device. BabelStream (formally GPU-STREAM) has been updated to incorporate a wide variety of the latest parallel programming models, all implementing the same parallel scheme. As such this tool can be used as a kind of Rosetta Stone which provides both a cross-platform and cross-programming model array of results of achievable memory bandwidth.


This paper maps the ethical challenges of Hip-hop pedagogy with the goal of fostering a broader, self-reflexive discourse among academics who teach about rap music and hip-hop culture. We will argue that the exclusive application of established pedagogical approaches of musicology, music theory, and even ethnomusicology would be ethically inappropriate, and would de-legitimize university hip-hop courses in the eyes of those who originated and are deeply invested in this culture. We advocate, instead, for three practices not often found in music history courses: embeddedness in local community, engagement in creative praxis; and the incorporation of established, "old-school" perspectives.


The biology of Mesostoa kerri Austin & Wharton, amember of the endemic Australian subfamily Mesostoinae, was investigated inthe laboratory and at the only known field site at Reedy Creek, SouthAustralia, where it causes stem galls onBanksia marginata Cav. Galls vary in shape fromspherical to elongate, with larger elongate galls appearing to inhibit distalfoliage growth. Their internal structure is characterised by a large number ofchambers occupied by wasp larvae, a melanised cambial layer, and partialdisruption and proliferation of xylem tissue. Larvae were observed to feeddirectly on the walls of their chambers. There is a direct relationshipbetween the size of galls and number of resident wasps, with the largest gallscontaining up to 300 individuals. Total wasps dissected from galls had a sexratio close to 1 : 1, although the ratio varied among galls from strongly maleto strongly female biased. Females are sluggish in behaviour and have not beenobserved to fly. They oviposit into preapical green stems and the pattern ofoviposition may determine the shape and size of the resultant gall. Male waspsemerge just prior to females and probably wait on galls for females to emergebefore mating. A number of factors, including the absence of early-stage gallsand substantial foliage growth distal to some galls inSeptember–October, indicates that M. kerri has anannual life cycle. Other gall residents occurred in 57% of sampledgalls, and included 11 species of Hymenoptera, 3 of Coleoptera and 1 ofLepidoptera. Data available for other Mesostoinae suggest thatBanksia is the exclusive host group and all species aregall formers.


Corrosion inhibition of mild steel using a new ternary formulation, Urea, Zn (II) and L-Alanine in sulphuric acid medium at pH-4 was studied by weight loss and electrochemical studies. The inhibition efficiency increases with increasing concentration of inhibitors. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy results showed that the change in the impedance parameters, Charge transfer resistance and double layer capacitance, is due to the adsorption of inhibitor molecules leading to the formation of a protective layer on the surface of the mild steel. The obtained results were confirmed by surface examination using Ultraviolet spectroscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy.


Future telecommunication systems and networks are expected to provide a variety of
integrated broadband services to the customers. There has been a tremendous interest in
applying Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) techniques to fiber optic
communication systems. This technique is one of the multiple access schemes that is
becoming popular because of the flexibility in the allocation of channels, ability to
operate asynchronously, enhanced privacy and increased capacity in bursty networks.
The performance of any Optical CDMA (OCDMA) system strongly depends on the
codes properties. In this study we introduce a new code for Optical CDMA namely
Double Weight Code family (DW). Double Weight Code (DW) has a basic fixed weight
of 2 and exists for every natural number. The DW codes possess ideal cross correlation
properties, which have important characteristics in OCDMA systems since these can
eliminate multiple access interference (MAI) and reduce noise. Also proposed in this study, a Modified Double-Weight (MDW) code, which is a variation of DW code family
that can have a variable weight greater than two. The MDW code possesses ideal crosscorrelation
properties and exists for every natural number too. It is shown through
simulations, theoretical analysis and partially by the experiments that the transmission
performance of DW code family is significantly better than that of existing codes such
as Modified Frequency Hopping code (MFH) and Hadarnard code.
The performance of DW code family, MFH and Hadamard codes were simulated using
commercial simulation software, OptiSystem Version 3.0. The performance of the
systems was characterized by referring to the bit error rate (BER) and the eye patterns.
DW code family has shown superior performance compared to other OCDMA codes.
The simulated eye pattern of one of the four MDW coded carriers running at lOGbps
over a cornrnunication-standard fiber shows a good quality transmission at the BER of
10 -12 as opposed to only 1o ' ~an d 1o 4 for Hadamard and MFH codes.
In optical CDMA systems, the detection process affects the design of transmitters and
receivers. Cross-correlation functions are generated which creates Multiple Access
Interference (MAI) and this will degrade the system performance. MA1 can be reduced
by using subtraction techniques. The most common subtraction technique is the
complementary subtraction technique and also known as balanced detection technique.
In this thesis, we also introduce a new approach called AND subtraction technique. This
method rejects unwanted signals that interfere with the original signals. Furthermore, the
purpose of this new subtraction technique is to reduce the receiver complexity and
increase system performance. It has been shown through theoretical analysis, simulation and experimental work, the performance of the system with AND subtraction technique
can be improved significantly. Based on the theoretical analysis, BER as good as 10-l2is
achieved at the bit rate of 622 Mbps over 70 km distance.


The dairy sector is important to Argentina because it creates genuine wealth and employment. Milk production at competitive costs is crucial for the endurance of the Argentine dairy sector; therefore the development of competitive dairy farm systems is important for Argentina. New Zealand (hereafter NZ) dairy farm systems are internationally known for their competitiveness without the presence of subsidies. Though Argentine dairy farmers have been attracted to NZ systems for more than 40 years and despite the fact that the NZ knowledge appears to be beneficial to Argentine farms, NZ practices have been rarely adopted. This seemingly fruitless effort in extending this technology shapes the research question of the present study: Can Argentine dairy farmers benefit from adopting New Zealand dairy farm principles and practices? Seven Argentine dairy farmers were selected as case studies because of their awareness of NZ dairy systems; the research data was collected through interviews, farm physical and economic records, and field visits to the farms. Two frameworks were utilized to analyse the qualitative and quantitative data: the Diffusion Theory (Rogers, 2003) and the IFCN network (International Farm Comparison Network www.ifcnnetwork.org), respectively. Ten NZ innovations were defined; they were principles and practices considered typical in NZ dairy farms and not common in Argentine dairy farms. The innovations were related to four areas of the dairy system: pasture management, herd management & genetics, farm structure & organization, and human resources. The seven farmers selected differed in the level of adoption or rejection of the innovations. Results revealed that higher levels of adoption of NZ innovations by a group of Argentine dairy farms were associated with higher levels of Return on Investment; this was mainly due to a higher utilization of the main asset and most limiting production factor of Argentine and New Zealand dairy farms, the land.


Aim: To evaluate relationship between histamine (HIST), serotonin (5-HT), dopamine (DA), gamma-amino-butyric acid (GABA) and IGF-1 in 20 GH-deficient boys.
Research design and methods: This study included 20 boys (5-14 years) with GH deficit clinically established and a 10 matched normal group with no endocrine dysfunction. All of GH deficient patients underwent GH replacement therapy. In 2017, all subjects were tested by analytical methods for blood: HIST,GABA,DA,5-HT,IGF-1.
Results: We divided this study group into a low HIST lot 1 (10 subjects): HIST median: 3.48 nM/L and a high HIST lot 2 (10 subjects): HIST median: 11nM/L. Median parameters in lot 1 vs. lot 2 were: 5-HT: 212.5 vs. 370ng/mL, DA: 30 vs. 45pg/ml, GABA: 30 vs. 56.5ng/mL, IGF-1: 373.5 vs. 200ng/mL. Median values in normal subjects were as it follows: HIST: 5.55nM/L; 5-HT: 235.5ng/mL; DA: 31.5pg/mL; GABA: 81ng /mL. T-Test revealed a statistical significance between HIST in lot 1 vs. lot 2 (P<0.001), HIST in lot 1 vs. normal group (P<0.01) or HIST in lot 2 vs. normal group (P<0.01).We can also underline a statistical significance between 5-HT in lot 1 vs. lot 2 (P<0.05) or in lot 2 vs. normal group (P=0.01).
Conclusion: Our study underlined a HIST/5-HT positive relationship in low HIST group vs. a negative relationship HIST/5-HT in high HIST group, with small IGF-1 increments under r-GH therapy.


