The importance of welding process modeling is specifically related to the role of the induced welding residual stresses and distortions on the structural behavior of the components under service load. In the absence of reliable information on the magnitude and distribution of residual stresses, it is generally assumed that residual stresses are as high as the yield strength of the material that could lead to overconservatism in design and consequently economic challenges. The more exact the microstructure and residual stress or strain fields is predicted, the better one can judge the risk of structural dam - age, for example, the formation of fatigue cracks or initiation of failure. In this chapter, the application of finite element approach to the calculation of welding residual stresses is described through three different case studies. SYSWELD has been used for welding simulation. Residual stress measurements are carried out to determine the distribution of residual stresses in three orthogonal directions, on the surface and in the bulk of the material. The numerical results are compared directly with the measured data. The over - all aim is to evaluate the use of finite element approach in the accurate calculation of residual stress states for use in the structural integrity assessments.


Abstract The longitudinal pattern of surface velocity of a large, predominantly cold, polythermal glacier (John Evans Glacier, Ellesmere Island, Canada) was measured over summer and winter periods. In the accumulation and upper ablation areas, where ice is predominantly cold-based, summer velocities were slightly higher than overwinter velocities. Predicted velocities due to ice deformation alone in these areas closely matched these observations in the winter, with limited basal motion likely in the summer. In the lower ablation area, where ice is likely warm-based, measured summer velocities were up to double overwinter velocities. Predicted ice deformation could not account for all of these measured velocities in either summer or winter. This suggests that basal motion occurs throughout the year over at least part of the lower ablation area. This finding is supported by radio-echo sounding, subglacial drainage reconstructions and analyses of early-summer meltwater chemistry, which suggest that subglacial water is present throughout the year in this region. In summer, basal motion may account for up to 75% of the total surface velocity throughout the lower ablation area. The inferred rate of basal motion increases sharply directly below a set of moulins by which most surface meltwater reaches the glacier bed.


To ease development and lower the entry barrier for new adopters many development environments offer visual means to edit complex data. Cyber-physical systems are a perfect candidate for such manipulations since they are usually described in the form of isolated, well defined components that can be manipulated individually. The physical parts of such systems often can be directly translated into real world objects and allowing the developer to interact with those in a familiar manner can greatly increate the usability and agility of the development process. In this thesis we focus on the exploration of interactive manipulation of hybrid system models. Our research examines a solution based on the Acumen simulation environment. We describe the tight integration between the textual model and 3D visualisation, go into detailed analysis of the implementation and use case-studies to illustrate concrete applications.


In order to prolong the service life of reduction jar and reduce the production cost in the magnesium metallurgical industry, the structure of the horizontal Mg-reduction jar is improved in this paper, where the reduction jars with pentagonal and hexagonal cross section are designed, and the creep deformation of the jars are simulated by ABAQUS software. Through the comparison of the traditional jar with the improved jars in the creep stress and the creep displacement, it is found that the intensity is highest and the creep displacement smallest in the same service period for the pentagon jar. Considering the failure by creep, the service life of pentagon jar is longest. Therefore, the pentagon jar is put into the practical production for further verification. It is shown that the service life of the jar improves from less than 90 days up to more than 120 days, and the rate of output for a single jar is stable and improved by 12%.


The system use surveillance camera and image rendering developed a new solar positioning system. The system's position detection method is to use surveillance cameras captured source image, and then use rendering method to determine the location of the light source to adjust the orientation of solar cells to improve the utilization of the battery. We use existing camera filming the scene of the source image, and then the light source position will be determined. Through the back of our tracking software processing, adjusting the orientation of solar collectors, will allow maximum utilization of solar energy and provide solar tracking areas a new and reliable detection methods. This article focuses on algorithm design of the source tracking software. This article uses the prior knowledge of three-dimensional objects in the photo image to model. Priori knowledge can help us to determine all the parameter except light source location, we full traversal all the possible light source position space. After getting the rendering image, rendered image and source image will be compared through the evaluation function, thus we will get the best source location parameters.


This experiment was designed to research the efficacy of self-instructional variables to improve performance in solving easy arithmetic problems. Children, boys and girls, six and seven years old, studying first school year of E.G.B., were used. The results, as a whole, tell us that training in self-instructional techniques significantly affects the dependent variable, decreasing the number of mistakes pupils make in arithmetical operations. It is appropriate to underline the group verbalizing the addition, which got the most significant reduction. These results, which confirm the findings of other authors, show the possibility of applying Cognitive-conductual techniques in the school frame.


Traffic Signal Control systems are one of the most popular Intelligent Transport Systems and they are widely used around the world to regulate traffic flow. Recently, complex optimization techniques have been applied to traffic signal control systems to improve their performance. Traffic simulators are one of the most popular tools to evaluate the performance of a potential solution in traffic signal optimization. For that reason, researchers commonly optimize traffic signal timing by using simulation-based approaches. Although evaluating solutions using microscopic traffic simulators has several advantages, the simulation is very time-consuming. Multi-objective Evolutionary Algorithms (MOEAs) are in many ways superior to traditional search methods. They have been widely utilized in traffic signal optimization problems. However, running MOEAs on traffic optimization problems using microscopic traffic simulators to estimate the effectiveness of solutions is time-consuming. Thus, MOEAs which can produce good solutions at a reasonable processing time, especially at an early stage, is required. Anytime behaviour of an algorithm indicates its ability to provide as good a solution as possible at any time during its execution. Therefore, optimization approaches which have good anytime behaviour are desirable in evaluation traffic signal optimization. Moreover, small population sizes are inevitable for scenarios where processing capabilities are limited but require quick response times. In this work, two novel optimization algorithms are introduced that improve anytime behaviour and can work effectively with various population sizes. NS-LS is a hybrid of Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II) and a local search which has the ability to predict a potential search direction. NS-LS is able to produce good solutions at any running time, therefore having good anytime behaviour. Utilizing a local search can help to accelerate the convergence rate, however, computational cost is not considered in NS-LS. A surrogate-assisted approach based on local search (SA-LS) which is an enhancement of NS-LS is also introduced. SA-LS uses a surrogate model constructed using solutions which already have been evaluated by a traffic simulator in previous generations. NS-LS and SA-LS are evaluated on the well-known Benchmark test functions: ZDT1 and ZDT2, and two real-world traffic scenarios: Andrea Costa and Pasubio. The proposed algorithms are also compared to NSGA-II and Multiobjective Evolutionary Algorithm based on Decomposition (MOEA/D). The results show that NS-LS and SA-LS can effectively optimize traffic signal timings of the studied scenarios. The results also confirm that NS-LS and SA-LS have good anytime behaviour and can work well with different population sizes. Furthermore, SA-LS also showed to produce mostly superior results as compared to NS-LS, NSGA-II, and MOEA/D.


Thought experiments are widely used in natural science research. Nonetheless, their reliability to produce cognitive results has been a disputable matter. This study is conducted to present some rules of confirmation for evaluating the cognitive outcome of thought experiments. I begin given an example of a "paradigmatic" thought experiment from Galileo Galilei: the falling bodies. Afterwards, I briefly surveying two different accounts of thought experiments: James R. Brown's rationalism and John D. Norton's empiricism. Then, I discuss their positions and I show that none of them may tip the balance towards the rationalism or empiricism they try to defend. Finally, I put forward that the notion of confirmation, connected to the notion of increasing plausibility, can be used to develop some confirmation rules to compare the explanatory power of thought experiments in competition, regardless of their rational or empirical nature in which the discussion of this type of experiment has been engaged in recent years.


The warm-up is an integral component of a middle- and long-distance athlete's pre-performance routine. The use of a loaded conditioning activity (LCA), which elicits a post-activation potentiation (PAP) response to acutely enhance explosive power performance, is well-researched. A similar approach incorporated into the warm-up of a middle- or long-distance athlete potentially provides a novel strategy to augment performance. Mechanisms that underpin a PAP response, relating to acute adjustments within the neuromuscular system, should theoretically improve middle- and long-distance performance via improvements in sub-maximal force-generating ability. Attempts to enhance middle- and long-distance related outcomes using a LCA have been used in several recent studies. Results suggest benefits to performance may exist in well-trained middle- and long-distance athletes by including high-intensity resistance training (1-5 repetition maximum) or adding load to the sport skill itself during the latter part of warm-ups. Early stages of performance appear to benefit most, and it is likely that recovery (5-10 min) also plays an important role following a LCA. Future research should consider how priming activity, designed to enhance the V[Combining Dot Above]O2 kinetic response, and a LCA may interact to affect performance, and how different LCA's might benefit various modes and durations of middle- and long-distance exercise.


The building of a user interface management system (UIMS) is described from the perspective of the development team. This UIMS is a key component of the open-architecture system-integration services (OASIS) project at Electronic Data Systems. While OASIS's application domain is generally CAD/CAM/CAE (computer-aided design/manufacturing/engineering), users can extend its functionality by using a command macro language. The results are presented as observations and impressions gathered from the programming and training staffs, users, UIMS developers.<<ETX>>


Context. The dynamical evolution of a single globular cluster and also of the entire Galactic globular cluster system has been studied theoretically in detail. In particular, simulations show how the "lost" stars are distributed in tidal tails emerging from the clusters. Aims. We investigate the distribution of Galactic globular cluster stars on the sky to identify such features as tidal tails. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey provides consistent photometry of a large part of the sky to study the projected two-dimensional structure of the 17 globular clusters in its survey area. Methods. We used a color-magnitude weighted counting algorithm to map (potential) cluster member stars on the sky. Results. We recover the already known tidal tails of Pal 5 and NGC 5466. For NGC 4147 we find a two-arm morphology. Possible indications of tidal tails are also seen around NGC 5053 and NGC 7078, confirming earlier suggestions. Moreover, we find potential tails around NGC 5904 and Pal 14. Especially for Palomar clusters other than Pal 5, deeper data are needed to confirm or to rule out the existence of tails. For many of the remaining clusters in our sample we observe a pronounced extratidal halo, which is particularly large for NGC 7006 and Pal 1. In some cases, the extratidal halos may be associated with the stream of the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy (e.g., NGC 4147, NGC 5024, NGC 5053).


