Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus has been shown to be associated with certain endocrine disorders in men. We therefore investigated the levels of male sex hormones in serum of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) and non-diabetic controls (NDMC) with a view to establishing the effect of diabetes mellitus on their endocrine system. Methods: One hundred and twenty five male type 2 diabetic subjects and 50 apparently healthy non-diabetic male individuals within the age of 32 – 70 years were recruited into this study. Fasting plasma glucose (FPG), male sex hormones (follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), prolactin, luteinizing hormone (LH), and testosterone), and body mass index (BMI) were determined. Results: The mean value of FPG, FSH and prolactin were significantly higher in diabetic subjects when compared with the NDMC, but there was no significant difference in the levels of LH and BMI. The level of testosterone was significantly lower in diabetics than in NDMC. There was no significant correlation between duration of diabetes and male sex hormones (FSH, LH, Prolactin and Testosterone). Results also showed that male sex hormones, BMI, FPG, are independent of age. Conclusion: This study revealed decreased levels of testosterone with insignificantly high levels of luteinizing hormone which is suggestive of abnormal feedback mechanism in the hypothalamicpituitary-testicular axis of these diabetic men. The study also revealed a significant raised serum prolactin levels in type 2 diabetic patients without a definitive cause. We therefore, recommend further studies to elucidate the possible underlying mechanisms involved in these abnormalities so that correct strategies for treatment can be employed.


The motorsport industry is a significant part of the UK economy. According to industry estimates approximately 4,500 companies are involved in the UK Motorsport and Performance Engineering Industry and its wide-ranging support activities. The industry has an annual turnover of £6.0 billion, and contributes £3.6 billion worth of exports. The Motorsport Industry Association estimates that the support side of the sector alone "involving events management, public relations, marketing, sponsorship and a host of other support functions" accounts for approximately £1.7 billion of the yearly industry total. And in terms of employment, UK Motorsport supports 38,500 full and part-time jobs, including 25,000 engineers.


Miniature light detectors with isotropic response (isotropic light probes) permit quantitative measurement of light energy fluence rates in turbid media such as biological tissues. These isotropic probes are, for example, applied in photodynamic therapy to correlate light fluence in tissue with (tumour) tissue response, in vitro and in vivo. After description of its construction, two methods of calibration of an isotropic probe in air are discussed, in collimated and in diffuse light. The probe was first calibrated in air in collimated light, after which its response to diffuse light was checked in a flat and in a spherical geometry. Subsequently, the probe's response to collimated light in clear media, for example, water or glycerine which have refractive indices larger than that of air, has been established experimentally. The diffusion approximation to the transport equation in a simple spherical geometry has been used to calculate the probe's response as a function of the refractive index of clear media. The extent of agreement between theory and experiment indicates that the physical mechanisms are understood and indirectly validates the theoretical models.


We report magnetic susceptibility, resistivity and heat capacity measurements on single crystals of the Sr(Fe1-xCox)2As2 and Sr1-yEuy(Fe0.88Co0.12)2As2 series. The optimal Co concentration for superconductivity in Sr(Fe1-xCox)2As2 is determined to be x ~ 0.12. Based on this we grew members of the Sr1-yEuy(Fe0.88Co0.12)2As2 series so as to examine the effects of well defined, local magnetic moments, on the superconducting state. We show that superconductivity is gradually suppressed by paramagnetic Eu2+ doping and coexists with antiferromagnetic ordering of Eu2+ as long as Tc > TN. For y >= 0.65, TN crosses Tc and the superconducting ground state (as manifested by zero resistivity) abruptly disappears with evidence for competition between superconductivity and local moment antiferromagnetism for y up to 0.72. It is speculated that the suppression of the antiferromagnetic fluctuations of Fe sublattice by coupling to the long range order of Eu2+ sublattice destroys bulk superconductivity when TN > Tc.


Primary Objective : The obesity rate among young Americans is now almost 25% with higher rates found in minority populations; lack of exercise and poor eating habits are some of the leading causes. The collegiate environment provides a unique opportunity to share nutrition-related knowledge while enhancing students' awareness, both of which may ultimately lead to changes in health-related behaviors. Mindful eating is associated with a lower Body Mass Index (BMI) and an increased intake of fruits and vegetables. A semester-long nutrition course may result in an increased awareness of eating patterns and may be associated with improvements in dietary intake over time. Methods : Of the 38 students registered for a college-level nutrition course held during an almost four-month-long-semester, 37 self-selected to complete an anonymous Mindful Eating Questionnaire (MEQ) before and after taking the nutrition course; the participants also answered two open-ended questions for qualitative data collection post-test. Results : Of the 37 students 22 were female and 16 male between the ages of 18 and 24; 35 % self-identified as African American, 29% self-identified as white, 22% as self-identified as Latino/Hispanic, 10% self-identified as other and 2% self-identified as Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. No significant change in the MEQ score occurred from pre to post-test; however, there was a trend towards improvement. The students' answers to open-ended questions regarding any shifts in understanding, approach, or changes in eating habits, revealed overwhelming increases in mindful eating and dietary changes Conclusions : A collegiate course taught over a semester is a unique opportunity to introduce nutrition information, emphasizing the connection between nutrition, optimal health, and disease prevention. A student's exposure to nutrition information while also observing their own eating patterns over time can provide a non-judgmental informed space that allows for the development of a heightened awareness. In turn, the heightened awareness can lead to changes in eating behaviors as evidenced here.


ABSTRACT Platform labour, especially when it comes to its flexible schedules, may represent a job insertion possibility and a source of income for many women. However, such opportunities are not exempted from gender bias. This article inspects how the expansion of the platform economy affects gender inequalities by focusing on two platform occupations: ride-hailing and delivery services. First, it investigates gender gaps in terms of working hours and earnings via linear regression as well as their determinants. Second, qualitative data further deepen the analysis of female riders' and drivers' experience in male-dominated territories, exploring how it is perceived and endured by workers. This paper is based on qualitative and quantitative data collected in the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires between 2019 and 2021. The analysis suggests that the gender-differentiated economic performance of riders and drivers is associated with demographic and on-the-job characteristics, implying restrictions for women workers in terms of how long, where, and when they can work. Algorithmic management further reinforces these initial female disadvantages, through tools such as scoring systems, dynamic pricing, and selective work allocation. The article concludes by providing some insights into a gender-transformative approach to the future regulation of these activities.


Introduction Perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) has been shown by various studies to have an anti-contractile effect on the arteries it surrounds. The mechanism by which PVAT exerts its anti-contractile effect is not well understood, and is likely to involve the release of PVAT-derived relaxing factors (PVRF) such as adiponectin, that causes hyperpolarisation and relaxation of the vascular smooth muscle. The PVAT anti-contractile effect is lost in obesity, therefore understanding this mechanism is vital for creating novel treatments of obesity-related hypertension. We propose that the mechanism involves stimulation of adipocyte β3-adrenoceptors in PVAT. Methods The contractile responses of noradrenaline and serotonin were assessed in rat mesenteric small arteries using wire myography with and without PVAT, and the effects of β3-agonist CL-316,243 (10µM), β3-antagonist SR59230A (1 µM), and adiponectin type-1 receptor blocking peptide were studied (2.5µM). Results PVAT was shown to have a significant anti-contractile effect on the responses to both noradrenaline (n = 5, P = 0.0135) and serotonin (n = 5, P = 0.0096). The CL-316,243 was found to have no significant effect on either the concentration-response to noradrenaline (n = 6, P = 0.5584) or serotonin (n = 4, P = 0.2072). SR59230A induced a significant reduction in the anti-contractility of PVAT in vessels stimulated with the highest concentration of noradrenaline (n = 3, P = 0.0018), but not serotonin (n = 3, P = 00.0621). Adiponectin receptor type-1 blocking peptide has been shown to abolish the noradrenaline-induced anti-contractile effect; however in this study the blocking peptide had no significant effect on the serotonin-induced PVAT anti-contractility (n = 4, P = 0.505). Conclusions and Implications These results suggest that β3-adrenoceptors may be involved in noradrenaline PVAT anti-contractility, but the serotonin-induced anti-contractile effect appears to be independent of events at β3-adrenoceptors, and involves a different PVRF.


A task motion trajectory usually needs to be determined for the training process and mechanism design for rehabilitation patients since they are not capable of providing a normal motion. In this paper, a machine-learning-based approach of gait trajectory prediction for lower limb rehab patients is proposed to provide the basis for the design of simple 1-degree-of-freedom (DOF) rehab mechanisms. First, a large amount of gait trajectories from various healthy volunteers are collected along with their body parameters, and a normalization method is presented to trim/expand these trajectory samples to a standard length and timing while retaining their shape and velocity information. Then, these normalized gait samples are clustered and regressed into a limited number of representative trajectories with K-means algorithm, and the cluster index is recorded as the label for each trajectory. Next, a genetic-algorithm-optimized support vector machine method is adopted to train a classifier for the trajectories, obtaining the correspondence between body parameters and cluster labels of gait trajectories. As a result, once a group of body parameters are input into the classifier, it can predict a most suitable gait trajectory for the specific patient. It shows that the accuracy of trajectory prediction reaches 96% both on training set and test set which verifies the effectiveness of the method. In the end, a 1-DOF gait rehab mechanism design example is provided to illustrate the application of the proposed method. Taking the predicted result from the classifier as the task motion trajectory for the synthesis of mechanisms, a 1-DOF six-bar mechanism is designed and the patient-mechanism matching can be realized.


