This article focuses on the role of the media in shaping the worldview of today's youth. In Part 1, social attitudes and social stereotypes are described in the context of ethnic relations. Part 2 describes the research into social distance and ethnic and religious stereotypes conducted by I.V. Abakumova and A.V. Grishina. The study was conducted in two stages. First we analyzed various TV and radio programs, articles in the press and on the Internet, about migrant workers, published from March 2009 to March 2012, to identify the image of migrant workers in the Russian media, for further study of the perceptions of migrant workers by students in different professional fields. In the second stage, we modified E. Bogardus's "Social Distance Scale" in order to assess respondents' attitudes toward media images of migrant workers and, more importantly, to determine the social distance at which the respondent tolerates the images and therefore the migrants themselves. The last part of the article reports the main findings and conclusions of the study.


In this work, a reproducible fabrication process for contacting single GaAs nanowires (NWs) using electron beam lithography (EBL) has been established. Wurtzite (WZ) GaAs core NWs doped with Te and Be have then been investigated along with intrinsic NWs using photocurrent spectroscopy techniques. It is found that shifts of the fabricated metal contacts are minimized by consistent use of alignment positions and that thick resist introduces contrast issues for small alignment features during EBL. Thick resist further introduces metal shadowing effects during metal deposition. Different surface treatments for removing contaminants and native oxide from the NW surface have been tested to obtain ohmic contacts to the GaAs NWs. Photocurrent wavelength (WL) dependence measurements on intrinsic core NWs show a sharp change near the zink blende (ZB) GaAs band gap, and no free exciton peak is observed at low temperatures. ZB stacking faults in the NWs are believed to cause shifts from the real WZ band gap. Doped core NWs show an intrinsic-like I-V and WL dependence behavior, indicating that dopants are not electrically active. This observation, and the absence of a free exciton peak, is attributed to the high surface state density of GaAs. I-V characterization on intrinsic and doped NWs shows that ohmic contact is not achieved using the tested surface treatments. Preliminary studies on etching AlGaAs shells of GaAs/AlGaAs core-shell NWs show that 50:1 citric acid/hydrogen peroxide solution is a good etchant candidate for future studies using AlGaAs passivated intrinsic and doped GaAs NWs.


Background The End of Life Care Strategy highlighted a need to evaluate care experiences by accessing the views of those who use end of life care services. The Strategy identified the Views of Informal Carers – Evaluation of Services (VOICES) questionnaire, which is completed by bereaved relatives, as a potential method of evaluating these experiences. The DH commissioned this study to explore the feasibility of a national VOICES survey. Aims To develop the most appropriate methods for a national end of life care survey by considering recruitment, sampling, online methods, ethics, increasing participation and support for participants. Methods VOICES was re-designed following user/professional discussion groups and analysis of existing VOICES datasets. 1422 deaths registered in two PCTs were identified by the Office of National Statistics using stratified sampling methods. Coroner-registered deaths were excluded. Deaths were assigned to one of two trial groups to determine the most appropriate recruitment approach (opt-in vs opt-out). Online completion was offered to all informants. Local organisations representing minority ethnic groups collaborated in publicising the survey, interpreting services were provided and advertising posters were translated into five languages. A series of support structures was initiated. Results Response rate was 33% and response was significantly higher in the 'opt-out' trial group (40%, p<0.001). There were no complaints in either group: only two informants called the support line. 19% of responders completed online. Minority group responses were low. As planned, data weighting was used to account for non-response bias. Excluded coroner-registered deaths were significantly different to included deaths on a series of parameters. Conclusions The opt-out method is the recommended recruitment approach. Experiences of minority groups should be gathered using alternative methods. Coroner-registered deaths should be included and data should be weighted. VOICES detected differences between PCTs. It will be used in 2011/2012 together with these methods in the first national end of life care survey.


The author discusses the origin and meaning of his Light Dance artwork. The simple approach—placing a source of light on the body and thereby manipulating the illumination of the surrounding space through body movements—alters the viewer's perception of space and time. Architecture appears malleable as the performer affects the size, shape and speed of light forms that reach from the body to the boundaries of the room. Light, in this perceptual environment, is not a mere transmitter of information between the invariant material surroundings and the eye of the viewer; light is a space-defining extension of the performer's body that transposes movement expression from the individual body to the shared space. An inversion of subjective and objective "spaces" is realized in the experience of Light Dance wherein the prevailing conceptual hierarchy of light and vision is overcome.


Surprisingly little attention has been devoted to the theories, concepts and measurement of social class and socioeconomic position in social epidemiology. This is particularly surprising as the number studies on health inequalities has increased exponentially over the decades.1 Guidelines have though been proposed for the use of socioeconomic position in health research and we have learnt a lot about the nature, measurement and use of various socioeconomic indicators.2–4 However, the suggested socioeconomic classifications have often been pragmatic, based on occupation, education and income, grouped hierarchically following statistical authorities or ad hoc principles.

So far, theoretical and conceptual issues and their integration to empirical analysis of health inequalities have remained largely a white spot. The theoretical work within the sociology of class has had almost non-existent consequences for research on health inequalities. Similarly, research on socioeconomic inequalities in health has seldom been considered in the sociology of class. Cross-fertilisation between theoretical and empirical work as well as between sociology of class and social epidemiology would deepen our understanding of social class and socioeconomic position in the production of health inequalities.

The Marxian and the Weberian theories are the dominant social class traditions and these have influenced some subsequent class schemes and classifications. Wright's neo-Marxian class theory draws on the Marxian tradition in its emphasis on people's location in the occupational hierarchy based on production relations as well as power and control over access to economic and productive resources.5 Additionally, Wright's theory draws on the Weberian tradition in its emphasis on skill and expertise, rendering the theory a …


The Stuff of Thought (2007) is Steven Pinker's fifth popular science book, designed to complete two different trilogies that explore language, the mind and human nature. All his books have, in some way, explored the nature-nurture debate: are we primarily products of our genes or products of our environment? In his first popular science book, The Language Instinct (1994), Pinker made the case for an innate language capacity: language is not learned in its entirety, much of it (particularly grammar) is already present in the determined structure of our mind/brain. In Words and Rules (1999), the regular ('bake – baked') and irregular ('buy – bought') forms of the past tense were used to explore how language might be represented in the mind; Pinker presents a middle way between the rationalists (who state that 'the mind has innate concepts') and the empiricists ('the mind is a blank slate'), with regular forms created by the application of an innate rule (rationalism) and irregular forms created through memorization (empiricism). These books were the first two in the 'language and the mind' trilogy. The other trilogy, beginning with the two books How the Mind Works (1997) and The Blank Slate (2000), deals with human nature. In both books, Pinker argues for innate cognitive abilities that are common across all human beings, and offers a psycho-evolutionary definition of human nature. Reviews of Pinker's books are always mixed, reflecting the fact that there is still disagreement in popular culture and in the scientific community on the nature-nurture debate (aside from the common understanding that human nature is some mixture of the two). Pinker's position represents an ideological attachment to nature and evolutionary design, and it often has a teleological narrative in which humans fulfil their impressive biological potential in the (somewhat under-described) world.


Abstract The term "creative space" describes a relatively recent phenomenon of innovative workplace design. Such creative workspaces are becoming popular in industry and academia. However, the impact of specific spatial design decisions on creativity and innovation is not yet fully understood. This paper provides an overview of state-of-the-art research on creative work and learning environments. We conducted a systematic literature search within the Scopus database and identified a total of 73 relevant sources discussing creative spaces within academic, practice, and other innovation environments. Among the included sources are 51 academic publications and 22 sources from company research and illustrative coffee-table books. We analyzed the sources using three lenses of interest: (1) the types of theoretical and practical contributions that are provided, (2) the spatial characteristics that are suggested to be beneficial for creativity and innovation, and (3) the discussed potential of new technologies for designing or researching creative spaces. The results provide in-depth insight into the current state of research on the topic of creative spaces. Practitioners, educators, and researchers can use the presented overview to investigate the possible impact of creative workspace design and identify research gaps that can be filled by conducting further research in the field.


BACKGROUND
Vitamin D deficiency (VDD) is associated with depression and schizophrenia in adults. The effect of VDD in childhood on behavioral development is unknown.

OBJECTIVES
We aimed to study the associations of VDD and vitamin D binding protein (DBP) in middle childhood with behavior problems in adolescence.

METHODS
We quantified plasma total 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] and DBP in 273 schoolchildren aged 5-12 y at recruitment into a cohort study in Bogota, Colombia. Externalizing and internalizing behavior problems were assessed after a median 6-y follow-up by parental report [Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL)] and self-report [Youth Self-Report (YSR)]. We estimated mean problem score differences with 95% CIs between exposure categories using multivariable linear regression. We also compared the prevalence of clinical behavior problems (score >63) between exposure groups. We assessed whether the associations between DBP and behavior problems were mediated through VDD.

RESULTS
Mean ± SD CBCL and YSR externalizing problems scores were 56.5 ± 9.3 and 53.2 ± 9.5, respectively. Internalizing problems scores averaged 57.1 ± 9.8 and 53.7 ± 9.8, respectively. VDD [25(OH)D <50 nmol/L] prevalence was 10.3%. VDD was associated with an adjusted 6.0 (95% CI: 3.0, 9.0) and 3.4 (95% CI: 0.1, 6.6) units higher CBCL and YSR externalizing problems scores, respectively, and an adjusted 3.6 (95% CI: 0.3, 6.9) units higher CBCL internalizing problems scores. The prevalence of clinical total externalizing problems was 1.8 (95% CI: 1.1, 3.1) times higher in children with VDD than that in children without VDD. DBP concentration below the population median was related to higher YSR aggressive behavior and anxious/depressed subscale scores and to higher prevalence of clinical total externalizing problems. The associations between DBP and behavior problems were not mediated through VDD.

