The construction industry in the developed economy has suffered a shortage of workforce which triggers project cost escalation and project delay and suppresses the whole economy. This paper aims to explore the perceptions of the general public and construction workers towards workforce shortage in the Hong Kong construction industry and identifies the critical factors affecting their intention to join the industry. Triangulation approach was adopted in this study and a street survey was conducted at grass-root areas in Hong Kong. Questionnaire was formatted using a five-point Likert scale and semi-structured interviews with ten experienced workers were used to validate and interpret the results from the street survey results. The triangulation approach yielded that "harsh working condition", "job instability" and "lack of career prospects" are the primary barriers dissuading the public to join the construction industry. This paper provides insights into the critical factors affecting the construction workforce supply and extends to identify possible solutions for maintaining sufficient workforce.


In large-scale trade shows, there are two kinds of connections dependent on interests of attendees: connections between attendees and booths, and that between booths and booths. The large-scale-ness, however, prevents the establishment of these connections because each attendee cannot obtain the entire information on all of his interesting booths. In this paper, we propose a personal navigation system to promote establishment of these connections by providing the information of unvisited booths which are interesting to each attendee. The proposed system numerically estimates each user's interest from the history of visited booths and recommends unvisited booths according to his estimated interest through a mobile device and RFID tags installed in booths. By recommending booths with a floor map, their locations, his current position, and quantitative bases of recommendation, each attendee can select and visit one of recommended booths according to these satisfaction levels and locations.


RATIONALE
The relative contribution of body proportion and social exposures to ethnic differences in lung function has not previously been reported in the United Kingdom.

OBJECTIVES
To examine ethnic differences in lung function in relation to anthropometry and social and psychosocial factors in early adolescence.

METHODS
The subjects of this study were 3,924 pupils aged 11 to 13 years, of whom 80% were ethnic minorities with satisfactory lung function measures. Data were collected on economic disadvantage, psychological well-being, tobacco exposure, height, FEV(1), and FVC.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS
The lowest FEV(1) was observed for Black Caribbean/African children after adjusting for standing height (SH) (white boys: 2.475 L; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.442-2.509; white girls: 2.449 L; 95% CI, 2.464-2.535]; Black Caribbean boys: -14% [95% CI, -16 to -12]; Black Caribbean girls: -13% [95% CI, -16 to -11]; Black African boys: -15% [95% CI, -17 to -13]; Black African girls: -17% [95% CI, -19 to -14]; Indian boys: -13% [95% CI, -16 to -11]; Indian girls: -11% [95% CI, -14 to -8]; Pakistani/Bangladeshi boys: -7% [95% CI, -9 to -5]; Pakistani/Bangladeshi girls: -9% [95% CI, -11 to -6]). Adjustment for upper body segment instead of SH achieved a further reduction in ethnic differences of 41 to 51% for children of Black African origin and 26 to 39% for the other groups. Overcrowding (boys) and poor psychological well-being (boys and girls) were independent correlates of FEV(1), explaining up to a further 10% of ethnic differences. Similar patterns were observed for FVC. Social exposures were also related to height components.

CONCLUSIONS
Differences in upper body segment explained more of the ethnic differences in lung function than SH, particularly among Black Caribbeans/African subjects. Social correlates had a smaller but significant impact. Future research needs to consider how differential development of lung capacity is compromised by the social patterning of growth trajectories.


The treatment of microvascular angina (anginal pain resulting from myocardial ischemia due to dysfunction of small coronary arteries) is empiric and often ineffective at present. The poor knowledge of the pathophysiologic mechanisms responsible for the microvascular dysfunction and the possible heterogeneous nature of the disease limit the possibility of a rational therapeutic approach to these patients. The failure of traditional antiischemic therapy is confirmed by the frequent unresponsiveness of angina and by the reduced exercise tolerance with administration of sublingual nitrates. Despite that, beta-blockers and calcium-antagonists, when given either alone or in combination, are beneficial in the control of symptoms in some patients. Alternative forms of treatment, based on some pathophysiological hypotheses and clinical observations, include xanthine derivatives, ACE-inhibitors, alpha-blocking agents, imipramine and, in women, oestrogens. The actual clinical usefulness of these drugs, however, is questionable at present, as their efficacy should be evaluated with more adequate studies in the future.


