Many species, habitats and ecosystems are subject to a wide variety of anthropogenic influences. This has given rise to a broad diversity of conservation and management problems around the world, and the scientific community undertakes a range of applied research programmes that reflects this diversity of conservation needs. However, there is also a large body of what is often termed pure research, for which there are no explicit conservation objectives or end-users, but which nevertheless provides information that is fundamental to many areas of applied conservation. This paper discusses obtaining a balance between focusing limited conservation research resources on species where there is a need to prevent their imminent extinction, while at the same time recognising the need for providing population monitoring for more abundant species and a foundation of species and ecosystem knowledge that facilitates a conservation approach based on prevention rather than cure. Thus it is argued that because current abundance does not provide a guaranteed protection from extinction or population decline, and because we need to understand the processes that lead to population changes, there is a strong argument for developing balanced research programmes that include both threatened and presently abundant species. The potential difficulties both in achieving a balanced approach between pure and applied research, and in formulating research priorities in the light of limited and patchy conservation research funding, are also discussed.


Abstract Objective As referrals to specialist palliative care (PC) grow in volume and diversity, an evidence-based triage method is needed to enable services to manage waiting lists in a transparent, efficient, and equitable manner. Discrete choice experiments (DCEs) have not to date been used among PC clinicians, but may serve as a rigorous and efficient method to explore and inform the complex decision-making involved in PC triage. This article presents the protocol for a novel application of an international DCE as part of a mixed-method research program, ultimately aiming to develop a clinical decision-making tool for PC triage. Method Five stages of protocol development were undertaken: (1) identification of attributes of interest; (2) creation and (3) execution of a pilot DCE; and (4) refinement and (5) planned execution of the final DCE. Result Six attributes of interest to PC triage were identified and included in a DCE that was piloted with 10 palliative care practitioners. The pilot was found to be feasible, with an acceptable cognitive burden, but refinements were made, including the creation of an additional attribute to allow independent analysis of concepts involved. Strategies for recruitment, data collection, analysis, and modeling were confirmed for the final planned DCE. Significance of results This DCE protocol serves as an example of how the sophisticated DCE methodology can be applied to health services research in PC. Discussion of key elements that improved the utility, integrity, and feasibility of the DCE provide valuable insights.


This article explores the implications of `the new genetics' for anthropology as questions of articulation, connection, and relation — or as the production of difference. Using Marilyn Strathern's model of merographic connection, and drawing on recent ethnographic work on the new genetics, including my own, the question of what kinds of connections and relations are being forged through emergent forms of genetic information is critically explored both empirically and theoretically. In particular, the theme of a genetic `gap', between `objective' genetic facts and socially-forged identities and categorizations, provides the occasion to contrast different ethnographic and theoretical models of the social meaning of DNA. I argue that the ways in which genetic information is always partial — in both senses, of being already invested with presumptions and always incomplete — have consequences for how genetic connections are formed, and genetic relationships are understood. The desire to extract `clear' biological messages from genes conflicts with the desire to instruct, and alter, them, recapitulating a familiar hybridity at the heart of English kinship thinking — that our biology is both made and bred.


The problem of organizing network infrastructure of the training complex is considered in this paper. Described training complex designed for loading/unloading machine operators training. The variant of the solution that satisfies the requirements is proposed. The work was supported by the Russian Ministry of Education (contract № 13.G25.31.0093) as part of the RF Government Regulation № 218 "On measures of state support for the development of cooperation of Russian higher education institutions and organizations implementing complex projects on high-tech production"


With the increase of wind energy conversion system (WECS) capacity, conventional two-level voltage source converters tend to be replaced gradually by multilevel neutral-point (NP)-clamped converters. In this study, the topology of a boost three-level (TL) chopper on the front of a TL diode-clamped inverter is used for direct-driven WECSs. The switch-signal phase delay control (SSPDC) is proposed for NP potential balancing of TL inverter based on the characteristics of boost TL chopper. As the boost chopper is also used for maximum power point tracking, the controller with dual PI regulators is designed for the chopper. Parameters of the two PI regulators are determined according to the state space averaging model of the boost TL chopper using SSPDC. In addition, the proposed NP balancing method is compared with two methods based on redundant vector selection. The validity of the proposed method is verified by analysis and simulation results.


This research is an anaysis about symbol. The object of the reserch the reseachers taken from The Chronicles of Narnia; Prince Caspian by Clive Staples Lewis. This novel tells the story about the life of animals that include their action, speech, thought and feeling which resemble human's attitude. That resemblance of human's attitude in the animals which is formed to be their characterization arouses the reseacher to regard them to be animal symbolization. This research concerned to analyze five animals in Lewis novel, animal symbolization that have some typical characterization. This research is based on two problems: What are the factors of process animal symbolization in Clive Staples Lewis's novel The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian construct the symbol? How does the symbolization describe animal's characterization in Clive Staples Lewis's novel The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian? The researcher uses the structural analysis method as the method of research by using qualitative data. The main matter in structural analysis method is the text of works itself. It is to dismantle and elaborate prudently the connected of literary works that result a comprehensive meaning. The researcher uses the Northrop Frye's theory of symbol on explaining the relation between structures of novel which can not be separated. Symbol Frye's theory is literal phase as the tool of analysis supported by the order theories such as the other theories of symbolism and the theories of characterization.

Literary symbol has the same meaning as that the being symbol in a work raises. Yet, symbol in literature obviously lies in the textual world in the form of words. The data are analyzed based on two points: The first, the factors of process animal symbolization. There are some factors that arouse symbol to emerge to the animals and human being, in which thought and feeling are involved in its forming. The second, the symbolization describing animal's characterization. Five animals in Lewis's; Aslan the lion, Trufflehunter the Badger, Reepicheep the Mice, The Bulgy Bears, and Pattertwig the squirrel, they tends to have some typical characterizations, which are discerned from the way they do, say, think and feel. Then these characterization become the elements of the appearance of symbol. The finding showed that in Lewis's novel there are five animals with typical characterizations and symbol that represent some meanings. The symbol is emerged by the characterizations of the animal themselves. The symbolization of the five animals is undergone through an activity of uniting and gathering some constructing elements formed by their characterizations. Characterizations as the part of the constructing elements then arouse symbol to appear.


'EKaraios. We know from three references in the scholia to Apollonius Rhodius (F.G.H. I F 17-18) that Hecataeus wrote of the Argonauts' expedition, and this would provide the obvious occasion for him to name Aeetes' mother. He is several times cited in company with Hesiod, e.g. sch. A. R. iv. 266 and 384; Lyd. de metis, iii. 5. Xeyet will naturally have replaced Xtyovai. The corrupt version, with Hecate for Hecataeus, was already before Eustathius; cf. p. 1651. 54.


The Internet provides a powerful disseminative ability for users to acquire information more efficiently and quickly. However, an increasingly large scale of data induces certain problems as users face a more serious information overload situation. By using an information retrieval technique, information push-delivery provides a good solution for users to acquire rich information from the Internet. In fact, providing personal service for users is one of the mo st important environment. In order to increase interaction between themselves and customers, many enterprises provide personal services to improve management performance and competitiveness. However, since the customers have different preferences for information received from the Internet, it seems necessary to design a personal information system to guarantee that the customers can receive the desired information. In this study, the fuzzy retrieval and similarity measurement techniques are applied to design a personal information push-delivery system. The data resulting from testing a group of students at Da-Yeh University, Changhua, Taiwan, shows that the satisfaction degree for the received information for all participants was 70%. These results indicate that the proposed system can effectively provide correct and interesting information to users.


Radical reduction of sulphur content in diesel fuel from the mid 90's had disastrous impact on diesel fuel's lubricity. Due to the desulphurization process the lubricity of diesel fuel dropped significantly and got crucial nowadays. The lubricity performance of the diesel fuel is evaluated by the HFRR test in Europe. The HFRR value is determined by measuring the equivalent wear scar diameter occurred on the steel ball specimen during the test. The topographies of these wear scars were investigated by AFM and correlation between the morphology of the worn surfaces and the different HFRR values has been found.


The reaction mechanism of the Cu+-catalyzed introduction of two all-carbon-substituted stereocenters in an ynamide system using a Grignard reagent, a zinc carbenoid, and an aldehyde, was investigated using density-functional theory. In contrast to the formation of an organocopper(I) compound and subsequent carbocupration reaction, previously postulated as the initial step, the reaction proved to instead proceed through an initial complexation of the substrate alkyne bond by the Cu+-catalyst, which primes this bond for reaction with the Grignard reagent. Subsequent addition of the zinc carbenoid then enables the nucleophilic attack on the incoming aldehyde, which is revealed as the rate-limiting step. Our computations have also identified the factors governing the regio- and setereoselectivity of this interesting reaction, and suggest possible paths for its further development.


This report elaborates an integrated vulnerability assessment concept, intended as a knowledge brokerage tool for decision-makers in the Baltic Sea Region. By developing an integrated vulnerability concept, in line with advances in regional and local vulnerability and adaptation research and based on the project's review of the scope and quality of current vulnerability assessments, the report supports discussions on what is needed for a systematic assessment of vulnerability in the region. The report rearticulates five critical challenges that potentially hamper realizing the full potential of vulnerability assessments to support and contribute to strategic decisions on climate adaptation: Adequate scope and goals; Ability to reflect the context; Inclusion of socio-economic stress; Clear connection between vulnerability assessment and decision-making on responses (and integrating knowledge and policies across sectors and levels); and Ability to merge top-down and bottom-up approaches. For each challenge, a principle has been formulated, which may serve as a guide in the development of the Baltic Sea Region Climate Change Adaptation Strategy.


