SIR,-We are concerned at the high incidence of venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism in our patients with acute polyneuritis. In 1973-4 three patients were treated. All received high doses of either prednisolone or corticotrophin and two required assisted ventilation. All had a regular physiotherapy programme. One patient. a 13-year-old girl, developed a left deep vein thrombosis in the sixth week of her illness while being weaned off the ventilator; one had several small pulmonary emboli without clinical evidence of venous thrombosis; and the third, a man of 21, died of a massive pulmonary embolus immediately after a physiotherapy session in the fifth week, again when beginning to improve. There was no clinical sign of venous thrombosis, but at necropsy the left femoral vein was found to be thrombosed. In the light of this experience our last patient was given subcutaneous heparin 5000 U twice daily for four weeks until some spontaneous movement returned to the calf muscles. Five days after stopping this treatment he developed a pulmonary embolus, again after a physiotherapy session. He was treated with conventional anticoagulants. It is interesting that in the series of 44 patients with polyneuritis reported by Newer et all only three developed clinical evidence of deep venous thrombosis and in none was there definite evidence of pulmonary embolisation. However, using the 125I-labelled fibrinogen technique, Warlow et al2 found that 6000 of patients with acute strokes had evidence of leg vein thrombosis in the paralysed leg compared with 70 in the nonparalysed leg. Fatal pulmonary embolism with or without previously detected venous thrombosis is a recognised problem in managing acute spinal injuries3 and the incidence has been reduced with prophylactic anticoagulant therapy.4 With the increasing evidence that low-dose subcutaneous heparin is both effective and safe in preventing venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism5 6 we would now recommend its routine use in patients with acute polyneuritis, continuing treatment until full muscle tone returns to the legs. JANE LEESE


AIM To investigate the relationship between vitamin D and liver fibrosis in hepatitis C-monoinfected or hepatitis C virus (HCV)-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) co-infected patients. METHODS Pertinent studies were located by a library literature search in PubMed/Embase/Cochrane/Scopus/LILACS by two individual reviewers. Inclusion criteria: (1) studies with patients with HCV or co-infected HCV/HIV; (2) studies with patients ≥ 18 years old; (3) studies that evaluated liver fibrosis stage, only based on liver biopsy; and (4) studies that reported serum or plasma 25(OH)D levels. Studies that included pediatric patients, other etiologies of liver disease, or did not use liver biopsy for fibrosis evaluation, or studies with inadequate data were excluded. Estimated measures of association reported in the literature, as well as corresponding measures of uncertainty, were recorded and corresponding odds ratios with 95%CI were included in a meta-analysis. RESULTS The pooled data of this systematic review showed that 9 of the 12 studies correlated advanced liver disease defined as a Metavir value of F3/4 with 25(OH) D level insufficiency. The meta-analysis indicated a significant association across studies. CONCLUSION Low vitamin D status is common in chronic Hepatitis C patients and is associated with advanced liver fibrosis.


A general theory for modeling of industrial robots is presented and, based on the theory, some algorithms for the actual modeling process are derived and described. As an example of an application of the theory an industrial manipulator, an IRB1400 from ABB Robotics Products, is used. A kinematic model and a dynamical model for the first three joints of the IRB1400 manipulator is found. One part of the report is also devoted to flexible manipulators, especially manipulators with joint flexibilities. Finally, an identification experiment using data from the IRB1400 is discussed.


Unsupervised domain adaptation challenges the problem of transferring knowledge from a well-labelled source domain to an unlabelled target domain. Recently, adversarial learning with bi-classifier has been proven effective in pushing cross-domain distributions close. Prior approaches typically leverage the disagreement between bi-classifier to learn transferable representations, however, they often neglect the classifier determinacy in the target domain, which could result in a lack of feature discriminability. In this paper, we present a simple yet effective method, namely Bi-Classifier Determinacy Maximization (BCDM), to tackle this problem. Motivated by the observation that target samples cannot always be separated distinctly by the decision boundary, here in the proposed BCDM, we design a novel classifier determinacy disparity (CDD) metric, which formulates classifier discrepancy as the class relevance of distinct target predictions and implicitly introduces constraint on the target feature discriminability. To this end, the BCDM can generate discriminative representations by encouraging target predictive outputs to be consistent and determined, meanwhile, preserve the diversity of predictions in an adversarial manner. Furthermore, the properties of CDD as well as the theoretical guarantees of BCDM's generalization bound are both elaborated. Extensive experiments show that BCDM compares favorably against the existing state-of-the-art domain adaptation methods.


Because of the easy applying and not costing too much, ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) is one of the most used nondestructive techniques to determine concrete characteristics along with impact-echo, Schmidt rebound hammer (SRH) and pulse-echo. This article investigates the relationship between UPV and compressive strength of hybrid fiber reinforced concretes. Water/cement ratio (w/c) was kept at 0.4 for all concrete mixes. Compressive strength of concrete was targeted at 35 MPa. UPV testing and compressive strength tests were carried out at the curing age of 28 days. The UPV of concrete containing steel fibers has been found to be higher than plain concrete for all the testing groups. It is decided that there is not a certain relationship between fiber addition and strength. Keywords—Ultrasonic pulse velocity, hybrid fiber, compressive strength, fiber.


Inflammatory caspase-11 (rodent) and caspases-4 and -5 (human) detect gram-negative bacterial component LPS in the host cell cytosol, which promotes activation of the non-canonical inflammasome. Although non-canonical inflammasome-induced pyroptosis and IL-1 related cytokine release is of importance to mount an efficient immune response against various bacteria, its unrestrained activation drives sepsis. This suggests that cellular components might tightly control the threshold level of the non-canonical inflammasome in order to ensure efficient but not deleterious inflammatory response. Here we show that the IFN-inducible protein Irgm2 and the ATG8 family member Gate-16 cooperatively slow down non-canonical inflammasome activation both in macrophages and in vivo. Specifically, the Irgm2/Gate-16 axis dampens caspase-11 targeting to intracellular bacteria, which lower caspase-11-mediated pyroptosis and cytokine release. Specifically, deficiency in Irgm2 or Gate16 opens an alternative road for caspase-11 targeting to intracellular bacteria, independently of the classical pathway driven by the Guanylate Binding Proteins (GBPs). Thus, our findings provide new molecular effectors involved at fine-tuning the optimal non-canonical inflammasome response and add novel insights in the understanding of the immune pathways they control.


Bestselling AutoCAD author George Omura presents a fast, focused course in AutoCAD essentials George Omura is an AutoCAD expert whose clear, focused instructions have taught hundreds of thousands how to use AutoCAD. This task-based, reference approach is perfect for newcomers to AutoCAD and those who manage AutoCAD drawings. You'll learn AutoCAD basics quickly and easily with the straightforward explanations and realistic exercises that focus squarely on accomplishing vital tasks. You'll get acquainted with the drafting tools of AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT and learn such essentials as how to draw accurately and quickly, edit your drawings, create 3D models, and much more. Fully updated for all the new features of both AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT, including parametric design, free-form 3D mesh modeling, and enhanced PDF support Provides focused explanations and realistic exercises to quickly teach crucial tasks Shows how to draw accurately and quickly and how to effectively edit AutoCAD drawings Learn how to create 3D models and get organized with layers, blocks, groups, and external references Discover how to quickly add and edit notes and dimensions, find areas and distances quickly, and extract hidden data Work with the DesignCenter, create text, and learn to lay out and print your drawings If you want to quickly get up to speed on the newest version of AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT, Introducing AutoCAD 2010 and AutoCAD LT 2010 is a fast, no-nonsense way to learn the software.


It has recently been argued that the IT literature has neglected to sufficiently focus on the importance of the influence that industry factors have on a firm's IT strategy and IT management practices, in short – industry matters. (Chiasson & Davidson, 2005) Strategic IT Vision (SIV) has been studied at the firm level for many years. The categories Automate, Informate & Transform have been used to categorize the Strategic IT Vision of firms for more than 20 years. At the same time, some have suggested that SIV can be observed at the industry level in that, at a given time, the firms within an industry exhibit a certain amount of homogeneity of IT strategy and vision. What industry factors might lead to the adoption of a particular SIV by its firms? This paper develops a conceptual framework of industry factors that can be theorized to lead to a greater transformative nature of the SIV of a particular industry.


In this paper, we present a computation procedure based upon the weakly-singular, symmetric Galerkin boundary element method (SGBEM) for analysis of three dimensional cracks in anisotropic multi-regions consisting of sub-domains made from different materials. The symmetric weak-form, governing the integral equation of the boundary value problem is obtained by employing a suitable combination of the weakly-singular, weak-form displacement and traction integral equations for each sub-domain. This set of integral equations is applicable for modeling cracks in both isotropic and general anisotropic media. The final governing integral equation possesses important features including that it is in a symmetric form, it contains only weakly-singular kernels of order 1/r, it is applicable for modeling both embedded and surface breaking cracks subjected to arbitrary mixed-mode loading and it can be used to treat cracks in a domain consisting of several subregions with different material properties. In the numerical implementation, special crack tip elements are utilized along the crack front and this allows the fracture information (viz. stress intensity factors) to be determined directly and accurately in terms of special DOFs associated with nodes along the crack front. Two numerical examples are presented to illustrate convergence, accuracy and robustness of the technique.


In recent years the influence of Colombian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in diverse social sectors of the country has increased. However, the legitimacy of this sector has been undermined by corruption. This distrust has questioned the efficiency of NGOs as social tools. Transparency as a mechanism against corruption and one of the tools that improves the functioning of an organization is considered. There is no doubt that Internet is an essential element in disseminating information to the different stakeholders of the organization. This paper sets out three main objectives: i) the analysis of information disclosure through the Internet of Colombian NGOs, ii) the analysis of the efficiency of these entities in reaching their social goals and, iii) the analysis of the online transparency effect in a greater efficiency of the Colombian NGOs.


