Conscious consumers have created a need for constant development of technologies and food ingredients. This study aimed to examine the properties of emulsions and spray-dried microcapsules prepared from hempseed oil by employing a combination of maltodextrin with hemp, pea, and rice protein as carrier materials. Oil content in the microcapsules was varied at two levels: 10 and 20%. Increasing oil load caused a decrease in viscosity of all samples. Consistency index of prepared emulsions was calculated according to Power Law model, with the lowest (9.2 ± 1.3 mPa·s) and highest values (68.3 ± 1.1 mPa·s) for hemp and rice protein, respectively, both at 10% oil loading. The emulsion stability ranged from 68.2 ± 0.7% to 88.1 ± 0.9%. Color characteristics of the microcapsules were defined by high L* values (from 74.65 ± 0.03 to 83.06 ± 0.03) and low a* values (−1.02 ± 0.015 to 0.12 ± 0.005), suggesting that the materials were able to coat the greenish color of the hemp seed oil acceptably. The highest encapsulation efficiency was observed in samples with rice protein, while the lowest was with hemp protein. Combination of maltodextrin and proteins had a preventive effect on the oxidative stability of hempseed oil. Oil release profile fitted well with the Higuchi model, with hempseed oil microencapsulated with pea protein–maltodextrin combination at 10% oil loading depicting lowest oil release rates and best oxidative stability.


A 40-Gb/s optical time division multiplexing (OTDM) return-to-zero (RZ) transmission experiments in cluding a dynamic polarization mode dispersion (PMD) compensation was reported. The dynamic PMD compensator is made up of two-stage four degrees of freedom (DOF). The first stage adopts polarization controller and fixed time-delayed line. The second stage is variable differential group delay (DGD) element. The PMD monitoring technique is based on degree of polarization (DOP) as error signal. A novel practical adaptive optimization algorithm was introduced in dynamic adaptive PMD compensation. The experimental results show that the performance of the PMD compensator is excellent for 40-Gb/s RZ transmission systems with the large DGD. With this compensator, a significant improvement of system performance can be achieved in the eye pattern of a received signal. The first-order compensating ability of the compensator is greater than 30 ps. The second-order compensating ability is greater than 200 ps2.The first-order optimum compensating time is within 10 ms. The second-order optimum compensating time is within 24 ms.


Abstract Liposarcomas are malignant mesenchymal neoplasms that, although derived from adipocytes, may dedifferentiate to other cell types. We present an exceedingly rare case of epithelioid/neuroendocrine dedifferentiation with somatostatin expression of a pararenal retroperitoneal liposarcoma. Based on the immunomorphological features, the diagnosis was possible with the support of the molecular FISH investigation: it showed amplification of the MDM2 gene, which is present in most liposarcomas, even in dedifferentiated ones.


William Charles Price, known as Bill Price to his friends and colleagues, was a spectroscopist whose work spanned the disciplines of physics and of chemistry. He made important contributions to our understanding of the electronic structure of molecules through his pioneering developments in vacuum ultraviolet spectroscopy and photoelectron spectroscopy. He was a superb experimentalist, a formidable theorist and an extraordinary innovator. Perhaps more than any other physical scientist of the age he symbolized the approach of the great 19th-century physical scientists who constructed their own apparatus, made their own measurements and developed the theories for interpreting their own results. He and his research group were constantly at the forefront of new instrumental developments and the interpretation of the novel data that could then be produced. The greater part of his career was spent at King's College, London, where he was the Wheatstone Professor of Physics.


The government, the General Medical Council, and the medical profession were criticised last week for failing to respond to the recommendations of the inquiry into the case of Harold Shipman, the GP who murdered more than 200 patients.

At a meeting convened at the Royal Society of Medicine in London to discuss trust between doctors and patients after the Shipman case, Janet Smith, chairwoman of the Shipman inquiry, said that the case had "disclosed a raft of flaws in professional governance" and that "inaction cannot be defended."

The GMC's plan for revalidation was "stopped in its tracks," she said, which was "good because as proposed it was merely a rubber stamping exercise, but 18 months on we are still waiting to learn what is to be done."

Aneez Esmail, professor of general practice at Manchester University and an adviser to the inquiry, said that the "continued silence" of the chief medical officer indicates that an "unholy compromise is being worked out."

"And when it does appear I predict it will be a fudge," he said.

The inquiry's recommendation to revise death and cremation certification ( BMJ 2002;325: 919) should already have been implemented, speakers underlined. It was the most effective way of "preventing another Shipman" and—unlike revalidation (which could not identify a serial killer)—was simple to implement.

When …


M3:2 high speed steels with and without carbon addition were prepared by using powder metallurgy at sintering temperature between 1210 and 1280 °C. Densification, microstructure and mechanical properties of M3:2 high speed steels were investigated. Experimental results show that with 0.4wt% carbon addition, full density high speed steels were obtained at temperatures in the range 1240-1260 °C which is 40 °C lower than that of the undoped counterparts, leading to a sintering window expanded by 10 to 20 °C. By the addition of 0.4wt% carbon, the sintered steels show attractive combinations of bend strength and hardness over those of M3:2 steels without carbon addition. The results reveal that the addition of carbon will not only lower the sintering temperature and oxygen content, but also improve the mechanical properties of the sintered steels.


The emerging field of proteomics offers great promise for unraveling the complex molecular events of tumorigenesis, as well as those that control clinically important tumor behaviors such as metastases, invasion, and resistance to therapy. Understanding the molecular basis of these tumor characteristics will usher in a new age of individualized cancer therapy. Advances in genomics, the study of genes and gene expression, as well as technologic advances have made possible study of all expressed proteins or the proteome (proteomics). Whereas genomics offers the opportunity to examine gene expression or variation in gene sequence, proteomics encompasses evaluation of protein expression, activation, modification, and degradation and ambitiously targets protein function. Although the present age has already been referred to as the post‐genomic era, it is our opinion that both proteomics and genomics will provide clinically useful and complementary information that will speed scientific understanding of cancer. Ultimately, these new technologies will positively impact care of patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 28: 549–558, 2006


Abstract The study of boundaries is a recurring theme in ecology. However, boundaries have been examined mainly on fine scales (between communities) and on coarse scales (between biomes), while boundaries of intermediate scales (e.g. between community complexes) are quite neglected. In this study, we analysed boundaries between mesic and xeric community complexes in a sub-Mediterranean karst area of South Hungary. We applied the moving split window (MSW) technique for boundary analysis. First, since the behaviour ofMSWconcerning complex vegetation patterns is not fully understood, we prepared artificial datasets (simulated communities) to test its capacities. Second, we established north-south oriented belt transects across mountain ridges of the Villány Mts, and investigated the transition between the community complexes of differently exposed slopes. UsingMSW, we were able clearly to distinguish between transitional zones and zones that do not represent real transitions: peaks in the Z-score profile of MSW merge only in the case of transitional zones. Moreover, we found that peaks merge depending on the independence (distinctness) of the transitional zone: when it is distinct, peaks merge only at the largest window widths. In the Villány Mts, transitions seem to occur mostly in the grasslands north of the ridges. We demonstrated that these grasslands can be regarded as boundaries between mesic and xeric complexes or as zones in their own right, with their own two boundaries. Interpretation depends upon the scale of observation.


Hybrid tubes made by metal and composite combine the benefits of the high strength to weight ratio of the fiber/resin composite and the stable, ductile plastic collapse mechanism of the metal, to form a composite tube with high strength and energy absorption capability. The improvement of energy absorption parameters of circular steel tube as crash energy absorber that usually is used in automobile and train structures is studied in this paper. In order to improving energy absorption characteristics, circular steel tube wrapped by glass fiber reinforced polyester with different fiber orientation and various number of layers tested under axial quasi-static loading to achieve the optimum structure.


The evoked potential induced by stimulating the cerebellum by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was measured and the reaction map of the TMS over the cerebellum for observing the neuronal connectivity in the brain was obtained in this study. An electroencephalogram (EEG) measurement system to eliminate the electromagnetic interaction emitted from TMS was used. EEG activities 5 ms after TMS stimulation were successfully measured. There were several components of evoked potential after stimulation, at 10, 25, and 50 ms. A large response of evoked potential appeared at about 10 ms after TMS when the cerebellum was stimulated. Reaction maps of the stimulation at the occipital area were obtained using the 9-ms evoked potential component. From the reaction map, it is possible to consider that the fast component of evoked signal by TMS to the cerebellum was conducted posteriorly to anteriorly along the pathways of the neuronal fiber exiting the cerebellum to the cerebral cortex. The response at the right brain was large when the left cerebellum was stimulated. The response at the left brain was large when the right cerebellum was stimulated. The response map of the TMS gave information of the neuronal connectivity. TMS will become a useful tool for the study of cortical reactivity and neuronal connectivity of the brain.


Experience with analog turbine electrohydraulic governor (EHG) systems has led to the development of triplex modular redundant architectures to achieve high availabilities. Subsequent developments with digital systems have continued with this philosophy but have expanded the range of control functions, improved operator interfaces, and resulted in reduced costs. An overview is given of the experience with digital EHG systems. >


The purpose of this investigation was to determine the performance, characteristics, and coefficients of full-sized air propellers in flight and to compare these results with those derived from wind-tunnel tests on reduced scale models of similar geometrical form. The full-scale equipment comprised five propellers in combination with a VE-7 airplane and Wright E-4 engine. This part of the work was carried out at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, between May 1 and August 24, 1924, and was under the immediate charge of Mr. Lesley. The model or wind-tunnel part of the investigation was carried out at the Aerodynamic Laboratory of Stanford University and was under the immediate charge of Doctor Durand. A comparison of the curves for full-scale results with those derived from the model tests shows that while the efficiencies realized in flight are close to those derived from model tests, both thrust developed and power absorbed in flight are from 6 to 10 per cent greater than would be expected from the results of model tests.


Electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) attempts to image the permittivity distribution of an object by measuring the electrical capacitances between sets of electrodes placed around its periphery. Image reconstruction in ECT is a nonlinear and ill-posed inverse problem. Although reconstruction techniques based on a linear approximation are fast, they are not adequate for all cases. In this paper, we study the nonlinearity of the inverse permittivity problem of ECT. A regularized Gauss–Newton scheme has been implemented for nonlinear image reconstruction. The forward problem has been solved at each iteration using the finite element method and the Jacobian matrix is recalculated using an efficient adjoint field method. Regularization techniques are required to overcome the ill-posedness: smooth generalized Tikhonov regularization for the smoothly varying case, and total variation (TV) regularization when there is a sharp transition of the permittivity have been used. The reconstruction results for experimental ECT data demonstrate the advantage of TV regularization for jump changes, and show improvement of the image quality by using nonlinear reconstruction methods.


Poplar (Populus euramericana cv.) is one of the most important fast-growing tree species in China, but so far its utilization has been limited to nonstructural wood-based panels. The objective of this work was to develop a good understanding of how to improve the mechanical properties of poplar laminated veneer lumber (LVL) with carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP). A theoretical model was successfully developed to predict the bending modulus of elasticity (MOE) of LVL reinforced by CFRP. To validate the model, two different configurations of LVL were made in the laboratory: LVL reinforced with a single layer of CFRP on one side (LVL-SR) and LVL reinforced with a single layer of CFRP on each side (LVL-DR). It was found that the model prediction of the LVL MOE agreed well with the experimental results. LVL reinforced with CFRP had a greater MOE and modulus of rupture (MOR) than the control LVL. The MOE of the LVL-SR and LVL-DR increased by 40% and 67%, respectively.


In the present work we apply a computational simulation framework developed for square-cell shaped honeycomb Diesel Particulate Filters to study the filtration, pressure drop and soot oxidation characteristics of recently developed triangular-cell-shaped, high porosity wall-flow filters. Emphasis is placed on the evaluation of the applicability and adaptation of the previously developed models to the case of triangular channels. To this end Computational Fluid Dynamics, asymptotic analysis, multichannel and "unit-cell" calculations are employed to analyze filter behavior and the results are shown to compare very well to experiments available in the literature.


The study reviewed students' fear for Genetics in Biology in Nigeria based. Personal observation of the reviewer and evidence from literature showed the traditional teaching strategies have low positive effect on students' understanding of Genetics. Also, the review showed that poor performance on questions bothering on Genetics has been severally attributed to Biology teachers' use of traditional lecture method which fails in communicating Genetics concepts effectively. This formed the basis of review. It was concluded that the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) packages could be used by teachers to assist in distilling students'' fear of Genetics and make teaching and learning more realistic and effective. It was recommended that Biology teachers should be trained and regularly retrained by the government on the utilization of ICT packages for instructional delivery in Biology.


As the geriatric population in the United States continues to increase, ankle fractures in the elderly are predicted to exponentially increase in the future. As such, these injuries will become a common injury seen by physicians in various fields. Currently, no studies discussing low-energy open ankle fractures in the elderly and/or the mortality rate associated with these devastating injuries have been published. The purpose of the present study was to retrospectively review the morality rate associated with low-energy open ankle fractures in the elderly. We retrospectively identified 11 patients >60 years old who had sustained low-energy open ankle fractures and been treated at our institution. The patient demographics, mechanism of injury, wound size, medical comorbidities, treatment, follow-up data, and outcomes were recorded. Low-energy falls were defined as ground level falls from sitting or standing. The mean age of the patients was 70.72 years, with a mean body mass index of 35.93 ± 10.24. Of the 11 patients, 9 (81.81%) had ≥3 comorbidities (i.e., hypertension, diabetes, coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, and/or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). The mean size of the medially based ankle wound was 14.18 ± 4.12 cm; 10 (90.90%) were Gustilo and Anderson grade IIIA open ankle fractures. In our study, low-energy open ankle fractures in the elderly, very similar to hip fractures, were associated with a high mortality incidence (27.27%) at a mean of 2.67 ± 2.02 months, and 81.81% of our patients had ≥3 medical comorbidities.


While bariatric surgery can promote remission of type 2 diabetes (T2D), it can also result in severe hypoglycemia, termed post-bariatric hypoglycemia (PBH). Hypoglycemia is most often recognized after meals, but also can occur after activity or during mid-nocturnal hours and can yield unawareness and disabling neuroglycopenia. We used blinded CGM (Dexcom G4) to characterize glycemia, glycemic variability (GV), and severity and length of hypoglycemia in patients with PBH with prior roux-en-Y gastric bypass (PBH, n=40). We compared results to those of individuals with reactive hypoglycemia with no prior GI surgery (Hypo, no-GS, n=20) and to publicly available Dexcom G4 data from 3 additional groups: healthy controls (HC, n=38), prediabetes (Pre-DM, n=14), and T2D (n=5). Metrics were assessed over 24 hours as well as during daytime (6 AM to midnight) and nighttime (midnight to 6 AM) independently. Mean and median sensor glucose (SG) were similar for PBH and HC (mean: 99.8±18.6 vs. 96.9±10.2 mg/dL; median: 93.0±14.8 vs. 94.5±7.4 mg/dL, p>0.05 for both). By contrast, PBH had higher coefficient of variation (27.3±6.8 vs. 17.9±2.4%, p In summary, patients with PBH experience higher GV and greater severity and frequency of hypoglycemia compared to HC, especially at night. Future studies should explore the potential of CGM technology in assisting PBH patients to recognize early hypoglycemia and prevent severe hypoglycemia. Disclosure D. Lee: None. J. Dreyfuss: None. C.M. Mulla: None. M. Patti: Consultant; Self; Fractyl Laboratories, Inc. Research Support; Self; Dexcom, Inc., Xeris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Other Relationship; Self; Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, American Diabetes Association, American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, Endocrine Society, Insulet Corporation, King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, SUNY Downstate. Funding National Institutes of Health (R01DK121995); National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (T32DK007260)


ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of exercise characteristics and physical activity level on sleep quality in older adults. The study was completed on 349 older adults. Individuals, aged 60 years and older who scored 24 or greater on the mini mental test's scores and who were not actively working were included. The short form of The International Physical Activity Questionnaire was used to determine the level of physical activity. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index was used to evaluate sleep quality. There was a poor positive correlation between age and self-reported sleep quality in older women and older men (r = .205, p = .004, r = .317, p = .001). There was a negative correlation between physical activity and self-reported sleep quality in older women and older men (r = –.410, p = .001, r = –.488, p = .001). Living status was a factor significantly affecting sleep quality in older women (p = .016), whereas it was not significant for older men(p = .128). The presence of disease and regular exercise significantly affected sleep quality in older women and older men (p = .012, p = .003). However, no difference was found between exercise frequency, exercise duration, exercise time, exercise intensity and sleep quality in older adults (p > .05). According to these findings, regular exercise or physical activity at a minimal level may positively affect self-reported sleep quality in older adults. But exercise's characteristic does not affect self-reported sleep quality differently.


In 1971, Grauert and Remmert proved that a commutative, complex, Noetherian Banach algebra is necessarily finite-dimensional. More precisely, they proved that a commutative, complex Banach algebra has finite dimension over C whenever all the closed ideals in the algebra are (algebraically) finitely generated. In 1974, Sinclair and Tullo obtained a non-commutative version of this result. In 1978, Ferreira and Tomassini improved the result of Grauert and Remmert by showing that the statement is also true if one replaces `closed ideals' by `maximal ideals in the Shilov boundary of A'. We give a shorter proof of this latter result, together with some extensions and related examples. We study the following conjecture. Suppose that all maximal left ideals in a unital Banach algebra A are finitely generated. Then A is finite-dimensional.


Juvenile Russian sturgeon (Acipenser gueldenstaedtii) fed feeds including fish oil, soybean oil and sunflower oil were researched and the effects of the feeds on the growth performance and fatty acid composition of the fish were studied. In the Sapanca Inland Waters Research and Experiment Department of ‹stanbul University's Faculty of Fisheries, sturgeon juveniles having an approximate initial weight of 27.23 - 0.98 g were fed experimental feeds containing different kinds of oil for 63 days. Weight gain was 36.83 - 1.84 g in the fish oil group, 37.63 - 1.76 g in the sunflower oil group and 32.91 - 1.93 g in the soybean oil group. Feed conversion ratios were 1.30, 1.30 and 1.45, respectively. The experimental feeds contained 43.79% crude protein and 13.98% crude lipid. At the end of the feeding trials, whole body fat was found 4.65% in the fish oil group, 5.19% in the sunflower oil group and 4.73% in the soybean oil group. Growth performance parameters (HSI, VSI, FCR and SGR) varied significantly among the groups (P ≤ 0.05). The fatty acid composition analyses showed that total n-3 and n-6 in the whole body fatty acids and the liver fatty acid contents of fish fed feeds contain different kinds of oil were significantly different (P ≤ 0.05). Naturally, in the groups fed vegetable oil, the ratio of total n-6 fatty acids was higher (22.58 and 22.98) than that in the fish oil group (11.39), and in the group fed fish oil, the n-3 fatty acid ratio was higher (21.57) than that in the vegetable oil groups (13.15 and 15.00). Similar results were found for the values of liver fatty acid composition. These results suggest that sturgeon require both n-3 and n-6 fatty acids and accumulation of these fatty acids in the flesh and liver was affected by fatty acids in the feeds. Therefore, it is possible to use a certain amount of soybean oil or sunflower oil instead of fish oil in sturgeon diets.


