PURPOSE
Talbot-Lau grating interferometry enables the use of polychromatic x-ray sources, extending the range of potential applications amenable to phase contrast imaging. However, these sources introduce beam hardening effects not only from the samples but also the gratings. As a result, grating inhomogeneities due to manufacturing imperfections can cause spectral nonuniformity artifacts when used with polychromatic sources. Consequently, the different energy dependencies of absorption, phase, and visibility contrasts impose challenges that so far have limited the achievable image quality. The purpose of this work was to develop and validate a correction strategy for grating-based x-ray imaging that accounts for beam hardening generated from both the imaged object and the gratings.

METHODS
The proposed two-variable polynomial expansion strategy was inspired by work performed to address beam hardening from a primary modulator. To account for the multi-contrast nature of grating interferometry, this approach was extended to each contrast to obtain three sets of correction coefficients, which were determined empirically from a calibration scan. The method's feasibility was demonstrated using a tabletop Talbot-Lau grating interferometer micro-CT system using CT acquisitions of a water sample and a silicon sample, representing low and higher atomic number materials. Spectral artifacts such as cupping and ring artifacts were quantified using mean squared error (MSE) from the beam-hardening-free target image and standard deviation within a reconstructed image of the sample. Finally, the model developed using the water sample was applied to a fixated murine lung sample to demonstrate robustness for similar materials.

RESULTS
The water sample's absorption CT image was most impacted by spectral artifacts, but following correction to decrease ring artifacts, an 80% reduction in MSE and 57% reduction in standard deviation was observed. The silicon sample created severe artifacts in all contrasts, but following correction, MSE was reduced by 94% in absorption, 96% in phase, and 90% in visibility images. These improvements were due to the removal of ring artifacts for all contrasts and reduced cupping in absorption and phase images and reduced capping in visibility images. When the water calibration coefficients were applied to the lung sample, ring artifacts most prominent in the absorption contrast were eliminated.

CONCLUSIONS
The described method, which was developed to remove artifacts in absorption, phase, and normalized visibility micro-CT images due to beam hardening in the system gratings and imaged object, reduced the MSE by up to 96%. The method depends on calibrations that can be performed on any system and does not require detailed knowledge of the x-ray spectrum, detector energy response, grating attenuation properties and imperfections, or the geometry and composition of the imaged object.


INTRODUCTION
STOPP/START criteria for potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs, STOPP) and potential prescribing omissions (PPOs, START) have gained considerable interest and traction since they were first published in 2008. This review focuses on their uptake and impact in various clinical settings.

AREAS COVERED
STOPP/START criteria, now in their third iteration, are explicit criteria designed to facilitate detection of common and clinically important PIMs and PPOs during routine medication review in any clinical setting. We examine the influence of the criteria, particularly in clinical trials that focused on their impact on clinically relevant endpoints.

EXPERT OPINION
STOPP/START criteria are widely used in several countries within Europe and beyond for medication review and audit. As a discreet intervention, the criteria have been tested in several single-center and two large-scale multi-center clinical trials. The single-center trials indicate that STOPP/START criteria reduce polypharmacy, inappropriate prescribing, ADRs (adverse drug reactions), medication cost and falls. In contrast, the SENATOR and OPERAM multicentre trials did not demonstrate significant reduction in ADRs, all-cause mortality, drug-related hospital readmissions, nor any improvement in quality-of-life. Further clinical trials are required to examine whether STOPP/START criteria as an intervention can deliver significant clinical benefit in a reproducible manner in various clinical settings.


In a cloud computing environment, dynamic resource allocation and reallocation are keys for accommodating unpredictable demands and, ultimately, contribute to investment return. This article discusses this process in the context of distributed clouds, which are seen as systems where application developers can selectively lease geographically distributed resources. This article highlights and categorizes the main challenges inherent to the resource allocation process particular to distributed clouds, offering a stepwise view of this process that covers the initial modeling phase through to the optimization phase.


A sensitive method for the determination of residual methyl bromide in fumigated foodstuffs is described. Methyl bromide in extracts was converted stoicheiometrically into methyl iodide by reaction with sodium iodide and analysed using gas-liquid chromatography with electron-capture detection. Residual methyl bromide was readily detected at the 10 µg kg–1 level in a variety of foodstuffs.


Supernatants from cultured normal human peripheral blood mononuclear cells were incubated with umbilical vein endothelial cells. Prostacyclin production, lactate dehydrogenase release, and viability of the endothelial cells was measured. The supernatants caused changes in growth patterns and were potent stimulators of prostacyclin production. The source of the stimulating factor(s) was shown to be the lymphocyte sub-population. Preliminary characterization of supernatants revealed that more than one molecular species may be involved.


In the present study, two combinations of filter materials in filter/columns were examined for removal of total organic carbon (TOC) and polyphenols (PP) found in storm water runoff from wood storage areas in a wooden floor industry. One filter/column was packed with peat mixed with carbon-containing fly ash, while another filter/column contained only peat (without ash). The mixture of peat and ash has shown faster and higher removal capacity for TOC and faster removal with the same final removal capacity for PP (in grams of pollutant per kg of sorbent) at the saturation point. The superiority observed for the peat and ash filter is presumably due to the unique characteristics of peat and ash, which enhanced the treatment efficiency when used together in a mixture. Based on the observed results, filters formed by peat and carbon-containing ashes proved to be a potentially low-cost option for the treatment of storm water generated at storage areas of wood materials such as logs, sawdust and wood chips.


Staff turnover refers to the rate of employees leaving an organization or a position in a year. It is a common phenomenon in an organization but when the rate is high there would be an adverse impact on an organization's performance. The objective of the study is to provide information on factors causing high staff turnover in non-governmental organizations in Tanzania. The method used was to interview respondents from sampled nongovernmental organizations at various levels. Methodology used for data collection was interviews questionnaires and documentation.
The findings indicate that staff turnover in NGOs in Tanzania is over 40%. The high staff turnover rates not only affect replacement costs, but it negatively affects employee morale and productivity. The findings reveal poor policies and structures; a decrease in motivation, commitment, quality and quantity of work output, tense work relations and lack of communication.
The author recommends that NGOs must have clear policies and procedures which are communicated to all staff and clear understanding of organizations mission, virsion, strategies,and clear job descriptions.Also knowingavailable financial and non-financial packages promotes attachment to the organization and retain staff.The issues of managers playing a leadership role and allowing feedbacks from stakeholders is also important for effective staff retention. The finding could be used for reference in developing new policies and structures.


Author(s): Elkind, Ethan; Lamm, Ted; Prather, Eric | Abstract: Pursuant to Senate Bill 743 (Steinberg, 2013), which reformed the process for California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review of transportation impacts to align with greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals, the Governor's Office of Planning and Research identified vehicle miles traveled (VMT) as the key metric to measure transportation impacts of new developments under CEQA. As a result, project developers will now have to reduce vehicle miles traveled to mitigate significant transportation impacts. In response, state and local policy makers are considering the creation of mitigation "banks" or "exchanges." This report assesses the structural and legal considerations that could determine which model (i.e., banks or exchanges) and scope are appropriate for each implementing jurisdiction (i.e., city, county, regional, state). This report also analyzes a number of existing programs that provide additional models for implementation.


When one considers a text which deviates from the ordinary and logic rules of language and is pervaded by imagination, the intent of reasoning over its content impedes the adequate comprehension of the various significations born by the mentioned text. This difficulty of reasoning is due to the coexistence of significations incompatible among them. If we also take account the historic lag, the argumentation and the underestimation of the others by the author (they are only the 'redundant ones'), it becomes evident that we are to reconstruct a situation which is dangerously fragile. There is an added obstacle, the fact that the text has a significance in three levels - historic, fantastic and delusional-in which each message is decodified. The family, culture and belief contexts are the necessary material resources. The text becomes in this way, conventional, increasing its semantic credibility. The delusion, in spite of its appearing as a creation, is not more than a redundancy with which the author seeks a conciliation between incompatible ideas. Its significance changes, then, constantly and instead of informing, blocks its comprehension and frustrates the reader. To succeed in the recreation of a world in which the conditions mentioned be accomplished, it is necessary to persuade. That's way it is necessary for the author to legitimate the imaginary fillings of the text. The intent of symbolizing turns the deviation into distortion, second structural moment of delusion whose principal purpose is at the service of the new identity. The text is arranged as an inventio rethorica by means of the enthymem, procedure by which it becomes linked to the already mentioned semantic credibility. In this way the estimation of the other changes. They are taken into account according to their capacity of sending back what the deluded person wants to hear. The distortion is not limited to the text; it also reaches the appreciation of the others. All this ends in a complex rethoric development in which digressions, the slide of significations, and the anaphoras (repetions) abund. This repetition sends back to 'something-already-known', impossible of being symbolically expressed, but which constitutes the reference always present. We are again before an imaginary filling of the 'hole' of the text, where the delusional synecdoche places a part instead of the whole. A text construed in this way is never convincent nor conveys certitude. The delusional text needs to keep attached to the opinion of others. The author of a delusional text needs them as an essential public that may help him to convince himself of the text.


This paper reports experiments on recognizing walkers from measurements with a pressure-sensitive floor, more specifically, a floor covered with EMFi material. A 100 square meter pressure-sensitive floor (EMFi floor) was recently installed in the Intelligent Systems Group's research laboratory at the University of Oulu as part of a smart living room. The floor senses the changes in the pressure against its surface and produces voltage signals of the event. The test set for footstep identification includes EMFi data from 11 walkers. The steps were extracted from the data and featurized. Identification was made with Learning Vector Quantization. Discarding a known error type in the measurements, the results show a 78 % overall success rate of footstep identification and are hence very promising.