The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic started in the end of 2019 in Wuhan, China, which highlighted the scenario of frequent cross-species transmission events. From the outbreak possibly initiated by viral spill-over into humans from an animal reservoir, now we face the human host moving globally while interacting with domesticated and peridomestic animals. The emergence of a new virus into the ecosystem leads to selecting forces and species-specific adaptations. The adaptation of SARS-CoV-2 to other animals represents a risk to controlling the dissemination of this coronavirus and the emergence of new variants. Since 2020, several mink farms in Europe and the United States have had SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks with human–mink and mink–human transmission, where the mink-selected variants possibly hold evolutionary concerning advantages. Here we investigated the permissibility of mink lung-derived cells using two cell lines, Mv-1-Lu and ENL-R, against several lineages of SARS-CoV-2, including some classified as variants of concern. The viral release rate and the infectious titers indicate that these cells support infections by different SARS-CoV-2 lineages. The viral production occurs in the first few days after infection with the low viral release by these mink cells, which is often absent for the omicron variant for lung cells. The electron microscopy reveals that during the viral replication cycle, the endomembrane system of the mink-host cell undergoes typical changes while the viral particles are produced, especially in the first days of infection. Therefore, even if limited, mink lung cells may represent a selecting source for SARS-CoV-2 variants, impacting their transmissibility and pathogenicity and making it difficult to control this new coronavirus.


We report on the fabrication of radio frequency (RF) sputtered Bi-substituted lutetium iron garnet films doped with aluminum and the results of adjusting the properties of these films by means of co-sputtering deposition using an additional bismuth oxide target. Very attractive optical, magnetic and magneto-optical properties are achieved in these new magneto-optic materials. The high-performance magnetically-soft thin-film engineered materials synthesized have a wide range of potential applications in next-generation integrated optics, magneto-photonics and magnetic field sensors.


Objective: The associations of inflammation and immunity of host lead to higher mortality in both community-acquired and hospital-acquired pneumonia patients. Therefore, several inflammatory and immunological biomarkers are essential for diagnosis, prognosis, and survival. Among these inflammatory markers, such as older age, and higher blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, procalcitonin and C-reactive protein, and lower albumin levels have been shown to have strong correlations with worse outcomes and high mortality, especially in community-acquired pneumonia patients. In this study, we investigated the correlation between several biochemical markers, which are mostly involved in inflammation, and mortality in not only community-acquired but also hospital-acquired pneumonia patients.
Material and Methods: This was a retrospective study of hospitalized community-acquired and hospital-acquired pneumonia patients in a third degree university hospital. In their initial blood tests (also used for diagnosis), blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, procalcitonin, C-reactive protein and albumin levels, and white blood cell, lymphocyte, neutrophil, platelet and erythrocyte counts, red blood cell distribution width and hemoglobin levels were measured. The outcome variable was mortality at 30 days. Statistical analysis included univariate comparisons of continuous variables between deceased and survivor groups, subject to mortality analysis and logistic regression in both community-acquired and hospital-acquired pneumonia patients.
Results: 272 hospitalized community-acquired and 80 hospital-acquired pneumonia patients were included. Patients who died during follow-up had older age and higher levels of procalcitonin, blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, and red blood cell distribution width in community-acquired pneumonia group. Remarkably, logistic regression analysis showed a significant relationship between creatinine and mortality, regardless of age, severity of community-acquired pneumonia and comorbidities. Creatinine is a strong independent prognostic factor, subject to mortality in community-acquired pneumonia group.
Conclusions: Older age, higher procalcitonin, blood urea nitrogen, creatinine and red blood cell distribution width levels are significant biomarkers for prediction of higher mortality in hospitalized community-acquired pneumonia patients.


This study explores the democratic value of political discussion on Facebook using theory triangulation and operationalizing three models of democracy. It aims to determine which democratic model offers the best account of the benefits of Facebook discussions and to explore whether this varies according to the ideology and history of the political party hosting them. An analysis of 2,800 comments published on the Facebook websites of four Spanish political parties reveals that the discussions generally serve communitarian and deliberative purposes and, to a much smaller extent, liberal individualist goals. Results highlight significant differences related to the parties' ideology and history. Discussions on right-wing websites lean more liberal individualist, whereas those on left-wing parties' sites favor a more communitarian dynamic. Moreover, conversations hosted by new political parties are more communitarian and civil in tone than those hosted by traditional parties.


INTRODUCTION: The biguanide metformin may reduce cancer incidence according to recent meta-analyses of observational studies. Conversely, a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials did not support the hypothesis that metformin lowers cancer risk. However, many of the published pharmaco-epidemiological studies suffer from severe biases and most randomized clinical trials are not designed or powered to look specifically at cancer safety outcomes. Therefore, we emulated the design and statistical analysis of a randomized trial in a large retrospective cohort study within the United Kingdom (UK) Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) to investigate associations comparing initiators of metformin to initiators of other oral first-line hypoglycemic agents among individuals newly diagnosed with diabetes in relation to risk of total cancer and by cancer site. METHODS: We retrieved data on all participants newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes between January 1, 1987 and December 31, 2010. Eligible participants had no prior history of cancer and at least two years of follow-up in the CPRD after the diagnosis of diabetes. We also excluded the initial 12 months of follow-up after the first antidiabetic prescription. Treatment naive participants with diabetes at CPRD enrolment that first started using (initiators) metformin during follow-up were compared to initiators of other oral hypoglycemic agents. Exposure to certain antidiabetic drugs was classified only based on the initial twelve-month treatment period. We mimicked the statistical analysis of a randomized trial in an observational dataset using the intention-to-treat (ITT) principle. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) after adjustment for known or suspected risk factors for cancer. We also calculated adherence-adjusted estimates using inverse probability weighting. RESULTS: A total of 95,820 participants were included. Of these, 51,484 (54%) individuals started taking metformin monotherapy and 18,264 (19%) started sulfonylurea monotherapy. A total of 3,805 first incident cancers were identified in a maximum follow-up of 24 years. Compared to initiators of sulfonylurea monotherapy, initiators of metformin had a similar incidence of total cancer (HR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.89-1.04). There was no evidence for an association between use of metformin and cancers of the colorectum (HR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.76-1.13), prostate (HR, 1.02; 95% CI, 0.83-1.25), lung (HR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.68-1.07), postmenopausal breast (HR, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.82-1.31), or any other cancer. The estimates remained similar after adjustment for non-adherence. CONCLUSIONS: We found no evidence for a decreased or increased risk of any cancer among those exposed to metformin versus sulfonylurea. These findings need to be confirmed in large RCTs. Citation Format: Konstantinos K. Tsilidis, Despoina Capothanassi, Naomi Allen, Evangelos Rizos, David Lopez, Karin van Veldhoven, Carlotta Sacerdote, Deborah Ashby, Paolo Vineis, Ioanna Tzoulaki, John Ioannidis. Metformin and cancer risk: A cohort study in the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink analyzed like a randomized trial. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 2161. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-2161


In this paper, we present a non-fragile guaranteed cost control design method for uncertain systems with time- varying delays in state and control input, even though the controller gain is perturbed. The uncertain nonlinear term in the systems is norm bounded and the linear matrix inequality(LMI) optimization method is employed as a stability analysis of the systems. We design a robust controller and show the asymptotical stability of uncertain time-varying systems based on Lyapunov method. Also, we guarantee a specific level of performance of the systems. The simulations are carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.


