This paper will address the barriers to learning, including innovative structures and strategies put in place to overcome such barriers, with specific reference to rural distance education students in the Namibian context. Access to quality learning has been compromised for many years prior to the country's independence in 1990. Distance education, having been around for a long time, has seen changes, innovations and vast improvements that contribute to enhancing quality learning. If we are to find means to improve the situation, it will be vital that everyone understand the importance of educationthat it is not merely a means to obtain status in society, but rather, that it is the responsibility that society owes to itself. The Polytechnic of Namibia, through its Centre for Open and Lifelong Learning (COLL), has recently fulfilled this responsibility to the rural society of Namibia when it established a network of Regional Centres across Namibia that has the function of coordinating and facilitating all the necessary instructional and support services to address the needs of distance education students throughout their learning process and to give them the academic tools they need to overcome unnecessary barriers in order to succeed. There are various drawbacks on the part of those who would like to pursue their studies through distance learning. Despite the fact that decentralisation of the support services has taken place through the establishment of the Regional Centres, all areas in Namibia are not covered and students face limitations due to factors like distance from the Centres, and affordability. Making studying through distance education possible for more Namibians will require funding to students who are economically disadvantaged. eLearning is one way to bridge the gap and ensure easier access to education. Students become more pro-active in their pursuit of studying towards their desired qualification once the facilities that support their learning are brought closer to them. The support services on offer through COLL, and in particular through the Regional Centres, ensure that barriers such as distance and affordability are overcome. Students, prospective students and the public should be educated about the facilities on offer, and how these can support their learning. They can then be encouraged to pursue studying on distance, knowing they have a good chance to succeed. In this case study, the strategies implemented to establish a well-functioning Regional Centre with good logistics and reliable infrastructure as an integral part of the delivery of Open and Distance Learning (ODL), including the support provided to rural distance education students are put forward.


Bozena Listkowska

Cartesian Inspirations in the Open Thomism of Piotr Chojnacki

Abstract

The aim of the article is the presentation and critical analysis of Piotr Chojnacki's theory of cognition. Chojnacki was one of the most eminent representatives of the Polish open Thomism at the beginning of the 20th century. The starting point of our analysis is the investigation into the role played by Cartesian epistemic assumptions in Chojnacki's open Thomism and in his theory of truth, in particular. Chojnacki regards objective evidence and certainty of cognitive acts as criteria of truth. The certainty of cognitive acts is understood as a result of the relation between the human cognitive apparatus and the "objective states", i.e., states of affairs. However, a distinction made by Chojnacki between objective and subjective certainty is rather troublesome, and hence, finally, he accepts convergence as a criterion of propositional truth. Convergence is apprehended as concurrence of cognitive results obtained by many subjects using various epistemic methods. Such a convergence is to be a tool whose aim is to eliminate subjectivistic components in human cognition. In other words, convergence should enable us to achieve an objective evidence conceived as the foundation of truth of cognitive acts.
The role played by convergence in Chojnacki's theory of truth means, in fact, his departure from the classic conception of truth. Moreover, it follows from our analysis of Chojnacki's views concerning human cognition that the congruence theory of truth has been essentially changed by a certain version of a coherence theory of truth to which Chojnacki has resorted. The final conclusion of the article is that the essence of Chojnacki's Cartesianism lies in assuming that convergence is a criterion of congruence, that is, a relation between propositions and states of affairs making them true.

Keywords: convergence, Thomism, Cartesianism, truth, cognition.


Abstract. Ushguli, located in the Upper Svaneti region (Georgia), represents the highest point of human occupation before the permanent snowed highlands that separate Georgia from Russia. The local inhabitants (Svan) are described as an aggressive community with warrior habits. Their history is one of permanent conflict. Most of the major empires of the ancient world (Persia, Greece, Rome and Byzantium) disputed this territory. In the Middle Ages, when natural conditions secured their isolation, the established feudal system preserved, until recent times, the warrior culture of the Svan through a judicial system based on blood feuds. The necessity to defend their territory from invaders, as well as the violent conflicts between families, influenced their settlement morphology, as well as their vernacular architecture. Four small settlements (Chvibiani, Zhibiani, Chazhashi and Murkmeli) constitute the Ushguli province, inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage Site list since 1996. This paper aims to study the Ushgulli traditional urban morphology, which does not correspond to any classical urban element. The overlapping between private and public spaces and the inexistence of a standard concept of street or square are some of their peculiar features; some of which have an important influence on the organization of vernacular buildings. These buildings do not present a dominating facade or any other type of hierarchical composition towards the exterior. Under the scope of the Project 3D Past a multidisciplinary approach (Architecture, Urban Morphology and History) is used to better understand the original features of these peculiar settlements.


As the winged liquid fly-back booster (LFBB) is one of the partially reusable space transportation systems considered within the German future space launcher technology research program ASTRA. The regarded system consists of two booster stages, which are attached to the expendable Ariane 5 core stage at an upgraded future technology level. The main area of interest of the presented aerodynamic study is the return flight after the staging procedure which dominates the layout of the LFBB. The present paper discusses the aerodynamic refinement of an existing LFBB design, focussing on its longitudinal stability and trim. Detailed aerodynamic parameter studies are performed based on Euler calculations. Force measurements and selected Navier-Stokes simulations confirm this approach. They point out that a LFBB configuration may be designed primarily based on Euler simulations. The discussion of the numerical results and their comparison with experimental results shows that it is possible to adapt the originally given LFBB proposal in a way that it allows a nearly indifferent flight along the complete return trajectory and that it additionally enables a very robust trim behaviour.


Summary 1. In fragmented landscapes where natural disturbance acts at the local level, community composition can be altered either by 'species-by-species matching', with communitywide character displacement, or by 'constrained species sorting', whereby disturbance favours species with distinct ecological traits. It is necessary to understand such species shifts when aiming to detect bottlenecks associated with changing disturbance dynamics at different spatial levels. Such an understanding also provides insight into the underlying ecological mechanisms in operation and allows identification of species of conservation concern. 2. This approach to understanding species' shifts was applied to a study of spider diversity and life-history variation in relation to sand dynamics in stabilized and dynamic grey dune landscapes located along the coasts of France, Belgium and the Netherlands. 3. Local ( α ) diversity appeared to decrease with increasing local sand dynamics in both stable and dynamic landscapes. In dynamic dune landscapes, β -diversity decreased significantly and approached regional ( γ ) diversity under local grey dune stabilization; in stabilized landscapes, β -diversity was not affected by local sand dynamics. 4. Comparative analyses of ecological traits revealed shifts in life-history patterns, suggesting that patterns in local diversity resulted from species sorting. Species from fragments characterized by high sand dynamics showed narrower niche breadths, larger body sizes and longer generation times, while summer-active species tended to become residential after sand stabilization. This provides evidence for constrained species sorting in which natural disturbance (through local sand dynamics) allows only species with distinct ecological traits to persist. 5. Synthesis and applications . Species with larger body sizes, longer generation times and a higher degree of habitat specialization (i.e. related to dispersal ability) would be expected to be more vulnerable at dynamic sites and more prone to extinction than their counterparts from stabilized fragments. In particular, species with a burrowing lifestyle would be expected to go extinct locally as a result of increasing soil development and soil hardness. Shifts in species composition were found to be more pronounced in dynamic landscapes. Hence ensuring conservation of sand dynamics at a landscape level rather than at a local level is of prime importance when aiming to conserve typical psammophilous spider species within local assemblages in grey dune habitats.


A rapid, specific and sensitive liquid chromatography-ESI mass spectrometry method was developed and validated for determination mifepristone and its metabolites in human plasma using levonorgestrel as internal standard. The extraction was performed by solid phase extraction procedure using waters Oasis HLB cartridge (1 cc, 30 mg). The column used was Hypurity C18 column (50 × 4.6 mm, 5 µm), the mobile phase was a combination of methanol water containing 0.2% Acetic acid at a ratio of 75:25 in isocratic mode. The flow rate was 0.5 ml/min with an injection volume of 2 µl and the total run time was 4 min. The detection was performed on a triple guard electron spray ionization mass spectrometry by selective reaction monitoring (SRM) mode. The target ions were monitored at [m+H] + m/z 430.3→134, 416.3→120, 446.3→109.1 for Mifepristone, N-Demethyl Mifepristone and Hydroxy Mifepristone respectively. Linearity was established in the range of 51.89 ng/ml to 4059.14 ng/ml, 51.9063 ng/ml to 4059.69 ng/ml, 12.68 ng/ml to 992.36 ng/ml for the determination of Mifepristone, N-Demethyl Mifepristone and Hydroxy Mifepristone respectively in K3EDTA using solid Phase Extraction procedure. The lower limit of quantification was found and reproducible (LLOQ) at 50.95 ng/ml, 54.11 ng/ml and 12.81 ng/ml for Mifepristone, N-Demethyl Mifepristone and Hydroxy Mifepristone respectively.


