Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM) using the voltage source inverter (VSI) has been widely accepted as the current generation of the reactive power regulators of power system, improving the network steady-state and dynamic performances, regulates power factor, reduces losses and allows higher power flows in the exist line, assists in the post-fault recovery of transmission system. The cascade inverter not only can eliminate the bulky transformers compared with the conventional STATCOM, but also employ a sinusoid pulse width modular scheme: phase-shift. The use of the feedback linearization approach to design nonlinear controllers of power inverters is particularly interesting because it transforms a nonlinear system into a linear one in terms of its input–output relationship. Partial linearization may still be useful in some cases providing that the internal zero dynamics exhibit a proper transient performance.


This is a major study of conceptions of selfhood and personality in Homer, Greek tragedy, and philosophy. The focus is on norms of personality in Greek psychology and ethics. The key thesis is that, to understand Greek thinking of this type, we need to counteract the subjective and individualistic aspects of our own thinking about the self. The book defines an 'objective-participant' conception of personality, symbolized by the idea of the person as an interlocutor in a series of types of psychological and ethical dialogue. The book is both an original contribution to the history of ideas of personality and the self and also offers sustained analysis and new interpretations of a number of important topics in Greek philosophy and literature. These topics include: Homeric decision-making; the problematic hero in Homer's Iliad and Greek tragedy; monologues of self-division in Greek poetry; the tripartite division of the soul and ethical education in Plato's Republic; Aristotle's ideas about 'being yourself' and meeting the claims of others, and Greek philosophical thinking about what it means to be fully 'human', or 'divine'. The book is shaped as a response to recent work in the philosophy of mind, ethics, and personhood, as well as in classical scholarship. Clear and non-technical, with all Greek translated, the book brings out the continuing importance of ancient Greek thinking for contemporary study of ideas of personality and selfhood.


OBJECTIVE
To compare cardiovascular health variables and physical activity levels of adolescents and adults with cerebral palsy who are Gross Motor Func-tion Classification System (GMFCS) levels I and II.

METHODS
Eleven adolescents (mean age 13.1 (standard deviation (SD) 2.1) years) and 14 adults (mean age 31.7 (SD 10.4) years)) with cerebral palsy were included, grouped by their GMFCS level (level I (n = 12); level II (n = 13)). Assessments of cardiovascular health, body composition and physical activity levels were performed. Cardiovascular variables included resting blood pressure and carotid artery intima media thickness. Body composition included height, weight, body mass index, and waist circumference. Physical activity was measured using accelerometry.

RESULTS
Adjusting for age between GMFCS levels (GMFCS I mean 17.3 (SD 5.2); GMFCS II mean 29.3 (SD 14.1) years, p = 0.011), significant differences were evident for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day (GMFCS I median 45.8 (interquartile range (IQR) 32.4-75.1); GMFCS II median 16.4 (IQR 13.0, 25.0) min/day, p = 0.011), height (GMFCS I mean 1.63 (SD 0.14); GMFCS II mean 1.56 (SD 0.12) m, p = 0.010), mean arterial pressure (GMFCS I mean 84.6 (SD 7.8); GMFCS II mean 89.4 (SD 8.5) mmHg, p = 0.030), and carotid artery intima media thickness (GMFCS I mean 0.431 (SD 0.06); GMFCS II mean 0.489 (SD 0.04), p = 0.026).

CONCLUSION
Individuals with cerebral palsy who were GMFCS level I had lower mean arterial pressure, thinner carotid artery intima media thickness, and engaged in a greater amount of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day than those who were GMFCS level II. Clinicians should acknowledge that ambulatory individuals with cerebral palsy could have differing cardiovascular health profiles and should monitor these cardiovascular variables and discuss physical activity during healthcare visits, regardless of age.


2D Transition-Metal Dichalcogenides (TMDs) have been widely considered as a promising material for future optoelectronics due to the strong light-matter interaction, fantastic electronic properties and environmental stability. However, the relatively large bandgap and low mobility of conventional TMDs (such as MoS2 and WS2) limit their applications in infra optoelectronics and high-speed photodetection. In this chapter, we introduce a new type of group-10 noble TMDs (NTMDs), which exhibit outstanding properties such as unique structural phase, widely tunable energy gap and high mobility. Till now, various NTMDs-based photodetectors have been realized with ultrabroad detection waveband (200 nm to 10.6 μm), fast response time, high responsivity and detectivity, and polarization sensitivity. NTMDs have been excellent potential candidates for next-generation photodetection devices with high-performance, wafer-scalability and flexibility.


Abstract
Purpose:
The Namibian government, wish to develop the port of Walvis-bay into a gateway port-centric hub to serve southern Africa. They believe that it would enhance trade in the region which would improve the physical infrastructure of the country and develop the logistics industry with a concomitant improvement in service levels and the skills to provide them.
Assuming that this is successful, the proponents of this development postulate that the improved port and infrastructure, supported by the trade that it brings, will generate additional income that can be cascaded down to the whole population, thus reducing poverty and improving the distribution of income amongst the nation's residents.
Research approach:
Previous research has suggested that the barriers to logistics development in Namibia are likely to prevent the proposed port development from succeeding, at least to the scale and in the time frame envisaged by its supporters (Savage. C.J., Fransman. L. et al. 2014). Nevertheless, as the port exists and will be developed in some form and to some extent, it is important to try to determine whether, if successful, the development would prove to be a good use of the country's resources.
The research used a critical realist approach to analyse the views of stakeholders to determine their views on the probability of success of the port of Walvis-bay development as well as its impact in terms of trade development and the distribution of income. The output from this exercise was compared with historic information on other major infrastructure developments in other countries and the subsequent impact on the distribution of income.
Findings and Originality:
The research showed that whilst most stakeholders are very optimistic about the success of the venture and its impact on trade, they were far less confident about the likelihood of any improved income being fairly distributed. Nevertheless, since the political changes following Namibian presidential elections of late 2014, they have become more optimistic about the likelihood of more equitable distribution.
Research Impact:
The output supports previous research but challenges the ethics of developing nations making speculative investments in major infrastructure where this may restrict the funding of potentially more immediately beneficial projects. The identification of this ethical issue could contribute to triple bottom line costing of future large infrastructure developments in the southern African region.
Keywords: Supply chain ethics, infrastructure, developing countries and sustainable logistics.


Two RecA orthologs, Rad51 and Dmc1, mediate homologous recombination in meiotic cells. During budding yeast meiosis, Hed1 coordinates the actions of Rad51 and Dmc1 by down-regulating Rad51 activity. It is thought that Hed1-dependent attenuation of Rad51 facilitates formation of crossovers that are necessary for the correct segregation of chromosomes at the first meiotic division. We purified Hed1 in order to elucidate its mechanism of action. Hed1 binds Rad51 with high affinity and specificity. We show that Hed1 does not adversely affect assembly of the Rad51 presynaptic filament, but it specifically prohibits interaction of Rad51 with Rad54, a Swi2/Snf2-like factor that is indispensable for Rad51-mediated recombination. In congruence with the biochemical results, Hed1 prevents the recruitment of Rad54 to a site-specific DNA double-strand break in vivo but has no effect on the recruitment of Rad51. These findings shed light on the function of Hed1 and, importantly, unveil a novel mechanism for the regulation of homologous recombination.


When German reunification was accompanied by a rapid decline in aggregate fertility rates, researchers particularly assigned high unemployment rates a dominant role for changes in fertility behavior. The aim of this paper is twofold. First, we investigate changes in the timing of first birth in East Germany after reunification. Using data from the GSOEP, we show that even after reunification East Germans are younger at first birth than their West German counterparts. Second, we investigate the relationship between male and female unemployment and first birth risks. A major result is that female unemployment fosters the transition into parenthood in East Germany.


Because welding system is given the look function by laser image sensing, the automation of welding system is well improved. But the two problems are image processing deviation under welding interference and adjusting deviation of machine set tracking. Targeting at these problems, the weld seam tracking (WST) system is designed. Some mathematics are brought forward, including the log grey transformation, Laplace edge detection, extracting center route of laser strip and detecting the characteristic points of weld seam image. The dynamic trend of WST is controlled by the current seam deviation calculated by seam characteristic points. The subsection control strategy and the decision algorithm of WST stability in abnormal circumstances are used. The WST experimental results show that tracking S shape weld seam is delivered effectively with high precision based on the proposed weld seam tracking, can meet welding technology requirement and provide experimental data for manufacturing WST system.


The measurements of the inclusive J/$\psi$ yield at midrapidity ($\left | y \right |<0.9$) and forward rapidity (2.5 $<y<$ 4) in Pb$-$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02$ TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC are reported. The inclusive J/$\psi$ production yields and nuclear modification factors, $R_{\rm AA}$, are measured as a function of the collision centrality, J/$\psi$ transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$), and rapidity. The J/$\psi$ average transverse momentum and squared transverse momentum ($\langle p_{\mathrm{T}}\rangle$ and $\langle p_{\mathrm{T}}^{\mathrm{2}}\rangle$) are evaluated as a function of the centrality at midrapidity. Compared to the previous ALICE publications, here the entire Pb$-$Pb collisions dataset collected during the LHC Run 2 is used, which improves the precision of the measurements and extends the $p_{\rm T}$ coverage. The $p_{\rm T}$-integrated $R_{\rm AA}$ shows a hint of an increasing trend towards unity from semicentral to central collisions at midrapidity, while it is flat at forward rapidity. The $p_{\rm T}$-differential $R_{\rm AA}$ shows a strong suppression at high $p_{\rm T}$ with less suppression at low $p_{\rm T}$ where it reaches a larger value at midrapidity compared to forward rapidity. The ratio of the $p_{\rm T}$-integrated yields of J/$\psi$ to those of D$^{0}$ mesons is reported for the first time for the central and semicentral event classes at midrapidity. Model calculations implementing charmonium production via the coalescence of charm quarks and antiquarks during the fireball evolution (transport models) or in a statistical approach with thermal weights are in good agreement with the data at low $p_{\rm T}$. At higher $p_{\rm T}$, the data are well described by transport models and a model based on energy loss in the strongly-interacting medium produced in nuclear collisions at the LHC.