This study was conducted to 1) determine the effect local of probiotic supplements on shell thickness, weight loss persentage, and Haugh unit of eggs which stored ten days; 2) determine the optimal level of supplements local of probiotic on shell thickness, weight loss presentage, and Haugh unit of eggs which stored ten days. This research was held on 08--19 December 2014 in the CV. Varia Agung Jaya henhouse laying in the District of Seputih Mataram, Center of Lampung Regency and continued on 20 December 2014--18 January 2015 in the Laboratory of Microbiology, Laboratory of Molecular Biology Faculty, University of Lampung. The study used completely randomized design (CRD) with 4 treatments of local probiotics in the diet (0%, 1%, 2%, and 3%) and 5 replications. Data obtained was analyzed using analysis of variance at 5% level and continued Orthogonal Polynomial test at 5% level. Based on these results we can conclude: effect of local probiotics in the diet (0,1,2, and 3%) no significant (P> 0.05) on the weight loss presentage and Haugh unit of eggs which stored ten days, but significant (P <0.05) on shell thickness. Increasing the percentage of local probiotic on the ration will improve shell thickness indicated by the regression equation ŷ = 0.42 + 0,24x, with r = 0.68 and R 2 = 0.47.


Multiple sclerosis (sclerosis multiplex-SM) is a chronic inflammatory disease, characterized by disseminated damage of the nervous system. It is most commonly diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 40, which puts it at the top of the lits of disabling neurological diseases in young and middle-aged adults. The third and fourth decade of life is the period of high activity, thus the progressive impairment of many functions of the nervous system is not only a medical problem, but also social and economic issues. Educational actions addressed to occupational health services physicians are needed because only adequate knowledge of the disease can prevent wrong decisions in certifying the ability to work.


Fiscal management and fiscal dependency are closely interlinked in any federal system. On account of improper fiscal management and enhanced development expenditure responsibilities, sub-national governments by and large end up with a huge resource gap, which necessitates fiscal and policy interventions by the higher level of government as part of bridging the resource gap. The first part of the current analysis explains the role of various sources of revenue in financing the basic resource gaps of the states and the second part decomposes the level and pattern of fiscal dependency on the different components of total transfers with respect to 14 major Indian states for the period 1981-82 to 2014-15. A phase-wise analysis of the states' dependency and its varying nature provides a meaningful insight into the relative role of the different sources of revenue in financing the total expenditure. The fiscal adjustment measures undertaken over time point to the poor fiscal health of the Indian states. The study finds that despite a fair improvement in revenue generation on the part of states, the basic resource gap continues to persist, with a steady rise in the total expenditure with an enhanced capital spending and a decline in the non-debt capital receipts and also that a shift in the pattern of financing the total expenditure from non-obligatory sources of revenue to obligatory sources of revenue has further enhanced heterogeneity across states in terms of fiscal management.


Land use change is one of the main biodiversity threats. Due to this change, natural habitats such as the South American temperate rainforests have been rapidly degraded, fragmented, and lost. Consequently, the management and conservation of the remaining forest is a priority and having an appropriate environmental policy is mandatory for this purpose. Conservation actions in the temperate rainforest have been addressed from an individual species perspective, giving less attention to the ecosystem level conservation. Moreover, conservation-related information has not reflected yet on environmental policy development. We used the case study of the monito del monte (Dromiciops gliroides) to illustrate how our current ecological and conservation knowledge of a species could be used to generate a new environmental policy. Dromiciops gliroides is a forest-dependent species with an important ecological role and quite unique evolutionary status. In order to guarantee the persistence of D. gliroides, we propose two habitat management components to be incorporated in management plans: structure and connectivity. Structure refers to spatial arrangement and key structural elements that determine habitat quality and connectivity refers to functional connectivity at the landscape level. The conservation of the monito del monte might also contribute to the conservation of many other forest-dependent species. By conserving such species it will be possible to conserve the ecological interactions and the eco-evolutionary processes, which ultimately determine the conservation of the temperate rainforest.


Four hundred women in labor were given, on a random basis, either 5 per cent dextrose in water or 5 per cent dextrose in normal saline infusions. Normotensive parturients receiving saline showed an increased incidence of elevated blood pressure during labor or postpartum while hypertensive parturients showed no significant increase in mean arterial blood pressure. Fetal serum sodium levels were not affected by whether the mother had received either the dextrose or saline intravenous solution.


We take a new look at an old concept. Textbook descriptions of cosmological redshift are examined. In particular, explanations that treat cosmological redshift as a continual loss of energy as the radiation propagates are found to be hard to reconcile with Quantum Theory. A new treatment of the subject is presented that compares cosmological redshift with gravitational redshift as demonstrated by the "classic" Pound Rebka experiment. Cosmological redshift in a spatially flat universe, is presented as being due to a rising "global" gravitational potential. The evidence for the Universe being essentially spatially flat is reviewed and found to be compelling. The relationship between the scale factor of the universe and the potential is found and a modifled version of the Robertson Walker metric is derived with the components of the metric tensor being expressed in terms of the global potential. A simple treatment of the quantum electromagnetic field is shown to be compatible with the notion of cosmological redshift, if the time coordinate of the background space-time in which the theory is expressed, is that of the new modifled Robertson Walker metric. Finally the possibihty of building an apparatus that would directly detect the rising potential is examined. For such an apparatus it is shown that in a non-accelerating universe the effects of the rising potential are unobservable in local experiments, but that there may be observable effects if the universe is accelerating.


Wireless communications have been dominated by transmission schemes based on conventional narrowband technology. Therefore, narrowband systems are unable to increase higher data-rates in wireless communication applications, which cause Inter Symbol Interference (ISI) due to multipath fading phenomenon that can be resolved at the receivers. Several implementation schemes for Impulse-Radio (IR) Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) systems have been presented. These include methods such as Transmit Reference (TR) and Frequency-Shifted Reference (FSR), which can overcome the complexity of channel estimation by transmitting reference pulses separated by a shift in time and frequency, respectively. Code-Shifted Reference (CSR) has been proposed for IRUWB transmission. The CSR scheme with UWB systems has been found to achieve a better performance than the previous schemes. In order to improve system performance, the CSR scheme was extended to the Differential CSR (DSCR) to reduce the power used to transmit the reference pulse sequence. This Paper includes the methods of Rake Receiver, TR, Frequency-Shift Reference (FSR), emerging CSR and DCSR. A brief discussion is given for each method followed by a performance comparison between DCSR and CSR, TR and FSR Rake methods.


The Cox-Ingersoll-Ross and Vasicek models are two broadly implemented spot rate models. There does not seem to be any comparison of the two models based on time series data of all maturity yields (panel data). It is difficult to compare them in the same circumstances because the non-central x-square distribution of the CIR model should be approximated by an appropriate normal distribution in application of a Kalman filter to panel data while the distribution of the Vasicek model follows a normal distribution without any approximation. Using a semiparametric estimation technique that does not assume any distribution for the models, the authors compare results for the panel data of the JGB market. They also examine whether two-factor extension of the models is effective and appropriate.


The last few years has seen a proliferation of the Internet, making it accessible to several millions of users worldwide. At the same time, the use of mobile devices such as cellular telephones and personal digital assistants (PDA) has been on the rise. Currently, we are beginning to see the convergence of these technologies whereby access to the Internet and other (potentially private) packet switched networks happens via mobile devices. The Internet protocol (IP) and the associated TCP/IP protocol suite - which is used in the Internet - is beginning to find its way into mobile devices as well. However, the cellular-IP convergence strategy and the extent to which the TCP/IP protocol suite is being embraced varies from one cellular standard to another. We compare differences in cellular-IP convergence strategies and discuss the impact that this has on cellular terminals.


Energy Performance Contracts (EPC) are contractual agreements between beneficiaries and energy service pro-viders, where budgets are established in relation to a determined level of energy performance. Hence, the prob-lem of forecasting the energy performance of buildings in the EPC tendering phase becomes relevant for the reliability of the overall contract. Unfortunately, fuzziness and incompleteness often characterize the technical information supporting EPC call for tenders. Furthermore, buildings that are the subjects of EPCs are normally quite complex public buildings (hospitals, schools, etc.) usually relatively old and not technically well known. Gathering information about such buildings is a time consuming and expensive process within the usually short time frame of EPC call for tenders. This paper investigates the application of Grey-Box modelling to the energy performance forecast of complex buildings, in perfectly and poorly informed operational cases. The proposed methodology offers a potential solution to the EPC operational re-quirements since it requires a substantially reduced parameter set. Results show that the proposed Grey-Box modelling can be used to arrange a calibration set-up with good forecasting performance. Furthermore, Grey-Box modelling allows an effective management of the information uncertainty usually present in the EPC context.


Summary.  Platelet adhesion receptors play a critical role in vascular pathophysiology, and control platelet adhesion, activation and aggregation in hemostasis, thrombotic disease and atherogenesis. One of the key emerging mechanisms for regulating platelet function is the programmed autologous cleavage of platelet receptors. Induced by ligand binding or platelet activation, proteolysis at extracellular (ectodomain shedding) or intracellular (cytoplasmic domain deactivation) sites down‐regulates the adheso‐signaling function of receptors, thereby controlling not only platelet responsiveness, but in the case of ectodomain shedding, liberating soluble ectodomain fragments into plasma where they constitute potential modulators or markers. This review discusses the underlying mechanisms for dual proteolytic pathways of receptor regulation, and the impact of these pathways on thrombus formation and stability in vivo.


