Introduction: Terminalia paniculata and Madhuca longifolia are widely used plants in the folk medicine for different ailments. Many of their traditional uses are based on the antioxidant property. But, till now, the antioxidant property of these plants has not been scientifically proved. Hence, in the present work, a comparative study of the antioxidant property of these plants has been taken up. Materials and Methods: The methanolic extracts of Terminalia paniculata and Madhuca longifolia were evaluated by in vitro methods for the free radical scavenging and antioxidant properties. The models used were ABTS (2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid), DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl), Nitric oxide, hydroxyl radical and hydrogen peroxide scavenging. Butylated hydroxyanisole, butylated hydroxytoluene, and Ascorbic acid were used as the standard antioxidants for comparison. Results: Both the extracts possessed significant antioxidant property. M. longifolia exhibited higher activity in case of DPPH, ABTS, hydrogen peroxide radical scavenging, whereas, T. Paniculata exhibited higher scavenging efficacy in case of nitric oxide and hydroxyl radicals. The antioxidant property of these plants might be due to the phenolic content. Conclusion: The antioxidant potential of these plants suggest their possible use to reduce the oxidative stress and hence, possible use as supplements in diabetes, liver problems, inflammatory conditions or cancer like diseases which are due to increased oxidative stress. Further studies are needed to prove their pharmacological applications.


Iridium-based materials
are considered as state-of-the-art electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution
reaction (OER), however, their stability and catalytic activity greatly depend on
surface-state changes induced by electrochemical cycling. To better understand
the behavior of the low-index Ir surfaces in an electrochemical environment, we
perform a systematic thermodynamic analysis by means of the density functional
theory (DFT) calculations. Based on computed surface energies of the Ir(111),
(110) and (100) facets as a function of applied electrode potential and
coverage of adsorbed water species we determine stability maps and predict
equilibrium shapes of Ir nanoparticles. Our calculations also show that
metastable oxide precursors formed at the initial stages of Ir surface
oxidation are responsible for enhanced catalytic activity towards OER as compared
to metal surfaces covered by oxygen adsorbates and thick-oxide films. Such enhancement
occurs not only due to the modified thermodynamic stability of OER intermediates,
but also because thin-oxide layers may display the more energetically favorable
I2M (interaction of two M-O units) rather than WNA (water nucleophilic
attack) OER mechanism.


Medical exposure is increasing year by year. The main reason is an increase in CT examinations. X-ray examination has been shifting from conventional radiography to CT imaging. Although CT examinations account for only 7.9% of the total number of diagnostic medical examinations, the contribution is about 47% of the total collective effective dose due to diagnostic medical radiology in health-care level I countries according to the 1997-2007 survey by UNSCEAR. Dental X-ray examinations have hardly contributed it, but CT examination is indispensable in dentistry. Dentists also should follow the requirements for CT imaging by theICRP recommendation and review CT imaging protocol based on national diagnostic reference level (DRL).


Within the framework of internal evaluation and self-evaluation activities in a child guidance clinic, measures of success have to date been based primarily on the degree to which the delegating organisations are satisfied with the results of the counselling. The orientation of the success of counselling towards the results stems from the fact that the process of helping is not generally manifest to parents, schools, and education staff. It takes place in the context of direct contact between therapists and children, the immediate addresses of help, and therefore often remains "hidden". Since the children's perspective--their impressions and appraisals--has often been neglected in past assessment methods, it hardly plays any role at all in the discussion of quality at counselling centres. This made it all the more stimulating for all those involved to initiate improvement measures within the framework of quality management on the basis of a client survey and in this way to launch a shared learning process as to how client orientation can flow directly into everyday practice. This is certainly the first attempt of its kind in the work of child guidance clinics to develop an understanding of client orientation in line with the expectations of parents and children and to link this to the quality development of the service. In the first part of this experiential report, the external process coach provides a brief summary of the assessment method employed in connection with the introduction of internal quality management at the counselling centre. This is followed by the centre's own description of the concrete performance of the client survey with children using the example of social-therapeutic child group work. The study concludes with a discussion of the benefit drawn from this process for the improvement of this pedagogical project.


Recently, Home et al . published a pre-planned continuation trial of EDITION 4 (1). EDITION 4 was a 6-month long, multicenter, randomized, and open-label clinical trial involving patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) who received a morning or evening injection of either 300 U/mL of insulin glargine (Gla-300) or 100 U/mL of insulin glargine (Gla-100) (1) to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of both the dosages of the basal insulin analog.


Background: Gummy smile (GS) is an aesthetic disorder for some patients, which can be corrected by injection of botulinum toxin. In this study was to collect information about the responses of the muscles to the same dose Botulinum Toxin-A (Botox; Allergan Inc, Westport, Ireland) and to assess whether there is a correlation between the amount of the upper lip drop and the amount of gum displayed during smiling.
Methods: This study was performed on 8 female patients with GS due to different etiologies. All of the patient injections were made in the middle of the triangle formed by LLS, LLSAN, and Zmi bilaterally with a dose of BTX-A of 2.5 U. 8 patients (8 women) underwent pretreatment photographs and measurements, followed by bilateral injection of 2.5 U BTX-A into their lip elevator muscles. BTX-A injections to reduce excessive gingival display. Gingival display was described as the difference between the lower margin of the upper lip and the superior margin of the left or right incisor. Before injections patients when full smile, the average GD ranged from 3 to 7 mm. Injections of BTX-A into the associated muscles of the upper lip reduce the upward movement of the lip and cause the lip to drop, thus, resulting in a less gummy smile. The lip drop amount was calculated the apparent length of the central crown height was extracted from the total height by using after photos.
Results: There was a decrease in the degree of gum display in all patients. The general average of gingival display before treatment was measured 4.62 ± 1.17 mm. The mean of lip drope was measured 5.17 ± 0.88 mm after two weeks from injection. A statistically significant correlation was found between the amount of the pre-treatment gingival display during maximum smiling and the amount of lip drop.
Conclusion: The use of botulinum toxin is much less invasive, and the development of complications is less frequent with quite satisfactory results for patients compared to the other methods used in the treatment of GS. The authors conclude that in the cosmetic correction of GS, the amount of the mean lip-drop is 5-6 mm and there is a positive correlation between the lip-drop and pretreatment gingival display.


Summary Goals: Spray management in the vineyard and enological techniques for mitigating sulfur off-odors may lead to detectable accumulation of copper (Cu) in wine. Although widely used in winemaking, this transition metal may be detrimental to wine aromatics postbottling, has legal limits in many countries, and may be a health hazard if consumed in enough quantity. Cu concentration is therefore monitored, and, when necessary, reduced. To assess the efficacy of commercially available products at removing Cu from wine, a selection of both traditional and novel fining agents were tested. Key Findings: Of the seven fining products used, those comprising a polyvinyl imidazole and polyvinylpyrrolidone copolymer (PVI-PVP) were most effective in reducing Cu concentrations, removing up to 94% of added Cu after 72 hrs. Agents composed of yeast, potato protein, and bentonite showed little capacity for removing added Cu from wine. Impact and Significance: Winemakers in past decades have relied on various methods to reduce Cu concentrations in wine; among these is a treatment known as "blue fining", a procedure requiring ferrocyanide that can generate a toxic by-product. Alternative methods yielded substantial reduction in added Cu(II) from white wine with PVI-PVP-containing fining agents. These agents represent promising and safe alternative methods of Cu removal. The addition of PVI-PVP agents following Cu treatments of wines may be the most practical method for reducing Cu concentrations, and will subsequently inhibit postbottling formation of hydrogen sulfide and prevent possible illnesses associated with Cu consumption.


While being a teacher educator is a complex task the mode to train teacher educators is yet unclear This question is even more relevant because education colleges thriving for academic accreditation recruit PhDs with no field experience The present study examines students and faculty perceptions on the strengths and weaknesses of the learning process of student teachers Using qualitative research tools we found that developing a professional identity is not seen by most of the disciplineoriented lecturers as part of their role and they also do not know how to perform it The results emphasize the importance of an appropriate balance between the theoretical foundation and practical learning in order to provide novice teachers with the mental flexibility enabling them to act correctly and productively in complex situations that arise in the act of teaching Further the study offers guidelines for teacher educators professional training


The policies and administration of early education and support for social development constantly need re-defining, or re-inspiring, by taking into account the perspective of a young child. They must acknowledge the intuitive abilities and values, and growing initiatives that are present in the child from birth and that motivate learning. Innate impulses of human imagination, with strong aesthetic and moral feelings, make sharing of experience and building of meaningful memories possible for a young person. They also determine the suffering that follows if they are not respected. Economists advise that this creativity of early childhood as a resource in itself – government and business, policymakers and managers need to understand what healthy and confident young human beings, if they are treated fairly, will contribute to future industry, prosperity and well-being in society (Heymann et al. 2006; Sinclair 2007; RAND Corporation 2008). Well-trained and experienced teachers of young children are also major contributors to social and cultural health of the community. They know, in practice, what inventive and helpful intelligence children have to offer. Unfortunately this creativity of young children is often outside the imagination of those who are preoccupied with managing the complex artefacts and routine structures of the adult world, and who deal with the problems of adult society and its employments.


OBJECTIVE
To study the vaccination status against Hepatitis B among health care workers and students of a medical school.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
It is a descriptive study done at Allama Iqbal Medical College, Lahore. The participants comprised of 206 health care workers of various categories and 327 medical students. The main outcome measure was vaccination status and reasons for non-vaccination.

