Ubiquitous computing paradigm involves handling physical spaces having abundance of computing devices, with variety of resources, capabilities, services and policies. The physical and logical work environment created with ubiquitous computing characteristics can be termed as smart space. It will assist user in performing his tasks without bothering about intricacies of handling or configuring the devices and applications programs. Such tasks of configuring are handled unobtrusively by the smart space itself. Most of the design efforts for smart space have been centred on development of new middleware for creation of the ubiquitous environment. This paper presents an operating system based design of a software infrastructure for a campus-wide smart space. A mapping of the proposed design to a use-case scenario is also presented.


Despite many efforts from software vendors, AEC community and researchers, interoperability is still one of the main issues regarding reliable and robust transfer of information among different applications. In most cases, the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) files fail to provide proper interoperability between geometric building models (architects) and thermal simulation software (engineers). This causes time consuming interactions and manual corrections prompt to errors. This paper evaluated two approaches for an efficient and robust transfer of IFC models considering space boundary characteristics to conduct thermal energy simulation (TES). The first approach was a multi-platform process which IFC files could be used by different TES tools. The second consisted of a single-platform process in which a single CAD software with built-in energy simulation capabilities was used. The two processes were tested with a simple residential building. Results indicated that the first process still required manual corrections and its performance was influenced by the TES tool used. The second approach addressed the interoperability problems, but caused "software dependency". It was found that geometry data reflecting different levels of space boundaries significantly influenced energy simulation results, indicating that proper definition of space boundaries improved the robustness of IFC files. This showed that IFC files can be enhanced to facilitate TES. This study also showed opportunities for improvement regarding interoperability and suggested other ways to tackle this problem.


Recently, convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have shown great performance in different problems of computer vision including object detection and localisation. A novel training approach is proposed for CNNs to localise some animal species whose bodies have distinctive patterns such as leopards and zebras. To learn characteristic patterns, small patches which are taken from different body parts of animals are used to train models. To find object location, in a test image, all locations are visited in a sliding window fashion. Crops are fed into trained CNN and their classification scores are combined into a heat map. Later on, heat maps are converted to bounding box estimates for varying confidence scores. The localisation performance of the patch-based training approach is compared with Faster R-CNN – a state-of-the-art CNN-based object detection and localisation method. Experimental results reveal that the patch-based training outperforms Faster R-CNN, especially for classes with distinctive patterns.


An explicit isomorphism between the R-matrix and Drinfeld presentations of the quantum affine algebra in type A was given by Ding and Frenkel [Commun. Math. Phys. 156, 277–300 (1993)]. We show that this result can be extended to types B, C, and D and give a detailed construction for type C in this paper. In all classical types, the Gauss decomposition of the generator matrix in the R-matrix presentation yields the Drinfeld generators. To prove that the resulting map is an isomorphism, we follow the work of Frenkel and Mukhin [Sel. Math. 8, 537–635 (2002)] in type A and employ the universal R-matrix to construct the inverse map. A key role in our construction is played by a homomorphism theorem, which relates the quantum affine algebra of rank n − 1 in the R-matrix presentation with a subalgebra of the corresponding algebra of rank n of the same type.


Abstract. Desert dust is one of the most abundant ice nucleating particle types in the atmosphere. Traditionally, clay minerals were assumed to determine the ice nucleation ability of desert dust and constituted the focus of ice nucleation studies over several decades. Recently some feldspar species were identified to be ice active at much higher temperatures than clay minerals, redirecting studies to investigate the contribution of feldspar to ice nucleation on desert dust. However, so far no study has shown the atmospheric relevance of this mineral phase. For this study four dust samples were collected after airborne transport in the troposphere from the Sahara to different locations (Crete, the Peloponnese, Canary Islands, and the Sinai Peninsula). Additionally, 11 dust samples were collected from the surface from nine of the biggest deserts worldwide. The samples were used to study the ice nucleation behavior specific to different desert dusts. Furthermore, we investigated how representative surface-collected dust is for the atmosphere by comparing to the ice nucleation activity of the airborne samples. We used the IMCA-ZINC setup to form droplets on single aerosol particles which were subsequently exposed to temperatures between 233 and 250 K. Dust particles were collected in parallel on filters for offline cold-stage ice nucleation experiments at 253–263 K. To help the interpretation of the ice nucleation experiments the mineralogical composition of the dusts was investigated. We find that a higher ice nucleation activity in a given sample at 253 K can be attributed to the K-feldspar content present in this sample, whereas at temperatures between 238 and 245 K it is attributed to the sum of feldspar and quartz content present. A high clay content, in contrast, is associated with lower ice nucleation activity. This confirms the importance of feldspar above 250 K and the role of quartz and feldspars determining the ice nucleation activities at lower temperatures as found by earlier studies for monomineral dusts. The airborne samples show on average a lower ice nucleation activity than the surface-collected ones. Furthermore, we find that under certain conditions milling can lead to a decrease in the ice nucleation ability of polymineral samples due to the different hardness and cleavage of individual mineral phases causing an increase of minerals with low ice nucleation ability in the atmospherically relevant size fraction. Comparison of our data set to an existing desert dust parameterization confirms its applicability for climate models. Our results suggest that for an improved prediction of the ice nucleation ability of desert dust in the atmosphere, the modeling of emission and atmospheric transport of the feldspar and quartz mineral phases would be key, while other minerals are only of minor importance.


Background: High density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol is inversely associated to atherosclerotic cardiovascular risk. Disturbances in HDL cholesterol plasma leves are frecuent in the Chilean population, however the pathophysiological mechanisms are unknown. Aim: To evaluate the mechanisms involved in the hypo and hyper alfalipoproteinemias in Chilean subjects. Materials and Methods: Twenty three subjects with hyperalphalipoproteinemia and 12 with hypoalphalipoproteinemia, paired with control subjects (colHDL between 35 and 55 mg/dl) were studied. We measured plasma lipids, subfractions and sizing of HDL particles and enzymatic activity of cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP), lecithin: cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT), lipoprotein lipase (LPL) and hepatic lipase (LH). Results: Subjects with hyperalphalipoproteinemia showed significantly higher levels of total HDL-cholesterol (70±2 vs 44±1 mg/dl), HDL 2 (30±3 vs 5±1 mg/dl), Apo A I (175±3 vs 146±4 mg/dl), lower HL activity (23,7±0,8 vs 32,4±1,8 mmol/h/l) and HDL particles of greater size, compared to their controls. Subjects with hypoalphalipoproteinemia, showed significantly lower levels of total HDL-cholesterol (26±1 vs 48±2 mg/dl), HDL 3 (21±1 vs 40±2 mg/dl), Apo A I (107±5 vs 145±7 mg/dl), lower LCAT activity (18,6±1,9 vs 26,2±1,6 nmol/h/ml) and smaller HDL particles, compared to their controls. Conclusion: Changes in hepatic lipase and lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase activities may explain the hyper and hypo alphalipoproteinemia respectively, in Chilean subjects (Rev Med Chile 2004; 132: 421-8). (Key Words: Lecithin acyltransferasa deficiency; Lipoproteins, HDL; Lipoproteins, HDL cholesterol; Lipoproteins, VLDL cholesterol)


A visible/near-infrared spectroscopic system for high-speed on-line poultry carcass inspection was developed
and demonstrated. The inspection system, which was an area scanning system designed to measure the interactance spectra
of poultry carcasses in the visible to near-infrared regions, consisted of a fiber-optic probe, a spectrograph, a spectroscopic
charge coupled device detector, a quartz tungsten halogen light source, an industrial computer, and in-house developed software
modules. On-line trials of the visible/near-infrared chicken inspection system were conducted during a 5-day period
in a poultry processing plant in Athens, Georgia. Spectra (431 to 943 nm) of 450 wholesome and 426 unwholesome chicken
carcasses were measured. The instrument measured the spectra of veterinarian-selected carcasses on a processing line running
at speeds of 140 and 180 birds/min. Results showed this visible/near-infrared system can be used to differentiate between
wholesome and unwholesome poultry carcasses at high speeds. For the 140-bird/min line speed, the best model achieved
classification accuracies of 95% for wholesome and 92% for unwholesome birds. For the 180-bird/min line speed, the best
model achieved classification accuracies of 94% and 92% for wholesome and unwholesome birds, respectively. The system
is ready to be implemented for operation on high-speed poultry processing lines.


To gain a competitive advantage in the global market, many Chinese manufacturing firms have invested heavily in implementing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. Evidence shows, however, that ERP system use has varied significantly between firms. This study addresses such variances in performance in the Chinese manufacturing context, particularly at a plant level. The Gattiker and Goodhue model was adapted for our investigation incorporating a survey instrument. Data were collected from 59 Chinese manufacturing firms. The data collected were analysed using Structural Equation Modeling in association with the Partial Least Squares technique. The results show that the level of interdependence, differentiation between plants, time elapsed after ERP system implementation, high context communication in the Chinese culture, and personal relationships (guanxi) have significant impacts the performance of on firms that use ERP systems. The results also indicate that a better fit between ERP systems and Chinese culture will lead to a higher performance. Particularly, personal relationships (guanxi) have a positive influence on the use of ERP systems, while high context communication has a negative influence. The findings have significant implications for IS researchers and practitioners in the Chinese social context.


