Indirect lymphography with iotrolan makes it possible to demonstrate the lymphatic pathways with minimal invasiveness. This opens up new possibilities in the differential diagnosis of chronic swelling of the extremities. The typical radiological appearances make it possible to diagnose various types of lymphoedema and lymphangiomatous malformations. The method also promises to be useful in elucidating the pathogenesis of various types of swelling of the extremities.


This study investigated the effect of heat treatment combined with acid and alkali on the angiotensin-I- converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity of peptides derived from bovine casein. The free amino group content, color, and cytotoxicity of the peptides were measured under different conditions. When heated at 100 °C in the pH range from 9.0 to 12.0, ACE inhibitory activity was reduced and the appearance of the peptides was significantly darkened. After thermal treatment in the presence of acid and alkali, the free amino group content of ACE inhibitory peptides decreased markedly. High temperature and prolonged heating also resulted in the loss of ACE inhibitory activity, the loss of free amino groups, and the darker coloration of bovine casein-derived peptides. However, ACE inhibitory peptides, within a concentration range of from 0.01 to 0.2 mg/ml, showed no cytotoxicity to Caco-2 and ECV-304 cell lines after heat treatment. This indicated that high temperature and alkaline heat treatment impaired the stability of bovine casein-derived ACE inhibitory peptides.


Background: Many individuals with mental health disorders remain untreated although effective treatment exists. This is known as the mental health gap. The gap is particularly wide in low and middle income countries, such as Brazil. One of the strategies suggested by the World Health Organization to reduce the gap, is to integrate mental health into primary care. A group of family physicians and psychiatrist created a collaborative care model, in Brasilia, Federal District, Brazil. A series of workshops were delivered to primary care doctors, covering depression, anxiety, psychosis and substance misuse. Objective: To measure mental health referrals from primary to secondary care the year before the beginning of these workshops, and the year after, including the months in which the workshops took place. Method: An observational longitudinal study was conducted, with monthly measures of referrals from primary care to secondary care psychiatry, between October 2017 and October 2019. Twenty physicians who enrolled in the workshops were included in the analysis. The control group consists of 20 physicians working in the same health district who did not attend the workshops. All tests were performed with 95% confidence. The tests applied to samples were: Shapiro-Wilk Normality Test, Wilcoxon Test for two samples and Kruskall Wallis test for comparison of several samples. Results: For those who attended the workshops at least twice, there was a statistically significant decline in referrals, with a P value of 0.04. There is a general trend toward increase in referrals for those who did not attend the workshops, although with no statistical significance, probably due to sample size. Conclusion: The workshops seem to be an interesting strategy to increase access to mental health in primary care, and reduce referrals to secondary care.


Nowadays, employers are expecting capable and competent graduates to be hired in fulfilling organizations' goals and objectives. Same goes to public sector organization as facing by Accountant General's Department of Malaysia (AG) in ensuring their future accountants acquired both soft skills and hard skills. Today, future public sector accountants will face more challenging working style since they are being needed to be more effective in enhancinggovernance, accrual accounting, reporting, auditing and overall accounting practices. Thus, the important of skills and knowledge being needed has been explored and discussed in this current research particularly from the perspective of public sector. In this research, five important skills have been identified to be important for future accountants in order to be employable. The skills are team work, time management, problem solving, communication andknowledgeinaccounting theory and practice. Furthermore, most employees fromAG was expected that future accountants must be able to work in group, competent to organize workload in meeting deadlines, able to integrate multidisciplinary knowledge to solve problems, proficient to listen and understand information and able to use data, evaluate risks in solving a real world problems. The findings can assist AG in enhancing and improving the competency of junior and future accountants in early stage of being part of AG through internal or external training. Besides that, the important of every skills perceived by employers can facilitate the future accountants to be prepared prior joining AG as public accountants in any of AG unit. Keywords: Accountant General's Department (AG), skills, team work, time management, problem solving, communication, knowledge in accounting theory and practice, accountants


From the Publisher:
"Berry and Linoff lead the reader down an enlightened path of best practices." -Dr. Jim Goodnight, President and Cofounder, SAS Institute Inc."This is a great book, and it will be in my stack of four or five essential resources for my professional work." -Ralph Kimball, Author of The Data Warehouse Lifecycle ToolkitMastering Data MiningIn this follow-up to their successful first book, Data Mining Techniques, Michael J. A. Berry and Gordon S. Linoff offer a case study-based guide to best practices in commercial data mining. Their first book acquainted you with the new generation of data mining tools and techniques and showed you how to use them to make better business decisions. Mastering Data Mining shifts the focus from understanding data mining techniques to achieving business results, placing particular emphasis on customer relationship management.In this book, you'll learn how to apply data mining techniques to solve practical business problems. After providing the fundamental principles of data mining and customer relationship management, Berry and Linoff share the lessons they have learned through a series of warts-and-all case studies drawn from their experience in a variety of industries, including e-commerce, banking, cataloging, retailing, and telecommunications.Through the cases, you will learn how to formulate the business problem, analyze the data, evaluate the results, and utilize this information for similar business problems in different industries.Berry and Linoff show you how to use data mining to:* Retain customer loyalty* Target the right prospects* Identify new markets for products and services* Recognize cross-selling opportunities on and off the Web. Thecompanion Web site features:* Updated information on data mining products and service providers* Information on data mining conferences, courses, and other sources of information* Full-color versions of the illustrations used in the book


Opinions on the necessity of nursing severely disabled infants ( 53 SGB V) are very often difficult for experts of sickness insurances, because even healthy infants in their first years require a much assistance and must be permanently looked after. By evaluating 17 such cases an attempt is made to find aspects of retardation of development and possibly simultaneously existing mental handicaps and moreover factors to substantiate a considerably greater need for help compared to normal infants of the same age


In this article it is claimed that, at least in the aircraft industry, the development of German armament production and productivity was much more continuous than Wagenfuhr's armament index and both the Blitzkrieg thesis and the inefficiency thesis suggest. In order to prove this new thesis of continuity, we show on the basis of firm-level data, firstly, that investment in production capacities had already started before the war and was especially high in the early phase of the war, and secondly, that the regulatory setting of aircraft production management was rather constant and was not dramatically changed after 1941. In addition, we demonstrate that the driving forces of productivity growth were primarily learning-by-doing and outsourcing, the latter being generally neglected by economic historians.


Background The Sports and Exercise Safety in Finland -program (LiVE) began in 2006. The aim of the LiVE is to reduce sport injuries. LiVE has three different projects: Healthy Athlete 2006-, TEKO - Safety in School Sports 2010-, Smart Moves 2014-. The program is coordinated by the Tampere Research Centre of Sports Medicine at the UKK Institute. There is a great deal of polarisation in the lifestyles and overall health knowledge of vocational school students. In addition, every year approximately 350,000 sports injuries occur in Finland and the trend is increasing. Young men in particular are at risk. Up to 50% of the injuries could be prevented. Objective The Smart Moves project targets 16 to 19 year old vocational students with the aim of increasing healthy and safe physical activity reducing sedentary behaviour preventing sports and leisure time accidents and overuse injuries. Results Smart Moves will increase the safety of sports and leisure time activities by producing diverse and encouraging fact-based material to vocational schools by developing practical tools together with physical activity and safety experts and students by spreading information to schools through various events and campaigns. The project will produce material that will be available to anyone online free of charge. The main target group for the material are vocational school teachers and students. The Smartmoves.fi website has been designed to be part of a school's everyday activities and it is connected to the curriculum at a practical level. Conclusion The project website is expected to be completed by the end of 2016. Smart Moves projects implementation with vocational teachers has begun and it will increase during the year 2016. Projects evaluation will be done after the active project phase at the end of 2016. The Smart Moves project is funded by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.


Technological advancements in the field of electronic design are greatly being triggered by the fact that communication devices in general and wireless communication devices in particular are required to be miniaturized in order to increase mobility and flexibility.This thesis work revolves around the study and simulation based design of an efficient Six Port Correlator circuit to support miniaturization for handheld devices in the European Ultrawideband (UWB) range of 6-9 GHz.Firstly, design of a six-port correlator circuitry is carried out by performing simulations in Advanced Design System (ADS) for two metal layers design, while achieving the desired phase and amplitude imbalance in the 6-9 GHz range. After this design is mapped on to Printed Circuit Board (PCB) in order to compare the simulated and measured results.In the second part single metal layer design is converted on to multiple layers with symmetric stack by using microvia technology in order to achieve the required bandwidth i.e. cover the 6-9 GHz frequency band. The simulations for the multiple layers are also done in ADS.


The residual stresses are usually introduced during manufacturing, and are caused by processes such as molding. This paper presents how the authors determine the residual stresses for the flat plates from ABS, PP and PS for an optimum injection process. In order to optimize injection molding process with polymeric material, it is important to predict the internal stress development during molding. The authors determine it with the most widely used practical technique for measuring residual stresses, the hole-drilling strain gauge method described in ASTM Standard E837. With this method, a specially configured electrical resistance strain gauge rosette is bonded to the surface of the test object.


. Burn injuries cover a wide range of injuries to the health and lives of victims. They can cause severe general illness caused by local body damage, affecting all organs and systems. The provision of medical care to burn victims is subject to life-saving actions in all emergencies, regardless of the type of injury, must ensure that the victims maintain vital functions (breathing and circulation). The transportation time of the victim from the moment of the accident to the hospital is essential, as the place of treatment is determined by a number of factors. The aim of the study is to establish the competence of the nurses from the emergency rooms for professional behavior in emergency conditions of burn victims. The research used a documentary method, sociological and graphic methods. The sociological survey was conducted in the period 2018/2019 among 355 nurses working in the emergency departments in nine settlements within the country. Regarding the practical training of the respondents, it is found that 26.49% partly have skills in burns care, 20.56% are those who cannot judge or said no. 38.80% have some preparation for providing first/emergency medical care to victims, 20.20% of them cannot judge, 18.30% indicated negative answers. The timely, adequate and professional behavior of nurses in providing first aid is important for the outcome of the trauma. Increasing their professional training will allow to improve the knowledge and practical skills to perform on indications and in full emergency care in fires, or other causes.