This paper presents a framework that enables a robot to discover various object categories through interaction. The categories are described using action-effect relations, i.e., sensorimotor contingencies rather than more static shape or appearance representation. The framework provides a functionality to classify objects and the resulting categories, associating a class with a specific module. We demonstrate the performance of the framework by studying a pushing behavior in robots, encoding the sensorimotor contingencies and their predictability with Gaussian Processes. We show how entropy-based action selection can improve object classification and how functional categories emerge from the similarities of effects observed among the objects. We also show how a multidimensional action space can be realized by parameterizing pushing using both position and velocity.


influence on ABSTRACT Clostridium dif fi cile is a major cause of antibiotic induced diarrhea worldwide, responsible for signi fi cant annual mortalities and represents a considerable economic burden on healthcare systems. The two main C. dif fi cile virulence factors are toxins A and B. Isogenic toxin B mutants of 2 independently isolated erythromycin-sensitive derivatives (630E and 630 D erm ) of strain 630 were previously shown to exhibit substantively different phenotypes. Compared to 630, strain 630E and its progeny grow slower, achieve lower fi nal cell densities, exhibit a reduced capacity for spore-formation, produce lower levels of toxin and are less virulent in the hamster infection model. By the same measures, strain 630 D erm and its derivatives more closely mirror the behavior of 630. Genome sequencing revealed that 630 D erm had acquired 7 unique Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) compared to 630 and 630E, while 630E had 9 SNPs and a DNA inversion not found in the other 2 strains. The relatively large number of mutations meant that the identi fi cation of those responsible for the altered properties of 630E was not possible, despite the restoration of 3 mutations to wildtype by allelic exchange and comparative RNAseq analysis of all 3 strains. The latter analysis revealed large differences in gene expression between the 3 strains, explaining in part why no single SNP could restore the phenotypic differences. Our fi ndings suggest that strain 630 D erm should be favored over 630E as a surrogate for 630 in genetic-based studies. They also underline the importance of effective strain curation and the need to genome re-sequence master seed banks wherever possible.


A total of 128 clinical isolates of C. jejuni and 17 clinical isolates of C. coli were characterized by their plasmid profiles, susceptibility to six antimicrobial agents and the Lior biotypes. We also analyzed seven isolates from three C. jejuni family outbreaks and three isolates from one C. coli family outbreak. Plasmids were found in 47 C. jejuni (36.7%) and 3 C. coli (17.6%) isolates. The sizes of plasmids detected ranged from about 3.3 to 89 kb. The majority of Campylobacter isolates (n = 33) had a single plasmid, 11 and three isolates of C. jejuni had two and three plasmids, respectively. The most frequently isolated plasmids ranged from 37 to 48 kb (n = 26). The single plasmids were discriminated on the basis of their BglII patterns. The majority of 45 kb (n = 12) plasmids had the indistinguishable pattern. The significant association (p < 0.0001) between tetracycline resistance and plasmid carriage was observed. All except one (hippuric-negative C. jejuni isolate) C jejuni isolates were biotyped using the Lior biotyping scheme. Three biotypes of C. jejuni and 2 biotypes of C. coli were identified among the isolates; 60.2% were C. jejuni I, 38.2% C. jejuni II, 0.8% C. jejuni III, 70.6% C. coli I and 29.4% C. coli II. In this study the least discriminatory subtyping method was biotyping (D = 0.505). C. jejuni isolates were the most resistant to ciprofloxacin and nalidixic acid (64.1%) followed by tetracycline (23.4%) and ampicillin (13.3%). Fifteen isolates of C. coli were resistant to ciprofloxacin and nalidixic acid (88.2%), three to ampicillin and one to tetracycline. All of the C. jejuni and C. coli isolates were sensitive to erythromycin and gentamicin. Resistance to ciprofloxacin was found in all quinolone-resistant isolates. Thirty seven isolates (28.9%) were susceptible to all antimicrobial agents tested. Six C. jejuni (4.7%) and one C. coli isolates showed resistance to more than three drugs. The fact that the most of the C. jejuni and C. coli isolates tested were biotype I and possessed no plasmid limited the usefulness of biotyping and plasmid analysis as epidemiological markers. The results of susceptibility testing of C. jejuni and C. coli isolates showed high percentage of resistance to quinolones.


Following Chile's pension reform in 1981, a wave of multi-pillar pension reforms took place in Latin America (LAC). Their implementation has revealed new policy challenges. To shed light on these issues, this paper reviews the structure and performance of mandatory DC pillars in LAC. The review highlights three important points. First, it suggests overall positive outcomes from reforms in the LAC countries that implemented multi-pillar pension systems. There is, however, scope for increasing efficiency. Second, management fees have declined but remain relatively high whereas decreases in operational costs have only been partially passed through to consumers reflecting inadequate competition. Limits on transfers and related measures have been ineffective in curtailing management fees but created new barriers to entry. In recent years, a few countries in LAC introduced or are in the process of introducing a combination of new measures that focus more directly on the two root causes of inadequate competition - the inelasticity of demand to fees and selective elimination of barriers to entry by facilitating unbundling of services. These new measures show some promise. Third, the paper's review indicates that a greater diversification of pension fund portfolios in LAC appears to be necessary. Portfolio concentration owes to the adoption of strict quantitative investment regulations, underdeveloped capital markets and volatile macroeconomic environments. A gradual relaxation of these restrictions is now in progress in several countries. Regulators have become more conscious of the costs imposed by such regulations and macroeconomic conditions have improved. Greater overseas diversification seems inevitable given the development stage of local capital markets.


This article presents Schelling's claim that nature has an evolutionary process and Hegel's response that nature is the development of the concept. It then examines whether evolution is progressive. This article argues that, insofar as a notion of progress is conceptually ineliminatable from evolutionary biology or required to articulate the shape of life's history, progress should be viewed as constitutive.


. Modern processors are based on multicore architectures. Such an approach improves the productivity of processors by decreasing the cost of each processor and increasing its performance. When using multicore processors in nodes of HPC cluster we could use following approaches utilizing node resources: (1) multiprocess program (nx1 running n processes on a node using one thread in each process); or (2) multiprocess-multithreaded (MPMT) (1xn - running one process on a node and inside of a process n threads may work sharing program data of the process). When using multiple threads in a process inside each process privatization is usually performed to reduce critical sections. In this article we consider the second approach, which will bring better results for parallel application presented in this article because of lack of critical sections. The API and appropriate library has been developed and implemented for MPMT applications. The library allows developing parallel applications using MPI interface and inside of each process it is possible to run a few threads. The parallel MPMT application of FT (Fast Furier Transformation) on Java has been developed. The comparison of multiprocess version of FT to MPMT version of FT has been made. Tests on implemented application show 9,5-20% performance improvement. The profiling of developed application shows the bottleneck of MPMT FT is mostly in communication scheme between nodes. Improving the communication scheme will bring better results.


On 6 November 2012 the Competition Authority of Bosnia & Herzegovina (KV) found that four Western Union agents have abused their collective dominant position on the market for fast money…


The spine is the central skeletal support structure in vertebrates consisting of repeated units of bone, the vertebrae, separated by intervertebral discs that enable the movement of the spine. Spinal pathologies such as idiopathic back pain, vertebral compression fractures and intervertebral disc failure affect millions of people world-wide. Animal models can help us to understand the disease process, and zebrafish are increasingly used as they are highly genetically tractable, their spines are axially loaded like humans, and they show similar pathologies to humans during ageing. However biomechanical models for the zebrafish are largely lacking. Here we describe the results of loading intact zebrafish spinal motion segments on a material testing stage within a micro Computed Tomography machine. We show that vertebrae and their arches show predictable patterns of deformation prior to their ultimate failure, in a pattern dependent on their position within the segment. We further show using geometric morphometrics which regions of the vertebra deform the most during loading, and that Finite Element models of the trunk subjected reflect the real patterns of deformation and strain seen during loading and can therefore be used as a predictive model for biomechanical performance.


Aim To report preliminary results of a randomised controlled trial looking at the effect of a formal advance care planning intervention (ACP) for patients with incurable cancer. Method 334 patients, who have incurable cancer with disease progression after 1st line chemotherapy and an expected survival of 3–12 months, as well as their nominated family or friend, will be randomised to receive usual care or usual care plus ACP. Knowledge of and compliance with end of life wishes will be assessed. Patient and family or friend satisfaction with care, communication with healthcare providers and the mental health outcomes of the family member or friend will also be assessed. Result 95 participant dyads (of 334) have been randomised to the study (data available for 89). Participants had a median age of 63 (SD = 10) with a mean oncologist estimated median survival of 7.7 months (SD = 2.9). At baseline, 24.7% reported any communication at all with their oncologist regarding their EOL care preferences. At 8 week follow up (n = 47), the results were similar at 23.4%. At baseline 55% and at 8 weeks 76.6% reported communication with their family regarding their EOL care. 5.7% at baseline vs 36.2% at 8 weeks had written their wishes down in a formal way. All reported the quality of the ACP discussion to be 'good', 'very good' or 'excellent'. Conclusion This study will provide valuable data on end of life communication between patients, family members and oncologists. ACP discussions appear to be acceptable and may be contributing to increased discussion regarding EOL wishes, over time.