ABSTRACT The replication region of the lactococcal plasmid pCI2000 was subcloned and analyzed. The nucleotide sequence of one 5.6-kbEcoRI fragment which was capable of supporting replication when cloned on a replication probe vector revealed the presence of seven putative open reading frames (ORFs). One ORF exhibited significant homology to several replication proteins from plasmids considered to replicate via a theta mode. Deletion analysis showed that this ORF, designated repA, is indeed required for replication. The results also suggest that the origin of replication is located outside repA. Upstream and divergently transcribed from repA, an ORF that showed significant (48 to 64%) homology to a number of proteins that are required for faithful segregation of chromosomal or plasmid DNA of gram-negative bacteria was identified. Gene interruption and transcomplementation experiments showed that this ORF, designated parA, is required for stable inheritance of pCI2000 and is active in trans. This is the first example of such a partitioning mechanism for plasmids in gram-positive bacteria.


Rationale: The tumor microenvironment (TME) determines tumor progression and affects clinical therapy. Its basic components include cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and tumor-associated endothelial cells (TECs), both of which constitute the tumor matrix and microvascular network. The ability to simulate interactions between cells and extracellular matrix in a TME in vitro can assist the elucidation of cancer growth and evaluate the efficiency of therapies. Methods: In the present study, an in vitro 3D model of tumor tissue that mimicked in vivo cell physiological function was developed using tumor-associated stromal cells. Colorectal cancer cells, CAFs, and TECs were co-cultured on 3D-printed scaffolds so as to constitute an extracellular matrix (ECM) that allowed cell processes such as adhesion, stemness, proliferation, and vascularization to take place. Normal stromal cells were activated and reprogrammed into tumor-related stromal cells to construct a TME of tumor tissues. Results: The activated stromal cells overexpressed a variety of tumor-related markers and remodeled the ECM. Furthermore, the metabolic signals and malignant transformation of the in vitro 3D tumor tissue was substantially similar to that observed in tumors in vivo. Conclusions: The 3D tumor tissue exhibited physiological activity with high drug resistance. The model is suitable for research studies of tumor biology and the development of personalized treatments for cancer.


Agricultural producers have used futures markets to manage price risk, confident that 1) cash and futures prices move together over time, 2) cash and futures prices converge as the contract approaches expiration, and 3) funds held in margin accounts as a performance bond were secure in segregated accounts at the brokerage firm. However, recent price and basis volatility, coupled with the financial events surrounding MF Global and Peregrine may have shaken some growers' perceptions of the risks of hedging with futures and options. In order to assess the degree to which these circumstances in the futures markets have impacted the risk management strategies of agricultural producers, we surveyed the 1,015 graduates of the Texas A&M AgriLife Master Marketer program. This group represents a sample of farmers and ranchers, merchandisers, and lenders with training and experience in using futures and options for hedging. Besides collecting information on their current risk management practices, we measured respondent views on the importance of key new sources of risk. On a 1 to 7 Likert scale with 1=disagree, 7=agree, and 4=neutral, respondents indicated some agreement (4.87) that futures price volatility and margins are a serious impediment to using futures and options. Respondents were neutral (4.06) on margin account security as a serious impediment to futures and options. The questions touched a nerve with some farmers, as noted in the comments.


SOA provides a flexible framework tor better-integrated systems that meet business needs. However, the existing methods are not successful in helping business analysts to devise appropriate business services. Herein, a novel approach is presented to address service identification and thereby developing sound SOA. In contrast with conventional methodologies, we press on the criticality of exploiting the information of dynamic business behavior to develop business services


Objective: Decontamination of the operative field, tissue ablation, possibility of haemostasis and reduced pain simptomatology are a few of the benefits brought together by laser technology. All these advantages can be enlarged particularly in the second phase of implant surgery, when it was decided to create an operculum to uncover the loading fixture. Materials and Methods: Authors present two clinical cases in which the soft tissue covering the implant has been removed to create an under dimensioned operculum and subsequent positioning of the healing screw, by using two different wavelengths: Er:YAG laser and Diode laser. Results: Both laser wavelengths demonstrated high level of performance during the surgical phase. Erbium laser proved to be faster in cutting, with higher macroscopic cleaning of margins, no clinical evidence of carbonization, a very good healing process and only a light intraoperative bleeding. Diode laser permitted an excellent cutting control, a perfect haemostasis and a very good view of the operative field, but with a little bit of delay and discomfort in the healing process. Conclusions: Considering in the end the total reflection of Er:YAG laser on implant surfaces without complications linked to overheating (opposite to the Diode laser), authors prefer the use of Erbium laser for operculisation of implant fixtures during the second surgical phase in implantology. Key-words: implant, operculum, Er:YAG laser, Diode laser Received for publication: Sep. 29, 2009. Revised: Nov. 18, 2009. Private practice, Trieste, Italy Universite de Nice "Sophia Antipholis"


A lack of knowledge about the strengths of adhesively bonded metallic and organic coated sheet steel has been hindering proper application of these metallic materials for \ >r practical purpose in Australia. To address this problem, first an extensive database on the initial joint strengths were compiled. Lap shear test and Width Tapered Cantilever Beam test geometries were employed for evaluating the average stress at failure and the fracture energy of adhesive joints respectively. By observing the mechanism of failure and the data on joint strengths, reasons explaining why some adhesives formed a stronger joint than the others were determined. Extensive surface characterisation techniques by SEM, AFM and contact angle goniometer were utilised for these investigations. It was evident from these studies that a correlation existed between the joint fracture energy 'Gc' and total thermodynamic work of adhesion 'Wa 1. The acid base interaction between adhesive and adherend was found to be influencing the joint strength. 'Gc' was affected by the bulk fracture energy of the adhesive 'Ga'. It was * ,/ evident that a joint strength model could be developed on the basis of some correlation between 'Gc' and 'Wa ' and Ga'. For the establishment of the model, polished steels and unfilled adhesives were selected. A statistical software package was utilised for correlating 'Gc' with 'Wa ' and 'Ga', thereby establishing a model for predicting initial joint strengths. The durability of adhesive joints on exposure to a harsh environment were observed by exposing lap shear and 'wedge test' samples to a proper environment. The mechanism of failure were also studied by unaided eye. Moisture absorption studies were also carried out using epoxy and polyurethane adhesives. It was observed that although a decrease in joint strength of epoxy bonded joints every month may be related to moisture absorption, the overall strength retention may not depend on this factor alone. For polyurethane adhesive, joint strength decay was influenced to a greater extent by the adhesion mechanisms rather than moisture absorption.


This study investigates nonparametrically the optimizing behavior of a sample of 289 Kansas farms under profit-maximizing and cost-minimizing hypotheses. The results do not support strict adherence to either optimization hypothesis. However, evidence against cost-minimizing behavior seems to be far less substantial than that against profit-maximizing behavior.


Important characteristics of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) include airway and vascular remodeling, the molecular mechanisms of which are poorly understood. We assessed the role of fibroblast growth factors (FGF) in pulmonary vascular remodeling by examining the expression pattern of FGF-1, FGF-2, and the FGF receptor (FGFR-1) in peripheral area of lung tissues from patients with COPD (FEV(1) < or = 75%; n = 15) and without COPD (FEV(1) > or = 85%; n = 13). Immunohistochemical staining results were evaluated by digital video image analysis as well as by manual scoring. FGF-1 and FGFR-1 were detected in vascular smooth muscle (VSM), airway smooth muscle, and airway epithelial cells. FGF-2 was localized in the cytoplasm of airway epithelium and in the nuclei of airway smooth muscle, VSM, and endothelial cells. In COPD cases, an unequivocal increase in FGF-2 expression was observed in VSM (3-fold, P = 0.001) and endothelium (2-fold, P = 0.007) of small pulmonary vessels with a luminal diameter under 200 micro m. In addition, FGFR-1 levels were elevated in the intima (1.5-fold, P = 0.05). VSM cells of large (> 200 micro m) pulmonary vessels showed increased staining for FGF-1 (1.6-fold, P < 0.03) and FGFR-1 (1.4-fold, P < 0.04) in COPD. Pulmonary vascular remodeling, assessed as the ratio of alpha-smooth muscle actin staining and vascular wall area with the lumen diameter, was increased in large vessels of patients with COPD (P = 0.007) and was inversely correlated with FEV(1) values (P < 0.007). Our results suggest an autocrine role of the FGF-FGFR-1 system in the pathogenesis of COPD-associated vascular remodeling.


In the last two decades the life expectancy of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) has improved enormously: it is now estimated at around 30 years, but some patients reach an older age and one third of all patients with CF currently reach adulthood. Once considered a pediatric disease, CF now is a disease of adults too. As a consequence, internists must be highly knowledgeable about all the clinical patterns of this multifarious disease, must be better qualified to recognize its complications and must be highly trained to treat them. This review is dedicated to internists and general practitioners and not to the specialists in the research and clinical field of CF, until now only pediatricians; it briefly summarizes the medical history of CF and the current knowledge at the molecular, genetic and clinical levels about this disease; it reports up-to-date epidemiological data and it illustrates the clinical patterns which are more frequently encountered in adult patients. The true target of this review is to stimulate a greater interest and participation in this clinical field by adult caregivers, as a development of a medical care system for adults with CF is now crucial. Therefore, a growing number of internists will be increasingly involved in providing care for patients with this disorder.


The paper presents the data of an investigation of the genetic polymorphism of the pol gene encoding viral integrase (IN) in a HIV subtype A infected population in the Lipetsk Region. The investigators analyzed 32 virus subtype A samples obtained in 2002-2007. Polymorphism at the codons associated with IN resistance to chemicals was observed in 7 virus variants. The found substitutions had a pattern of genetic polymorphism and were unassociated with resistance in 6 patients with the test subtype A population. At the same time, minor RAL resistance mutation was revealed in 1 (3.1%) virus variant while the similar mutations in the subtype G population were about 10%.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Observational studies have suggested a link between fibromuscular dysplasia and spontaneous cervical artery dissection (sCeAD). However, whether patients with coexistence of the two conditions have distinctive clinical characteristics has not been extensively investigated.

