ABSTRACT The expression of the histone genes is regulated during the cell cycle to provide histones for nucleosome assembly during DNA replication. In budding yeast, histones H2A and H2B are expressed from divergent promoters at the HTA1-HTB1 and HTA2-HTB2 loci. Here, we show that the major activator of HTA1-HTB1 is Spt10, a sequence-specific DNA binding protein with a putative histone acetyltransferase (HAT) domain. Spt10 binds to two pairs of upstream activation sequence (UAS) elements in the HTA1-HTB1 promoter: UAS1 and UAS2 drive HTA1 expression, and UAS3 and UAS4 drive HTB1 expression. UAS3 and UAS4 also contain binding sites for the cell cycle regulator SBF (an Swi4-Swi6 heterodimer), which overlap the Spt10 binding sites. The binding of Spt10 and binding of SBF to UAS3 and UAS4 are mutually exclusive in vitro. Both SBF and Spt10 are bound in cells arrested with α-factor, apparently awaiting a signal to activate transcription. Soon after the removal of α-factor, SBF initiates a small, early peak of HTA1 and HTB1 transcription, which is followed by a much larger peak due to Spt10. Both activators dissociate from the HTA1-HTB1 promoter after expression has been activated. Thus, SBF and Spt10 cooperate to control the timing of HTA1-HTB1 expression.


Transportation is a major contributor of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions from human activity. It accounts for approximately 14% of total anthropogenic emissions globally and about 27% in the United States. Growing concern regarding the impacts of climate change and greenhouse gas emissions, along with petroleum dependence and energy security, has led to innovations in automotive and fuel technology. However, the behavioral response to the newest transportation technologies, such as hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles (FCVs) and fueling infrastructure, is not well understood. The results of an exploratory hydrogen FCV fleet study, which focused on fleet drivers' attitudes and perceptions over a 7-month period in 2006, are examined. The study employed a longitudinal survey design, with three phases and one focus group. There were limitations to the exploratory data set generated from this study (e.g., small sample size, self-selection bias, and generalizability). However, the results provided insights into participants' responses to the FCV and hydrogen fueling infrastructure over time and could help to inform further inquiry. Higher levels of hydrogen exposure were correlated with increased comfort with hydrogen, especially among those who were less experienced. Early adopters of the technology generally felt safer driving the FCV than later adopters. Respondents mostly felt safe refueling the FCV. As experience with the FCV increased, participants felt increasingly safe with the vehicles. The driving range was considered a limitation. Furthermore, over the course of the study, participant perception of vehicle range increased because of learning.


The effects of ipsapirone and cannabidiol (CBD) on healthy volunteers submitted to a simulated public speaking (SPS) test were compared with those of the anxiolytic benzodiazepine diazepam and placebo. Four independent groups of 10 subjects received, under a double-blind design, placebo or one of the following drugs: CBD (300 mg), diazepam (10 mg) or ipsapirone (5 mg). Subjective anxiety was evaluated through the Visual Analogue Mood Scale (VAMS) and the State-trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). The VAMS anxiety factor showed that ipsapirone attenuated SPS-induced anxiety while CBD decreased anxiety after the SPS test. Diazepam, on the other hand, was anxiolytic before and after the SPS test, but had no effect on the increase in anxiety induced by the speech test. Only ipsapirone attenuated the increase in systolic blood pressure induced by the test. Significant sedative effects were only observed with diazepam. The results suggest that ipsapirone and CBD have anxiolytic properties in human volunteers submitted to a stressful situation.


The elevation of plasma glycerides by a high carbohydrate diet (carbohydrate induction) has been systematically correlated with glucose tolerance, insulin output and ponderal index in normals and in patients with different types of hyperlipoproteinemia. Carbohydrate inducibility (ΔTG) was similar in normals and patients with Type II hyperlipoproteinemia. Delta TG was nearly always much greater than normal in Type III, and was quite heterogeneous in type IV. The scatter in ΔTG values in Type V patients was extremely great. The basal triglyceride and ΔTG were positively correlated only in Type IV. Abnormal glucose tolerance was present in approximately one third of Types II and III, one half of Type IV and 80 per cent of Type V patients. Hyperinsulinemia was present in most Type V patients, while a majority of Type II and III patients had relatively normal insulin levels. Approximately one third each of the Type IV patients had low, normal, and abnormally high insulin levels. Increasing insulin and insulinogenic indices were correlated with increased ATG in the normal, but not in any of the patient groups. In the specific groups of hyperglyceridemic patients in this study, plasma insulin levels did not appear to be a primary determinant of the degree of carbohydrate induction.


Background/Objective The prevalence of chronic pain and its links to the opioid epidemic have given way to widespread aims to improve pain management care and reduce opioid use, especially in rural areas. Pain Management Specialty Care Access Network-Extension for Community Health Outcomes (VA-ECHO) promotes increased pain care access to rural Veterans through knowledge sharing from specialists to primary care providers (PCPs). We explored PCP participants' experiences in VA-ECHO and pain management care. Methods This qualitative study is based on a descriptive secondary analysis of semi-structured interviews (n = 10) and 3 focus groups with PCPs participating in VA-ECHO from 2017–2019. A rapid matrix analysis approach was used to analyze participants' responses. Results VA-ECHO was an effective workforce development strategy for meeting PCPs' training needs by providing pain management knowledge and skills training (eg alternative care approaches and communicating treatment options). Having protected time to participate in VA-ECHO was a challenge for many PCPs, mitigated by leadership and administrative support. Participants who volunteer to participate had more positive experiences than those required to attend. Conclusions VA-ECHO could be used for meeting the workforce development needs of PCPs. Respondents were satisfied with the program citing improvement in their practice and increased confidence in providing pain management care to Veterans despite some challenges to participation. These findings offer insight into using VA-ECHO to meet the VHA's workforce development to improve Veterans' access to pain management care. The ECHO model presents opportunities for workforce development in large complex healthcare systems and garnering ongoing support for this training model is necessary for promoting workforce development for PCPs.


Maltose phosphorylase (EC 188.8.131.52) from Lactobacillus brevis was purified 29-fold over the crude extract. The final preparation was at least 80% pure and had a specific activity of 18 units/mg protein. The molecular weights of the native enzyme and of the component dissociated in sodium dodecyl sulfate were 150,000 and 80,000, respectively. The enzyme does not contain pyridoxal-5'-phosphate as a cofactor. It can not act on maltitol, malto triitol, sucrose, lactose and trehalose, and essentially not on isomaltose, maltobionic acid, maltotriose and maltotetraose. Inhibitory effect was observed with CuSO4, HgCl2 and pchloromercuribenzoate. Some other properties were also examined. A possibility of using this enzyme for the analysis of maltose was proposed.


The translation lookaside buffer (TLB) is an essential component used to speed up the virtual-to-physical address translation. Due to frequent lookup, however, the power consumption of the TLB is usually considerable. This paper presents an energy-efficient TLB design for the embedded processors. In our design, we first propose a real-time filter scheme to facilitate the block buffering to eliminate the redundant TLB accesses without comparator delay. By modifying the address registers to be sensitive to the contents variation, the proposed real-time filter can distinguish the redundant TLB access as soon as the virtual address is generated. The second technique is a banking-like design, which aims to reduce the energy consumption per TLB access in case of block buffer miss. To alleviate the performance penalty introduced by the conventional banking technique, we develop two adaptive variants of the banked TLB. Both variants can achieve the high energy efficiency as the banked TLB while maintaining the low miss ratio as the nonbanked TLB. The experimental results show that by filtering out all the redundant TLB accesses and then minimizing the energy consumption per access, without any performance penalty our design can effectively improve the Energy* Delay product of the TLB, especially for the data TLB with poor locality


This project analyses the ways in which national representations inflect and account for discursive variations in the media texts of a specific global media event, in this instance, the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. Watching and reading media representations of the Olympic Games is the only way most of us experience this international sporting event. Sports scholars have analysed the media's impact on the development and growth of sport worldwide and its representations of race and gender, but there has been little close analysis of sports commentary. The central questions posed by this dissertation are; what is the role of television commentators in creating the emotional tone and verbal narrative for the visual text, and how does the commentary convey information about national identity? What socio-linguistic tools are currently available to assist in such an analysis? Driven by these questions, this project extends and applies a development of Labovian theories of narrative structure, in particular the elements of orientation and evaluation. In Labov's original schema orientation covered basic information such as answers to who, when, what, and where? Orientation in this study includes these, as well as two additional types; orientation to audience clauses maintain a shared ground of communicative participation, and empathetic orientation clauses encourage an empathetic response. For Labov evaluation provides crucial points of assessment throughout a narrative and points the receiver towards a preferred reading. This study extends the concept of evaluation to include evaluations about the emotional impact of the spectacle. These elements of emotive address are included in an overall category of emotionally oriented language, as a contrast to the technically oriented language of sportscasting, the descriptive 'calling the play' clauses. This dissertation thus develops a socio-linguistic tool to analyse the interplay between technical information and emotive narrative within the commentary. This tool is then applied to texts from the Australian based Seven Network and the United Kingdom's British Broadcasting Corporation. The Opening and Closing Ceremony broadcasts are qualitatively analysed with reference to Dayan and Katz's theories about media events, but also in terms of orientation and evaluation. Acting in the Labovian sense as an abstract, the Opening Ceremony ritually creates the narrative significance of the sporting contests which follow, while the coda or Closing Ceremony enacts ritual closure and a return to everyday life. The sporting contests book-ended by these two ceremonies, the middle complicating actions and results, are imbricated in the Olympic Movement's philosophy of Olympism, enunciated during the Opening, and are represented from within specific media frames which work to create emotive identification with the nation. Two events are selected for comparative micro-analysis, the men's 1500m swimming final and the men's coxless pair rowing final, because in these events the two nations, Great Britain and Australia, battled for medals. A hypothesis that the Australian commentary was more emotional and nationalistic than the British commentary was tested, with the conclusions showing that assumptions about stereotypical British reserve were more likely to be explained by the lack of recent UK sporting success and media framing of these results, than a national disinclination for commentators to emote during live broadcasts. Within the overall analysis, however, specific modes of address, such as creating a phatic community, evaluations about the emotional impact of the spectacle, and technically oriented language did differ significantly between the two broadcast commentary teams, both in content and temporal placement. The excesses of the Australian broadcasts were in part explainable by the commercial Network context, but were also underpinned by the sustained achievements of Australian athletic-heroes on the global stage. An integral aspect of the commentary analysis is the personalisation and individualisation of the sporting hero within the event narrative. This thesis re-examines and extends notions of the sports hero within the context of national identity formation as supported by evidence collected from the texts.


