This paper studies trust and loyalty relationships among small tourism enterprises (STEs) in the seaside villages in Turkey. A theoretical model of trust and loyalty among small tourism enterprises was developed and tested. Our sample consists of four villages which are dominated by STEs. The STEs in villages operate under difficult conditions because of the inadequate tourism infra-structure and extra-structure in the region. The selected villages are localized in same bay in Bozburun Peninsula. Our field study was conducted during August 2008 and February 2009 by using a questioner. Our findings indicate that friendship and loyalty are related variables. In addition we found that trust has a significant effect on loyalty and that loyalty further breed cooperation. As for mediation we found following: Loyalty is an important factor for improving cooperation among STEs in the villages. Therefore, eventually collaborative processes based on trust and loyalty must be improved in the destination network. This is the first case study on the trust and loyalty relations of STEs in Turkey.


The signature of early cancer dynamics on the spatial arrangement of tumour cells is poorly understood, and yet could encode information about how sub-clones grew within the expanding tumour. Novel methods of quantifying spatial tumour data at the cellular scale are required to link evolutionary dynamics to the resulting spatial architecture of the tumour. Here, we propose a framework using first passage times of random walks to quantify the complex spatial patterns of tumour cell population mixing. First, using a simple model of cell mixing we demonstrate how first passage time statistics can distinguish between different pattern structures. We then apply our method to simulated patterns of mutated and non-mutated tumour cell population mixing, generated using an agent-based model of expanding tumours, to explore how first passage times reflect mutant cell replicative advantage, time of emergence and strength of cell pushing. Finally, we explore applications to experimentally measured human colorectal cancer, and estimate parameters of early sub-clonal dynamics using our spatial computational model. We infer a wide range of sub-clonal dynamics, with mutant cell division rates varying between 1 and 4 times the rate of non-mutated cells across our sample set. Some mutated sub-clones emerged after as few as 100 non-mutant cell divisions, and others only after 50,000 divisions. The majority were consistent with boundary driven growth or short-range cell pushing. By analysing multiple sub-sampled regions in a small number of samples, we explore how the distribution of inferred dynamics could inform about the initial mutational event. Our results demonstrate the efficacy of first passage time analysis as a new methodology in spatial analysis of solid tumour tissue, and suggest that patterns of sub-clonal mixing can provide insights into early cancer dynamics.


In forensic science, the number of image databases is growing rapidly. For this reason, it is necessary to have a proper procedure for searching in these images databases based on content. The use of image databases results in more solved crimes; furthermore, statistical information can be obtained for forensic identification.
This thesis investigates the applicability of image-matching algorithms in forensic image database retrieval.
From the experiments described in this thesis with the databases of toolmarks, cartridge cases, shoe marks and drugs tablets, it appeared that a reproducible image acquisition method should be used. Further, a pre-processing step is necessary for filtering the relevant regions of the image for the comparison. From the study in this thesis, is concluded that there is no single system to treat all image databases. For each database a different approach is necessary, depending on the marks that are used for the comparison. In order to control the use of these databases, methods are needed that predict the performance on larger databases. Representative test sets should be available for evaluating the performance of matching algorithms in the forensic databases. The performance of matching on a specific types of marks depends also on future developments in products that cause these marks. For instance, if firearms are used where the breech face marks are hardly visible or if the breech face marks are not characteristic anymore, this will reduce the results of using the cartridge case database.
Forensic scientists often give a conclusion based on experience, not on statistics. The forensic databases could provide a reliability measure on the uniqueness of certain identifying characteristics., which results in usefulness in the interpretation of the evidence. For the shoe mark and drug tablet systems the identifying characteristics are often small irregularities. They are not visible in the low resolution images that have been used in our research. For the shoe mark and drug tablet systems, higher resolution images are necessary to obtain the characteristics. The cartridge case system and the tool mark system have these identifying characteristics available. More research on statistical measures from forensic image databases is desirable. The results of using the databases can not only result in data for court, but also for operational activities. By using the new investigative power due to fast treatment of image database, it is possible to derive information on the operational activities. Examples are new waves of drugs on the market and extensions of the traffic of those drugs, or the use of a specific kind of firearm in a group of criminals.
In order to optimize information retrieval from the various databases, a data searching strategy should be developed that combines the information in the multiple databases. This is a way to alleviate the problem that often only partial profiles are found at the scene of the crime. In some cases, e.g. weak evidence from a shoe mark could be combined with weak evidence from a fingerprint which results in stronger evidence.


Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common lethal malignancy and a leading cause of malignancy-associated death in many countries, but mainly in Asia. Expression of the NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) protein is involved in the growth of various human cancers, including HCC. NQO1 is considered an inhibitor of cancers. The present study aimed to investigate the function and mechanism of NQO1 in HCC. In this study, we found that NQO1 overexpression decreased HCC cell SK-hep-1 and Hep3B cell proliferation and induced apoptosis. The apoptosis-associated gene Bax, Bcl-2, and caspase-3 expression was also measured, with western blot results showing that NQO1 overexpression inhibits Bcl-2 expression and promotes Bax and caspase-3 expression, whereas NQO1 silencing plays a contrasting role. In addition, NQO1 activated AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha (PGC-1α), and the AMPK inhibitor compound C blocked NQO1-induced PGC-1α activation. Furthermore, the AMPK inhibitor compound C or PGC-1α siRNA partially abolished NQO1-induced cell apoptosis and proliferation inhibition in HCC cells. Taken together, our results demonstrate that NQO1 overexpression induces HCC cell apoptosis and proliferation inhibition through the AMPK/PGC-1α pathway.


Three‐dimensional MR images of the vocal tract of three adult males were obtained during steady‐state production of the Japanese fricatives /s/, /sh/, and /shu/. MR images of dental crowns containing a small amount of water were obtained using a dental crown plate which was shaped so as to attach tightly to the subject's dental crown by thermoforming which contained a contrast medium for MR imaging. A computer algorithm based on gray level interpolation and threshold operation for air–tissue boundary tracing of arbitrary sections of the vocal tract taken from axial and coronal MR images were proposed. Images of arbitrary sections of the vocal tract were reconstructed from 3‐D MR images using gray level interpolation based on the sampling theorem. Gray level thresholds were computed from the gray levels at points on the air–tissue border. The boundary tracing error of the dental crowns from the 3‐D MR images was less than 5.7%. The 3‐D shape and area function of the vocal tract during production of the Jap...


ABSTRACT Objective: The present article identifies and assesses the effect of critical factors on the risk of motorcycle loss-of-control (LOC) crashes. Method: Data come from a French project on road crashes, which include all fatal road crashes and a random sample of 1/20th of nonfatal crashes in France in 2011, based on police reports. A case–control study was carried out on a sample of 903 crashes for 444 LOC motorcycle riders (case) and 470 non-LOC and nonresponsible motorcycle riders (control). The sample was weighted due to the randomization of nonfatal crashes. Missing values were imputed using multiple imputation. Results: Road alignment and surface conditions, human factors, and motorcycle type played important roles in motorcycle LOC crashes. Riding in a curve was associated with a 3-fold greater risk of losing control of motorcycle than riding in a straight line. Poor road adhesion significantly increased the risk of losing control; the risk increased more than 20-fold when deteriorated road adhesion was encountered unexpectedly, due to loose gravel, ice, oil, bumps, road marking, metal plates, etc. For motorcyclists, riding with a positive blood alcohol concentration (over or equal to the legal limit of 0.5 g/L) was very dangerous, often resulting in losing control. The risk of LOC crash varied for different types of motorcycle: Riders of roadsters and sports bikes were more likely to have an LOC crash greater than that of riders of basic or touring motorcycles. In addition, LOC risk increased with speed; a model using the square of the traveling speed showed better fit than one using speed itself. Conclusion: The LOC crash factors related to riders, vehicles, and road infrastructure identified here were expected but were rarely identified and taken simultaneously into account in previous studies. They could be targeted by countermeasures to improve motorcyclist safety.


Unified Modeling Language (UML) has emerged as the software industry's dominant modeling language. It is the de facto modeling language standard for specifying, visualizing, constructing, and documenting the components of software systems. Despite its prominence and status as the standard modeling language, UML has its critics. Opponents argue that it is complex and difficult to learn. Some question the rationale of having nine diagramming techniques in UML and the raison d'être of those nine techniques in UML. Others point out that UML lacks a comprehensive methodology to guide its users, which makes the language even more convoluted. A few studies on UML can be found in the literature. However, no study exists to provide a quantitative measure of UML complexity or to compare UML with other object oriented techniques. In this research, we evaluate the complexity of UML using complexity metrics. The objective is to provide a reliable and accurate quantitative measure of UML complexity. A comparison of the complexity metrical values of UML with other object-oriented techniques was also carried out. Our findings suggest that each diagram in UML is not distinctly more complex than techniques in other OO methods. But as a whole, UML is very complex — 2-11 times more complex than other OO methods.


Federation of ubiquitous applications to our daily lives requires enabling the use of those applications on terminals that end-users can use without intensive knowledge on computers or networks. This paper presents the techniques for cellular phones to achieve this goal, which consist of a sensor data transceiver, and the software for sensor data utilization. Users are allowed to leverage ubiquitous services provided by cellular phone applications just by downloading and installing the applications to their phones. The presented techniques thus can accelerate the federation of ubiquitous services to end-users. This paper shows the potential applications enabled by our techniques, describes the prototype systems, and explores the challenges that should be met in the future direction of this research.