CONCLUSIONS
VDD and low DBP in middle childhood are related to behavior problems in adolescence.


Recently updated and derived from more than 100 in-depth Interviews and tens of thousands of pages of documentary material, Among the Lowest of the Dead gives readers an unprecedented look into the actual workings of the modern system of capital punishment. No other book covers the subject as completely, from the grim confines of death row to the lofty precincts of the federal courts; from the passions of death penalty opponents to the cool deliberations of governors and wardens; from the warped minds of the killers to the endless sorrow left in the wake of their crimes. David von Drehle, a Washington Post journalist, strives to present an honest picture, rather than arguing a case. Through meticulous detail and strong narrative, Among the Lowest of the Dead offers a broad introduction to the complex human politics of capital punishment while showing why the death penalty system remains - nearly 30 years after its overhaul - costly, slow and unpredictable. Using the specific experience of a single state over a turbulent decade - Florida in the 1980s - Among the Lowest of the Dead portrays complex controversies through intimate, human stories. All of the major issues surrounding the subject - political pressures, wrongful conviction, the byzantine appeals process, inconsistent sentencing, the difficulty of determining defendants' mental capacity and moral culpability, and more - are covered in a book that has been required reading in settings as diverse as freshman seminars and judicial orientations. Among the Lowest of the Dead is ideal for students and scholars interested in criminology, legal advocacy, religion, and the new literary journalism.


Background: Type 2 diabetes (T2D)-related depression has a significant impact on quality of life and leads to greater morbidity and mortality. Current educational and treatment programs for T2D rarely include a specific depression-prevention component, focusing largely on remediating depressive symptoms that have reached clinical levels. Objective: Given the vast field of research on the association between T2D and depression, and the unknown status of prevention efforts for the latter, the goal of this scoping review was to conduct a synopsis of intervention strategies specifically targeting the prevention of depression among adults with T2D. Eligibility Criteria: (1) participants aged 18 and over with T2D; (2) experimental and quasi-experimental designs (3) intervention strategies seeking to prevent the onset or worsening of (non-clinical) depressive symptoms; (4) a valid measure of depressive symptoms; (5) full-text articles available in English or French. Sources of Evidence: Databases including Medline, PubMed, and SCOPUS were searched between 2000 and 2018 resulting in 4,219 potential articles. Charting Methods: This review was conducted in-line with the current methodological framework for scoping reviews. Titles, abstract and full text articles were screened independently and in duplicate. A narrative analysis was conducted to synthesize study characteristics and the nature of intervention strategies and components. Results: Twelve studies were identified with the primary aim of preventing the incidence of depressive symptoms or improving non-clinical depression levels. Individual and group-based approaches included educational interventions incorporating diabetes self-management, problem-solving, and resilience-focused approaches, emotion-targeted techniques as well as alternative interventions. Self-monitoring, home practices, and motivational interviewing were common elements. Conclusions: This review lays the groundwork for future studies seeking to develop, validate, and improve prevention strategies targeting the diabetes-depression comorbidity. More studies over longer periods and with larger samples are needed to capture the effects of prevention efforts.


The problem of finding the Worst-Case Execution Time, WCET, of a program executed on a specific hardware architecture is a very challenging task. A lot of effort has been put into analysing sequential programs executing on single-core hardware. The result is a variety of different methods and tools. The author currently works on finding methods for static WCET analysis of parallel software. The emphasis of the work is put on analysing the impact of synchronisation between threads executing on a shared memory architecture. The analysis is done on the software level, so less focus is put on the effects of the actual hardware on which the parallel program executes. The analysis is based on a small parallel programming language incorporating some fundamental synchronisation primitives; locking and unlocking of shared resources. The programming language is formally defined, which allows the correctness of the analysis to be proven.


Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of death among women worldwide. Mammographic mass segmentation is an important task in mammogram analysis. This process, however, poses a prominent challenge considering that masses can be obscured in images and appear with irregular shapes and low image contrast. In this study, a multichannel, multiscale fully convolutional network is proposed and evaluated for mass segmentation in mammograms. To reduce the impact of surrounding unrelated structures, preprocessed images with a salient mass appearance are obtained as the second input channel of the network. Furthermore, to jointly conduct fine boundary delineation and global mass localization, we incorporate more crucial context information by learning multiscale features from different resolution levels. The performance of our segmentation approach is compared with that of several traditional and deep‐learning‐based methods on the popular DDSM and INbreast datasets. The evaluation indices consist of the Dice similarity coefficient, area overlap measure, area undersegmentation measure, area oversegmentation measure, and Hausdorff distance. The mean values of the Dice similarity coefficient and Hausdorff distance of our proposed segmentation method are 0.915 ± 0.031 and 6.257 ± 3.380, respectively, on DDSM and 0.918 ± 0.038 and 2.572 ± 0.956, respectively, on INbreast, which are superior to those of the existing methods. The experimental results verify that our proposed multichannel, multiscale fully convolutional network can reliably segment masses in mammograms.


Limit-cycle oscillation in noise-shaping D/A converters is one of serious problems because it interrupts their noise-shaping operation. We propose a new noise-shaping structure that prevents limit-cycle oscillation. We have used this structure in an audio D/A converter that we fabricated. The measured result shows that limit-cycle oscillation is prevented and noise-shaping operation is maintained even when the input data is real zero. This D/A converter achieves the S/N+THD of 101 dB.


Objective. The authors sought to assess the otolaryngology residency training experiences in adult sleep medicine and sleep surgery in the United States. Study Design. Internet survey. Setting. US academic otolaryngology residency programs. Subjects and Methods. This Internet survey was emailed to the program directors of 103 US Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)–approved otolaryngology residency programs in 2010. Results. A total of 47 program directors responded, representing 46% of programs surveyed. In 59% of these programs, there was at least 1 faculty member with clinical practice dedicated to adult medicine. Most commonly, these clinicians spent less than 50% of their clinical time on adult sleep medicine. While most otolaryngology residents were reported being well trained in commonly performed procedures such as septoplasty and uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP), the training on hypopharyngeal or multilevel surgeries, such as partial glossectomy, tongue base resection, hyoid or tongue suspension, or geniotubercle advancement, was considered less frequent. The overall exposure to education regarding the interpretation of original data of laboratory-based sleep studies or portable home monitoring devices was infrequent. A significant portion of respondents indicated that they would like to expand their residents' exposure to adult sleep medicine and sleep surgery. Conclusion. This survey provides a starting point to further assess the rigor of sleep medicine/sleep surgery training in US residency programs. Continued assessment and strengthening of the current curriculum are crucial to keep residents up to date with this evolving field. This result calls attention to the importance of bolstering sleep medicine and surgery curriculum to meet the academic requirements of otolaryngology training.


This thesis describes the measurement of xenon diffusion coefficients in porous media via Pulsed Field Gradient (PFG) NMR spectroscopy. The thesis includes the characterization of a phase seperated polymer blend (PP/EPDM) in comparison to the pure components, the characterization of a number of commercially available semi-crystalline polymers and the characterization of a new microporous solid catalyst (silconimidonitride) with three different pore sizes by the diffusional behaviour of xenon in these materials. In addition to that a new theory is described which correlates the chemical shift of 129Xe NMR adsorption resonances with the corresponding xenon diffusion coefficients.


From March 2013 to September 2015, UNICEF and three partner organizations (Concern Worldwide, Mercy Corps, and Solidarités International), collaborated to deliver what was at the time the single-largest unconditional cash transfer programme for humanitarian response in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Funded primarily by UKaid from the United Kingdom government, UNICEF's Alternative Responses for Communities in Crisis (ARCC II) programme reached 23,480 displaced families, host families, and returning displaced families in eastern DRC. Based on an analysis of extensive quantitative and qualitative data collected by the ARCC partners, as well as additional qualitative data collection in the field, AIR and UNICEF used evaluation methods to investigate the effects of the ARCC II programme. The theory behind the ARCC approach is that conflict-affected families in the DRC confront a wide variety of needs depending on the specific events they have experienced, the geography of their place of refuge or return area, the use of adaptive coping mechanisms, and individual family circumstances. ARCC also believes that markets in eastern DRC have adapted to the ongoing crisis and are dynamic and responsive in providing communities access to basic needs. As such, flexible cash-based response can be an effective alternative to in-kind based humanitarian relief programming. The ARCC approach is based on the hypothesis that families who receive unconditional voucher and cash assistance will make purchases that will increase access to basic goods, services, and livelihood opportunities, ultimately enhancing their well-being and resilience. We find evidence to support this hypothesis. Using detailed analysis of participant families purchasing patterns, this paper shows that cash was used by recipients in line with ARCC II objectives. Furthermore, drawing from quasi-experimental methods, we show that ARCC has contributed significantly across the board to improvements in well-being, reductions in vulnerabilities and use of negative coping mechanisms, and ultimately to increased resiliency at the household level.


Teachers play a crucial role in the mathematical learning outcomes of their students. The quality of teachers' mathematical knowledge has been of interest to key stakeholders and several lines of inquiry have been running in an effort to better understand the kinds of knowledge that mathematics teachers need to acquire and use to drive their lessons. Despite a decade of research in this area, the interconnections amongst the various strands of knowledge required by mathematics teachers is still unclear. In this report we attempt to investigate this issue by focusing on procedural and conceptual knowledge utilised in the assessment responses of a cohort of prospective teachers.


: Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is a viral illness affecting principally cerebral white matter of patients, who have diminished immunologic resistance. A patient is presented, whose initial complaint was blurred vision. Relentless progression over a period of seven months to left hemianopsia, prosopagnosia, alexia with agraphia and eventually cortical blindness was observed. Accompanying the visual impairment was a steady deterioration of mental function. Sequential computerized axial tomography defined low density lesions in the occipital white matter with sparing of the cortical ribbon. As hemianopsia progressed to cortical blindness, the scans confirmed the evolution of bilaterial occipital lesions. The diagnosis was made clinically and established on histological and cultural grounds. Computerized tomography seems to be valuable in diagnosis and monitoring progress of PML.


The present master thesis deals with non-banking microfinance institutions and examines its abilities and role in the poverty alleviation process. It is more than necessary to pay attention to the rural sector and its development as any successful transition of the economy requires transition of the rural sector as well. In many transition economies people in the rural areas continue to live on the edge of poverty, engaged in subsistence agriculture and remain susceptible to wide range of shocks. In such countries rural population unlike urban one did not benefit to the same extend from transition and need special attention and supporting policy measures. Because of low penetration rate of microfinance institutions into rural areas, lacking or insufficient size of collateral, financial illiteracy many poor but active man face problems to obtaining finance for the development of new income opportunities. In this context the master thesis emphasizes the role of savings and credit associations, which unlike the commercial banks operate mainly in rural sector, have the most significant effect on poverty alleviation. Finally, the author analyses the activity of 3 non-banking microfinance institutions of the Republic of Moldova and uses publicly available data to calculate the outreach, efficiency and financial stability indicators.


The failure of titanium bone plates for oral and maxillo-facial surgery during usewas investigated. Microstructural examination of a titanium plate revealed the presence ofequiaxed a grains and intergranular platelets, which were identified as b phase. Fractographicexamination revealed that fracture happened by a transgranular cleavage mechanismassociated with secondary intergranular cracking (brittle fracture). Selective attack wasobserved to occur on the surfaces of the implant. These results indicated that the prematurefracture of the miniplate was caused by hydrogen embrittlement.


A new complex of silver monovalent ions with benzisothiazolinone was reported. This silver coordination polymer was characterized by FTIR, elemental analysis, 1H-NMR and 13C-{1H}-NMR). These measurements show that the bit anion in its silver complex behaves as μ-bridge linking two silver(I) ions as a bidentate ligand through the oxygen and nitrogen atoms. This coordinated polymer was showed non-melting ability, high decomposition and non-solubility in water in addition to all organic solvents except the hot DMSO solvent. Therefore, this polymeric complex had has a high porosity showing thereby that an overall H2 uptake of 5.5 mmol g−1 at 77 K and 10 bar. A new method for the synthesis of a mixture of three different morphological silver nano particles (AgNPs) is reported. The new method includes reduction of the newly prepared silver-benzisothiazolinone complex, [Ag(bit)]n (bit = benzisothiazolinone) with sodium borohydride without using stabilizing agent. The resulting silver nanoparticles Ag NPs were characterized by UV–vis spectra, powder XRD, zeta sizer, zeta potential and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that [Ag(bit)]n complex gives three different nano-sized structures spherical, wires and flakes. In order to isolate the larger proportion of the nanostructures, experiments were conducted to control the formation of one form of silver as flakes nanosilver or silver nanowires. The prepared silver nanoparticles were screened for their antibacterial activity against K. pneumonia, P. Aeruginosa, S. aureus and E. coli. Inhibition zone diameter IZD results of 2, 4 and 6 mM Ag NPs was found to be in the range of 7.0–8.4 mm for the selected bacteria.


Advancements in medical genetics have increased access to genetic diagnosis in clinical neurology and accompanying genetic counseling. However, its use has not yet spread and the frequency of general biochemistry inspection in medical treatment and by patients remains low. Many problems remain for doctors, though socio-cultural and other various causes exist. Thus, a network of care specialists for inherited and incurable neurological diseases has been established, consisting of multi-occupational categories in medical treatment, health, and welfare such as clinical inheritance specialists, psychiatrists, public health nurses, and medical social workers, to meet the rise in availability of such methods. Businesses in areas such as training, consultation, and field research have arisen. An educational campaign for neurologists who have taken a central role in treatment of inherited and incurable neurological diseases, and related information have been disseminated to those working in fields related to regional welfare of neurological medicine, and patients are now supported totally by team and regional counseling. These new developments in support systems for inherited and incurable neurological diseases, have steadily achieved the respective goals. We aim to promote its evolution to a more advanced network to promote the independence of individual patients in the future.


We propose both statistical and economic asset pricing tests that extend the well-known Gibbons, Ross, and Shanken (1989) test to allow for many assets whose dimensionality exceeds sample size. Empirically, we find that the tests reject six well-known asset pricing models at the stock level. In particular, the economic test provides a real time profitable trading strategy that exploits mispricing, and the mispricing patterns are similar across all the models. The significant profitability is unexplained by limits-to-arbitrage, prospect theory, and expectation extrapolation, suggesting that new factors are needed to better understand the cross section of stock returns.


Technology may not be a magic wand, but innovative technology programming can genuinely help children become adept at navigating our increasingly wired world while also helping them develop deductive reasoning, math, and other vital literacy skills. One of the simplest and most powerful tools for technology-based public library programming is called Scratch. It's a free, easy-to-use programming language that can be used to create everything from 3-D animation and graphics to music-enhanced presentations and games. This book * Explains how to use Scratch, and how it has already been used in libraries around the country to create technology workshops for youth * Guides readers through workshop planning, focusing on targeting youth ranging from teens to younger elementary students * Presents advocacy tools so that organizers can make the case to their insitution's managers, administrators, and other stakeholders * Provides reliable and field-tested techniques for time management, locating and training volunteers (teen and adult), and identifying and working with community partners * Includes workshop templates as well as sample participant evaluation checklists Storytimes for the digital age, technology-based workshops are important opportunities for supplementing and complementing education for all youth; this book fosters a different kind of thinking about what literacy in the 21st century really entails.


Following the challenges we face today, the inclusive business models are future business models through which the Millennium Development Goals can be fostered and strengthen. These are the models which, through their strategic orientation on inclusivity, include low income communities in their value chain. This can be done through combining variety of strategies which all have two common points – recognition of stakeholders and adjustment of the product to the target market. The paper presents the analysis of inclusive markets. Hence, the research results show the dispersion of inclusive businesses worldwide, type of the organization, sector coverage, and contribution to MDGs as well as the particular way of inclusion of low income communities in their value chain. The aim is to present how inclusive business benefits not only the low income societies, but the companies that operate in this way as well.


To meet the growing global demand for rare earth elements (REEs), nontraditional mining sources of these metals are being investigated. Phosphate ore and phosphate mining wastes have been identified as possible alternative sources to REEs. In this study, REEs were extracted from Florida phosphate mining materials using mineral and organic acids. The REEs were then recovered at high efficiencies using a chelating polymer, 1-octadecene, polymer with 2,5-furandione, sodium salt. At pH 1.5, the chelation polymer effectively bound nearly 100% of the rare earth elements extracted from the solids. Overall extraction and recovery yields were between 80% for gadolinium and 8% for praseodymium from amine tailings, between 70% for terbium and 7% for praseodymium from phosphogypsum, between 56% for scandium and 15% for praseodymium from phosphate rock, and between 77% for samarium and 31% for praseodymium from waste clay. These results suggest that this chelating polymer efficiently recovers rare earth elements from acidic extracts of phosphate mining waste products.


This letter investigates the impact of open-loop power control (OLPC) employed in uplink (UL) feedback channel on the multiuser downlink (DL) capacity. OLPC is used to reduce the capacity loss caused by the feedback outage. Assuming flat Rayleigh channels correlated between DL and UL, we provide probability distributions on the DL SNR that are successfully fed back through UL managed by OLPC. Numerical results are used to verify the accuracy of the analysis and to show the impact of relevant parameters of OLPC on the capacity as a function of DL-UL correlation.


In this work we studied different Schottky contacts to 4H-SiC with the aim to obtain Schottky Barrier diodes (SBDs) and Junction Barrier Schottky diodes (JBS) able to operate at high temperatures, frequencies and power densities with low power losses. Schottky contacts were fabricated using Mo and Mo/Al layers annealed up to 600 °C using a Rapid Thermal Process (RTP). A comparison with previous results obtained with Ni, Ti and Ti/Al layers annealed up to 400 °C is also proposed. The Schottky contacts were characterized by means of standard Current-Voltage (I-V) and Capacitance-Voltage (C-V) techniques. X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) analyses were performed in depth profile mode in order to study the structural evolution of the interface Mo/SiC and Al/Mo during annealing treatments. Mo/Al contacts show a lower barrier height and better overall performances in forward polarization when compared to the Ti- and Ni-based contacts, and they are very promising for Schottky contact fabrication on SBD and JBS.


This paper is an evaluation research of community level impact of a female empowerment program in Uganda. Purpose of the research was to "assess and evaluate the impact of the GPP [Girl Power Project] at the community level in communities served by schools where the GPP has been implemented...". GPP is a three-day workshop for 11-15 year old girls to learn leadership and life skills. The researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 139 community members from seven stakeholder groups across 17 communities. Groups were JLMC staff, Community Legal Volunteers (CLVs), Girl Power Advocates (GPAs), teachers, parents, and untrained others. The stakeholders observed increased confidence in their communities, increased communication and confidence to communicate between parents and children in their communities, increase in attendance and a decrease in dropout rates, increased gender equality, and an overall increased capacity in their communities to respond to violence against girls.