We have developed a new approach for reflection seismic imaging using microseismic waveform data. We took the specific character of microseismic downhole data into account and were able to image regions in the direct vicinity or inside of a seismically active zone. We used a directional migration method that reduced imaging artifacts caused by the low aperture of the data, but required estimation of the wavefield polarization. We also used hodogram analysis to identify parts of data that provided reliable polarization estimates. Only these parts were then used for imaging, whereas the rest of the data are excluded. The approach was successfully applied to microseismic waveforms recorded during and after the stimulation of the enhanced geothermal system in Basel, Switzerland. This data set included more than 2000 events recorded at five sparsely distributed borehole sensors. The reflection images revealed a distinct network of reflectors in the vicinity of the open hole section within the injection well. The results were compared with the injection borehole ultrasonic image revealing a quite good agreement. Combined analysis of imaged reflectors, event locations, and event focal mechanisms indicated that the approach resolved mostly aseismic highly permeable fluid pathways, whereas most of the seismicity occurred in the second-order fractures.


In this research, the urea-formaldehyde prepolymer and multilayer hot-press drying was used to obtain modified wood. The timbers were compressed and dried by the multilayer hot-press drying kiln. The combination of chemical modification and hot-press drying can improve the drying rate, which can also enhanced the physical and mechanical properties. Based on the findings, the basic density of modified wood improved 25.2 %, the bending strength and the bend elastic modulus improved 15.6 % and 25.0 % respectively. The dimensional stability of the treatment appeared to be slightly higher than that of untreated samples under the same conditions for processing temperatures and times. The improving dimensional stability of wood mainly was attributed to the prepolymer that changes wood cell wall components such as the degradation of the hemicelluloses and cellulose during hot-press drying treatment. The XRD results indicated that the degree of crystallinity increased to 35.45 %from 31.25 %. The TGA results show that the degradation of the samples can be divided into two step, both of the maximum weight loss velocity temperature of the two step increased to 266 °C, 355 °C from 244 °C and 341 °C.


The solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is an electrochemical device generating of electric energy, constituted of cathode, electrolyte and anode; that together they form a unity cell. The study of the solid oxide half-cells consisting of cathode and electrolyte it is very important, in way that is the responsible interface for the reduction reaction of the oxygen. These half-cells are ceramic materials constituted of strontium-doped lanthanum manganite (LSM) for the cathode and yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) for the electrolyte. In this work, two solid oxide half-cells have been manufactured, one constituted of LSM cathode thin film on YSZ electrolyte substrate (LSM - YSZ half-cell), and another constituted of LSM cathode and LSM/YSZ composite cathode thin films on YSZ electrolyte substrate (LSM - LSM/YSZ - YSZ half cell). The cathode/electrolyte solid oxide half-cells were characterized by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The results have been presented with good adherence between cathode and electrolyte and, LSM and YSZ phases were identified.


Maternal, obstetrical, and neonatal complications are increased in women with poorly controlled thyroid disease during pregnancy. Establishing the correct diagnosis and effectively managing Graves' hyperthyroidism (GH) remains challenging for physicians due to several reasons including, but not limited to changes in thyroid physiology during pregnancy, effect of pregnancy on laboratory testing, and teratogenicity associated with anti-thyroid drugs. This paper will review the diagnosis and management of GH in pregnancy and address: (I) preconception counseling; (II) alterations in thyroid physiology in pregnancy; (III) thyroid laboratory testing; (IV) etiologies of hyperthyroidism; (V) pregnancy-related complications; (VI) maternal management; (VII) neonatal management; (VIII) ATDs and the associated maternal and fetal complications; and (IX) post-partum management. Establishing the diagnosis of GH early, maintaining euthyroidism throughout the duration of pregnancy, and avoiding overtreatment of the fetus with antithyroid drugs (ATDs) is essential to reducing the risk of complications for the mother, fetus, and newborn. The successful care of these complex patients requires close collaboration between the endocrinologist, maternal-fetal-medicine specialist, obstetrician, neonatologist, and pediatric endocrinologist.


Background: Cancer diseases especially gastric cancer is one of the most important problems in Iran and many other countries. Whereas, determination of epidemiological characteristics of gastric cancer is very important, this study carried out with the aim of epidemiologic survey of gastric cancer in Fars province. Methods: This study was performed on total gastric cancer cases that registered in Tumor Registry Center of Fars province between20012006. Necessary information was gathered from cancer registry forms and hospital files. All statistical analysis was performed by using SPSS (V.13) software. Results: Of 442 gastric cancer patients 68.6% were males and 31.4% were females. Mean age at diagnosis was 58.4 years (SD=14.46), for men 60.72 years (SD=13.82) and for women 53.29 years (SD=14.48). In total, 91.5% of patients were married, most of men were farmer and greatest parts of women were housewife. History of smoking reported by 52.8% of cases. Most prevalent clinical finding in patients were epigastric pain, loss weight and loss appetite, respectively. In 74% of patients, time interval between beginnings of first symptoms until diagnosis of disease was more than one month and in 40.7% of cases, grade of tumor at diagnosis time was poorly differentiated. Conclusion: According to these results, deduction of risk factors and early detection in at risk subjects such as smokers, high risk occupations and individuals with family history of cancer, is important for prevention and control of gastric cancer.


ABSTRACT Extensive research has produced many insights into the dynamics of performance management systems. Spreading these complex insights among students and practitioners can be a daunting task. Gathering new insights can be equally challenging. This article introduces a novel tool for teaching and researching performance management, reporting on the design and first use of a free online management game. Players take the role of a hospital manager trying to satisfy multiple stakeholders through applying different performance management instruments. While students learn about the complexities of performance management, researchers gather data about the pathways individuals pursue while navigating performance management systems.


American states and municipalities have so many minor traffic regulations that every time a driver gets behind the wheel of a car he or she is likely to commit multiple violations. The violation of any traffic regulation empowers police officers to stop the vehicle, ticket and, in some states, arrest the motorist. Police are physically unable to stop and ticket, let alone arrest, every motorist committing a traffic violation. Instead, police are vested with unlimited discretion when choosing which motorists to stop, warn, ticket, or arrest. So long as there is probable cause for a traffic violation, courts will not entertain a challenge to the officer's discretion to stop a specific motorist, even if the decision to stop is based on race. The same discretion applies to expanding a traffic stop into an inquiry about other more serious offenses. Consequently, the commission of a minor traffic or equipment offense exposes the motorist to questioning about serious offenses, especially drug offenses. These inquiries often lead to the officer seeking permission to search the vehicle. The Supreme Court's failure to impose meaningful limitations upon traffic stops has ensured that police have unlimited discretion. This article suggests that the Supreme Court reconsider its uninterrupted line of cases over the past fifteen years that have stripped the Fourth Amendment of its meaningfulness on the roads and highways of America. The article proposes: (1) that police be limited in the stops that they can make, requiring that they serve a highway safety purpose; (2) that the commission of a minor traffic offense not be sufficient justification for a custodial arrest without a showing of additional need; (3) that police not be allowed to escalate every traffic stop into an inquiry about more serious offenses without reasonable suspicion; and (4) that police demonstrate a reason for requesting to search a minor traffic offender's vehicle. Without such reform American motorists will continue to be subject to the whims of police officers every time they step foot in their cars.


Minimal requirements of amino acids and vitamins were determined in chemically defined medium for five strains of Clostridium difficile. Cysteine, isoleucine, leucine, proline, tryptophan and valine were essential amino acids for growth of C. difficile. Arginine, glycine, histidine, methionine and threonine enhanced growth. Biotin, pantothenate and pyridoxine were essential vitamins. A defined medium containing the minimal requirements of amino acids and vitamins produced a rapid and heavy growth which was comparable to that in modified brain heart infusion, a complex medium. Adenine was able to substitute for glycine and threonine, suggesting that the two amino acids may be utilized as precursors of purine nucleotides. The defined medium developed here will assist physiological and biochemical studies on C. difficile.


Abstract In recent years there multiple studies have been carried out on early diagnosis of scoliosis on school and preschool children. The diagnosis and evaluation of scoliosis is done by carrying out X-rays. A protocol is implemented for tracking the evolution of a scoliosis which involves both clinical control and imaging (X-ray) every 6 months, until the end of the growth period of the child. Because investigations such as X-ray and CT, can have harmful effects on the child's growing body (recent studies have shown that X-ray affects the skin, eyes, hematopoietic tissue, gonads and may cause cancer), new methods for diagnosing and tracking the evolution in time were researched. The present paper tries to present the current methods used in the diagnosis and assessment of scoliosis evolution in time, pointing out the main advantages and disadvantages of each method. There are a few methods developed in recent years in Germany by Zebris Medical Gmbh (using mapping with ultrasonic digital equipment), in Canada by InSpeck (using three-dimensional mapping through digital image acquisition) but used on a small scale. The newly developed methods have the advantage of being non-invasive, painless, non-irradiating and they can be used regardless of health status or gender. Although medical technology has developed very rapidly in recent years, radiology remains the most common method of investigation used for scoliosis. Certainly, in the near future the methods presented in this paper could be used more widely, for the benefits arising from their use.