METHODS
In a cohort of consecutive patients with first-ever sCeAD, enrolled in the setting of the multicenter IPSYS CeAD study (Italian Project on Stroke in Young Adults Cervical Artery Dissection) between January 2000 and June 2019, we compared demographic and clinical characteristics, risk factor profile, vascular pathology, and midterm outcome of patients with coexistent cerebrovascular fibromuscular dysplasia (cFMD; cFMD+) with those of patients without cFMD (cFMD-).

RESULTS
A total of 1283 sCeAD patients (mean age, 47.8±11.4 years; women, 545 [42.5%]) qualified for the analysis, of whom 103 (8.0%) were diagnosed with cFMD+. In multivariable analysis, history of migraine (odds ratio, 1.78 [95% CI, 1.13-2.79]), the presence of intracranial aneurysms (odds ratio, 8.71 [95% CI, 4.06-18.68]), and the occurrence of minor traumas before the event (odds ratio, 0.48 [95% CI, 0.26-0.89]) were associated with cFMD. After a median follow-up of 34.0 months (25th to 75th percentile, 60.0), 39 (3.3%) patients had recurrent sCeAD events. cFMD+ and history of migraine predicted independently the risk of recurrent sCeAD (hazard ratio, 3.40 [95% CI, 1.58-7.31] and 2.07 [95% CI, 1.06-4.03], respectively) in multivariable Cox proportional hazards analysis.

CONCLUSIONS
Risk factor profile of sCeAD patients with cFMD differs from that of patients without cFMD. cFMD and migraine are independent predictors of midterm risk of sCeAD recurrence.


It is well-known that entrainment of particles into the froth is a key factor in the selectivity and performance of the flotation process, especially for fine particle recovery. Since flotation is a continuous process, in this work, the effects of operating parameters on the entrainment of ash materials in a sample coal flotation is investigated from a time-sequence viewpoint. The effects of the pulp solid content, collector concentration, frother concentration, impeller speed, and particle size on the entrainment factor and water recovery at different flotation times are evaluated using a D-optimal response surface experimental design. The experimental work carried out shows that some parameters, especially particle size and pulp density, can yield completely different responses from those reported in the literature. The observed unusual behaviours can be attributed to the entrainment mechanisms and verified by the experimental results. It is also shown that the dominant entrainment mechanism can be varied by time. In addition, the statistical analyses of the experimental design show that the effects of some parameters change during time from the initial to the final stages of the flotation process. The results obtained indicate that the particle size and pulp density are the most important parameters influencing the entrainment rate and water recovery. The effects of the collector and frother concentrations are less on the entrainment and water recovery. In addition, the interaction between the solid percentage and particle size is the only significant mixed effect.


This article reports on the first study to investigate interparent agreement when the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is used to assess school-aged children. It is also the first study conducted in China on agreement between parents reporting on their child. Both parents of 380 girls and 320 boys completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Chinese version). Because reliabilities were poor, the Conduct Problems and Hyperactivity/Inattention subscales were merged to form an Externalizing Problems subscale, and the Peer Problems subscale as an independent variable was omitted from analyses. Consistent with past research, moderate to strong correlations were found between mother and father reports for emotional and behavioral problems, although interparent agreement was better for externalizing problems than internalizing problems for both girls and boys. Mothers reported significantly higher scores than fathers for prosocial behaviors for their sons. Findings suggest that, in general, one parent's report will be similar to the other's when the SDQ is used in the form adapted for this study. More work on the psychometric properties of the SDQ is needed in China.


The potential use of an Al-9Si-1Cu alloy (W328 alloy) as a replacement for W319 alloy in engine blocks was investigated.. The ambient mechanical properties (tensile, hardness and fatigue) of sand and permanent mould cast test bars along with bars machined from a sand cast automotive component were studied. The tensile properties were evaluated in as-cast and T6 heat-treated conditions. The effects of Fe and Mn on properties were also investigated. The castings in W328 alloy exhibit lower porosity than W319 alloy, which is attributed to the smaller solidification range and feeding distance and larger volume fraction of the eutectic phase. Higher iron levels increased the level of intermetallics and reduced properties. The addition of Mn did not offset the effect of higher iron levels. The W328 alloy offers some advantages over the 319 alloy and is a potential candidate for production of automotive components such as engine blocks and cylinder heads.


Background and Aim: Adolescence is associated with physical and emotional changes and certain tensions which coping with them necessitates the use of cognitive and behavioral strategies called coping styles. Since adolescence, peer attachment is developed. Secure attachment produces positive outcomes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between adolescents' peer attachment and their coping styles. Methods: This correlational study was conducted in Birjand, Iran, on 302 high school students who had been recruited through stratified random sampling. The 24-item Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA) and the Lazarus Adolescents Coping Scale (ACS) were used for data gathering. The attachment inventory consists of 24 items in three domains of trust, quality of communication, and extent of anger and alienation. The ACS assesses 18 coping strategies in three coping styles. The items of this scale are scored on a 5-point scale. After entering into the SPSS software (v. 16.0), the data were analyzed by conducting the analysis of variance (ANOVA), the multiple regression analysis, and Tukey post hoc, Pearson correlation coefficient, the independent-samples t test, and the chi-square tests at a significance level of 0.05. Results: In total, 199 male (65.9%) and 103 female (34.1%) students participated in this study whose mean age was 16.55 ± 1.04 years. Female students' mean score of the emotion-focused and the avoidance coping styles were significantly higher than their male counterparts. Besides, the results of the Tukey post hoc test illustrated that the fourth-year students' mean score of the anger domain of the attachment inventory was significantly higher than the second-year students (P = 0.01). However, the mean score of peer attachment was not significantly correlated with the educational and the employment status of the participating students' parents. There was a significant difference between the male and the female students regarding the mean scores of the trust and the communication domains of attachment. Regression analysis also revealed that the domains of peer attachment were significant predictors of the adolescents' coping styles. Conclusion: Peer attachment predicts coping styles. The mean score of the problem-focused coping style was significantly higher than the other styles. Female students' mean score of the emotion-based and the avoidance coping styles was significantly higher than the male ones, denoting the great necessity for developing and implementing educational programs. Peers are important sources of emotional support for helping adolescents assess their social environments and establish new relationships. Therefore, parental supervision on adolescents' peer relationships is essential.


Abstract : This work illustrates the utility and improved performance of nitrogen-modified catalyst supports for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) applications. A unique two-step vapor-phase synthesis procedure is used to achieve the N-modification and Pt-Ru decoration of high surface-area carbon powders relevant to integration as electrocatalysts in fuel cell membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs). First, nitrogen surface moieties are incorporated into a commercial high surface area carbon support via a N-ion implantation technique, followed by Pt-Ru nanoparticle deposition via magnetron sputtering. The nitrogen-ion implantation of high surface area carbon supports yields superior Pt-Ru catalyst particle stability and performance as compared to industry standards. Specifically, results indicate a higher retention of metal catalyst surface area and electrochemical activity after accelerated electrochemical degradation testing. Further, characterization of catalyst materials before, during and after the electrochemical cycling provides insight into the catalyst particle coarsening and/or catalyst surface area loss mechanisms that dominate this fuel cell catalyst system.


A re-examination of communication theory in this article reveals that coding / decoding models of understanding of language widespread in missiological literature have been misleading. Because they always meet and are affected by contexts, the author suggests that words are more helpfully understood as having 'impacts' than 'meanings'. This is illustrated by comparison with 'touching' someone's body. As 'meaning' is not found in the hand that touches, but in the meeting of a hand with a part of a body (a handshake as against a thump or a tickle for example) such is the impact of words on the mind. The problems of the use of English in East Africa are explored from colonial times up to today. Leaving power in English was an embarrassment to Britain. This has had a major impact on East African society. The prominence of English is not based on its indigenous usefulness, says this author. He presents clear arguments that demonstrate this. Rather, use of English internally to East Africa can encourage incompetence, and certainly produces dependence. English flourishes by drawing on powers outside of the region. The problems in the current linguistic situation in East Africa are illustrated using examples that draw on the discipline of pragmatics. Because English is not working in people's long-term interests, and this is shown giving examples especially from Kenya, missionaries (especially native-English speakers) from outside of the region are strongly encouraged to minister using local languages, as well as by drawing on local resources.


The net effect of elevated [CO2] and temperature on photosynthetic acclimation and plant productivity is poorly resolved. We assessed the effects of canopy warming and fully open air [CO2] enrichment on (1) the acclimation of two biochemical parameters that frequently limit photosynthesis (A), the maximum carboxylation capacity of Rubisco (Vc,max) and the maximum potential linear electron flux through photosystem II (Jmax), (2) the associated responses of leaf structural and chemical properties related to A, as well as (3) the stomatal limitation (l) imposed on A, for soybean over two growing seasons in a conventionally managed agricultural field in Illinois, USA. Acclimation to elevated [CO2] was consistent over two growing seasons with respect to Vc,max and Jmax. However, elevated temperature significantly decreased Jmax contributing to lower photosynthetic stimulation by elevated CO2. Large seasonal differences in precipitation altered soil moisture availability modulating the complex effects of elevated temperature and CO2 on biochemical and structural properties related to A. Elevated temperature also reduced the benefit of elevated [CO2] by eliminating decreases in stomatal limitation at elevated [CO2]. These results highlight the critical importance of considering multiple environmental factors (i.e. temperature, moisture, [CO2]) when trying to predict plant productivity in the context of climate change. © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.