The NAS 1638 cleanliness classification system was originally developed in 1966 by the US Aircraft Industries of America to both simplify reporting of particle count data and to control the introduction of dirt during the assembly of aircraft fluid systems. The numbers of particles at stated sizes arerepresented by broad bands where the interval was generally a doubling of contamination. A number of systems have been introduced since this to suit differing requirements. NAS 1638 and AS4059 are used in other industrial sectors such as the Off-shore & Sub-Sea and the Primay Metal industries. The changes to ISO contamination measurement standards controlled by ISO/TC131/SC6 in 1999 meant that a revision of most of these classification systems was necessary. The body responsible for NAS 1638 decided to withdraw it for installations and replace it with an update of an existing standard, SAE AS 4059. This paper details the philosophy behind the contamination coding systems, the reasons for the changes to the ISO contamination standards and explains the workings of AS 4059, the replacement for NAS 1638. It goes on to detail the latest changes to this standard.


The design of a human rights-based framework for communication policies in Third World countries is the main focus of this article. This instrument aims to promote the independence of public media, to increase people's access to public means of information and communication, and to ensure that these media are not abused as a vehicle or legitimation of human rights violations. It takes into account the rights and obligations of the four major parties involved: individuals in Third World countries, as the central subjects of development and active participants in and beneficiaries of the development process; formal Third World state representatives; donor governments, as bilateral partners of Third World governments; and the international community. It hopes to achieve this, finally, through a revision of political power structures in Third World countries, a greater impact of donor conditionalities and a better use of the international community's strategic position to promote universal respect for, and observance and protection of, all human rights and fundamental freedoms.


The history of Russian pathologic anatomy from the postwar time to nowadays is briefly reviewed. Negative effects of some legislative acts of the all levels of public health, profound financial crisis are shown. Particularly negative were consequences of a narrow specialization of medicine which affected also pathologic anatomy. Insufficient classical education that includes theoretical and prosecutor training of the general profile results in the fall of interest to general pathology this having a negative effect on the prestige of this profession.


Genetic complexity together with variability in the pathology, symptoms and clinical course of
MS suggests the possibility of multiple disease initiating pathways. Disease heterogeneity may
account for the difficulty in identifying etiological factor and therapeutic targets of MS still
experimental possibility of disease these subtypes has limited due to lack of appropriate animal
model. EAE and MHV demyelinating disease in mice have been quietly used as a model of MS
while EAE is useful in dissecting the role or T cell mediated myelin damage viral model are
helpful in understanding in direct CNS cellular injury and demyelination that does not require an
intact immune system. Infection of mice with neurotropic strain of MHV or its isogenic spike
strain RSA59 induces meningoencephalitis and chronic inflammatory demyelination whereas
another very closely strain MHV-2 or its isogenic recombinant strain RSMHV2 (isogenic for all
the genes except spike protein) can cause encephalitis but unable to cause demyelination and
axonal loss. Spike protein is one of the major determinant neuroinflammatory demyelination and
axonal loss spike protein can be considered as one of the target for the therapeutic potential for
its property to bind to host neural cell directly. Our studies aim to understand and determine the
possible role of spike mediated fusogenicty in the cell to cell fusion of enveloped virus like
MHVA59. While MHV-A59/RSA59, can cause cell to cell fusion both in vivo or in vitro
MHV2/RSMHV2 are impaired to in cell to cell fusion. Furthermore my studies confirmed that
two consecutive cis proline in silico and in vitro may play an important role in the cell cell fusion
a hydrophobic stretch of amino acids with two proline at the centre could be the minimal
essential motif required for virus host interaction with or without involving the cleavage signal
site. To confirm the role of two consecutive proline in the fusogenic property this is first time my
study illusturated the significance of cis proline in MHV mediated cell to cell fusion. Further
biophysical analysis this fusion peptide should be geared to give the insight into the mechanism
of interaction between fusion protein and membrane interaction.


ABSTRACT The impact of losing a limb in military service extends well beyond initial recovery and rehabilitation, with long-term consequences and challenges requiring health-care commitments across the lifecourse. This paper presents a systematic review of the current state of knowledge regarding the long-term impact of ageing and limb-loss in military veterans. Key databases were systematically searched including: ASSIA, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Medline, Web of Science, PsycArticles/PsychInfo, ProQuest Psychology and ProQuest Sociology Journals, and SPORTSDiscus. Empirical studies which focused on the long-term impact of limb-loss and/or health-care requirements in veterans were included. The search process revealed 30 papers relevant for inclusion. These papers focused broadly on four themes: (a) long-term health outcomes, prosthetics use and quality of life; (b) long-term psycho-social adaptation and coping with limb-loss; (c) disability and identity; and (d) estimating the long-term costs of care and prosthetic provision. Findings present a compelling case for ensuring the long-term care needs and costs of rehabilitation for older limbless veterans are met. A dearth of information on the lived experience of limb-loss and the needs of veterans' families calls for further research to address these important issues.


Why We Were Interested:Standardized achievement tests have come to be recognized as the "one and only acceptable means of measuring how well kids, teachers, and schools are doing. This is despite the fact that the tests don't in any way match the instruction that kids in any given class receive. Moreover, they don't even try to determine what kids have learned, but only how they stack up with kids at the same grade level. People inside and outside of testing recognize these fatal flaws, but they don't consider them fatal. The excuse is, "They're the best we have. There's no better way." We thought there might indeed be a better way.What We Did:We had access to around 200,000 kids in about 450 schools in rural districts in 19 states in the US that were participating in a structured program in reading and math in grades 1-6. The instruction cut across grade levels to concentrate on matters the kids had not learned, irrespective of their grade. At the end of the year, we gave a large sample of the kids tests to get data on fourareas of instruction: reading decoding and math computation, that we termed "definite instruction" and reading comprehension and math concepts that we termed "indefinite instruction. We used three different kinds of tests in each instructional area: off-the-shelf standardized achievement tests, tests that matched the general curriculum emphases at a given grade, and tests that matched the actual instruction the kids had received.We tested each kid at a level of the test that most closely matched the level of instruction received during the year (referred to as "at instruction") and also the next higher level for each kind of test (referred to as "above instruction").So we were able to look at what happened in the two subjects - reading and math - in the two areas of instruction - definite and indefinite - on the three kinds of tests - that varied in the degree they departed from the instruction received, and that also varied in terms of whether they focused on matters - the level of the instruction received or were above the level of the instruction received. Quite a bit to look at.What We Found Out:First we did the standard analyzes of how reliable the tests were and how they interrelate, It turned out that each test was acceptably reliable. And the tests in each subject were highly correlated. Had we stopped here we would have concluded, "It really doesn't matter which kind of test you use. And since standardized tests are traditional, they win."-which is about what the testing experts say and what the public accepts. We went on to look at the information yielded by the standardized achievement test (SAT) Grade Equivalents. The SATs that most closely matched the instruction the kids received produced low grade equivalents. But these grade equivalents reflected the level of the instruction at which the kids were working. But SATs are not administered at the grade level at which the kid is (or should be) working, but rather at the grade level in which they are enrolled. Looking at the "abovelevel" results, which reflect this practice, we find higher Grade Equivalents (although still somewhat "behind) despite the fact the percentage of items answered correctly was lower than for the "at level" test.Tests referenced to the general curriculum both showed a high level of performance "at level" on matters they had been taught and a lower level of performance on matters "above level" that they hadn't yet been taught.Finally, we looked at the differences between the results of "definite" and "indefinite instruction. The results on the "definite" instruction were consistently higher than on the "indefinite" instruction. Secondly, with the exception of Reading Decoding at Grade 3 (which is where the remaining complicated and infrequently encountered words are the focus) the performance increases from grade to grade. With "indefinite instruction" the pattern is different. Here the performance rises to a peak and then declines! This is obviously a function of the nature of the indefinite instruction rather than the nature of the kids. Kids don't become weaker conceptually or comprehend less well with further instruction. It just appears that way when the definition of what is meant by the instructional rubric changes from grade to grade. "It's not fair," as the kids might accurately say.Bottom Line:If you want to find out what kids have learned, test them on the instruction they've received. The further you depart from this common sense conclusion, the more misleading will be the results. It happens, however, that current testing practice departs as far from the conclusion as possible. Since people learn what they are taught (that's the point of teaching, right?) if that's what you test, the results will be a good deal more positive than what we are accustomed to seeing. Some kids learn more than others, but it does little good to rank them with each other. The trick is to determine what a kid has learned, in order to use these assets as a basis for further instruction.The more clearly you define the structure of an instructional matter, the more effective the instruction will be. The results of instruction that is "all over the place" will reflect the impoverished thought given to the structure, ever though today the results are commonly attributed to the poverty of kids.