Support for prime agricultural producers in Ukraine has been characterized by high volatility in the last decade, and some recent policy developments have contributed to the volatility and unpredictability. Until recently, the government support for agricultural holdings led to an increase in the export potential of the sector, but, on the other hand, it also brought a number of negative consequences. This study aims at reviewing of the present status of Ukraine's agricultural sector and rural areas and examines the role of the government intervention and support in the transformation of the agricultural sector and its effect on rural development to provide policy recommendations in this regard. Based on the analysis, the study provides policy recommendations suggesting that government need to promote cooperation of small farms and households (helping them to develop in organic agriculture direction) with agricultural holding companies and emphasizes that development of rural non-farm employment opportunities can be seen as a pillar of the rural development policy. In addition, it is necessary to foster organic agricultural development and provide local governments with greater authority in order to achieve sustainable agricultural sector and rural areas development.


Fluid resuscitation after massive hemorrhage in major surgery and trauma may result in extensive hemodilution and coagulopathy, which is of a multifactorial nature. Although coagulopathy is often perceived as hemorrhagic, extensive hemodilution affects procoagulants as well as anticoagulant, profibrinolytic, and antifibrinolytic elements, leading to a complex coagulation disorder. Reduced thrombin activation is partially compensated by lower inhibitory activities of antithrombin and other protease inhibitors, whereas plasma fibrinogen is rapidly decreased proportional to the extent of hemodilution. Adequate fibrinogen levels are essential in managing dilutional coagulopathy. After extensive hemodilution, fibrin clots are more prone to fibrinolysis because major antifibrinolytic proteins are decreased. Fresh frozen plasma, platelet concentrate, and cryoprecipitate are considered the mainstay hemostatic therapies. Purified factor concentrates of plasma origin and from recombinant synthesis are increasingly used for a rapid restoration of targeted factors. Future clinical studies are necessary to establish the specific indication, dosing, and safety of novel hemostatic interventions.


Voice control interfaces are based on the assumption that the difficult problem of understanding spoken utterances can be sufficiently constrained if reduced to the problem of mapping voice inputs to knowledge and control structures. Thus, a spoken input is recognized if and only if it references an appropriate structure. Context-free command and control grammars are used in speech recognition to constrain voice inputs and improve recognition accuracy. We show how such grammars can be automatically constructed from the knowledge structures used in three-tier autonomous agents.


The analysis of consumers' personal information (PI) is a significant source to learn about consumers. In online settings, many consumers disclose PI abundantly -- this is particularly true for information provided on social network services. Still, people manage the privacy level they want to maintain by disclosing by disclosing PI accordingly. In addition, studies have shown that consumers' online self-disclosure (OSD) differs across cultures. Therefore, intelligent systems should consider cultural issues when collecting, processing, storing or protecting data from consumers. However, existing studies typically rely on a comparison of two cultures, providing valuable insights but not drawing a comprehensive picture. We introduce an open research model for cultural OSD research, based on the privacy calculus theory. Our open research model incorporates six cultural dimensions, six predictors, and 24 structured propositions. It represents a comprehensive approach that provides a basis to explain possible cultural OSD phenomena in a systematic way.


Abstract The crystal structure of hohmannite, Fe3+2 [O(SO4)2]·8H2O, was studied by means of single-crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD) and vibrational spectroscopy. The previous structural model was confirmed, though new diffraction data allowed the hydrogen-bond system to be described in greater and more accurate detail. Ab initio calculations were performed in order to determine accurate H positions and to support the experimental model obtained from XRD data. Infrared and Raman spectra are presented for the first time for this compound and comments are made on the basis of the crystal structure and the known literature for sulfate minerals.


The National Instruments LabVIEW application for data acquisition in the combustion test cell at the new location of OPRA Turbines has been upgraded. During the internship, the LabVIEW application was split into two main parts: data acquisition/analysis and control of the test cell. For both systems, the graphical code and the user interface has been produced.

For the data acquisition system, the data of the newly integrated sensors are implemented into the application. In the report, the LabVIEW code for the data acquisition system is explained extensively in combination with the user interface. The graphical code in the block diagram of the LabVIEW application has been used to give a detailed illustration of how the application works.

The control system for the combustion test cell has been developed from scratch, since there was no control system present at the old facility of OPRA Turbines. The conditions for automatization were created during the building phase of the combustion test cell at the new facility. The graphical code, communication methods and graphical user interface for the LabVIEW application were created during the internship. The LabVIEW code is used to control the status of components in the combustion test cell that can be controlled via a PLC (Programmable Logic Controller). In the report, the communication principles of the control system between the control computer and the PLC are described and based on these principles, the code for the control system can be expanded in the future. Furthermore, the control system of the gaseous mixture panel in the combustion test cell has been developed. Since a different PLC is used in terms of compatibility with LabVIEW, a different LabVIEW code was developed to control the gaseous mixture panel.


A neutron detector concept based on solid layers of boron carbide enriched in 10B has been in development for the last few years as an alternative for 3He by collaboration between the ILL, ESS and Linköping University. This Multi-Grid detector uses layers of aluminum substrates coated with 10B4C on both sides that are traversed by the incoming neutrons. Detection is achieved using a gas counter readout principle. By segmenting the substrate and using multiple anode wires, the detector is made inherently position sensitive. This development is aimed primarily at neutron scattering instruments with large detector areas, such as time-of-flight chopper spectrometers. The most recent prototype has been built to be interchangeable with the 3He detectors of IN6 at ILL. The 10B detector has an active area of 32 x 48cm2. It was installed at the IN6 instrument and operated for several weeks, collecting data in parallel with the regularly scheduled experiments, thus providing the first side-by-side comparison with the conventional 3He detectors. Results include an efficiency comparison, assessment of the in-detector scattering contribution, sensitivity to gamma-rays and the signal-to-noise ratio in time-of-flight spectra. The good expected performance has been confirmed with the exception of an unexpected background count rate. This has been identified as natural alpha activity in aluminum. New convertor substrates are under study to eliminate this source of background.


Orientation: Leaders who find it difficult to connect emotionally with colleagues are often seen as incompetent, the idea that they may suffer from alexithymia – an inability to feel – is not taken into account. This coaching model seemed to be not successful in changing this behaviour pattern. Research purpose: The purpose of the research was to describe the coaching experiences of leaders with symptoms of alexithymia and to formulate hypotheses around their leadership experiences. Motivation for the study: Effective leadership is strongly associated with emotional connections with colleagues. Leaders suffering from alexithymia, struggle with making these connections. It was thought that coaching might help them bridge the gap towards building effective relationships. Research design, approach and method: A qualitative research design using case studies was used. Three participants underwent 10 months of systems psychodynamic leadership coaching, including role analysis. Researcher's field notes and participant essays were discourse analysed. The researcher's unconscious experiences were included in the interpretations. Main findings: Five themes manifested themselves namely, leaders' difficult experiences with coaching, the dynamics underlying their normative, experiential and phenomenal roles and the coach's unconscious experiences affecting the relationship. The research hypothesis referred to the differences between the role parts and the resulting anxiety. Practical/managerial implications: This coaching model did not provide sufficient opportunities for the participating leaders with regard to emotional reactivity and regulation. Contribution/value-add: The research created awareness of how alexithymia amongst leaders manifests in organisations. Unfortunately the coaching was unsuccessful in addressing the emotional task. Other ways need to be explored.


favoured one diagnosis over other possibilities. Questions testing candidates' knowledge of the clinical aspects could then be asked separately. The case histories are good enough for Dr Gupta to be encouraged to write another book but with a different formula for the questions and answers. These sorts of case study books are very useful in breaking the monotony of studying for the MRCP and this one is as good as the average.


Pediatric 18F-FDG dosing and acquisition durations are generally based on coarse extrapolation from adult guidelines. This study sought to determine whether shorter acquisition durations or a lower 18F-FDG injected activity could be used for pediatric 18F-FDG PET/CT examinations while maintaining diagnostic utility. Reduction of overall scan time potentially reduces motion artifacts, improves patient comfort, and decreases length of sedation. Alternatively, decreased 18F-FDG dose minimizes radiation risk. Methods: Fourteen whole-body 18F-FDG PET/CT examinations were performed on 13 patients (weight, 13–109 kg; age range, 1–23 y) with a weight-based injected activity (5.3 MBq/kg [0.144 mCi/kg]), fixed acquisition durations (3 min/field of view [FOV] if < 22 kg, 5 min/FOV if > 22 kg), and list-mode acquisition. For each examination, the list-mode data were truncated to form multiple datasets with shorter acquisition durations down to a minimum of 1 min/FOV (i.e., 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 min/FOV data were formed from single 5 min/FOV acquisition). Fifty-six image volumes were generated, randomized, and reviewed in a masked manner with corresponding CT image volumes by 5 radiologists. Overall, subjective adequacy and objective lesion detection accuracy by body region were evaluated. Results: All examinations with maximum acquisition duration were graded as adequate and were used as the reference standard for detection accuracy. For patients less than 22 kg, 1 of the 3 PET/CT examinations was graded as inadequate for clinical tasks when acquisition duration was reduced to 2 min/FOV, and all examinations were graded as inadequate when reduced to 1 min/FOV. For patients more than 22 kg, all 3–5 min/FOV studies were graded as adequate, and 2 of the 9 studies were graded as inadequate for 2 min/FOV studies. Lesion detection accuracy was perfect for acquisition times between 3 min/FOV and 5 min/FOV for all regions of the body. However, lesion detection became less accurate when imaging acquisition time was reduced more than 40%. Conclusion: Evaluation of image volumes generated from simulated shorter acquisition durations suggests that imaging times for larger patients (>22 kg) can be reduced from 5 min/FOV to 3 min/FOV without a loss of diagnostic utility. Using decreased acquisition times as a surrogate for 18F-FDG dose, 18F-FDG dose can be reduced by approximately 40% when all patients were scanned for 5 min/FOV.