RESULTS
Only 49% health care workers and 42.20% medical students were vaccinated. The main reasons for non-vaccination (47.7%) among health care workers was the high cost of vaccination, while the most often cited reason (33.7%) among medical student was the belief that they were not at risk. This belief was also prevalent among nurses (36.4%), laboratory workers (38.6%) and paramedics (33.2%).

CONCLUSION
In a low-income country like Pakistan the health institutions should bear the cost for vaccinating their staff. Efforts should also be made to impart appropriate health education regarding hepatitis B infection.


Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the main cause of death in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients, a situation that can be explained by a combination of traditional and nontraditional risk factors for CVD in these patients. Glucose and insulin homeostasis are altered in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients even in the early stages of CKD, leading to insulin resistance by various pathways. Several factors have been implicated in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance, including anemia, dyslipidemia, uremia, malnutrition, excess of parathyroid hormone, vitamin D deficiency, metabolic acidosis, and increase in plasma free fatty acids and proinflammatory cytokines. Insulin resistance and dyslipidemia are observed and increase with the progression of CKD, playing an important role in the pathogenesis of hypertension and atherosclerosis. Particularly in PD patients, exposure to glucose from dialysis fluid accentuates the foregoing metabolic abnormalities. In conclusion, insulin resistance and altered glucose metabolism are frequently observed in CKD, and although dialysis partly corrects those disturbances, the use of glucose PD solutions intensifies a series of harmful metabolic consequences. New therapeutic measures aimed at reducing metabolic disorders are urgently needed and perhaps will improve PD patient survival.


The impacts of long-lived stock pollutants and the measures supposed to address them link current and future generations. Altruism towards successor generations is a prerequisite for resolving the resulting intergenerational equity issues. Preference asymmetry and imperfect altruism introduce strategic conflicts between generations. Here, a current generation decides on a combination of abatement and whether to provide an imperfect backstop. The future generation decides whether to use the backstop or not. We identify three outcomes: (1) Technology denial, in which the current generation deliberately rejects the imperfect backstop to avoid misuse by the future generation. (2) Underabatement, in which the current generation provides the backstop but reduces abatement activities; and (3) Overabatement, in which the current generation provides the backstop but increases abatement activities. The outcome depends non-trivially on the assessment of collateral damages of the future generation. Uncertainty over future preferences renders technology denial more likely. ∗Corresponding author: Bergheimer Str. 20 69115 Heidelberg, Germany email@example.com


Basal sliding is a main control on glacier flow primarily driven by water pressure at the glacier base. The ongoing increase in surface melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet warrants an examination of its impact on basal water pressure and in turn on basal sliding. Here we examine the case of Russell Glacier, in West Greenland, where an extensive set of observations has been collected. These observations suggest that the recent increase in melt has had an equivocal impact on the annual velocity, with stable flow on the lower part of the drainage basin but accelerated flow above the Equilibrium Line Altitude (ELA). These distinct behaviors have been attributed to different evolutions of the subglacial draining system during and after the melt season. Here we use a high‐resolution subglacial hydrological model forced by reconstructed surface runoff for the period 2008 to 2012 to investigate the cause of these distinct behaviors. We find that the increase in meltwater production at low elevation yields a more efficient drainage system compatible with the observed stagnation of the mean annual flow below the ELA. At higher elevation, the model indicates that the drainage system is mostly inefficient and is therefore strongly sensitive to an increase in meltwater availability, which is consistent with the observed increase in ice velocity.


In this study, 3,490 children were examined to know the pattern of ocular problems in children in this part of the country. It showed that heritable diseases were quite prevalent, i.e., 41.49%. In this group refractive error, nasolacrimal duct block, and primary squint were most common, while in the non-heritable group various types of conjunctivitis, trauma, foreign bodies, blepharitis and nutritional diseases were most prevalent.


Recent studies using genetically modified mice, pharmacological approaches, and human samples have highlighted an important role for the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), selected ligands, and downstream components in endochondral bone formation and joint homeostasis. Although most data demonstrate an important function of this pathway in endochondral ossification and articular cartilage growth, conflicting results on its role in osteoarthritis have been reported. In some contexts, inactivation of EGFR signaling has been shown to protect joints from surgically induced osteoarthritis, whereas in others, similar manipulations worsened joint pathology. The current review summarizes recent studies of cartilage EGFR signaling in long bone development and diseases, provides potential explanations for the reported discrepancies, and suggests directions for future work to clarify the potential of this pathway as target for osteoarthritis treatment. © 2019 The Authors. JBMR Plus published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.


When an ambitious, adventurous gent named Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles 'discovered' the tiny Southeast Asian island of Singapore in 1819, claiming it for the British Crown, he envisioned it as a geographical gateway between East and West. Now an independent citystate, Singapore is considered an Asian economic miracle, still a strategic crossroads, but its position on the map has also garnered bluechip status in the international sex industry. Thanks to the constant influx of business travelers, a floating world exists that few talk about, where beautiful escorts from various countries offer discreet companionship for a price, one not usually proffered in the bars and brothels of Asia. Writer Gerrie Lim investigated this phenomenon and gained access to the secret world of high-priced sex workers. The result is a series of lucid portraits offering insights into this remarkable area of modern commerce. His subjects are women who are lavishly rewarded with money and gifts, some diverging from the oft-trod path to perform kinky services that include whipping and spanking, others being flown to exotic resorts in the company of men with money to burn. He also enters the shadowy domain of gay male escorts and karaoke hostesses, whose views challenge societal norms and question assumptions made about their career choices. The result is a fascinating work of cultural observation, from the vantage point of an eloquent literary voice.


Effective Damage Identification (DI) plays a critical role in protecting structures against local or global failures caused by hazards. Real-time DI provides instant damage data and increases the safety and serviceability of civil structures. Real-time DI helps to understand the structure's behavior during extreme events that may be unknown at the design stage. This field needs innovative solutions for training supervised machine learning classifiers in the absence of measured damaged data. This research proposes an unconventional deep learning algorithm for vibration-based DI. The proposed real-time data-driven DI methodology does not require any manual feature extraction and uses Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) to identify the presence and location of damage in discrete structural systems. The input is the response signals measured through sensors (no model-based input information required). A dropout technique regularizes the network and avoids co-adaptation in hidden layers. The neural network is optimized through 10-fold cross-validation. The proposed method's effectiveness in identifying the presence and location of damages is studied using a 4-story 2D structure subjected to artificial accelerograms. The recorded response signals create the feature space in the dataset. The lateral stiffness of columns is reduced randomly by different percentages resembling different damage severities. Considering the validation dataset results, the accuracy of the damage detection task varies from 84 to 99% for different damage severities, and accuracy for the localization task ranges from 78-98%. The results show the promising performance of ANNs for real-time DI and pave the way for training the classifiers using real-life data from undamaged structures and simulate data from damage scenarios.


Background. Patients in a vegetative state pose problems in diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. Currently, no prognostic markers predict the chance of recovery, which has serious consequences, especially in end-of-life decision making. Objective. We aimed to assess an objective measurement of prognosis using advanced electroencephalography (EEG). Methods. EEG data (19 channels) were collected in 14 patients who were diagnosed to be persistently vegetative based on repeated clinical evaluations at 3 months following brain damage. EEG structure parameters (amplitude, duration, and variability within quasi-stationary segments, as well as the spatial synchrony between such segments and the strength of this synchrony) were used to predict recovery of consciousness 3 months later. Results. The number and strength of cortical functional connections between EEG segments were higher in patients who recovered consciousness (P < .05 to P < .001) compared with those who did not recover. Linear regression analysis confirms that EEG structure parameters are capable of predicting (P = .0025) recovery of consciousness 6 months postinjury, whereas the same analysis failed to significantly predict patient outcome based on aspects of their clinical history alone (P = .629) or conventional EEG spectrum power (P = .473). Conclusions. The result of this preliminary study demonstrates that structural strategy of EEG analysis is better suited for providing prognosis of consciousness recovery than existing methods of clinical assessment and of conventional EEG. Our results may be a starting point for developing reliable prognosticators in patients who are in a vegetative state, with the potential to improve their day-to-day management, quality of life, and access to early interventions.


The steady thermal stress distributions and effect factors in a ceramic/FGM/metal composite EFBC plate considered constant material properties under convective heat transfer boundary were investigated by the FEM and the Sinpson method. From numerical calculation, when , T0=300K, Ta=400K and Tb=1 400K, the stress distributions in the plate were obtained. The results are as follows. With the increase of the FGM layer thickness, the stress distribution in the composite plate is more reasonable. Compared with M=0.2, when M=5, the compressive stress on the ceramic surface reduces by 10.2%, and the tensile stress on the metal surface reduces by 21.7%. With the increase of A, the variations of thermal stress curves become big. Compared with A=0, when A=3.99, the tensile stress on the metal surface increases by 198.0%, and the maximum compressive stress on the surface of ceramics increases by 66.0%. Compared with the mutation of thermal stress at the cohesive interface of ceramic / metal two-layered composite plate, the thermal stress of ceramic/FGM/metal composite plate is very gentle. Compared with , when , the maximum tensile stress on the metal surface increases 1.44 times, and the maximum compressive stress on the surface of ceramics increases 1.50 times. The results provide the foundations of theoretical calculation for the design and application of the composite plate.


A practical flapping wing micro aerial vehicle should have ability to withstand stochastic deviations of flight velocities. The responses of the time-averaged thrust coefficient and the propulsive efficiency with respect to a stochastic flight velocity deviation under Gauss distribution were numerically investigated using a classic Monte Carlo method. The response surface method was employed to surrogate the high fidelity model to save computational cost. It is observed that both of the time-averaged thrust coefficient and the propulsive efficiency obey a Gauss-like but not the exact Gauss distribution. The effect caused by the velocity deviation on the time-averaged thrust coefficient is larger than the one on the propulsive efficiency.