Dairy cattle naturally grow long and dangerous horns. So as a protective measure, farmers permanently remove calves' small horns through a painful procedure. Recently, scientists have used modern genetic editing techniques to create dairy cattle that never develop horns, and so never need to be "dehorned". The regulatory fate of these genetically dehorned cattle may be bound up with numerous more controversial cases from the same rapidly diversifying field: the genetic editing of animals. Or, at least so it could be under draft FDA guidance which closed for public commentary in June 2017. The FDA's challenge is to chart a flexible regulatory course. One which will support the potential of gene-editing technology, while staking out the boundaries of acceptable risks - i.e. the ethical boundaries - of the looming "CRISPR zoo". Here we review the background to the draft guidance, as well as the scathing comments it received from disparate interest groups. The comments show that to foster public trust in how gene-editing technologies are used, it is imperative that the FDA re-engage with all stakeholders, including the public at large.
In their draft guidance, the FDA proposed to regulate "intentionally altered genomic DNA" of animals as a drug being evaluated for use in animals. The originally altered animal, and all its progeny, would be subject to the animal drug regulations. They put out a call for comments on these proposed amendments. As we discuss here, a mere handful of the 151 comments they received were supportive, and most were extremely critical, including those from the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA). We argue that the FDA's proposals as they stand are unsatisfactory and should be withdrawn.


Sintering is a process by which a mixture of iron ores, fl uxes and coke is agglomerated in a sinter plant to manufacture a sinter product of a suitable composition, quality and granulometry to be used as burden material in the blast furnace. This process is studied and researched in the steelmaking industry in general, and in sinter plants in particular, as well as in universities and metallurgical research centres throughout the world. As a result of this research, and the experience accumulated over many years, the sintering process is well understood. Nevertheless, despite this good knowledge of sintering, there are still a number of issues that need to be studied. The present work provides information on the iron ores that form part of the mineral mix which, once granulated, is loaded onto the sinter strand where it is partially melted at a temperature of between 1250-1350 °C and undergoes a series of reactions that give rise to the formation of sinter; a material of a suitable composition and strength to be loaded into the blast furnace to produce pig iron.


In 2010 in Trinidad and Tobago individuals over 60 years-old represented 10% of the population. This figure is expected to reach 20% by the year 2025 (World Health Statistics, 2011). Late life is often characterized by decline and disease, but gains in human potential and functioning (i.e., psychological well-being, PWB) in older adulthood are possible (Baltes, 1987). Thus, the goal of the current study was to examine Trinidadian adult age group differences in three components of PWB: self-acceptance, positive relations with others, and purpose in life (Ryff, 1989). Older adults were expected to have higher acceptance of themselves, and relations with others that are as positive, if not better than, other age groups. Lower sense of purpose in one's life was expected in old age. The study sample consisted of 242 participants residing in Trinidad between the ages of 18 and 74 years-old (M = 36.84, SD = 16.35). The country's major ethnic groups were represented. Socio-demographic variables and PWB were assessed with self-report measures as part of a larger study. It was found that older adults reported lower levels of self-acceptance and purpose in life compared to young and middle-aged adults, whom did not differ. There were, however, no age group differences in how positively people viewed relationships with others. Older adults were just as likely as young and middle-aged adults to have healthy, positive relationships. Results remained relatively consistent even when controlling for socio-demographic variables (e.g., education, income, health, etc.) related to age and PWB. No ethnic group differences emerged. The pattern of gains and losses in PWB in late life are discussed, focusing on why older adult Trinidadians do not demonstrate levels of self-acceptance seen in other cultures, and the potential role that positive relations and 'the lime' may have across adulthood for the PWB of Trinidadians.


Background The comparative clinical pharmacology of cisatracurium and rocuronium and their combinations has not been reported. In this study, the authors compared the relative potency and the clinical profile and characterized the interaction of both drugs. Methods Two hundred twenty adults classified as American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status I and anesthetized with propofol‐fentanyl‐nitrous oxide were studied. In part 1, the neuromuscular‐blocking effects of cisatracurium and rocuronium were assessed after administration of bolus doses of 20‐50 [micro sign]g/kg and 100‐300 [micro sign]g/kg, respectively. In part 2, we compared the time course of 1xED50, 1, 1.5, and 2xED95 doses of both drugs (where ED50 and ED95 are, respectively, the doses producing 50% and 95% depression of the first twitch height [T1]). In part 3, equieffective combinations of both drugs were studied to characterize their interaction. Results The calculated ED50 values and their 95% confidence intervals were 111 (107‐115) and 215 (207‐226) [micro sign]g/kg for rocuronium and cisatracurium, respectively. Compared with equipotent doses of cisatracurium, rocuronium had a faster onset, and a faster spontaneous T1 and train‐of‐four recovery times that were significant except at maximum recovery with the 2xED95 dose. The interaction between rocuronium and cisatracurium was synergistic, and the time profile of the combination group was different from that of the single‐dose groups. Conclusions Cisatracurium is four to five times more potent than rocuronium. Rocuronium had a faster onset of action, a shorter clinical duration, and a faster spontaneous recovery rate compared with equipotent doses of cisatracurium.


Introduction: Premenstrual dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) is a mental - physical disease initiated by changing the levels of sex steroids in menstrual–ovulation cycle. Thus, the present study was conducted aiming to investigate the role of negative emotions, mental rumination, and Behavioral Inhibition System in prediction of the symptoms of premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder in female students of Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University in 2015. Materials and Methods: The statistical population of this descriptive study included all female students of Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University in 2015. Using a Convenience Sampling method, 267 students were selected for   this study. Research tools were; the Premenstrual Symptoms Screening Tool (PSST), Five-Factor Jackson Personality Inventory, Penn State Worry, Rumination, the Beck Depression -II (BDI-II), and the Beck Anxiety (BAI). Data was analyzed using regression method by applying Path Analysis Method. Results: The findings of the present research depicted that anxiety with explanation force of about 29/2 percent (p=0/001, β=0/435) and depression with explanation force of 27 (p=0/001, β=0/356), and also variables of mental rumination  (p=0/001, β=0/171), behavioural inhibition  (p=0/001, β=0/213), and worry (p=0/001, β=0/142) were significant in the prediction of symptoms regarding Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder. Conclusion: The results of this study illustrated that variables of anxiety, depression, worry, mental rumination, and behavioural inhibition are associated with the symptoms of Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder. These results proved the significance of paying more attention to the mental health of students and also designing more efficient practical plans for promotion of mental health-related issues is of paramount importance.


This thesis examined the molecular epidemiology of the important enteric parasite, Cryptosporidium in Australia with particular reference to cryptosporidiosis in Aboriginal communities, outbreaks, zoonotic transmission and also conducted the first metabolomics analysis of Cryptosporidium.

Chapter 3 revealed striking differences in the epidemiology of Cryptosporidium between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people, with notification rates among Aboriginal people up to 50 times higher. Aboriginal people were predominantly infected with C. hominis subtype IdA15G1 and non-Aboriginal people were predominantly infected with C. hominis subtype IbA10G2. Chapters 4 and 5 explored the epidemiology of outbreaks with the C. hominis IbA10G2 subtype, the major subtype identified in all outbreaks.

Chapter 6 examined zoonotic transmission of Cryptosporidium species in rural NSW. Three species of Cryptosporidium were detected in calves; C. parvum, C. bovis and C. ryanae and two in humans; C. parvum and C. bovis. Subtyping identified the concurrence of C. parvum subtypes between calves and humans and this coupled with the identification of the cattle-specific C. bovis in humans and calves provides supportive evidence of zoonotic transmission.

Chapter 7 developed a reproducible faecal extraction method for untargeted gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis and identified distinct differences in faecal metabolite profiles between infected and un-infected individuals. However, as the metabolome is sensitive to external perturbations, a more controlled metabolomics analysis of faecal metabolite profiles was conducted in Chapter 8 using experimentally infected mice. Despite the differences in faecal metabolite profiles between Cryptosporidium infected humans and mice, metabolomic analysis in both studies was still able to clearly differentiate between infected and uninfected hosts, as well as provide information on the metabolic activity of the parasite during the infection based on faecal metabolite profiles.

The finding of this thesis will greatly assist in our understanding of molecular epidemiology of Cryptosporidium in Australia and the biochemistry of this important parasite.


The release of negative regulators of immune activation (immune checkpoints) that limit antitumor responses has resulted in unprecedented rates of long-lasting tumor responses in patients with a variety of cancers. This can be achieved by antibodies blocking the cytotoxic T lymphocyte–associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) or the programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) pathway, either alone or in combination. The main premise for inducing an immune response is the preexistence of antitumor T cells that were limited by specific immune checkpoints. Most patients who have tumor responses maintain long-lasting disease control, yet one-third of patients relapse. Mechanisms of acquired resistance are currently poorly understood, but evidence points to alterations that converge on the antigen presentation and interferon-γ signaling pathways. New-generation combinatorial therapies may overcome resistance mechanisms to immune checkpoint therapy.


