production of sarcomata by the subcutaneous injection of the toxin in rats in 1963' have all been scientific achievements of the highest importance. However, these successes have as yet had no effect on reducing the possible hazards to health of this toxin on the inhabitants of developing countries. The part of this research not directed to the furtherance of pure science has been mainly geared to ensure (1) that all animal feeds made from groundnuts are non-toxic, (2) that toxic reactions do not occur in humans as a result of consumption either of imported groundnuts or their products, and (3) that this fungus has minimal effects on commerce in groundnuts. These are worthwhile considerations, but as was emphasized at the Sixth International Congress of Nutrition in 19638 and as you have pointed out in a recent editorial (25 July, p. 204) the problem may be especially important for the many tropical countries where the consumption of groundnuts is high. In the annual report of the Nutrition Unit of the Ministry of Health, Dar es Salaam, Tanganyika, for 1962, I wrote, " This year East African groundnuts were found to be infected by this fungus (A. flavus), and certain groundnut products were withdrawn from the market. Despite the fact that no toxic effects have been proved to occur in man it seemed worth looking into this question in view of our policy to encourage the greater consumption of groundnuts. It semed not beyond the bounds of possibility that the relatively high incidence cf primary carcinoma of the liver here compared v ith Europe and North America might stem from this toxic cause." An investigation was therefore undertaken to see if a correlation existed between areas of high groundnut consumption and of high incidence of primary liver cancer in Tanganyika. The figures obtained were, however, not large enough to be statistically significant. Besides primary liver carcinoma the possibility that liver fibrosis, a condition commonly encountered in Tanganyika, might also result from a prolonged consumption of aflatoxin in groundnuts was investigated. Liver-function tests were performed on a group of regular groundnut eaters in 1962, and they showed a high incidence of abnormal livers. However, in 1963 liverfunction tests carried out on a group of prisoners who from childhood had consumed large quantities of groundnuts and on a control group who seldom ate groundnuts showed no significant difference in the incidence of liver disease between the two groups. The numbers of subjects involved were small, and I do not regard the results of this work as being in any way conclusive. All were based on the assumption that a fair proportion of all groundnuts eaten would be infected with this common mould. I wish, however, to stress that, though the laboratory research mentioned in the first paragraph of this letter is of extreme importance, there is an urgent need for the investigation of the possible toxic effects of the aflatoxin being daily consumed by millions of people in three continents. This requires epidemiological studies, rather difficult field investigations, and the type of geographical research which our national research organizations are often unable and unwilling to undertake. Does this not provide a good example and reason for supporting a W.HO. Research Centre ? Would such a centre not have been able in 1962 to present us with maps showing areas of high groundnut consumption, and rela+r-d this to the geographical distribution es fibrosis and primary carcinoma of thb liver ? Would it not now be known whether Indian women in Brazil and Wagogo women in Africa secrete aflatoxin in their breast milk ? This knowledge might be more important than knowing that cattle and guinea-pigs do. Would we not have a report on the effects of aflatoxin on the already diseased livers of the very large numbers of children suffering from kwashiorkor ? If in 1962 I and my colleagues in Tanganyika had had such a research centre in Edinburgh to turn to we would have been very happy.-I am, etc.,


The 2001 Census was the first Census to include a question on carers. The 2011 Census will therefore provide the first ever opportunity for comparative data on changes in the caring population over a 10 year period. It is Carers Northern Ireland's view that it is essential to include a question in the 2011Census to measure the impact of an ageing population on the number and nature of carers.


Probabilistic programming is one of the most rapidly growing areas of IT research nowadays arousing interest in academic circles (including research groups of MIT and Oxford), acknowledged IT leaders as Microsoft, well-established industrial customers and IT community all over the world. The increasing interest to this relatively new direction can be accounted by practical applicability of probabilistic programming concepts in the context of machine learning. Probabilistic programming looks into the possibilities of mapping theoretical concepts of the probability theory onto suitable practical programming techniques in order to handle the component of uncertainty in data. Effective dealing with uncertainty is essential for forecasts and analysis. Probabilistic programmes operate with variables holding the quantified knowledge about the constituent elements of the modelled situation. Directed and undirected dependencies of these variables are expressed with  Bayesian and Markov networks accordingly. An active interest of the academic community to the probabilistic programming encouraged appearance of various tools, designed to perform tasks of probabilistic inference. These tools include both frameworks of already existent GPLs and "purely" probabilistic programming systems. Looking into different ways of developing reliable inference engines, as well as suitable generic means of creating probabilistic models is likely to be of interest for  the international IT community over the next years. The paper gives an overview of the main concepts of probabilistic programming, currently existent tools and looks into the possible directions of development of probabilistic programming and its practical applications.


This paper presents a method to integrate online assessment into blended training form. Based on the Bloom Taxonomy, this study supports digital tools and methodology for assessment online based on the blended training form. Furthermore, ePortfolio has applied to assess the soft skill and knowledge during time students study the course. From the results, this paper found the benefit of student and lecturer in teaching and learning activities based on the blended learning form including assessments online such as: (1) the benefit and challenges of blended training method, (2) the benefits and challenges of online assessment (3) developing the assessment model for blended method, and (3) proposing suitable digital tools for assessment online.


This papers examines the experiences of converts to Islam among Australian women in the milieu of polemic views and debates such as 'Islam versus the west', which is most visible in the image of the 'eastern' 'oppressed' Muslim woman. Employing the experiences of Australian Muslim women converts in Melbourne, issues concerning identity politics, and the individuals and social dimensions of conversion are investigated. While there is an array of literature about Muslim women from various disciplines including anthropology, sociology, politics, cultural studies and gender studies, among others, this paper takes an interdisciplinary approach to examine debates that have based their discussion on the image of the Muslim woman. Marco debates concerning issues such as multiculturalism, integration, Islam and the West debates including the 'clash of civilizations' have been largely centred on the image of the Muslim women. The debate concerning the inherent conflict between Islam and West intensified after 11 th of September 2001 with the terrorist attacks in the United States and the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2002. It is during this critical period I interviewed Muslim converts in order to gain first-hand insight into their experiences as Muslims. This paper employs primary data collected during this historical period to examine issues regarding broader issues of identity politics, religious conversion as well as the everyday life experiences of female converts to Islam.


Selexipag is first in class orally active, selective non-prostanoid prostacyclin receptor agonist with a long half-life. It has low oral bioavailability due to a poor dissolution rate, which is considered a rate-limiting step for drug absorption. Nanocrystals (NCs) formulation is an attractive approach for enhancing the poorly soluble drug's saturation solubility and dissolution rate. They offer the advantages of crystalline state, high drug loading capacity, and simple preparation method. This study aims to prepare and characterize Selexipag NCs, filled in hard gelatin capsule in attempt to improve its solubility and dissolution rate. The effect of stabilizer type and preparation methods on the NC particle size and polydispersity index were evaluated to select the most stable formula. The results revealed that the formula (F7) prepared by the solvent antisolvent precipitation with the ultrasonication method (which contain SLX: Soluplus® at a ratio of 1:2) has the smallest mean particle size (38.5 nm) and appropriate polydispersity index (0.12); hence it was selected as the optimal formula. Simultaneously, the data from powder X-ray diffraction shows no reduction in the crystallinity of drugs. SLX NCs exhibit increased saturation solubility by several folds than pure SLX. The hard gelatin capsule containing the lyophilized powder showed a faster dissolution profile (complete drug release in 15 min) relative to pure SLX (0.1% during the same time).


Narrow Gap II-VI Compounds for Optoelectronic and Electromagnetic Applications, edited by Peter Capper Chapman and Hall, Electronic Materials Series, Volume 3, 1997, ISBN 0-412-71560-0, 561 Pages. Price £89.00. (Reviewed in Journal of Infrared Physics and Technology 1998 pp.487-488) Review This book, comprising twenty chapters by no less than thirty-two authors, is without a doubt one of the most comprehensive and authoritative texts available on the subject. The authors — and an even more extensive list of people acknowledged for acting as referees, are a role call of the best known names in the field. Problems often occur with books assembled in this way including uneven style, multiple coverage of the same material in several chapters, inconsistency of level and the like; whilst not entirely immune from these the editor has certainly done an excellent job of reducing them to an acceptable minimum, no mean feat with so many authors! Not surprisingly, the book is dominated by mercury cadmium telluride, MCT, with very limited sections on related zinc and selenium compounds, and on the dilute magnetic semiconductors based on HgMnTe,Se,S and HgFeTe,Se. As such of course it is of very direct interest to the readership of Infrared Physics and Technology through the importance of MCT to detectors, and more recently to lasers. The book is divided into three sections, starting with material growth. Reliable growth of bulk MCT crystals and epitaxial layers is of course the starting point of any useful device, and here the reader will find a comprehensive discussion of bulk crystal growth, and epitaxial growth by LPE, MOVPE and MBE. Here, as in the rest of the book, the referencing is comprehensive and up to date to at least 1995. MCT and the related compounds are particularly complex, and the next section of the book logically deals with material characterisation. In fact as well as the more obvious sections on optical and transport properties, doping, point defects, diffusion, surface properties, quantum wells and dilute magnetic semiconductors are covered here. In most cases the reader is given a brief insight into the relevant measurement methods, especially where they are specialised for use with these materials, but the focus is on presenting a wide range of data on the materials themselves. The section forms an invaluable reference for the established worker, and an excellent starting point for the newcomer to the field. Finally, and logically, the book covers applications in seven chapters. Considering their overwhelming importance it is surprising to see less than forty pages devoted to photovoltaic and photoconductive detectors, and perhaps a larger section on materials issues related to large array devices would have been welcome to many readers. The subjects of LEDs, lasers and non-equilibrium devices, now attracting interest not only as infrared detectors but for the strange property of 'negative luminescence' in which thermal emission is reduced are also discussed, as are photo detectors based on other effects such as the Dember effect, PEM and magnetoconcentration detectors. The final two chapters are perhaps the only ones of less interest to the readership of IPT, on solar cells and ionising radiation detectors in CdTe. The book presents numerous clear figures and illustrations, and large amounts of tabulated data, and overall can be highly recommended to anyone in, or entering this field of work. One query might be whether the reader needs both this volume and the closely related EMIS Volume 10, 'Narrow Gap Cadmium Based Compounds', by the same editor. This latter volume, whilst again heavily biased to MCT, does cover the other related materials more heavily. It is rather different in style, and concentrates strongly on presenting sources of numerical data as befits a volume in the 'Datareviews' series. If you are seriously involved in the field, you will want both, but as a starting point and to aid understanding, the subject of the present review is a better choice.


