Purpose: The aim of this work is to verify the efficacy of direct and indirect vocal interventions in preventing voice disorders, with specific and combined strategies, by a systematic review of the literature. Research strategies: Articles published from January, 1980 to April, 2013 were searched in the electronic databases MEDLINE (accessed through PubMed), PubMed, LILACS, SciELO, Scopus and Web of Science. Selection criteria: All the articles that presented randomized controlled studies with some type of vocal intervention with teachers as their primary aim were included. Articles that presented subjects with larynx and voice alterations were excluded. Results: As a result of the initial search, 677 studies were identified, five of which followed the inclusion criteria. Four more articles, found in the references of the studies selected for reading of the full text, were included. Conclusion: The combined intervention (direct and indirect) presented a significant improvement in vocal quality parameters and self-assessment, even in a short period of time. In other studies, which focused on the comparison between combined and specific interventions (direct or indirect), no differences were observed, although improvements in some of the assessed vocal parameters were described. A limitation of this review is the restriction of the methodological design of the studies, including only randomized clinical trials. The combined vocal intervention presented more significant results than the specific intervention.


Pan-enteric capsule endoscopy (CE) is an attractive diagnostic approach in patients examined for Crohn's disease (CD). The current bowel cleansing regimen was developed for patients with suspected gastrointestinal neoplasia (polyps). Since the majority of patients with CD have diarrhoea, a reduced volume of bowel preparation may be sufficient for cleansing the colon. The aim of this study was to examine the adherence to the recommended bowel cleansing regimen in patients with suspected CD examined with pan-enteric CE and determine clinical factors affecting the image quality.

 Patients with clinically suspected CD were prospectively enrolled in a trial examining non-invasive modalities for diagnosing CD (http://ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT03134586). All patients had a standardized work-up including medical history, physical examination, blood and stool samples and pan-enteric CE. CE was performed with the PillCam™ Crohn's capsule (Medtronic, Dublin, Ireland) after overnight fasting and bowel preparation with 2 + 2 litres of Polyethylene glycol (Moviprep®, PEG + ascorbic acid) and Sodium Phosphate booster as previously described by ESGE. Readers were blinded to the results of other examinations. The image quality was graded on a 4-point scale (poor, fair, good, excellent). A good or excellent image quality defined a diagnostic procedure.

 The volume of ingested PEG was recorded in 59 patients (Table 1). The mean volume was 2.5 L (CI 2.3–2.8). 10 patients (17%) were able to drink all 4 L of PEG, and 44 patients (75%) ingested > 2 L. The image quality was poor, fair, good or excellent in 0%, 29.3%, 29.3% and 41.4%, respectively. The mean volume of PEG was 1.9 L (CI 1.4–2.4), 2.2 L (CI 1.8–2.7) and 3.2 L (CI 2.8–3.5) in patients with a fair, good or excellent image quality (P < 0,001, Figure 1). In a regression analysis including multiple clinical variables, only the volume of ingested PEG was associated with the obtained image quality (Spearman's rho = 0.52; P < 0.001). Stool consistency, number of bowel movements, diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) or the degree of inflammation did not affect the image quality. The diagnostic yield was equal in patients with a diagnostic or non-diagnostic image quality (44% and 44%, respectively). The capsule was excreted in 53 patients (90%), and the analysis was not able to determine factors affecting the completion rate.

 In patients examined with pan-enteric CE for suspected CD, the ingested volume of PEG is the major factor affecting the image quality. However, only few patients are able to ingest the recommended volume. Future research should determine the optimal bowel cleansing regimen for patients examined for IBD.


Bacterial suspensions of cultures (10(7) PFU) of pathogenic Staphylococcus, vulgar Proteus and pyocyanic bacterium are resistant to 2.9-46.87 mg per disc of iodopyron in 100% of cases. Sensitivity of 32 and 100% of cultures of pyocyanic bacteria (of 25 under study) being in the suspension (10(5) PFU) to 11.71 and 23.43-9.375 mg of idopyron, respectively, in a hole has been established. To determine sensitivity of pyocyanic bacteria to iodopyron it is suggested to use the procedure of adding of 11.71 mg of the preparation (water solution) to the holes in MPA.


Proportional expression of retroviral genes requires that splicing of the viral primary transcript be an inefficient process. Much of our current knowledge about retroviral suboptimal splicing comes from studies with Rous sarcoma virus. In this report, we describe the use of chimeric introns composed of human beta-globin and human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) splice sites to establish the basis for inefficient splicing of the intron which comprises most of the HIV-1 env coding sequences (referred to as the tat/rev intron). S1 RNA analysis of transfected COS-7 cells revealed that the 3' splice site (3' ss) of this region was significantly less efficient than the 3' ss of the first intron of beta-globin. Deletion of sequences flanking the tat/rev intron 3' ss demonstrated that the requirements for its inefficiency reside within the region that is expected to comprise the essential signals for splicing (i.e., the branchpoint region, the polypyrimidine tract, and the AG dinucleotide). Introduction of an exact copy of the efficient beta-globin branchpoint sequence within a highly conserved region rendered the tat/rev intron 3' ss highly efficient. Improvement of the polypyrimidine tract also increased the splicing efficiency, but to a degree slightly less than that obtained with the branchpoint mutation. Subsequent examination of the tat/rev intron 5' splice site in a heterologous context revealed that it is efficiently utilized. These results indicate that both a poor branchpoint region and a poor polypyrimidine tract are responsible for the low splicing efficiency of the HIV-1 tat/rev intron. It is of fundamental interest to establish the basis for inefficient splicing of the HIV-1 tat/rev intron since it may provide the key to understanding why nuclear export of mRNAs encoding HIV-1 structural proteins is Rev dependent.


Many of the secondary raw materials (SRM) in landfills constitute valuable and scarce natural resources. It has already been recognised that the recovery of these elements is critical for the sustainability of a number of industries and SRM recov¬ery from anthropogenic waste deposits represents a significant opportunity. In this study, the characterisation of the different waste fractions and the amount of SRM that can potentially be recovered from two landfill sites in Finland is presented. The first site was a municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill site and it was specifically in¬vestigated for its metals, SRM, plastics, wood, paper, and cardboard content as well as its fine fraction (<20 mm). The second site was an industrial landfill site contain¬ing residual wastes from industrial processes including 1) aluminium salt slag from refining process of aluminium scrap and 2) shredding residues from automobiles, household appliances and other metals containing waste. This site was investigated for its metals and SRM recovery potential as well as its fine fraction. Results suggest that the fine fraction offers opportunities for metal (Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn) and SRM extraction and recovery from both landfill site types while the chemical composition of the industrial waste landfill offered greater opporutinity as it was comparable to typical aluminium salt slags. Nevertheless, the concentrations of rare earth metals (REE) and other valuable elements were low even in comparison with the concentra¬tions found in the Earth's crust. Therefore mining landfill sites only for their metals or SRM content is not expected to be financially viable. However, other opportunities, such as waste-derived fuels from excavated materials especially at MSW landfill sites, still exists and fosters the application and feasibility of landfill mining.


In this paper, we review various types of graphene-based strain sensors. Graphene is a monolayer of carbon atoms, which exhibits prominent electrical and mechanical properties and can be a good candidate in compact strain sensor applications. However, a perfect graphene is robust and has a low piezoresistive sensitivity. So scientists have been driven to increase the sensitivity using different kinds of methods since the first graphene-based strain sensor was reported. We give a comprehensive review of graphene-based strain sensors with different structures and mechanisms. It is obvious that graphene offers some advantages and has potential for the strain sensor application in the near future.


Comparing two bodies of text and detecting words with significant lexical semantic shift between them is an important part of digital humanities. Traditional approaches have relied on aligning the different embeddings using the Orthogonal Procrustes problem in the Euclidean space. This study presents a geometric framework that leverages smooth Riemannian manifolds for corpus-specific orthogonal rotations and a corpus-independent scaling metric to project the different vector spaces into a shared latent space. This enables us to capture any affine relationship between the embedding spaces while utilising the rich geometry of smooth manifolds.


Introduction: Many epidemiological studies have shown that there are numerous risk factors for acute coronary disease. The aim is to determine the effect of risk factors on the echocardiographic changes and quality of life in patients treated with different methods 1 year after myocardial infarction. Methods: The research was a prospective–retrospective, clinical, epidemiological study and was conducted at the Clinic of Cardiology, University Clinical Center Sarajevo. Patients were divided into four groups based on the therapy treatment they got. The patients were divided into four groups based on the therapy treatment they received. The first group consisted of 40 patients who had had myocardial infarction and were treated with medications. The patients in the groups II and III were treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) [who immediately after incident underwent primary PCI or delayed PCI], and each group consisted of 40 patients. The group IV consisted of 40 patients, who underwent surgical revascularization (coronary artery bypass surgery). After the treatments have finished, an echocardiogram was performed on every patient. The Short Form (SF)-36 health survey was used for testing the life quality. Echocardiogram and the quality of life (QoL) testing were repeated a year after the treatment. Results: The study included 160 patients with a history of myocardial infarction, of which 130 (81.3%) were men, and 30 (18.8%) were women. The average age in the total sample was 54.9 ± 8.8 years. The review of risk factors' presence showed that in the total sample, most present was hypertension with 134 (83.8%), smoking with 120 (75.0%), and hypercholesterolemia with 110 or 68.8% of patients. Hypertension showed a statistically significant negative effect on the SF-scales only in the group III according to the mental health (P = 0.020), social functioning (P = 0.013), and pain (P = 0.011). A statistically significant effect of smoking was observed in the group III according to left ventricular internal dimension in end-diastole (P = 0.000) and left ventricular internal dimension in end-systole (P = 0.001) in the sense that smokers have the higher values of these parameters, and negative to ejection fraction (EF) (P = 0.001) in the sense that smokers have lower EF. In the group IV, positive correlation was observed to EF (P = 0.038), and negative toward the mitral regurgitation (P = 0.032). Conclusion: High blood pressure negatively affected the QoL. Smoking is negatively associated with all observed echocardiographic parameters in all the groups except with the size of the left atrium.