This written research document supports Vignettes of a Family a mixed media art installation that examines memory and identity formation. Additionally the transformative value of communication is explored through narrative therapy approaches such as letter writing and story telling. Through my investigations I have deduced that having a better understanding of oneself is the key to understanding others. Vignettes of a Family is a mixed media installation consisting of a series of ten digitally composed photographic images printed onto large-scale fabric panels. Within this body of work viewers are invited to share in the stories of triumph and hardships experienced by my own Midwestern American family.


ABSTRACT Geographical variation of birdsong is used to study various topics from cultural evolution to mechanisms responsible for reproductive barriers or song acquisition. In species with pronounced dialects, however, patterns of variation in non-dialect parts of the song are usually overlooked. We focused on the individually variable initial phrase of the song of the Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella), a common Palearctic passerine which became a model species for dialect research. We used a quantitative method to compare the similarity of initial phrases from the repertoires of 237 males recorded at different spatial scales in a central European country covering all main dialect types. We hypothesized that patterns of initial phrase sharing and/or phrase similarity are affected by dialect boundaries and geographical proximity (i.e. that birds from the same dialect regions use more similar phrases or share them more often). Contrary to our expectations, initial phrase variation seems unrelated to dialects, as we did not find higher similarity either among recordings from the same dialect areas or among those from the same locality. Interestingly, despite the immense variability of phrase types detected (only 16% of 368 detected initial phrase types were shared between at least 2 males), a relatively high proportion of males (45%) was involved in sharing, and males using the same initial phrase were located anywhere from tens of meters to hundreds of kilometers apart. The patterns of variation suggest that precise copying during song learning as well as improvisation play important roles in forming individual repertoires in the Yellowhammer. Our data also confirm previous indications that the repertoires of Yellowhammer males (i.e. the composition of initial phrases) are individually unique and temporally stable. This makes the species a good candidate for individual acoustic monitoring, useful for detailed population or behavioral studies without the need for physical capture and marking of males.


This book was first published in 1987 and has continued to be a popular handbook through each of its four iterations. It is written with a sense of humor and includes fascinating tidbits. For example, did you know that the word robot derived from a Czech novelist/playwright named Karel Capek who coined the word robata in a 1917 short story? The word robota in the Czech language means compulsory worker, and what distinguishes a robot from other machines is that it can perform some kind of function or work. McComb defines a robot as any device that mimics human or animal function. It can be autonomous, preprogrammed, or radio controlled. Eight carefully laid out sections provide a systematic guide to building a stable robot that can navigate, respond, and perform functions. One of the premises of the book is modularity, and the author encourages creative intermixing of different modules developed in the chapters.


Project management relies on testing personnel's expertise to ensure software quality. However, contractual and management issues also determine a project's quality. Such issues might even control testing itself. Consider the situation in which a client hires a vendor to build a piece of software. The client could specify the type, schedule, and extent of testing in its contract. Such terms might include compressing the time allotted to quality assurance or substituting certain tests for others. To successfully meet software quality goals, all parties involved must fully understand what testing the contract requires. However, testing literature, practitioners, and project management often have different understandings of common testing concepts. I describe two specific inconsistencies in testing vocabulary that can put a software project at risk.


Background: Modern machine learning and deep learning algorithms require large amounts of data; however, data sharing between multiple healthcare institutions is limited by privacy and security concerns. Summary: Federated learning provides a functional alternative to the single-institution approach while avoiding the pitfalls of data sharing. In cross-silo federated learning, the data do not leave a site. The raw data are stored at the site of collection. Models are created at the site of collection and are updated locally to achieve a learning objective. We demonstrate a use case with COVID-19-associated AKI. We showed that federated models outperformed their local counterparts, even when evaluated on local data in the test dataset, and performance was like those being used for pooled data. Increases in performance at a given hospital were inversely proportional to dataset size at a given hospital, which suggests that hospitals with smaller datasets have significant room for growth with federated learning approaches. Key Messages: This short article provides an overview of federated learning, gives a use case for COVID-19-associated acute kidney injury, and finally details the issues along with some potential solutions.


: Partially albinic Mystromys albicaudatus were examined to determine if the condition in these animals was homologous with the Chediak-Higashi syndrome. Tissues and cells from partially albinic and normal Mystromys albicaudatus were studied by light and electron microscopy. No evidence of cytoplasmic granule enlargement, which is characteristic of the Chediak-Higashi syndrome, was detected in the cells of the partially albinic rats when compared to controls. It was concluded that the inherited condition of partial albinism of Mystromys albicaudatus was not homologous with the inherited partially albinic disease known as the Chediak-Higashi syndrome.


ABSTRACT Limited opportunities exist for university premedical students to gain exposure to the realities of clinical practice through physician shadowing or through a formal curriculum. Medical Professionalism and Observership utilizes didactics, reflective writing, small- and large- group discussions, and clinical observerships to enhance the process of professional identity formation during a critical developmental window of late- adolescence. The pilot semester included a sample of 135 students, all in their sophomore, junior, or senior years of study at Rice University. Students were selected through an application process and paired with physicians at Houston Methodist Hospital based on specialty preference and availability. Students were required to participate in biweekly lectures and discussions and to submit a weekly reflection on topics discussed in the course and their shadowing experiences. Student evaluations were administered to survey changes in students' knowledge and perceptions of the curriculum. Selected reflections were read for evidence of professional identity formation. Lectures increased students' exposure to core competencies within the medical profession and influenced their desire to become physicians. Reflective writings demonstrated integration of these core competencies into the professional identity of students. Structured reflection and didactics, when coupled with physician shadowing, appear to promote integration of the values, beliefs, and attitudes of medical professionalism. Future studies should seek to demonstrate how such a curriculum affects professional identity formation through established measures, and to assess whether such a curriculum may influence students' preparedness for medical training and practice as they progress along their careers.


The expansion of renewable power plants has transformed the role and operation of gas turbines to a great extent. From the base load operation era, we are moving into a flexible and dynamic engine operation of gas turbines. Advances in computational intelligence have amplified the importance of condition monitoring, diagnostics, and prognostics capabilities in the face of gas turbine operation. Performing diagnostics in transient conditions is beneficial since the gas turbines are now acting as partners of renewables. This article presents a novel diagnostic approach for determining the health of a gas turbine when it works in conjunction with a wind farm in a hybrid power plant. In this article, we propose a model-based diagnostic method without reconstructing component maps according to their degradation. Once the engine model is adapted to its clean condition, it is tuned in real-time to reflect the changes in both the operation and degradation with respect to a benchmark engine model. Time evolving multiple component degradation scenarios are simulated to test the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method. From a bank of simulated measurements, data trending is performed which facilitates the detection of degradation and provides useful conclusions about the health state of the engine. This diagnostic method is suitable for gas turbines that spend most of their life time in part-load and transient operation and it can be a useful tool for gas turbine operators in planning their assets maintenance in a computational efficient and accurate manner.


Cluster algebras were invented by Sergey Fomin and Andrei Zelevinsky at the beginning of the year 2000. Their motivations came from Lie theory and more precisely from the study of the so-called canonical bases in quantum groups and that of total positivity in algebraic groups. Since then, cluster algebras have been linked to many other subjects ranging from higher Teichmüller theory through discrete dynamical systems to combinatorics, algebraic geometry and representation theory. According to FominZelevinsky's philosophy, each cluster algebra should admit a 'canonical' basis, which should contain the cluster monomials. This led them to formulate, about ten years ago, the conjecture on the linear independence of the cluster monomials. In these notes, we give a concise introduction to cluster algebras and sketch the ingredients of a proof of the conjecture. The proof is valid for all cluster algebras associated with quivers and was obtained in recent joint work with G. Cerulli Irelli, D. Labardini-Fragoso and P.-G. Plamondon. 2010 Mathematics Subject Classification. Primary 13F60; Secondary 17B20.


weakness in pagetic bone (particularly femora and tibiae) be regarded as at least a relative contraindication. I don't think that many informed people would disagree with these reservations. There are other points in Dr Schnur's letter that require comment, lest your readers be misled. There is no publishedevidence to show that the concurrent administration of calcium is of the slightest benefit in "minimizing" EHDP-induced fractures; it would be astonishing if this were the case, as the drug acts directly on bone to inhibit mineralization. Further, the use of EHDP for metastatic carcinoma in bone is very nonstandard treatment, and I am unaware of any published controlled trials showing its benefit. Richard A. bans, Metabolic Unit, Concord Hospital, NSW 2139.


