Wellness or holistic acupuncture places an emphasis on working with and developing the patient's understanding of health and illness. This research project examines changes in meaning in 367 letters from successful wellness acupuncture. Mentions of changes of the meaning of health and illness were categorized into themes using content analysis. Five main meaning shifts were identified in the data. These shifts are (1) from a goal of fixing the problem to a goal of increasing health, (2) from symptoms as problems to symptoms as teachers, (3) from healing as passive to healing as active, (4) from being dominated by illness to moving beyond the illness, and (5) from regarding the practitioner as a technician to regarding the practitioner as a healer or friend. The shifts in meaning seen in the data illustrate a potential pathway for bringing health benefits to patients and may provide a useful strategy for healing. Narrative (defined here as "first-person accounts by respondents of their experience") is thought to play a major role in the manifestation of symptoms and the ability of patients to cope with illness. Patients suffer not only from their primary symptoms, but also from the results and effects of their illnesses, such as depression and changes in their relationships. For the patient, symptoms often hold much meaning beyond physical sensation. A recurrence of symptoms can have other unpleasant results, such as additional trips to doctors, paying for medications, time off from work, not being able to play with children, or changes in relationships with family members. In many cases, the anxiety and depression surrounding the symptoms causes suffering which are greater than the suffering caused by the physical symptoms directly. These factors also change how the ill individual interacts socially, thereby reducing both instrumental and emotional social support, resulting in a downward spiral of suffering. By interacting with narrative, a path to improved health that augments conventional or alternative treatment can be used. Narrative is the point of access to the patient's mental state about illness; it is the manifestation of meaning. Patients express the meaning of their illness in their own narratives. By expressing narratives, patients articulate and develop the meaning of their illness. This process itself can be therapeutic. By shifting the individual's meaning from a detrimental to a beneficial one, a great deal of suffering may be eliminated without any change in the physical sensations. Certain individuals (eg, a socially-sanctioned healer) are given social roles in the ongoing story of someone's illness. These socially sanctioned individuals (ie, physicians) have an important role in interpreting and developing the individual's understanding of his or her illness. Therefore, in addition to physical interventions targeting the cause of the sensations, a great deal of suffering may potentially be alleviated through interacting with the patient's understanding and appraisal of symptoms. Patient meaning shift may be one of the most effective means by which to aid the patient. This article examines patient accounts of acupuncture experience for narrative concerning meaning shifts to gain insight into their role in wellness acupuncture practice.


Street food is food obtained from a street side vendor, often from a makeshift or portable stall and it feeds millions of people daily with a wide variety of foods that are relatively cheap and easily accessible. Street food is intimately connected with take-out, junk food, snacks, and fast foods but it is not protected against insects, dust etc; which may harbor foodborne pathogens. Pathogens present in street vended foods come from different sources and practices, such as, improper food handling, improper waste disposal, contaminated water and improper storage temperature and reheating. Food borne illnesses are defined as diseases, usually either infectious or toxic in nature, caused by agents that enter the body through the ingestion of food. Like other African and World countries there are many food vendors in Ethiopia where they sell both raw and cooked food items along the streets of different cities but it is far more unhygienic due to several reasons. So the objective of this review paper was to assess the existing research about street food safety, types, hygiene knowledge, and preparation and forward suggestion for stakeholders/policy makers to bridge the gap. Majority of street vended foods in Ethiopia are contaminated by bacteria like Salmonella, S aureus, E coli so the Government should intervene and solve the issue before it is too late.


The value-based healthcare (VBHC) concept was first proposed as a solution to many of the ills of healthcare. Since then, we have seen the term "value" defined, used, confused, and interpreted in multiple ways. While we may disagree that competition based on value will solve healthcare's complex challenges, value is a concept integral to the future of healthcare.  Before VBHC becomes consigned to the long list of quality improvement trends and management fads that have passed through healthcare, we call for a dialogue around the term value and the implications of its different interpretations. The intention is not just to critique, but to facilitate ongoing efforts to substantially improve healthcare in ways that are relevant and sustainable for society at large.


The Body Attitude Test (BAT) was developed by Probst et al. (1995) for female patients with eating disorders (ED). This test measures the subjective body experience and attitudes toward one's body. The present authors have developed the Japanese version of the BAT and the purpose of the present paper was to investigate its reliability and validity in control (CON, n = 599) and ED patients (n = 46). The ED patients consisted of 21 anorexia nervosa, restricting type (AN‐R) patients and 25 bulimia nervosa (BN) patients. Internal consistency was determined with Cronbach's α coefficient in CON. Factor analysis was conducted on BAT ratings given by CON. Factor analysis indicated that BAT was composed of two factors. These were body dissatisfaction (factor 1) and lack of familiarity with one's body (factor 2). A comparison was made among AN‐R, BN, and CON. Bulimia nervosa had a significantly higher score than the other two groups. The BAT scores of ED patients correlated significantly with the Self ‐rating Depression Scale, and State–Trait Anxiety Inventory. These results show that ED patients have negative feelings toward their own body, similar to the findings in the original report. On factor analysis, however, it was not possible to distinguish between negative appreciation of body size and general body dissatisfaction as described in the original report. The authors also examine influences on this difference from a cross‐cultural view point.


Bottom trawls impact the seafloor and benthic ecosystem. To estimate the trawling impact, information is required about the dimensions of the gear that determine their footprint, sediment penetration depth and hydrodynamic drag that determines the amount of sediment mobilised in the wake of the trawl. Here we present the dimension of gear components of the different beam trawls used in the North Sea flatfish fishery including the traditional tickler chain beam trawl, chain-mat trawl and pulse trawls. The hydrodynamic drag of the gears is estimated by summing the drag of different gear components using empirical equations that describe the hydrodynamic drag of different shaped objects, including cylinders, blocks and fish nets. Netting contributes most to the hydrodynamic drag, followed by the ground rope, tickler chains and chain mat. The hydrodynamic drag of bottom components, which determines sediment mobilisation, is estimated at 6.2 and 6.3 kN.m-1 for a traditional tickler chain and chain-mat trawl, and 3.8 kN.m-1 for a pulse trawler. Drag of pulse trawls depends on their rigging and ranges between 2.8 – 3.2 kN.m-1 for the rectangular ground rope types and 4.0 – 4.1 kN.m-1 for the sole rope type. The amount of sediment mobilised in a seabed habitat with 20% silt content is 24 kg.m-2 for a large tickler chain and chain-mat trawler and between 12 – 16 kg.m-2 for a large pulse trawler.


Aerated concrete is a new type of building materials. Clayish crushed stones are regarded as solid waste disposals in China. This paper reports the research outcomes of an experimental study on using clayish crushed stone for the production of aerated concretes of B05 and B06 grade. Hydro-thermal synthesis reaction, mixing proportions, gas-forming and their influences on the concrete performance are investigated. Proper mixing proportions and some important technical parameters are proposed for material design. The microstructure of aerated concrete made with clayish crush stone is analyzed by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results indicate that the hydration products of clayish aerated concrete are composed of poor crystallized C-S-H (B), blade- and needle-shaped Tobermorite and a small amount of granular Hydrogarnet. A homogeneous and densified microstructure was obtained in the aerated concretes with negligible amount of clay after the hydro-thermal reaction in the mixture.


In spite of decades of research, Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) is far from reaching the goal of performance close to Human Speech Recognition (HSR). One of the reasons for unsatisfactory performance of the state-of-the-art ASR systems, that are based largely on Hidden Markov Models (HMMs), is the inferior acoustic modeling of low level or phonetic level linguistic information in the speech signal. An acoustic-phonetic approach to ASR, on the other hand, explicitly targets linguistic information in the speech signal. But an acoustic phonetic system that carries out large ASR speech recognition tasks, for example, connected word or continuous speech recognition, does not exist. We propose a probabilistic and statistical framework for ASR based on the knowledge of acoustic phonetics for connected word ASR. The proposed system is based on the idea of representation of speech sounds by bundles of binary valued articulatory phonetic features. The probabilistic framework requires only binary classifiers of phonetic features and the knowledge based acoustic correlates of the features for the purpose of connected word speech recognition. We explore the use of Support Vector Machines (SVMs) for binary phonetic feature classification because of the favorable properties well suited to our recognition task that SVMs offer. In the proposed method, probabilistic segmentation of speech is obtained using SVM based classifiers of manner phonetic features. The linguistically motivated landmarks obtained in each segmentation is used for classification of source and place phonetic features. Probabilistic segmentation paths are constrained using Finite State Automata (FSA) for isolated or connected word recognition. The proposed method could overcome the disadvantages encountered by the early acoustic-phonetic knowledge based systems, that led the ASR community to switch to ASR systems highly dependent on statistical pattern analysis methods.


Today, the ubiquity of the Internet raises the need to study the behavior of consumers and users from a transnational perspective, not even placing them in a region or continent, but as an essential element of world economic development. For this reason, consumer trust in cross-border e-commerce is a challenge for many political and economic global operators. It is therefore essential to create alternative methods of conflict resolution, global and harmonized to ensure the legitimate rights of consumers and users, access to justice in the broad sense, and access to, both individually and collective effective judicial protection. In this paper the concept of access to justice will be analyzed from the perspective of the consumer in e-commerce and its materialization through the Online Dispute Resolution. In particular, the legal implications that it has for cross-border electronic commerce will be analyzed, the fact that the consumer subscribes with the buyer, arbitration clauses, prior to the emergence of the conflict, without the need to be ratified. For this reason, the alternative to a contradictory method complemented with mediation will be studied, different from arbitration but that does not undermine the rights of consumers by undermining their right to effective judicial protection.