Background Patient portals have emerged as an important tool through which patients can access online health information and engage in their health care. However, we know little about how patients perceive portals and whether patient perceptions might influence portal adoption. Objective Apply the diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory to assess perceptions of adopters and non-adopters of a patient portal. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional survey of adopters and non-adopters of the portal. Our survey consisted of perceived attributes from the DOI theory, socio-demographic characteristics and patient perceptions of technology adoption. Results Three factors representing perceived attributes from DOI theory accounted for 73% of the variance in the data: Factor 1 – Relative Advantage (27%); Factor 2 – Ease of Use (24%) and Factor 3 – Trialability (22%). Adopters perceived greater Relative Advantage [mean (SD)] = 3.8 (0.71) versus 3.2 (0.89), p < 0.001, Ease of Use = 4.1 (0.71) versus 3.3 (0.95), p < 0.001 and Trialability = 4.0 (0.57) versus 3.4 (0.99), p < 0.001 than non-adopters. In multivariate modelling, age [OR = 3.75, 95% CI: (2.17, 6.46), p < 0.001] and income [OR = 1.87, 95% CI: (1.17, 3.00), p < 0.01] predicted adoption of the portal. Among DOI factors, Relative advantage predicted adoption of the portal [OR = 1.48, 95% CI: (1.03, 2.11), p < 0.05]. Conclusion Patients will adopt a patient portal if they perceive it to offer a relative advantage over existing practices such as telephoning or visiting the doctor's office. Organisations seeking to increase the adoption of patient portals should implement strategies to promote the relative advantage of portals as, for example, through posters in waiting and exam rooms. A digital divide in the adoption of patient portals may exist with respect to age and income.


We describe an efficient approach for SAT-based quantifier elimination that significantly improves the performance of pre-image and fixed-point computation in SAT-based unbounded symbolic model checking (UMC). The proposed method captures a larger set of new states per SAT-based enumeration step during quantifier elimination, in comparison to previous approaches. The novelty of our approach is in the use of circuit-based cofactoring to capture a large set of states, and in the use of a functional hashing based simplified circuit graph to represent the captured states. We also propose a number of heuristics to further enlarge the state set represented per enumeration, thereby reducing the number of enumeration steps. We have implemented our techniques in a SAT-based UMC framework where we show the effectiveness of SAT-based existential quantification on public benchmarks, and on a number of large industry designs that were hard to model check using purely BDD-based techniques. We show several orders of improvement in time and space using our approach over previous CNF-based approaches. We also present controlled experiments to demonstrate the role of several heuristics proposed in the paper. Importantly, we were able to prove using our method the correctness of a safety property in an industry design that could not be proved using other known approaches.


This project examines Hieroglyphic Stairway 2 (HS. 2) at Yaxchilan, a Classic Maya city in Southern Mexico. Uncovered in 1975 as part of the clearing and consolidation
of Structure 33, HS. 2 is made up of thirteen carved blocks which form the riser to the last step in the ascent to this building. The blocks depict thirteen different individuals
(four female and nine male) in a series of elaborate ballgame rituals that demonstrated the legitimacy and power of Bird Jaguar IV, the ruler over Yaxchilan from 752-768 A.D.
In this study, the previous work conducted around this monument is examined, and argue that it has been insufficient to draw the conclusions commonly presented
about it. A translation of the hieroglyphic inscriptions from all blocks is provided, where previously only translations from the central three blocks (VI, VII, VIII) have been made available. This study also provides an analysis of the imagery on the blocks to better understand the ideology of Late Classic Yaxchilan (530-830 A.D.). This work relies on the hieroglyphic and archaeological data available from the site to demonstrate the geographical and temporal variation in lowland Maya political organisation, and to provide a model for Late Classic Yaxchilan.
Overall, the author argues that the Late Classic political organisation of Yaxchilan underwent a period of centralisation followed by decentralisation and collapse.
The contribution of this study to the literature is the conclusion that the representation of so many individuals on HS. 2 reveals that political power was being conferred upon the elite through 'empowering,' which led to a delocalisation of authority. This may also have led to dissatisfaction among the general population of the ideology of kingship, which may have caused the community to reject uncharismatic rulers.


This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the International Conference on the Applications of Evolutionary Computation, EvoApplications 2011, held in Torino, Italy, in April 2011 colocated with the Evo 2011 events. Thanks to the large number of submissions received, the proceedings for EvoApplications 2011 are divided across two volumes (LNCS 6624 and 6625). The present volume contains contributions for EvoComnet, EvoFin, EvoIhot, EvoMusart, EvoStim, and EvoTransloc. The 51 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. This volume presents an overview about the latest research in EC. Areas where evolutionary computation techniques have been applied range from telecommunication networks to complex systems, finance and economics, games, image analysis, evolutionary music and art, parameter optimization, scheduling, and logistics. These papers may provide guidelines to help new researchers tackling their own problem using EC.


The interior permanent magnet (IPM) machine equipped with a fractional-slot concentrated winding (FSCW) has met an increasing interest in electric vehicle applications due to its higher power density and efficiency. Torque production is due to both PM and reluctance torques. However, one of the main challenges of FSCWs is their inability to produce a high-quality magnetomotive force (MMF) distribution, yielding undesirable rotor core and magnet eddy-current losses. Literature shows that the reduction of low-order space harmonics significantly reduces these loss components. Moreover, it has been previously shown that by employing a higher number of layers, although causing some reduction in the winding factor of the torque-producing MMF component, both machine saliency and reluctance torque components are improved. Recently, a dual three-phase winding connected in a star/delta connection has also shown promise to concurrently enhance machine torque of a surface-mounted PM machine while significantly reducing both rotor core and magnet losses. In this paper, a multilayer winding configuration and a dual three-phase winding connection are combined and applied to the well-known 12-slot/10-pole IPM machine with v-shaped magnets. The proposed winding layout is compared with a conventional double-layer winding, a dual three-phase double-layer winding, and a four-layer winding. The comparison is carried out using 2-D finite-element analysis. The comparison shows that the proposed winding layout, while providing similar output torque to a conventional double-layer three-phase winding, offers a significant reduction in core and magnet losses, correspondingly a higher efficiency, improves the machine saliency ratio, and maximizes the reluctance toque component.


Viral respiratory infections trigger severe exacerbations of asthma, worsen disease symptoms, and impair lung function. To investigate the mechanisms underlying viral exacerbation, we established a mouse model of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)–induced exacerbation after allergen sensitization and challenge. RSV infection of OVA-sensitized/challenged BALB/c mice resulted in significantly increased airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) and macrophage and neutrophil lung infiltration. Exacerbation was accompanied by increased levels of inflammatory cytokines (including TNF-α, MCP-1, and keratinocyte-derived protein chemokine [KC]) compared with uninfected OVA-treated mice or OVA-treated mice exposed to UV-inactivated RSV. Dexamethasone treatment completely inhibited all features of allergic disease, including AHR and eosinophil infiltration, in uninfected OVA-sensitized/challenged mice. Conversely, dexamethasone treatment following RSV-induced exacerbation only partially suppressed AHR and failed to dampen macrophage and neutrophil infiltration or inflammatory cytokine production (TNF-α, MCP-1, and KC). This mimics clinical observations in patients with exacerbations, which is associated with increased neutrophils and often poorly responds to corticosteroid therapy. Interestingly, we also observed increased TNF-α levels in sputum samples from patients with neutrophilic asthma. Although RSV-induced exacerbation was resistant to steroid treatment, inhibition of TNF-α and MCP-1 function or depletion of macrophages suppressed features of disease, including AHR and macrophage and neutrophil infiltration. Our findings highlight critical roles for macrophages and inflammatory cytokines (including TNF-α and MCP-1) in viral-induced exacerbation of asthma and suggest examination of these pathways as novel therapeutic approaches for disease management.


Gingival hyperplasia may be inherited in a variety of ways, usually in an autosomal dominant or autosomal recessive manner. Additional phenotypic abnormalities are frequently associated with the gingival hyperplasia. To our knowledge, the family described here represents the first instance of autosomal dominantly inherited gingival hyperplasia associated with progressive neural hearing loss.


Stress (Takotsubo) cardiomyopathy is a form of reversible left ventricular dysfunction with a heightened risk of ventricular arrhythmia thought to be caused by high circulating catecholamines. We report a case of stress cardiomyopathy that developed during severe alcohol withdrawal successfully treated with dexmedetomidine. The case involves a 53-year-old man with a significant history of alcohol abuse who presented to a teaching hospital with new-onset seizures. His symptoms of acute alcohol withdrawal were initially treated with benzodiazepines, but the patient later developed hypotension, and stress cardiomyopathy was suspected based on ECG and echocardiographic findings. Adjunctive treatment with the alpha-2-adrenergic agonist, dexmedetomidine, was initiated to curtail excessive sympathetic outflow of the withdrawal syndrome, thereby targeting the presumed pathophysiology of the cardiomyopathy. Significant clinical improvement was observed within one day of initiation of dexmedetomidine. These findings are consistent with other reports suggesting that sympathetic dysregulation during alcohol withdrawal produces ideal pathobiology for stress cardiomyopathy and leads to ventricular arrhythmogenicity. Stress cardiomyopathy should be recognized as a complication of alcohol withdrawal that significantly increases cardiac-related mortality. By helping to correct autonomic dysregulation of the withdrawal syndrome, dexmedetomidine may be useful in the treatment of stress-induced cardiomyopathy.


Abstract : For many real-world applications, autonomous robots must execute complex tasks in unknown or partially known unstructured environments. This work presents a novel approach to efficient multi-robot mapping and exploration which exploits a market architecture in order to maximize information gain while minimizing incurred costs. This system is reliable and robust in that it can accommodate dynamic introduction and loss of team members in addition to communication interruptions and failures. Results showing the capabilities of our system on a team of exploring autonomous robots are also given.