We present results from deep imaging linear and circular polarimetry of the massive star-forming region NGC 6334-V. These observations show high degrees of circular polarization (CP), as much as 22% in the Ks band, in the infrared nebula associated with the outflow. The CP has an asymmetric positive/negative pattern and is very extended (∼80″ or 0.65 pc). Both the high CP and its extended size are larger than those seen in the Orion CP region. Three-dimensional Monte Carlo light-scattering models are used to show that the high CP may be produced by scattering from the infrared nebula followed by dichroic extinction by an optically thick foreground cloud containing aligned dust grains. Our results show not only the magnetic field orientation of around young stellar objects, but also the structure of circumstellar matter such as outflow regions and their parent molecular cloud along the line of sight. The detection of the large and extended CP in this source and the Orion nebula may imply the CP origin of the biological homochirality on Earth.


Purpose: Liposomal doxorubicin (D) and bevacizumab (A) are active single agents in gynecologic and breast malignancies which share a resistance mechanism: upregulation of hypoxia inducible factor (HIF-1α). We, therefore, added temsirolimus (T), which inhibits HIF-1α, to D and A (DAT). Trial objectives were assessment of safety, preliminary efficacy, and identification of biological response correlates. Patients and Methods: Cycle length was 21 days, with IV D, A, and T on day 1; T on days 8 and 15 (3+3 dose-escalation design with expansion cohorts). Mutational assays for PIK3CA, BRAF, KRAS, and immunhistochemistry for PTEN loss were conducted. Results: This article details 74 patients with gynecologic and breast malignancies who received at least one dose of drug on study. Median patient age: 52 (27–79); prior regimens: 4 (1–11). Responses: 1 (1.4%) complete response (CR), 14 (18.9%) partial responses (PR), and 13 (17.6%) with stable disease (SD) ≥ 6 months (total = 37.9%). The most common grade 1 toxicities were fatigue (27%) and anemia (20.2%). Notable grade 3/4 toxicities: thrombocytopenia (9.5%), mucositis (6.7%), and bowel perforation (2.7%). PIK3CA mutations or PTEN loss were identified in 25 of 59 (42.3%) of tested patients. Among these, nine (36%) achieved CR/PR and four (16%) had SD ≥ 6 months (CR+PR+SD ≥ 6 months = 52%). Conclusions: DAT is well tolerated with manageable side effects. Responses observed warrant further evaluation. Mutational analyses were notable for a high percentage of responders with phosphoinositide-3-kinase pathway aberrations. Clin Cancer Res; 17(21); 6840–6. ©2011 AACR.


OBJECTIVES
Impaired verbal declarative memory has been proposed as a trait marker for adult bipolar disorder. However, similar impairments in juvenile-onset bipolar disorder have not been yet documented. Here, we assessed declarative memory in a large sample of clinically well-characterized children with bipolar disorder.

METHODS
Forty-one children and adolescents with bipolar disorder [21 bipolar I disorder (BP-I), 10 bipolar II disorder (BP-II), and 10 bipolar disorder, not otherwise specified (BP-NOS)] and 17 demographically matched healthy participants completed a standardized learning and memory test.

RESULTS
BP-I children recalled and recognized significantly fewer words than healthy subjects, whereas children with BP-II and BP-NOS did not differ from controls. However, individuals with BP-NOS made more perseverative errors and intrusions than the other groups. Severity of mood symptomatology was not associated with memory performance in any bipolar subtype.

CONCLUSIONS
Findings suggest that declarative memory impairments in juvenile BP-I are similar to those seen in the adult form of the illness. These impairments do not appear to be secondary to clinical state; rather, they may reflect trait-related impairments. Distinct performance patterns in BP-I, BP-II, and BP-NOS suggest that the broadly defined phenotype is significantly heterogeneous, and may not be informative for pathogenetic investigations of bipolar disorder.


The residual wave-front error after correction by an adaptive optics system (AOS) with a laser guide star (LGS) as reference for the wave-front sensing is computed by using the wave-front expansion on the Zernike polynomials. The polynomial angular correlations are calculated for a spherical wave front coming from the LGS used to compensate for a plane wave front coming from a natural star and also for two arbitrary spherical wave fronts. The plot of decorrelation versus angular distance between the natural star and the LGS is much steeper for the sodium LGS than for the Rayleigh LGS. A D/n dependence is found for the 50% correlation angle, where D is the telescope diameter and n is the polynomial radial degree. For focal anisoplanatism a modal d0 parameter [d0′(J)] is computed versus J, the number of corrected polynomials. The Rayleigh LGS has the capacity for large-field-of-view observations but with poor image quality and a low-order AOS, while the sodium LGS is suitable for high-image-quality observations with a high-order AOS but at the price of a small field of view. The isoplanatic angle is computed for different D and observation wavelengths. For D=8 m and a sodium LGS, the wavelength must be larger than 1.6 μm in order to produce a λ/5 wave-front error.


Data derived from study into the dietary pattern of 354 students at the Mogilev Technological Institute are presented. From pertinent questioning it follows that not a small number of students fail to observe the standard nutritional regimen, this being the case more often among students living in hotels or hiring private flats than among those who live with their families. The results of these investigations helped introduce a number of proposals on rationalization of the students dietary.


Multicultural education is an educational reform movement. This process is mainly aimed to change the structure of educational institutions. At this stage, students who are members of diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural groups will have an equal chance to achieve better academic values in school. Multi-religion is a situation where there is an existence of some religions in a certain area in which exists in a multi-cultural region. Conflicts which might emerge in Singkil of Aceh are caused by some factors. Among others: lack of the understanding through the existence of multicultural, lack of solidarity among the religious people (multi-religion), and the people from the outside of Aceh Singkil who wants to destroy the stability in this area.  Economic disparities and live in poverty for many years is also as another factor rising this conflict, even if it is not the dominant factor.


The horticultural characteristics and chemical composition of seven advanced raspberry selections from British Columbia ('1-36-40', '1-86-21', '150-14', '2-1-74', '90-5-30', '92-6-41', '97-29-35') were compared to three commercially grown raspberry cultivars (Meeker, Saanich, Malahat). In general, the advanced lines had better horticultural characteristics and fruit quality than commercial raspberry cultivars. '1-50-14' line stands out due to its high yield, larger fruit size, excellent firmness, glossiness, longer shelf life and significantly higher oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) value compared to other selections and known cultivars, except 'Meeker'. Higher yield was observed for '1-36-40', '1-86-21', '1-50-14', '2-1-74', '90-5-30' and '97-29-35' selections, and 'Meeker'. No significant differences in fruit size were found between the genotypes tested. Significant differences in the total phenol content was observed among the genotypes, the higher amount was determined in genotypes '1-36-40', '1-86-21' and '2-1-74' while the lowest in selection'97-29-35'. 'Meeker' and '1-50-14' had the highest ORAC while 'Saanich' had the lowest one. A significant correlation was observed between antioxidant capacity and total phenolic content among tested genotypes (r = 0.53542, P<0.05).


The use of industrial residues as construction materials is presented as an interesting functional, economic and environmental alternative for improving low traffic roads, and in particular, waste from the construction industry with high brick dust content. This paper presents the hydraulic properties in unsaturated conditions obtained for a sandy soil stabilized with brick dust, activated with lime residues. the characteristic curves were determined considering the effect of moisture curing or drying and wetting path. The curves obtained experimentally were adjusted with the models proposed by Van Genuchten, Fredlund & Xing and Brooks & Corey. Additionally permeability tests were performed with varying head. The results indicate that the addition of the stabilizer increases the saturation moisture in the soil, causing a decrease in the pores of the sample allowing greater water retention. © 2016 International Society for Rock Mechanics. All rights reserved.


The effects of vermicomposts on plant parasitic, fungivorous and baterivorous nematode populations were investigated in grape (Vitis vinifera) and strawberry (Fragaria ananasa) field crops. Commercially-produced vermicomposts derived from recycled paper, and supermarket food waste were applied to replicated plots at the rates of 2.5 t ha - 1 or 5.0 t ha - 1 for the grape crop and 5.0 t ha - 1 or 10 t ha - 1 for the strawberry crops. All vermicompost treatments were supplemented with inorganic fertilizer to balance the initial availability of macronutrients especially N, to the crop in all plots. After extraction from soil samples in Baermann funnels, nematodes were identified to trophic levels under a stereomicroscope. Soils from all of the vermicompost-treated plots contained smaller populations of plant parasitic nematodes than soil from inorganic fertilizer-treated plots. Conversely, populations of fungivorous nematodes and to lesser extent bacterivorous nematodes increased in the vermicompost-treated plots in comparison with those in plots treated with inorganic fertilizers.


AIM: The cag pathogenicity island (PAI) is one of potential virulence determinants of Helicobacter pylori. The Mongolian gerbil is a suitable experimental animal for the screening of virulence factors of H pylori.METHODS: Five-week-old Mongolian gerbils were inoculated with a standard H pylori strain (ATCC 43504)possessing the cag PAI or a clinical isolate lacking the genes' cluster (OHPC-0002). The animals were killed at 2, 4, 8, 24 and 48 wk after inoculation (n = 5 each), and macroscopic and histopathological findings in the stomachs were compared.RESULTS: In gerbils infected with ATCC 43504, a more severe degree of infiltration of polynuclear and mononuclear cells and lymphoid follicles was observed from 4 wk after inoculation compared to gerbils infected with OHPC-0002 especially in the antrum and transitional zone from the fundic to pyloric gland area. In addition,glandular atrophy, intestinal metaplasia, gastric ulcer and hyperplastic polyps were noted in gerbils infected with ATCC 43504, whereas only mild gastric erosions occurred in those infected with OHPC-0002.CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that the cag PAI could be directly involved in gastric immune and inflammatory responses in the Mongolian gerbils, leading to a more advanced gastric disease.