We study the labor market and macroeconomic effects of introducing a carbon tax in the energy sector in emerging economies (EMEs) by building a framework with equilibrium unemployment and firm entry that incorporates key elements of the distinct employment and firm structure of EMEs. Our model endogenizes the adoption of green energy-production technologies--a core element of policy discussions regarding the transition to a low-carbon economy. Calibrating the model to EME data, we show that a carbon tax fosters greater green technology adoption and increases the share of green energy produced. However, the tax leads to higher energy prices, which reduce salaried firm creation and formal employment and increase self-employment, labor participation, and unemployment. As a result, the tax generates output and welfare losses. Green technology adoption plays a key role in limiting the quantitative magnitude of these losses, while the response of self-employment is crucial to explaining the adverse labor market and macroeconomic effects of the policy. Given this finding, we show that a carbon tax coupled with a plausible reduction in the cost of becoming a formal firm can offset the adverse effects of the tax and generate a transition to a lower-carbon economy with minimal economic costs. Finally, we show that lowering green-technology adoption costs or the cost of green-energy production inputs--two alternative climate policies--reduces emissions while limiting the output and welfare costs compared to a carbon tax.


A reverse logistics and production network that deals with recycled material flows has become essential due to the growing concern about the environmental impact of disposed waste and the economic value of recovered materials. Reverse logistics infrastructure design is typically based on tradeoffs between different criteria and faces challenges posed by uncertain system parameters such as the reusability percentage and total supply of end-of-life products. This paper presents a novel method for selecting alternative infrastructure designs to effectively and systematically handle multicriteria cases without subjective weight determination for different criteria. The proposed method, in practice, helps decision makers evaluate and select a design from a pool of alternatives proposed by contractors who place bids for public tenders where the bids include infrastructure design information and associated performance estimates under different uncertain system parameters.


An analytical model for determining adhesive stress distributions within the adhesive-bonded single-lap composite joints was developed. ASTM D3165 ''Strength Properties of Adhesives in Shear by Tension Loading of Single-Lap-Joint Laminated Assemblies'' test specimen geometry was followed in the model derivation. In the model derivation, the composite adherends were assumed linear elastic while the adhesive was assumed elastic-perfectly plastic following von Mises yield criterion. Laminated Anisotropic Plate Theory was applied in the derivation of the governing equations of the bonded laminates. The adhesive was assumed to be very thin and the adhesive stresses are assumed constant through the bondline thickness. The entire coupled system of equations was determined through the kinematics relations and force equilibrium of the adhesive and the adherends. The overall system of governing equations was solved analytically with appropriate boundary conditions. Computer software Maple V was used as the solution tool. The developed stress model was verified with finite element analysis using ABAQUS by comparing the adhesive stress distributions.


Osteoarthritis (OA) is a disease characterised by changes in the structure and function of articular joints, leading to pain and loss of mobility. Bone Morphogenetic protein 7 (BMP-7), a member of the transforming growth factor β superfamily, has been shown to promote anabolic events within articular cartilage, and confer protection from OA associated destruction in a number of animal models. It has been shown that a disease-associated loss of BMP-7 in OA may contribute to the joint destruction. The mechanism associated with the loss of BMP-7 has yet to be fully elucidated. Recently, small non-coding RNAs (microRNAs) that participate in post-transcriptional gene regulation, have been identified as a potential dysregulated mechanisms in OA. It was therefore hypothesised that disease-associated alterations in these microRNAs could lead to subsequent changes in the expression of BMP-7 and its signalling family. The aims of this thesis were to investigate the expression of BMP-7 and other associated BMP signalling molecules and identify any microRNAs that may regulate these transcripts. Furthermore, the study aimed to elucidate the molecular mechanisms by which BMP-7 is able to confer protection in cartilage.

The studies presented in this thesis show that both articular chondrocytes and the synovial membrane can express very low levels of BMP-7 transcript in a subset of patients. In juxtaposition, protein can be clearly detected in both articular chondrocytes and synovial membrane. Interrogation of the BMP-7 signalling family transcripts revealed that all members are detectable in OA cartilage. This expression was independent of the eroded nature of the cartilage. Evaluation of the circulating microRNAs that were predicted to target the BMP-7 pathway revealed that several miRNAs (including miR24-3p) were altered in the plasma of OA patients. Interestingly, miR24-3p was able to target BMP receptors ALK2 and BMPR1B. Moreover, there was a significant negative correlation between the expression of miR24-3p and the ALK2 receptor in OA patients. Thus suggesting there is a role for this miRNA in the negative regulation of BMP-7 signalling in OA cartilage.

To complement the work evaluating the endogenous signalling pathway, studies were also undertaken to investigate the impact of exogenous BMP-7 stimulation on chondrocytes. BMP-7 was able to promote its own transcriptional expression in a patient specific manner and induce expression of IL-1β in all of the donors investigated. In addition to the induction of IL-1β, BMP-7 was also able to up-regulated the IL-1β antagonist, IL-1Ra. Taken together this data suggests a role for BMP-7 in the regulation of the inflammatory mediator IL-1β. Finally, BMP-7 was able to up-regulate several pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines in both primary OA chondrocytes and in vitro differentiated macrophages.

In summation, the work presented in this thesis suggests that BMP-7 may be contributing to the promotion of inflammation and subsequent repair as part of the cartilage homeostatic mechanisms. Further to this, miR24 has been highlighted as a regulator of cartilage homeostasis via the direct targeting of ALK2. Changes in the expression of this miRNA over the course of OA disease progression may be involved in driving disease pathogenesis. Therefore understanding the targets for this disease-associated miRNA may help in the development of disease modifying therapies.


Leading the pedagogical documentation includes different ways of recording observations in the educational process and the development of the child, leading to a process of professionalization of the work of the teacher. This paper discussed the possibility of preparation of individual and group portfolio as a way of monitoring the development and progress of preschool children, preparation of professional portfolio and e - portfolio as an innovative way of monitoring the child and the professional development of educators in order to enhance and improve the quality of educational work in preschool organizations. Innovative kindergartens mean the innovative educators, so that the relationship of the teacher towards change is an important segment in the management of innovation in pre-school organizations. Today the teacher is not only a source of knowledge, but also organized the work motivator and initiator children's activities, and he should be motivated, responsible, communicative, willing and open to continuous improvement and professional advancement. Keywords: portfolio, innovative educator, professionalization.


Objective: In 2011, we started to offer cardiovascular (CV) risk screening to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with a high CV risk. After 1 year, we assessed whether patients labelled as high CV risk had started preventive treatment when indicated, and whether the CV risk score had changed. Methods: CV risk screening was performed in both a large outpatient rheumatology clinic and a general hospital in the Netherlands, and the general practitioner or the internist was informed about the results of the CV screening, including specific advice on the initiation or adjustment of cardiopreventive drugs. National guidelines were used to assess how many patients were eligible for preventive treatment. After 1 year, CV risk, lifestyle, and treatment were re-evaluated. Patients with a history of CV disease at baseline or who experienced a CV event during follow-up were excluded from the analyses. Results: A high 10 year CV risk (> 20%) was present in 58%, and 55% had an indication for anti-hypertensives, statins, or both. At follow-up, cardiopreventive drug treatment had been started or adjusted in only one-third of patients with an indication for treatment. After screening, 42% of patients reported having changed their lifestyle, through more exercise (24%), diet adaption (20%), and weight loss (11%). Conclusion: Despite clear guidelines to improve CV risk, the results of a programme comprising active screening, targeted advice, and referral to the general practitioner or internist prove that primary prevention remains a major challenge in high-risk RA patients.


The purpose of this study was to construct a profile of K–12 music teachers in the United States and develop a model to predict their retention, turnover, and attrition. Responses to the Schools and Staffing Survey from 47,857 K–12 public and private school teachers, including 1,903 music teachers, were analyzed using comparative statistics, factor analysis, logistic regression, and structural equation modeling. Results indicated that music teachers were far more likely than other types of teachers to hold itinerant or part-time positions, and were less likely to receive support for working with special needs students. Music teachers changed teaching positions because of dissatisfaction with workplace conditions and for better teaching assignments. Music teachers left the teaching profession for better salary or benefits, and were generally more satisfied in their new field. Music teachers' perceived level of administrative support had the most prominent influence on both music teacher satisfaction and retention.


Organic acids play pivotal role in flavor and consumer acceptance of fruit beverages. Concentration of some organic acids in citrus juices was determined through HPLC and their retention during refrigerated storage was also evaluated. The concentration of organic acids were in the following pattern Citric Acid> Malic Acid> Ascorbic Acid> Tartaric Acid. Citric acid, malic acid, ascorbic acid and tartaric acid content ranged from 925.92 mg/100 mL (Kinnow) to 1323.25 mg/100 mL (Musambi), 9.67 mg/100 mL (Musambi) to 519.62 mg/100 mL (Kinnow), 36.38 mg/100 mL (red blood) to 51.43 mg/100 mL (Kinnow), 0.318 mg/100 mL (Musambi) to 0.825 mg/100 mL (Kinnow), respectively in different citrus species. Storage studies revealed that ascorbic acid losses were 11% to 15% and citric acid contents were decreased from 0.7% to 1.9% during refrigerated storage while malic acid contents increase d 1% to 4% and tartaric acid content increased 2% to 4% thoroughout the storage period.