In the late 1990s, the Word Wrestling Federation (WWF) reached the height of its global popularity thanks to its "Attitude" re-branding. From 1997 to 2001, the company targeted an audience of teenagers and 18- to 34-year-old men with programming emphasizing adult themes and rebellious anti-heroes. The company's most popular character at the time was "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, a beer-drinking Texas "redneck" who refused to conform and feuded on screen with a villainous corporate CEO. His iconic entrance music, "Hell Frozen Over," was closely modeled on Rage Against the Machine's 1996 hit song "Bulls on Parade" and played a crucial role in establishing the character's credentials as a blue collar rebel whose actions channeled the desires of the WWF's core audience of young white men.
 Highlighting both the specific idiomatic conventions of professional wrestling entrance themes and the numerous similarities between "Bulls on Parade" and Austin's entrance music, this article argues that Austin's music leveraged sonic tropes of masculine anti-corporate rebellion that were legible as such in the late 1990s due largely to the soundscapes of rage popularized by RATM and the numerous rap-rock "nü metal" bands they inspired. It shows how Austin's music and its RATM connection exemplify not only the capacity for popular entertainment to commodify rebellion, but also the agency of audiences in forging meaningful personal and interpersonal relationships with and through mass-mediated entertainment as sonic signifiers become disentangled from specific political movements and made available to a broad range of economic and political projects.


Purpose: To evaluate the impact of cerebral protection devices on the procedural safety and outcome of carotid stent procedures. Methods: From June 1997 to July 2001, 275 consecutive patients (208 men; mean age 71 ± 7.4 years) underwent percutaneous angioplasty and/or stenting of the extracranial carotid artery. In the first 125 (45.4%) patients, the procedures were performed without cerebral protection. After January 2000, protection devices were routinely used (150 [54.6%] patients), including the Angioguard filter, GuardWire occlusion system, TRAP Vascular Filtration System, EPI Filter Wire, NeuroShield, Parodi Anti-Embolism System, and Medicorp occlusive balloon. Results: The percutaneous procedures were effective in 273 (99.3%) patients. No death or major stroke occurred in either group. In the unprotected group, 5 (4.0%) complications occurred: 3 (2.4%) minor strokes, 1 (0.8%) transient ischemic attack (TIA), and 1 (0.8%) subarachnoid hemorrhage. In the patients treated under cerebral protection, there were 2 (1.3%) complications: 1 (0.7%) minor stroke and 1 (0.7%) subarachnoid hemorrhage. There were 4 (3.2%) periprocedural embolic complications in the unprotected group versus 1 (0.7%) in the protected patients. Conclusions: Our data suggest that percutaneous dilation and stenting of the carotid arteries protected by cerebral protection devices is feasible and effective. In a consecutive series, the use of the cerebral protection systems reduced the acute neurological event rate related to embolic complications by 79%.


[ David E. Pulleyblank ][1] Topoisomerases are remarkable enzymes that remove knots and kinks from DNA. In this issue [ Rybenkov et al .][2] report that topoisomerase II (topo II) and the closely related topoisomerase IV (topo IV) actually drive a population of catenated, supercoiled, and knotted DNA molecules to an untangled state far from equilibrium. Pulleyblank explains these results in his Perspective and discusses how these topoisomerases may use ATP hydrolysis to generate this dysequilibrated state.

 [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org#affiliation
 [2]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/277/5326/690


There is an increasing emphasis on localisation and the delivery of services through local
and multi agency partnerships; this report investigates the issues around undertaking policy
analysis at the local level
The study is based on a case study approach providing insights into experience
and practice of local partnerships and bodies in three areas: Greater Manchester,
Lewisham and Cornwall.
This research provides local case study insights into:
• the extent to which analysis is undertaken at the local level to assess local worklessness
interventions;
• whether and how local policy analysis is used to inform current and future interventions;
• the range of 'good practice' in local worklessness analysis;
• barriers to conducting analysis;
• the nature, scope and efficacy of existing arrangements to share local analysis; and
• local partners' appetite for a 'framework' for the analysis of local worklessness
interventions and for dissemination of findings.


SUMMARY The main blood sugar of locusts is trehalose, which is hydrolysed to two glucose units by trehalase. Homogenates of locust flight muscles are rich in trehalase activity, which is bound to membranes. A minor fraction of trehalase is in an overt form while the remainder is latent, i.e. active only after impairing membrane integrity. Trehazolin, an antibiotic pseudosaccharide, inhibits locust flight muscle trehalase with apparent Ki- and EC50 values of 10–8 mol l–1 and 10–7 mol l–1, respectively. Trehazolin is insecticidal: 50 μg injected into locusts completely and selectively blocked the overt form of muscle trehalase (with little effect on latent activity) and killed 50% of the insects within 24 h. Here, it is demonstrated for the first time that trehazolin causes dramatic hypoglycaemia. Injection of 10 μg trehazolin caused glucose levels to fall by over 90% in 24 h, from 2.8 mmol l–1 to 0.23 mmol l–1, while trehalose increased from 61 mmol l–1 to 111 mmol l–1. Feeding glucose to the locusts fully neutralized the effects of a potentially lethal dose of trehazolin. This indicates that hypertrehalosaemia is not acutely toxic, whereas lack of glucose causes organ failure (presumably of the nervous system), and that sufficient haemolymph glucose can only be generated from trehalose by trehalase. The results also suggest that overt flight muscle trehalase is located in the plasma membrane with the active site accessible to the haemolymph. Trehalase inhibitors are valuable tools for studying the molecular physiology of trehalase function and sugar metabolism in insects.


Heavy-duty gas turbine is used widely in power generation industry for many advantages. Gas turbine inlet system is an important component of the gas turbine. The work to study the inlet elbow system was less in the past. In fact, structure design of the inlet elbow system has important influence on performance and life of the gas turbine. In this paper, the three-dimensional structural model of gas turbine inlet elbow system is built; the stress field for the inlet elbow system is analyzed by using finite element method (FEM). The maximum stress and distribution characteristics of stress field in the inlet elbow system is computed. It provides a reliable basis for reasonable design and safety evaluation of the inlet elbow system in gas turbine.


Voting is one of the most usually used terms in contemporary age of democratic politics. The ever increasing popularity of democratic theory and practices has even made this term a household name. In democratic systems, and their number is quite large and ever increasing, each adult citizen uses 'voting' as a means for expressing his approval or disapproval of governmental decisions, policies and programmers of various political parties and the qualities of the candidates who are engaged in the struggle to get the status of being the representatives of the people. The study of determinants of electoral behaviour constitutes a very significant area of empirical investigation. Man is a rational creature in the philosophical sense of term; he is not so rational in the realms of his economic or political behaviour. An empirical study of the determinants of electoral behaviour displays the amazing fact that the behaviour of man is influenced by several unreasonable factors and pressure groups in invoking religious and communal factors, influence of money or charismatic personality of a leader and host of other irrational forces have their definite influence on the minds of the voters. The main purpose of the present study is to focus attention on voting behaviour in India and to highlight the factors that determine the voting behaviour in India.


The multi-piston pump, is a linear type of positive displacement pump, working on the principle of direct lift. The height to which the pump can directly lift the water is primarily controlled by factors that include the capacity of the operator, the clearance between the washers and the riser pipe and the speed of the washers. The materials for the construction of this pump can be obtained locally, even from the dump sites, hence its nickname "the pump from the dump". It would not only serve as a means of lifting water easily, but will also improve the standard of living of the people. This pump could be an option for pumping water in relatively remote and deprived areas. This study highlights on the design, construction and evaluation of multi-piston pump. The pump went through vigorous design procedures and construction stages. The detailed working drawings of the pump were produced and constructions work carried out. Equations were established in order to know how the whole system behaves. It can be deduced from the study that pump discharge is influenced by piston diameter and the distance between the pistons. This pump can be used for small-irrigation schemes. Keywords : Pump; Hand-dug wells; Pipes; Discharge; Velocity.


Abstract Achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement will require fast and far-reaching changes, including transformative governance within the international climate negotiations. Processes and interactions within the negotiations have been historically perceived as inequitable, as low-income countries' interests were undermined by the small size of their delegations. Since COP21 in Paris, however, the delegation size of poorer countries has significantly increased. Following the Paris Agreement, the average delegation size of low-income and lower middle-income countries, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, has risen considerably compared with other country income groupings and regions. While the drivers behind this increase are yet unclear, the trend could contribute to greater equity in the negotiations through better representation and visibility of issues shared by these countries, for instance those related to high climate vulnerability and low readiness. However, delegation size is only one factor in negotiation success, which is related to a variety of factors both internal and external to the negotiations themselves. Further analysis on the causes of the shifts observed in this paper is required to understand their possible consequences, and better determine whether they can successfully contribute to greater climate equity in the context of the necessary transformative climate governance.


In medical terminology, it has become more and more common the use of the expression "Quality of Life" (QoL) to define a series of aspects that go beyond the traditional, clinical and "objective" evaluation of the medical intervention. The attention to QoL comes from the need to find tools that are able to reveal important aspects of the life of the patient that cannot be measured by a laboratory exam and/or a radiological procedure. The QoL is measured through multidimensional questionnaires on, at the very least, the domains of physical, psychological and social health. The improvement of the health care standards and the technological progress in medical matters have brought about an increase in the average age of the population, and as a consequence, an increase of the chronic and degenerative disease, which can negatively influence the patient's quality of life. Amongst these pathologies, heart failure (HF) has a high prevalence in patients who are at least 70 years old, and it's the cause of frequent and repeated hospitalizations. The estimate of the QoL becomes then a very important piece of the puzzle to figure out, as important as the clinical parameters, to allow the patient to become an integral part of the physician's decisions and to reach more quickly and with better results the therapeutic objectives.