BACKGROUND
The endoscopic appearance of the duodenal folds can predict the presence of celiac disease. However, endoscopic alterations can be minimal and the disease can have a "patchy" distribution histopathologically. The observation that intestinal villi can be better visualized when the duodenum is filled with water led to the development of an endoscopic "immersion technique" to assess celiac disease.

METHODS
Endoscopy with duodenal biopsies was performed in 20 patients with malabsorption syndrome (positive for antiendomysial antibodies) and in 30 patients with reflux-like symptoms (negative for antiendomysial antibodies). Duodenal hypotonia was induced pharmacologically, water was introduced, and the mucosa was observed for the presence of villi. Photographs were obtained for subsequent analysis. The endoscopic appearance was classified from 1 (folds certainly present) to 4 ("scalloped valvulae"); villous structures were classified from 1 (definitely present) to 3 (definitely absent).

RESULTS
Celiac disease was confirmed histopathologically in all patients with positive antiendomysial antibodies. The endoscopic appearance of the duodenum with air insufflation alone had a positive predictive value for the diagnosis of celiac disease of 84% and a specificity of 87%. Visualization of villi with the "immersion technique" had a higher positive predictive value (99%) and specificity (99%).

CONCLUSIONS
A lack of visualization of intestinal villi in the descending duodenum with the "immersion technique" may increase the diagnostic accuracy of endoscopy for celiac disease. This technique could also be useful for targeting duodenal biopsies.


This thesis describes several approaches to the synthesis of novel iodonium salts. Firstly, attempts to synthesise a variety of novel alkynyl(aryl)iodonium salts (i-iii) is discussed. Most of these attempts were unsuccessful, however, useful information for future work was obtaine. The synthesis of iodonium salt (iii) was successful and this compound displayed some unusual reactivity.

Several alkynyl(phenyl)iodonium trifluoroacetates were synthesised directly from commercially available iodobenzene diacetate and terminal acetylenes precursors with a range of substitution patterns in one step in excellent yields. These species were converted into alkenyl(arylsulfonyl)iodonium tetrafluoroborates in excellent yields by stereoselective Michael-type addition of arylsulfinic acids under protic conditions.

Secondly, new reactivity of alkenyl(arylsulfonyl)iodonium tetrafluoroborates was investigated. Specially, the conversion of these selectively into aldehydes and vinyl chlorides using aqueous DMSO was achieved.

Thirdly, two examples of stable enynyl(phenyl)iodonium trifluoroacetates were synthesised in excellent yields. These were converted into a new range of dienyl(aryl)iodonium salts.

Finally, a computational study of alkynyl(aryl)iodonium salts was undertaken in an attempt to rationalise our experimental data on reactivity and stability.


Now there is no single approach to the planning of normative indicators of the foreign trade structure and the optimization of foreign economic operations, including marketing mix, which consider the priorities of socio-economic development of the territories acting as the global market agents. The work proposes an expanded method for using the Grubel-Lloyd and Horvath indices when assessing the level of inter-industry trade, which will determine the priority fields of international cooperation in the process of developing a foreign economic strategy both at the state level and for an individual company interested in expanding the geography of trade in the global market via finding new partners and using non-discriminating marketing methods.The article reveals the existing trends in foreign trade of Ukraine that predispose current economic policy and foster the initiation of a new exporting strategy. Namely, the volume of total external debt exceeded GDP in 2014–2016; although a significant reduction of this ratio has been observed since 2017 due to the GDP shortening. Unfavorable trends were supplemented by the negative total balance of trade in goods and services in 2014–2018, with redistributing geographical structure in favor of the EU instead of the CIS countries (however, the exports in services, measured by absolute income, exceeded imports). The Grubel-Lloyd and Horvath indices, calculated for the recent trade data, proved a high level of diversification of Ukraine's foreign economic activity, with significant intra-industry trade, but the scores of the Grubel-Lloyd index did not coincide by the geographical and commodity structure for the prevailing majority of countries. Nevertheless, new potential exporting destinations may be found, precisely because of the detected imbalances.


The emergent field of 'sensory urbanism' studies how socio-spatial boundaries are policed through sensorial means. Such studies have tended to focus on either formal policies that seek to control territories and populations through a governance of the senses, or on more everyday micro-politics of exclusion where conflicts are articulated in a sensory form. This article seeks to extend this work by concentrating on contexts where people deliberately seek out sensory experiences that disturb their own physical sense of comfort and belonging. While engagement across lines of sensorial difference may often be antagonistic, we argue for a more nuanced exploration of sense disruption that attends to the complex political potential of sensory urbanism. Specifically, we focus on the politics of sensation in tours of low-income urban areas. Tourists enter these areas to immerse themselves in a different environment, to be moved by urban deprivation and to feel its affective force. What embodied experiences do tourists and residents associate with urban poverty? How do guides mobilise these sensations in tourism encounters, and what is their potential to disrupt established hierarchies of socio-spatial value? Drawing on a collaborative research project in Kingston, Mexico City, New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro, the article explores how tours offer tourists a sense of what poverty feels like. Experiencing these neighbourhoods in an intimate, embodied fashion often allows tourists to feel empathy and solidarity, yet these feelings are balanced by a sense of discomfort and distance, reminding tourists in a visceral way that they do not belong.


We propose to exploit currently available tunnel ferromagnetic Josephson junctions to realize a hybrid superconducting qubit. We show that the characteristic hysteretic behavior of the ferromagnetic barrier provides an alternative and intrinsically digital tuning of the qubit frequency by means of magnetic field pulses. To illustrate functionalities and limitation of the device, we discuss the coupling to a read-out resonator and the effect of magnetic fluctuations. The possibility to use the qubit as a noise detector and its relevance to investigate the subtle interplay of magnetism and superconductivity is envisaged.


In recent years, the Internet architecture has been augmented so that Better-than-Best-Effort (BBE) services, in the form of reserved resources for specific flows, can be provided by the network. To date, this has been realized through two different and sequentially developed efforts. The first is known as Integrated Services and focuses on specific bounds on bandwidth and/or delay for specific flows. The Differentiated Service model was later introduced, which presented a more aggregated and local perspective regarding the forwarding of traffic. A direction that is missing in today's work on service models is a defined schema used to purposely degrade certain traffic to various levels below that of Best Effort. In a sense, a new direction that provides a balancing effect in the deployment of BBE service. This is particularly evident with continual and parallel short transaction flows (like that used for web applications) over low bandwidth links that are not subject to any backoff penalty incurred by congestion because state does not persist. In a more indirect perspective, our model correlates degraded service with the application of usage and security policies -- administrative decisions that can operate in tandem or disjointly from conditions of the network. This paper attempts to address these and other issues and presents the design and implementation of such a new degraded service model and queuing mechanism used to support it.


AbstractAdvanced materials generally require novel joining techniques. Developments in new materials research should be conducted hand in hand with work on weldability and joining capacity aspects. Sound joint quality for any new material has always been considered a milestone in a research and development scheme for a new material, particularly in terms of widespread applications. Better understanding of the microstructure–mechanical properties relationships of the bonded or welded joints will feed back to the materials development activities both in conventional and new materials areas. The two joining processes diffusion bonding and laser welding are considered in this literature review, since these processes are capable of joining a wide range of materials of interest in the aerospace industry, as well as in many other industrial applications, and offer remarkable advantages over conventional fusion welding processes. Of particular interest is the ability to join the more difficult aerospace alloys wi...


Ag submicrometer pyramidal islands with a (100) truncated top and four (111) sidewalls were successfully fabricated on Si(100) substrates at a deposition temperature of 500/spl deg/C. The magnetization reversal of 30 nm thick Fe films grown on Ag pyramidal islands was studied by magnetic force microscopy. The magnetization reversal of Fe films was first started at the sidewalls of pyramidal islands. Then, the formation and propagation of wall-like structures were observed under a higher external magnetic field, namely 95 Oe. The magnetic domain images indicated that the Fe films grown on the sidewalls of pyramidal islands and the strength of external field played important roles on the magnetization reversal of Fe films.


2.-E ye een inllprcsscd Iytl, rCcIcclt disc 1oiis onl the coriplications of t(iisillectomv, aidA the (lifficlllties and risks ol opol;til-o oil ollt-pationt ..iso thtose w-hio have patients %%,ho di-ea1(l the possibility oi' zi chanigin their voice after op atioii, ol hlave haen ophliic o0 otlherpatients w-ho are nit gao.I (o)po-ative risks. As a lletllo(l leadiniog ti the, ther-apeuitic ideil of a 1totwito dind 111teqro 1 -l-ray trcataeliit hasn;o vies ; it is siit ', aihihcs,ad rapi(t. Nonle 'of thos,e wh-)o hliave sCeii aftei a few tircatmeiats tthe tnsiils shinhikinlg, crv\Ipts opelling out, p)ius ilo loniger picseiit oni exp)ression, togetlher Ii-iti the strliiing ilnil)rov-enienit in appleaaicice and wvellh)ieig of tlhe patienit, could douibt that we lhave lhere a nit.ble thierapeutic advanice. 1 iniav nate thalt I have, not founlld necessarvy tlle ather hliage x-ray doses adlvised by soimie Amerlecan %Vriters oni the subject; I believe, on1 thiC coitrary, th1at lar1ge doses ale coitfiaiid(licated. I hlave foundi(l in youniig clhildr-eni someti1mcs thlat do!seS of eveni l. H (skini pastille) repeated wNeekly ol' at loInger initervals forfourii tiies stuffice for a n10ost remarkable local and genieral i mp)rovement. In adults I hlave n1ot trivenx doses larger tihaii 4 H (= 50 pcicenit. or less of the ery!tliemi1a dose) wi-ithi 4 mm1111. Al. filter. Radiumi also can be emnployed, as by Beirveni in StocklholImi: if the b,eta r'ays ar-e used in anivy large propor)ltion there miiay be a painiful local r1eactioin. To uise x l-ays appears to me to he a siinp)ler iethod, and(I ill e'Very way1I satisfactory. hicoml1plete results are on1ly likely to be foun1(d -in adtilts wtit hiard fibrous glands; if a fe-w a trIatets lead to nio sa isfactory respiOnse, suctioin, (diathierinv, o oliciatioli methods shiouil(I be resor-ted to.-JI ami, etc.,