We seem to be abandoning the codes that told previous generations who they should love. But now that many of us are free to choose whoever we want, nothing is less certain. The proliferation of divorces and separations reveal a dynamic we would rather not see: others sometimes reject us as passionately as we are attracted to them. Our desire makes us sick. The throes of rivalry are at the heart of our attraction to one another. This is the central thesis of Jean-Michel Oughourlian's The Genesis of Desire, where the war of the sexes is finally given a scientific explanation. The discovery of mirror neurons corroborates his ideas, clarifying the phenomena of empathy and the mechanisms of violent reciprocity. How can a couple be saved when they have declared war on one another? By helping them realize that desire originates not in the self but in the other. There are strategies that can help, which Dr. Oughourlian has prescribed successfully to his patients. This work, alternating between case studies and more theoretical statements, convincingly defends the possibility that breakups need not be permanent.


We consider the problem of generating a random q-colouring of a graph G=(V,E). We consider the simple Glauber Dynamics chain. We show that if for all v ∈ V the average degree of the subgraph H_v induced by the neighbours of v ∈ V is #x226a Δ where Δ is the maximum degree and Δ >c_1\ln n then for sufficiently large c_1, this chain mixes rapidly provided q/Δ >α , where α #x2248 1.763 is the root of α = e^\1/α \. For this class of graphs, which includes planar graphs, triangle free graphs and random graphs G_\n,p\ with p #x226a 1, this beats the 11Δ /6 bound of Vigoda for general graphs.


Diarrheal diseases is an endemic desease in Indonesia and potential desease of Kejadian Luar Biasa (KLB) which often leads to death. Enteropatogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) is one of pathogenic bacteria which can cause diarrhea. Brotowali plant ( Tinospora crispa , L. Miers) is one of traditional medicinal plants which is widely used to treat various diseases and and relatively have no side effects than chemical drugs. he purpose of this research is to know the antibacterial activity of Brotowali ( Tinospora crispa , L. Miers) stems ethanol and ethyl acetate extract in inhibiting the growth of EPEC bacteria causing diarrheal disease. Brotowali extract was obtained by maceration method using ethanol and ethyl acetate solvent. The condensed extract obtained was dissolved in DMSO 100% until the concentration of the extract to 20%; 40% and 60%. Test of antibacterial activity used diffusion method using paperdisk . The ethanol and ethyl acetate extract of brotowali stems were each tested on EPEC bacteria. The results in this study are the inhibition zone on ethanol and ethyl acetate extract stem of brotowali plant to EPEC bacteria. The antibacterial activity of brotowali stem ethanol extract at 60% concentration showed the best effect compared to the concentration of 20% and 40%. The antibacterial activity of ethyl acetate extract of brotowali stem was as good at concentration of 20%; 40% and 60%. The antibacterial activity of brotowali stem ethyl acetate extract showed better results than brotowali stem ethanol extract


Background:This study evaluates the impact of mentors in research productivity in oncology. Methods:Two electronic surveys were sent out to 1009 oncologists who attended educational workshops between 1996 and 2004. Results:Response rate was 41.4% (339 of 818). Respondents with mentors are more currently engaged in academic research than those without mentors. Mentorship status did not influence on self-reported publication record or on becoming principal investigators, even when adjusted for other factors. Conclusions:Mentorship is valuable to oncologists in enhancing their research experiences. In this selected group, mentorship has effects on current involvement in academic research but not on self-reported publication.


In this study which we investigate the availability of New Keynesian monetary policy rules in the period of inflation targeting strategy, forward looking Taylor Rule, McCallum Rule and Taylor-McCallum Hybrid Rule are estimated by using Generalized Method of Moments (GMM). Econometric results indicate that forward looking Taylor Rule corresponds to operational framework of monetary policy of Central Bank of Republic of Turkey (CBRT). CBRT determines the policy interest rate by gradual approach and endeavors to prevent big fluctuations in policy rate. Thereby while CBRT carries out monetary policy by focusing on price stability, it considers financial stability. In other words, financial stability is seen as a sustaining aim for TCMB. Notwithstanding the fact that we came through the unavailability of forward looking McCallum and Hybrid Taylor-McCallum Rule in the period of 2002-2012 at Turkish economy.


Fragile micromachined MEMS structures are usually protected by bonding a capping wafer to the device wafer itself. As opposed to using lateral interconnects at the interface between the cap wafer and the device wafer, the use of vertical through silicon vias (TSVs) significantly simplifies the mounting of the components and it also results in the smallest footprint. This paper presents the concept chosen for fabricating a miniaturized MEMS acceleration switch with TSVs through the SOI (silicon on insulator) device wafer, as well as the experimental results of the TSV process development that was done for this particular application. Especially challenging was the development of an etching process that can etch the thick buried oxide of the SOI wafer through high aspect ratio trenches.


Background Routine clinical TDM data is often used to develop population pharmacokinetic (PK) models, which are applied in turn for model-informed precision dosing. The impact of uncertainty in documented sampling and infusion times in population PK modeling and model-informed precision dosing have not yet been systematically evaluated. The aim of this study was to investigate uncertain documentation of (i) sampling times and (ii) infusion rate exemplified with two anti-infectives. Methods A stochastic simulation and estimation study was performed in NONMEM® using previously published population PK models of meropenem and caspofungin. Uncertainties, i.e. deviation between accurate and planned sampling and infusion times (standard deviation (SD) ± 5 min to ± 30 min) were added randomly in R before carrying out the simulation step. The estimation step was then performed with the accurate or planned times (replacing real time points by scheduled study values). Relative bias (rBias) and root mean squared error (rRMSE) were calculated to determine accuracy and precision of the primary and secondary PK parameters on the population and individual level. The accurate and the misspecified (using planned sampling times) model were used for Bayesian forecasting of meropenem to assess the impact on PK/PD target calculations relevant to dosing decisions. Results On the population level, the estimates of the proportional residual error (prop.-err.) and the interindividual variability (IIV) on the central volume of distribution (V1) were most affected by erroneous records in the sampling and infusion time (e.g. rBias of prop.-err.: 75.5% vs. 183% (meropenem) and 10.1% vs. 109% (caspofungin) for ± 5 vs. ± 30 min, respectively). On the individual level, the rBias of the planned scenario for the typical values V1, Q and V2 increased with increasing uncertainty in time, while CL, AUC and elimination half-life were least affected. Meropenem as a short half-life drug (~1 h) was more affected than caspofungin (~ 9–11 h). The misspecified model provided biased PK/PD target information (e.g. falsely overestimated time above MIC (T > MIC) when true T > MIC was <0.4 and thus patients at risk of undertreatment), while the accurate model gave precise estimates of the indices across all simulated patients. Conclusions Even 5-minute-uncertainties caused bias and significant imprecision of primary population and individual PK parameters. Thus, our results underline the importance of accurate documentation of time.


A linear‐scaling method to carry out semiempirical quantum mechanical calculations for large systems has been developed based on the density matrix version of the divide‐and‐conquer approach. The method has been tested and demonstrated to be accurate and efficient. With this implementation, semiempirical quantum mechanical calculations are made possible for large molecules over 9000 atoms on a typical workstation. For biological macromolecules, solvent effects are included with a dielectric continuum model.


Background: Men account for approximately 1% of the total population of breast cancer. Men are generally diagnosed at much later stages of breast cancer than women. Evidence shows the earlier breast cancer is detected, the better the outcome. Objective: The aim of this study is to describe the meanings of men living with breast cancer. Method: Descriptive phenomenology was the research design used. An international sample of 10 men participated in this study. Men were asked, "Please describe for me all your experience living with breast cancer. Please describe all your thoughts, feelings, and perceptions that you wish to share. Any examples of points you are making will be very helpful to describe the lives of men living with breast cancer. Colaizzi's method for data analysis was used to analyze the stories of the 10 men. Results: Data analysis yielded 80 significant statements and 4 themes: (a) Resilience, (b) Advocacy, (c) Pain, and, (d) Masculinity Discussion: Although a small number of men have breast cancer compared to the number of women with breast cancer, men have poorer outcomes and survival rates. The impact of men's experience with breast cancer was the motivation for their passion with advocacy and education. Resilience, advocacy, pain, and masculinity were noted to be challenges and successes for men living with breast cancer. THE EXPERIENCE OF MEN LIVING WITH BREAST CANCER i Phenomenological Approach toward Understanding the Experience of Men Living With Breast Cancer


Mobile devices/clients vary in their hardware and software resources such as screen size, color depth, effective bandwidth, processing power, and the ability to handle different data formats. This makes it difficult for servers to support a wide range of client variations. In our research, we introduce an image transcoding proxy server placed between the generic WWW servers and the heterogeneous mobile hosts. The selection of transcoding operations is based on the mobile device characteristics and can adapt to dynamically changing bandwidth on the proxy-client link. The policy decisions are used to select the most appropriate operations in order to achieve the smallest file size and acceptable image quality. More aggressive transcoding operations result in greater loss of image quality. Based on a user survey, we determined minimal acceptable thresholds for each transcoding operation. As our results show, these thresholds are dependent on the display quality of the user device.


The paper presents a country profile for the cadastre of the Czech Republic based on the ISO 19152:2012 Land Administration Domain Model (LADM). The proposed profile consists of both legal and spatial components and represents an important driving force with which to develop a 3D cadastre for the Czech Republic, which can guide the Strategy for the Development of the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the Czech Republic to 2020. This government initiative emphasizes the creation of the National Set of Spatial Objects, which is defined as the source of guaranteed and reference 3D geographic data at the highest possible level of detail covering the entire territory of the Czech Republic. This can also be a potential source of data for the 3D cadastre. The abstract test suite stated in ISO 19152:2012—Annex A (Abstract Test Suite) and the LADM conformance requirements were applied in order to explore the conformity of the Czech country profile with this international standard. To test their conformity, a mapping of elements between the LADM and the tested country profile was conducted. The profile is conformant with the LADM at Level 2 (medium level) and can be further modified, especially when legislation is updated with respect to 3D real estate in the future.