Clustering methods are used routinely to form groups of objects with similar characteristics. Collections of time series datasets appear in several biological applications. Some of these applications require grouping the observed time series data to homogeneous clusters. We review methods for time series frequency domain based clustering with emphasis on applications. Our point of view is that an appropriate notion of clustering for time series data can be developed by means of the spectral density function and its sample counterpart, the periodogram. For the development of frequency domain based clustering algorithms, it is required to define suitable similarity (or dissimilarity) measures. We review several such measures and we discuss various clustering algorithms in this context. Biological applications of time series frequency domain clustering are studied along with interesting complementary approaches.


Mapping of Quaternary geology in the Rainy River lowland, northwestern Ontario resulted in discovery of several fossil-bearing localities. Organic remains are associated with both the Moorhead and Emerson phases of glacial Lake Agassiz. Wood samples recovered from Moorhead Phase deposits have radiocarbon ages ranging between 10.8 and 9.9 ka BP. The wood is detrital and cannot be used to date the beginning of the low-water phase. Nearshore, deltaic, alluvial, peatland, open-water wetland, and upland soil environments are represented in the Moorhead Phase sediment records. Emerson Phase transgressive deposits overlie Moorhead Phase sediments and erosional surfaces. Wood samples recovered from flotsam layers in Emerson Phase nearshore deposits have yielded radiocarbon ages rang- ing between 10.5 and 9.5 ka BP. Stratigraphic and sedimentologic evidence suggests that the transgression began ap- proximately 9.9 ka BP. Pollen, plant macrofossil, insect, and mollusc assemblages have been affected by long-distance transport, sorting, and reworking by fluvial and nearshore processes. They represent a wide spectrum of terrestrial and aquatic habitats indiscriminantly brought together during high-water periods. The Moorhead and Emerson phase assem- blages indicate conditions similar to those in the region today, but there is a distinct component whose modern range is much farther north and west of the study region. In this respect, the assemblages are similar to the mixed communities described from other late-glacial sites of the mid-continent.


Cao River aqueduct is the large-scale aqueduct that has been designed and constructed for the first time in China, for the great technical difficulties in structure form, there's no engineering experience or theoretical method for reference in domestic and abroad. Therefore, for mastering the stress characteristics and deformation law of aqueduct structure more overall and deeply, the impounding test of trial span was carried out before formal operation. Deformation characteristics of the aqueduct under impounding condition were analyzed in detail. The maximum deflection at mid-span of longitudinal beam was 0.98mm when three aqueducts all impound to 5.4m, the change range is small and in the allowable range of design and specification , which means the structure of aqueduct was reasonably designed and also provided important reference for the later operation and management.


Witnesses play an indispensable role in the justice system. As Bentham says "Witnesses are the eyes and the ears of justice." They assist the court in deciding the guilt or otherwise of the accused person. They are crucial in a criminal proceeding; from reporting of crime to its trial. The evidence by a witness is crucial for the conviction of offenders. At the same time, individual facing criminal investigation or prosecution wants to obstruct the justice administration and relief themselves of liability; by intimidating witnesses and/or their families to jeopardize the criminal proceeding. Hence, it becomes very important to protect the witnesses to make sure they are not intimidated in order not to fear revealing the truth in court. This article discusses the concept of witness protection in Ethiopia and analyzes its protection law; emphasizing on provisions that are very essential for effective implementation by making comparisons with UNHCHR, Good Practices of Witness Protection, UNODC draft model law and some countries' laws where witnesses are protected well. From the comparative analysis factors affecting implementation of the law like lack of necessary fund, organized staff, awareness about the law is concluded. Awareness creations, allocating necessary budget for the protection program, enacting regulation, and courtroom protection procedural guideline are measures needed to be taken for effective implementation of the law.


Research among twentieth-century Dutch and Flemish emigrants has shown that they usually gave up their mother tongue quickly, within two or three generations, after emigration. In the twenty-first century the situation of emigrants has changed drastically: due to the internet and social media it is much easier to keep in touch with the homelands. Does this have consequences for the preservation of the Dutch language and culture among emigrants? How much do emigrants value the Dutch language, culture and identity? These questions have been investigated in the pilot research 'Vertrokken Nederlands – Emigrated Dutch', conducted by the Dutch Language Union and the Meertens Institute and led by the author of this article. The research has been conducted using a new methodology, employing social media and citizen scientists. This article describes the results of this first worldwide study of Dutch language, culture and identity among Dutch and Flemish emigrants. The main conclusion of the research is that for the vast majority of emigrants in the twenty-first century, the Dutch language and culture still play an important role in daily life, and the Dutch language is still widely used in the country of residence, especially within the family, in social media and in online news services.


Background The first step towards establishing and improving patient safety culture in hospitals is measuring patient safety culture perceptions of staff. Few studies have examined the perception of patient safety culture in general surgery departments. Objectives The objective of this study was to evaluate patient safety culture and patient safety grade in general surgery departments and to examine the relation between the patient safety culture and the patient safety grade. Methods This study examined patient safety culture and patient safety grades of 124 staff in seven surgery departments of a hospital in Turkey. The staff completed the hospital survey on patient safety culture and answered questions about their professional characteristics. One-way ANOVA, Independent-samples t test, corrected chi-square test, multiple correspondence analysis and Eta co-efficient were used in statistical analyses. Results The patient safety dimension of "teamwork within units" had the highest mean and percentage of positive responses. The "frequency of events reported" and "non-punitive response to errors" had the lowest means and percentages of positive responses. Participants with resident or nurse positions, < age 31 years, with < 6 years of professional experience, and 60 or more work hours/week, had significantly more negative perceptions of patient safety culture than other participants. Patient safety grades and the dimensions of "management support for patient safety" and "overall perceptions of patient safety" had significantly high Eta coefficients. Conclusion Frequency of events reported and non-punitive responses to errors should be improved, and participants' characteristics should be considered at improvement efforts in general surgery departments. The dimesions with low means suggest opportunities for improvement.


In this study, the authors evaluated the comparative effects of dietary supplementation of ginger ( Zingiber officinale ), vitamin E and L-carnitine on certain blood parameters of two strains of broilers in summer. A total of 320 broiler chicks (Hubbard and Cobb) were divided into two groups. The two groups were subdivided into four subgroups with four replicates with 10 chicks per replicate. In each strain subgroup was kept as control while other subgroups were provided with ginger (2%), L-carnitine (500 mg/kg) or vitamin E (250 mg/kg) in the basal diet up to 42 days old. Supplementation of the diet with vitamin E, ginger and L-carnitine significantly decreased mean cholesterol, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), glucose, triglyceride, low density lipoprotein (LDL), and increased high density lipoprotein (HDL) and serum protein concentrations. The results of vitamin E were comparatively better than those of the other two feed additives. The blood biochemical parameters did not vary between the broiler strains. From the findings of the current study, it was concluded that high ambient temperature had a negative effect on broiler hepatic and lipid profiles, and the supplementation of diets with vitamin E, ginger and L-carnitine improved broiler blood biochemical parameters. Keywords: Cholesterol, glucose, liver health, antioxidants, heat stress


BACKGROUND
The mSEBT is a screening tool used to evaluate dynamic balance. Most research investigating measurement properties focused on intrarater reliability and was done in small samples. To know whether the mSEBT is useful to discriminate dynamic balance between persons and to evaluate changes in dynamic balance, more research into intra- and interrater reliability and smallest detectable change (synonymous with minimal detectable change) is needed.

PURPOSE
To estimate intra- and interrater reliability and smallest detectable change of the mSEBT in adults at risk for ankle sprain.

STUDY DESIGN
Cross-sectional, test-retest design.

METHODS
Fifty-five healthy young adults participating in sports at risk for ankle sprain participated (mean ± SD age, 24.0 ± 2.9 years). Each participant performed three test sessions within one hour and was rated by two physical therapists (session 1, rater 1; session 2, rater 2; session 3, rater 1). Participants and raters were blinded for previous measurements. Normalized composite and reach direction scores for the right and left leg were collected. Analysis of variance was used to calculate intraclass correlation coefficient values for intra- and interrater reliability. Smallest detectable change values were calculated based on the standard error of measurement.

RESULTS
Intra- and interrater reliability for both legs was good to excellent (intraclass correlation coefficient ranging from 0.87 to 0.94). The intrarater smallest detectable change for the composite score of the right leg was 7.2% and for the left 6.2%. The interrater smallest detectable change for the composite score of the right leg was 6.9% and for the left 5.0%.

CONCLUSION
The mSEBT is a reliable measurement instrument to discriminate dynamic balance between persons. Most smallest detectable change values of the mSEBT appear to be large. More research is needed to investigate if the mSEBT is usable for evaluative purposes.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
Level 2.