3 Therapeutic endoscopy and bleeding ulcers: concensus conference.JAMA 1989; 262: 1369-72. 4 Swain CP, Salmon PR, Northfield TC. Does ulcer position influence presentation or prognosis of acute gastrointestinal bleeding. Gut 1986; 27: A632. 5 Brullet E, Campo R, Bed6s G, Barcons S, Gubern JM, Bordas JM. Size and size of bleeding peptic ulcer. Is there any relation to the efficacy of hemostatic sclerotherapy. Endoscopy 1991; 23: 73-5. 6 Heldwein W, Schreiner J, Frinkl R, Schindlbeck N, Lehnert P. Risk of arterial ulcer bleeding in relation to the bleeding site. A prospective evaluation using combined laser therapy. Gastroenterology 1990; 98: A57. 7 Jusczkiewicz P, Dobosz M. Endoscopic injection of stress ulcers and bleeding ulcers located at the posterior wall of the duodenal bulb. Endoscopy 1988; 20:23. 8 Branicki FJ, Coleman SY, Fok PJ, Pritchett CJ, Fan S, Lai E, et al. Bleeding peptic ulcer: a prospective evaluation of risk factors for rebleeding and mortality. World J Surg 1990; 14: 262-70.


Background Knowledge mobilisation (KMb) can be defined as the movement of available knowledge (research) into active use. In the health sciences, there is a need to identify and describe knowledge mobilisation activities from a range of different 'producers' and 'users' of knowledge. A recent review of reviews of knowledge mobilisation highlighted the need for the evaluation of KMb activities and approaches, as well as mapping knowledge mobilisation archetypes. This case study details a knowledge mobilisation activity between a UK and US university (knowledge producers), and a US state public health department (knowledge users). There were 3 objectives: First, exchange knowledge of the persistent challenges and best practices identified by UK and US settings for conducting research embedded in public health practice. Second, identify the methods that worked best and in what context, for moving knowledge into active use in public health practice. Third, map knowledge mobilisation activities. The exchange took place over 1 week in 2016. Methods Qualitative case study. We used participant observation, document analysis and interview to record knowledge mobilisation activities. We used thematic analysis (using the OSOP technique) to draw out themes. Results We discussed the challenges and opportunities that the UK and US institutions face in achieving high-quality 'real-world' public health research that has been or could be used in practice. Thematic findings centred on: Exemplars of practice: Knowledge mobilisation that worked well was usually dependent on secure, long-standing relationships between key individuals (but not necessarily the most powerful individuals). Mobilisation methods: A range of methods were reported to move knowledge into active use, from social and relational to traditional linear processes of knowledge production and (assumed) implementation in practice. Mobilisation activities: archetypes identified in a knowledge mobilisation review of reviews were compared to current practice from this exchange. Archetypes of knowledge mobilisation in practice were 'evidence advocacy' and 'knowledge production' and those 'brokering research' and 'fostering networks'. Details of each theme will be presented. Conclusion This knowledge mobilisation exchange helped to identify the most useful knowledge mobilisation activities occurring in these UK and US institutions. The exchange was itself an example of knowledge mobilisation. It has provided a benchmark for identifying what types of knowledge mobilisation activities are best suited, and in what context, for moving knowledge into active use in each country. A study limitation is the case study method, as the findings cannot be widely generalised without external replication.


Every 2 years, the International Consensus Conference on the Treatment of Primary Breast Cancer takes place in St. Gallen. Given that the concept of the St. Gallen Consensus Conference mainly reflects an international opinion, it appears useful to adapt the results of the vote for everyday therapy in Germany. A German working group comprising 28 breast cancer experts, amongst whom there are 3 members of the international St. Gallen panel, has therefore commented on this year's St. Gallen Consensus Conference (2011) from the German viewpoint. The focus of interest of this year's St. Gallen Conference was tumour biology as the starting point for decisions regarding individual therapy. There was an intensive discussion in relation to the clinical relevance of predictive and prognostic factors and possible consequences for decisions regarding therapy. Therefore, questions concerning the indication for adjuvant chemotherapy focused especially on the significance of the molecular phenotype of the tumour. In addition, important points for discussion were also the value of complete axillary dissection and the use of accelerated complete breast irradiation.


The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) has carried out research to develop Criteria and Indicators for sustainable forest management (C&I) in eight countries since 1994. In the CIFOR framework C&I are organised hierarchically as principles, criteria, indicators, and verifiers. Based on an analysis and synthesis of the C&I research a set of C&I has been identified that can form the starting point for developing localised sets of criteria and indicators. This set is called the 'Generic Template'. A knowledge based system called CIMAT (Criteria and Indicators Modification and Adaptation Tool) has now been developed to support the process of developing locally adapted C&I using the Generic Template as a starting point. In CIMAT all the principles, criteria, indicators, and verifiers of the Generic Template are represented as items that can be modified by the user. The modification can only take place when users explain their reason for the change. All the reasons in the system can be made dependent upon one another, they can be revised during modification, and they can be counter-argued by other users. The need to represent and maintain these reasons and their interdependencies is resolved through the use of a reason maintenance system (RMS). Another meta-level component of CIMAT is its ability to compare and analyze multiple


Aim: The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate water-in-oil-in-water multiple emulsions for taste masking of andrographolide isolated from Andrographis paniculata leaves. Materials and Methods: Andrographolide (diterpenoid lactone) is the major active bitter glycoside and has been found to possess remarkable hepatoprotective activity. Andrographolide isolated was effectively entrapped into a multiple emulsion to facilitate the delivery of andrographolide in liver cells. Results and Discussion: This also improved its therapeutic efficacy during hepatic damage. Multiple emulsions prepared were stabilized using a combination of hydrophilic as well as hydrophobic surfactants in ratio of 4:1. This is significant in achieving stable multiple emulsions. Multiple emulsions prepared were of optimum globular size and drug content was found to be around 80%. Conclusion: This may be attributed to their enhanced bioavailability, taste masking, and sustained release as well as physicochemical stability which prolong the activity of andrographolide in the multiple emulsions, which could be safer and more effective.


Background: The mint and basil plants (M. spicata L. and O. basilicum L.) of the labiate family were used in the study. Methods: A qualitative chemical detection regarding several active chemicals in the leaves of M. spicata L. and O. basilicum L. was part of the investigation. Results: The findings revealed that both species include flavonoids and glycosides, yet tannins and saponins were not found in the leaves extract of O. basilicum, and volatile oils were found in the alcoholic extract at a rate of 4.5% in the leaves of O. basilicum. Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FT-IR) was used to detect six chemical active groups include (O-H, C=H, C=C, C=N, C-O, C-N). Our findings revealed the presence of alkaloid; the extraction yield for volatile oils in M. spicata species is 3%. As for the presence of nutrients in the type, the highest percentage of Calcium is in species O. basilicum . Conclusions: The presence of effective chemical compounds in O. basilicum and M. spicata leaves indicates its importance as a source of useful drugs and the importance of chemical components in the pharmaceutical industries, as well as enhancing the importance of its use in folk medicine as a safe treatment for many diseases.


Micro-bead based multiplexed protein immunoassays have experienced rapid growth in the past decade. Thus far, bead based protein assays have relied on the bulky 240 kDa protein phycoerythrin (PE) as the reporter dye to afford a sufficient detection signal and sensitivity, taking advantage of the 25 fluorophores in each protein. Here, we report the synthesis of gold nano-island coated glass beads (4–8 μm) through a two-step seeding-and-growth approach. We developed flow cytometric bead assays with sensitivities as low as 10 fM (∼0.2 pg ml−1) by utilizing the strong fluorescence enhancement of small molecule fluorophores (Cy-5) on the plasmonic gold (pGOLD) beads. By using different fluorescence tags to label the gold beads and varying the bead size, we obtained multiplexed plasmonic gold beads for the quantification of human cytokine IL-6, IFN-gamma, IL-1 beta, VEGF and an ovarian cancer biomarker CA-125 in biologically relevant media. The low limit of detection surpassed those of glass bead based immunoassays by 2 orders of magnitude, demonstrating the potential of plasmonic gold beads for sensitive protein biomarker quantification.


We present two new remarkably simple stochastic second-order methods for minimizing the average of a very large number of sufficiently smooth and strongly convex functions. The first is a stochastic variant of Newton's method (SN), and the second is a stochastic variant of cubically regularized Newton's method (SCN). We establish local linear-quadratic convergence results. Unlike existing stochastic variants of second order methods, which require the evaluation of a large number of gradients and/or Hessians in each iteration to guarantee convergence, our methods do not have this shortcoming. For instance, the simplest variants of our methods in each iteration need to compute the gradient and Hessian of a {\em single} randomly selected function only. In contrast to most existing stochastic Newton and quasi-Newton methods, our approach guarantees local convergence faster than with first-order oracle and adapts to the problem's curvature. Interestingly, our method is not unbiased, so our theory provides new intuition for designing new stochastic methods.


We propose a parsimonious topic model for text corpora. In related models such as Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), all words are modeled topic-specifically, even though many words occur with similar frequencies across different topics. Our modeling determines salient words for each topic, which have topic-specific probabilities, with the rest explained by a universal shared model. Further, in LDA all topics are in principle present in every document. By contrast, our model gives sparse topic representation, determining the (small) subset of relevant topics for each document. We derive a Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC), balancing model complexity and goodness of fit. Here, interestingly, we identify an effective sample size and corresponding penalty specific to each parameter type in our model. We minimize BIC to jointly determine our entire model-the topic-specific words, document-specific topics, all model parameter values, and the total number of topics-in a wholly unsupervised fashion. Results on three text corpora and an image dataset show that our model achieves higher test set likelihood and better agreement with ground-truth class labels, compared to LDA and to a model designed to incorporate sparsity.