With the movement of cities toward a more industrial urban structure, they need of green environment is increasing. One of the solutions is creating the green roofs which the interest on them is increasing. However, having a green roof requires some technical guidelines to provide the desired environment. The technical guidelines for the instruction of green roof aim to provide an adapted, environmentally friendly and suitable material for offering the optimal operation. This focus of this document is mainly on the technical aspects of the material in need for insulation, roofing membranes and protection material, moisture-retention material and water proofing.


Thermincola ferriacetica is a recently isolated thermophilic, dissimilatory Fe(III)-reducing, Gram-positive bacterium with capability to generate electrical current via anode respiration. Our goals were to determine the maximum rates of anode respiration by T. ferriacetica and to perform a detailed microscopic and electrochemical characterization of the biofilm anode. T. ferriacetica DSM 14005 was grown at 60 °C on graphite-rod anodes poised at -0.06 V (vs) SHE in duplicate microbial electrolysis cells (MECs). The cultures grew rapidly until they achieved a sustained current density of 7-8 A m(-2) with only 10 mM bicarbonate buffer and an average Coulombic Efficiency (CE) of 93%. Cyclic voltammetry performed at maximum current density revealed a Nernst-Monod response with a half saturation potential (EKA) of -0.127 V (vs) SHE. Confocal microscopy images revealed a thick layer of actively respiring cells of T. ferriacetica (~38 μm), which is the first documentation for a gram positive anode respiring bacterium (ARB). Scanning electron microscopy showed a well-developed biofilm with a very dense network of extracellular appendages similar to Geobacter biofilms. The high current densities, a thick biofilm (~38 μm) with multiple layers of active cells, and Nernst-Monod behavior support extracellular electron transfer (EET) through a solid conductive matrix - the first such observation for Gram-positive bacteria. Operating with a controlled anode potential enabled us to grow T. ferriacetica that can use a solid conductive matrix resulting in high current densities that are promising for MXC applications.


A generation of social theorists have argued that if free-rider considerations show that certain collective action predicaments are unresolvable under individual, rational choice – unresolvable under an arrangement where each is free to pursue their own relative advantage – then those considerations will equally show that the predicaments cannot be resolved by recourse to norms (Buchanan, 1975, p. 132; Heath, 1976, p. 30; Sober and Wilson, 1998, 156ff; Taylor, 1987, p. 144). If free-rider considerations explain why people do not spontaneously keep the streets clean, though they would each prefer unlittered streets, then those considerations will also explain why there is no effective norm against littering the streets.


Background: Transient elastography (TE) is a non-invasive method for the evaluation of liver diseases which is increasingly being accepted by patients and hepatologists. Aim: To evaluate the capacity of the TE (FibroScan) in estimating liver fi brosis in clinical practice. Material and methods: During 2 years 3459 examinations were performed. The time required for examination, the rate of valid determinations and the rate of uninterpetable results, taking into account the interquartilic range (IQR) and the success rate (SR), were evaluated. The TE reproducibility (intra- and inter-observer reproducibility analyzed by 3 independent examiners) in 287 cases was evaluated using the intra-class correlation coeffi cient (ICC). A group of 167 healthy volunteers were examined to establish the average value of the liver stiffness. Results: The average time required for one examination was 4 min 15 s. In 94.7% of cases the determinations were valid. In 446 cases IQR was > 30% and SR <60% resulting in 13.6% of cases without TE valid results, and 86.4% TE useful results for the evaluation of the chronic liver disease. Intra-observer reproducibility for the three operators were: 0.985, 0.949, and respectively 0.874 and the inter-observe reproducibility was analyzed with overall ICC 0982. The average value of the liver stiffness in the control group was 4.8 - 1.9 kPa. Conclusions: TE is an easy and quick way to evaluate liver stiffness, user- and patient-friendly. Intra- and inter-observer reproducibility is excellent, TE being an operator-independent method.


Traditionally, extreme value theory is applied to single-site series of surge observations in order to estimate the probability of occurrence of extreme events at that particular site. However, single-site analyses give uncertain estimation of extreme quantiles, mainly because of the limited duration of observation periods. In order to reduce this uncertainty, regional frequency analysis (RFA) approaches suggest collecting information not only from a single-site series but also from all (statistically) similar available series of observation. The use of RFA is widely increasing in geosciences, but few applications have been attempted yet for surge estimation. The aim of this study is to examine the applicability of RFA to extreme storm surges. The surge data observed at 18 French harbors, located on the Atlantic coast from the Spanish to Belgian borders, were collected. The series span a period of 30 years, on average, with the longest series going back to the 19th century. Stationary and independent samples of extreme surges (peaks over a given threshold) are extracted and their (statistical) homogeneity has been tested via heterogeneity and discordancy measures based on L moments. Homogeneous regions have been identified and, in order to merge information on frequency of occurrence of surges from all the sites, a surge index pooling method is defined. Finally, a regional frequency distribution has been estimated. The hypothesis and the applicability of RFA application are discussed, with some ideas for future developments in the research direction.


Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) has been shown to contribute to cardiovascular complications of diabetes such as nephropathy. However, the role of TLR2 in cerebrovascular inflammation and dysfunction leading to cognitive impairment, an emerging cerebrovascular complication of diabetes and hypertension, remains unknown. We reported that streptozotocin (STZ)-induced type-1 diabetic TLR2 knockout mice were protected from decreased cerebral blood flow (CBF) at 4 and 6 weeks post induction. Given that decreased CBF precedes cognitive impairment, we hypothesized that these TLR2-KO STZ mice would subsequently be protected from cognitive impairment. 10 week old male C57Bl:6 and TLR2-KO mice were injected with 50mg STZ/kg body weight daily for 5 days and observed alongside control mice. Fasting blood glucose was measured, with levels > 240 mg/dL considered to confirm diabetes. Cognitive function was assessed via Y-maze testing. There was no difference in total arm entries between WT and WT-STZ mice or between WT and TLR2-KO. There was a significant decrease in total entries between TLR2-KO and TLR2-KO STZ (40.33± 1.88 vs.29.67± 2.09, p≥0.05, n=12/group). However, percent novel arm entries was statistically non-significant amongst all groups. Paradoxically, both diabetic groups had a non-significant increase in percent of time spent in the novel arm vs. their respective controls (WT-STZ: 35.7±5.3 seconds vs. WT: 33.2± 4.4 seconds; TLR2-KO STZ: 41.6±5.8 seconds vs. TLR2-KO: 37.9±5.5 seconds). The lack of difference in percent novel arm entries is likely a result of the relative increase in exploratory behavior in the STZ groups. Additional experiments with open-field testing and novel object recognition test are being performed to determine if the apparent lack of change in short term hippocampal memory is due to a confounding artifact of the exploration time and whether these cognitive tests are accompanied by changes in CBF in this cohort. If indeed TLR2 KO mice are protected from early mild cognitive deficits, TLR2 antagonism may be a novel target in the prevention/treatment of cerebrovascular complications of diabetes.


Abstract Kruse, J. J. C. M., Floot, B. G. J., Te Poele, J. A. M., Russell, N. S. and Stewart, F. A. Radiation-Induced Activation of TGF-β Signaling Pathways in Relation to Vascular Damage in Mouse Kidneys. Radiat. Res. 171, 188–197 (2009). The purpose of this study was to investigate the long-term effects of radiation-induced alterations in TGF-β signaling pathways with respect to the development of vascular damage in the irradiated kidney. Total RNA was isolated from mouse kidneys at 1–30 weeks after irradiation, and quantitative real-time PCR analyses were performed for TGF-β receptors (ALK1, ALK5, endoglin), downstream mediators (Smad7, CTGF), and downstream targets (PAI-1 and Id-1). Expression of endoglin and Smad7 protein as well as nucleo-cytoplasmic distribution of phospho Smad 2/3 and phospho Smad 1/5 was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. Radiation caused a rapid and persistent increase in expression of TGF-β receptors and mediators from 1–30 weeks after treatment. Expression of Id-1, a downstream target of endothelial cell specific receptor ALK1, was transiently increased (1–10 weeks after irradiation) but returned to control levels at later times. Expression of PAI-1, a downstream target of ALK5, increased progressively from 10–30 weeks after irradiation. These results show that radiation activated TGF-β signaling pathways in the kidney and shifted the balance in favor of ALK5 signaling, which generally inhibits endothelial cell proliferation and migration. We hypothesize that prolonged activation of ALK5 signaling and relative suppression of ALK1 signaling may provide an explanation for the telangiectatic phenotype observed in irradiated kidneys.


Forthcoming in Criminal Law Practitioner, American University Washington College of Law (unedited draft).