In this work we present various tools for studying dynamical systems implemented in interval arithmetic. The methods include an algorithm for finding all low-period cycles enclosed in a specified region, finding an upper bound of the invariant and nonwandering part of a given set, finding a lower bound of the basin of attraction of a stable periodic orbit, and proving the existence of symbolic dynamics of a given type embedded in the map. Using these techniques a detailed study of the behavior of the Ikeda map for different parameter values is performed. AMS classification scheme numbers: 37E30, 37B10, 37B40, 37C25 Submitted to: Nonlinearity Rigorous investigations of Ikeda map 2


Reasoning about concurrent programs and the way they manage memory can be difficult. Single-process programs can allocate memory without concern regarding data races or memory corruption, but multi-threaded programs must have a system in place to ensure safe memory allocation. Typically, threads and processes use a system of locks or mutexes that are explicitly managed by the user. These locks allow safe access to shared data. Languages that use Actors as a concurrency construct attempt to solve the problem without explicit locks. Actors use a system of message passing to ensure data is being shared correctly among processes. However, this message passing system requires all data to be shared by copying the data, not by reference. If references to data are to be shared safely, another safety mechanism is needed. This thesis discusses a way to bring the actor paradigm to an existing highly concurrent language, Go. The project, named GoA, is an actor-based library for Go. GoA provides actor-local memory management, and a custom system to ensure data is shared safely among actors. GoA comes with a custom memory-management library that replaces all of Go's existing allocation, garbage collection, and message passing techniques. These new methods derive from the open source language Pony, a language with a memory management system called ORCA. Inspiration is drawn from ORCA to integrate similar techniques into GoA. The custom memory manager aims to alleviate the overhead of Go's global garbage collection and allow actors to manage themselves so they do not slow down or interrupt other working actors. A memory safety system is also introduced that provides a way for all memory usage across all actors to remain safe from races and corruption. Using ideas from Pony, a capability system that annotates allocated objects with specific rules that apply when sharing data is constructed. This system allows for local objects and sharable objects. Local objects are not allowed to leave the scope of the owning actor. Shareable objects must be annotated with one of the following three capabilities: mutable, immutable, or opaque. Mutable data is free to be manipulated, immutable data can only be read, and opaque data can neither be read nor overwritten. Each of these capabilities serve their specific purposes and when declared on an object and used incorrectly, a runtime error is thrown to the user. A runtime checker system is used to check if every read and write on a variable is safe, and will handle any resulting errors Experiments and results indicate the local memory manager successfully speeds up the overall performance of the language. The basic speed benchmarks indicate the new library is slower than Go at allocating small objects, but significantly faster for allocating


The use of existing geological and structural maps, previous 2D seismic profiles, boreholes and correlation models between these data is sufficient to understand basin structure and thermal systems on a regional scale. However, this is not sufficient on a scale of a geothermal site to be sure of the hydraulic connectivity (or of the presence of a permeability barrier) between two boreholes 1.5 or 2 km apart.
 To ensure that there is enough hydraulic connectivity, it i s necessary to understand the controls on the network of fractures which affects the aquifer (fracture permeability) and the physical properties of the rock, namely the porosity and clay content in order to obtain a matrix permeability.
 The latest generation of broadband (six octaves) 3D seismic reflection will provide the following information: the similarity attribute will give an accurate structural map of the fault network at the seismic resolution and, in many cases, at a higher resolution than seismic; seismic velocity anisotropy analysis techniques will make it possible to visualize a 3D volume of information on the fracture network [Michel et al. (2013) Application of Azimuthal Seismic Inversion for Shale Gas Reservoir – Proceedings of the 11th SEGJ International Symposium, Yokohama]; acoustic impedance inversion or petrophysical inversion techniques will predict the porosity throughout the whole volume of the aquifer from a porosity log recorded in a pilot-hole. It allows a real 3D mapping of predicted porosity inside the aquifer much more reliably than from modelling alone.
 These seismic techniques were initially developed for petroleum exploration and development. They have rapidly progressed throughout the last decade, both in acquisition, processing and interpretation with new methodologies and high-performance softwares. They are efficient for modelling reservoirs to be produced.
 And, consequently, they can be used for geothermal applications as data to design dual deviated drillings with horizontal drains in carbonate and clastic reservoirs – not only for new projects, but also to revisit old ones to improve their performance or develop another reservoir.
 Broadband 3D seismic will secure the exploration of Triassic sandstones which stay an interesting prospect for deep geothermal projects.
 New prospects are proposed in the Paris Basin: Regional faults overlap the substratum. Inside faulted zones, hydrothermal circulations arriving by convection at the top of granitic basement could be geothermal objectives, as in the Alsace Upper Rhine Graben.
 A production pilot site is suggested to test superimposed aquifers and a regional fault and, at the same time, two different architectures of boreholes doublets: horizontal drains for aquifers and deviated wells for crossing a regional fault.
 The first site that will use this approach could be instrumented and used as an experiment with a small addition of measurements and sensors, thus becoming a showcase for geothermal energy in France. The objective of this experiment would be to determine the transit time, the heating time of the re-injected water and the circulation speed to define the optimal direction, spacing and length of drains, and also, to realize the thermal modelling of the site for different options.


This paper reports a microreaction technology for biochemical assay using nanoliter droplets encapsulated inside oil droplets. Microreaction chambers are constructed on a glass substrate by accumulating oil droplets that are dispensed by a directional droplet ejector. Droplets of different aqueous reagents are then directionally ejected (by other directional droplet ejector adjacent to the oil droplet ejector) into the oil microchambers for parallel and combinatory analysis. Because the reagents are encapsulated in oil, the evaporation rate is reduced by several orders of magnitude, and only small amounts of reagents are required for each assay. The microchamber size and the reagent amount are digitally controlled by the number of ejected oil and reagent droplets, respectively. The ejectors for oil and reagents have been integrated on a single chip so that each assay is performed efficiently without any mechanical movement and alignment. We have carried out both physical and chemical microreactions with this method and observed a negligible difference in response from conventional macroreactions.


An isolation method for osteocytes is described. After removal of the periostea, bone cells were isolated from calvariae of 18‐day‐old chicken embryos by alternating treatments with collagenase and EDTA. Osteocytes were purified from the heterogeneous bone cell population with the help of the osteocyte‐specific MAb OB 7.3 bound to protein G‐conjugated magnetic beads. The purity of the osteocyte population ultimately obtained was more than 95%. Osteocytes were found to adhere rapidly to glass or plastic substrates. They showed numerous processes of various types. These processes could branch and make contact with those of other osteocytes. After 1–2 days of culture, the isolated osteocytes formed a network of apparently interconnected cell processes very similar to the osteocyte network in bone.


The burden of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common form of liver cancer, is steadily growing because obesity, type 2 diabetes, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are replacing viral- and alcohol-related liver disease as major pathogenic promoters. The most worrisome aspects of these new risk factors are their large spread in the general population and their link with HCC arising in noncirrhotic livers. HCC may be the presenting feature of an asymptomatic nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), the progressive form of NAFLD. The HCC risk connected to metabolic factors has been underestimated so far, and a poorer surveillance has prevented an adequate treatment. Systemic and hepatic molecular mechanisms involved in obesity- and NAFLD-induced hepatocarcinogenesis as well as potential early markers of HCC are being extensively investigated. This review summarizes current evidence linking obesity, NAFLD and liver cancer, discusses its clinical impact and describes the main mechanisms underlying this complex relationship.


In 1991, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began implementation of a National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) program. The major objectives of the NAWQA program are to provide a description of current water-quality conditions for a large part of the Nation's water resources; define long-teon trends (or lack of trends) in water quality; and identify, describe, and explain the major factors that affect water-quality conditions and ttends (Hirsch and others, 1988). These objectives will be met by conducting retrospective analyses of existing data; by establishing a nationwide. long -tenn monitoring network designed to assess existing water-quality conditions and provide a data base for trend analyses; and by conducting process~oriented studies designed to provide a better understanding of the relation between landand water-use activities and water-quality conditions. The NAWQA program will provide an improved scientific basis for evaluating the effectiveness of water-quality-management programs, and for predicting the likely effects of changes in landand water-management practices. Communication and coordination between USGS personnel and other interested scientists and water-management organizations are important components of the NAWQA program. The NAWQA program, when fully implemented. will include investigations of hydrologic systems in 60 study units that include parts of most major river basins and aquifer systems in the United States. These investigations will be conducted at the S tate and local levels, and will comprise the foundation upon which national and regional assessments will be based. The 60 study units range in size from about 1,200 to 65,000 square miles, and collectively incorporate 60 to 70 percent of the Nation's water use and population served by public water supply systems (Leahy and others, 1990). The Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River basin was among the first 20 NAWQA study units selected for study under the full-scale implementation plan. Water-quality assessment studies of this and other study units will include compilation of available water-quality information, 3 to 4 years of intensive data collection and analysis, and several years of less intensive assessment (chiefly intermittent monitoring of water quality). Major components of these assessment studies include sampling and analysis of surface and ground water for physical properties and chemical constituents. and ecological surveys of aquatic organisms and habitats. A wide array of physical, chemical, and biological characteristics will be used in interpreting and reporting waterquality results (Leahy and others, 1990). The ACF NAWQA Study Unit staff has been compiling and analyzing existing water-quality data from water-resource agencies at all governmental levels. In addition, as part of an occurrence survey for trace metals and organic contaminants, approximately 30 sediment and tissue samples were collected from major tributaries, the 3 major rivers, and from the Apalachicola flood plain in August and November of 1992. The results of the analysis of existing data and the initial data-collection effort will contribute to the design of the ACF River basin study. The purpose of the following presentations is to describe the environmental setting of the ACF River basin and to present the results of retrospective analyses of existing pesticide and nutrient data.


This policy brief examines issues surrounding recent cuts in pensions provision for workers in arduous and hazardous jobs (WAHJ). Such workers have historically enjoyed better provision because of the strong possibility of them having to take early retirement, but historic arrangements are now under threat. The policy brief presents some data on the working conditions and pensions patterns of WAHJ and provides some policy suggestions for their trade union representatives.