OBJECTIVE
The 2019 National Natural language processing (NLP) Clinical Challenges (n2c2)/Open Health NLP (OHNLP) shared task track 3, focused on medical concept normalization (MCN) in clinical records. This track aimed to assess the state of the art in identifying and matching salient medical concepts to a controlled vocabulary. In this paper, we describe the task, describe the data set used, compare the participating systems, present results, identify the strengths and limitations of the current state of the art, and identify directions for future research.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Participating teams were provided with narrative discharge summaries in which text spans corresponding to medical concepts were identified. This paper refers to these text spans as mentions. Teams were tasked with normalizing these mentions to concepts, represented by concept unique identifiers, within the Unified Medical Language System. Submitted systems represented 4 broad categories of approaches: cascading dictionary matching, cosine distance, deep learning, and retrieve-and-rank systems. Disambiguation modules were common across all approaches.

RESULTS
A total of 33 teams participated in the MCN task. The best-performing team achieved an accuracy of 0.8526. The median and mean performances among all teams were 0.7733 and 0.7426, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
Overall performance among the top 10 teams was high. However, several mention types were challenging for all teams. These included mentions requiring disambiguation of misspelled words, acronyms, abbreviations, and mentions with more than 1 possible semantic type. Also challenging were complex mentions of long, multi-word terms that may require new ways of extracting and representing mention meaning, the use of domain knowledge, parse trees, or hand-crafted rules.


Sir .—I enjoyed reading the editorial entitled "Duplicate Publication Is Boring" by Ms Radulescu. 1 I agree with Ms Radulescu that academic appointment, tenure, and the related economic rewards may hinge on the length, if not the quality, of one's bibliography. However, it is not always the author's intention to lengthen his/her bibliography or to pad his/her curriculum vitae by duplicate publication. I wonder whose fault it is—should blame rest with the author or the editor? I have had more than 70 publications in various medical journals in the last 12 years, and I would like to share with you some of my personal experiences. On June 25, 1984, I wrote a letter to the editor of another journal in response to an interesting article that appeared in that journal one month earlier. In October 1984, I wrote a second letter to that editor inquiring about the fate of my previous letter.


Delay optimization is an important issue for ad hoc wireless networks supporting multimedia applications. Current medium access schemes do not take the application packet size into account for their operation. Long packets win the channel contention equally likely as the smaller packets; however, they occupy the channel for a longer time. This unfairness leads to increased delay and jitter for smaller packets. This paper attempts to resolve the above issue by proposing a fully distributed algorithm that adapts the contention process to the packet size as well. More specifically, we emulate the shortest job first scheduling policy by proposing a new resetting backoff regime. The proposed scheme is then compared to the distributed coordination function of the IEEE 802.11 standard. Analytical and simulation results show that the delay of the small packets is significantly improved.


Purpose: To investigate the sensations experienced by Chinese patients during refractive surgery including the laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK), Epi-Lasik, and Sub-Bowman keratomileusis (SBK) techniques. A prospective, randomized, and self-matched clinical study was conducted. Methods: The participants included 44 men and 58 women aged 16 to 47 years old (mean 24.3±0.6 years) who underwent bilateral refractive surgery. Data were collected by using a standardized questionnaire regarding intraoperative experiences including light perception, perception of the green fixation light, pain, fear, and so on. Results: A higher proportion of patients experienced temporary loss of light perception in the LASIK group compared with the Epi-Lasik and SBK groups (97% vs. 92% vs. 73%; χ =0.0072, p<0.05). Moreover, 71 patients were frightened by their intraoperative experiences [20 Epi-Lasik patients (71%); 23 LASIK patients (68%); 28 SBK patients (70%)]. These patients were mostly younger, aged ≤ 20 years (χ =0.0182, p<0.05). Moreover, the younger age group was significantly associated with the higher level of fear (χ =0.0011, p<0.05). Patients included in the group who felt pain with a mean duration of surgery ranging from five to 10 minutes (8.471±1.566) were significantly less in number compared with those who did not feel pain (7.100±1.820) (χ =0.0154, p<0.05). Patients also saw colors and movement, but the differences were not significant among the techniques. Patients experienced various visual sensations. Conclusion: Younger age and relatively longer surgical durations were found to be the risk factors for the visual sensations of fear and pain during surgery. Preoperative counseling is an important factor in preparing patients for such visual experiences.


Abstract. Climate warming is changing streamflow regimes and groundwater storage in cold alpine regions. In this study, a headwater catchment named Yangbajain in the Lhasa River basin on the Tibetan Plateau is adopted as the study area for quantifying streamflow changes and active groundwater storage in response to climate warming. The catchment is characterized by alpine glacier and frozen ground which covers about 11 % and 86 % of the total area, respectively. The changes in streamflow regimes (including quickflow and baseflow) and climate factors are evaluated based on hydro-meteorological observations from 1979 to 2013. Then active groundwater storage in autumn and early winter is quantified by recession flow analysis assuming nonlinearized outflow from aquifers into streams. The results show that annual streamflow increases significantly at a rate of about 12.30 mm/10a during this period. The significant increase of annual air temperature compared with nonsignificant variation of annual precipitation indicates that the climate warming takes responsibilities to the increase of streamflow. It is believed that the increased streamflow is mainly fed by glacier meltwater, which has led to over 25 % loss of the total glacial volume in the past 50 years (1960–2009) in this catchment. Moreover, the significant increase of annual baseflow at a rate of about 10.95 mm/10a is the dominant factor for the increase of the total streamflow. Through recession flow analysis, we find that recession coefficient K and active groundwater storage S in autumn and early winter increase significantly at the rates of about 7.70 (mm0.79d−0.21)/10a and 19.32 mm/10a during these years. The increase of active groundwater storage can partly be explained by frozen ground degradation, which lead to the enlargement of groundwater storage capacity and accommodate more summer rainfall and meltwater in the wide and flat valley, and then slowly release them into streams in the following seasons. Thus, it is reasonable to attribute the increase of baseflow and the slowdown of baseflow recession process in autumn and early winter to the enlargement of groundwater storage capacity. Through quantifying streamflow changes and active groundwater storage in response to warming-induced changes, this study provides a perspective to clarify the way of glacial retreat and frozen ground degradation on hydrological processes.


Copyright is conventionally understood as serving the dual purposes of providing incentives for the creation of new works and access to the resulting works. In most analysis of copyright, however, creation takes priority. When access is considered, it is often in the context of how access relates back to the creation of new works. Largely missing is an account of the value of access on its own terms.

So what is the place of access in copyright law and policy? A set of cases dealing with copyright owners' attempts to enjoin the markets created by new playback and distribution technologies is instructive. These decisions—where the courts refused to enforce copyright where the owners attempted to shut down a market rather than participate in it—have been criticized for their unclear policy guidance and lack of doctrinal grounding. We can reconcile these cases with copyright policy by focusing on access. These cases provide rich examples showing how expanded access advances copyright's higher-order goals of promoting a more democratic and participatory culture.

Focusing on access also provides a means for bringing doctrinal coherence to these cases through the fair-use defense. The courts permitted the use of copyrighted works in new markets despite the copyright owners' objections because these markets could expand public access without diminishing the copyright industries' creative incentives. Indeed, copyright owners often found the markets profitable after being forced to enter them. Copyright owners' market refusal in these scenarios is a distinct type of market failure, and fairuse doctrine allows courts to correct it.


Occlusal characteristics varies among different ethnic groups
and races. Those changes which will occur between primary and
permanent dentition can help a Pedodontist in assessing what type
of occlusion a child will have in future


In Class IX you have learnt about various elements. You have seen that elements can be classified as metals or non-metals on the basis of their properties. n Think of some uses of metals and non-metals in your daily life. n What properties did you think of while categorising elements as metals or non-metals? n How are these properties related to the uses of these elements? Let us look at some of these properties in detail.


Childbirth is a unique experience in women's life. Various factors including human and non-human environment are involved in shaping the experience of childbirth.This study investigated the role of the environment on the psychological birth trauma from the perceptions of Iranian mothers. A qualitative descriptive study was conducted from September 2011 to February 2012, using audiotaped interviews with 23 Iranian women recruited from Tehran and Isfahan. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using the content analysis. Two themes were extracted from the data: human and non-human environment; and several categories also emerged from the data, which are communication with mother, awareness of mother's needs, support for mother, medical clinical competence, professional responsibility, hospital's physical structure, hospital's equipment, routine care in hospital and rules governing the hospital's environment, respectively. Considering the significant role of environment in psychological birth trauma of the mother, an appropriate intervention must be developed to enhance both human and non-human environment in order to reduce the psychological birth trauma.


The School of Community and Environmental Health offers graduate and certificate programs which lead to careers in health services research, public health, community health, health care administration, environmental health, and occupational safety. ODU offers a Master of Public Health degree designed to prepare students for entry and/or advancement in public health careers. The Master of Science in Community Health offers practicing health care professionals the opportunity to complete their degrees in a distance format with emphasis areas in environmental health, occupational safety and health, and industrial hygiene.


This paper is intended to describe several broad areas of change that will affect dental practice as we enter the early portion of the 21st century. The four major topic areas are: The changing status of American and world society, the demographic changes in the patient and provider communities, technology, and the development of evidenced-based dental practice. The article presents a digest of other issues that are encompassed in these four major topic areas that will affect dental practice in the future.