From 2012 to 2017, the U.S. Army carried out what is reputed to have been the largest criminal investigation it ever conducted: Army Criminal Investigation Divisions inquiry into the Guard Recruiting Assistance Program (G-RAP), a recruiting referral program under which Army National Guard Soldiers, working as independent subcontractors under the auspices of prime contractor Docupak, could be paid for identifying recruits from among the people they encountered in their daily lives. Management errors and reports of fraud marred what was otherwise a smashingly successful program. Unfortunately, the Army's effort to root out fraud within the program, carried out by a provisional entity known as Task Force Raptor, would itself prove to be as inept and destructive as the G-RAP program itself. Due to vague and contradictory program rules; investigatory prejudice and tunnel vision; and most of all, Unlawful Command Influence in the form of extreme political pressure upon the Army to find and punish G-RAP participants allegedly guilty of "fraud," Task Force Raptor's investigation unjustly saddled innocent, loyal and well intentioned Soldiers with the stigma of fraud, severely disrupting the lives and careers of many.


By using a large sample of Norwegian public and private firms, we study the effect of access to public equity markets on the firm's capital structure, leverage deficit, and acquisition probability. We find that publicly listed firms use less debt financing compared to private firms and conclude that this is driven by the higher costs of asymmetric information facing unlisted firms. Next, we provide evidence that both types of firms have target capital structures and show that access to capital enables listed firms to rebalance their leverage ratio quicker towards this target compared to unlisted ones. Finally, we present evidence against the free cash flow theory as we find that underleveraging significantly reduces the likelihood of undertaking acquisitions. We show that access to capital has no significant effect on this relationship between the leverage deficit and the acquisition probability. JEL Classification: G32; G34


Asthe data grows exponentially explodingon the 'World Wide Web', the orthodox clustering algorithms obligate various challenges to tackle, of which the most often faced challenge is the uncertainty. Web documents have become heterogeneous and very complex. There exist multiple relations between one web document and others in the form of entrenched links. This can be imagined as a one to many (1-M) relationship, for example a particular web document may fit in many cross domains viz. politics, sports, utilities, technology, music, weather forecasting, linked to e-commerce products etc. Therefore there is a necessity for efficient, effective and constructive context driven clustering methods. Orthodox or the already well-established clustering algorithms adhere to classify the given data sets as exclusiveclusters. Signifies that we can clearly state whether to which cluster an object belongs to. But such a partition is not sufficient for representing in the real time. So, a fuzzy clustering method is presented to build clusters with indeterminatelimits and allows that one object belongs to overlying clusters with some membership degree. In supplementary words, the crux of fuzzy clustering is to contemplate the fitting status to the clusters, as well as to cogitate to what degree the object belongs to the cluster.


The economic theory that serves as the basis for coordinating economic activities in the global market system and for implementing economic solutions for environmental problems is neoclassical economics. In economic textbooks, the creators of this theory are credited with transforming the study of economics into a rigorously mathematical scientific discipline. But what is not widely known is that neoclassical economic theory was created by substituting economic constructs derived from classical economics for physical variables in the equations of a soon-to-be outmoded mid nineteenth century theory in physics. The mathematical formalism that resulted from these substitutions was predicated on unscientific axiomatic assumptions that remained essential unchanged in subsequent extensions and refinements of neoclassical economic theory. And this explains why the mathematical formalism used by contemporary practitioners of neoclassical economic theory effectively precludes the prospect of implementing scientifically viable economic solutions for a broad range of very menacing environmental problems.


Vascular calcification is a main cause of increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. This study aimed to investigate the role of the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling pathway in the early development of vascular calcification in CKD. A CKD vascular calcification rat model was established by providing rats with a 1.8% high-phosphorus diet and an intragastric administration of 2.5% adenine suspension. The kidney and aortic pathologies were analyzed. Blood biochemical indicators, serum BMP-2 and BMP-4 levels, and aortic calcium content were determined. The expression levels of BMP-2, BMP-4, bone morphogenetic protein receptor-IA (BMPR-IA), and matrix Gla protein (MGP) in aorta were examined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry. Compared with the normal control (Nor) rats, the CKD rats exhibited a significantly decreased body weight and an increased kidney weight as well as abnormal renal function and calcium-phosphorus metabolism. Aortic von Kossa and Alizarin red staining showed massive granular deposition and formation of calcified nodules in aorta at 8 weeks. The aortic calcium content was significantly increased, which was positively correlated with the serum BMP-2 (r = 0.929; P < 0.01) and serum BMP-4 (r = 0.702; P < 0.01) levels in CKD rats. The rat aortic BMP-2 mRNA level in the CKD rats was persistently increased, and the BMP-4 mRNA level was prominently increased at the 4th week, declining thereafter. Strong staining of BMP-2, BMP-4, BMPR-IA, and MGP proteins was observed in the tunica media of the aorta from the 4th week after model induction. In conclusion, activation of the BMP signaling pathway is involved in the early development of vascular calcification in CKD. Therefore, elevated serum BMP-2 and BMP-4 levels may serve as serum markers for CKD vascular calcification.


The solar ultraviolet (UV) index from Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) onboard NASA EOS/Aura satellite is compared with that derived from ground‐based multi‐channel filter radiometers at four sites in the tropical environment of Thailand. The sites include Chiang Mai (18.78°N, 98.98°E), Ubon Ratchathani (15.25°N, 104.87°E), Nakhon Pathom (13.82°N, 100.04°E) and Songkhla (7.2°N, 100.6°E). At these sites, aerosol optical depth is monitored using sunphotometers and cloud images are taken by sky cameras. The comparison results clearly show the overestimation of OMI UV index because of influences by aerosols and clouds. The differences between the two datasets lie between 38.1 and 60.7% for all sky conditions, and reduce to 22.5–50.3% for clear sky conditions.


Introduction: Burns are skin lesions caused by heat, with different agents that can compromise muscle tissue, tendons, bones and bring risks of loss of limbs, function or even death of the patient. These are problems that can result in clinical, physical and psychological damage. The objective is to evaluate the epidemiological profile of adult patients admitted to a burn treatment center in the Recôncavo da Bahia over 13 months. Methods: A retrospective descriptive study evaluated patients' medical records admitted to the institution in question. Results: In the period in question, 102 adult patients were admitted, with a balance between the male and female sexes. When analyzing the reason for the burn, it can be seen that the majority had burns of an accidental nature. Scalding by hot liquids, including milk, coffee and oil at high temperatures, was the main agent, with 68 cases (66.7%). As for the depth of the injuries, 83 (81.4%) were victims of 2nd-degree burns, 17 (16.7%) of 3rd-degree and 2 (2%) with wound depth not specified in the records. Regarding the outcome, 96 (94.1%) were discharged from the hospital, 3 (2.9%) died, and 3 (2.9%) were transferred to another service. Conclusion: Burns are preventable, so epidemiological data are tools that contribute to the development of care and prevention aimed at this group. This study may serve to plan public health policies to care for and prevent burns.


In this paper, I explore whether there is a need for a multiplicity of norms governing belief due to differences in the objects of those beliefs, particularly the difference between persons and nonpersons. I call the view according to which there is a single epistemic norm governing belief monism, and the view that there is more than one such noun pluralism. I consider three different kinds of objections to monism that stem specifically from considerations unique to assessing the credibility of persons, along with corresponding pluralist proposals. I argue not only that all of the criticisms of monism fail, but also that the proposed pluralist norms face significant problems of their own. In so doing, the aim of the paper is to clear the path for there being a single epistemic norm governing belief, despite there being important epistemic differences between how we ought to treat persons and nonpersons.


Separating two probability distributions from a mixture model that is made up of the combinations of the two is essential to a wide range of applications. For example, in information retrieval (IR), there often exists a mixture distribution consisting of a relevance distribution that we need to estimate and an irrelevance distribution that we hope to get rid of. Recently, a distribution separation method (DSM) was proposed to approximate the relevance distribution, by separating a seed irrelevance distribution from the mixture distribution. It was successfully applied to an IR task, namely pseudo-relevance feedback (PRF), where the query expansion model is often a mixture term distribution. Although initially developed in the context of IR, DSM is indeed a general mathematical formulation for probability distribution separation. Thus, it is important to further generalize its basic analysis and to explore its connections to other related methods. In this article, we first extend DSM's theoretical analysis, which was originally based on the Pearson correlation coefficient, to entropy-related measures, including the KL-divergence (Kullback–Leibler divergence), the symmetrized KL-divergence and the JS-divergence (Jensen–Shannon divergence). Second, we investigate the distribution separation idea in a well-known method, namely the mixture model feedback (MMF) approach. We prove that MMF also complies with the linear combination assumption, and then, DSM's linear separation algorithm can largely simplify the EM algorithm in MMF. These theoretical analyses, as well as further empirical evaluation results demonstrate the advantages of our DSM approach.


Temperature annealing is used as a tool to study the validity of network models for the nanostructure of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) and its relation to defect states. The changes in the size of the dominant open volume deficiencies have been studied using Doppler broadening positron annihilation spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. It is shown that the dominant open volume deficiencies for as-deposited films are divacancies, which appear to agglomerate into larger open volume deficiencies up to 400 °C. Above this temperature, the largest open volume deficiencies are suggested to be released at the surface of the sample. Fourier transform photocurrent spectroscopy results indicate a dramatic increase in the density of various subgap defect state distributions during temperature annealing. In addition, at least four defect states have been identified. These findings cannot be directly explained by assuming solely dangling bonds as the dominant defects in a-Si:H. We discuss that a model based on an anisotropic disordered network with volume deficiencies does explain our findings better than the classical model based on a continuous random network with solely an isotropic distribution of coordination defects. The claim is made that next to dangling bonds not fully hydrogen-passivated vacancies are significantly contributing to the dominant defect states in a-Si:H.


In order to correct the high level of cholesterol in blood is necessary to improve the life style which includes proper nutrition and physical exercise, but frequently is added some medication. The initial medication that is used is a stantin which decreases total cholesterol and low density cholesterol associated with increment in high density cholesterol in order to prevent cardiovascular involvement. It is frequent the addition of other medicaments, such as niacin or ezetemiba to achieve a greater effect on cholesterol disorders. The effectively of anti-cholesterol elevation should be evaluated by the occurrence of cardiovascular events, instead of the improvement in biochemist markers.