In view of the problem of determining the attribute weight in multi-attribute decision making,this paper establishes a weight computing method considering both subjective and objective weight information based on similarity-degree of vector. Similarity-degree of vector is used as the measurement for the importance of the different methods with clear meaning,simple calculation and high operability. Finally,examples show the effectiveness and practicality of this method.


A review of energy use and the life histories of deep-water demersal fishes suggests that there are two primary groups or guilds; those that live dispersed over the sea floor and those that aggregate in association with topographic features like seamounts. Dispersed deep-sea fishes typically have a body plan designed for slow cruising or 'sit and wait' predation, and are characterized by very low energy stores and metabolic rates. Scaled for body size, the metabolism of these fishes was comparable to that of bathypelagic fishes. On the other hand, aggregatory deep-water species are characterized by robust morphology and strong locomotory ability to maintain themselves in environments characterized by strong, variable currents. Their flesh has high protein and lipid but low water content. The metabolic rate of orange roughy, an aggregating deep-water species, was substantially higher than that of dispersed deep-water fishes and was comparable to that of haddock, a shelf demersal species. However, although the estimated ration of orange roughy was higher than that of dispersed demersal deep-water species, its growth rate was comparable and its growth efficiency was far lower due to its high metabolic costs. Large deep-water dispersed fish species are characterized by late maturity and an extended reproductive period, but these characteristics are less pronounced than in deep seamount-associated species, which may live in excess of 100 years.


In order to monitor dryness stress under controlled conditions, we set up an experiment with beech seedlings in plant pots and built a platform for observing the seedlings with field imaging spectroscopy. This serves as a preparation for multi-temporal hyperspectral air- and space-borne data expected to be available in coming years. Half of the trees were watered throughout the year; the other half were cut off from water supply for a five-week period in late summer. Plant health and soil, as well as leaf water status, were monitored. Moreover, hyperspectral images of the trees were acquired four times during the experiment. Results show that the experimental imaging setup is well suited for recording hyperspectral images of objects, like the beech pots, under natural illumination conditions. The high spatial resolution makes it feasible to discern between background, soil, wood, green leaves and brown leaves. Furthermore, it could be shown that dryness stress is detectable from an early stage even in the limited spectral range considered. The decline of leaf chlorophyll over time was also well monitored using imaging spectroscopy data.


Big Data is generally considered as a large collection of data sets (In PetaBytes) which are difficult to analyze, share, store, search, transference through traditional data processing applications. Apache Hadoop is a Java written application for Storing, Processing and Analyzing large datasets (i.e Big Data) with the help of in-built Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS), Yet Another Resource Negotiator (YARN), Map-Reduce Algorithm type algorithms and additional software packages like Apache Pig, Apache Hive, Apache HBase, Apache Spark and others. The aim of this project is to minimize the response time for the Searching, Sorting and Analyzing of the Big Data using efficient algorithms and databases.


Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women and still one of the major causes of women's death around the world. Early screening of high grade Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia (CIN), precursors to cervical cancer, is vital to efforts aimed at improving survival rate and eventually eliminating cervical cancer. Visual Inspection with Acetic acid (VIA) is an assessment method which can inspect the cervix and potentially detect lesions caused by human papillomavirus (HPV), which is a major cause of cervical cancer. VIA has the potential to be an effective screening method in low resource settings when triaged with HPV test, but it has the drawback that it depends on the subjective evaluation of health workers with varying levels of training. A new deep learning algorithm called Automated Visual Evaluation (AVE) for analyzing cervigram images has been recently reported that can automatically detect cervical precancer better than human experts. In this paper, we address the question of whether mobile phone-based cervical cancer screening is feasible. We consider the capabilities of two key components of a mobile phone platform for cervical cancer screening: (1) the core AVE algorithm and (2) an image quality algorithm. We consider both accuracy and speed in our assessment. We show that the core AVE algorithm, by refactoring to a new deep learning detection framework, can run in ~30 seconds on a low-end smartphone (i.e. Samsung J8), with equivalent accuracy. We developed an image quality algorithm that can localize the cervix and assess image quality in ~1 second on a low-end smartphone, achieving an area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.95. Field validation of the mobile phone platform for cervical cancer screening is in progress.


Amda-Siyon (1314-1344) was the founder of the powerful Christian empire. His wars were accompanied by carnage and destruction which sent tribes and groups fleeing from the storm centre, abandoning their territory, to seek refuge in difficult areas, where geographic features and distance from the zone of conflict held out hope of asylum. This altered the pattern of ethnic distribution during his reign. There are a number of indications which, beyond a shadow of doubt, establish that some groups, including some Oromo groups, who arrived in the region earlier, were forced to flee from the storm centre. The establishment of a number of Christian military colonies, in Bali, Dawaro, Fatagar, Hadiya, waj and other areas, acted as a powerful dam that checked the flow of pastoral Oromo from the southern region to the central highlands. In the first half of the sixteenth century, the jihad of Imam Ahmad destroyed that dam. With the appalling massacre and destruction on both sides went the fall and destruction of both their defence systems. It is not so much that as so many scholars have presumed, "the so-called Galla invasion" destroyed both countries, as that the two states so battered each other that the way was made clear for surges of advance by the Oromo pastoralists. This happened, fortuitously, at the time when the Oromo perfected their complex gada system, a unique institution, which mobilized them for dynamic warfare and also provided them with a mechanism which enabled them easily and quickly to turn their enemies into allies. This dissertation is an attempt to explain the rapid migration of pastoral Oromo, their settlement in the Gibe region, their formation into states and their Islamization. The five Oromo states of the Gibe region were formed shortly after 1800. Although the existence of these states spanned no more than a few decades, before their annexation by Menelik, the king of Shawa, this brief period was packed with events of crucial importance. It witnessed rapid, agricultural, social, cultural, political, religious and commercial progress, unsurpassed in any of the other Oromo areas in Ethiopia. In the field of religion, the Gibe region became the most famous centre of Islamic learning for all the Oromo of Ethiopia. Even today, along with Dawe in Wallo, the Gibe region is regarded as the best centre of Islamic learning in the Horn of Africa. In the field of commerce, the whirlwind of trading activities in the Gibe region gave birth to an aggressive and dynamic Oromo merchant class, the Africa. In all these states, trading was a highly organized business in which goverment played a key role. This led to the development of an impressive network of institutionized trade, which enabled the Afkala traders to engage in a brisk trade all year round. The caravan routes which crisscrossed the Gibe region and interwove it with the surrounding lands, made the area the major emporium in the whole of southwestern Ethiopia, where the products of the surrounding lands were collected, to be funnelled to the north through Gojjam or to the east through Shawa. The transit trade that entered and left the Gibe region supplied its beneficial effects to the kings in the forms of gifts and customs duties. Indeed, the Gibe states enjoyed prosperity. While the full effect of this prosperity did not reach beyond the land-owning class, the poor peasants in the Gibe region, probably enjoyed a higher standard of living than any peasants in the Ethiopian region. The abundance of cereal crops, supplemented by root crops, guaranteed their safety from famine. Cattle and fowl provided them with milk and meat. The light burden of taxation and the possibility of earning more and buying land also contributed to the better standard of living of the ordinary peasant.


Market professionals with decades of experience typically argue that a call option is a surrogate for the underlying asset, indicating that they perceive the risk of a call option as similar to the risk of the underlying asset. Experimental evidence also points to the same conclusion. Such relative risk perception is in sharp contrast with finance theory, which argues that only the absolute quantity of risk contained in a call option should matter for its price. I show that relative risk perception provides a potential explanation for the puzzling performance of covered call writing.


Objective: To determine the frequency of various causes of orthostatic hypotension. Design: Survey. Setting: Tertiary referral center. Patients: One hundred patients with moderate to severe orthostatic hypotension. Results: Twenty-seven percent of the patients had primary autonomic failure, 35% had secondary autonomic failure, and 38% had hypotension without evidence of generalized autonomic degeneration. Conclusions: In a tertiary referral center, only a minority of patients with severe orthostatic hypotension will have Shy-Drager syndrome or Bradbury-Eggleston syndrome as their primary disease. Occasional patients who initially appear to have Bradbury-Eggleston syndrome ultimately prove to have Shy-Drager syndrome or paraneoplastic autonomic failure. Antidepressant drugs, even in low doses, remain a major overlooked cause of orthostatic hypotension. (Arch Intern Med. 1994;154:1620-1624)


Thirty children aged 2-16 years with malignant tumours who were receiving chemotherapy were treated with the 5-HT3 antagonist ondansetron. Each received a single intravenous dose (5 mg/m2) followed by oral doses (2-4 mg depending on surface area) every eight hours for five days. Chemotherapy regimens comprised: carboplatin alone, carboplatin plus etoposide, cisplatin plus etoposide; adriamycin (doxorubicin) plus cyclophosphamide, or ifosfamide. Twelve patients received ondansetron with their first course of chemotherapy and the other patients were poor responders to previous antiemetic treatment. Efficacy was assessed by a questionnaire documenting the incidence of vomiting and severity of nausea. In a 24 hour period after starting chemotherapy a complete or major response (less than two vomiting episodes) was achieved in 87% of children. Although ondansetron was effective for early antiemesis after cisplatin or ifosfamide, delayed vomiting, retching, or nausea reduced responses to 50% and 20%, respectively. We conclude that in children ondansetron is an effective, well tolerated, oral antiemetic enabling simple administration in the outpatient setting. In the present schedule it was of limited efficacy against cisplatin or ifosfamide induced emesis.