ObjectiveTo examine clinical outcomes in patients receiving neoadjuvant chemoradiation for locally advanced rectal adenocarcinoma. Summary Background DataPreoperative radiation therapy, either alone or in combination with 5-fluorouracil-based chemotherapy, has proven both safe and effective in the treatment of rectal cancer. However, data are lacking regarding which subgroups of patients benefit from the therapy in terms of decreased local recurrence and increased survival rates. MethodsA retrospective chart review was performed on 141 consecutive patients who received neoadjuvant chemoradiation (5-fluorouracil ± cisplatin and 4,500–5,040 cGy) for biopsy-proven locally advanced adenocarcinoma of the rectum. Surgery was performed 4 to 8 weeks after completion of chemoradiation. Standard statistical methods were used to analyze recurrence and survival. ResultsMedian follow-up was 27 months, and mean age was 59 years (range 28–81). Mean tumor distance from the anal verge was 6 cm (range 1–15). Of those staged before surgery with endorectal ultrasound or magnetic resonance imaging, 57% of stage II patients and 82% of stage III patients were downstaged. The chemotherapeutic regimens were well tolerated, and resections were performed on 140 patients. The percentage of sphincter-sparing procedures increased from 20% before 1996 to 76% after 1996. On pathologic analysis, 24% of specimens were T0. However, postoperative pathologic T stage had no effect on either recurrence or survival. Positive lymph node status predicted increased local recurrence and decreased survival. ConclusionsNeoadjuvant chemoradiation is safe, effective, and well tolerated. Postoperative lymph node status is the only independent predictor of recurrence and survival.


In boreal forests, dwarf-shrubs (Vaccinium spp.) often dominate the forest floor and are key-stone species in ecosystems due to their importance for nutrient cycling and as a major food source for herbivores. Forestry affects the vegetation both directly through management and indirectly by altering the forest structure. Forest fertilization with N at the end of the rotation period is a common practice in Swedish boreal forests. Even higher timber production can be achieved if fertilization with multi-nutrient fertilizer is applied early in the rotation period, but the effects on forest floor vegetation have not been studied. The objectives of this thesis were to increase knowledge regarding how 1) intensive fertilization in young forest affects forest floor vegetation; 2) background deposition of N influences the effects of N addition; and 3) to relate observed changes in common species abundances to changes in forest structure. Fertilization decreased the abundance of many common forest plant species while only few species increased (I). Surprisingly, also species known as nitrophilous decreased in abundance. Paper I shows that the decrease in availability of light induced by fertilization is a crucial factor behind this change. Consequently, fertilization reduced both species richness, species diversity and the between site (β) diversity (II). In areas where the background N deposition was low (4 kg ha yr), the effects of N addition were larger than in areas with intermediate (16 kg ha yr) deposition (III). Key-stone species among the forest floor vegetation of boreal Sweden (e.g. Vaccinium myrtillus) were found to decrease in abundance (IV). These species are strongly dependent on aspects of forest structure, such as forest density and age, and likewise, temporal changes in species abundance coincided with corresponding changes in forest structure (IV). In conclusion, in large parts of Sweden the prevailing forest management is incompatible with a productive forest floor vegetation possessing a high diversity of plant species, and this situation will only be exacerbated by more intensive use of fertilization regimes. To avoid associated cascading effects from the decreased abundance of key-stone species, forestry intensity needs to be relaxed on the landscape level which would likely result in a considerable loss of timber production. Compensation for this loss through intensified forestry on other areas would indicate the need for altered forest zoning.


Synthesizing pseudo samples is currently the most effective way to solve the Generalized Zero Shot Learning (GZSL) problem. Most models achieve competitive performance but still suffer from two problems: (1) Feature confounding, the overall representations confound task-correlated and task-independent features, and existing models disentangle them in a generative way, but they are unreasonable to synthesize reliable pseudo samples with limited samples; (2) Distribution uncertainty, that massive data is needed when existing models synthesize samples from the uncertain distribution, which causes poor performance in limited samples of seen classes. In this paper, we propose a non-generative model to address these problems correspondingly in two modules: (1) Task-correlated feature disentanglement, to exclude the task-correlated features from task-independent ones by adversarial learning of domain adaption towards reasonable synthesis; (2) Controllable pseudo sample synthesis, to synthesize edge-pseudo and center-pseudo samples with certain characteristics towards more diversity generated and intuitive transfer. In addation, to describe the new scene that is the limit seen class samples in the training process, we further formulate a new ZSL task named the 'Few-shot Seen class and Zero-shot Unseen class learning' (FSZU). Extensive experiments on four benchmarks verify that the proposed method is competitive in the GZSL and the FSZU tasks.


Youth Polytechnics play an important role in training school leavers who do not proceed with higher education. They are trained in relevant skills for either salary or self-employment. This study was set out to investigate the effectiveness of selected Youth Polytechnics in Machakos District in training the youth for employment. The study examined curriculum relevance and its implementation in the Youth Polytechnics to meet the needs of the trainees, the competence of the instructors, adequacy of teaching and learning resources and the methods used to evaluate the Youth Polytechnics' training programme. The study adopted survey research design. Questionnaires were administered to the trainees and instructors while interview schedules were administered to the managers and the employers. Observation checklist and document analysis were also used. The study adopted Kirk Patrick's four levels evaluation model (1994). Collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages with the help of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) program. The study showed that Youth Polytechnics' curriculum was irrelevant to the needs of the trainees in the labour market. Some needs of the trainees like the teaching of information and communication technology and entrepreneurial skills were not addressed. Additionally, teaching and learning resources in Youth Polytechnics were inadequate. The study concluded that to a great extent, Youth Polytechnics were not effective in training the youth for employment. The curriculum should therefore be reviewed occasionally to keep their current and future graduates as well as instructors abreast with technological changes in the whole Technical and Vocational Education and Training sub-sector to avoid obsoleteness. Finally, the study recommended that there was need for increased funding towards vocational education and training which should be directed towards research and development as well as acquisition of appropriate teaching and learning resources for effective training.


The Significance of Memory Retrieval in Perceptual Interference Ava Santos Fort Lewis College Lawrence Barsalou Emory University Abstract: Verbal overshadowing is a phenomenon where verbalizing a nonverbal experience produces an inaccurate memory of the experience. Drawing from perceptual symbol systems, we postulate that verbal overshadowing belongs to the larger phenomenon of perceptual interference. Verbalizing or mentally imaging nonverbal experiences produces inaccurate memories of those experiences. This is because people initially form prototypical representations of nonverbal experiences. These prototypical representations are not always identical to later exemplars of the experience. On perceiving an exemplar and later having to remember it, people may retrieve inaccurate prototypical representations instead. To test this, we developed a visual interference paradigm that uses fictional spy devices. Previous experiments have shown that people's prototypical representations interfere with their memories for the veridical exemplars, and that it occurs with verbalization or with mental imagery. The current experiment investigates whether perceptual interference occurs during memory encoding, retrieval, or both. Results indicate that it may occur during retrieval.


Part of a new, accessibly written, and generously illustrated series on architecture through the ages, this book features the Gothic period's most important architects, buildings and cities, interior and exterior photographs, detailed images, and drawings and plans. The book offers a general introduction to the Gothic period and discusses the primary characteristics of the style, along with the commonly used techniques and materials. A hallmark of the medieval period, Gothic architecture originated in twelfth-century France and lasted until the sixteenth century. Its lofty style expressed spiritual ideals, yet it was also an incredibly innovative movement that introduced such iconic forms as the pointed arch, ribbed vault, and flying buttress. Some of the world's most famous castles, universities and churches, including Westminster Abbey in London, were designed according to Gothic principles.


The aim of this study was to produce a spherical and magnetic hydroxyapatite (HA) microcomposite to use as an adsorbent for the separation of lysozyme in a magnetically stabilized fluidized bed and to separate lysozyme from a protein mixture composed of human immunoglobulin G, human serum albumin, and lysozyme. For this purpose, spherical and magnetic HA microcomposites (50–100 μm) were synthesized by suspension polymerization and characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, electron spin resonance, vibrating-sample magnetometry, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller analysis, and a swelling test. The specific surface areas of the pure HA and magnetic HA microcomposite were determined to be 72.25 and 151.53 m2/g, respectively. The swelling ratio of the spherical HA microcomposites was 150%. Adsorption experiments were conducted under conditions that differed in terms of pH, temperature, ionic strength, flow velocity, and magnetic field. According to the findings of the adsorption kinetic studies, the adsorption process was appropriate to pseudo-first-order kinetics. The separation of the lysozyme from the protein mixture was achieved by means of a 50 mM pH 7.0 phosphate buffer. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 130: 1602–1610, 2013


After thorough planning, an Ethiopian Flora Project has recently been initiated, financed by the Ethiopian Science and Technology Commission from a Swedish grant. The planning was effected by a working group including representatives of the Biology Department at Addis Ababa University and the Institute of Systematic Botany in Uppsala as well as some international experts selected by AETFAT, and was finalized by an Ethiopian Flora Committee. The project leader is Professor Tewolde Berhan G. Egziabher in Addis Ababa, assisted by an Ethiopian secretariat under the Director of the National Herbarium. A European counterpart secretariat, headed by the author, has also been organized with Dr I. Hedberg as co-ordinator. Collecting expeditions to insufficiently known areas, loans from the Addis Ababa Herbarium to collaborating taxonomists, and other activities inside Ethiopia are organized by the Ethiopian secretariat, whereas the Uppsala secretariat is responsible for the initiation and co-ordination of the taxonomic revisions and family accounts needed for the Flora. Collaborators for several of the roughly 200 families of Ethiopian vascular plants have already been secured, but many more remain to be covered. AETFAT members with specialist knowledge of the remaining families are requested to help fill the gaps in our list of contributors.