We study a system of $N$ non-interacting spin-less fermions trapped in a confining potential, in arbitrary dimensions $d$ and arbitrary temperature $T$. The presence of the trap introduces an edge where the average density of fermions vanishes. Far from the edge, near the center of the trap (the so called "bulk regime"), physical properties of the fermions have traditionally been understood using the Local Density Approximation. However, this approximation drastically fails near the edge where the density vanishes. In this paper we show that, even near the edge, novel universal properties emerge, independently of the details of the confining potential. We show that for large $N$, these fermions in a confining trap, in arbitrary dimensions and at finite temperature, form a determinantal point process. As a result, any $n$-point correlation function can be expressed as an $n \times n$ determinant whose entry is called the kernel. Near the edge, we derive the large $N$ scaling form of the kernels. In $d=1$ and $T=0$, this reduces to the so called Airy kernel, that appears in the Gaussian Unitary Ensemble (GUE) of random matrix theory. In $d=1$ and $T>0$ we show a remarkable connection between our kernel and the one appearing in the $1+1$-dimensional Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation at finite time. Consequently our result provides a finite $T$ generalization of the Tracy-Widom distribution, that describes the fluctuations of the rightmost fermion at $T=0$. In $d>1$ and $T \geq 0$, while the connection to GUE no longer holds, the process is still determinantal whose analysis provides a new class of kernels, generalizing the $1d$ Airy kernel at $T=0$ obtained in random matrix theory. Some of our finite temperature results should be testable in present-day cold atom experiments, most notably our detailed predictions for the temperature dependence of the fluctuations near the edge.


PURPOSE OF INVESTIGATION
To review the evidence concerning the efficacy of levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system (LNG-IUS) in preventing endometrial pathology in women treated with tamoxifen.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of women with breast cancer on tamoxifen that compared endometrial surveillance or placebo alone vs. the LNG-IUS were reviewed. The eligible trials were identified from the following electronic databases: Cochrane CENTRAL, Medline, and EMBASE. The authors extracted data on all reported outcomes and conducted meta-analyses on the endometrial polyps, endometrial hyperplasia, proliferative endometrium, and endometrium thickness.

RESULTS
According to the subgroup analysis, a significant reduction of endometrial polyps was obtained (OR = 0.22, 95% CI 0.13-0.37, p < 0.00001). The use of LNG-IUS reduced the incidence of endometrial hyperplasia (OR = 0.13, 95% CI 0.03-0.58, p = 0.007). Increased abnormal vaginal bleeding for LNG-IUS users may be an adverse aspect of LNG-IUS.

CONCLUSION
This meta-analysis confirms that endometrial hyperplasia is also reduced as well as endometrial polyp formation reduced after long-term follow-up.


Glycinin (11S) and beta-conglycinin (7S) are major storage proteins in soybean (Glycine max L.) seeds and accumulate in the protein storage vacuole (PSV). These proteins are synthesized in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and transported to the PSV by vesicles. Electron microscopic analysis of developing soybean cotyledons of the wild type and mutants with storage protein composition different from that of the wild type showed that there are two transport pathways: one is via the Golgi and the other bypasses it. Golgi-derived vesicles were observed in all lines used in this study and formed smooth dense bodies with a diameter of 0.5 to several micrometers. ER-derived protein bodies (PBs) with a diameter of 0.3-0.5 microm were observed at high frequency in the mutants containing higher amount of 11S group I subunit than the wild type, whereas they were hardly observed in the mutants lacking 11S group I subunit. These indicate that pro11S group I may affect the formation of PBs. Thus, the composition of newly synthesized proteins in the ER is important in the selection of the transport pathways.


The subjective symptoms of the aged were studied classifying the patients by their age and blood pressure. And the following results were obtained: 1. The commonest symptom was stiff shoulder and over one half of the subjects had this. And the following symptoms arreared in the order given in their frequency. Fatigability, headache, palpitation, tinnitus, insomnia, numbness, vertigo, stomach repletion, constipation, nycturia, expectoration, caughing, trembling, belching, pyrosis. 2. The following symptoms increased with age: Constipation, numbness, trembling, insomnia, nycturia, tinnitus, caughing. Nycturia and tinnitus were most renarkable. 3. Such symptoms as belching, stomach repletion, pyrosis, fatigability and stiff shoulder decreased with the elevation of blood pressure, fatigability being most remarkable. The symptoms of digestive system came under this categary. 4. The symptoms of respiratory system were more frequent among women, caughing and expectoration being the only symptoms of this categorywhich were found among men. The following symptoms were highly frequent with women: Tinnitns, belching, constipation, numbness: trembling, insomnia, virtigo, palpitation, headache, fatigability, stiff shoulder, stomach repletion, pyrosis, nycturia, etc. Among the above, the frequency of constipation, virtigo, and headache with women was twice of men while that of stiff shoulder, palpitation, belching, numbness, and insomnia was 1.5 times. Such marked subjective symptoms with women may probably due to thier different reactions to the surroundings and their climacterium. 5. The symptoms most frequent with the group with systoric pressure of 180-209 mmHg, were tinnitus, numbness, trembling, palpitation, insomnia, and constipation. These symptoms increased in the group with 180-209 mmHg because the persons in this group were in the period when the blood pressure fluctuates sharply while it dropped with the group with over 210 mmHg as their blood pressure was stabilized. 6. It was found the disease and sex difference were two important factors for causing subjective symptoms.


Background There is growing policy interest in the promotion of behaviours with health and environmental co-benefits, but little understanding of how such behaviours may be patterned together into healthy, sustainable lifestyles, and whether this varies among population groups. The aim of this study was to examine associations between engaging in different pro-health, low carbon travel and dietary behaviours, with a focus on gender differences. Methods We analysed cross-sectional, self-reported data from individuals aged 16+ in England (n = 1,126) using the National Diet and Nutrition Survey, 2009–2012 (nationally representative random clustered sample). Dietary data was collected using a 4-day food diary; travel data came from a self-completion questionnaire. We classified pro-health, low carbon travel behaviour as any walking and/or cycling for either work or non-work related journeys (active travel, AT), and pro-health, low carbon diets as those with higher levels of fruit and vegetable (FV) and lower levels of red and processed (RP) meat consumption. FV consumption was measured in average portions/day and divided into quintiles (5-category ordinal outcome). RP meat consumption was measured in average grams/day and divided into non-consumers plus consumers grouped into quintiles (6-category ordinal outcome). Gender-stratified ordinal logistic regression was used to examine associations between engaging in AT (yes/no) and each dietary outcome, and models were adjusted for individual, household, and area-level covariates. Sensitivity analyses assessed whether results were robust across different measures of AT. Results Among men, engaging in any AT was positively associated with FV consumption (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 1.69, 95% CI 1.16–2.47) and negatively associated with RP meat consumption (aOR = 0.70, 0.46–1.05), though the latter result did not reach statistical significance. Among women, there was no evidence of associations between AT and consuming FV (aOR = 1.10, 0.77–1.57) or RP meat (aOR = 1.00, 0.71–1.40). Sensitivity analyses revealed that associations varied across different travel modes and types of journeys: men who active travelled for non-work journeys (compared to motorists) and women who cycled (compared to non-cyclists) both consumed significantly less RP meat (aOR = 0.65, 0.42–0.98; aOR = 0.31, 0.10–0.92, respectively), whereas only men who commuted actively (compared to motorists) consumed significantly more FV (aOR = 2.38, 1.26–4.49). Conclusion These results suggest that the patterning of healthy, sustainable lifestyles differs by gender and is distinct across different types of travel and dietary behaviours. There are potential synergies (beneficial interactions) between different pro-health, low carbon behaviours in certain segments of the population, and these should be investigated further in larger studies with more detailed combinations of travel and dietary behaviour.


Radar is the most eminent device in the prolonged scattering era. The mechanisms involve using electromagnetic waves to take Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images for long reaching. The process of setting edges is one of the important processes used in many fields, including radar images, which assists in showing objects such as mobile vehicles, ships, aircraft, and meteorological and terrain forms. In order to accurately identify these objects, their edges must be detected. Many old-style methods are used to isolate the edges but they do not give good results in the determination process. Conservative methods use an operator to detect the edges, such as the Sobel operator which is used to perform edge detection where the edge does not appear well. The proposed method which combines Ridgelet transform, Bezier curve and Sobel operator is used to detect edges very efficiently. Ridghelet transform resolves the harms in the wavelet transform and it can well detect the edges in images. Bezier curve can profit gradual variation of the data and their mutability. Hence, the efficiency of the edged image is improved and, when used with Sobel operator, the quality of the edge image become very good. The data show that the advocated method has superior fallouts over the Sobel edge detection and the wavelet method in both subjective and impartial experiments. While the Peak Signal to Noise Ratio(PSNR) values were equal to 9.3812, 9.8918, 9.6521 and 9.0743using the Sobel operator method and to10.2564, 10.7927, 10.5612and 10.8633 using the wavelet method, they were increased in the proposed method to 12.6542, 12.9514, 12.8574 and 12.3013 respectively.


Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia in patients undergoing cardiac valve surgery. AF in patients undergoing surgery can be categorized as preoperative AF (PPAF) or postsurgical AF (PSAF).
Objective: To determine whether PSAF in patients undergoing valve surgery had an impact on mortality compared with patients in sinus rhythm or PPAF.
Methods: A total of 556 consecutive patients who underwent valve surgery were reviewed. Patients were divided into three cohorts: sinus rhythm before and after surgery (n=293); PPAF (n=139); and sinus rhythm before and AF after the surgery (PSAF) (n=124). Baseline characteristics, surgical details and outcomes were recorded.
Results: Compared with patients in sinus rhythm (mean [± SD] age 67.8±12.5 years), patients in the PPAF and PSAF groups were significantly older (73.1±9.9 years and 72.4±9.9 years, respectively). Hospital stay was significantly longer in the PPAF and PSAF groups (10.5±6.1 days and 11.3±8.3 days, respectively) compared with patients with sinus rhythm (7.12±4.9 days). During a follow-up of 51 months, all-cause mortality was significantly higher in both the PPAF and PSAF groups. This was irrespective of concomitant coronary bypass surgery. On multivariate Cox regression analysis, the adjusted risk for all-cause mortality for PPAF and PSAF was 1.93 (95% CI 1.18 to 3.17; P=0.01) and 1.64 (95% CI 1.07 to 2.53; P=0.02), respectively.
Conclusion: Patients with PSAF and PPAF have longer hospital stays and higher long-term mortality rates than patients in sinus rhythm. Long-term mortality was similar between PPAF and PSAF.