Abstract. Dynamic natural processes govern snow distribution in
mountainous environments throughout the world. Interactions between these
different processes create spatially variable patterns of snow depth across
a landscape. Variations in accumulation and redistribution occur at a
variety of spatial scales, which are well established for moderate mountain
terrain. However, spatial patterns of snow depth variability in steep,
complex mountain terrain have not been fully explored due to insufficient
spatial resolutions of snow depth measurement. Recent advances in uncrewed
aerial systems (UASs) and structure from motion (SfM) photogrammetry provide
an opportunity to map spatially continuous snow depths at high resolutions in
these environments. Using UASs and SfM photogrammetry, we produced 11 snow
depth maps at a steep couloir site in the Bridger Range of Montana, USA,
during the 2019–2020 winter. We quantified the spatial scales of snow depth
variability in this complex mountain terrain at a variety of resolutions
over 2 orders of magnitude (0.02 to 20 m) and time steps (4 to 58 d)
using variogram analysis in a high-performance computing environment. We
found that spatial resolutions greater than 0.5 m do not capture the
complete patterns of snow depth spatial variability within complex mountain
terrain and that snow depths are autocorrelated within horizontal distances
of 15 m at our study site. The results of this research have the potential
to reduce uncertainty currently associated with snowpack and snow water
resource analysis by documenting and quantifying snow depth variability and
snowpack evolution on relatively inaccessible slopes in complex terrain at
high spatial and temporal resolutions.


Spectrum and power efficiencies are both crucial to design efficient wireless networks. In past two decades, spectrum and power efficiencies of wireless networks are optimized separately. However, to increase the spectrum efficiency while reducing the energy consumption, it is necessary to jointly optimize spectrum and power efficiencies of wireless networks. Supporting the statistical quality of service (QoS) provisionings for real-time traffic is crucial, but imposes new challenges, in the next generation wireless networks. In this paper, we propose an efficient framework to jointly optimize effective spectrum efficiency (ESE) and effective power efficiency (EPE) under different statistical QoS guarantees constraints to support the real-time traffic over wireless networks. In particular, we derive the relationship between ESE and EPE under statistical QoS provisioning constraint. Based on this relationship, we obtain the mutually beneficial (MB) region and the contention-based (CB) region. In the MB region, we propose a novel strategy to achieve the joint effective spectrum and power efficiencies optimization using the average transmit power control. In the CB region, we propose the wireless-relay-based strategy to jointly optimize the effective capacity and power efficiency. In both MB and CB regions, we develop the dynamic transmit-power control strategy and the MIMO-based strategy to jointly maximize the effective spectrum and power efficiencies. Also conducted is a set of numerical evaluations showing that our proposed strategies can achieve superior joint spectrum and power efficiencies optimization for the diverse statistical QoS provisionings.


Abstract. Suharno, Soetarto ES, Sancayaningsih RP, Kasiamdari RS.2017. Association of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) with Brachiaria precumbens (Poaceae) in tailing and its potential to increase the growth of maize (Zea mays).Biodiversitas 18: 433-441.The role of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF) in the process of rehabilitation of degraded land is very important, including the handling of sand tailings. In the rehabilitation process, utilizing the AMF isolates from the tailings area will be easier to adapt to the habitat that will be rehabilitated. The purpose of this study was to determine AMF that associated with Brachiaria precumbens (Poaceae) derived from the tailings area in Timika, Papua, and its potential to the growth of maize (Zea mays). The methods used to determine the presence of AMF were a survey and wet sieving methods, while the calculation of percent colonization was done by slide method. The compatibility test and effectiveness of AMF inoculation on the maize growth were conducted by completely randomized design (CRD) with 4 treatments: M0: control (without mycorrhiza); M1: Clariodeoglomus etunicatum BGR; M2: C. lamellosum L1A01S; M3: C. etunicatum L3A12D each with eight replications. The results showed that the presence of the AMF in the rhizosphere of B. precumbens was found in the tailings deposition area Modified Ajkwa Deposition Area (ModADA) of a gold mine in Timika. AMF percent colonization at the root reached 73.3%, while the number of spores in the rhizosphere was 8-25 per 10 g samples of soil and increased to reach an average of 49.6 spores per 10 g soil samples by trap methods. Based on the morphological identification, AMF found in the B. precumbens rhizosphere were identified as genus Glomus, Scutellospora, Acaulospora, and Claroideoglomus, whereas based on molecular identification, two isolates (L1A01S and L3A12D) were identified as C. lamellosum L1A01S and C. etunicatum L1A12D. The compatibility test showed that the AMF was able to increase the growth of maize, and significantly affected plant height, leaf area, and relative growth rate. C. lamellosum L1A01S derived from the tailings had a better effect than C. etunicatum L3A12D and C. etunicatum BGR.Keywords: Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi, Brachiaria precumbens, tailings, Timika, Zea mays


Living materials at different length scales manifest active nematic features such as orientational order, nematic topological defects, and active nematic turbulence. Using numerical simulations we investigate the impact of fluid inertia on the collective pattern formation in active nematics. We show that an incremental increase in inertial effects due to reduced viscosity results in gradual melting of nematic order with an increase in topological defect density before a discontinuous transition to a vortex-condensate state. The emergent vortex-condensate state at low enough viscosities coincides with nematic order condensation within the giant vortices and the drop in the density of topological defects. We further show flow field around topological defects is substantially affected by inertial effects. Moreover, we demonstrate the strong dependence of the kinetic energy spectrum on the inertial effects, recover the Kolmogorov scaling within the vortex-condensate phase, but find no evidence of universal scaling at higher viscosities. The findings reveal complexities in active nematic turbulence and emphasize the important cross-talk between active and inertial effects in setting flow and orientational organization of active particles.


Abstract. Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions are highly variable in time, with high peak emissions lasting a few days to several weeks and low background emissions. This temporal variability is poorly understood which hampers the simulation of daily N2O emissions. In structured soils, like clay and peat, aggregates hamper the diffusion of oxygen, which leads to anaerobic microsites in the soil, favourable for denitrification. Diffusion of N2O out of the aggregates is also hampered, which leads to delayed emissions and increased reduction of N2O to N2. In this model simulation study we investigate the effect of aggregates in soils on the N2O emissions. We present a parameterization to simulate the effects of aggregates on N2O production by denitrification and on N2O reduction. The parameterization is based on the mobile-immobile model concept. It was implemented in a field-scale hydrological-biogeochemical model combination. We compared the simulated fluxes with observed fluxes from a fertilized and drained peat soil under grass. The results of this study show that aggregates strongly affect the simulated N2O emissions: peak emissions are lower, whereas the background emissions are slightly higher. Including the effect of aggregates caused a 40% decrease in the simulated annual emissions relative to the simulations without accounting for the effects of aggregates. The new parameterization significantly improved the model performance regarding simulation of observed daily N2O fluxes; r2 and RMSE improved from 0.11 and 198 g N2O-N ha−1 d−1 to 0.41 and 40 g N2O-N ha−1 d−1, respectively. Our analyses of the model results show that aggregates have a larger impact on the reduction than on the production of N2O. Reduction of N2O is more sensitive to changes in the drivers than production of N2O and is in that sense the key to understanding N2O emissions from denitrification. The effects of changing environmental conditions on reduction of N2O relative to N2O production strongly depend on the NO3 content of the soil. More anaerobic conditions have hardly any effect on the ratio of production to reduction if NO3 is abundant, but will decrease this ratio if NO3 is limiting. In the first case the emissions will increase, whereas in the second case the emissions will decrease. This study suggests that the current knowledge of the hydrological, biogeochemical and physical processes may be sufficient to understand the observed N2O fluxes from a fertilized clayey peatland. Further research is needed to test how aggregates affect the N2O fluxes from other soils or soils with different fertilization regimes.


This research was conducted to explore the concept of servant leadership in Catholic schools in Thailand. It attempts to examine Greenleaf's theory of servant leadership and whether is it appropriate in a Catholic educational institution within the Thai culture.
The research focused on eight schools of Sisters of Saint Paul of Chartres, a Catholic missionary organisation that runs private schools. Four principals were selected by a nomination process and are called 'community designated servant leaders' (CDSLs). Another four principals were selected for comparison using match pair criteria, and are called 'other leaders' (OLs).
 Data were collected by shadowing each principal for a day, through semi-structured interviews with eight principals and 80 teachers in the eight schools involved in the study, and also through the distribution of questionnaires. A total of 1,150 questionnaires were distributed and 944 (82%) were returned.
This study contributes to a greater understanding of the daily activities of the principals, the role of Thai religious principals and the service provided by them. A comparative analysis found both similarities and differences between the two groups of principals (CDSLs and OLs). The results from the questionnaires and interviews confirm that the use of servant leadership accounts for some of the differences between schools (e.g., principals who fully demonstrate servant leadership can motivate teachers better than those who use other leadership approaches).
However, the servant leadership as practised by the principals in this research was found to be different from Greenleaf's original theory of servant leadership. This could be due mainly to the Thai culture and Catholic religion. All eight principals identified themselves as servant leaders. They all agreed that service is the most important factor for leading the schools. In this study, a new conception of Catholic servant leadership is proposed by focusing more explicitly on Jesus' teaching. A new formula and extended characteristics have been developed, since the research identified a unique combination of characteristics of both Thai culture and Catholic religion, which are: humility, authoritarianism with benevolence, heart, and Catholic values which are mercy and justice.