"Searching for meaning" leads to approaching three levels. The level of the meaning is registered in an oriented space, using the elements of a code. The symbolic level is that of the relation between meaning and meant: to what extent does the subject have access to the world of meanings? This level encompasses two dimensions: one is paradigmatic, through which the subject associated the elements of the vocabulary with words from the same semantic field (the author refers to a survey carried out on 145 normal children as well as with reading problems, which brings to light a very characteristic evolution in the children with problems); the other dimension is syntagmantic: to what extent does the subject have access to the meaning of the text he is tackling? The third level is psycho-affective: what is the underlying meaning that the act of reading takes on for certain people? To what extent does the difficulty of reading take on the dimension of a symptom, with its unconscious roots? The author presents the details of two cases from which many lesions can be drawn. Steps to be taken on the therapeutic level are given at the end of the study.


High intensity interval training (HIIT) can produce similar if not greater improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness, an independent protective factor against premature death, and some health-related parameters compared to conventional, moderate intensity continuous training (MICT). HIIT takes substantially less time to complete and this enhances its potential in public health promotion given that lack of time is one of the barriers to long-term adherence to physical activity and exercise training. HIIT describes exercise bouts of 10 s to 4 min with 'all-out' maximal effort or intensities of 85–95% of maximum heart rate (HRmax) interspersed by periods of low activity or rest (30 s to 4 min). MICT describes prolonged continuous exercise at 60–80% HRmax.

Despite the accumulated evidence, very little improvement has been made in terms of HIIT implementation in real life settings given that most studies lack the required level of ecological validity (most are of healthy volunteers training under research-based conditions—this is far from …


There is an increasing emphasis on using natural processes, including riparian forest restoration, to enhance the ecological, hydrological and geomorphological functioning of watercourses. However, we have insufficient knowledge on how the supply and retention of in‐channel wood from riparian forest stands changes with age, with inferences typically based on data from terrestrial forests. This presents a challenge in estimating the efficacy and functional lifespan of restoration projects. In this paper, we use a riparian forest growth model to show there is a lag of up to 40–50 years between the start of forest growth and trees delivering wood to the channel that is large enough to resist fluvial transport, anchor logjams and so increase channel complexity and hydraulic resistance. Resource managers need to account for realistic timescales over which changes promoted by riparian woodland restoration will occur and may need to consider using interim engineered logjams as the forest develops.


The activities of companies are executed according to the integration of multiple internal and external tensions in different communities and various branches of industry. In this context, innovations seem necessary to remain effective and to adapt itself to the constant evolutions of the markets. Sustainable development can be an opportunity to throw policy of innovation and place the sustainable development in the heart of strategic reflection of the company. Therefore, it constitutes an indispensable asset to strengthen the dialogue and the opening on the word in which we evolve. The integration of the idea of durability in the food processing industry by the implementation of a common system of management of the risks according to the food codex and by means of the method HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control points) aims at ensuring a better quality of life through the implementation of actions centered on health, by the control of the food chains. Our contribution, which becomes integrated into context, consists in bringing to light the factor health as a pillar into interface with the other themes to know the social, the economy and the environment.


Cerebrovascular small vessel disease is now believed to be the major source of vascular burden of the brain. Cerebrovascular small vessel disease and Alzheimer's disease appear to represent pathophysiologic and clinical continua, rather than dichotomous entities. It appears that common etiopathologic mechanisms underlie the clinical presentation of both of these conditions. Therefore, the staging procedures that have been developed for the clinical continuum of age-associated memory impairment, mild cognitive impairment, and the progressive dementia of Alzheimer's disease appear to be applicable for the same continua in cerebrovascular small vessel disease. Although temporal and prognostic aspects have been studied for the Alzheimer's-related portions of this clinical staging continuum, they remain to be elucidated for cerebrovascular small vessel disease.


Cerebral malaria, characterized by multiple seizures, coma, and other neurological abnormalities, is a particularly devastating complication of Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Children in sub-Saharan Africa comprise the most susceptible group to cerebral malaria worldwide, with more than 575,000 cases each year. Long-term neurological deficits – including motor impairments, language regression, cognitive deficits, behavioural abnormalities, and epilepsy – occur in approximately 25% of child survivors of cerebral malaria, which is now recognized as the leading cause of childhood neurodisability in sub- Saharan Africa. These neurological sequelae generate an enormous economic and social burden as child survivors' impaired intellectual function and learning abilities have a substantial impact on their prospects for education and future employment. The aim of this article is to provide a brief overview of the current literature on the neurological sequelae of pediatric cerebral malaria, as well as offer suggestions for future research. While the current understanding of risk factors, disease mechanisms, and treatments for these neurological deficits is lacking, recent studies have shown great promise in revolutionizing the way that cerebral malaria is diagnosed and treated. It is speculated that an inflammatory response to malarial antigens in neural blood vessels triggers a cascade of events that ultimately results in cerebral tissue damage, high intracranial pressure, and hemorrhaging into the brain, resulting in long-term brain damage. Potential risk factors for neurological deficits include the duration of coma, the occurrence of multiple seizures, and high fever. Malaria retinopathy, angiopoietin-1 and -2, and EEG patterns are being investigated as potential biomarkers to improve the definitive diagnosis of cerebral malaria. New drug therapies that endeavor to prevent long-term neurological deficits after cerebral malaria include erythropoietin and statins, as well as cognitive rehabilitation and physical and speech therapy, the latter having been shown to be successful among survivors.


Two new iterative soft decision decoding methods for Reed-Solomon (RS) codes are proposed. These methods are based on bit level belief propagation (BP) decoding. In order to make BP decoding effective for RS codes, we use an extended binary parity check matrix with a lower density and reduced number of 4-cycles compared to the original binary parity check matrix of the code. In the first proposed method, we take advantage of the cyclic structure of RS codes. Based on this property, we can apply the belief propagation algorithm on any cyclically shifted version of the received symbols with the same binary parity check matrix. For each shifted version of received symbols, the distribution of reliability values will change and deterministic errors can be avoided. This method results in considerable performance improvement of RS codes compared to hard decision decoding. The performance is also superior to some popular soft decision decoding methods. The second method is based on information correction in BP decoding. It means that we determine least reliable bits and by changing their channel information, the convergence of the decoder is improved. Compared to the first method, this method needs less BP iterations (less complexity) but its performance is not as good.


Cluster expansion (CE) is effective in modeling the stability of metallic alloys, but sometimes cluster expansions fail. Failures are often attributed to atomic relaxation in the DFT-calculated data, but there is no metric for quantifying the degree of relaxation. Additionally, numerical errors can also be responsible for slow CE convergence. We studied over one hundred different Hamiltonians and identified a heuristic, based on a normalized mean-squared displacement of atomic positions in a crystal, to determine if the effects of relaxation in CE data are too severe to build a reliable CE model. Using this heuristic, CE practitioners can determine a priori whether or not an alloy system can be reliably expanded in the cluster basis. We also examined the error distributions of the fitting data. We find no clear relationship between the type of error distribution and CE prediction ability, but there are clear correlations between CE formalism reliability, model complexity, and the number of significant terms in the model. Our results show that the \emph{size} of the errors is much more important than their distribution.


In almost every area of production, German theater of the past forty years has achieved a level of distinction unique in the international community. This flourishing theatrical culture has encouraged a large number of outstanding actors, directors, and designers as well as video and film artists. The dominant figure throughout these years, however, has remained the director. In this stimulating and informative book, noted theater historian Marvin Carlson presents an in-depth study of the artistic careers, working methods, and most important productions of ten of the leading directors of this great period of German staging. Beginning with the leaders of the new generation that emerged in the turbulent late 1960s - Peter Stein, Peter Zadek, and Claus Peymann, all still major figures today - Carlson continues with the generation that appeared in the 1980s, particularly after reunification - Frank Castorf, Anna Viebrock, Andrea Breth, and Christoph Marthaler - and concludes with the leading directors to emerge after the turn of the century, Stefan Pucher, Thomas Ostermeier, and Michael Thalheimer. He also provides information not readily available elsewhere in English on many of the leading actors and dramatists as well as the designers whose work, much of it for productions of these directors, has made this last half century a golden age of German scenic design. During the late twentieth century, no country produced so many major theater directors or placed them so high in national cultural esteem as Germany. Drawing on his years of regular visits to the Theatertreffen in Berlin and other German productions, Carlson will captivate students of theater and modern German history and culture with his provocative, well-illustrated study of the most productive and innovative theater tradition in Europe.


The aim of this study is to demonstrate the influence of the stress parallel to the crack plane on subcritical crack growth in brittle materials by using a numerical code MFPA2D. The mechanism of this influence is also discussed. The curves of subcritical crack extension vs. strain of brittle materials under uniaxial and biaxial stress were obtained through numerical tests with acoustic emission consideration. The results showed that the tensile stress parallel to the crack plane has the effect on crack arrest, while the compressive stress parallel to the crack plane plays important role in crack opening process. The numerical results were consistent with experimental observed result, which shows the reliability of the numerical method, and provides theoretic foundation for failure analysis and life estimation of brittle materials.


Macrophages have been shown to possess cell surface receptors for opiates and catecholamines. The abilities of these ligands to affect RAW264 macrophage antibody‐dependent effector activity directed against sheep red blood cells were tested. Phagocytosis was measured by the uptake of 51Cr labeled erythrocytes and optical microscopy. Cytolysis was measured by 51Cr‐release assays. Met‐enkephalin increased specific antibody‐dependent phagocytosis in a dose‐dependent fashion; the optimal dose was found to be 10−8 M. Epinephrine diminished phagocytosis in a dose‐dependent manner exhibiting a maximal inhibition at 10−4–10−5 M. This inhibition can be blocked by propranolol. The combined effects of simultaneous treatment with met‐enkephalin and epinephrine were measured. At the several doses tested, the combined effects of these two ligands on the amount of phagocytosis were equivalent to or more inhibitory than epinephrine alone. Thioglycolate‐elicited murine peritoneal macrophages demonstrated similar responses to epinephrine, met‐enkephalin, and their combination. Therefore, in vitro models more closely approximating in vivo neuroregulation of macrophage function demonstrate phagocytic inhibition.