Ceramic pot filters (CPFs) are an effective point of use water treatment device in developing nations due to their low cost and effectiveness. CPFs are gravity fed, typically making water production a major limiting factor to a CPF9s lifetime and acceptability. Directly connecting CPFs to in-line pumping systems or systems with an elevated storage tank would allow filter usage for constant water treatment at increased pressures, increasing the quantity of treated water. Ceramic disks were manufactured for testing in a specially designed housing apparatus. Filters of varying thicknesses and clay to sawdust mass ratios were manufactured to fit tightly. Flowrate and microbiological removal efficacy (logarithmic reduction value (LRV)) were determined over the testing period at various pressures. Flowrate values ranged from 2.44 to 9.04 liters per hour, significantly higher than traditional CPF technology. LRVs ranged from 1.1 to 2.0, lower than traditional CPF technology but still effective at removing most E. Coli and total coliform bacteria. Filters proved effective at removing total and fecal coliforms at pressures less than 70 kilopascals. The optimum filter had a thickness of 3.2 centimetres and clay to sawdust ratio of 6:1 by mass. Filters proved to be ineffective if flowrates were above 5 litres/hour.


Vanadium-substituted strontium bismuth niobate, SrBi2Nb2-xVxO9 (SBNVx), ceramics were synthesized by a low-temperature ceramic fabrication process; their electric properties were characterized, and grain orientation effects on their electric properties were also investigated using a hot-forging (HF) method. Resonance characteristics of the (33) and (15) modes of grain-oriented SBNV0.1 (HF) showed relatively high electromechanical coupling factors of k33=0.272 and k15=0.151 as well as piezoelectric constants of d33=31.7 pC/N and d15=24.8 pC/N. The temperature dependences of the resonance frequency (TC-f) of the (33) and (15) modes of the SBNV0.1(HF) ceramics were -16.5 ppm/°C and –25.5 ppm/°C, respectively.


Maintenance of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) pool depends on fine balance between self-renewal and differentiation of HSCs. HSCs normally reside within the bone marrow niche of an adult mammal. The embryonic development of HSCs is a complex process that involves the migration of developing HSCs in multiple anatomical sites. Throughout the process, developing HSCs receive internal (transcriptional program) and external (HSC niche) signals, which direct them to maintain balance between self-renewal and differentiation, also to generate a pool of HSCs. In physiological condition HSCs differentiate into all mature cell types present in the blood. However, in pathological condition they may differentiate into non-hematological cells according to the need of the body. It was shown that HSCs can transdifferentiate into cell types that do not belong to the hematopoietic system suggests a complete paradigm shift of the hierarchical hematopoietic tree. This review describes the developmental origins and regulation of HSCs focusing on developmental signals that induce the adult hematopoietic stem cell program, as these informations are very critical for manipulating conditions for expansion of HSCs in ex vivo condition. This review also states clinical application and related patents using HSC.


A new fully decentralized dynamic fractional frequency reuse (FFR)-based scheme for cellular OFDMA networks is introduced. FFR is a technique to mitigate inter-cell interference to improve the throughput of interference-limited users on the cell edge, to the expense of the rest of the cell's users and the aggregate throughput. The proposed scheme aims to limit the FFR-incurred loss of the center users' throughput, while still providing sufficient bandwidth for the cell edge users' communication. This is done by local information sharing and distributed optimization. The resulting ?exibility of frequency reuse can be especially beneficial in scenarios with non-uniform and time-varying load. The optimization task is accomplished by solving a knapsack problem in each cell, where the goal is to maximize the center throughput while maintaining acceptable degradation on the cell edge with respect to the original FFR allocation. The performance improvement resulting from the distributed and dynamic FFR scheme is demonstrated by snapshot simulations on an 81-cells network with asymmetric cell load. The proposed scheme achieves up to a 62% gain in cell-center throughput with a cost of no more than 18% at the edges when compared to the classic FFR scheme. The overall system throughput improvement ranges from 22% to 58%.


Background:Studies show that there are many factors that contribute to anger, and many psychological components can lead to increased anger management mechanisms. There are also differences in the amount of this component based on demographic indicators in different age groups. Therefore, considering the importance of this issue in this study, the differences between these components in different age groups and based on demographic indicators were investigated.
Purpose:Given the importance of demographic indicators in the occurrence of anger indicators, psychological well-being, resilience and social capital in this study, the purpose of this study was to compare the anger, psychological well-being, resilience and social capital in adolescents and youth, adults and middle-aged 15-60 years, as well as compare these variables based on gender, marital status and levels of education.
Method:This study is a causal-comparative study and multivariate analysis of variance (Manova) with respect to the assumptions will be used to analyze the data. The statistical population included adolescents and youth aged 15 to 20, adults 21 to 40, and middle-aged 41 to 60 years. In this study, 400 individuals were selected by random sampling. The ages of participants ranged from 15 to 60 years. There were equivalent numbers of men (n=84) and women (n=189). More participants (n=109) were unmarried than were married (n=94), %39.9 (unmarried), %34.4 (married) and %25.7 It has been unanswered. Also, 34.4% of the participants were adolescents and youth people, 34.4% were adults people and 31.1% were middle-aged people. Also, 20.9% of the sample had undergraduate education, 22% had a diploma degree, 24.9% had a bachelor's degree, 12.1% had a master's degree or higher, and 20.2% had no answer.
Findings:the results showed that the difference between the three age groups in the psychological well-being component is confirmed. based on the adjusted averages, it can be said that with 95% confidence, the middle-aged group had the highest average in the psychological well-being component. It was also revealed that there is no difference between any of the variables of Anger variables, psychological well-being, resilience, and social capital in the two groups of men and women. Also, there was a difference between single and married groups is confirmed in the components of Anger variables, Trait anger, State Anger, and psychological well-being. Also, based on the adjusted averages, it can be said that with 95% confidence, the single group had a higher average in anger components than the married group and had lower psychological well-being. Also, the results show that the difference between different educations in the anger component is confirmed. based on the adjusted averages, it can be said that with 95% confidence, the diploma and sub-diploma education groups have a higher average in the component of anger than the masters and doctoral degrees.
Conclusion:Aggression and aggressive behavior in children are seen in both boys and girls, although in girls the aggression is less physical than in boys and is associated with less physical harm. Also, married people seem to experience less negative emotions due to the experience of intimacy, and therefore experience a lower level of anger and higher psychological well-being. People with higher education also seem to have better skills in regulating nothingness and controlling anger due to more training.


Sensitive to Apoptosis Gene (SAG), also known as RBX2 (RING box protein-2), is the RING component of SCF (SKP1, Cullin, and F-box protein) E3 ubiquitin ligase. Our previous studies have demonstrated that SAG is an anti-apoptotic protein and an attractive anti-cancer target. We also found recently that Sag knockout sensitized mouse embryonic stem cells (mES) to radiation and blocked mES cells to undergo endothelial differentiation. Here, we reported that compared to wild-type mES cells, the Sag−/− mES cells were much more sensitive to all-trans retinoic acid (RA)-induced suppression of cell proliferation and survival. While wild-type mES cells underwent differentiation upon exposure to RA, Sag−/− mES cells were induced to death via apoptosis instead. The cell fate change, reflected by cellular stiffness, can be detected as early as 12 hrs post RA exposure by AFM (Atomic Force Microscopy). We then extended this novel finding to RA differentiation therapy of leukemia, in which the resistance often develops, by testing our hypothesis that SAG inhibition would sensitize leukemia to RA. Indeed, we found a direct correlation between SAG overexpression and RA resistance in multiple leukemia lines. By using MLN4924, a small molecule inhibitor of NEDD8-Activating Enzyme (NAE), that inactivates SAG-SCF E3 ligase by blocking cullin neddylation, we were able to sensitize two otherwise resistant leukemia cell lines, HL-60 and KG-1 to RA. Mechanistically, RA sensitization by MLN4924 was mediated via enhanced apoptosis, likely through accumulation of pro-apoptotic proteins NOXA and c-JUN, two well-known substrates of SAG-SCF E3 ligase. Taken together, our study provides the proof-of-concept evidence for effective treatment of leukemia patients by RA-MLN4924 combination.


Deduction is important to scientific inquiry because it can extend knowledge efficiently, bypassing the need to investigate everything directly. The existence of closure failure—where one knows the premises and that the premises imply the conclusion but nevertheless does not know the conclusion—is a problem because it threatens this usage. It means that we cannot trust deduction for gaining new knowledge unless we can identify such cases ahead of time so as to avoid them. For philosophically engineered examples we have "inner alarm bells" to detect closure failure, but in scientific investigation we would want to use deduction for extension of our knowledge to matters we don't already know that we couldn't know. Through a quantitative treatment of how fast probabilistic sensitivity is lost over steps of deduction, I identify a condition that guarantees that the growth of potential error will be gradual; thus, dramatic closure failure is avoided. Whether the condition is fulfilled is often obvious, but sometimes it requires substantive investigation. I illustrate that not only safe deduction but the discovery of dramatic closure failures can lead to scientific advances.


SUMMARY   Sexual harassment, a form of non-financial misconduct is attracting global attention due mainly to the media impact of the #MeToo movement. This article looks at the legal implications of sexual harassment laws in the US and the UK for victims, employers, and others. It also includes what policymakers, enforcement agencies, and others could expand on in both jurisdictions to balance the interests of victims and employers.