Curriculum of a study programme is the most important element in Higher Education Institution. Developing analytical skills in the students is the specific objective of inclusion of the Quantitative Based Subjects (QBS) to the curriculum. Attitudes, confidence, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, liking, and relevance are the significant factors that influence on the performances of the QBS in the students. The relevance is the factor directly linked with the curriculum of the QBS. This study pays attention on how the students perceived the relevance of the QBS, and the usefulness of the QBS for their employability. The academic staff members (ASM) explained their views regarding the performances of the students and the reasons for poor performances as perceived by them. The findings highlighted that the content of the curriculum of QBS is up to the required standard, but the delivery of it has considerable level issues. Embedding the practical orientation with the other cocourses is also in poor level. The students, awareness on the relevance of the QBS is in poor level. ASM think the nonexistence of the relevance to and lack of link with the job activities are the main reasons for poor performances of the students. These two are the outcomes of the poor delivery of the content. Though the students are reluctant to follow QBS, they recognize the importance, value and the usefulness of it. Most of the respondents highlighted the findings that there is an essential and urgent need to rethink about the curriculum of the QBS and the delivery of it in the Management Degree Programmes in Sri Lanka.


As a potential alternative to CMOS technology, QCA provides an interesting paradigm in both communication and computation. However, QCA's unique four-phase clocking scheme and timing constraints present serious timing issues for interconnection and feedback. In this work, a cut-set retiming design procedure is proposed to resolve these QCA timing issues. The proposed design procedure can accommodate QCA's unique characteristics by performing delay-transfer and time-scaling to reallocate the existing delays so as to achieve efficient clocking zone assignment. Cut-set retiming makes it possible to effectively design relatively complex QCA circuits that include feedback. It utilizes the similar characteristics of synchronization, deep pipelines and local interconnections common to both QCA and systolic architectures. As a case study, a systolic Montgomery modular multiplier is designed to illustrate the procedure. Furthermore, a nonsystolic architecture, an S27 benchmark circuit, is designed and compared with previous designs. The comparison shows that the cut-set retiming method achieves a more efficient design, with a reduction of 22%, 44%, and 46% in terms of cell count, area, and latency, respectively.


A total of 210 nursery pigs (initially 19.6 lb and approximately 28 d of age) were used in a 21-d growth assay to determine the optimal ratio of valine to lysine to maximize growth performance. The seven treatments consisted of a basal diet (14.2% CP; 1.07% apparent digestible lysine) with increasing ratios of valine:lysine (48, 53, 58, 63, 69, and 74%) and a negative control containing 0.97% lysine and 0.79% apparent digestible valine. Results indicate that the optimal apparent digestible valine:lysine ratio for the nursery pig is 58 and 64% for ADG and F/G, respectively. Therefore, most typical nursery diets will contain adequate amounts of valine to maximize growth performance of nursery pigs.


This study presents sampling rates (Rs) of the nonpolar Chemcatcher® for selected polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticides measured in two calibration experiments with fresh water and salt water (2.5% NaCl), respectively. The uptake experiments were performed with samplers on a carousel in a flow-through tank system at constant concentration of test substances and a temperature of 13 °C. It was found that the linear flow velocity at the sampler surface calculated based on the rotation speed of the carousel (0.4 m s−1) disagreed with the actual measured velocity using a vane anemometer (0.11 m s−1). The sampling rates Rs of the test compounds were in the range of 0.15 to 0.89 L d−1 and were slightly lower in salt water than in fresh water, showing the minor effect of the salt matrix on the uptake of highly hydrophobic organic compounds. Five performance reference compounds (PRC) were also tested during the tank experiments. A higher offload of PRCs was found in salt water (with elimination rates between 0.034 d−1 and 0.051 d−1) compared to fresh water (elimination rates between 0.017 d−1 and 0.028 d−1). Our study demonstrates the suitability of the Chemcatcher® device for time-integrated monitoring of highly hydrophobic micropollutants dissolved in fresh and salt water down to the lower ng-per-litre range.


Commitment and trust are often mentioned as important aspects of creating a perception of reliability between counterparts. In the context of university-industry collaborations (UICs), agreeing on ambitions and expectations are adamant to achieving outcomes that are equally valuable to all parties involved. Despite this, our initial probing indicated that such covenants rarely exist. As such, this paper draws on project management theory and proposes the possibility of structuring assessments of potential partners before university-industry collaborations are brought to life. Our analysis suggests that project management can improve the perceived success of the relationships in university-industry collaborations. We also find evidence that the initial stages are vital for collaborative success and we confirm that clearly defined, mutually agreed objectives and realistic aims heighten the chances of value-added for all involved parties. Finally, we convey views of the respondents, which may well constitute fruitful avenues for furthering the success of collaborations between universities and industry but without the backdrop of extra administrative layers.


Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) aids in clinical assessment of patients with Fontan circulation. Effects of persistent fenestration on CPET variables have not been clearly defined. Associations between fenestration and CPET variables at anaerobic threshold (AT) and peak exercise were explored in the Pediatric Heart Network Fontan Cross-Sectional Study cohort. Fenestration patency was associated with a greater decrease in oxygen saturation from rest to peak exercise (fenestration -4.9 ± 3.8 v. nonfenestration -3 ± 3.5; P < .001). Physiological dead space at peak exercise was higher in fenestrated v. nonfenestrated (25.2 ± 16.1 v. 21.4 ± 15.2; P = .03). There was a weak association between fenestration patency and maximal work and heart rate. Fenestration patency was also weakly correlated with oxygen pulse, work and VE/VCO2 at AT. The effect of persistent fenestration on CPET measurements was minimal in this study, likely due to the cross-sectional design.


The Sr-isotope systematics and trace element analysis were applied to vine and wine collected during the 2015 harvest from the Bosa vineyard, a high-altitude farm in the Apuan Alps UNESCO Global Geopark in Italy, in order to investigate the links with geology in vineyards facing with a hostile environment. The results indicate a correspondence between the 87Sr/86Sr ratio in wine and must [87Sr/86Sr = 0.70843(1) and 0.70846(1), respectively] and the NH4OAc extractable Sr from soil [87Sr/86Sr = 0.70847(1)]. However, detailed investigations reveal that Sr-isotope data on grape juice collected in different vines vary in the range between 0.70833(1) and 0.70844(1), reflecting a small-scale vineyard variability and indicating that the root system explores heterogeneous soil resources for nutrient uptake. Grape seeds and stems from one single vine both show identical 87Sr/86Sr of 0.70820(1), significantly lower with respect to corresponding juice [87Sr/86Sr=0.70844(1)]: this finding is unexpected and reflects the uptake from isotopically different reservoir during the evolved dynamic of vine and fruit development. In particular, the lower 87Sr/86Sr ratio is attributed to the minor contribution of an unradiogenic carbonate component. These effects, however, do not mask the existing isotopic relationship between soil and wine at the vineyard scale. Trace elements in wine show a characteristic pattern that roughly mimics bedrock, suggesting a minor role of bedrock chemical weathering in developing the soil profile. Relatively high Fe and Mn contents are measured in wine, inherited from bedrocks, and high Zn, possibly applied to grapevines. Elements that are considered potentially toxic (As, Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn) are below the maximum acceptable limits established by OIV.Despite preliminary, these data represent the first characterization for traceability of the high-altitude Bosa vineyard, giving some track of weathering and elemental availability in a particular microclimate setting and underlying the link between bedrock geology and element uptake in vines at high elevations with respect to valley grown grapes.


Breastfeeding is food and beverages that foremost for babies. Foods addition besides breastfeeding at earlier ages can increase morbidity. Children who drink ASI rarely get diarrhea than those who drink formula milk. This study aims at identifying the relations between breast feeding patterns with the frequency of diarrhea occurance and ARI in children aged 6-12 months in Balong Panggang Gresik Health center. The design applied in this study was Analytical observational carried out through cross-sectional design. The population is a group of mothers having children aged 6-12 months in Balong panggang Gresik health center working area. The sample included 153 mothers selected by probability sampling approach to Stratified random sampling. Questionnaire was accepted as the research instrument. Data were analyzed using multiple logistic regression tests. The study found that the pattern of breastfeeding in children aged 6-12 months was 36.6% partial. With confidence level = 0.05, the study showed the frequency of diarrhea occurance associated to the breastfeeding pattern (p = 0.006), birth weight (p = 0.003), and the solid foods provision in < 6 months children (p = 0.008). It also found a significant relations between ARI occurance frequency of breast-feeding pattern (p = 0.000), giving MPASI in <6 months children (p = 0.026) and immunization status (p = 0.020) Implication of this study is the pattern of breastfeeding associated with the occurance of diarrhea and ARI. Therefore, all parties, both parents and health workers should pay attention in children�s nutrition, especially for children�s breastfeeding exclusivity to reduce the occurance of diarrhea and ARI in children.


Bromide-containing impurities were found to decrease the thermal stability of quaternary alkyl ammonium-modified layered silicates. Improved purification procedures completely removed bromide and led to a 20°C to >100°C increase in organic modified layered silicate thermal stability. Using mass spectrometry and thermal and electrochemical analysis, N,N-dimethyl-N,N-dioctadecyl quaternary ammonium-modified montmorillonite and fluorinated synthetic mica were found to degrade primarily through elimination and nucleophilic attack by these anions. The nature of residual bromides was identified and quantified, and the efficiency of removing these anions was found to be solvent dependent; sequential extraction, first ethanol then tetrahydrofuran, gave the best results. This exhaustive extraction method represents a viable alternative to the use of expensive, more thermally stable oniumion treatments for layered silicates.