Data aggregation is an essential operation in wireless sensor network applications. This paper focuses on the data aggregation scheduling problem. Based on maximal independent sets, a distributed algorithm to generate a collision-free schedule for data aggregation in wireless sensor networks is proposed. The time latency of the aggregation schedule generated by the proposed algorithm is minimized using a greedy strategy. The latency bound of the schedule is 24D + 6 Delta + 16, where D is the network diameter and Delta is the maximum node degree. The previous data aggregation algorithm with least latency has the latency bound (Delta- Delta 1)R, where R is the network radius. Thus in our algorithm Delta contributes to an additive factor instead of a multiplicative factor, which is a significant improvement. To the best of our knowledge, the proposed algorithm is the first distributed algorithm for data aggregation scheduling. This paper also proposes an adaptive strategy for updating the schedule when nodes fail or new nodes join in a network. The analysis and simulation results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms other aggregation scheduling algorithms.


Service-oriented pervasive systems, composed of a large number of devices with heterogeneous capabilities where devices' resources are abstracted as software services, challenge the creation of high-quality composite applications. Resource heterogeneity, dynamic network connectivity, and a large number of highly distributed service providers complicate the process of creating applications with specific QoS requirements. Existing approaches to service composition control the QoS of an application solely by changing the set of participating concrete services which is not suitable for ad-hoc service-based systems characterised by high intermittent connectivity and resource heterogeneity. In this paper, we propose a flexible way of formulating composition configurations suitable for such service-based systems. Our formulation proposes the combined consideration of the following factors that affect the QoS of a composed service: (a) service selection, (b) orchestration partitioning, and (c) orchestrator node selection. We show that the proposed formulation enables the definition of service composition configurations with 49% lower response time, 28% lower network latency, 36% lower energy consumption, and 13% higher success ratio compared to those defined with the traditional approach.


This paper presents a neural network parallel algorithm for solving a near optimum graph planarization problems using SDNN/V (strictly digital neural networks enhanced with virtual slack-neurons). The proposed algorithm generates a near-maximal planar subgraph from a nonplanar or a planar graph within O(1) time. The problem can be defined as a "set selection problem" based on the "between-l-and-k-out-of-n" design rule in SDNN/V algorithm, The results of solving the graph planarization problem using a simulator of SDNN/V show that the computation in parallel execution is only three steps to get one of the near-optimum solutions. However, the obtained solutions are not always maximal subgraphs. In order to improve the quality of the solutions, this paper presents a numbering method for neurons in an order of importance within each constraint satisfaction set. From the result of simulation, it is shown that the numbering method has an effect on improving the quality of the solutions.<<ETX>>


Received on: 16.07.2018 Revised on: 23.10.2018 Accepted on: 25.10.2018 A composite restoration is placed in a cavity after removing dental caries. Composite restorations are very common today because of the growing prevalence of dental erosion and other dental problems. The objective of this study was evaluating the retention of composite material in conventional and modified cavity surface. A survey of practicing dentists and dental students was undertaken. The sample population was selected using stratified random sampling, which involves stratifying the target population into specific groups then using random selection to pick participants from each group. The target population will be stratified into two strata including the practicing dentists' stratum and the dental students' stratum. From the practicing dentists' stratum, three participants will be selected randomly while 20 dentists 80 students' participants will be selected from the dental students' stratum. Therefore, the sample population for the survey research will be 100participants. The participants will be issued with survey questionnaires and will be required to fill them and return them for analysis. The analysis will involve quantitative and qualitative processes. About 73% of the participants are aware of were aware of the composite restoration and effectiveness of composite restoration whereas 54.8% of the participants were aware about modified cavity surface preparation for composite restoration. Thus, modified cavity surface preparation is hypotheses to provide greater bond structure. This study has strong support for the use of modified cavity preparation in composite restoration as an effective strategy in restorative dentistry.


Fractal characteristics exist widely in city, such as layout, architectural distribution, and traffic system. Based on analysis of these characteristics, the article has proposed a fractal city model. The model can simulate process of city evolvement through fractal mechanism. The simulating process includes two sub-processes: iterative process and fractal process. Through these two sub-processes, city area is to be divided and recursively computed until forming a rational city layout. Fractal city model put forward a new method for modeling virtual city. The model can be applied in many fields of city study.


In South Europe, rice is grown as an irrigated crop in river deltas where it plays an important role in soil desalinization. Specific varieties are needed for these tough conditions. We analyzed the genetic structure of a set of 305 varieties coming from the European Rice Germplasm Collection (ERGC) with 90 single nucleotide polymorphisms and compared it with a reference set representative of the diversity of Oryza sativa (mini-Germplasm Bank (GB)). These accessions had been characterized for their grain type and growth cycle duration. The polymorphism information contents of the ERGC were lower than those of the mini-GB, indicating a narrower genetic basis. Indeed, almost all ERGC accessions belong to the japonica group. Within the japonica group, both a dendrogram and a Bayesian clustering identified two major clusters. The first cluster encompassed tropical japonicas and American varieties from USA and Argentina characterized by long and narrow grains and medium to long duration. On a finer level, tropical japonicas appear separated from the other accessions. The second cluster is composed of European varieties mostly early or medium in duration and Asian temperate accessions, with a subgrouping based on grain format. A set of 200 accessions was composed for association mapping studies on traits such as salt tolerance.


The tuberculosis (TB) epidemic is one of the biggest public health challenges in the world today. One of the top 10 causes of death worldwide, TB has caused an estimated 1.4 million deaths in 2015. Recently, the emergence of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR-TB) has alarmed public health officials, as it significantly hampers effective TB control. MDR and XDR-TB cases present a significant infectious disease burden in developing countries as they require a substantially longer time to treat than drug-susceptible TB. Furthermore, they entail the need for second-line injectable anti-TB drugs, which are more expensive, have more severe side-effects and require a more intense regimen of patient observation. The World Health Organization (WHO) in 2015 estimated that out of 1,740,435 notified cases in India, 28 876 were MDR/RR-TB and 3 048 were XDR-TB, representing a significant global burden of drug resistant TB. This problem is further compounded by the paucity of TB monitoring in large tertiary care hospitals in India where most patients go to seek treatment. A study was carried out to examine prevalence of drug resistance amongst all TB cases presented to a large urban tertiary care hospital in Pune, India, to document patterns in first-and second-line drug susceptibility for suspected MDR and XDR cases and inspect drug resistance in the two clinical manifestations of TB: pulmonary and extra pulmonary. The retrospective analysis showed a high prevalence of MDR and XDR in confirmed cases (41%), with XDR-TB taking up a larger proportion (59%). No monoresistant cases were observed in the data set analyzed. INH+RIF+EMB+SM had the largest proportion (41%) of first-line drug resistance in suspected MDR-TB cases. The highest proportion of resistance to second-line drugs was seen in FQ+Amk (50%). Lastly, pulmonary TB (PTB) was more prevalent than Extrapulmonary TB (EPTB); though XDR-TB was more prevalent in EPTB; correlating with global patterns of resistance.