A 17-year-old boy developed diffuse throbbing headache of 36 hours duration associated with photophobia and phonophobia. Twelve hours later, he developed dysarthria and rightsided weakness. He had a similar episode 5 months ago with resolution of symptoms in 24 hours, following which he was put on prophylactic sodium valproate 300 mg/day. His elder brother had suffered from intermittent diffuse headache associated with numbness of the right-sided limbs. A clinical diagnosis of hemiplegic migraine, probably familial, was made. CT scan and MRI showed no intracranial abnormality. The wake EEG record on Day 1 showed diffuse delta waves at 1-3 Hertz over the left hemisphere, which were prominent posteriorly (Figures 1 and2). The background activity was normal over the right hemisphere. Over the next 5 days the EEG changes returned to normal and the patient's hemiparesis resolved. Hemiplegic migraine is a subtype of migraine and is accompanied by hemiplegia, which may outlast the headache. Hemiplegia is sometimes associated with altered consciousness and aphasia, and rarely with coma. Hemiplegic migraine occurs in two forms—Sporadic hemiplegic migraine and Familial hemiplegic migraine. 1 EEG studies have demonstrated a wide variety of patterns. During the ictus, severe unilateral or focal disturbances—delta-activity, theta-delta-activity, thetaactivity or alpha-reduction—are seen. Hemiplegic migraine has shown the most definitely abnormal EEGs. 2,3 Pseudoperiodic slow sharp waves over the hemisphere contralateral to the hemiplegia have also been recorded. In most cases the changes subside in a few days and the EEG returns to normal. MR imaging during the period of attack shows cerebral edema, dilatation of intracerebral vessels and decreased water diffusion contralateral to the hemiparesis. The MRI changes resolve completely in the post-ictal phase. These results suggest an underlying primary neuronal pathology with secondary vascular effects, as opposed to the traditional, primarily vascular model of migraine etiology. 4


Terrestrial invertebrates link terrestrial systems to aquatic ones, making vegetal material produced in the watershed available to aquatic food webs. In this study, using carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes, we evaluated the importance of introduced C4 grasses as a source of carbon in aquatic food webs of headwater streams of the coastal Atlantic Forest located on the north coast of the State of Sao Paulo, in the southeastern region of Brazil. Terrestrial invertebrates were collected in two streams: one where the main land cover was pristine montane Atlantic Forest (forest stream) and another where the main land cover was introduced C4 forage grasses for livestock (pasture stream). The average δ13C of terrestrial invertebrates collected in the forest stream (−26.3±2.1‰) was significantly (p<0.01) smaller than the average δ13C of terrestrial invertebrates collected in the pasture stream (−15.7±4.7‰), denoting a larger contribution of C4grasses to terrestrial invertebrates of the pasture stream. The average δ15N of terrestrial invertebrates of the forest stream (4.1±2.4‰) was significantly (p<0.01) lower than the average δ15N of terrestrial invertebrates of the pasture stream (9.5±2.7‰). The relative contribution of C3 and C4 plants to terrestrial invertebrates was estimated using SIAR. In the forest stream, the C3 contribution was on average 0.75 (0.72 minimum to 0.79 maximum), and the C4 contribution was on average 0.25 (0.21 minimum to 0.28 maximum). In the pasture stream, the C3contribution decreased to 0.20 (0.14 minimum to 0.26 maximum), and the C4 contribution increased to 0.80 (0.74 minimum to 0.86 maximum). These results have several implications for the ecosystem functioning as well as for recent changes in environmental policies of Brazil. The lower nutritional value of C4 grasses may not only decrease invertebrate performance, but also alter the stoichiometry of several components of the aquatic food webs with potential consequence for the whole ecosystem functioning. On the public policy side, recent changes in the Brazilian Forest Act, a series of laws that regulate land cover at the property level, reduced the width of the forested riparian area with potentially dangerous consequences for aquatic ecosystems.


Three-dimensional seismic imaging and well calibration reveal a large allochthonous mud edifice that is composed of several mud extrusions and covers an area >740 km2 on the outer shelf slope of the Nile Delta. The allochthonous material was sourced from beneath the ∼1-km-thick Messinian evaporites in the Eastern Mediterranean and extruded synchronously as eight large mud volcanoes directly on top of the Messinian evaporites in a catastrophic remobilization event at the end of the Messinian salinity crisis. These large extrusive flows coalesced to form a single edifice with an exceptional volume of ∼292 km3 that is connected to eight widely spaced conduits. We argue that this large mud body represents a new morphological type and scale of mud extrusion. We propose that mud extrusions that coalesce on a surface forming a multi-conduit-fed edifice be referred to as mud canopies, by analogy with salt canopies, with implications for basin reconstruction, paleo–overpressure release events, and fluid migration.


INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: The commonest indications for repeat surgery following mid-urethral tapes(MUT) are persistent/recurrent stress urinary incontinence (SUI), intractable pain, vaginal extrusion, voiding dysfunction (VD) or intractable detrusor overactivity(DO). Urethral complications of MUT (extrusion, fistula or loss) are extremely rare and the functional outcomes of their treatment relatively unknown. We examined the causes, presentations, treatment and outcomes of urethral complications of MUT METHODS: A retrospective analysis of a prospective database of patients having surgery for urethral complications of MUT between 2008–2018 was performed. All patients had urodynamics preoperatively and were reassessed with videourodynamics(VUDS) postoperatively if symptomatic RESULTS: 35 patients of median age 54 (33–82) years were identified, with the median time between tape insertion to removal of 5 (1–15) years. Procedures performed to manage urethral complications, any simultaneous and subsequent interventions are shown in Table 1. Pre-operative urodynamics showed SUI in 18/35 (51%), DO wet in 4/35 (11%), and DO dry in 4/35 (11%). 26/35 (74%) had repeat VUDS assessment; 21/26 (81%) had recurrent/persistent SUI, 5/26 (19%) had recurrent/persistent mixed urinary incontinence (MUI) and 5 (19%) had DO dry. 20/34 (59%) went on to have further SUI surgery with cure or improvement in 15/20 (75%). 13 women had rectus fascial sling -9 are dry or improved. 5 had colposuspension -4 are dry or improved. 1 had Bulkamid injection and 1 had bladder artificial urinary sphincter - both are dry. Women who had persistent significant SUI had a minimum of 2 previous surgical procedures for SUI prior to their index MUT insertion. Both women who had simultaneous procedures for SUI at time of management of their tape complication also suffered persistent significant SUI CONCLUSIONS: Vaginal removal of MUT, urethral repair and modified Martius labial fat pad interposition results in resolution of pain and a useable urethra in 97%. SUI persists or recurs in 74%. 59% require further SUI surgery, which has a 75% success rate. It is important to counsel patients having surgery for tape related urethral complications accurately regarding functional outcomes and the need for further interventions Table. No title available. Source of Funding: none


We show that the anomalously short delay times observed in barrier tunneling have their origin in energy storage and its subsequent release. The observed group delay is proportional to the energy stored. This delay is not a propagation delay and should not be linked to a velocity since evanescent waves do not propagate. The "Hartman effect", in which the group delay becomes independent of thickness for opaque barriers, is shown to be a consequence of the saturation of stored energy with barrier length.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
The microbial flora of the oral cavity is extremely diverse. Residual bacteria in the oral cavity may remain at the tooth restoration interface and increase the risk of developing recurrent caries. The aim of this study is to evaluate the immediate and long term antibacterial effect of polymerised self etching adhesive systems.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Streptococcus mutans were used as a test organism. The self etching dental adhesives that were used are Adper Easy One, G-Bond, Clearfil S3 bond and Xeno V. Agar diffusion test (ADT) was performed on agar plates, in which four holes that were 4mm in diameter were punched. Then 200 μL of freshly grown S.mutans spread evenly. The four holes were immediately filled with the four tested materials and light polymerised them using a light curing unit. The agar plates were incubated for 72h at 37°C. For the direct contact test (DCT), the bonding agents were placed on the side walls of microtiter plate wells and light polymerized according to the manufacturer's instructions. A 10μL bacterial suspension was placed on the tested material samples. Bacteria were allowed to directly contact the polymerized dental adhesives for 1h at 37(o)C. Fresh Brain heart infusion broth was then added. The bacterial growth was then spectrophotometrically measured in the wells every 30 min for 16h for 1,2, 7 and 14 days.

RESULTS
In the ADT, inhibitory halos were found around all the bonding agents, with greater inhibition halo seen around Xeno V after incubating for 72 h at 37°C. The readings obtained through DCT were subjected to ANOVA and Tukey's multiple comparisons tests, which showed no bacterial growth on fresh samples and after aging for one day in PBS with self etching adhesives. RESULTS of DCT after aging for 2 days, 7 days and 14 days showed bacterial growth in all the bonding agents used with no significant difference from the control group.(p<0.001) CONCLUSION: All the dental adhesives showed antibacterial properties immediately and one day after polymerization but none of the self-etching adhesives had long-lasting antibacterial properties.