Purpose: The paper examines two perspectives of shopping hours regulations, the theoretical background, and experiences from selected European countries. Particular focus is on the Sunday trading ban that took effect in Poland in 2018. It was implemented gradually over three years. However, determining the impact of the introduction of the restriction on the economy is a tough challenge, both for science and the business community. This is mainly due to dynamic economic challenges, innovations implemented in retailing, which significantly change the way services are delivered. The paper aims to provide an overview of international experience, which may help understand the possible impact of Sunday trading regulations. The theoretical discussion and international empirical evidence show that the dynamics involved in changing Sunday trading rules can work in different directions. Design/Methodology/Approach: The paper presents international experiences of shopping hours regulations and focuses on the Polish market's case study. Findings: The analysis showed that regulations on opening hours and Sunday trading ban on the economy and retail sector are mixed and uncertain. In Poland, the effects of the Sunday trading ban are not possible due to the consequences of the COVID pandemic (20202021) and additional restrictions in economic activity that were introduced. Practical Implications: Two years after introducing restrictions on Sunday trade in Poland, structural and qualitative changes in retailing are observed. The author argues that these changes will result from the COVID pandemic and the implications of innovative retail processes are to be expected soon. They will be mainly targeted at the use of online commerce, the development of unattended sales forms, and possibly reducing the importance of large-scale retail outlets. Originality/Value: The author points out that the relationship between these regulations and innovations in trade should be added to the traditional approach to the analysis of trade working hours regulation. In this sense, the article has the value of a new, original analysis..


Access to pre-trained models has recently emerged as a standard across numerous machine learning domains. Unfortunately, access to the original data the models were trained on may not equally be granted. This makes it tremendously challenging to fine-tune, compress models, adapt continually, or to do any other type of data-driven update. We posit that original data access may however not be required. Specifically, we propose Contrastive Abductive Knowledge Extraction (CAKE), a model-agnostic knowledge distillation procedure that mimics deep classifiers without access to the original data. To this end, CAKE generates pairs of noisy synthetic samples and diffuses them contrastively toward a model's decision boundary. We empirically corroborate CAKE's effectiveness using several benchmark datasets and various architectural choices, paving the way for broad application.


Background The concept of gingivoperiosteoplasty (GPP) in the mixed dentition stage as compared with secondary alveolar bone grafting (ABG) in management of alveolar cleft has not been much discussed upon. The authors present the experience with extensive GPP and ABG in the mixed dentition stage in complete bilateral alveolar cleft cases. Methods A retrospective review of nonsyndromic patients with complete bilateral alveolar cleft operated on with either GPP or ABG (iliac crest) in the mixed dentition stage with at least 1-year follow-up was performed. Dental occlusal radiographs were evaluated for level of bone gain using Bergland and Witherow scales. Statistical evaluation of clinical success and procedure-related complications was conducted using χ2 test and odds ratio. Results Twenty-four patients in the GPP group and 20 in the ABG group were comparatively studied. Clinical success rate as indicated by Bergland scales I and II (87.5% in GPP vs 82.5% in ABG; P = 0.731), complication rate (20.83% in GPP vs 30% in ABG; P = 0.484), and status of canine eruption showed no significant differences in clinical outcomes in both groups. Conclusions The technique of extensive GPP as described by authors shows equal efficacy to secondary ABG for management of bilateral alveolar clefts during the mixed dentition period.


ABSTRACT This article presents Bourdieu's theory of practice as a tool for exploring school students' technology practice in empirical research. The authors provide educational technology researchers with an accessible introduction to the theory of practice. They then detail the conceptual, methodological and analytic application of the theory of practice in two educational technology studies. The application of the theory in the two studies highlights the potential of the sociological framing for informing a robust critical research agenda and understanding the circumstances that can contribute to digital inequalities. Practically, knowledge gained through theoretically informed research is critical for researchers, governments, schools and teachers in working to overcome digital inequalities.


This paper deals with a supercapacitor (SC) onboard model and its online identification procedure for embedded applications. To take into account its nonlinear behavior, the strategy used in this paper consists, as the first step, in the application of the porous electrode theory to the SC and the approximation of the resulting model. A set of fractional linear systems which are represented by a differential equation involving fractional derivatives is then obtained. Each element of this set represents the behavior of the SC only around one operating voltage. A global nonlinear model is then deduced through an integration method. An online identification procedure has been developed for this nonlinear model. This time identification is based on the mean least square method. Its time behavior has been compared with that of an SC cell for a specific current profile with different levels.


ABSTRACT To improve the informationization and intelligence of the energy Internet industry and enhance the capability of knowledge services, it is necessary to organize the energy Internet body of knowledge from existing knowledge resources of the State Grid, which have the characteristics of large scale, multiple sources, and heterogeneity. At the same time, the business fields of State Grid cover a wide range. There are many sub-fields under each business field, and the relationship between fields is diverse and complex. The key to establishing the energy Internet body of knowledge is how to fuse the heterogeneous knowledge resources from multiple sources, extract the knowledge contents from them, and organize the different relationships. This paper considers transforming the original knowledge resources of State Grid into a unified and well-organized knowledge system described in OWL language to meet the requirements of heterogeneous resource integration, multi-source resource organization, and knowledge service provision. For the State Grid knowledge resources mainly in XML format, this paper proposes a Knowledge Automatic Fusion and Organization idea and method based on XSD Directed Graph. According to the method, the XML corresponding XSD documents are transformed into a directed graph in the first stage during which the graph neural network detects hidden knowledge inside the structure to add semantic information to the graph. In the second stage, for other structured knowledge resources (e.g., databases, spreadsheets), the knowledge contents and the relationships are analyzed manually to establish the mappings from structured resources to graph structures, using which the original knowledge resources are transformed into graph structures, and merged with the directed graphs obtained in the first stage to achieve the fusion of heterogeneous knowledge resources. And expert knowledge is introduced for heterogeneous knowledge fusion to further extend the directed graph. And in the third stage, the expanded directed graph is converted to the body of knowledge in the form of OWL. This paper takes the knowledge resources in the field of human resources of the State Grid as an example, to establish the ontology of the human resources training field in a unified manner, initially demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed method.


This paper aims to enhance the handover performance  in the heterogeneous networks (HetNet)by reducing the need to make handover under the specified conditions and also reducing the handover failure, thisstudy  divided the target cell for ten assumed  circular zones, where zones start  with radius Rh=R/10 from center of target cell, then the next zone is increased by R/10, then the simulation is carried out for each assumed zone using selective values of TTT (160,480 and 640 ms) in order to determine the  best circular zone of more handover events (zone of handover) in the coverage area for  the target cell and other zone for no handover events (zone of no handover). The paper found that the most practically suitable zone for more handover events was the zone which its radius represents 86.6% of the radius of the coverage area for the target cell. Whereas, the remained zone (the zone between the zone of handover and the edge of target cell is considered a zone for no handover events. Also, the angle of chord (Ѳ) for the   expected zone of handover events from the horizontal axis is 60˚, i.e. if the UE moves by certain velocity and with a moving angle less than or equal to 60˚, then it  will have  a large probability to make handover events after satisfying  the other handover conditions. Otherwise, its probability to make handover events is very low. The paper extracted that after determining more suitable handover zone and implementing the different fixed and chosen values of TTT, then a remarkable enhancement occurred in the handover performance and it was obvious   at high speed of travelling for the user.


Exhibition is a natural and intrinsic human behaviour for communication; with the coming of the information society and the experience economy, exhibition design has been considered as an effective tool to achieve the target of cultural engagement and economic benefit. This thesis aims to investigate the relationship among exhibition design factors (EDFs), audience experience factors (AEFs) and behaviour data (BD). It uses mixed method to obtain and analyze multi-data, finding and establishing a framework of designing an enjoyable exhibition (FDEE) (Chapter 5).

The thesis discusses human-exhibition interaction (HEI) as an integrated conceptual framework for designing exhibitions, with a systematic literature review based on grounded theory (Chapter 2). There have been 59 EDFs, 18 AEFs, and 14 BD that were explored (Chapter 3). It moves the attention from the interaction among three stakeholders (clients, designers, and audiences) and exhibitions, to the embedded data with EDFs, AEFs, and BD. Quantitative analysis method and exploratory study were refined using analytic software such as NVivo-11, EndNote X8, and a total of 1467 documents are extracted from EDFs while 270 focusing on the AEFs, and these established an interactive and dynamic relationship among EDFs, AEFs, and BD. The results show only few concerns for the study of designing exhibitions in academic publications, and a trend toward human-exhibition interaction (HEI) in the field of exhibition design can be seen, at the both concept and application level.

Experiment 1a and 1b were conducted to identify the EDFs and AEFs perceived by audiences, through a 16 days' field study with an invitation letter from Expo Milano 2015. Over 500 participants from 10 national pavilions took part in the survey. Then it investigated the EDFs and AEFs used by exhibition designers and perceived by clients like governments and enterprises (Chapter 4) with semi-structured interview.