This paper introduces the use of psychobiosocial maps as a tool to improve staff communications in milieu therapy and in psychiatric education. A psychobiosocial map is a dynamic formulation presented in graphic format showing the interrelationship of factors that originate, intensify or decrease pathological and health behavior. A guideline for constructing this tool is suggested and a case example is given demonstrating its application in clinical psychiatry.


The increasing incidence of microbial resistance and newly emerging pathogens have become a serious challenge for public health. More and more efforts have been directed to the development of new antimicrobial agents with distinct mechanisms from the well-known classes of clinical drugs. The extensive clinical utilization of azole-based medicinal drugs has evoked numerous attentions, and their researches and developments have been a quite rapid developing and active highlight topic with an infinite space. Consideration of our researches on azole compounds and other literature in recent three years, this review scientifically reviewed the new progress of azole derivatives as antibacterial, antifungal, antitubercular and antiviral agents, including mono-nitrogen azoles (oxazoles, thiazoles and carbazoles), bis-nitrogen azoles (imidazoles, pyrazoles and benzimidazoles) and tri-nitrogen azoles (triazoles and benzotriazoles) as well as tetrazole derivatives. It was hoped that this review would be helpful for the design and development of highly efficient azole derivatives with high bioactivity and low toxicity.


Web 2.0 has ubiquitously penetrated academia. The dissemination of online information services in higher education has led to substantial changes in faculty teaching methods as well as the learning and study behavior of students. For example, the use of online services, such as Google and Wikipedia, has become mandatory not only during teaching and learning activities but also during leisure time for students and faculty. At the same time, traditional information media such as textbooks and printed handouts still form the basic pillars of teaching and learning. This article explains the preliminary results of a survey about media usage in teaching and learning conducted with Western University faculty and students, highlighting trends for the usage of new and traditional media in higher education. Furthermore, the article intends to participate in the ongoing discussion of practices and policies that purport to advance Web 2.0 has ubiquitously penetrated academia. The dissemination of online information services in higher education has led to substantial changes in faculty teaching methods as well as the learning and study behavior of students. For example, the use of online services, such as Google and Wikipedia, has become mandatory not only during teaching and learning activities but also during leisure time for students and faculty. At the same time, traditional information media such as textbooks and printed handouts still form the basic pillars of teaching and learning. This article explains the preliminary results of a survey about media usage in teaching and learning conducted with Western University faculty and students, highlighting trends for the usage of new and traditional media in higher education. Furthermore, the article intends to participate in the ongoing discussion of practices and policies that purport to advance the effective use of media in teaching and learning.


Geosynthetic are construction materials with several applications in geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering. They are usually capable of providing more practical and economical solutions than traditional construction materials. The extensive use of the latter for centuries has reduced the availability or increased the cost of such materials for constructions and developments in many regions. In addition, restrictive environmental regulations have limited or prohibited the exploitation and use of some traditional construction materials. In such situations geosynthetics can provide cost-effective and environmentally friendly solutions for geotechnical problems. Their use can be even more beneficial to the environment when associated with or to enable the use of alternative or waste materials in engineering works. Among such possibilities there are the uses of wasted tires, plastics and recycled construction and demolition residues with geosynthetics. This paper presents and discusses the use of geosynthetics associated with non-conventional construction materials in different geotechnical and geoenvironmental applications. Advantages and limitations of such combinations are discussed. The development and application of alternative low-cost geosynthetic products are also addressed.


Understanding and managing information contained within large, complex interrelated documents in Aerospace Projects is problematic. Such documents contain vital information regarding business and manufacturing processes. However, some of this information may be incomplete or inconsistent which can have detrimental impacts upon large-scale Aerospace Projects in terms of time and cost. To address such issues this research proposes an argumentation based approach to handle design change management, in which large amounts of information need be effectively and efficiently processed. A use case based within the Aerospace domain has been developed. Furthermore, the areas of argumentation mining, computational semantics and reasoning with uncertainty are explored. The project aims to illustrate the possibility of reducing cognitive and duration effort people are required to exert in order to understand, navigate, search, compare, update, and deliberate on large, complex interrelated documents.


We use Bureau of Justice Statistics data to estimate that, in 2008, the United States had between 12 and 14 million ex-offenders of working age. Because a prison record or felony conviction greatly lowers ex-offenders' prospects in the labor market, we estimate that this large population lowered the total male employment rate that year by 1.5 to 1.7 percentage points. In GDP terms, these reductions in employment cost the U.S. economy between $57 and $65 billion in lost output.


The article presentment that the psychological state of a demobilized soldiers can had a negative affects on all family members. In addition, the military profession form a specific family relationships and personal traits of parents, which have negatively affect to the child's ability to cope with various stresses. For the reasons stated above, it is advisable to consider the children of military servants as a group that needs a special educational environment. The results of scientific research on the psychological problems of children from families of military servants are summarized and these problems are considered in the aspect of educational difficulties. The paper presents the results of a study of typical PTSD symptoms among children of soldiers, which are manifest in the following forms: 1) hyperarousal manifests itself: in relationships, as the form anxiety to lose contact with significant person and attachment with him, in violations of the cognitive sphere and self-regulation of negative states; 2) the symptoms of avoidance are seen in: activation of the mechanism of psychological defense by the type of "repression", a decrease of social activity and withdrawal from social contact, the disappearance of interest in things that were previously important; 3) symptoms of intrusion manifest in the form of obsessive memories and repetitive negative experiences those are suddenly and inadequately beginning appear in the social environment. The article outlines the main ways to optimize the educational environment for children of military servants with the educational problems that were consideration, which are: organization of psychoeducational events for teachers, which are dedicated to disclosing the specifics of this category of children and the main directions, strategies, ways of solving psychological and pedagogical problems that arise in the educational environment; by introducing special educational and methodological modules during the preparation of specialists for teaching, upbringing and psychological professional work with this category of children; preventive psychological interventions aimed at reducing the risk of distress, psychotrauma and PTSR development in this category of children; creation of proposition of psychological rehabilitation, psychocorrection of children who need such help. Keywords: educational environment, a person with special educational needs, educational difficulties, symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, optimization of the educational environment.


Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) comprises diseases that are characterized by chronic or relapsing inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is an extraintestinal manifestation in IBD. Immunoreactivity against an autoantigen that is expressed both in the gastrointestinal tract and the biliary tract could be the link between these diseases. A possible source of such an antigen is goblet cells. Immunostainings of normal human tissues using IBD patient sera showed goblet cell immunoreactivity against goblet cells in all parts of the gastrointestinal tract. The most frequent immunostaining was found against goblet cells in the appendix against which 84% (42/50) of IBD patients compared to 8% (4/50) of healthy blood donors showed immunoreactivity. To identify the corresponding antigen we used three different approaches, investigation of immunoreactivity to different candidate proteins compared to IBD sera, immunoscreening of an appendiceal cDNA library, and immunoprecipitation of protein lysates from mucin producing cells followed by SDS-PAGE and 2D gel electrophoresis. These approaches led to the identification of several candidate autoantigens of which complement C3 is the most promising. A novel staining pattern with strong immunoreactivity to granules and the apical membrane of biliary epithelial cells was identified with 35% (12/34) of PSC sera compared to none of healthy controls (n=28). Screening of a cDNA library from normal human choledochus identified PDZ domain containing 1 (Pdzk1) and Glutathion S transferase theta 1 (GSTT1) as potential candidates. Pdzk1 is an interesting candidate which is expressed in the intestinal tract and bile ducts. GSTT1 antibodies were not specific for PSC and are thought to develop as an alloimmune response in patients with the GSTT1-null genotype. In conclusion, we have identified specific immunoreactivity to goblet cells and biliary epithelial cells using sera from patients with IBD and PSC respectively. We have also identified several potential autoantigens.


V 2052 Oph is a βCep star with v sin i ∼ 60 km s−1. The behavior of its stellar wind was studied in the ultraviolet wavelength region with the IUE satellite. It revealed periodic variations in the equivalent widths (EW) of the resonance lines of wind-sensitive ions with a period of 3.638833 d, which is identified as the rotational period. These variations are typical of magnetic stars. Therefore time-resolved circular spectropolarimetric observations were obtained with the Musicos échelle spectropolarimeter at the 2-m Télescope Bernard Lyot (TBL) to search for a magnetic field in the star. Stokes V patterns were observed, the inclination and magnetic angles were derived and a value was determined for the polar magnetic field (250 ± 190 G) using an oblique rotator dipole model. The spectroscopic information was used to search for periodicity in line-profile variations (lpv), radial velocity and minimum intensity curves. Multiperiodicity was found, corresponding to radial ( f1 = 7.15 c d−1) and non-radial ( f2 = 6.82 c d−1, l = 3 or 4) pulsation modes. The rotation period is also detected in rotationally modulated observables because of the magnetic poles passing through the observer's line of sight. We determined the stellar parameters of the star, which was found to be chemically peculiar, in particular He-enriched. This makes V 2052 Oph the first magnetic He-strong early B star with known pulsational properties.


Testing of biometric systems requires the consideration of aspects beyond technical and statistical parameters. Especially for testing biometric techniques based on behavior, human factors like intention and forgery strength need to be considered. In this paper, a test tool to support skilled forgeries by test subjects is presented for handwriting verification systems. The software tool has been implemented on two computer platforms and is based on a three level forgery quality model. First experimental results are presented, which indicate that by applying the presented system in attack tests, forgeries of gradual quality can be obtained from test persons.