Objectives: The aim of this research is to design and analysis of natural fibre mechanical seal using hybrid of Agave sisalana fibre and natural rubber as reiforcement and bio epoxy resin as matrix material. Methods/Analysis: The fabrication of the mechanical seal will involve internal mixing which is to mix up the waste tires with the Agave sisalana and hot pressing is to press or sinter the material into mechanical seal. The testing involved in this project is Tensile Test, Hardness Test, Absorption Test and last is Thickness Swelling Test. The result and data collected will be analysing by using graphs. Apart from that, ANSYS has been used to providing solid modelling and analysis on mechanical seal and mould. Findings: Fibre exhibits a very good reinforcement by increasing the mechanical properties in polymer but at certain amount it can change the properties of the composites. The best composition is 85% natural rubber+5% Agave sisalana fibre+10% Bio Epoxy Resin. Application/Improvement: With the growth of the industrial sector, mechanical seal will become one of the most important things in the piping industrial. By converting natural rubber into mechanical seal, it gives advantages to both parties. Embedding with Agave sisalana increases the mechanical strength of the natural rubber material.


When taxpayers file their tax returns, they are often worried about the prospect of an Internal Revenue Service (Service) audit. To date, the position of the Service and of professional organizations has been that tax return preparers cannot take into account audit risk in evaluating the merits of a return position. Some practitioners have broadly — and incorrectly — interpreted this regulation as a mandate against talking about audit risk with their clients. Taxpayers therefore often make their own assessment of their audit risk, relying on information sources such as the Internet and tax return preparation software. Given the uncertain reliability of such sources, it is appropriate to encourage more communication between tax return preparers and taxpayers on the subject of audit risk. This article argues that the Treasury Department and professional organizations should make it clear that tax return preparers may make full disclosure of Service audit risks to the extent this information is known. While this information cannot be used to evaluate the substantive merit of a particular tax return position, readily dispensing it would be emblematic of a transparent tax system and satisfy taxpayers's quest to more fully understand the tax return filing process. As such, the availability of Service audit risk information would be a marked improvement over the existing status quo.


The assessment of mechanical energy expenditure (MEE) during human movement is an essential step in the determination of the proficiency of the movement. Dynamics methods of estimating M E E have their derivation in the sources of M E E , the joint forces and moments, and are less arbitrary about the rules governing energy compensation when compared with instantaneous segment energy methods. Further, dynamics methods enable the exercise scientist to attribute energy costs and savings to particular body segments, sources and mechanisms. This thesis describes the application of a dynamics method (Aleshinsky, 1986a-e) to the mechanical energy analysis of maximal ergometer rowing. A two-dimensional, nine-segment mathematical model of the rower was constructed and implemented in a computer program which allowed the estimation of M E E and associated energy transfers within and between segments. Ten female rowers (national, n= 5; club, n=5) performed a six minute maximal rowing test while the position of the joints, the handle and foot stretcher forces and the activation of eight major muscle groups were measured. Total M E E , moment M E E , and all energy fractions were quantified for each minute of the test. Repeated measures analysis of variance was used to assess differences between the groups and over time. National level rowers used significantly less moment M E E per joule of external work than the club level rowers. Both groups of rowers demonstrated a significant trend over time of an increasing moment M E E per joule of external work. The origin of these differences was distributed among a number of factors such as the amount of energy dissipation due to the joint moments and degree of useful energy transfers. The muscle activation patterns supported the view that the two joint muscle action is timed to produce further economies in the motion. The analysis of energy transfers revealed mechanisms by which the two groups of rowers achieved their particular economies and thus had practical usefulness to rowers. However, the magnitudes of the compensation coefficients and the quantities of energy transfers may not be accurate indicators of energy economy when considered in isolation.


This study concerns with address term. Conducting this study, the writer is curious to know about the second-person term of address used by Petra Christian University Chinese Indonesian students in their daily informal conversation. Besides, the writer also wants to know the particular second-person term of address they use to address their Chinese and Javanese friends. Here, the writer investigates the influence of addressee?s ethnicity towards Petra Chinese Indonesian students? choice in using particular second-person term of address. Later on, through the findings, the writer decides how or in what way addressee?s ethnicity influences the use of address term. Thus, this study is supported by sociolinguistics theories on Language Choice about its social factors by Janet Holmes and Kridalaksana. Since this study is focused on the second-person term of address, the writer then also uses Henrikus Supriyanto et al theory, which mentions the five different kinds of address terms used/spoken in East Java. Moreover, the study uses descriptive approach as it is designed to obtain information dealing with the use of second-person term of address in relation with addressee?s ethnicity. Finally, the writer finds out that those Chinese Indonesian students tend to address their Chinese friends using kamu, koen, anda, jokes name and paraban name. Meanwhile, they address their Javanese friends with kamu, kowe, koen or paraban name. Even more interesting, the writer finds out that in some conversations address term is sometimes not being used/absent. Last of all, the writer finds out that the use of second-person term of address is not influenced by addressee?s ethnicity; rather it is influenced by the speaker?s regional dialect.


The interaction of platelets with neutrophils plays an important role in inflammation and thrombosis and is coordinated by multiple adhesive interactions. The adhesion molecule CD99 is a key mediator of neutrophil migration across the endothelium but whether it is involved in platelet-neutrophil adhesive interactions has not previously been addressed. We found that platelet CD99 is predominantly localized on the cell surface and is not shed following platelet activation. Blocking of either platelet or neutrophil CD99 significantly diminished neutrophil migration across surface-adherent activated platelets in a quantitatively equivalent manner. In contrast, the blocking of CD99 affected neither neutrophil adhesion to surface-adherent activated platelets nor formation of circulating platelet-neutrophil conjugates. Thus, homophilic CD99 interaction mediates neutrophil transplatelet migration but is not involved or is redundant in neutrophil adhesion to surface-adherent or circulating platelets.


The nucleolus is a well-known solution concept for coalitional games to fairly distribute the total available worth among the players. The nucleolus is known to be NP-hard to compute over compact coalitional games, that is, over games whose functions specifying the worth associated with each coalition are encoded in terms of polynomially computable functions over combinatorial structures. In particular, hardness results have been exhibited over minimum spanning tree games, threshold games, and flow games. However, due to its intricate definition involving reasoning over exponentially many coalitions, a nontrivial upper bound on its complexity was missing in the literature and looked for.
 This article faces this question and precisely characterizes the complexity of the nucleolus, by exhibiting an upper bound that holds on any class of compact games, and by showing that this bound is tight even on the (structurally simple) class of graph games. The upper bound is established by proposing a variant of the standard linear-programming based algorithm for nucleolus computation and by studying a framework for reasoning about succinctly specified linear programs, which are contributions of interest in their own. The hardness result is based on an elaborate combinatorial reduction, which is conceptually relevant for it provides a "measure" of the computational cost to be paid for guaranteeing voluntary participation to the distribution process. In fact, the pre-nucleolus is known to be efficiently computable over graph games, with this solution concept being defined as the nucleolus but without guaranteeing that each player is granted with it at least the worth she can get alone, that is, without collaborating with the other players.
 Finally, this article identifies relevant tractable classes of coalitional games, based on the notion of type of a player. Indeed, in most applications where many players are involved, it is often the case that such players do belong in fact to a limited number of classes, which is known in advance and may be exploited for computing the nucleolus in a fast way.


During the Early Cretaceous a regionally extensive cover of dominantly siliciclastic sediments was deposited across the North African continental margin. Historically, these siliciclastic sediments have been considered to be a relatively homogeneous lithofacies known as the ?Nubian sandstone?. This lithofacies is generally described as coarse grained, cross-bedded sandstone and is ascribed to a braided fluvial depositional environment. However, there have been few detailed sedimentological studies carried out on these sediments. Furthermore, the stratigraphic relationships between regional Early Cretaceous continental strata in different North African countries has only briefly been described and has only locally been related to equivalent marine deposits. In order to address these problems, this study focuses upon two main approaches. Firstly, outcrop analysis of the Messak Fm (SW Libya) and the Sidi A�ch Fm (C Tunisia) details and contrasts the lithofacies variability of Early Cretaceous siliciclastic sediments in North Africa. Secondly, a unified stratigraphic framework is erected for the Early Cretaceous of Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt and the palaeogeographic evolution is reconstructed. Detailed sedimentological investigation of the Messak Fm has identified greater variation in lithofacies and depositional processes than was previously recognised. By lithostratigraphic correlation with outcrops in northwest Libya, we show a fluvial system transported sediment northward into a wide fluvio-paralic basin covering western Libya. Several episodes of marine influence culminating in a distinct and regionally correlatable transgressive episode are identified. This is the first time that marine influence has been identified in the Murzuq Basin and increases the maximum known extent of marine transgression in the Early Cretaceous of Libya by 600km. The sedimentology of the Messak Fm is contrasted with the sandstone dominated Sidi A�ch Fm which, although showing similar lithofacies, was deposited in a marginal-shallow marine environment.Building upon previous reviews and new insights from the Messak Fm and Sidi A�ch Fm, a synthesis and reinterpretation of the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of sediments and depositional environments in this region throughout the Early Cretaceous is presented. During the Berriasian-Barremian, the North African platform coastline was dominated by a dry subtropical climate with moderate vegetation. The interior of the platform experienced a Savannah-like semi-arid climate with limited vegetation and palaeosol development but was crossed by extensive fluvial networks draining the equatorial tropics. During the Late Barremian-Early Aptian, simultaneous aridification and marine transgression led to a decreased detrital flux to the marginal basins and widespread deposition of marine carbonates and mudstones. During the Late Aptian-Albian the platform returned to a humid tropical climate. Widespread coarse grained fluvial sediments mark the base of this sequence and palaeosols occur locally. The results of this work have implications for the development and controls of large-scale fluvio-paralic systems and illustrate the fact that, in a limited accommodation epicontinental setting, relative sea-level may be the key control on sedimentation and depositional processes for many hundreds of kilometres inland of the lowstand coastline.


As peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation service often involves multistage interactions between hosts and guests in online and offline settings, trust between the parties involved is of the utmost importance. In particular, the possibility of interacting offline in P2P service delivery highlights the significance of interpersonal trust between hosts and guests. Accordingly, this study examines the formation of trusting beliefs in hosts, comprising prospective guests' perception of the ability, benevolence, and integrity of the hosts. This study estimated the effects of two antecedents—propensity to trust and trust in P2P platform—on trusting beliefs, as well as the consequence of trusting beliefs, that is, behavioral intention to book from the host. Important implications for trust formation in a P2P accommodation marketplace are provided.


Abstract : ADL VISION: Provide access to the highest quality education and training, tailored to individual needs, delivered cost effectively, anywhere and anytime: Web-based Learning - Content Repositories - Distributed Simulation - Job Aiding - Immersive Learning Technologies. NEW DIRECTION: Priorities * New Strategic Plan (Sep 09) - R&D (BAA) - Technical - Harmonize with global community - Extended and Innovate - Evaluation * DoD ROI (efficiency and effectiveness) data gathering and reporting - New Partnerships - Restructuring - New PM structure - Realignment of Co-Labs & Partnership Labs.


This paper describes the development of a hand-arm model rig to represent the behavior of human postural tremor. The experimental rig is designed as an apparatus to induce vibration along the hand-arm model. In this study an Intra Vernacular (IV) Training arm is used as the hand-arm model. Two DC motors are used each driving an unbalancing mass to produce vibration along the arm model which is very similar to the human postural tremor behaviour. In this experimental work, three different frequencies are used for analysis. Displacement and acceleration dynamic responses of a selected point on the hand model are captured and recorded using a light-weight accelerometer mounted on a glove. The data can be used for further analysis of the human hand-arm tremor especially for Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. Results from the experiment are considered raw data which can later be used to assist in the design of appropriate instruments or devices that can suppress the hand tremor vibration.


Summary form only given. Stabilizing the long-term electricity markets by providing new generation resources, is one of the most important challenges that are surfaced to the industry regulators. To deal with this complex problem, this paper proposes a comprehensive multiple attribute decision making (MADM) framework, in which the genetic algorithm (GA) is used to model the investment decisions of the market generation firms. The fitness function of the GA is itself a decentralized optimization problem that simulates the short-term behavior of these profit-oriented firms. A simple fuzzy inference system and an elasticity relation between price and demand represent the power market, as the link among all firms. The framework is augmented by tradeoff/risk analysis to incorporate the effects of the uncertainties. Finally, a realistic case study is presented to show the advantages of the proposed framework


3-hydroxybenzofuran-2-carbohydrazide (2) undergoes facile condensation with aromatic aldehydes to afford the corresponding N-arylidene-3-hydroxybenzofuran-2-carbohydrazide (3a-e) in good yields. Cyclo condensation of compounds (3a-e) with chloro acetyl chloride yields N-(3-chloro-2-oxo-4-arylazetidin-1-yl)-3-hydroxybenzofuran-2carboxamide (4a-e). The structures of these compounds were established on the basis of analytical and spectral data. The newly synthesized compounds were evaluated for their antibacterial and antifungal activities.


Fused in sarcoma (FUS), also called translocated in liposarcoma (TLS), is a ubiquitously expressed DNA/RNA binding protein belonging to the TET family and predominantly localized in the nucleus. FUS is proposed to be involved in various RNA metabolic pathways including transcription regulation, nucleo-cytosolic RNA transport, microRNA processing or pre-mRNA splicing [1]. Mutations in the FUS gene were identified in patients with familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) type 6 and sporadic ALS [2, 3]. ALS, also termed Lou Gehrig's disease, is a fatal adult-onset neurodegenerative disease affecting upper and lower motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord.
There is increasing evidence supporting the hypothesis that FUS might play an important role in pre-mRNA splicing regulation. Several splicing factors were identified to associate with FUS including hnRNPA2 and C1/C2 [4], Y-box binding protein 1 (YB-1) [5] and serine arginine (SR) proteins (SC35 and TASR) [6]. Additionally, FUS was identified as a constituent of human spliceosomal complexes [1]. Our recent results indicate that FUS has increased affinity for certain but not all snRNPs of the minor and major spliceosome. Furthermore, in vitro studies revealed that FUS directly interacts with a factor specific for one of those snRNPs. These findings might uncover the molecular mechanism by which FUS regulates splicing and could explain previously observed effects of FUS on the splicing of the adenovirus E1A minigene [7] and changes in splicing caused by ALS associated FUS mutations.
[1] Lagier-Tourenne C et al. (2010) Human Molecular Genetics 19:46-64
[2] Kwiatkowski TJ Jr et al. (2009) Science 323:1205-8
[3] Vance C et al. (2009) Science 323:1208-11
[4] Zinser H et al. (1994) Genes Dev 8:2513-26
[5] Chansky, H.A., et al. (2001) Cancer Res. 61: 3586-90.
[6] Yang L et al. (1998) J Biol Chem 273:27761-6
[7] Kino Y et al. (2010) Nucleic Acid Research 7:2781-2798


Despite the recent advances in systems and network security, attacks on large enterprise networks consistently impose serious challenges to maintaining data privacy and software service integrity. We identify two main problems that contribute to increasing the security risk in a networked environment: (i) vulnerable servers, workstations, and mobile devices that suffer from vulnerabilities, which allow the execution of various cyber attacks, and, (ii) poor security and system configurations that create loopholes used by attackers to bypass implemented security defenses.
Complex attacks on large networks are only possible with the existence of vulnerable intermediate machines, routers, or mobile devices (that we refer to as network components) in the network. Vulnerabilities in highly connected servers and workstations, that compromise the heart of today's networks, are inevitable. Also, modern mobile devices with known vulnerabilities cause an increasing risk on large networks. Thus, weak security mechanisms in vulnerable network components open the possibilities for effective network attacks.
On the other hand, lack of systematic methods for an effective static analysis of an overall complex network results in inconsistent and vulnerable configurations at individual network components as well as at the network level. For example, inconsistency and faults in designing firewall rules at a host may result in enabling more attack vector. Further, the dynamic nature of networks with changing network configurations, machine availability and connectivity, make the security analysis a challenging task.
This work presents a hybrid approach to security by providing two solutions for analyzing the overall security of large organizational networks, and a runtime framework for protecting individual network components against misuse of system resources by cyber attackers. We observe that to secure an overall computing environment, a static analysis of a network is not sufficient. Thus, we couple our analysis with a framework to secure individual network components including high performance machines as well as mobile devices that repeatedly enter and leave networks. We also realize the need for advancing the theoretical foundations for analyzing the security of large networks.
To analyze the security of large enterprise network, we present the first scientific attempt to compute an optimized distribution of defensive resources with the objective of minimizing the chances of successful attacks. To achieve this minimization, we develop a rigorous probabilistic model that quantitatively measures the chances of a successful attack on any network component. Our model provides a solid theoretical foundation that enables efficient computation of unknown success probabilities on every stage of a network attack. We design an algorithm that uses the computed attack probabilities for optimizing security configurations of a network. Our optimization algorithm uses state of the art sequential linear programming to approximate the solution to a complex single objective nonlinear minimization problem that formalizes various attack steps and candidate defenses at the granularity of attack stages.
To protect individual network components, we develop a new approach under our novel idea of process authentication. We argue that to provide high assurance security, enforcing authorization is necessary but not sufficient. In fact, existing authorization systems lack a strong and reliable process authentication model for preventing the execution of malicious processes (i.e., processes that intentionally contain malicious goals that violate integrity and confidentiality of legitimate processes and data). Authentication is specially critical when malicious processes may use various system vulnerabilities to install on the system and stealthily execute without the user's consent.
We design and implement the Application Authentication (A2) framework that is capable of monitoring application executions and ensuring proper authentication of application processes. A2 has the advantage of strong security guarantees, efficient runtime execution, and compatibility with legacy applications. This authentication framework reduces the risk of infection by powerful malicious applications that may disrupt proper execution of legitimate applications, steal users' private data, and spread across the entire organizational network.
Our process authentication model is extended and applied to the Android platform. As Android imposes its unique challenges (e.g., virtualized application execution model), our design and implementation of process authentication is extended to address these challenges. Per our results, process authentication in Android can protect the system against various critical vulnerabilities such as privilege escalation attacks and drive by downloads.
To demonstrate process authentication in Android, we implement DroidBarrier. As a runtime system, DroidBarrier includes an authentication component and a lightweight permission system to protect legitimate applications and secret authentication information in the file system. Our implementation of DroidBarrier is compatible with the Android runtime (with no need for modifications) and shows efficient performance with negligible penalties in I/O operations and process creations.


Summary Introduction Chronic infections and infestations represent one of the leading causes of cancer. Eleven agents have been categorized by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Group 1, 3 in Group 2A and 4 in Group 2B. We previously estimated that the incidence of cancers associated with infectious agents accounted for the 8.5% of new cancer cases diagnosed in Italy in 2014. Methods In the present study we evaluated the incidence of cancer in Italy and in the 20 Italian regions in 2018, based on the data of Cancer Registries, and calculated the fraction attributable to infectious agents. Results Cancers of infectious origin contributed to the overall burden of cancer in Italy with more than 27,000 yearly cases, the 92% of which was attributable to Helicobacter pylori, human papillomaviruses, and hepatitis B and C viruses. With the exception of papillomavirus-related cancers, the incidence of cancers of infectious origin was higher in males (16,000 cases) than in females (11,000 cases). There were regional and geographical variations of cancers depending on the type of cancer and on the gender. Nevertheless, the overall figures were rather similar, the infection-related cancers accounting for the 7.2, 7.6, and 7.1% of all cancers in Northern, Central, and Southern Italy, respectively. Conclusions The estimate of the incidence of cancers attributable to infectious agents in Italy in 2018 (7.3% of all cancer cases) is approximately half of the worldwide burden, which has been estimated by IARC to be the 15.4% of all cancer cases in 2012.