The fundamental properties of $J$-holomorphic maps depend on two inequalities: The gradient inequality gives a pointwise bound on the differential of a $J$-holomorphic map in terms of its energy. The cylinder inequality stipulates and quantifies the exponential decay of energy along cylinders of small total energy. We show these inequalities hold uniformly if the geometry of the target symplectic manifold and Lagrangian boundary condition is appropriately bounded.


Towns along the Malaysia-Thailand border have always been associated with backwardness and being low-income regions. This is mainly because policy development in these border regions is based more on defence and security rather than economic considerations. Economic structures and cross-border trade towns of Sg. Kolok (Narathiwat, Southern Thailand) and Rantau Panjang (Kelantan, Malaysia) were examined with the objective to measure cross-border economic activity and the feasibility of establishing a Cross Border Special Economic Zone. Both towns are a shopping haven among local and foreign tourists, and have the potential to become a leading cross-border tourism product of the MalaysiaThailand border. The Malaysian government has also implemented the Eastern Corridor Economic Region to develop the East Coast region including Kelantan. Meanwhile, the Thailand Government has carried out the Southern Border Provinces Special Zone to develop its Southern region, including Narathiwat. With the security assurance in Southern Thailand coupled with both development plans being implemented, this may intensify economic activities in the towns of Rantau Panjang and Sg. Kolok. It was revealed that this has a spill-over effect in the border areas and the potential of creating a Cross Border Special Economic Zone at these border towns.


We have entered the Knowledge Era in which the basic economic resource is knowledge, also called Intellectual Capital (IC). In order to effectively manage companies that are increasingly based on intangibles, it is necessary to measure these resources. Moreover, once measured, the effects should be communicated, as measurement without any further action has no sense. Most of the resources that cre ate value for a company are totally omitted or under-evaluated by accounting; therefore, they are beyond control and beyond management. The most important way to overcome this problem is to implement an IC statement that visualizes the actions and their effects concerning the development of a company's knowledge resources and value creation. This paper aims to analyze the development of guidelines on the Intellectual Capital (I C) Statement by providing a comparison of existing guidelines and presenting their significance.


Targeted teacher recruitment is suggested as a way to alleviate the teacher shortage in specific content areas such as agricultural mechanics. Learning experiences are linked to increased selfefficacy and increased interest in specific career pursuits. The Agricultural Mechanics Power & Design (AMP'D) Experience was developed as a learning experience to enhance high school student skills in agricultural mechanics and expose them to the career of teaching agricultural mechanics at the high school level. This study sought to describe participants in the first three years of the AMP'D Experience, explore their skills level, learn about their likelihood of considering a career teaching agricultural mechanics before and after participating in the event. We used correlational analysis and simple linear regression to scrutinize pre and post survey data collected from participants (N = 37) at the 2016, 2017, and 2018 AMP'D Experiences. Results indicated significant increases in perceived self-efficacy across agricultural mechanics skills areas, and in likelihood to consider teaching agricultural mechanics. Additionally, perceived summated skills self-efficacy predicted 15% of the variance in the likelihood of a participant considering to teach agricultural mechanics. Recommendations involve looking at other experiences acquired through the AMP'D Experience as additional indicators of enhanced career interest as well as following up with participants to examine what career they eventually pursued.


ABSTRACT Objective: Junior Temperament and Character Inventory (J-TCI) was developed by Luby, Svrakic, McCallum, Przybeck, and Cloninger based on Cloninger's biopsychosocial model to assess temperament and character dimensions in children and adolescents. Methods: The Turkish version of J-TCI-Revised (J-TCI-R) was administered to 1129 elementary and middle-school (male/female, 546/583) students. Internal consistency reliabilities were measured by Cronbach's alpha; test–retest was assessed across one month. Results: Cronbach's alphas for the subscales of J-TCI-R ranged from 0.60 to 0.75 for temperament and character subscales, which were comparable to US and other populations. The correlations between baseline and one month after administration of J-TCI-R were highly and statistically significant (r = 0.578–0.674 for scales and 0.366–0.582 for subscales) (n = 795). Factor analysis results using Eigenvalue greater than one rule indicated three out of four factors for temperament scales and one out of two factors for character subscales which were similar to findings from the other countries. When all of the subscales were subjected to factor analysis, four out of six factors were retained. To our knowledge, this is the first study analysing psychometric properties and factorial construct of the J-TCI-R. Conclusions: The internal reliability coefficients and test–retest indicated a good stability of scores over time and the factorial structure was consistent with Cloninger's model of personality. The reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the TCI is therefore supported.


This Doctor of Science comprises a number of published works, listed in the file attached. As such due to copyright restriction they are not included here but can be accessed individually from the publisher.


Background: The University of Sydney′s Graduate Diploma in Indigenous Health Promotion (GDIHP) and Masters of International Public Health (MIPH) students have expressed a consistent desire to engage more with each other through student tutorials or any small group activity. MIPH students have expressed an interest in learning about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanderpeople and their health issues recognising contextual similarities in health priorities and social-cultural determinants. A and TSI students enrolled in the GDIHP have traditionally had very little contact with other students and are often unaware of the innovative solutions implemented in developing countries. Methods: Through this inclusive teaching innovation the MIPH and GDIHP programmes utilised diversity in the student population and responded to the University′s Strategic Plan to promote and enhance pathways for supporting Indigenous students. This innovation provided an opportunity for both groups to learn more about each other as they develop into globally competitive public health practitioners. Results: The ′Beyond Borders′ initiative exposed MIPH and GDIHP students to problem-based learning that incorporated global perspectives as well as focusing on the very specific and unique realities of life in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Both student cohorts reported that the knowledge and skill exchange was highly valuable and contributed to their development as health professionals. Discussion: This simple yet effective initiative created a sustainable cross-cultural, interdisciplinary and community-oriented partnership that benefited all involved and assisted in addressing health inequities in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and in developing countries.


The Aspen-FACE (Free-Air Carbon Enrichment) experiment was an 11-yr study of the effect of elevated CO2 and ozone (alone and in combination) on the growth productivity of model aspen communities (pure aspen, aspen-birch, and aspen-maple) in the field in northern Wisconsin, USA. Uncertainty remains about how these short-term plot-level responses might play out at landscape scales where climate change, competition, succession, and disturbances interact with tree-level responses. In this study, we used a recent physiology-based approach (PnET-Succession v3.1) within the forest landscape model LANDIS-II to scale the site-scale FACE results to landscape extents by mechanistically accounting for the globally changing drivers of CO2, ozone, temperature, and precipitation. We conducted a factorial simulation experiment to test five hypotheses about the effects of three treatments (CO2 concentration, cumulative ozone exposure, and disturbance). CO2 was clearly the dominant driver of landscape response, with disturbance also having a large effect. Ozone was not a dominant driver of landscape dynamics or total landscape biomass, but its negative effect on mean landscape biomass was nevertheless significant. We found that CO2 mitigation of water stress may not have a major effect on species composition or biomass accumulation. We found that species diversity was somewhat decreased by elevated CO2 as expected, but somewhat increased by O3, contrary to expectations. The spatial pattern of the landscape was minimally affected by the treatments. While rising CO2 concentrations have some mitigating effect on the negative O3 effect on the species studied, additional research is needed to confirm whether researchers and managers can be justified in disregarding O3 as a primary driver of forest dynamics in other ecosystems. Our results also add more support to the growing consensus that projections of climate change effects must include robust, direct links between CO2 and tree growth and competition; temperature effects (as demonstrated elsewhere) appear to be less by comparison.


Investigations carried out on the genus Spirogyra Link and Mougeotia Agardh revealed the following species of fungi parasiting in the Spirogyra and Mougeotia cells: Olpidium endogenum, Blyttiomyces helicus, B. spinulosus, Micromyces zygogonii and Rhizophydium ampullaceum . First information on B. helicus as parasitic on algae is presented.


Covering the years from 1781 into the 1820s, these valuable accounts remain the chief source of information about Thomas Jefferson's domestic and personal life, interests, habits, appearance, and day-to-day activities at Monticello. Isaac Jefferson and Edmund Bacon were each sixty-five years old when their recollections were recorded. What they remember best, of course, are scenes from the past made vivid and immediate by details involving their own experience. Although their recollections of Jefferson differ in a number of ways, apparent in both accounts is a concern for the master whose involvement in national affairs made his life so different from their own.


The control center in smart grids requires the collaboration among different specialized groups to ensure the safety, reliability, greenness and efficiency of power system. However, each specialized group is interested in different aspects of the network model. In order to improve the teamwork and timeliness, the fundamental models should be managed in a unified way. This paper summarizes the requirements for data management of fundamental models, presents a concept of three-mode models, and designs the architecture of generic model access services. With the generic model access services, the differences of real-world model databases will be shielded, and the future virtual model can be managed as versions. The upper applications can obtain the fundamental model information through the data broker component and business model data through the business data organizing component.