The genesis of this symposium was the biological, chemical, and soil evidence presented as part of court proceedings involving a private plane crash near Ruidoso, New Mexico in December, 1989 (Brunk, this series). The plaintiffs claimed that a flaw in the engine design allowed debris to enter and accumulate in a fuel component causing it to malfunction. This biological material included trichomes (plant hairs; Bates, Anderson, and Lee), pollen, (Lewis; A. Graham), and insects (Rozen and Eickwort). Chemical analyses aided in identifying an amorphous substance associated with the trichomes, pollen, and insect remains (Liddell). The evi- dence from soil analyses proved important in addressing another contention by the plaintiffs that soil, in addition to biological matter, was part of the engine contaminants that caused the crash (Daugherty). Although biological evidence in the form of DNA "fingerprinting" is well known, a significant part of the evidence presented here derived from a broad array of other organic materi- als, which although less widely used, proved central in deciding the outcome of the case.


From the dawn of human flight, the use of new technology has been necessary for aircraft to fly faster, further, and higher. That need continues today, making technology development a critical factor in new aerospace systems development. This study introduces some of the detailed formulation behind a process developed to assist the planning and management of a development project for a new technology. The process is based on risk management and uses probabilistic analysis, project network techniques, and Bayesian statistics in order to provide information useful for decision making. The six steps in the process focus on identification and reduction of performance uncertainty, as well as identification of cost and schedule risk and uncertainty. The process introduces some ways in which analysis can interact with expert opinion in order to produce meaningful system-level comparisons of technologies. The iterative nature of the process helps to deal with uncertainty in the technology and outside influences which affect the technology's development.


Diets could play an important role in testicular function, but studies on how adherence to the dietary patterns influences human testicular function in Asian countries are scarce. Herein, we examined the association between testosterone-related dietary patterns and testicular function among adult men in Taiwan. This cross-sectional study recruited 3283 men who attended a private medical screening program from 2009 to 2015. Testosterone-related dietary pattern was generated by the reduced rank regression (RRR) method. The association between adherence to quartile of dietary pattern scores with sex hormones (testosterone, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), and estradiol (E2)) and sperm quality (sperm concentration (SC), total sperm motility (TSM), progressive motility (PRM), and normal sperm morphology (NSM)) were examined by multivariable linear regression. Hemoglobin (β = 0.57, p < 0.001), hematocrit (β = 0.17, p = 0.002), triglyceride (β = −0.84, p < 0.001), HDL-cholesterol (β = 3.58, p < 0.001), total cholesterol to HDL-cholesterol ratio (β = −0.78, p < 0.001), and uric acid (β = −10.77, p < 0.001) were highly correlated with testosterone levels. Therefore, these biomarkers were used to construct a testosterone-related dietary pattern. Highest adherence (Q4) to dietary pattern scores were negatively associated with lower testosterone in the pooled analysis (β = −0.89, p = 0.037) and normal-weight men (β = −1.48, p = 0.019). Likewise, men in the Q4 of the dietary pattern had lower SC (β = −5.55, p = 0.001) and NSM (β = −2.22, p = 0.007) regardless of their nutritional status. Our study suggesting that testosterone-related dietary pattern (rich in preserved vegetables or processed meat or fish, deep-fried foods, innards organs, rice or flour products cooked in oil, and dipping sauce, but low in milk, dairy products, legumes, or beans, and dark or leafy vegetables) was associated with a poor testicular function.


The management of weed species Alopecurus myosuroides (black-grass) in arable agriculture is largely achieved through use of herbicides. However, resistant populations are increasingly commonplace and new modes of action are proving elusive. Growers use integrated weed management (IWM) strategies to manage the weed seedbank, such as rotational ploughing to bury seed and delayed drilling to reduce weed numbers within a crop. Competitive cultivars may contribute to IWM, but testing cultivars is a long, expensive process.
The aims of this studentship were to identify the traits that confer enhanced crop competitive ability and determine if these can be used to predict competitive ability of new cultivars. This was investigated on outdoor sand-beds and in field trials. Commercial wheat cultivars were grown alongside A. myosuroides. Various wheat traits were measured throughout growth. The seed return of A. myosuroides was quantified at maturity, and yield was harvested in the field. Pearson's correlations and multivariate analysis were used to identify traits related to competition, and Linear Mixed Models (LMM) were used to identify predictive traits. Two models of crop-weed interactions were parameterised for the cultivars. Potential interactions between cultivar choice and other IWM strategies (delayed sowing and increased sowing rate) was assessed experimentally and through simulation models.
Cultivar differences in suppressive ability were most evident between the extreme ends. Various traits were related to a cultivar's ability to suppress A. myosuroides seed return, such as early height and tillering parameters, though no traits were consistent across all experiments. Few traits could be related to tolerance to yield loss. Suppressive ability can be ascertained early in the growing season, but the relationship with individual traits can change direction, possibly depending on the availability of belowground resources. Generally, earlier maturity and a conserved tillering strategy appears to be more suppressive. Cultivar choice is largely compatible with delayed sowing and increased sowing date. The effect of environmental variability on relationships between traits and competitive ability requires further investigation before they can be employed as predictors, particularly in the context of belowground competition.


: Species- and genus-specific antigenic determinants of total serological activity of plague agent lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were detected for the first time with a panel of monoclonal antibodies (MAb) in Y. pestis core polysaccharide in the R-form. MAb specifically bind radicals on one or several monosaccharides of core LPS. Galactose, fucose, and mannose contain common antigenic determinants for enterobacteria; glucosamine, glucose, ribose, xylose, and 2-ketodeoxyoctanoic acid (KDO) contain determinants for Y. pestis and Y. pseudotuberculosis; and epitopes differentiating the two latter agents by the carbohydrate component are localized on glucosamine, mannose, xylose, and KDO. Epitopes common for the Enterobacteriaceae family and species-specific epitopes, two of which are identic to core polysaccharide radicals, are situated on Y. pestis lipid A.


Background KRAS mutations in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) define a subset of tumors that have primary resistance to anti-EGFR-based therapy. Data concerning whether different KRAS mutations may also have a prognostic value are lacking. Furthermore, novel KRAS G12C inhibitors are currently in development. The aim of our analysis was to compare response rates in patients treated with first-line chemotherapy doublet + Bevacizumab among different KRAS variants. Secondary end-points were progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Methods Patients with KRAS mutated mCRC treated with either FOLFIRI/FOLFOX/XELOX + Bevacizumab were eligible for enrollment. Patients whose tumor harbored NRAS mutations or that coexpressed also BRAF mutations were excluded from this retrospective analysis. Patients' individual data were collected from patients' records. Propensity score matching (nearest method, 1:2 ratio) was used to define the two different groups of patients for comparison (KRAS G12C mutated vs other KRAS variants). Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status (ECOG PS), sex, metastatic site of involvement, synchronous vs metachronous metastatic disease, tumor sidedness, mucinous histology, primary tumor surgery, more than two lines of treatment for metastatic disease, and radical surgery of metastases were used as matching factors. Response rate (RR) was calculated by RECIST 1.1 criteria. Both progression free-survival and overall survival were calculated by Kaplan–Meier method. Categorical variables were compared by Fisher exact test for binomial variables and by chi-square test for all other instances. The level of statistical significance p was set at 0.05 for all tests. Results A total of 120 patients were assessed in the final analysis. Out of the 120 patients, 15 (12%) were KRAS G12C mutated. In the whole cohort of patients, 59/120 (49%) had partial response (PR), 42/120 (35%) had stable disease (SD), and 19/120 (16%) had progressive disease (PD) as the best response. In KRAS G12C patients, 4/15 (27%) had PR, 6/15 (40%) had SD, and the remaining 5/15 (33%) had PD as the best response. In patients with other KRAS mutations, 55/105 (52%) had PR, 37/105 (35%) had SD, and the remaining 13/105 (12%) had PD as the best response. The difference in RR between the two groups of patients was statistically significant (p=0.017). On the other hand, no difference in PFS (p=0.76) and OS (p=0.56) was observed. After matching procedures, the difference in response rates between KRAS G12C mutated patients vs the matched cohort of patients with other KRAS mutations remained statistically significant (p=0.016). KRAS G12C mutations were not associated with differences in sites of metastatic involvement, sex, and ECOG PS. On the other hand, synchronous vs metachronous metastatic disease (p=0.039), age > 75 years (p=0.043), and mucinous histology (p=0.008) were more frequent in G12C mutated tumors. Conclusions In our cohort of patients, it was observed that KRAS G12C mutations are associated with worse response rates compared to other KRAS variants when treated with standard chemotherapy doublet + Bevacizumab. On the other hand, both PFS and OS were not significantly different. Based on these findings, we believe that new treatment options focused on KRAS G12C inhibition should be tested mainly in first-line setting and in addition to standard chemotherapy doublet + Bevacizumab for mCRC patients, as they might "fill the gap" in response rates that was seen in our study.


Neoanarchist politics have become increasingly hegemonic on the North American left. Tracing its emergence during the Seattle WTO demonstrations in 1999 to its recent incarnation in the Occupy Wall Street movement, this article argues that neoanarchism's attempts to "change the world without taking power" pose serious theoretical and practical problems for emancipatory politics today. The text also examines recuperation as a factor in social movement decline, arguing that the incorporation of social movement themes is constructing a "new spirit of capitalism" that both addresses widespread demand for a more ethical world while simultaneously insulating itself from critique – a process facilitated by significant ideological resonance between neoanarchism and neoliberalism.