In this paper we analyze how differences in issue framing emerge in multi-stakeholder conversations. From a discursive approach to issue framing we draw on conversational studies of disagreement, difference and conflict to build up a theoretical framework. This leads us to understand differences in issue framing as relationally significant, sequentially relevant and discursively constructed incompatibilities between two or more issue elements. In the study of multi-stakeholder conversations in the context of natural resources management in Southern Ecuador, we analyzed 8 difference emergence episodes during three interaction moments. We show that the discursive structure of the difference-initiating speaking turns is multi-layered. The differences emerge by working cautiously towards a specific but clear challenge and then adding further challenging layers of implications, and can be understood as oriented to simultaneously being to the point and being relevant. As was the case in 4 of the studied difference emergence episodes, this multi-layered structure can be exploited by interrupting a divergent movement in order to prevent the emergence of a difference. Finally, the interaction contexts in which the differences emerge can be characterized as asymmetrical, putting the burden of the risky business of initiating differences on the shoulders of the weaker parties, who proceed very prudently and produce generally weak signals of difference.


MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small (20-22 nt), non-coding RNAs involved in post-transcriptional gene silencing. Their binding to the 3' UTR of target mRNAs influences the translation or stability of the transcripts. miRNAs have been shown to regulate several developmental and physiological processes, including stem cell differentiation and the immune response. Recent findings report their involvement in hair follicle morphogenesis (ablation of miRNAs from keratinocytes causes several defects, such as evagination instead of invagination), in psoriasis (skin-specific expression of miR-203 and psoriasisspecific expression of miR-146a, miR-21 and miR-125b in the skin), in autoimmune diseases affecting the skin, such as SLE and ITP, in wound healing (changes in the expression of specific miRNA at specific phases of the regeneration process), and in skin carcinogenesis (a novel miRNA signature that includes induction of miR-21, a candidate oncogenic miRNA). Researchers worldwide are interested in miRNAs as potential therapeutic targets (such as in the case of psoriasis) and potential diagnostic biomarkers (such as in case of SLE).


Childbearing is often associated with employment interruptions in women's careers. Since 2005, the German federal government has implemented childcare reforms aiming at expanding the suitable infrastructure for children under the age of three, which should facilitate and accelerate the return to employment. The reforms have been a paradigm shift, because they show a shift from a traditional breadwinner family model to a dual earner-carer model. Despite federal leadership in childcare reforms, the characteristics of the care infrastructure in Germany vary by state and over time, which may contribute to different employment-interruption lengths. The study at hand evaluates Germany's recent childcare reforms regarding the impact on maternal employment by examining relationships between childcare-characteristics -namely quality and availability- and mothers' employment interruptions. A piecewise-constant exponential model is used to capture the cross-state and over time differences in childcare and their impact on the timing of women's return to employment within the first three years after birth of their first child. The study uses individual data from the Pairfam 10.0 study and childcare indicators, which are collected by the federal and state's statistical bureaus. The risk population includes 927 first-time mothers who gave birth between March 2006 and March 2018. Within this period, 525 first-time mothers return to employment within the first three years after childbirth. A significant positive effect of the childcare reform on maternal employment is revealed. Both the availability expansion and the quality improvements are associated with earlier returns to employment, establishing both institutional and cultural effects of childcare policies. An educational gradient of the effect of childcare quality on maternal employment was tested, but the results were not significant.


PURPOSE
To study the induced refractive change caused by different 2.8-mm corneal incision locations in phacoemulsification.

METHODS
One hundred ten patients were randomly assigned to nasal or temporal incision or to superior incision, depending on preexisting astigmatism. The authors fulfilled visual acuity, refraction, keratometry, and eye scanner analysis before and after phacoemulsification. Outcome measures were induced corneal refractive change (Fourier power vector analysis), index of surface variance (ISV) change, and visual acuity at 6 months. A comparative interventional case series was used for the study design.

RESULTS
Induced refractive change caused by different incision locations showed differences in parameter J0 (JCC at axis 0 degrees ), which was smaller after temporal than after nasal or superior incision, with marginal clinical significance and influence in uncorrected visual acuity. ISV changes did not differ between incisional groups.

CONCLUSIONS
Small differential effects of incisions by location may be useful, depending on preexisting astigmatism. Temporal incisions are recommended for negligible astigmatism, whereas nasal and superior incisions are preferable when the steep axis is located at approximately 180 degrees and 90 degrees, respectively. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00742950).


Meningitis caused by L. monocytogenes is discussed from the standpoints of clinical presentation and course, underlying illness, and altered host resistance. The `opportunistic' nature of the infection is emphasized, and case histories of patients with diseases which may specifically alter host resistance in such a fashion as to render the patient susceptible to this organism, or who are receiving drugs which may have the same result, are presented. The critical role of host macrophages, and the alteration of this role by Hodgkin's disease, leukaemia, and cytotoxic drug therapy are emphasized.


Epilog, a Unix-based real-time operational support system for electroencephalogram (EEG) waveform acquisition, storage, analysis, display, and printing, is described. The system is designed to be used for diagnosis and surgical planning in a large epilepsy program. The implemented system has two monitoring units consisting of four rooms with their associated computer, video, and medical support systems. A central computer hub performs Epilog services for each unit. Each hub acquires and processes up to 256 channels of EEG 24 h per day, and serves as a control center for much of the automation in the unit. The EEG data structures and data flow used in Epilog are discussed. >


Changes to the nucleolus, the site of ribosome production, have long been linked to cancer, and mutations in several ribosomal proteins (RPs) have been associated with an increased risk for cancer in human diseases. Relevantly, a number of RPs have been shown to bind to MDM2 and inhibit MDM2 E3 ligase activity, leading to p53 stabilization and cell cycle arrest, thus revealing a RP-Mdm2-p53 signaling pathway that is critical for ribosome biogenesis surveillance. Here, we have identified RPL37, RPS15, and RPS20 as RPs that can also bind Mdm2 and activate p53. We found that each of the aforementioned RPs, when ectopically expressed, can stabilize both co-expressed Flag-tagged Mdm2 and HA-tagged p53 in p53-null cells as well as endogenous p53 in a p53-containing cell line. For each RP, the mechanism of Mdm2 and p53 stabilization appears to be through inhibiting the E3 ubiquitin ligase activity of Mdm2. Interestingly, although they are each capable of inducing cell death and cell cycle arrest, these RPs differ in the p53 target genes that are regulated upon their respective introduction into cells. Furthermore, each RP can downregulate MdmX levels but in distinct ways. Thus, RPL37, RPS15 and RPS20 regulate the Mdm2-p53-MdmX network but employ different mechanisms to do so.


Listeners use prosodic cues to facilitate lexical access when listening to fluent speech in their native language [1], [2]. This study investigates second language learners' ability to segment words from continuous speech, and the effect of native language prosodic structure on the perception of word boundaries in the second language. In an experiment conducted with natural language stimuli, English speakers learned words and then listened to fluent speech in a previously unfamiliar language (Finnish). After listening to fluent speech, they chose between pairs of correctly segmented real words and incorrectly segmented nonwords, to identify possible words of Finnish. Results show that English speakers do exhibit a bias towards identifying words with first-syllable stress as real, likely an effect of a native language segmentation strategy [2]. However, the test group that learned words and then listened to fluent speech performed better than the group that did not listen to fluent speech. This suggests that learning words and hearing them in context aids in second language speech segmentation. More successful speech segmentation, in turn, promotes the learning of other phonological patterns, which makes learners more accurate at identifying possible words in the second language.


Previous work has suggested that there are six divisions among the viridanslike streptococci of man. Reciprocal transformations were carried out between strains classified as Streptococcus milleri agg., S. sanguis agg. and S. viridans agg. The results of the quantitative transformation reactions confirmed a classification of these strains arrived at partly by traditional methods and partly by numerical methods.


Epsin and AP180/CALM are endocytotic accessory proteins that have been implicated in the formation of clathrin-coated pits. Both proteins have phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PtdIns(4,5)P2)-binding domains in their N termini, but these domains are structurally and functionally different. To understand the basis of their distinct properties, we measured the PtdIns(4,5)P2-dependent membrane binding of the epsin N-terminal homology (ENTH) domain and the AP180 N-terminal homology (ANTH) domain by means of surface plasmon resonance and monolayer penetration techniques and also calculated the effect of PtdIns(4,5)P2 on the electrostatic potential of these domains. PtdIns(4,5)P2 enhances the electrostatic membrane association of both domains; however, PtdIns(4,5)P2 binding exerts distinct effects on their membrane dissociation. Specifically, PtdIns(4,5)P2 induces the membrane penetration of the N-terminal α-helix of the ENTH domain, which slows the membrane dissociation of the domain and triggers the membrane deformation. These results provide the biophysical explanation for the membrane bending activity of epsin and its ENTH domain.


Single-electron transistor (SET) circuits can be stacked above the CMOS platform to achieve functional and heterogeneous 3-D integration of nanoelectronic devices. For SET-CMOS hybridization, CMOS technology is essential for I/O, signal restoration, and maintaining compatibility with established technology. In spite of the SET's unparalleled advantages, its low current drive and output voltage when driving CMOS logic makes its use questionable in commercial ICs, specifically at the SET-CMOS interface. In this paper, we contribute to the design, analysis, and simulation of hybrid SET-CMOS circuits exploiting room-temperature operating SET technology. We developed an efficient computer-aided design tool to simulate large-scale SET and hybrid SET-CMOS circuits with conventional device elements. To demonstrate the SET logic driving capability for CMOS with interconnect parasitics, we analytically derived the SET logic parameters for the 22-nm technology node and used them to simulate hybrid SET-CMOS logic. We studied the performance of such hybrid logic circuit in terms of delay and bandwidth and addressed the tradeoffs between fabrication and electrical parameters. Our simulation results demonstrate the SET logic driving capability for CMOS comparable output voltage at gigahertz frequency in a hybrid SET-CMOS architecture. Finally, a comparison between SET and CMOS logic demonstrates that the SET logic outperforms CMOS.