This study reports on an intervention that was aimed at improving the content knowledge of first-year intermediate-phase education students at a South African university. The study gives some insight into preservice teachers' perceptions of an online programme for the development of mathematics common content knowledge for teachers of mathematics in the intermediate grades. The effectiveness of the intervention programme was analysed according to Shapiro's evaluation criteria for intervention research. The findings show that there has been a positive shift in preservice teachers' common content knowledge but that there is much room for further development. The student teachers found the programme to be of great benefit with regard to the development of their mathematics knowledge as well as their confidence as future teachers of mathematics. The findings highlighted their disturbingly limited knowledge of mathematics content knowledge and pointed to the responsibility of teacher education departments at universities to implement sufficient maths content courses that will address the status quo of poor mathematics teaching in South African primary schools. The authors conclude that the students need to spend much more time on 'catching up' before they become teachers.


The urinary excretion of Nt-methylhistidine (e-methylhistidine, 3-MH, an index related to myofibrillar protein breakdown), as well as the rate of L-[14C]-tyrosine incorporation into gastrocnemius muscle (ks, fractional rate of muscle protein synthesis, evaluated by the constant infusion method) have been measured to assess the effect of aging on the rate of skeletal muscle protein turnover. In addition, nucleic acids, muscle protein and serum corticosterone levels were determined. Weaning rats were fed a 10% lactalbumin diet and killed in groups of seven when they were 35, 60, 120 and 300 days old. Apart from the rate of growth, no major differences were found between 35- and 60-day old animals. However, as compared to the youngest rats, 120-day old rats showed a significant reduction in the relative weight of the four muscles excised. Plasma corticosterone levels, increased as the animals became older. Finally, in the 300-day old rats, the reduced rate of growth was accompanied by a significant reduction in the relative organ weight (with the exception of soleus), 3-MH and Ks. It is concluded that aging caused a reduction in the rates of both protein breakdown and synthesis. The reduced muscle breakdown may not be due to a relative reduced muscle mass in elder rats since urinary 3-MH remained low even when expressed per creatinine output.


Nowadays, the care of elderly peoples is a significant problem and needs more time and attention from the caregivers.In order to provide home intelligent control function for the elderly more efficiently and conveniently, this paper designed a smart home system controller based on raspberry PI with simple hardware structure and low development cost. The design is implemented by raspberry PI development board and python language, and the fatigue detection algorithm is implemented by OpenCV visual library, Dlib library and EAR algorithm. Through temperature and humidity sensor, infrared extended version, LCD display screen and other hardware intelligent control indoor environment. The test results show that the fatigue state can be accurately detected and the electrical control function can be realized. This design enhanced the intelligence of household control, and met the life demand of energy-saving convenience.


In the past two decades, the pharmaceutical industry has been engaged in modernization of its drug development and manufacturing strategies, spurred onward by changing market pressures, regulatory encouragement, and technological advancement. Concomitant with these changes has been a shift toward new modalities of manufacturing in support of patient-centric medicine and on-demand production. To achieve these objectives requires manufacturing platforms which are both flexible and scalable, hence the interest in development of small-scale, continuous processes for synthesis, purification and drug product production. Traditionally, the downstream steps begin with a crystalline drug powder – the effluent of the final purification steps – and convert this to tablets or capsules through a series of batch unit operations reliant on powder processing. As an alternative, additive manufacturing technologies provide the means to circumvent difficulties associated with dry powder rheology, while being inherently capable of flexible production.Through the combination of physical knowledge, experimental work, and data-driven methods, a framework was developed for ink formulation and process operation in drop-on-demand manufacturing with non-Brownian suspensions. Motivated by the challenges at hand, application of novel computational image analysis techniques yielded insight into the effects of non-Brownian particles and fluid properties on rheology. Furthermore, the extraction of modal and statistical information provided insight into the stochastic events which appear to play a notable role in drop formation from such suspensions. These computer vision algorithms can readily be applied by other researchers interested in the physics of drop coalescence and breakup in order to further modeling efforts.Returning to the realm of process development to deal with challenges of monitoring and quality control initiated by suspension-based manufacturing, these machine vision algorithms were combined with Bayesian modeling to enact a probabilistic control strategy at the level of each dosage unit by utilizing the real-time image data acquired by an online process image sensor. Drawing upon a large historical database which spanned a wide range of conditions, a hierarchical modeling approach was used to incorporate the various sources of uncertainty inherent to the manufacturing process and monitoring technology, therefore providing more reliable predictions for future data at in-sample and out-of-sample conditions.This thesis thus contributes advances in three closely linked areas: additive manufacturing of solid oral drug products, computer vision methods for event recognition in drop formation, and Bayesian hierarchical modeling to predict the probability that each dosage unit produced is within specifications.


ell migration is a rate-limiting event in skin wound healing. In unwounded skin, cells are nourished by plasma. When skin is wounded, resident cells encounter serum for the fi rst time. As the wound heals, the cells experience a transition of serum back to plasma. In this study, we report that human serum selectively promotes epidermal cell migration and halts dermal cell migration. In contrast, human plasma promotes dermal but not epidermal cell migration. The on-and-off switch is operated by transforming growth factor (TGF) β 3 levels, which are undetectable in plasma and high in serum, and by TGF β receptor (T β R) type II levels, which are low in epidermal cells and high in dermal cells. Depletion of TGF β 3 from serum converts serum to a plasmalike reagent. The addition of TGF β 3 to plasma converts it to a serumlike reagent. Down-regulation of T β RII in dermal cells or up-regulation of T β RII in epidermal cells reverses their migratory responses to serum and plasma, respectively. Therefore, the naturally occurring plasma → serum → plasma transition during wound healing orchestrates the orderly migration of dermal and epidermal cells.


Nurses are the backbone of healthcare organizations. However, as frontline workers, nurses are regularly exposed to perilous conditions and workplace harassment, with a few or no avenues to report or seek adequate support. This causes frustration and stress among nurses and can eventually lead to compromised patient care. This also contributes to workplace bullying, which results in a toxic and stressful work environment. This problem is a global health and safety issue due to its highly negative impact on both individuals and organizations. Recent studies indicate that the COVID 19 pandemic has significantly increased incidents of workplace bullying against nurses. Several contributing factors have been highlighted, when considering the underlying causes of workplace bullying against nurses, including power disparity, organizational attributes, and the image of nurses, as portrayed in the media. Because the pandemic has brought the challenge of creating a safe work environment for nurses to the fore, now more than ever, healthcare organizations need to take bold actions to protect nurses. Nursing management needs to implement bullying prevention interventions that provide nurses with a safe work environment. Using empirical and theoretical literature as its basis, this paper aims to discuss workplace bullying against nurses and consider how this problem has been impacted by the COVID 19 pandemic. This paper recommends the application of a Socio Ecological Model (SEM), which provides evidence-based interventions intended to reduce workplace bullying against nurses.


The turbulent mixing in thin ocean surface boundary layers (OSBL), which occupy the upper 100 m or so of the ocean, control the exchange of heat and trace gases between the atmosphere and ocean. Here we show that current parameterizations of this turbulent mixing lead to systematic and substantial errors in the depth of the OSBL in global climate models, which then leads to biases in sea surface temperature. One reason, we argue, is that current parameterizations are missing key surface‐wave processes that force Langmuir turbulence that deepens the OSBL more rapidly than steady wind forcing. Scaling arguments are presented to identify two dimensionless parameters that measure the importance of wave forcing against wind forcing, and against buoyancy forcing. A global perspective on the occurrence of wave‐forced turbulence is developed using re‐analysis data to compute these parameters globally. The diagnostic study developed here suggests that turbulent energy available for mixing the OSBL is under‐estimated without forcing by surface waves. Wave‐forcing and hence Langmuir turbulence could be important over wide areas of the ocean and in all seasons in the Southern Ocean. We conclude that surface‐wave‐forced Langmuir turbulence is an important process in the OSBL that requires parameterization.


A new cover re-issue of the ground-breaking, worldwide bestselling feminist tract. Re-issued to coincide with Doubleday's publication of The Whole Woman, the sequel to The Female Eunuch. Probably the most famous, most widely read book on feminism ever. First published in 1970, The Female Eunuch is a landmark in the history of the women's movement. A searing examination of women's oppression. A worldwide bestseller, translated into over 12 languages.


This article re-evaluates the taxonomy of Hyphoderma macaronesicum based on various strategies, including the cohesion species recognition method through haplotype networks, multilocus genetic analyses using the genealogical concordance phylogenetic concept, as well as species tree reconstruction. The following loci were examined: the internal transcribed spacers of nuclear ribosomal DNA (ITS nrDNA), the intergenic spacers of nuclear ribosomal DNA (IGS nrDNA), two fragments of the protein-coding RNA polymerase II subunit 2 (RPB2), and two fragments of the translation elongation factor 1-α (EF1-α). Our results indicate that the name H. macaronesicum includes at least two separate species, one of which is newly described as Hyphoderma paramacaronesicum. The two species are readily distinguished based on the various loci analysed, namely ITS, IGS, RPB2 and EF1-α.