Aluminum oxide nanoparticles were used as nanofillers in urea-formaldehyde (UF) resin and prepared for medium density fiberboards (MDF). The nanofillers composed weight percentage of the UF resin. The thermal and viscoelastic properties were studied using differential scanning calorimetry and dynamic mechanical analysis. The H value of the UF resin showed an increase with increasing nanoparticle concentration. The core temperature during hot pressing increased with the addition of nanofillers. The formaldehyde emissions from MDF decreased with an increase in the concentration of nanofillers. The internal bonding strength and the modulus of rupture of boards were improved significantly after nanoparticle loading.


Along with the description of the architectonics of elastic fibres in normal cervicovaginal tissues the kinetics of their changes was followed in precancerous conditions and cancer of the cervix. It was found that during the process of growth and development of precancerous lesions and cancer elastic fibres would undergo a number of gradually increasing changes from surface, reversible to profound, irreversible with their ultimate total destruction.


Our objective is to facilitate seamen's health education, according to the recommendations of international organisations like IMO (STCW 1995) and EC (Directive 92/29): They recommend a refresher course on first-aid at least every 5 years for persons in charge of medical care on board. In Spain the transposition of this Directive was published (RD 258/99). So, we thought that in order to help seafarers and officers in their training in prevention and in solving health problems derived from their occupational risks on board, continuing education could be implemented using an innovative and adaptable tool. No first-aid course can be useful without practical exercises. The term "refresher" (in this paper) is a way of reminding what people have learnt and practised in a previous practical course. In 1998, the Spanish Society of Maritime Medicine promoted a pilot internet refresher course for seafarers in its web, URL: "http://www.semm.org/curso/pauxm.html++ +". There are 10 didactic units (resources for medical assistance on board, radio-medical advice, environmental problems, travel medicine, cardio-respiratory resuscitation, prevention of problems in diving, death on board, occupational risk prevention ... etc.). Hypertext linked keywords help the student to revise the subject, a teacher can counsel him by e-mail and a multiple choice test, and clinical cases are included to check the comprehension of the didactic units. A CD and an English version of the course is being prepared.


We studied how students with different mathematical background conceive infinite cardinality of number sets. We analyzed a task in which high school and college students were requested to compare infinite number sets. Students were classified according to their ideas on infinity. Using this classification together with the students' level of math education, we performed a correspondence factorial analysis. A gradient was found in the depth of students' ideas. At one end we found what we called horror infiniti, based students propensity avoid infinity and instead construe it as something undefined. These views were associated with students with less mathematical education. In an intermediate zone, the finitist conception was placed. It was the most frequent way of thinking among the participants of the study, with three versions: tacitly infinitist, explicitly finitist, or taking the integers as model of inclusion. At the other end, the infinitist conception was placed. It was present among students with college mathematical education, according to two types: thinking of the cardinality of number sets as a unique infinite quantity; or conceiving different infinite cardinals. The latter was found only in advanced mathematics students.


We develop a randomized Newton method capable of solving learning problems with huge dimensional feature spaces, which is a common setting in applications such as medical imaging, genomics and seismology. Our method leverages randomized sketching in a new way, by finding the Newton direction constrained to the space spanned by a random sketch. We develop a simple global linear convergence theory that holds for practically all sketching techniques, which gives the practitioners the freedom to design custom sketching approaches suitable for particular applications. We perform numerical experiments which demonstrate the efficiency of our method as compared to accelerated gradient descent and the full Newton method. Our method can be seen as a refinement and randomized extension of the results of Karimireddy, Stich, and Jaggi (2019).


We consider two systems of active swimmers moving close to a solid surface, one being a living population of wild-type E. coli and the other being an assembly of self-propelled Au-Pt rods. In both situations, we have identified two different types of motion at the surface and evaluated the fraction of the population that displayed ballistic trajectories (active swimmers) with respect to those showing randomlike behavior. We studied the effect of this complex swimming activity on the diffusivity of passive tracers also present at the surface. We found that the tracer diffusivity is enhanced with respect to standard Brownian motion and increases linearly with the activity of the fluid, defined as the product of the fraction of active swimmers and their mean velocity. This result can be understood in terms of series of elementary encounters between the active swimmers and the tracers.