Introduction: Idiopathic generalized epilepsies (IGEs) include four different epilepsy syndromes and IGE have mostly a good response to antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). The most common IGE subgroup is juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME). It generally responds well to low doses of AEDs; however, some patients need higher doses of medication. In this study was hypothesized that patient and epilepsy characteristics of seizure-free patients with high drug load might differ from those with low drug load. For this purpose, it was aimed to compare patients with JME and patients with other generalized epilepsies (non-JME IGE) regarding these factors concerning drug load. Patients and Methods: The records of the epilepsy outpatient clinic from 2010 to 2020 were retrospectively evaluated for patients with IGEs. Patients without any epileptic seizures in the last year were accepted as seizure-free. Drug load is calculated by dividing the prescribed daily dose by defined daily dose (PDD/DDD). A total drug load (TDL) equal to one and greater was considered as a high TDL (≥1, high-TDL group), where a drug load of below one was considered as a low TDL (<1, low-TDL group). The high-TDL and low-TDL groups in patients with JME and non-JME IGE were compared in terms of sociodemographic characteristics, personal and family histories, duration of epilepsy, seizure characteristics, epilepsy syndromes, electroencephalography findings, and AEDs and doses. Results: In this study, 119 patients (69 females, 50 males) with a mean age of 30.11 (range, 18–65) years were included. The mean age of onset and duration of the disease was 16.21 (range, 3–47) years and 13.6 (1–45) years, respectively. Sixty-three of the patients were diagnosed as having JME, and 56 patients were diagnosed as having non-JME IGE (39 with generalized tonic-clonic seizures alone, 17 juvenile absence epilepsy). According to the TDL, 35 patients were classified in the low-TDL group and 84 patients in the high-TDL group. The age of disease onset was higher in the non-JME IGE group (P = 0.027). Triple-type seizures were significantly more common in the JME group (P < 0.001). No statistically significant differences were found between the low- and high-TDL groups regarding patient and epilepsy characteristics in the JME and non-JME IGE groups. Conclusion: Most seizure-free patients had low-TDL in the JME and non-JME IGE groups. No association was observed in the JME and non-JME IGE groups regarding the total AED load.


Despite the fact that artificial intelligence boosted with data-driven methods (e.g., deep neural networks) has surpassed human-level performance in various tasks, its application to autonomous
systems still faces fundamental challenges such as lack of interpretability, intensive need for data and lack of verifiability. In this overview paper, I overview some attempts to address these fundamental challenges by explaining, guiding and verifying autonomous systems, taking into account limited availability of simulated and real data, the expressivity of high-level
knowledge representations and the uncertainties of the underlying model. Specifically, this paper covers learning high-level knowledge from data for interpretable autonomous systems,guiding autonomous systems with high-level knowledge, andverifying and controlling autonomous systems against high-level specifications.


Deoxycholate C. diphtheriae extract was separated into fractions differing in the size of their molecules. Correlation between the molecular weight of each fraction, its specific protein content and its immunogenicity was observed. The high-molecular fraction (mol. wt. exceeding 300,000 daltons) was shown to be the protective somatic antigen of C. diphtheriae.


Polymer scaffolds are used as an alternative to support tissue regeneration when it does not occur on its own. Cell response on polymer scaffolds is determined by factors such as polymer composition, topology, and the presence of other molecules. We evaluated the cellular response of murine skeletal muscle myoblasts on aligned or unaligned fibers obtained by electrospinning poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL), and blends with poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) or decorin, a proteoglycan known to regulate myogenesis. The results showed that aligned PCL fibers with higher content of PLGA promote cell growth and improve the quality of differentiation with PLGA scaffolds having the highest confluence at over 68% of coverage per field of view for myoblasts and more than 7% of coverage for myotubes. At the same time, the addition of decorin greatly improves the quantity and quality of differentiated cells in terms of cell fusion, myotube length and thickness, being 71, 10, and 51% greater than without the protein, respectively. Interestingly, our results suggest that at certain concentrations, the effect of decorin on myoblast differentiation exceeds the topological effect of fiber alignment. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 105A: 2241-2251, 2017.


»Etablierteund Außenseiter-Beziehungen unter SchülerInnen – Ergebnisse einer Gesundheitsintervention an einem dänischen Gymnasium«. The paper considers a study in a Danish high school in which students were involved in enhancing physical activity in their own school. International research points out that adolescents are not as physically active as recommended. Moreover, studies show that maintaining health promotion interventions is difficult. Consequently, there is an increasing demand for active participation by the target groups. The study is based on the interpretative, process-oriented methodology developed by Baur and Ernst. They base this approach on Norbert Elias' argument on involvement and detachment and the importance of theoretical pointers to insure that the researcher does not lose herself in the research field. Elias unfolds this methodological approach in "The Established and the Outsiders." By applying this conceptualization, this study shows that some of the involved students found their role and their identity as "sports-students" difficult, and it compromised their social life in the school, which relates to aspects that does not always correspond with the current health norms. The paper discusses the relations between the involved students and the other students in the school, and what consequences this may have for health and physical activity.


It is expensive and difficult to precisely annotate objects with multiple labels. Instead, in many real tasks, annotators may roughly assign each object with a set of candidate labels. The candidate set contains at least one but unknown number of ground-truth labels, and is usually adulterated with some irrelevant labels. In this paper, we formalize such problems as a new learning framework called partial multi-label learning (PML). To solve the PML problem, a confidence value is maintained for each candidate label to estimate how likely it is a ground-truth label of the instance. On one hand, the relevance ordering of labels on each instance is optimized by minimizing a rank loss weighted by the confidences; on the other hand, the confidence values are optimized by further exploiting structure information in feature and label spaces.Experimental results on various datasets show that the proposed approach is effective for solving PML problems.


The problem of aggregating information represented by fuzzy sets in a meaningful way has been of central interest since the late 1970s. In most cases, the aggregation operators are defined on a pure axiomatic basis and are interpreted either as logical connectives (such as t-norms and t-conorms) or as averaging operators allowing a compensation effect (such as the arithmetic mean). On the other hand, it can be observed by some empirical tests that the above-mentioned classes of operators differ from those ones that people use in practice. Therefore, it is important to find operators that are, in a sense, mixtures of the previous ones, and allow some degree of compensation. This paper summarizes the research results of the authors that have been carried out in recent years on generalization of conventional aggregation operators. This includes, but is not limited to, the class of uninorms and nullnorms, absorbing norms, distance- and entropy-based operators, quasi-conjunctions and nonstrict means.


AIMS
We sought to determine if outcomes differ between provisional (elective side branch stenting) compared to a routine two-stent strategy (mandatory side branch stenting) for the treatment of bifurcation stenoses of the coronary arteries using drug-eluting stents.

METHODS AND RESULTS
We searched Medline, EMBASE, and the Cochrane library from January 2000 to February 2009 for studies comparing the provisional and two-stent strategies. Six randomised controlled trials, including 1,641 patients, were identified. The relative risk (95% confidence interval) for death, MI, target lesion revascularisation, and stent thrombosis within 1-year of the index procedure for a provisional vs. two-stent strategy were 1.12 (0.42-3.02), 0.57 (0.37-0.87), 0.91 (0.61-1.35), and 0.56 (0.23-1.35), respectively. By quantitative coronary angiography, there was no difference in the difference in means (95% CI) between the provisional and two-stent strategies for percent diameter stenosis (95% CI) in the main vessel or side branch, -1.08 (-2.91 to 0.74) and 1.30 (-3.35 to 5.96), respectively.

CONCLUSION
While death, stent thrombosis, and restenosis were similar between the treatment groups, MI was more common with the two-stent strategy. Thus, compared to a routine two-stent strategy, provisional stenting yields similar efficacy with superior safety and lower costs.


In the smash bestselling autobiography "Rogue Warrior," Richard Marcinko chronicled his controversial thirty-year career in the U.S. Navy's elite maritime commandos, the SEAL teams. Marcinko rose through the ranks to create and command the Navy's legendary counterterrorist unit, SEAL TEAM SIX, scoring vitories against enemies all over the globe.Pleased with his success, the chief of Naval Operations ordered him to create RED CELL -- a dirty-dozen team of SEALs whose mission was to infiltrate the Navy's most secure installations. Marcinko did his job too well. No Navy base was safe -- no commander's billet secure. His reward was a year in a federal penitentiary. During that year, Marcinko and John Weisman wrote "RogueWarrior." But, bound by government restrictions on classified information, Marcinko was only able to tell a fraction of his incredible story. The tales he could not tell, the secrets he could not reveal, now explode on the page as the Rogue Warrior returns in the blockbuster suspense novel of the year -- a novelwith him as the hero! He is the enemy's worst nightmare, living by the untimate commandment of unconventional warfare -- win, by any means.He is brash, brazen, and possessed equally of a killer charm and the capacity to become a stone-cold killer.As "ROGUE WARRIOR II: RED CELL" begins, Dick Marcinko is a freelance security consultant, playing terrorist at Tokyo's Narita Airport. Easily penetratingthe facility's defenses, he engages in a deadly firefight with North Korean operatives --and makes a discovery that plunges him into a secret war for America's national security. Financed by traitorous Americans, smugglers are transferring nuclear materials toNorth Korea through Japan. Former Secretary of Defense Grant Griffith, a behind the scenes power in the Pentagon, believes that only the Rogue Warrior can stop the operation; he convinces the Navy to recall Marcinko involuntarily to command RED CELL. Marcinko is a legent to the SEALs of RED CELL, and they're willing to follow him into hell -- to go anywhere and do anything to crush those who would betray America for a price. From infiltrating Washington's Navy Yard offices and the Navy's top-secret nuclear weapons depot in Seal Beach, California, to raiding a North Korean Navy base in the most heavily guarded harbor in Asia, to a final assault on a target far out in the Pacific, the Rogue Warrior and his marauding SEALs fight incredible odds and increasingly dangerous enemies.And, as time runs out, "ROGUE WARRIOR II: RED CELL" races to its electrifying climax.