PURPOSE: To analyze the long-term results in a consecutive series of Mobius sequence patients, who underwent surgical correction of strabismus. METHODS: Ten patients with Mobius sequence fulfilled the inclusion criteria of this study. All patients presented esotropia at the preoperative examination, above or equal to 15 prismatic diopters (DP) varying from 15 to 85. All patients presented lateral rectus muscles severe underaction, six presented hipertropia above or equal 10 DP associated with esodeviation, and five presented anisotropia in A or in V. The patients were operated upon protocol, in a consecutive way, in July 2002. Patients were reexamined periodically, and at 2nd postoperative year as for: the visual acuity; deviation measurements; ocular rotations; cosmetic aspect and socialization. RESULTS: The patients presented satisfactory surgical results in eight cases, considering an eso or exodeviation up to 15 DP and a hipertropia lower than 10 DP. Four (40%) patients presented correction of the preoperative anisotropia. Variation of ocular deviation in the primary position (from the 90th day to the 2nd postoperative year was observed) in 9 patients (90%), demonstrating that strabismus surgical stabilization needs time. CONCLUSIONS: The surgical results were considered satisfactory, improving patient self-esteem and the parent satisfaction, making the social inclusion easier.


Under the Cardoso presidency (1995--2002), Brazil adopted a reactive and defensive posture on trade liberalization. However, when Lula da Silva came into power in 2003, Brazil took a more offensive and proactive position on the issue in creating the G-20 and putting forward proposals of its own. How can this shift in the Brazilian negotiating position be explained? The main argument is that under the Lula da Silva administration, Brazil's position in the Doha round primarily reflected domestic political constraints on multilateral trade cooperation. Three domestic dynamics shaped the national preference for Brazil: a heterogeneous governing coalition with a high number of veto players, divisions within the Workers' Party, and the demands of interest groups. This explanation is discussed on the basis of Brazil's negotiating position in WTO negotiations from 2003 to 2006.


124 t here is little debate that current and future healthcare is, and will continue to be, dominated by the prevention and management of increasingly complex chronic health disease; the Uae is no exception. Preventive and disease management services directed at groups and individuals at risk of unfavourable health outcomes are core to the make-up of an effective health system. the burden of noncommunicable, chronic and diabetes-related diseases places a heavy strain on health service cost and service delivery requirements. the Uae is faced with the challenge of identifying and developing effective strategies for the prevention and management of the burgeoning prevalence of levels of chronic disease and diabetes, including the identification and development of appropriate health workforce and service development options. nursing and other allied health professionals possess a broad range of professional competencies and skills to provide preventive and follow-up services in an effective and cost-efficient manner. the addition of non-medical led services has significant ability to strengthen traditionally designed health systems. THE CHANGING ROLE OF NURSING OPPORTUNITIES FOR NURSE-LED SERVICES IN THE MANAGEMENT OF CHRONIC DISEASE AND DIABETES IN THE UAE


Introduction: Various chemical and mechanical methods are used to enhance the retention of adhesive to the metal bases of the brackets.Inspite of several efforts,bracket failure is one of the commonest problems faced during treatment.Debonded brackets are generally recycled and reused.This study was designed to compare the shear bond strength(SBS)of five commonly available mesh designs and to determine which mesh design offers least reduction of SBS following recycling. Method : Sample consisted of 5 types of brackets with different mesh designs, bonded to 70 extracted human premolars.The SBS was checked using Instron universal testing machine.The brackets were recycled using sandblasting procedure and were rebonded on the sample teeth.Bond strength testing was again carried out using the same procedure. Results: Mean SBS of Discovery smart bracket with laser structured base was highest followed by 3M Unitek brackets.The brackets by American Orthodontics had lowest bond strength.After recycling with sandblasting procedure,an insignificant reduction in SBS was noticed in all five groups. Conclusion: Laser structured base design was superior to other bracket base designs.All five bracket types had optimal bond strength required for successful bonding both before and after recycling (>7.8 MPa).


We investigate the heating of the corona via plasma loops. It is shown that it may be possible to maintain the high corona temperatures using plasma loops as conduits. Under certain conditions heat can flow across magnetic fields up temperature gradients, a mechanism that has been previously applied to the heating of plasma loops. A typical conduit loop is hotter than the ambient plasma in the upper chromosphere and transition layer, and is cooler than the ambient plasma in the background corona. Hence, heat enters the loop at the bottom, is transported by a combination of conduction (if there is a negative temperature gradient), convection and shock waves up the loop into the corona. Typical values show that this type of heating is sufficient to maintain both the quiet and active corona and that it also has the non-homogeneous temperature distribution observed in the lower corona. The behaviour of some brightening events seen in TRACE data support the proposed convective and shock wave mechanisms. The model offers a possible explanation of a long-standing problem, namely why the corona is so hot.


Accumulated knowledge about hip replacement arthroplasty has identified a number of mechanical factors that contribute to implant failure. The mechanics of component design, materials selection, implant fixation, and response of bone and soft tissue structures to an altered loading environment are variables that influence outcome. Revision arthroplasty presents additional problems of loss of bone stock, cortical perforation or fracture, and implant removal that must be appreciated to prevent recurrent failure.


OBJECTIVE
Severe neonatal growth hormone deficiency (GHD) can cause recurrent hypoglycemia. Early diagnosis is warranted. The aim of the study was to analyze the GH content in screening cards of 25 affected and 281 healthy newborns.

PATIENTS AND MEASUREMENTS
A total of 110 screening cards from ill newborns were sent to us for measuring GH content by a highly sensitive GH ELISA. Clinical information was obtainable in 61 cases. Severe GHD was defined by the presence of recurrent hypoglycemia with a significant pituitary malformation or two additional pituitary hormone deficiencies. Screening cards from 281 healthy newborns (34.0 to 37.9 wk) were prospectively analyzed.

RESULTS
In 25 newborns (5 preterm), the definition of severe GHD was fulfilled based on recurrent hypoglycemia in combination with malformation of the pituitary or midline structures in 21 cases and combined TSH and ACTH deficiency in four cases. The median GH concentration of those affected with severe GHD was 3.9 µg/l (range: 1.1 to 11.8), significantly below the previously reported reference range (p<0.001). A GH concentration of 7 µg/l was confirmed as the cut-off for term newborns with the best accuracy (90.0% sensitivity and 98.7% specificity). The 95% reference range for healthy preterm newborns (n=151) was 7.6 to 47.1 µg/l (median: 20.3 µg/l).

CONCLUSIONS
A GH content <7.0 µg/l in the newborn screening card confirms severe GHD with high accuracy. In preterm newborns, the lower limit of the reference interval was 0.6 µg/l higher than in term newborns. The newborn screening card is a valuable source for the very early diagnosis of GH deficiency.


Background: Stiff equinocavus deformities of the foot are challenging to treat, often requiring extensive soft tissue dissection and bone removal. These procedures frequently yield suboptimal results and not infrequently amputation. Minimally invasive surgery using a circular external fixator potentially avoids the trauma to the soft tissue and may lead to improvement in outcomes and a lower amputation rate. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of minimally invasive surgery using a circular external fixator and limited soft tissue release to correct stiff equinocavus deformities. Methods: The treatment outcome of 29 patients (31 feet) with stiff equinocavus deformities of the foot and ankle treated with minimally invasive surgery and circular external fixation were reviewed after a mean follow-up period of 63 months. Patients' demographics and cause of the deformities were recorded. Weight bearing radiographs of the foot were compared pre and postoperatively. Results: Outcome was satisfactory (plantigrade foot with improvement/resolution of pain) in 21 of 31 extremities, fair in 6 of 31 extremities, and poor in 4 of 31 extremities. In the majority of patients, a significant improvement in the equinocavus deformities was achieved with a statistically significant improvement in calcaneus and navicular height. Two patients with Charcot-Marie-Tooth and severely insensate feet had a poor outcome, resulting in transtibial amputation. Conclusion: Minimally invasive surgery with gradual correction of neglected stiff equinocavus deformities using a modular circular external fixator is a reliable initial limb salvage strategy. Minimally invasive surgery and gradual correction of neglected severe stiff equinocavus deformities using the modular circular external fixator to gradually correct neglected severe stiff equinocavus deformities, is a safe initial limb salvage strategy which may simplify secondary procedures such as arthrodesis. Level of evidence: IV.


A retrospective analysis of treatment was made in 127 adult patients with acute and chronic otitis media complicated by suppurative-inflammatory pathology of the brain. Purulent meningitis was revealed in 52 (40.9%) of hospitalized patients. Meningoencephalitis was often diagnosed in the cases of acute otitis media (15.4%) and in cases of chronic otitis (22.7%). The otogenic brain abscess was detected in 13.5% of otitis media cases and it was noted to be twice frequent (33.3%) in cases of purulent otitis media. The patients 124 (97.6%) have been operated. An extended mastoidotomy and antromastoidotomy were performed in the acute purulent otitis media. An extended radical operation on the ear was applied in case of chronic otitis media. Performance of craniotomy and complete removal of the abscess using modern systems of neuronavigation showed a higher clinical efficacy as compared with transtemporal approach during sanitizing intervention on the ear including the opening and abscess drainage in surgery of otogenic abscesses of the brain.