Characters are a critical part of storytelling and emotion is a vital part of character. Readers generally credit characters with human emotions, and it is these emotions which bring meaning to stories. To computationally construct interesting and meaningful stories we need a model of emotion which allows us to predict characters' reactions to events in the world. There are many different psychological theories of emotion; the most popular to date for computational applications is the OCC theory. This paper describes a Discrete Event Calculus implementation of the OCC Theory of Emotion. To evaluate our system, we apply it to a selection of Aesop's fables, and compare the output to the emotions readers expect in the same situations based on a survey.


Abstract Although many non-native species negatively influence amphibian populations, non-native aquatic vegetation has been documented to have positive, negative, and neutral effects on anuran larvae. To evaluate the response of anurans to non-native plants, we exposed two frog species, Gray Treefrog (Hyla versicolor-chrysoscelis) and Southern Leopard Frog (Lithobates sphenocephalus), to detritus from either native hardwood trees, non-native purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria), or a mixture of both. Experiments were conducted in artificial ponds, and we recorded the survival, growth, and metamorphic size of larvae. Gray Treefrog survival was highest in tanks with native leaf litter. Developmental time did not differ among treatments, but tadpoles in tanks with purple loosestrife were significantly larger than those in tanks with native leaf litter. Southern Leopard Frog survival was lowest in the mixed vegetation treatment. As with Gray Treefrogs, developmental time was not influenced by treatment, but larvae from tanks with purple loosestrife were significantly larger than those from other treatments. Lower survival in the presence of purple loosestrife has been linked to secondary compounds in the plant, and the higher growth rates we observed are consistent with recent findings on response of anuran larvae to other non-native plants. Our results suggest the negative effects of purple loosestrife detritus on the species examined are manifest at the individual and (perhaps) population level. Because the fewer animals that did survive in tanks with purple loosestrife grew larger, overall ecosystem-level effects may not be present; however, larger scale experiments are needed to evaluate this hypothesis.


The Nigerian legal system is pluralistic with common law, Islamic law and customary law as the major legal traditions/cultures in the country. However, the judicial structures for administration of Islamic law and customary law are largely ad hoc and haphazard. The Sharia Courts of Appeal are pivotal in the administration of Islamic personal law which includes matters relating to inheritance (mirāth) and wills (wasiyyah). Although these courts are superior courts of record created by the Constitution, they do not have a clearly spelt-out legal framework for the administration of estates. This poses legal challenges that include unresolved questions concerning the status of the estate distribution panels constituted by the Sharia Courts of Appeal, ambivalence in the membership of the panels, and limitations of the panels in dealing with substantive legal issues. Other challenges include jurisdictional competition from the area/sharia courts and the legal implications of litigation on an estate distributed by the panel coming on appeal before the same Kadis. The paper recommends that the Grand Kadis of the Sharia Courts of Appeal invoke their statutory and constitutional powers to make the appropriate court rules for the administration of estates in their courts.


The prediction of future child's sex is a question of keen public interest. The probability of having a child of either sex is close to 50%, although multiple factors may slightly change this value. Some demographic studies suggested that sex determination can be influenced by previous pregnancies, although this hypothesis was not commonly accepted. This paper explores the correlations between siblings' sexes using data from the Demographic and Health Survey program. In the sample of about 2,214,601 women (7,985,855 children), the frequencies of sibships with multiple siblings of the same sex were significantly higher than can be expected by chance. A formal modelling demonstrated that sexes of the children were dependent on three kinds of sex ratio variation: a variation between families (Lexian), a variation within a family (Poisson) and a variation contingent upon the sex of preceding sibling (Markovian). There was a positive correlation between the sexes of successive siblings (coefficient = 0.067, p < 0.001), i.e. a child was more likely to be of the same sex as its preceding sibling. This correlation could be caused by secondary sex ratio adjustment in utero since the effect was decreasing with the length of birth-to-birth interval, and the birth-to-birth interval was longer for siblings with unlike sex.


This essay examines the relations between two distinctive photographic projects in prewar Japan: the photographic records of the imperial progresses from 1872 to 1886 and the photographic commemoration of the emperor's sacred trace during the subsequent half-century. Together, these photographic projects re-present and re-make local landscapes through the mediation of the emperor's sacred gaze, thereby providing a ground for new knowledge and political subjectivity in early twentieth-century Japan.