1. Fuchs BC, Hoshida Y, Fujii T, Wei L, Yamada S, Lauwers GY, et al. Epidermal growth factor receptor inhibition attenuates liver fibrosis and development of hepatocellular carcinoma. HEPATOLOGY 2014;59:1577-1590. 2. Philip PA, Mahoney MR, Allmer C, Thomas J, Pitot HC, Kim G, et al. Phase II study of Erlotinib (OSI-774) in patients with advanced hepatocellular cancer. J Clin Oncol 2005;23:6657-6663. 3. Thomas MB, Chadha R, Glover K, Wang X, Morris J, Brown T, et al. Phase 2 study of erlotinib in patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma. Cancer 2007;110:1059-1067. 4. Fuchs BC, Fujii T, Dorfman JD, Goodwin JM, Zhu AX, Lanuti M, et al. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and integrin-linked kinase mediate sensitivity to epidermal growth factor receptor inhibition in human hepatoma cells. Cancer Res 2008;68:2391-2399. 5. Su MC, Lien HC, Jeng YM. Absence of epidermal growth factor receptor exon 18-21 mutation in hepatocellular carcinoma. Cancer Lett 2005; 224:117-121. 6. Centeno I, Blay P, Santamaria I, Astudillo A, Pitiot AS, Osorio FG, et al. Germ-line mutations in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) are rare but may contribute to oncogenesis: a novel germ-line mutation in EGFR detected in a patient with lung adenocarcinoma. BMC Cancer 2011;11:172. 7. Shi L, Tang J, Tong L, Liu Z. Risk of interstitial lung disease with gefitinib and erlotinib in advanced non-small cell lung cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials. Lung Cancer 2014;83:231-239. 8. Schacher-Kaufmann S, Pless M. Acute fatal liver toxicity under erlotinib. Case Rep Oncol 2010;3:182-188.


This study is concerned with competitor's response time determinants to a new consumer product in Nepalese market. Products are in high competitive situation. New–to-the-world product is facing more competition complexities. Channels, market research, sales force and public opinions are the main source to get the market information of new products. Consultant's service is main helping hand to increase competitive strength. Financial and non-financial measures are applied to increase the competitive ability. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are in use to measure competitiveness of new products. The competitor's response time to most of the new products is less than six months after commercialization. Types of users are also in focus while developing the new products. Cutthroat competition is emerging in the market and firms are not able to defend fairly.

 Journal of Nepalese Business Studies Vol.2(1) 2005 pp.33-40


Background: Motoric cognitive risk syndrome (MCR) is a newly proposed pre-dementia syndrome incorporating subjective cognitive complaints and slow gait. Previous studies have shown that subjective cognitive complaints and slow gait are reported to be associated with frailty in cognitively unimpaired older adults, but little is known giving attention to the link between MCR and frailty in older adults. Therefore, the aim of the study was to explore the associations of MCR and its components and frailty in Chinese older adults. Methods: In an observation cross-sectional study, a total of 429 older adults aged 60 years and older were admitted to the geriatric department. According to MCR criteria, all participants were classified to 4 groups: 1) MCR group; 2) subjective cognitive complaints only group; 3) slow gait only group; 4) healthy control group. Physical frailty was assessed by Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS). The multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between MCR and frailty in older adults. Results: The prevalence of subjective cognitive complaints, slow gait and MCR was 15.9%, 10.0% and 4.0%, respectively. After adjusting for confounding variables, the logistic regression analysis showed that slow gait (odds ratio [OR] 3.40, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.40-8.23, P=0.007) and MCR (odds ratio [OR] 5.53, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.46-20.89, P=0.012) were independently associated with frailty, but not subjective cognitive complaints. Conclusions: MCR and slow gait were significantly associated with frailty in Chinese older adults. Further study should prospectively determine the causal relationship between MCR and frailty.


The aim of this study is to analyze on the effect of radiation heat transfer inside an oven under natural and forced convection modes using network representative method. This analysis is important to understand the fundamental principle of heat transfer occur in an oven. Most previous work focused on conduction and convection process in an oven instead of radiation which leads to this research. The experiment was conducted using the baking oven with temperature ranges from 180° C, 200° C and 220° C. The oven was pre-heated 10 minutes prior taking the temperature reading for duration of maximum 20 minutes. The data collected were recorded in the data logger. Based on these data, analysis on the radiation exchanges that occurred inside the oven chamber were performed by the network representative method. The radiation rates of all surface involved were successfully determined. With the calculated radiation rate, analysis on the effects of radiation under natural convection and forced convection modes were performed. Based on the temperature profiles and radiation rate patterns, it was proven that the forced convection mode has more radiation effect compared to natural convection mode. chamber. The radiation analysis of heat transfer starting from the oven heating element to the surrounding chamber was analyzed in details by using the network representative method. This method based on the electrical network that shows the surface radiation exchange inside the oven chamber. Based from the radiation analysis under natural convection and forced convection process, this could help to improve a better implementation of heat transfer studies in designing an oven.


Satellite earth stations which located in remote areas are one of many applications powered by the renewable energy sources. Ground system consists of ground station and control centers working together to support the spacecraft and the data user. Earth station consists of major subsystems, transmitter, receiver, antenna, tracking equipment, terrestrial interface equipment and power supply. Power subsystem is an important part that required for supplying the earth station with electrical power to continue communicating with its remote sensing satellite. This paper deals with simulation and optimal sizing of earth station power system using HOMER software. A combination of two energy sources (solar, and wind) to provide a continuous electric power production is used to determine the optimum system operation. Three system configurations are compared with respect to the total net present cost (NPC) and levelized cost of energy (COE). Also, economical study will be analyzed for energy demand and sensitivity analysis will be performed.


Introduction: Neonatal hyperbilirubinemia is the most common clinical finding noted during the first seven days following birth. Amongst all the modalities available for management of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia, phototherapy is proven to be the safest. However, like any other intervention, phototherapy too has some of its own side effects. Aim & objectives: To estimate and compare alterations in serum electrolytes of healthy term neonates before and after phototherapy. Material & methods: A hospital based prospective observational comparative study was conducted over a period of 18 months in the department of Pediatrics on 110 healthy term neonates with unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia who were subjected to phototherapy as per American Academy Pediatrics guidelines. Electrolytes including sodium, potassium, chloride and calcium were analyzed from serum using standard laboratory techniques. Results: The mean sodium, chloride, potassium and calcium levels before phototherapy was 141.3±2.69 meq/L, 102.2±2.98 meq/L, 4.43±0.52 meq/L, 9.14±0.46 mg/dl and after phototherapy was 140.5±2.70 meq/L, 102.0±2.93 meq/L, 4.23±0.48 meq/L and 8.09±0.55 mg/dl respectively. All were found to be statistically significant (p-value <0.05); although none were clinically significant and conveyed no symptom of dyselectrolytemia in this study. Conclusion: This study shows that neonates exposed to phototherapy are at a risk of developing electrolyte imbalances and consequently their complications. Hence, close monitoring of such babies are needed to prevent imbalances and their untoward consequences.


Polyvinyl alcohol, (PVA) was prepared using polyvinyl acetate emulsion (manufactured by Al-Jihad factory, That-Al-Sawary Company) as a local raw material. In this investigation, polyvinyl acetate emulsion was converted to solid form by coagulation the polymer from its emulsion using sodium sulphate salt as coagulant aid, then alcoholyzed the solid polyvinyl acetate in methanol using sodium hydroxide as catalyst, polyvinyl alcohol produced by this method is a dry, white to yellow powder. Three affecting variables on the degree of hydrolysis of PVA were studied, these variable are Catalyst to polymer weight ratio in the range of 0.01 – 0.06, reaction time in the range of 20 – 90 min, and reaction temperature in the range of 25 – 50 oC. The effect of degree of hydrolysis of PVA produced on its properties such as water solubility and degree of polymerization were studied also. Finally the alcoholysis reaction kinetics were studied to determine the reaction constants such as initial rate constant and degree of autocatalytic effect of the alcoholysis reaction. It was found that the degree of hydrolysis of formed polyvinyl alcohol increase with increasing of variables catalyst concentration, reaction time and reaction temperature, furthermore, the water solubility of PVA increase with increasing degree of hydrolysis up to about 87 % after this value the solubility is decrease, also the degree of polymerization of PVA decrease with increasing of degree of hydrolysis up to about 89 %.


A clique in a graph is a set of vertices, each of which is adjacent to every other vertex in this set. A k-clique relaxes this requirement, requiring vertices to be within a distance k of each other, rather than directly adjacent. In theory, a maximum clique algorithm can easily be adapted to solve the maximum k-clique problem, although large sparse k-clique graphs reduce to large dense clique graphs, which can be computationally challenging. We adapt a state of the art maximum clique algorithm to show that this reduction is in fact useful in practice, and introduce a lazy global domination rule which sometimes vastly reduces the search space. We include experimental results for a range of real-world and benchmark graphs, and a detailed look at random graphs. We also use thread-parallel search to solve some harder instances.


The Antarctic Peninsula is one of the world`s most affected regions by Climate Change. Long-term remote sensing time series enable to study changes and to reveal information on the underlying processes of the cryosphere as well as the interlinkages with the atmosphere.