This study examined metabolic interactions between two nutrients--ethanol and carbohydrate. Both nutrients are metabolized by a common pathway to fatty acids from acetyl-coenzyme A by lipogenic enzymes. The effects of ethanol and carbohydrate on the induction of lipogenic enzymes in livers of rats were examined using two types of base diets differing in carbohydrate and lipid content and using isocaloric substitutions of ethanol, carbohydrate, and fat. Three nonlipogenic enzymes were used for comparison. Isocaloric substitution of both fat and carbohydrate for ethanol was necessary to show the specific effects of alcohol on the activity of lipogenic or nonlipogenic enzymes. Carbohydrate, and not ethanol, induced lipogenic enzymes. Ethanol specifically reduced the activity of lactate dehydrogenase and malic enzyme, but did not affect those of alcohol dehydrogenase or glycerol 3-phosphate dehydrogenase. Ethanol interacted with carbohydrate to increase the activity of ATP citrate lyase. In addition, we studied the effects of ethanol and different kinds of carbohydrates on the growth of rats and on the morphology of their livers and intestines. Ethanol significantly decreased growth characteristics (weight gain, growth rate, and caloric efficiency). Fructose, either as a monosaccharide or in sucrose, decreased this alcohol effect. Sucrose was better than glucose in lowering lipid accumulation in livers of rats. Fragility of intestinal villi was found with an alcohol, low carbohydrate diet, but was not present in alcohol diets with a higher level of carbohydrate. In contrast to carbohydrate, ethanol lacked some characteristics of a nutrient, namely, it did not induce some enzymes involved in its metabolism and did not promote optimum growth.


In the paper the conception of creating the simulation model of underwater vehicle was introduced. There was briefly presented the mathematical model of vehicle using to the simulation. The paper includes also mathematical description of environment disturbance. Moreover in the paper were presented the mathematical description of all components of neural networks using for creating dynamics model. Also paper includes the examples - results of researches.


Objective To summarise the available information on physician workforce modelling, to develop a rheumatology workforce prediction risk of bias tool and to apply it to existing studies in rheumatology. Methods A systematic literature review (SLR) was performed in key electronic databases (1946–2017) comprising an update of an SLR in rheumatology and a hierarchical SLR in other medical fields. Data on the type of workforce prediction models and the factors considered in the models were extracted. Key general as well as specific need/demand and supply factors for workforce calculation in rheumatology were identified. The workforce prediction risk of bias tool was developed and applied to existing workforce studies in rheumatology. Results In total, 14 studies in rheumatology and 10 studies in other medical fields were included. Studies used a variety of prediction models based on a heterogeneous set of need/demand and/or supply factors. Only two studies attempted empirical validation of the prediction quality of the model. Based on evidence and consensus, the newly developed risk of bias tool includes 21 factors (general, need/demand and supply). The majority of studies revealed high or moderate risk of bias for most of the factors. Conclusions The existing evidence on workforce prediction in rheumatology is scarce, heterogeneous and at moderate or high risk of bias. The new risk of bias tool should enable future evaluation of workforce prediction studies. This review informs the European League Against Rheumatism points to consider for the conduction of workforce requirement studies in rheumatology.


In this contribution a survey on a novel approach to locomotion and perception in biologically inspired robots is presented. The basic electronic architecture for modeling and implementing nonlinear dynamics involved in motion and perceptual control of the robot is the Cellular nonlinear network paradigm. It is shown how this continuous time lattice of neural-like circuits can generate suitable and real-time dynamics for efficient control of multi-actuators moving machines, and also to create the basis for a perceptual control of their behaviors.


In children and adolescents, overweight is defined as a body mass index for age greater than the 95th percentile of a reference population. Between 1980 and 2004 the prevalence of overweight in children and adolescents increased from 6% to 19% in the USA.1 Overweight children and adolescents very often become obese adults.2 Obesity seems to have complex and multiple aetiologies and because of this is very difficult to prevent or treat. Since prevention of this disease in this obesogenic environment has proven to be elusive, much focus has revolved around treatment of overweight and obesity for adults and children. This editorial will briefly comment on the use of antiobesity medicines as well as bariatric surgical procedures in older children or adolescents.

A recent article by Viner et al 3 reports on rising antiobesity drug prescription rates in older children in the UK over the period between 1999 and 2006, a time in which childhood and adolescent obesity rates skyrocketed all over the world. At the time, the three medications approved for obesity treatment in adults in the UK were the gastric and pancreatic lipase inhibitor orlistat, the serotonin and noradrenergic reuptake inhibitor sibutramine, and the selective cannabinoid CB1 receptor antagonist rimonabant. In the UK these drugs are not licensed for use in children or adolescents. In the USA, rimonabant did not meet approval requirements by the Food and Drug Administration, and in addition to sibutramine and orlistat, the market includes the older drugs phentermine and diethylproprion, approved in the 1970s for 3-month usage. Orlistat was approved for use in patients aged ⩾12 years and sibutramine for patients aged ⩾16 years. The UK data report that approximately 0.1 in 1000 of those …


Objectives: Takayasu Arteritis (TA) is a highly specific vascular inflammation and poses threat to patients' health. Although some patients have accepted medical treatment, their culprit lesions require surgical management (TARSM). This study aimed at dissecting the transcriptomes of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in these patients and to explore potential clinical markers for TA development and progression. Methods: Peripheral blood were collected from four TA patients requiring surgical management and four age-sex matched healthy donors. Single cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) was adopted to explore the transcriptomic diversity and function of their PBMCs. ELISA, qPCR, and FACS were conducted to validate the results of the analysis. Results: A total of 29918 qualified cells were included for downstream analysis. Nine major cell types were confirmed, including CD14+ monocytes, CD8+ T cells, NK cells, CD4+ T cells, B cells, CD16+ monocytes, megakaryocytes, dendritic cells and plasmacytoid dendritic cells. CD14+ monocytes (50.0 vs. 39.3%, p < 0.05) increased in TA patients, as validated by FACS results. TXNIP, AREG, THBS1, and CD163 increased in TA patients. ILs like IL-6, IL-6STP1, IL-6ST, IL-15, and IL-15RA increased in TA group. Conclusion: Transcriptome heterogeneities of PBMCs in TA patients requiring surgical management were revealed in the present study. In the patients with TA, CD14+ monocytes and gene expressions involved in oxidative stress were increased, indicating a new treatment and research direction in this field.


Gradient boosting is a prediction method that iteratively combines weak learners to produce a complex and accurate model. From an optimization point of view, the learning procedure of gradient boosting mimics a gradient descent on a functional variable. This paper proposes to build upon the proximal point algorithm when the empirical risk to minimize is not differentiable to introduce a novel boosting approach, called proximal boosting. Besides being motivated by non-differentiable optimization, the proposed algorithm benefits from Nesterov's acceleration in the same way as gradient boosting [Biau et al., 2018]. This leads to a variant, called accelerated proximal boosting. Advantages of leveraging proximal methods for boosting are illustrated by
numerical experiments on simulated and real-world data. In particular, we exhibit a favorable comparison over gradient boosting regarding convergence rate and prediction accuracy.


CONSPECTUS: The total world energy demand is predicted to rise significantly over the next few decades, primarily driven by the continuous growth of the developing world. With rapid depletion of nonrenewable traditional fossil fuels, which currently account for almost 86% of the worldwide energy output, the search for viable alternative energy resources is becoming more important from a national security and economic development standpoint. Nuclear energy, an emission-free, high-energy-density source produced by means of controlled nuclear fission, is often considered as a clean, affordable alternative to fossil fuel. However, the successful installation of an efficient and economically viable industrial-scale process to properly sequester and mitigate the nuclear-fission-related, highly radioactive waste (e.g., used nuclear fuel (UNF)) is a prerequisite for any further development of nuclear energy in the near future. Reprocessing of UNF is often considered to be a logical way to minimize the volume of high-level radioactive waste, though the generation of volatile radionuclides during reprocessing raises a significant engineering challenge for its successful implementation. The volatile radionuclides include but are not limited to noble gases (predominately isotopes of Xe and Kr) and must be captured during the process to avoid being released into the environment. Currently, energy-intensive cryogenic distillation is the primary means to capture and separate radioactive noble gas isotopes during UNF reprocessing. A similar cryogenic process is implemented during commercial production of noble gases though removal from air. In light of their high commercial values, particularly in lighting and medical industries, and associated high production costs, alternate approaches for Xe/Kr capture and storage are of contemporary research interest. The proposed pathways for Xe/Kr removal and capture can essentially be divided in two categories: selective absorption by dissolution in solvents and physisorption on porous materials. Physisorption-based separation and adsorption on highly functional porous materials are promising alternatives to the energy-intensive cryogenic distillation process, where the adsorbents are characterized by high surface areas and thus high removal capacities and often can be chemically fine-tuned to enhance the adsorbate-adsorbent interactions for optimum selectivity. Several traditional porous adsorbents such as zeolites and activated carbon have been tested for noble gas capture but have shown low capacity, selectivity, and lack of modularity. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) or porous coordination polymers (PCPs) are an emerging class of solid-state adsorbents that can be tailor-made for applications ranging from gas adsorption and separation to catalysis and sensing. Herein we give a concise summary of the background and development of Xe/Kr separation technologies with a focus on UNF reprocessing and the prospects of MOF-based adsorbents for that particular application.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors that affect the education children accompanying their mothers in prisons in Langata and Thika women's prison in Kenya. Four research objectives were formulated to guide the study. The sample for the study was 24 teachers in both Langata and Thika prisons. Census sampling was used for the study. The study relied on self-administered questionnaire and observation schedule. Data was analysed by use of frequencies and percentages. Findings indicated that teachers' characteristics such as their qualifications affected the education of children accompanying their imprisoned mothers. Findings also indicated that parental perception towards Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) program in the prisons affected the education of children. Finding further showed that teaching and learning resources affected provision of education to children accompanying imprisoned mothers. Learning environment affected the provision of education of education among the children. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that there were a number of educational challenges facing education of children accompanying their imprisoned mothers. These challenges included lack of adequate teachers, lack of training for the teachers, poor learning environment and parental perception towards the education offered at the prisons. The study also concluded that the prison facilities did not have adequate teaching and learning facilities which affected teaching and learning of the prisons. The study also xi concluded that the programmes were disrupted by the time for entry to prisons and when they left which made it very difficult to have proper schedules for learning. For example one of the teachers indicated that some mothers could come to prison in the morning after conviction and hence the child could enter in the class the following day. The teacher was therefore forced to take care of that particular child hence dragging back learning. The study recommended that prisons departments should recruit and hire qualified and permanent teachers who are able to teach children accompanying their mothers in prisons. It was also recommended that the prisons should ensure that there are appropriate teaching and learning facilities at the prisons so that teaching and learning could be conducted effectively. Mothers accompanied by their children in prisons should have a positive attitude towards the education o their children. Due to the age differences of the children, different programmes could be organized for the different groups according to the age. The researcher suggested that a study on how the government policy on ECDE has been applied in the education of children accompanying their mothers in prisons should be conducted. Another study on how structural organisation of ECDE programmes influences their implementation in the prisons should be conducted.