Debrisoquin hydroxylase (CYP2D6) is a cytochrome P450 enzyme that catalyzes the metabolism of > 30 commonly prescribed medications. Deficiency in CYP2D6 activity, inherited as an autosomal recessive trait, was found to be significantly less common in American blacks (1.9%) than whites (7.7%). To determine the genetic basis for this difference, inactivating CYP2D6 mutations were assessed by allele-specific PCR amplification and RFLP analyses of genomic DNA from 126 unrelated whites and 127 unrelated blacks. Blacks had a twofold lower frequency (8.5 versus 23%, P = 0.001) of the CYP2D6(B) mutation (point mutation at intron 3/exon 4 splice site), while complete deletion of the CYP2D6 gene (5.5% blacks, 2.4% whites), and the CYP2D6(A) mutation (single nucleotide deletion in exon 5; 0.24% blacks, 1.4% whites) were not different between the two groups. The prevalence of heterozygous genotypes was significantly lower in blacks (25 versus 42% of extensive metabolizers, P = 0.009), consistent with the observed prevalence of the deficient trait in blacks and whites. We conclude that the same CYP2D6 mutations lead to a loss of functional expression in blacks and whites, but American blacks have a lower prevalence of the deficient trait due to a lower frequency of the CYP2D6(B) mutation. This could explain racial differences in drug effects and disease risk.


Abstract Hong Kong's National Security Law was passed on June 30, 2020, followed by a film-censorship amendment on October 27, 2021. While the public experienced the ensuing censorship as an absence and an occlusion of works, the mechanisms of censorship are opaque and bureaucratic, made effective through myriad methods. This article focuses on a first-person telling that weaves personal conversations, rumors, and everyday experiences in the new normal to analyze the evolving codes and reveal the trip wires that threaten the creation and presentation of films, artworks, and print materials in Hong Kong. Artists and filmmakers face a developing shadow bureaucracy, which they are only slowly coming to understand. Tracing the visible and invisible red lines through a group of mostly anonymized artists and practitioners—except for the author or those cited in the news—this essay confronts the haunting power of newly passed national-security laws to atomize fear, threaten some more than others, and generally to produce paranoia.


Many studies point out the importance of the family to the manifestation, development and recognition of giftedness. The development of gifted behaviors impose new challenges and demands to the gifted individuals themselves and their relatives, who in certain occasions do not have enough knowledge to assist these individuals. Hence, the main objective of this study is to critically synthesize and analyze the investigations conducted on the relationship between the gifted and his/her family in the areas related to sports, music, arts and academic studies.. They reveal a great variety of parental practices and family characteristics associated to the development of gifted behaviors. The critical analysis of the articles examined may suggest the conduction of further studies on the participation of the family in the process of talent development. In addition, elucidations raised with this article may assist the elaboration and implementation of programs to assist gifted individuals and their families.


Objective:To evaluate the outcomes and toxicity of concurrent full-dose gemcitabine and intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) for patients with borderline resectable and locally advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma after induction chemotherapy. Materials and Methods:From 2009 to 2012, 32 patients were treated with concurrent gemcitabine and IMRT for borderline resectable or locally advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma. All patients received induction FOLFIRINOX or gemcitabine-based chemotherapy before chemoradiation. The radiotherapy volume was limited to the primary tumor, and the median dose was 55 Gy in 25 fractions. Gemcitabine was administered weekly during radiotherapy on days 1, 8, 22, and 29 at a median weekly dose of 800 mg/m2. Results:Twenty-five patients had locally advanced disease and 7 had borderline resectable disease. The median follow-up time was 14.6 months. The median progression-free and overall survival were 13.9 and 23.1 months, with a trend toward improved overall survival for patients receiving induction FOLFIRINOX compared with gemcitabine-based therapy. A radiographic complete or partial response was achieved in 13 patients (41%), with 4 (13%) having complete radiographic responses. Surgical resection was performed in 10 patients (31%)—6 patients with locally advanced disease and 4 with borderline resectable disease. Grade 3/4 hematologic toxicity during and up to 6 weeks after chemoradiation occurred in 12 patients (38%); grade 3 nonhematologic toxicity occurred in 7 patients (22%), with no grade 4 or 5 toxicity. All patients completed their radiotherapy. Conclusions:Concurrent full-dose gemcitabine and limited-field IMRT after induction chemotherapy for the treatment of borderline resectable and locally advanced pancreatic cancer is promising with acceptable toxicity rates.


This study aims to analyze The Influence of Competence and Motivation to the Teachers Performance with the Principal Leadership  as moderate variable at SMK negeri in Pati Regency. This study belongs to the type of quantitative research. Population of this study are 134 teacher, while the samples taken as many as 100 teacher as respondent. Measurements using a Likert scale with 5 (five) alternative answer. Test instruments used are the validity, reliability and classic asumption test. While the test model used is the coefficient of determination and F test (Goodness of Fit). Hypothesis testing used in this study used regression analysis and t-test. The results of the first model showed the coefficient of determination (Adjusted R Square) is 0,541, the meaning of the result is that the Competence and Motivation together have a 54,1% impact to the Techers Performance and the rest are influenced by others variables. Based on the research result can be summarized as follows: (i) Competence is positive and significant effect to the Teachers Performance, (ii) ) Motivation is positive and significant effect to the Teachers Performance, (iii) Principal Leadership is not moderating to the effect of Competence to Teacher Performance, (iv) Principal Leadership is not moderating to the effect of Motivation to Teacher Performance Key words : Competence, motivation, Principal Leadership, Teachers Performance


INTRODUCTION
Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a neglected disease, with territorial expansion and regional differences in Brazil that require explanation. This study aimed to describe changes in the epidemiology of VL in Brazil from 2001 to 2014.

METHODS
The incidence rates, sociodemographic and clinical data, and case evolution were subgrouped from 2001 to 2006 and from 2007 to 2014 and presented descriptively. Spatial distribution of disease incidence rates and changes in the spatial and temporal pattern were examined.

RESULTS
In total, 47,859 VL cases were reported in Brazil between 2001 and 2014, with predominance in the Northeast macroregion (55%), though the incidence rate in this region declined between the two study periods. The State of Tocantins had the highest crude rate (26.2/100,000 inhabitants), which was responsible for VL increasing in the North macroregion. VL predominated in the urban zone (70%), in children under 4 years (34%); however, an increase in the incidence of VL in adults older than 40 years was identified, with 12.3% and 31% in the first and second period, respectively. The mapping of crude rates and autochthonous canine cases showed territorial expansion. The temporal distribution of VL was consistent in Brazil in general, with no pattern observed, but regional differences were found.

CONCLUSIONS
The incidence of VL is increasing in Brazil. In addition to the State of Tocantins, which had the highest rate, new outbreaks of VL have occurred in the South macroregion of Brazil with small decreases identified in the incidence rate in the Northeast.


Ballads are often among the bestselling songs of heavy metal and hard rock bands. Within these genres, ballads represent a way to address emotions such as love that are not part of the primary self-understanding of those genres. Still, "genre ideals and style" often seem to be at odds with the sentimental aesthetics of the ballad and its emotional expression and experience. In this article, we take a close look at the sonic, textual, performative, visual, and emotional-somatic articulation of love and the generation of sentimentality in three selected metal ballads. Even if the term "power ballad," which is often used in reference to hard rock and metal ballads, refers to the simultaneity of "heaviness" in the sound and the thematization of love in the lyrics, sentimental ballads in the stereotypically more masculine-connotated genres nevertheless create friction and skepticism in their discursive evaluation, as they generate aesthetic discrepancies between concrete songs and genre conventions. Their quantitative popularity contrasts with their qualitative evaluation. Therefore, in a second step, we analyze the reception of the selected ballads, in particular their discursive evaluations in music reviews, in order to point out the ways of argumentation through which frictions are established. As a result, we show that evaluations are related to how love is addressed in the songs and to the extent of proximity of the ballads to genre rules.


The final report of the National Health and Hospital Reform Commission (NHHRC) called for a strengthened consumer voice and empowerment. This has salience for the development of health policy concerning chronic illnesses. This paper compares the recommendations for chronic illness care made in the NHHRC final report with suggestions made by people with chronic illness and family carers of people with chronic illness in a recent Australian study. Sixty-six participants were interviewed in a qualitative research project of the Serious and Continuing Illness Policy and Practice Study (SCIPPS). Participants were people with type II diabetes mellitus, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or chronic heart failure. Family carers were also interviewed. Content analysis was undertaken and participants' recommendations for improving care were compared with those proposed in the NHHRC final report. Many suggestions from the participants of the SCIPPS qualitative research project appeared in the NHHRC final report, including the need to improve care coordination, health literacy and the experience of Indigenous Australians. The research project also identified important issues of family carers, immigrants and people with multiple illnesses, which were not addressed in the NHHRC final report. More specific attention is needed in health reform to improve the experience of family carers, Indigenous peoples, immigrants to Australia and people with multiple illnesses. To align more closely with their needs, health reform must be explicitly informed by the voices of people with chronic illness and their family carers. The NHHRC recommendations must be supplemented with proposals that address the needs of these people for support and the problems associated with poor care coordination.