This paper discusses the concept of toleration as it has been manifested in modern society through two contrasting processes—the prevalence of group identity, and the prevalence of identity defined according to citizenship and individual rights. Referring primarily to the work of political theorist Michael Walzer, the paper describes the historical development of toleration in the U.S., insofar as it is an immigrant nation which has passed through several phases of intolerance and toleration that continue to characterise the dynamics of American society, particularly in the city. Special reference is made to the city of Chicago, the largest city in the Midwest, where immigrants from all over settled, establishing ethnic neighbourhoods. Globalisation and migration have made diversity a defining feature of contemporary society, and cities in particular. The multiplication of identities is being experienced on an individual level as well, giving rise to the recognition of the increasingly 'hybrid' nature of social and personal identification. The paper concludes by calling into question the implications of this post-modern model on the conceptualisation of toleration as well as its manifestations. Keywords: Toleration, Multiculturalism, Migration, Cultural pluralism, Ethnic self-assertion


Leadership has long been an important subject in the study of international economic relations. Many scholars give American leadership credit for strong economic growth in western Europe and Japan after World War II. Other scholars have accused leading nations of using their power to the detriment of foreign countries. For example, it is often argued that a failure of both British and American leadership was a cause of the Great Depression of the 1930s.In "Leading Questions," Robert Pahre develops a series of formal models to determine under what conditions leadership will be beneficial or harmful for the international political economy. He begins with a simple model of collective action and then adds leadership, security concerns, cooperation, and multilateral regimes to this basic model. He tests each model against a different historical period between 1815 and 1967.Pahre's findings challenge conventional wisdom on international leadership. He finds that a leading state harms others when it has many allies but is good for the international political economy when it lacks allies. Leaders are less likely to engage in international cooperation than are other states, but having a leader in the system makes cooperation among follower states more likely. Cooperation by others may cause the leader to join a system of multilateral cooperation.Pahre presents the technical material in an accessible style. By challenging the conventional interpretations of political economy in several historical periods, "Leading Questions" will be of interest not only to political scientists but also to economists and historians.Robert Pahre is Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.


In this paper, the fractal characterization of the sealing surface topography of metallic gaskets was studied. The influence of the compressive stress on the fractal parameters was also investigated. It's found that the sealing surface of metallic gaskets is fractal, and its topography can be characterized by the fractal dimension and the scale coefficient. The leakage model of metallic gaskets was established. The research results indicate that the larger the fractal dimension is, and the less the scale coefficient and the non-contact area are, the better the sealing performance of metallic gaskets is.


In this paper, we propose a gated pulse generator incorporating two modulation schemes for use in an ultra-wideband impulse radio system. A pseudo-noise sequence prescaler modulates the impulses with specific modulation schemes, such as pulse position, bi-phase modulation or the combination of both. The resulting gated monocycle generator is designed in Jazz Semiconductor BiCMOS SiGe technology. Measurements validate the circuit operation over a supply voltage of 2.7 V and a power consumption of 243 mW. The output monocycles approximate Gaussian monocycles, having a pulse duration of 250 ps. Proper modulations in time are confirmed.


Abstract. The surveying and 3D modelling of objects that extend both below and above the water level, such as ships, harbour structures, offshore platforms, are still an open issue. Commonly, a combined and simultaneous survey is the adopted solution, with acoustic/optical sensors respectively in underwater and in air (most common) or optical/optical sensors both below and above the water level. In both cases, the system must be calibrated and a ship is to be used and properly equipped with also a navigation system for the alignment of sequential 3D point clouds. Such a system is usually highly expensive and has been proved to work with still structures. On the other hand for free floating objects it does not provide a very practical solution. In this contribution, a flexible, low-cost alternative for surveying floating objects is presented. The method is essentially based on photogrammetry, employed for surveying and modelling both the emerged and submerged parts of the object. Special targets, named Orientation Devices, are specifically designed and adopted for the successive alignment of the two photogrammetric models (underwater and in air). A typical scenario where the proposed procedure can be particularly suitable and effective is the case of a ship after an accident whose damaged part is underwater and necessitate to be measured (Figure 1). The details of the mathematical procedure are provided in the paper, together with a critical explanation of the results obtained from the adoption of the method for the survey of a small pleasure boat in floating condition.


Working "in the shadow of Eduard Norden" in the author's own words, Nicholas Horsfall has written his own monumental commentary on Aeneid 6. This is Horsfall's fifth large-scale commentary on the Aeneid, and as his earlier commentaries on books 7, 11, 3, and 2, this is not a commentary aimed at undergraduates. Horsfall is a commentators' commentator writing with encyclopedic command of Virgilian scholarship for the most demanding reader. Volume One includes the introduction, text and translation, and bibliography, Volume Two includes the commentary, appendices, and indices.


Information on the genetic diversity of Penaeus monodon throughout its natural range in Malaysia is still Hmited even though it is a highly exploited species, thus this study was undertaken to genetically characterize the prawn populations. The P. monodon samples were randomly collected from Malaysian waters and were characterized using thirty polymorphic primer pairs which showed high level of polymorphism. The total number of alleles per locus ranged from 3 to 36 with allele size ranging from 100 to 275 base pairs. The mean observed heterozygosity (0.5166) was less than the expected (0.5552), highly significant deficiencies in heterozygotes were detected in total inbreeding (F IS = 0.5500) and pair-wise genetic differentiation (F ST = 0.6308) among the populations. Both the (χ 2) chi-square and (G 2) likelihood ratio tests detected significant differences (p<0.05) which showed a deviation from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, indicating a probable inbreeding might have occurred in the populations. A Cluster analysis based on genetic distance revealed a fair genetic relationship among all the populations and the pattern was in accordance to the populations' geographical origins. The highest genetic distance (0.7588) was observed between Law as and Bulau Sayak populations while the lowest genetic distance (0.1191) was recorded between the Endau Rompin and Sedili populations. Various levels of genetic diversity of the P. monodon reported in this study indicated their genetic status in Malaysian waters and suitability for breeding and culture purposes. This information provides a basis for improvement through selective breeding and in the design of suitable management guidelines for this genetic material.


Ensemble forecasts of weather and climate are subject to systematic biases in the ensemble mean and variance, leading to inaccurate estimates of the forecast mean and variance. To address these biases, ensemble forecasts are post‐processed using statistical recalibration frameworks. These frameworks often specify parametric probability distributions for the verifying observations. A common choice is the normal distribution with mean and variance specified by linear functions of the ensemble mean and variance. The parameters of the recalibration framework are estimated from historical archives of forecasts and verifying observations. Often there are relatively few forecasts and observations available for parameter estimation, and so the fitted parameters are also subject to uncertainty. This artefact is usually ignored. This study reviews analytic results that account for parameter uncertainty in the widely used Model Output Statistics recalibration framework. The predictive bootstrap is used to approximate the parameter uncertainty by resampling in more general frameworks such as non‐homogeneous Gaussian regression. Forecasts on daily, seasonal and annual time‐scales are used to demonstrate that accounting for parameter uncertainty in the recalibrated predictive distributions leads to probability forecasts that are more skilful and reliable than those in which parameter uncertainty is ignored. The improvements are attributed to more reliable tail probabilities of the recalibrated forecast distributions.


A photoelectron-ion-ion coincidence experiment has been carried out on the amino acid molecule cysteine after core-ionization of the O 1s, N 1s, C 1s, and S 2p orbitals. A number of different dissociation channels have been identified. Some of them show strong site-selective dependence that can be attributed to a combination of nuclear motion in the core-ionized state and Auger processes that populate different final electronic states in the dication.


Synapses are connections between different nerve cells that form an essential link in neural signal transmission. It is generally distinguished between electrical and chemical synapses, where chemical synapses are more common in the human brain and are also the type we deal with in this work.
In chemical synapses, small container-like objects called vesicles fill with neurotransmitter and expel them from the cell during synaptic transmission. This process is vital for communication between neurons. However, to the best of our knowledge no mathematical models that take different filling states of the vesicles into account have been developed before this thesis was written.
In this thesis we propose a novel mathematical model for modeling synaptic transmission at chemical synapses which includes the description of vesicles of different filling states. The model consists of a transport equation (for the vesicle growth process) plus three ordinary differential equations (ODEs) and focuses on the presynapse and synaptic cleft.
The well-posedness is proved in detail for this partial differential equation (PDE) system. We also propose a few different variations and related models. In particular, an ODE system is derived and a delay differential equation (DDE) system is formulated. We then use nonlinear optimization methods for data fitting to test some of the models on data made available to us by the Animal Physiology group at TU Kaiserslautern.


Ceramics are stiff, hard, lightweight, and thermally stable (> 1000 oC), but are rarely used in structural components due to their brittleness. If toughened, ceramics can be an effective, light-weight alternative to existing metal components that are currently used for high-temperature applications and/or for protection coatings against heat and radiation. Recent investigations on toughening of ceramics has been mostly focused on introducing particles, fibers, and whiskers to arrest and/or deflect crack initiation and propagation. Another common toughening method is compositing with ductile phases, such as metals and polymers, but thermal stability of the resulting composites is lower. In this work, a novel toughening method is attempted by introducing nano-porosity to monolithic ceramics without degrading thermal stability. Traditionally, pores are considered as defects, but when pores are very small (<~100 nm), the nano-pores are observed to deform locally in a non-propagating manner. Thus, fracture toughness can be potentially increased by such quasi-plastic deformations uniquely triggered by locally weak nano-porosity. In this project, we study to understand the fundamental toughening mechanisms of ceramics that arise from the introduction of nano-pores, and to study a scalable manufacturing method of these novel tough and strong ceramics. If achieved, tougher ceramics will be in high demand as improved lightweight alternatives to metal alloys in structural applications that require mechanical strength, stability in thermal and corrosive environment, such as engines, gas turbines, thermal protections, nuclear and solar energy and biomechanics.