Both Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and atherosclerosis are complex polygenic diseases. Previous studies have demonstrated that patients with RA are associated with up to 60% increased risk of cardiovascular disease related death. Nonetheless, the increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in patients with RA cannot be entirely explained by traditional risk factors, and likely to be multifactorial. The present article reviews the data supporting the association of RA with cardiovascular risk factors, possible mechanism for developing atherosclerosis and evaluates the potential strategies that may prevent premature atherosclerosis in these patients.


An expert system in fatigue and fracture analysis based on Web is developed in this paper. The system consists of six functional parts: a general inference engine, some knowledge bases, a context, an interpretation engine, a bases administration system and the interface (includes browser, Web-server, etc.). It can simulate a human expert to make analysis and design scheme for some typical structural components: pressure vessels, huge rotation constructions, welded structures, etc. It is an open system which may be broadened and perfected to cover a wider range of application through the modification and enlargement of the knowledge and data bases on Web.


ABSTRACT Management of patients with severe or critical COVID-19 is mainly modeled after care of patients with severe pneumonia or acute respiratory distress syndrome from other causes. These models are based on evidence that primarily originates from investigations in high-income countries, but it may be impractical to apply these recommendations to resource-restricted settings in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We report on a set of pragmatic recommendations for microbiology and laboratory testing, imaging, and the use of diagnostic and prognostic models in patients with severe COVID-19 in LMICs. For diagnostic testing, where reverse transcription–PCR (RT-PCR) testing is available and affordable, we recommend using RT-PCR of the upper or lower respiratory specimens and suggest using lower respiratory samples for patients suspected of having COVID-19 but have negative RT-PCR results for upper respiratory tract samples. We recommend that a positive RT-PCR from any anatomical source be considered confirmatory for SARS-CoV-2 infection, but, because false-negative testing can occur, recommend that a negative RT-PCR does not definitively rule out active infection if the patient has high suspicion for COVID-19. We suggest against using serologic assays for the detection of active or past SARS-CoV-2 infection, until there is better evidence for its usefulness. Where available, we recommend the use of point-of-care antigen-detecting rapid diagnostic testing for SARS-CoV-2 infection as an alternative to RT-PCR, only if strict quality control measures are guaranteed. For laboratory testing, we recommend a baseline white blood cell differential platelet count and hemoglobin, creatinine, and liver function tests and suggest a baseline C-reactive protein, lactate dehydrogenase, troponin, prothrombin time (or other coagulation test), and D-dimer, where such testing capabilities are available. For imaging, where availability of standard thoracic imaging is limited, we suggest using lung ultrasound to identify patients with possible COVID-19, but recommend against its use to exclude COVID-19. We suggest using lung ultrasound in combination with clinical parameters to monitor progress of the disease and responses to therapy in COVID-19 patients. We currently suggest against using diagnostic and prognostic models as these models require extensive laboratory testing and imaging, which often are limited in LMICs.


Irisin, released from exercised muscle, has been shown to have beneficial effects on numerous tissues but its effects on bone are unclear. We found significant sex and genotype differences in bone from wildtype (WT) mice compared to mice lacking Fndc5 (KO), with and without calcium deficiency. Despite their bone being indistinguishable from WT females, KO female mice were partially protected from osteocytic osteolysis and osteoclastic bone resorption when allowed to lactate or when placed on a low-calcium diet. Male KO mice have more but weaker bone compared to WT males, and when challenged with a low-calcium diet lost more bone than WT males. To begin to understand responsible molecular mechanisms, osteocyte transcriptomics was performed. Osteocytes from WT females had greater expression of genes associated with osteocytic osteolysis and osteoclastic bone resorption compared to WT males which had greater expression of genes associated with steroid and fatty acid metabolism. Few differences were observed between female KO and WT osteocytes, but with a low calcium diet, the KO females had lower expression of genes responsible for osteocytic osteolysis and osteoclastic resorption than the WT females. Male KO osteocytes had lower expression of genes associated with steroid and fatty acid metabolism, but higher expression of genes associated with bone resorption compared to male WT. In conclusion, irisin plays a critical role in the development of the male but not the female skeleton and protects male but not female bone from calcium deficiency. We propose irisin ensures the survival of offspring by targeting the osteocyte to provide calcium in lactating females, a novel function for this myokine.


The objective of the Electric Power Project for Myanmar is to increase capacity and efficiency of gas-fired power generation, and, therefore, help reduce electricity shortages in the country. An additional objective is to support the ministry of electric power and Myanmar electric power enterprise in strengthening their institutional capacity. Some of the question or compliant linked to the construction and operation of the new CCGT Power Plant in Thaton, people can fill in a grievance forms at several entities; The communities surrounding the Project expressed their expectations during the sessions regarding electricity supply and related economic benefits. It shall be noted that the Project presented cannot directly guarantee opportunities to locally connect to the electrical grid, but instead is planned in national context. The villagers expectations are summarized as follows : (i) extending grid connections and improving quality of supply; (ii) improvement of the self help village electrification system; (iii) concerns were raised regarding social disturbance and environmental pollution are social disturbance,environmental pollution; Some of the suggestions are includes : (i) The community in Kyar Dan village suggested keeping a phone line (hotline) open to report to responsible persons (village tract administrator, village heads, Village Electrification Committee, power plant management) in the event of emergencies; (ii) It was suggested that billboards should be erected containing the names and phone numbers Of responsible persons, and that these are placed at the road crossings or strategic places within the villages; (iii) The complainants shall receive an answer to their grievances in a short period of time in the form selected by themselves. The GRM will not allow nor promote discrimination based on age, gender, income level, ethnicity, religion or others, and will allow the placement of anonymous complains (which, however, precludes providing an answer).


This is the first serious attempt to understand modern Iraq through a close examination of the political discourse used by the Ba'th regime and its leader, Saddam Hussein. By analysing political terms, concepts, and idioms as disseminated through the official Iraqi mouthpieces, author Ofra Bengio illuminates Iraq's political culture and the events that these expressions have both reflected and shaped. Not only does this study add to our understanding of the "Saddam enigma;" it also offers a more universal truth: that under any regime, political culture is built on public discourse. Saddam's Word will be of much interest to students of the contemporary Middle East, as well as to all other observers of Saddam Hussein and his regime.


The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between scaled speech intelligibility and selected acoustic variables in persons with dysarthria. Control speakers and speakers with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Parkinson's disease (PD) produced sentences which were analyzed acoustically and perceptually. The acoustic variables included total utterance durations, segment durations, estimates of the acoustic vowel space, and slopes of formant transitions; the perceptual variables included scaled speech intelligibility and severity of speech involvement. Results indicated that the temporal variables typically differentiated the ALS group, but not the PD group, from the controls, and that vowel spaces were smaller for both neurogenic groups as compared to controls, but only significantly so for the ALS speakers. The relation of these acoustic measures to scaled speech intelligibility is shown to be complex, and the composite results are discussed in terms of sentence vs. single-word intelligibility estimates and their underlying acoustic bases.


The purpose of this study was to establish the norms of the craniofacial region of Malay children of both genders at aged group of 7 and 12-year-old. This cross-sectional study involves 200 healthy Malay school children aged seven and twelve year old. Each group of children consisted of 50 males and 50 females. These children were selected from Sekolah Kebangsaan Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor.
Twenty-two (22) linear anthropometric measurements were taken and seventeen (17) proportions indices were derived from these linear measurements. Results showed that eighteen (18) of the twenty two (22) linear anthropometric measurement were higher in elder group of both gender and this finding was statistically significant (p<0.05). Head length and head circumference were statistically significantly higher in female whereas the head height was higher in elder male. The eye fissure height was the only measurement that showed a significantly smaller reading in elder groups of both genders (p<0.05).
Three indices namely the middle-lower face depth index, eye fissure index and upper lip height-mouth width index were significantly smaller (p<0.05) in the elder group and this were observed for both genders. The proportion index for the nasal tip protrusion-nose width index was higher in elder group of both genders (p<0.05). The lower-upper lip height index and mouth-face width index were significantly higher (p<0.05) in elder male whereas the proportion index for nose-face height index was
Abstract
iii
higher in elder female (p<0.05). In contrast with intercanthal index, was significantly lower in elder female (p<0.05).
Gender-wise, it was noted that the male exhibited larger measurements than female for both aged groups.
For the 7-year-olds, the mean value showed a significant difference (p<0.05) between genders only in 6 linear measurements. These were head width, head length, maxillary depth, mandibular depth, binocular width and upper lip height.
As for proportion indices in this group of children, the significant difference (p<0.05) between genders were noted only in upper lip height-mouth width index and lower-upper lip height index. Male have a higher measurement in upper lip-height index. However female have a higher lower-upper lip height index than male and the result was statistically significant (p<0.05).
For 12-year-old group, again the males generally have a larger measurement than females. The linear anthropometric measurements were significantly different (p<0.05) between genders in 5 parameters. There were craniofacial height, mandibular width, maxillary depth, mandibular depth and upper lip height.
As for the proportion indices, there were significant difference (p<0.05) between gender in mandible-face width index and upper lip height-mouth width index. In both cases the indices were higher in male.
Abstract
iv
The craniofacial of the subjects appeared to undergo a remarkably constant growth pattern with certain area showed a highly significant difference between male and female. It is possible that this normal value can be used for making a diagnosis, as facial analysis and as facial reference for both genders of Malay children at age 7- and 12-year-old.