The efficient simulation of large-scale dynamic systems needs a systematic procedure for order reduction of the original circuit. The paper combines the projection method with Krylov subspaces to obtain robust and accurate order reduction techniques. First of all, the algorithm finds a basis matrix onto Krylov subspaces, using a block Arnoldi process, and then constructs a reduced-order model via projection technique. It is shown that we can handle the MIMO systems using the semi-state method and Krylov projection method. An illustrative example is given and some conclusions are pointed out.


We present an intelligent user interface that allows people to perform robotic rehabilitation solution for exercises by themselves under the limited supervision of a therapist. Every year, many people suffer injuries that require rehabilitation. This entails considerable time overheads since it requires people to perform specified exercises under the direct supervision of a therapist. In this way, it is alluring that patients keep performing practices outside the facility (for example at home, along these lines without direct oversight), to supplement in-center non-intrusive treatment. Nonetheless, to accomplish mechanical recovery task roughly, patients need proper input, as differently gave by a physiotherapist, to ensure that these constrained management practices are accurately executed. Different approaches address this problem, providing feedback mechanisms to assist rehabilitation. Robot is "a re-programmable, worldwide controller intended to move material, parts, instruments or concentrated gadgets by means of variable modified movements for the accomplishment of a spread of undertakings." Although this definition was intended for industrial robots, it identifies the key features of programmability, flexibility, and movement. Rehabilitation is "the restoration of an individual to an optimal level of physical, mental, and affair and well-being." Rehabilitation robots include diverse mechatronic devices starting from artificial limbs to robots for supporting the rehabilitation therapy or for providing personal benefit in hospital and residential set ups. Rehabilitation has been revolutionized with the use of robots in many parts of the world and much research is being done on in this field. In India's there is many hospitals and clinics are using robotic devices were installed .These devices are-- the Erigo, (For Early rehab), Lokomat (For Physiological gait training), Armeo (For Hand rehabilitation) etc. there are many devices. These devices are designed and manufactured by Hocoma. They will approach to provide real-time, active feedback, using multiple projection surfaces to provide effective visualizations by a physical therapist, with performance improvements between consecutive executions, a desirable goal to successful rehabilitation. There are two main types of rehabilitation robots. The first type is an assistive robot that substitutes for lost limb movements. An example is that the Manus ARM (assistive robotic controller), which may be a wheelchair-mounted robotic arm that is consist of employing a chin switch or other data input device. That mechanism is named telemanipulation and is analogous to an astronaut's controlling a spacecraft's robot arm from inside the spacecraft's cockpit. Powered wheelchairs are one more example of teleoperated, assistive robots. The second sort of rehabilitation robot may be a therapy robot, which is usually called a rehabilitator. Research in neuroscience has shown that the brain and medulla spinalis retain an interesting ability to adapt, even after injury, through the utilization of practiced movements. Therapy robots are machines or tools for rehabilitation therapists that grant patients to perform practice movements aided by the robot. The first robot utilized in that way, MIT-Manus, helped stroke patients to succeed in across a tabletop if they were unable to perform the task by themselves. Patients who received extra therapy from the robot improved the speed of their arm movement recovery. Another therapy robot, the Lokomat, supports the load of an individual and moves the legs during a walking pattern over a moving treadmill, with the goal of retraining the person to walk after spinal cord injury or stroke. Rehabilitation robotics may be a relatively young and rapidly growing field, with increasing penetration into the clinical environment. In the late 1980s and early 90s a few pioneering technological developments were launched, triggered by discoveries on training-induced recovery of sensorimotor function in animal models with damage to the central nervous system. The goal was to enhance the effects of functional training by providing increased therapy intensity and adaptive support in a controlled way. The idea of using machines for rehabilitation dates back much earlier. In a 1910 patent, Theodor Budingen proposed a 'development fix mechanical assembly', a machine driven by an electrical engine to direct and empower venturing developments in patients with heart condition. In the 1930s, Richard Scherb developed the 'meridian', a cable-driven apparatus to maneuver joints for orthopedic therapy. This human-powered mechanotherapy machine already supported multiple interaction modes, starting from passive to active-assisted and active-resisted movements. A first robotic rehabilitation system was based on the concept of continuous passive motion (CPM), a stiff interaction mode in which the robot moves the joints along a predefined trajectory, independent of the contribution of the patient. The first powered exoskeletons for therapeutic applications in SCI patients were introduced in the 1970s. These systems used pneumatic, hydraulic, or electromagnetic (via cams and Bowden cables) activators for position servo control. They included advanced features, such as actuated ankle flexion/extension, and hip adduction/abduction for increased stability or the ability of a therapist to control the motion of the exoskeleton worn by the patient through his/her own movement (in an identical , connected exoskeleton). The first system for robot-assisted therapy of stroke survivors was based on a stiff industrial manipulator and did not physically interact with patients, but rather moved a pad that patients had to touch to different locations. A new era of neurorehabilitation robotics began in 1989 with the development of the MIT-MANUS, which was first tested clinically in 1994. Identified with modern controllers, this planar manipulandum presents intrinsically low mechanical yield impedance (a recurrence subordinate protection from movement saw at the interface between the human client and in this manner the automated framework) and gives hold of the upper appendage against gravity, along these lines permitting to adjust backing to the seriousness of the shortfalls. A few years later, force-controlled devices for bimanual, cooperative grasping and lifting were introduced. This new generation of devices, using torque-controlled direct drive actuation, allowed for more advanced interaction control, ranging from passive movements for the most severely impaired patients, to active-assisted and active-resisted movements in moderately impaired patients. Furthermore, assistance could be automatically adapted to the patient's performance. Around the same time, the reflection Motion Enabler (MIME) was introduced, which supported paretic limb movements with a stiff industrial robot, controlled by the non-paretic limb by means of a motion digitizer (mirror-image therapy mode).


Cryptography is both a science and an art, dating back for thousands of years. Science developments have made possible the creation of more sophisticated systems. A combination between biology and cryptography, between DNA and encryption is a quite new and interesting area. Despite its requirements, it looks promising for the future.


Anomaly detection in time series data is an important topic in many domains. However, time series are known to be particularly hard to analyze. Based on the recent developments in adversarially learned models, we propose a new approach for anomaly detection in time series data. We build upon the idea to use a combination of a reconstruction error and the output of a Critic network. To this end we propose a cycle-consistent GAN architecture for sequential data and a new way of measuring the reconstruction error. We then show in a detailed evaluation how the different parts of our model contribute to the final anomaly score and demonstrate how the method improves the results on several data sets. We also compare our model to other baseline anomaly detection methods to verify its performance.


OBJECTIVE
To review the steps involved in safe airway management in critically ill children.

SOURCE OF DATA
Review of articles selected through Medline until April 2003 using the following key words: intubation, children, sedation.

SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS
Airway compromise is rare, but whenever it occurs, the situation depends on professionals trained to carry out safe, early, and rapid airway management, with no harm to the patient. The method currently advocated for airway management is rapid sequence intubation, which requires preparation, sedation and neuromuscular block. We observed that it is not possible to apply one single intubation protocol to all cases, since the selection of the most adequate procedure depends on indication and patient conditions. We defined the drug doses most commonly used in our setting, since little is know so far about the real effect of sedatives and analgesics. In most situations, the association of an opioid (fentanyl at 5-10 micro g/kg) with a sedative (midazolam at 0.5 mg/kg) and a neuromuscular blocking agent are sufficient for tracheal intubation.

CONCLUSIONS
Training, knowledge, and skill in airway management are of fundamental importance for pediatric intensive caregivers and are vital for the adequate treatment of critically ill children. We present an objective and dynamic text aimed at offering a theoretical basis for the generation of new protocols, to be implemented according to the strengths and difficulties of each service.