AIM
To explore communication research in nursing by investigating the theoretical approaches, methods, content and perspectives in research on real-time registered nurse (RN)-patient communication.

DESIGN
An integrative review of real-time communication between RNs and patients.

DATA SOURCES
Empirical research papers were searched in PubMed, CINAHL Plus and Medline. The results from the database searches were supplemented with results from manual searches in reference lists.

REVIEW METHODS
A total of 1369 articles published between January 1996 and December 2021 were screened, which resulted in the inclusion of 52 articles.

RESULTS
The integration of various theories, such as nursing or communication theories, is weak in most of the included studies. RN-patient communication appears to influence relationship building. Even when nurses strive to meet patients' needs, they often focus primarily on nursing routines and physical care. The topic of the communication varies depending on the situation and different communication styles are used. When a patient-centred approach is adopted, the interpersonal communication becomes quite symmetrical, with complementary roles of nurses and patients. Within a more asymmetric communication context, nurses dominate communication, choose topics and function as instructors. How the nurses communicated subsequently influenced the patients' communication styles and strategies.

CONCLUSION
Communication is multifaceted, contains different strategies and is important for building trust and facilitating patient-centred care. The importance of RNs' communication for interaction and relationship-building seems to be well established within research, but few studies focused on patients' communication with RNs.

IMPACT
This integrative review gives an overview of the width and depth of observational studies on RN-patient communication research. The variety of studies indicates that this area is a less well-grounded field of research. Future research is warranted to support nurses in their communication, especially regarding the exploration of patients' communication and desired communication skills in nurse-patient interactions.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION
No patient or public contribution was included in this integrative review.


Several end-to-end deep learning approaches have been recently presented which extract either audio or visual features from the input images or audio signals and perform speech recognition. However, research on end-to-end audiovisual models is very limited. In this work, we present an end-to-end audiovisual model based on residual networks and Bidirectional Gated Recurrent Units (BGRUs). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first audiovisual fusion model which simultaneously learns to extract features directly from the image pixels and audio waveforms and performs within-context word recognition on a large publicly available dataset (LRW). The model consists of two streams, one for each modality, which extract features directly from mouth regions and raw waveforms. The temporal dynamics in each stream/modality are modeled by a 2-layer BGRU and the fusion of multiple streams/modalities takes place via another 2-layer BGRU. A slight improvement in the classification rate over an end-to-end audio-only and MFCC-based model is reported in clean audio conditions and low levels of noise. In presence of high levels of noise, the end-to-end audiovisual model significantly outperforms both audio-only models.


Schizophrenia and other psychoses are categorical psychiatric diagnoses corresponding to frequent and heterogeneous disorders. Their physiopathology still remains largely unknown despite numerous recent advances. In particular, the last decade has identified different types of genetic variants, thanks to emergence of high-throughput methods. These methods allow both the identification of rare variants with a large effect such as punctual mutations or copy-number variants and the identification of frequent variants with a limited effect such as polymorphisms. Many impacted genes have been identified showing a very high genetic heterogeneity of psychoses. These genes are overrepresented in synaptic and neurotransmission pathways. Only a small fraction of psychoses could be easily explained by genetics but this screening in clinical practice is important as it can lead to therapeutic challenge or genetic counselling. Nowadays, it is clear that the pathophysiology of the psychoses can only be understood by an integrative approach taking into account the interaction between genes and environment. This interaction could be mediated by the epigenome defined as the modification of gene expression without changes in DNA sequence. Epigenome is stable but could be modified by environmental factors. Several epigenetic mechanisms have been studied in psychosis, in particular the DNA methylation, the modification of histones and the microRNA. All of these mechanisms are under regulation by genetic factors and variants in these epigenetic-involved genes and cofactors have been also associated with schizophrenia. Thus, pathophysiology of psychosis is complex and morestudiesare needed before definitive conclusions. Altogether, the recent advances in the genetics and epigenetics of psychosis are promising and could open the way to a recategorization of these disorders as well as the identification of new therapeutic targets.


Connection Survival using Position-Based Routing in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Abedalmotaleb Zadin
Concordia University, 2015

Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) have witnessed a tremendous growth in the recent
years thanks to technological advancements and energy saving techniques that have
made possible the creation of autonomous mobile communicating systems. Still,
MANETs face many challenges in terms of stability, power consumption and quality
of service. Typically, stability is assured through the use of reliable communication
channels protected by failure recovery protocols.

In this thesis, we examine the stability problem by the elaboration of new position based
routing algorithms that maintain stable connections between nodes in MANETs.
The positions of the nodes are updated by the regular beacon broadcasts. Specifically,
we have extended the backup path mechanism used by Yang et al.'s 2011 Greedy-
Based stable multi-path Routing protocol (GBR), that have been recently used in
MANETs. In terms of stability alone, our algorithms have explored using more
general backup paths; re-establishing broken paths from the last reachable node;
or using a conservative range for neighbor next-hop selection. The latter protocol
(GBR-CNR), using a Conservative Neighborhood Range (CNR), is the most efficient
in simulations.

To be able to accommodate energy constraints typical in MANETs, we study
energy efficient variations of these stable position-based routing algorithms. We study
the use of Dynamic Transmission Ranges (DTR) or energy-aware neighbor next-hop
selection, such as the LEARN algorithm, to assure energy efficiency while preserving
connection stability. Out of all the algorithms considered, the combination of CNR
and DTR, GBR-CNR-DTR, outperforms the rest in simulation.

Concerning the Quality of Service (QoS), we consider variations of GBR-CNR
that improve QoS through the reduction of interference that affect the quality of
communications. We develop stable communication protocols that mitigate interference
between mobile nodes by minimizing the number of corrupted packets through
the use of different techniques such as defining new methods to choose the hereafter
hop in a communication process.

Overall, this thesis presents several new stable position-based routing algorithms
that improve energy consumption and QoS in MANETs. Several of the introduced
algorithms are shown to have better capabilities than previously published algorithms
as demonstrated in the simulation results.


We have thoroughly studied and modelled many important aspects for the realization of gas-light interactions in suspended-core fibres. The fraction of the optical field propagating in holes could be calculated from the fibre geometry to predict the total absorption for a given molecular absorption line and fibre length. In addition, the gas diffusion into the fibre holes could be modelled to precisely anticipate the filling time for a given fibre geometry and length. This was experimentally validated by preparing several samples of suspended-core fibres showing various lengths. These samples were filled with acetylene at low pressure (< 50 mbar) and were hermetically and permanently sealed by fusion splicing each fibre end to a plain single-mode silica fibre. The adequacy between the modelling and the experimental results turned out to be excellent. Several physical parameters essential for the fibre characterization could be extracted from a set of measurements, sketching a specific metrological approach dedicated to this type of fibre. Finally, applications and advanced experiments that can be specifically carried out using these fibres are discussed.


The current paper presents a consolidated view on empirical and virtual realities related to photonics of graphene quantum dots (GQDs). Empirically, the term is related to liquid and/or solidified dispersions of stacked nanosize framed graphene sheets/molecules, formed in due course of the circumference polyderivatization thus retaining sp electron configuration of carbon atoms in basal plane. Predominantly, the framed molecules are presented by reduced graphene oxides (rGOs), largely varied by the framing chemical composition, size and shape. Placed in different surrounding, the molecules tend to form fractal structures thus still more strengthening inhomogeneity of the final GQDs. This size-content-shape-fractal inhomogeneity is the main factor governing the peculiarity of empirical spectral properties of GQDs. Virtually, GQDs photonics is attributed to individual framed molecules leaving the fractal inhomogeneity aside while focusing on chemical content only. However, a new important factor is met on the way that is related to open-shell character of electronic systems of framed graphene molecules. The feature is discussed in the paper by analyzing computed absorption spectra of a set of model molecules involving both framed sp graphene and 'bulk' sp graphene molecules, the latter resulted from the chemical modification occurred not only at the bare sheet circumference but at its basal plane as well. UHF ground states and ZINDO/S excited states of the molecules were analyzed. The UHF-ZINDO/S combination is well coherent in the case of 'bulk' closed-shell molecules for which UHF and RHF ground state results are identical. In the case of open-shell molecules, the incoherence of the UHF and ZINDO/S approaches is revealed in a considerable decreasing of the HOMO-LUMO energy gap provided by the restricted character of ZINDO/S formalism. The feature leads to drastic unrealistic red shift of absorption spectra, strongly contradicting experimental reality relevant to GQDs. Since GQDs photonics is a largely extending area, the development of feasible computational tools to describe excited states of large openshell molecules is highly requested.


In his work on a Welsh border village, Ronald Frankenberg showed how cultural performances, from football to carnival, conferred agency on local actors and framed local conflicts. The present article extends these themes. It responds to invocations of 'community cohesion' by politicians and policy makers, decrying the failure of communal leadership following riots by young South Asians in northern British towns. Against their critique of self-segregating isolationism, the article traces the historical process of Pakistani migration and settlement in Britain, to argue that the dislocations and relocations of transnational migration generate two paradoxes of culture. The first is that in order to sink roots in a new country, transnational migrants in the modern world begin by setting themselves culturally and socially apart. They form encapsulated 'communities'. Second, that within such communities culture can be conceived of as conflictual, open, hybridising and fluid, while nevertheless having a sentimental and morally compelling force. This stems from the fact, I propose, that culture is embodied in ritual, in social exchange and in performance, conferring agency and empowering different social actors: religious and secular, men, women and youth. Hence, against both defenders and critics of multiculturalism as a political and philosophical theory of social justice, the final part of the article argues for the need to theorise multiculturalism in history. In this view, rather than being fixed by liberal or socialist universal philosophical principles, multicultural citizenship must be grasped as changing and dialogical, inventive and responsive, a negotiated political order. The British Muslim diasporic struggle for recognition in the context of local racism and world international crises exemplifies this process.