To explore behaviour data, this thesis conducted a field study by using the timing and tracking approach including eye-tracking system, wearable device, and questionnaire, which confirms the interactive relationship among EDFs, AEFs, BD, and EE supported with the quantitative analysis (Chapter 6). The behavioural data were collected and analyzed by using the software ErgoLAB v.2.2, Tobii Pro Lab Analyzer Edition v.1.49, and IBM SPSS Statistics v.22.

This thesis discusses the relationship among EDFs, AEFs and BD, primarily a performance way of transforming audience experience by designing an enjoyable exhibition based on the framework of HEI, and thus improving exhibition designers' and/or clients' better design decision-making (Chapter 7). In conclusion (Chapter 7), contributions to knowledge and future directions of research are highlighted.


Glycosylation is a common protein modification with a significant role in many vital cellular processes and human diseases, making the characterization of protein-attached glycan structures important for understanding cell biology and disease processes. Direct analysis of protein N-glycosylation by tandem mass spectrometry of glycopeptides promises site-specific elucidation of N-glycan microheterogeneity, something that detached N-glycan and deglycosylated peptide analyses cannot provide. However, successful implementation of direct N-glycopeptide analysis by tandem mass spectrometry remains a challenge. In this work, we consider algorithmic techniques for the analysis of LC-MS/MS data acquired from glycopeptide-enriched fractions of enzymatic digests of purified proteins. We implement a computational strategy that takes advantage of the properties of CID fragmentation spectra of N-glycopeptides, matching the MS/MS spectra to peptide-glycan pairs from protein sequences and glycan structure databases. Significantly, we also propose a novel false discovery rate estimation technique to estimate and manage the number of false identifications. We use a human glycoprotein standard, haptoglobin, digested with trypsin and GluC, enriched for glycopeptides using HILIC chromatography, and analyzed by LC-MS/MS to demonstrate our algorithmic strategy and evaluate its performance. Our software, GlycoPeptideSearch (GPS), assigned glycopeptide identifications to 246 of the spectra at a false discovery rate of 5.58%, identifying 42 distinct haptoglobin peptide-glycan pairs at each of the four haptoglobin N-linked glycosylation sites. We further demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach by analyzing plasma-derived haptoglobin, identifying 136 N-linked glycopeptide spectra at a false discovery rate of 0.4%, representing 15 distinct glycopeptides on at least three of the four N-linked glycosylation sites. The software, GlycoPeptideSearch, is available for download from http://edwardslab.bmcb.georgetown.edu/GPS .


ABSTRACT The Upper Devonian, Frasnian, of Alberta contains a large number of carbonate complexes bounded by shale. Both the argillaceous and the carbonate facies are exposed in the Rocky Mountains, where they are assigned to the Fairholme Group. This study is concerned with a detailed stratigraphic and paleoecological examination of the carbonate facies of a portion of the Southesk-Cairn complex, in an attempt to document the complex's depositional history. The "Big Hill" section, located on the Banff-Jasper highway (No. 93), 20 mi northwest of Saskatchewan River Crossing, was chosen as a site for field study. Interpretations of depositional environment are based on detailed field and laboratory studies supplemented by the application of an established paleoecological model. The Cairn biostrome was deposited in shallowing water over a locally elevated area. The biostrome is characterized by alternating barren and fossiliferous bedded units. This factor coupled with lateral faunal variation suggests the development of shallow-water banks or patch reefs with deeper interbank, or reef, quiet-water areas. The Southesk Formation is divided into four members, each of which has a distinct depositional history. The lowermost Peechee Member represents further shallowing over the carbonate platform, and is interpreted as a carbonate-bank deposit displaying subtidal, intertidal and supratidal facies. The overlying Grotto Member marks a subsidence of the platform (or rise in sea-level?), as evidenced by the development of quiet-water disphyllid coral banks around the periphery of the complex. Subsequent shallowing took place over the complex, at which time the Arcs and Ronde Members were deposited. The shallowing continued until subareal exposure terminated Fairholme Group deposition, in Late Frasnian time. The Fairholme Group, at the "Big Hill," is completely dolomitized. Petrographic studies of the dolomite showed that there is no apparent relationship between the size of dolomite crystals and the postulated grain size of the original limestones. It is demonstrated that dolomite crystallinity appears to be related to the per cent, by weight, of insoluble residue.


ABSTRACT Globally, transgender people have been described as a highly marginalised population due to cisgenderism that delegitimises their gender identities and expressions. Despite robust evidence from many countries noting the association of discrimination and stigma for being transgender with heightened mental health risks, qualitative research that examines the nuances of mental health indicators using health equity frameworks has been scant both in Aotearoa/New Zealand and overseas. Using an inductive thematic approach, this paper analysed 222 open-text responses in the mental health section of the 2018 Counting Ourselves: Aotearoa New Zealand, Trans and Non-binary Health Survey. Our findings showed four overarching themes: gender-affirming healthcare, mental healthcare services and accessibility, gender minority stress, and self-affirmation and social support. Participants' narratives described pervasive gender minority stress experiences in gender-affirming and mental healthcare services, including unmet healthcare needs, lack of competency in healthcare delivery, and pathologisation of their genders. In social settings, our participants commonly reported discrimination and violence, although they also reported that self-affirmation strategies and social support offset the impacts of gender minority stress on their mental health. The current findings indicate the importance of exploring mental health outcomes for transgender people in relation to cisgenderism and resultant gender minority stress.


The purpose of this study was to find how the effects of coconut water plus atonic on tomato plant growth. The study was conducted from October to November 2019 at the Laboratory of Botany, Department of Biology FMIPA University of Lampung. The study was conducted in a 2x3 factorial experiment with a completely randomized design. Factor A is young coconut water with 3 levels of concentration i.e. 0% v/v, 25% v/v, and 50% v/v. Factor B is atonic with 2 concentration levels, namely 0% v/v and 10% v/v. As variables are high, fresh weight, dry weight, relative water content, and chlorophyll content of plants. Levene Test, Variance Analysis is carried out at a 5% significance level. Main effects and simple effects were analyzed by the Tukey test at 5% significance level. The results showed that the interaction between coconut water and atonic had a negative effect on the growth of tomato plants. The results of the study concluded that coconut water combine with atonic can not improve tomato plant growth.


In the 1970s the Canadian government took a strong stand against apartheid sport policies. Despite Canada!s limited sporting links with South Africa, Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau and his Liberal government took on a leading Commonwealth position in promoting the isolation of South African sport. The catalyst for this leadership was Canada as host of two "mega! sporting events during the 1970s the 1976 Montréal Olympics and the 1978 Edmonton Commonwealth Games. This thesis focuses on the progression and adoption of new policies and initiatives which looked to strengthen Canada!s foreign policies dealing with apartheid sport while promoting these initiatives within the Commonwealth. Canada, a senior member of the association, had proved itself to be a key ally of newly independent Commonwealth nations throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s. These nations looked to Canada for guidance. Along with taking on a stronger Commonwealth position during the Trudeau era, Canada also looked to increase its international presence by focusing less on its traditional ties with the United States and more on forging relationships with a variety of newer nations. As Canada looked outside its borders to assert itself, within the country regionalism was on the rise with the advent of Québec separatism. All these factors played a major role in the development of Canadian foreign policy during the 1970s. This thesis focuses on the balance between internal and external pressures for change and how changes unfolded in light of Canada holding two mega sporting events in quick progression. From 1968 to 1980, Trudeau dominated Canadian politics. An engaging figure, he came to power promoting his notion of a "Just Society! and looking to expand Canada!s international prestige. Newly opened archives of the External Affairs Department at the Library and Archives Canada show that Trudeau played a key role in the development of Canada!s new policies, especially during the period of 1975 to 1978. The wide range of primary sources consulted, many recently opened through Access to Information and Privacy requests, alongside a variety of sources from voluntary associations, analysed in this thesis provide a fulsome, chronological narrative of how Canada moved to the forefront of the Commonwealth and the association!s movement to isolate South African apartheid sport.


As the Asian economies have grown larger and become more complex, they have also be-come more integrated at both the regional and the subregional level. Yet although economic integration has increased, regionalism in the sense of economic cooperation at both the pan-Asian and subregional levels has lagged behind. Regionalism or economic cooperation in terms of bilateral or multilateral FTAs is a relatively new phenomenon, but one that has in-creased rapidly in recent years. However, the progress of Asian regionalism faces several challenges. Also, the increasing number of FTAs could lead to a "spaghetti-bowl effect" and reduce trade volume instead of increasing it. In addition to resolving the existing challenges, actors in the region need to convert some of the existing FTAs into a broader one that can serve as a hub for further integration. Given the potential economic gains and future economic dynamism of the region, this paper suggests the pursuit of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership in East Asia (CEPEA) rather than the East Asia Free Trade Area (EAFTA).


Shaw and Chance have recently demonstrated that Kunitz pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (KPTI) blocks the increased conversion of labeled glucose to carbon dioxide and fatty acids in normal adipose tissue of rats in the presence of porcine proinsulin. The experiments reported here were designed to observe the antilipolytic effect of insulin and porcine proinsulin on lipolysis induced by epinephrine and glucagon in isolated fat cells and intact fat pads from rats, both in the presence and absence of KPTI and soybean trypsin inhibitor. It was found that both insulin and proinsulin are potent inhibitors of lipolysis induced by DL-arterenol and by glucagon. Neither KPTI nor soybean trypsin inhibitor blocked the antilipolytic effect of insulin or proinsulin when lipolysis was stimulated by DL-arterenol or by glucagon. The failure of KPTI to inhibit the antilipolytic effect of proinsulin on isolated fat cells may have been caused by inactivation of KPTI by collagenase used in preparation of the isolated fat cells. To test this hypothesis experiments were performed using intact fat pads. As with the isolated fat cells, KPTI did not inhibit the antilipolytic effect of insulin or proinsulin. These observations indicate that, in isolated fat cells and intact fat pads of the rat, proinsulin itself is an effective antilipolytic agent.