Granulomas may be found in 30–70% of patients with Crohn's disease (CD). The etiology of granuloma formation in CD is presently unknown. Elevated levels of TNF-α are found within granuloma tissue, and are required to maintain granuloma formation in animal models. TNF-α production has been shown to influenced by TNF-α promoter polymorphisms. We hypothesized that heterogeneity for granulomas in CD might be influenced by the TNF-α promoter genotype. Patients with confirmed CD that had undergone full colonoscopy with multiple biopsies and/or surgical resection, served as the study group. One hundred healthy individuals served as a control population for genotyping. Patients and controls underwent genotyping for four TNF-α polymorphisms: 238G/A, 308 G/A,857 C/T, and 863 C/A. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were met in 155 patients (1–68 y). Polymorphisms in the TNF promoter were found in 16.6% (238G/A), 14.5% (308 G/A), 36.6% (857 C/T) and 30.7% (863G/A). No significant association was found for any of the individual polymorphisms with presence or absence of granulomas. In conclusion, we did not find an association between individual polymorphisms in the TNF-α promoter and presence of granulomas in CD. The reason for heterogeneity in granuloma formation in patients with CD remains elusive.


This study characterizes tonic and phasic stretch reflex and stiffness and viscosity changes associated with spastic hemiparesis. Perturbations were applied to the ankle of 27 hemiparetic and 36 healthy subjects under relaxed or active contracting conditions. A nonlinear delay differential equation model characterized phasic and tonic stretch reflex gains, elastic stiffness, and viscous damping. Tendon reflex was characterized with reflex gain and threshold. Reflexively, tonic reflex gain was increased in spastic ankles at rest (P < 0.038) and was not regulated with muscle contraction, indicating impaired tonic stretch reflex. Phasic-reflex gain in spastic plantar flexors was higher and increased faster with plantar flexor contraction (P < 0.012) than controls (P < 0.023) and higher in dorsi-flexors at lower torques (P < 0.038), primarily because of its increase at rest (P = 0.045), indicating exaggerated phasic stretch reflex especially in more spastic plantar flexors, which showed higher phasic stretch reflex gain than dorsi-flexors (P < 0.032). Spasticity was associated with increased tendon reflex gain (P = 0.002) and decreased threshold (P < 0.001). Mechanically, stiffness in spastic ankles was higher than that in controls across plantar flexion/dorsi-flexion torque levels (P < 0.032), and the more spastic plantar flexors were stiffer than dorsi-flexors at comparable torques (P < 0.031). Increased stiffness in spastic ankles was mainly due to passive stiffness increase (P < 0.001), indicating increased connective tissues/shortened fascicles. Viscous damping in spastic ankles was increased across the plantar flexion torque levels and at lower dorsi-flexion torques, reflecting increased passive viscous damping (P = 0.033). The more spastic plantar flexors showed higher viscous damping than dorsi-flexors at comparable torque levels (P < 0.047). Simultaneous characterizations of reflex and nonreflex changes in spastic hemiparesis may help to evaluate and treat them more effectively.


Poly(aryl imino sulphone)s (PAIS) as novel high-performance polymers have been obtained by the condensation polymerization of 4,4'-dibromodiphenyl solfone with different primary aromatic diamines via Palladium-catalyzed aryl amination reaction. The structure of polymers synthesized was characterized by means of FT-IR, NMR spectroscopy and elemental analysis, the results showed an agreement with the proposed structure. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermal analysis (TG) measurements showed that polymers possessed high glass transition temperature (Tg>145°C) and good thermal stability with high decomposition temperatures (TD>450°C). These novel polymers also exhibited good mechanical behaviors and good solubility.


Prominences in the solar corona are a hundredfold cooler and denser than their surroundings, with a total mass of 1013 up to 1015 g. Here, we report on the first comprehensive simulations of three-dimensional, thermally and gravitationally stratified magnetic flux ropes where in situ condensation to a prominence occurs due to radiative losses. After a gradual thermodynamic adjustment, we witness a phase where runaway cooling occurs while counter-streaming shearing flows drain off mass along helical field lines. After this drainage, a prominence-like condensation resides in concave upward field regions, and this prominence retains its overall characteristics for more than two hours. While condensing, the prominence establishes a prominence-corona transition region where magnetic field-aligned thermal conduction is operative during the runaway cooling. The prominence structure represents a force-balanced state in a helical flux rope. The simulated condensation demonstrates a right-bearing barb, as a remnant of the drainage. Synthetic images at extreme ultraviolet wavelengths follow the onset of the condensation, and confirm the appearance of horns and a three-part structure for the stable prominence state, as often seen in erupting prominences. This naturally explains recent Solar Dynamics Observatory views with the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly on prominences in coronal cavities demonstrating horns.


The marine flora of Panama harbors a rich diversity of green, red and brown algae, and despite chronic understudy, it is reported as the second most diverse marine flora along the Pacific Central American coast, with 174 macroalgal species. Extensive new collections and molecular assisted identification (MAI) by an international team of researchers has revealed an even greater diversity for this country. Here, the intertidal and shallow subtidal marine flora of the remote Burica Peninsula is introduced. This area is characterized by an uplifted extensive intertidal flat composed of firm, sedimentary benthos known as mudrock, on which abundant algal communities thrive, even during extended periods of exposure. A collection of nearly 200 brown, green and red macroalgae specimens representing the first marine floristic inventory of this region was made in January 2011, and results of analyses of 45 foliose red algae specimens are presented. DNA sequence data for several loci (rbcL-3P; COI-5P; UPA) have been generated for molecular assisted identification and to guide morphological assessments. Twenty-six species were identified among the specimens including 21 new Pacific Panama records, as well as previously unrealized transisthmian distributions, and two new species, Neorubra parvolacertoides sp. nov. and Grateloupia irregularis sp. nov.


We consider a Wigner-type ensemble, i.e. large hermitian $N\times N$ random matrices $H=H^*$ with centered independent entries and with a general matrix of variances $S_{xy}=\mathbb E|H_{xy}|^2$. The norm of $H$ is asymptotically given by the maximum of the support of the self-consistent density of states. We establish a bound on this maximum in terms of norms of powers of $S$ that substantially improves the earlier bound $2\| S\|^{1/2}_\infty$ given in [arXiv:1506.05098]. The key element of the proof is an effective Markov chain approximation for the contributions of the weighted Dyck paths appearing in the iterative solution of the corresponding Dyson equation.


Abstract Using a hand collected data-set, this paper analyzes the investment behavior of over 15,100 investors and over 42,200 investments on one of Germany's largest equity crowdfunding portals. It shows that paramount contributions come from one subpopulation. Contributions of EUR 5000 and larger from the first 59 campaigns account for 50.6% of the raised capital while they make up a mere 3.2% of all investments. When these investments are linked to investor profiles, these individuals are found to invest less frequently, suggesting different investment behaviors among crowd-investors. This significantly advances the understanding of equity crowdfunding by showing that the crowd is not a homogenous community. Furthermore, it is found that for investors who make these investment sizes, men are not statistically more likely to be a part of this group. These findings provide numerous revelations for policy-makers, equity crowdfunding platforms, as well as entrepreneurs.


In her article "Human Cloning as the Other in Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go" Wen Guo analyzes Kazuo Ishiguro's novel with focus on Ishiguro's analogy between human cloning and people of marginality in contemporary society. Guo discusses the novel's ambience of doubt and suspense and elaborates on how the theme of otherness is addressed by Ishiguro's mock-realism in a landscape of science fiction. Further, Guo analyses the "unhomely" Hailsham of the novel, the clones' self-pursuit, and their ethical attitudes. Guo argues that in Ishiguro's novel a person's ethical choices are determined by his/her situation which confirms Ishiguro's beliefs with regard to one's responsibility, loyalty, and destiny by his/her ethical choices. Wen Guo, "Human Cloning as the Other in Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go" page 2 of 7 CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 17.5 (2015): Special Issue Fiction and Ethics in the Twenty-first Century. Ed. Zhenzhao Nie and Biwu Shang


Volume I: Modes of Management Part 1: What is management? Part 2: What is Decision Making? - Rationality, Power and Control Volume II: Objectivity and its Other Part 1: The Voice of Neo-Positivism and its Challengers Part 2: Excursions in Epistemology Part 3: Time and Space in the Modern/Postmodern World Part 4: Anti-Positivist Methods Part 5: Feminist Critiques Volume III: Selves and Subjects Part 1: The Governable Person Part 2: Notions of the Subject Part 3: Surveillance Part 4: Survival Practices Volume IV: Evil Empires Part 1: Organizations, Power and Rationality Part 2: Organization Theory: Servants of Power Part 3: The Power of Technology/ The Technology of Power Part 4: Organizations in Power Part 5: Organizations, Power and Resistance


With single-carrier frequency-domain equalization, the carrier-frequency and sampling-frequency offsets are embedded in the phases of complex frequency-domain signal components. This paper proposes a sub-block processing to extract the phases and applies the least-squares regression to jointly estimate the offsets. The effectiveness of the proposed SC-FDE receiver is demonstrated on multipath fading channels.