The traditional use of research methods is to provide a framework for constructing a project to address particular questions or interests. The idea behind this is that, by utilising these frameworks, research will be assessable by other researchers who are then able to judge any given research output through a common framework, while still allowing each project to stand (or fall) on its own merits. At risk of getting lost, or silenced, in this process is any attention to how the individual researcher understands their own project. This article explores the potential for developing a self-reflective research method. How does the researcher engage with, and understand, their own work? How does this provide a new pathway for disseminating research to others within the academic community? How does an object-centred approach to this self-reflection aid in engaging both the researcher and the audience in a shared experience?


Indonesian pop songs by theme of love affair today have it its own interest because tere is impression emerged from the songs. From these song there is important message that is pointed to the audiences that love affair cause unhappiness in such relationship whether it is in dating or
even marriage such as the song of MaluMalu Dong (T2), Aku Tergoda (Five Minutes), Separuh Jiwaku Pergi (Anang Hermansyah) and Main Serong (The Changchuters). Because of there are so many love affair songs, it can be legal to be presented in the name of love. In fact, songs with love affairs theme are a celebration on the victory of the performer. So from assumption the researcher formulated the research formulation they are 1. To measure the magnitude of influence from Indonesian love songs by theme of love affair toward teenagers perception about love affair. 2. To know the influence mode of Indonesia pop songs by theme of love affair toward teenagers perception on love affair.
It is caused by the effect of mass media, like television that is always present songs by theme of love affair. It is where in the songs emerges the message about love affair, by the effect of the Indonesia pop songs by theme of love affair make teenagers' percept love affair through the
songs. It is the phenomenons of accepting the strong assumption of communicator by his message and communicant have no power to reject the messages. This study is explanatory research. It is to examine the correlation between variable hypothesized by quantitative approach
that is emphasizing on the analysis of data and numbers. The object of study is students of SMU Muhammadiyah 1 Babat – Lamongan, while the sample in this study is 99 respondent as by using simple random sampling techniques. It is where the sample randomly chosen by lottery.
Then the researcher overspread questionnaire as the tool to collect primary data. After by research process, the questionnaire is examined on its validity by using correlation technique ofproduct moment and its reliability by alpha technique. Data analysis that is used here is b using product moment analyses to know how much is the correlation between Indonesian pop songs by theme of love affair toward teenagers perception about love affair and uses analysis of regression that is used to examine the existence of influence mode between Indonesia pop song by theme of love affair toward teenagers perception about love affair.
Based on the result of study, it shows that correlation coefficient value of product moment is 0,045 (date version) and – 0,086 (marriage version), that means the value is < from r table = 0,195 where it means there is no significant correlation between Indonesian pop song program by theme love affair toward teenagers perception on it. Based on F test, it is obtained F calculation by 0,198 (Date Version) and 0,727 (marriage version). While significant level is on
5% obtained f table as 3,92. And t calculation value of date version is 0,445, while in significant level is 5 % obtained t table of 1,980. It means that f calculation is smaller than f table and t calculation is smaller than t table so that Ho is accepted and Ha is rejected, in which it means that Indonesian pop songs program by them of love affair has no influence on teenagers perception on love affair. By the calculation of linear regression calculation, it can be know that the contribution or dependent variable of Indonesian pop songs program by themes of love affair toward independent variable of teenagers perception on love affair is 0,007 (marriage version) and 0,002 (date version) and the rest in more influenced by other variable that is not investigated
in this study.


Lean combustion has proven to be an effective way to improve the efficiency and emissions of the direct injection spark ignition (DISI) engine. However, one of the main problems at the lean stability limit is the major decrease in flame temperature due to dilution, resulting in a low laminar flame speed, especially under low-speed engine operating conditions. The split injection is a potential technology to realize proper air-fuel mixing and achieve different spray distribution that can help in solving such problems. In this study, split injections with different secondary injection timings were tested to achieve homogeneous and homogeneous-stratified modes in a DISI optical engine under lean-burn mode. The split ratio of each strategy was 1:1. The engine was operated at 800 rpm, and a high-energy ignition system was utilized to realize lean combustion at a lambda of 1.55. Engine combustion performance and emissions were tested while performing high-speed color recording to study the characteristics of flame chemiluminescence through a quartz piston combined with a 45-degree mirror installed below. Flame structure during various combustion phases was compared under different selected conditions based on a digital image processing technique. The results show that the pressure and emissions vary with the second injection timing. Proper control of the split injection timing can improve lean combustion performance, including faster flame speed, increased indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP), and lower harmful emissions. Poor fuel evaporation and soot generation from spatial hot spots in the combustion process of split injection are the major challenges for further improvement.


Conventional quadrature-polarimetric (quad-pol) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems operating from space are severely constrained by their limited range of useful incident angles and their reduced swath widths particularly at larger incidence. These limitations are due primarily to relatively severe range ambiguities in the cross-polarized measurement channels. The conventional approach for quad-pol SAR systems uses linear polarizations on both transmit and receive. Range ambiguities can be markedly reduced by adopting hybrid-polarimetric architecture. In this approach, the radar transmits circularly polarized waves but receives on orthogonal linear polarizations. The sense of the circular polarization-left or right-is reversed on alternate transmissions. Hybrid-polarimetric quad-pol architecture leads to hardware that is more readily calibrated because neither receive channel is cross polarized with respect to the transmitted polarization; hence, their mean signal levels are the same. The data provided by a hybrid-polarimetric quad-pol SAR may be transformed into the conventional linearly polarized scattering matrix, thus preserving compatibility with the rich heritage of analysis tools developed for such radars.


This paper describes a new route for the synthesis of 1'-homo-N-nucleoside derivatives by means of either methyltrioxorhenium (MTO) or supported MTO catalysts, with H(2)O(2) as the primary oxidant. Under these selective conditions, the oxyfunctionalization of the heterocyclic ring and the N heteroatom oxidation were operative processes, regardless of the type of substrate used, that is, purine or pyrimidine derivatives. In addition, the oxidation of 1'-homo-N-thionucleosides, showed the occurrence of site-specific oxidative nucleophilic substitutions of the heterocyclic ring. The MTO/H(2)O(2) system showed, in general, high reactivity under both homogeneous and heterogeneous conditions, affording the final products with high conversion values of substrates and from medium to high yields. Many of the novel 1'-homo-N-nucleoside analogues were active against the influenza A virus, without any cytotoxic effects, retaining their activity in both protected and unprotected forms.


Grapevine trunk diseases (GTDs) are one of the most important groups of fungal diseases affecting grapevine plants worldwide. One of the main causes of GTDs infection occur during nursery plant production processes. The phytosanitary status was determined for 150 young grapevine plants (two varieties grafted onto different rootstocks) that were produced in three European nurseries. Some plants were analyzed upon submission, while others were assessed after up to 12 months growth in a greenhouse. Fungal species associated with GTDs were identified and characterized from the scions, graft unions, rootstocks, or roots. A total of 449 fungal isolates associated with GTDs were obtained, and 20 species were identified by morphological characteristics and DNA analyses. Five species were involved in Botryosphaeria dieback, six in black foot disease, six in Diaporthe dieback, and three in Petri disease . Incidence of GTDs on grapevine plants was between 81 and 100%, with different diseases varying between rootstocks and grapevine varieties. Isolates of other fungal genera not involved in the GTD complex were also detected, including Colletotrichum , Fusarium , and Rhizoctonia . The high presence of GTDs during nursery production of grapevine plants raises the need to implement effective control methods that could prevent the spread of these diseases to vineyards.


OBJECTIVE
The present study compared heart rate variability (HRV) parameters in patients with coronary artery ectasia (CAE) and coronary artery disease (CAD).

METHODS
The study population consisted of 60 consecutive patients with CAE (14 women; mean age 51.63±7.44 years), 60 consecutive patients with CA (15 women; mean age 53.67±9.31 years), and 59 healthy individuals (13 women; mean age 52.85±8.19 years). Electrocardiograms, 24-hour Holter analyses, and routine biochemical tests were performed, and clinical characteristics were evaluated. Coronary angiography images were analyzed. Time-domain HRV parameters, including the standard deviation (SD) of normal-to-normal intervals (SDNN) and the root mean square of difference in successive normal-to-normal intervals (RMSSD) were evaluated, as were frequency-domain HRV parameters including low-frequency (LF), very low-frequency (VLF), high-frequency (HF), the proportion derived by dividing low- and high-frequency (LF/HF), and total power (TP).