The German Antarctic Recieving Station (GARS) at O'Higgins operated by the German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD/DLR) has acquired data from the two European Space Agency (ESA) European Remote Sensing satellite mission (ERS-)1/2 between 1991 and 2011. Data of other space borne SAR sensors such as ESA`s ENVISAT ASAR, JAXA`s (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) ALOS PALSAR, DLR`s TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X or the European mission Sentinel-1 will complement to a dense time series of SAR measurements from the 1990s until today for several regions of the Antarctic Peninsula.

Differential interferometric synthetic radar (DInSAR) methods and intensity tracking are applied inorder to derive important glaciological parameters such as grounding line positions, glacier velocities, surface elevations, ice mass fluxes and glacier mass balances. Additionally, calibrated SAR amplitude images as well as images taken by optical sensors (e.g. Landsat) are used to map glacier extends and to compute changes of glacier areas.

We represent first results of a case study at the Wordie Ice Shelf, located at the south-western side of the Antarctic Peninsula. This ice shelf disintegrated in a series of events during the 1970s and 1980s, so that already in the beginning of the 1990s only disconnected and retreating tidewater glaciers remained. Due to the loss of the buttressing effect of the ice shelf, an increased ice mass discharge has been observed. An increase of flow speeds and elevation decrease have been reported by previous studies – mainly on a bi-temporal basis. However, how long and how exactly in time this process of adaption to the new boundary conditions will last as well as how much ice mass loss and sea level rise is caused by this process is yet not well known. Thus we use dense SAR time series in conjunction with data on surface elevation from photogrammetry and laser/radar altimetry, ground penetrating radar as well as surface mass balance simulations to target more precise estimates as well as data sets that can be better compared with large-scale observations by the GRACE gravimetry mission.


The partitioning of photosynthates toward biomass compartments plays a crucial role in the carbon (C) sink function of forests. Few studies have examined how carbon is allocated toward plant compartments in drought- prone forests. We analyzed the fate of gross primary produc- tion (GPP) in relation to yearly water deficit in an old ever- green Mediterranean Quercus ilex coppice severely affected by water limitations. Carbon fluxes between the ecosys- tem and the atmosphere were measured with an eddy co- variance flux tower running continuously since 2001. Dis- crete measurements of litterfall, stem growth and fAPAR al- lowed us to derive annual productions of leaves, wood, flow- ers and acorns, and an isometric relationship between stem and belowground biomass has been used to estimate peren- nial belowground growth. By combining eddy covariance fluxes with annual net primary productions (NPP), we man- aged to close a C budget and derive values of autotrophic, heterotrophic respirations and carbon-use efficiency (CUE; the ratio between NPP and GPP). Average values of yearly net ecosystem production (NEP), GPP and Reco were 282, 1259 and 977 g C m 2 . The corresponding aboveground net primary production (ANPP) components were 142.5, 26.4 and 69.6 g C m 2 for leaves, reproductive effort (flowers and fruits) and stems, respectively. NEP, GPP and Reco were af- fected by annual water deficit. Partitioning to the different plant compartments was also impacted by drought, with a hierarchy of responses going from the most affected - the stem growth - to the least affected - the leaf production. The average CUE was 0.40, which is well in the range for Mediterranean-type forest ecosystems. CUE tended to de- crease less drastically in response to drought than GPP and NPP did, probably due to drought acclimation of autotrophic respiration. Overall, our results provide a baseline for mod- eling the inter-annual variations of carbon fluxes and alloca- tion in this widespread Mediterranean ecosystem, and they highlight the value of maintaining continuous experimental measurements over the long term.


Biodegradable polymer has been widely used in surgical suture, dressing, artificial bone and other bone-related applications. However, when compared with the human cortical bone, the pure polymer obviously did not have enough strength. The present study aimed to give preliminary insights from a pilot study of designing a scaffold of polylactic acid ply yarns composited with stainless steel (SS) braids. To evaluate the fabrication processes and alkali effects on the individual materials, the different heating temperature and alkali treating time and alkali concentration were applied to clarify the changes in mechanical strength. The experimental results showed that the strength was not significant declined with alkali and heating treatments. The retained mechanical strength was kept at 100-120 MPa and ultimately led to bone-like mechanical properties.


Effective product development rests on a productcs design ability to create a positive product experience. This involves complex transformation of product information from customers to engineers to production to sales and back to customers. This work presents the concept of simulating the development of a new product. The multicriteria analysis of product development in a multi-dimensional space is being used. Based on simulation, the model shows in which direction the product will be developed on the basis of existing information. In the set multi-dimensional space, in which each observation parameter has a designated polar dimensional in terms of dependence on time, development on the basis of selected products is simulated. In an innovative way and in the case of sanitary fittings, simulation of the development of a new product in the early stages of design ideas is shown.


Gelman's article is a thought-provoking mix of opinions and creative methodology. I agree with Gelman that the disjunction of models and exploratory data analysis (EDA) in mainstream statistics is unsound. The assumption that models belong exclusively to confirmatory data analysis (CDA) is easily shown to be wrong in practice. Many uses of models, in particular model selection, are exploratory, and they usually forfeit the possibility of strict CDA. Gelman's suggestion that EDA be based on mainstream modeling practices is long overdue.


To investigate the mechanical property (shear strength, bending strength and compressive strength) and the interface combinative ability of the composite of bovine bone morphogenetic protein (bBMP) and porous hydroxyapatite (HA) with different pore diameter. HA1 (Φ100-300μm) and HA2 (Φ130-500μm) were used as carriers of bBMP(5mg). The 4 types material (HA1, HA2, bBMP /HA1, bBMP /HA2) were implanted into the femur of 10 dogs (2 dogs each group) for the shear test and 15 dogs (3 dogs each group) for the bending test and compressive test. The shear strength of all kinds of materials were increased as time went on and the shear strength of bBMP/HA1 was highest in four materials. The bending strength of bBMP /HA1 was close to the normal femur in the 24th week. The compressive strength of all materials was lower than the cortex of the dog's femur until 24th week. The compressive strength of bBMP /HA1 was the highest in four types. The compressive strength of HA2 and bBMP /HA2 was decreased after implantation. Implant of bBMP /HA with 100-300μm diameter had strong bonding with the host bone, and had better mechanical properties than that with 130-500μm diameter. So the porous bBMP /HA (Φ100-300 μm ) could be a useful graft material due to its strength.


Main Belt Comets (MBCs) are a newly identified population, with stable asteroid-like orbits in the outer main belt and a comet-like appearance. It is believed that they survived the age of the solar system in a dormant state and that their activity occurred only recently. Water ice is the only volatile expected to survive, and only when buried under an insulating surface. Excavation by impact could bring the water ice (closer) to the surface and trigger the start of MBC activity. The specific science goals of the Castalia mission are: 1. Characterize a new Solar System family, the MBCs, by in-situ investigation 2. Understand the physics of activity on MBCs 3. Directly detect water in the asteroid belt 4. Test if MBCs are a viable source for Earth's water 5. Use MBCs as tracers of planetary system formation and evolution These goals can be achieved by a spacecraft designed to rendezvous with and orbit an MBC for some months, arriving before the active period begins for mapping before directly sampling the gas and dust released during the active phase. Given the low level of activity of MBCs, and the expectation that their activity comes from only a localized patch on the surface, the orbiting spacecraft will have to be able to maintain a very close orbit over extended periods - the Castalia plan envisages an orbiter capable of 'hovering' autonomously at distances of only a few km from the surface of the MBC. The straw-man instrument payload is made up of: - Visible and near-infrared spectral imager - Thermal infrared imager - Radio science - Dust impact detector - Dust composition analyzer - Neutral/ion mass spectrometer - Magnetometer - Plasma package In addition to this, the option of a surface science package is being considered. At the moment MBC 133P/Elst-Pizarro is the best-known target for such a mission. A design study for the Castalia mission has been carried out in partnership between the science team, DLR and OHB Systems. This study looked at possible missions to 133P with launch dates around 2025, and found that this (and other MBC targets as backups) are reachable with an ESA M-class type mission.


Abstract Objective: Distal and proximal entrapment neuropathies such as carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and cervical radiculopathy (CR) share similar etiologies. Experimental models suggest that, despite comparable etiology, pathomechanisms associated with injuries of the peripheral and central axon branches are distinct. This study therefore compared self-reported and elicited sensory profiles in patients with distal and proximal entrapment neuropathies. Methods: Patients with electrodiagnostically confirmed CTS (n = 103) and patients with CR (n = 23) were included in this study. A group of healthy participants served as controls (n = 39). Symptoms and sensory profiles were evaluated using quantitative sensory testing (QST) and a self-reported neuropathic pain questionnaire (painDETECT). Results: Both patient groups were characterized by a loss of function in thermal and mechanical detection in the main pain area and dermatome compared to healthy reference data (p < .001). There was no significant difference between patients with CTS and CR in pain and detection thresholds except for reduced vibration sense in the main pain area (p < .001) and reduced pressure pain sensitivity in the dermatome in patients with CR (p < .001). However, patients with CR reported higher pain intensities (p = .008), more severe pain attacks (p = .009) and evoked pain by light pressure (p = .002) compared to patients with CTS. Conclusion: While QST profiles were similar between patients with CTS and CR, self-reported pain profiles differed and may suggest distinct underlying mechanisms in these patient cohorts.