This paper investigates investment and output dynamics in a simple continuous time setting, showing that financing constraints substantially alter the relationship between net worth and the decisions of an optimizing firm. In the absence of financing constraints, net worth is irrelevant (the 1958 Modigliani–Miller irrelevance proposition applies). When incorporating financing constraints, a decline in net worth leads to the firm reducing investment and also output (when this reduces risk exposure). This negative relationship between net worth and investment has already been examined in the literature. The contribution here is providing new intuitive insights: (i) showing how large and long lasting the resulting non-linearity of firm behaviour can be, even with linear production and preferences; and (ii) highlighting the economic mechanisms involved—the emergence of shadow prices creating both corporate prudential saving and induced risk aversion. The emergence of such pronounced non-linearity, even with linear production and preference functions, suggests that financing constraints can have a major impact on investment and output; and this should be allowed for in empirical modelling of economic and financial crises (for example, the great depression of the 1930s, the global financial crisis of 2007–2008 and the crash following the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020).


Insulin delivery to the brain has emerged as an important therapeutic target for cognitive disorders associated with abnormal brain energy metabolism. Although insulin is transported across the blood-brain barrier, peripheral routes of administration are problematic due to systemic effects of insulin on blood glucose. Intranasal (IN) administration is being investigated as an alternative route. We conducted a head-to-head comparison of subcutaneous (SC) and IN insulin, assessing plasma and brain pharmacokinetics and blood glucose levels in the mouse. SC insulin (2.4 IU) achieved therapeutically relevant concentrations in the brain (AUCbrain = 2537 h·μIU/mL) but dramatically increased plasma insulin (AUCplasma = 520 351 h·*μIU/mL), resulting in severe hypoglycemia and in some cases death. IN administration of the same dose resulted in similar insulin levels in the brain (AUCbrain = 3442 h·μIU/mL) but substantially lower plasma concentrations (AUCplasma = 354 h·μIU/mL), amounting to a ∼ 2000-fold increase in the AUCbrain:plasma ratio relative to SC. IN dosing also had no significant effect on blood glucose. When administered daily for 9 days, IN insulin increased brain glucose and energy metabolite concentrations (e.g., adenosine triphosphate and phosphocreatine) without causing overt toxicity, suggesting that IN insulin may be a safe therapeutic option for cognitively impaired patients.


OBJECTIVE
Plain language in medicine has long been advocated as a way to improve patient understanding and engagement. As the field of Natural Language Processing has progressed, increasingly sophisticated methods have been explored for the automatic simplification of existing biomedical text for consumers. We survey the literature in this area with the goals of characterizing approaches and applications, summarizing existing resources, and identifying remaining challenges.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
We search English language literature using lists of synonyms for both the task (eg, "text simplification") and the domain (eg, "biomedical"), and searching for all pairs of these synonyms using Google Scholar, Semantic Scholar, PubMed, ACL Anthology, and DBLP. We expand search terms based on results and further include any pertinent papers not in the search results but cited by those that are.

RESULTS
We find 45 papers that we deem relevant to the automatic simplification of biomedical text, with data spanning 7 natural languages. Of these (nonexclusively), 32 describe tools or methods, 13 present data sets or resources, and 9 describe impacts on human comprehension. Of the tools or methods, 22 are chiefly procedural and 10 are chiefly neural.

CONCLUSIONS
Though neural methods hold promise for this task, scarcity of parallel data has led to continued development of procedural methods. Various low-resource mitigations have been proposed to advance neural methods, including paragraph-level and unsupervised models and augmentation of neural models with procedural elements drawing from knowledge bases. However, high-quality parallel data will likely be crucial for developing fully automated biomedical text simplification.


Purpose We assessed the suitability of a low-cost, handheld, nonmydriatic retinograph, namely the Horus DEC 200, for diabetic retinopathy (DR) diagnosis. Two factors were considered: ease of image acquisition and image quality. Methods One operator acquired fundus photographs from 54 patients using the Horus and AFC-330, a more expensive, nonportable retinograph. Satisfaction surveys were filled out by patients. Then, two retinologists subjectively assessed image quality and graded DR severity in one eye of each patient. Objective image quality indices also were computed. Results During image acquisitions, patients had difficulty locating the fixation target inside the Horus: by default, 53.7% of them had to fixate external points with the contralateral eye, as opposed to none of them using the AFC-330 (P < 0.0001). This issue impacted the duration of image acquisitions. Images obtained by the Horus were of significantly lower quality according to the experts (P = 0.0002 and P = 0.0004) and to the objective criterion (P < 0.0001). As a result, up to 20.4% of eyes were inadequate for interpretation, as opposed to 9.3% using the AFC-330. However, no significant difference was found in terms of DR severity according to both experts (P = 0.557 and P = 0.156). Conclusions The Horus can be used to screen DR, but at the cost of longer examination times and higher proportions of patients referred to an ophthalmologist due to inadequate image quality. Translational Relevance The Horus is adequate to screen DR, for instance in primary care centers or in mobile imaging units.


This article investigates a fault detection system of MF285 Tractor gearbox empirically. After designing and constructing the laboratory set up, the vibration signals obtained using a Piezoelectric accelerometer which has been installed on the Bearing housings are related to rotary gear number 1 in two directions perpendicular to the shaft and in line with the shaft. The vector data were conducted in three different speeds of shaft 1500, 1000 and 2000 rpm and 130 repetitions were performed for each data vector state to increase the precision of neural network by using more data. Data captured were transformed to frequency domain for analyzing and input to the neural network by Fourier transform. To do neural network analysis, significant features were selected using a genetic algorithm and compatible neural network was designed with data captured. According to the results of the best output mode for each position of the sensor network in 1000, 1500 and 2000 rpm, totally for the six output models, all function parameters for MATLAB Software quality content calculated to evaluate network performance. These experiments showed that the overall mean correlation coefficient of the network to adapt to the mechanism of defect detection and classification system is equal to 99.9%.


Purpose: This study has investigated the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of DBT for Marijuana cessation and craving reduction as a pilot RCT.Methods: Sixty-one participants were randomly assigned to one of the DBT or psycho-education as active control-group with two-month follow-up. Patients completed measures at pre-interventions, post-interventions, and a two-month follow-up.Results: feasibility in DBT is significantly higher than the control group. In the DBT group 29/30 (96% retention) and in control group 24/31 (77% retention) completed all sessions (χ2= 4.95, p = 0.02). Moreover, 29/30 (96%) in the DBT group and 20/31 (64.5%) in the control group completed the two-month follow-up (χ2= 9.97, p = 0.002). For the acceptability of the intervention, results showed 16.57 (agree) in DBT and 9.6 (neither agree nor disagree) in control groups for p < 0.05. For appropriateness, results showed 17.03 (completely agree) in DBT and 10.7 (neither agree nor disagree) in control-groups for p < 0.05. for craving, results confirmed that there is no significant difference between groups (F = 3.52, p > 0.05); however, in "emotionality," subscale DBT showed a significant reduction rather than the control group (F = 19.94, p < 0.05). For cessation rates, DBT was compared with the control group at the posttest (46% vs. 16%) and follow-up (40% vs. 9.5%), and results proved higher effectiveness in the DBT group for p < 0.05. Furthermore, among those who have lapsed, participation in the DBT group had fewer days than consume for p <0.05.Conclusions: DBT shows feasibility, acceptability, and promise in improving cessation rate in Marijuana use disorder and warrants further investigations.


The present study describes the phytochemical screening and antibacterial study of chloroform, hexane, acetone and ethanol extract of Prosopis glandulosa leaves, flower, stem and seeds. The phytochemicals screening revealed that the solvent extracts contained terpenoids, carbohydrates, glycosides, saponins, alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, phenols, coumarins and proteins. In vitro antibacterial studies on the solvent leaves and flower extracts were carried out on two medically important bacterial strains (Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus) using the agar disc diffusion method. The bacterial strains were exposed to the following four different concentrations of extracts: 01μg/ml, 05 μg/ml, and 10 μg/ml solvent. The results of our antibacterial assay revealed that the extract showed good inhibitory activity against all the tested pathogens


This study explores components of ambitious teaching practices for teaching multiplicative properties that can give teachers opportunities to learn through a quick images activity in a cycle of enactment and investigation. Throughout the cycle, it is found that the participants have opportunities to learn the following components of ambitious teaching: 1. the mathematical ideas (strategies and concepts) involved, 2. mathematical work on representations, 3. predicting student responses, 4. mathematical language, and 5. setting and working towards a focused mathematical learning goal for the students. The findings point out the complexities of learning to teach elementary mathematics, such as the associative property of multiplication. The findings also highlight the opportunities these complexities provide for teacher learning when it comes to distinguishing between and understanding commutative and associative computations.


The concept of sustainable manufacturing is increasingly becoming a new trend in the today's industry, induced by the environmental issues such as global warming and scarcity of natural resources, and subsequently customer and government interactions. This leads to introduce the impacts of the industrial activities to the environment as crucial requirements, side by side to traditional ones such as production cost, product quality and quick response to market demands. Comparing to other sectors among the industry field, the manufacturing sector is a key player in this eco-friendly transformation because of its massive impacts contribution. Energy optimisation is one of the most important features of the developing sustainable manufacturing system; since it has very strong influence on limiting these bad impacts, which often cause increase in the operational cost.

This research describes a framework, and its software, which proactively predicts and then optimises the energy consumption of an assembly machine throughout its lifecycle, in particular at the design phase where alternative machine designs and configurations can be examined and evaluated based on their potential energy consumption. The proposed framework benefits from the component-based approach as the modular component is the basic entity to be (re)used and (re)configured throughout machine development process, and virtual engineering technology which facilitates investigating component and machine behaviours virtually with high degree of reliability and robustness throughout its lifecycle.

The aim of this research is to link assembly machine process parameters to energy prediction and optimisation requirements in a virtual environment to enable different alternatives to be examined and investigated before the physical build of the machine.