Summary. This paper explores how environmental traits shape the winter distribution of passerine (O. Passeriformes) richness in the south-western Palearctic, a major wintering ground for the European avifauna. We apply three complementary approaches. First, we assess the way climate, landscape and habitat affect species richness by means of field counts across the study area. Second, we model the spatial distribution of six common passerines using ring recoveries as presence data. Finally, where the resulting models predict the actual distribution of birds, we employ the models to forecast the future distribution of richness according to predictions of climate change, i.e. of increasing temperature and decreasing precipitation. The results support an effect of landscape, habitat structure, temperature and precipitation on bird richness. Distribution models fit the actual distribution of bird richness and their predictions suggest that winter species richness will decrease in lowlands and increase in highlands. This pattern could be related to direct effects of temperature on thermoregulatory costs and indirect effects on winter primary productivity affecting food resources. These results also indicate that, in a context of climate warming, species-rich sectors will shift from lowlands to highlands, suggesting that uplands will have a regulatory role in the future winter distribution of birds.—Tellería, J.L., Fandos, G. & Fernández-López, J. (2021). Winter bird richness distribution in the south-western Palearctic: current patterns and potential changes. Ardeola, 68: 17-32.


Data hiding is a wide field that is helpful to secure network communications. It is common that many data hiding researchers consider improving and increasing many aspects such as capacity, stego file quality, or robustness. In this paper, we use an audio file as a cover and propose a reversible steganographic method that is modifying the sample values using modulus function in order to make the reminder of that particular value to be same as the secret bit that is needed to be embedded. In addition, we use a location map that locates these modified sample values. This is because in reversible data hiding it needs to exactly recover both the secret message and the original audio file from that stego file. The experimental results show that, this method (measured by correlation algorithm) is able to retrieve exactly the same secret message and audio file. Moreover, it has made a significant improvement in terms of the following: the capacity since each sample value is carrying a secret bit. The quality measured by peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC), and Similarity Index Modulation (SIM). All of them have proven that the quality of the stego audio is relatively high.


Elasticities for freight transport in the context of mode choice are hardly available for markets in which intermodal container transport competes with truck only transport. These elasticities are expected to be different, however, from values found in the literature for traditional freight transport, as trucking is a complement to rail or inland waterway transport when used for pre- or post-haulage, but a substitute to these modes when used from the origin to the final destination. This paper presents direct and cross (generalized) cost elasticities for road and rail transport demand for continental intermodal container transport and constitutes an attempt to compare the elasticities for intermodal transport with those for general freight transport. We first look into the sensitivity of elasticities to the total length of the haul and to pre- and post-haulage distances by road using a stylized, theoretical model. The assumption about pre- and post-haulage distances in mode choice appears to be important, as elasticities for road transport in the context of intermodal transport chains can be half of the values currently used in a conventional mode choice situation without access or egress by road. Next we provide empirical values for the market of container transport using a European multimodal network model. The absolute values of the estimated elasticities follow a double trend when the cost for trucking is modified: they increase with the distance between the origin and the destination, but decrease with the length of pre- or post-haulage. In all cases, the values are estimated to be inelastic. Overall, the "complement" component of the computed elasticities for rail-road transport is estimated to be approximately 20% of the total impact.


Remobilization of sandstones can dramatically reconfigure original depositional geometries and results in very unusually shaped sandstones, which resemble little, if any, of the original geometry. A number of deformational sandstone bodies, dykes and volcanoes from the upper part of the Carboniferous Ross Formation are described, which offer the opportunity to examine a suite of field‐scale reconfigured sandstones. These structures are located in close proximity to the Ross Slide, which outcrops along a 2‐km section on the northern coast of the Loop Head Peninsula, County Clare, Ireland. Dome‐ and ridge‐shaped deformational sandstone bodies, dykes and volcanoes are interpreted to be the product of remobilization of a turbiditic sandstone. Liquification and remobilization were triggered by translation, cessation and loading of the underlying turbiditic sandstone by the Ross Slide. Deformational sand body, dyke and volcano development occurred in an asynchronous fashion with deformational sand bodies formed during slump translation. Sand dykes and volcanoes developed after the cessation of slump movement. During slump translation, the minimum principal stress (σ3) was orientated vertically and the slump behaved in a `ductile' manner. After slump arrest, the minimum principal stress was oriented horizontally, and the unit regained shear strength to behave in a `brittle' manner. The relative change in rheological states with changing applied shear stress is indicative of thixotropic‐like behaviour within the slump mass. Ridge‐shaped deformational sand bodies are aligned parallel to slump folds, and their morphology is inferred to be controlled by compressional slump deformation associated with heterogeneous cessation of slump movement that was initiated by frontal arrest of the translating mass.


Since the inception of the novel Corona Virus Disease-19 in December in China, the spread has been massive leading World Health Organization to declare it a world pandemic. While epicenter of COVID19 was Wuhan city in China mainland, Italy has been affected most due to the high number of recorded deaths as at 21st April, 2020 at the same time USA recording the highest number of virus reported cases. In addition, the spread has been experienced in many developing African countries including Kenya. The Kenyan government need to make necessary plans for those who have tested positive through selfquarantine beds at Mbagathi Hospital as a way of containing the spread of the virus. In addition, lack of a proper mathematical model that can be used to model and predict the spread of COVID-19 for adequate response security has been one of the main concerns for the government. Many mathematical models have been proposed for proper modeling and forecasting, but this paper will focus on using a generalized linear regression that can detect linear relationship between the risk factors. The paper intents to model and forecast the confirmed COVID-19 cases in Kenya as a Compound Poisson regression process where the parameter follows a generalized linear regression that is influenced by the number of daily contact Original Research Article Odhiambo et al.; JAMCS, 35(2): 101-111, 2020; Article no.JAMCS.56265 102 persons and daily flights with the already confirmed cases of the virus. Ultimately, this paper would assist the government in proper resource allocation to deal with pandemic in terms of available of bed capacities, public awareness campaigns and virus testing kits not only in the virus hotbed within Nairobi capital city but also in the other 47 Kenyan counties.


A little-studied aspect of the struggle to abolish slavery in Brazil in the 1880s is the relationship between Joaquim Nabuco, the leading Brazilian abolitionist, and the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society in London. The correspondence between Nabuco and Charles Harris Allen, secretary of the Anti-Slavery Society, and other British abolitionists throughout the decade and beyond reveals a partnership consciously sought by Nabuco in order to internationalize the struggle. These letters provide a unique insight into the evolution of Nabuco's thinking on both slavery and abolition. At the same time, they offer a running commentary on the slow and (at least until 1887-88) uncertain progress of the abolitionist cause in Brazil.


This paper proposes a new adaptive filter algorithm for system identification using independent component analysis. The additive noise is considered as an independent component to be separated from the noisy observation and is simultaneously estimated online. The proposed algorithm is derived by minimizing the mutual information between the estimated additive noise and the input signal. The local convergence conditions are also derived. The proposed algorithm can be directly applied to the acoustic echo canceller without any double-talk detector. Some simulations have been carried out to illustrate its effectiveness for synthetic and real speech signals.


Component-based technologies have shown great potential for increasing developer productivity and reducing time to market for software systems. However, current component technologies fail to meet the quality attribute demands of the software industry [4], such as reliability and security. System developers are unable to properly predict the behavior of a system assembled from commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components, and the source code for such components is often not available for modification. Component containers have great potential to more accurately ensure certain quality attributes of COTS-based systems. Containers provide a set of services to the components that execute in them. For example, containers have been used to facilitate security policies and transaction management. This research suggests augmenting component containers in order to allow for exceptions to be handled independently of the components. This modification to the component framework yields a better separation of concerns and more robust assembly of commercial components. Before quality attributes of component assemblies can be determined, the execution of the system must be made more robust by properly handling exceptions.


There is a growing research interest in the development of portable systems which can deliver hydrogen on-demand to proton exchange membrane (PEM) hydrogen fuel cells. Researchers seeking to develop such systems require a method of measuring the generated hydrogen. Herein, we describe a simple, low-cost, and robust method to measure the hydrogen generated from the reaction of solids with aqueous solutions. The reactions are conducted in a conventional one-necked round-bottomed flask placed in a temperature controlled water bath. The hydrogen generated from the reaction in the flask is channeled through tubing into a water-filled inverted measuring cylinder. The water displaced from the measuring cylinder by the incoming gas is diverted into a beaker on a balance. The balance is connected to a computer, and the change in the mass reading of the balance over time is recorded using data collection and spreadsheet software programs. The data can then be approximately corrected for water vapor using the method described herein, and parameters such as the total hydrogen yield, the hydrogen generation rate, and the induction period can also be deduced. The size of the measuring cylinder and the resolution of the balance can be changed to adapt the setup to different hydrogen volumes and flow rates.


as deciding what observations to carry out or whether to lay the patient down. I am also concerned about the wide discrepancies between the triage assessment of priority and that ofthe consultants. Either the consultants benefited from hindsight or there had been depressingly little prior communication in the department. Clear guidelines on assessing urgency were drawn up in my department by consultation between medical and nursing staff. New staff are properly trained in their use, and the accuracy is regularly monitored, consistently reaching over 90%. The use ofmedian waiting times is questionable; centile times convey a clearer picture. A median waiting time of 26 minutes for patients in priority category 1, however, is alarming. We define this group as patients who cannot safely wait more than 15 minutes for medical attention, and 97% ofthem receive attention within this time. Triage should not be expected to cut waiting times. It does not after all reduce the amount of work to be done, it simply redistributes waiting times away from the more seriously ill towards those who will not suffer unduly from delays. A reduction in waiting times requires some patients to be treated or discharged by the assessing nurse -that is, it requires a nurse practitioner to be introduced. This is an entirely separate concept, and one of the references quoted by George and colleagues refers to a nurse practitioner system and not to triage.2 Prioritisation is clearly vital in the effective running of our seriously overloaded accident and emergency departments, and I am concerned that the often hesitant progress towards improving such prioritisation will be threatened by this well intentioned but, in my view, seriously flawed study. J E PORTER


Sport and national identity: tha case of Catalonia (1880-1936) ABSTRACT: In Catalonia the diffusion of sport in the XIXth century took place at the same time the consolidation of political regionalist discourse. The claim for Catalan identity was based on the critique to the political and economic Spanish paralysis, on the desire for modernization and, also, on the cultural recovery. This demand found in the sport a peculiar instrument of identity: regenerationist, modernizing and adapted to the enterpreneurial Catalan society. In the first phase, between1880 and 1914, the impellers of the catalan regionalist sport elaborated a discourse that was identifying sport, modernity and pro-european desire. Between1914 and 1923, this ideas resulted in a political action and in international projects. After the Primo de Rivera's dictatorship (1923-1930) the Second Republic meant the emergence of a popular movement in sports, socially more radical, antifascist and with international contacts. The main purpose of this study is to analyze the sport as an identity built and complex phenomenon in Catalan case: his theoretical architecture and public activities.