OBJECTIVE To evaluate the agreement between results of microscopic examination and bacterial culture of bile samples from dogs and cats with hepatobiliary disease for detection of bactibilia. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. ANIMALS 31 dogs and 21 cats with hepatobiliary disease for which subsequent microscopic examination and bacterial culture of bile samples was performed from 2004 through 2014. PROCEDURES Electronic medical records of included dogs and cats were reviewed to extract data regarding diagnosis, antimicrobials administered, and results of microscopic examination and bacterial culture of bile samples. Agreement between these 2 diagnostic tests was assessed by calculation of the Cohen κ value. RESULTS 17 (33%) dogs and cats had bactibilia identified by microscopic examination of bile samples, and 11 (21%) had bactibilia identified via bacterial culture. Agreement between these 2 tests was substantial (percentage agreement [positive and negative results], 85%; κ = 0.62; 95% confidence interval, 0.38 to 0.89) and improved to almost perfect when calculated for only animals that received no antimicrobials within 24 hours prior to sample collection (percentage agreement, 94%; κ = 0.84; 95% confidence interval, 0.61 to 1.00). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Results indicated that agreement between microscopic examination and bacterial culture of bile samples for detection of bactibilia is optimized when dogs and cats are not receiving antimicrobials at the time of sample collection. Concurrent bacterial culture and microscopic examination of bile samples are recommended for all cats and dogs evaluated for hepatobiliary disease.


A stochastic algorithm for the recursive approximation of the location θ of a maximum of a regression function was introduced by Kiefer and Wolfowitz [Ann. Math. Statist. 23 (1952) 462–466] in the univariate framework, and by Blum [Ann. Math. Statist. 25 (1954) 737–744] in the multivariate case. The aim of this paper is to provide a companion algorithm to the Kiefer–Wolfowitz–Blum algorithm, which allows one to simultaneously recursively approximate the size μ of the maximum of the regression function. A precise study of the joint weak convergence rate of both algorithms is given; it turns out that, unlike the location of the maximum, the size of the maximum can be approximated by an algorithm which converges at the parametric rate. Moreover, averaging leads to an asymptotically efficient algorithm for the approximation of the couple (θ,μ).


A Bayesian approach to combining animal abundance and demographic data.— In studies of wild animals, one frequently encounters both count and mark–recapture–recovery data. Here, we consider an integrated Bayesian analysis of ring–recovery and count data using a state–space model. We then impose a Leslie– matrix–based model on the true population counts describing the natural birth–death and age transition processes. We focus upon the analysis of both count and recovery data collected on British lapwings (Vanellus vanellus) combined with records of the number of frost days each winter. We demonstrate how the combined analysis of these data provides a more robust inferential framework and discuss how the Bayesian approach using MCMC allows us to remove the potentially restrictive normality assumptions commonly assumed for analyses of this sort. It is shown how WinBUGS may be used to perform the Bayesian analysis. WinBUGS code is provided and its performance is critically discussed.


To deliver 3-tier applications as a Service in the Cloud state-related constraints crossing Infrastructure- and Software as a Service boundaries need to be managed. By automating the lifecycle of applications like databases, load balancers, and web application servers rich SaaS business services can be provided in the Cloud. We propose an object oriented planning approach based on state constraints to plan for changes of SaaS and IaaS components in the Cloud. We evaluate techniques for fast storing and restoring of large object oriented Configuration Management Databases and show that enforcing constraints in a procedural instead of a declarative way offers huge performance improvements. The advantages of our approach lie within the tight integration of the planning algorithm with object oriented models frequently used for Configuration Management Databases. In addition to that, the algorithm scales to a large number of nodes and preserves its runtime even for large, heavily loaded data centers.


Solvability of the rational contact with limited interpenetration of different kind of viscolastic plates is proved. The biharmonic plates, von Kármán plates, Reissner-Mindlin plates, and full von Kármán systems are treated. The viscoelasticity can have the classical ("short memory") form or the form of a certain singular memory. For all models some convergence of the solutions to the solutions of the Signorini contact is proved provided the thickness of the interpenetration tends to zero.


Purpose: In many institutions protocols have not been developed as to when implantable venous access devices are accessed in children with cancer. The differences in complication rates (infection, hematoma, mechanical failure, and extravasation) between immediate versus delayed access remain unknown. Patients and Methods: This retrospective study looks at the incidence of complications in two groups of pediatric patients who had an implantable venous access device inserted between 1998 and 2001 at McMaster Children's Hospital. Group 1 (immediate access group) had 23 patients and group 2 (delayed access) had 74 patients. Results: The incidence of infection was 22% in group 1 and 14% in group 2. The difference between these infection rates was not statistically significant. All infections occurred in patients with a diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Of the patients in this study with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, 33% in group 1 and 36% in group 2 developed infections. Conclusions: These results suggest that implantable venous access devices can be accessed at the time of device insertion to decrease painful needle punctures in children with cancer and to provide secure immediate central venous access.


For immigrant adult learners, learning English is not only for survival and functioning in the target language (TL) culture, but it is also a means of being able to successfully deal with the inequitable power structures in place in the larger society which deny them access to the culture's social, economic, and political resources (Norton, 2000). In the United States, the computer is a culturally valued resource and tool used by TL speakers, yet this valued resource is not easily accessible to immigrant adults due to their limited language ability, lack of experience with computers, and/or financial reasons; thus, putting them at an immediate socioeconomic disadvantage in this country. Nevertheless, researchers have argued that today's language learners must know how to read, write and communicate through electronic mediums due to the computer's prevalence in many aspects of modern life (Warschauer, 2005). The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of technology on adult immigrant learners as they learn how to use computers formally for the first time within an English as a Second Language curriculum. Specifically, the study seeks to discover which factors contribute to successful computer literacy acquisition, the impact of computer literacy acquisition to their identities, and which pedagogical practices are best suited for this population. The research project took place at a local community college and looked at 25 students, focusing in on five case-profile learners. Using Lave & Wenger's (1991) Situated Learning Theory and Norton's (1995) Theory of Investment, Social Identity and Power as a means of examining the above issues, the findings provide evidence that teachers need to consider learners' identities when designing and


Flavonoids are important bioactive dietary compounds. They induce electrophile-responsive element (EpRE)-mediated expression of enzymes, such as NAD(P)H-quinone oxidoreductase (NQO1) and glutathione S-transferases (GSTs), which are major defense enzymes against electrophilic toxicants and oxidative stress. The induction of EpRE-mediated gene transcription involves the release of the transcription factor Nrf2 from a complex with Keap1, either by a direct interaction of the inducer with Keap1 or by protein kinase C (PKC)-mediated phosphorylation of Nrf2. The inhibition of PKC in Hepa1c1c7 cells, stably transfected with human NQO1-EpRE-controlled luciferase revealed that PKC is not involved in flavonoid-induced EpRE-mediated gene transcription. However, the ability of flavonoids to activate an EpRE-mediated response correlates with their redox properties characterized by quantum mechanical calculations. Flavonoids with a higher intrinsic potential to generate oxidative stress and redox cycling are the most potent inducers of EpRE-mediated gene expression. Modulation of the intracellular glutathione (GSH) level showed that the EpRE-activation by flavonoids increased with decreasing GSH and vice versa, supporting an oxidative mechanism. In conclusion, the pro-oxidant activity of flavonoids can contribute to their health-promoting activity by inducing important detoxifying enzymes, pointing to a beneficial effect of a supposed toxic chemical reaction.


We exploit the first data release from the Gaia mission to identify candidate Mira variables in the outskirts of the Magellanic Clouds. The repeated observations of sources during the initial phase of the Gaia mission is used to identify stars that show signs of variability. This variability information, combined with infrared photometry from Two Micron All Sky Survey and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, allows us to select a clean sample of giants in the periphery of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). We find evidence for Miras surrounding the LMC out to ∼20 deg in all directions, apart from the North-West quadrant. Our sample does not generally follow the gas distribution of the Magellanic system; Miras are notably absent in the gaseous bridge between the LMC and Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), but they are likely related to the stellar RR Lyrae bridge reported by Belokurov et al. (2016). The stellar stream discovered by Mackey et al. (2016) to the North of the LMC is almost perfectly delineated by our Mira variables, and likely extends further East towards the Galactic plane. The presence of an intermediate-age population in this stream advocates an LMC disc origin. We also find a significant excess of Miras to the East of the LMC; these more diffusely distributed stars are likely stripped SMC stars due to interactions with the LMC. Miras are also identified in regions of the sky away from the Clouds; we locate stars likely associated with known massive substructures, and also find potential associations with stripped SMC debris above the Galactic


Like other highly urbanized and industrialized estuaries, the Seine estuary (France) has, for decades, received high inputs of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). In order to estimate the bioremediation potentials and to identify the bacterial species involved in hydrocarbon degradation, we used microcosms containing seawater from the Seine estuary supplemented with either naphthalene, phenanthrene, fluorene or pyrene. In the microcosms enriched with naphthalene or phenanthrene, hydrocarbon biodegradation was significant within 9 weeks (43% or 46%, respectively), as shown by analyses in GC-MS. In similar microcosms incubated also with naphthalene or phenanthrene, analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequences (DNA and cDNA) with denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and clone libraries indicated that the PAH-degrading communities were dominated by Cycloclasticus spp., confirming their universal key role in degradation of lowmolecular-weight PAHs in marine environments. However, in contrast to previous studies, we found that Pseudomonas spp. also degraded naphthalene and phenanthrene in seawater; this occurred only after 21 days, as was confirmed by real-time PCR. Although this genus has been abundantly described in the literature as a good PAH-degrading bacterial group in soil or in sediment, to our knowledge, this is the first evidence of a significant fitness in PAH degradation in seawater.