For proof of concept demonstration, a case study of a pick-and-place automatic workstation is presented. The energy consumption optimisation is achieved by optimising components motion control and station sequence of operation. In the case study, a number of experiments has been conducted to compare alternative designs and configurations against the original design. The results showed energy saving up to 27%, in spite of number of limitations, comparing to the original design by redefining 1) the component motion profile, 2) mode of operations, 3) start time, and 4) machine trajectory.


This study examined the effect of Urea Deep Placement (UDP) technology on the output of irrigated rice farmers in the northern region of Ghana. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 142 rice farmers from the Golinga and Bontanga irrigation schemes, around Tamale. A treatment effect model was estimated at two stages; firstly, to determine the factors that influenced farmers' decision to adopt the UDP technology and secondly, to determine the effect of the adoption of the UDP technology on the output of rice farmers. The significant variables that influenced rice farmers' adoption of the UPD technology were sex of the farmer, land ownership, off-farm activity, extension service, farmer group participation and training. The results also revealed that farm size and the adoption of UDP technology significantly influenced the output of rice farmers in the northern region of Ghana. In addition to the potential of the technology to improve yields, it also presents an employment opportunity for women and youth, who are engaged in the deep placement of Urea Super Granules (USG), as well as in the transplantation of rice. It is recommended that the government of Ghana work closely with the IFDC to embed the UDP technology in the national agricultural programmes and policies. The study also recommends an effective collaboration between the government, through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) and the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) to train agricultural extension agents on UDP technology in the rice producing areas of the country. Keywords—Northern Ghana, output, irrigation rice farmers, treatment effect model, urea deep placement.


Botulinum toxin is a potent toxin and powerful therapeutic tool. Botulinum toxin has therapeutic application in the treatment of a host of neurological, ophthalmologic, gastroenterological, urologic, and dermatologic conditions. Although there are issues specific to each disorder for which botulinum toxin therapy is employed, there are several common principles. This article reviews several of these general principles by addressing common questions that arise in the therapeutic use of botulinum toxin. Areas of focus include patient selection, drug preparation and delivery, use of electromyography to guide injections, drug resistance, and organization of a therapeutic botulinum toxin clinic.


Abstract Gaseous secondary electron (GSE) imaging of eclogite garnets under the environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM) at low chamber gas pressures reveals detailed image contrast patterns (charge-contrast images, CCI) that are not present in back-scattered or secondary electron images. Image intensity is a function of the amount of surface charge accumulation. Successful acquisition of CCI depends on frame size and beam scan rate at a given chamber gas pressure and beam current. Images are obtained in a few seconds, and are stable and reproducible. CCI patterns do not correlate with cracks or grain boundaries, but do correspond closely to variations in major-element composition, both in the form of concentric (growth) zoning, and branching, linear features interpreted as cracks that have been healed by new garnet growth. Causes of CCI are not yet well understood, but may be related to variations in lattice defect density and their influence on charge-trapping and dissipation. These in turn influence the rate of charge build-up at or very close to the specimen surface. One interesting possibility is that CCI images detect vacancies related to non-homovalent coupled substitutions involving, for example, REE and hydroxyl, so the method offers a way of imaging the distribution of these trace species in garnets. The CCI images are rich in microstructural detail and offer the potential for rapid, high-resolution, low-noise reconnaissance mapping of intragranular microstructure and compositional variation in both natural and synthetic garnets.


The validity and reliability of an instrument to assesses attitudes toward seeking financial counseling were evaluated. Content validity was affirmed by a jury of educators, counselors and researchers. Criterionrelated validity was supported by comparing scores to three criterion questions. Construct validity was evaluated by examining the relationship between scores and gender and socioeconomic status. Factor analysis produced three factors: confidence/ willingness to seek help, stigma tolerance, and self-sufficiency. The scale had high internal consistency reliability. Counselors could use the Financial Counseling Attitude Scale to assess attitudes of clients to identify those needing additional reinforcement and encouragement. Educators could employ the instrument to enhance student self-understanding and to encourage discussion of financial issues between partners. Recommendations for further research and implications for marketing financial counseling are suggested.


I wish to commend the Commission for the outstanding work it has done in developing what I believe is both a stimulating and provocative draft report on its inquiry into broadcasting. The very well researched report provides an excellent overview of the Australian broadcast landscape. I am particularly pleased, therefore, to comment on specific recommendations in the Commission's draft report, drawing from my researching transcultural media impact, media economics, and digital television. This submission focuses on questions related to content regulation, particularly in terms of the social and cultural effects associated with such policy and the potential impact of such regulation on Australian trade in television programming. Specifically, I write to urge you to reconsider draft recommendation 9.3 which argues for the removal of content quotas.


The heterogeneous and ubiquitous input demands in smart spaces call for an input device that can enable rich and spontaneous interactions. We propose ThermalRing, a thermal imaging smart ring using low-resolution thermal camera for identity-anonymous, illumination-invariant, and power-efficient sensing of both dynamic and static gestures. We also design ThermalTag, thin and passive thermal imageable tags that reflect the heat from the human hand. ThermalTag can be easily made and applied onto everyday objects by users. We develop sensing techniques for three typical input demands: drawing gestures for device pairing, click and slide gestures for device control, and tag scan gestures for quick access. The study results show that ThermalRing can recognize nine drawing gestures with an overall accuracy of 90.9%, detect click gestures with an accuracy of 94.9%, and identify among six ThermalTags with an overall accuracy of 95.0%. Finally, we show the versatility and potential of ThermalRing through various applications.


Mark Ravitch wrote the ultimate review of a surgical organization with his monumental two-volume A Century of Surgery 1880-1980 , the history of the American Surgical Association. Now Bob Sparkman and associates have nearly equaled it with the 1989 publication of their one-volume, 533-page story of the Southern Surgical Association (SSA). The book begins with a well-researched, detailed chapter on the origin and early development of the SSA by the centennial year president, John L. Sawyers. He points out that from the very beginning in Birmingham, Ala, founder W E. B. Davis invited "men of great eminence from the entire country to join the Association." This tradition has continued. Today, about one fourth of the membership resides outside of the South. These recognized surgical leaders, who number among them many academic chairmen, contribute greatly to the enduring strength of "The Southern." The custom still prevails of holding the annual meeting at


Introduction: Dengue is a major public health problem in tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world and it is known for serious life threatening complications. Detection of IgM antibodies forms the mainstay for diagnosis of dengue infection. However, IgM antibodies develop after 4-5 days of infection and there is an urgent need for an alternative diagnostic tools that can detect dengue infection earlier. Aim and Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy of NS1 antigen ELISA for early diagnosis of dengue virus infection in a tertiary care hospital Methods- A total of 2106 serum samples from patients with suspected dengue infection were tested for dengue NS1 antigen and IgM antibody detection by ELISA. Results: 765 (36.32%) were positive for dengue NS1 antigen and 857 (40.69%) were positive for dengue IgM antibody. NS1 antigen was detectable in patient sera from day 1 onwards however; dengue IgM antibody was detected from day 3 onwards. Out of 765 NS1 antigen positive samples, 562 (73.46%) were positive in acute phase of illness and 203 (26.54%) were positive in convalescent phase of illness. Out of 857 MAC ELISA positive samples, 312 (36.41%) were from acute phase of illness and 545 (63.59%) were from early convalescent phase of illness. Combination of two tests resulted in increase in the positivity rate to 52.66% as against to independent positivity rate of 36.32% of NS1 ELISA and 40.69% of MAC ELISA. Conclusion: Combined use of NS1 antigen assay with MAC ELISA test could significantly improve diagnostic sensitivity of dengue infection


The stomach contents of 18 Guiana dolphins stranded or accidentally caught by fishing around Norte Bay of Santa Catarina Island between 1990 and 2006 were examined. The small population of Guiana dolphins studied showed a varied diet, and prey was caught disproportionately. The stomach contents of these dolphins consisted of 448 prey remains coming from 18 species and 10 families. Their diet primarily consisted of fish, but also shrimp and squid. The most important species were cutlass fish ( Trichiurus lepturus ) and white mouth croaker ( Micropogonias furnieri ), which together comprised 75% of the total biomass. Although prey size ranged widely from 1.4 to 92.8 cm, a prevalence of prey smaller than 20 cm was observed. There was a predominance of prey living in moderate or large schools. The prey also had a wide vertical distribution in the water column. Our results support the opportunistic feeding habit of the Guiana dolphin, since its diverse diet was clearly guided by the availability and accessibility of resources in its habitat.


The red coleoptile trait can help monocotyledonous plants withstand stresses, and key genes responsible for the trait have been isolated from Triticum aestivum, Triticum urartu, and Triticum monococcum, but no corresponding research has been reported for Aegilops tauschii. In this research, transcriptome analysis was performed to isolate the candidate gene controlling the white coleoptile trait in Ae. tauschii. There were 5348 upregulated, differentially-expressed genes (DEGs) and 4761 downregulated DEGs in red coleoptile vs. white coleoptile plants. Among these DEGs, 12 structural genes and two transcription factors involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis were identified. The majority of structural genes showed lower transcript abundance in the white coleoptile of accession 'As77' than in the red coleoptile of accession 'As60', which implied that transcription factors related to anthocyanin biosynthesis could be the candidate genes. The MYB and MYC transcription factors AetMYB7D and AetMYC1 were both isolated from Ae. tauschii accessions 'As60' and 'As77', and their transcript levels analyzed. The coding sequence and transcript level of AetMYB7D showed no difference between 'As60' and 'As77'. AetMYC1p encoded a 567-amino acid polypeptide in 'As60' containing the entire characteristic domains, bHLH-MYC_N, HLH, and ACT-like, belonging to the gene family involved in regulating anthocyanin biosynthesis. AetMYC1w encoded a 436-amino acid polypeptide in 'As77' without the ACT-like domain because a single nucleotide mutation at 1310 bp caused premature termination. Transient expression of AetMYC1p induced anthocyanin biosynthesis in 'As77' with the co-expression of AetMYB7D, while AetMYC1w could not cause induced anthocyanin biosynthesis under the same circumstances. Moreover, the transcript abundance of AetMYC1w was lower than that of AetMYC1p. AetMYC1 appears to be the candidate gene controlling the white coleoptile trait in Ae. tauschii, which can be used for potential biotech applications, such as producing new synthetic hexaploid wheat lines with different coleoptile colors.