RESULTS
SDNN was lower in both the CAE and CAD groups, compared to the healthy group (140.85±44.21, 96.51±31.28, and 181.05±48.67, respectively). A significant difference in RMSSD values among the groups was determined (p=0.004). Significantly decreased VLF and HF values were found in the CAE group, compared with the healthy group (VLF p<0.001; HF, p=0.007). TP, VLF, and HF values were significantly lower (p<0.001, p<0.001, and p<0.001, respectively), but LF and LF/HF values were significantly higher (p<0.001 for both) in the CAD group than in the healthy group. TP values were significantly higher (p<0.001), and LF and LF/HF values were lower in the CAE group, compared with the CAD group (p<0.001 for both).

CONCLUSION
A decrease in vagal modulation or an increase in sympathetic activity of cardiac function, assessed by HRV analysis, is worse in patients with CAD than in patients with CAE.


In August 2012 a team from the University of Leicester began an ambitious search for the lost grave of King Richard III. The excavation of a car park in the city centre was fruitful and a battlescarred skeleton was uncovered. After months of scientific testing the University of Leicester was able to reveal that the skeleton was indeed that of England's last Plantagenet monarch. Emma Anne James interviewed Dr Jo Appleby, part of the team that found and excavated the remains, as the identification process was just beginning.


Diesel particulate matter (DPM), the solid portion of diesel exhaust, has been linked to a range of deleterious health impacts. While a number of control strategies have been effective at reducing DPM in some environments, exposure risks are still high in others such as underground mines. In prior work, a novel scrubber treatment that used fog to remove DPM from engine exhaust was successfully prototyped in bench-scale laboratory experiments. Here, for the first time, the treatment concept was scaled up and field tested in a stone mine. An exhaust blower was used to pull fog, diesel exhaust, and mine air through a 30.5-meter long tube, enabling coagulation of DPM and fog drops resulting in their subsequent removal. Excluding one of the eleven tests, which appeared to be an outlier, the results showed that this fog-and-tube scrubber removed an average of 63% of particles (11.5–154 nm) as compared to 18% in the control case (without fog), yielding an average improvement of 45%. Computer simulations suggest that the observed particle removal is predominantly due to rapid thermal coagulation between the DPM and fog drops, followed by removal of the DPM-laden drops via inertial impaction with the tube walls.


Based on archives, interviews, and testimonies, this study aims to follow the trajectory of Jacques de Chalendar, a senior official from the Finance Inspectorate during the French "May 68" events. This Gaullist aristocrat, at the time in disgrace, took advantage of the crisis situation to become an expert on the matter of university reform. He succeeded in being recruited into the two cabinets of the National Ministry of Education that had replaced the initial one. This individual case exemplifies the possible effects of the "events" on a specific biography. It highlights the role of individuals, in this case responsible for educational policy, in the course of the events. The study of this trajectory and its encounter with this particular historical moment contributes to the sociology of policy-making in the context of a crisis.


Mediastinal paraganglioma is a rare and slow growing neurogenic tumor. Here, we describe a 49-year-old woman with a non-functional posterior mediastinal paraganglioma. Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery for tumor excision failed due to massive bleeding. The tumor was excised successfully by lateral thoracotomy with bipolar electrocautery 1 week after the first operation. Mediastinal paraganglioma remains a surgical challenge due to its hypervascular character and firm adhesion to adjacent mediastinal structure. Since the nonfunctional posterior mediastinal paraganglioma is often diagnosed after operation, it should be regarded as a differential diagnosis of mediastinal mass, especially if surgeons experience unexpected massive bleeding during operation. 2009 Published by European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved.


Though in this modern society men and women are said to be given equal rights, having no gender discrimination, women are still considered weak and endlessly facing rape, domestic violence, eve-teasing, workplace violence, physical assault, cyberbullying even being killed. In South Asian countries, like Bangladesh, India, Pakistan there are thousands of cases regarding violence against women. The use of ICT including smartphone applications can be an aid in building awareness and support against these issues. Although several applications were developed worldwide, but not out there online for sensible use. In this paper, we aspire to present women with a technical solution by providing them a mobile application "SuperWomen" that is centered on urban and rural women of Asian countries and also available online. Not only women, but its voice-controlled siren feature is also a great help for physically challenged individuals, that works even on the lock screen. Survey feedback of this application shows that it takes care of each pre-incidental and post-incidental condition like an expert. This application provides user-friendly navigation for women with less technical knowledge. Its key features are secret button emergency SMS alert, location sharing with any social media, lawyer chatbot, pictorial self-defense techniques, etc. The effectiveness of this application has been justified through extensive literature review, application benchmark, performance evaluation, user survey, deployment in Google Play Store. We believe that this will bring a holistic resolution to safeguard suppressed women worldwide.


Cell extracts of Saprolegnia monoica Pringsheim contained enzymes which synthesized glucans from uridine diphosphoglucose. Both MgCl, and cellobiose stimulated enzyme activity. The pH optimum was about 5-8 . High substrate concentrations increased the proportion of alkali-insoluble glucans. Paper chromatography of cellulase-hydrolysed alkali-insoluble glucans revealed cellobiose indicating the presence of it (r +)-P-glucan (cellulose) synthetase. Glucan synthetases were mainly located in the wall and microsomal fractions. They were more active in branched hyphae than in unbranched mycelium. Subcellular fractions were characterized by density gradient ultracentrifugation, enzymic tests and electron microscopy. Synthetase activities were associated with dictyosomes which, by histochemical staining, were shown to contain (I +-4)-linked polysaccharides. The results were consistent with the current interpretation of the role of the Golgi apparatus in hyphal morphogenesis.


Of the 46 461 patents studied for the period 1970-2006 from the INIS Database, inputs (in percentages) were from Japan (27.9), the USA (23), Germany (13.7), France (11.3) and the UK (7.2). The main languages used were English (35.7), Japanese (27.9), German (14) and French (11.4), out of 20 languages. Patents with percentages in a single category were Engineering and Technology (62.4); Chemistry, Materials and Earth Sciences (13.9); Isotopes and Isotope and Radiation Applications (6.2); Physics (5.5); Life and Environmental Sciences (4.6); Other Aspects of Nuclear and Non-nuclear Energy (0.2); and multidisciplinary (7.2). Among the top inventors, Makoto Ueda had 140 patents, J. Schoening 121 and F.S. Jabsen 115.


In order to reduce the number of approximately 20 different train control systems in Europe, and thus to realise cost effective and seamless cross-border railway operation, European Train Control System (ETCS) will be implemented within the next years. Besides the given legislative preconditions, the cost efficiency as well as the optimal migration strategy, both on an operative and strategic level, will be crucial for the commercial success of the system.
The Life-Cycle Cost Analysis (LCC) takes into account the overall costs appearing during the entire life cycle, considering all purchasing, owning and the disposal of the system. Additionally it identifies cost drivers by analysing the "cause-and-effect chain" between relevant figures and processes. Therefore, a system breakdown structure plan and a cost breakdown structure plan are mapped on the different phases in the life-cycle of the analysed operations control system. Furthermore, a process analysis needs to be carried out in order to identify and to optimise those areas where cost-drivers are generated, e.g. the development or the maintenance process. Based on the LCC Analysis and additionally on a Multi-Criteria Analysis, considering operational, technical and other aspects, the optimal target state will be identified.
In a last step, migration scenarios for the selected system need to be developed and evaluated systematically. Thus, the optimal migration strategy can be carried out. Furthermore, the migration costs and the duration of the process have to be considered beforehand in the LCC Analysis. As a result, a closed loop and an interaction related to both thematic areas – LCC and the migration of the railway operations control – are found.
The Institute of Transportation Systems has developed a consistent methodological framework including tool-support, which is covering this process and will be demonstrated on ETCS in this contribution.


Background: The primary survey is the initial assessment and management of a trauma patient. With a systematic method to the immediate assessment and treatment of critically ill or injured patients by following to ABCDE approach. Targeted Population: All trauma patients who are requiring urgent management in the ED, with Emergency Physicians for teaching protocol. Aim of the Study: Appropriate assessment and priorities for trauma cases by knowledge and training protocol to Emergency Physicians. Based on patients' injuries, vital signs, and the injury mechanisms. Conclusion: Appropriate knowledge and training for practitioners uses a primary survey to quickly assess, identify, and treat any life-threatening injuries is essential skills and knowledge to increase incidence of survival. Which should be applied according to the ATLS guidelines and throughout each step.