In sensor network a large amount of data need to be collected for future information retrieval. The data centric storage has become an important issue in sensor network. Storage nodes are used in this paper to store and process the collected data. This paper considers the storage node placement problem aiming to place unlimited storage nodes in sensor network to minimize the total energy cost for collecting the raw data and replying queries at the storage nodes. In this paper a strong data access model for placing storage nodes in sensor network is presented. Here we consider an application in which sensor networks provide real time data services to user. The main aim of this paper is to reduce the cost for raw data transfer, query diffusion, query reply by defining the best location of storage nodes in sensor network.


The transcriptome of kinetoplastid mitochondria undergoes extensive RNA editing that inserts and deletes uridine residues (U's) to produce mature mRNAs. The editosome is a multiprotein complex that provides endonuclease, TUTase, exonuclease, and ligase activities required for RNA editing. The editosome's KREPB4 and KREPB5 proteins are essential for editosome integrity and parasite viability and contain semi-conserved motifs corresponding to zinc finger, RNase III, and PUF domains, but to date no functional analysis of these domains has been reported. We show here that various point mutations to KREPB4 and KREPB5 identify essential domains, and suggest that these proteins do not themselves perform RNase III catalysis. The zinc finger of KREPB4 but not KREPB5 is essential for editosome integrity and parasite viability, and mutation of the RNase III signature motif in KREPB5 prevents integration into editosomes, which is lethal. Isolated TAP-tagged KREPB4 and KREPB5 complexes preferentially associate with components of the deletion subcomplex, providing additional insights into editosome architecture. A new alignment of editosome RNase III sequences from several kinetoplastid species implies that KREPB4 and KREPB5 lack catalytic activity and reveals that the PUF motif is present in the editing endonucleases KREN1, KREN2, and KREN3. The data presented here are consistent with the hypothesis that KREPB4 and KREPB5 form intermolecular heterodimers with the catalytically active editing endonucleases, which is unprecedented among known RNase III proteins.


Plant leaf intercellular space provides a nutrient-rich and heterogeneous niche for microbes that critically impacts plant health. However, how individual plant cells respond to heterogeneous microbial colonization remains largely elusive. Here, by time-resolved simultaneous single-cell transcriptome and epigenome profiling of plants (Arabidopsis thaliana) infected by virulent and avirulent bacterial pathogens (Pseudomonas syringae), we present cell atlases with gene regulatory logic involving transcription factors, putative cis-regulatory elements, and target genes associated with disease and immunity. We also identify previously uncharacterized cell populations with distinct immune gene expression within major developmental cell types. Furthermore, we employ time-resolved spatial transcriptomics to reveal spatial heterogeneity of plant immune responses linked to pathogen distribution. Integrating our single-cell multiomics and spatial omics data enables spatiotemporal mapping of defense gene regulatory logic with pathogen cells. Our study provides a molecularly-defined spatiotemporal map of plant-microbe interaction at the single-cell resolution.


Introduction: Mycobaterium colombiense, a slow-growing mycobacterium, belongs to the complex of Mycobaterium avium (MAC). It was isolated for the first time in Colombia, in 2006, in an HIV patient. To report the first case of a brazilian HIV/AIDS patient in whom M. colombiense was identified. Methods 51 year old male, heavy drinker and smoker, COPD, waste picker. HIV+, poorly adherent to ART, CD4 count of 14 and VL 3,960 in 2015. He was treated for M. kansasii infection from 2007 to 2009, when ART was also started. In 2015, he had several sputa collected, and results were intermittently positive for AFB testing. GeneXpert was negative in all of samples. He had a positive culture for M. intracellulare in January; but sputum culture was positive for atypical mycobacteria in September and November. BAL in November had a positive culture for MAC, later identified as M. colombiense. The clinical specimen was treated by the NALC-NaOH method, and was seeded in LJ medium. Growth of smooth, creamy colonies with yellow pigment was observed after 30 days of incubation. Sequencing of the rpoB gene for identification showed similarity of 99% with the CIP 108962 strain M. colombiense. The gene sequence was analysed by BLAST V2.0. All blood cultures for fungus, mycobacteria and bacteria were negative in the same time. Discussion and conclusion This patient with advanced AIDS, COPD and alcoholism had been treated years before for M. kansasii and for M. avium. Six years later, due to respiratory and consumptive syndrome, he was hospitalised for investigation and there was growth of M. colombiense in bronchoalveolar lavage - BAL. To our knowledge, this is the first isolate of this species in Brazil. In 2015, M. intracellulare and MAC were grown in sputum culture; these mycobacteria, being closely related, are very difficult to distinguish, with the possibility that M. colombiense was the etiological agent early on. Due to the unavailability of modern moleculares tools to describe emerging MAC species, the true prevalence of M. colombiense in Brazil is probably underestimated.


Functional diversity is a component of biodiversity that takes into account the differences in morphology, ecology and behavior between species and individuals, and has been considered an important measure to evaluate the influence of species in ecological processes. However, there is not consensus about analyses, especially regarding the choice of attributes for analysis. Thus, the study aimed to make a general assessment of the articles with the term "Functional Diversity" to evaluate how science in the context of functional diversity is structured over time, what are the approaches, the main methods used and the ecological processes discussed. Were evaluated 415 articles within the specifications of interest, to which the United States, France and Germany were the countries with the highest concentration of research with functional diversity. In South America, Brazil led the research, with 48% of the articles. Approximately 43% of the reviewed articles did not justify the choice of the attributes based on the process of the ecosystem in question. With regard the patterns and ecosystem processes, those that dealt with resource acquisition accounted for the majority, followed by biological interactions. We observed an increase in the complexity of the issues over the years with different aspects analyzed. Even with all the methodological discussions, we found an increasing number of articles with the subject and incorporating new approaches that have contributed to the increased of knowledge of the patterns that generate and maintain biodiversity and its relationship to ecosystem processes.


The present series of reports, the NanoDefine Methods Manual, has been developed within the NanoDefine project 'Development of an integrated approach based on validated and standardized methods to support the implementation of the EC recommendation for a definition of nanomaterial', funded by the European Union's 7th Framework Programme, under grant agreement 604347.
In 2011 the European Commission (EC) published a recommendation for a definition of the term 'nanomaterial', the EC NM Definition, as a reference to determine whether an unknown material can be considered as a 'nanomaterial' for regulatory purposes1. One challenge is the development of methods that reliably identify, characterize and quantify nanomaterials (NM) both as substances and in various products and matrices.
The overall goal of NanoDefine was to support the implementation of the EC NM Definition. It can also support the implementation of any NM definition based on particle size. The project has developed an integrated approach, which allows identifying any material as a nano- or not a nanomaterial according to the EC NM Definition. NanoDefine explicitly supported the governance challenges associated with the implementation of legislation concerning nanomaterials by:
- addressing the issues on availability of suitable measuring techniques, reference materials, validated methods, acceptable to all stakeholders (authorities, policy makers, commercial firms),
- developing an integrated and interdisciplinary approach and a close international co-operation and networking with academia, commercial firms and standardization bodies.
Thus, the NanoDefine Methods Manual provides guidance on practical implementation of the EC NM Definition throughout the nanomaterial characterization process, and on the characterization techniques employed as well as their application range and limits. It assists the user in choosing the most appropriate measurement method(s) to identify any substance or mixture for a specific purpose, according to the EC NM Definition of a nanomaterial. The NanoDefine project also explored how to assess a material against the criteria of the definition through proxy solutions, i.e. by applying measurement techniques that indirectly determine the x50. Those findings were developed through empirically based scientific work and are included in Part 1 of this Manual. As they go beyond the text of the EC NM Definition, they may be used as practical approach to indicate whether a material is a nanomaterial or not, but keeping in mind that they should not be taken as recommendation for the implementation of the EC NM Definition in a regulatory context.
The NanoDefine Methods Manual consists of the following three parts:
 Part 1: The NanoDefiner Framework and Tools
 Part 2: Evaluation of Methods
 Part 3: Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
Part 1 covers the NanoDefiner framework, general information on measurement methods and performance criteria and tools developed by NanoDefine such as a materials categorisation system, a decision support flow scheme and an e-tool.
Part 2 discusses the outcome of the evaluation of the nanomaterials characterisation methods for measuring size.
Part 3 presents the 23 Standard Operating Procedures developed within the NanoDefine project.
The current document is part 1.


Training the models needed for Automatic Handwritten Text Recognition of historical documents generally requires a significant amount of human effort. This is mainly due to the great differences that often exist between collections and to the lack of linguistic resources from the period when the documents were written, which results in a need of manual data labelling effort. This paper presents a study on the reuse of models trained with data from a different collection, focusing on the contribution that the language model and the optical models have on the performance. An empirical evaluation is performed using data from Jeremy Bentham manuscripts with the aim of recognising a manuscript about a very different topic written by Jane Austen.


Senescent cells accumulate in tissues during aging or pathological settings. The semi-genetic or pharmacological targeting of senescent cells revealed that cellular senescence underlies many aspects of the aging-associated phenotype and diseases. We previously reported that cellular senescence contributes to aging- and disease-associated pulmonary dysfunction. We herein report that the elimination of Arf-expressing cells ameliorates cigarette smoke-induced lung pathologies in mice. Cigarette smoke induced the expression of Ink4a and Arf in lung tissue with concomitant increases in lung tissue compliance and alveolar airspace. The elimination of Arf-expressing cells prior to cigarette smoke exposure protected against these changes. Furthermore, the administration of cigarette smoke extract lead to pulmonary dysfunction, which was ameliorated by subsequent senescent cell elimination. Collectively, these results suggest that senescent cells are a potential therapeutic target for cigarette smoking-associated lung disease.