The Early Screening Inventory-Revised is an early childhood assessment used to screen three and four-year-olds entering preschool. This screener assesses basic skills and one's level of functioning as he or she begins to learn in an academic environment. The purpose of this screener is to alert the school district about students who may struggle academically in a schoolbased setting. Based on the results of the assessment, students can receive academic or behavioral support from the school if the teacher and parents of the child deem the support necessary. Students who receive support from the school may or may not be evaluated following the academic or behavioral supports conducted in the classroom. The purpose of this study was to determine if the Early Screening InventoryRevised predicts special education placement by the age of five. The participants included three -year-old students in the preschool setting. Based on the results of the Early Screening Inventory-Revised, it was concluded that students who were identified early and received intervention were still placed in special education; this is in comparison with their peers who were recommended for intervention but refused it. Many individuals who refused intervention were not placed in special education. It was speculated that many teachers and parents refused intervention because they wanted the students to grow and develop independently, without support. Those students who were labeled early were on the "radar", compared with their peers who refused intervention.


Academics and industry have sought after combining the exceptional properties of diamonds with the toughness of steel. Since the early 1990s several partial solutions have been found but chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamond deposition on steel substrate continues to be a persistent problem. The main drawbacks are the high carbon diffusion from gas phase into substrate, the transition metals on the material surface that catalyze sp2 bond formation, instead of sp3 bonds, and the high thermal expansion coefficient (TEC) mismatch between diamond and steels. An intermediate layer has been found necessary to increase diamond adhesion. Literature has proposed many efficient intermediate layers as a diffusion barrier for both, carbon and iron, but most intermediate layers shown have not solved TEC mismatch. In this review, we briefly discuss the solutions that exclusively work as diffusion barrier and discuss in a broader way the ones that also solve, or may potentially solve, the TEC mismatch problem. We examine some multilayers, the iron borides, the chromium carbides, and vanadium carbides. We go through the most relevant results of the last two and a half decades, including recent advances in our group. Vanadium carbide looks promising since it has shown excellent diffusion barrier properties, its TEC is intermediary between diamond and steel and, it has been thickened to manage thermal stress relief. We also review a new deposition technique to set up intermediate layers: laser cladding. It is promising because of its versatility in mixing different materials and fusing and/or sintering them on a steel surface. We conclude by remarking on new perspectives.


Recognizing that mark-to-market accounting, with its close approximation of Haig-Simons income, represents a better measure of a taxpayer's income than realization accounting - the historical basis for the federal income tax - Congress enacted section 475(f) of the Internal Revenue Code. This section permits certain taxpayers to elect out of the realization accounting regime and instead mark their investments to market. Congress limited the availability of this election to taxpayers who were engaged in the trade or business of trading securities. Although the election must be made early in a taxpayer's taxable year, the test for determining whether a taxpayer is engaged in the trade or business of trading securities during a taxable year can only be performed after the year ends. As the rules for making a mark-to-market election are currently written, in order to determine whether she qualifies to make the election, a taxpayer must know no later than April 15 what the extent of her trading activities will be for the rest of the year, as well as for all future years. There is no compelling tax policy reason to limit the availability of the mark-to-market election. Rather, the superiority of mark-to-market accounting over the current realization regime supports a policy of allowing (and encouraging) taxpayers to determine their tax liability on a mark-to-market basis and outweighs any objections to liberalizing the election's availability. Alternatively, in the event that Congress decides that denying non-traders the ability to elect mark-to-market treatment is justified, Congress or the Treasury Department should adopt a proposed safe-harbor provision that approximates the criteria courts consider when determining whether a taxpayer is a trader, but that, unlike the current trade-or-business test, can be applied in advance of the taxable year. Although providing a safe harbor solely to traders is, from a policy perspective, worse than making the mark-to-market election available to all taxpayers, it is nonetheless better than the current unworkable criteria because it provides certainty to taxpayers at the time they must make the election.


Author(s): Borja, Lauren J. | Advisor(s): Leone, Stephen R.; Neumark, Daniel M. | Abstract: The creation of attosecond pulses using high harmonic generation (HHG) to produce extreme ultraviolet light (XUV) pulses has enabled table-top core-level spectroscopy in both the gas and solid phase. Because HHG relies on a near infrared (NIR) driver pulse to create the XUV radiation, it is readily incorporated into pump-probe transient absorption and photoelectron spectroscopy experiments, giving way to measurements with unprecedented temporal resolution. The ability of attosecond XUV pump-probe spectroscopy to study solid state semiconductor materials allows for the interrogation of carriers on the timescales where a separation between electronic and lattice dynamics can occur. This will have far reaching implications addressing the fundamental carrier physics that govern the next generation of hot carrier charge transfer devices, which are at the forefront of photocatalytic and electronic device development. In this dissertation, a literature review of XUV transient absorption on solids using HHG is presented in Chapter 1. This chapter details the progress from femtosecond experiments on metal-oxide thin films to attosecond time-resolved experiments on semiconductors. In Chapter 2, the design and construction of the attosecond transient absorption apparatus capable of studying ultrafast dynamics in both solid state and gas phase samples using a near infrared (NIR) pump and an extreme ultraviolet (XUV) probe is presented. Chapter 3 presents transient absorption experiments done on germanium thin films, which measure both electrons and hole dynamics simultaneously in a single measurement. These results are supported by work from a theory collaboration. in Chapter 4, preliminary work on silicon germanium alloys is presented. While the results need further confirmation by additional experiments and characterization, it is clear that signals from hot carrier relaxation are present. Chapter 5 presents a theoretical investigation of a future experiment on silver nanoparticles using a velocity map imaging (VMI) device. The key feature of this theoretical study is the identification of a metric to follow the near-field of the plasmon, isolated from the electric field of the exciting laser pulse.


In this paper we introduce the prototype of a cognitive training environment called "Merobrixx". Merobrixx is a serious game for players of all ages, including children and elderly people, based on traditional mental rotation training methods. Players interact with the game by means of a Tangible User Interface (TUI), which consists of three-dimensional objects made of LEGO bricks. A first evaluation of the system confirms that the user's performance in the game is positively related to his or her general mental rotation ability. Based on these findings further research regarding the conditions for a long term training effect is planned.


Summary Soluble (SP), ionically bound (IBP) and covalently bound (CBP) peroxidases (POD) from artichoke leaves and heads have been characterized for the main biochemical parameters. The three PODs, in both leaves and heads, showed the major apparent catalytic efficiency (vmax,app/Km,app) towards ferulic acid, even though, in some cases, they showed higher affinity (Km,app) for other substrates. In leaves, SP and IBP showed higher Km,app for ferulic and chlorogenic acids, and CBP for ferulic and caffeic acids. In heads, SP showed higher Km,app for chlorogenic acid, IBP for caffeic and ferulic acids, and CBP for ferulic acid. It was shown that pH optimum for PODs ranged between 5.0 and 6.0 in leaves. In heads, pH optimum for SP and IBP was 5.5, while CBP presented a very low activity in a wide pH range. All PODs showed high thermal stability but different ability to regenerate: the bound forms were more able to regenerate than the soluble one. The results obtained show that (i) CBP from heads is able to work under very different cellular conditions, (ii) all PODs, in both tissues, have a high apparent catalytic efficiency for ferulic acid, which could explain the effective involvement of POD in lignin biosynthesis, (iii) in heads, high Km,app of SP for chlorogenic acid, particularly abundant in artichoke, could justify the possible involvement of PODs in browning mechanism, and (iv) in heat-processed artichoke, the ability of PODs to regenerate could contribute to oxidation and loss of product quality.


The economic effects of terror attacks have been extensively examined in the literature. Yet there is a paucity of empirical research investigating their effect on welfare. Existing studies suggest that, in addition to economic costs, terror also imposes social costs. Using both micro-level data at the individual level and macro-level data at the provincial level, this article examines the association of terror and happiness in Turkey. To address income endogeneity, the conditional mixed process estimation method is employed. The results indicate that while a bidirectional relationship between happiness and income level exists, terror negatively affects happiness. Additional factors such as perceived relative income, gender, employment status, and household size have significant effects on individual wellbeing as well. The findings suggest that measuring only the economic costs of terror fails to capture the full extent of the costs imposed on society.


Service providers seek scalable and cost-effective cloud solutions for hosting their applications. Despite significant advances facilitating cloud services deployment and management, a number of challenges still remain. Service providers are confronted with time-varying workloads, inter-dependencies between components, performance variability of the procured virtual resources, and cost structures that differ from conventional data centers. Moreover, fulfilling service level agreements (SLAs), such as the throughput and response time percentiles, becomes of paramount importance for ensuring business advantages. In this dissertation paper, we explore service provisioning in clouds from multiple points of view. The aim is to best provide service replicas in the form of VMs to various applications, such that their tail throughputs and tail response times, as well as resource utilization, meet the SLAs in the most cost effective manner. In particular, we develop models, algorithms and replication strategies that consider multi-tier services provisioned in the cloud, investigate how a service provider can opportunistically take advantage of observed cloud performance variability and provide means of guaranteeing tail throughput and response times in the face of the aforementioned performance variability. Overall, this dissertation paper provides not only a multi-faceted approach to exploring several crucial aspects of cloud-hosted services, i.e., cost, tail throughput, and tail response times, but our proposed management strategies are also rigorously validated via trace-driven simulations and extensive experiments.