This paper is a historical review of the design and operation of the Pennsylvania Railroad's class GG1 electric locomotive over its heavily-trafficked New York City-Washington, DC main line during the period 1934–1983. The locomotive was designed in-house by the railroad in corroboration with Baldwin Locomotive, General Electric and Westinghouse Electric following competitive tests of several electric locomotive designs. Its outstanding performance and long operating life has resulted in it being generally considered the most highly regarded electric locomotive in North America.
 The Pennsylvania Railroad embarked in the late 1920's on a major AC electrification program for its New York-Washington and Philadelphia-Harrisburg main lines and local branches. It initially planned to use a fleet of class P5 rigid frame 2-C-2 electric locomotives for service. However problems were quickly encountered with damaging lateral track impacts, axle cracks, truck hunting, and inadequate tractive effort. The railroad responded with a series of competitive evaluation tests of several locomotive designs including a recent New York, New Haven & Hartford (NYNH&H) Railroad articulated frame locomotive, using an ingenious method to measure truck lateral forces. As a result, the railroad developed two prototype electric locomotive designs, a rigid frame class R1 2-D-2 and an articulated frame class GG1 2-C+C-2. Follow-up track testing verified that the GG1 had lower track lateral forces, and was selected for production.
 The 4,620 hp GG1 combined several significant North American design concepts:
 - Exceptional power from six double-armature traction motors for heavy passenger train operation at 100 mph;
 - Double-ended body design to eliminate the need to turn locomotives;
 - Use of separate truck frames with an articulation joint connection, allowing improved rail tracking and lower lateral forces;
 - Housing the main transformer and locomotive cabs in the center body, providing increased crew accident protection in collisions;
 - Use of high voltage Alternating Current (11 kV at 25 Hz); and
 - One of the first applications of Industrial Design (by Donald R. Dohner and Raymond F. Loewy) producing a streamlined locomotive using a welded carbody.
 The GG1 was quickly recognized as a rare combination of stellar performance, robust construction, and low maintenance costs. It was used to inaugurate electrified New York-Washington operations, performed admirably during World War II, successfully made the later transition to freight train operation, and was finally retired in October 1983. The prototype GG1 locomotive 4800 has been designated an ASME national engineering landmark.


Objectives To estimate and quantify childhood mortality, its spatial correlates and the impact of potential correlates using recent census data from three sub-Saharan African countries (Rwanda, Senegal and Uganda), where evidence is lacking. Design Cross-sectional. Setting Nation-wide census samples from three African countries participating in the 2010 African Census round. All three countries have conducted recent censuses and have information on mortality of children under 5 years. Participants 111 288 children under the age of 5 years in three countries. Primary and secondary outcome measures Under-five mortality was assessed alongside potential correlates including geographical location (where children live), and environmental, bio-demographic and socioeconomic variables. Results Multivariate analysis indicates that in all three countries the overall risk of child death in the first 5 years of life has decreased in recent years (Rwanda: HR=0.04, 95% CI 0.02 to 0.09; Senegal: HR=0.02 (95% CI 0.02 to 0.05); Uganda: HR=0.011 (95% CI 0.006 to 0.018). In Rwanda, lower deaths were associated with living in urban areas (0.79, 0.73, 0.83), children with living mother (HR=0.16, 95% CI 0.15 to 0.17) or living father (HR=0.38, 95% CI 0.36 to 0.39). Higher death was associated with male children (HR=1.06, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.08) and Christian children (HR=1.14, 95% CI 1.05 to 1.27). Children less than 1 year were associated with higher risk of death compared to older children in the three countries. Also, there were significant spatial variations showing inequalities in children mortality by geographic location. In Uganda, for example, areas of high risk are in the south-west and north-west and Kampala district showed a significantly reduced risk. Conclusions We provide clear evidence of considerable geographical variation of under-five mortality which is unexplained by factors considered in the data. The resulting under-five mortality maps can be used as a practical tool for monitoring progress within countries for the Millennium Development Goal 4 to reduce under-five mortality in half by 2015.


As ever-larger cohorts of human genomes are collected in pursuit of genotype/phenotype associations, sequencing informatics must scale up to yield complete and accurate genotypes from vast raw datasets. Joint variant calling, a data processing step entailing simultaneous analysis of all participants sequenced, exhibits this scaling challenge acutely. We present GLnexus (GL, Genotype Likelihood), a system for joint variant calling designed to scale up to the largest foreseeable human cohorts. GLnexus combines scalable joint calling algorithms with a persistent database that grows efficiently as additional participants are sequenced. We validate GLnexus using 50,000 exomes to show it produces comparable or better results than existing methods, at a fraction of the computational cost with better scaling. We provide a standalone open-source version of GLnexus and a DNAnexus cloud-native deployment supporting very large projects, which has been employed for cohorts of >240,000 exomes and >22,000 whole-genomes.


Abstract This article explores the conditions and modalities under which a state can incur responsibility in relation to violations of international law involving military applications of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. While the question of how to attribute and allocate responsibility for wrongful conduct is one of the central contemporary challenges of AI, the perspective of state responsibility under international law remains relatively underexplored. Moreover, most scholarly and policy debates have focused on questions raised by autonomous weapons systems (AWS), without paying significant attention to issues raised by other potential applications of AI in the military domain. This article provides a comprehensive analysis of state responsibility in relation to military AI. It discusses state responsibility for the wrongful use of AI-enabled military technologies and the question of attribution of conduct, as well as state responsibility prior to deployment, for failure to ensure compliance of AI systems with international law at the stages of development or acquisition. Further, it analyses derived state responsibility, which may arise in relation to the conduct of other states or private actors.


Richard Flanagan's The Narrow Road to the Deep North (2013), which features the Thai-Burma 'Death Railway' in World War Two, depicts a complex web of imperial regimes that converge and clash in the mid-twentieth century. The protagonist is an Australian soldier effectively fighting for his country's former colonizer, Britain, which is losing its empire to Japan. I build on Laura Doyle's concept of "inter-imperiality" to explore how the novel illuminates the historical process of imperial factors intersecting at multiple levels, from the geopolitical and economic to the personal and cultural. The novel demonstrates how inter-imperial identities challenge simple binary models of imperialism, and how so-called national literatures are produced in a world context. This is evident in Flanagan's intertextual homage to classical Japanese author Matsuo Bashō. The novel also highlights how world literature discourse ought to take into account temporal and ethicopolitical factors (Pheng Cheah), suggesting an overlap with postcolonial studies.


While it is well known that rain may influence the performance of automotive LIDAR sensors commonly used in ADAS applications, there is a lack of quantitative analysis of this effect. In particular, there is very little published work on physically-based simulation of the influence of rain on terrestrial LIDAR performance. Additionally, there have been few quantitative studies on how rain-rate influences ADAS performance. In this work, we develop a mathematical model for the performance degradation of LIDAR as a function of rain-rate and incorporate this model into a simulation of an obstacle-detection system to show how it can be used to quantitatively predict the influence of rain on ADAS that use LIDAR.


Purpose – After many years of equal opportunities legislation, motherhood still limits womens' career progress even in a feminized occupation such as nursing. While the effect of motherhood, working hours, career breaks and school aged children upon career progression has been discussed widely, its actual scale and magnitude has received less research attention. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of these factors individually and cumulatively.

Design/methodology/approach – This paper considers the impact of the above through a longitudinal analysis of a demographically unique national database, comprising the 46,565 registered nursing workforces in NHS Scotland from 2000-2008. The variables examined include gender, employment grades, number and length of career breaks, lengths of service, age, working patterns, the number and age of dependent children.

Findings – The results indicate: motherhood has a regressively detrimental effect on women's career progression. However, this is a simplistic term which covers a more complex process related to the age of dependent children, working hours and career breaks. The degree of women's restricted career progression is directly related to the school age of the dependent children: the younger the child the greater the detrimental impact. Women who take a career break of greater than two years see their careers depressed and restricted. The results confirm that whilst gender has a relatively positive effect on male career progression; a women's career progression is reduced incrementally as she has more children, and part-time workers have reduced career progression regardless of maternal or paternal circumstances.

Originality/value – This paper is the only example internationally, of a national workforce being examined on this scale and therefore its findings are significant. For the first time the impact of motherhood upon a women's career progression and the related factors – dependent children, career breaks and part-time working are quantified. These findings are relevant across many areas of employment and they are significant in relation to broadening the debate around equal opportunities for women.


The emissions control regulations introduced by governments are set to improve the quality of the engines and reduce the impact automobiles have on the planet. The regulations imposed on the manufactures have proven very difficult to meet, with some of the leading names in the industry investing significant part of their funding in research and development. Their goal is to reduce the fuel consumption and exhaust emissions while increasing the engine performance and durability. The piston-ring and cylinder-liner interaction is the major source of frictional losses for reciprocating internal combustion engines. The failure of the piston-rings to effectively control the transportation of oil from the sump onto the cylinder walls results among others to lubricant consumption.

The objective of this project is to assist with the investigation of phenomena that occur in the cylinder liner and piston ring interaction under different operating conditions. To achieve these the following investigations have been carried, flow and cavitation visualisation in a model lubricant rig, and cavitation visualisation in a newly designed optical engine. The main focus of the project was the design, manufacturing and assembly of an optical internal combustion reciprocating engine. The new engine has been based on the design of a 450cc Ricardo Hydra, where many parts had to be redesigned or modified. The engine was fitted with a custom cylinder liner designed to accommodate custom made windows that covers almost the full length of the liner over a width of 25mm; this visibility allows access not only into the contact point over the entire length of the liner, but also provides access to the combustion chamber to allow for flow visualisation and flow field measurements. The cooling system was modified to allow for the accurate control and maintaining of the engine temperature. The control of the engine is performed with a new custom engine management system build in LabView which allowed for the precise control of the engine and of all the auxiliary systems such as fuel, ignition, sensors and optical equipment. The new control system and the optical engine were tested successfully up to 3000 RPM with the same specification as the unmodified engine in terms of in cylinder pressure and maintaining the original engine tolerances. The design of the new optical engine was a great success and it would offer a useful and valuable testing device that would allow further investigation to be carried out.