The trailing edge of the high pressure turbine blade and vane presents significant challenges to the turbine cooling engineer. The cooling design using cross corrugated slots allows for tuneable coolant flow through the slot, but results in poor film cooling performance, an effect that must be mitigated with exit shaping. A set of four cross corrugated slot geometries with optimised exit shaping has been investigated in a large scale model of the trailing edge slot. Pressure sensitive paint was used to measure adiabatic film cooling effectiveness at blowing ratios ranging from 0.6 to 1.4. The new optimised designs were able to improve upon previous designs, permitting levels of film effectiveness on the cutback surface up to the end of the lands that were significantly better than a plain rectangular slot at blowing ratios of 0.8 and below, while maintaining the pressure loss benefits of the cross corrugated slot and also increasing effectiveness next to the lands.


The multiferroic nature of GaFeO3 has been examined by 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy in applied magnetic field. The spectra were analyzed as superposition of three subspectra corresponding to Fe3+ ions on Fe1, Fe2, and Ga2 sites. The quadrupole coupling constants e2qQ/2 are about twice of the calculated values, which may be partially due to the spin-orbit interaction. At 4.2 K, e2qQ/2 of Fe1 and Fe2 sites increase noticeably when the magnetic field is applied along the c-axis. This is suggestive of the displacement of Fe ions toward -b direction. On the other hand, the increase of e2qQ/2 is not observed when the magnetic field is applied along the b-axis. These features seem to be related to the toroidal moment. An increase of hyperfine field of Fe1 site is observed when the magnetic field is applied. This may be also related to spin-orbit interaction.


The methodology proposed in the paper applies artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to the modeling and control of some climate variables within a greenhouse. The nonlinear physical phenomena governing the dynamics of temperature and humidity in such systems are, in fact, difficult to model and control using traditional techniques. The paper proposes a framework for the development of soft computing-based controllers in modern greenhouses.


Service robots should be able to interact naturally with non-expert human users, not only to help them in various tasks but also to receive guidance in order to resolve ambiguities that might be present in the instruction. We consider the task of visual grounding, where the agent segments an object from a crowded scene given a natural language description. Modern holistic approaches to visual grounding usually ignore language structure and struggle to cover generic domains, therefore relying heavily on large datasets. Additionally, their transfer performance in RGB-D datasets suffers due to high visual discrepancy between the benchmark and the target domains. Modular approaches marry learning with domain modeling and exploit the compositional nature of language to decouple visual representation from language parsing, but either rely on external parsers or are trained in an end-to-end fashion due to the lack of strong supervision. In this work, we seek to tackle these limitations by introducing a fully decoupled modular framework for compositional visual grounding of entities, attributes, and spatial relations. We exploit rich scene graph annotations generated in a synthetic domain and train each module independently. Our approach is evaluated both in simulation and in two real RGB-D scene datasets. Experimental results show that the decoupled nature of our framework allows for easy integration with domain adaptation approaches for Sim-To-Real visual recognition, offering a data-efficient, robust, and interpretable solution to visual grounding in robotic applications.


The article is devoted to the problem of self-organization of activity and psychological factors of success of educational activities of graduate students. The concept of "self-organization", actively discussed in Russian science, does not have an exact equivalent in English-language publications. From the point of view of proceduralism, self-organization is an independent step-by-step construction by a person of the structure of his features, motives and ideals. Self-organization has two aspects: the construction of an "I-image" or self-esteem — an internal aspect, and the organization of one's activity or its success — an external aspect. In the works of S.N. Kostromina, S.I. Rozum, N.A. Loginova, as well as in our previous works, showed that the integrity of the structure of personal qualities ("I-image") determines the success of an activity. At the same time, the structure of personality traits changes in the process of performing activities (abilities are formed, self-esteem changes, etc.). This study is devoted to the external aspect of self-organization, which we call "self-organization of activity", and its relationship with personality traits. The purpose of the study is to describe the model of self-organization of graduate students. The task of the study was to build a network model of the relationship between the characteristics of students' activities and their personality traits and values. The graph method or the network modeling method was used as a tool. The sample consisted of 44 graduate students (mean age 20.6 ± 2.6 years, m-19, f-25). At the first stage a correlation analysis of the relationship between the characteristics of the activity and the personality traits of the subjects was carried out. At the second stage a model of self-organization of students ' activities was built with the help of the program "Gephi 0.9.2". As a result, it was found that such characteristics of activity as flexibility (correction), purposefulness (goal setting), planning and self-control are most deeply integrated into the structure of personality traits. Personality features are manifested in these characteristics of activity, forming complexes of features or stable combinations around them. In this case, the connecting link of the entire model is such features as risk avoidance, sociability and self-control of behavior. The ability to plan and self-monitor the implementation of activities, developed in this group of subjects, is aimed at achieving such value as recognition of the success of the people around them. Orientation to the creative approach is manifested in the adjustment of the activity, but it prevents the adequate analysis of the conditions of the activity. In addition, the identified complexes of features are associated with a particular area of the individual. When planning activities, subjects are guided by relations with the closest environment, while in self-control of activities they based on high demands and their own prudence. Flexibility of activity is connected with domination in society and adaptation to new situations, while goal-setting - with self-confidence. In conclusion we must say that the described model of self-organization of activities ensures the successful implementation of students ' learning activities. It is proposed to conduct training sessions with students in order to form additional motivational attitudes of students' activities and the development of qualities necessary for the organization of activities.


Jason Solomon's very interesting article Judging Plaintiffs argues that neither efficient-deterrence theories nor corrective justice theories adequately explain the existence of rules that bar or limit recovery by a tort victim on the ground that she failed to take certain pre-tort steps to protect herself from harm, or failed to take certain post-tort steps in response to the harm. The vitality of these "judging plaintiffs" doctrines, he maintains, attests to the superiority of an alternative theory of tort known as civil recourse theory. According to Solomon, recourse theory treats tort law as one component of a liberal political order and thus explains these doctrines in terms of a liberal principle calling for state nonintervention where it was or is unnecessary. In this comment, I situate Judging Plaintiffs within current tort theory debates, describe briefly its major claims, and discuss some of the doctrinal and theoretical strengths and weaknesses of the position it stakes out.


Aim: Nowadays there is an increasing attention to the recovery of people with severe mental disorders. Consequently, there is a growing literature mainly focused on the description of excellence paths with particular attention to the organizational aspects of the service. Less investigation has been carried out about specific interventions to foster all the abilities that are essential to improve the living conditions. The aim of this paper is twofold: 1) to describe an innovative and salutogenetic approach called "Group Psycho-educational Intervention for the Attainment of Objectives, Inte.G.R.O." conceived to facilitate recovery by improving functioning; 2) to evaluate the impact of this approach after a year of "active intervention". Methods: We used a pre-post assessment design-study in 25 subjects diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or personality disorder according to DSM-IV-TR criteria. We used the Personal and Social Performance Scale (PSP) to evaluate functioning, the primary outcome. The secondary outcome measures were assessed by means of the Tower of London (ToL), the Stress-Scale, the Modified Five-Point Test for cognitive flexibility (M-FPT), the APEN/G and APEP/G scales for perceived self-efficacy, the Integrative Hope Scale (IHS), and ad hoc questionnaire of knowledge about Definition of Objectives, Communication Skills and Problem-Solving. The clinical assessment was performed by the Brief Psychyatric Rating Scale (BPRS), while we used the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS). Results: Significant improvements were found in the following variables: PSP (p<0.01); BPRS total score (p<0.05); RBANS total score (p<0.05); Execution Time (p<0.05) and Total Time (p<0.05) subscores of ToL; Stress-Scale (p<0.05); ad hoc questionnaire of knowledge about Definition of Objectives, Communication Skills and Problem-Solving (p<0.01). Conclusions: The observed data confirm the effectiveness of this innovative approach, above all on Personal and Social Functioning, stress management, cognitive flexibility and problem solving that are key variables for Personal Recovery.


A new technique for transmission electron microscopy and atom probe tomography of nanocrystalline materials is developed based on field ion microscopy (FIM). The computed field ion image tomography (cFIIT) uses stacked field ion micrographs to reconstruct volumes 102 to 103 times larger than those from tomographic atom probe. This method also makes it possible to create "virtual" FIM images in order to visualise nanoscopic microstructures and provides orientation information to obtain the distances between grain boundary precipitates


Niridazole was administered by gavage to 5-week-old chickens at dosage levels of 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg of body weight. The 2 larger dosage levels were toxic and resulted in the death of many of the recipients. The 50 mg/kg dosage level was not lethal, but depressed weight gain. Cellular immune functions were measured by responses of lymphocytes in whole blood to T-cell mitogens and by delayed hypersensitivity reactions to tuberculin. Blastogenic responses to phytohemagglutinin and concanavalin A were reduced in niridazole-treated chickens with responses of controls. Wattle tests measuring delayed hypersensitivity were positive only in control chickens; reactions in niridazole-treated chickens did not differ from nonimmunized controls.


Abstract:When young people took to the streets on 24 March 2018 as part of March for Our Lives (MFOL), they leveraged narratives of age and generation to inspire others to take action on preventing gun violence incidences across the United States. Despite the political precarity associated with their ages, student-activists claimed public space and voice as more than the victims of the so-called "mass shooting generation." This article explores how narratives of age and generation shape their political legibility and authority in the MFOL movement. Based on analyses of Parkland student speeches and reflections and MFOL protest signs, I consider the paradoxical manner in which youth-activists play with notions of age in order to mark themselves as essential political actors and vulnerable not-yet subjects in need of protection. It is my contention that MFOL illustrates the liminal borders of youth political (in)visibility and the transformative possibilities of age-based politics for youth-activists.


Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is utilized to simplfy the deployment and management of constantly evolving and highly complex networking services. In this paper, we propose a dynamic load management framework for IMS networks using NFV, where IMS functions are created within a single virtual machine (VM) instance and moved to the cloud environment. Requests coming from the IMS clients are first processed by a Load Balancer module to efficiently distribute the incoming load over a pool of IMS VMs. The decision of switching an IMS VM instance on or off is performed by the VM provisioning service using the resource utilization information periodically received from the IMS VMs. The proof-of-concept experiments using a realistic testbed demonstrate that the proposed framework increases the scalability of the IMS networks when there are sudden significant increases in traffic.


Background

Clinical laboratory services are a critical component of the health system for effective disease diagnosis, treatment, control and prevention. However, many laboratories in Sub Saharan Africa remain dysfunctional. The high costs of tests in the private sector also remain a hindrance to accessing testing services. This study aimed at assessing the functionality of laboratories based on test menus and the associated constraints in Uganda.
Methods

This cross sectional quantitative study involved an assessment of 100 laboratories randomly selected in 20 districts from four regions of the country. Sixteen percent of the studied laboratories were regional hub laboratories. Laboratory in charges and managers in each of the selected laboratories were interviewed. A checklist for laboratory supplies adapted from the Essential Medicines and Health supplies list for Uganda, (2012) was used to assess availability of testing supplies. Data was analyzed using excel and STATA 14.
Results

At the point of assessment, generally, all laboratories were able to perform malaria tests and HIV tests. All the hub laboratories conducted malaria tests and TB screening. Less than half had electrolytes tests due to lack of equipment, nonfunctioning equipment and lack of reagents. Full blood count tests were missing in 25% of the hub laboratories mainly due to lack of equipment. The lack of reagents (66.7%) and the lack of equipment (58.3%) caused the majority 10/16 of the hubs to routinely referred specimens for tests that are supposed to be carried out in these laboratories due to lack of reagents (66.7%) and non-functional equipment (58.3%). Although officially recognized as an operational structure, Hub laboratories lacked a list of essential and vital supplies.
Conclusions

Most laboratories performed well for the common tests. However, many laboratories did not meet testing requirements especially for the advanced tests according to standard testing menus for Uganda due to non-functioning equipment, lack of equipment and reagents. Hubs lack list of essential supplies. Therefore, there is need to provide equipment to laboratories, repair the non-functional ones and develop an essential list of supplies for the hub laboratories.


Prediction of serious postoperative complications by using standard anthropometric and biochemical nutritional variables was attempted in 225 patients admitted for major abdominal surgery. In 102 of the patients handgrip dynamometry was also measured, and this proved the most sensitive test, predicting complications in 48 of the 55 patients (87%) who developed them (p <0 001). Arm muscle circumference and forearm muscle circumference below 85% of the standard value were also of predictive value (p <0 02 and p <0 01 respectively); weight for height and serum albumin concentrations were less satisfactory, while weight loss of more than 10% was not significantly related to complications. Dynamometry is a useful, rapid, and inexpensive screening test for detecting malnutrition that is likely to predispose to serious postoperative morbidity.


In this paper, we demonstrate the concept of simultaneous controlling of the phase and the polarization handedness of a circularly polarized (CP) incident beam over an array of bilayer double split-loop resonators (DSLRs). The physical parameters are optimized by means of the finite-difference time-domain method in such a way that each unit-cell exhibits the half-wave-plate response. By simply rotating the unit-cell, the phase shift of the transmitted cross polarized beam can be controlled in the range of 0−2π without any restrictions. This plasmonic metasurface provides optimal cross polarization transmission efficiency (>70%) at 1.55 μm wavelength. An array of DSLRs with helicity dependency and spatially varying phase response offers the possibility of designing anomalous bending and bifunctional (convergence/divergence) metasurfaces in which the bending direction and convergence/divergence feature can be directly controlled by the handedness of the impinging CP wave. Furthermore, a metalens with the capability of converting a CP Gaussian beam into a uniform irradiance profile (flat-top beam) is designed, and the performance of structure is evaluated in detail. All the designs are composed of the same DSLR elements with space-variant orientations.


Fault Rheology and Earthquake Dynamics Convener:*Kiyokazu Oohashi(Graduate School of Science, Chiba University), Takeshi Iinuma(International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University), Wataru Tanikawa(Japan Agency for MarineEarth Science and Technology, Kochi Instutute for Core Sample Research), Yuta Mitsui(Department of Geosciences, Graduate School of Science, Shizuoka University), Chair:Kiyokazu Oohashi(Graduate School of Science, Chiba University), Yuta Mitsui(Department of Geosciences, Graduate School of Science, Shizuoka University) Thu. May 1, 2014 9:00 AM 10:45 AM 315 (3F) Interdisciplinary discussions on the rheology of seismogenic faults and earthquake generation processes among the following specialists; (1) fault rocks and fault zones, (2) theoretical and numerical studies on earthquake dynamics, and (3) seismology and geodesy. Presentations on fault-zone drilling projects are also welcome.


Simple Summary An individual from a population presents a series of characteristics that differ from the rest and that increase as the kinship relationships are lower; this leads to the fact that two populations that stop exchanging genetic material through mating eventually come to present characters common to all members of each, but different between the two. This was what happened with the animal populations brought to America more than 500 years ago from the Iberian Peninsula in the colonization period, resulting in Creole populations that inhabit the harshest environments of our immense geography. The Creole goat "Chusca Lojana" has adapted to live in the dry forest region of Southern Ecuador, where environmental conditions are warm-dry, with sparse vegetation and a rather irregular topography. In the present study, the intra-breed genetic diversity of this goat is analyzed as well as its genetic relationships with other breeds. Significant FIS and intra-breed structure show that there is some heterogeneity and structure within the breed. However, inter-breed structure results underline that this breed is differentiated from other Creole breeds, because crossbreeding with other breeds was not detected; therefore, we must take advantage of this valuable genetic resource, and ensure its conservation and selection. Abstract The largest population of goats (62%) in Ecuador is in the dry forest region in the south of the country. A Creole goat, named "Chusca Lojana", has adapted to the dry forest region where environmental conditions are warm-dry, with sparse vegetation. Knowledge of the genetic information of the Creole goat is important to determine intra-racial diversity, the degree of genetic distance among other breeds of goats, and the possible substructure of the population, which is valuable for the conservation of such a species' genetic resources. A total of 145 samples of the Creole goat was taken from the four biotypes previously identified. Genetic analyses were performed using 38 microsatellites recommended for studies of goat genetic diversity (FAO-ISAG). The results of within-breed genetic diversity showed a mean number of alleles per locus (MNA) of 8, an effective number of alleles (Ae) of 4.3, an expected heterozygosity (He) of 0.71, an observed heterozygosity (Ho) of 0.63, polymorphic information content (PIC) of 0.67, and an FIS value of 0.11. Between-breed genetic diversity among 43 goat populations (native of Spain, American Creole, Europeans, and Africans) showed the following values: FIS = 0.087, FIT = 0.176, and FST = 0.098. Regarding the analysis of the population structure, the results showed that the Creole Chusca Lojana goat population is homogeneous and no genetic separation was observed between the different biotypes (FST = 0.0073). In conclusion, the Chusca Lojana goat has a high genetic diversity, without exhibiting a genetic substructure. Therefore, it should be considered as a distinct population because crossbreeding with other breeds was not detected.


The orientation-dependence of the interference/diffraction patterns of the 1D-double slit/1D-grating and 2D-cross-double slit/2D-cross-grating experiments have been studied experimentally and theoretically. However, the above experiments were limited to certain orientations, namely rotating around either one axis or two axes. In this article, the 3-axis-rotation apparatus is proposed/made, which can rotate the 1D-double slit/2D-cross-double slit and 1D-grating/2D-cross-grating, CW and CCW respectively, 00-3600 around three axes independently and sequentially. By this apparatus, the orientation-dependence of the patterns is systematically studied. Moreover, the experiments can be performed easily. Then we show that the photons, before landing on the detector/screen, behave as particles. The above observed phenomena provide the comprehensive information to theoretical study of the double slit/grating experiments. We suggest that the complete mathematical model should contain three rotation angles as parameters. Furthermore, the phenomena have potential applications.


Cardiovascular diseases are associated with a chronic state of oxidative stress that is induced by fat accumulation. The current study aims to investigate the potential effects of oral consumption of clove essential oil on the lipid profile, oxidative stress markers and antioxidant enzyme activity, in hypercholesterolemic rats. Two groups of Wistar rats were fed a cholesterol-enriched diet supplemented (CEO) or not (HC) with 4 mg/kg b.w of clove essential oil, for six weeks. A control group (C) was fed a standard diet during the experiment. After six weeks, in clove essential oil treated as compared to untreated hypercholesterolemic rats, daily supplementation with essential oil attenuated serum levels of total cholesterol (-57%), LDL-cholesterol (-28%), triacyglycerols (-26%), total homocysteine (-17%) and 8-Iso-prostaglandin F2α (-39%). Furthermore, TBARS values were decreased in LDL (-37%), liver (-45%) and adipose tissue (-34%). Interestingly, clove essential oil increased respectively thioredoxin reductase activity in liver and adipose tissue by +67% and +66%, respectively. These results demonstrate the therapeutic potential of clove essential oil to reduce dyslipidemia, oxidative stress by increasing the thioredoxin reductase activity.