We examine the development of Intelligent Satellite Teams (ISTg) for complex space missions such as construction of space hardware, or Earth or space science. ISTg are composed of many nanosatellites (mass < lkg) or picosatellites (mass < lg). IST development is a synergy of many disciplines, such as: intelligent control including formation flying, collision avoidance, knowledge sharing, and adaptive reconfiguration; microtechnology including microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), microfabricated sensors and actuators, nanotechnology, and integrated wireless communication; mission analysis - highlevel planning and control of mission, satellites, and procedures. Recent rapid technological advances in these fields open up exciting new possibilities for future space missions. The longterm goal of this project is to combine these advances to devise a systems-level approach for the construction of IST's. Candidate missions include construction or servicing of space facilities such as space laboratories or telescopes; measurement of an asteroidh gravitational field using hundreds of picosatellites, and reconfiguration into phased antenna arrays for communication back to Earth. In this paper, we discuss the specific requirements for Intelligent Satellite Teams and describe sample missions in an ongoing feasibility study for IST~ with focus on intelligent control. The goal of this work is to develop design prototypes for intelligent teams of nano and pico satellites.


Context: Rural residents can be exposed to high levels of agricultural machinery noise and are at risk of hearing loss. Aims: This study aimed to determine audiology service use and rates of hearing loss in a regional area of Australia, using both self-report and audiology testing. Setting and Design: A survey of randomly selected households was undertaken and 6432 participants were interviewed face to face about their health, hearing, and use of audiology services. A total of 1454 participants were randomly selected to undertake standard audiology testing. Material and Methods: Material Hearing was evaluated using conventional audiometry. Statistical Analysis Used: Independent t-tests, cChi-squared tests, and logistic regression were used to examine the association amongbetween hearing loss, use of audiology services, and demographic factors. Results: Hearing issues were present in 12.5% of the survey participants. The rate of hearing loss increased significantly with age. Males were significantly more likely to have hearing loss than females (9.5% vs. 5.2%, pP << 0.01). The majority of people who reported accessing audiology services in the past 12 months were satisfied with the care they received (85.2%), and experienced short waiting times for these services (68.2% waited ≤≤ 7 days). Conclusions: Males had higher rates of hearing issues than females in this rural area. Audiology services in the region were accessible within short waiting times, and clients were satisfied with the service.


An experiment was carried out to investigate how contrast threshold for target detection is affected by the presence of glare and by extraneous light sources using the method of ascending limits. The target was located at either a foveal or a peripheral (10° right) location, glare was adjacent to the foveal location, simulating the headlamps of an oncoming vehicle, and extraneous light sources were at either foveal or peripheral (10° right or left) locations. Contrast threshold for a foveal target without glare was affected mainly by the surrounding local luminance distribution. However, in the presence of glare and also for the peripheral target (both with and without glare) the global luminance distribution matters. Glare increased the contrast needed for detection of the foveal target, but this effect was reduced by the presence of extraneous light sources that were peripheral to the target. For peripheral targets, contrast threshold was also reduced by the presence of extraneous light at a non-target location and this effect was increased in the presence of glare. Glare equations tend to be based on tests using uniform, homogenous fields: these data indicate that, in the presence of extraneous light sources, the influence of glare is overestimated.


Saturated fatty acids are an exceptionally important class of liquids, used in many consumer products and suggested as phase change materials (PCMs) for thermal energy storage, in part because they crystallize with minimal supercooling. Here we investigate fatty acid nucleation to understand why crystallization is so facile, as a step toward identifying potential mechanisms for the suppression of supercooling in other PCMs. We find that fatty acid supercooling can be induced only if the liquid is first heated above a material-dependent threshold temperature. NMR spin-lattice relaxation time studies show that the average mobility of the alkyl chains in the fatty acids increases more rapidly with temperature above the supercooling threshold temperature, and NMR T1 hysteresis also sets in at that temperature. Measurements of the real portion of the dielectric constant as a function of temperature show that a liquid fatty acid heated far above its melting point behaves with an apparent temperature upon cooling that is higher than the actual temperature, when compared to its behavior at the same temperature upon heating. Our results suggest that molecular clusters in the liquid fatty acids break apart when the liquids are heated above their threshold temperature and do not immediately re-form on cooling. The breakup of clusters leads to an increase in the mobility of the fatty acid molecules. Because the clusters do not re-form quickly on subsequent cooling, nucleation does not occur, and substantial supercooling results.


to certain other symbols generates an expression representing a proposition, e.g., ax and rxy represent propositions, bu t not xr or xy (taken by themselves). (2) In using the rules of conversion to reduceian expression containing one or more variables or constants not belonging to combinatory logic, the combinatory variables 4>,a,fi,y, • • • are to be specialized to variables of such types tha t the result shall have a sense in non-combinatory logic, i.e., in Language A or in a suitable extension of Language A. For example, C =<u X^ajS^/Sa and F ' denotes implication (i.e., F'pq expresses what is usually writ ten p ID q). Then C F ' converts into Xpq.F'qp, instead of into Xa/3.F'/Sa as it would without the convention. Thus C F ' expresses the inverse of implication. From a considerable number of examples of this sort ("traductions partiellement combinatoires"), he draws several conclusions: With the two conventions, no difficulties in principle and no great difficulties in technique stand in the way of making Principia a language without variables. T h e recourse to combinators permits expressing divers operations for which the logic of Principia does not a t t empt to provide a simple and general notat ion; e tc . S. C. K L E E N E


Extreme weather is affecting food security due to climate change, which lowers incomes and restricts access to food for urban dwellers. The effects of climate change on the availability of food would be startling. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to assess how climate change would affect global food security. Climate change can impair the world's ability to sustain adequate food production and generate nutrients that are affordable in agricultural systems in a number of different ways. We need to broaden our narrow focus from increasing agricultural yields and productivity to include the impact of climate change on the nutritional content of food crops in order to get a complete picture of how it will affect our global food supply. Proactive adaptation can improve capacities to deal with climate change by taking climate change into account in long term decision making and removing barriers to changing behavior in response to climate change.


Hypoglycemia is a serious and often fatal complication of severe malaria. This condition has been reported in many parts of the world including from Thailand (1983) and from Indonesia by Hoffman (1988) and Harianto (1990). Two main causes that can lead to development of this condition are quinine administration and the severity of the malaria condition itself. A case study is presented about development of prolonged hypoglycemia after quinine administration. A 41 years old male was hospitalized with 4 days history of fever, headache vomiting and icterus. On examination he was found to be in good mental status, had a normal blood pressure, and a body temperature of 40°C. He also had icterus and hepatomegaly. Laboratory examination on admission showed malaria slide positive forRfalciparum ring 30-40, with parasite count of 3% (+) on day I. CBC showed: WBC of 21,700/mm 3 and platelet count of 40,000/mm 3 . Blood chemistry showed glucose level of 77 mm %, serum bilirubin of 29.34 mg % (direct 21.87 mg %) SGOT 31 u/l, SGPT 20 u/l, serum ureum 167 mg %, creatinine of 3.36 mg %, serum Na 123 m Eq/L and K 3.99 Eq/L. Urinalysis was normal except for specific gravity of 1.07. After diagnosis of bilious malaria was confirmed, the patient was given i.v. quinine 500 mg diluted in 500 ml 5% dextrose, infused over 4 hours and repeated every 8 hours. On day IVi.v. quinine was switched to oral preparation of 600 mg given bid and the next day quinine was changed to oral chloroquine. The day after admission (30 hours after quinine administration), blood glucose dropped to 21 mg %, 16-46 mg % on day III, and to less than 10 mg % on day IV. It gradulty returned to normal afterwards. Administration of 10% dextrose and boluses of 40% glucose were able to keep the patient in good clinical condition and prevent death. Malaria slide improved on day III, became negative by day IV and serum bilirubin also decreased on follow up. Hypoglycemia should be expected in severe malaria and intensive management of this condition could prevent death.