Clostridium perfringens is implicated in the etiology of some diseases including fatal enterotoxaemia. Determining dominant toxin types of this microorganism can be helpful in epidemiologic surveys and the formulation of more proper vaccines. To understand the pathogenicity of this bacterium, it seems necessary to describe the toxin and virulence genes content of strains involved in enterotoxaemia and other associated diseases. The current study aimed to isolate and type the toxins of C. perfringens in sheep with suspected enterotoxaemia in Fars province by culture-PCR and ELISA methods and to compare them to isolates of a healthy group. Samples of intestinal contents were collected from enterotoxaemia cases and a healthy group of sheep. The presence of alpha, beta, and epsilon toxins were evaluated by ELISA method. After culture and isolation of C. perfringens, toxin typing and screening of isolates for the presence of beta-2 and enterotoxin were performed by PCR method. C. perfringens was isolated from 102 of 167 suspected enterotoxaemia cases of sheep and from 22 of 50 healthy sheep. The PCR results showed that type A was the most prevalent toxin type in both groups, but according to ELISA type D was the dominant toxin type in the clinical group. The enterotoxin gene was detected in 10% of all isolates from healthy and suspected group isolates of types A and D. The beta-2 gene was identified in 35% and 63.6% of enterotoxaemia-associated isolates and isolates not associated with disease, respectively. In conclusion, Type D of C. perfringens was the dominant causative organism of fatal enterotoxaemia in sheep in Fars province.


Subacute thyroiditis (SAT), or granulomatous thyroiditis, is an inflammatory thyroid condition associated with pain and systemic symptoms. Few community studies are available. We studied the 160 patients with SAT in Olmsted County, Minnesota, seen between January 1, 1960, and December 30, 1997. Subjects were identified through the medical diagnostic index of the Rochester Epidemiology Project. The overall age- and sex-adjusted incidence from 1960 through 1997 was 4.9 cases per 100,000/yr. In the most recent 28-yr period (1970-1997), 94 patients were identified. In this group, pain was the presenting symptom in 96%. SAT recurred in 4% of the patients 6-21 yr after the initial episode. Corticosteroid therapy was given to 36%. Early-onset hypothyroidism occurred both in patients receiving corticosteroid therapy (29%) and in those not receiving corticosteroid therapy (37%). At latest follow-up, significantly more patients who had received corticosteroid therapy had a diagnosis of hypothyroidism than the group without corticosteroid therapy (25% vs. 10%, P < 0.05; overall rate of hypothyroidism, 15%). Early transient hypothyroidism is common in SAT. Permanent hypothyroidism is less common, and only 15% of the patients are receiving T(4) therapy after 28 yr of follow-up. Symptomatic relief is achieved with corticosteroid therapy, but such therapy does not prevent early- and late-onset thyroid dysfunction.


Absolute OH densities are obtained in a radio-frequency-driven Ar–H2O atmospheric-pressure plasma jet by laser-induced fluorescence (LIF), calibrated by Rayleigh scattering and by UV broadband absorption. The measurements are carried out in ambient air and the effect of air entrainment into the Ar jet is measured by analyzing the time-resolved fluorescence signals. The OH densities are obtained for different water vapor concentrations admixed to the Ar and as a function of the axial distance from the nozzle. A sensitivity analysis to deduce the accuracy of the model-calculated OH density from the LIF measurement is reported. It is found that the UV absorption and the LIF results correspond within experimental accuracy close to the nozzle and deviate in the far effluent. The possible reasons are discussed. The OH densities found in the plasma jet are in the range (0.1–2.5) × 1021 m−3 depending on the water concentration and plasma conditions.


Using a combination of Monte-Carlo simulations and experimental measurements the authors have designed a small animal MR compatible PET (McPET) scanner for simultaneous PET and MR imaging of mice and rats in vivo. The scanner consists of one ring of 480 LSO crystals arranged in 3 layers with 160 crystals per layer. The crystal dimensions are 2/spl times/3/spl times/7.5 mm/sup 3/. This was based on a target resolution of 2.5 mm and simulations showing that a depth of 7.5 mm was sufficient to provide this resolution across the desired field of view. The system diameter of 11.2 cm is large enough to accommodate the animal positioned inside a stereotactic frame. Each crystal will be coupled through 2 mm diameter optical fibers to multichannel PMT's which reside outside the main magnetic field. Through 50 cm of optical fiber, a photopeak is clearly seen and the measured energy resolution is 25%. Prototype optical fiber connectors have been tested to increase the flexibility of the system and result in a light loss of only 6%. The proposed system will have adequate resolution and sensitivity for a number of applications in small animals and will be the first practical device for simultaneous in vivo imaging with PET and MR.


Western equine encephalomyelitis (WEE) virus (Togaviridae: Alphavirus) was shown previously to have arisen by recombination between eastern equine encephalomyelitis (EEE)- and Sindbis-like viruses (C. S. Hahn, S. Lustig, E. G. Strauss, and J. H. Strauss, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85:5997-6001, 1988). We have now examined the recombinational history and evolution of all viruses belonging to the WEE antigenic complex, including the Buggy Creek, Fort Morgan, Highlands J, Sindbis, Babanki, Ockelbo, Kyzylagach, Whataroa, and Aura viruses, using nucleotide sequences derived from representative strains. Two regions of the genome were examined: sequences of 477 nucleotides from the C terminus of the E1 envelope glycoprotein gene which in WEE virus was derived from the Sindbis-like virus parent, and 517 nucleotide sequences at the C terminus of the nsP4 gene which in WEE virus was derived from the EEE-like virus parent. Trees based on the E1 region indicated that all members of the WEE virus complex comprise a monophyletic group. Most closely related to WEE viruses are other New World members of the complex: the Highlands J, Buggy Creek, and Fort Morgan viruses. More distantly related WEE complex viruses included the Old World Sindbis, Babanki, Ockelbo, Kyzylagach, and Whataroa viruses, as well as the New World Aura virus. Detailed analyses of 38 strains of WEE virus revealed at least 4 major lineages; two were represented by isolates from Argentina, one was from Brazil, and a fourth contained isolates from many locations in South and North America as well as Cuba. Trees based on the nsP4 gene indicated that all New World WEE complex viruses except Aura virus are recombinants derived from EEE- and Sindbis-like virus ancestors. In contrast, the Old World members of the WEE complex, as well as Aura virus, did not appear to have recombinant genomes. Using an evolutionary rate estimate (2.8 x 10(-4) substitutions per nucleotide per year) obtained from E1-3' sequences of WEE viruses, we estimated that the recombination event occurred in the New World 1,300 to 1,900 years ago. This suggests that the alphaviruses originated in the New World a few thousand years ago.


During the last 25 years the scientific community has coexisted with the most fascinating 9 protocol due to Quantum Physics: quantum teleportation (QTele), which would have been 10 impossible if quantum entanglement, so questioned by Einstein, did not exist. In this work, a 11 complete architecture for the teleportation of Computational Basis States (CBS) is presented. Such 12 CBS will represent each of the possible 24 classical bits commonly used to encode every pixel of a 13 3-color-channel-image (red-green-blue, or cyan-yellow-magenta). For this purpose, a couple of 14 interfaces: classical-to-quantum (Cl2Qu) and quantum-to-classical (Qu2Cl) are presented with two 15 versions of the teleportation protocol: standard and simplified. 16


We consider a system consisting of a server, which receives updates for $N$ files according to independent Poisson processes. The goal of the server is to deliver the latest version of the files to the user through a parallel network of $K$ caches. We consider an update received by the user successful, if the user receives the same file version that is currently prevailing at the server. We derive an analytical expression for information freshness at the user. We observe that freshness for a file increases with increase in consolidation of rates across caches. To solve the multi-cache problem, we first solve the auxiliary problem of a single-cache system. We then rework this auxiliary solution to our parallel-cache network by consolidating rates to single routes as much as possible. This yields an approximate (sub-optimal) solution for the original problem. We provide an upper bound on the gap between the sub-optimal solution and the optimal solution. Numerical results show that the sub-optimal policy closely approximates the optimal policy.


The increasing complexities of newly discovered reservoirs coupled with the increasing cost of field development mandate significantly improved and timely work flows for reservoir evaluation. Traditional modeling workflows are typically time consuming and require well-organized cross-disciplinary integration between geoscientists. Such models and processes are not well suited to be used and updated during formation-evaluation acquisition phases of field development. In this paper, a more accessible approach is proposed and demonstrated. The existing fluids model is combined with the current geologic model to construct an accurate representation of key features of the reservoir. This model is then used to predict data for a wireline formation sampling and testing tool (WFT), with emphasis on downhole fluid analysis (DFA). In this process, current reservoir understanding is tested by direct measurement in real time. If differences are uncovered between predicted and measured log data, the WFT tool is in the well, and measurements can be made to uncover the source of the error. In this paper a workflow is demonstrated in which WFT DFA and pressure/volume/temperature (PVT) lab reports were used to build a fluid model after the first exploration well data was acquired. This model was then used to predict fluid properties and WFT DFA logs for a subsequent well intersecting nominally the same compartment. These DFA predictions presumed fluid equilibrium and flow connectivity. Real-time comparisons were made of predicted and measured pressures, fluid gradients, contacts and DFA data obtained from the WFT logging run. Agreement of predicted and measured log data indicates that fluid properties and reservoir connectivities used for the modeling are correct. If predictions disagree with measurements, the acquisition program can be altered in real time to ensure sufficient data are acquired to understand the reservoir model inaccuracies. During the WFT logging job, this predictive model enabled validation of critical WFT data. This process also allowed testing of the reservoir connectivity. It was discovered that either compartmentalization or lateral disequilibrium of the fluids in the reservoir exists. Interpretation of the DFA data suggested that a subtle lateral disequilibrium exists, and the assumption of reservoir connectivity is supported.