Purpose of the research
The purpose of this Master thesis is to contribute to the knowledge about global talent management
(GTM) and the role of social networks. Current challenges and circumstances are responsible for the
need of GTM within multinational corporations (MNCs). Elements, instruments as well as core
objectives will be elaborated with this study. This will be achieved with the help of different expert
groups. The goal of this research is to create a GTM model including social networks that intends to
support MNCs on the implementation phase. In order to accomplish the research objectives, the
following research question will be answered: How can social networks support MNCs in their GTM?
Design methodology
This research makes use of the Delphi method. This is especially a successful approach for exploring
new concepts, like GTM and the role of social networks. Four principal characteristics can be
determined for this technique: anonymity of Delphi participants, iteration, controlled feedback, and
statistical aggregation of group response (Rowe & Wright, 1999). With the help of questionnaires,
opinions of different expert groups (HR managers, HR researchers and Master students) will be
collected in two rounds in order to answer the research questions.
Findings
The findings of the research result in differences and similarities among the three expert groups.
They all assessed the necessity of GTM in MNCs. The HR managers and HR researchers scored the
same elements and instruments which have to be implemented in a successful GTM system. But
concerning the application of social networks, the participants have different views. Especially the
Master students are open-minded about social networks and therefore, they advocate the use of this
tool. The HR managers, however, are sceptical towards this new media and did not integrate social
networks in GTM to a great extent until today.
Conclusions
A combination of the literature review and the findings of the questionnaires lead to a suitable GTM
model for MNCs. Accordingly, the GTM model will comprise six elements, namely selection,
identification, attraction, development, retention and motivation. With the application of the
instruments "on the job training", "cooperation with universities", "off the job training" and "talentoriented
career model" the organizational goals should be achieved. These goals are performance
improvement, but also employee satisfaction and employer branding. Social networks function as a
tool for the different instruments in order to fulfill the GTM elements and to achieve the GTM goals.
Global talent management and the role of social networks
Page 4 Master Thesis – Lena Dresselhaus
Recommendations
Recommendations can be given for the three participating expert groups. The Master students
represent an essential target group of GTM. Thus, they have to be integrated in the process of GTM
implementation in MNCs. They should always express their opinions and requirements towards their
workplace. Besides, they are the people who grew up with social media and therefore, it should be
their task to convince HR managers of the usability of social networks in GTM. The HR researchers
already investigated this new HR issue, but they are just at the beginning of development. As a
consequence, they should continue to focus on GTM and the role of social networks and also try to
convince the HR managers of the effectiveness of this topic by conducting more research. The HR
managers realized the importance of GTM in their MNCs, but they have to spend more time, more
money and more effort into this HR topic as it reflects an essential opportunity for their organization.
Besides, they should focus more on social networks, never mind that it does not belong to their daily
routine. GTM and social networks are great tasks for them, but HR managers have to accept this
challenge. It would be advisable to visit seminars and read more articles and books about GTM and
social networks to gain more information. It is important that the HR managers are positive about
this HR issue in order to implement a successful GTM model including the tool social networks.
Limitations
Limitations of this research can be outlined in form of the reliability. As the Delphi method
represents an approach that only concentrates on a small number of participants, it is difficult to
state that the results are applicable to any other MNC. Besides, the participation of the experts poses
an obstacle. It is a great challenge to find enough participants of each expert group in order to
accomplish this new methodology.
Future research
As GTM and the role of social networks is a relatively new HR topic, it is difficult to compare new
findings with old findings. But as it is still an important issue to investigate, more and more research
will be done in this research field and therefore, it will be possible to compare the findings in order to
go more into detail. An interesting topic, resultant from this research, is the testing of GTM elements
and instruments in practice. Therefore, theses aspects should be monitored in an MNC. It would also
be attractive to focus on the measurement and best implementation forms of these components in
future research. Besides, as lots of previous researches are considering Asian MNCs, it would be an
important task of future research to investigate GTM and the role of social networks in European or
American MNCs.


Neoplastic proliferation of the meibomian glands is most often characterized by a tarsal tumor of the eyelid conjunctiva, having the clinical appearance of a chalazion. As such, the tumor is frequently not recognized as a neoplasm and is treated conservatively as an inflammatory lesion. A protracted clinical course combined with repeated surgical excisions typify this slow‐growing tumor of sebaceous gland cells. In addition to the usual features of polygonal cell shape, abundant cytoplasm, and numerous fat vacuoles, we describe the presence of a peculiar nuclear inclusion seen only in the parenchymal cells of this tumor, and having the appearance of concentric layers of electron‐dense material surrounding an opaque electron lucent core.


A significant number of both skilled and unskilled workers had been flowing from developing countries to developed economies searching for a better life. A lose of any type of labor, whether skilled or not, reduce the total available labor resource, and thus have adverse effect on growth of the economy. The migration of skilled labor could also have a positive feedback effect on the growth of home country. The net effect, therefore, will depends on whether the positive feedback effect outweighs the reduction of labor resource in the home country. This paper examines the impact of migration, based on education level of immigrants, on economic growth of the sending countries. Using unbalanced panel data of 114 countries for the period 1975 - 2000, the paper supports the hypothesis that the outflows of skilled labor have a positive feedback effect on developing countries. However, outflow of skilled workers would significantly hurt the growth of the very poor economies, which experienced high income inequality.


ABSTRACT Students react to two basic things when they are asked to rate a college course. Their ratings will reflect a certain response to the course content and to the method in which that content was delivered by a faculty person. We should expect that the resulting opinion of the teacher exists somewhat independent of the value that students perceive in the content of the courses that are taught. This paper defines this difference as a teacher's instructional value-added. That some teachers are more successful than others in impressing students is difficult to deny. However, little is known about the nature of this increment. Using data from one school, the paper shows how instructional value-added perceived by students is distributed by discipline, by level, and by individual. Separate results are also provided for accounting classes. Suggestions for future research involving the instructional valueadded construct are made as part of our continuing effort to understand and evaluate post-secondary instruction. Key words: Student Evaluation of Teaching, Teaching Performance, Student Perceptions Data availability: Data used in this study can be obtained by contacting the second author at firstname.lastname@example.com INTRODUCTION Qualitative studies of academics show that desire to be a good teacher is a noble aspiration that is both widespread and genuine (e.g., Clark, 1987). Despite considerable attention on the research activities of the modern professoriate, quality teaching remains the central component of the role, as it is understood by most of academe's internal and external constituents. Professors are provided teaching assignments in subject matter in which they have some degree of expertise. However, most faculty do not unilaterally control the curriculum. In an ideal world, all faculty could convince all students that any subject matter in the curriculum is critical to them and an equally valuable increment to the accomplishment of their career and personal objectives. In a realistic world, all courses are not equally valued by students. Instructors assigned to difficult courses that lack an immediate and compelling connection to student lives may appear to be less than good teachers, merely because they have been unable to overcome the inherent limitation of the material. Others, fortunate to teach material that possesses elements likely to be better received, may benefit from a halo effect and therefore have their teaching overly praised. This less than level playing field complicates our ability to appreciate the efforts of faculty in the classroom. This paper is premised on the importance of better understanding how students perceive the contributions to learning made by their faculty. For this purpose, the paper makes the case that it is necessary to control for variation attributable to the subject matter. When one does, that which remains can be called the teacher's instructional value-added. Although instructional value-added is a somewhat ambitious and multifaceted term, its tentative identification permits important avenues of inquiry into higher education. Using student ratings data from one highly ranked private business school, this paper describes dimensions of this exploratory construct. The data suggests that instructional value-added is a stable construct that can inform us about our students' worldview as well as our faculty's efforts. This paper uses three subsequent sections. The first motivates the inquiry and reviews the related literature. The second identifies specific research questions and provides a method to test them. The final section describes the results and offers a discussion of their implications and limitations. BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW The demand for accountability serves as a sign of the times. Institutions of higher education, especially those that are supported by taxpayers, have been no exception. The interest in how public and private money is being spent translates into many rather unprecedented questions that are now being asked about how colleges and universities operate. …


ED1TOR,-J N Brown and A C Crosby describe a case of acute cervical cord compression in which plain radiographs were apparently normal.' Unfortunately these are not shown but instead there is a single sagittal T2 weighted slice from a magnetic resonance scan. In addition to the disc prolapse described, this shows very prominent chronic bony degenerative changes at the level of the C6-C7 disc, particularly posteriorly. I find it hard to believe that these were not visible on the original radiographs, thus changing the basic premise of this article. Acute cord injury in the presence of pre-existing degenerative change is of course a well recognised syndrome, particularly in elderly patients, and was described in a previous Lesson ofthe Week.23 The magnetic resonance scan illustrated is described as showing "acute prolapsed disc with 50% encroachment on the spinal cord," but the cord is not well seen on this image and in fact the 50% encroachment seems to be on the spinal canal. The authors go on to discuss computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, but no mention is made of myelography, combined when necessary with computed tomography. This still has a definite place in the investigation of such patients and is more likely than magnetic resonance to be easily available, particularly in the acute situation. This case is certainly of interest, but perhaps some radiological advice at all stages would have been advisable.


Collection characteristics of mist aerosol particles by a medium-performance fibrous filter was studied by analyzing the effect of filtration velocity, numbers of filter, types of liquid with different physical properties (palm oil and propylene glycol) during the initial filtration period and the saturation behavior. The results show that the pressure drop evolutions during clogging increases when the filtration velocity increases because at high filtration velocity, the aerosol particles deposit on the collecting surface rapidly. Furthermore, the change in pressure drop increases with increasing numbers of filter. Particle size, concentration, viscosity and surface tension of the liquids have an influence on clogging. The deposition of palm oil aerosol particles is only made up of droplets deposited around the fibers while in the case of propylene glycol the droplets deposited around the fiber join to form bridges and liquid films on the surface of the filter so that the fibrous filter that is exposed to propylene glycol aerosol has a higher pressure drop. The result of saturation behavior study shows that the saturation pressure drop from the lower initial velocity is greater than that from the higher initial velocity. The retained mass on the filter sheet saturated with palm oil after the pressure drop is constant is higher than in the case of propylene glycol. Palm oil is more viscous than propylene glycol so that palm oil cannot re-entrain easily.


. X-ray computed tomography (XCT) is an advanced imaging technique that has been increasingly used in the past 10 years because it can provide valuable information on internal structures of a rock sample in a non-invasive manner. The maximum resolution of lab-based XCT facilities is , which might be sufficient to capture macropores in some rocks (i.e., sandstone), but will result in underestimation of porosity in clay-rich sediments containing micro-and nano-scale pores. Furthermore, such high-resolution XCT facilities are quite expensive and not ubiquitous. In this study, we introduce a new methodology based on the K-means clustering algorithm to process of low-resolution XCT images, illustrating its capability 15 through porosity analysis of drillcores obtained during Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) expedition 343. The cation exchange capacity (CEC) of the squeezed samples of the same cores was also measured and used to correct shipboard measurements of Moisture and Density (MAD) porosity for the effect of the water bound in the interlayer clay particles, thereby calculating interstitial porosity. The results indicate that the porosities estimated by our method are in agreement with these MAD_derived interstitial porosities in several cores acquired from the overthrusted sediments above the Japan trench 20 plate boundary. Also, considering interstitial porosity as a realistic measurement of porosity, the results show that our semi-automatic method improves estimations compared with a manual thresholding segmentation, as the latter suffers from user subjectivity.