The effect of cold deformations as encountered in tube and superheater fabrication and of temperature and time of annealing on the grain-size characteristics of 18Cr8Ni-Ti is demonstrated by laboratory experiments with material from six heats of steel. It is shown that cold-drawn tubing retains a relatively uniform small grain size at annealing temperatures up to about 1900 F to 1950 F and that above this temperature individual grains begin to grow at an accelerated rate, leading to a mixed grain-size structure. Annealing times between 5 and 15 minutes caused only insignificant differences in the over all grain size, but extension of exposure to 30 minutes produced a noticeably larger grain structure. Small cold deformations as may be introduced into the material by tube straightening can, when followed by a final anneal, cause excessive localized grain enlargements. Observations pointed to the possibility that materials with high Ti/C ratios may retain a predominantly small grain size at annealing temperatures as high as 2050 F.


There is much controversy regarding the method that best measures the representative grain sizes used to calculate sediment statistics. Twenty-five sand-sized sediment samples were collected in barrier-island subenvironments and analyzed by a sieving technique and a settling-tube technique. On the basis of graphic sediment statistics as variables, discriminant analysis indicates that the more conventional sieving method correctly characterized 96 percent of the samples by subenvironments, while the settling-tube technique correctly characterized only 72 percent of the samples.


Central to the conduct of monetary policy is the preparation and evaluation of inflation forecasts. Inflation forecast are, however, not unique. Central banks, professional organizations, international institutions, households and firms also generate forecasts of inflation, among other macroeconomic variables that reflect the expected state of the economy. This paper estimates inflation forecast disagreement for nine economies, five of which target inflation over the 1999-2009 period. I find that central bank transparency tends to increase forecast disagreement. To the extent that this reflects the attention paid to inflation performance this suggests that transparency is beneficial. Also, it appears that inflation forecasts are largely driven by a global component but the impact of this global component on forecast disagreement is mixed.


Background The Assessment of SpondyloArthritis international Society Health Index (ASAS HI), is a unidimensional questionnaire, that includes 17 items, measuring functioning and health in patients with spondyloarthritis (SpA) (1). At the beginning of this project, only an English version of the instrument existed. Objectives The aim of this study was to conduct the cross-cultural adaptation of the ASAS-HI into European Portuguese language and investigate its reliability and validity in a sample of Portuguese patients with SpA. Methods The ASAS-HI has a range from 0 (best health state) to 17 (worst health state). The questionnaire was first translated and then back translated following published guidelines. Patients fulfilling ASAS classification criteria for either axial (axSpA) or peripheral SpA (pSpA) were included. Reliability was assessed through internal consistency coefficient, and internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's alpha. Construct validity was assessed through Spearman's correlation analyses between the ASAS-HI and the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI), Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI), Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Score-CRP (ASDAS-CRP), and the Short Form (36) Health Survey (SF-36) (physical) SF-36 (physical) for convergent validity and between the ASAS-HI and the HAD-S Anxiety/Depression, and SF-36 (mental) for divergent validity. Discriminative validity was tested comparing the ASAS-HI across ASDAS-CRP disease activity states using the Kruskal–Wallis test. Results In total, 86 patients were included: 65% male, mean (SD) age 47.1 (12.9) years, symptom duration 11.4 (11.0) years, BASDAI 3.1 (2.1), BASFI 2.2 (2.6), ASDAS-CRP 2.2 (0.8). The diagnosis of axSpA was established in 58 patients (AS =45, nr-axSpA =13) and of pSpA in 28 patients. The forward backward translation was successful and qualitative interviews raised no further comments of the patients. The total mean score of the ASAS-HI was 4.6 (3.8). The ASAS- HI showed an excellent test-retest reliability (n=72) (ICC=0.93: 95% CI=0.89;0.96, p<0.001) and a good internal consistency (Cronbachs-α of 0.87). According to the predefined hypothesis, the ASAS-HI correlated strongly with the BASDAI (0.76, p<0.001), SF-36 (physical) (-0.75, p<0.001), moderately well with the HAD-S Anxiety (0.41, p<0.001), and SF-36 (mental) (-0.44, p<0.001) (Table 1), and showed a good discriminatory capacity across the different levels of disease activity (p<0.001) (Table 2). Conclusions The findings of this study showed that the Portuguese version of the ASAS –HI is a comprehensible questionnaire that is reliable and valid. Therefore, its use can be recommended, both for clinical practice and research purposes, to assess the state of health and functioning in Portuguese SpA patients. Future research is needed to evaluate the responsiveness of the ASAS-HI in SpA patients. References Kiltz U et al. Ann Rheum Dis. 2015;74(5):830–5. Disclosure of Interest None declared


Background: Posterior circulation strokes (PCS) can be more difficult to diagnose than anterior circulation strokes (ACS). Ambiguous symptoms such as isolated vertigo, non-lateralizing signs and low National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores have been shown to delay treatment with intravenous (IV) tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) and prolong Door-to-needle (DTN) times. In 2006, this institution implemented the use of Code Neuro Nurses 24/7 as part of a highly developed stroke response system of care, to expedite diagnosis and treatment of all stroke patients. As part of this program, all patients in the Emergency Department (ED) with suspected stroke are evaluated by a Code Neuro Nurse. Anecdotal evidence suggested that overall DTN times improved as a result of the Code Neuro Nurse. But were DTN times still prolonged in PCS patients compared to ACS patients? Purpose: The purpose of this project was to determine if DTN times in PCS were longer than times for ACS, in patients who received IV tPA. Methods: An IRB approved retrospective chart review of ischemic stroke cases in 2011 and 2012 found 145 patients who received IV tPA. Data analysis was performed on data elements contained in the table. Results: Of the 145 patients who received tPA, 15.8% (n=23) had PCS. Age and gender were similar between the two groups. Mean admission NIHSS scores in patients with PCS were lower than scores in ACS patients. There were no differences in mean DTN times for PCS compared to ACS. Mortality and disposition to home were not different between the groups. Conclusion: As expected, the admission NIHSS scores for PCS tended to be lower than for ACS, which can contribute to delays in DTN times. However, there was no statistical difference in DTN times between the two groups. Utilizing the expertise of the Code Neuro Nurse in the ED may be a key factor in accurately and efficiently diagnosing PCS strokes, leading to DTN times comparable to ACS cases.


Portability of programs between run-time environments is regarded as a desirable feature by programmers and users. In a modern virtual machine like the JVM, portability is supported by large standard libraries. A program that uses an interface from a standard library should be portable to any run-time environment that provides an implementation of the interface. Because different implementations of an interface have different names, a programmer who desires portability must write code to select an implementation. This introduces software engineering costs and type-safety concerns. We believe that dynamic linking is well-suited to providing portability automatically. Linking traditionally requires that types from the compile-time environment are present in the run-time environment. We suggest "flexible" dynamic linking that relaxes a program's dependencies on compile-time types in a type-safe and language-independent way, thus providing portability to different run-time environments. Bytecode is annotated with type variables rather than type names, and a non-deterministic model substitutes type variables with type names during linking. We interleave linking with execution, as in the JVM, and examine how linking builds a well-formed program. We prove soundness for any substitution strategy, representing execution with an arbitrary degree of eagerness/laziness in linking. We then explore portability in the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI). We formalise its component, linking and execution models to show the flexibility of existing link-time mechanisms, and how linking varies between CLI implementations like .NET, Mono and Rotor. The CLI's reflection mechanism is often used by programmers to facilitate portability, but reflection introduces many complexities into linking and execution that we formalise accurately. Then, as an alternative to reflection, we design flexible dynamic linking for the CLI and implement it in the Rotor virtual machine. In this scheme, a programmer controls portability by identifying potential substitutions explicitly, thus losing the generality of reflection but ensuring predictability and type-safety.


ABSTRACT: Mediation has become increasingly accepted as a useful dispute resolution mechanism. It has had great success in the United States and the United Kingdom and, in recognition of its value, the European Union adopted the Mediation Directive in 2008 to encourage the use of mediation procedures1. With today's global economy and the tremendous growth of cross border commerce, mediation is coming to the fore as it has long been a part of the societal culture in many nations. Moreover, the recent economic downturn, which has caused all parties to look for cost saving measures, is increasingly leading to greater utilization of mediation. The very success of mediation as a dispute resolution tool is itself creating its own momentum and leading to significant growth in the use of mediation in the resolution of private commercial disputes. The success of mediation has led to consideration of whether the application of mediation techniques should be encouraged and developed in the context of investor state disputes. This article reviews the many advantages mediation offers over direct negotiation and adjudication in arbitration or court, how those advantages apply to investor state disputes and the special challenges that investor state disputes present to the success of a mediation.