Compositionally graded alloys, a special class of functionally graded materials (FGMs), utilize localized variations in composition within a single metal part to achieve higher performance than traditional single-material parts. In previous work [1], the authors presented a computational design methodology that avoids common issues which limit a gradient alloy's usefulness or feasibility, such as deleterious phases or properties, and also optimizes gradients for performance objectives. However, the previous methodology only samples the interior of a composition space, meaning designed gradients must include all elements in the space at every step in the gradient. Because the addition of even a small amount of an alloying element can introduce a new deleterious phase, this characteristic often neglects potentially simpler solutions to otherwise unsolvable problems and, consequently, discourages the addition of new elements to the state space. The present work improves upon the previous methodology by introducing a sampling method that includes subspaces with fewer elements in the design search. The new sampling method samples within an artificial expanded form of the state space and projects samples outside the true region to the nearest true subspace. This method is evaluated first by observing the distribution of samples in each subspace of a 2-D, 3-D, and 4-D state space. Next, a parametric study in a synthetic 2-D problem compares the performance of the new sampling scheme to the previous methodology. Lastly, the updated methodology is applied to design a gradient from stainless steel to equiatomic NiTi that has practical uses such as embedded shape memory actuation and for which the previous methodology fails to find a feasible path.


'Abstract Over the past few years, hepatocyte transplantation has been considered as an alternative method for orthotopic liver transplantation for the treatment of various liver diseases. Beside curative approach for genetic metabolic deficiences (familial hypercholesterolemia, hemophilia, etc.), it could be a useful tool for bridging the waiting period until an appropriate donor organ is obtained. In preclinical animal studies, hepatocytes injected intraperitoneally, intraportally or into the spleen settle down in the diseased liver. This enables genetic modification to correct inborn metabolic deficiences and improves survival in acute liver failure. In 1992, the first clinical transplantation of isolated hepatocytes in 10 patients was performed. In 1998, Fox and coworkers described the succesful transplantation of allogeneic liver cells in a child with Crigler-Najjar syndrome. Accomplished studies of Strom et al. resp. Bilir et al. of the same year proved the effectiveness of liver cell transplantation for transient treatment of acute liver failure. Prerequisite of this cell-based therapeutic strategy is a sufficient amount of highly differentiated hepatocytes, hence, a well established in-vitro cell-culture technique is necessary to yield a reproducible number of proliferating hepatocytes and to preserve the physiological cell function. This review discusses the different experimental approaches regarding the cultivation of human hepatocytes and also the use of alternative cell sources (like animal hepatocytes, immortalized cells of human origin, progenitor cells from fetal human liver/liver stem cells) for hepatocyte transplantation.


Objective: Define and compare numbers and types of occlusal contacts in maximum intercuspation. Methods: The study consisted of clinical and photographic analysis of occlusal contacts in maximum intercuspation. Twenty-six Caucasian Brazilian subjects were selected before orthodontic treatment, 20 males and 6 females, with ages ranging between 12 and 18 years. The subjects were diagnosed and grouped as follows: 13 with Angle Class I malocclusion and 13 with Angle Class II Division 1 malocclusion. After analysis, the occlusal contacts were classified according to the established criteria as: tripodism, bipodism, monopodism (respectively, three, two or one contact point with the slope of the fossa); cuspid to a marginal ridge; cuspid to two marginal ridges; cuspid tip to opposite inclined plane; surface to surface; and edge to edge. Results: The mean number of occlusal contacts per subject in Class I malocclusion was 43.38 and for Class II Division 1 malocclusion it was 44.38, this difference was not statistically significant (p>0.05). Conclusions: There is a variety of factors that influence the number of occlusal contacts between a Class I and a Class II, Division 1 malocclusion. There is no standardization of occlusal contact type according to the studied malocclusions. A proper selection of occlusal contact types such as cuspid to fossa or cuspid to marginal ridge and its location in the teeth should be individually defined according to the demands of each case. The existence of an adequate occlusal contact leads to a correct distribution of forces, promoting periodontal health.


Levels of platelets and other hematological values were monitored in 21 Saimiri and 12 Aotus monkeys over a period of three weeks post-infection with monkey-adapted Indochina CDC-1 strain of Plasmodium falciparum. In both Saimiri sciureus boliviensis and Aotus nancymai karyotype-1 monkeys the severest thrombocytopenia was observed at 14 days post-infection coinciding with peak parasitemia, neutropenia, lymphocytosis, and anemia associated with severe hemoglobinemia and elevated fibrinogen degeneration products(FDP's). MCH and MCV profiles in Aotus monkeys decreased with ascending parasitemia. In contrast, these parameters in Saimiri were characterized by a significant compensatory increase correlating with parasitemia. In general, thrombocytopenia was one of the earliest clinical manifestations of the infection with the platelets returning to normal levels shortly after peak parasitemia at 14 days. Platelet kinetics had a strong correlation with hematologic and parasitologic values in the Aotus model. No consistent associations were observed between platelet kinetics and other parameters in the Saimiri model. These data indicate that the Aotus model for malaria is more predictable than the Saimiri. Further, platelet turnover rates and recovery provide a useful prognostic parameter during malaria infection. The results are discussed in relation to the value of the two species of monkeys as models for the pathogenesis of human malaria.


The threshold presents an image of the human condition in an irreducible form. As a topos and metaphor, it offers dramatists a rhetorical means to reconcile the incongruity and ambivalence of life. This is because the threshold can be used to rediscover, rearticulate and resolve ontological discrepancies that are at the very core of mankind's existential predicaments. The more frequently the aesthetic image of the threshold appears in a process of aesthetic argumentation, the more convincing its power of persuasion over time. As a construct upon which argumentative positions are established, the threshold is developed into an explanatory and didactic tool. Threshold aesthetics examines how cognate images of the threshold present as aesthetic arguments. An interface between the visual and the conceptual, threshold aesthetics not only exposes why threshold images express the underlying arguments of myth and drama, but also how dramatists and critics alike develop their own threshold aesthetic when conceptualising, illustrating and interpreting threshold experiences. This study proposes that the divided and polemic nature of being that underlies the topos of the threshold generally is what defines the problematic of the Atreidae specifically. By attributing the Atreidaen myth's internal coherence, aesthetic argumentative capability and dramatic potential first and foremost to the threshold, this study uses threshold aesthetics to explore the nexus of associations between the Atreidaen myth, its dramatic versions and their historical contexts. By using the Atreidaen myth to explore the relevance and significance of threshold aesthetics, this study offers a new approach to the dramatic structures and meaning of both the Atreidaen stories and their development in the history of ideas and literature. It does so by combining a reception history with an original study of rhetorical argumentation in dramas such as Aeschylus' Oresteia, Sophocles' Electra, Euripides' Atreidaen-based tragedies, Hugo von Hofmannsthal's Elektra, Gerhart Hauptmann's Die Atriden-Tetralogie, lIse Langner's Klytiimnestra and Volker Braun's Iphigenie in Freiheit. Collectively, the interpretations of these dramas present a means to extrapolate from the dialogue between antiquity and modernity an ongoing symbiotic relationship between image and argument. This relationship translates into the threshold aesthetics that emerge in the German-speaking realm during the Viennese fin de siecle, World War II, the allied occupation of Germany and German reunification. Exploring these aesthetics in tum reveals the manifold ways in which the threshold is imbued with meaning and the extent to which that meaning is itself shaped by society and culture.


(B2C) companies may have the tools they need to gain knowledge about every aspect of their customers' lives and thus to build personalized, profitable relationships with consumers. Unfortunately, acquiring the kind of information these tools need is a time-consuming and invasive process requiring customers to answer detailed questionnaires about their lives or to complete a lengthy series of transactions, and most of them just don't stick around long enough to provide a clear picture of their identities, needs, and tastes. Fortunately, there is an easier way to segment B2C consumers. It has worked well for a long time in the off-line world and can help B2Cs increase their appeal to customers from the start. Empirical research shows that it is content, above all, that lures consumers to any World Wide Web site and persuades them to return. [1] To woo them successfully, a B2C--horizontal portal, mass marketer, and on-line community alike--must use tools that can anticipate customers' future needs, even without a complete picture of their tastes and circumstances. Because the surfing public has a wide range of content preferences, mass-market B2Cs face the formidable challenge of developing superior content that appeals to a highly diverse population. (On-line niche players, by definition, have a better idea of their audience, though it is bound to be smaller.) Pay-TV companies, which face similar problems, assemble a variety of programs or channels, often acquired from third parties, that together satisfy the interests and preferences of the audience. A recent McKinsey study found that pay-TV companies could best uncover those interests and preferences by using basic sociodemographic variables--age, employment status, family role, and household structure (Exhibit 1)--which provide a better indication of the broad content preferences of large groups of consumers than any combination of widely tracked factors such as occupation, income, and attitude toward technology. B2C companies should find the four variables just as effective; indeed, B2Cs using them have sharply increased the percentage of Web site visitors who become customers--in the case of Andale, the leading auction services provider for on-line sellers, by more than 100 percent in some channels. Even a subset of the variables (age, for instance) has proved useful to B2Cs such as the sporting-goods retailer Fogdog. The even better news is that segmenting customers in this way is comparatively easy: companies don't need to invest in complicated data-mining software (similar segmentations have been used off-line for years), and other companies with on-line operations and specialists like DoubleClick can provide the necessary data. Since the information can be acquired without complicated customer databases or long registration forms, surfers get a personalized experience starting with their very first visit to the Web site. …


The dynamic light scattering methods are widely used in biomedical diagnostics involving evaluation of blood flow. However, there exist some difficulties in quantitative interpretation of backscattered light signals from the viewpoint of diagnostic information. This study considers the application of the high‐speed videocapillaroscopy (VCS) method that provides the direct measurement of the red blood cells (RBCs) velocity into a capillary. The VCS signal presents true oscillation nature of backscattered light caused by moving RBCs. Thus, the VCS signal can be assigned as a reference one with respect to more complicated signals like in laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF). An essential correlation between blood flow velocity oscillations in a separate human capillary and the integral perfusion estimate obtained by the LDF method has been found. The observation of blood flow by the VCS method during upper arm occlusion has shown emergence of the reverse blood flow effect in capillaries that corresponds to the biological zero signal in the LDF. The reverse blood flow effect has to be taken into account in interpretation of LDF signals.