Abstract This paper reports on a survey of faculty perceptions of the role of the library in online distance education. The study is second in a series of related studies exploring The Pennsylvania State University's library services to patrons at a distance. In 2004, faculty of the World Campus (Penn State's online distance education program) were surveyed on their perceptions of e-learners' research needs. The faculty responded to questions on how their students access research information for their courses, whether they require their students to use the library as part of their courses, and their expectations of the library as an academic support service. The survey revealed that 60% of the responding faculty supply all of the required research information to students in their courses, and 62% do not require students to use the library as part of their course(s). The study concludes that online, distance-education faculty members have minimal to moderate expectations of the library in supporting their teaching and their students' research needs. Moreover, the study shows a significant lack of faculty awareness of existing library services and resources available to the e-learning community.


In this paper, we consider a two-players stochastic linear quadratic game framework. The game is partially observed and each player has their own private observation. The challenge is that none of the players has access to the continuum observations, rather they can access their respective observations at discrete time instances by operating a switch unanimously. The operation of the switch is costly and hence the gathering of the observations are costly. Each player is equipped with finite memory and she can only use the latest observation to construct the control strategy. The private observations of the players lead to a source of asymmetry in this game. Moreover, the players have different costs for operating the switch, which is another source of asymmetry. We study the structural properties of the Nash equilibrium for this particular class of problems and then we finally show that the switching problem simplifies to a bi-objective optimization problem.


Abstract:This article reframes China's Reform era by highlighting China's expanding ties to global capitalism through Hong Kong in the 1970s. It demonstrates that the British colony was a hub of commercial activities that were reconnecting the People's Republic of China (PRC) with the global economy before 1978, from renewed Sino-US trade and the importation of foreign technology to compensation trade ventures and the distribution of international publications. These activities and warming Sino-US relations convinced elite Hong Kong executives that substantial economic reforms were coming to the PRC. As a result, throughout the 1970s, the multinational corporate community connected with Hong Kong's American Chamber of Commerce actively prepared for future opportunities by studying the PRC's economic and legal systems and cultivating both PRC and US officials. The article concludes by showing how these pre-1978 activities molded China's post-1978 efforts to pursue export-driven development.


The amino acid compositions of several culture media have been analysed and compared. The utilization and excretion of amino acids and other metabolites have been followed during growth of Trypanosoma brucei S42 in a defined medium. All of the added L-threonine was metabolized by the cells, even when it was present at elevated concentrations. Glucose was consumed throughout the growth cycle: glutamine was consumed more rapidly than glutamic acid, which was itself used at about the same rate as proline. Threonine was cleaved to form glycine and acetate, both of which accumulated in the medium. Alanine and succinate were excreted together with a small amount of pyruvate, but these three products accounted for less than half of the glucose used. CO2 production from glucose was not measured, but insignificant amounts of CO2 were produced from threonine. Tetraethylthiuram disulphide blocked the cleavage of threonine and was a potent inhibitor of trypanosome growth.


Letter from Capt. H. H. Boggess to Major McPhail, in Wheeling, West Virginia, informing him of Private B.F. carpenter's furlough to Cincinnati, Ohio. The document details that Carpenter was part of the "F" company, 1st regiment, and was part of the N. Y. Veterans Cavalry. The private's furlough to Cincinnati would last 15 days and the cost of his transportation to Cincinnati was $1.50, an amount which would be docked from his pay upon his return. The letter also states that Private Carpenter would return for duty to Camp Piatt in West Virginia.


The transformation of Central and Eastern European (CEE) political systems since the double "big bang" of November 1989 in communist Europe and December 1991 in the Soviet Union represents one of the most profound institutional changes in modern political history. This chapter analyses the political cultures in postcommunist Europe and post-Soviet Eurasia in roughly the two decades following these transitions. We compare countries along a continuum from authoritarian to democratic regimes in the years since the big bang. Resonating with the theme of this book, we demonstrate that the course toward democracy has been more successful where the political configuration approaches the features of an "assertive culture," combining strong support for the principles of democracy with weak support for concrete political institutions. This pattern is more pronounced in the western portions of the postcommunist world and contrasts with an eastern pattern of largely failed attempts at democratization. The eastern nations often display a political culture in which the "allegiant" elements are more pronounced, especially where this tends to be counterproductive to democratic improvements: the concrete political institutions. The postcommunist world's eruptive transformation produced a massive and compact "fourth wave" of democratization (McFaul 2002). During the Cold War, the region was regarded as the Second World: the camp of one-party states with a dictatorial communist political system and a centrally planned economy. This Second World of communist nations took its final shape with the erection of the Iron Curtain in 1948. The First World of liberal democracies developed a culture that Western scholars described in such terms as "participant liberalism." They also contrasted it with a culture of "authoritarian statism" in the Second World, which supposedly persisted for more than seventy years in the Soviet Union and for more than forty years in its satellite states in CEE.


This study performed tensile test using small-size flat specimen and ball indentation test at room temperature to characterize the local tensile properties of bi-metallic weld joints. The weld specimens used were fabricated by joining between SA508 Gr.3 ferritic steel and Type 316 stainless steel with Alloy 82 buttering on the ferritic steel side and Alloy 82/182 weld metal. The test results showed that yield stress (YS) of weld metal was slightly higher than that of Type 316 and smaller than that of SA508 Gr.3, and ultimate tensile stress (UTS) of weld metal was similar as those of Type 316 and SA508 Gr.3 base metals. Also, the values of YS and UTS of buttering layer (Alloy 82) were nearly same as those of weld metal. Heat-affected-zones (HAZs) showed higher YS and UTS values compared to their base metals. Especially, the strengths of SA508 Gr.3 were significantly higher than those of surrounding materials. Also, it was known that the ball indentation test reasonably measured the local YS and UTS of bi-metallic weld joints.


We investigate the scattering attenuation characteristics of the Martian crust and uppermost mantle to understand the structure of the Martian interior. We examine the energy decay of the spectral envelopes for 21 high-quality Martian seismic events from Sol 128 to Sol 500 of InSight operations. We use the model of Dainty et al. (1974b) to approximate the behavior of energy envelopes resulting from scattered wave propagation through a single diffusive layer over an elastic half-space. Using a grid search, we mapped the layer parameters that fit the observed InSight data envelopes. The single diffusive layer model provided better fits to the observed energy envelopes for High Frequency (HF) and Very High Frequency (VF) than for the Low Frequency (LF) and Broadband (BB) events. This result is consistent with the suggested source depths (Giardini et al., 2020) for these families of events and their expected interaction with a shallow scattering layer. The shapes of the observed data envelopes do not show a consistent pattern with event distance, suggesting that the diffusivity and scattering layer thickness is non-uniform in the vicinity of InSight at Mars. Given the consistency in the envelope shapes between HF and VF events across epicentral distances and the tradeoffs between the parameters that control scattering, the dimensions of the scattering layer remain unconstrained but require that scattering strength decreases with depth and that the rate of decay in scattering strength is fastest near the surface. This is generally consistent with the processes that would form scattering structures in planetary lithospheres.


Current approaches to AI and machine learning are still fundamentally limited in comparison with autonomous learning capabilities of children. What is remarkable is not that some children become world champions in certain games or specialties: it is rather their autonomy, flexibility and efficiency at learning many everyday skills under strongly limited resources of time, computation and energy. And they do not need the intervention of an engineer for each new task (e.g. they do not need someone to provide a new task specific reward function). XX I will present a research program that has focused on computational modeling of child development and learning mechanisms in the last decade. I will discuss several developmental forces that guide exploration in large real world spaces, starting from the perspective of how algorithmic models can help us understand better how they work in humans, and in return how this opens new approaches to autonomous machine learning. XX In particular, I will discuss models of curiosity-driven autonomous learning, enabling machines to sample and explore their own goals and their own learning strategies, self-organizing a learning curriculum without any external reward or supervision. XX I will show how this has helped scientists understand better aspects of human development such as the emergence of developmental transitions between object manipulation, tool use and speech. I will also show how the use of real robotic platforms for evaluating these models has led to highly efficient unsupervised learning methods, enabling robots to discover and learn multiple skills in high-dimensions in a handful of hours. I will discuss how these techniques are now being integrated with modern deep learning methods. XX Finally, I will show how these models and techniques can be successfully applied in the domain of educational technologies, enabling to personalize sequences of exercises for human learners, while maximizing both learning efficiency and intrinsic motivation. I will illustrate this with a large-scale experiment recently performed in primary schools, enabling children of all levels to improve their skills and motivation in learning aspects of mathematics.


Touch DNA, trace DNA or Low copy number has become an area of interest in recent years because of its importance when other type of biological evidences might not be available. However, minimal efforts have been devoted to develop the collection methods of touch DNA, and the success of DNA typing depends on the availability of existing DNA templates. In most cases DNA leaves sufficient quantity and quality of genomic DNA to produce a DNA profile. However, some variables affect the success of obtaining a good quality DNA profile. Such variables include shedder status, surface type, pressure of contact; other variables include the methods of DNA collection and the methods of DNA extraction.


Contrary to much political and media discourse, quantitative and qualitative results of a research study suggest that the New Zealand public does not regard crime and disorder as escalating or serious problems in local neighbourhoods. Across a range of different areas, the study found that a majority of respondents did not regard crime in their local community as a serious problem compared with other districts; neither did they report that it was an escalating problem. In contrast, respondents were much more likely to report that crime problems were serious and increasing across the nation as a whole. This discrepancy might be explained by the reliance of the public on media coverage of crime for information on national crime trends and patterns. Analysis of qualitative crime talk in local communities showed that respondents had highly-nuanced perspectives on crime patterns in the neighbourhood and often regarded problems as relatively unproblematic nuisance behaviour that often was not a significant concern in wider terms. The article concludes that key components of populist politics, apparently based on meeting widespread concerns about law and order, assume public fear, concern and intolerance of crime and anti-social behaviour that is often not actually apparent in public discussion.