I chose to study how the Swedish Air force carries out their work with setting goals for their work to improve flight safety and compare this with how the Swedish nuclear power plant Forsmark performs their work with improving nuclear safety. The study showed that both organisations have a lot to improve on in their ways of how to work. Especially when it comes to engaging the employees in the process, both in letting the employees be a part of coming up with areas to work on and in letting the employees evaluate which progress that has been made. It also showed that both organisations need to improve their methods for evaluating the work that has been done. This is especially important for the Air Force which evaluates on many levels and locations and did not have a set standard for how to conduct the evaluation. Although, Forsmark also needed to improve but on how to conduct the evaluation on more than one level in the organisation, allowing more people into the evaluation process and maybe letting someone not part of the process be a part of the evaluation to see things from a different perspective. Also, Forsmark had goals set which did not have a set time for when to evaluate them, which is another criteria for success.


The religious knowledge possessed by the mediator becomes the basis for the case in the religious court, the religious court provides space for the mediator to improve his ability so that the mediated case is not in the form of a decision from a panel of judges but in the form of a peace deed. The mediator uses a religious approach to be understood by the parties considering separating. Because the religious approach is considered more rational in the family problem back to the teachings of Islam, not disagree with each other. The mediator of the religious court provides religious knowledge in the form of advice to the parties in the event of a divorce which is certainly sacrificed by the problems of the position of husband and wife, issues of property and status of children who are victims of the separation of their parents


This paper explores the possibilities of a feminist reading of the Middle English life of St Margaret of Antioch, whose status as a virgin-martyr is sometimes held to have made her an unattainable role model, suitable only for virgins who had dedicated themselves to God. Using both written and painted English narratives of St Margaret's life dating mainly from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, it shows that many elements of these could have been interpreted by all women as a validation of themselves and their experiences. The paper uncovers certain common themes and similarities of presentation, to see how far a general picture of Margaret emerges from them and what they say about the construction of femininity and the female. Although the narrative of the legend takes a variety of forms, both written and painted, it is sufficiently stable (largely 'controlled' by the Legenda Aurea) to allow different versions to be drawn on in this way.


Social networks provide rich information about user interests and activities representing a valuable source for search personalization. However, social information is typically large and dynamic making its exploitation to obtain relevant search results a very challenging task. This work presents a PhD project plan that investigates Social Information Retrieval. The goal is threefolds: (1) create confidence area for information search by community detection based on tags similarity (2) introduce a new notion of Social Document Profile based on user activities, and (3) propose a novel ranking model based on social relevance.


5 Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of incremental continuous running as well as morning vs evening-time training on changes in serum immunoglobulins including IgA, IgG, IgM, testosterone and cortisol hormones responses. For this reason, 28 male athletic students were purposefully selected and randomly divided into the two groups; morning-time training group (N = 14, weight 68.2±9.8 kg, age 19.5± 1.6 years, training time 7: 30 AM) and evening-time training group (N=14, weight 63.8±8.4 kg, age 19.81±1.24 years, training time 16:30 PM). The participants were trained according to an incremental continuous running program with a certain heart rate for two months (16 sessions). To determine the amount of serum immunoglobulins as well as cortisol and testosterone hormones, the participants' blood samples was taken twice, once 24 h before the first training session and once 24 h after training session. Then, a 12-minute running-walking test was used to measure the maximal oxygen consumption. The results showed there were not any significant differences between the amounts of IgA, IgM, IgG serum of both groups in pre-test and post-test (i.e., respectively, p = 0.727, P = 0.068, P=0.14). Also, there were not any significant differences between the amounts of testosterone and cortisol hormones secreted of both groups in pre-test and post-test. However, there were significant differences between the concentrations of cortisol hormone of the two groups in pre-test (P = 0.006) and post-test (P = 0.0001). More ever, the results also showed a significant difference between the pre-test of the morning-time training group and the post-test of the evening-time training group (P = 0.0001). The findings of this research indicate that cortisol hormone is influenced by the time of training, which is due to circadian rhythm.


In this paper, we present a novel approach for coronary artery motion modeling from cardiac Computed Tomography( CT) images. The aim of this work is to develop a 4D motion model of the coronaries for image guidance in robotic-assisted totally endoscopic coronary artery bypass (TECAB) surgery. To utilize the pre-operative cardiac images to guide the minimally invasive surgery, it is essential to have a 4D cardiac motion model to be registered with the stereo endoscopic images acquired intraoperatively using the da Vinci robotic system. In this paper, we are investigating the extraction of the coronary arteries and the modelling of their motion from a dynamic sequence of cardiac CT. We use a multi-scale vesselness filter to enhance vessels in the cardiac CT images. The centerlines of the arteries are extracted using a ridge traversal algorithm. Using this method the coronaries can be extracted in near real-time as only local information is used in vessel tracking. To compute the deformation of the coronaries due to cardiac motion, the motion is extracted from a dynamic sequence of cardiac CT. Each timeframe in this sequence is registered to the end-diastole timeframe of the sequence using a non-rigid registration algorithm based on free-form deformations. Once the images have been registered a dynamic motion model of the coronaries can be obtained by applying the computed free-form deformations to the extracted coronary arteries. To validate the accuracy of the motion model we compare the actual position of the coronaries in each time frame with the predicted position of the coronaries as estimated from the non-rigid registration. We expect that this motion model of coronaries can facilitate the planning of TECAB surgery, and through the registration with real-time endoscopic video images it can reduce the conversion rate from TECAB to conventional procedures.


A university faculty-managed and student-run service-learning program provides seasonal plants and floral designs for holidays and special events on campus. Native and well-adapted plants for client personal use are also promoted and sold throughout the semester. Students propagate and grow greenhouse and nursery crops and create floral designs through service-learning applications in classes. Floral designs and greenhouse/nursery products are advertised via e-mail to members of the university's faculty and staff. The purpose of this study was to document program fundraising over time, as well as to measure the experiential value to the students and the quality of life benefits to the campus community. Economic benefits were evaluated by reviewing overall and average costs and earnings from the program over a 13-year period. Results indicated the average profits for the program were $6578 annually, with most sales occurring during the late spring semester. Surveys collected qualitative data from students participating in the program and indicated the experience was a valuable hands-on horticultural teaching tool, but also helped students build confidence, learn business skills in management and networking, and find their passion within the industry. Unsolicited comments from faculty and staff found that the program brought joy, had educational value, and provided a service to departments.


This Department recently received a terse inquiry from a correspondent asking whether rainfall in New South Wales is declining and requesting data indicating average precipitation over periods of ten years. The question whether rainfall is declining, increasing or shows no variation is more than an academic one in a country such as Australia, where average precipitation over large areas is all too low and where agricultural and pastoral activities measure large in its economy. It should be of particular interest to those concerned with future policy not only of agriculture but of such kindred national undertakings as water and soil conservation and afforestation. But the subject is of considerable general interest, and the following is an examination of rainfall variability insofar as the comparatively meagre data available will allow.


A minimal set of muscles (8 to 16) were identified as candidates for implantation in a clinical system to provide walking function to individuals with complete paraplegia using functional electrical stimulation (FES). Three subjects with complete motor and sensory paraplegia had percutaneous intramuscular electrodes implanted in all major muscles controlling the trunk, hips, knees, and ankles. Stimulation patterns for walking with FES were generated for different sets of eight and 16 muscles. The quality and repeatability of the resulting gait produced by walking patterns consisting of various combinations of muscles were determined. Most eight-channel stimulation patterns resulted in scissoring or insufficient hip flexion, preventing forward progression. One eight-channel system allowed a maximum speed of 0.1 m/s with a cadence of 22 steps/min and a stride length less than 0.3 m. Improved walking performance was observed with 16 channels of stimulation. This ranged from slow step- to gait at 0.1 m/s to smooth reciprocal gait at 0.5 m/s. In all three subjects, the favored combination of 16 channels included erector spinae for trunk extension; gluteus maximus, posterior portion of adductor magnus and hamstrings for hip extension; tensor fasciae latae and either sartorius or iliopsoas for hip flexion; vastus lateralis/intermedius for knee extension; and tibialis anterior/peroneous longus for ankle dorsiflexion. In one subject the 16-channel FES system provided repeatable day-to-day gait averaging 0.4 m/s, 58 steps/min and a stride length at 0.8 m. A maximum repeatable walking distance with 16 channels was 34 m. Multiple 34-m trials were possible with minimal rests between walks. Fatigue of both the hip extensors and upper body was a limiting factor. The selection of target muscles for implantation is critical to the performance of FES systems. This study provides guidelines to muscle selection for walking with FES based on objective measures of gait performance. The findings indicate that a 16-channel FES system for total implantation is feasible for repeatable short distance, independent, walker-support walking in paraplegia.


Application of the chemical carcinogen 7 ,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene
(DMBA) to murine skin causes tumour development as well as damaging the skin
immune system (SIS). Langerhans cells (LC), the major component of the SIS are
depleted from DMBA treated skin. The overall aim of this thesis was to analyse the
interaction of chemical carcinogens with the LC and to determine the significance of
this carcinogen-caused LC depletion in tumour development.

Analysis of the immune response to DMBA revealed similarities to a
normal antigen. Although BALB/c (H-2d) mice responded poorly to DMBA, this
carcinogen induced a contact hypersensitivity response (CHS) in C3H/HeN(H-2k)
mice, was trapped by the LC in the skin and cells bearing DMBA were detected in the
draining lymph nodes. The tumour promoter 12-0-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate
(TPA) was also found to be antigenic as it induced a strong CHS response in BALB/c
mice as did the contact sensitisers (antigens). A significant decrease in LC number was
caused by the chemical carcinogens DMBA and TPA as well as by the antigens. This
LC depletion was found to be dose dependent and immune tolerance was induced
following application of a second antigen through skin depleted of LC. Consequently
carcinogen and antigen induced depletion both lead to tolerance. This suppression was
cell mediated, because it was adoptively transferred by spleen cells to naive syngeneic
mice.