The Medical Journal of Australia ISSN: 0025-729X 6 May 2013 198 8 67-67 ©The Medical Journal of Australia 2012 www.mja.com.au Editors Choice nsuring a safe operation for every patient is not straightforward. Surgical patients range from the gravely ill with a slim chance of survival to the perfectly healthy who are seeking enhancement. Given this highly variable mix, surgical safety can be problematic to define, difficult to implement and harder to measure. As the population ages and technological advances feed public expectations, surgeons may feel at risk of finding themselves in the situation described over a century ago by then professor of surgery at the University of Edinburgh, John Chiene: "The operation was a complete success, but the patient died of something else". As several commentators in this issue indicate, there has recently been renewed focus on this enduring surgical dilemma. In an overview of the expanding field of perioperative care (page 407), Waxman describes the ideal scenario, in which elective patients benefit from multidisciplinary preoperative assessment and an "enhanced recovery after surgery" pathway. Preoperative planning and a "preflight" checklist in the operating theatre pay dividends for patients in their postoperative journey, even in emergency surgery. With the aim of creating surgeons with a more holistic outlook, Australian standards of practice now include nontechnical competencies including professionalism, communication, leadership and advocacy. Hollands, president of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS), describes initiatives to ensure trainee surgeons are versed in these skills and to up-skill practising surgeons (page 400). He makes the important point that such efforts must be clinically relevant for them to have any impact. The quality of surgical training is obviously relevant to patient safety. But could the training model itself, historically assumed to require full-time dedication, be an obstacle to acquiring the best possible surgeons? And how safe is fulltime training for trainees? These questions arise from a survey of Australasian surgical trainees conducted by McDonald and colleagues (page 423). Only two of the 659 trainees surveyed had secured part-time accredited training positions, although a third of respondents expressed an interest in this model. The authors point out that this deficit in part-time training opportunities may result in applicants with family, personal or professional responsibilities and interests being filtered out of the training pool. Furthermore, the average working hours of full-time Australasian surgical trainees are at a level associated with burnout. In an accompanying commentary (page 426), Williams, censor-inchief of the RACS, confirms at least one part-time accredited surgical training post in Australia has proven successful for both the hospital and the trainee. The RACS has now established a working party to look at extending opportunities for part-time training. When the medical director of the United Kingdom's National Health Service recently announced plans to publish a league table of mortality and "other" outcomes for British surgeons, the official response of the Royal College of Surgeons and the British Medical Association included a mild warning that uncorrected reporting of mortality rates may lead to an unwillingness of surgeons to take on high-risk cases. Informal commentators were more vocal, raising concerns about patient selection, impact on training, blame of individual surgeons for factors beyond their control, skewed statistics and the logistics of measuring performance (http://www.bjuinternational.com /bjui-blog/individualised-reporting-of-surgical-outcomesin-the-uk). According to Maddern (page 399), public reporting is not yet planned for Australia, but the situation in the UK underscores the challenge for our own developing surgical audit systems of how best to determine, measure and feed back meaningful performance indicators to surgeons and their patients. Waxman, Hollands and Maddern all present a common observation: it is patients who are driving the need for information, quality and assurances of safety. Undergoing surgery is certainly safer now than when Chiene made his ironic observation. But it remains true that, particularly from the patient's perspective, there is no such thing as a successful operation with a poor outcome. E


The concept of public service motivation has been central to the discussion of motivation in the field of public management but has never been studied in international organizations. This paper reports on a preliminary study of motivational issues within the European Commission, including motivation for entry and public service motivation. Based on a survey distributed to the entire staff of the European Commission, supplemented by personal interviews, we demonstrate the importance of public service motivation within the Commission and explore the antecedents of public service motivation, including socio-demographic variables, organizational position, and entry motivation. Results have significant implications for human resources management policy and efforts aimed at motivating staff.


The purpose of this review was to support table tennis experts and scientists with up to date science research regarding physiological measurement of table tennis players. We have noticed that some authors use obsolete references when comparing data in their research. Literature available all over the world has been consulted to unify the findings involving measurement of physiological characteristics among table tennis players. In the past ten years, we have encountered a lack of quantitative data regarding the evaluation of training intensity and physiological load capacity of table tennis players in training and competition. From this point of view the judgement on the quantity of sports load depended only on one's observation and experience, a situation which, unfortunately, lacked a scientific basis. In order to scientifically improve the training of table tennis players and support table tennis researchers with newer findings, it is necessary to put forward objective evaluation indices for the training intensity and physiological loads of table tennis players and to support scientists with the results of extant research.


Type 2 diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases in the world. It is estimated that more than 140 million people worldwide are currently suffering from diabetes, and by 2025, an estimated more than 300 million people will suffer from the disease. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the correlation of cholesterol with the incidence of Diabetes Mellitus disease. The type of this research is observational with cross-sectional analytic approach and done in PLN employees, total are 112 people of which are mens. All participants underwent biochemical analysis of fasting blood sugar (BSN) and 2 hours PP (post prandial), and total cholesterol level test. Determination of glucose by glucose oxidase method and cholesterol level by CHOD-PAP method. The mean results in normal cholesterol (< 200 mg/dl) obtained BSN = 73 mg / dl, 2 Hours PP = 92 mg / dl, and in abnormal cholesterol (> 200 mg/dl) mean BSN = 81 mg / dl, 2 hours PP = 109 mg / dl, in independent T test with p = 0001 in both groups of different cholesterol levels. Results of the Pearson's correlation test, there was a significant positive correlation between GDP and cholesterol levels (r = 0.262, p = 0.005), and 2 hours PP and cholesterol levels (r = 0.258, p = 0.006). Conclusions: There was a significant positive correlation between 2 hours PP and cholesterol levels. This study shows there is a correlation of cholesterol levels that develop diabetes mellitus type 2.


Individuals acquire experience during their working lives. This is usually thought to contribute to individuals' human capital and is rewarded in terms of pay. This paper looks at whether individuals' pay is also affected by the general experience acquired by others working in the same firm or industry. The mechanism in mind is one where individual workers benefit from exchanges of ideas and learning opportunities that arise because of the human capital of their co-workers. Analysing repeated cross-sections of workers within industry sectors and longitudinal linked employer-employee data, I find the data to be consistent with the presence of knowledge spillovers from workers' general experience levels in the industry and the enterprise. JEL classification: E24, J00, J24, O40.


It's tempting to compare the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic to prior business cycle downturns, particularly the Great Recession. However, such comparisons may not be particularly apt—as evidenced by the unprecedented surge in initial jobless claims over the past three weeks. Recessions typically develop gradually over time, reflecting underlying economic and financial conditions, whereas the current economic situation developed suddenly as a consequence of a fast-moving global pandemic. A more appropriate comparison would be to a regional economy suffering the effects of a severe natural disaster, like Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina or Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. To illustrate this point, we track the recent path of unemployment claims in the United States, finding a much closer match with Louisiana after Katrina than the U.S. economy following the Great Recession.


In texture analysis, the extraction of features from a textured region is generally related to a surface element. The aim of this paper is to introduce a new method using a line element instead of a surface element and to use the corresponding texture features extracted for the segmentation of textured images. First we extract the lines of the initial image, either by the means of an edge detection method, or by a segmentation method based on regions, followed by a thinning operation. Next the texture features are extracted from the lines : these features are line primitives such as terminal points, intersections between lines, "middle" points (points which are neither terminal points nor intersection points), critical points (inflexion, high curvature) and also line segments and their associated measures : length, orientation, contrast. The components of the feature vector characteristic of the texture on a [-N,+N]*[-N,+N] neighbourhood is then defined as the number of occurrence of each primitive on this neighbourhood. The last stage in order to obtain the boundaries consists in defining a distance measuring the difference between feature vectors and in detecting the points where the distance between vectors is higher than a threshold.


The As(V) adsorption onto bone char was investigated as a function of bone char dosage, pH and contact time in batch tests. The initial As(V) concentrations were varied from 0.1 to 1 mg/L to evaluate the adsorption kinetics and isotherm. The As(V) concentrations were analyzed using a graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The highest As(V) removal was found to be 62% after 3 d using 3 g bone char at a pH level of 4.0 for 0.5 mg/L As(V) concentration. The maximum adsorption capacity was 0.13 for 1 mg/L As(V) concentration. A Langmuir isotherm and second order adsorption kinetics were observed for As(V) adsorption.


In studying the effect of ionizing radiation on the properties of human Achilles tendon collagen fibres, the following parameters were analyzed: hydrothermal contraction temperature, module of elasticity, the number of cross-links, free and bound water levels, acids-soluble fraction content, and ultrastructure. With radiation doses of 2-10 Gy no changes in the collagen status were noted. An increased (from 5 to 25 Gy) radiation dose caused changes in physicochemical properties which was indicative of the formation, in the connective tissue collagen, of radiation-induced intermolecular cross-links stabilizing the biopolymer structure.


A comparison of carcinogenicity of the habit of chewing betel quid with and without tobacco has been attempted through a reassessment of the available epidemiological evidence on aetiology of oral cancer and pre-cancer. Primary evidence comes from the reports which emphasize a low incidence of oral cancer among population groups who practise the habit of chewing betel quid without tobacco compared with those which practise the habit of chewing betel quid with tobacco. A more specific comparison is sought here through the quantitative estimation of the relative risks of the two types of betel habits. Out of three studies selected, two studies showed that the relative risk for the habit of betel quid without tobacco was not significant whereas the relative risk for the habit of betel quid with tobacco was highly significant. In the third study, although both relative risks were significant, the relative risk for the habit of betel quid with tobacco was significantly higher than the risk for the habit of betel quid without tobacco. The evidence from studies of oral pre-cancer was also in the same direction. It is suggested that in intervention and primary prevention programmes for oral cancer, the emphasis in the first instance might be upon the exclusion of tobacco from the betel quid rather than the complete discontinuation of the habit of chewing betel quid.


PURPOSE
Left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) are associated with an increased aerobic capacity in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). However, studies evaluating the impact of LVAD implantation on physical activity (PA) are lacking. The aim of this study was to compare daily PA levels in participants with LVADs with well-matched CHF participants.