Few-shot Text Classification predicts the semantic label of a given text with a handful of supporting instances. Current meta-learning methods have achieved satisfying results in various few-shot situations. Still, they often require a large amount of data to construct many few-shot tasks for meta-training, which is not practical in real-world few-shot scenarios. Prompt-tuning has recently proved to be another effective few-shot learner by bridging the gap between pre-train and downstream tasks. In this work, we closely combine the two promising few-shot learning methodologies in structure and propose a Prompt-Based Meta-Learning (PBML) model to overcome the above meta-learning problem by adding the prompting mechanism. PBML assigns label word learning to base-learners and template learning to meta-learner, respectively. Experimental results show state-of-the-art performance on four text classification datasets under few-shot settings, with higher accuracy and good robustness. We demonstrate through low-resource experiments that our method alleviates the shortcoming that meta-learning requires too much data for meta-training. In the end, we use the visualization to interpret and verify that the meta-learning framework can help the prompting method converge better. We release our code to reproduce our experiments.


The empirical material of this article consists of a blog section that organizes the blogs of mainly local and regional politicians in the north of Sweden. The aim of the article is to examine the content and style of blogs written by politicians and, especially, how the blogs can be understood in terms of self-presentations and articulations of identities. A further aim is to discuss the political and democratic aspects of such articulations. The article argues that even though the investigated blogs are somewhat innovative, they have a traditional character in a political sense and reproduce a populist identity. This identity goes beyond the boundaries between different political parties and represents a hindrance in relation to the democratic renewal that is often ascribed to political blogging in general.


This paper proposes a ranking method of multidimensional poverty and extends it aiming to enhance its practical utility. While our original ranking method that assumes non-comparability among different dimensions of poverty succeeds in eliminating some implicit arbitrariness in existing ranking, it also confronts a disadvantage that a non- negligible number of objectives (countries) are ranked at the same level. In order to improve this disadvantage, we propose an extended ranking method, where we allow the data to have a certain range of bandwidth. The introduction of bandwidth improves the usefulness of our ranking in the sense that it decreases the number of countries with the same rank. In addition, a simulation exercise shows that this extension also improves the robustness of the ranking against measurement errors.


Virtual reality is an interactive, computer generated environment that simulates the real world. Accessible via an interface that has been adapted to the human senses, it provokes in the user the sensation of immersion, like Alice in Wonderland crawling down the rabbit hole and finding herself in a new fantastic world.1 A dataglove wired with fibreoptics to record the degree of bending of fingers and wrists, a head-mounted display, and an exoskeleton surrounding the user's limbs to give feedback, project the user into the virtual environment and report back on his or her actions within it. The user can react intuitively to the virtual world, any actions being detected by position and movement sensors placed strategically on his or her body. A computer calculates the changes occurring in the virtual world according to the rules chosen by its creator and feeds the results back to the user. Applications appeal to disabled and non-disabled persons alike2: telepresence, for example, allows specialists to operate on patients in remote hospitals. Three applications of …


INTRODUCTION: Neural tube defects and associated tissues are classified as spinal dysraphism, being the most severe one the meningomyelocele. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the efficacy of the bilateral bipedicled fasciocutaneous flap in the meningomyeloceles treatment. METHODS: Nine patients were operated on meningomyelocele from December 2006 to January 2009. The patients had a surgery correction performed in the first 36 hours of life, with the presence of Neurosurgery and Plastic Surgery teams. RESULTS: The main location of the defect was in the lumbosacral region (77.78%), followed by the thoracolumbar (11.11%) and the thoracic one (11.11%). In all the cases, the bilateral bipedicled fasciocutaneous flap was performed to close the defect. Discussion: The bilateral bipedicled fasciocutaneous flap was chosen owing to the security regarding vascularization, the shorter surgical time compared to muscles flaps, dissection facility, applicability and low rate of complications. CONCLUSION: The bilateral bipedicled fasciocutaneous flap is an adequate treatment for meningomyelocele.


Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is an important zoonotic disease worldwide and hence it is of great public health significance. It is present in most developing countries where surveillance and control activities are often inadequate or unavailable. This study was designed to detect mycobacteria in raw milk of cows using ZN-stain, PCR, and cultural techniques to determine the prevalence of bTB in Bwari area council of FCT Abuja. Out of the 145 raw milk sampled, 6.89% tested positive by ZN-stain and culture while 1.3% were positive by PCR. The herd prevalence per satellite town based on ZN-stain technique was 8.89%, 10.0%, 3.33% and 5.00% for Bwari, Dei-Dei, Kubuwa and Ushafa respectively. While by cultural method, the prevalence was 2.22%, 10.00%, and 5.00% for Bwari, Dei-Dei, Kubuwa and Ushafa respectively. PCR revealed the prevalence of Mycobacterium species for Bwari and Dei-Dei as 2.22% and 3.33% respectively. Detection of Mycobacteria in raw (unpasteurized) pose a serious public health risk to raw milk consumers in Bwari area council. Keywords: Raw milk, bTB, ZN stain, PCR, Culture


: Ultrasonic dopplerographic investigation (Ultramark-9, USA) was made in 227 males. 50 males with normal erection served controls. Stimulation of erection with an individual LOD-device is a low-invasive, convenient to standardize technique in ultrasonic dopplerographic examination of penile vessels for diagnosis of erectile dysfunction. Erection stimulation by different methods in the same patient during penile vessel dopplerography raises diagnostic value of this method.


Sciences exist to demonstrate the fundamental order underlying nature. Chaos/complexity theory is a novel and amazing field of scientific inquiry. Notions of our everyday experiences are somehow in connection to the laws of nature through chaos/complexity theory's concerns with the relationships between simplicity and complexity, between orderliness and randomness (Retrieved from http://www.inclusional-research.org/comparisons4.php). It is interested in how disorder leads to order, of how complexity emerges in nature. There appears to be many striking and eye-catching similarities between the new science of chaos/complexity and education. An understanding of chaos/complexity theory seems almost crucial to our general understanding of education and teachers' and students' needs within educational systems. Chaos/complexity theory raises some very significant issues in an educational context, including responsibility, morality and planning; the significance of non-linear learning organizations; setting conditions for change by emergence and self-organization; the role of feedback in learning; changing external and internal environments(Morrison, 2006); it emphasizes on the fact that schools and learners as open, complex adaptive systems; cooperation and competition; pedagogy; and the significance of context (Larsen Freeman, 1997).This paper tries to provide an overview of this science and how it can inform education


Using animations and visualizations can help students to better understand different concepts in a shorter time than using textual or graphical representations of the same concepts. However, prior researches showed that not every animation and visualization is educationally effective. In the first part of this paper, we summarize, what features an animation should have to be successfully used in education. We briefly mention Mayer's principles of multimedia learning and the importance of interactivity in educational animations. In the next part of the paper, we describe how an interactive web-bases 2D animation can be created. In the past, there were various technologies to create web animations, like Microsoft Silverlight or Adobe Flash. However, after the introduction of HTML5, Silverlight and Flash were gradually replaced by JavaScript, which is nowadays the most used technology for creating web-based interactive content. Even though, that creating interactive animations using the HTML5 and JavaScript languages needs good programming knowledge, there are several external libraries available on the internet to help the developers' work. In the main part of this article, we compare two of these libraries, the Konva and Fabric JS. These two libraries are nowadays probably the most popular libraries for creating 2D interactive web-based animations. To compare these libraries in practice, we created the same educational web-based animation, a simple river crossing puzzle, with both of these libraries. According to our research, both of these libraries can be successfully used for creating educational web-based 2D animations. In the last part of this paper, we summarize the pros and cons of the reviewed JavaScript libraries and we draw our conclusions.


Summary
Tissue cultures of monkey-kidney cells were used to detect viral agents in extracts of stool specimens from a group of healthy children in southern Louisiana. From approximately 150 children, averaging 6 months of age at the beginning of the study, specimens were collected once a month from January 1954 through December 1955, as part of a larger study of the natural transmission of polioviruses. The agents isolated were divided into two main categories, the polioviruses (including all three types in approximately equal numbers) and a heterogeneous group designated as nonpolio viruses. The latter may have included Coxsackie viruses, ECHO viruses, adenoviruses, herpes simplex, mumps, influenza, and as yet undescribed agents. The percentage of specimens containing these two groups of enteric agents was reported monthly over the two-year period. A marked seasonal association was evident, with a peak in the summer and autumn months. The combined maximum percentage positive was 29.5, in July 1954. An association with socio-economic status was demonstrated; Negroes had the highest rate and were followed in descending order by the white lower economic and the white upper economic groups. No distinct association with family size was noted. It was not possible to attempt to associate disease incidence with virus excretion in general, but no cases of overt poliomyelitis, aseptic meningitis, or serious diarrhea were diagnosed by the physicians of the participating families. The remarkable abundance of these agents was discussed, as well as the difficulty in associating them with clinical disease syndromes.