Since the euro area crisis, there has been an intense discussion about the potential side effects of ECB policy on reform efforts of euro area countries. This discussion is set to become even more intense in the wake of the corona crisis and the ECB's forceful intervention. Opponents of expansionary monetary policy contend that it reduces reforms, whereas proponents argue that it spurs reforms. We test these arguments empirically by studying the effect of monetary policy shocks on structural reform adoption in the euro area. Using an event study approach, we find that
surprise monetary expansions causally increase the likelihood of structural reforms significantly: For the period between 2006 and 2016, a monetary surprise expansion of 25 basis points by the ECB increased on average countries' reform rate by roughly 20 percentage points after two years. This effect is stronger for countries with weaker macroeconomic fundamentals or tighter public budget constraints. The findings are consistent with the 'room-for-manoeuver hypothesis' that expansionary monetary policy spurs competition-friendly supply-side policy by reducing the shortrun costs of reforms and increasing governments' financial leeway. More research will be required to establish whether the results are applicable in a post-corona economic environment.


The criteria in the 1991 edition of the Life Safety Code are a first attempt to address the fire hazards associated with upholstered furniture and mattresses. Recognizing that the criteria do not represent a complete hazard analysis, it is anticipated that the subcommittee will continue its efforts and will evaluate the appropriateness of additional criteria. The NFPA Standards Council also has appointed a Technical Committee on Contents and Furnishings, which will meet in August 1991. This committee will have primary responsibility for developing fire hazard calculation procedures and documents that other committees can use to control the fire hazards of contents and furnishings.


The generalized Morse wavelet (GMW) was improved as an alternative tool to determine the birefringence dispersion of a liquid crystal (LC) material by using the transmittance spectrum. The GMW has two degrees of freedom and the advantage of this additional degree of freedom was clearly exhibited in the simulation study. The validity of the presented method was shown by using the transmittance spectrum of the ZLI-6000 coded nematic LC and the acquired results were compared with the results of other methods. The noise immunity and uncertainty of the presented method were also studied.


The process of aging is a natural process faced by humans. They may experience health problems when it gets old, it is contributing to their emotional suffering. This study aims to answer the question of how the experience of seniors during chronic disease, what is the meaning of old age and disease for the elderly, how the dynamics of the elderly in the face of chronic illness , and what are the factors that influence the experience of emotions and coping mechanisms elderly who have chronic diseases. The study was conducted with a qualitative phenomenological approach, involving 6 subjects as key informants , and 6 family members and community leaders as one additional informant. The data was collected through in-depth interviews and participatory observation. Subject selection is determined by reference to key person who know the condition of the subject to the criteria of age 60 years or older , had more chronic disease than a year, can provide information through interviews. Results showed that the elderly experience while facing chronic illness can be identified through the important themes that are synthesized in the form of the internal dimensions of the disease view of the subject , the denial of the disease, the emergence of the thoughts that accompany illness, the emergence of a variety of emotional experience, surrender to face pain, and actions undertaken in overcoming the disease, and the external dimension of support or attention of the family. Old age is interpreted as the age of the subjects was nearing death, a lot of pain, and the patient should be approached religion, and should be able to accept the situation. Disease is defined as fairness occurs in old age, as a rebuke of God, as a trial, as a reward, as a disaster, as well as the will of God. Thoughts that accompany the disease appears to make the subject was not ready to accept the disease in old age. Old age is the age of the end of life and disease is the cause of a person's death. Factors that influence the experience of emotions and coping mechanisms include lack of knowledge about the subject of illness, type of illness and prior illness experiences, desires and thoughts experienced by subjects when sick, and the presence or absence of support or care from family for sick.

Keywords: chronic disease, coping, elderly, emotion


Patients with celiac disease are known to have abnormal liver enzymes in up to 47% of adults and 57% in children. However, the prevalence of celiac disease among patients with cryptogenic hypertransaminasaemia was unknown. Volta et al. report a prevalence of symptom-free celiac disease of 9% in patients with cryptogenic hypertransaminasaemia. All patients had normal absorption tests despite subtotal villous atrophy on duodenal biopsy. IgG to gliadin and IgA to endomysium were positive in five of five patients, whereas IgA to gliadin was found in only four of these patients. Three patients had liver biopsies revealing mild periportal inflammation in two and mild fatty infiltration in the other. Importantly, after 6 months of strict gluten-free diet, all patients' transaminase levels and serum antibody levels returned to normal, with intestinal villi regrowth. No follow-up liver biopsies were performed. These authors correctly concluded that approximately 9% of patients with cryptogenic hypertransaminases are affected by celiac disease. Antibodies screening for celiac disease by antibodies to endomysium and gliadin should be considered in these patients.


Abstract As we enter the 2020s, our times are daily getting more urgent. The climate and ecological emergency, catastrophic Australian bushfires, and now the COVID-19 pandemic and associated economic meltdown have launched us into a new era of seemingly incessant crisis. Through it all, history remains omnipresent. In press conferences and Zoom meetings, in newspapers and Twitter feeds, history is invoked to bring sense and meaning to our disorienting present. As public commentary mythologises the past in order to manage a destabilised and unknown future, what should the response of professional historians be? What are our responsibilities in the face of cataclysmic change? In this forum on 'History in Urgent Times', we present three attempts to grapple with what it means to be a historian in this alarming historical moment, and ask how historians ought to respond.


This research built a conceptual model to show how attendances' perceptions of event legibility influence behavioral intentions through emotions in the seminar as a business event. An Mehrabian-Russells' PAD model was proposed to explore the linkages between customers' perceptions and emotions (pleasure, arousal and dominance) and between customers' emotional states and behavioral intentions. Structural equation modeling was employed to test the causal relationships among the hypothesized relationships. Based on customer surveys, the findings are that organizational clarity had significant effects on the attendance pleasure while way finding and devices had significant effect on attendances pleasure and dominance. In addition, pleasure and dominance had significant effect on behavioral intentions.


Six people with multiple health problems living in an extra care housing scheme for older people with vision impairment agreed to take part in a telecare trial. An average of 14.8 sensors was installed in each of the flats. The monitoring period began in January 2006 and lasted for 10 months. The data acquired by the sensors installed in each flat was transmitted from the home unit to a central computer. Four interviews were conducted with each participant. Halfway through the study we created a number of case studies of sensor activity at the time of known events in the lives of the participants, together with an attempt to interpret these patterns of activity with the benefit of available contextual information. Although our investigation showed that sensors are capable of identifying some changes in daily routines at the time of important events, the interpretation of such changes requires a large amount of contextual information and the involvement of participants themselves. Various technical and operational difficulties will need to be resolved before it will be possible to use lifestyle monitoring predictively.


The Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity and Islam, by David M. Goldenberg. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2003. 448 pp. $35.00. The biblical verse, "Cursed be Canaan; a slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers" (Genesis 9:25), has had a long, tortuous career with disastrous results. The original intent of the verse was probably to grant legitimacy to the conquest of the land of Canaan and the settlement there of the tribes of Israel, as well as to the holding of non-Israelite-"Canaanite"-slaves by the Jewish people. Consequently, it ignored the fact that the Canaanites were a "Semitic," not a Hamitic people. The word "Canaanite" was identified with a slave, and in the Middle Ages that was the name given to the sklavs by the Jews. Hence, the universal aspect of biblical and post-biblical Judaism did not apply to the institution of slavery. Later interpretation - Jewish, Christian, and Muslim-dealt with the question of how Ham's progeny, the inhabitants of Africa, became black-skinned; and from the fifteenth century, the curse was transferred from Canaan to his father Ham and linked to the attitude towards the black man as inferior and primitive, thus becoming an accepted theological justification for the slave trade and slavery. This process was helped along by the identification of Ham with "Black Africans." The result was the view that the black man's slavery is part of the divine order. In this way, the biblical verse, as well as several midrashim on it, became in the eyes of both the advocates of slavery and its victims the source of the horrible crime of enslaving the black man. Not only a justification, but a source and cause! I believe I would not be wrong in saying that it was not mere intellectual curiosity, but rather a desire to explore the roots of this myth and to refute it, that motivated the author to embark on this journey of scholarly research, so rich in detail and so impressive in its erudition (and its notes and references), in which he traces the various transformations of the names Cush and Ham as well as the representations of blacks in biblical and rabbinic literature. He does all this while including a discussion of the images of the black man in classical literature, as well as in Christian and Muslim literature. There can be no disagreement about the Bible's attitude towards the black man. In fact, the Bible shows no interest in ethnography or physiognomy. The Cushim, or Kushites, mentioned in it-whether they were the Aethiops of Greek literature, or Nubians, whose presence in Canaan was known as far back as the time of Amarna, or (which is less probable) "blacks" (the Nigri of Roman literature) from sub-Saharan Africa, or tribes living in the Arabian peninsula or Sinai-are not mentioned with a negative connotation, and certainly not in the context of slavery. At the same time, the Bible and post-biblical Judaism accepted slavery as a self-evident institution. There were probably black slaves from Africa in Jewish households in the Second Temple period or in the time of the Talmud, but Jews did not need a theological legitimation for this situation, and the discussions in the post-biblical literature about the fate of Ham were intended to reconcile contradictions in the biblical story. Josephus, for example, tried (Jewish Antiquities, 1:8, 131-132) to explain why no harm was caused to Ham's son Kush, but only to Canaan. The midrashic literature, on the other hand, which identified Ham with "black," attempted to explain why only one of Noah's sons became black. In any event, the writers of that literature did not deal with the ethnographic or social reality of their time, but only with hermeneutic debates, the fruit of their imagination. Hence, regardless of what interpretation is given to that group of midrashim which reflects the representation and image of the black man in the rabbinical literature and the medieval biblical interpretation, there is no doubt that in this literature any explicit link between the negative image of the black man as ugly and bestial and the institution of slavery, which is a result of the biblical curse on Canaan, is totally marginal. …


This paper presents a study of the rheological properties of shear thickening fluid (STF) and its application as a damper. The STF samples, with different weight fractions, were prepared by dispersing nanosized silica particles in a solvent. By using a parallel-plate rheometer, both steady-state and dynamic experiments were carried out to investigate the rheological properties of STFs. Experimental results indicated that these suspensions show an abrupt increase in complex viscosity beyond a critical dynamic shear rate, as well as this increase being reversible. Working with the fabricated STF materials, a prototype damper was fabricated and its dynamic performances were experimentally evaluated. An equivalent linear model through effective elastic stiffness and viscous damping was developed to address both the damping and the stiffness capabilities of the damper. Also, a mathematical model was developed to investigate working mechanisms of STF-based devices.


BACKGROUND AND AIMS
Altered serum adenosine deaminase (ADA) levels have been recorded in various diseases involving lymphocytes and/or lymphoreticular system including leprosy. The study was planned to evaluate alterations in serum ADA levels, if any, in reactional and non-reactional leprosy.

METHODS
Eighty patients of leprosy, comprising 60 patients of non-reactional leprosy and 20 patients of reactional leprosy were studied along with 20 normal healthy controls. Five milliliters of venous blood was collected and ADA levels were estimated by the method of Giusti (1974).

RESULTS
There were 54 males and 26 females. The age of the patients ranged from 5 years to 62 years. The duration of leprosy ranged from 15 days to 3 years. The mean serum ADA level in normal controls was 10.31 +/- 0.58 u/L. The serum ADA levels were raised in leprosy patients, significantly so in multibacillary patients. The serum ADA levels were higher in patients of leprosy with reaction.

CONCLUSIONS
The study showed significantly high serum ADA levels in multibacillary leprosy and this was further increased in patients of leprosy with reaction. This may be because of increased lymphoreticular activity during the reactional phases.


A Nb/AlO/sub x//Nb Josephson process has been developed to fabricate DC superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) for biomagnetic measurements on 4-in silicon wafers. The purpose of the process is to fabricate high-quality junctions and to keep the quality uniform over a silicon wafer. All the films were deposited using magnetron sputtering. The components of the SQUID, except the junctions, were formed by taper etching to improve the step coverage. The uniformity of the SQUID characteristics (critical current, modulation depth, and mutual inductance between SQUID and modulation coil) was measured, and an excellent value of less than +or-5% was obtained. Three different configurations of SQUIDs, single washer (SW), double washer series (DWS), double washer parallel (DWP) have been fabricated with the same characteristics. The SW (single washer) had a white noise level of 6.3*10/sup -6/ Phi /sub 0// square root Hz, lower than those of DWS and DWP. 1/f crossover frequencies were below 1 Hz.<<ETX>>


The incidence of small renal masses is increasing. Limited data suggest that although most are malignant, they are also likely to show indolent behavior. The tendency of these tumors to occur in older patient populations with multiple comorbidities raises important issues. Retrospective and prospective studies suggest that a substantial proportion of these small renal masses can be observed without compromising the opportunity for cure or subjecting patients to invasive procedures that might impact negatively on quality of life. Less-invasive treatment modalities, including partial nephrectomy and energy ablation techniques, provide multiple options for some patients. This article reviews selected aspects of the management of small renal masses, including their natural history, imaging, diagnostic biopsies, and treatment options.


Shaded relief derived automatically from digital elevation models differs distinctly from traditional manual shading. Particularly at small scales, many small topographic details that are present in terrain models disturb the clear portrayal of the main relief features. Automatic shading is therefore not appropriate for high-quality cartographic products. This paper proposes a new method of generalizing digital elevation models for deriving small-scale shaded relief that resembles the manual style. The procedure consists of the following raster operations: undesirable topographic details are smoothed with low-pass filters, and the main landforms, such as ridgelines and valleys, are detected by curvature coefficients. Two secondary grids are derived, one exaggerating ridgelines, the other deepening valley bottoms, and the two grids are combined according to the character of the terrain; the grid with exaggerated ridgelines is used in mountainous areas, and the grid with deepened valley bottoms in lowland areas. Finally, shaded relief is derived from the combined elevation model. Following these processing steps, only a few manual corrections are necessary to produce high-quality small-scale relief shading.