Study Objectives: In patients with severe obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS), continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is first-line therapy. Compliance to CPAP is sometimes a problem, and mandibular advancement device (MAD) is then an alternative. However, this alternative is often not effective. It was hypothesized that patients suffering from OSAS would have a freer airway, resulting in a decreased apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), through use of a cervical collar (CC) to extend the neck. To study the effect of this new therapy, a randomized crossover study was conducted to compare MAD monotherapy with CC/MAD combination therapy. Methods: Eight patients with severe OSAS (AHI>30) who had ceased to use CPAP were enrolled in the randomized crossover study. Four patients started with MAD and four with CC/MAD for one week followed by a wash-out period and then cross-over. Polygraphic sleep recordings were performed at baseline and after each therapy. Results: The baseline AHI was 51.5 ± 22.5. AHI was reduced to 30.4 ± 23.2 through MAD monotherapy, and to 14.9 ± 10.2 through CC/MAD combination therapy. The effect of the combination therapy was statistically significantly (p=0.018) better than that of the monotherapy. Four patients were achieved an AHI<10/h through use of the combination therapy. Concusions: The study showed a significant reduction in AHI scores in patients with severe OSAS through use of the CC/MAD combination therapy as compared to the MAD monotherapy. This first report indicates a new possibility for treating severe OSAS in non-compliant CPAP users.


The European Retrievable Carrier is currently undergoing its development phase and Will be launched and deployed by the Shuttle in early 1991. After having performed its 6 months mis-· s ion EURE CA wi 11 descend from its operat i ona 1 a 1 ti tude of 500 km and wi 11 rendez-vous with the Shutt 1 e at 300 km to be returned to the earth. The EURECA payload for its first mission is primarily dedicated to the field of microgravity sciences a 1 though it al so carries astrophysics experiments and technological experiments in the field of electrical propulsion and intersatellite communications in the KA band region. Since the concept of a smal 1 retrievable carrier offers the advantage of frequent and economical reflight ESA has initiated a number of studies which proved the usefulness and flexibility of the EURECA concept to support basic research and technology development activities in various scientific and technical disciplines. This paper summarizes the resu 1 ts of the various studies performed so far and informs about the major characteristics of the proposed enhancement to the present carrier concept which are intended to be implemented on the second flight model of EURECA which is to be procured as part of the COLUMBUS program.


The President of Republic of Indonesia issued eight instructions at the Cabinet Forum on January 4th 2016, one if wich was "Ensuring the Development of the 10 National Tourism Destinations or 10 New Bali, to meet the 2019 tourism target, the increasing of national income from 120 billion into 240 billion. Bali as one of Indonesia's prime tourism destination has also taken participation in increasing the income. This can be seen from the support given by Bali government to establish the development program of ten rural tourism in the program of the development of Bali in tourism for the next four years to develop the rural tourism. Based on this, the research was aimed at participating in the development of Human Resource in areas where rural tourism take place to allow the villagers to interact intensively with foreign tourists and give their best service. The participation was the design and development of English training with syllabus, lesson plan and training material as its results. The training put much emphasis on the increase of English communication ability based on the potential resource of Bedulu Village as one of rural tourism. The method of the research was Design and Development, porposed by Ellis and Levy (2010), that consists of several phases in designing and developing English training. It is expected that the output of the study will results in the realization of society service at rural tourism as English training.


The protection of the environment has become one of the main challenges nowadays. Due to the globalization and expansion of industries, the natural environment and resources are facing serious threats, such as climate change, global warming, and air pollution. Maintaining our natural environment safely is one of the most important challenges of the century. Consumers are becoming aware of the environmental issues and know their impact on the surrounding environment. Green marketing is a concept, which although developed initially in developed countries, such as the USA and Japan, it has become more popular in other parts of the world. The automobile industry is one of the main culpritsfor the worsening environmental issues. The amount of CO2 emitted from cars has a major influence on climate change and air pollution. Hence, it is essential to motivate customers to purchase green products, such as hybrid cars. This study considered four main factors that affect the purchasing intention of a hybrid cars– price sensitivity, environmental awareness, green perceived value and green trust. A quantitative survey was given to 380 respondents in universities in Malaysia. The data were subjected to statistical analyses with SPSS. Multiple linear regression was used to analyze the influence of the four factors on the intention to purchase a hybrid car. The results show that price sensitivity and green trust have a significant impact on hybrid car purchasing intention while there is no such impact from green perceived value and environmental awareness.


Using independently segregating nuclear single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and mitochondrial control region sequences, we found an east-west division among sampled willow grouse Lagopus lagopus subspecies. This division cut across the range of the subspecies with the largest distribution (lagopus) and thus contradicted existing taxonomic classifications. Russian Lagopus lagopus lagopus tended to cluster with North American willow grouse partly classified as other subspecies. Scandinavian willow grouse (L. l. lagopus) clustered with red grouse from Britain and Ireland (Lagopus lagopus scoticus and Lagopus lagopus hibernicus) but substructuring confirmed the monophyly of the latter. In North America, we could not detect any major genetic divisions apart from two birds described as alexandrae from the Heceta Island (Alaska) when using mitochondrial sequences. Other samples from North America were intermingled regardless of whether they were described as muriei, alexandrae or lagopus .A specimen described as alexandrae was to some extent distinct when analysing the SNP data. The genetic analyses indicated some concordance between genetics and taxonomy but not complete congruence. This is particularly evident for mitochondrial DNA network analyses. We suggest that the taxonomy of this species would benefit by a careful re-examination of the available evidence for subspecies. It appears as if subspecies status is a poor proxy for assigning evolutionary significant units and management units in this species. © 2013 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2013, 110, 77-90. ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: alexandrae - evolutionary significant unit - hibernicus - kamschatkensis - Lagopus lagopus - muriei - phylogeography - scoticus - willow grouse subspecies.


We examine a methodology using neural language models (LMs) for analyzing the word order of language. This LM-based method has the potential to overcome the difficulties existing methods face, such as the propagation of preprocessor errors in count-based methods. In this study, we explore whether the LM-based method is valid for analyzing the word order. As a case study, this study focuses on Japanese due to its complex and flexible word order. To validate the LM-based method, we test (i) parallels between LMs and human word order preference, and (ii) consistency of the results obtained using the LM-based method with previous linguistic studies. Through our experiments, we tentatively conclude that LMs display sufficient word order knowledge for usage as an analysis tool. Finally, using the LM-based method, we demonstrate the relationship between the canonical word order and topicalization, which had yet to be analyzed by large-scale experiments.


Motivation: Word‐based or 'alignment‐free' algorithms are increasingly used for phylogeny reconstruction and genome comparison, since they are much faster than traditional approaches that are based on full sequence alignments. Existing alignment‐free programs, however, are less accurate than alignment‐based methods. Results: We propose Filtered Spaced Word Matches (FSWM), a fast alignment‐free approach to estimate phylogenetic distances between large genomic sequences. For a pre‐defined binary pattern of match and don't‐care positions, FSWM rapidly identifies spaced word‐matches between input sequences, i.e. gap‐free local alignments with matching nucleotides at the match positions and with mismatches allowed at the don't‐care positions. We then estimate the number of nucleotide substitutions per site by considering the nucleotides aligned at the don't‐care positions of the identified spaced‐word matches. To reduce the noise from spurious random matches, we use a filtering procedure where we discard all spaced‐word matches for which the overall similarity between the aligned segments is below a threshold. We show that our approach can accurately estimate substitution frequencies even for distantly related sequences that cannot be analyzed with existing alignment‐free methods; phylogenetic trees constructed with FSWM distances are of high quality. A program run on a pair of eukaryotic genomes of a few hundred Mb each takes a few minutes. Availability and Implementation: The program source code for FSWM including a documentation, as well as the software that we used to generate artificial genome sequences are freely available at http://fswm.gobics.de/ Contact: email@example.com‐goettingen.de Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.


Abstract Objective. To examine whether a probiotic strain, Lactobacillus gasseri OLL2716 (LG21), can protect the gastric mucosal integrity from aspirin using urinary sucrose excretion (USE) test. Materials and methods. In the study using high-dose aspirin, the USE tests were carried out in 29 volunteers before and after LG21 treatment for 4 weeks. In the study using patients undergoing low-dose aspirin therapy, USE tests were performed in 37 subjects who took LG21 for 16 weeks. Stool occult blood was examined by the guaiac method. Results. In the former study, the elevation in the USE value after aspirin loading significantly decreased after LG21 treatment (Median ± SD; 0.244 ± 0.237 vs. 0.208 ± 0.112%, p = 0.018). In the latter study, the USE value significantly decreased in the period with LG21 treatment (p = 0.033), while no significant difference was found in the period without LG21 (p = 0.113). The number of positive occult blood tests decreased during LG21 treatment. Conclusions. The regular ingestion of LG21 may protect the integrity of the gastric mucosal permeability against aspirin.


Income inequality has grown in many countries over the past decades. Single country studies have investigated how trends in family demography, such as rising female employment, assortative mating and single parenthood, have affected this development. But the combined effects have not been studied sufficiently, much less in a comparative perspective. We apply decomposition and counterfactual analyses to Luxembourg Income Study data from the 1990s and 2000s for West Germany and the USA. We counterfactually analyse how changes in the distribution of men's and women's education, employment and children across households between the 1990s and 2000s affected overall inequality (Theil index). We find that changes in family demography between the 1990s and the 2000s explain inequality growth in West Germany but not in the USA, where the effects of gendered changes in education and employment offset each other. In West Germany, changes in the distribution of household types, and particularly changes in men's employment and education, contributed to increases in income inequality. The country differences in the relationship between changes in family demography and inequality growth reflect how the decline in men's and the growth in women's employment played out differently in the weakening male breadwinner context in West Germany and in the universal breadwinner context in the USA.