Modelling of Creep Crack Growth (CCG) using analytical and numerical methods is relevant to life assessment procedures of components operating at elevated temperatures. This paper compares an analytical crack prediction and a numerical based virtual CCG technique used in fracture mechanics components with sample experimental results. Two approaches are presented. First the well developed strain exhaustion model called the NSW and the modified NSW-MOD models which predict plane stress/strain bound crack initiation and growth rates for engineering alloys and the second a damage-based approach used to numerically predict the crack propagation rate in Finite Element models of fracture mechanics specimens. The results from both methods are correlated against an independently determined C* parameter. As an example the NSW and the extended NSW-MOD strain exhaustion models are applied to compare to the experimental data and FE predictions for two steels at Carbon-Manganese steel tested at 360 oC and a weld 316H stainless steel at 550 oC. For values of C* within the limits of the present creep crack growth data presented the plane strain crack growth rate predicted from the numerical analysis is found to be less conservative than the plane strain NSW model but more conservative than plane strain NSW-MOD model.


On a high level of abstraction a Web Information System (WIS) can be described by a storyboard, which in an abstract way specifies who will be using the system, in which way and for which goals. While syntax and semantics of storyboarding has been well explored, its pragmatics has not. This paper contributes the first step towards closing this gap by analysing the usage of WISs. Starting from a classification of intentions we first present life cases, which capture observations of user behaviour in reality. We discuss the facets of life cases and present a semi-formal way for their documentation. Life cases can be used in a pragmatic way to specify a story space, which is an important component of a storyboard. In a second step we complement life cases by user models that are specified by various facets of actor profiles that are needed for them. We analyse actor profiles and present a semi-formal way for their documentation. We outline how these profiles can be used to specify actors, which are an important component of a storyboard. Finally, we analyse contexts and the way they impact on life cases, user models and the storyboard.


Using a modified Belavin's method the site-specific II type restriction endonucleases were determined for two endophytic strains of the Bacillus genus from the inner tissues of cotton plants.


Purpose: We previously revealed that the expression of Annexin A2 (ANXA2) was increased in ESCC by two-dimensional electrophoresis and MALDI-TOF and LC-ESI-IT MS. This study aims to investigated the implication of Annexin A2 in ESCC. Annexin A2 (ANXA2) promotes migration and invasion of esophageal cancer cells via stabilizing c-Myc and promoting HIF-1α transcription. Experimental Design: Immunohistochemistry was performed to analyze the expression of ANXA2 in esophageal squamous cell carcinomas (ESCC). siRNA knockdown, transwell assay and wound-healing assays were used to investigate the function of ANXA2 in cells. Quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction, Western blot analysis were used to seek the potential effector molecule of ANXA2. Chromatin immunoprecipitation, and reporter gene assays were used to confirm the relationship between c-Myc and HIF-1 alpha. Co-immunoprecipitation assay was performed to demonstrate the relationship between ANXA2 and c-Myc. Immunofluorescence was used to reveal the location of ANXA2. Results: Knockdown of Annexin A2 significantly inhibited the migration and invasion of ESCC cells. At the molecular level, VEGF, MMP-2, MMP-9, p-MEK and p-ERK were down-regulated in ANXA2-siRNA cells. The HIF-1 alpha mRNA and protein levels were significantly lowered after knocked down the Annexin A2. HIF-1 alpha is the effector molecule of ANXA2 in ESCC cells, and that ANXA2 affects the expression of HIF-1 alpha at the transcription level because when knocking down HIF-1 alpha, the level of VEGF, MMP-2, MMP-9, p-MEK and p-ERK reduced as well. c-Myc is a transcription factor for HIF-1 alpha. ANXA2 has a direct protein interaction with c-Myc and knockdown of ANXA2 down-regulated the expression of c-Myc. The Tyr 24 phosphorylation form of Annexin A2 (Y24D-ANXA2) was located in the nucleus, and the non-phosphorylation form (Y24A-ANXA2), in the cytoplasm and cell membrane. Transfection of pcDNA3.1-ANXA2-Y24D enhanced the migration and invasion as compared with that of pcDNA3.1-ANXA2-Y24A in esophageal cancer cells. A treatment with the Annexin A2 phosphorylation inhibitor, Dasatinib, changed the location of Annexin A2 and lowered the expression of c-myc and HIF-1 alpha. Conclusions: These results suggest that in esophageal cancer cells, phosphorylated Annexin A2 could enter into nucleus, which stabilizes c-myc and promotes the transcription of HIF-1 alpha, and the activates MAPK pathway, increases matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression, which results in the enhancement of cell invasion and migration. Citation Format: Sai Ma, Yan-Yi Jiang, Li-Fei Wu, Jia-Jie Hao, Yu Zhang, Xin Xu, Yan Cai, Ming-Rong Wang. Annexin A2 (ANXA2) promotes migration and invasion of esophageal cancer cells via stabilizing c-Myc and promoting HIF-1α transcription [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 891. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-891


While the interfacial partitioning of charged or aromatic anchor residues may determine the preferred orientations of transmembrane peptide helices, the dependence of helix orientation on anchor residue position is not well understood. When anchor residue locations are changed systematically, some adaptations of the peptide-lipid interactions may be required to compensate for the altered interfacial interactions. Recently, we have developed a novel transmembrane peptide, termed GW(5,19)ALP23 (acetyl-GGALW(5)LALALALALALALW(19)LAGA-ethanolamide), which proves to be a well-behaved sequence for an orderly investigation of protein-lipid interactions. Its roughly symmetric nature allows for shifting the anchoring Trp residues by one Leu-Ala pair inward (GW(7,17)ALP23) or outward (GW(3,21)ALP23), thus providing fine adjustments of the formal distance between the tryptophan residues. With no other obvious anchoring features present, we postulate that the inter-Trp distance may be crucial for aspects of the peptide-lipid interaction. Importantly, the amino acid composition is identical for each of the resulting related GWALP23 sequences, and the radial separation between the pairs of Trp residues on each side of the transmembrane α-helix remains similar. Here we address the adaptation of the aforementioned peptides to the varying Trp locations by means of solid-state (2)H nuclear magnetic resonance experiments in varying lipid bilayer membrane environments. All of the GW(x,y)ALP23 sequence isomers adopt transmembrane orientations in DOPC, DMPC, and DLPC environments, even when the Trp residues are quite closely spaced, in GW(7,17)ALP23. Furthermore, the dynamics for each peptide isomer are less extensive than for peptides possessing additional interfacial Trp residues. The helical secondary structure is maintained more strongly within the Trp-flanked core region than outside of the Trp boundaries. Deuterium-labeled tryptophan indole rings in the GW(x,y)ALP23 peptides provide additional insights into the behavior of the Trp side chains. A Trp side chain near the C-terminus adopts a different orientation and undergoes somewhat faster dynamics than a corresponding Trp side chain located an equivalent distance from the N-terminus. In contrast, as the inter-Trp distance changes, the variations among the average orientations of the Trp indole rings at either terminus are systematic yet fairly small. We conclude that subtle adjustments to the peptide tilt, and to the N- and C-terminal Trp side chain torsion angles, permit the GW(x,y)ALP23 peptides to maintain preferred transmembrane orientations while adapting to lipid bilayers with differing hydrophobic thicknesses.


An example of hydraulic design project for teaching purpose is presented. Students' task is to develop a looped distribution network for water (i.e. to determinate node consumptions, disposal of pipes, and finally to calculate flow rates in the network's pipes and their optimal diameters). This can be accomplished by using the original Hardy Cross method, the improved Hardy Cross method, the node-loop method, etc. For the improved Hardy Cross method and the node-loop method, use of matrix calculation is mandatory. Because the analysis of water distribution networks is an essential component of civil engineering water resources curricula, the adequate technique better than the hand-oriented one is desired in order to increase students' understanding of this kind of engineering systems and of relevant design issues in more concise and effective way. The described use of spreadsheet solvers is more than suitable for the purpose, especially knowing that spreadsheet solvers are much more matrix friendly compared with the hand-orientated calculation. Although matrix calculation is not mandatory for the original Hardy Cross method, even in that case it is preferred for better understanding of the problem. The application of commonly available spreadsheet software (Microsoft Excel) including two real classroom tasks is presented.


Abstract Successful conservation and management of marine top predators rely on detailed documentation of spatiotemporal behavior. For cetacean species, this information is key to defining stocks, habitat use, and mitigating harmful interactions. Research focused on this goal is employing methodologies such as visual observations, tag data, and passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) data. However, many studies are temporally limited or focus on only one or few species. In this study, we make use of an existing long‐term (2009–2019), labeled PAM data set to examine spatiotemporal patterning of at least 10 odontocete (toothed whale) species in the Hawaiian Islands using compositional analyses and modeling techniques. Species composition differs among considered sites, and this difference is robust to seasonal movement patterns. Temporally, hour of day was the most significant predictor of detection across species and sites, followed by season, though patterns differed among species. We describe long‐term trends in species detection at one site and note that they are markedly similar for many species. These trends may be related to long‐term, underlying oceanographic cycles that will be the focus of future study. We demonstrate the variability of temporal patterns even at relatively close sites, which may imply that wide‐ranging models of species presence are missing key fine‐scale movement patterns. Documented seasonal differences in detection also highlights the importance of considering season in survey design both regionally and elsewhere. We emphasize the utility of long‐term, continuous monitoring in highlighting temporal patterns that may relate to underlying climatic states and help us predict responses to climate change. We conclude that long‐term PAM records are a valuable resource for documenting spatiotemporal patterns and can contribute many insights into the lives of top predators, even in highly studied regions such as the Hawaiian Islands.


Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are a serious cause for concern in both adults and children.1 Of child inpatients, nearly one in ten experiences an ADR—severe in 12%.2 For adults in hospital, ADRs are thought to be among the six major causes of death: in the USA, according to one estimate, over 100 000 hospital patients die each year as a result of such reactions.3 Within the UK at least ten suspected fatal ADRs are reported in children each year.4 How good are we at detecting harmful effects that escaped notice in the prelicensing phase of a drug? The 'yellow card' system, which depends largely on voluntary reporting by doctors, has long been seen as inadequate; and two leading critics, Charles Medawar and Andrew Herxheimer, have used their experience with patient reports on the antidepressant paroxetine5 to argue that patients in the UK should have the right to report ADRs directly. This campaign bore fruit in May this year when the Government, through the Health Minister Lord Warner, announced that patients will be given the right to report suspected ADRs, without the intervention of a health professional, to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).6 This is the first time within the UK that patients will have this right. Already patients are able to report their own ADRs to NHS Direct, but the final decision as to whether a yellow card is completed (i.e. the ADR is reported to the regulatory authorities) depends on the NHS Direct nurse, not the patient. The details of how patients will report suspected ADRs are not yet clear; pilot schemes will be run to determine the best system. A logical step forward would be to initiate a regional pilot of direct patient reporting; this has already proved a successful way to evaluate different surveillance schemes for paediatric ADRs.7 Many countries already accept direct reporting of ADRs by patients8 but no detailed national analysis has yet been conducted on the value of this innovation. Several studies do point to benefits. A Dutch investigation compared the reporting of ADRs to paroxetine by patients and health professionals.9 The authors identified nine new ADRs which were recorded by both patients and health professionals, and in each instance the ADR was reported earlier by the patients (mean difference in lag 273 days). A Scottish group looking at treatment with antidepressants, anticonvulsants and analgesics found that patients did not invariably tell their general practitioner about symptoms they suspected to be ADRs; moreover, general practitioners did not record all the symptoms that the patient had mentioned as possibly caused by an ADR.10 If the purpose of ADR surveillance is to detect new ADRs these findings suggest that patient reporting will be of benefit, but further work is required before a national patient ADR reporting scheme is introduced. We also need to consider paediatrics, where the reporter of a suspected ADR would probably be a parent. There have been no formal investigations of such reporting, but in one prospective study of midazolam withdrawal in critically ill children it was the parents who detected abnormal behaviour in two of the young patients.11 Medawar and Herxheimer will not see the UK Government's announcement as a complete triumph. In a paper last year they argued that the MHRA is an unsuitable body to exercise pharmacovigilance because, as the organization that licenses medicines, it has a conflict of interest.5 This is an important point, and to date neither the MHRA nor the Government has fully answered it. Nor are they the only commentators to express concern about the close links between the MHRA and the pharmaceutical industry, among them being Richard Brook, chief executive of the mental health charity Mind.6 Clearly there is much to be said for separation of licensing from pharmacovigilance, but the direct reporting of ADRs by patients must not await this reform; what we need now are some pilot schemes to see how it can best be done.


A new blind data hiding method is proposed based on a novel concept of forbidden zone, where no alteration is allowed in a host signal during message embedding step. Depending on the desired probability of error, the range of the forbidden zone varies, as a compromise between robustness and embedding distortion. Hence, the proposed method makes use of this zone through a single control parameter in conjunction with modulating quantizers for message embedding. The superiority of the proposed scheme over QIM is presented theoretically, as well empirically via simulations. The method is further compared with DC-QIM and its weaknesses and strengths are stated.


Received October 21, 2005 Abstract Objectives: To examine the dietary pattern of Hong Kong young children and its implication for nutrition education. Methods: Dietary patterns of 316 children aged 6-7-years (121 overweight, 130 middle-weight and 65 low-weight children), were assessed by a standardised questionnaire and a 3-day dietary record. Results: Macronutrient composition (carbohydrates: 53%; proteins: 16% and fats: 31%) was similar in the three weight groups and in line with recommendations. Our subjects mainly consumed proteins from animal sources. Seventy-nine percent of the subjects reported routine snacking during school breaks and fat from snacks (22%) was higher than that reported in 1993 (15%). An inadequate vegetable (84 g/day) intake was observed. Absence of vegetables during lunch was reported by 22% of subjects and this was associated with eating out. Conclusion: Further nutrition education in young children in Hong Kong should focus on healthy choices of snacks, balancing animal and plant sources of proteins and adequate consumption of vegetables and fruits. The need for healthy school lunch and snack programmes should be emphasised.


Naval ships have camera systems available to assist in performing their operational tasks. Some include automatic detection and tracking, assisting an operator by keeping a ship in view or by keeping collected information about ships. Tracking errors limit the use of camera information. When keeping a ship in view, an operator has to re-target a tracked ship if it is no longer automatically followed due to a track break, or if it is out of view. When following several ships, track errors require the operator to re-label objects. Trackers make errors, for example, due to inaccuracies in detection, or motion that is not modeled correctly. Instead of improving this tracking using the limited information available from a single measurement, we propose a method where tracks are merged at a later stage, using information over a small interval. This merging is based on spatiotemporal matching. To limit incorrect connections, unlikely connections are identified and excluded. For this we propose two different approaches: spatiotemporal cost functions are used to exclude connections with unlikely motion and appearance cost functions are used to exclude connecting tracks of dissimilar objects. Next to this, spatiotemporal cost functions are also used to select tracks for merging. For the appearance filtering we investigated different descriptive features and developed a method for indicating similarity between tracks. This method handles variations in features due to noisy detections and changes in appearance. We tested this method on real data with nine different targets. It is shown that track merging results in a significant reduction in number of tracks per ship. With our method we significantly reduce incorrect track merges that would occur using naïve merging functions.


COVID-19 is an acute respiratory disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, which has high transmissibility. People infected with SARS-CoV-2 can develop symptoms including cough, fever, pneumonia and other complications, which in severe cases could lead to death. In addition, a proportion of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 may be asymptomatic. At present, the primary diagnostic method for COVID-19 is reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), which tests patient samples including nasopharyngeal swabs, sputum and other lower respiratory tract secretions. Other detection methods, e.g., isothermal nucleic acid amplification, CRISPR, immunochromatography, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and electrochemical sensors are also in use. As the current testing methods are mostly performed at central hospitals and third-party testing centres, the testing systems used mostly employ large, high-throughput, automated equipment. Given the current situation of the epidemic, point-of-care testing (POCT) is advantageous in terms of its ease of use, greater approachability on the user's end, more timely detection, and comparable accuracy and sensitivity, which could reduce the testing load on central hospitals. POCT is thus conducive to daily epidemic control and achieving early detection and treatment. This paper summarises the latest research advances in POCT-based SARS-CoV-2 detection methods, compares three categories of commercially available products, i.e., nucleic acid tests, immunoassays and novel sensors, and proposes the expectations for the development of POCT-based SARS-CoV-2 detection including greater accessibility, higher sensitivity and lower costs.


We synthesize Au@SiO2 composite particles with a core-shell structure, and utilize the Au@SiO2 nanoparticles to modulate the fluorescence emission of the graphene quantum dot (GQD) through varying the silica shell thickness. The silica shell thickness can be easily controlled by varying the coating time. After silica coating, we investigate the influence of the silica thickness on the fluorescence emission of the GQD and find that the fluorescence property of the GQD can be changed as expected by varying the thickness of the silica shell. We propose an optimized coating time for the silica shell under the interaction of fluorescence quenching and enhancement.


The industrial forming simulation used today is the result of a development process during the last two decades. A main focus of this process was the continuous optimization to characterize the material properties. The presentation will give an overview of the simulation technology challenges arising from the need to improve bridging of the gaps between material data and computational technology. Furthermore, an integrated technology pathway from the perspective of simulation requirements, material characterization needs, simulation technology innovations and impacts of those requirements on the accuracy of practical applications in the automotive world is discussed. The presentation will feature industrial examples of advanced alloy (both advanced steel and aluminum sheets) interesting for DaimlerChrysler to reinforce the topics of the paper. Finally the vision of the future simulation environment is portrayed.


Current efforts establishing semantic metadata standards for the built environment span academia [3], industry [1] and standards bodies [2, 28]. For these standards to be effective, they must be clearly defined and easily extensible, encourage consistency in their usage, and integrate cleanly with existing industrial standards, such as BACnet. There is a natural tension between informal tag-based systems that rely upon idiom and convention for meaning, and formal ontologies amenable to automated tooling. We present a qualitative analysis of Project Haystack [1], a popular tagging system for building metadata, and identify a family of inherent interpretability and consistency issues in the tagging model that stem from its lack of a formal definition. To address these issues, we present the design and implementation of the Brick+ ontology, a drop-in replacement for Brick [3] with clear formal semantics that enables the inference of a valid Brick model from an informal Haystack model, and demonstrate this inference across five Haystack models.


In this paper we analyse the exchange rate pass-through (ERPT) in the euro area as a whole and for four euro area members - Germany, France, Italy and Spain. For that purpose we use Bayesian VARs with identification based on a combination of zero and sign restrictions. Our results emphasize that pass-through in the euro area is not constant over time - it may depend on a composition of economic shocks governing the exchange rate. Regarding the relative importance of individual shocks, it seems that pass-through is the strongest when the exchange rate movement is triggered by (relative) monetary policy shocks and the exchange rate shocks. Our shock-dependent measure of ERPT points to a large but volatile pass-through to import prices and overall very small pass-through to consumer inflation in the euro area.


In this paper we consider efficient message passing based inference in a factor graph representation of a probabilistic model. Current message passing methods, such as belief propagation, variational message passing or expectation propagation, rely on analytically pre-computed message update rules. In practical models, it is often not feasible to analytically derive all update rules for all factors in the graph and as a result, efficient message passing-based inference cannot proceed. In related research on (non-message passing-based) inference, a "reparameterization trick" has lead to a considerable extension of the class of models for which automated inference is possible. In this paper, we introduce Reparameterization Gradient Message Passing (RGMP), which is a new message passing method based on the reparameterization gradient. In most models, the large majority of messages can be analytically derived and we resort to RGMP only when necessary. We will argue that this kind of hybrid message passing leads naturally to low-variance gradients.