Bacterial biofilms are complex and highly antibiotic-resistant aggregates of microbes that form on surfaces in the environment and body including medical devices. They are key contributors to the growing antibiotic resistance crisis and account for two-thirds of all infections. Thus, there is a critical need to develop anti-biofilm specific therapeutics. Here we discuss mechanisms of biofilm formation, current anti-biofilm agents, and strategies for developing, discovering, and testing new anti-biofilm agents. Biofilm formation involves many factors and is broadly regulated by the stringent response, quorum sensing, and c-di-GMP signaling, processes that have been targeted by anti-biofilm agents. Developing new anti-biofilm agents requires a comprehensive systems-level understanding of these mechanisms, as well as the discovery of new mechanisms. This can be accomplished through omics approaches such as transcriptomics, metabolomics, and proteomics, which can also be integrated to better understand biofilm biology. Guided by mechanistic understanding, in silico techniques such as virtual screening and machine learning can discover small molecules that can inhibit key biofilm regulators. To increase the likelihood that these candidate agents selected from in silico approaches are efficacious in humans, they must be tested in biologically relevant biofilm models. We discuss the benefits and drawbacks of in vitro and in vivo biofilm models and highlight organoids as a new biofilm model. This review offers a comprehensive guide of current and future biological and computational approaches of anti-biofilm therapeutic discovery for investigators to utilize to combat the antibiotic resistance crisis.


Credit is a crucial determinant of financial success for most US consumers, but not all consumers can access it. This financial exclusion is partially due to traditional credit-risk scoring and approval processes that cannot assess the creditworthiness of "credit invisible" or "thin file" consumers––that is, consumers who do not have enough traditional data depicting their financial payment history. Consequently, some consumer-reporting agencies and lenders turn to alternative data credit-scoring systems as a way to increase financial inclusion. The enormous complexity of these alternative consumer credit-scoring systems, however, raises significant accuracy and transparency issues—most of which stem from their secret, legally protected status—as well as heightened concerns over the use of discriminatory and biased scoring practices using nontraditional behavioral data. If these issues are not addressed, alternative data-driven credit-scoring systems can potentially amplify transparency and discrimination issues, preventing consumers from understanding the factors that impact their credit scores. At the same time, they can position underprivileged groups to face increased discrimination in terms of both accessing credit and receiving favorable interest rates. This Note proposes four regulatory solutions and suggests enhancements to the Model Fairness and Transparency in Credit Scoring Act developed by legal and technology scholars Hurley and Adebayo. The current regulatory framework can better address discrimination by requiring lenders to disclose how they define "creditworthiness" so that consumers can gain a better understanding of the standards to which they are being held. It can also push lenders to foster more appropriate credit standards. Moreover, federal legislation is needed to curtail or prohibit the use of nontraditional behavioral data, especially data derived from a consumer's social networks, which can unfairly penalize consumers for their social or cultural associations. If 626 VAND. J. ENT. & TECH. L. [Vol. 23:3:625 this type of legislation is not likely to pass at a federal level, then regulatory agencies should regulate these firms under the presumption that behavioral data is inherently discriminatory until proven otherwise. Finally, regulators should seek to incentivize firms using alternative credit scoring methodologies to seek no-action letters.


In 1951, Karl Lashley posed the question of how the brain encodes serial order in behavior. Since that time, a number of studies have indicated that the prefrontal cortex plays a very important role in encoding andor processing information about serial order. Now, Carpenter et al. (1) demonstrate that the motor cortex also contributes to the processing of serial order information for motor tasks. Using microelectrodes to record activity in motor cortical neurons in monkeys, they trained subjects to perform a context-recall memory scanning task in which up to five visual stimuli were presented successively, and then one of them (the test stimulus) changed color. The monkeys were required to make a motor response toward the stimulus ajier the test stimulus, a task that depended on memorization of the serial order of the stimuli. The authors observed that changes in neural activity reflected the serial order of the stimuli. In fact, the effect of serial order of stimuli in neuronal activity was at least as strong as the effect of the movement direction. These results show that the motor cortex contributes to the processing of serial order information within the context of motor tasks, and thus provide new evidence indicating that the motor cortex is more than just an "upper motor neuron."


Summary A solid and firm tumor, covering the whole left ovary was detected in 10 years old a troughbred mare, which had a 2-year history of infertility. The cut surface of the mass was whitish-yellow with whorled appearance. Histologically, tumor was composed of uniform spindle cells arranged intersecting fascicles. Intercellular kollagen, which was stained blue with Mallory's triple was observed in stroma. Focally, the spindle cells showed abundant vacuolated cytoplasm, which was a feature for thecal diff erentiation. Neither sex cord islands nor granulosa cells were observed in that tumor. The mitotic amount averaged less than 2 cells. Immunohistochemically, the spindle-shaped neoplastic cells were positive for vimentin, whereas only weak tram-track immunoreactivity was demonstrable for desmin and smooth muscle actin. Based on the morphological and histological features, the tumor was classified as a fibrothecoma.


Social cohesion is one of the declared objectives of the European Union and, with some 16% of EU citizens at risk of poverty, the need to fight poverty and social exclusion continues as a major challenge. This book provides an in-depth analysis of the EU Social Inclusion Process, the means by which it hopes to meet this objective, and explores the challenges ahead at local, regional, national and EU levels. It sets out concrete proposals for taking the Process forward.The book provides a unique analysis of policy formation and assessment. Setting out the evolution and current state of EU cooperation in social policy, it examines what can be learned about poverty and social exclusion from the EU community agreed indicators. Taking the position of outside, but informed, observers, the authors explore the further development of common indicators, including the implications of Enlargement, and consider the challenges of advancing the Social Inclusion Process - strengthening policy analysis, embedding the Process in domestic policies and making it more effective. Proposing the setting of targets and restructuring of National Action Plans and their implementation, they emphasise the need for widespread "ownership" of the Process at domestic and EU level and for it to demonstrate significant progress in reducing poverty and social exclusion.The book will be invaluable to academics, students and policy-makers at sub-national, national and EU levels as well as to social partners, and to NGOs working towards a more inclusive society.


Objective: This work aims to use new spectroscopic and radiographic methods to study the dental hard tissue erosion and abfraction, as these lesions are actually quite difficult to be diagnosed in clinical practice. Material and Methods: This in vivo study was conducted on 60 patients with early erosion and 60 patients with abfraction at the cervical area by means of laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) and multilayer spiral computed tomography (MSCT). Results: In comparative dental hard tissues studies LIF spectra from intact and affected areas, it was noted multidirectional fluorescence intensity dependence between areas affected by abfraction and intact areas. MSCT technique allowed assessing the degree of damaged areas, especially at deeper stages. Conclusion: Although LIF and MSCT methods presented limitations, it was shown their effectiveness in the diagnosis of abfraction and erosion by detecting changes in the morphological structure as well as in the chemical and mineral composition of affected dental hard tissues. So LIF and MSCT methods can be successfully used in order to develop new medical devices which will provide most accurate clinical diagnose of different stages of dental erosion and abfraction.KEYWORDSFluorescence spectroscopy; Spiral computed tomography; Tooth demineralization; Tooth erosion.


Several studies which focus on the clinical study of the panic disorder have shown its clinical variety, subject to individual variations and which, up to a certain point, may justify a different response to the treatment used. In this sense, but focused on the presence of the depersonalization symptom we have directed our study to see if depersonalization is associated to socio-demographic characteristics, clinical and or personality traits which allow us to differentiate two sub-types of this disorder. Twenty-eight patients with panic disorder completed a structured interview which included a list of symptoms from the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III -Upjohn version, together with impairment in social or occupational functions. Fisher's Exact Test and Student's T test were used to analyse the results and showed for depersonalization an earlier onset (p < 0.05) and a more important impairment (p = 0.0021). Thus, the most important conclusion we have reached is an association between depersonalization, an earlier onset of the panic disorder and a more important impairment.


Product modularization has changed gradually from mainly being a way to bring strategic flexibility into product design, to becoming a means to reach new suppliers in a globalized world. Use of external suppliers is facilitated by the 'embedded coordination' brought by standardized module interfaces which reduce the interdependence between modules manufactured by different suppliers. However, the distance between design and manufacturing is increased by heavy reliance on suppliers, and requires coordination between design and manufacturing. Hence, this paper aims to identify appropriate mechanisms to enable coordination of external manufacturing of product modules. The investigation is based on two case studies in one manufacturing company that has for long relied heavily on external suppliers. The case studies identify different means, coordination mechanisms, of handling the increased distance between design and manufacturing. In addition to organizational solutions, various intermediaries including especially the supply chain function act as bridges between design and manufacturing. The appropriate mechanism to use is decided by the character of the product and the degree of upgrading. We recommend openness to adaptation to situation dynamics rather than investment in optimizing the level of integration with a particular supplier.


In this paper, we present two web-based attacks against local IoT devices that any malicious web page or third-party script can perform, even when the devices are behind NATs. In our attack scenario, a victim visits the attacker's website, which contains a malicious script that communicates with IoT devices on the local network that have open HTTP servers. We show how the malicious script can circumvent the same-origin policy by exploiting error messages on the HTML5 MediaError interface or by carrying out DNS rebinding attacks. We demonstrate that the attacker can gather sensitive information from the devices (e.g., unique device identifiers and precise geolocation), track and profile the owners to serve ads, or control the devices by playing arbitrary videos and rebooting. We propose potential countermeasures to our attacks that users, browsers, DNS providers, and IoT vendors can implement.