Background: Mutations in the α-synuclein (SNCA) gene have been shown to be responsible for a rare familial form of Parkinson disease (PD). Furthermore, polymorphic variants in multiple regions of the gene have been associated with susceptibility to idiopathic PD in different populations. Objective: To evaluate and to confirm the role of SNCA variants in PD pathogenesis. Methods: We included 667 subjects (397 cases with idiopathic PD and 270 healthy, ethnically matched controls) of Northern Central and Southeastern European origin. We analyzed genotypes at 14 markers spanning the SNCA locus and its major haplotype blocks and conducted a haplotype analysis for four promoter markers including the microsatellite marker Rep1. Results: The three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the promoter region (rs2583988, rs2619364, rs2619363) and a SNP in the 3′UTR (rs356165) of the SNCA gene showed the greatest evidence for an association with PD (p ≤ 0.003), with significant pairwise values for linkage disequilibrium (D′ ≥ 0.74, r 2 ≥ 0.29). The promoter haplotype "261-T-G-T" (Rep1-rs2583988-rs2619364-rs2619363) was associated with disease (p = 0.032). The most significant association with PD was generated by excluding Rep1 (p = 0.008). This association remained significant when analyzing the Serbian patients separately and was of borderline significance for the German patients. Conclusions: Our findings confirm that genetic variability within the SNCA locus is associated with susceptibility to idiopathic Parkinson disease (PD). We found evidence for disease association with single nucleotide polymorphisms at both the 5′ and the 3′ end of the gene with pairwise linkage disequilibrium between them. The association was independent of the Rep1 status, and one major SNCA promoter haplotype class seems to be associated with PD susceptibility. GLOSSARY: SNCA = α-synuclein; CI = confidence interval; HT = haplotype-tagging; LD = linkage disequilibrium; OR = odds ratio; PD = Parkinson disease; SNP = single nucleotide polymorphism.


We study the population of ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs) in a set of eight nearby (z < 0.035) galaxy clusters, from the Kapteyn IAC WEAVE INT Clusters Survey. We report the discovery of 442 UDG candidates in our eight field of views, with 247 of these galaxies lying at projected distances <1R200 from their host cluster. With the aim of testing theories about their formation, we study the scaling relations of UDGs comparing with different types of galaxies, finding that in the full parameter space they behave as dwarf galaxies and their colours do not seem to correlate with their effective radii. To investigate the influence of the environment on the evolution of UDGs, we analyse their structural properties as functions of the projected clustercentric distance and the mass of their host cluster. We find no systematic trends for the stellar mass nor effective radius as function of the projected distance. However, the fraction of blue UDGs seem to be lower towards the centre of clusters, and UDGs in the inner and outer regions of clusters have different Sersic index and axial ratio distributions. Specifically, the axial ratio distributions of the outer and inner UDGs resemble the axial ratio distributions of, respectively, late-type dwarfs and dwarf ellipticals in the Fornax Cluster suggesting an environmentally driven evolution and another link between UDGs and dwarf galaxies. In general our results suggest strong similarities between UDGs and smaller dwarf galaxies in their structural parameters and their transformation within clusters.


Back in 2001, when we first began studying how regenerative cells (stem cells or more mature progenitor cells) enhance blood vessel growth, our group as well as many of our colleagues focused on one specific type of blood vessel: arteries. Arteries are responsible for supplying oxygen to all organs and tissues of the body, and arteries are more likely to develop gradual plaque build-up (atherosclerosis) than veins or networks of smaller blood vessels (capillaries). Once the amount of plaque in an artery reaches a critical threshold, the oxygenation of the supplied tissues and organs becomes compromised. In addition to this build-up of plaque and gradual decline of organ function, arterial plaques can rupture and cause severe sudden damage, such as a heart attack. The conventional approach to treating arterial blockages in the heart was to either perform an open-heart bypass surgery in which blocked arteries were manually bypassed or to place a tube-like "stent" in the blocked artery to restore the oxygen supply. The hope was that injections of regenerative cells would ultimately replace the invasive procedures because the stem cells would convert into blood vessel cells, form healthy new arteries, and naturally bypass the blockages in the existing arteries.


The Sun and $\alpha$ Cen A and B are the nearest stars to us. Despite the general agreement between their models and seismic and non-seismic constraints, there are serious problems pertaining to their interior. The good agreement between the sound speed and base radius of the convective zone of the Sun and the solar models is broken apart by a recent revision in solar chemical composition. For $\alpha$ Cen A and B, however, it is not possible to fit models with the same age and chemical composition to all seismic and non-seismic observational constraints. At the age deduced from seismic constraints, the luminosity ratio ($L_{\rm A}/L_{\rm B}$) of the models is significantly lower than the ratio taken from the observed luminosities. Enhancement of opacity as a function of temperature is one way to restore the agreement between solar models and the Sun, but such an enhancement does not alter the situation for $\alpha$ Cen A and B. The reason is that models of both components are influenced in a similar manner and consequently the luminosity ratio doesn't change much. In the present study, problems pertaining to the interior of these three stars with a single expression for opacity enhancement are modelled. The opacity enhancement is expressed as a function of density, ionization degree of heavy elements (oxygen), and temperature. According to this expression, for improvement of the models the required opacity enhancement for $\alpha$ Cen A and B at $\log(T)$= 6.5, for example, is about 7 and 22 per cent, respectively. The enhancement tak es place in the region in which pressure ionization is effective, and is higher for low-mass stars than for high-mass stars. This result seems to be a possible explanation for the serious differences between models and observational results of cool stars.


Optical flow estimation is a fundamental functionality in computer vision. An event-based camera, which asynchronously detects sparse intensity changes, is an ideal device for realizing low-latency estimation of the optical flow owing to its low-latency sensing mechanism. An existing method using local plane fitting of events could utilize the sparsity to realize incremental updates for low-latency estimation; however, its output is merely a normal component of the full optical flow. An alternative approach using a frame-based deep neural network could estimate the full flow; however, its intensive non-incremental dense operation prohibits the low-latency estimation. We propose tangentially elongated Gaussian (TEG) belief propagation (BP) that realizes incremental full-flow estimation. We model the probability of full flow as the joint distribution of TEGs from the normal flow measurements, such that the marginal of this distribution with correct prior equals the full flow. We formulate the marginalization using a message-passing based on the BP to realize efficient incremental updates using sparse measurements. In addition to the theoretical justification, we evaluate the effectiveness of the TEGBP in real-world datasets; it outperforms SOTA incremental quasi-full flow method by a large margin. (The code is available at https://github.com/DensoITLab/tegbp/).


A 38-year-old woman developed fibrosing mediastinitis after an initial episode of histoplasmosis. She had history of frequent bronchitis as a teenager and developed symptoms suggestive of pneumonia unresponsive to conventional antibiotics. In addition to right lung infiltrates, she developed mediastinal lymphadenopathy. After transbronchial biopsy confirmation of histoplasmosis, she received therapy with oral itraconazole. Three years after her initial therapy with itraconazole, she presented with worsening dyspnea on exertion. Echocardiography suggested new-onset pulmonary hypertension and moderate tricuspid regurgitation. Cross-sectional imaging of the chest demonstrated thickened pleura and pericardium; calcified, enlarged lymph nodes; and prominent fibrosis in the hilar region. Thorascopic and mediastinoscopic biopsies confirmed the diagnosis of fibrosing mediastinitis. She was treated with courses of antibiotics and pulsed steroids over the years for symptoms of dyspnea, hemoptysis, and pleuritic chest pain associated with radiological evidence of disease progression. Notably, the steroids did not …


AIM
Biomarkers are molecules measured in plasma, serum or other body fluids to characterize a disease. PARK7 and NDKA roles in the management of stroke are still on study. Therefore, their potentials need to be developed in totality. The aim of this review is to demonstrate that PARK7 and NDKA could present more clinical important information as biomarkers for management of stroke disease. Main contents: Four main aspects of PARK7 and NDKA are exploited in this review. First, their diagnostic value is discussed in order to demonstrate their possible role as stroke diagnosis markers. Second, this article will exploit the correlation of both markers with time, by showing their dynamic changes in serum and plasma. Third, it describes the observed relationship of their levels with NIH Stroke Scale. The last aspect visits the possibility of their implementation in stroke therapy.

CONCLUSION
This article explores recent findings and proposes the potential roles that PARK7 and NDKA play in the management of acute stroke disease.


The effect of ageing processes on the toughness and the yield strength of the Li-containing Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys (Al-5.6%Zn-1.9%Mg-1.6%Cu-1.1%Li-0.24Cr) was investigated. The microstructure was observed by transmission electron microscopy, tensile test was performed at a rate of 1mm·s-1, fracture toughness was experimentally determined by the impact test, and the fracture modes had been assessed by image analysis of scanning electron microscopy micrographs. The strength of the Li-containing Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys treated at 120 °C is not more than 430MPa, which is very lower than that of 7075 alloys. The strength is comparable to that of 7075–T6 alloys after double-ageing or multi-ageing, however its ductility is lower than that of 7075-T6 alloys. The single-aged Li-containing alloys have high toughness. The multi-aged alloys become brittle. The fracture surface for the Li-containing Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys is intergranular, since the intergranular precipitation weakness the grain boundaries.