In parallel to the design of the engine, a parametric experimental study was undertaken and performed on 6 lubricant samples of different formulations at two lubricant flow rate of 0.02 and 0.05 L/min, three speeds at 100, 300 and 600 RPM, and two different temperatures at 30oC and 70oC. The study was performed on an existing test-rig to visualise lubricants cavitation using two high speed cameras coupled with three ARRI high intensity light sources. This optical test device is a quick, efficient and effective way to test different lubricant samples and compare their in-between performance. The captured video images were processed through a custom build algorithm designed around the lubrication rig. This algorithm allowed for the extraction of matrices such as cavity length, cavity width, area of cavitation and number of cavities present in the area between the piston ring and the cylinder liner interaction. This parametric study offered a set of valuable results from which the performance of each lubricant can be assessed and a direct link between the lubricant formulation and the operating conditions can be established.

Cavitation visualisation of the lubricant in the new optical engine was performed under motorised and firing condition up to an engine speed of 300 RPM and produced high quality images from the usually inaccessible piston ring and cylinder liner interaction. This unique design allowed to investigate a number of phenomena around that specific area like cavitation, blow-by, fuel spray, flame propagation and oil transportation. The parametric study results investigated in the test-rig have been linked with those obtained in the conventional internal combustion engines while providing a very useful and very powerful piece of software.


The efficacy of the combination treatment of cisplatin, adriamycin and etoposide were retrospectively evaluated in 26 recurrent or metastatic endometrial cancer patients. One hundred and twenty-three treatment courses were observed. Patients received 20 mg/m2 cisplatin and 80 mg/m2 etoposide by continuous i.v. infusion for three days and adriamycin 40 mg/m2 i.v. the second day. Treatment courses were repeated every four weeks. Megestrol acetate, 160 mg/day, was added in six patients who had positive progesterone receptors. Ten (38.5%) women had complete and three (11.5%) patients had partial response with an overall response rate of 50%. Median follow-up was 24 months. Surviving patients were alive for four months and six years. Toxicity was mainly hematological and gastrointestinal ulcerations and stomatitis were also observed.


The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship between teachers' fear of missing out (FoMO) levels and their cyberloafing behaviour and to reveal whether teachers' FoMO and their cyberloafing behaviour differ according to their gender. The sample of the research consisted of 702 secondary school teachers working in state schools within the borders of Istanbul in 2019-2020 education year. According to the research, it was identified that the level of teachers' FoMO levels and cyberloafing behaviours were moderate. It was detected that teachers' FoMO levels differed significantly according to gender. With this result, male teachers' FoMO levels were higher than female teachers' FoMO levels. Similarly, it was observed that there was a significant difference between teachers' cyberloafing behaviour and gender. According to this result, it was found that male teachers' mean score of cyberloafing behaviour was higher than female teachers' mean score of cyberloafing behaviour in all sub-scales. In addition, a positive significant relationship between teachers' FoMO and their cyberloafing behaviour was observed.


The demand for energy is continually increasing day after day; but at the same time, investigations around the world into sustainable sources of power are growing in number. Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) can act as an efficient low cost energy conversion system to produce electricity which could lead to reducing the continuous demand on conventional fossil fuels. Most of the literature concerning CSP concentrates on the heat losses and their relationship to the receivers' geometries; where these receivers are evaluated according to their thermal efficiency. The majority of the literature has often neglected heat gain enhancement by the receivers' geometries, which helps to increase the heat transfer to the working fluid. This work concentrates on the optical efficiency as well as the heat flux distribution of three different geometries. The cylindrical, conical and spherical geometries of a cavity receiver are considered with the objective of analysing their optical and thermal behaviour optically and thermally, using the ray tracing method and a Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) model. The results showed that the conical shape of the receiver gathered, as well as absorbed, a higher amount of reflected flux energy than the other shapes, with about 91% and 82% for 75% and 85% absorption ratios respectively. The cavity receiver shapes and their absorption ratio are key parameters which affect the focal point location; thereby there is an optimum distance for each design depending on these two parameters. The results of the simulated work are validated using the experimental work found in the literature. Overall, in order to evaluate the heat balance, 3-D thermal analysis was employed using Fluent 15 and the amount of heat losses for the three shapes was determined. It was observed that the conical shape receiver experienced a lower heat loss. To ensure more confidence in the results, the thermal outcomes were validated against experimental works in the literature and they demonstrated good agreement.


This paper describes a competition-style of exercise to teach system and network security and to reinforce themes taught in class. The exercise, called NetSecLab, is conducted on a closed network with student-formed teams, each with their own Linux system to defend and from which to launch attacks. Students are expected to learn how to: 1) install the specified Linux distribution; 2) set up the required services; 3) find ways to harden the box; 4) explore attack methods; and 5) compete. The informal write-up at the end of the lab focuses on their research into defense and attack methods, which contributes to their grade, while their competition score is dependent on their abilities to attack during the competition. Surveys were performed to evaluate the efficacy of the exercise in teaching system security.


Regulation often takes the form of a standard that can be met through the implementation of any of a number of different policies. This paper examines how the authority to set the standard and the authority to choose the combination of policies to meet the standard should be allocated between a central government and local governments. In the context of the United States, for example, should standards regarding such public goods as the environment or education be set and implemented by the federal government, by individual state governments, or by both? Because decisions about setting and/or meeting the standard can be non-contractible, an incomplete contracting approach is used. A central finding is that "conjoint federalism" (the central government sets the standard while the local governments meet the standard), which is the regulatory structure often used in federations such as the United States and the European Union, can be the least efficient form, while a reverse form of delegation, in which local governments choose their own individual standards which the central government then decides how to collectively meet, can be the most efficient.


Loss of contact with substratum triggers apoptosis in many normal cell types, a phenomenon termed anoikis. We reported previously that mitogen-activated protein/extracellular signal-regulated kinase kinase (MEK) inhibitors induced apoptosis in nonanchored MDA-MB231 and HBC4 human breast cancer cells, whereas anchored cells remained viable. Here, we report that activation of the BH3-only protein BimEL is the major mechanism for induction of anoikis sensitivity by MEK inhibitors in MDA-MB231 and HBC4 cells. On treatment with MEK inhibitors, BimEL in MDA-MB231 and HBC4 cells rapidly increased, irrespective of the state of anchorage. However, it translocated to mitochondria only in nonanchored cells, explaining why attached cells remain viable. MDA-MB231 and HBC4 cells had exceedingly low basal levels of BimEL compared with other breast cancer cells, suggesting that maintenance of low BimEL amount is important for survival of these cells. MEK inhibitors also induced the electrophoretic mobility shift of BimEL, indicative of reduced phosphorylation. In vitro, BimEL was phosphorylated by extracellular signal-regulated kinase on Ser(69), which resides in the BimEL-specific insert region. Using phosphospecific antibody against this site, we show that this residue is actually phosphorylated in cells. We also show that phosphorylation of Ser(69) promotes ubiquitination of BimEL. We conclude that MEK inhibitors sensitize MDA-MB231 and HBC4 cells to anoikis by blocking phosphorylation and hence degradation of BimEL, a mechanism that these cells depend on to escape anoikis.


An experiment was conducted to measure the effects of pulse treatments of BA, sucrose, and BA before, after, or with sucrose, on the vase life of cut Eustoma flowers. A BA pulse at 50 mg.L -1 before 4% sucrose promoted the longevity of cut Eustoma flowers better than other treatments. Simultaneously, sucrose, glucose, and mannose concentrations in flowers during vase periods were maintained at higher levels in double pulse treatments than in the single pulses. Ethylene production in flowers 2 days after vase treatment was highest in the BA-treated flowers; intermediate in flowers pulsed with BA before, after, or with sucrose; and lowest in sucrose-treated flowers. Although a BA pulse increased ethylene production over that of controls, it inhibited senescence in cut Eustoma flowers. Respiration in flowers pulse-treated with sucrose or with BA before, after, or with sucrose, was significantly higher than that in controls. Results suggest that the vase life of cut Eustoma flowers is improved by either BA or sucrose in vase solution and especially when BA was pulsed before the sucrose pulse. Chemical name used: N 6 -benzyladenine (BA).


The teleoceratines were members of the last wave of rhino immigrants to North America, and together with the genus Aphelops, represent the last rhinos on the North American continent. Teleoceras was a hippo-like rhinoceros that existed from the early Barstovian to the late Hemphillian land-mammal age. Geographically, the genus roamed from Florida through the present day High Plains to the west coast of North America. The genus is characterized by grossly shortened limbs and a deep, concave body. The skull is brachycephalic with broad, flaring zygomatic arches and lambdoid crests. The nasals are fused with a small rugosity that indicates the presence of a small horn. The incisors are lost except for the blade-like I1/ and tusk-shaped I/2. The premolars are reduced with a loss of the P1/1 and occasional loss of the P/2. The molars are hypsodont with a complicated crown pattern on the upper teeth. Seven species of Teleoceras are presently recognized. Five species are normal in size and two are dwarf offshoots. Species can be identified by the crown pattern on the upper molars, size of certain cranial features, overall size of the skeleton, size of the limb elements, and number of carpal elements. Measurement of the tusks (I/2) and cranial features also aids in gender identification. Seven age groups of Teleoceras are determined on the basis of tooth eruption and wear on the metastyle. Hypsodonty and the presence of grass seeds in articulated skeletons confirm that Teleoceras was a grazer. There is a general trend toward an increase in size and robustness. The dwarf species show a decrease in size with a marked increase in robustness that surpasses the normal species.