The causations of crimes that are relevant in the cyberspace concurrently impact in the physical space and vise versa. This paper aims to explore parents' perceptions of the factors that cause socioeconomic cybercrime in Nigeria. Despite a long-standing view that the juvenile offenders of today could become the hardened criminals of tomorrow, and the conclusions of a number of developmental theories on the stability of delinquency across the life course, the existing data on cybercrimes in Nigeria have principally been derived from studies involving university students. Yet, individuals' moralstandard- levels, which shape their offending capacities, are mostly developed in childhood. The empirical basis for this paper is face-to-face interviews with 17 Nigerian parents regarding children's vulnerability to involvement in cybercrime. Drawing upon qualitative data, this paper argues that a complex web of familial factors and structural forces, alongside cultural forces, explains the degree of cybercrime involvement on the part of Nigerian youths.


Tempilang Village is one of the culture-based villages in Bangka Barat District which has historical value and various cultural attractions. However, there are some factors which may inhibit the position of Tempilang Village as a tourism-based village, such as the inadequate role of the local district government in managing cultural assets, especially in its utilization as a tourism attraction, community involvement in promoting villages and the role of cross sectors in development of cultural and economic potentials in Tempilang Village. This research aimed at formulating a sustainable cultural tourism development strategy to enhance the cultural potential and economic condition of the surrounding local community. This research used descriptive qualitative analysis, content analysis, IFAS EFAS and SWOT matrix. The results of the IFAS and EFAS analysis in the SWOT Cartesian diagram indicated that Tempilang Village is in a favorable position with the dominant strength and opportunity factors and growth strategy as the main focus of the development strategy. Based on the results of analysis of internal and external factors using the SWOT matrix, there were four main strategies for sustainable tourism development to be implemented in Tempilang Village, including strategies for optimizing the management of cultural tourism, strategies for optimizing the potential of home based enterprises in the village to support tourism activities, utilizing intangible culture in the village as a product of cultural tourism and managing tangible cultural assets in the village through opportunities for cooperation.


Gentamicin sulfate at dosage levels of 10 and 20 mg/kg of body weight was administered twice daily IV to red-tailed hawks. Clinical signs, water consumption, and changes in blood chemical values were monitored. Tissues were examined grossly and ultrastructurally, using light and electron microscopy. Clinical signs of weakness and apnea were attributed to gentamicin-induced neuromuscular blockade in the 20-mg/kg group. Serum values of aspartate transaminase, alanine transaminase, cholesterol, inorganic phosphorus, total protein, albumin, and uric acid increased in some birds. There was a decrease in periodic acid-Schiff staining of proximal tubular brush borders. Increased numbers of cytoplasmic lysosomes, many of which contained myelin figures, in renal epithelial cells were seen at the ultrastructural level. All birds given 20 mg/kg died. Both dosage levels were considered toxic in red-tailed hawks.


Understanding the mechanism of nucleation of dynamic rupture is an important issue in seismology since it is the key factor in determining the seismic potential of pre-existing faults under long-term loadings. Furthermore, the activation of Mode II crack by means of fluid injection in a fracture is one of the mechanisms that enhance the permeability in deep geothermal reservoirs (Enhanced Geothermal Systems) whose efficacy rely on the shear-induced dilation. Since we are interested in modelling a fracture network under hydraulic stimulation, a deep understanding of the shear crack propagation induced by fluid injection is needed. Locally elevated pore pressure associated with fluid injection leads to a reduction of the fault frictional strength (product of the local normal effective stress and the slip-weakening friction coefficient) which may eventually falls below the background shear stress. As a result, a shear crack will start to propagate with an initially moderate velocity (quasi-static) as it is induced by fluid pressure diffusion. As slip accumulate, the quasi-static crack growth may become unstable due to the slip-weakening nature of friction, resulting in the nucleation of a dynamic rupture (micro-seismicity) until residual frictional strength is reached. Theoretical and numerical models now exist to simulate shear fault/fracture under fluid injection for both quasi-static (QS) and quasi-dynamic (QD) crack growth. However, a comparison between the QS and QD approaches has not been done. Therefore the question that arises is how the inertial effects affect the dynamic instability and the rupture run-out distance.


ABSTRACT Several states and localities have begun to implement various forms of pretrial justice reforms aimed at reducing the size of pretrial detainee population. However, empirical investigation of the effect of such reforms on crimes more broadly (other than recidivism) is limited. We analyse the effect of the 2017 New Jersey Criminal Justice Reform on property crimes. We find that property crime per 100,000 population increased by 22.5% within the first two years. Our findings suggest that reducing the likelihood of pretrial detention for less violent crimes can have substantial impact on behavioural incentives for offenders of such crimes.


The study of noise-driven transitions occurring rarely on the time-scale of systems modeled by SDEs is of crucial importance for understanding such phenomena as genetic switches in living organisms and magnetization switches of the Earth. For a gradient SDE, the predictions for transition times and paths between its metastable states are done using the potential function. For a nongradient SDE, one needs to decompose its forcing into a gradient of the so-called quasipotential and a rotational component, which cannot be done analytically in general.
We propose a methodology for computing the quasipotential for highly dissipative and chaotic systems built on the example of Lorenz'63 with an added stochastic term. It is based on the ordered line integral method, a Dijkstra-like quasipotential solver, and combines 3D computations in whole regions, a dimensional reduction technique, and 2D computations on radial meshes on manifolds or their unions. Our collection of source codes is available on M. Cameron's web page and on GitHub.


OBJECTIVE
To determine if women who received information from a provider and viewed a videotape about maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein (MSAFP) screening understood enough to sign informed consent.

DESIGN
A prospective qualitative design using tape recorded interviews of women who were provided information regarding MSAFP testing from a provider and from viewing a videotape.

PARTICIPANTS
Fifty-three inner city pregnant women (58% Hispanic, 39% African-American, 3% white).

RESULTS
Two women answered all questions correctly; no one answered all questions incorrectly. Sixty-two percent correctly answered "What is MSAFP?" Sixteen percent thought "something has to be taken from my belly" for the test. Fifty-nine percent understood that children with spina bifida could have difficulty walking or urinary problems. Seventy-two percent thought their infant would be healthy in all respects if the test was negative. Only 45% could describe the follow-up to a positive test. Eighty percent planned to have the test. Many misconceptions were apparent, and for some knowledge items, as many as 80% of the women answered incorrectly.

CONCLUSIONS
Obtaining truly informed consent for a complex test is not a simple process. Participants met a few, but not all, of the criteria for informed consent. Women understood that the test was voluntary, but their comprehension of the meaning and implication of a positive test results was deficient. Despite this, they signed the informed consent document. The larger question of just how much comprehension is required to consider a woman "informed" has not been answered.


The formation of the slow solar wind has been debated for many years. In this Letter we show evidence of persistent outflow at the edges of an active region as measured by the EUV Imaging Spectrometer on board Hinode. The Doppler velocity ranged between 20 and 50 km s−1 and was consistent with a steady flow seen in the X-Ray Telescope. The latter showed steady, pulsing outflowing material and some transverse motions of the loops. We analyze the magnetic field around the active region and produce a coronal magnetic field model. We determine from the latter that the outflow speeds adjusted for line-of-sight effects can reach over 100 km s−1. We can interpret this outflow as expansion of loops that lie over the active region, which may either reconnect with neighboring large-scale loops or are likely to open to the interplanetary space. This material constitutes at least part of the slow solar wind.


mal. Localization to the affected lobe was based mainly upon the preoperative EEG findings, often supplemented by electrocorticography. The histological findings were reminiscent of tuberous sclerosis, but this diagnosis was not entirely acceptable because (a) no evidence of adenoma sebaceum or any of the other stigmata could be found either in the patients or in their families, (b) the incidence of mental subnormality and of epilepsy in the families was very low, (c) in most patients the onset of epilepsy was during puberty or later, and (d) there was a trend towards a normal or even raised IQ in the patients. Finally, the histological appearances were far from typical, consisting essentially of a neuronal over-population in the cortex rather than a paucity. Other distinguishing features included a total lack of calcification and of subpial glial 'wheatsheaving', both of which are often found in the tubers of tuberous sclerosis. The uncovering of these lesions in the main resulted from a policy of resecting as much as possible of the affected lobe in one block, rather than by suction removal which would have precluded a detailed histological examination. Most of the patients were benefited as regards their epilepsy. The cases therefore appeared to be an unusual type of cortical dysplasia in which circumscribed areas of anomalous neurones and often glia, visible only under the microscope, underlie the clinical and electrical manifestations of a focal form of epilepsy.


In the introduction of this paper the author discusses the relevance of sociolinguistic research for Belgium. In this respect he mentions the problems of the pacification between the language communities in the Brussels area and the relation between dialect and standard language in Flanders. In this paper he mainly deals with the latter problem which is discussed along the following lines:a. Who speaks in Flanders what variety (dialect or standard Dutch) to whom and when? (cf Fishman; research by Meeus and Geerts, Nootens and Van den Broeck).b. What attitude do the Flemish show towards the Dutch used by the Flemish as compared to the Dutch used by the Dutch? What do they eventually reject in the Dutch as used by Dutch speakers? (Attitu-des, cf. Lambert & Giles, research by Geerts, Nootens and Van den Broeck and by Deprez).c. Problems of standardisation ("the long road to the standard Dutch") illustrated by some concrete lexical and pronominal (jij-gij) variables, ("linguistic insecurity", cf. Labov; research by Deprez and Geerts in Kortrijk-Poperinge).d. The relation between the dimension of dialect/standard language and the code-theory of Bernstein; research by Van den Broeck of the syntactic complexity in the actual use of both standard language and dialect by workers and middleclass in Maaseik (Bernstein, Labov, Ammon).