Statistical features of the transition process from stationary to nonstationary chaos are studied using modified Bernoulli maps. The stationary-nonstationary chaos transition process can be generated by varying the value of the parameter that controls the intensity of the intermittency. The measure-theoretical structures of the chaos transition process are significantly different from the time-independent case, and new statistical phenomena appear, even when the value of the system parameter is changed continuously in time. The temporal behavior of the transition process is generally separated into three characteristic phases. The first phase appears in the initial stage of the transition, and the third one in the last stage, where the transition is almost finished, but the most interesting phase is the second one, which continues for long period. The entire transition process is analyzed using the renewal function, which describes the temporal behavior of the mean accumulated number of intermittent jumps. The logarithmic scaling relation appearing in the second phase is studied in detail with finite-range statistics. Finally, the statistical laws of the stationary-nonstationary chaos transition are discussed from the viewpoint of the modeling of seismological phenomena, and it is shown that seismological data are accounted for quite well by a metaphor model in terms of the stationary-nonstationary chaos transition.


Given article deals with the results of the study of antimicrobial activity and microbiological purity of CO2 extracts of Plantago major and Acorus Calamus. It has been found that both extracts exhibit antimicrobial activity. Thus Plantago major extract have a broad spectrum of activity, and all cultures of microorganisms are sensitive to this extract. Acotus calamus extract has activity against gram-positive bacteria cultures as well as antifungal activity against Candida albicans. Both samples meet the requirements of the Pharmacopeia of Ukraine in terms of "microbiological purity of non-sterile drugs." These extracts can be used to develop formulations with antimicrobial properties.


New data on structure and texture features of Cu and Ti rods, subjected to ECAP at 20oC and 400oC respectively, were obtained by means of advanced X-ray diffractometric methods. A deformation inhomogeneity through rod's cross-section was studied by reduced cubic samples 3x3x3 mm, cut out from different regions of rods. The inhomogeneity of ECAP rods is characterized by distributions of texture and substructure parameters. Main tendencies in structure formation by ECAP are revealed.


Evidence of physical interaction with the target protein is essential in the development of chemical probes and drugs. The cellular thermal shift assay (CETSA) allows evaluation of drug binding in live cells but lacks a framework to support quantitative interpretations and comparisons with functional data. We outline an experimental platform for such analysis using human kinase p38α. Systematic variations to the assay's characteristic heat challenge demonstrate an apparent loss of compound potency with an increase in duration or temperature, in line with expectations from the literature for thermal shift assays. Importantly, data for five structurally diverse inhibitors can be quantitatively explained using a simple model of linked equilibria and published binding parameters. The platform further distinguishes between ligand mechanisms and allows for quantitative comparisons of drug binding affinities and kinetics in live cells and lysates. We believe this work has broad implications in the appropriate use of the CETSA for target and compound validation.


Purpose
Methamphetamine users commonly experience induced methamphetamine associated mental health symptoms. Currently, psychosocial treatment is implemented to reduce use; however, to date, the effectiveness of psychosocial treatment in methamphetamine use and the associated mental health symptoms has not been reviewed. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Design/methodology/approach
A systematic literature review was performed by searching databases (PubMed, Embase, Ovid MEDLINE, PsychINFO and CINAHL) and following clear inclusion/exclusion criteria.

Findings
In total, 12 studies met the inclusion/exclusion criteria, measuring a variety of psychosocial interventions and measuring a variety of different mental health outcomes. Decreased methamphetamine use was observed in the five studies which recorded this.

Research limitations/implications
Most studies in this review were preliminary trials and only three were RCTs. Additionally, methamphetamine use is a particular problem in Japan and is becoming more prevalent in Europe, yet neither primary nor secondary searching identified papers from these regions.

Practical implications
While the findings may not provide sufficient supporting evidence to instigate changes in clinical practice, this work should be developed further, as it is clear that psychosocial interventions can be successful in treating this population.

Social implications
This review demonstrates that psychosocial treatments can improve symptoms associated with methamphetamine use. Reduction in mental health symptoms has been shown to attract individuals to drug use treatment and thus indirectly reducing methamphetamine use.

Originality/value
Given the consequences of methamphetamine for individuals and communities treatment options must be explored. A review of psychosocial interventions in the treatment of methamphetamine use and associated mental health symptoms had not been done previously. This review provides a foundation for further research.


This thesis argues that if we as a society value the free expression of social and political matters, our built environment needs to provide more accessible opportunities for individuals or groups to produce their own spatial expression.

In contemporary societies, wealth presents the power to frame the spatial conditions of our living environment. The presence of commercial and economic power overshadows the needs for individual expression through the production of space.

Based on theories concerning the spatialization of power and the production of space developed by Michel Foucault and Henri Lefebvre, this thesis will propose an architectural response for the spatial existence of free expression in Toronto. It aims to manifest the power of civic action that transforms social and political narratives. In addition, it will propose an architectural intervention designed to express and facilitate the exercise of collective action that challenges the dominant narrative in society.


The hydrogeological study of the Koular surficial groundwater shows an average depth of the static level equal to 10 m in the zone. This facilitates access to and exploitation of groundwater, which is increasing with the increase in population, thus leading to an increase in the depth of the groundwater. This favors the rupture of the freshwater-salt water interface, hence the saline-water invasion.


The "Locally grown" or "buy local" concept has brought tremendous impacts in many different market venues. This study focuses on finding whether there is any difference on the local definition between traditional shoppers (Kentucky food consumers) and food co-op shoppers. Particularly, the definition of "local" is discussed in three different concepts, i.e., geographical, practical, and supportive concepts. Our results reveal that shoppers between food co-op and traditional stores define local quite differently. An interesting outcome indicates that the food co-op shoppers don't hold a consistent definition of local if we segment shoppers into three groups, like the core/mid-level/periphery based on the percentage of shopping at store. The primary contribution of this study is the identification of clear consumer differences across consumers' viewpoints on the definition of local across stores between the traditional and food co-op shoppers with important merchandising and sourcing implications for corresponding grocers.


Context. In the past years, evidence for the existence of outward-moving (Doppler blue-shifted) plasma and slow-mode magnetoacoustic propagating waves in various magnetic field structures (loops in particular) in the solar corona has been found in ultraviolet images and spectra. Yet their origin and possible connection to and importance for the mass and energy supply to the corona and solar wind is still unclear. There has been increasing interest in this problem thanks to the high-resolution observations available from the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) imagers on the Solar TErrestrial RElationships Observatory (STEREO) and the EUV spectrometer on the Hinode mission. Aims. Flows and waves exist in the corona, and their signatures appear in EUV imaging observations but are extremely difficult to analyse quantitatively because of their weak intensity. Hence, such information is currently available mostly from spectroscopic observations that are restricted in their spatial and temporal coverage. To understand the nature and origin of these fluctuations, imaging observations are essential. Here, we present measurements of the speed of intensity fluctuations observed along apparently open field lines with the Extreme UltraViolet Imagers (EUVI) onboard the STEREO mission. One aim of our paper is to demonstrate that we can make reliable kinematic measurements from these EUV images, thereby complementing and extending the spectroscopic measurements and opening up the full corona for such an analysis. Another aim is to examine the assumptions that lead to flow versus wave interpretation for these fluctuations. Methods. We have developed a novel image-processing method by fusing well established techniques for the kinematic analysis of coronal mass ejections (CME) with standard wavelet analysis. The power of our method lies with its ability to recover weak intensity fluctuations along individual magnetic structures at any orientation, anywhere within the full solar disk, and using standard synoptic observing sequences (cadence <3 min) without the need for special observation plans. Results. Using information from both EUVI imagers, we obtained wave phase speeds with values on the order of 60−90 km s −1 , compatible with those obtained by other previous measurements. Moreover, we studied the periodicity of the observed fluctuations and established a predominance of a 16-min period, and other periods that seem to be multiples of an underlying 8-min period. Conclusions. The validation of our analysis technique opens up new possibilities for the study of coronal flows and waves, by extending it to the full disk and to a larger number of coronal structures than has been possible previously. It opens up a new scientific capability for the EUV observations from the recently launched Solar Dynamics Observatory. Here we clearly establish the ubiquitous existence of sound waves which continuously propagate along apparently open magnetic field lines.


Urgent issues of pathogenesis, prophylaxis and treatment of infection in patients with thermal injuries are considered. Analysis of the results of multifactorial dynamic examinations of immunological reactivity and nonspecific resistance of 198 burnet patients is presented. For the first time a substantial decrease of B-lymphocytes count in normal or elevated level of immunoglobulins of the main classes is shown as well as a decrease in plasma fibronectin content. Lowering of T-lymphocytes content and polymorphonuclear leucocytes function disturbances, dominant role of St. aureus and P. aeruginosa in etiology of infections in burnt patients and high antibiotic resistance of these microorganisms are demonstrated. Pathogenetic substantiation of combined therapeutic usage of thymus and interferon preparations and when indicated--immunoglobulines is recorded. Positive experience in application of recombinant interleukine-2 (Ronkoleukine) is outlined. The data are provided on advisability of application of new cephalosporines and fluorine-quinolones for antibiotic therapy and prophylaxis in the burnet. In complicated forms of gram-negative infections the combination of aminoglycosides with ureidopenicillines or cyprofloxacine is recommended, in infections provoked by polyresistant strains of S. aureus vancomycin is indicated. With prophylactic aim in case of early surgical treatment it is recommended to apply modern antibacterial preparations with broad spectrum of action. Prophylaxis of hospital infections inpatients of specialised clinics for the burnt is discussed.