In computer networks, congestion is a condition in which one or more egressinterfaces are offered more packets than are forwarded at any given instant [1]. In wireless sensor networks, congestion can cause a number of problems including packet loss, lower throughput and poor energy efficiency. These problems can potentially result in a reduced deployment lifetime and underperforming applications. Moreover, idle radio listening is a major source of energy consumption therefore low-power wireless devices must keep their radio transceivers off to maximise their battery lifetime. In order to minimise energy consumption and thus maximise the lifetime of wireless sensor networks, the research community has made significant efforts towards power saving medium access control protocols with Radio Duty Cycling. However, careful study of previous work reveals that radio duty cycle schemes are often neglected during the design and evaluation of congestion control algorithms. This thesis argues that the presence (or lack) of radio duty cycle can drastically influence the performance of congestion control mechanisms. To investigate if previous findings regarding congestion control are still applicable in IPv6 over low power wireless personal area and duty cycling networks; some of the most commonly used congestion detection algorithms are evaluated through simulations. The research aims to develop duty cycle aware congestion control schemes for IPv6 over low power wireless personal area networks. The proposed schemes must be able to maximise the networks goodput, while minimising packet loss, energy consumption and packet delay. Two congestion control schemes, namely DCCC6 (Duty Cycle-Aware Congestion Control for 6LoWPAN Networks) and CADC (Congestion Aware Duty Cycle MAC) are proposed to realise this claim.
DCCC6 performs congestion detection based on a dynamic buffer. When congestion occurs, parent nodes will inform the nodes contributing to congestion and rates will be readjusted based on a new rate adaptation scheme aiming for local fairness. The child notification procedure is decided by DCCC6 and will be different when the network is duty cycling. When the network is duty cycling the child notification will be made through unicast frames. On the contrary broadcast frames will be used for congestion notification when the network is not duty cycling. Simulation and test-bed experiments have shown that DCCC6 achieved higher goodput and lower packet loss than previous works. Moreover, simulations show that DCCC6 maintained low energy consumption, with average delay times while it achieved a high degree of fairness.
CADC, uses a new mechanism for duty cycle adaptation that reacts quickly to changing traffic loads and patterns. CADC is the first dynamic duty cycle pro- tocol implemented in Contiki Operating system (OS) as well as one of the first schemes designed based on the arbitrary traffic characteristics of IPv6 wireless sensor networks. Furthermore, CADC is designed as a stand alone medium access control scheme and thus it can easily be transfered to any wireless sensor network architecture. Additionally, CADC does not require any time synchronisation algorithms to operate at the nodes and does not use any additional packets for the exchange of information between the nodes (For example no overhead).
In this research, 10000 simulation experiments and 700 test-bed experiments have been conducted for the evaluation of CADC. These experiments demonstrate that CADC can successfully adapt its cycle based on traffic patterns in every traffic scenario. Moreover, CADC consistently achieved the lowest energy consumption, very low packet delay times and packet loss, while its goodput performance was better than other dynamic duty cycle protocols and similar to the highest goodput observed among static duty cycle configurations.


On the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, California, groundwater tables have risen after several decades of irrigation. A regional semi-permeable layer at 100 m depth (Corcoran Clay) combined with over-irrigation and leaching is the major cause of the groundwater rise. Subsurface drain systems were installed from the 60?s to the 80?s to remove excess water and maintain an aerated root zone. However, drainage water resulting from these subsurface systems contained trace elements like selenium, which were determined at toxic levels to fish and waterfowl. To maintain healthy levels of salt and selenium in the San Joaquin River, the natural drain out of the San Joaquin Valley, outflow of drainage water from farms was severely restricted or completely eliminated. Several on-farm management methods are being investigated to maintain agricultural production without off-farm drainage. One method is drainage water reuse through blending with irrigation water. Another method is to reuse drainage water consecutively, where drainage water from one field is used as irrigation water for another field. Progressively more salt tolerant crops need to be grown in such a system along the reuse path, and salts can eventually be harvested using solar evaporators. A method described in this paper aims to reduce the volume of drainage water during the growing season by increasing shallow groundwater use by crops before it is drained from the field. Five years of crops were grown on two weighing lysimeters using drip irrigation. Two years of cotton were grown under high frequency drip irrigation (applications up to 10 times a day), followed by two years of safflower (early season crop) and one year of alfalfa (perennial) under low frequency drip irrigation (twice a week). One lysimeter maintained a shallow groundwater table at 1.0-m below soil surface, while the other lysimeter was freely drained at the bottom (3.0-m below soil surface). High frequency irrigation requires more irrigation water over a season than low frequency irrigation in the presence of shallow groundwater, since low frequency irrigation induces more shallow groundwater use by crops. Groundwater use for cotton was measured as 8% of total seasonal crop water use, while measurements under safflower showed that 25% of seasonal crop water use came from groundwater. Measurements under alfalfa, in its first year of establishment, showed 15% of seasonal crop water use coming from the groundwater. To maintain a sustainable system, leaching of salts need to occur. Leaching under the proposed irrigation/drainage management system would occur in the early growing season with winter precipitation, pre-plant irrigation and the first irrigation of the growing season, when the water table can be maintained at shallower depths through restriction of the outflow of the subsurface drainage system (groundwater control).


The diffusion of health information technology (IT) is still one of the most important issues in this sector. The main reason behind this issue is that health IT is employed in an institutional environment characterized by high technical complexity, and this makes the processes of change towards the adoption and diffusion of health IT are difficult, especially with resisting change by some staff are working in health institutions. The current study came to identify the user's characteristics that impact the diffusion of IT. The study has been designed based on the literature of information systems and includes four constructs: personal innovativeness, self-efficacy, the user's attitude towards technology, and trust in information technology. Concerning the sample, it included the health staff working in six private hospitals in the city of Dohuk, and a questionnaire was built based on the previous studies as a tool to collect data, and the number of study sample individuals was (233). The main result of the study is that there is a significant effect of user characteristics (at the level of each characteristic and at the macro level) on the diffusion of health IT. This result is prove that the process of diffusion IT applications depends mainly on the characteristics obtained by users that support the diffusion process. The study recommends to pay more attention to the user's characteristics, such as personal Innovations, enhancing his self-efficacy, contributing to building his positive attitude towards technology and enhancing the trust in IT, due to its role in diffusing the health IT.


The prototype and proof of concept of a new type of wave tank are described. If successful, this innovation would enable many wave tank experiments for only a few percent of current costs. Tank testing remains indispensable for new designs, and its high cost is a significant inhibitor of offshore innovation. To date, all wave tanks generate and propagate scaled but real water waves towards a physical model. This new type of tank instead reproduces the velocity field that such waves would have, but only near the model. In practice, this can be approximately achieved only for cases where the marine structure is much shorter than the wavelength, and its draft shallow compared to the wavelength and depth. In such cases the wavefield is time-varying but approximately spatially uniform near the structure. Therefore, it can be reproduced by moving a container of water like wave orbitals; and ensuring slosh modes are minimised. A prototype was built, and after initial challenges in controlling slosh excitation, a proof of concept was successfully achieved: a cylinder was excited by surge oscillations and its response appears consistent with rough calculations. Range of potential applications of the new type of wave tank, lessons learnt by prototyping, and next developments are discussed.


Driving requires performing different subtasks concurrently that can interfere. Specifically, two driving sub-tasks are analysed in this work: Participants judge manoeuvres regulated by traffic signs (turn left or turn right mandatory and prohibitory signs) that can be made by a vehicle at an intersection (a T-junction). Every traffic sign conveys a single proposition about traffic conditions. Drivers must integrate this proposition with their own goals and other known facts to decide on an appropriate action in what amounts to a deduction task. This study analyses how people decide whether a situation is allowed or not, taking into account the information provided by one sign – mandatory or prohibitory signs. Results showed that people integrate two obligatory sign messages – informing where one can go – more easily than two prohibitory sign messages – informing where not to go. Therefore, it could be said that each traffic sign elicits an internal mental model elaboration in which forbidden actions are explicitly labelled by means of attached "mental footnotes" indicating the epistemic status of "prohibitory information." In addition, the participants performed two types of mental tasks, one verbal and the other involving spatial-imagery. Given the visual and spatial character of information acquisition while driving, and the role that spatial codes play on the generation of 'mental footnotes' we expected task behaviour to be more disrupted by performing concurrent tasks that require visual imagery or spatial resources than by performing verbal tasks. Results from the proposed hypothesis are discussed and conclusions for safety driving are made.


This groundbreaking study tells the story of the highly organised, international legal court case for the abolition of slavery spearheaded by Prince Lourenço da Silva Mendonça in the seventeenth century. The case, presented before the Vatican, called for the freedom of all enslaved people and other oppressed groups. This included New Christians (Jews converted to Christianity) and Indigenous Americans in the Atlantic World, and Black Christians from confraternities in Angola, Brazil, Portugal and Spain. Abolition debate is generally believed to have been dominated by white Europeans in the eighteenth century. By centring African agency, José Lingna Nafafé offers a new perspective on the abolition movement, showing, for the first time, how the legal debate was begun not by Europeans, but by Africans. In the first book of its kind, Lingna Nafafé underscores the exceptionally complex nature of the African liberation struggle, and demystifies the common knowledge and accepted wisdom surrounding African slavery.


Labyrinth weirs provide higher discharge capacity than conventional weirs, with the ability to pass large flows at comparatively low heads. Labyrinth weirs are primarily used as spillways for dams where the spillway width is restricted. In recent years, many research investigations have considered the hydraulic performance of labyrinth weirs, particularly as dependent on the geometric features. The previous work has improved the design basis for such weirs. However, their design still requires experimentally derived and generalized performance curves. It is especially important to observe the behavior of the weir nappe to ensure the design provides hydraulic optimization and to account for pressure fluctuations, possible vibrations, resonance effect, noise and flow surging. In the present study, discharge coefficients were experimentally determined for both circular labyrinth weirs and sharp crested trapezoidal labyrinth weirs of varying side wall angle (α). Additional studies were completed with nappe breakers included to reduce the impact of vibration on the labyrinth weirs. In general, the test data indicated that nappe breakers placed on the trapezoidal labyrinth weirs and circular labyrinth weirs reduced the discharge coefficient by up to 4% of the un-amended weir.