Objective: To determine the prevalence of food allergy in Hyderabad (Sindh), Pakistan and adjoining areas.
Methodology: 450 patients in which 300 (66.6%) were male and 150 (33.33%) were females, the majority of allergic patients having asthmatic problems 280 (62.2%) while non asthmatic patients with other allergic symptoms were 170 (37.77%), questionnaire developed to find out the family history of patients.
Results: There are 8 major food groups, which caused more than 90% of allergic reactions to the sensitive individual. These were egg, wheat, fish, shellfish, milk, soybeans, peanuts and tree nuts. Out of 450 patients, 280 (62.2%) allergic patients had asthmatic problems while170 (37.77%) had non asthmatics. High response of IgE was seen in bakers in the age group 41-50 (1023.57±348.0) and in wheat allergic patients in the age group 19-30 (742.5±248.96). We did not find any correlation between age group and IgE level in bakers, whereas it was seen in wheat allergic patient at the age of up to 18 years (r=0.718).
Conclusion: The relation between IgE level and asthmatic problems was seen with high response seen in bakers , Although we did not find any correlation between age group and IgE level in bakers and WDEIA, a correlation was seen in wheat allergic patients.


ABSTRACT Objective Globally, 5 serogroups (A, B, C, W, and Y) cause the majority of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD). Vaccines targeting these serogroups are currently part of the US adolescent immunization platform, which includes 1 + 1 dosing of a MenACWY vaccine routinely at ages 11 and 16 years and 2 doses of a MenB vaccine at age 16–23 years under shared clinical decision-making between the patient and healthcare provider. In 2018, MenACWY vaccination coverage was 86.6% for ≥1 dose and 50.8% for ≥2 doses, whereas MenB vaccination coverage was 17.2% for ≥1 dose and <50% for completion of the multidose series. A pentavalent MenABCWY vaccine could simplify immunization schedules and improve vaccination coverage. We estimated the public health impact of a pentavalent MenABCWY vaccine using a model that considers meningococcal carriage and vaccination coverage. Methods A population-based dynamic model estimated the 10-year reduction in IMD from implementing a MenABCWY vaccine within the existing US meningococcal immunization platform. Five vaccination schedules (4 new, 1 existing) were examined to estimate the impact of different recommendations on the overall reduction in the number of IMD cases. Sensitivity analyses were performed by varying vaccination coverage at age 16 years. Results The existing schedule and coverage of MenACWY and MenB vaccines (total 4 doses) could potentially avert 165 IMD cases over 10 years versus no vaccination. Assuming similar MenABCWY and MenACWY vaccination coverage rates at age 16 years, replacing 1 or more MenACWY and/or MenB doses with MenABCWY could avert more cases, ranging from 189 to 256. The most beneficial MenABCWY vaccine schedule was 2 doses at age 11 years and 1 dose at age 16 years. Conclusions Replacing one or more MenACWY/MenB vaccine doses with MenABCWY could reduce IMD caused by all 5 meningococcal serogroups among the US adolescent population, while also reducing the number of injections required.


The reform of curriculum and assessment in the 14-19 age range in England seeks to address the failure of schools to engage substantial cohorts of pupils, as measured by truancy rates, disruption of lessons and GCSE pass rates. The new statutory orders for Science are motivated in part by similar concerns. Four schools, already in partnership for initial teacher education with the researcher's university, participated in research that involved interviews and lesson observations with seven Science Year 10 classes, their Science teachers and pupil focus groups. Dilemma analysis reveals that elements of schooling distort instrumental value and deny intrinsic value in the study of Science. Pupils disengage as teachers retreat into routines of schooling and pedagogy that prioritise control. There is a warning in this work, that the opportunity to develop pupil engagement with Science could be lost unless the disruptive elements of schooling evident in this study are removed.


Objectives:To evaluate the effect of no assisted ventilation cardiopulmonary resuscitation on neurologically intact survival compared with ten positive pressure ventilations/minute cardiopulmonary resuscitation in a pig model of cardiac arrest. Design:Prospective randomized animal study. Setting:Animal laboratory. Subjects:Sixteen female intubated pigs (25.2 ± 2.1 kg) anesthetized with propofol. Interventions:fter 8 mins of untreated ventricular fibrillation, the intubated animals were randomized to 8 mins of continuous chest compressions (100/min) and either no assisted ventilation (n = 9) or 10 positive pressure ventilations/min (Smart Resuscitator Bag with 100% O2 flow at 10 L/min) (n = 7). The primary end point, neurologically intact 24-hr survival, was evaluated using a pig cerebral performance category score by a veterinarian blinded to the cardiopulmonary resuscitation method. Measurements, and Main Results:During cardiopulmonary resuscitation, aortic and coronary perfusion pressure were similar between groups but cerebral perfusion pressure was significantly higher in the positive pressure ventilation group (33 ± 15 vs. 14 ± 14, p = .04). After 7.5 mins of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, arterial pO2 (mm Hg) and mixed venous O2 saturation (%) were significantly higher in the positive pressure ventilation compared with the no assisted ventilation group (117 ± 29 and 41 ± 21 vs. 40 ± 24 and 10.8 ± 7; p = .01 for both). Paco2 was significantly lower in the positive pressure ventilation group (48 ± 10 vs. 77 ± 26, p = .01). After 24 hrs, four of nine no assisted ventilation pigs were alive with a mean cerebral performance category score of 3 ± 0 vs. five of seven alive and neurologically intact positive pressure ventilation pigs with a cerebral performance category score of 1 ± 0.3 (p < .001 for cerebral performance category score). Conclusions:No assisted ventilation cardiopulmonary resuscitation results in profound hypoxemia, respiratory acidosis, and significantly worse 24-hr neurologic outcomes compared with positive pressure ventilation cardiopulmonary resuscitation in pigs.


Objective: To investigate the clinical characteristics and treatment outcome of idiopathic paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia (PKD) in Chinese paediatric patients. Method: This was a retrospective study of thirteen patients with a diagnosis of idiopathic paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia that was followed up at a regional hospital between 2003 and 2008. Results: A total of thirteen patients with idiopathic PKD were reviewed, all were Chinese. Six patients (46%) had a positive family history of PKD. The male-to-female ratio was 3.3:1, and a higher male preponderance rate of 6:1 was noted among the sporadic cases. Ten patients (77%) presented with dystonic attacks. All cases were initially diagnosed as other medical conditions such as focal epilepsy, motor tics, muscle spasm or psychogenic disorder. Response to low dose carbamazepine (100-200 mg daily) was excellent among the treated patients. The exact pathophysiologic mechanism in PKD was not well documented, and it was postulated that basal ganglia dysfunction or mutation in central nervous system ion channels were the major ones causing this paroxysmal disorder. Conclusion: The clinical characteristics of childhood idiopathic paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia in the Chinese population are very similar to previous published data, with the exception that in our study, a higher male to female ratio and a higher proportion of patients with initial presentation of dystonia are noted. Clinicians often encounter difficulty in recognising and diagnosing the disorder in the local setting. There is a need to enhance the medical professionals' awareness of this disorder in which treatment is highly effective and misdiagnosis will either delay treatment or put patients on unnecessary investigations. Early referral to specialist is advisable.


This study aims to provide understanding on how certain factors lead to the formation of clusters of areas of COVID-19 dispersion to guide policy decisions and government actions. It utilized an ecological study design which analyzes data at the population or group level. The units of observation are the barangays in Cebu City. These barangays are the nodes in the network and the edge considered is the presence of areas of convergence. In order to identify the nodes for this study, data mining was done to get the number of reported COVID-19 cases in Cebu City from the Cebu City Health Office as of May 23, 2020. Only thirty-nine (39) barangays with COVID-19 cases were included in the study. Results revealed that although public and private transportation is controlled during the implementation of Enhanced Community Quarantine, it is assumed that the spread started prior to implementation of strict prohibitions which led to the rise of cases later on. Even at the time of the strict community quarantine restrictions, economic activities related to basic necessities were still allowed. For instance, public markets were open with prohibitions related to schedules only. This implies that people are still mobile at certain times despite the presence of restrictions. People still converge in areas where economic activities are present.


This paper presents information on institutional investorsi and investment consultantsi attitudes towards and their performance assumptions for the alternative asset classes, property, and the mainstream markets. It also gives estimates of UK institutional exposures to these asset classes. Much of the analysis is based on a series of interviews and the first section outlines the methodology in this respect. To set the context for the remainder of the paper, this is followed by a brief introduction to investment decision making in the institutional market, and after this, a brief discussion of the asset classes which investors and consultants see as distinct. The rest of the paper covers the substantive issues. Institutional investor exposures and trends are detailed. This draws on both the discussions with investors and consultants, information specially provided by the WM Company, and published reports and surveys. The prospective performance assumptions are outlined and the divergences from the historic outturns and between respondents explored. Finally, the paper considers the allocations implied by these views and contrasts them with those indicated by the historic data and current institutional allocations.


Empirical evidence on the relationship between democracy and economic reforms is scarce, limited to few reforms and countries and for few years. This paper studies the impact of democracy on the adoption of economic reforms using a new dataset on reforms in the financial, capital, public, and banking sectors, product and labor markets, agriculture, and trade for 150 countries over the period 1960-2004. Democracy has a positive and significant impact on the adoption of economic reforms but there is no evidence that economic reforms foster democracy. Our results are robust to the inclusion of a large variety of controls and estimation strategies.


When interpreting seismic or well data in desktop software, it's easy to forget that the data are discretely sampled in space and time. Even when you look at an apparently continuous log curve, there are really only samples, typically every 0.1524 m (6 inches). When you display seismic data as wiggle traces, there are perhaps samples only every 2 or 4 ms in the time dimension. Some software lets you turn off the interpolation so you can see the discrete data samples, as in Figure 1a.