A numerical study on effects of the injection direction of the pilot diesel fuel on combustion and emissions under two-stroke dual-fuel marine engine-like conditions is presented in this paper. It is found that the injection direction of the pilot fuel has significant effects on the methane start of combustion as well as flame propagation direction which leads to different heat transfer trends to combustion chamber walls and flame-wall interaction. Furthermore, the injection direction of the pilot fuel changes the methane combustion intensity which leads to different trends for emission formation.


International humanitarian law is the branch of customary and treaty-based international positive law whose purposes are to limit the methods and means of warfare and to protect the victims of armed conflicts. Grave breaches of its rules constitute war crimes for which individuals may be held directly accountable and which it is up to sovereign states to prosecute. However, should a state not wish to, or not be in a position to, prosecute, the crimes can be tried by international criminal tribunals instituted by treaty or by binding decision of the United Nations Security Council. This brief description of the current legal and political situation reflects the state of the law at the dawn of the twenty-first century. It does not, however, describe the work of a single day or the fruit of a single endeavour. Quite the contrary, it is the outcome of the international community's growing awareness, in the face of the horrors of war and the indescribable suffering inflicted on humanity throughout the ages, that there must be limits to violence and that those limits must be established by the law and those responsible punished so as to discourage future perpetrators from exceeding them.


Background Henoch Scholein Purpura is the most frequent vasculitis in children. Its diagnosis is clinical and prognosis is often favourable. Aim To precise the epidemiological, clinical, biological profiles and course of the disease. Methods Retrospective study over 10 years (January 2005–January 2014) of 24 children with Henoch-schonlein vasculitis. The diagnosis was based on the association of non-trombocytopenic purpura, arthritis or arthralgia and abdominal pain. Results The mean age of patients was 5,2 years with male predominance (sex-ratio: 1.8). Purpura was observed in all cases. Articular manifestations were noted in 16 cases (69, 5%). Digestive manifestations were noted in 11 cases; it involves acute gastro-intestinal bleeding (4 cases), abdominal pain (6 cases) and diarrhoea (1 case). Upper digestive gastrointestinal endoscopy was done in 3 cases; it showed erosive gastritis in one case. Ultrasonography showed intussusception in 2 patients. Moderate renal manifestations (microscopic hematuria, moderate proteinuria) were observed in 5 children. Five patients required corticosteroid therapy. The evolution was favourable in all cases. Conclusion The Henoch-Sconlein purpura is generally a benign disease. prognosis depends on the risk digestive complications at the acute phase and renal damage at long-term.


The existing P2P routing algorithms generally don't take routing security into consideration. Therefore P2P overlay systems are vulnerable to a kind of attacks called misrouting attacks. This is especially serious in structured P2P overlays due to the deterministic routing algorithms. What's more, in dynamic network environments, the continuous process of node arrival and departure, churn, makes peers' routing table lose accuracy and may lead to the increase of system latency. In this paper, we propose a trust-based routing strategy in structured P2P systems to solve these problems, using quantified trust degree to select next-hops and neighbors. Not only direct trust, but also indirect trust is used for optimization. At the end of this paper, the simulation results show that this trust-based routing strategy leads to higher look-up success rate compared to the original routing algorithm, with the same magnitude of cost.


Somatostatin receptor 2 (SSTR2) has been shown to be expressed in a subset of neuroendocrine tumors and carcinomas and plays a role in imaging studies and guiding therapy. Patients with tumors expressing SSTR2 may be successfully treated with somatostatin inhibitors or radiolabeled somatostatin analogues. We studied SSTR2 expression in TET and correlated it with 68Ga-DOTATATE PET/CT or 68Ga-DOTATATE PET/MR results and treatment outcome. An institutional database of TET was searched for thymoma, thymic carcinoma, and thymic neuroendocrine tumor (TNET) with available resection specimens. Cases were subtyped (2021 WHO classification) and staged (8th AJCC/UICC staging). A section was stained with anti-SSTR2 antibody (clone UMB1). Percent tumor cells with membranous staining was recorded if present in ≥1% of tumor cells. Medical records were searched for 68Ga-DOTATATE PET scans and treatment. Statistical analysis was performed. Eighty patients (1969-2021) with a median age of 61.3 years (range, 19.1-87.3) (37 males, 46.3%) had thymic carcinoma (N=33), TNET (N=7), or thymoma (N=40). SSTR2 expression was identified in 29 (of 80, 36.3%) TET including 2/2 (100%) small cell carcinomas, 2/5 (40.0%) atypical carcinoid tumors, 16/23 (69.6%) squamous cell carcinomas, 2/2 (100%) lymphoepithelial carcinomas, 1/1 (100%) adenosquamous carcinoma, and 6/40 (15.0%) thymomas. SSTR2 expression in ≥50% of tumor cells (vs 1-49%) was associated with younger age (p=0.023) and shorter recurrence/metastasis-free survival (p=0.007). 68Ga-DOTATATE PET scans (N=9) revealed a Krenning score of 3 in patients with atypical carcinoid tumor, small cell carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma (N=1 each) with SSTR2 expression in 95, 100, and 5% of tumor cells, respectively. Scans with Krenning scores of ≤2 (N=5) were seen in tumors with no SSTR2 expression in 80% of cases and a single atypical carcinoid tumor with SSTR2 expression in 10% of tumor cells. One scan resulted as "increased uptake" was in a patient with no SSTR2 expression. In conclusion, 68Ga-DOTATATE PET scans correlated with SSTR2 expression in TET in most patients and appeared to be useful to identify patients with TET who may be amenable to treatment with somatostatin analogues. Larger studies including more patients with 68Ga-DOTATATE PET scans are necessary to independently and prospectively validate our findings.


This paper is about an introduction or information about mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is generally defined as a network that has many free or autonomous nodes, often composed of mobile devices or other mobile pieces, that can arrange themselves in various ways and operate without strict top-down network administration. There are many different types of setups that could be called MANETs and the potential for this sort of network is still being studied.


The activity of pineal N-acetyltransferase in the neonatal rat does not exhibit the large daily rhythm seen in the adult and is intermediate between the low day and high night adult values. These intermediate values appear to result from adrenergic stimulation. Blockade of adrenergic receptors or of catecholamine synthesis results in a decrease in enzyme activity in vivo. In vitro studies provide additional evidence of a completely developed postsynaptic adrenergic control system for pineal N-acetyltransferase activity at birth. Our observations indicate that the appearance of a circadian rhythm in pineal N-acetyltransferase at the end of the first week of life reflects the development of presynaptic mechanisms and structures necessary for the control of catecholamine release and uptake. These events follow the developmental appearance of the postsynaptic mechanisms required to mediate the adrenergic-cycle AMP regulation of pineal N-acetyltransferase activity, which can be detected prior to birth.


The Neuquen Basin of northern Patagonia provides an excellent case study in basin analysis and sequence stratigraphy. The basin is one of the largest petroleum provinces in South America and includes a dramatic record of relative sea-level changes as well as a unique and globally important palaeontological record. Understanding this region is also central to unravelling the history of the Andes. The latest developments in the study of the area have been combined in this volume to give an integrated series of case studies that document the structural, igneous, sedimentological and palaeontological history of the region from the Triassic to the Recent. This publication provides an introduction into this fascinating region as well as a resource that includes the most complete and up-to-date studies of the area.


Inter-firm collaboration as a technology-sourcing decision of Korean high-tech small firms receives great attention as its strategic importance to the technological innovation and economic growth of Korean economy is growing immensely. However, there exists no extensive data and in-depth analysis of under what conditions the decision-makers actually choose technology alliance, or vice versa. This question remains unanswered because existing studies fail to specify cases under which technology-sourcing decision is employed as well as the scope of technological collaboration. This study is the first attempt to tackle these problems by providing a comprehensive framework to guide decision-makers in making appropriate technology strategy. As a first step, this study investigated how and whether the existing decision-makers would have a clear set of decision rules between in-house development and technology alliance and equity alliance and non-equity alliance. To achieve this, extensive literature reviews were undertaken and some consultation from industry experts was carried out. Then, this study developed a two-staged contingency model which denotes that the decision-makers are likely to go through two sequential and contiguous steps until they reach their final decision. Drawing on the decision-makers' perception of their firms' internal condition, external environment and technology projects, 11 factors and 5 factors were identified as determinants in stage One and in stage Two respectively. The result shows that, in the first stage of decision-making, in-house development was preferred when the firms perceived that their technological capability was strong; while technology alliance was preferred when they perceived that they were more entrepreneurially-oriented, when the projects required specialised asset investment and the technology project was highly risky. In addition, the pressure for social legitimacy influenced their decision to undertake technology alliance. In the second stage of decision-making, equity alliance was preferred what the firms perceived that the scope of the cooperative project was wider, while non-equity alliance was preferred when they perceived some degree of mutual trust with potential partners. Apart from identifying the determinants, this study found that technology cooperation is not widely adopted as a technology-sourcing method compared to in-house development; only one in five responding firms is adopting it. That is because, unless the responding firms perceive that they are technologically far less capable, inter-firm, collaboration is not an attractive option for them even if their technology development projects are in a condition that is favourable for adopting inter-firm collaboration. This study suggests that studies on small firm's inter-firm collaboration and technology-sourcing decision should be led into a new direction. First, they should be based on the careful selection of sample firms and scope of technological collaboration. Second, theoretical integration is essential to understand the complex nature of their technology-sourcing decision. Third, unlike in other studies, the transaction cost (TC) perspective is still powerful in explaining the antecedents; economising is still the most important consideration in a small firm's technology-sourcing decision. Finally, a normative and rationalised approach to the alliance studies has been the major methodology in alliance studies, however, the qualitative approach is becoming more important as the use of formal collaboration is less frequent and the firms exchange relevant information through informal relationships that may exist within their industrial clusters, whose phenomenon can be hard to grasp through statistical analysis.


Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between mentoring, managerial effectiveness and demographic variables. Being in a mentoring relationship offers a low-cost experiential learning, encourages diversity and inclusion, helps in expanding professional associations and boosts engagement. The use of mentoring programs can achieve this to a larger extent by making managers effective.

Design/methodology/approach

The study was administered on 350 middle-level managers, representatives of five private sector banks in Delhi/NCR. Variables in the study were assessed using validated instruments. Descriptive statistics, t-test, correlation and hierarchical regression were used for data analysis.

Findings

The study depicts that mentoring has a positive and significant impact on managerial effectiveness. The research contributed in establishing that the demographic variables (gender and marital status) positively moderate the relationship between mentoring and managerial effectiveness.

Research limitations/implications

Although the knowledge base and skillfulness of the young mangers are taken care by the way of organizational training, mentoring relationships complement it with added focus on personal directions to deal with minutiae of organizational processes. Mentors provide a critical linkage to an organization's competitive advantage by helping expanding connections and networks of employees, and thereby, enhancing productivity which directly affects profitability. Managers and policymakers should chart out the mentoring plans, keeping in perspective the demographic variables, specially the gender of the mentee and the marital status.

Originality/value

This is a pioneer study contributing to the present reserve of knowledge and understanding of the subject by contextualizing the impact of demographic variables on mentoring and managerial effectiveness in Indian private sector banks.


1. In today's managed care environments, where more emphasis is placed on cost-effective management of patients, the role of medications along with psychotherapy is becoming an accepted standard for psychiatric care. 2. Blind acceptance of the biological model tends to trivialize cognitive behavioral and psychoeducational interventions and casts doubt on the outcome of rehabilitation and retraining. 3. For complete and comprehensive care of patients, psychiatric nursing should embrace both biological and behavioral paradigms and view them as complementary rather than competitive.


Previous studies of heading perception suggest that human observers employ spatiotemporal pooling to accommodate noise in optic flow stimuli. Here, we investigated how spatial and temporal integration mechanisms are used for judgments of heading through a psychophysical experiment involving three different types of noise. Furthermore, we developed two ideal observer models to study the components of the spatial information used by observers when performing the heading task. In the psychophysical experiment, we applied three types of direction noise to optic flow stimuli to differentiate the involvement of spatial and temporal integration mechanisms. The results indicate that temporal integration mechanisms play a role in heading perception, though their contribution is weaker than that of the spatial integration mechanisms. To elucidate how observers process spatial information to extract heading from a noisy optic flow field, we compared psychophysical performance in response to random-walk direction noise with that of two ideal observer models (IOMs). One model relied on 2D screen-projected flow information (2D-IOM), while the other used environmental, i.e., 3D, flow information (3D-IOM). The results suggest that human observers compensate for the loss of information during the 2D retinal projection of the visual scene for modest amounts of noise. This suggests the likelihood of a 3D reconstruction during heading perception, which breaks down under extreme levels of noise.


The work presents the main characteristics of the most efficient solar energy technologies, including in small distributed energy. The use of hybrid technologies based on the use of solar radiation is justified. The prospects of these facilities in one of the provinces of the Republic of Viet Nam (Ninh Tuan), which is characterized by the highest intensity of solar radiation, have been determined. The results of calculation of the station with capacity of 4.6 MW, operating on the basis of use of GTU without use of solar energy and its use for heating of air entering the combustion chamber, are presented. The energy-saving effect of the introduction of hybrid technologies is due to the increase in the efficiency of the station by 6% to 10% depending on the time of year and the characteristic intensity of solar radiation and ambient temperature. A significant decrease in the consumption of fuel (natural gas) used in the gas turbine plant has been detected.


Iowa's county road system serves many critical functions in a changing environment. Many counties with very different social, economic, and demographic circumstances do not have adequate resources to provide the desired level of service on their secondary road systems. How the state's Road Use Tax Fund (RUTF) is distributed among counties is therefore of great importance. This report presents the results of a year-long study of how to distribute RUTF resources among Iowa's 99 counties. The project was undertaken at the request of county engineers who wish to replace the current method of allocation with one that is more stable, comprehensible, and predictable. This report describes the current allocation method, examines how other states distribute road funds to counties, and discusses potential allocation factors that could be included in a revised procedure. The process undertaken to narrow the range of possible formulas and determine the one to recommend is summarized. Finally, the report presents the allocation formula recommended by the project advisory committee, along with how it would operate.


Objectives The aim of the study was to assess oncologic and fertility outcome of treatment in patients with cervical cancer of more than 2 cm seeking parenthood. Methods The regimen consisted of laparoscopic lymphadenectomy as a staging procedure to confirm no lymph node metastases before neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) consisting of 2 or 3 cycles of paclitaxel/ifosfamide/cisplatin followed by radical vaginal trachelectomy (RVT). Oncologic and fertility outcome was evaluated prospectively. Results Twenty women were enrolled up to now. The mean age was 32 years (range, 26–41 years), and mean tumor size was 3 cm (range, 2.1–5.0 cm). Lymphadenectomy was performed before NACT without complications. During NACT, hematologic toxicity grade 3 was observed in 2 of 20 patients, and renal toxicity grade 3 in 1 of 20 patients. Radical vaginal trachelectomy was performed in 18 women until now with 2 intraoperative complications (ureter injury and injury of internal iliac vein). There were no severe postoperative or long-term complications. Complete pathologic remission was found in 9 of 18 patients. In 2 of 18 patients, chemoradiation was recommended because of insufficient pathologic response in the RVT specimen. After a mean follow-up of 23 months (range, 1–88 months), 1 relapse was observed. After RVT, 7 women tried to conceive until now. Seven pregnancies occurred in 5 women. Four children were born, 2 of whom were premature (31 weeks 2 days and 33 weeks 4 days of gestation); 1 pregnancy is ongoing. Conclusions Laparoscopic lymphadenectomy followed by NACT and RVT in pN0 patients with cervical cancer of more than 2 cm seems to be an oncologically safe procedure with promising fertility outcomes.


Previous research provides evidence that ratings from students and external observers can deliver reliable and valid measures of teaching quality. However, there is still a lack of research on how stable these measures are across time and classes, which is particularly important when they are used for evaluations. We addressed this issue in 3 different studies from Germany. Study 1 examined stability over time using a longitudinal sample of 174 teachers and 106 classes. The results show that student ratings of teaching quality are relatively stable when the same class rates the same teacher in 2 subsequent school years. However, we also found teacher-independent stabilities, which occurred when the same students rated different teachers. Study 2 examined stabilities in student ratings across classes. In this study, each teacher (N = 95) was evaluated by 2 different classes (N = 190). The results of a 3-level model reveal rather low stabilities across classes within teachers. Study 3 drew on a unique dataset in which 1 single teacher taught the same content to 30 different classes of the same grade level. Teaching quality as rated by students and external observers varied considerably between these classes. Differences in teaching quality were related to student learning, and the motivation of students in a class was a significant predictor of differences in teaching quality. In summary, the results of these studies show that both researchers and policymakers should be cautious when interpreting measures of teaching quality as indicators of teacher quality. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)


Increasingly many work processes depend on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services. These define the efficiency of how tasks are solved. The perceived usability of a service is heavily linked to the performance of the service, for instance the service responsiveness. Users do not like to wait; long response times (RTs) will interrupt their flow of thoughts and finally result in a loss of interest. Quality aspects, seen from the user's point of view, have gained importance. While the rather traditional notion Quality of Service (QoS) is mostly related to technical quality parameters of the actual data transport, the more recently established notion of Quality of Experience (QoE) extends the notion of quality to include user perception and expectations. Obviously, QoE has strong subjective components and is also connected to the situation and context in which the user finds him- or herself. This work aims at finding quantitative relationships between QoE and QoS in order to provide application designers with means to adapt their application to available networks and the related conditions. We have particularly focused on a Geographical Information System (GIS) Map Service, with a web-based client-server application, used amongst others by professional users for tasks of urban planning. We have conducted user experiments to derive the relationship between user-perceived QoE, expressed qualitatively (through comments) and quantitatively (on the well-known scale from 1 = worst to 5 = best), and the response time, i.e. the time the user has to wait for the execution of a command. We have then established quantitative relationships between the response time and network problems such as losses and delays that have been generated in a controlled way using a traffic shaper between client and server.


For the potential vorticity (PV) invariant, there is a PV-based complete-form vorticity equation, which we use heuristically in the present paper to answer the following question: for the Ertel—Rossby invariant (ERI), is there a corresponding vorticity tendency equation? Such an ERI-based thermally-coupled vorticity equation is derived and discussed in detail in this study. From the obtained new vorticity equation, the vertical vorticity change is constrained by the vertical velocity term, the term associated with the slope of the generalized momentum surface, the term related to the horizontal vorticity change, and the baroclinic or solenoid term. It explicitly includes both the dynamical and thermodynamic factors' influence on the vorticity change. For the ERI itself, besides the traditional PV term, the ERI also includes the moisture factor, which is excluded in dry ERI, and the term related to the gradients of pressure, kinetic energy, and potential energy that reflects the fast-manifold property. Therefore, it is more complete to describe the fast motions off the slow manifold for severe weather than the PV term. These advantages are naturally handed on and inherited by the ERI-based thermally-coupled vorticity equation. Then the ERI-based thermally-coupled vorticity equation is further transformed and compared with the traditional vorticity equation. The main difference between the two equations is the term which describes the contribution of the solenoid term to the vertical vorticity development. In a barotropic flow, the solenoid term disappears, then the ERI-based thermally-coupled vorticity equation can regress to the traditional vorticity equation.