H yperkalemia is common in patients with cardiovascular disease. Its consequences can be severe and life-threatening, and its management and prevention require a multidisciplinary approach that entails reducing intake of high-potassium foods, adjusting medications that cause hyperkalemia, and adding medications that reduce the plasma potassium concentration. With this approach, patients at high risk can receive the cardiorenal benefits of drugs that block the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system without developing hyperkalemia.


ABSTRACT As economic inequality continues to rise, there is increased concern about both the consequences of inequality and what can be done to reverse this trend. In the present paper, we review the social psychology of economic inequality and redistribution, focusing on their effects on subjective well-being. We address who is affected by inequality and redistribution, what psychological processes link inequality and redistribution to well-being, and how (incorrect) beliefs about redistribution may underlie opposition. Although redistribution has been shown to promote well-being, which policies are effective in promoting well-being remains unclear. We also highlight current limitations, namely, limited understanding of the underlying psychological mechanisms, overlooking the multidimensionality of redistribution, culture and country-specific effects, and a more intersectional approach to who is affected by inequality. Taken together, initial steps have been taken to understand how policy can be used to promote a happy society, yet many questions remain.


Research aim: The purpose of this study is to provide a conceptual model that guides in examining the capital market effects of IFRS adoption from the perspective of investors' trading patterns, particularly those behaviors that tend to defy the validity of EMH, in this context; herding behavior.
Design/ Methodology/ Approach: The study is conceptual in nature. It relies on a review of the prior academic literature on economic and informational consequences of IFRS adoption published in prominent academic journals.
Research findings: The study finds that despite an enormous amount of research thus far, in this area, substantive empirical evidence on economic and informational consequences of IFRS adoption appears to be far from reach. So far, many questions surrounding the capital market effect of IFRS adoption are yet to be fully resolved. More specifically, it is noted that one of the relatively under-researched areas in the current literature is the nexus between IFRS and investors' trading behaviors.
Theoretical contribution/ Originality: To the researchers' knowledge, this study is first to explicitly explore the nexus between IFRS and investors' herding practices, while highlighting the role of the national economic culture.
Practitioner/ Policy implication: The results of this study are expected to be of interest to academics, regulators, and policymakers in performing a cost-benefit analysis of this planetary set of reporting benchmark, and to the investing public and other market participants who trade based on market fundamentals, treating them as principal indicators for future market movements.
Research limitation/ Implication: The study suggests the use of national economic culture to moderate the effect of IFRS on investors' trading behavior. Nonetheless, this does not imply that there are no other significant factors or even more significant than culture but based on evidence documented in the prior studies there is no support for the contention that national economic culture is inconsequential.
Keyword: IFRS Adoption, Herding, National Economic Culture
Type of manuscript: Conceptual paper
JEL Classification: G14, G15, M41


Abstract This paper describes the thick-liquid blanket system of the Robust Point Design (RPD-2002). RPD-2002 is the first self-consistent description of a heavy-ion fusion accelerator, final focus, target, magnet shielding, and thick-liquid blanket design. The 120 beams are delivered to the target from two sides, in 9x9 arrays, with 5.4° between rows giving a maximum beam angle from the target axis of 24°. The chamber employs thick-liquid protection, using liquid jets that have been demonstrated to have the required geometric precision in scaled water experiments. Other aspects of the chamber design, not directly related to the beam-line shielding, have been kept the same as the HYLIFE-II design.


The central focus of this book is the relationship between money, the sphere of production, and the State. It explores how best to adapt the fundamental ideas of the circulationist perspective to achieve a better understanding of the financialisation of the production processes within contemporary capitalist economies. Importantly, the expert contributors illustrate that the true challenge ahead is to address how these new emerging forms can be eventually tamed, a challenge that the recent financial crisis has forcefully proven essential.


The epicenter of the San Fernando earthquake was just 25 miles from the Earthquake Engineering Research Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology, which has been for some 50 years actively studying the problem of earthquake resistant design. It was therefore most natural that the EERL was very quickly involved in a number of major investigations growing out of the event. Several Earthquake Engineering research grants from the National Science Foundation to the EERL were in effect at the time and provided the framework for an expanded NSF sponsorship of additional special studies.

These expanded NSF assignments included a responsibility to investigate those aspects of earthquake damage for which important evidence might quickly disappear through demolition, repairs, etc., and also those for which significant studies might otherwise not be made because of a lack of adequate resources. Both of these aspects were involved in the important matter of the earthquake behavior of school buildings.

The whole question of the earthquake safety of the schools very quickly came to the attention of the EERL staff, through service on the Los Angeles County Earthquake Commission, as consultants to the Los Angeles Unified School District in evaluating the postearthquake safety of schools, and a natural historical consequence of past studies of the Long Beach 1933 earthquake. Since it became apparent that detailed studies of the school situation were not likely to be made by existing public agencies, it was decided that a portion of the NSF emergency grant resources should be used for this purpose. These resources were later expanded by NSF through a supplemental research grant for the particular objective of completing a comprehensive report on the behavior of school buildings during the San Fernando Earthquake.

The San Fernando earthquake was an unusually valuable test of school safety because: (1) there were several hundred schools having structures of all types in the heavily-shaken area, including 10 schools within 5 miles of the epicenter; (Z) the severity of ground motion is believed to have been near the maximum to be expected for an earthquake of any size--a number of campuses were subjected to major ground cracking and deformation; (3) since there were many instruments in the area, the details of the earthquake ground motion are better known than for any other earthquake. On some campuses, pre-Field Act buildings, renovated pre-Field Act buildings, and new buildings existed side by side, and direct comparisons show the efficacy of the Field Act and the associated plan check and field inspection procedures in reducing the earthquake hazard to an acceptably low level.

The study became feasible through the cooperation of the California State Office of Architecture and Construction in making available as a consultant the services of Mr. Donald K. Jephcott, Principal Structural Engineer in charge of the Structural Safety Section (formerly Schoolhouse Section) of the Los Angeles office. Two members of Mr. Jephcott's staff, Mr. Leon Stein and Mr. Byrne Eggenburger, assisted as consultants in the preparation of several of the detailed descriptions of the school plants. We are also much indebted to the Los Angeles Unified School District for making available much information and many drawings which simplified our task.

We are pleased to acknowledge also the assistance of the Earthquake Research Affiliates program of the California Institute of Technology in providing financial support for portions of this study.


In this research, we assessed the influence of an ultrafine 2CaO·SiO2 powder on the hydration properties of a reactive powder concrete system. The ultrafine powder was manufactured through chemical combustion method. The morphology of ultrafine powder and the development of hydration products in the cement paste prepared with ultrafine powder were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), mineralogical composition were determined by X-ray diffraction, while the heat release characteristics up to the age of 3 days were investigated by calorimetry. Moreover, the properties of cementitious system in fresh and hardened state (setting time, drying shrinkage, and compressive strength) with 5% ordinary Portland cement replaced by ultrafine powder were evaluated. From SEM micrographs, the particle size of ultrafine powder was found to be up to several hundred nanometers. The hydration product started formulating at the age of 3 days due to slow reacting nature of belitic 2CaO·SiO2. The initial and final setting times were prolonged and no significant difference in drying shrinkage was observed when 5% ordinary Portland cement was replaced by ultrafine powder. Moreover, in comparison to control reactive powder concrete, the reactive powder concrete containing ultrafine powder showed improvement in compressive strength at and above 7 days of testing. Based on above, it can be concluded that the manufactured ultrafine 2CaO·SiO2 powder has the potential to improve the performance of a reactive powder cementitious system.


In this paper, an optical wireless multiple-input single-output communication system employing intensity-modulation direct-detection is considered. Subject to a per transmit-aperture power constraint, the performance of direct current (DC) offset space-time block codes (STBC) is studied in terms of pairwise error probability (PEP). It is shown that among the class of DC-STBCs, the worst case PEP, i.e., the one corresponding to the minimum distance between two codewords, is minimized by repetition coding (RC) for any channel state. Therefore, it follows that among all DC-STBCs, RC is optimal in terms of worst case PEP under any turbulence statistics. This result agrees with previously published numerical results showing the superiority of RC in such systems. It also agrees with previously published analytical results on this topic under lognormal turbulence and further extends it to arbitrary turbulence statistics. Numerical results provided to verify this indicate that RC is not only optimal in terms of worst case PEP, but also in terms of average error probability.


We propose a new index for dynamic performance analysis of serial link manipulators named impedance matching ellipsoid, or IME. Several indexes have been proposed for indicating static and dynamic performance of robot manipulators. For example, dynamic manipulability ellipsoid (DME) characterizes distributions of hand acceleration produced by normalized joint torque. manipulating-force ellipsoid (MFE) denotes static torque-force transmission efficiency from actuators at joints to a hand. On the other hand, the proposed IME characterizes dynamic torque-force transmission efficiency from actuators at joints to a load held at the hand of the manipulator. The IME includes a wide range of concepts proposed so far as measures of manipulator's performance. The DME and the MFE are both derived from the IME as limiting forms about the load mass. In this paper, we demonstrate the IME with some numerical examples including the selection of an optimal leg posture for jump robots, optimum active stiffness control, and an extension for manipulators mounted on satellites in outer space.