The fossil bearing beds of Moghra, Egypt, have been well known for over 100 years, but the ichthyofaunas have not been examined since the early 1900s. Moghra, on the northern rim of the Qattara Depression, preserves early Miocene (18–17 Ma) fluvio-marine sediments with fossils of wood, invertebrates and vertebrates. The Moghra site is faunally similar to the Libyan Gebel Zelten site, at least in terms of the fossil mammals. The fossil-bearing localities in the Moghra Formation number about 40 and span a distance of about 50 km. There is likely more than one depositional environment represented. The fish previously reported from Moghra include two teleosts, Synodontis (Mochokidae) and Lates (Latidae), as well as the elasmobranchs, Pristis (Pristidae), Myliobatis (Myliobatidae) and Sphyrna (Sphyrnidae). Several more recent expeditions to the Moghra localities recovered abundant selachian remains. This rich assemblage included species from the genera Carcharias (Odontaspididae), Megaselachus (Otodontidae), Cosmopolitodus (Lamnidae), Hemipristis (Hemigaleidae), Galeocerdo and Carcharhinus (Carcharhinidae), Myliobatis (Myliobatidae), Pteromylaeus (Myliobatidae) and Aetobatis (Myliobatidae). With the additional taxa from these collections, we can build a more comprehensive understanding of the Moghra fauna and environment.


In this study, a rate 1 transmitter diversity technique is proposed. The proposed technique uses spreading transform and space-time block coding (STBC) together. Space-time, space-frequency, and frequency diversity applications of the proposed technique are shown. The code matrix of the proposed technique can be designed systematically. The proposed technique needs the channel coefficients to stay constant over transmission of 2 rows of the coding matrix regardless of the size of the coding matrix or the diversity order. However, joint detection of the symbols is required for the proposed technique. We used computer simulations to compare our technique with the quasi-orthogonal space-time block coding (QOSTBC), orthogonal space-time block coding (OSTBC), and spreading transform diversity methods. The results showed that the proposed technique provides higher SNR-BER gain than OSTBC and spreading transform diversity, and can provide a higher gain than QOSTBC for time-varying channels. The proposed technique is less sensitive to the time selectivity of the channel than QOSTBC or OSTBC. The detection complexity of the proposed technique is lower than that of spreading diversity.


Abstract. Since its original description nearly two hundred years ago, the late Pleistocene (Ensenadan—Lujanian SALMA) ground sloth genus Mylodon from South America has had a variety of taxonomic issues. The end result is that diagnostic characters for the genus and its only species, M. darwinii, include only skull, tibia, and astragalus features. While other postcranial remains have been found, they have been too fragmentary to provide any significant taxonomic characters. The rediscovery of a specimen of M. darwinii (previously listed as Glossotherium robustum) collected in the mid-1920s near Orient in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina and housed in the Field Museum of Natural History, provides an opportunity to expand the diagnosis for this taxon based on diagnostic skull and astragalus remains that are associated with an atlas and associated vertebrae, and most of the left forearm, carpus, and other elements of the manus. These bones all show features that distinguish M. darwinii from contemporaneous mylodontids (e.g., Catonyx, Glossotherium, Lestodon, Scelidotherium), as well as some simple differences in size. The suite of currently known morphological characters and reconstructed muscle attachments also indicate a general functional niche for M. darwinii. They suggest that its body weight was borne on the lateral side of the manus rather than the knuckles or unguals, and that Mylodon may have had a relatively high degree of manual dexterity or digital strength.


The most significant morphological property of a river is the meandering process, which is dominated and governed by hydraulic, hydrologic and topographic characteristics of the river and its drainage area. It is possible to obtain reliable data on river morphology in the long term by using remotely sensed data. In this study the Filyos River, located at the Western Black Sea region of Turkey, has been selected as the study area to show the capabilities of remote sensing technology and to define the appropriate techniques for achieving the most reliable information on the river morphology by monitoring the meandering processes. The findings of the study indicate that remotely sensed data can be used successfully in defining some basic characteristics of the meandering process on rivers. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Abstract The Lenape Tribe of Delaware is one of two recognized tribes within the state of Delaware. Having only gained state recognition in 2016, the group is actively working to regain the lifeways of their ancestors that have been lost in the aftermath of colonization and systemic oppression. This paper discusses collaborative research between the author, a student in Art Conservation, and the Lenape Tribe of Delaware on the once-crucial practice of net-tying. It addresses the impetus for the project and its role in object-based decolonization and Indigenous knowledge reclamation. The research was inspired by the last known Lenape netmaker, Clem Carney, whose work was collected by anthropologists in the early 1900s but since forgotten. The project was completed in collaboration with the Tribe from initial proposal onward and included three main stages: examination of fishing nets from Native Mid-Atlantic groups at the National Museum of the American Indian and the American Museum of Natural History; the compilation of an inventory of Native Mid-Atlantic nets and associated tools from institutions throughout North America; and outreach. Outreach efforts included a Tribal Delegation to the National Museum of the American Indian Cultural Resources Center, presentations to both the Native and non-Native community, and net-making workshops held at the Biggs Museum of American Art in Dover, DE. Through these events and a range of media posts and articles, it is estimated that 7,000 people learned about this collaboration. The project has prompted subsequent collaborations and serves as a model for community-driven research.


One objective of seismic data processing is to reduce both coherent and random noise contaminating the reflection data, so that the physical properties of the rocks and their contained fluids may be more readily estimated and/or imaged from trace amplitudes. During the processing, it can be important to preserve the relative amplitudes of reflection events, especially laterally (trace-to-trace), since several interpretive techniques are based on amplitude comparisons. Most prominently, AVO and AVA methods compare amplitudes from the same reflection or conversion event at different sourcereceiver offsets (AVO), or at different raypath angles (AVA). We describe here an empirical study in which physical model data were subjected to three commonly used processing techniques. The amplitudes along single reflections in those data were compared at each stage of processing. We found that, within the limits of measurement error, subtractive noise attenuation (radial trace filtering) and non-stationary deconvolution (Gabor deconvolution) have no significant effect on relative event amplitudes. As we might expect, however, a multi-trace process like F-X deconvolution, does affect relative event amplitudes and should probably be avoided in processing data for AVO.


The "other" is seen as a social construction, which helps the establishing of the own identity. To explore how self-identity is reconstructed through deconstructing the image of "the other", we chose to analyze the case of migrants, who are positioned as 'the other' and are treated as distant from the host societies. Albanians in Italy, especially those who have experienced the exodus of March and August of 1991, are at the center of the analysis, because they were the first ones in contact with the Italian society, after the collapse of the communist regime. The secondary data from the literature review and the qualitative primary data, generated from the biographical narration of eighteen people have been used to explore the phenomenon. In order to meet this research criteria, there are some questions to be answered which will help in solving the core issues of the problem. How the boats that arrived from Albanian coasts in Italy did create the image in the plural of settled people as "the other"? Which were the strategies used by these people to deconstruct the image as "the other"? How has self-identity been reconstructed through the time? The research pointed out that the image of "the other", as a universal process, is created more quickly under the influence of factors that make the "other" more visible, such as the massive exodus through the boats. Although the mimesis tendency was adopted in Albanian immigrants' case, pushed by the will for a positive social identity, the coexistence with the natives helped to rebuild the perceptions, attitudes, behaviors, and identities, even though self-identity is a never-ending process.

Received: 2 January 2021 / Accepted: 27 February 2021 / Published: 5 March 2021


The paper studies the determinants of labor force participation by East German women after unification. To isolate the role of preferences on labor force participation from individual characteristics, we develop a panel data model that simultaneously explains participation, employment, and wages. The model, estimated for East and West Germany on the basis of the German Socio-Economic Panel, indicates that distinct preferences could explain the regional difference in participation rates at unification. Afterward East German women became less willing to participate, but the negative participation trend was offset on the aggregate level by changes in characteristics and wages promoting participation.


Veterinary Image-Guided Interventions is the only book dedicated to interventions guided by imaging technology. Written and edited by leading experts in the field, interventional endoscopy, cardiology, oncology and radiology are covered in detail. Chapters include the history and background of the procedures, patient work-up, equipment lists, detailed procedural instructions, potential complications, patient follow-up protocols, and expected outcomes. Split into body systems, the technical aspects of each procedure are presented using highly illustrated step-by-step guides. Veterinary Image-Guided Interventions is a must-have handbook for internists, surgeons, cardiologists, radiologists, oncologists and criticalists, and for anyone interested in cutting-edge developments in veterinary medicine.


Chronic pain of older patients with osteoarthritis is a very exhausting complaint for them either physically, socially, emotionally, or economically. Chronic pain has a vital role in determining the functional abilities of geriatric patients with osteoarthritis. Objective: Determine the relationship between self-reported chronic pain and pain related functional limitations among geriatric patients with osteoarthritis. Setting: Orthopedic outpatient clinics of El Hadara Orthopedic and Traumatology University Hospital, Alexandria, Egypt. Subjects: 178 older adults were recruited. Tools: Three tools were used for data collection: 1) Socio-demographic and Clinical Data of Geriatric Patients with Osteoarthritis Structured Interview Schedule, 2) Self-Reported Chronic Pain Assessment of Geriatric Patients with Osteoarthritis Structured Interview Schedule, 3) Pain Related Functional Limitations Assessment of Geriatric Patients with Osteoarthritis Structured Interview Schedule. Results: More than one half of the study subjects reported greater suffering from chronic pain such as longer duration of chronic pain history, frequent daily pain which persist for longer duration of time and characterized by greater level of severity. Also, the similar percentage of them reported severe level of pain related functional limitations. Conclusion: Greater suffering from chronic pain is significantly associated with greater levels of pain related functional limitations among the study subjects. Recommendations: Gerontological nurses should assess the geriatric patients for their pain history, and their perceived pain related functional limitations. Gerntological nurses should act collaboratively with the patients and health team members to alleviate the geriatric patients' suffering and pains to enhance their functional abilities and to decrease their functional limitations.