We describe a new class of lensless, ultra-miniature computational imagers and image sensors employing special optical phase gratings integrated with CMOS photodetector matrices. Because such imagers have no lens, they are ultraminiature (∼100 μm), have large effective depth of field (1 mm to infinity), and are very inexpensive (a few Euro cents). The grating acts as a two-dimensional visual "chirp" and preserves image power throughout the Fourier plane (and hence preserves image information); the final digital image is not captured as in a traditional camera but instead computed from raw photodetector signals. The novel representation at the photodetectors demands that algorithms such as deconvolution, Bayesian estimation, or matrix inversion with Tikhonov regularization be used to compute the image, each having different bandwidth, space and computational complexities for a given image fidelity. Such imaging architectures can also be tailored to extract application-specific information or compute decisions (rather than compute an image) based on the optical signal. In most cases, both the phase grating and the signal processing can be optimized for the information in the visual field and the task at hand. Our sensor design methodology relies on modular parallel and computationally efficient software tools for simulating optical diffraction, for CAD design and layout of gratings themselves, and for sensor signal processing. These sensors are so small they should find use in endoscopy, medical sensing, machine inspection, surveillance and the Internet of Things, and are so inexpensive that they should find use in distributed network applications and in a number of single-use scenarios, for instance in military theaters and hazardous natural and industrial conditions.


CONTEXT
In persons with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), both impaired insulin secretion and insulin resistance contribute to the conversion to type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, few studies have used criterion standard measures to asses the predictive value of impaired insulin secretion and insulin resistance for the conversion to T2DM in a Caucasian IGT population.

OBJECTIVES
The objective of the study was to determine the predictive value of measures of insulin secretion and insulin resistance derived from a hyperglycemic clamp, including the disposition index, for the development of T2DM in a Caucasian IGT population.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
The population-based Hoorn IGT study consisted of 101 Dutch IGT subjects (aged < 75 yr), with mean 2-h plasma glucose values, of two separate oral glucose tolerance tests, between 8.6 and 11.1 mmol/liter. A hyperglycemic clamp at baseline was performed to assess first-phase and second-phase insulin secretion and insulin sensitivity. During follow-up, conversion to T2DM was assessed by means of 6-monthly fasting glucose levels and yearly oral glucose tolerance tests.

RESULTS
The cumulative incidence of T2DM was 34.7%. Hazard ratio for T2DM development adjusted for age, sex, and body mass index was 5.74 [95% confidence interval (CI) 2.60-12.67] for absence of first insulin peak, 1.58 (95% CI 0.60-4.17) for lowest vs. highest tertile of insulin sensitivity, and 1.78 (95% CI 0.65-4.88) for lowest vs. highest tertile of the disposition index.

CONCLUSIONS
In these Caucasian persons with IGT, the absence of the first insulin peak was the strongest predictor of T2DM.


Product and engineering teams' speed of producing high-quality results is critical to ensuring enterprise competitiveness. Additionally, one can observe an increase in IT systems complexity driven by the adoption of service-oriented architecture, micro-services, and serverless. Therefore, many large enterprises benefit from a mono-repository for source code management because of the improved team cognition that results from eroding barriers between teams and from influencing enhanced teamwork quality. This paper, first, reviews the characteristics of a multi-repositories structure, a mono-repository structure, and a hybrid model. Second, it discusses why some manage source code in a multi-repositories structure, either by choice or because of the organic evolution of large enterprises. Third, it reviews how mono-repositories in large teams, beyond the technical arguments, can drive high efficiency and enhanced product quality through improved team cognition.


Equiatomic FePd alloy in the ordered state has been processed by means of high-pressure torsion deformation (HPTD) and then annealed. X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and magnetic measurements have been carried out. HPTD results in an order-disorder transformation of the initial ordered L10-phase (s.g. P4/mmm) into a disordered fcc phase (s.g. Fm-3m) through the body-centered tetragonal (bct) phase (s.g. I4/mmm). Subsequent annealing restores the L10-phase.


Purpose

Scientific studies indicate that stakeholder's engagement is a key factor for the creation of sustainable value in companies. This paper aims to evaluate the sustainability of a sports company and propose a tool to prioritize the relevant issues that this company should consider in its operations.

Design/methodology/approach

Stakeholder theory and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) are considered, and, from the Fuzzy Logic, the paper proposes a decision-making tool to establish the relevant issues. The "Experton Method" is used in this paper.

Findings

The algorithm used can help decision makers in processes that include the stakeholder's opinions. In this case, a tool that treats qualitative data in a reliable manner is required. The methodology used allowed knowing the stakeholders expectations and to define priorities in sustainability issues. The results were captured in a materiality matrix. The manuscript concludes that including stakeholders in the decision-making process, the company generates trust and legitimacy of its stakeholders. This participatory approach and the use of algorithm help companies in materiality assessment, definition of priority issues and management of resources.

Practical implications

In terms of managerial implications, this paper presents a useful tool that can help entrepreneurs in the decision-making to manage their suppliers. Using an algorithm of fuzzy logic applied in the supply chain management, it is indicated how to set priorities to build a consistent corporate social responsibility (CSR) plan to achieve corporation success. This methodology allows reducing subjectivity; it generates greater precision and decreases the risk in decision-making. At the same time, it promotes dialogue and collaboration among stakeholders to create value for stakeholders and CSR, and collaborate to have a responsible company performance. Furthermore, this paper provides theoretical applications in terms of the literature review on corporate sustainability, indicating that companies must consider the stakeholder's engagement in its strategies. Based on the bibliometric study, there are knowledge gaps on the subject. For these reasons, an important contribution is observed at the academic level that allows expanding the frontier of knowledge on the subject.

Originality/value

A tool for decision-making is presented with great utility for entrepreneurs in the processes of dialogue and stakeholder's engagement, being a contribution for the creation of sustainable value. In addition, there is an important scientific contribution because the paper identifies in the literature the knowledge gaps on the subject.


Workplace stress can influence healthcare professionals' physical and emotional wellbeing by curbing their efficiency and having a negative impact on their overall quality of life. The aim of the present study was to investigate the impact that work environment in a local public general hospital can have on the health workers' mental-emotional health and find strategies in order to cope with negative consequences. The study took place from July 2010 to October 2010. Our sample consisted of 200 healthcare professionals aged 21-58 years working in a 240-bed general hospital and the response rate was 91.36%). Our research protocol was first approved by the hospital's review board. A standardized questionnaire that investigates strategies for coping with stressful conditions was used. A standardized questionnaire was used in the present study Coping Strategies for Stressful Events, evaluating the strategies that persons employ in order to overcome a stressful situation or event. The questionnaire was first tested for validity and reliability which were found satisfactory (Cronbach's α=0.862). Strict anonymity of the participants was guaranteed. The SPSS 16.0 software was used for the statistical analysis. Regression analysis showed that health professionals' emotional health can be influenced by strategies for dealing with stressful events, since positive re-assessment, quitting and seeking social support are predisposing factors regarding the three first quality of life factors of the World Health Organization Quality of Life BREF. More specifically, for the physical health factor, positive re-assessment (t=3.370, P=0.001) and quitting (t=−2.564, P=0.011) are predisposing factors. For the 'mental health and spirituality' regression model, positive re-assessment (t=5.528, P=0.000) and seeking social support (t=−1.991, P=0.048) are also predisposing factors, while regarding social relationships positive re-assessment (t=4.289, P=0.000) is a predisposing factor. According to our findings, there was a notable lack of workplace stress management strategies, which the participants usually perceive as a lack of interest on behalf of the management regarding their emotional state. Some significant factors for lowering workplace stress were found to be the need to encourage and morally reward the staff and also to provide them with opportunities for further or continuous education.


Background The purpose of this study was to identify trends in survival and chemotherapy use, during the duration of the National Lung Cancer Audit (NLCA), for individuals with small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) in England. Methods We used data from the NLCA database to identify people with histologically proven SCLC from 2004 to 2009. We used Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) database and NLCA to identify patients with codes of receiving chemotherapy, while NLCA was used to identify radiotherapy. We calculated the median survival by stage and observed the changing patient features of the cohort. We also looked at the proportions of patients with records of chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy over the years. Results 11,603 patients were diagnosed with SCLC in our cohort. The median survival was 6 months; 1 year for limited stage and 4 months for extensive stage. 70% received chemotherapy and this proportion did not change overtime. Patient features including sex, age and performance status remained stable throughout the years (χ2 p-value 0.25, 0.93 & 0.08 respectively). There has been an increase in the proportion of patients that had a record of receiving chemotherapy and radiotherapy each year in both limited and extensive stage disease (from 19% to 36% in limited & from 10% to 17% in extensive stage from 2004 to 2009) (table 1). Patients who had a record for chemotherapy and radiotherapy had better survival in days compared with those who received only chemotherapy or no treatment independent of stage (334 days for chemotherapy & radiotherapy vs. 240 days for chemotherapy alone, 82 days for radiotherapy alone & 25 days for no treatment). Conclusion Since 2004, when the NLCA was established, the recorded use of chemotherapy and survival in days has remained static. We have found an increasing trend in patients receiving chemotherapy & radiotherapy which corresponds to better survival compared with other treatments. We were unable to see if these patients received these therapies for palliative or curative purpose; however the new chemotherapy and radiotherapy database soon to be linked with the NLCA would be better suitable to answer these questions.