The effect of LC depletion on the pathogenesis of skin cancer was
evaluated. A low dose (initiating dose) of DMBA that did not cause LC depletion also
failed to cause tumour development. This initiating dose of DMBA followed by
multiple applications of LC depleting doses of the antigen TNCB or the promoter TP A
induced tumour growth. Consequently the LC depleting dose of antigen functioned as
a tumour promoter. An application of the depleting dose of TNCB, when followed by
a large dose of DMBA (a complete carcinogen) accelerated tumour development.
Thus LC depletion, irrelevant to the causes, may impair immunosurveillance.


The design of a novel feedback sensor system with wireless implantable polymer MEMS sensors for detecting and wirelessly transmitting physiological data that can be used for the diagnosis and treatment of various neurological disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, head injury, stroke, hydrocephalus, changes in pressure, patient movements, and tremors is presented in this paper. The sensor system includes MEMS gyroscopes, accelerometers, and pressure sensors. This feedback sensor system focuses on the development and integration of implantable systems with various wireless sensors for medical applications, particularly for the Parkinson's disease. It is easy to integrate and modify the sensor network feed back system for other neurological disorders mentioned above. The monitoring and control of tremor in Parkinson's disease can be simulated on a skeleton via wireless telemetry system communicating with electroactive polymer actuator, and microsensors attached to the skeleton hand and legs. Upon sensing any abnormal motor activity which represent the characteristic rhythmic motion of a typical Parkinson's (PD) patient, these sensors will generate necessary control pulses which will be transmitted to a hat sensor system on the skeleton head. Tiny inductively coupled antennas attached to the hat sensor system can receive these control pulses, demodulate and deliver it to actuate the parts of the skeleton to control the abnormal motor activity. This feedback sensor system can further monitor and control depending on the amplitude of the abnormal motor activity. This microsystem offers cost effective means of monitoring and controlling of neurological disorders in real PD patients. Also, this network system offers a remote monitoring of the patients conditions without visiting doctors office or hospitals. The data can be monitored using PDA and can be accessed using internet (or cell phone). Cellular phone technology will allow a health care worker to be automatically notified if monitoring indicates an emergency situation. The main advantage of such system is that it can effectively monitor large number of patients at the same time, which helps to compensate the present shortage of health care workers.


The desert can provide a harsh environment for engineering construction. Potential hazards are discussed in earlier Chapters, particularly Chapters 2 and 3, and include extreme temperature and humidity fluctuations, aggressive ground and groundwater conditions, wind-blown sand and dust, and flash floods.

The major influence that water has on the behaviour of the ground and the performance of engineering structures in hot deserts is often not appreciated or is underestimated. Rainstorms, although infrequent, can be of high intensity. It may not rain for months and then the annual average may fall in 1 day, leading to flows in normally dry wadis, flash floods and the filling of ephemeral lakes. In addition to water from rainstorms and runoff, construction and urbanization may introduce infiltration of water into soils that are normally dry. This can lead to changes in strength or volume that would not have occurred naturally.

The response of normally dry soils to wetting, and the identification and assessment of 'collapsible' and 'expansive' soils, is discussed in Chapter 8. Approaches to mitigating the effect of volume changes associated with wetting on the performance of engineering structures are discussed in this Chapter (Sections 10.2.3, 10.2.4 & 10.6).

Groundwater allows the movement of salts within the ground and, particularly where it occurs within a few metres of the ground surface, this can give rise to salt damage to structures and adversely affect roads and earthworks. The factors affecting salt accumulation, leading to aggressive ground and groundwater conditions, are described in Chapter 3. Design and construction to mitigate salt damage to buried concrete structures and roads are discussed in this chapter (Sections 10.2.7 & 10.3.4).

The desert can also be a fragile environment and easily damaged by poorly planned or controlled construction activity, leading to problems such as erosion and increased wind-blown sand and …


A scheme is discussed for embedding any n–dimensional, Riemannian manifold in an (n + 1)–dimensional Einstein space. Criteria for embedding a given manifold in a spacetime that represents a solution to Einstein's equations sourced by a massless scalar field are also discussed. The embedding procedures are illustrated with a number of examples. PACS NUMBERS: 04.50.+h, 04.20.Jb, 98.80.Cq Electronic address: firstname.lastname@example.com Electronic address: email@example.com


All three cytochrome P450 1 (CYP1) monooxygenases are believed to participate in lipid mediator biosynthesis and/or their local inactivation; however, distinct metabolic steps are unknown. We used multiple-reaction monitoring and liquid chromatography-UV coupled with tandem mass spectrometry–based lipid-mediator metabololipidomics to identify and quantify three lipid-mediator metabolomes in basal peritoneal and zymosan-stimulated inflammatory exudates, comparing Cyp1a1/1a2/1b1(−/−) C57BL/6J-background triple-knockout mice with C57BL/6J wild-type mice. Significant differences between untreated triple-knockout and wild-type mice were not found for peritoneal cell number or type or for basal CYP1 activities involving 11 identified metabolic steps. Following zymosan-initiated inflammation, 18 lipid mediators were identified, including members of the eicosanoids and specialized proresolving mediators (i.e., resolvins and protectins). Compared with wild-type mice, Cyp1 triple-knockout mice exhibited increased neutrophil recruitment in zymosan-treated peritoneal exudates. Zymosan stimulation was associated with eight statistically significantly altered metabolic steps: increased arachidonic acid–derived leukotriene B4 (LTB4) and decreased 5S-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid; decreased docosahexaenoic acid–derived neuroprotectin D1/protectin D1, 17S-hydroxydocosahexaenoic acid, and 14S-hydroxydocosahexaenoic acid; and decreased eicosapentaenoic acid–derived 18R-hydroxyeicosapentaenoic acid (HEPE), 15S-HEPE, and 12S-HEPE. In neutrophils analyzed ex vivo, elevated LTB4 levels were shown to parallel increased neutrophil numbers, and 20-hydroxy–LTB4 formation was found to be deficient in Cyp1 triple-knockout mice. Together, these results demonstrate novel contributions of CYP1 enzymes to the local metabolite profile of lipid mediators that regulate neutrophilic inflammation.


The pineal body of white normal rats, 1.5 to 3 months old, was studied under the electron microscope. A single type of parenchymal cell—the pinealocyte—is recognized as the main component of the tissue, and some of the structural characteristics of the nucleus and cytoplasm are described. The main morphological characteristic of the pinealocytes is represented by club-shaped perivascular expansions connected to the cell by thin pedicles. They are found lying in a large, clear space surrounding the blood capillaries. The name plurivesicular secretory processes is proposed, to emphasize the main structural feature and the probable function of these cellular expansions. A tubulofibrillar component is mainly found in the pedicle, and within the expansion there are numerous small mitochondria and densily packed vesicles of about 425 A. Two types of vesicles, one with a homogeneous content and another with a very dense osmium deposit, are described. Between the two types there are intermediary forms. In these processes, mitochondria show profound changes which may lead to complete vacuolization. The significance of this plurivesicular secretory component is discussed in the light of recent work on the biogenic amines of the pineal body and preliminary experiments showing the release of the vesicles containing dense granules after treatment with reserpine. These vesicles are interpreted as the site of storage of some of the biogenic amines. Bundles of unmyelinated nerve fibers and endings on large blood vessels which also contain a plurivesicular content are described and tentatively interpreted as adrenergic nerve terminals.


The excellent performance of recently proposed turbo codes depends strongly on their interleaver pattern. Exhaustive searching for a good interleaving pattern is a very difficult task, growing in the order of N!, where N is the interleaver size. The authors present a modified version of the ant colony system (ACS) algorithm for finding good interleaver patterns used in turbo codes. By defining an approximate evaluation method for turbo codes with specified interleaver patterns, a fitness function for use in the modified ACS algorithm is obtained. The simulation results show gains up to 0.7 dB with sizes of 50 and 100 for the interleavers found by the ACS algorithm compared with the randomly generated interleavers.


Consumers suffer significant losses from not acting on available information. These losses stem from frictions such as search costs, switching costs, and rational inattention, as well as what we call mental gaps resulting from wrong priors/worldviews, or relevant features of a problem not being top of mind. Most research studying such losses does not empirically distinguish between these mechanisms. Instead, we show that most highly cited papers in this area presume one mechanism underlies consumer choices and assume away other potential explanations, or collapse many mechanisms together. We discuss the empirical difficulties that arise in distinguishing between different mechanisms, and some promising approaches for making progress in doing so. We also assess when it is more or less important for researchers to distinguish between these mechanisms. Approaches that seek to identify true value from demand, without specifying mechanisms behind this wedge, are most useful when researchers are interested in evaluating allocation policies that strongly steer consumers towards better options with regulation, traditional policy instruments, and defaults. On the other hand, understanding the precise mechanisms underlying consumer losses is essential to predicting the impact of mechanism policies aimed primarily at reducing specific frictions or mental gaps without otherwise steering consumers. We make the case that papers engaging with these questions empirically should be clear about whether their analyses distinguish between mechanisms behind poorly informed choices, and what that implies for the questions they can answer. We present examples from several empirical contexts to highlight these distinctions.


There are two custom ways for predicting RNA secondary structures: minimizing the free energy of a conformation according to a thermodynamic model and maximizing the probability of a folding according to a stochastic model. In most cases, stochastic grammars are used for the latter alternative applying the maximum likelihood principle for determining a grammar's probabilities. In this paper, building on such a stochastic model, we will analyze the expected minimum free energy of an RNA molecule according to Turner's energy rules. Even if the parameters of our grammar are chosen with respect to structural properties of native molecules only (and therefore, independent of molecules' free energy), we prove formulae for the expected minimum free energy and the corresponding variance as functions of the molecule's size which perfectly fit the native behavior of free energies. This gives proof for a high quality of our stochastic model making it a handy tool for further investigations. In fact, the stochastic model for RNA secondary structures presented in this work has, for example, been used as the basis of a new algorithm for the (nonuniform) generation of random RNA secondary structures.