Summary Current ongoing genome‐wide association (GWA) studies represent a powerful approach to uncover common unknown genetic variants causing common complex diseases. The discovery of these genetic variants offers an important opportunity for early disease prediction, prevention, and individualized treatment. We describe here a method of combining multiple genetic variants for early disease prediction, based on the optimality theory of the likelihood ratio (LR). Such theory simply shows that the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve based on the LR has maximum performance at each cutoff point and that the area under the ROC curve so obtained is highest among that of all approaches. Through simulations and a real data application, we compared it with the commonly used logistic regression and classification tree approaches. The three approaches show similar performance if we know the underlying disease model. However, for most common diseases we have little prior knowledge of the disease model and in this situation the new method has an advantage over logistic regression and classification tree approaches. We applied the new method to the type 1 diabetes GWA data from the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium. Based on five single nucleotide polymorphisms, the test reaches medium level classification accuracy. With more genetic findings to be discovered in the future, we believe a predictive genetic test for type 1 diabetes can be successfully constructed and eventually implemented for clinical use.


Oxidative damage results in protein modification and is observed in many diseases, such as heart failure and renal insufficiency. Human serum albumin is an index of oxidative change and is conventionally measured using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Although this method is more sensitive than the colorimetric method, it is time-consuming for clinical practice and the sera must be stored at –80°C before analysis. To overcome these limitations, in the present study we developed a new reagent for a more rapid and convenient quantification of oxidative stress, involving determination of the ratio of human nonmercaptalbumin to total albumin using a colorimetric method with bromocresol purple. The clinical utility of the developed reagent was confirmed by demonstrating the consistently higher oxidative stress levels in dialysis patients than in healthy control subjects, matching the results of the conventional HPLC method. This novel approach could be a valuable tool for immediate estimation of the state of oxidative stress during the course of disease and treatment, and could aid clinical treatment decisions.


Potential flows of incompressible fluids admit a pressure (Bernoulli) equation when the divergence of the stress is a gradient as in inviscid fluids, viscous fluids, linear viscoelastic fluids and second-order fluids. We show that in potential flow without boundary layers the equation balancing drag and acceleration is the same for all these fluids, independent of the viscosity or any viscoelastic parameter, and that the drag is zero when the flow is steady. But, if the potential flow is viewed as an approximation to the actual flow field, the unsteady drag on bubbles in a viscous (and possibly in a viscoelastic) fluid may be approximated by evaluating the dissipation integral of the approximating potential flow because the neglected dissipation in the vorticity layer at the traction-free boundary of the bubble gets smaller as the Reynolds number is increased. Using the potential flow approximation, the actual drag D on a spherical gas bubble of radius a rising with velocity U(t) in a linear viscoelastic liquid of density ρ and shear modules G(s) is estimated to be \[D = \frac{2}{3}\pi a^3 \rho {\dot U} + 12\pi a \int_{-\infty}^t G(t - \tau)U(\tau){\rm d}\tau\] and, in a second-order fluid, \[D = \pi a\left(\frac{2}{3}a^2 \rho + 12\alpha _1\right ) {\dot U} + 12\pi a\mu U,\] where α1, < 0 is the coefficient of the first normal stress and μ is the viscosity of the fluid. Because α1 is negative, we see from this formula that the unsteady normal stresses oppose inertia; that is, oppose the acceleration reaction. When U(t) is slowly varying, the two formulae coincide. For steady flow, we obtain the approximate drag D = 12πaμU for both viscous and viscoelastic fluids. In the case where the dynamic contribution of the interior flow of the bubble cannot be ignored as in the case of liquid bubbles, the dissipation method gives an estimation of the rate of total kinetic energy of the flows instead of the drag. When the dynamic effect of the interior flow is negligible but the density is important, this formula for the rate of total kinetic energy leads to D = (ρa – ρ) VB g · ex – ρa VB U where ρa is the density of the fluid (or air) inside the bubble and VB is the volume of the bubble. Classical theorems of vorticity for potential flow of ideal fluids hold equally for second-order fluid. The drag and lift on two-dimensional bodies of arbitrary cross-section in a potential flow of second-order and linear viscoelastic fluids are the same as in potential flow of an inviscid fluid but the moment M in a linear viscoelastic fluid is given by \[M = M_I + 2 \int_{-\infty}^t [G(t - \tau)\Gamma (\tau)]{\rm d}\tau,\] where MI is the inviscid moment and Γ(t) is the circulation, and \[M = M_I + 2 \mu \Gamma + 2\alpha _1 \partial \Gamma /\partial t\] in a second-order fluid. When Γ(t) is slowly varying, the two formulae for M coincide. For steady flow, they reduce to \[M = M_I + 2 \mu \Gamma ,\] which is also the expression for M in both steady and unsteady potential flow of a viscous fluid. Moreover, when there is no stream, this moment reduces to the actual moment M = 2μΓ on a rotating rod. Potential flows of models of a viscoelastic fluid like Maxwell's are studied. These models do not admit potential flows unless the curl of the divergence of the extra stress vanishes. This leads to an over-determined system of equations for the components of the stress. Special potential flow solutions like uniform flow and simple extension satisfy these extra conditions automatically but other special solutions like the potential vortex can satisfy the equations for some models and not for others.


We present a multilingual evaluation of approaches for spelling normalisation of historical text based on data from five languages: English, German, Hungarian, Icelandic, and Swedish. Three different normalisation methods are evaluated: a simplistic filtering model, a Levenshteinbased approach, and a character-based statistical machine translation approach. The evaluation shows that the machine translation approach often gives the best results, but also that all approaches improve over the baseline and that no single method works best for all languages.


Sediment saltation in a rough-wall turbulent boundary layer was simulated with a coupled model with large eddy simulation and a discrete element model. The aim is to quantify the saltation process using eddy-resolving fluid simulations and Lagrangian particle tracking. The four-way coupling approach in this work considered the fluid–particle, particle–particle, and particle–wall interactions. Five simulations were performed. For comparison, one simulation with the flow field replaced by a simple log-law profile was also performed. The simulated saltation trajectory, velocity, and collision angles were analysed and we found: (1) Turbulent fluctuation and random collision with the bed are two controlling factors for particle trajectory. Without turbulent fluctuation, the loss of saltation information is severer in the streamwise direction than in other directions. In the spanwise direction, bed collision plays a comparable role to turbulent fluctuation. (2) Particle velocities in the streamwise and vertical directions follow skew-normal distributions. (3) Turbulent fluctuations make the incidence angle wider and slightly enhance the correlation between the incidence and reflection angles.


von Willebrand disease (VWD) is a common bleeding disorder caused by defective or low levels of von Willebrand factor (VWF). Although most cases of VWD are caused by genetic mutations, some are acquired due to various disease states. In managing VWD, the aim is to normalize plasma levels of both VWF and factor VIII (FVIII), as this aids in hemostasis. Desmopressin usually corrects VWF level in type 1 VWD by inducing the release of endogenous VWF. In cases where desmopressin is ineffective or cannot be used, transfusion of virally inactivated, plasma-derived VWF/FVIII concentrate or infusion of recombinant VWF (Vonvendi) is indicated. Treatment of acquired von Willebrand syndrome (AVWS) aims to control the underlying disease while regulating life-threatening hemorrhages with infusions of VWF/FVIII concentrate. Wide intrasubject variability in VWF and FVIII levels, particularly in AVWS, necessitates verification of response to treatment by frequent monitoring of the plasmatic VWF level. Clinical pharmacokinetics of VWF may facilitate calculation of the necessary loading and maintenance doses of VWF/FVIII concentrate in the management of AVWS patients undergoing surgery, thereby avoiding unnecessary infusion of coagulation factor concentrate.


The overall objective of this thesis is to critically address, break down and reassemble the urban development process in post-socialist cities through a set of analyses that covers urban planning strategies, real-estate interventions, participatory and urban design activities. The blurred and distorted morphology of cities worldwide requires dynamic solutions and calls for proper techniques that are spatially and temporally adjusted to local socio-spatial patterns. The theoretical foundations are built upon the ordinary cities approach. It provides a unique assemblage to examine how cities are intertwined with the world, without forgetting social, cultural and historical legacies inherent to each city. The urban development of post-socialist cities is thus perceived as a complex and dynamic system that incorporates discrepant layers of urban decision-making, tracks the level of urbanity through the fluctuating links between urban agency and socio-spatial patterns, and, in general, reveals the contextual processes of maintenance, transformation and change within an urban system. The case study of the Savamala neighbourhood, is not only a scaled example of the pre-socialist material legacy, a socialist cultural and regulatory matrix, and a transitional social reality, but equally the condensed illustration of the multi-faceted circumstances of post-socialist urban development. These elements constitute the exploratory boundaries for research pertaining to a decision-making chain, urban agency networks, and to socio-spatial patterns identified in Savamala through a qualitative data collection. The methodological framework is based on a process-driven, correlational research design that blends two methods. The Actor-Network Theory creates bottom-up logical argumentation to describe urban complexity. The Multi-Agent System serves to track urban dynamics and thus outline the action framework of the research. Data analysis, triangulation and reduction rely on complex actor roles and synthesized networks, the contextualization of interests and interventions, and the distribution of urban system transitions. The combination of overlapping methods and the visualization of data in diagrams deconstructs long-term historical processes. The research findings are three-folded. Firstly, they shed light on the actors and the processes at play in Savamala, unveiling a disbalanced conglomerate of sectors: political (power-mongers), economic (profit-seekers), professional (technicians and apparatchiks), civil and cultural (on the go). The articulation of urban agency in Savamala fundamentally confirms an authoritarian distribution of roles and decisions. The empirical results of the study contribute to the operationalization of several theoretical concepts for practical investigations in ordinary cities around the world. While urban development is interpreted in terms of contextualized urban system transitions, an overarching demarcation of the level of urbanity captures the fluctuations of local socio-spatial capital. The complexity of urban actors, forces, artefacts, and the dynamics of urban networks, interrelations, processes, are depicted as a legible, data-loaded scheme of nodes and links when data is visualised through the MAS-ANT methodological approach. This research furnishes a response to the necessity of altering a deterministic concept of urban research in terms of finding an intermediary between empirical data and their graphical display.