A session on August Bebel and German Socialism was held at the meeting of the Southern Historical Association on November 8 in Dallas, Texas. Sarah C. Neitzel (Texas Tech University) spoke on "The Evolution of August Bebel's Social-Political Philosophy, 1864-1871" while William H. Maehl (Auburn University) discussed "August Bebel's Role in the Development of a German Socialist Foreign Policy, 1878-1896." Comment was provided by Konrad H. Jarausch (University of Missouri-Columbia) and Vernon L. Lidtke (Johns Hopkins University). The next issue of the Newsletter will report in detail on this session.


This paper is aimed at exploring possible impact pathways of a hypothetical intervention which consists in providing smallholder farmers with weather-related information. The study used a qualitative approach based on focus group discussions with smallholder farmers and agricultural extension officers to build a Theory of Change (ToC) of the intervention of interest. The field work was conducted in three villages of the municipal area of Bembèrèkè in North Benin (West Africa). The results suggested that providing smallholder farmers with weather-related information has the potential to help them in taking informed production decisions. Possible decisions include the right timing of key activities such as planting or sowing, application of inputs (e.g. fertilisers, herbicides and insecticides), etc. Through informed production decisions, smallholder farmers can better allocate their production resources and record higher yield and income. The ultimate impact is that smallholder farmers will have better life—livelihoods. There is several weather-related information that can be potentially useful for smallholder farmers. There are also several dissemination channels, some based on the social network of the community and others on Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) tools that can be used. Each channel has some strengths and weakness and the best approach would probably depend on the settings of the intervention area. Though the expected impact is straight forward, a number of assumptions that needs to be in place for an impactful intervention. For instance, weather-related information needs to be accurate, available in a timely manner and easy to use (read and interpret). Furthermore, the described possible impact pathways need to be tested rigorously through policy-oriented research.


Background Posterior heel pain is a common symptom in the foot and ankle region, with many different causes that need to be distinguished by differential diagnosis. Among them is ankylosing spondylitis (AS), in which enthesitis of the heel is common and occasionally is responsible for their initial symptom to seek clinics. An early or timely recognition of active enthesitis of AS from simple radiographs comes to be relevant issue. Objectives The purpose of current study is to assess measurement reliability and diagnostic validity for detecting the digital radiographic findings of enthesitis at the Achilles tendon insertion in patients with AS. Methods Current study is a blinded, matched, cross-sectional study with 44 patients (65 feet) having clinical enthesitis at the Achilles tendon insertion (Group I), and 44 healthy controls (65 feet) (Group II). Suggested findings of enthesitis including retrocalcaneal recess obliterations from retrocalcaneal bursitis, increased thickness in shadow of the Achilles tendon and posterior soft tissue at its insertion from the swellings of those soft tissues were assessed on digital radiographs of standing hindfoot lateral view, and their measurement reliabilities were determined. To investigate diagnostic validities, diagnostic odds ratio, sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (PLR), and negative likelihood ratio (NLR) were estimated for radiographic findings of retrocalcaneal recess obliterations (RRO). For the thickness of the Achilles at its insertion (TAI) and swollen posterior soft tissue, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was done. Results There were no significant differences between two groups in mean age, BMI and sex ratio. Intra- and inter-observer reliability of all measurements showed high degree of agreements (0.786 to 0.941). The diagnostic odds ratio of RRO for detecting enthesitis was 66.0. The sensitivity, specificity were 67.7%, 96.9%, and PLR, NLR were 22.0, 0.33, respectively. The mean TAI of Group I and II were 6.7mm±1.79, 5.01mm±0.81, respectively (p-value<0.001). Area under the ROC curve of the TAI was 0.806, and the optimal cut-off value predicting enthesitis was 5.47mm, and its sensitivity and specificity were both 72.3%. Conclusions Retrocalcaneal recess obliteration and thickened shadow of Achilles tendon at its insertion and swollen posterior soft tissue on digital radiographs of standing hindfoot lateral view are regarded as the easy and useful findings for enthesitis of the posterior heel. For searching enthesitis at the Achilles insertion in patients with AS, such findings from simple radiographs showed high measurement reliability and validity. References Resnick D, Feingold ML, Curd J, Niwayama G, Goergen TG. Calcaneal abnormalities in articular disorders. Rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, and Reiter syndrome. Radiology 1977;125:355–66. Freedman M, Steller D. Digital radiography of the musculoskeletal system: the optimal image. Journal of digital imaging 1995;8:37–42. Rudwaleit M, Khan MA, Sieper J. The challenge of diagnosis and classification in early ankylosing spondylitis: do we need new criteria? Arthritis and rheumatism 2005;52(4):1000–1008. Disclosure of Interest None declared


"Gainsharing" is a business practice that can reduce costs and increase efficiency while engaging and rewarding front-line workers, those who work most directly with customers or with the product a company manufactures. Although the practice reportedly began as early as the nineteenth century, it became popular in the 1930s in the steel manufacturing industry. While several different forms of performance incentives fall under the category of gainsharing, in the typical gainsharing arrangement employees suggest cost-saving improvements to processes and the selection of materials. They receive a previously agreed upon portion of the savings associated with the improvements as compensation. Hospitals and healthcare systems have attempted to introduce gainsharing programs in healthcare settings in order to help reduce


Biologic therapy in Crohn's disease (CD) has significantly improved treatment outcomes. Still, providing an optimal care for individual patient in real-world is complex. We report the real-world treatment decisions between biologics and systemic corticosteroids (SCS) and associated factors in newly diagnosed CD in Japan.

 Patients with CD diagnosis (Index) and at least one CD therapeutic agent prescribed between 2006 and 2019 were screened from the JMDC database. JMDC is a health claims database where various sized (small to very large) companies' employees and their dependents are enrolled. Subjects with a minimum 12-month CD-diagnosis-free enrolment period up to the Index, and a minimum 12-month observational period after the Index were included in the analysis. Subjects were categorised into 2 groups (A: without biologics, B: with biologics) based on their first-year treatment, and then further into 4 groups: SCS without biologics (A1), No SCS nor biologics (A2), Biologics with no prior SCS (B1), Biologics with prior SCS (B2).

 859 subjects were included. 38.4% (B: n=330/859) initiated biologics within a year since diagnosis (Table 1). Among them, 73.3% (B2: n=242/330) initiated biologics without prior SCS, so-called a top-down approach. Among the rest who were not treated with biologics within the first year, 27.2% (A1: n=114/529) received SCS. B were 7.5 years younger on average and had a higher rate of perianal symptoms (43.0%) compared to A (22.9%). Trend analyses showed that the rates of biologic adoption in the first year have been relatively stable over a decade since 2008 to 2019 (Table 2).

 Real-world treatment decisions in newly diagnosed CD were investigated, and perianal symptoms were strongly associated with biologic therapy. Biologic adoption rates in CD seemed higher and faster in Japan compared to Europe. According to a Danish study reported by Alulis et al. (2020), 28.5% of CD patients received biologics at some point during the whole study period, of which 46.2% received within a year. These figures suggest that 13.2% of newly diagnosed CD were treated with biologics within the first year in the Danish study compared to 38.4% in our study.


In this paper, a modified single hidden layer feedforward neural network (MSLFN) based model to describe the behavior of rate-dependent hysteresis inherent in piezoelectric actuators is proposed. In the proposed scheme, the improved SLFN model combining the weighted sum of simple backlash operators and the weighted sum of linear dynamic operators. According to the technique of the extreme learning machine, all the parameters of both backlash and linear dynamic operators are randomly assigned, while the output weights are determined by the least square (LS) algorithm. Then, the experimental results on a piezoceramic actuator are presented. It is shown that the improved model has obtained satisfactory approximation and generalization.


Author(s): Zhao, Mofei | Advisor(s): Riley, John G; Meyer-ter-Vehn, Moritz | Abstract: The dissertation consists of three essays on applied theory with a particular focus on industrial organization applications.The first chapter develops and analyzes a dynamic stochastic model for a firm with limited managerial attention that is spent either on expansion or on improving quality of product. Under a reputational framework, I characterize how the incentives for expansion and innovation depend on a firm's current reputation, quality, and capacity. Intuitively, from the firm's perspective, quality and capacity are complements; the incentive to improve one increases with the level of the other. Thus, the firm innovates when its quality is low, reputation is low, and capacity is high; the firm expands when its quality is high, reputation is high, and capacity is low.In the second chapter, I investigate several model variants of the reputational model proposed in Chapter 1. First, I introduce a non-trivial cost of innovation and expansion. I show that in equilibrium, the firm's optimal strategy takes an "innovate-shirk-expand" shape. In the second model variant, I replace the strong linearity assumption with increasing/decreasing returns to scale. Consequently, capacity becomes effective in the information structure. I show that, on each equilibrium path, the firm innovates when its quality is low, reputation is low, and capacity is high; it expands when its quality is high, reputation is high, and capacity is low. Finally, I generalize this model to a continuum of firms and study the steady-state distribution of reputation, quality, and capacity. Both computational and numerical results show that the bulk of low-reputation, low-quality firms lie at the bottom, while a few pioneers with high quality and high capacity are found at the top.In the third chapter, I study the competition between two firms for a two-stage research and development project, where the difficulty of the first stage is unknown. I assume that each firm holds a belief concerning the difficulty of stage 1 and updates its belief following Bayes' rule. Firm can choose to report or withhold their intermediate results. I show that, as the exit point approaches, the firm has an incentive to conceal its success in the first stage, in the hope that its opponent raises its estimation of the stage's difficulty and soon exits. I demonstrate the existence of a unique equilibrium, characterize the firm's optimal strategy for report, withhold, and exit decisions, and investigate the resulting firm dynamics.