The question of nuclear motions associated with electron transitions is discussed from the standpoint of quantum mechanics. It appears that Heisenberg's indetermination principle gives the clue to the inexactness of the earlier method based on Franck's postulate since its strict application calls for a violation of the principle. The existence of an entirely new type of band spectrum due to the wave nature of matter is predicted and the interpretation of Rayleigh's mercury band at 2476–2482 A.U. as of this type is suggested. Finally it is shown that while Franck's postulate is also true for electron jumps in atoms, it is of but trivial interest because its inexactness is much greater for the electrons than for heavy nuclei.


This book outlines the principles and uses of medical statistics and their applications in analysing epidemiological and clinical studies. The initial text describes the diVerent kinds of study designs, the methods for describing and presenting data, and the types of statistical inference. The second half of the book describes how to analyse case-control studies, cohort studies and randomised controlled trials. There are chapters on regression techniques and common pitfalls in statistics and finally appendices on statistical formulae and tables. There are also summary sections and self-assessment exercises. The book is clearly written with an abundance of examples which help greatly in the understanding of statistical principles. The text is extremely comprehensive, covering classical statistics as well as more recent developments. The major strength of the book is that it shows how epidemiology and statistics are two very much related disciplines in medical research. The book will be of value to those just starting a study of statistics and epidemiology as well as to those with more experience who will find it a valuable reference source. I would thoroughly recommend the book, which is competitively priced.


We studied the pelvic floor dysfunction symptoms in pregnancy and early postpartum and its association with parity and gestational age. Women who had been referred to low risk obstetric clinic for prenatal and early postpartum care, between January 2005 and August 2006 were recruited to the study. Women were invited to complete an anonymous, self-report questionnaire regarding pelvic floor symptoms (PFDI20). Dataset of 733 women were available for analysis. Only in nulliparous women, urinary frequency (58.8% vs 80.8%, P 0.005) and stress incontinence (20.5% vs 50.6%, P 0.001) were significantly more prevalent in second half of pregnancy in contrast to first half. All symptoms except painful defecation and urge urinary incontinence were significantly more prevalent in antepartum period than early postpartum. Logistic regression analyses revealed that increase in number of previous vaginal delivery was independently associated with presence of painful void, urge urinary incontinence and urinary frequency in early postpartum period. Pelvic floor dysfunction symptoms are significantly more frequent during pregnancy in comparison with early postpartum period. Additionally, prevalence of most symptoms was the same during first and second half of pregnancy. Parity and history of prior vaginal delivery did not affect the frequency of most symptoms during pregnancy.


This paper is part of a series of reports of the activities conducted under a grant from the Fund for Rural America, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Funds for the grant entitled "Enhancing Rural Economies Through Comprehensive Extension, Research & Partnering Approaches Using Multi-County Clusters in Michigan With Application to National Rural Settings" were received by Michigan State University's Department of Agricultural Economics in March, 1998. The major goal of the grant is to increase economic development activity in four clusters of rural counties in Michigan through the utilization of the resources of the Michigan State University Extension Service, Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, and other resources of Michigan State University. Various local, state, and federal public partners as well as the private sector are co-sponsors of projects in the counties. This paper focuses on E-commerce issues and applications for small businesses and communities providing information on recent developments of E-commerce businesses and approaches to successes in Internet marketing. Details of the paper rely on materials used for E-commerce training programs co-sponsored by the project, responses from businesses participated in the training and review of available digital economic and business literature that highlights key elements and benefits of E-commerce to small businesses.


Objective. We estimate a model of social‐psychological determinants of entry into Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), the primary cash welfare program in the United States until 1996. Methods. Using information from the youngest cohorts of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we estimate logit models of the probability of ever participating in AFDC and hazard models of the timing until first use of AFDC. Results. We find strong associations between welfare use and several attitudes and personality characteristics, but with two exceptions, most of the associations are not robust to the inclusion of exogenous background characteristics. There is consistent, strong evidence that positive attitudes toward school lower the likelihood of using welfare and increase duration until first receipt. Family background and social environment characteristics show strong robust effects. Conclusions. Our results point to relatively weak evidence for the hypothesis that individual attitudes in adolescence have a significant impact on initial welfare receipt.


Attractive properties of subgradient methods, such as robust stability and linear convergence, has been emphasized when they are used to solve nonsmooth optimization problems with sharp minima [12, 13]. In this letter we extend the ro-bustness results to the composite convex models and show that the basic proximal gradient algorithm under the presence of a sufficiently low noise still converges in finite time, even if the noise is persistent.


The objective of this study was to evaluate the response of hairy beggarticks plants to different doses of glufosinate ammonium and the range in sensitivities of the plants and their progenies to the herbicide. Three studies were conducted, all in a greenhouse and repeated at different times. In the first study, two experiments were conducted to examine the dose–response curve, and the treatments were seven different doses of the herbicide glufosinate ammonium (0, 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1,600 g ai ha−1), with four replications each. In the second study, which examined the range in sensitivity of hairy beggarticks to glufosinate ammonium, 44 plants were sprayed with a dose of 200 g ai ha−1 of the herbicide. Finally, in the third study, the range in sensitivity of the progeny of hairy beggarticks to glufosinate ammonium was investigated; in this experiment, the progenies of seven of the previous plants were sprayed with 200 g ai ha−1 of herbicide. The ammonium contents in the tissues were measured and percent injury wase visually assessed. Ammoniun content in hairy beggarticks leaves was increased more than seven times by glufosinate application and the maximum ammonium content was observed for the highest dose of the herbicide. Variability existed in the ammonium content among the individuals of the population of hairy beggarticks; however, the behavior was not replicated in the same way in the progenies. The survival of the plants after application of the herbicide allows the production of progenies with wide variability in their sensitivity to the product, independent of the behavior for the progenitor plants. Nomenclature: Glufosinate ammonium; hairy beggarticks, Bidens pilosa L.


1-(4-(quinolin-8-ylamino)phenyl)ethanone (1) was synthesized from 4-aminoacetophenone and 8-hydroxyquinoline in presence of anhyd. ZnCl2. New chalcones (2) were synthesized from 1-(4- (quinolin-8-ylamino)phenyl)ethanone (1) and aromatic aldehydes under basic conditions via Claisen-Schmidt condensation. The structures of synthetic compounds were established on the basis of analytical and spectral data. These compounds were screened for their antibacterial activity


Background Spondyloarthritis (SpA) carries substantial financial costs, including direct costs (use of medical services and treatments) and indirect costs (loss of work productivity). While disease related factors have been repeatedly shown to be associated with work outcomes, information on the role of educational attainment and the economic wealth of the patients' country of residence is scarce. Objectives To explore the role of individual and country level socio-economic (SE) factors on employment, absenteeism and presenteeism across 22 countries. Methods Patients with a clinical diagnosis of SpA, fulfilling the ASAS SpA criteria and in working age (≤65 years old) from COMOSPA were included. Outcomes explored were employment-status, absenteeism and presenteeism according to the Work Productivity and Activity Impairment Specific Health Problem (WPAI-SHP) questionnaire. Absenteeism and presenteeism were assessed in employed patients. Multilevel logistic (for work status) and linear (for absenteeism and presenteeism) regression models with random intercept for country were constructed. Independent contribution of individual (education) and country level socio-economic factors (country healthcare expenditures and gross domestic product (GDP) (all low vs medium/high tertiles) were assessed in models adjusted for clinical factors. Results In total 3,114 patients from 22 countries were included (mean (SD) age 40.9 (11.8) years; 66% males; and 63% employed). Of these, 89% had axial SpA and 11% a peripheral SpA. Unadjusted employment rates ranged from 28% (Colombia) to 83% (Canada). After adjustment for relevant socio-demographic and clinical variables, differences between countries in work status persisted (Figure). High healthcare expenditures were associated with higher employment (OR=2.42; 95% CI=1.53;3.81) and lower presenteeism (β=-4.53;CI=-8.90;-0.17). Similarly, higher GDP was associated with higher employment (OR=1.70; 95% CI=1.02;2.83), and in the same direction with presenteeism but without reaching statistical significance (β=-3.42;CI=-13.07;6.23). No significant association between any country SE indicators and absenteeism was found. At individual level, higher education was positively associated with employment-status, presenteeism and absenteeism. Conclusions Individual- and country-level SE factors affect work participation in SpA, and this varies significantly across countries. Better socio-economic welfare seems to support SpA patients to stay employed and productive. Disclosure of Interest None declared


: Ten children with myelodysplasia and intractable urinary incontinence have been implanted with an AS 800 artificial sphincter. Eight remain dry and 2 are improved over a follow-up period of 12 - 14 months. However, most have shown a reduction in bladder compliance, which suggests that further surgery may be necessary to maintain continence.


This project involves Statify and Grenoble Institute of Neuroscience (GIN). T. Christen (CR Inserm) will be the main contact at GIN. T. Christen has established national and international collaborations on the topic of MRF and has an ongoing partnership with Philips on clinical MRF developments. The additional expertise of P. Rodrigues (CR Inria) and F. Forbes (DR Inria), in particular in inverse problems in a MRI context (Rodrigues et al 2021, Jallais et al. 2021, Boux et al. 2021), will be provided as MRF requires better theoretical characterizations for practical use.