The triangular mesh provides one of the most popular representations for 3D graphic models. A typical triangular mesh consists of two different types of data: topological data which specify the connectivity of the mesh and geometrical data which describe information associated with each individual vertex or triangle. We propose a new compression scheme which encode topological data by using the dual graph of the original mesh. It is found that the dual graph can be represented as a degraded binary tree. Furthermore, geometrical data can be coded progressively with local prediction and embedded entropy coding. Experimental results show that an acceptable quality level can be reached at a compression ratio of 60 to 1 for general test models.


Minimax optimization problems arises from both modern machine learning including generative adversarial networks, adversarial training and multi-agent reinforcement learning, as well as from tradition research areas such as saddle point problems, numerical partial differential equations and optimality conditions of equality constrained optimization. For the unconstrained continuous nonconvex-nonconcave situation, Jin, Netrapalli and Jordan (2019) carefully considered the very basic question: what is a proper definition of local optima of a minimax optimization problem, and proposed a proper definition of local optimality called local minimax. We shall extend the definition of local minimax point to constrained nonconvex-nonconcave minimax optimization problems. By analyzing Jacobian uniqueness conditions for the lower-level maximization problem and the strong regularity of Karush-Kuhn-Tucker conditions of the maximization problem, we provide both necessary optimality conditions and sufficient optimality conditions for the local minimax points of constrained minimax optimization problems.


This article focuses mainly on the combined application of cognitive and metacognitive processing strategies to improve EFL readers' main idea comprehension. In order to be competent and more successful in deriving the central theme of text, EFL students need assistance in promoting both categories of reading processes. Building on previous research, this article argues that, for EFL students, additional support in knowledge and skills in the foundational elements of text understanding at the lower level is often necessary in the process of constructing main ideas. Of equal importance are higher-level cognitive processes and metacognitive strategies. The article indicates some possible guidelines for teaching main idea comprehension at each level of processing. Some modifications to strategy instruction are also recommended to suit the needs of EFL readers.


Central to New Zealand National Standards is the concept of overall teacher judgements (OTJs). This paper examines the concepts of OTJs and standards through international literature and experiences of a sample of New Zealand teachers in 2010. Standards contain expectations - what is, what could be and what might be desirable - implicit degrees of performance. Teacher capacity to judge current and future performance is important. With multiple opportunities to gather pertinent information, teachers are best placed to make valid (unequivocal) judgements on student achievement when they have shared understandings of standards. Because standards are comprised of multiple criteria, not all of which are evident in samples of student achievement, teacher understanding of standards develops through professional conversations and moderation processes. In 2010 New Zealand teachers had mixed (equivocal) understandings of National Standards, applied them in different ways and had minimal experience of moderation processes...


This paper used graphite nanoparticles with the diameter of 35 and 80 nm and LB2000 vegetable based oil to prepare graphite oil-based nanofluids with different volume fractions by two-step method. The tribological properties of graphite nanoparticles as LB2000 vegetable based oil additive were investigated with a pin-on-disk friction and wear tester. Field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) were used to examine the morphology and the content of some typical elements of wear scar, respectively. Further, the lubrication mechanism of graphite nanoparticles was explored. It was found that graphite nanoparticles as vegetable based oil additive could remarkably improve friction-reducing and antiwear properties of pure oil. With the increase of volume fraction of graphite nanoparticles, the friction coefficient and the wear volume of disk decreased. At the same volume fraction, the smaller particles, the lower friction coefficient and wear volume. The main reason for the improvement in friction-reducing and antiwear properties of vegetable based oil using graphite nanoparticles was that graphite nanoparticles could form a physical deposition film on the friction surfaces.


This study examined 1371 TV news transcripts on Alzheimer's disease (AD) from 6 TV news networks during a 25-year period (1984-2008) employing the news framing perspective. Issues, sources, and episodic-thematic news about AD derived from the news framing perspective were analyzed. Results revealed that AD issues, such as treatments, personal stories, celebrities, and policy increased over time, whereas other issues including facts, causes, signs, and diagnosis received relatively limited news attention. Correlation analyses among episodic-thematic frames, issues, and sources found that episodic-thematic frames were positively linked with such issues as personal stories and policy and sources, including patients and politicians. The results suggest that although TV news covers episodic frames more than thematic ones, both frames can interact with each other to influence personal and social news about AD. Particularly, the role of celebrity affecting AD news at both individual and social levels is salient.


Large and complex models have recently been developed that require many parameters and much time to solve various problems in natural language processing. This paper explores an efficient way to avoid models being too complicated and ensure nearly equal performance to models showing the state-of-the-art. We propose a single convolutional neural network (CNN) using the sinusoidal positional encoding (SPE) in text classification. The SPE provides useful position information of a word and can construct a more efficient model architecture than before in a CNN-based approach. Our model can significantly reduce the parameter size (at least 67%) and training time (up to 85%) while maintaining similar performance to the CNN-based approach on multiple benchmark datasets.


Allergic reactions seem to be under a variety of different control systems. Concerning the onset of allergic disease, it has become clear that cytokines play an important regulatory role. Specific T-Helper cells subsets produce a pattern of cytokines that preferentially induces IgE synthesis. As IgE synthesis always occurs in the normal individual, we propose that an additional control system is needed. Naturally occurring anti-IgE autoantibodies may represent such a control system that are capable to neutralise IgE or to eliminate IgE producing B cells. This hypothesis is also supported by our recent cloning of autoantibodies against IgE from the human genome. Interestingly, the brain seems to represent a superseding control system that is also capable of modulating allergic reactions and this even at the level of IgE synthesis. This control is mediated by neuroendocrine factors that influence the cytokine microenvironment as if a shift in the TH1/TH2 phenotype had occurred.


Programmable nucleases are powerful genomic tools for precise genome editing. These tools precisely recognize, remove, or change DNA at a defined site, thereby, stimulating cellular DNA repair pathways that can cause mutations or accurate replacement or deletion/insertion of a sequence. CRISPR-Cas9 system is the most potent and useful genome editing technique adapted from the defense immune system of certain bacteria and archaea against viruses and phages. In the past decade, this technology made notable progress, and at present, it has largely been used in genome manipulation to make precise gene editing in plants, animals, and human cells. In this review, we aim to explain the basic principle, mechanisms of action, and applications of this system in different areas of medicine, with emphasizing on the detection and treatment of parasitic diseases.


Intimate partner violence during pregnancy is receiving increased attention because of its high prevalence and health effects. Still, little is known about women's perceptions on how their pregnancy influences the context in which intimate partner violence occurs. We conducted 19 in-depth interviews with women who had experienced intimate partner violence around the time of pregnancy. Women clearly perceived pregnancy as a turning point, because it created new expectations and a feeling of being overwhelmed. This led to violence by reducing women's acceptance of their partner's unemployment, alcohol abuse and lack of relationship commitment, or by increasing women's vulnerability because they felt too young to raise a child alone. Pregnancy also led to violence by bringing back childhood memories or by taking attention away from their partners. Understanding how pregnancy influences the context in which intimate partner violence occurs is important to provide abused, pregnant women with the services they need.


The author develops a rigorous second order analysis on the space of probability measures on a Riemannian manifold endowed with the quadratic optimal transport distance $W_2$. The discussion includes: definition of covariant derivative, discussion of the problem of existence of parallel transport, calculus of the Riemannian curvature tensor, differentiability of the exponential map and existence of Jacobi fields. This approach does not require any smoothness assumption on the measures considered.


Hope lies at the core of human psyche. It has a unique power to propel individuals, groups, organizations, and communities to action and can sustain their energies to help them achieve their goals. Hope is differentially conceptualized and studied as an emotion; as a positive motivational state incorporating elements of pathways and agency thinking and also as goals pursuit cognitions that can cause emotions; and, lately, as a character strength. Thus, hope research and practice transverses major theoretical and applied fields of psychology (namely positive) developmental, educational, and counseling psychology. Long-established links between hope and well-being places it in a unique position to affect positive youth development through positive education practices but also to enhance physical and mental health and positive psychosocial adaptation throughout the life cycle with the use of successful approaches in therapy and counseling. Established criteria for hope-based interventions and programs were developed all over the world with the express dual aim to enhance well-being and reduce psychopathology in different populations, ranging from children, adolescents, youths, and adults with and without physical and mental health problems and learning disabilities; and also across various settings, as diverse as educational institutions, therapy and counseling, recreational centers, and correctional facilities. Overall, hope-based interventions were successful in enhancing positive psychosocial outcomes and reducing depression and other problems. Underlying mechanisms that drive hope programs include the development of upward spirals of positive emotions that help people build enduring psychosocial resources; the process of goal setting and pursuit in itself; and the identification of optimal combinations of individual characteristics and intervention goals and techniques. A wide range of individual factors, such as participants' and implementers' characteristics and levels of motivation, in addition to contextual factors such as protocols, research designs, techniques, materials, analyses, and reporting choices impact the effectiveness of hope interventions. Future research can benefit from targeted hope interventions, matching specific needs, skills, and capacities of people and groups in different settings, including educational, therapy, organizational, and community ones, which can greatly improve academic performance, physical and mental health, productivity, and life quality.