Chemical substitution, combined with strain, allows the charge-transfer energy in hole-doped cuprates to be broadly tuned. We theoretically characterize the structural and electronic properties of the family of compounds $R_2$CuO$_2$S$_2$, constructed by sulfur replacement of the apical oxygens and rare earth substitutions in the parent cuprate La$_2$CuO$_4$. Additionally, the enthalpies of formation for possible synthesis pathways are determined.


In order to know more about the petition  of informed consent in odontology, we realized a search of information in the database of SciELO and Pub Med, using the key words "informed consent", "odontology" and "autonomy". As a complement, in order to have information about the situation in Chile, a survey was sent to 40 dental surgeons in 3 dentalcenters belonging to the health network of the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile. It can be observed that there still exists disinformation in odontology in Chile relating to the purpose, implications and importance of an adequate process of informed consent in the dentist-patient relationship.


Incremental sheet forming (ISF), based on the 'layered manufacturing' principle of rapid prototype manufacturing technology, is an innovative and highly flexible technology for forming complex shaped parts without the need for costly dies. This paper presents a numerical investigation on the influence of forming process parameters by modeling the forming process. ANSYS/LS-DYNA has been used for the simulation. The results of study show that small vertical step size can improve the accuracy of the forming. Moreover, large forming angle can increase plastic strain and the four screwdown point optimization paths is an effective method to increase the accuracy of the formed sheet.


We prepared germanium-on-insulator (GOI) substrates by using Smart-Cut™ and wafer bonding technology. The fabricated GOI is appropriate for polishing due to a strong bonding strength (2.4 MPa) and a sufficient bonding quality. We investigated mechanical polishing and chemical—mechanical polishing (CMP) systematically, and an appropriate polishing method—mechanical polishing combined with CMP—is obtained. As shown by AFM measurement, the RMS of GOI after polishing decreased to 0.543 nm. And the Ge peak profile of the XRD curve became symmetric, and the FWHM is about 121.7 arcsec, demonstrating a good crystal quality.


Diabetic patients manifest increased vascular permeability. To determine whether insulin per se might increase vascular permeability, five nondiabetic men were studied by the hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp technique. Each subject received a 0.72-nmol/kg body wt i.v. insulin bolus, followed by a 72-pmol · kg−1 ·min−1 insulin infusion for 4 h. Euglycemia was maintained by the Biostator glucose controller. At 7 h of study, 10 μCi i.v. 125I-labeled albumin was injected as bolus dose. Frequent blood samples were drawn during the next 70 min for determination of the transcapillary escape rate (TER) of albumin. Subjects returned 1–2 wk later for a control study, during which 0.45% saline was infused at a rate identical to the dextrose and insulin infusion rates during the hyperinsulinemic clamp. The mean ± SE serum insulin levels during the hyperinsulinemic clamp and saline infusion were 9786 ± 126 and 46 ± 4 pM, respectively, whereas serum glucose during the two sessions was similar (5.0 ± 0.2 vs. 4.8 ± 0.1 mM, NS). Identical fluid volumes were infused during the two sessions (1767 ± 197 ml/7 h), and urine outputs did not differ significantly (1615 ± 309 vs. 1035 ± 248 ml/7 h). The TER of albumin was greater in all five men after hyperinsulinemia than after saline infusion (18.3 ± 2.7 vs. –2.8 ± 2.3%/h, P = 0.01). The serum albumin level at the end of the hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp study was 14% lower than the value at the start of the study (37 ± 1 vs. 42 ± 1 g/L, P < 0.05), whereas no significant change in serum albumin levels occurred during the saline infusion. These observations suggest that acute hyperinsulinemia can increase the TER of radiolabeled albumin, probably by increasing vascular permeability.


Several micas containing different octahedral and interlayer cations were synthesized at different temperatures under conventional- and microwave-hydrothermal conditions and these phases were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, solid-state magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (MAS-NMR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. A Zn K-mica with Zn in the octahedral sheets and K in the interlayers was synthesized in the temperature range 150–200°C and a novel Zn Rb-mica with Zn in the octahedral sheets and Rb in the interlayers was synthesized at 200°C. The synthesis of either Mg, Co or Ni K-micas, however, was found to be difficult or impossible at these low temperatures. Solid-state 29Si MAS-NMR revealed that the Al in the tetrahedral sites is disordered with several nearest-neighbor Si environments. In general, microwave-assisted hydrothermal conditions led to better crystallization of the Zn K-micas compared with the conventional method.


Background: There are three differently processed rehmannia roots, namely fresh, dried and steamed rehmannia roots (FRR, DRR and SRR), which have different indications according to the theory of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).Objective: To confirm the effects of different rehmannia roots on dexamethasone (Dex) treatment induced side effects, which belong to Yin Deficiency Syndrome in TCM.Materials and Methods: Rats were subcutaneously injected with Dex (0.1m g/kg) and orally administrated with different roots (2.16 g/kg) for 28 days, with metformin (Met, 0.25 g/kg) as a reference substance. Food intake, blood cell count, and organ weight were recorded, and hepatic glycogen and serum insulin, glucose, free fatty acids, total cholesterol, and malondialdehyde contents wereassayed.Results: Dex treatment led to decreases in food intake, white blood cell count, and spleen index, and increases in hemocrit, heart and liver indexes, hepatic glycogen, and serum contents of insulin, glucose, free fatty acids, total cholesterol, and malondialdehyde. The alterations in food intake, spleen index, hematocrit and serum insulin were significantly relieved by FRR but not DRR and SRR; and on the contrary, heart index was significantly reduced by DRR and SRR but not FRR.Conclusions: Dex treatment results in insulin resistance, high blood viscosity, oxidative damage and immunosuppression in rats, and FRR is better than DRR and SRR in attenuating Dex-induced insulin resistance and high blood viscosity. These findings have thus firstly provided evidence that postharvest processing has a profound influence on the biological activities of Rehmannia roots.


Harmony in the family is the building block for harmony in the Society. Harmony in society leads to an undivided society. Having understood the comprehensive human goal, we are able to be in harmony not only with human beings, but also with the rest of nature. We are able to see that we are related to every unit in the nature and ensure mutual fulfillment in that relationship. To facilitate the fulfillment of the basic aspirations of all human beings in the society the comprehensive human goal needed to be understood are right understanding in every individual, prosperity in every family, trust and fearlessness in society and their co-existence with nature i.e. a relationship and complementarities among all the entities in nature. It will be necessary to develop appropriate systems and programs to cater to the five salient dimensions of human endeavour that are to be shaped and implemented in society i.e. Education, Health, Justice, Production and Exchange. The foundational unit of orderly living of human society is the family and the final destination is the world family. Living in this order, we are able to plan for the need of physical facilities, the availability of natural resources and the role of human beings in ensuring the need at the level of planet.


"Never in history has there been a black market tamed from the supply side. From Prohibition to prostitution, from gambling to recreational drugs, the story is the same. Supply-side controls act to encourage production and increase profits. At best a few intermediaries get knocked out of business. But as long as demand persists, the market is served more or less as before. In the meantime, failure to 'win the war' [against crime] becomes a pretext for increasing police budgets, expanding law enforcement powers, and pouring more money into the voracious maw of the prison-industrial complex." from the Introduction R. T. Naylor specializes in the study of smuggling, black markets, and international financial crime. Wages of Crime takes the reader into the shadowy underworld of modern criminal business arms trafficking, gold smuggling, money laundering, and terrorist financing. Naylor dissects the schemes by which illegal entrepreneurs disguise their acts, manage their take, and eventually enjoy the loot. The author asserts that much of what police, press, politicians, and the public understand about international crime is based on myth and misrepresentation. A fully revised final chapter covering events since the book's initial publication in early 2002 brings Wages of Crime up to date."