Image processing, specifically automatic target recognition (ATR) in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery, is an application area that can require tremendous processing throughput. In this application, data comes from high bandwidth sensors, where the processing is time-critical. There is limited space and power for processing the data in the sensor platforms or in battlefield groundstations. DoD's strong push for using commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) technology, the very high non-recurring engineering (NRE) costs for low volume ASICs, and evolving algorithms limit the feasibility of using custom special purpose hardware. In addition, a scalable system is required as the different sensor platforms have different image pixel rates and different mission requirements have different target recognition throughput needs per pixel. In this paper, we describe an ATR algorithm implementation using FPGA accelerators. We first describe the ATR algorithm that was implemented, the implementation on a single FPGA, how the FPGA nodes are connected to make a scalable system, and compare the performance to current scalable microprocessor-based implementations.


The importance of dietary sulforaphane in helping maintain good health continues to gain support within the health-care community and awareness among U.S. consumers. In addition to the traditional avenue for obtaining sulforaphane, namely, the consumption of appropriate cruciferous vegetables, other consumer products containing added glucoraphanin, the natural precursor to sulforaphane, are now appearing in the United States. Crucifer seeds are a likely source for obtaining glucoraphanin, owing to a higher concentration of glucoraphanin and the relative ease of processing seeds as compared to vegetative parts. Seeds of several commonly consumed crucifers were analyzed not only for glucoraphanin but also for components that might have negative health implications, such as certain indole-containing glucosinolates and erucic acid-containing lipids. Glucoraphanin, 4-hydroxyglucobrassicin, other glucosinolates, and lipid erucic acid were quantified in seeds of 33 commercially available cultivars of broccoli, 4 cultivars each of kohlrabi, radish, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kale, and cabbage, and 2 cultivars of raab.


The article discuses the fundamental characteristics of vegetarianism as a heterogeneous and controversial practice, and tries to asses its scope in contemporary Western world. In the central part it presents the main results of the empirical study of vegetarianism and its perceptions on a representative sample of adult residents of the two largest cities in Slovenia, Ljubljana and Maribor. On this basis, the author proposes a more comprehensive design of quantitative and qualitative research on social aspects of vegetarianism and responses to it.


Several toughening mechanisms, such as fibre bridging, can occur during delamination of fibre reinforced composites. In structures made of composite bonded joints, delamination can occur either in the composite or in the adhesive layer. In the first case composite toughness might be affected by the presence of the adhesive, especially if the crack propagates nearby the bond layer. The interaction of an adhesive layer with the propagation of sub-surface delamination cracks within the adherent remains a mechanism which is not well understood. In this work, the mode I delamination behavior of Asymmetric Double Cantilever Beam bonded joint specimens is investigated and compared with bulk composite specimens in order to assess the influence of an adhesive layer. Fracture resistance measurements show that the bond layer considerably affects the steady state fracture toughness of the composite with a very significant reduction of the bridging contribution. This effect is extended to two different types of epoxy adhesive: different curing cycles and different elasto-plastic properties. The extent of mode II due to the asymmetric position of the crack starter and to the adhesive layer is assessed both experimentally and numerically, and found negligible for the considered configurations. Besides, it is demonstrated that the change of compliance of a specimen due to the presence of an adhesive layer has almost no effect on the delamination behavior. Using an inverse identification methodology, the parameters describing the bridging traction relation are determined for both joint and bulk specimens. It is found that the rate of decay of bridging tractions is significantly higher for joints compared to bulk specimens. Those identified tractions-separation relations are subsequently implemented in cohesive zone models to simulate delamination of each configuration. Load displacement and crack growth are successfully predicted, demonstrating that this method, which consists in identifying a cohesive model for a specific crack position offset in the presence of an adhesive layer, can be used for prediction purposes. Moreover, it is shown that the identified tractions based on the steady state strain measurements predict the strains at the transient phase of bridging development. The isolated fibres and bundles of fibres participating to bridging are quantitatively measured in both bulk and joint specimens, and results show that mostly isolated fibres participate to bridging in the case of joints, whereas they tend to congregate to form clusters in bulk specimens, which require much more energy to break. A 3D finite element model show that the elasto-plastic properties of the adhesive create a local perturbation of the stress field around the crack tip. A shielding effect of the adhesive layer has been ascertained, preventing stresses from spreading continuously. The changes of amplitude and the spatial repartition of stresses in the process zone compared to bulk specimens with the same geometry are highlighted.


Rat islets of Langerhans produce plasminogen activators (PA). The islet level of PA and the enzyme secreted in the islet incubation medium, are regulated by agents which modulate insulin synthesis and release. The cellular PA activity is due to 2 molecular forms of the enzyme, a Mr 72,000 and a Mr 48,000 species found in almost equal proportions. But the enzyme activity in the medium is due to only the lower molecular weight form. It is shown that this enzyme activity in the medium is due to immunologically identifiable urokinase type PA (uPA) and the cellular enzyme activity is due to both, uPA and tissue-type PA (tPA).


A 3-day-old Thoroughbred foal developed a large, air-distended, midcervical swelling that was diagnosed as a congenital tracheal bronchus with associated ectopic lung tissue. Clinical signs consisted of a compressible air-filled sac that enveloped the trachea. The nature and extent of the defect were evaluated endoscopically and radiographically. Surgical resection of the bronchus and associated air-filled sac resulted in a functionally and cosmetically acceptable outcome.


In this paper, MPPT control in PV systems is used by the FPI method which is an intelligent method. Further, the use of a TLBC as an interface converter instead of a conventional boost converter is examined in the PV system and a new transfer function of TLBC in terms of the mode of switching is verified. The main purpose of this paper is to balance voltage capacitors of TLBC by an intelligent fuzzy method. The rules of this controller are adjusted such that, in case of any disturbance in daylight and solar radiation, it can adjust the duty cycle TLBC, where voltage capacitors become well-adapted by being combined with MPPT controller. The simulation results verify the good performance of the proposed controller. Uncertainty parameters include the surrounding temperature, solar radiation, and output electric charge. The first two cannot be controlled by humans and may suddenly change by atmospheric conditions, while the third may suddenly change by the user and can be controlled by the proposed controller under any conditions. A dramatic change in the resistance electric charge is considered in this paper, where the voltage of capacitors does not have any overshoot or fluctuation. The simulation results verify that the capacitor voltage balance in the region is acceptable.


Dendritic cells (DCs) are considered the principal initiators of immune response because of their ability to migrate into peripheral tissues and lymphoid organs, process antigens, and activate naive T cells. There is evidence that extracellular nucleotides regulate certain functions of DCs via G-protein-coupled P2Y receptors (P2YR) and ion-channel-gated P2X receptors (P2XR). Here we investigated the chemotactic activity and analyzed the migration-associated intracellular signaling events such as actin reorganization and Ca(++) transients induced by common P2R agonists such as adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) and 2-methylthioadenosine triphosphate, the P2YR agonists UTP and adenosine 5'-diphosphate (ADP), or the P2XR agonists alphabeta-methylenadenosine-5'-triphosphate and 2',3'-(4-benzoyl)benzoyl-ATP. The common P2R agonists and the selective P2YR agonists turned out to be potent chemotactic stimuli for immature DCs, but not for mature DCs. In contrast, P2XR agonists had only marginal chemotactic activity in both DC types. Chemotaxis was paralleled by a rise in the intracellular Ca(++) concentration and by actin polymerization. Studies with pertussis toxin implicated that intracellular signaling events such as actin polymerization, mobilization of intracellular Ca(++), and migration induced by nucleotides was mediated via G(i/o) protein-coupled P2YR. Moreover, functional studies revealed selective down-regulation of this G(i/o) protein-coupled chemotactic P2YR responsiveness during maturation, although immature and mature DCs expressed similar amounts of mRNA for the P2R subtypes (P2Y(2)R, P2Y(4)R, P2Y(5)R, P2Y(7)R, P2Y(11)R and P2X(1)R, P2X(4)R, P2X(7)R), and no major differences in respect to the mRNA expression of these receptors could be observed by semiquantitative reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). In summary, our data describe a differential chemotactic response of immature and mature DCs to nucleotides, and lend further support to the hypothesis that P2R are a novel class of immunomodulatory plasma membrane receptors suitable for pharmacological intervention.


The microstructure and properties of austempered ductile iron with carbides was studied to increase the abrasive resistance of ADI. It was proven that the austempering temperature influences greatly the microstructure, impact toughness, hardness and abrasion resistance of CADI. With increase of austempering temperature, the acicular ferrite becomes thicker and bigger, the impact toughness rises, and the hardness decreases. But there is a complicated effect of austempering temperature on wet abrasion resistance. In addition, the CADI grinding balls were cast and the field testing was performed. The CADI ball is one third of abrasion loss of low chromium cast iron, zero rate of breakage and no loosing round.


At first glance, one sees an apparent contradiction upon reading the title of this article. This is due to the fact that when one suggests, the implication is that one is at the same time pushing for a certain course of action or, perhaps, is trying to endorse some product. It would be quite absurd if one says "You do this" and then tell this same person "You do the opposite of what I tell you". This notion of suggestion, nevertheless, is not to be equated with the way we understand the thoughts of the Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi whom one day dreamt that he was a butterfly and upon awaking no longer knew whether he was a person dreaming that he became a butterfly or vice versa, that he was a butterfly traveling in a dreamland as a man.
The Zhuangzi is a protean text which means there is certainly more than meets the eye in the entire text. Thus, to read the Zhuangzi from one point of view only or to interpret it according to a limited perspective is to altogether miss its entire message. For Zhuangzi, man fails to distinguish between reality as seen in nature and man's way of describing it through language. Obviously, for him, the constant use of metaphors betrays a hidden thesis in which he accepts that man's best guide or, should we say, the best chance of finding the way lies in the things surrounding him – practically anything that has already existed even before he came into this world.