The main objective of this paper is to analyze the changing meanings, representations and uses of leisure within the framework of social transformation, and put forth the main issues and contemporary approaches in sociology of leisure through relations of production, consumption patterns and other components of everyday life. This article aims to question the extent to which leisure is considered to be a time period freed from all formal and corporate attachments including school and work. By employing literature review, this article first seeks to evaluate the changing meaning of leisure throughout different historical periods. The article then discusses the uses of leisure in everyday life with regard to its different types, both serious and casual, including cultural, sportive and touristic leisure activities. Lastly, in light of the examples from Turkey and around the world, contemporary academic perspectives on leisure studies will be covered. The main findings of the article state that leisure has been reduced to a series of activities, surrounded by ideas and practices far from contemplation and value creation, fading before reaching the stage of permanence in our contemporary era of an endless present time.


"Electrification of mobility is a key element in policies that aim to improve air quaility in densely populated urban areas. As part of such a strategy all public transportation in the Netherlands is required to be zero emission by 2025. One of the first to implement this requirement is the Eindhoven region, where 43 electric buses have been in operation since december 2016. Electric vehicles produce no pollutant gases, but there is some concern about increased airborne particulate matter emission due to higher tire wear rates. However, in the literature, very little actual data can be found on this matter. This paper presents the outcome of an investigation aimed at assessing tire wear of comparable diesel and electric buses while in operation and with little or no impact on this operation. In the study two diesel buses and 3 electric buses were monitored, all of them operated by Hermes/Connexxion. All buses were 18 m articulated buses. For best accuray, direct measurement of tire weight loss at intervals would be the obvious measurement technique. This approach was however unacceptable to the fleet owner as it would have too much negative impact on the fleet operation. Also, dedicated accurate (vision based) thread monitoring equipment was not available. Hence, tire mass loss was determined from the measured reduction in tire tread groove depth at twelve different locations that were evenly distributed on the tire envelope. This measurement was performed on all three axles and was repeated several times over a nine month period. From the resulting data the average tire groove depth reduction in mm per 10.000 km was determined. The results show that the tire wear rate on the electric buses, even when compensated for their higher gross vehicle weight, significantly exceeds that of the diesel buses. The difference is analysed and discussed. Finally, by comparing weight loss measurement with tread depth reduction, also an indication of weight loss is determined and compared with current emission factors."


Based on two sets of data consisting of research articles from Web of Science, analyses were made on articles citing Genette and articles using the paratext concept. The purpose was to investigate the context in which the paratext concept is used and Genette is cited by analyzing the journals and research fields in which the articles were published, the literature these articles are based on, and the terminology used in the articles. This chapter presents the results, which show both close connections and similarities in citation patterns, namely, to literature studies and to the humanities in general. It is also possible to see signs of an increased interest in digital media and a widening of cultural expressions studied within the realm of the humanities, such as computer games, while Genette and paratextual theories are used to a much lesser extent in the social sciences. In addition to the empirical study, the relation between paratext studies and bibliometrics is briefly discussed.


ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 8 Number 02 (2019) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one of the most important etiology of community and hospital acquired infections. With an increasing incidence of Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), the aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains and their antibiotic susceptibility pattern in a tertiary care Hospital between July 2017 and July 2018. In this prospective cross sectional study, 100 Staphylococcus aureus were isolated and identified conventionally from various clinical specimens collected from different departments of the hospital. Subsequently, antimicrobial susceptibility test was performed by Kirby Bauer disc diffusion method as per Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines. Among the 100 S. aureus isolates, MRSA was found to be 54% by cefoxitin (30 μg) disk diffusion method out of which maximum numbers were isolated from the age group of more than 60 years i.e. 14 isolates (25.92%) predominantly in males. Among the 54% of MRSA isolated, maximum 44.44% were from pus, 18.53% from blood, 11.11% each from sputum, urine and drain and 1.85% each from Ascitic fluid and tracheal aspirate. Among the MRSA isolated, 33.33% were from Surgery which was the highest followed by 27.78% from IMCU, 18.52% from Orthopaedics, 9.26% from Dermatology and 5.56% from Burns ward. All the isolates were resistant to Penicillin and Cephalexin, followed by Tetracycline (22 isolates), Erythromycin (21 isolates), Clindamycin and Cotrimoxazole 19 isolates each, Gentamicin (18 isolates), Ciprofloxacin (17 isolates) and Amikacin (15 isolates). All the isolates were sensitive to Vancomycin, Linezolid and Teicoplanin. Inducible Clindamycin resistance was detected in 13 isolates (24%) among MRSA isolates. Due to increasing development of resistance to multiple antibiotics, there is an increased need to find out the prevalence of MRSA and their current antimicrobial profile in order to provide appropriate therapy to the patients. K e y w o r d s Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA Community and Hospital acquired infections ,Disk diffusion Method, Antibiotic susceptibility testing Accepted: 07 January 2019 Available Online: 10 February 2019 Article Info Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2019) 8(2): 587-592


In general, dynamic friction coefficient in a dry surface condition is dependent on the relative velocity between two sliding bodies. A conventional method of estimating the velocity dependent dynamic friction coefficient is time consuming and requires a special jig to measure the friction forces. In this paper, a new technique called the state space mapping method is proposed based on the nonlinear dynamics of a 1-DOF friction oscillator. One body is constructed as a single degree of freedom system and another body is formed as a moving base that may be built as a rotating disk or a horizontally oscillating plate. The resulting friction induced vibration system is used to estimate the dynamic friction coefficient. The measured vibration signals are utilized to construct a three dimensional plot of acceleration versus state variables. Then, the velocity dependent dynamic friction coefficient can be estimated from the plot. The natural frequency can also be estimated from the plot, which can be used to verify the quality of the results.


Advances in gender equality have been sought in the field of medicine for centuries, including the specialty of otolaryngology. Currently, about 14.5% of practicing otolaryngologists are women. Strides have been made to support equality by the American Academy of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery through the development of the Women in Otolaryngology Section in 2010, among other efforts. This article reviews the literature of women in otolaryngology, as well as current trends toward equality among otolaryngologists of all genders.


A catering microwave oven was used to investigate the microwave heating of foodstuffs, The oven used for the experimental work, a Philips 1.2 kW model, operated at a frequency of 2450 MHz and the energy applicator was in the form of a resonant cavity. Heat generated in food in a microwave resonator is caused by an interaction between "lossy" components of the food and the electrical field of the microwave radiation. The heating effect depends upon the characteristics of both the resonator and the food. The experimental work was designed to investigate factors affecting this heating effect. The total power absorbed by food in a microwave oven is dependent upon its chemical composition and its geometry. It was found that power absorption increased with volume up to a maximum value, above which power absorption was independent of volume. Power absorption was also affected by the geometry of the food but it was not a function of the food's dielectric properties. Heat which is dissipated in the food, as a result of power absorption, is not uniformly distributed thr oughout the food. The distribution of heat in solid foods was investigated by measuring temperature profiles in slabs of agar after microwave heating; simple foodstuffs were also incorporated in the agar. In order to investigate factors which affect the temperature distribution in food, resulting from microwave heating, a computer simulation of microwave heating was developed. Good agreement was obtained between the measured and simulated profiles for agar slabs, although modifications to the simulation were required for actual foodstuffs.


Missing data are prevalent in many public health studies for various reasons. For example, some subjects do not answer certain questions in a survey, or some subjects drop out of a longitudinal study prematurely. It is important to develop statistical methodologies to appropriately address missing data in order to reach valid conclusions. For regression analysis on data with missing values in the response variable, when data are not missing at random, usually the missing-data mechanism needs to be modeled. When the missingness only depends on the response variable, a pseudolikelihoodmethod that avoids modeling the nonignorable missing-data mechanism was developed in the past. A corresponding mean imputation method was used to impute the missing responses under this pseudolikelihood method. In this dissertation, we consider the inference on the moments of the response variable for missing data analyzed by this pseudolikelihood method. At first, we compared three methods: the delta method, the bootstrap method and a re-sampling method, for estimating the variance of the corresponding pseudolikelihood estimate in simulation studies. Second, we modified that mean imputation method and developed a corresponding stochastic imputation method. Multiple imputations were subsequently used to obtain estimates of the moments and the corresponding variance estimates. We compared the performance of these two imputation methods in simulation studies and illustrated them through analysis of the data from a Schizophrenia clinical trial. Compared to the mean imputation method, the stochastic imputation method leads to less and negligible bias.


This study concentrated on temporal distribution and species composition of phytoplankton connected with physicochemical variations between January 2003 and November 2004 in the South Western Caspian Sea. During the study, 75 phytoplankton were distinguished in total and average phytoplankton densities in 2003 and 2004 were 1.47×10±6.05×10and 1.97×10±7.18×10 cells L, respectively. Contributions of diatoms (66.0% in 2003; 57.0% in 2004) and cyanophytes to total phytoplankton (17.0 in 2003; 36.0% in 2004) were higher than any other group. Diatoms Dactyliosolen fragilissimus and Thalassionema nitzschioides, and cyanophytes Oscillatoria sp. and Anabeanopsis raciborskii provided the biggest contributions to the total phytoplankton. Average DIN concentration in 2003 was higher (3.86±1.65 µM) than the average in 2004 (3.37±1.13 µM). However, average DIP concentration in 2003 was lower (1.45±1.37 µM) than the average in 2004 (1.99±0.67 µM). Average DIS concentration was two-fold higher than average DIN concentration. Average DIN:DIP without NH (2.66±1.66 in 2003; 1.69 ± 1.17 in 2004) and DIS:DIP ratios (5.61±3.44 in 2003; 3.93±2.49 in 2004) were clearly lower than Redfield ratios. Nutrient ratios and phytoplankton densities revealed that system was eutrophic


Nowadays, the Holistic Integrative Medicine (HIM) perspectives proposed by Chinese Academy of Engineering Academician Professor Daiming Fan have been increasingly recognized and extensively incorporated into medical practice (Figure 1) (1). The 2017 Chinese Congress of Holistic Integrative Medicine (CCHIM) was held in June 29, 2017 in Xi'an, China. A total of 52 academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering, more than 200 University presidents or vice-presidents, and over 2,000 hospital presidents or vice-presidents participated in this congress. Notably, over 14,000 attendees from various subjects of medicine took part in 1 plenary lecture and 45 forums. The meeting report disseminates the major contents presented in the 2017 Holistic Integrative Gastroenterology (HIG) forum.