This Chapter focuses in the electrophysiological bases to support Trans Palpebral Electrical Stimulation TPES as a new alternative to control Intraocular Pressure IOP. Primary open Angle Glaucoma POAG is described in our approach as a dysfunction of the membrane potential of TM cells due to the dysfunction of the Maxi potassium depended Calcium Channels BKCa2+ of the Trabecular Mesh TM. We review through the paper the main contributions about Trabecular mesh dysfunction related with Voltage dependent ionic channels. We also present in this paper new results in controlling intra ocular pressure IOP during one year of trans palpebral Electric stimulation in patients with Primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG).


There is limited research regarding the efficacy of the language screening process, especially for bilingual populations. The purpose of this study was to examine the pass rates of three language screeners when administered to Spanish-English bilingual and ELL children. A total of ten Spanish-English bilingual children enrolled in either Pre-K, kindergarten, or first grade completed each screener. The screeners were: the Preschool Language Scales Spanish Screening Test-Fifth Edition (PLSSST-5; Zimmerman et al., 2012a), the Bilingual English Spanish Oral Screener (BESOS; currently in development; Lugo-Neris et al., n.d.), and the Diagnostic Evaluation of Language Variation-Screening Test (DELV-S; Seymour et al., 2003). Analyses included examining each tool's pass rate, the consistency at which the tools identified the same participants as requiring further evaluation, and the accuracy at which the tools classified the children's referral status (+referral vs. –referral) as determined by the Instrument to Assess Language Knowledge (ITALK; Peña, Gutiérrez-Clellen, Iglesias, Goldstein, & Bedore, 2014). Thirty percent of the participants passed the PLSSST-5 and the DELV-S-II, and 60% passed the BESOS. When compared to the ITALK, the PLSSST-5 yielded the highest classification accuracy (90%) for identifying the participants' referral status. The results suggest caution when using these language screeners by themselves to determine if a child should be referred to a speech-language pathologist for evaluation.


The addition of surface functional groups to single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) is realized as an opportunity to achieve enhanced functionality in the intended application. At the same time, several functionalized SWNTs (fSWNTs), compared to SWNTs, have been shown to exhibit decreased cytotoxicity. Therefore, this unique class of emerging nanomaterials offers the potential enhancement of SWNT applications and potentially simultaneous reduction of their negative human health and environmental impacts depending on the specific functionalization. Here, the percent cell viability loss of Escherichia coli K12 resulting from the interaction with nine fSWNTs, n-propylamine, phenylhydrazine, hydroxyl, phenydicarboxy, phenyl, sulfonic acid, n-butyl, diphenylcyclopropyl, and hydrazine SWNT, is presented. The functional groups range in molecular size, chemical composition, and physicochemical properties. While physiochemical characteristics of the fSWNTs did not correlate, either singularly or in combination, with the observed trend in cell viability, results from combined light scattering techniques (both dynamic and static) elucidate that the percent loss of cell viability can be correlated to fSWNT aggregate size distribution, or dispersity, as well as morphology. Specifically, when the aggregate size polydispersity, quantified as the width of the distribution curve, and the aggregate compactness, quantified by the fractal dimension, are taken together, we find that highly compact and narrowly distributed aggregate size are characteristics of fSWNTs that result in reduced cytotoxicity. The results presented here suggest that surface functionalization has an indirect effect on the bacterial cytotoxicity of SWNTs through the impact on aggregation state, both dispersity and morphology.


Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune disorder of the postsynaptic membrane that leads to severe fatigability and weakness of the proximal muscle groups. This disorder has a peak presentation age that is common in sporting populations. Due to improved treatment strategies, it would not be uncommon for sports medicine physicians to be faced with a myasthenic patient on initial diagnosis or to be consulted regarding activity recommendations. There has been a scarcity of exercise-related research in MG compared to other neuromuscular disorders. There are also no guidelines on clearance issues for active athletes with MG. This article will review the literature and case reports regarding MG in athletics and attempt to help guide recommendations for activity and exercise therapy.


No matter who forms the new government in May 2010, the new set of ministers will have to tackle the worst deficit in UK public finance for decades. The 2010 to 2015 period will inevitably require policy-makers and citizens to make some hard choices – either raising taxes or pruning spending on previously highly valued public services. In the third of our 'Hard Choices' series, Nicholas Barr looks at the arguments against free higher education.


This book presents a ground-breaking comparative study of the bilateral relations of all 27 EU member states with Russia and an assessment of their impact on the EU's efforts to conduct a coherent and effective policy towards its most important neighbour. While there has been a lot of research on European foreign policy, there has been much less on the role that national foreign policies play in it. Based on a common analytical framework, this book offers a detailed analysis of 'national perspectives on Russia' and how they interact with and affect policymaking at the EU-level. The authors provide deep insights into the relationship between individual states and Russia looking at a range of policy areas: economics, trade, energy, security, culture and education. They are not only interested in examining policy failure but also probing the possibilities of seeing national foreign policies and the bilateralism with third parties that they often entail as a potentially positive resource for the European Union. As Russia is an example of a particularly hard case for EU foreign policy, this book yields important insights concerning the possibilities as well as limits of developing a common EU policy in the future. It will be of interest to students and scholars of European politics, EU Studies, Russian politics, foreign policy studies and international politics.


Background The kingdom of Swaziland is a signatory to policies on universal education that ensure high quality basic education for all. Education for All is a commitment to provide equal opportunities for all children and the youth as provided for in the country's constitution of 2005. The tone for the introduction of inclusive education in Swaziland was inevitably set by the new constitution of 2005. Since then several policies have been produced by the government, all aimed at providing equal education opportunities to all children in the country. These policies include the Swaziland National Children's Policy (2009), Poverty Reduction Strategy and Action Plan (2006) and Draft Inclusive Education Policy (2008). The Education for All Policy (2010) is the policy that upon implementation became a stimulus for the introduction of inclusive education into mainstream schools; as a result, all teachers in the country's schools were expected to be competent enough to teach learners with a wide range of educational needs. However, in-service teachers received inadequate staff development and training ahead of the implementation of inclusive education and a majority of teachers were not professionally developed for inclusive education, as pre-service students at tertiary training level. Objectives This study investigated barriers in the implementation of inclusive education at high schools in the Gege branch, Swaziland, with a view to finding lasting solutions to inform research and government policy. Method This research is a qualitative interpretive case study based on selected schools in the Gege branch of schools. Data was obtained through semi-structured research interviews and document analysis. It was processed and analysed through data coding, unitising, categorising and emergence of themes, which became the findings of the study. Results Lack of facilities in the governments' schools and teachers' incompetence in identifying learners facing learning challenges in their classrooms are some barriers to inclusivity. Conclusion The study concludes that there is a need for the Ministry of Education and Training to craft an inclusive curriculum in line with the inclusive policy in order to cater for the diverse educational needs of all learners in mainstream schools. It is thought that instituting a vibrant in-service and pre-service teacher training programme by the Ministry of Education and Training will increase teachers' capacity to a level where teaching in inclusive classrooms does not negatively affect their competence.


The primary driver for this research was the continuing high failure rate of
investments in IS/IT which has stayed at around 70-80% for over 30
years. The aim of this research was to 'explore the extent to which
organisations have adopted benefits driven practices when undertaking
investments in IS/IT.
An initial phase of the research was primarily based on detailed
documentation on 25 projects taken from the knowledge management
database of an IS/IT consultancy. A second phase comprised in-depth case
studies at three organisations. This phase explored the practices adopted
on three or four projects at each organisation and importantly the wider
organisational context in which the projects took place.
An important contribution from this research has been the development of
a framework of competences and practices for the realisation of benefits
from investments in IS/IT. The empirical elements of the study then go
well beyond recent survey-based research, by providing in-depth insights
into the practice of benefits realisation, across a variety of organisations.
The empirical study showed that benefits-related practices are very rarely
adopted. The research has also provided evidence of the value of the
practices 'lens', which is shown to provide a valuable way to operationalise
competences, as it fits very well with how people think and work. The
thesis provides some concrete suggestions as to how the practice of
benefits realisation might best be improved.


A wavelet transform based bar code localization algorithm is proposed. The algorithm is designed to enable fast and memory efficient application for automatic bar code recognition systems that are used in big manufacturing and distribution units. The region of interest areas are kept and other regions are discarded by applying binary morphology on wavelet transform coefficients.


Objective: Small animal veterinary specialists and veterinary general practitioners from resource poor settings have a challenge in accessing information on canine diseases that can assist them understand further thedifferential diagnoses of the diseases. A simple consultant diagnostic searchable databasethat contains detailedinformation about specific canine diseases would be cardinal and greatly assist veterinarians innarrowing down and further understanding the differentialdiagnoses of canine infectious diseases. The objective of this study was to createa method for developing anMicrosoft (MS) Excel-based searchable consultant diagnostic database that can be used by veterinarians in resource poor settings to assist in narrowing down the differential diagnoses.

Methods: The tool was developed using excel visual basic for applications. In Microsoft excel Visual Basic for Applications, dynamic searchable drop-down combo boxes were created to enable users to key in clinical signs. Codes were written in modules in order to define macros that provided functionality for the "search" button to execute a search for the differential diagnosis.