. The goal of finding unreachable code is to report warnings about possible bugs in the source code and an increase of other analyses accuracy. The paper describes unreachable code classification and approaches for finding unreachable code in C/C++ programs. We described three data-flow analysis problems: value interval analysis, excluded value analysis, predicate analysis. Solutions for these problems are used to detect redundant expressions in conditional statements. We described common occurrences of useless warnings. The algorithms are implemented in the Svace tool that is developed by ISP RAS. The results are evaluated for open source projects Android-5.02 and Tizen-2.3. They represent the number of found warnings and its intersection.


A fundamental question in computational complexity asks whether probabilistic polynomial-time algorithms can be simulated deterministically with a small overhead in time (the BPP vs. P problem). A corresponding question in the realm of interactive proofs asks whether Arthur-Merlin protocols can be simulated nondeterministically with a small overhead in time (the AM vs. NP problem). Both questions are intricately tied to lower bounds. Prominently, in both settings blackbox derandomization, i.e., derandomization through pseudo-random generators, has been shown equivalent to lower bounds for decision problems against circuits. Recently, Chen and Tell (FOCS'21) established near-equivalences in the BPP setting between whitebox derandomization and lower bounds for multi-bit functions against algorithms on almost-all inputs. The key ingredient is a technique to translate hardness into targeted hitting sets in an instance-wise fashion based on a layered arithmetization of the evaluation of a uniform circuit computing the hard function f on the given instance. In this paper we develop a corresponding technique for Arthur-Merlin protocols and establish similar near-equivalences in the AM setting. As an example of our results in the hardness to derandomization direction, consider a length-preserving function f computable by a nondeterministic algorithm that runs in time n a . We show that if every Arthur-Merlin protocol that runs in time n c for c = O (log 2 a ) can only compute f correctly on finitely many inputs, then AM is in NP . Our main technical contribution is the construction of suitable targeted hitting-set generators based on probabilistically checkable proofs for nondeterministic computations. As a byproduct of our constructions, we obtain the first result indicating that whitebox derandomization of AM may be equivalent to the existence of targeted hitting-set generators for AM , an issue raised by Goldreich (LNCS, 2011). Byproducts in the average-case setting include the first uniform hardness vs. randomness tradeoffs for AM , as well as an unconditional mild derandomization result for AM .


1 Aminophylline inhibits the coronary vasodilator actions of adenosine. Our previous studies suggested that low dose infusions of aminophylline reduce coronary blood flow in the isolated heart. In the present study we investigated the actions of aminophylline on coronary blood flow and myocardial contractility in a transplanted heart model. Drugs were given by close coronary arterial infusion. 2 Aminophylline in low doses (200 mug/min) reduced coronary blood flow by 21 plus or minus 2% (mean plus or minus s.e. mean) but did not alter myocardial contractility or heart rate. Higher doses (500 and 1000 mug/min) increased coronary blood flow and myocardial contractility without changing heart rate. 3 Alpha-adrenoceptor blockade with phenoxybenzamine did not affect the response to a low dose of aminophylline (200 mug/min). 4 Propranolol in doses of 10 and 30mug/min blocked beta-adrenoceptors but did not change coronary blood flow. The higher dose reduced myocardial contractility. 5 The effects of a high dose of aminophylline (1000 mug/min) on coronary blood flow were not changed by either alpha- or beta-adrenoceptor blockade, although propranolol (30 mug/min) reduced the augmentation in myocardial contractility. 6 The results show that when given in doses which do not alter myocardial contractility, aminophylline reduces coronary blood flow in the isolated heart and that this is not mediated through an alpha-adrenoceptor mechanism. They also show that the increases in coronary blood flow and positive inotropic effects obtained with higher doses of aminophylline are not mediated through catecholamines and suggest that higher doses of aminophylline have a small direct coronary vasodilator action. The low dose vasoconstrictor response may be produced by inhibition of the coronary vasodilator action of locally produced adenosine.


The usefulness of a rapid latex agglutination method for the detection of Candida antigen (Cand-Tec; Ramco Laboratories. Texas) was retrospectively assessed in a university teaching hospital over a one year period. Patients were enrolled when the managing physician requested Cand-Tec testing for confirmation of possible invasive candidal infection. The majority of patients were critically ill; 56% were in the intensive care unit, and 30% subsequently died. Analyses were available from 79 patients and 125 samples. Thirty-three patients were diagnosed as having either definite invasive candidiasis or a high probability of infection based upon clinical, microbiological and tissue criteria. The sensitivity and specificity of Candida antigen detection was determined for doubling titres ≥1:4 to ≥1:16. If a titre of ≥1:4 was used as the diagnostic cut-off level for definite candidal infection, overall sensitivity and specificity were 77% and 69%, respectively, while the positive predictive value was 48%, and the negative predictive value 89%. When patients with a high probability of invasive candidal infection were included in analyses for a cut-off titre of ≥1:4, overall sensitivity and specificity were 70% and 69%, respectively, while the positive predictive value was 68%, and the negative predictive value 71%. The usefulness of the Cand-Tec test was not improved further for any subgroup of patients (including those in the intensive care unit), nor by following serial titres in individual patients. In this experience, the Cand-Tec test did not add enough information to include definitively or exclude invasive candidiasis in this high risk general patient population.


CONTEXT
Only two mutations at the Lysine 183 amino acid in the extracellular N-terminal domain of human TSH receptor (hTSHR) have been associated to hypersensitivity to hCG and familial gestational hyperthyroidism.

PATIENTS
A 38-year-old woman was seen during the first trimester of her second pregnancy for thyrotoxicosis with increased fT3 and fT4 concentrations and low TSH levels without anti-TSH receptor antibody. Thyrotoxicosis improved spontaneously during the 2nd trimester and persisted at the 3rd trimester. Similar clinical symptoms (weight loss, nausea, vomiting) were also reported during the first trimester of her first pregnancy and the first pregnancy of her mother.

RESULTS
DNA sequencing of the hTSHR gene of this woman and her mother, identifies a heterozygous variant changing Valine to Isoleucine residue at codon 597 in the transmembrane domain (TMD) of this receptor. In vitro functional studies of this variant showed increased constitutive activity in regard to the basal level of cAMP and IP3 production and to the low cell surface expression, while response to TSH was reduced compared to that of the wild type receptor. The Val597Ile variant presented a dose-dependent increase in cAMP response to hGC and human luteinizing hormone (hLH). Simulation of the protein dynamics showed a high structural impact of the Val597Ile variant on helices 3 (TMH3) and 5 (TMH5) of the transmembrane domain participating to constitutive activity and hCG sensitivity.

CONCLUSION
We describe a new variant in the transmembrane region of the hTSHR gene with increased constitutive activity and hCG hypersensitivity in familial gestational hyperthyroidism.


The evaporation and heat transfer of thin liquid film are crucial factors affecting on the heat transfer performance of boiling bubbles or slugs. For boiling in micro-channels, the flash evaporation of the liquid film may give rise to boiling instability, and the dry-out of the film leads to serious deterioration of the heat transport. The thin liquid film has multi-scale transitions, and hence the phase change and fluid dynamics need to be solved by special governing equations and numerical algorithm. The numerical studies to date have solved the steady state distribution of the film, but the difficulty consists in the transient simulation of time-variant liquid films. In the present study, unsteady form governing equations are developed. With inclusion of the temporal terms, we conducted transient simulations for flat liquid films formed during the flow boiling in micro-channels. The model predicts the developing of drying spot during growth of elongated bubbles. The results show that the film thickness and distribution change quickly in a growth period, which are functions of the heat flux, mass flow rate and the other parameters. The quantitative assessment of these effects helps to clarify the mechanism of boiling instability and the conditions for the occurrence of critical heat flux (CHF). The simulation needs special numerical scheme for time marching and stabilization treatment for the nonlinear terms, where the numerical accuracy and the significance of the temporal effects are also discussed.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


The aim of the regional project SIMPAA2, which continues the research activities of the former national research SIMPAA project, is the realization of a hardware simulator of MIMO propagation channels for UMTS and WLAN applications. The simulator must reproduce the behavior of the radio propagation channel, thus making it possible to test "on table" the mobile radio equipments. The advantages are: low cost, short test duration, possibility to ensure the same test conditions in order to compare the performance of various equipments


Heroin users from Guangxi province, a southern province of China that borders Vietnam in the south and Yunnan province in China in the west, were studied for prevalence and risk factors for HIV-1 infection. Viral env sequences from HIV-1-positive individuals were also determined for subtypes of HIV-1. The overall HIV prevalence among 227 heroin users was 40%. Most had used drugs for < or = 3 years. Sharing of injection equipment and unprotected sex were significantly associated with HIV-1 infection. Subtypes C and E HIV-1 were detected in infected heroin users and were sharply segregated in two geographic locations: only subtype C was found in a border city with Yunnan province, whereas only subtype E was found in a city bordering northern Vietnam. HIV-1 strains within each subtype were remarkably homogenous, with a mean intersubject DNA distance of 2.32% for subtype E and 1.13% for subtype C, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis of C2-V5 region of Guangxi subtype E env sequences revealed significant clustering with subtype E sequences from southern Vietnam and Cambodia. These results suggest that HIV-1 infection among heroin users in Guangxi represents two emerging epidemics initiated from distinct sources: one from Vietnam and another from Yunnan province. Factors associated with HIV-1 infection were not restricted to injection practices. Unprotected sexual behaviors are likely to increase the probability of HIV transmission beyond this high-risk population. Designing and implementing effective intervention strategies targeted toward both injection drug use and high risk sexual behavior are urgently needed to further reduce HIV-1 spread in China.