Essential fatty acids, from which PG derive, can participate in development and regulation of immune responses and have been shown to suppress inflammation and tissue injury in animal models. In this report, we investigate the effects of the immediate (DGLA, precursor to PGE1), arachidonic acid (AA, PGE precursors, dihomogamma linolenic acid (DGLA, precursor to PGE1), arachidonic acid (AA, precursor to PGE2), and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, precursor to PGE3) on IL-2 production by PHA-stimulated human PBMC. DGLA and AA inhibited IL-2 production in a dose-dependent manner: half-maximal inhibition was obtained by using the fatty acids at the dose of 10 micrograms/ml without significant effects on cell viability. EPA inhibited IL-2 production by PBMC of only some donors. Incubation of cells in the presence of oleic, stearic, and palmitic acids, which are not PG precursors, did not affect mitogen-induced IL-2 production. A progressive increase in incorporation of DGLA into cellular lipids was observed over a 48-h incubation period. IL-2 production was reduced also when PBMC were pretreated overnight with DGLA or AA and washed before exposure to PHA. Whereas addition of the cyclo-oxygenase inhibitor, indomethacin, at the time of mitogenic stimulation led to increased IL-2 production and prevented mitogen- and fatty acid-induced increases in PGE release, it had no significant effect on the capacity of the fatty acids to suppress IL-2 production. Time course experiments showed that DGLA and AA inhibited IL-2 production even at times of minimal or no PGE release by the treated cultures. Moreover, DGLA and AA inhibited IL-2 production by the human leukemia T cell line Jurkat which, when appropriately induced, is able to release high levels of IL-2 in the absence of accessory cells and measurable PGE production. Taken together, these data indicate that essential fatty acids inhibit IL-2 production directly without conversion into their cyclo-oxygenase pathway products, and suggest that human lymphocyte function may be altered profoundly by small changes in their fatty acid profile.


Rapid evolution in contemporary time can result when related species, brought together through human-aided introduction, hybridize. The significant evolutionary consequences of post-introduction hybridization range from allopolyploid speciation to extinction of species through genetic amalgamation. Both processes are known to occur in the perennial cordgrass genus, Spartina. Here we report the existence of a third recent Spartina hybridization, discovered in 2002, between introduced S. densiflora and native S. foliosa in San Francisco Bay, California, USA. We used nuclear and chloroplast DNA analysis and nuclear DNA content with chromosome counts to examine plants of morphology intermediate between S. densiflora and S. foliosa in a restored marsh in Marin County, California. We found 32 F(1) diploid hybrids and two triploid plants, all having S. densiflora and S. foliosa as parents; there is also evidence of a genetic contribution of S. alterniflora in some hybrids. None of these hybrids set germinable seed. In 2007 we found a hybrid over 30 miles away in a marsh where both parental species occurred, suggesting hybridization may not be a localized phenomenon. The presence of diploid and triploid hybrids is important because they indicate that several avenues existed that may have given rise to a new allopolyploid species. However, such an event is now unlikely because all hybrids are targets of eradication efforts.


Abstract The present experiment examined the effect of self-awareness on adult perspective-taking and egocentrism. After having indicated their own opinion on an ecology-related topic, university students estimated a fellow student's opinion on the same matter. Participants did so either in front of a mirror or not, and either after having received a cue for the fellow student's most probable opinion—his perspective—or not, resulting in a 2 (self-awareness: Low vs. high) × 2 (cue: Yes vs. no) between persons design. As expected, self-aware participants were more likely to correctly estimate the fellow student's most probable opinion, reflecting perspective-taking, if a cue for his/her perspective was provided. Moreover, self-awareness also reduced participants' false consensus beliefs (i.e., egocentrism)—when they had a cue for the fellow student's perspective. The results conceptually replicate and extend previous findings on self-awareness, perspective-taking, and egocentrism.


The development of 4H-SiC PiN diodes capable of blocking to greater than 10 kV while having current ratings of 20 A at 100 A/cm2 is continuing in earnest. VF instability of these diodes continues to be a roadblock, but progress is being made, and a 20 A/10 kV 4H-SiC PiN diode wafer with an overall device yield of 40% has been fabricated. The latest device characteristics are discussed, along with details of approaches in improving the reverse recovery characteristics of these diodes to satisfy the requirements needed for implementation into high voltage inverter modules capable of switching at up to 20 kHz.


In this article a differential temperature-to-time converter is presented using two thermistors in a generalized impedance converter, polarized in direct current. The voltage drop in one of the thermistors depends on the differential temperature at which both thermistors are exposed. Such voltage drop is compared to a signal which changes exponentially by obtaining a time interval which depends on the differential temperature. The results of the experimental tests support the theoretical analysis performed and at the same time offer a new possibility of application of the generalized impedance converter as a signal conditioning circuit.


Purpose: To study the influence of tissue inhomogeneities and biological effectiveness on the outcome prediction of electronic brachytherapy (eBx) for accelerator partial breast irradiation (APBI). Methods: The dosimetric influence of tissue heterogeneities was studied by Monte Carlo method and heterogeneous "virtual patient" phantoms created from the CTimages and structure contours. The enhancement of the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of the low‐energy X‐rays was modeled using biological effective dose (BED) distributions. 10 eBx APBI cases were involved in the study. For each case, the actual BED distribution, calculated with consideration of tissue inhomogeneities and RBE enhancement, was compared with the planned BED distribution without consideration of these two factors. Results: On average, actual BED PTV V100 was 89.9% as compared to 95.2% of planned value. Actual BED PTV V200 was 0.67 times of the planned value, indicating that the high dose region in the target was overestimated in planning. Actual mean BED to the ipsilateral breast, the ipsilateral lung and the heart was 0.91, 1.78 and 1.28 times of the planned values, indicating that the toxicity to the normal organs was overestimated for the breast but underestimated for the lung and heart. Actual maximum BED to the skin was 16% lower than the planned value, but actual maximum BED to the ribs was 12.7 times higher, which indicates that toxicity to the skin was overestimated in planning but toxicity to the ribs was significantly underestimated. Conclusion: Tissue inhomogeneities and RBE enhancement of low‐energy X‐rays will affect the plan quality of eBx APBI. This case study revealed that actual target coverage was lower than planned. The toxicity to the ipsilateral breast and the skin was overestimated in treatment planning but the toxicity to the ipsilateral lung, the heart and the ribs was underestimated.


To understand stress, attention must focus on the costs and limits of adaptation. The current study investigates two non-specific indicators of stress in human skeletal remains from three prehistoric sites in the Pacific Islands as an attempt to understand differential responses to island environments. The samples used in this study represent both colonising and established populations and are spread geographically throughout the Pacific Islands. In the current study both inter and intrasample comparisons of cortical index (CI) and maximum femoral length are made. Within all the samples there is evidence of an age related decline in CI and a sexual dimorphism of CI and maximum femoral length. No significant correlations are found between the non-specific indicators of stress and the temporal and spatial distributions of the samples. Overall, the indicators used in the current study show very similar results and therefore do not seem to reflect differential adaptation to Pacific Island environments through time and across island groups. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Amaranthus is a dicotyledonous pseudocereal and one of the New World's oldest crops, having originated in Mesoamerica, and was a major food crop of the Aztecs who named it Huautli or Xtes. Popularity in the cultivation and consumption of Amaranthus seed in the modern era began in the mid-1970s with the rediscovery and promotion of amaranth due to its superior nutritional attributes as compared to cereal grains. Today, amaranth is still included in the human diet because of its nutraceutical relevance. Amaranth is considered as a "superfood" because it contains high nutraceutical values such as a high-quality protein, unsaturated oils, squalene, dietary fiber, tocopherols, tocotrienols, phenolic compounds, flavonoids, vitamins, and minerals. Compared to other grains, amaranth has a higher amount of protein, dietary fiber, calcium, iron, and magnesium; therefore although it is an ancient crop nowadays, it is considered a millennium crop or superfood with relevant nutraceutical values and its agronomic versatility. This comprehensive chapter is focused on amaranth composition and antioxidant properties and provides several potential medical benefits of its valuable components.


Polymer modified concrete has become innovative materials to increase durability and sustainability of concrete. It is now important to develop natural polymers that are 'greener' than other chemical polymers. Therefore, this research wants to investigate compressive strength of natural polymer modified concrete added with Moringa oleifera powder, with and without its skin. This research was conducted experimentally in laboratory. There three compositions concrete mixture of several concrete cylinder specimens with dimension 10 cm x 20 cm which were cured in plain water for 7, 14, and 28 days. Compressive strength of normal concrete were designed as about f'c = 30 MPa. All specimens were tested for compressive strength after curing. This research meets conclusions: (1) Natural polymer modified concrete added by Moringa oleifera with skin specimens have compressive strength 82.85% compared control specimens; (2) Extreme high compressive strength has achieved by natural polymer modified concrete added by Moringa oleifera without skin specimens that have compressive strength 165,2% compared control specimens; and (3) Natural polymer made of Moringa oleifera is proven to increase the compressive strength of concrete


Introduction: The main aim of the study was to examine the interdependence of values of the nutrition index, the use of medicaments, and alcohol consumption in the group of subjects with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and in control group without PTSD.
Methods: To determine the interdependence of different indices of nutrition and the alcohol and drug consumption in both groups, the crosstab model was used.
Results: In both of the tested groups, medicament users had higher average values for nutritional indexes compared to the subjects that are not the consumers of medicaments, but the confirmed differences were not statistically significant. The subjects with PTSD who consume alcohol had lower average values for nutritional indexes compared to the subjects who do not consume alcohol. In the control group, subjects who consumed alcohol had higher mean values for nutritional indexes than those who did not consume alcohol. Differences in the values of the nutrition index between alcohol and non-alcohol subjects were not statistically significant either in the PTSD group or in the control group. The subjects with PTSD had less average values of all the used nutrition indexes compared to the control group subjects, but the confirmed differences were not statistically significant.
Conclusion: Our results indicate that medicaments use and alcohol consumption do not exert a statistically significant effect on the values of the nutrition index in any of the study groups. Possible concomitant use of drugs with the opposite effect on the monitored parameter (nitrazepam and amitriptyline vs. SSRI and bupropion) can lead to findings like this. We recommend further research to eliminate influence of pharmacodynamic effects of alcohol, drugs, and stress on the development of weight gain or loss.