The pomegranate (Punicagranatum L.) fruit deserves special attention by consumers interested at consuming nutritional food with excellent taste. Pomegranate is a highly valued crop and is widely cultivated in Mediterranean countries. Based on the maturity index (sugar/acid ratio) pomegranate fruit cultivars can be classified into three groups: sweet, sour-sweet and sour. Pomegranate juice is well known for its health beneficial compounds which can be attributed to its total polyphenolic compounds and high level of antioxidant activity. In this research paper the effects of maturity on the chemical composition (pH, total acidity and total soluble solids), total polyphenolic contents, total anthocyanins contents, vitamin C content and antioxidant capacities of pomegranate juices cultivated in different areas in Albania were assessed. The most widespread pomegranate variety in Albania is named Devedishe that grows mostly in hilly areas of Albania. Fruit weigh ranged from 116.3 g to 463.5 g. Arils were separated manually from the fruits after they were washed and peeled off, then the physico-chemical properties of fresh juice prepared from the arils were evaluated. The pH of juice ranged from 2.98 to 3.85, titratable acidity (TA) from 0.55 to 2.9 g/100 ml juice (citric acid), total soluble solids ranged from 13.5 to 18.6 (Brix), maturity index (MI) from 4.7 to 33.03. Total polyphenolic content shows considerable amounts that ranged from 459.4 mg/L GAE to 1448.1 mg/L GAE, total anthocyanins are between 115.22 mg/L and 554.4 mg/L cyanidine-3-glucoside, total flavonoides ranged from 86.94 mg/L to 423.89 mg/L catechin. Total antioxidant activity measured by ABTS method and DPPH ranged from 2123.46 mg/L to 7172.84 mg/L and 45.13% to 88.13% respectively.


An acid alpha-glucosidase was purified from rabbit liver by fractionation with ammonium sulfate, and chromatographies on Sephadex G-100, CM-Toyopearl, Toyopearl HW-55F, and Toyopearl HW-65F column. The resulting preparation showed a single band on polyacrylamide disc gel electrophoresis. The molecular weight was estimated to be 1.03 X 10(4) by SDS-disc electrophoresis. The optimum pH was found to be 4.7. The alpha-glucosidase showed relatively high activity not only toward maltose but also toward alpha-glucans, such as shellfish glycogen, soluble starch, beta-limit dextrin, amylopectin, and amylose. The Km values for maltose and shellfish glycogen were 2.1 and 16 mM (the concentration of non-reducing glucose units), respectively, and the ratio of maximum velocities of hydrolysis of the two substrates was 100:133. The nature of the active site catalyzing the hydrolyses of maltose and shellfish glycogen was investigated by electrophoresis in the presence of urea and by kinetic methods. The purified enzyme was not separated into two components, maltase and glycogen hydrolase, in the electrophoretic gel containing 3 M urea, contrary to the report by Belenki and Rosenfeld ((1972) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 46, 443-448). In experiments with mixed substrates of maltose and glycogen, the kinetic features agreed very closely with those theoretically predicted for a single site mechanism. The essential ionizable groups, 1 (on the acidic side) and 2 (on the alkaline side), were identified as -COO- and -COOH for the hydrolysis of both substrates. Cations, Na+, K+, Mg2+, were about equally effective for the stimulation of enzyme action on maltose and glycogen.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


A fundamental-solution-less boundary element method, the scaled boundary finite-element method, has been developed recently for exterior wave problems. In this method, only the boundary is discretized yielding a reduction of the spatial dimension by one, but no fundamental solution is necessary. Seamless coupling with standard finite elements is straightforward. In this paper, the sparsity of the coefficient matrices of the scaled boundary finite-element equation is exploited in performing the partial Schur decomposition to reduce the required computer memory and time. The Gauss–Lobatto–Legendre shape functions with nodal quadrature are applied to the elements on boundary, which leads to lumped coefficient matrices and high-order elements. Numerical examples demonstrate that these advances, in combination with the Pade series solution for the dynamic stiffness matrix, increase significantly the computational efficiency of the scaled boundary finite-element method. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


It is well known that large earthquakes are accompanied by a series of smaller shocks. The characteristics of these series depend on the magnitude and focal mechanism of the main event. The relation between the main shock and the following aftershocks is well known from the study of many series of earthquakes, in such a way that the study of these phenomena may be the basis to study the mechanism of earthquake activity in a given area. In the present study the main shock of the series detected in the Andean Valley of Zongo the first of April 1967, had a magnitude of 4.6 in the unified magnitude scale of Richter. This shock was preceded by three foreshocks and followed by at least sixteen small aftershocks. The analysis of the time distribution of the events and their relative magnitude indicates a rather small number of minor magnitude events, indicating that the status of equilibrium of the region was reached almost completely by means of the main shock. The energy associated with the main shock is about two hundred times the total energy released by all the other small events put together.


The Special Court for Sierra Leone, established in 2002 to adjudicate crimes committed during a decade-long conflict, represents a new form of tribunal. Its hybrid structure was designed to address the domestic populace more directly than at previous international criminal tribunals. The Special Court's architects claimed that the Court's physical location in Sierra Leone and its inclusion of domestic law would generate greater awareness of and participation in its transitional justice objectives. This study examines the role of the Special Court for Sierra Leone in the emerging field of transitional justice.The Special Court claims its authority and defines its objectives through appeals to jurisdiction. As the speaking of law, jurisdiction involves both the language through which a court argues for its legal power and the domain in which it exercises power. In the horizontally structured field of international law, where unprecedented institutions must establish their legitimacy, jurisdiction is particularly contentious. Chapter one describes the domestic and international factors that led to the Special Court's establishment and discusses its work in the context of the conflict. Chapter two compares the Court's claims of authority to those of earlier generations of international criminal tribunals. Chapter three assesses the self-proclaimed hybridity of the Court and its law. Chapter four shows how the Court's unique character - as a specifically juridical institution whose claims to authority are grounded in hybrid sources of law - makes it especially vulnerable to criticism in its dealings with West African heads of state, as both witness and as defendant. Chapter five argues that the paradigm of post-conflict justice manifested in the Special Court requires it to go beyond narrow retributive aims and to disseminate the rule of law. Such governmental functions, together with the Court's reliance on voluntary state donations, suggest that international criminal justice projects such as the Special Court for Sierra Leone provide conduits for strong states to pursue their own security and governance objectives under the banner of the rule of law.


In this extended abstract we present a bidirectional model-driven framework to develop spreadsheets. By being model driven, our approach allows to evolve a spreadsheet model and automatically have the data co-evolved. The bidirectional component achieves precisely the inverse, that is, to evolve the data and automatically obtain a new model to which the data conforms.


The boom experienced by renewable sources in recent years has changed their consideration as a marginal component of the electrical system mix into a major player with an important role in the demand coverage in many countries. Regarding the PV technology, its weight within the electrical systems in countries such as Germany, Spain and Japan suggests that integration problems may arise if the current installation trends are maintained. Most of these problems are connected to one of its main handicaps: its stochasticity and its high level of intermittency, both characteristics clearly dependent on weather.
This work is dedicated to the analysis of one possible solution to achieve a higher penetration rate of the photovoltaic technology in the grid which is, according to the literature, the introduction of an energy storage system in parallel with PV plants. The ultimate objective in the study reported in this Thesis dissertation is to provide PV power plants with the ability to generate solar energy in a controlled and, if possible, constant way so that these could access both the day and intraday electricity markets.
The analysis of the storage system characteristics , focusing the interest on the amount of energy and power that this system would require when operating the photovoltaic plant in accordance with a specific energy management strategy while avoiding saturations, requires a good knowledge of solar resource. At present, there has not been any major and exhaustive campaign to measure the radiation with sampling periods below 15 minutes. Therefore, the solar resource can only be estimated by using statistically-based data and weighted averages. These data come from sources in the space (satellites) and from meteorological stations in the Earth's surface. This work uses information extracted from one of the most accepted solar radiation databases, the PVGIS database developed by the European Union. Moreover, real data measured in a particular place in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, where the analysis of the energy storage requirements has been centered, are also used. Both data sets have been cross validated in order to verify their credibility and agreement degree.
On the other hand, there are multiple energy storage technologies that can be currently identified as potential candidates to be included in photovoltaic power plants to integrate future hybrid plants with controlled production. A review of these technologies, along with a description of their main features highlighting their strengths and limitations, is included in this Thesis work. Using the comparison as a method, which has been performed considering various factors associated to the storage technology itself (geographical dependence, state of development, energy and power rated levels achieved by each technology) but also taking into account the operation conditions at which the storage will be subject in a photovoltaic power plant, one technology is highlighted as the candidate to be used in this application.
Finally, this Thesis proposes various energy management strategies to control power production in photovoltaic power plants integrating an energy storage system. Some of these strategies are directed to incorporate the plant to the electricity market while others simply pretend to reduce the variability of the production. For each of them, an estimate of the energy storage system required energy capacity has been obtained. These estimates allow having a rough approximation of the energy requirements, as well as an estimate of the additional cost, that this solution would imply. Among the various energy management configurations proposed, some of them provide results technically feasible on the one hand and, on the other hand, also interesting outcomes from an economic point of view, as the regulatory framework governing the electricity markets becomes gradually adapted to the new and evolving reality of the electric power system.