Cerebral arteriospasm is a common complication of subarachnoid hemorrhage and is responsible for much of the brain damage which accompanies it. No pharmacologic agent has been found which regularly alleviates arteriospasm. We have evaluated the effect of continuous intravenous nitroglycerin infusion on the diameter of the basilar artery in dogs with cerebral vasospasm experimentally induced by subarachnoid blood injection. In 6 consecutive dogs, 10 minutes after beginning intravenous nitroglycerin at 100 ^ig/min and at other times during 120 minutes of infusion, the diameter of the basilar artery had increased from 75 ± 2% of control value to 114 ± 2% of control value (p < 0.001). In all 6 dogs, the basilar artery diameter during infusion was greater than the control value prior to creating subarachnoid hemorrhage. Intravenous nitroglycerin caused only a moderate (8%) decrease in blood pressure. Further investigation of the effects of nitroglycerin on cerebral vasospasm is warranted.


MCMC algorithms offer empirically efficient tools for sampling from a target distribution $\pi(x) \propto \exp(-V(x))$. However, on the theory side, MCMC algorithms suffer from slow mixing rate when $\pi(x)$ is non-log-concave. Our work examines this gap and shows that when Poincar\'e-style inequality holds on a subset $\mathcal{X}$ of the state space, the conditional distribution of MCMC iterates over $\mathcal{X}$ mixes fast to the true conditional distribution. This fast mixing guarantee can hold in cases when global mixing is provably slow. We formalize the statement and quantify the conditional mixing rate. We further show that conditional mixing can have interesting implications for sampling from mixtures of Gaussians, parameter estimation for Gaussian mixture models and Gibbs-sampling with well-connected local minima.


One of the key features of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the high rate of intrahepatic recurrence that correlates with poor prognosis. Therefore, in order to improve the clinical outcome for patients with HCC, development of a chemopreventive agent that can decrease or delay the incidence of recurrence is a critical issue for urgent investigation. Acyclic retinoid (ACR), a synthetic retinoid, successfully improves HCC patient survival by preventing recurrence and the formation of secondary tumors. A malfunction of the retinoid X receptor-α (RXRα) due to phosphorylation by the Ras-MAPK signaling pathway plays a critical role in liver carcinogenesis, and ACR exerts chemopreventive effects on HCC development by inhibiting RXRα phosphorylation. Here, we review the relationship between retinoid signaling abnormalities and liver disease, the mechanisms of how RXRα phosphorylation contributes to liver carcinogenesis, and the detailed effects of ACR on preventing HCC development, especially based on the results of our basic and clinical research. We also outline the concept of "clonal deletion and inhibition" therapy, which is defined as the removal and inhibition of latent malignant clones from the liver before they expand into clinically detectable HCC, because ACR prevents the development of HCC by implementing this concept. Looking toward the future, we discuss "combination chemoprevention" using ACR as a key drug since it can generate a synergistic effect, and may thus be an effective new strategy for the prevention of HCC.


'You really love me don't you?' she said. 'Of course I do.' 'It's hard to tell because you never talk much. You've never really had any fun in your life at all, have you?' 'No, but that's about to change.' Late one summer evening, Wilberforce - rich, young, work-obsessed and self-contained - makes an unexpected detour on the way home from the software company he owns and unwittingly takes the first step on a journey that will change his life. His uncharacteristically impulsive act leads him to the door of Caerlyon Hall, to the vast undercroft beneath it, and the domain of Francis Black, a place where wine, hospitality and affection flow freely. Through Francis, the eccentric and enigmatic owner of Caerlyon, Wilberforce is initiated into a life he could never have imagined: a life rich in the promise of friendship and adventure, where, through his new set of friends, with their shooting parties and stately homes, the possibility of finding acceptance, and even falling in love, seems finally to be within his reach. As his horizon broadens and his heart expands, Wilberforce becomes a willing pupil to Francis's master, and in the cellars of Caerlyon he nurtures a new-found passion for fine wine. But even the finest wine can leave a bitter aftertaste, and Wilberforce will learn that the undercroft holds some unpalatable secrets, and that passion comes at a price. Chronicling the vintage years of Wilberforce's life, The Irresistible Inheritance of Wilberforce is a dazzling, haunting story of obsession and addiction, of loyalty and betrayal.


Due to criminology's preoccupation with crime causation, punishment and crime control, criminology as a discipline fails to appropriately recognise 'harms' experienced by women and girls. A social harm perspective allows for the criminological gaze to extend beyond legal definitions of crime, and could therefore account for a more comprehensive understanding of the harms experienced. Using Female Genital Mutilation and Stalking as selected examples, this article demonstrates how a social harm perspective is useful in accounting for, and understanding, violence against women and girls. Moreover, this article also identifies that even when a harm is officially recognised as a crime, the lack of formal Criminal Justice sanctions suggests, that harms experienced by women and girls are not sufficiently addressed. However, although a social harm perspective offers for a broad understanding to which criminology has not achieved, it is not without its limitations. Harms against women and girls are not only endemic, they are arguably not characterised by homogeneity, thus making it very difficult not only to define, but also to measure. Notwithstanding, a social harm discourse can nevertheless expose harms that require politicisation to be heard, and allows the narratives of women and girls to be given a platform that criminology does not currently provide.


Economic instruments, such as levies are considered by the Dutch government for reducing the harmful effects of the production and application of manure. To analyse these levies a framework which makes it possible to combine and to choose among different types of research is developed. The results are integrated along the line of the marginal abatement cost curve. The problems related to integrating different types of research are taken into account. The method developed allows every farmer to react to a levy differently. A levy turns out to be more effective to reduce the nitrogen surplus on farm level in the pig fattening sector when compared to the pig breeding sector. But even a levy of 2 guilders/kg of nitrogen does not remove the total manure surplus in the pig sector and results in large profit losses. Further research is needed to underpin the empirical input required by the model.


Malaria kills almost half a million people every year and is a huge public health burden particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. The current first line treatment is very effective but is threatened by the drug resistance that has been seen in the many effective compounds that have come before it. Consequently, there is a real need to develop new and novel compounds that target multiple stages of the parasite life cycle, as failure of our first line treatment could be devastating. Cell signalling pathways regulate essential events in the parasite lifecycle and as such, components of these pathways are potential targets for parasite disruption. The cyclic nucleotide and Ca2+ signalling cascades have essential functions at multiple stages in the parasite life cycle and often show overlap in their roles. This means that inhibition of one such pathway may disrupt the other. The relationship between 3'-5'-cyclic guanosine monophosphate and Ca2+ signalling is investigated here using Ca2+ assays on both schizont and gametocyte stages using a combination of genetic and pharmacological approaches. Results indicate that zaprinast-induced Ca2+ release through PDE inhibition is dependent upon PKG and in schizonts occurs via inositol triphosphate. Gametogenesis is an essential lifecycle event leading to transmission. The PDE PfPDEδ has been implicated in this event, however little is known about this enzyme. Using a PfPDEδ-ko line and the generation of a HA-tagged PfPDEδ line using the CRISPRCas9 gene editing system, this project seeks to confirm whether PfPDEδ is essential for gametogenesis and to understand more about the role that this protein plays in this event. This includes its cellular localisation, cyclic nucleotide specificity and its role in Ca2+ mobilisation, an event essential to the later stages of gametogenesis. The role of PfPDEδ in erythrocyte-infected gametocyte deformability is also investigated and the phenotype of a PfPDEδ-ko line is dissected. This information will eventually aim to determine whether PfPDEδ would be a good transmission-blocking target. Of particular interest to this thesis are compounds that would prevent transmission because currently the only licenced antimalarial to target transmission stages is Primaquine. A combination of a transmission-blocking agent with one that will inhibit asexual replicating stages would both alleviate clinical symptoms while preventing transmission. PDEs have already been identified and used as effective drug targets in humans. A small panel of Pfizer PDE inhibiters that have shown good activity in asexual blood stages has been tested against the gametocyte stages and this has led to the identification of a human PDE inhibitor that not only kills asexual blood stages in the low nM range, but also one that can kill gametocyte stages at similar concentrations. In addition to this, the mode of action of this compound has been determined.


Intractable bleeding from anorectal varices is a serious and often misdiagnosed complication of portal hypertension and no agreement has been reached on which could be the optimal diagnostic and therapeutic strategy. Indeed, fatal outcome has been often reported resulting from delayed diagnosis and improper treatment. The case of a 67-year-old gentleman with life-threatening bleeding from anorectal varices who successfully underwent inferior mesocaval shunt is reported, and surgical technique for establishing a shunt between the inferior mesenteric vein and inferior vena cava is described. A review of other therapeutic options is presented and results are discussed and compared to those obtained with this novel form of treatment. In our experience, immediate control of recurrent bleeding from anorectal varices was obtained with inferior mesocaval shunt. Technical ease, promptness of action and effectiveness, low procedure-related morbidity are the main features of the shunt. With the introduction of new promising second-line treatment modalities to primary and metastatic liver tumors, like percutaneous radiofrequency thermal ablation, and improvement in outcome of portal vein thrombosis, the inferior mesocaval shunt may represent a sound alternative for patients who are ineligible for transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt or presenting with clotted shunt.