Results: The database contains drop-down combo boxes for inputting clinical signs, a search button and cells for displaying the differential diagnosis. Each canine disease in the database can besummarized in terms of the aetiology, signs and symptoms, diagnosis, prevention, control and treatment. In addition,a list of referencesand hyperlinkscan be provided which the veterinarian can consult for more information on each disease within the database.

Conclusion: This database will help in assisting veterinarians to easily access relevant information on the differential diagnosis of canine diseases. The usefulness of this searchableconsultant diagnostic data base is discussed in relation to other consultant veterinary diagnostic databases.


N Context.—Managing the quality of point-of-care testing (POCT) is a continuing challenge. Advances in testing technologies and the development of specialized informatics for POCT have greatly improved the ability of hospitals to manage their POCT program. Objectives.—To present the evolving role of technology improvement, informatics, and program management as the key developments to ensure the quality of POCT. Data Sources.—This presentation is based on a review of the literature and on our experiences with POCT at the Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston). Conclusions.—Federal and state regulations, along with accreditation standards developed by the College of American Pathologists and The Joint Commission, have established guidelines for the performance of POCT and have provided a strong incentive to improve the quality of testing. Many instruments for POCT have incorporated advanced design features to prevent analytic and operator errors. This, along with the development of connectivity standards and specialized data management software, has enabled remote review of test data and electronic flow of information to hospital information systems. However, documentation of manually performed, visually read tests remains problematic and some POCT devices do not have adequate safeguards to prevent significant errors. In the past 2 decades the structure of a successful POCT management program has been defined, emphasizing the role of POCT managers working in conjunction with a pathology-based medical director. The critical skill set of POCT managers has also been identified. The POCT manager is now recognized as a true specialist in laboratory medicine. (Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2011;135:1405–1414; doi: 10.5858/arpa.2011-0157-RA)


Introduction: This overview serves as a section of the background work for the Small Farmer Finance project. The project is based on the reality of the rural areas of South Africa. It recognizes that rural people mobilise income from a range of sources. In many instances farming plays an important role, but in terms of monetary contribution to the household income, not as important a role. It seeks to find adequate background material on which to base the next stage of the study. In this background document we start with an overview of the microfinance market in South Africa. This provides an overview of the complete microfinance sector, including the finance of small farmers. Note that we concentrate on loans below R10000. However, we will also address larger loans (from R10000 to R100000) in a sub-section on small farmer finance. This overview is followed by a discussion and illustration of livelihood strategies in the rural areas of South Africa. This is then combined in a section on finance and livelihoods. Due to the importance of the impact of HIV/AIDS in South Africa we also include a relevant section followed by some concluding remarks.


Outside-host parasite survival is a key parameter to better understand disease mechanisms, especially for marine pathogens transmitted from one host to another through an environmental stage. For non-cultivable micro-parasites like Marteilia refringens, a protozoan parasite infecting the flat oyster Ostrea edulis, investigating this parameter requires innovative approaches. In the present study, we have developed an Environmental DNA (eDNA)-based method allowing detecting and quantifying up to 25 and 10 parasites DNA in seawater and sediment, respectively. This method was used in combination with light and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to study experimentally parasite survival in seawater and flat oyster faeces after its release from naturally infected oysters. M. refringens DNA could be detected up to 20 days, in both seawater and oyster faeces with a more stable detection over time in the latter. Light and transmission microscopy confirm that parasites leaving flat oysters are sporangia. We also observed a membrane dissolution of the sporangia over time that could indicate the release of parasite spore. This study not only improves our understanding of M. refringens ecology but also highlights the interest to combine molecular and microscopical analysis to study non-cultivable micro-parasites life cycle outside their host.


A cute coronary heart disease syndromes, including unstable angina, variant angina (Prinzmetal's angina), and acute myocardial infarction are usually caused by a primary decrease in myocardial oxygen delivery.'-15Both unstable angina and Prinzmetal's angina are caused by a primary reduction in myocardial oxygen delivery, but in all probability, the mechanisms responsible for the decrease in myocardial blood flow in these two syndromes are generally different.4 15 Unstable angina occurs in some patients with endothelial injury or ulceration at the site of a coronary artery stenosis6; some patients also have an intraluminal coronary artery thrombus.4-6,9-11 Specifically, Falk7 and Davies and Thomas8 have suggested that atherosclerotic plaque rupture or fissuring may lead to coronary arterial thrombi and the development of unstable angina, acute myocardial infarction, or sudden death. Patients with Q wave (usually transmural) myocardial infarcts often have ulcerated or fissured atherosclerotic plaques and the subsequent development of occlusive coronary artery thrombi.2,3 A similarity exists in the coronary arteriographic appearance in the relevant coronary artery in patients with unstable angina and in those patients who develop acute myocardial infarction.15 Patients with non-Q wave infarcts (usually subendocardial infarcts) much less commonly have coronary artery thrombi that are permanently occlusive,3 but these patients do have transient reductions in coronary blood flow followed by reperfusion.'6 The transient reductions in coronary blood flow may be related to


The technological advances of the information age have created both an opportunity and a challenge for military decision makers. At first glance the variety of data gathered by a multitude of traditional and non-traditional Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) sensors should allow decision makers to better understand their environment and the threat. However, a number of factors tend to mitigate this advantage. Incompatible data formats, bandwidth limitations, sensor persistence and revisit rates, and multi-level security are but a few of the technical challenges that preclude end users from being able to take full advantage of the sensor information. Further, as the amount of sensor data increases, real challenges emerge in identifying the most salient pieces of information, fusing that with other relevant sensor modalities, and rapidly moving this information in a presentation format that does not overwhelm the decision maker.


To develop effective groundwater pollution control strategies for the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, seasonal variations in microbial quality and their underlying mechanisms must be understood. However, to date, there are no studies that address these topics. In this study, groundwater samples from dug wells were collected during the dry and wet seasons from 2009 to 2012, and Escherichia coli ( E. coli ) and total coliforms were analysed. Three wells were monitored each month for a year. Microbial concentrations in shallow groundwater were significantly higher during the wet season than during the dry season. Analyses of rainfall and E. coli concentrations in different seasons indicated that a high level of faecal material infiltration during the rainy season may have caused the seasonal variations in microbial quality. A moderate to strong relationship between E. coli concentrations and groundwater level suggested that the rise in groundwater levels during the wet season may be another reason for this variation. This long time-scale survey detected a significant decline in the microbial quality of shallow groundwater during the wet season as compared with the dry season. We propose that the infiltration of contaminants and change in groundwater level are the two probable mechanisms for the observed seasonal differences.


Congenital fibrosarcoma is a rare tumor that usually presents as a mass lesion involving the arm or leg of a neonate. No ultrasonographic description of such a neoplasm in the prenatal period has been reported. We present the sonographic findings of a tumor, discovered in an unusual site in utero, that, on postmortem examination, was demonstrated to be a fibrosarcoma.


Volunteering is an important activity that brings great benefits to societies. However, encouraging volunteerism is difficult due to the altruistic nature of volunteer activities and the high resource demand in carrying them out. We have created a Facebook game called "Farmer's Tale" to attract and make it easier for people to volunteer. We evaluated people's acceptance to this novel idea and the results revealed great potential in such type of games.


Long-acting and permanent contraceptive methods (LAPM) are effective and economical methods for delaying or limiting pregnancies, however they are not widely used. The Kenya government is promoting the use of modern methods of family planning through various mechanisms. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and factors associated with the use of LAPM among married women of reproductive age in targeted rural sub-counties of Kilifi and Kisii counties, Kenya. Baseline and end line Data from a program implemented on improving Access to Quality Care and Extending and Strengthening Health Systems (AQCESS) in Kilifi and Kisii counties of Kenya were used. Multi-stage sampling was used to sample 1117 and 1873 women for the end line and baseline surveys, respectively. Descriptive analysis was used to explore the respondents' characteristics and use of LAPM on a self-weighted samples. Univariable and multivariable binary logistic regression models using svy command were used to assess factors associated with the use of LAPM. A total of 762 and 531 women for the baseline and end line survey, respectively were included in this study. The prevalence of use of LAPM for baseline and end line survey were 21.5% (95% CI: 18.7–24.6%) and 23.2% (95% CI: 19.6%-27.0%), p-value = 0.485. The use of LAPM in Kisii and Kilifi counties was higher than the national average in both surveys. The multivariable analysis for the end line survey showed having 3–5 number of children ever born (aOR = 2.04; 95% CI: 1.24–3.36) and future fertility preference to have another child (aOR = 0.50; 95% CI: 0.26–0.96) were significantly associated with odds of LAPM use. The baseline showed that having at least secondary education (aOR = 1.93; 95%CI: 1.04–3.60), joint decision making about woman's own health (aOR = 2.08; 95%CI: 1.36–3.17), and intention to have another child in future (aOR = 0.59; 95%CI: 0.40–0.89) were significantly associated with the use of LAPM. Future fertility preference to have another child was significantly associated with the use of LAPM in the two surveys. Continued health promotion and targeted media campaigns on the use of LAPM in rural areas with low socioeconomic status is needed in order to improve utilization of these methods. Programs involving men in decision making on partner's health including family planning in the rural areas should be encouraged.