The interfacial reinforcement with interlaminar chopped fibers of piezoelectric composite under impact electro-mechanical load was studied using nonlinear finite element method. A meso- mechanical model based on the main toughness reinforcement mechanism of single fiber bridging and pull out was adopted, and then a tri-linear bridging law was obtained, while the interface chopped fibers by defining nonlinear bidirectional spring elements between coincident nodes on the two crack surfaces within bridging zone and the energy release rate was calculated using the virtual crack closure technique. The numerical investigation indicates that the interlaminar chopped fiber can effectively reduce the crack tip energy release rate whether the applied voltage is positive or negative, which was an effective technique improve the interfacial toughness of the piezoelectric composite adhesive structure.


Abstract As well as being important components of biodiversity in their own right, plants reflect the physical environment, are the primary target of many of the pressures acting on rangelands, and are relatively amenable to measurement. Hence, measurements based on plants have considerable potential to be efficient indicators of the response of rangeland biodiversity to land use. A recent report commissioned by the National Land and Water Resources Audit recommended a core set of 11 indicators, six of which relied on measurements of plants. These were trends in (i) the extent of clearing; (ii) the cover of native perennial ground-layer vegetation; (iii) the distribution and abundance of exotic plant species; (iv) the distribution and abundance of fire-sensitive species; (v) the distribution and abundance of grazing-sensitive species; and (vi) the distribution and abundance of listed threatened entities. Most indicated responses of plants to pressures acting on them. Only two (clearing and exotic plants) related to pressures. We recommend that the set be expanded to include two additional pressure indicators, one for grazing and another for fire, in recognition of their extent and potential influence on rangeland biodiversity. We also recommend that benchmark sites be included in all ground-based monitoring programmes to provide reference standards for those biotic indicators about which little is known. Assessments of the current state of knowledge about these indicators for two case-study regions, the Gascoyne–Murchison strategy area and Cape York Peninsula, have shown that it would be possible to monitor most of them directly at regional scales, but that current monitoring programmes fall short of achieving this.


The systemic venous system is a dynamic component of the cardiovascular system, and it has a key role in the maintenance of the appropriate filling of the chambers of the heart and hence of the stroke volume. Studies in man and animals have characterized the different mechanisms that control the three major components--the splanchnic, muscle, and cutaneous vascular beds--and have provided information on the changes caused by disease and by chemical agents. Concerning man, much of the information has of necessity been derived from the behavior of the limb veins, the control of which is different from that of the splanchnic capacitance vessels. Studies of the behavior of the splanchnic capacitance vessels are needed before the action of drugs that affect the cardiovascular system of man is fully understood.


Steroid 21-hydroxylase defi ciency (21-OHD) accounts for more than 90% of congenital adrenal hyperplasia. CAH newborn screening, in general, is based on 17-hydroxyprogesterone dosage (17-OHP), however it is complicated by the fact that healthy preterm infants have high levels of 17-OHP resulting in false positive cases. We report on molecular features of a boy born pre-term (GA = 30 weeks; weight = 1,390 g) with elevated levels of 17-OHP (91.2 nmol/L, normal < 40) upon neonatal screening who was treated as having CAH up to the age of 8 months. He was brought to us for molecular diagnosis. Medication was gradually suspended and serum 17-OHP dosages mantained normal. The p.V281L mutation was found in compound heterozygous status with a group of nucleotide alterations located at the 3` end intron 4 and 5' end exon 5 corresponding to the splice site acceptor region. Molecular studies continued in order to exclude the possibility of a nonclassical 21-OHD form. The group of three nucleotide changes was demonstrated to be a normal variant since they failed to interfere with the normal splicing process upon minigene studies. (Arq Bras Endocrinol Metab 2008; 52/8:1388-1392)


In June 2017, The National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) Special Publication 800-63-3b [12] established new guidelines with regard to how organizations should vet user passwords. Rather than composition policies that require a certain number of character sets, NIST now recommends that organizations check passwords against a list of banned passwords and reject those found on the list. As of July 2018, the 'Have I Been Pwned' list of known compromised passwords, alone, numbers more than half a billion strings [8] and this number is expected to grow larger as more online sites are compromised. This creates space and time efficiency challenges for software developers. A bloom filter [3], as described by Burton H. Bloom in his 1970 paper entitled, "Space/Time Trade-offs in Hash Coding with Allowable Errors", would be an efficient data structure to solve this problem. However, while software developers are very familiar with technologies and data structures such as relational databases, arrays, lists, trees and hash tables, they are not as familiar with less common, more abstract data structures. This work is intended to help software developers understand the complexity of lesser known data structures, such as bloom filters, and determine how and when to use them to solve large, real world problems. ACM Classification


Abstract The nectar secretion of Ziziphus flowers was studied by removing and measuring the nectar every four hours, for two consecutive days, from 88 flowers of four trees ('repeated sampling'). In another 120 flowers from the same trees, the accumulated sugar was measured at the end of the flowering stage. The mass of the nectar sugar was determined following the washing technique. The total amount of sugar per tree was calculated by multiplying the number of flowers per tree by the average mass of nectar sugar secreted per flower. The average mass of sugar produced per flower in repeated sampling was 0.79±0.54 mg/flower (range 0.09 - 2.48 mg). The average mass of sugar per flower for each of the four investigated trees was 1.43±0.53 mg, 0.72±0.27 mg, 0.94±0.39 mg and 0.37±0.26 mg, respectively. The differences among trees was statistically significant. For accumulated nectar, the overall average mass of sugar per flower was 0.55±0.23 mg (range 0.06 - 1.29 mg) and the average values for flowers on the investigated trees of Z. spina-christi were 0.69±0.26 mg, 0.41±0.16 mg, 0.51±0.16 mg and 0.53±0.21 mg; these variations were statistically significant. The average mass of nectar sugar calculated for the flowers with accumulated nectar sampling was significantly lower than the average mass of sugar recorded for repeated nectar sugar samplings (0.79±0.54 mg). According to this study, one Ziziphus tree is estimated to produce 3.6 kg of honey (range 2.2 - 5.2 kg), equivalent to about 900 kg of honey/ha (range 550 - 1300 kg). These figures indicate the high potential value of the plant for honey production. Nectar secretion was positively correlated with temperature, indicating the adaptation of the tree to hot climates.


A jaw crusher is a kind of size reduction machine which is widely used in mineral, aggregates and metallurgy fields. The performance of jaw crusher is mainly determined by the kinematic features of the swing jaw during the crushing process. The practical kinematic characteristic of the points located along the swing jaw plate are computed and discussed. Based on the analysis of the liner movement and the crushing parameters, force distribution along the swing jaw plate is obtained. The job is helpful for a design of new prototype of this kind of machine on optimizing the frame, designing the chamber and recognizing the crushing character.The interaction between jaw plates and material particles brings the inevitable and serious wear to the jaw plates during the jaw crusher operation, which not only decreases the efficiency, but also increases the cost and the energy consumption of the jaw crusher. Obtained results from the kinematic analysis of the moving jaw and the crushing force distribution analysis, the jaw plates wear is analyzed on a macroscopic level. It is helpful to design the crusher for improved performance.Efforts to decrease energy consumed in crushing have lead to consideration of decreasing the weight of the swing plate of jaw crushers. Design of lighter weight jaw crusher will require a more precise accounting of the stress and deflections in the crushing plates than is available with traditional technique. The design of swing jaw plate is carried out by using CAD i.e., jaw plate has been solid modeled by using CATIAV5R20. FEA is applied to assembled structure of swinging jaw plate and lever to optimize the width and location of the toggle plate along the swinging lever. The different comparisons of swing jaw plates behaviour, calculated with the traditional and the new FEA failure models with stiffeners, shows that 24% savings in plate weight may be possible.


Computer aided design software enables the rapid creation of any curved surface geometry, whereas it is neither a convenient nor an obvious task for engineers to efficiently create a discrete grid structure on a complex surface that also meets architectural requirements. This emphasizes the importance of grid generating tools and methods in the initial design stage. This paper presents an efficient design tool for the synthesis of free-form grid structures based on the concept of a "guide line". The process starts with defining a limited number of curves (named the "guide lines") on the surface, which are then used to determine the directions of the 'rods' of the grid. Two variations of this concept are introduced in the paper: the 'Guide Line Scaling Method' (GSM) and the 'Two Guide Lines with Two End Vertices Method' (2G2VM). Case studies on the British Museum Court Roof are provided which illustrate the successful execution of these procedures. The results show that the free-form grid structures generated with the proposed methods feature a regular shape and fluent lines, thereby satisfying aesthetic requirements. These two methods have been programmed into the software ZDMesher, enabling rapid grid generation for structural design purposes.


OBJECTIVE
Risk prediction using cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) in complex congenital heart disease tends to either focus on single diagnoses or complete cohorts. We aimed to evaluate patients with two distinct anatomies cared for at a single institution over the same time period to determine CPET variables associated with mortality.

DESIGN
All Fontan and tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) subjects with CPET between November 1, 2002 and December 31, 2014 and subsequently died were identified (cases). Cases were matched 1:3 to controls with similar age, underlying anatomy and timing of exercise test.

RESULTS
Of the 42 cases, 27 had a Fontan circulation and 15 with TOF. All Fontan patients had a low peak VO2 but there was no significant difference between cases and controls (52.5 ± 14.7 v. 57.4% ± 13.5% predicted, P = .11). Spirometry values were significantly lower in Fontan cases than controls (eg, FVC 67.4 ± 19.1 v 77.6% ± 14.9% predicted, P = .007). Spirometry values were also lower in TOF cases than controls (% predicted FVC 62.8 ± 16.7 v 75 ± 14, P = .006). In contrast to the Fontan analysis, both %peak predicted VO2 and VE/VCO2 slope were worse in TOF cases than controls (50.1 ± 13.5 v. 68.5% ± 15.0% predicted VO2 , P = .0004; 33.9 ± 12.9 v 26.6 ± 4.4, P = .002). Multivariable analysis also identified different predictors of mortality among the anatomic subgroups. Spirometric data (FVC) correlated most strongly with mortality in Fontan patients while the VE/VCO2 slope was most associated with outcome in TOF patients.