The (k,n)-perfect shuffle, a generalisation of the 2-way perfect shuffle, cuts a deck of kn cards into k equal size decks and interleaves them perfectly with the first card of the last deck at the top, the first card of the second-to-last deck as the second card, and so on. It is formally defined to be the permutation ρ _k,n: i → ki \bmod (kn+1), for 1 ≤ i ≤ kn. We uncover the cycle structure of the (k,n)-perfect shuffle permutation by a group-theoretic analysis and show how to compute representative elements from its cycles by an algorithm using O(kn) time and O((\log kn)^2) space. Consequently it is possible to realise the (k,n)-perfect shuffle via an in-place, linear-time algorithm. Algorithms that accomplish this for the 2-way shuffle have already been demonstrated.


In the present study the damage mechanism of Alkali-Silica-Reaction (ASR) in concrete bearing reactive volcanic rock is investigated. A combined numerical and experimental research is presented. The mechanism of ASR is investigated on a concrete microbar specimen by using various microscopy techniques. A meso mechanical model based on lattice theories is used as a starting point. Variables in the model are the properties of the concrete components on the meso-level, like mechanical properties of cement paste, aggregates, dissolved aggregate, bond properties and finally the properties of the gel. It is found that current numerical model is able to simulate ASR cracks similar to the experimental observations.


The paper explores the requirement of clarity of referenda questions. More specifically, it revisits the critique levelled against its enforcement by (constitutional) courts. Some scholars argue that clarity cannot be specified through apolitical reasoning and that politically unaccountable judges do not have the legitimacy to narrow down its meaning. While the paper does not dispute the indeterminacy of clarity, it does suggest an alternative to the complete rejection of judicial review. Such a rejection assumes that all cases of judicial oversight of clarity are of the same type. A more nuanced perspective, developed in the paper, strives to find ways to differentiate cases where judicial oversight was conducted in a manner that facilitates democratic processes from those where the legal argument is deployed as an obstruction. This is impossible to do outside each individual case. Having this in mind, the paper shows how judicial review of clarity may be understood as a project of describing different democratic processes that may co-exist in a constitutional democracy. This allows the courts to apply clarity in a context-specific manner and enables a more nuanced political response. The framework developed in the paper can be used to investigate individual disputes over the clarity of referendum questions.


New halo-independent lower bounds on the product of the dark matter-nucleon scattering cross section and the local dark matter density that are valid for annual modulations of dark matter direct detection signals are derived. They are obtained by making use of halo-independent bounds based on an expansion of the rate on the Earth's velocity that were derived in previous works. In combination with astrophysical measurements of the local energy density, an observed annual modulation implies a lower bound on the cross section that is independent of the velocity distribution and that must be fulfilled by any particle physics model. In order to illustrate the power of the bounds we apply them to DAMA/LIBRA data and obtain quite strong results when compared to the standard halo model predictions. We also extend the bounds to the case of multi-target detectors.


In the area of using renewable energy, promoting the efficiency of seawater source heat pump plays an important part. Several nontraditional technologies are can be used in the new seawater source heat pump system. As for the intake system, infiltration intake technology is introduced, which can increase the supply temperature of sea water and thus raise the efficiency of the system. And as for the terminals, a new-style PVC low temperature water flowing radiant heating (LTWFRH) system is used to match the temperature characteristics of seawater source. After the optimization of the whole system, the seawater source heat pump can be more efficiency and thus saving more energy, considering the energy conservation effect of seawater source heat pump itself.


Using repurchase reasons provided by Australian companies for their stock repurchase programs, we ask if the market's response is different across repurchase motivations by examining actual daily share repurchases. We find that firms with the undervaluation motive experience a more positive stock price reaction when they report their repurchases to the market. We show that undervaluation motive firms repurchase fewer shares and have a lower program completion rate than other motives firms. During the 1‐year period following the repurchases, undervaluation motive firms do better than their control sample firms whereas other motive firms do not perform better or worse than their control sample firms. Overall, our results suggest that the undervaluation motive is a stronger signal than other repurchase motives, and contrary to the predictions of the standard signaling theories, management statements carry some value for the market. We also present some evidence suggesting that a costly action may not be needed for a signal to be credible.


Extinct as a result of overhunting and habitat loss, the great auk, or garefowl, leads a hidden taxidermied existence in museum storerooms, sheltered from potential further degradation. As an environmental icon, however, the bird inspires a lively political economy of re-creation. Engaging from an anthropological perspective with practices of collecting, representing, and re-creating the great auk, I combine testimonies from Cambridge ornithologist John Wolley's mid-nineteenthcentury Garefowl Books with contemporary ethnography among taxidermists and model makers in Britain and Belgium to argue that remnants, re-creations, and reenactments of the extinct great auk offer a material substrate from which to grasp a human drive to achieve contiguity with a lost species. Re-creation as a form of attentive reanimation by dedicated experts takes shape both discursively and plastically, predicated on assumptions about natural appearance and behavior that may not reflect evidence from historical records. Animated by what I call techniques of contiguity, reconstructions play a persuasive role in expressing and shaping human perceptions and imaginings of past environmental disaster and future environmental opportunity. Contiguity is achieved, on one hand, through performances of bodily kinship between human practitioners and dead or extinct animals and, on the other, through plays on resonance with specific organic materials, including garefowl remnants in Victorian taxidermied auks and plumage from related seabirds used in contemporary auk reconstructions. The reanimated great auk lives to tell stories of ethographic entanglement and continues, through its presence in museum spaces, to provoke both thought and action in a time of unprecedented numbers of species extinctions. (Text from author's abstract)


Syzygium paniculatum (Myrtaceae) is an important plant in the South Florida ornamental industry. Known as eugenia in the trade, the plant was relatively free of diseases before Hurricane Wilma (2005). Since then, a serious dieback disease has become prevalent in local nurseries, especially during late summer. Symptoms included wilting and death of terminal and lateral branches, and vascular discoloration in dead and dying branches and the main stem. Several fungi were isolated from diseased plants, but Neofusicoccum parvum was usually the only fungus isolated from symptomatic tissue. Most isolates were sterile, but all that were tested produced significant (P < 0.05) dieback on, and reduced growth of, the cultivar Monterrey Bay. Glomerella spp. and a Pestalotiopsis sp. that were recovered from asymptomatic portions of diseased plants and Mycoleptodiscus terrestris recovered from healthy liners of Monterrey Bay did not cause dieback symptoms in pathogenicity studies or affect host growth. In incubator studies, N. parvum caused significant external symptoms, vascular discoloration, and mortality at 25 and 30°C; in general, only vascular symptoms developed at 20°C and no symptoms developed at 15°C. Thus, temperature may be associated with the seasonal development of this disease. Significant differences in disease development were not observed under a wide range of light intensities (2,000 to 300 μmol s-1 m-2). S. paniculatum is a new host record for N. parvum.


The bisphosphonates are synthetic analogs of pyrophosphate in which two phosphates are connected through carbon instead of oxygen. They are approved compounds for the treatment of hypercalcemia, bone diseases and they have been proposed to treat infectious diseases. Bisphosphonates' main mechanisms of action are on calcium metabolism, inhibition of protein prenylation and on ATP synthesis. In a previous work, the antiparasitic activity of bisphosphonates on a cell line fromEchinococcus granulosus, sensu latoprotoscoleces, 30 µM etidronate and ibandronate have antiproliferative activity after 72 h of incubation, decreasing intracellular ATP and only etidronate increased intracellular total calcium concentration.This work studied the effect of etidronate and ibandronate on cytoplasmic ionic calcium concentration in parasitic cell line and in HT29, cell line from human colon adenocarcinoma.Ionic calcium was measured by spectrofluorometric, labeling cells with Fluo-4AM. Cells were suspended in Na+or K+rich buffer and two calcium salts were used Cl-or Gluc-, anion permeable and impermeable, respectively.Remarkable differences between cell lines were shown with the effect of bisphosphonates on intracellular ionic calcium concentration in hyperpolarized cells and these differences were smoothed on depolarized cells, in spite of the similar cellular response to calcium salts in absence of bisphosphonates.The bisphosphonates, mainly etidronate, decreased intracellular ionic calcium on parasitic cells explaining other aspects of their antiproliferative effect. Results suggested that other mechanism, such as Cl-and Na+interchange are differentially affected by bisphosphonates, depending on cell line origin.


This paper presents a novel sensorless maximum power point tracking (MPPT) control strategy for capturing the maximum energy from the fluctuating wind speed that being used in the stand-alone small scale variable speed wind turbine generator system (VSWTGS). The generated electricity from the wind turbine systems is used to charge battery energy storage. The whole system including the wind turbine, permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG), power converter, filter and lead acid battery has been simulated in Matlab/SimPowerSystem simulation software. The MPPT controller is developed to function as a wind speed estimator to generate an appropriate duty cycle for controlling power MOSFET switch in of the boost converter in order to capture maximum power in variable wind speed. From the simulation results, the power converters and filters are showing good performance in charging the lead acid battery. Besides, the novel MPPT controller is capable of extracting the maximum power from the fluctuating wind speed and exhibits good performance in both steady state and transient condition.