Forest land in the United States offsets more than 11% of total domestic greenhouse gas emissions each year through growth of live woody biomass and accumulation of carbon in trees, dead organic matter, and harvested wood products. Forest lands owned and managed by various agencies of the U.S. government cover 77 million hectares, which is 29% of U.S. forest land and an estimated 33%, or 17.2 Pg C, of forest carbon stocks. Here, we summarize forest inventory-based estimates of forest carbon stocks and indications of carbon stock change on forest lands managed by agencies within the U.S. federal government. Within the conterminous USA, the proportion of forest land that is federally owned is higher in the West representing two-thirds of forest carbon stocks; in the East, federal lands represent 9% of forest carbon. The majority of federal forests and forest carbon are managed by the U.S. Forest Service (13.8 Pg C), but 20% of federal forest carbon stocks, or 3.5 Pg C, are managed by other federal agencies (e.g., National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management). We also briefly review some broad characteristics of the forest inventory that affect forest carbon reported for the USA as included in greenhouse gas inventories such as for United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change reporting.


Utilizing inexpensive biorenewable and waste raw materials for the production of carbon nanofibers can pave the way for lowering their manufacturing cost. In this research, lignin is combined with recycled poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) to fabricate precursor fibers via electrospinning. The process is optimized using the Design of Experiments statistical methodology and fibers with minimum average diameter equal to 191 ± 60 nm are prepared. Investigation with Attenuated Total Reflection – Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy reveals the lignin structural changes induced by the solvent (trifluoroacetic acid), which is used for the preparation of homogeneous solutions of lignin and PET in various concentrations, while it gives an indication of the blending of the two electrospun polymers. The good miscibility between lignin and PET is also confirmed with Differential Scanning Calorimetry. The subsequent carbonization of the precursor fibrous mats results in a fibrous carbon structure with average fiber diameters similar to those of the precursor fibers. The successful transformation into carbon nanofibers is affirmed by Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy. The Carbon content of these nanofibers amounts to 94.3%. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016, 133, 43936.


Linux® containers have been employed for operating system-level virtualization since around 2008, but only recently they have started to gain tremendous popularity, fueled by open source projects such as Warden and Docker. Initially, container technologies have been used mainly for stateless web applications in platform-as-a-service (PaaS) clouds, but as the technology matures, they are being used for a larger variety of cloud workloads that are typically run on infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) clouds. For this reason, we developed the IBM Containers service, a cloud service that allows multiple developers to compose, deploy, and manage the lifecycle of complex application topologies with security and isolation on a shared infrastructure. The service provides developers with features of a PaaS cloud and flexibility of an IaaS cloud. In this paper, we discuss the challenges, architecture, security considerations, and capabilities of the service.


Literature lists more than 300 case reports of bettolepsy developing mainly in chronic diseases of the respiratory organs (chronic bronchitis, bronchial asthma, pulmonary emphysema, cor pulmonale) as well as in patients with epilepsy and organic brain diseases. The authors describe a case of bettolepsy in a patient with acute (croupous) pneumonia without respiratory diseases in the anamnesis and without a burdened neurological status. The role of nicotin and alcohol in the development of bettolepsy is shown. The problems of pathogenesis, clinical picture, differential diagnosis and treatment of bettolepsy are discussed.


Neural entity typing models typically represent fine-grained entity types as vectors in a high-dimensional space, but such spaces are not well-suited to modeling these types' complex interdependencies. We study the ability of box embeddings, which embed concepts as d-dimensional hyperrectangles, to capture hierarchies of types even when these relationships are not defined explicitly in the ontology. Our model represents both types and entity mentions as boxes. Each mention and its context are fed into a BERT-based model to embed that mention in our box space; essentially, this model leverages typological clues present in the surface text to hypothesize a type representation for the mention. Box containment can then be used to derive both the posterior probability of a mention exhibiting a given type and the conditional probability relations between types themselves. We compare our approach with a vector-based typing model and observe state-of-the-art performance on several entity typing benchmarks. In addition to competitive typing performance, our box-based model shows better performance in prediction consistency (predicting a supertype and a subtype together) and confidence (i.e., calibration), demonstrating that the box-based model captures the latent type hierarchies better than the vector-based model does.


The authors describe SUBES, a rule-based expert system approach for distribution substations troubleshooting and maintenance scheduling. These complex decision tasks are currently performed by highly experienced engineers, whose knowledge can be expressed as a set of production rules. As the inference mechanism for the knowledge processing, first order logic is natural. Therefore the system has been implemented in Turbo-Prolog. SUBES works interactively: a very user-friendly environment for the interaction between computer and end user is achieved by a menu-driven dialog and a multi-window display. The transfer of new knowledge-experience gained is very easy since the modification/expansion of the knowledge base can be carried out in a very simple way. The provided explanation module enables the operator under training to understand the reasoning process followed by the system. The system can be used for educational as well as engineering purposes. >


In the present work, a novel cardanol based benzoxazine was synthesised by reacting three different amines (aniline (CrAb), N,N-dimethylaminopropylamine (CrDb) and caprolactam modified N,N-dimethylaminopropylamine (CrCb)) with cardanol in the presence of formaldehyde under appropriate experimental conditions. The resulting benzoxazines were characterised for their molecular structure and thermal behaviour using different analytical methods. Among the different systems studied, the tertiary amine derivatives were found to reduce the curing temperature efficiently (CrAb-275 °C > CrDb-265 °C > CrCb-251 °C) and were confirmed by DSC analysis. These cardanol based CrAb benzoxazines were blended with conventional benzoxazines (Bzs) and bismaleimides (BMIs) as binary and ternary systems and their thermal properties were studied. Three different catalysts (4-hydroxy acetophenone, 4-aminophenol, and 4-hydroxyphenyl maleimide) were used to study the effect of lowering the curing temperature. Further, the prepared benzoxazines were reinforced with varying weight percentages (1, 3, 5 and 10 wt%) of bio-silica derived from rice husk to obtain hybrid composites. The dielectric studies of bio-silica reinforced cardanol benzoxazines infer that the values of dielectric constant decreased with increasing wt% of bio-silica. It was further observed that 10 wt% bio-silica reinforced cardanol benzoxazines show the lowest value of dielectric constant of 1.9 at 1 MHz. From the data obtained from the different studies, it is concluded that the blends of cardanol based benzoxazines can be used in the form of sealants, encapsulants, adhesives and matrices in the fields of microelectronics and automobile applications for better performance.


From 1977 through 1980 the Federal Bureau of Investigation devised an elaborate scheme designed to provide opportunities for illegal conduct by public officials who were predisposed to political corruption. The scheme involved the creation of a fictitious corporation named "Abdul Enterprises," purportedly headed by Sheik Yassir Habib of Abu Dhabi, whose desire it was to invest in and immigrate to the United States. The FBI named this operation "ABSCAM" after the first two letters of "Abdul" and the word "scam." Following the investigation, grand juries handed down indictments involving twenty-six defendants. Despite both distinguishable fact patterns and varied legal strategies, every ABSCAM defendant asserted either the defense of entrapment or a violation of due process or both. None of these defenses proved successful. This note details ABSCAM's inherent improprieties as they relate to the defenses of entrapment and violation of due process and explore how similar investigations in the future should be conducted so as to protect innocent individuals from these improprieties. It is submitted that the convictions which resulted from the ABSCAM investigation may have been due not only to the guilt of the defendants, but also to the current state of the iaw of entrapment and due process and to the particular structure of the ABSCAM investigation.


Introduction: The purpose of this study was to evaluate, with classification–regression tree analysis, the structure of the associations between nutritional and health care services and the cumulative prevalence of the classical cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors of older individuals living in Greek islands and Cyprus. Methods: During 2005–2009, 744 men and 742 women (>65 years) from nine Greek islands and Cyprus Republic were voluntarily enrolled in the Mediterranean Islands study; various socio-demographic, clinical and lifestyle characteristics were recorded. Moreover, information regarding practising dieticians (n = 88) and nutritional services provided in these islands was also recorded. Results: Both medical and nutrition services act more effectively to elders' cardiovascular health. For example, older individuals living in areas with nutritional services' support for at least five years, with collaboration between dieticians and physicians, reduced the CVD risk factors (CVD RF) burden by 42%. Whereas, in areas with dietetic support less than five years, but more than two, the presence of advanced health care system seemed to control the CVD RF burden to the population average. Conclusions: Despite the fact that the present work shares some limitations mainly because of its cross-sectional design, the classification and regression tree approach has clearly demonstrated the interrelation between nutritional services and the health care system towards achieving benefits among the elders' quality of life.


Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) has been implemented in different industries as a methodology to design or redesign processes. In this paper, DFSS is used to develop a triage process for an emergency department (ED) at a Jordanian hospital. Different performance measures, such as length of stay (LOS) and waiting time (WT), are employed to evaluate the hospital's ED performance before and after the triage process. Discrete event simulation (DES) models were developed using ProModel software. The models have been verified and validated. The results indicate that LOS will be reduced by 34% and WT by 61% after the triage system is implemented, without any additional staff. Moreover, as a result of the triage process, the WT sigma level is improved from 0.66 to 5.18, and the LOS sigma level is improved from 0.58 to 3.09.


Sera from 46 consecutive patients with leprosy were collected and tested against an extensive panel of defined nuclear antigens. Antinuclear antibodies (ANA) were present in 16% of patients, but the titer was uniformly low and there was no consistent fluorescence pattern. None of the ANA positive sera contained antibodies which reacted with native DNA, or which were directed against histones, centromeres, SSB, Sm, or ribonucleoprotein. These more specific autoantibody assays thus retained their clinical utility in the differential diagnosis of rheumatologic complaints in patients with leprosy.