The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) dramatically changed tax law. It narrowed the subsidy on mortgage interest in several ways, which should lower mortgages and home prices; it also increased most taxpayers ' after-tax incomes, which should have the opposite effect. Thus, the TCJA's overall effect on mortgages and home prices is ambiguous. Existing estimates of how the TCJA affected the housing market use synthetic data, calibrate models to aggregate data, or extrapolate from prior data. Our research is the first empirical estimate of how the TCJA affected mortgages and house prices that uses data on mortgages, house sales, income, and demographics aggregated by Public Use Microdata Area. We use a two-stage approach: first we estimate the effect of the TCJA on mortgages, then we estimate how the demand for mortgages affects house prices. We use the TCJA tax variables as excluded instruments. We find that the reduction in subsidies had a negative, statistically significant effect on mortgages and that the general reduction in taxes had a positive, statistically significant effect on mortgages. We also found that increased mortgages had a positive, statistically significant effect on home prices. However, combining these results, we find that the overall effect of the TCJA on home prices was close to zero, although some variation exists across by location: some areas experienced a positive effect while others experienced a negative effect.


With the aid of a drawing, published here for the first time, this article explores the genesis of Guarini's project for S. Maria della Divina Provvidenza, Lisbon, in the context of his other projects for large longitudinal churches and, more generally, of his methods of design. The churches show a completely new approach to the type, based on strongly projecting piers that produce a rhythmical flow in the main vista. In designing them, Guarini made much use of a grid, both to achieve simple arithmetical proportions, and for the projects' elaboration. As part of his scheme to develop a varied and highly original range of church types for publication, the large longitudinal churches show Guarini engaged in two characteristic creative strategies: that of taking ideas from his previous work and putting them in a new context; and that of setting out to produce an antithesis to a previous design. Guarini's organized creativity gives him a special place in baroque architecture.


The present study provides two kinds of information that have not previously been available in a single research report on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) with regard to its total and component scores. First, the study provides comparative global and component estimates of test-retest, alternate-form, and internal-consistency reliability. This complies with the joint standards of the American Psychological Association, the American Educational Research Association, and the National Council for Measurement in Education by controlling for sources of measurement error that may be inherent both among the examinees and within the testing administration context, and not merely within the examination itself. Secondly, the study provides information about differential change in subtest difficulty on repeated application over a small interval of time (viz., eight days). This second concern is related to the phenomenon of "item bounce" and reflects the comparative stabilities of difficulty estimates within item type over repeated test administrations. This comparative stability information may provide useful insights into the functioning of particular TOEFL® subtest item types and the suitability of those item types for anchoring in test equating.

Although test-length-adjusted reliability estimates were found to be adequately high across reported component and total test scores, with raw score test-retest coefficients ranging from .87 to .98 (with a mean of .93 over 22 total coefficients), raw score internal-consistency coefficients ranging from .79 to .98 (with a mean of .94 over 88 total coefficients), and raw score alternate-form coefficients ranging from .78 to .97 (with a mean of .90 over 22 total coefficients), the study contained several inherent limitations. Chief among these limitations was the comparatively small sample involved. Only 329 total subjects participated, and, due to attrition and design features, test-retest reliability estimates were based on separate repeating subgroups of only 101 and 91 persons. Alternate-form reliability estimates were based on separate repeating subgroups of only 52 and 25 persons. Although estimates were replicated across two TOEFL forms and at least two distinct samples, it was not possible within the existing project constraints to identify repeating samples that were perfectly representative of the current TOEFL examinee population in regard to language background and mean language proficiency.


The dynamic elastic modulus of three cultivated varieties of G. hirsutum Linn, namely Samaru 26J Nigeria, Samaru 26J Glasgow and an unspecified American upland has been studied at different stages of fibre maturity using visco-elastomer. The dynamic modulus is found to be strongly dependent on both the maturity and the optical orientation angle. To eliminate the effect of convolutions on both the dynamic modulus and the helix angle, fibres are treated in liquid ammonia to get Cellulose III lattice structure and revert back to Cellulose I lattice structure using distilled water. Both the X- ray diffractograms and the scanning electron micrographs also confirm this finding. Maturity ratio is shown to have a very strong effect on the dynamic elastic modulus and not the age of the fibre. Fibres of similar maturity ratio show similar dynamic modulus, irrespective of the environmental conditions. Cellulose III and Cellulose I regenerated fibres have about the same dynamic modulus values. This shows that treatment does produce profound changes in the gross structure and calls for a fresh look at the swelling mechanism in both structures, a possible disruption of the H- bonding systems of cellulose by both treatments.


The growing popularity of social network sites (SNS) is causing concerns about privacy and security, especially with teenagers, since they show various forms of unsafe behavior on SNS (e.g., Lenhart and Madden 2007). It has been put forth by researchers, teachers, parents, and teenagers that school is ideally placed to educate teens about risks on SNS and to teach youngsters how to use SNS safely. Privacy attitudes also need to be taken into account if we want to decrease the amount of unsafe behavior. However, there is a lack of research that focuses on the role and impact of school education on privacy attitudes or actual safe behavior on SNS. To counter this shortcoming, a survey study was set up with 638 pupils exploring teenagers' attitudes towards privacy on SNS. The first question was: Do they care about their privacy? Next to that, the extent to which they show unsafe behavior on SNS was questioned. Finally, the impact that school education has on both privacy care and the safety of teenagers' behavior on SNS was studied. It was found that teenagers do not care much for their privacy, and that a lack of privacy care leads to unsafe behavior on SNS. However, school education has a positive impact on privacy care and by raising privacy care it also has an indirect positive impact on the safety of pupils' behavior. Our results suggest therefore that more efforts for school education about safer use of SNS are important, especially since the attention for the topic in schools is found to be still extremely limited and not organized in the curriculum. Practical implications are discussed.


The relentless spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, which began in the first quarter of 2020, aided by the periodical emergence of new variants, is continuing to inflict unprecedented damages on the global economy. Interruptions in international travel have led to the collapse of the tourism-related service industry, which is the backbone of the economies of many small islands and developing states. This paper focuses on the Maldives, an island nation in the Indian Ocean, which is one of the top ten most tourism-dependent economies. Adopting the Solow production function, the paper examines the tourism and economic growth relationship using nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) methodology. The analysis shows that tourism earnings and economic growth have a significant asymmetric relationship. The result further reveals that the magnitude of the negative impact of the decline of a given size in tourism earnings on growth is of much larger magnitude than that of the positive impact of the same size rise in tourism earnings. The negative impact of tourism is found to be more pronounced in the long run. ICT spread, measured by the rise in mobile subscriptions, is positively associated with growth and has emerged as a significant contingent factor. We suggest policy measures to step up the recovery progress and growth.


Interfacial failure by delamination in the unidirectional AS4/PEEK laminated composite was simulated through this paper with a finite element method (FEM) based model developed with Comsol Multiphysics software. The mixed – mode bending (MMB) test was investigated numerically here after a successful validation of the model by comparing with experimental measurements of the load –displacement curve provided in the literature. The maximum delamination length of the specimens modeled, the corresponding von Mises stress distributions and the damage evolution function have been evaluated for different ratios between mode II strain energy rate and total strain energy rate GII/GT = 20%, 50% and 80%.


The giant magneto-strain effect is particularly attractive for actuator applications in micro- and nanometer dimensions as it enables contact-less control of large deformations, which can hardly be achieved by other actuation principles in small space. Two different approaches are being pursued to develop ferromagnetic shape memory (FSMA) microactuators based on the magnetically induced reorientation of martensite variants: (1) the fabrication of free-standing epitaxial Ni-Mn-Ga thin film actuators in a bottom-up manner by magnetron sputtering, substrate release and integration technologies and (2) the top-down approach of thickness reduction of bulk Ni-Mn-Ga single crystals to foil specimens of decreasing thicknesses (200 – 40 μm) and subsequent integration. This review describes the fabrication technologies, procedures for thermo-mechanical training adapted to the quasi-two-dimensional geometries of film and foil specimens as well as the performance characteristics of state-of-the art actuators after processing and training.


A Standard test and simulation assembly (TSA) for a modular attitude and orbit control system (MACS) is defined. Its functional requirements, detailed specification and design are presented. The assembly consists of a commercial available minicomputer and a specificly designed front-end which interfaces with the AOCS via an OBDH-, MACS- and IEEE- test bus. The standard ETOL software is to be used after some modifications.


Background: In this study, ferrate (VI) and ultraviolet (UV) radiation were employed to remove hydrogen sulfide from municipal wastewater resulting in a reduction in chemical oxygen demand (COD). Although ferrate (VI) and UV have been used individually for the removal of a few pollutants from urban and industrial wastewater, there exists no study to investigate the effectiveness of simultaneous utilization of both methods for the removal of hydrogen sulfide and reducing COD. Methods: This study aims to compare the application of UV, ferrate (VI) and UV/ferrate (VI) for the removal of hydrogen sulfide and COD from municipal wastewater in batch mode. Moreover, the effect of many parameters such as ferrate (VI) concentration, temperature, hydraulic retention time (HRT) and pH on ferrate (VI) oxidation power, were investigated. Results: The results of this study demonstrated that for pH less than 2, higher pollutant removal efficiency was obtained. COD removal efficiency could increase up to 68% by adding 1.68 mg/L of ferrate (VI), almost 100% of hydrogen sulfide was removed by the same concentration of ferrate (VI). Both hydrogen sulfide and COD removal efficiencies increased as temperature increased to 50°C; nevertheless, further increase in temperature had negative effect on the removal efficiency. The use of UV/ferrate (VI) increased the removal efficiency of both hydrogen sulfide and COD when compared with the use of UV and ferrate (VI) individually. UV method was not effective in the removal of hydrogen sulfide. Conclusion: The research findings shed new light on wastewater treatment systems employing UV/ ferrate (VI) to decrease both the hydrogen sulfide and COD of municipal wastewater. This new findings will assist in the inaccurate design and effective operation of such systems which can be employed to maintain or improve environmental quality.