Ex vivo gene therapy approaches hold great promise for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases where there is currently no cure or adequate treatment for affected individuals. In this review we have focused on the use of ex vivo gene transfer techniques in Parkinson's disease models; however, the issues and approaches outlined are applicable to other neurodegenerative disorders. In utilizing the ex vivo strategy two considerations are critical for delivery of therapeutic levels of transgene product to the target: (i) the vector system and (ii) the cell type for grafting. We describe herein different vector systems that are currently available and briefly review the various cell types that have been transduced and grafted into the striatum of animals with experimental Parkinson's disease. The strategies for application of gene therapy techniques to a treatment for Parkinson's disease have expanded beyond the classical dopamine replacement toward the use of neurotrophic factors in enhancing cell function or preventing cell death. In addition, we explore the utility of CNS-derived neural progenitors as alternative cell types for ex vivo gene therapy in an animal model of Parkinson's disease.


Background:The inflammatory bowel diseases known as Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) are related autoimmune conditions with a complex etiology composed of genetic and environmental factors. Genetic studies have revealed 200 susceptibility loci for inflammatory bowel diseases, but these only account for a small fraction of the genetic heritability of the disease. We employed pathway-based approaches to identify genes that cooperatively make contributions to the genetic etiology of CD. Methods:We exploited the largest CD dataset (20,000 cases + 28,000 controls) and UC dataset (17,000 cases + 33,500 controls) to date. We conducted a meta-analysis of 5 CD cohorts of European ancestry using 3 pathway-based approaches and further performed replication studies in an independent cohort genotyped on the Immunochip and in another pediatric cohort of European ancestry. Similar meta-analysis was performed for UC cohorts. Results:In addition to the multiple immune-related pathways that have been implicated in the genetic etiology of inflammatory bowel diseases before, we found significant associations involving genes in growth factor signaling for CD. This result was replicated in 2 independent cohorts of European ancestry. This association with growth factor activity is not unique to CD. We found a similar significant association with UC cohorts. Conclusions:Our findings suggest that genes involved in pathways of growth factor signaling may make joint contributions to the etiology of CD and UC, providing novel insight into the genetic mechanisms of these diseases.


Background Angiogenesis is one of the critical features in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Uncontrolled neovascularization could help the infiltration of inflammatory cells and lead to synovial hyperplasia and bone destruction further. Precious studies have demonstrated that the medicine taxol (PTX) has anti-angiogenesis effects. Objectives To evaluate the inhibitory effects of PTX on angiogenesis in a collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) mouse model. Methods A total of 50 mice were used to induce a CIA mouse model with collagen II (CII) and complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA). Twenty-four with obvious arthritis syndrome were randomly divided into four groups: CIA model group, PTX 1.5 mg/kg group, PTX 1.0 mg/kg group, PTX 0.5 mg/kg group. In addition, 6 normal mice was regarded as the control group. PTX was administered by intraperitoneal injection in the PTX treatment groups 8 times every other day. Arthritis index scores, tissue pathology scores after HE staining and synovium microvessel density (MVD) analysis after immunohistochemical (IHC) staining were performed. Immunohistochemistry and ELISA were used to detect the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and hypoxia-inducible factor-α (HIF-1α). Additionally, the correlation between MVD and pathological scores, level of VEGF and HIF-1α in the synovium were also evaluated. Results After PTX treatment, the three intervention group arthritis index scores (1.33±0.52, 2.00±0.63, 3.33±1.03) declined when compared with the CIA group (5.67±1.03, p<0.001, p<0.001, p=0.016). The total histological scores in the three PTX treatment groups (2.50±0.66, 3.89±0.86, 3.89±0.86) were lower than those in the CIA group (7.67±0.79, p<0.001, p<0.001, p=0.007). Similarly, PTX significantly alleviated the scores for synovitis, pannus formation and bone destruction. Compared with the CIA group (110.32±5.06/mm2), the MVD of the three intervention groups decreased in dose-dependent manner (17.05±1.97/mm2, 34.73±2.36/mm2, 57.55±2.72/mm2; p<0.001, respectively). In addition, the expression of VEGF and HIF-1α in synovial tissues and serum also decreased significantly after PTX treatment. Further analysis showed that MVD and pathological scores and levels of VEGF and HIF-1α in the synovium were positively correlated (r=0.921, r=0.944, r=0.889, r=0.969, r=0.933; p<0.001, respectively). Conclusions PTX may alleviate CIA by suppressing angiogenesis, providing new insights into the treatment of RA. VEGF and HIF-1α may be the target for PTX suppression of microvessel formation. References Smolen JS, Aletaha D, McInnes IB. Rheumatoid arthritis. The Lancet 2016. Park KS, Park MJ, Cho ML, et al. Type II collagen oral tolerance; mechanism and role in collagen-induced arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Mod Rheumatol 2009;19:581–9. Disclosure of Interest None declared


Celestial tracking systems employed in the navigation of military vehicles in the atmosphere of the earth have the capability of tracking a large number of stars in the daytime. In daytime tracking, the quantum efficiency of the detector, as well as additional sensitivity gain through electronic charge storage, is of primary importance. Theoretical formulas for the signal-to-noise ratios of four detectors are presented: the photoelectric photomultiplier, image dissector, vidicon and the image orthicon. The photomultiplier and image dissector require the use of very slow scanning velocities, narrow detection bandwidths, and the resultant time required for star acquisition is in the order of minutes. The image orthicon, due to target saturation, is restricted to the observation of only bright stars. The vidicon, with sensitivity gain through electronic charge storage, is used with rapid scanning velocities, and star acquisition is accomplished in less than one second of time. In interplanetary or nighttime navigation, with a low level of background radiation, the salient detector characteristics are sensitivity, gain through either storage or photomultiplication, and dark current. The image dissector rates first among the detectors considered, followed by the photomultiplier, image orthicon and the vidicon. Field test data are presented in this work in substantiation of the analysis of the several detector types.


The main objective of this study was to evaluate the use of batch bubble column to produce high particle size (>300 micron) of sodium bicarbonate product to improve filtration and drying operations in the production process. Lab scale batch bubble column of 80 mm diameter and 0.5 m height was used to study the process for sodium bicarbonate production using 20% sodium carbonate solution as a starting solution. Three operating variables were considered, CO2 gas content (20-100 %), temperature (30-70 C) and time (0.5-2.5 h). The bicarbonate yield and crystals size were considered to be the objective variables of the process. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used with central composite design (CCD) of experiments. Empirical polynomial multivariable equations were obtained. The reaction time was found to be the most effective operating condition on the yield of sodium bicarbonate, and temperature was found to be the most effective operating condition on crystal size of sodium bicarbonate. The optimum conditions achieved 400 microns particle size at temperature 70 C and time 2.5 h. Kinetics study of the process showed that zero order reaction with both sodium carbonate and CO2 concentrations was approximately fitted the experimental data, useful for shortcut process design purposes.


Voltage supply scaling in CMOS processes requires lower inductance and higher capacitance in conventional LC oscillators. Forcing several LC oscillators to run in phase is a valuable means of achieving the wanted phase noise with practical values of inductances and capacitances. However, in-phase oscillator arrays suffer from the up-conversion of transistors' flicker noise, in the presence of oscillator mismatches. A multitank oscillator topology is proposed, which has superior tolerance to mismatches and removes this mechanism of noise degradation. In order to assess such topology, an 802.11 a-compliant VCO with four coupled oscillators has been designed in a 0.13-mum CMOS technology. A phase noise better than -120 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz offset has been achieved along the 4.7-5.9-GHz tuning range


[1] Six deep sea cores from the eastern equatorial Pacific (EEP) were analyzed for planktonic foraminifera and stable isotopes in order to reconstruct sea surface temperatures (SST) for the last 40 ka. South of the Equatorial Front the abundance of Globorotalia inflata increased, and SST decreased by >5°C (core ODP846B), creating a stronger SST meridional gradient and advection of the Peru Current than present for the ∼16–35 ka interval. A sharper SST meridional gradient forced stronger Choco jet events and a moisture increase in western Colombia, which supplied, through the San Juan River and the south-flowing equatorial and the Peru-Chile countercurrents, abundant hemipelagic quartz over the northern Peru basin (core TR163-31B). The Choco jet, and its associated mesoscale convective cells, provoked an increase in snow precipitation over the Central Cordillera of Colombia and the advance of the Murillo glacier. In synchrony with the intensified Choco jet events, the "dry island" effect over the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia intensified, and the level of Fuquene Lake dropped.


This thesis examines the deeper nature of sustainability, through the study of an English language curriculum development project for the creation of a self-access language learning resource centre at a Mexican public university.

The research methodology follows broadly qualitative and ethnographic research principles and was influenced by post modern, heuristic and interpretative thought. The overall process has been heuristic, involving extended self-search, self-dialogue and self-discovery through on-going interaction with the context, the collaborators and other types of data. Some aspects of my own journey towards becoming a qualitative researcher arealso described, since this also formed an integral part of the research process.

I aimed to create a thick description, through the collection and interrelation of a range of data types. During the interpretation process, numerous concepts and categories emerged as apparently having been closely interconnected during the evolution of the respective project processes, states, behaviours and artefacts. With frequent reference to the data, I will attempt to show that the deeper nature of project sustainability is perhaps more complex than existing descriptions may imply and that therefore existing definitions may be limited.

I conclude by suggesting new ways of conceptualizing factors involved in the achievement of project sustainability and some approaches to implementing research in the area. I also suggest that the term "sustainability" may need to be redefined in the discourse of development project managers. Dynamic durability is suggested as a possible alternative, since it includes the attribute of being able to adapt to changing circumstances (Dynamic) yet can still embrace concepts and categories commonly associated with sustainability (Durability).