CONCLUSIONS
Variables most predictive of mortality in Fontan and TOF patients diverge but spirometry was abnormal and associated with mortality in both groups. When compared with age-matched controls, reduced FEV1 and FVC correlated most strongly with mortality in Fontan patients while VE/VCO2 slope correlated with mortality for TOF patients. These findings further support the importance of lung health in patients with complex congenital heart disease.


Doping poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly (styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) by polar solvent is a promising approach to decrease the resistivity of pristine PEDOT:PSS film. In this work, properties of doped PEDOT:PSS films by a series of alcohol additives, including ethanol, glycerol, meso-erythritol, xylitol, and D-sorbitol, are comparatively studied for the first time. The absorption spectra, surface morphology, solvent contact angle, hole mobility, work function, and carrier transport properties via Hall measurement of these doped films were systematically investigated to find out the dopant dependent PEDOT:PSS film property. Then these low-resistivity PEDOT:PSS films were applied as the hole transport layer in 20 wt% poly(diketopyrro lopyrrole-terthiophene) (PDPP3T) based bulk heterojunctions (BHJs), and the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 3.74% was achieved for the meso-erythritol doped PEDOT:PSS based BHJ, which is 21% higher than that (3.09%) of the pristine PEDOT:PSS based BHJ. Finally, the performance of all six BHJs is significantly improved by using lithium fluoride instead of bathocuproine, and the PCE for the meso-erythritol doped PEDOT:PSS based BHJ achieves 4.86%. Among these alcohol additives, meso-erythritol and D-sorbitol depict the optimum doping effect. Our results give important guidance to develop alcohol-additive doped PEDOT:PSS films in organic optoelectronic devices.


TLC is used extensively in nucleic acid chemistry to monitor the progress of chemical reactions, to assay fractions collected from a larger chromatographic separation (e.g., column chromatography), and to determine optimal conditions prior to column chromatography. This unit describes methods for spotting test compounds onto a TLC plate, developing the plate in a suitable solvent system, visualizing the results, and calculating the retention factor (Rf). Candidate compounds can be co‐spotted for identification without relying on Rf values.


Th e paper touches on the economic and political issues connected to water shortages in Asia, including droughts, and the economic consequences of the lack of quality water. Access to water is a global economic and political challenge and it's predicted to continue to be important issue for many countries because in the coming years we will be seeing rising water demand, on par with demographic growth. Water will become an increasingly valuable resource, especially in Asia. Th e data presented in the article based on statistics of water sources, total water withdrawal, access to drinking water, water consumption per capita, access to piped water indicate that Asian countries are prone to potential political confl icts caused by the struggle for water. In summary, since in Asia are no systematic evaluations of the negative eff ects of water-related problems for economies there is a need to create more accurate calculations and contingency plans. For this purpose such measures should be introduced in Asian countries.


We address scaling up equilibrium computation in Mean Field Games (MFGs) using Online Mirror Descent (OMD). We show that continuous-time OMD provably converges to a Nash equilibrium under a natural and well-motivated set of monotonicity assumptions. This theoretical result nicely extends to multi-population games and to settings involving common noise. A thorough experimental investigation on various single and multi-population MFGs shows that OMD outperforms traditional algorithms such as Fictitious Play (FP). We empirically show that OMD scales up and converges significantly faster than FP by solving, for the first time to our knowledge, examples of MFGs with hundreds of billions states. This study establishes the state-of-the-art for learning in large-scale multi-agent and multi-population games.


Objective: The purpose of this study was to establish the location and distribution of epithelial pearls and tooth buds in cleft palate fetuses, relative to the time of palate fusion. Design: The facial skeletal structures, dental laminae, tooth buds, and epithelial pearls were examined in seven spontaneously aborted human fetuses, of which five had unilateral or bilateral cleft lip and palate or cleft palate. The sectioned fetuses were reconstructed by 3D-computer technology. Results: Epithelial pearls were found in four of the investigated cases, of which one was a control specimen. They were located at the margins of the palatal shelves. In the cleft lip and palate cases, the cleft was found in the premaxilla between the first and second incisor tooth. The premaxilla was found to be hypoplastic in both bilateral cleft lip and palate cases and was totally absent in the unilateral cleft lip and palate case. The maxilla was hypoplastic in one case with unilateral cleft lip and palate. In all other specimens, it was developed symmetrically. Conclusions: The results indicate that cleft lip and palate development may occur after the fusion of the frontonasal prominence with the maxillary prominence and the palatal shelves, as well as a nonfusion of the palatal shelves in the secondary palate.


This paper deals with continuous-time filter transfer functions that resemble tuning curves at particular set of places on the basilar membrane of the biological cochlea and that are suitable for practical VLSI implementations. The resulting filters can be used in a filterbank architecture to realize cochlea implants or auditory processors of increased biorealism. To put the reader into context, the paper starts with a short review on the gammatone filter and then exposes two of its variants, namely, the differentiated all-pole gammatone filter (DAPGF) and one-zero gammatone filter (OZGF), filter responses that provide a robust foundation for modeling cochlea transfer functions. The DAPGF and OZGF responses are attractive because they exhibit certain characteristics suitable for modeling a variety of auditory data: level-dependent gain, linear tail for frequencies well below the center frequency, asymmetry, and so forth. In addition, their form suggests their implementation by means of cascades of N identical two-pole systems which render them as excellent candidates for efficient analog or digital VLSI realizations. We provide results that shed light on their characteristics and attributes and which can also serve as "design curves" for fitting these responses to frequency-domain physiological data. The DAPGF and OZGF responses are essentially a "missing link" between physiological, electrical, and mechanical models for auditory filtering.


The development of flexible organic–inorganic thermoelectric composites constitutes a promising material approach toward harvesting heat from the human body or environment to power wearable electronics. To this end, compositing one-dimensional inorganic materials, such as carbon nanotubes or metal nanowires, with organic polymers has demonstrated efficacy but also drawbacks: e.g., the Seebeck coefficient of an inorganic constituent is too low to meet the onset voltage requirement of electronics, and it is hard to attain coherent interfaces between the inorganic and organic constituents. Here, we proposed a dimensionality/morphology matching strategy and conducted a proof-of-principle study on (PVDF)/Ta4SiTe4 organic–inorganic composites. A record high normalized maximum power density of 0.13 W m−1 at a temperature difference of 35.5 K was obtained in prototype flexible thermoelectric modules made of (PVDF)/Ta4SiTe4 composites. This study attests to the efficacy of the dimensionality/morphology matching strategy and the potential of using such conformal semiconducting organic–inorganic composites in wearable electronics.


Bruce Campbell Ogilvie was born in Edinburgh and educated at George Heriot's School. After considering a variety of possible careers including forestry and meteorology, towards the end of his school years, he had the opportunity to spend time at his uncle's clinics and subsequently decided to study medicine. He started at the University of Edinburgh in 1959, where he also played rugby for the medical school. After graduating, apart from a year in obstetrics and neonatology Bruce undertook his initial postgraduate training in general medicine in Galashiels, Edinburgh, and Kirkcaldy. He gained his membership of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh with cardiology as his special subject, and as medical registrar in Kirkcaldy he helped establish one of the first coronary care units in a district general hospital in the UK.

The idea of the diagnostic detective poring over clues in a darkened room a …


Near‐field acoustical holography (NAH) is a strong experimental tool, which allows the visualization of the underlying physics in structural vibration, radiation, and scattering. NAH technology has been extending the scope of its application by algorithmic and experimental adaptations. However, it is recognized that NAH leaves behind some problems arising from the spatial FFT processing if one tries to extract more quantitative information for structural analysis. For example, it is not as easy to estimate the reflection coefficient of a rib attached on a plate as accurately as it is with the NAH measurement. Also, the precision in reconstructing the structural intensity seems to be relatively low. New methods to reconcile these difficulties are proposed in this paper: One is an ''extrapolation method'' to reduce the errors due to wraparound and zero padding; the other is an ''adaptive K‐space window method'' to choose the maximum wave number of the measured evanescent wave depending on the differentiatio...


In order to determine the effect of the surface conditions of a wing on the aerodynamic characteristics of an airplane, tests were conducted in the N.A.C.A. full-scale wind tunnel on the Fairchild F-22 airplane first with normal commercial finish of wing surface and later with the same wing polished. Comparison of the characteristics of the airplane with the two surface conditions shows that the polish caused a negligible change in the lift curve, but reduced the minimum drag coefficient by 0.001. This reduction in drag if applied to an airplane with a given speed of 200 miles per hour and a minimum drag coefficient of 0.025 would increase the speed only 2.9 miles per hour, but if the speed remained the same, the power would be reduced 4 percent.


Rapid urbanization, hectic lifestyle, and increased cost of living, have resulted significant impacts to the mental and physical well-being of Malaysians in general, especially those living the urban areas like the capital city of Kuala Lumpur, and the heritage cities of Penang and Malacca. These have resulted to the much needed demand for recuperation and revitalization. While, more and more types of healing therapies such as Balinese Spa, Thai Massage, Swedish Spa and Turkish Bath, dominating the healing market in Malaysia, the state of art of the Malay traditional spa is at stake. Thus, the call of an intervention on the decline of this type of spa resulted in the developmental framework of a healing village concept. This paper reports on the development of a healing village concept which integrates the uniqueness of the Malays local knowledge and culture in revitalizing a holistic wellness. Kampung Batu Hampar, located in Beseri, Malaysia, has been selected as the site for the Healing Village Project. This Project develops four subprograms, namely Cultural Troupe, Herbs Garden, Kampung (village) Stay and Malay Traditional Therapy---as the agent of recuperative for the Malaysians. In particular, these subprograms involve the following healing dimensions: socio-economic, culture, people and environment. The development of these four subprograms is based on the natural resources observed in Kampung Batu Hampar as well as findings revealed by informal interviews with the villagers.