In 2012-2013 a team led by Ray Siemens at the Electronic Textual Cultures Lab (ETCL), University of Victoria, in collaboration with Implementing New Knowledge Environments (INKE), developed three annotated bibliographies under the rubric of social knowledge creation. The items for the bibliographies were gathered and annotated by members of the Electronic Textual Cultures Lab (ETCL) to form this tripartite document as a resource for students and researchers involved in the iNKE team and well beyond, iincluding at digital humanities seminars in Bern (June 2013) and Leipzig (July 2013).


Integrating scientific and local knowledge within disaster risk reduction (DRR) using methods that encourage knowledge exchange and two-way dialogue is a difficult yet important task. This article shows how participatory mapping can help in fostering integrative DRR through the involvement of a large range of stakeholders. It draws on a project conducted in the municipality of Masantol, Philippines that is regularly affected by flooding and other natural hazards. Participatory 3-Dimensional Mapping, or P3DM, has been used for both risk assessment and DRR planning. P3DM facilitates the interpretation, assimilation and understanding of geo-referenced data by making them visible and tangible to everyone. Given that maps are scaled and geo-referenced, P3DM also helps in incorporating both local and scientific knowledge through a two-way dialogue in DRR.


Abstract Certain seismic objects, like faults and gas chimneys, are often difficult to delineate using conventional attribute analysis. Many attributes contain useful information about the target object but each new attribute provides a new and different view of the data. The challenge is to find the optimal attribute for a specific interpretation. In this paper the optimal attribute is found with a pattern recognition approach based on multi-dimensional/multi-attributes and neural network modelling. Multi-dimensional attributes, as opposed to point attributes, can provide the spatial information on the seismic objects. The role of the neural network is to classify the input attributes into two or more output classes. Neural networks are trained on seismic attributes extracted at representative example locations that are manually picked by a seismic interpreter. This approach is a form of supervised learning in which the network learns to recognize certain seismic responses associated with the identified target objects. Application of the trained network yields an 'object probability' cube for the target object. Essentially, the neural network can target any seismic or geological feature requiring detailed analysis. In this paper the method is described and examples are shown of gas chimneys, faults, salt domes and 4D anomalies. Some interpretation aspects are discussed.


The objective of this paper is to investigate the sociological and existential situation of the inhabitants of Bransholme, a peri-urban council estate on the northern edge of Hull, in the context of the current economic downturn and contemporary regeneration discourses. In 'reading' life on the estate against economic decline and regeneration practices, I aim to show why the latter cannot really succeed because they are premised on (a) a failure to understand the situation of the socially excluded and (b) injustices and inequalities hard-wired into the very form of late capitalism itself. In light of this thesis, my claim is that only large-scale changes to the neo-liberal socio-economic system will save Hull, and as a consequence, the people of Bransholme, because only this will oppose the 'winner takes all', exclusive neo-liberal politics Meagher discusses in her 2009 work on 'urbs sacra' and 'rurban America' and offer hope for some kind of spatial justice. In order to reach this conclusion, I divide my paper into three sections. First, I explore recession, decline, dislocation and the socio-economic condition of the city. Second, I consider regeneration as discourse and offer some theoretical considerations towards the development of what I call 'the language game of post-Thatcherite hyper-rational utopianism' which constructs the de-industrialised city as a business to be saved through the advance of market principles. Finally, I turn to thinking about life on the estate through reference to my own ethnographic observations in order to suggest that the condition of the excluded is not somehow a natural state, but rather an effect of their immersion in a temporal and spatial environment, which has been destroyed by market forces premised on the objectivity of processes such as creative destruction. Thus, I explore 'Being-in-Hull' and 'Being-on-Bransholme' in terms of notions of territoriality, marginality and what I call 'the culture of despair' in contemporary working-class life.


In this paper, a basic cell for low-power and/or low-voltage operation is identified. It is evidenced how different versions of this cell, coined as "flipped voltage follower (FVF)" have been used in the past for many applications. A detailed classification of basic topologies derived from the FVF is given. In addition, a comprehensive list of recently proposed low-voltage/low-power CMOS circuits based on the FVF is given. Although the paper has a tutorial taste, some new applications of the FVF are also presented and supported by a set of simulated and experimental results. Finally, a design example showing the application of the FVF to build systems based on translinear loops is described which shows the potential of this cell for the design of high-performance low-power/low-voltage analog and mixed-signal circuits.


Localized states are a universal phenomenon observed in spatially distributed dissipative nonlinear systems. Known as dissipative solitons, autosolitons, and spot or pulse solutions, these states play an important role in data transmission using optical pulses, neural signal propagation, and other processes. While this phenomenon was thoroughly studied in spatially extended systems, temporally localized states are gaining attention only recently, driven primarily by applications from fiber or semiconductor lasers. Here we present a theory for temporal dissipative solitons (TDS) in systems with time-delayed feedback. In particular, we derive a system with an advanced argument, which determines the profile of the TDS. We also provide a complete classification of the spectrum of TDS into interface and pseudocontinuous spectrum. We illustrate our theory with two examples: a generic delayed phase oscillator, which is a reduced model for an injected laser with feedback, and the FitzHugh-Nagumo neuron with delayed feedback. Finally, we discuss possible destabilization mechanisms of TDS and show an example where the TDS delocalizes and its pseudocontinuous spectrum develops a modulational instability.


Phytochemicals possessing free radical scavenging and antiproliferative activities play an important role in cancer chemoprevention. In this study, the ethanolic extracts prepared from fresh and dried leaves, bark, and seed skin of Pra (Elateriospermum tapos Blume.) were tested for their antioxidant activity using a ferric reducing ability of plasma (FRAP) assay. The antiproliferative activities against four human cancer cell lines, breast (MCF-7), colon (HT-29, HCT116) and cervical (HeLa) cancer cells, were examined using the MTT assay. Fresh leaf extract exhibited the greatest antioxidant activity by giving the greatest FRAP value, followed by bark, seed skin and dried leaf extracts, respectively, which were strongly correlated to their flavonoid content. Dried leaf extract with the highest total phenolic content exhibited the greatest antiproliferative activity against all cancer cell lines tested. The growth of cervical cancer cell line (HeLa) was the most sensitive to all plant part extracts tested with IC50 values of 5.44 ± 0.57 µg/ml (fresh leaf), 5.41 ± 0.37 µg/ml (dried leaf), 6.39 ± 1.16 µg/ml (bark) and 7.03 ± 0.07 µg/ml (seed skin) at 72 h exposure. The non-cancer cell line (Vero) was more resistant to all plant part extracts when compared with the cancer cell lines. The ethanolic extracts of all E. tapos plant parts are promising for further purification and drug development.

 Key words: Antioxidant, antiproliferation, chemoprevention, Elateriospermum tapos, ethanolic extract.


Agroforestry buffers have been introduced in temperate areas to improve water quality and diversify farm income. The objective of this study was to evaluate saturated hydraulic conductivity and water retention for soils managed under rotationally grazed (RG) pasture, continuously grazed (CG) pasture, grass buffers (GB), and agroforestry buffers (AgB). Pasture and GB areas included red clover (Trifolium pretense L.) and lespedeza (Kummerowia stipulacea Maxim.) planted into fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) while AgB included Eastern cottonwood trees (Populus deltoids Bortr. ex Marsh.) planted into fescue. Water retention data were measured at -0.4, -1.0, -2.5, -5.0, -10, -20, and -30 kPa (-0.058, -0.145, -0.363, -0.725, -1.45, -2.90, -4.35 pounds per square inch [psi]) soil water pressures using 76 mm (3.00 in) diameter by 76 mm long cores from the 0 to 10 cm, 10 to 20 cm, 20 to 30 cm, and 30 to 40 cm (0 to 3.94 in, 3.94 to 7.87 in, 7.87 to 11.81 in, and 11.81 to 15.75 in) depths. Soil bulk density was 12.6% higher for the RG and CG treatments (1.41 and 1.45 g cm-3 [88.02 and 90.52 lb ft-3]) than the GB and AgB treatments (1.25 and 1.29 g cm-3 [78.03 and 80.53 lb ft-3). Soil water content at high soil water potentials (0 and -0.4 kPa) was greater in the buffer treatments relative to the other treatments for the 0 to 10 cm soil depth. Soil macroporosity (>1,000 µm [>0.0394 in] diameter) was 5.7, 4.5, and 3.9 times higher, respectively, for the AgB, GB, and RG treatments compared to the CG treatment for the 0 to 10 cm soil depth. Buffer treatments had greater macroporosity (>1,000 µm diameter), coarse (60 to 1,000 µm [0.00236 to 0.0394 in] diameter) and fine mesoporosity (10 to 60 µm [0.000394 to 0.00236 in] diameter), but lower microporosity (<10 µm diameter) compared to RG and CG treatments. Saturated hydraulic conductivity values for GB and AgB treatments were 16.7 times higher (56.95 vs. 61.33 mm h-1 [2.24 vs. 2.41 in hr-1]) compared with RG and CG (3.98 vs. 3.11 mm h-1 [0.157 vs. 0.122 in hr-1]). This study illustrates that agroforestry and grass buffers maintained higher values for soil hydraulic properties compared to grazed pasture systems.