The overall aims of this study are: to push forward the boundaries of existing knowledge and understanding of project sustainability, to stimulate further research and discussion among project managers and collaborators and to support more context-sensitive and Dynamically durable English language curriculum projects (and other development projects) in the future.


Calcium-activated neutral proteinases (CANPs) and their specificities for axonally transported proteins were studied within intact axons of mouse retinal ganglion cell (RGC) neurons in vitro. Two CANP activities with markedly different properties were identified. CANP B, at endogenous calcium levels, selectively cleaved the 145,000 Da (145 kDa) neurofilament protein subunit to yield 143 and 140 kDa neurofilament proteins that are also major constituents of the axonal cytoskeleton. This process represents a posttranslational modification of the neurofilament protein subunit rather than the initial step in its degradation (Nixon et al., 1982, 1983). A second calcium-activated neutral proteinase activity, CANP A, appeared only when calcium levels in the incubating medium were 100 microM or higher. CANP A degraded most proteins in RGC axons but acted considerably more rapidly on high- molecular-weight species. In particular, a 290–320 kDa protein in the Group IV (SCb) phase of axoplasmic transport was degraded 3 X faster than other major axonal proteins, including neurofilament proteins and fodrin. When maximally expressed, CANP A activity represented an enormous proteolytic potential in RGC axons--more than 50% of the total axonal content of proteins larger than 60 kDa could be hydrolyzed within 5 min. The calcium requirements, inhibitor profile, and substrate specificity of CANP A were similar to those of mCANP, the major CANP of mouse brain purified to homogeneity, suggesting that these enzymes may be the same or highly related proteins. The existence in a single neuron type of two CANP activities with markedly different substrate specificities and enzymatic properties emphasizes the possible functional diversity of calcium-activated neutral proteinases in neurons. These functions include the posttranslational modification, as well as degradation of neuronal proteins.


Evidence for reductive carboxylation of succinate to synthesize alpha-ketoglutarate was sought in anaerobic heterotrophs from the rumen and from other anaerobic habitats. Cultures were grown in media containing unlabeled energy substrates plus [14C]succinate, and synthesis of cellular glutamate with a much higher specific activity than that of cellular asparate was taken as evidence for alpha-ketoglutarate synthase activity. Our results indicate alpha-ketoglutarate synthase functions in Selenomonas ruminantium, Veillonella alcalescens, Bacteroides fragilis, Bacteroides vulgatus, Bacteroides uniformis, Bacteroides distasonis, and Bacteroides multiacidus. Evidence for this carboxylation was not found in strains representative of 10 other species.


We develop opportunistic scheduling policies for cognitive radio networks that maximize the throughput utility of the secondary (unlicensed) users subject to maximum collision constraints with the primary (licensed) users. We consider a cognitive network with static primary users and potentially mobile secondary users. We use the technique of Lyapunov Optimization to design an online flow control, scheduling and resource allocation algorithm that meets the desired objectives and provides explicit performance guarantees.


In this study, the effects of three different drying methods (freeze drying, oven drying, and vacuum oven drying) on bioactive (total phenolics, total flavonoids, condensed tannin and total hydrolyzable tannin contents, antiradical activity, and antidiabetic activity) and some physicochemical (dry matter, ash, water activity (a w ), color, protein, hydroxymethylfurfural, glucose and fructose content) properties of persimmon fruit were investigated. Simplex lattice mixture design methodology was applied to determine the best solvent mixture for the extraction of phenolics from the samples. It was found that the mixture of acetone:water at the ratio of 50:50 % (v/v) was the best solvent mixture for the extraction. The persimmon powder sample obtained from freeze drying showed significantly (p <0.05) higher bioactivity values than oven- and vacuum-oven-dried samples. Antiradical activity changed significantly depending on the drying method employed and it was superior in freeze-dried samples than that of the other drying methods.


The identity of contemporary career artists, particularly marginalised professionals, can be severely compromised because of economic disruptions such as the GFC. These can surface as unemployment, marriage breakups and even homelessness for career artists and can result in the total cessation of career activities or at best new career paths in associated fields. These professional artists more often than not, depending on the degree of marginalised art practice, develop career paths of both simultaneously wanting to belong to contemporary globalised society and also be individually diverse from the mainstream, as they promote their cultural creations in an acceptable contemporary social fabric. They achieve this with exhibitions having marketing and promotional machinations within the media in place to ensure success. Given that diversity is now normal, do these artists' especially diverse and also fragile career paths necessitate their downfall during tough economic times? Is it socially justifiable that they compromise their creativity, or can we with diversity reflecting our new world order change this trend? It is possible to develop new education and support for those affected by contemporary unexpected economic outcomes, for difference and identity is increasingly paramount for artists expressing individualism, - these artists deserve industry and social backing.


The study investigates the impacts of federation account allocated funds on economic growth in Nigeria prior to reinstatement of democracy and after the restoration witnessed in May 29, 1999. The study employs annual time series data from 1989-1998 for pre restoration evaluation while data employed for post reinstatement assessment span from 2007-2016. All data were collected from CBN Statistical Bulletin, 2016 edition. Ordinary Least Square (OLS) method was used to perform the multi-regression analysis with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. The findings of the study disclose that FAFG has a significant positive impact on RGDP after restoration of democracy while prior to restoration of democracy, the result reveals an insignificant negative influence on RGDP. FASG has insignificant positive impact on RGDP both on pre and post restoration of democracy while FALG has insignificant negative impact on RGDP in both scenarios tested. This leads to a conclusion that mismanagement of funds by the three tiers of government in Nigeria is responsible for dwindling economic growth in Nigeria and recommends proper use of resources by all levels of government in the country.


A 43-year-old man presented with a 2 months history of sunken eye and facial asymmetry. He had no history of rhinorrhoea, hyposmia, headache, facial pains, or diplopia. There was no history of trauma or facial surgery. His clinical examination revealed enophthalmos, deepening of superior palpebral sulcus, deviation of nasal septum to right, and lateralisation of the right middle turbinate. There were no polyps or middle meatal discharge. Ophthalmological assessment showed no diplopia, normal visual acuity, normal field vision, and normal fundal examination


. Urban forests provide many benefits for those living and working in urban areas. However, urban trees face many chal-lenges (e.g., poor soil, drought, high vapor pressure deficits). Therefore, finding tree species adapted to urban climates is essential to maintain a healthy urban forest. In a semi-arid climate, field-grown 'Autumn Blaze' ( Acer × freemanii 'Autumn Blaze') and shantung ( A. truncatum ) maple trees were subjected to three reference evapotranspiration (ETo) based irrigation regimes (100%, 66%, and 33% ETo) over a three-year establishment period (2003–2005). During this time, weather data, tree water relations, gas exchange, and growth data were measured. Growing-season maximum air temperature was 40.1°C, and maximum vapor pressure deficit was 6.8 kPa. Pre-dawn leaf water potential was more negative for 'Autumn Blaze' trees, and trees receiving the least amount of irrigation. However, midday stomatal conductance was similar for trees receiving 100% and 66% ETo based irrigation regimes. In addition, stomatal conductance was greatest for 'Autumn Blaze' trees. Growth data were influenced by species and irrigation regime. However, despite differing irrigation volumes, greatest growth was not necessarily associated with trees receiving the greatest irrigation volume. Regardless of irrigation volume, these maple species maintained adequate growth and appearance when grown in an adverse, semiarid climate. Despite reduced irrigation, each species appears to be adapted to harsh climates associated with urban environments.


Distal entrapment of the ulnar nerve at the wrist and hand (Guyon's syndrome) is a relatively uncommon condition. It may present with a confusing permutation of sensory and motor symptoms, depending on which branches of the ulnar nerve are involved Electrodiagnostic test procedures are often helpful in sorting out this quandary. Electrophysiologic studies that include electrical stimulation of the nerve at the palm, in addition to stimulation of the ulnar nerve at other locations, are useful in demonstrating the focal nerve conduction abnormality that is involved in the entrapment. Sensory and motor recordings from palmar stimulation of the ulnar nerve are not technically difficult procedures, and can be performed routinely.


To circumvent the poor prediction accuracy of traffic volume models available due to the lack of traffic data and inaccurate judgments on the traffic influence factors, in this paper we established a traffic volume prediction model using grey forecasting model GM(1,1) based on the real traffic data from the highway toll database. The GM(1,1) method has advantage of the strong adaptiveness to Complex system, thus getting a great advantage over other methods for modeling such a complex nonlinear traffic volume system with many uncertain influence factors. Simulation results show that our GM(1,1) model has mean relative prediction error of 3.9%, which accomplishes our intended prediction accuracy.


In this study, a novel method called selective proteolysis was applied to the glycinin component of soy protein isolate (SPI), and a degraded glycinin hydrolysate (DGH) was obtained. The effects of high-intensity ultrasound (HIU) treatment (20 kHz at 400 W, 0, 5, 20, and 40 min) on the physical, structural, and aggregation properties of DGH were investigated with the aim to reveal the influence of the selectively hydrolyzing glycinin component on the HIU treatment of soy protein. The effects of HIU on DGH and a control SPI (CSPI) were both time-dependent. HIU induced the formation of soluble aggregates in both samples at an early stage, while it dissociated these newly formed aggregates after a longer duration. Selectively hydrolyzing glycinin contributed to the soluble aggregation by exposing the compact protein structure and producing small protein fractions. The larger extent of hydrophobic interactions and disulfide bonds imparted a higher stability to the soluble protein aggregates formed in DGH. As a result, DGH displayed more ordered secondary structures, a higher solubility, and better gelling properties after the HIU treatment, especially at 20 min. The results of this study will be beneficial to the scientific community as well as industrial application.