Corporate Accountability in the Context of Transitional Justice explores the existing and possible links between these areas: investigating the treatment of corporate complicity in the area of transitional justice, as well as the utility of the latter for enhancing current approaches to corporate governance. The book is divided into three parts. The first provides an overview of the current law, and of trends in the legal and political discussion, relating to both of these areas. The papers contained in the second part of the book offer an in-depth analysis of the theoretical issues surrounding the role of corporate accountability in achieving the objectives of transitional justice. The final part of the book assesses the linking of transitional justice and corporate accountability through the discussion of particular problems and cases. The first sustained attempt to address this link, Corporate Accountability in the Context of Transitional Justice will be interest to scholars, practitioners, policymakers and activists working in the areas of transitional justice; corporate accountability; and business and human rights.


The author recalls the main stages of biosynthesis of proteins based on molecular pathology : transcription of DNA into messenger RNA, the genetic code, translation of protein molecules and regulation of their synthesis. Examples are then given of qualitative and quantitative disturbances. Qualitative disturbances with synthesis of abnormal proteins, or protein diseases of protein structure, together with their consequences. Quantitative disorders, with modified synthesis of normal proteins, result very often from abnormalities of structural genes, but also from abnormalities of transcription or translation. The author considers, in conclusion, pathological situations based on molecular abnormalities for mutations occur at random and it may be possible to correct them by genetic manipulation.


In psychiatric hospitals, sexual activity between patients raises special difficulties regarding consent. We undertook a questionnaire survey of inpatients in the mental health units of three hospitals to identify the nature and frequency of sexual activity. A contemporaneous staff questionnaire was used in an attempt to validate the patient reports. Of the 100 patients who participated (response rate 60%), 30 reported engaging in some form of sexual activity including 10 who had sexual intercourse. All sexual intercourse was consensual, but only 2 respondents used condoms. Staff questionnaires suggested levels of sexual activity congruent with patient reports. This survey underlines the conflict between an individual's right to sexual expression and the need to protect vulnerable patients.


The Terrorism in Armed Conflict project integrates the Uppsala Conflict Data Project sample of rebel organizations with START's Global Terrorism Database, covering 409 organizations for 1970–2013. For many Global Terrorism Database incidents, perpetrator information is missing, or ambiguous. Because the accuracy of perpetrator information likely varies systematically, simply dropping these incidents from analyses may bias results. Terrorism in Armed Conflict provides possible attribution to specific rebel groups with coding for uncertainty, enabling researchers to (1) address "description bias" in media-based terrorism data, (2) model uncertainty regarding perpetrator attribution and (3) vary the way terrorism is counted. The Terrorism in Armed Conflict dataset further provides a measure of deliberately indiscriminate terrorism that allows for more nuanced testing of arguments about the strategic logic of terrorism.


The present study reports the occurrence of 2 amphipod species, Caprella andreae Mayer, 1890 and Podocerus chelonophilus Chevreux & Guerne, 1888, that appeared on the carapace of the loggerhead turtle Caretta caretta (Linnaeus, 1758) in the eastern Mediterranean Sea (Levantine Sea). The amphipod specimens were found on a male Caretta caretta captured during experimental bottom studies conducted off Samandag, Hatay (the Turkish Mediterranean coast) on 7 April 2007. In addition, Caprella andreae Mayer 1890 was collected from the nets of fish cages off the Seferihisar (Aegean Sea) coast (38°11'32"N, 26°38'07"E). C. andreae is a first report for the amphipod fauna in Turkish seas.


A Darriwilian (late Middle Ordovician) brachiopod fauna from the Lower Formation of the Chiatsun Group at Jiacun, northern Nyalam, southern Tibet, consists of ten brachiopod species, forming a distinct Aporthophyla–Paralenorthis Association. Its taxonomic composition is typical of the Aporthophyla Fauna that occupied lower BA2 to upper BA3 benthic environments on sandy lime mud substrates. The occurrence of Paralenorthis in southern Tibet is confirmed for the first time, represented by P. costata sp. nov. Numerical analyses (PCA and CA) of 18 Darriwilian brachiopod faunas from ten palaeoplates or terranes indicate that: (1) the Aporthophyla Fauna was confined to a specific latitudinal belt although it had a wide lateral distribution from the large palaeocontinents of Gondwana to Laurentia; (2) the Saucrorthis Fauna, a typical late Middle Ordovician regional fauna, is limited to a much smaller area, marginal to the Gondwana supercontinent; (3) the strong provincialism persistent in the late Middle Ordovician contributed to increased gamma biodiversity during the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event.


Background:

Obsessions and compulsions are the two core features of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Mild and infrequent obsessions and compulsions are common. Persistent and distressing obsessions and compulsions of the kind seen in OCD occur in far fewer people. As is the case with other psychiatric disorders, many people with OCD do not seek help. Clinical observation suggests that help-seeking delay in OCD is substantial, averaging eleven years. A proliferation of research studies of non-OCD patient participants has arisen from the observation that some people in community settings have clinically significant obsessions and compulsions. Conversely, there is little research that considers why people with obsessions and compulsions delay help-seeking and why this morbidity may be missed.

Aims:

This thesis examined attitudes to obsessive-compulsive (OC) problems, the existence of obsessions and compulsions in non-psychiatric groups, the profile of OC features in a clinical OCD group, and the help-seeking and treatment experiences of people with OCD. Its primary focus was to discover barriers to disclosing obsessions and compulsions in order to seek help.

Findings:

Dermatology and obstetric outpatients and students exhibited obsessions and compulsions comparable to those evidenced by people with OCD. The content of an OC problem influenced judgements of fear and shame about disclosing the problem. People with OCD delayed seeking help because of fear, shame and lack of knowledge. Concealment had occurred in the hope that the problem would go away, or from fear of the reaction of others. Feelings of embarrassment and shame were pervasive.

Implications:

Continued research on public attitudes to OC problems and on the help-seeking experiences of people with such problems is necessary. Raising public awareness of obsessions and compulsions and their treatment may reduce stigma and fear. Ultimately, concealment is problematic for the person with obsessions and compulsions, and for the conceptualisation of OCD.


This paper offers a tentative snapshot of Grade 6 mathematics classroom practices in Rwanda based on twenty video recorded lessons. It has an objective of investigating through evaluation, the teaching strategies used by Rwandan Grade 6 Mathematics teachers in their classrooms. In the absence of sufficient instruments to measure Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) in practice, a coding scheme was developed and applied to our video recorded lesson data, which helped us to answer our question of knowing the PCK levels of Rwandan Grade 6 Mathematics teachers. Choosing Rwanda as research site is mainly based on our will to know Grade 6 Mathematics practices in developing countries and particularly in Rwanda context where there has not been any study of this kind done before, which could add to researchers' existing understanding of practical PCK. The findings suggest that there are differences in the extent to which practical PCK is engaged as some teachers seem more likely to use teaching strategies that research suggests are effective like being able to unpack the content in their teaching. Even if the overall impression is that it is fair to assume that teaching in Rwanda is not in a calamity, some teaching practices need to be improved. These include making connections and linking the contents. The paper ends with a discussion of methodological issues. Keywords: classroom practices, Rwanda, teachers' practices, procedural PCK, teaching strategies.


The trend to reduce CO2 emissions in cooling processes has made it possible to increase the alternatives for integrating solar energy with thermal equipment whose viability depends on its adaptation to polygeneration schemes. Despite the enormous potential offered by the industry for cooling and heating processes, solar cooling technologies (SCT) have been explored in a limited way in the industrial sector. This work discusses the potential applications of industrial SCTs and classifies hybrid polygeneration schemes based on supplying cold, heat, electricity, and desalination of water; summarizes the leading SCTs, and details the main indicators of polygeneration configurations in terms of reductions on primary energy consumption and payback times. To achieve an energy transition in refrigeration processes, the scenarios with the most significant potential are: the food manufacturing industry (water immersion and crystallization processes), the beverage industry (fermentation and storage processes), and the mining industry (underground air conditioning).


Abstract Background. Significant numbers of asymptomatic hypertensive patients are attacked by subclinical target organ damage (TOD) such as proteinuria, left ventricular hypertrophy and carotid atherosclerosis. Platelets become activated in uncontrolled hypertension and play a crucial role in increased thrombotic tendency. Mean platelet volume (MPV) is one of the markers that correlate closely with platelet activity. We aimed to investigate the relationship between MPV levels and subclinical TOD in newly diagnosed hypertensive patients. Methods. 80 newly diagnosed hypertensive patients were enrolled to this cross-sectional study. Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring was performed for all patients. Left ventricular mass index (LVMI), carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) and urine albumin/creatinine ratio (UACR) were measured as indices of cardiac, vascular and renal damage, respectively. MPV was measured from blood samples collected in EDTA tubes and high-sensitivity C reactive protein (hs-CRP) was measured by using nephlometer. Results. MPV was significantly correlated with 24-h systolic–diastolic blood pressure (r = 0.52 and r = 0.55, respectively). Correlation analysis indicated that MPV was moderately related with UACR, LVMI, carotid IMT and hs-CRP (r = 0.50, r = 0.55, r = 0.60 and r = 0.69, respectively, p = 0.0001). Multivariable analysis identified that MPV levels were independently associated with severity of proteinuria, carotid IMT and LVMI (p = 0.001). Conclusion. Our findings suggested that MPV levels were associated with severity of subclinical TOD including; carotid atherosclerosis, left ventricular hypertrophy and renal damage, in hypertensive patients. In addition to this, MPV levels were significantly correlated with hs-CRP levels and 24-h ambulatory blood pressure measurements.