One of the key goals of nuclear reactor physics is to determine the distribution of the neutron population within a reactor core. This population indeed fluctuates due to the stochastic nature of the interactions of the neutrons with the nuclei of the surrounding medium: scattering, emission of neutrons from fission events and capture by nuclear absorption. Due to these physical mechanisms, the stochastic process performed by neutrons is a branching random walk. For most applications, the neutron population considered is very large, and all physical observables related to its behaviour, such as the heat production due to fissions, are well characterised by their average values. Generally, these mean quantities are governed by the classical neutron transport equation, called linear Boltzmann equation. During my PhD, using tools from branching random walks and anomalous diffusion, I have tackled two aspects of neutron transport that cannot be approached by the linear Boltzmann equation. First, thanks to the Feynman-Kac backward formalism, I have characterised the phenomenon of "neutron clustering" that has been highlighted for low-density configuration of neutrons and results from strong fluctuations in space and time of the neutron population. Then, I focused on several properties of anomalous (non-exponential) transport, that can model neutron transport in strongly heterogeneous and disordered media, such as pebble-bed reactors. One of the novel aspects of this work is that problems are treated in the presence of boundaries. Indeed, even though real systems are finite (confined geometries), most of previously existing results were obtained for infinite systems.


: Two distinct lines of bovine aortal endothelial cells and also chick embryo fibroblasts, secrete two major non-associating collagen binding proteins into the growth medium. Both proteins are anionic, mannose-containing glycoproteins but differ in molecular weight (Mr = 220,000 and 70,000 daltons respectively), affinity for heparin and reactivity to antiserum against plasma fibronectin. The large molecular weight glycoprotein was identified as fibronectin. In this paper we present a novel rapid procedure for purification of each glycoprotein under non-denaturing conditions. A simple two step affinity column procedure was used to achieve high yields (80% and 85% respectively) of native, non-denatured glycoproteins suitable for fine analytical purposes and cell interaction studies.


This paper describes a robotic solution to the structural health inspection of concrete box girders. A combination of sensors including a laser range finder, a depth (RGB-D) camera, an inertial measurement unit and a high- resolution camera are mounted on a tracked robot. The robot can be driven inside a box girder even when there are steps present, to collect high-resolution images of the concrete structure. Software that allows the information captured to be registered with a 3D geometric map of the inside of a box girder, and a visualization tool that can be used to evaluate location-annotated highly-detailed surface condition pictures by the human operator has been developed. The proposed remote evaluation technique makes it feasible to safely monitor areas over a sequence of inspections, leading to more effective maintenance procedures. The effectiveness of the system is illustrated using data gathered during a field trial where the robot was deployed within the Overpass at Huntley's Point, in the junction between Victoria Road and Burns Bay Road in Sydney. Functionality to automatically identify defects/regions of interest is also being investigated. It is anticipated that supplementing manual inspection tasks with robotic aids will mitigate the risk to manual entry into a confined space with a consequential saving in associated cost. This project is collaboration between the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and the Roads & Traffic Authority (RTA) of NSW.


The combustibility of four conifer-tree species in Xiaoxing'an Mountain, Heilongjiang Province was studied by cone calorimetric analysis. The four species were Pinus koraiensis Sieb.et Zucc、Pinus sylvestris var.mongolica Litv、Picea koraiensis Nakai、Larix gmelinii Rupr.. The thermal characteristics of leaves and barks, including smoke production rate(SPR)、specific extinction area(SEA)、the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2)、the production of carbon dioxide ( PCO2 )、the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO)、the production of carbon dioxide ( PCO )were tested and recorded simultaneously.Th results showed that ,at a heat reflux of 50 kW•m-2, the values of SPR , SEA , the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) and the production of carbon dioxide (PCO) of Larix gmelinii Rupr. t had strong smoke inhibiting effect. Both Larix gmelinii Rupr. and Pinus koraiensis Sieb.et Zucc had strong smoke inhibiting effect, and Larix gmelinii Rupr. and Pinus koraiensis Sieb.et Zucc was most recommended as fire resistance species for fire-preventing forest belts.


The United Arab Emirates and Dubai in particular have in recent years attracted an increased number of Western teachers for all educational levels, especially universities. As part of the orientation for a Western teacher before entering a classroom, the main differences between Western and Middle East culture are often highlighted without an effort to explain how these differences are manifested in students' behavior in courses, or to suggest how the teacher could address them. This paper aims at helping current and future faculty in their professional practice by considering Emirati Arab cultural characteristics as well as strategies adopted by the author to cope with them. Such strategies have been successful, as her students´ evaluations and academic performance distinctions during the last two years have continuously shown.


In 1991 a new labour relations regime was introduced which overturned a 100 year old pattern of 'historic compromise' between capital and labour. In a labour market structured by gender and race, this major change in bargaining arrangements has already widened the pay gap between men's and women's average earnings and reduced union coverage, particularly among women workers in low paid clerical, sales and service work. This study, documenting recent feminist struggle in the area of labour relations, provides a first look at the collective organisation of women under two different labour relations regimes. In the 1980s a particular conjunction of occupational unionism and feminism in New Zealand facilitated some significant improvements in the situation of women in paid employment. The thesis examines feminist strategies which led to a Working Women's Charter adopted by unions, an increase in women holding office in unions, complaints procedures for sexual harassment, standing committees to represent women and Maori in the union movement, and legislation to implement equal . employment opportunity programmes and equal pay for work of equal value. It looks at how the institutionalisation of bargaining by occupation supported industrially weak workers and underpinned the unionisation of women, while occupational unions and women's own strategies of organisation provided the autonomous 'political space' to organise around issues specifically relevant to women. At the core of the thesis are three case studies of unions representing three of the occupations in which women are concentrated: clerical work, nursing and cleaning. It examines commonalities and contrasts in the industrial situations covered by these unions, and differences and similarities in the strategies they adopted. The focus of research, conducted between late 1990 and early 1993, was the views of officials of these unions in the context of radical change in the regulation of wage bargaining. Particular attention was given to the way issues relating to women workers were prioritised in unions led by women or by men. These case studies are contextualised in chapters examining the position of women in the labour market, feminist organisation within the union movement, and corporatist change in labour relations legislation. In tracing the development of feminist unionism in the 1980s, the thesis considers the strategies of the NZ Council of Trade Unions and looks at what the radical change in bargaining structure will mean for collective organisation by women in paid employment.


Faculties are challenged to engage students in their learning. The 'flipped classroom' was implemented in a Fundamentals course skills lab setting because students were frequently unprepared for the weekly sessions and not engaged in the content. Faculty utilized significant amounts of time teaching concepts and specific elements of the individual skills rather than in hands on practice and problem solving. Students' skill performance in subsequent courses was also impacted. This project provided a way to engage students and increase accountability in the content. This article will describe the project implementation, strategies to engage students, and specific outcomes of the project.


The accumulation of scientific knowledge on calling is limited by the absence of a common theoretical and measurement framework. Many different models of calling have been proposed, and we do not know how much research results that refer to a specific model are generalizable to different theoretical accounts of calling. In this article, we investigate whether two leading models of calling tackle the same construct. The two models were merged into a comprehensive framework that measures calling across seven facets: Passion, Purposefulness, Sacrifice, Pervasiveness, Prosocial Orientation, Transcendent Summons, and Identity. We then developed the Unified Multidimensional Calling Scale (UMCS) drawing from previous published items. Across two surveys involving college students (N = 5886) and adult employees (N = 205) the UMCS was proved to be valid and reliable. We also observed that the UMCS is invariant across time and calling domains. Finally, we found that facets of calling have very different relationships with outcomes and concurrent measures, suggesting that results obtained with a smaller set of facets are not generalizable to the higher-order construct of calling or to a different model that does not share the same facets. Read the post-print version of the article here: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0209348


This paper describes how and why the authors' department chose to integrate a sophisticated visual programming environment (DELPHI) into the introductory programming course (CS101/2) of the first-year undergraduate engineering curriculum. It also reports on the outcome of this venture, which involved a switch from a conventional lecture-based approach to teaching CS102 to a project-based approach. While it meant more work for both students and teachers, the overall response from both parties was very positive. Indeed, the resulting designs and subsequent survey results seem to confirm that students achieved a better appreciation and understanding of the course's objectives.


: Reviewed by a structural condition of the pancreas by ultrasound and scores from the Marseille-Cambridge classification in patients with chronic biliary pancreatitis, including those who had a history of cholecystectomy. Found that after cholecystectomy gland size decreased slightly, but significantly fibrosis is increased. Chronic inflammation and fibrosis of the gland leads to inhibition of both acinar and ductal secretory function, leads to its external and internal secretion deficiency. In assessing coprogram found that most patients with CP present with signs of exocrine insufficiency, including steatorrhea and kreatorrhea that are most pronounced in patients with CP after open cholecystectomy.


We propose an efficient stochastic scheme for minimum-time trajectory planning of a nonholonomic unicycle mobile robot under constraints on path curvature, velocities, and torques. This problem, which is known to be complex, often requires important runtimes, particularly if obstacles are present and if full dynamics is considered. The proposed technique is a fast variant of the random-profile approach recently applied to wheeled-mobile robots. It incorporates a trapezoidal-velocity-profile constraint that helps reduce the number of unknown parameters and that speeds up the calculation steps. Results are presented for two- and three-wheel mobile robots in free/constrained workspaces. A comparison with reference solutions, which were obtained independently, shows that the proposed variant is able to achieve almost the same quality of calculated trajectories while reducing the runtime considerably.