Sudden stops and international financial crises have been a main feature of developing countries in the last three decades. While their aggregate effects are well known, the disaggregated channels through which they work are not well explored yet. In this paper, we study the sectoral responses that take place over episodes of sudden stops. Using job flows from a sectoral panel dataset for four Latin American countries, we find that sudden stops are characterized as periods of lower job creation and increased job destruction. Moreover, these effects are heterogeneous across sectors: we find that when a sudden stop occurs, sectors with higher dependence on external financing experience lower job creation. In turn, sectors with higher liquidity needs experience significantly larger job destruction. This evidence is consistent with the idea that dependence on external financing affects mainly the creation margin and that exposure to liquidity conditions affects mainly the destruction margin. Overall, our results confirm the large labor market effects of sudden stops, and provide evidence of financial conditions being an important transmission channel of sudden stops within a country, highlighting the role of financial frictions in the restructuring process in general.


International carbon markets are potentially a very powerful tool for mobilizing carbon dioxide removal in line with Paris Agreement ambitions to limit global warming to well below 2˚C. This requires reaching global net-zero emissions between 2050 and 2070. Yet, carbon market regulators have not approached removals in a systematic manner. This review assesses the highly fragmented treatment of removals under compliance and voluntary carbon markets, including baseline, credit and cap-and-trade systems. The Kyoto mechanisms and the large voluntary carbon market standards have long focussed on biological removals without inherent storage permanence and only recently started to develop methodologies for removals with geological storage, mineralization or biochar. Driven by high prices for credits from emerging removal technologies and advance market commitment initiatives targeting high permanence removals, various newcomers in voluntary markets are currently establishing their own approaches for generating removal credits. However, they disregard key concepts safeguarding market quality such as additionality, which risks triggering scandals and taint-ing the entire market for removal credits. Given the diversity of credit prices spanning three orders of magnitude from 1 to 1000, as well as of volumes ranging from a few hundred to tens of millions of credits, the current "gold rush" atmosphere of removal markets needs to quickly be replaced by a coordinated approach, ensuring credibility, and enabling removals to play the required role in reaching global net zero.


Introduction: Pediatric Germ cell tumors are rare disease in pediatric and adolescent age group. Germ cell tumors are the most frequently found malignancies which are highly chemo sensitive. GCTs are curable if diagnosed and treated adequately even in resources poor setting in resource constraints countries like Nepal.
Objective: To study the clinic pathological profile and treatment outcome of Pediatrics Germ cell tumors (GCTs) among children and adolescent group seeking treatment at B.P. Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital (BPKMCH), Nepal.
Methodology: Descriptive study was done at BPKMCH Nepal. All available case records of pediatric and adolescent girls diagnosed to have GCTs from 2002 to 2011 were collected and analyzed in terms of age, clinical features, malignancy types, treatment modalities and outcome.
 Results: Total 70 girls were with female gynecological malignancy. There are 46 (76.66%) with ovarian malignancies. Among the ovarian cancers, 42 had malignant germ cell cancer (91.3%) among all ovarian malignancies which are enrolled in the study. The commonest presentation was abdominal distension and pain in70%. Onset of symptoms ranged from three days to 730 days (mean 95 days). Disease stage at presentation was early stage 18 (30%) and advanced disseminated disease 42 (70%). In treatment modality, 8 (13.33%) underwent fertility sparing surgery only, 21(35%) underwent chemotherapy only and 31(51.66%) underwent multimodality treatment. 82.5% patients who were completed recommended treatment were cured.
Conclusion: Malignant germ cell cancer is the commonest ovarian malignancies among pediatric and adolescent girls. Early presentation and prompt appropriate treatment would offer chances of cure even with preservation of fertility.


Although personal tastes may change over time, overall people still enjoy music they have not listen to for some time or not very often. However, most solutions for browsing music collections do not focus on showing or suggesting these songs to create serendipitous rediscoveries. Instead they promote most recently played songs as an entry point for browsing and playing music. This way, users are constantly listening to the same music, causing the least heard to become forgotten. In this paper, we present BACH, an interactive visualization and exploration tool for personal music collections that uses the listening history of the user to influence the songs suggested and the way they are presented to him/her. Our goal is to help users rediscover their music collection for different periods of the day through the perspective of their listening history. Experimental results revealed that users understood and enjoyed our solution and that they were able to rediscover their collections by listening to songs heard some time ago.


Activated carbon supported CoCuMn catalysts prepared by incipient co-impregnation were studied using the Fischer–Tropsch reaction, XRD, HR-TEM, and H2-TPR techniques. The results showed that good activities and selectivities towards C1–C14 alcohols can be obtained with the fractions of C2–C5 alcohols up to 80% in total alcohol distribution. It was found that increasing the Cu/Co composition ratio resulted in the enhancement of alcohol selectivity. Furthermore, our characterizations revealed that large Cu nano-particles were decorated by small spherical Co nano-particles; moreover, we speculate that such constructions were responsible for the favored formation of C2+ alcohols. It was also considered that smaller cobalt particles probably resulted in a greater number of Co0 species and thus contributed to the improvement of CO conversion.


Microgrids are subsystems of the distribution grid operating as a single controllable system either connected or isolated from the grid. In this paper, a novel cooperative model predictive control (MPC) framework is proposed for urban districts comprising multiple microgrids sharing certain distributed energy resources (DERs). The operation of the microgrids, along with the shared DER, are coordinated such that the available flexibility sources are optimised and a common goal is achieved, e.g., minimizing energy exchanged with the distribution grid and the overall energy costs. Each microgrid is equipped with an MPC-based energy management system, responsible for optimally controlling flexible loads, heating systems, and local generation devices based on end-user preferences, weather-dependent generation and demand forecasts, energy prices, and technical and operational constraints. The proposed coordination algorithm is distributed and guarantees constraints satisfaction, cooperation among microgrids and fairness in the use of the shared resources, while addressing the issue of scalability of energy management in an urban district. Furthermore, the proposed framework guarantees an agreed cost saving to each microgrid. The described method is implemented and evaluated in a virtual testing environment that integrates accurate simulators of the microgrids. Numerical experiments show the feasibility, the computational benefits, and the effectiveness of the proposed approach.


There has been growing public attention to the accumulation and spending of endowments in recent years. Scholars have offered different theories on the objective of endowments that have different implications for endowment spending. Yet, there are limited empirical studies and they mostly focus on universities. Using the Form 990 data between 2009 and 2016, this study examines how endowments are actually spent for four types of operating charities, including museums, universities, hospitals, and K-12 schools. The descriptive results show that there are considerable cross-sectional differences in endowment characteristics across these types of organizations. The fixed effects analyses further demonstrate different types of organizations have different payout responses to changes in endowment returns, non-endowment income, and contributions to endowment. However, the study does not find any empirical evidence that organizations use endowments as rainy day funds. This article extends the understanding on endowment spending behavior from universities to other types of operating charities that also hold endowments. The findings provide empirical evidence that may inform the existing debate on endowment spending and have practical implications for endowment management.


By introducing a feedback control to a proposed Sprott E system, an extremely complex chaotic attractor with only one stable equilibrium is derived. The system evolves into periodic and chaotic behaviors by detailed numerical as well as theoretical analysis. Analysis results show that chaos also can be generated via a period-doubling bifurcation when the system has one and only one stable equilibrium. Based on Lyapunov stability theory, the adaptive control law and the parameter update law are derived to achieve modified function projective synchronized between the extended Sprott E system and original Sprott E system. Numerical simulations are presented to demonstrate the eectiveness of the proposed adaptive controllers.


Metal-induced allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) is expressed in a wide range of cutaneous reactions following dermal and systemic exposure to products such as cosmetics and tattoos, detergents, jewellery and piercing, leather tanning, articular prostheses and dental implants. Apart from the well known significance of nickel in developing ACD, other metals such as aluminium, beryllium, chromium, cobalt, copper, gold, iridium, mercury, palladium, platinum, rhodium and titanium represented emerging causes of skin hypersensitivity. Despite the European Union directives that limit the total nickel content in jewellery alloys, the water soluble chromium (VI) in cement, and metals banned in cosmetics, the diffusion of metal-induced ACD remained quite high. On this basis, a review on the epidemiology of metal allergens, the types of exposure, the skin penetration, the immune response, and the protein interaction is motivated. Moreover, in vivo and in vitro tests for the identification and potency of skin-sensitizing metals are here reviewed in a risk assessment framework for the protection of consumer's health. Avenues for ACD prevention and therapy such as observance of maximum allowable metal levels, optimization of metallurgic characteristics, efficacy of chelating agents and personal protection are also discussed.


Electronic Commerce and Multi-Jurisdictional Taxation (2001) is the successor to the widely-acclaimed Electronic Commerce and International Taxation (1999). The new edition contains expanded and enhanced consideration of the tax treatment of electronic commerce from both an income tax and a consumption tax perspective. Not only does the new edition provide a detailed and up-to-date analysis of VAT developments regarding e-commerce, but it also explores the implications of e-commerce for the US state and local sales and use tax regime. The new edition discusses developments in Europe and the United States while enlarging its focus to include the tax treatment of e-commerce in China, India, Canada, Australia, and throughout the world. At the same time, the authors have deftly woven the latest OECD and European Community developments into the fabric of the book. There is no other book on the market today that analyzes the practical tax consequences of e-commerce with the multi-jurisdictional and multi-tax perspective of this insightful work by distinguished academics and practitioners Richard Doernberg, Luc Hinnekens, Walter Hellerstein, and Jinyan Li.