Objective: To study efficacy of Magnesium Sulphate in reducing maternal morbidity and mortality in patients presenting with eclampsia.
Study Design: Prospective observational study.
Place and Duration of Study: Gynae/Obs Department, Combined Military Hospital Bannu, from Jan 2018 Sep 2019.
Methodology: A total of 134 patients fulfilling inclusion criteria were included in the study. Patient management was multidisciplinary. Convulsions were controlled by 4gram magnesium sulphate intravenously over 20 minutes as a loading dose, followed by 1gram per hour of maintenance infusion. Blood pressure was controlled with injection Labetalol 10 milligram followed by injection Hydralazine repeated after every 20 minutes till the blood pressure was controlled.
Results: A total of 134 patients had eclampsia constituting 6.8% of obstetric admissions. Case fatality was 14 (10.4%) while 120 (89.55%) of the cases responded well to treatment and survived the event. Mean age of patients was 22 years. Thirty patients 22.4% were booked and 104 patients 77.6% were un-booked. Mostly patients 122 (91%) came from rural area and only 12 (9%) were from urban areas with booked pregnancies having regular antenatal visits. One hundred and twenty six (94%) patients with eclampsia presented in antenatal period and only 8 (6%) presented in post natal period. Mode of delivery was cesarean section in 87 (64.9%) and 47 (35.1%) delivered vaginally. Frequency of patient requiring ventilator support, acute renal failure,disseminated intravascular coagulation, adult respiratory distress syndrome, HELLP (hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, low platelet) syndrome was 11 (8.2%), 46 (34.3%), 43 (32.1%), 35 (26.1%), 7 (5.2%) respectively..........


The effectiveness of using a net of orthogonal or parallel sets of two-dimensional (2D) profiles for threedimensional (3D) geoelectrical resistivity imaging has been evaluated. A series of 2D apparent resistivity data were generated over two synthetic models which represent geological or environmental conditions for a typical weathered profile and waste dump site, respectively, commonly associated with geophysical applications for hydrogeological, environmental and engineering investigations. Several minimum electrode separations and inter-line spacing were used to generate the apparent resistivity data for each electrode array with a view to determining the optimum inter-line spacing relative to the minimum electrode separation. The 2D apparent resistivity data for each array were collated to 3D data sets. The effectiveness and efficiency of the arrays in 3D geoelectrical resistivity imaging were evaluated by determining the mean absolute anomaly effects of the electrodes arrays on the synthetic models. The anomaly effects observed in dipole-dipole (DDP), pole-dipole (PDP) and WennerSchlumberger (WSC) arrays were generally larger than that observed in other arrays considered. The least anomaly effect on the synthetic models was observed in pole-pole (PP) array. This indicates that DDP, PDP and WSC arrays are more sensitive to 3D features. In all the arrays, the anomaly effects observed in the data set generated using the conventional square grids were slightly larger than those from parallel or orthogonal 2D profiles. This slight increase is attributed to the increased data density and is insignificant when compared with those of parallel and orthogonal 2D profiles. Hence, the use of parallel or orthogonal 2D profiles for 3D geoelectrical resistivity survey is effective.


An atomic force microscope was used to investigate thermally induced deformation mechanisms in the areas of copper and polyimide vias in copper-polyimide interconnect structure, as a result of a thermal cycle to 350°C. The copper films exhibited evidence of copper grain boundary sliding, Coble creep, and voids formation. Cu-Ta interfacial sliding was observed in the Cu and polyimide via areas. The direction of the CuTa sliding changes as the polyimide via size decreases. The polyimide experienced a residual deformation attributed to the Cu-Ta sliding and in-plane deformation of the copper vias. A finite element method was used to simulate the effect of Cu-Ta sliding on interfacial and liner plane stresses in Benzocyclobutane (BCB)-Cu and SiO2-Cu interconnect structures, heated to 400°C. A one rum thick element was used to produce a sliding effect at the Cu-Ta interface and at Cu grain boundary. The shear stresses in the SiO2-Cu system are completely relaxed by the Cu-Ta sliding. The Cu-Ta sliding increases the Ta liner plane stress in the BCB-Cu system to potentially damaging values, while the Ta stress in the SiO2-Cu system changes from tensile to compressive. Sliding at Cu grain boundary has a minor impact on Cu-Ta sliding and shear stress relaxation in the BCB-Cu system with large aspect ratio. A finite element technique was used to model the classical Nabarro-Herring creep in 1 mum square copper grain subjected to biaxial stresses of +/-10 MPa, at 800°C. A linear elastic mechanical analysis was carried out to simulate the mechanical loading and transient thermal analysis was utilized to simulate the diffusive vacancy flow process. The steady state flux components were used to predict the creep deformation of the grain and to estimate the creep strain rate at the boundaries. It was shown that the finite element procedure is capable of modeling the Nabarro-Herring creep, satisfactorily. The finite element result agrees with the analytical prediction within a factor of two.


Henry James was the final survivor of a remarkable family, and his memoir, written at the end of a long and tireless career, was prompted initially by the death of his "ideal Elder Brother," the psychologist and philosopher William James. "A Small Boy and Others" recounts the novelist's earliest years in Albany and, more importantly, New York City, where he was allowed to wander at will. He evokes the theatrical entertainments he enjoyed, the varied social scene in which the family mixed, and the piecemeal nature of his education. With the first of several extended trips, the "romance" of Europe begins as the small boy becomes acquainted with a British culture already familiar from his precocious reading of the great Victorian novelists. And it is in France, in the Louvre's Galerie d'Apollon, that he undergoes an initiation into the aesthetic power of great art and an intimation of all the "fun" it might bring him. Yet the child also registered, within this privileged and extended family group, signs of dysfunction and failure. James's autobiography has significantly determined the nature and even the terms of the extensive biographical and critical interest he continues to enjoy. This first fully annotated critical edition of "A Small Boy and Others, " which guides the reader through the allusive complexities of James's prose, also offers fresh insights into the formative years of one of literature's most influential figures.


As a neonicotinoid pesticide, imidacloprid is widely used to control sucking insects on agricultural planting and fleas on domestic animals. However, the extent to which imidacloprid exposure has an influence on cardiogensis in early embryogenesis is still poorly understood. In vertebrates, the heart is the first organ to be formed. In this study, to address whether imidacloprid exposure affects early heart development, the early chick embryo has been used as an experimental model because of its accessibility at its early developmental stage. The results demonstrate that exposure of the early chick embryo to imidacloprid caused malformation of heart tube. Furthermore, the data reveal that down-regulation of GATA4, NKX2.5, and BMP4 and up-regulation of Wnt3a led to aberrant cardiomyocyte differentiation. In addition, imidacloprid exposure interfered with basement membrane breakdown, E-cadherin/laminin expression, and mesoderm formation during the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in gastrula chick embryos. Finally, the DiI-labeled cell migration trajectory indicated that imidacloprid restricted the cell migration of cardiac progenitors to primary heart field in gastrula chick embryos. A similar observation was also obtained from the cell migration assay of scratch wounds in vitro. Additionally, imidacloprid exposure negatively affected the cytoskeleton structure and expression of corresponding adhesion molecules. Taken together, these results reveal that the improper EMT, cardiac progenitor migration, and differentiation are responsible for imidacloprid exposure-induced malformation of heart tube during chick embryo development.


The book is divided into two parts, implicit in its title, the first part dealing with the epidemiology of hospital infections and the second with their control. In their preface the authors state that they anticipate the criticism that too much space is devoted to staphylococcal infection, but justify themselves, correctly, on the grounds that this Infection, in Its protean forms, has caused much alarm and perplexity in recent years. In the section on epidemiology, therefore, there are three chapters on various aspects of staphylococcal infection. Other chapters deal with heamolytre streptococci, with the clostridia and with miscellaneous infections. In addition there are chapters on urinary tract and gastro-intestinal infections and on sepsis due to Gramnegative bacilli. The reservoirs and likely routes of infection are discussed, and attention is paid to patients who may be at special risk.