Combinatorial techniques, parallel experimentation and high-throughput methods represent a very promising approach in order to speed up the preparation and investigation of new polymeric materials: a large variety of parameters can be screened simultaneously resulting in new structure/ property relationships. The field of polymer research seems to be perfectly suited for parallel and combinatorial methods due to the fact that many parameters can be varied during synthesis, processing, blending as well as compounding. In addition, numerous important parameters have to be investigated, such as molecular weight, polydispersity, viscosity, hardness, stiffness and other application-specific properties. A number of corresponding high-throughput techniques have been developed in the last few years and their introduction into the commercial market further boosted the development. These combinatorial approaches can reduce the time-to-market for new polymeric materials drastically compared to traditional approaches and allow a much more detailed understanding of polymers from the macroscopic to the nanoscopic scale. Here we provide an overview of the present status of combinatorial and parallel polymer synthesis and high-throughput screening.


In this paper, we define two relaxed semantics (one based on probabilities and the other one based on the topological notion of largeness) for LTL over infinite runs of timed automata which rule out unlikely sequences of events. We prove that these two semantics match in the framework of single-clock timed automata (and only in that framework), and prove that the corresponding relaxed model-checking problems are PSPACE-Complete. Moreover, we prove that the probabilistic non-Zenoness can be decided for single-clocktimed automata in NLOGSPACE.


In this investigation, the effect of Matricaria chamomilla extract on linear incisional wound healing was studied. Thirty male Wistar rats were subjected to a linear 3 cm incision made over the skin of the back. The animals were randomly divided into three experimental groups, as control, olive oil, and treatment. Control group did not receive any drug or cold cream. Olive oil group received topical olive oil once a day from beginning of experiments to complete wound closure. Treatment group were treated topically by M. chamomilla extract dissolved in olive oil at the same time. For computing the percentage of wound healing, the area of the wound measured at the beginning of experiments and the next 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 20 days. The percentage of wound healing was calculated by Walker formula after measurement of the wound area. Results showed that there were statistically significant differences between treatment and olive oil animals (p < 0.05) in most of the days. We conclude that the extract of M. chamomilla administered topically has wound healing potential in linear incisional wound model in rats.


Simulation of vertical soil hydrology is a critical component of predicting more complex multidimensional soil water dynamics in space and time. The AgroEcoSystem (AgES) model is identified here as a single land‐unit application of the three‐dimensional AgES‐W (Watershed) model. AgES simulates vertical soil water dynamics using global and layered soil response functions with conceptual storages as state variables. A detailed description of the response functions that control infiltration, evaporation, and soil‐water processes facilitates sensitivity analysis, model calibration, and evaluation against volumetric soil‐water content (SWC) at measured layers. The Object Modeling System links AgES to a Shuffled Complex Evolution calibration tool called Luca. We used Luca and fractional factorial experimental designs to analyze parameter sensitivities, then applied different strategies of implementing Luca to layered SWC data. The profile dynamics of the simulated SWC resulted in depth‐averaged Nash–Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) values of 0.60 to 0.95 for calibration in 2003 and 2005, and up to 0.80 for 4 yr used for (cross‐)evaluation. Using the 2005 calibration parameters, NSE became negative in 2009 and 2011 due to large negative values at some depths with low variance in SWC. Optimal parameter sets for each calibration year were not unique, and model results did not fully capture the measured dynamics. Even so, AgES simulations compared favorably with previous simulations of SWC at this site using a Richards' equation model. These results provide new understanding of the model responses and interactions between functions controlling the vertical flow and storage of water to aid watershed modeling.


In ocean surface modeling a popular method of wave modeling is making use of ocean wave spectrum, which is a physical wave model and based on linear wave theories. The ocean waves produced in this way can reflect the statistical characteristics of the real ocean well. However, few investigations of ocean simulation have been focused on turbulent fluid under vary wind field in this way, while all ocean wave models are built with the same wind parameters. In order to resolve the problem of traditional method, we proposed a new method of dividing the ocean surface into regular grids and generating wave models with different parameters of wind in different location of view scope. The method not only preserves the fidelity of statistical characteristics, but also can be accelerated with the processing of GPU and widely used in VR applications.


The present research was aimed at development and optimization of dipyridamole gastroretentive microspheres. Gastro retention was achieved using swellable polymeric material such as hydroxypropylmethylcellulose K4M, ethyl cellulose as release retardant using solvent diffusion evaporation method. 32 factorial design was applied for the development of best optimized formulation. The design was developed by considering two independent variables, ethyl cellulose, and stirring speed. Their effect on drug release, entrapment efficiency, particle size was analysed using response surface methodology. Formulation B1 among all formulations tested was found to be the best as it demonstrated prolonged floating time, maximum entrapment efficiency and drug release in a controlled manner. Formulation B1 was characterized further for presence of residual solvent by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and the result showed absence of residual solvent. Gastro retention was assessed using the in vivo gamma scintigraphy technique in Albino rabbits and the results indicated prolonged gastric retention. Pharmacokinetic study comparing pure dipyridamole and dipyridamole microspheres was conducted and Cmax, Tmax and Kel were estimated. In vitro-in vivo correlation was determined using Wagner-Nelson function. Pharmacokinetic study revealed improved bioavailability (30 %) as compared to pure dipyridamole. Good correlation was obtained with a regression coefficient of 0.9704. The in vivo gamma scintigraphy and pharmacokinetic studies confirmed gastric retention of the prepared dipyridamole floating microspheres. Accelerated stability studies indicated integrity of the developed formulation.


Studies on the long-term survival of animals often focus on the specific instance of survival of animals only, and descriptions of subsequent reproduction are generally not reported. In this study, we recorded the reproductive performance of the first-generation offspring of the resuscitated individual (SB-1) and the hatchling of the resuscitated egg (SB-3) of the Antarctic tardigrade, Acutuncus antarcticus, after being frozen for 30.5 years. By providing further detailed description of the reproduction of SB-1 and SB-3 after revival, and then comparing the reproductive performance with that of their first-generation offspring, the possible indications of the damage accrued during the long-term preservation in SB-1 and SB-3 were more specifically detected. Additionally, the DNA analysis revealed two distinctively different mitochondrial genetic sequences of A. antarcticus between the SB strains and the LSW strain. The observed differences in some of the reproductive parameters between the two genetic types suggested a possible relationship between the life-history traits and genetic type in the species A. antarcticus. Further experiments using the SB-1 and SB-3 strains reared for a long period to exclude the instant effect of preservation are expected to improve our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the long-term survival of animals.


This presentation to the UN Special Rapporteur's conference on the Right to Privacy Session: 'COVID-19 and Privacy in Asia, Australasia and Europe' was given on 23 June 2021. Graham Greenleaf presented this second part, and Katharine Kemp presented a first part at https://ssrn.com/abstract=3878659.

Three forms of COVID data surveillance are considered: Proximity Tracking; Attendance Tracking; and COVID Status Certification. Our argument is that legislative protections based on common principles are needed for all types of COVID surveillance.

Our starting point is that emergency measures pose risks requiring emergency-quality protections. Unfortunately, emergencies tend to reduce normal legislative oversight. We consider two desirable principles which are often difficult to deliver if maximum effectiveness against COVID is sought: no compulsion (voluntary); and no central database.

We use three points of comparison to illustrate the legislative protections needed (and in some cases, absent):
1. Australia's bluetooth proximity tracing app (COVIDSafe Act)
2. Australian QR Codes for attendance check-ins (no model law)
3. EU's COVID status certificates (EU Digital Covid Certificate Regulations)

We argue for 10 common principles which can and should be implemented in legislation applying to all types of COVID surveillance systems:

1. Put controls within the country's data privacy law
2. Guarantee access to avoid discrimination
3. Minimise & define authorised uses of COVID data
4. Minimise data collection
5. Anti-coercion provisions
6. Prevent 'surveillance creep'
7. Continuous deletion program (if data is collected)
8. 'Sunset clause' for whole system
9. Supervision by independent DPA
10. Transparency

These 10 principles are applicable even where COVID surveillance systems are developed which are compulsory and involve centralised databases. Various international organisations are advocating similar sets of principles.

The presentation examines the application of these ten principles in relation to each of the three examples of legislative protections (or their absence), and concludes that essentially the same legislative controls are necessary & possible to mediate all three types of COVID surveillance.


In sheet metal forming, combination of embossing and reforming allows the mechanical properties of sheet metal materials to be specifically improved. Here, local property modification is achieved by the residual stresses induced as a result of the one-sided embossing process followed by a reforming step. The residual stresses induced in this specific way can lead to a significantly increase in the fatigue strength of processed sheet metal components. However, in order to ensure this kind of component optimization in continuous operation, the induced stresses have to be homogeneous. In this respect, the main objective of the study reported about in this paper was to identify a forming strategy, consisting of the process steps embossing and reforming, that generates preferably homogeneous residual stress distributions into sheet metal blanks. For this, numerical and experimental investigations were carried out with samples of the stainless steel (X6Cr17) having a thickness of 1.5 mm. It was found that embossing and reforming, integrated into a conventional forming process, is a novel approach to specifically induce very localized homogeneous compressive residual stresses in sheet metal materials. This eliminates the need for costly post-processing by means of surface treatment.