Improvements in the equipment for the automated fluorescent treponemal antibody (AFTA) test for syphilis prompted this comparative study of the AFTA and its manual counterpart, the fluorescent treponemal antibody-absorption (FTA-ABS) test. The AFTA equipment operated satisfactorily, required only minimal monitoring, and afforded a three-to fourfold increase over the number of sera that could be tested manually by one serologist. The AFTA and FTA-ABS tests agreed well with only 2.1% of the sera yielding conflicting results. The AFTA was less precise than the FTA-ABS on sera retested because of original conflicting results and on sera retested within the same run to determine reproducibility. However, these differences were not large, and AFTA test performance was considered to be within the limits acceptable for a diagnostic serological procedure.


Abstract This article examines recent high-rise developments in Tokyo that have reshaped the mega-city′s identity, and in particular defines the timeline of these drastic changes on the skyline. The research has focused on buildings over 150m tall1 in Central Tokyo,2 considering construction data in light of the city′s historical development, economic models, legal framework, and technological restrictions. The objective of this research is to explain the processes that have led to the current skyline, and in particular explain the historical reasons that have led to what is often described as Tokyo′s chaotic morphology.


Once attackers have injected code into a victim program's address space, or found a memory disclosure vulnerability, all sensitive data and code inside that address space are subject to thefts or manipulation. Unfortunately, this broad type of attack is hard to prevent, even if software developers wish to cooperate, mostly because the conventional memory protection only works at process level and previously proposed in-process memory isolation methods are not practical for wide adoption. We propose shreds, a set of OS-backed programming primitives that addresses developers' currently unmet needs for fine-grained, convenient, and efficient protection of sensitive memory content against in-process adversaries. A shred can be viewed as a flexibly defined segment of a thread execution (hence the name). Each shred is associated with a protected memory pool, which is accessible only to code running in the shred. Unlike previous works, shreds offer in-process private memory without relying on separate page tables, nested paging, or even modified hardware. Plus, shreds provide the essential data flow and control flow guarantees for running sensitive code. We have built the compiler toolchain and the OS module that together enable shreds on Linux. We demonstrated the usage of shreds and evaluated their performance using 5 non-trivial open source software, including OpenSSH and Lighttpd. The results show that shreds are fairly easy to use and incur low runtime overhead (4.67%).


This paper introduces a novel target classification method based on the extraction of target features by using natural response related late-time electromagnetic scattered field data. In the feature extraction stage, the use of multiple signal classification (MUSIC) algorithm together with a simple but effective feature fusion approach leads to a significant reduction in the sensitivity of classification accuracy to both aspect angle variations and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) levels of the data. Another advantage of the proposed method is that the scattered target data is needed at only a few different target aspects in the stage of classifier design. Furthermore, real time classification within a small fraction of a second is feasible due to computational simplicity offered by this method in the final decision stage. When applied to geometrically complicated targets such as small-scale aircraft, this method provides high accuracy rates even for extremely noisy data.


Stone-Age Flint-Working Techniques About 3000 years ago the Danish flint-smiths abandoned their unequal contest against the competition of bronze and, as the old masters died and left no apprentices, the craft disappeared from the knowledge of man.We know little of the character or intellectual capabilities of man in the ages before the Aurignacian Culture; and the flint weapons and implements which lie in our museums are dumb, until we attempt to fashion them once more, to haft them, and to see what we can perform with them. That the results of experiments carried out in England, Germany, France and elsewhere in the technique of flint-working have hitherto been meagre does not mean that modern man is the inferior of Neanderthal but that the experiments have hitherto been based on the mistaken premise of a striking technique using a "hammer stone" as striker and a shaped bone point as an agent of pressure. This is known as the direct method.It is clear that "hammer stones" were widely used throughout the Stone Age, but they have probably rather been used as anvils, held in the hand, for retouching and sharpening the small implements used in daily life.During the whole of the Stone Age from the commencement of the Chellean Culture almost the only method used in flaking has been the indirect method, first outlined by Dr. Haake of Braunschweig. Here the reaction point of the flint block is placed against an anvil and the block struck with a wooden hammer or the like, preferably with a spherical head. The flaking process, and the percussion bulb, then commences at the reaction point and follows a predictable course to the point of impact, instead of, with the direct method, losing itself in the bIock and then breaking sharply out to the side (cf. fig. A).The indirect method requires a large variety of anvils depending on the size of the work-piece and on the type of work contemplated. All types can be found on undisturbed Stone-Age settlement sites, those illustrated, with the exception of the edge-anvil, being found on the settlement site at Gøl in North Jutland. The five main types are:1.   Spherical anvils, of various sizes (fig. 1 a-c), fixed on ground or workbench, or held in the hand.2.   Knee-anvils, of many shapes, of flint or stone, held between knees or in lap (figs. 2 & 2 a).3.   Edge-anvils. None found in Denmark, but retouche carried out with this type of anvil is easily recognised in Neolithic work (fig. 3). Large irregular blades can be struck on a large edge-anvil.4.   Point-anvils, of flint or stone, with rounded point, probably wedged into a hole or cleft in a wooden block. Used on concave work or retouche (fig. 4).5.   Flake-anvils, of flint or stone, with a flat base suitable for clamping and a more or Jess rounded head (fig. 5).In all flint working it is necessary for the angle between the reaction surface and the flaking path at the reaction point to be less than 90°. Microliths can be struck against a hand-anvil providing the reaction surface of the block is at an angle of 70°, as is seen in the types known as handled blocks or keelscrapers.The striking of large blades has been a two-man job, an assistant controlling the necessary intermediary anvil. Regular blades can only be struck from a cylindrical block when a little depression is in each case made at the point where the blade is to commence (fig. 7 b). Such a depression can easily be produced by the method shown in 7a, a conical blade with a slope at about 70° to the base being thereafter struck off (fig. 7 c). This preparation for the stroke was necessary for the four-sided passage-grave axes, the pit-ware culture's triangular arrowheads, etc., whereas it does not appear to have been used with the separate-grave people's flint axes. Probable course of development in technique The theory that the first flint implements were flaked by the action of fire is untenable. Fire-flaked flints are too brittle to be of use. It is more probable that before the opening of the true paleolithic period a period characterized by the use of flint split naturally by frost or surf was succeeded by the smashing of flints against other stones in the hope of finding usable swarf.Thereafter in Chellean times flint was worked by the use of a spherical anvil of about football size and a wooden club (figs. 9 & 9 a), while in the Acheulean period smaller implements were struck on a knee-anvil and retouched against a hand-anvil (figs. 10 & 10 a). The Mousterian Culture formed its concave tools upon a point-anvil and retouched them upon an edge-anvil.It was thereafter that, in the course of striking off blade-like swarf against a round-pointed knee-anvil, it was discovered that large blades could be struck when the reaction face was at an angle of 60-80° to the flaking surface. From this was developed the Solutrean technique of thinning implements by means of a prepared reaction angle of 70°, a technique which was later improved during the Danish Dagger Period (figs. 11 & 11 a). The striking of microliths on spherical anvils and of long blades from cylindrical blocks on a rounded point-anvil supported by a larger stone, after preparation of the reaction surface for each flake (figs. 7 a, b & c) was followed by the manufacture, in the Passage-Grave Period, of regular four-sided axes, likewise on a rounded point and after the same preparation for each stroke.This story of technical progress does not imply that there were no regressions. But the fact that the technique evidenced, for example, in the Bromme settlement lies far below the Solutrian need not imply that the Bromme people could not master a higher technique, but only that their requirements were covered by the types discovered.Anders Kragh


Literacy is a crucial element for the conscious practice of sociability and development of a country. However, some individuals have difficulties in learning with conventional learning and need a methodology adapted to their reality in order to develop the ability for abstract thinking and thus assimilate the knowledge imparted. Autistic Children are examples of individuals with learning disabilities, presenting impairment of social and communicative skills such as hyperactivity, lack of concentration and cognitive deficits. An approach that has been used worldwide to facilitate the literacy of children with autism is the Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication handicapped Children (TEACCH), which consists in structuring a visual environment, materials and activities for these children. The purpose of this work is to present the creation process of the first modules of a software for literacy of autistic children, based on the principles of TEACCH. The software requirements were collected in collaboration with Friends of Autistic People Association of Alagoas (AMA-AL).


ObjectivesVertigo is a very common symptom mainly caused by the lesion of vestibular system (peripheral or central) and often accompanied by some work-related diseases and occupational intoxications. The aim of this study was to assess the value of electronystagmography (ENG) and videonystagmography (VNG) for diagnosing vertigo of various origin.Materials and MethodsThe study included four groups, 25 subjects each, of patients suffering from vestibular disorders of peripheral, central and mixed origin versus healthy controls. All were examined by means of ENG and VNG, using the bithermal caloric test with 30°C and 44°C air irrigations of the ears. The findings (frequency of induced nystagmus FRQ, its slow phase velocity SPV, canal paresis CP, directional preponderance DP, vestibular excitability VE) were analysed and compared.ResultsIn all patients with vertigo due to vestibular neuritis, barotrauma and kinetosis, significant CP, the important sign of peripheral site of vestibular lesion was identified both in ENG and VNG. None of the patients with central origin disorders showed CP in VNG; in the majority of cases DP was observed. However, in ENG we found CP in 5 patients with central origin disorders. There were no essential differences between ENG and VNG in measurements of FRQ and SPV except for higher values in VNG in controls and patients with mixed vertigo.ConclusionsThe results suggest that the VNG should be recommended in preference as the valuable method to assess vertigo and to discriminate between the peripheral and the central vestibular lesions.