The highly efficient copper-catalyzed enantioselective alkynylation of the remote C(sp3)-H bond on linear primary sulfonamides is presented here using a radical relay strategy. The chiral box-copper complex, which is used to recapture the in-situ-generated alkyl radical via a 1,5-HAT strategy, is the key to success, affording the chiral alkynes after a following reductive elimination. A general substrate scope, mild conditions, and excellent regio- and enantioselective control are demonstrated in this method.


In order to study the effect of fibers to the anti-crack performance of the concrete, sixteen different plat restraint specimens with four different fiber mixing amount (steel fiber is 0, 0.5%, 1%, 1.5%, and polypropylene fiber is 0, 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3% respectively), are selected to comparison about the influence on the anti-cracking property of the hybrid fiber concrete, single fiber reinforced concrete and plain concrete. Experiments show that fibers increasing the anti-crack performance of the concrete significantly. The relationship between fibers' content and the crack area is analyzed, and the microscopic mechanism of the anti-crack performance is discussed. Considering the economy and the convenient for construction, the column ratio of 0.5% steel fiber and 0.1% polypropylene fiber is recommended.


The German Presidency has taken the initiative to launch a process of rethinking the involvement of the European Union in the five states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, with the intention of producing a new EU Strategy on Central Asia. This paper welcomes this initiative to strengthen the EU's presence in the region as timely and sorely needed. In addition to finding the right mix of policies, however, he argues that the Strategy should clearly distinguish the EU from those international actors who are focused exclusively on stability and the status quo in the region and accordingly should promote policies that strengthen political, social and economic change.


Graphene has exceptional electronic transport and photonic properties [1, 2] and as a result this 'wonder material' is steadily finding wide-ranging applications in optoelectronic technologies. Although in the short time since its discovery much of the focus has been on its use for electrical devices, more recently a number of graphene-based photonic devices have been demonstrated, including graphene polarizers and electro-absorption based modulators [2, 3]. In this paper, we present a high-performance low-loss broadband fibre polarizer. Previous iterations of such a device require that the optical fibre is polished into the core to provide the required strength of interaction between the graphene sheet and the propagating electromagnetic field, see Fig. 1a [3]. The penalty for this extent of polishing is large device loss (20 dB, at 1550 nm [3]), which has prevented this type of polarizer from becoming a major disruptive technology. With this in mind, we present the first steps towards producing a low-loss in-fibre graphene based polarizer by polishing the fibre close to, but not into, the core. Additional cladding between the fibre core and the graphene sheet reduces the propagation losses but, unfortunately, also decreases the polarizer's extinction ratio. To address this, we spin coat a polyvinyl butyral (PVB) over-layer onto the graphene which as well as acting as a protective layer, also serves to increase its interaction with the electromagnetic field. A cross-section of the device is shown in Fig. 1b.


Ultra‐lightweight solar cells have attracted enormous attention due to their ultra‐conformability, flexibility, and compatibility with applications including electronic skin or miniaturized electronics for biological applications. With the latest advancements in printing technologies, printing ultrathin electronics is becoming now a reality. This work offers an easy path to fabricate indium tin oxide (ITO)‐free ultra‐lightweight organic solar cells through inkjet‐printing while preserving high efficiencies. A method consisting of the modification of a poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) ink with a methoxysilane‐based cross‐linker (3‐glycidyloxypropyl)trimethoxysilane (GOPS)) is presented to chemically modify the structure of the electrode layer. Combined with plasma and solvent post‐treatments, this approach prevents shunts and ensures precise patterning of solar cells. By using poly(3‐hexylthiophene) along rhodanine‐benzothiadiazole‐coupled indacenodithiophene (P3HT:O‐IDTBR), the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the fully printed solar cells is boosted up to 4.73% and fill factors approaching 65%. All inkjet‐printed ultrathin solar cells on a 1.7 µm thick biocompatible parylene substrate are fabricated with PCE reaching up to 3.6% and high power‐per‐weight values of 6.3 W g−1. After encapsulation, the cells retain their performance after being exposed for 6 h to aqueous environments such as water, seawater, or phosphate buffered saline, paving the way for their integration in more complex circuits for biological systems.


INTRODUCTION: It is generally agreed that the best treatment after diagnosis of occupational asthma (OA) is avoidance of exposure to the causal agent. However, recent meta-analyses have raised doubts about this conclusion. The aim of the present study is to assess the evolution of OA depending on whether or not the patient avoids exposure.

METHODS: Multicentre, cross-sectional clinical follow-up study in patients diagnosed with OA using a specific inhalation challenge (SIC) between January 2000 and December 2009. Patients with this diagnosis received the following examinations on the same day: clinical interview, physical examination, forced spirometry, methacholine test and determination of total IgE and IgE specific to the causal agent. CIinical improvement, deterioration or no change were defined according to the changes seen in the GINA severity scale at the time of diagnosis.

RESULTS: Of the 73 patients finally included, 55 had totally ended exposure and 18 continued. The mean time elapsed since diagnosis was 48 months (range: 12 – 123). Forty-two per cent of patients who avoided exposure improved clinically, 38% presented no change, and 14% deteriorated. In the patients who did not avoid exposure improvement was recorded in 22%, deterioration in 17% and no change in 61%. No significant differences in methacholine PC20 or FEV1 were detected between both groups.

CONCLUSIONS: Avoiding exposure to the causal agent in patients with OA does not seem to improve prognosis in this disease.

Project partially funded by Ciber de Enfermedades Respiratorias (CibeRes).


The Cahn--Hilliard equation provides a simple and fast tool for binary image inpainting. By now, two generalizations to gray value images exist: bitwise binary inpainting and TV-H$^{-1}$ inpainting. This paper outlines a model based on the vector-valued Cahn--Hilliard equation. Additionally, we generalize our approach to a fractional-in-space version. Fourier spectral methods provide efficient solvers since they yield a fully diagonal scheme. Furthermore, their application to three spatial dimensions is straightforward. Numerical examples show the superiority of the proposed fractional Cahn--Hilliard inpainting approach over its nonfractional version. It improves the peak signal-to-noise ratio and structural similarity index. Likewise, the experiments confirm that the proposed model competes with previous inpainting methods, such as the total variation inpainting approach and its fourth-order variant.


Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has affected health globally in a manner that this generation has never witnessed. The initial measures to mitigate these effects were focused on health interventions and remedies; rightly so. These had included public health measures including the lockdown, the test-and-contact-tracing and the social or physical distancing measures among others. Measures were also taken by different countries and states to mitigate the economic fallout and these had included palliatives for the people. Countries had borrowed and adjusted their fiscal policies and priorities to cater for the COVID-19 effects. Then, the question arises: what have we done with education in Africa? Education is arguably the most important way to address how COVID-19 would affect our future and the life of the generation whose education has been significantly impacted by COVID-19. This is the reason for this article. The article addresses how best to virtualise the school through strategic adaptations and changes. It addresses key factors including infrastructure, pedagogy, resources, assessment, quality assurance, student support system, technology, culture and best practices.


The well-documented presence of texture bias in modern convolutional neural networks has led to a plethora of algorithms that promote an emphasis on shape cues, often to support generalization to new domains. Yet, common datasets, benchmarks and general model selection strategies are missing, and there is no agreed, rigorous evaluation protocol. In this paper, we investigate difficulties and limitations when training networks with reduced texture bias. In particular, we also show that proper evaluation and meaningful comparisons between methods are not trivial. We introduce BiasBed, a testbed for texture- and style-biased training, including multiple datasets and a range of existing algorithms. It comes with an extensive evaluation protocol that includes rigorous hypothesis testing to gauge the significance of the results, despite the considerable training instability of some style bias methods. Our extensive experiments, shed new light on the need for careful, statistically founded evaluation protocols for style bias (and beyond). E.g., we find that some algorithms proposed in the literature do not significantly mitigate the impact of style bias at all. With the release of BiasBed, we hope to foster a common understanding of consistent and meaningful comparisons, and consequently faster progress towards learning methods free of texture bias. Code is available at https://github.com/D1noFuzi/BiasBed


Background Small airways dysfunction (SAD) is well-recognized in asthma, yet its role in severity and control is unclear. Methods This multinational observational study investigated participants without and with asthma (GINA 1-5). They underwent spirometry, body plethysmography, impulse oscillometry (IOS), Multiple Breath Nitrogen Washout (MBNW), computed tomography (CT) and questionnaires. Structural equation modeling in asthma, applied to the physiological and CT parameters, defined a clinical-SAD and CT-SAD score. Asthma subjects were classified in SAD groups using model-based clustering. Asthma severity, control and health care utilization in the past year were compared with the SAD scores and SAD groups. Findings We investigated 773 asthma and 99 control participants (median [interquartiles] age 46 [34, 54] and 41 [29, 52] years, 58% and 57% females, respectively). All physiologic measures contributed to the clinical SAD model; SAD prevalence was dependent on the measure used. IOS and spirometry contributed most to the Clinical-SAD score and SAD Groups. Clinical-SAD Group1 (n=452) had comparable MBNW Sacin values with controls. Group2 (n=312) had more abnormal physiologic SAD measures than Group1, particularly IOS and spirometry, and more severe asthma (asthma control, treatments, exacerbations, quality of life). Clinical-SAD scores were higher in Group2 and related to asthma control, severity, and exacerbations. Clinical-SAD and CT-SAD scores did not significantly correlate. Interpretation SAD has multiple components, is present across all asthma severity and particularly in severe disease. The clinical classification of SAD, by the easy-to-conduct measures IOS and spirometry, is meaningful given its association with asthma severity, control, quality of life, and exacerbations.