Coherence refers to the degree that light waves are correlated. Coherence has been the subject of entire books on optics, or at least lengthy chapters. A few essential elements are summarized in this Appendix. There are two types of coherence-temporal coherence and spatial coherence, both of which are relevant to lithography. Temporal coherence refers to the correlation of light in time. There are several situations in lithography where temporal coherence is relevant. Consider the situation depicted in Fig. A.1. A beam of light is incident on a resist-coated silicon surface. Consider, for the moment, very transparent resist. The instantaneous amplitude of the incident wave at x is given by A ( t ). The amplitude of the reflected light is given by the amplitude of the light after the time it has propagated to the interface and reflected: (A.1) where ρ is the reflectivity of the resist-silicon interface, c is the speed of light, and n is the index of refraction of the resist. The time-averaged intensity at point x is given by: (A.2)


We have investigated the distribution of oxide traps and interface traps in 4H Silicon Carbide MOS devices. The density of interface traps, Dit, was characterized using standard C-V techniques on capacitors and charge pumping on MOSFETs. The number of oxide traps, NOT, was then calculated by measuring the flatband voltage VFB in p-type MOS capacitors. The amount that the measured flatband voltage shifts from ideal, minus the contributions due to the number of filled interface traps Nit, gives an estimate for the number of oxide charges present. We found Dit to be in the low 1011cm−2eV−1 range in midgap and approaching 1012 −1013cm−2eV−1 near the band edges. This corresponds to an Nit of roughly 2.5 ⋅1011cm−2 for a typical capacitor in flatband at room temperature. This data combined with measurements of VFB indicates the presence of roughly 1.3 ⋅1012cm−2 positive NOT charges in the oxide near the interface for our samples.


Current data management approaches can easily handle the relatively simple requirements for molecular biology research but not the more varied and sophisticated microscopy imaging data in neuroscience research. We developed a project-oriented experimental imaging data management system through integration of the object-relational Oracle DBMS (database management system) and a distributed file management system, the storage resource broker (SRB). The data model we developed on Oracle9i supports semantic and analytical queries and image content mining. The MIDM provides comprehensive descriptive, structural, spatial and administrative information on microscopy image datasets. The current MIDM is web accessible at http://ncmir.ucsd.edu/CCDB. This paper describes the MIDM architecture and data mode in MIDM.


"Why am I doing this?" is a question almost every Ph.D. student asks themselves. While this question is frequently inspired by the true challenges of academia, the examination of why we do what we do is fundamentally constructive. It serves to remind each of us that academia is more than a job, but is truly a vocation: a worthy calling that requires great dedication but can also bring genuine joy. The answer to why you're doing this is grounded in a vocational practice that embraces the creativity, independence, and unique public contributions that are possible as an academic political scientist, regardless of the extent to which you intend to focus your future career on teaching, research or service. We discuss how to cultivate these practices in ways that help you sustain joy and inspiration as you complete the Ph.D. and begin to chart your own path through the scholarly vocation.


We use the NBER Shared Capitalism Database comprised of more than 40,000 employee surveys from 14 firms to explore whether a close match between workers' risk preferences and the riskiness of their compensation packages relates to improved employee outcomes including lower absenteeism, lower shirking, lower probability of voluntary turnover, greater worker motivation, and higher levels of job satisfaction and loyalty. To do this, we use survey questions reflecting workers' risk aversion parameters, coupled with a series of measures of the riskiness of workers' compensation packages including the proportion of pay comprised of various forms of shared capitalism such as profit and gain sharing, ownership of company stock, and bonus arrangements. The primary finding of our paper is that a match between the workers' risk preferences and the extent of risk in their compensation increases workers' motivation, job satisfaction, company attachment, and loyalty, but risk-averse workers are generally less responsive to a preference-compensation match than risk-loving workers. JEL Categories:


Information is like a strategic decision-making tool in which the quality of decisions will merely depend on the information used at the time of making those decisions. The purpose of this research is to assist individual investors in Tehran Stock Exchange by providing them a logistic model enabling them to predict their trading behavior. The data in this research has been collected from the statistical population of the study through variables, believed to have effects on the investors' process of decision making. Therefore, in order to achieve the statistical data, 2400 transactions in the form of 100 transactions, including buy and sell of stock shares from March 2017 until February 2019 have respectively been collected as samples. Based on the results of the logistic regression test, the behavior of institutional investors, as well as the volume of stocks traded have a significant positive impact on the behavior of individual investors (the probability of buying shares by them) versus the Beta, earnings per share, and dividends per share that have a negative effect on the probability of purchasing shares by individual investors. The analysis of the results suggests that individual investors are mainly subject to collective behavior which in particular is the same behavior of institutional investors. On the other hand, they tend to invest in stocks with low beta (defensive stocks) along with factors such as earnings per share and dividends per share which have less impact on the probability of stock purchases by individual investors.


In the late 1960s two groundbreaking architectural movements arose in Italy: the Radical movement and the Tendenza. Over time the rivalry and antagonism between them developed into an outright hostility that reached its peak in the 1973 Milan Triennale, where the latter established itself as the hegemonic trend of Italian architecture. In his manifesto-like text for the exhibition catalogue, Massimo Scolari tried to systematize the foundations of the Tendenza by calling for a reestablishment of architecture based on its autonomy and its internal logic and laws. In doing so, he attacked orthodox modernity and, especially, the Radical movement. The response from the Radicals came from Archizoom's leader Andrea Branzi who, through a series of columns in Casabella, depicted the Tendenza as a reactionary movement unable to take advantage of the brand new start opened by the crisis of the discipline. The controversy between Scolari and Branzi shows how opposed and incompatible Tendenza and Radical were, not only for their informal spokesmen, but for most of the Italian architectural milieu. However, a closer look, backed on Manfredo Tafuri's insights, shows some very telling similarities – as well as some unexpected differencesthat question not only Scolari and Branzi's claims, but also most of the later readings of these movements. In order to further nuance the dialectical opposition between Tendenza and Radical, two paradigmatic works of both movements are analyzed (Arduino Cantàfora's città analoga and Archizoom Associati's No-Stop City) and compared with canonic representations of Renaissance ideal cities.


The objective of this paper is to discuss the logic behind the ENP and explore whether it makes the ENP a relevant and sustainable policy-framework. The discussion is structured as follows. First, the rationale behind the ENP is discussed. The second part is dedicated to the challenges that the ENP partner-countries face. Then, the threats that the EU faces due to unsolved problems inherent in the ENP states are examined. Finally, ways of improving the ENP are discussed. Conclusions follow.


Photoluminescence measurements of three cadmium related defects are presented in this thesis Group I consists of five zero-phonon lines with the minimum energy line observed at -1058 1 meV. A second group of lines, labelled group II is found to be broadly similar to group I and is centred at ~ 1068 meV Group III consists of three zero-phonon lines, labelled a-i, a2 and 0C3 with ai observed at -1083 3 meV. Temperature dependence, uniaxial stress, isotope substitution studies and Zeeman measurements were performed on the three defects reported.

In the case of groups I and II, temperature measurements have shown excited state manifolds with thermalisation occurring to a single ground state. For group III thermalisation data show that both the ground and excited states are manifolds of three levels each, with strong selection rules governing the transitions Uniaxial stress measurements reveal trigonal (C3V) symmetry for groups I and II Group III is assigned to monoclimc I symmetry.

Cadmium isotope substitution experiments reveal that all three centres contain at least one cadmium atom. The diffusion of lithium into cadmiumdoped silicon enhances the luminescence of all three defects. For group II, lithium isotope substitution studies indicate the involvement of two Li atoms in the defect.

Zeeman measurements show the excited state manifolds consist of both singlet and triplet states for the three centres, with isotropic triplet state g values close to 2.