The four following Diptera families are peculiar because they are predominantly phytophagous: Cecidomyiidae, Agromyzidae, Lonchaeidae and Tephritidae; which is uncommon for dipterans. Tephritine's larvae, depending on the species, consumes leaves, stems, flowers or roots of their host plants. Some tephritines feeds on flower heads of weed Asteraceae and can act in population suppression of invasive species in cultivated areas. In Mid-West of Brazil, we investigate Tephritinae and Agromyzinae flies in flower heads of Asteraceae species in three different phytophisiognomies in Dourados region, state of Mato Grosso do Sul. Here, 12 florivore fly species (9 Tephritinae, and 3 Melanagromyza spp., Agromizinae, Agromyzidae) are reported for the first time in Mid-West Brazil. We stablish the species of Asteraceae host for Tephritinae (Tephritidae) and for some species of Melanagromyza (Agromyzinae) in environments of Cerrado, Semideciduous Forest, and agroecosystem at Dourados-MS region. The inflorescences of Asteraceae species (± 500 capitula/species) were kept in containers to the emergence of the florivorous flies or their parasitoids. The adult insects after 48 hours were fixed in 80% ethanol for later identification. A total 36 species of Asteraceae were evaluated in the three regions of Dourados-MS, Brazil. Were obtained 120,031 flower heads of Astereceae, emerging 2,698 adults of insects: 833 Tephritinae (Tephritidae), belonging to 7 genera and 9 species; 1,089 Melanagromyza spp. (Agromyzidae) and 776 parasitoids (Hymenoptera) from the tephritines and agromyzines. We found that some florivore fly species needs to be better studied to employ in suppression programs of invasive Asteraceae population in the Neotropical Region.


Physics is perceived by many students to be a difficult subject, and misconceptions about it are quite common not only among school students but also among undergraduates and pre-service postgraduate science teachers. In teaching the topic of gas pressure to primary student teachers studying in the Bachelor of Education programme at my institute, I adopted a constructivist approach to guide students to resolve a problem task that was adapted from an 'egg-in-the-bottle' demonstration. The students were highly motivated to accomplish the task, and there was evidence that they were constructing or reconstructing concepts about gas pressure and applying these concepts to solve the problem, although misconceptions still abounded. It is recommended that this type of approach be utilized by secondary school physics teachers to engage students in constructing concepts and to elicit and clarify their misconceptions about other physics topics.


Heart failure (HF) a leading cause of premature death in patients with established cardiovascular (CV) disease. Although the global burden of HF is increasing, there is no evidence regarding promising results that improves longterm clinical outcomes especially for HF with preserved and mid-regional pump function. In this context, determination of the vulnerable populations at higher risk of HF development and progression is very promising. Endothelial dysfunction (ED) plays a central role in the manifestation of HF regardless its phenotypes. There is a large body of evidence regarding that the endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) as a component of endogenous vascular repair system could be modified by several stimuli including epigenetic factors and thereby they are involved in the pathogenesis of ED. However, there is unclear whether EPC dysfunction is only whiteness of HF or it could be a factor of HF manifestation in vulnerable population. The short communication is depicted the uncertain role of EPC dysfunction in pathogenesis of HF.


The socio-environmental challenges the world faces are 'swamps': situations that are messy, complex, and uncertain. The aim of this paper is to help disciplinary scientists navigate these swamps. To achieve this, the paper evaluates an integrative framework designed for researching complex real-world problems, the Integration and Implementation Science (i2S) framework. As a pilot study, we examine seven inter and transdisciplinary agri-environmental case studies against the concepts presented in the i2S framework, and we hypothesise that considering concepts in the i2S framework during the planning and delivery of agri-environmental research will increase the usefulness of the research for next users. We found that for the types of complex, real-world research done in the case studies, increasing attention to the i2S dimensions correlated with increased usefulness for the end users. We conclude that using the i2S framework could provide handrails for researchers, to help them navigate the swamps when engaging with the complexity of socio-environmental problems.


In rapid prototyping (RP) technologies, curing of UV-curable photopolymers is mainly achieved by the application of laser scanning with limited fabrication speed. The dynamic masking approach can improve the fabrication speed; however, current researches and available systems cure photopolymers with visible light rather than UV light. In this research, we have attempted to develop a UV dynamic masking RP system by implementing digital micro-mirror device (DMD) from digital light processing (DLP) technology and TFT liquid crystal display (LCD) panel. A DLP projector was disassembled and the main components were then recombined to form a dynamic mask generator. Thus, this study has shown the feasibility of obtaining a UV dynamic masking RP system that may be integrated for a UV-curable material processing.


A study was carried out in Maswa, Tanzania to explore potential avenues for stimulating expansion in hides and skins processing. One hundred and eighteen respondents were interviewed and the gathered information analysed using SPSS. It was observed that 89.8% of the respondents' households (HH) keep livestock with the average of 11.85 ± 1.1, 7.34 ± 0.68 and 5.61 ± 0.88 for cattle/HH, goats/HH and sheep/HH, respectively, but 75.4% of the respondents don't sell hide or skin. Over 65.0% of the respondents use hot iron branding for animal identification. Animal slaughter was reported by 50.8% of the respondents to be done at backyard using normal knives. Sun drying on the ground, which was used by 42.4% of the respondents was found to be the major drying method. Only 3.4% of respondents add value to hides and skins by processing. Low quality of the raw material and inadequate skills were the leading constraints to industrial hides and skins processing, whereas, tick biting was the most important disease affecting hides and skins. For this status of the chain, it was proposed that a workable intervention model has to encompass placement of tanneries and slaughter slabs in the chain as new actors, linking chain actors, improving livestock services especially dipping, and reinforcing for compliance to stringent requirements regarding hides and skins production at all segments. Keywords: livestock chains, value addition, leather industry, intervention options, Maswa district


Background: The lockdown strategy has been implemented globally to contain the spread of current pandemic of COVID-19. Educational institutes around the globe are facing challenges and online learning is being carried out to avoid face to face contact during lockdown. Students have to adapt entirely new methods of learning through information technology. Objective: To assess the satisfaction level of health science students with online learning and use of internet during Covid-19 lock down in Punjab. Study Design: Cross-sectional survey. Settings: The data was collected from different institutes of Punjab using an online survey. Duration: Three months from May 2020 to July 2020. Methodology: A convenient sample of sample (N) 357 undergraduate medical students were included based on the response submitted through online questionnaire. Volunteer undergraduate students of MBBS, BDS, DPT, and Pharm D were included. The level of satisfaction was measure using Online Learning/Distance Education Questionnaire. Data was evaluated by SPSS version 22. Frequency tables and percentages was used to measure categorical variables. Results: 41 were males and 316 Females with mean age of 20.5±8.5. 15.6% Most of them had taken more than 03 courses online on computer for educational purpose. More than half students responded that they were motivated to attend online lectures. 23.52 % thought that they can pass any course is on internet-based study. 27.45% considered online and in physical classes as same. The access of internet was not issue for 50.98% students and 37.53% think that course can be completed online. Conclusion: The students were satisfied from online education during this time of transition of conventional classes to online classes. More than half of them felt no issue of internet and 37% think that course can be completed in this mode of education.


We evaluated a large number of object-oriented CASE tools, concentrating on 14 that seemed particularly interesting. Our primary evaluation criterion was the degree of automatic code generation, but we also considered custom document generation, ease of use, consistency checking, and other factors. We found that, although many tools claim to do automatic code and document generation, very few actually do complete generation of code, and fewer still provide an easy method for automatic generation of design documentation. We present some details of our evaluation, explain why we did not select any CASE tool, and then make suggestions based on our experiences.<<ETX>>


Background The relatively high incidence of cervical cancer in women at older ages is a continuing concern in countries with long-established cervical screening. Controversy remains on when and how to cease screening. Existing population-based studies on the effectiveness of cervical screening at older ages have not considered women's screening history. We performed a nationwide cohort study to investigate the incidence of cervical cancer after age 60 years and its association with cervical screening at age 61–65, stratified by screening history at age 51–60. Methods and findings Using the Total Population Register, we identified 569,132 women born between 1 January 1919 and 31 December 1945, resident in Sweden since age 51. Women's cytological screening records, cervical cancer occurrence, and FIGO stage (for those diagnosed with cancer) were retrieved from national registers and medical charts. We calculated the cumulative incidence of cervical cancer from age 61 to age 80 using a survival function considering competing risk, and estimated the hazard ratio (HR) of cervical cancer in relation to screening status at age 61–65 from Cox models, adjusted for birth cohort and level of education, conditioning on women's screening history in their 50s. In women unscreened in their 50s, the cumulative incidence up to age 80 was 5.0 per 1,000 women, and screening at age 61–65 was associated with a lower risk for cervical cancer (HR = 0.42, 95% CI 0.24–0.72), corresponding to a decrease of 3.3 cancer cases per 1,000 women. A higher cumulative incidence and similarly statistically significant risk decrease was seen for women with abnormal smears in their 50s. In women adequately or inadequately screened with only normal results between age 51 and age 60, the cumulative incidence of cervical cancer from age 61 to 80 was 1.6 and 2.5 per 1,000 women, respectively, and further screening at age 61–65 was not associated with statistically significant decreases of cervical cancer risk up to age 80, but with fewer cancer cases of advanced stages at age 61–65. Adjustment for potential lifestyle confounders was limited. Conclusions In this study, cervical screening with cytology at age 61–65 was associated with a statistically significant reduction of subsequent cervical cancer risk for women who were unscreened, or screened with abnormalities, in their 50s. In women screened with normal results in their 50s, the risk for future cancer was not sizeable, and the risk reduction associated with continued screening appeared limited. These findings should inform the current debate regarding age and criteria to discontinue cervical screening.