METHODS
Sixteen participants with an LVAD (age: 59.1 ± 10.8 years) were case-matched to 16 participants with advanced CHF (age: 58.3 ± 8.7 years), who were listed or being considered for cardiac transplantation. Participants underwent a cardiopulmonary exercise test to determine peak oxygen consumption (V[Combining Dot Above]O2 peak). PA was monitored continuously for seven consecutive days with an Actiheart monitor.

RESULTS
V[Combining Dot Above]O2 peak in the CHF group (12.3 ± 3.5 ml·kg·min) was not significantly different to the LVAD group prior to LVAD implantation (10.4 ± 2.1 ml·kg·min), but was lower than in the LVAD group following implantation (15.8 ± 4.3 ml·kg·min; p < 0.05). PA was higher in the LVAD (19.7 ± 6.4 kJ·kg·day) compared with the CHF group (11.6 ± 6.9 kJ·kg·day; p = 0.001). LVAD participants spent more time performing moderate intensity PA than their CHF counterparts, 26 (24-40) [median (IQR)] vs. 12 (9-16) min/day; p < 0.001. PA was correlated with V[Combining Dot Above]O2 peak (r = 0.582; p = 0.001) across participants in the CHF and LVAD groups.

CONCLUSION
Higher levels of PA were observed in participants with LVAD compared with patients with advanced CHF. This may be due to a higher V[Combining Dot Above]O2 peak, resulting in an improved capacity to perform activities of daily living with less symptoms.


The higher education sector in The Netherlands offers excellent examples of what it means to be innovative and entrepreneurial, and promote entrepreneurial mind sets, entrepreneurship and knowledge exchange. Creating value from academic knowledge through innovative services, products, processes and business models that meet economic, social and environmental needs lies at the core of this strategy. The current challenge is to strenghten the anchoring of value-creation processes in education and research. This can be achieved through increased interdisciplinarity, entrepreneurial mindset development across all subject areas, incentives for effective wider world engagement of researchers and students, and growth-oriented support for startups. This report presents an in-depth analysis of the policy framework and institutional practices and provides useful guidance for policy makers and university leaders across the world. HEInnovate is a joint initiative of the European Commission and the OECD to promote the innovative and entrepreneurial higher education institution.


BACKGROUND
A systemic proinflammatory response has been implicated in the pathogenesis of organ dysfunction. The effects of surgery, surgical stress, anesthesia, and subsequent intensive care unit (ICU) resuscitation may affect the components of the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) score (temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, and white blood cell count). Any SIRS scores calculated within 24 hours after surgery or at the onset of nonoperative resuscitation may overestimate the proinflammatory response itself, making quantitation of SIRS at that time potentially too sensitive. We hypothesized that SIRS attributable to ICU resuscitation can be quantitated, and that SIRS after the first day of therapy in the ICU correlates with several outcomes.

METHODS
Prospective analysis of 2300 surgical ICU admissions during a 49-month period. Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation III (APACHE III) scores were recorded after 24 hours. Daily and cumulative multiple organ dysfunction scores (0-4 points for each of 6 organs, 24 points total) and SIRS scores (1 point for each parameter, 4 points total) were recorded. Defined end points were hospital mortality, days in the ICU, and organ dysfunction.

RESULTS
On day 1, 49.4% of patients had SIRS (score > or =2), whereas 34.5% of patients who remained in the ICU had SIRS (score > or =2) on day 2 (P<.001). The SIRS score decreased by a mean of 0.8 points from day 1 to day 2, regardless of the type of admission. A SIRS score that decreased on day 2, in comparison with the score on day 1, resulted in less mortality than a unchanged or higher score on day 2 (11% vs. 18% vs. 22%, P<.001). Systemic inflammatory response scores were higher for nonsurvivors than survivors on each of the first 7 days in the ICU. The day 2 SIRS score correlated well with the admission APACHE III score (P<.001) and all defined end points (all P<.001). The day 2 SIRS score also correlated with the day 2 multiple organ dysfunction score (P<.001). By multiple logistic regression, APACHE III (P<.001), day 2 SIRS score (P<.01) (but not day 1 SIRS score, P = .99), and day 2 multiple organ dysfunction score (P<.001) (but not day 1 multiple organ dysfunction score, P = .81) predicted mortality.

CONCLUSIONS
Systemic inflammatory response syndrome attributable to surgery or surgical stress can be quantitated. Twenty-four hours of ICU resuscitation results in a decline in the SIRS score. The magnitude of the proinflammatory response on the second ICU day may be a useful predictor of outcome in critical surgical illness.


Abstract: The explanation of economization and marketization processes is typically approached in the mindset of structural superiority, primacy or hegemony of the economic subsystem over non-economic spheres of social life. However, economic primacy is an underexplored puzzle for social theory from the perspective of functional differentiation theory, which emphasizes equal autonomy of social subsystems. Schimank has paved the way for theorizing economic primacy and economization pressures coherent with functional differentiation. Economization in his theoretical solution is connected to the economy's governance mechanism—the market which is seen as having a weak order-building capacity. The contribution of this article lies in suggesting an alternative conceptualization of the internal dynamics of the economy—the stagnation tendency for explaining economization pressures as a systematic outcome.


Research at the intersection of creative enterprise, knowledge intensive entrepreneurship, public policy, and economic development is limited, although individually, each of these areas has been researched extensively. Reflective practitioners in industry, Government, and Technology Transfer can utilize this research and the resultant tools, to achieve impact in their respective fields. Utilizing research at this intersection to address the new and ever more challenging problems in health, water, food, energy and environmental concerns highlighted by global warming that this century has brought with it as well as providing tools for Technology Transfer professionals to assist them in effectively contributing to economic development is the goal of the research in this thesis.

Conducting research into the how: How to best choose entrepreneurs; how regions embrace emerging technology based economic growth; how policy can be driven; and how technology transfer can invigorate the creative process is an important step in addressing the needs of reflective practitioners. Addressing the utilization of technology transfers to entrepreneurs to impact economic development through application of new tools for technology identification and utilization provides important tools for next generation economic growth. Assessing how government technology transfer that knowledge to national, regional and local policy makers to impact the next Schumpeterian cycle adds value to both academic research and to society. Contributing to the growing literature stream on including technology entrepreneurial actions in technology transfer policy and how it can be improved provides value to practitioners, entrepreneurs, and policy makers alike.


Compound fault, as a primary failure leading to unexpected downtime of rotating machinery, dramatically increases the difficulty in fault diagnosis. To deal with the difficulty encountered in implementing compound fault diagnosis (CFD), researchers and engineers from industry and academia have made numerous significant breakthroughs in recent years. Admittedly, many systematic surveys focused on fault diagnosis have been conducted by reputable researchers. Nevertheless, previous review articles paid more attention to fault diagnosis with several single or independent faults, resulting in that there is still lacking a comprehensive survey on CFD. Therefore, to fulfill the above requirements, it is necessary to provide an in-depth overview of fault diagnosis methods or algorithms for compound faults of rotating machinery and uncover potential challenges or opportunities that would guide and inspire readers to devote their efforts to promoting fault diagnosis technology more effective and practical. Specifically, the backgrounds including the related definitions and a new taxonomy of CFD methods are detailed according to the way of implementing compound fault recognition. Then, the state-of-the-art applications of CFD are overviewed based on relevant publications in the past decades. Finally, the challenges and opportunities associated with implementing CFD are concluded and followed by a conclusion for ending this survey. We believe that this review article can provide a systematic guideline of CFD from different aspects for potential readers and seasoned researchers.


Phosphinines and donor-substituted phosphinines are of recent interest due to their use in homogeneous catalysis. In this article, a Pd(II) bis(phosphinine) complex was characterised and phosphorus–selenium coupling constants were used to assess the donor properties of the diphenylphosphine substituents of phosphinine ligands to promote their further use in catalysis. The selenation of 2,5-bis(diphenylphosphino)-3,6-dimethylphosphinine (5) and 2-diphenylphosphino-3-methyl-6-trimethylsilylphosphinine (6) gave the corresponding phosphine selenides 8 and 9, respectively, leaving the phosphinine ring intact. Multinuclear NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and single crystal X-ray diffraction confirmed the oxidation of all the diphenylphosphine substituents with 1JP-Se coupling constants determined to be similar to SePPh3, indicating that the phosphinine rings were electronically similar to phenyl substituents. Solutions of 6 were found to react with oxygen slowly to produce the phosphine oxide 10 along with other by-products. The reaction of [bis{3-methyl-6-(trimethylsilyl)phosphinine-2-yl}dimethylsilane] (4) with [PdCl2(COD)] gave the chelating dichloropalladium(II) complex, as determined by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and an elemental analysis. The molecular structure of the intermediate 2 in the formation of 4,6-di(tert-butyl)-1,3,2-diazaphosphinine (3) was also determined, which confirmed the structure of the diazaphosphacycle P(Cl){N=C(tBu)CH=C(tBu)-N(H)}.


The persistent growth in the global population has accounted for the continuous increase in the use of gasoline-based automobile engines. Although the application of gasoline additives such as tetraethyl lead (TEL), oxygenates and metal carbonyls like methyl cyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl (MCT) has been considered suitable for gasoline quality upgrading, the numerous challenges that include environmental pollution and destruction to catalytic converters attributed to search for better valorisation options. The hydrogenation of hydrocarbon fractions from petroleum refining is a forefront issue recently adopted by refineries worldwide. The process involves the incorporation of suitable catalytic systems under hydrogen atmosphere to upgrade hydrocarbons into similar derivatives of better gasoline properties. The paper carefully tailored a series of recently published literature on the various aspect of the hydrogen process with emphasis to catalyst design and testing, mechanisms, industrial perspective and challenges. Areas for further investigations were also discussed.