ABSTRACT Most research on e-commerce has focused on deliberate rational cognition, yet research in psychology and marketing suggests that buying decisions may also be influenced by priming (a form of what Information Systems researchers have called digital nudging). We conducted seven experiments to investigate the impact of two types of priming (numeric priming and semantic priming) delivered through what appeared to be advertisements on an e-commerce website. We found that numeric priming had a small but significant effect on consumers' willingness to pay when the value of the product was unclear, but had no effect when products displayed a manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) or a fixed selling price. Semantic priming had larger effects on willingness to pay and the effects were significant but smaller in the presence of an MSRP. Thus, the combination of numeric and semantic priming has a larger impact on consumers' willingness to pay. Taken together, these experiments show that some of the research on numeric priming and semantic priming done in offline settings generalizes to e-commerce settings, but there are important boundary conditions to their effects in e-commerce that have not been noted in offline settings. In online auctions (e.g., eBay), sellers can influence customers to pay more for products whose value is unclear by displaying products with clearly labelled high prices alongside the products the consumer searched for. However, such tactics will have only minimal effects for auctions of products whose price is known (e.g., those with an MSRP) and no effects on products with clearly listed prices (e.g., Amazon).


Numerous pseudoplasmodia containing myxospores belonging to the genus Cystodiscus were found in the gallbladder of Elachistocleis cesarii from Mato Grosso State, Brazil. Herein, we describe Cystodiscus elachistocleis sp. nov., using morphological and small subunit ribosomal DNA sequences. The mature myxospores were ellipsoid to ovoid, measuring in average 10.6 (9.8–11.2) μm in length and 6.2 (5.6–6.6) μm in width. Polar capsules were pyriform and equal in size measuring in average 3.6 (2.8–4.3) μm in length and 2.6 (2.2–3.1) μm in width. Polar filaments had 2–4 coils. The myxospores had 3–5 transverse ridges. The phylogenetic analysis showed Cystodiscus elachistocleis sp. nov. as a sister species of Cystodiscus cf. immersus 1, in a subclade formed by species that parasitize the amphibians gallbladder. This is the first species of Cystodiscus described parasitizing a species of Elachistocleis and the third species of Cystodiscus described in Brazil.


This report summarizes fluid electrical conductivity (FEC) and thermal logging data collected in Borehole NC-EWDP-24PB, located approximately 15 km south of the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain. Preliminary analyses of a small fraction of the FEC and temperature data indicate that relatively large, localized fluid fluxes are likely to exist at this location. The implication that considerable flow is induced by small gradients, and that flow is highly localized, is significant for the estimation of groundwater transport velocities and radionuclide travel times. The sensitivity of the data to potential perturbations during testing (i.e., internal wellbore flow in the case of FEC data, and buoyancy effects in the case of thermal logging data) make it difficult to conclusively derive fluid fluxes and transport velocities without a detailed analysis of all data and processes involved. Such a comprehensive analysis has not yet been performed. However, the preliminary results suggest that the ambient component of the estimated flow rates is significant and on the order of liters per minute, yielding groundwater transport velocities in the range of kilometers per year. One particular zone in the Bullfrog tuff exhibits estimated velocities on the order of 10 km/yr. Given that the preliminary estimates of ambient flow rates and transport velocities are relatively high, and considering the potential impact of high rates and velocities on saturated-zone flow and transport behavior, we recommend that a comprehensive analysis of all the available data be performed. Moreover, additional data sets at other locations should be collected to examine whether the current data set is representative of the regional flow system near Yucca Mountain.


The study is in two parts. Part One is a review of art In the first three years of secondary education In England, with particular reference to the period which has seen the expansion of comprehensive education throughout the country. The Issues reviewed include the crisis of adolescence, art teachers and the art room environment, and the rationales and Influences of art education In the early secondary years. The design education versus expressive education conflict Is also discussed, as Is the case for 'creative appreciation' In secondary art education. Part Two of the study Is a survey of twenty-seven comprehensive schools In County Durham Local Education Authority, the purpose of which Is to gain as complete an understanding as possible of the state and practice of art education at a time when new influences are likely to replace earlier ones. The survey Includes art teachers and departments, the art curriculum content and contribution to secondary education, the perceived value of the purposes and functions of art education and of the Influences upon It of public examinations, 'child art', 'basic design' and design education.


Motivated by the recent increase in domestic banks' holdings of domestic sovereign debt (i.e., home bias) in the European periphery, this paper analyzes implications of banks' home bias for the sovereign's debt sustainability. The main findings, based on a sample of advanced (AM) and emerging market (EM) economies, suggest that home bias generally reduces the cost of borrowing for AMs and EMs when debt levels are moderate to high. A worsening of market sentiments appears to diminish the favorable impact of home bias on cost of borrowing particularly for EMs. In addition, for AMs and EMs, higher home bias is associated with higher debt levels, and less responsive fiscal policy. The findings suggest that home bias indeed matters for debt sustainability: Home bias may provide fiscal breathing space, but delays in fiscal consolidation may actually delay problems until debt reaches dangerously high levels.


This study demonstrated efficient solar-to-H2O2 conversion through a photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell that maximizes the utilization of solar energy by having double side generation of H2O2 on both the photoanode and cathode. This work was accomplished by preparing (i) efficient BiVO4 (BVO) photoanodes modified with various metal dopants (Mo, W, or Cr), (ii) surface-treatment with phosphate on the as-synthesized photoanodes, and (iii) single-walled carbon nanotube (CNT) electrodes with anchored anthraquinone (AQ-CNT), a reversible H2O2-evolving catalyst that has been widely used in the H2O2 production industry. The introduction of Mo into BVO and surface phosphate treatment on BVO (P-Mo-BVO) enhanced the faradaic efficiency (FE) of H2O2 production from water oxidation and slowed the H2O2 decomposition kinetics with achieving highly durable PEC reactions over 100 h (90% photocurrent remained), while bare Mo-BVO experienced the rapid decline of the photocurrent during irradiation with the dissolution of BiVO4. The utilization of AQ on the cathode made the H2O2 production by oxygen reduction highly selective and suppressed competing H2 production completely. Consequently, the optimized configuration of a BVO photoanode modified with Mo (10 atom%) and phosphate and an AQ-CNT cathode enabled H2O2 production on both electrodes, yielding H2O2 production with FE values of 40–50% and ∼100%, respectively, across a broad range of potentials (0.75 to 2 VRHE) and a net H2O2 production rate of 0.66 μmol min−1 cm−2 at 1.0 VRHE. This dual electrode system also successfully demonstrated H2O2 production under an external bias-free condition with a net H2O2 production rate of 0.16 μmol min−1 cm−2 and FE value of ∼43% and ∼100% for photoanodic and cathodic production, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the most durable PEC system for H2O2 production obtained using a BiVO4-based photoanode that enabled the simultaneous photoanodic and cathodic production of H2O2.


In the nano scale era, the upcoming design challenges like dark silicon, power wall, and memory wall have prompted extensive research into the architectural alternatives to the general purpose processor. Coarse Grained Reconfig-urable Architectures (CGRAs) are emerging as one of the promising alternatives. Commonly, CGRAs are composed of a computation layer and a memory layer. Tempted by higher platform utilization and energy efficiency, recently proposed CGRAs offer dynamic remapping and parallelism. However, the existing works only address the computational elements, while for many applications the bulk of energy is consumed by the memory and memory accesses. Therefore, without architectural support to optimize the memory contents, according to the changes in computational layer, the benefits promised by dynamic parallelism and remapping are severely degraded. As a solution to this problem we present TransMem, a supporting memory infrastructure that complements the dynamic remapping and parallelism in the computational fabric. Simulation results reveal that the additional flexibility enhances the energy efficiency by up to 85% for the tested applications, compared to state of the art. Post-layout analysis reveals that TransMem incurs only 4% area penalty.


The physical simulation test of similar material is one of the most common research techniques in the geotechnical domain. Because the experimental finding of physical simulation is directly affected by the physical mechanical property and stability of similar material, then selecting the fitting formulation, mixture ration and water content of the similar material for different investigated subjects to get the ideal similar material is the most attentive problem during the experiment. After researching the variational compressive strength and tensile strength with the water content of the synthetic material which is made of sand, cement, gesso with two mixed rations, the relation of second-degree parabola between the main mechanical parameter and the water content of the synthetic material is obtained, and the optimal rate of water content which can make the similar material reach the maximal compressive strength or tensile strength is obtained


We publish here the main part of the paper devoted to the roles that state plays in the contemporary economy. The text is an example of political-economical approach in the economic sociology. The author compares the old and the new paradigms of the analysis of the state role in the economy. He claims that traditional approaches underline only one issue: to what extent the societies rely on the market regulation in a contrary to the state regulation? The considerable advantage of the new approach is that it draws our attention towards the important issues related to the economic role of the state.


A statistical analysis was made of data concerning diagnosis of IgE-mediated allergy in the upper respiratory tract in 292 patients. It appears that screening for an IgE-mediated allergy can be performed with a limited number of skin tests (rye grass, timothy, birch, house dust mite and cat). In this study a larger number of skin tests (15 instead of 5) and investigation of specific IgE (RAST) yielded little additional information (in 2% and 3% of the patients, respectively). When indicated, an extended series of skin tests, immuno-assay (total IgE and specific IgE) and eosinophil counts in the serum and nasal smear should be performed.