Acute myocardial infarction is the most common cause of death in Canada. Most deaths occur within the first 2 hours of the onset of symptoms, before the person seeks or is able to obtain medical aid, and are due to arrhythmias rather than massive myocardial damage. Effective electrical and drug treatment of arrhythmias has reduced the hospital mortality but not the community mortality. If mortality from acute myocardial infarction and other causes of sudden unexpected death is to be reduced substantially a major reorganization of emergency medical services is needed so that the benefits of the modern coronary care unit can be provided to the patient as rapidly as possible. Public education in basic life support procedures to sustain life until advanced life support aid arrives is the first step towards the development of a more effective system of emergency cardiac care.


ABSTRACT Information and understanding of fishing activities at sea are fundamental components of marine knowledge and maritime situational awareness. Such information is important to fisheries science, public authorities and policy-makers. In this paper we introduce a first map at European scale of EU fishing activities extracted using Automatic Identification System ship tracking data. The resulting map is a density of points that identify fishing activities. A measure of the reliability of such information is also presented as a map of coverage reception capabilities.


Japonisme, the area of study of "taste for things Japanese", has been a growing field within art history over the past few decades. However, the field of Central European Japonisme has, thus far, been relatively under-researched. Although a few scholars have touched upon this phenomenon (Ken Tadashi Oshima, Claudia Delank, Marketa Hanova and Filip Suchomel) there is no overview covering the whole of Central Europe, which was a very active cultural network. This network had excellent connections with cultural centres in France, Russia, the USA, as well as other countries including Japan.

This study will investigate the nature of the transnational dialogue within artists' networks that connected Japan and Central Europe (mainly Germany, Czechoslovakia and Austria) in the interwar period. The transnational networks will be looked at from a three-fold perspective: personal networks of artists, networks of collectors; art institutions and other related networks with a special attention to study groups, esoteric circles and internationally active organisations. Japan will be explored as a location for transnational networking with the Japanese artists as active participants or agents in the process. Transnational theory as well as critical hermeneutics proved to be a useful methodology for appraising the dynamics of communication between members of transnational networks of the period under examination as well as for subsequent analysis of art works produced within this framework.

The process of mapping and exploring the gap in scholarship of Central European modernism and Japonisme uncovers narratives that will be discussed as case studies of individual artists, such as Bruno Taut, Bedrich Feuerstein or Tsuchiura Kameki and Nobuko. In conclusion the nature of digested interwar Japonisme in Central Europe as well as its role for contemporary modem Japanese art will be discussed.


Some children who bully others are also victimized themselves ("bully‐victims") whereas others are not victimized themselves ("bullies"). These subgroups have been shown to differ in their social functioning as early as in kindergarten. What is less clear are the motives that underlie the bullying behavior of young bullies and bully‐victims. The present study examined whether bullies have proactive motives for aggression and anticipate to feel happy after victimizing others, whereas bully‐victims have reactive motives for aggression, poor theory of mind skills, and attribute hostile intent to others. This "distinct processes hypothesis" was contrasted with the "shared processes hypothesis," predicting that bullies and bully‐victims do not differ on these psychological processes. Children (n = 283, age 4–9) were classified as bully, bully‐victim, or noninvolved using peer‐nominations. Theory of mind, hostile intent attributions, and happy victimizer emotions were assessed using standard vignettes and false‐belief tasks; reactive and proactive motives were assessed using teacher‐reports. We tested our hypotheses using Bayesian model selection, enabling us to directly compare the distinct processes model (predicting that bullies and bully‐victims deviate from noninvolved children on different psychological processes) against the shared processes model (predicting that bullies and bully‐victims deviate from noninvolved children on all psychological processes alike). Overall, the shared processes model received more support than the distinct processes model. These results suggest that in early childhood, bullies and bully‐victims have shared, rather than distinct psychological processes underlying their bullying behavior.


Carbonate–siliciclastic high-frequency sequences are formed by reciprocal sedimentation. In siliciclastic-dominated successions, the carbonate-rich interval is typically associated with transgressive conditions and relatively low terrigenous influx, particularly in distal parts of the marine basin. However, key questions for each individual case are: What sort of depositional system developed during transgressions, and what controls sediment-supply fluctuations? This paper integrates outcrop and subsurface data to present a high-resolution sequence-stratigraphic study of small-scale (2–18 m), carbonate–siliciclastic cycles deposited during the Valanginian in a proximal–distal transect of the Neuquen Basin (western Argentina) and discusses those key issues.

Carbonate hemicycles in this study are composed of cross-bedded oolitic–skeletal grainstones and packstones to massive skeletal floatstones, which accumulated in carbonate ramps with high biogenic production in their distal sector (bivalves, serpulids, echinoids), and significant contribution of non-biogenic (ooids) material in inner-ramp settings. Siliciclastic material is present only at the base of the hemicycles, but rapidly diminishes upwards. These carbonate hemicycles have retrogradational staking patterns in proximal sectors and less obvious trends in distal areas. The siliciclastic hemicycles comprise shallowing-upward successions that include mudstones, bioturbated muddy sandstones, sandstones with HCS and SCS, and bioturbated sandstones. These facies were collectively deposited in a storm- and wave-influenced offshore-shoreface depositional system during normal regressions. These shoreface systems were likely fed by littoral drift from riverine inputs located tens of kilometers to the south.

The duration of the investigated small-scale, transgressive–regressive cycles can be estimated in 50 to 150 kyr, and they are bounded by marine transgressive surfaces placed at the bases of carbonate hemicycles. The bounding discontinuities together with the sequence architecture do not suggest periods of sea-level falls between cycles, nor high-amplitude relative sea-level changes during a cycle formation. Additionally, the low proportion of mixed sediments suggests rapid changes in the rate between terrigenous supply and carbonate productivity. The resulting sequence architecture cannot be reasonably explained by autocyclic controls or eustatic changes alone. It is argued here that high-frequency changes in sediment supply, driven by orbitally induced climate fluctuations, could be a better explanation for these sequences, particularly in the context of a long-term relative sea-level rise. In this scenario, periods of low siliciclastic influx during extreme arid conditions would develop a negative balance with accommodation and prompt carbonate systems and transgression. On the other hand, during more humid conditions relatively high sediment flux would temporarily overcome long-term accommodation, producing the regressive siliciclastic hemicycles. As this scenario does not require high-frequency sea-level falls, it would satisfactorily explain the observed sequence architecture.

The distal Mulichinco carbonate hemicycles would be hard to distinguish from transgressive, fossiliferous-rich deposits that characterize transgressive–regressive cycles in clastic systems. In the Mulichinco case, however, these carbonate hemicycles are recording the onset of carbonate ramps, not the trapping of siliciclastic sediments in transgressive coasts (e.g., filling estuaries). This alternative scenario, ultimately controlled by reciprocal sedimentation, could be common in epicontinental basins developed under arid to semiarid conditions, and its identification could provide additional templates for basin-scale correlations and hydrocarbon exploration within carbonate–siliciclastic small-scale cycles.


IgG4-related disease and granulomatosis with polyangiitis share several features as well as the presence of ANCA antibodies and serum IgG4 immunoglobulins. It is often difficult to distinguish between two entities. We hereby report the case of a patient portraying the clinical conundrum with clinical and biological features of the two diseases.


When blood plasma proteins are depleted by bleeding and return of the washed red cells (plasmapheresis) the regeneration of new plasma proteins can be controlled at will by diet. The amount and character of protein intake is all important. Liver protein and casein are efficient proteins to promote rapid regeneration of plasma proteins but some vegetable proteins are also efficient. The blood plasma proteins are reduced by plasmapheresis close to the edema level (3.5–4.0 per cent) and kept at this level by suitable exchanges almost daily. The amount of plasma protein removed is credited to the given diet period. A basal ration is used which is poor in vegetable protein (potato) and contains no animal protein. The dog on this ration can be kept in nitrogen balance but can produce only about 2 gm. plasma protein per kilo body weight per week. With liver or casein feeding this production can be increased three- or fourfold. A reserve of protein building material can be demonstrated in the normal dog when its plasma proteins are depleted. In the first 3 weeks of depletion this reserve in excess of the final basal output may amount to 3–20 gm. protein. This may be stored at least in part in the liver. As much as 50 per cent of this reserve may be albumin or albumin producing material. A reversal of the albumin-globulin ratio may be observed on the basal diet alone. The reversal will always follow plasmapheresis with the dog on the basal diet and the total plasma protein output will consist approximately of 2 parts globulin and 1 part albumin. Liver diet will raise the production and output of albumin and bring the ratio back toward normal. Albumin production may actually exceed the globulin output during liver diet periods. The change is less conspicuous with casein but in the same direction.


Cellulose was electrospun with various concentrations of ionic liquid and cosolvent. Three different cosolvents were used in this study; dimethylacetamide (DMAc), dimethyl formamide (DMF), and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). The cosolvents were added to modify the viscosity, electrical conductivity, and surface tension of the solutions. The solubility of cellulose in ionic liquids is highly affected by changes in solvent properties on the molecular level in the binary solvent systems. The difference in molecular structure of the cosolvents and the interactions between cosolvent and ionic liquid can explain the difference in dissolution power of the cosolvents. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to characterize electrospun cellulose fibers. For the systems tested the importance of having a rather high viscosity and high surface tension, and some degree of shear thinning to produce fibers is shown.