Construction projects are increasingly complex, resulting in complex contract documents. Complex construction can likewise result in complex disputes. Disputes is inevitable in construction projects which predominantly arise from complexity and magnitude of works, multiple prime contracting parties, poorly prepared and/ or executed contract documents, inadequate planning, financial issues and communication problems. Any of these factors can overturn a project and lead to complicated litigation, arbitration, mediation, time overrun, increased costs and a relationship break down among members of different parties involved. The objectives of this study are to identify the root causes of construction disputes as well as their impact on client's organization. The methodology of study adopted was through questionnaire survey where the target respondents were clients, consultants and contractors. Based on the analyzed data, there are nine root causes of construction disputes caused by clients, five root causes caused by consultants and four root causes caused by contractors have been identified in the local construction industry. The impact of construction disputes in client's organization as found in the study are time consuming, cost effective, loss of reputation and sour relationship between stakeholders and also loss of profit and business validity. ADRs were observed as the best method of resolving disputes because they were identified as none time consuming and cost effective. From the findings it can be concluded that construction disputes are a cause of concern in every project and the solution to this problem is to avoid and cautiously manage them for smooth running of construction process, prevention is believed is better than cure.


In this paper, we assess an innovative concept of emulating biological neurons with oscillators to implement an oscillatory neural network (ONN) with beyond-CMOS devices based on vanadium dioxide (VO2). ONNs can be of interest as an ultra-low-power neuromorphic architecture capable of performing associative memory tasks, such as pattern recognition in IoT edge devices. To explore the benefits and costs of beyond-CMOS ONNs necessitates modeling, simulation, and design methods spanning from materials (e.g., atomistic methods) to devices (e.g., technology-computer-aided-design, TCAD) up to circuits (e.g., mixed-mode simulation, compact modeling). In this work, we report on the development of such an advanced design toolbox and the results on performance and features of beyond-CMOS ONNs. The proposed design toolbox allows exploring ONN scalability, accuracy, energy, and performance for pattern recognition applications.


The consumption of counterfeits products has become a major challenge across the world. Therefore, this study aims to determine how personality factors influence consumers' attitude towards acquisitions of counterfeit products. To achieve this objective the research used descriptive research design. The population of interest was 300 MBA students at Nairobi campus Africa Nazarene University. The sample size was 50 students. The researcher came up with a self-administered questionnaire which was designed using established scales and was administered through "drop and pick up later" method. The data analysis for this study was conducted through Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The collected raw data was processed, analyzed, and presented using graphs and tables. The findings indicate that personality factors (price consciousness) have significant impact on consumers' purchase intention towards counterfeit products. In addition, the findings indicate that integrity, personal gratification and perceived risk has no influence on consumer attitude toward purchase of counterfeits products. The research findings can be used to formulate strategies to better counter counterfeiting. Further these findings contribute to the body of knowledge on consumer attitude toward purchase of counterfeits product.


Interferon-γ (IFN-γ) is believed to play a deleterious role in the immune-mediated demyelinating disorder multiple sclerosis. Here we have exploited transgenic mice that ectopically express IFN-γ in a temporally controlled manner in the CNS to specifically study its effects on remyelination in the cuprizone-induced demyelination model and in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model of multiple sclerosis. CNS delivery of IFN-γ severely suppressed remyelination in both models and impaired the clinical recovery of the mice experiencing EAE. These observations correlated with a dramatic reduction of oligodendroglial repopulation in the demyelinated lesions. Moreover, we found that in cuprizone-treated mice the detrimental actions of IFN-γ were associated with endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in remyelinating oligodendrocytes. Compared with a wild-type genetic background, the presence of IFN-γ in mice heterozygous for a loss of function mutation in the pancreatic ER kinase (PERK), a kinase that responds specifically to ER stress, further reduced the percentage of remyelinated axons and oligodendrocyte numbers in cuprizone-induced demyelinated lesions. Thus, these data suggest that IFN-γ is capable of inhibiting remyelination in demyelinated lesions and that ER stress modulates the response of remyelinating oligodendrocytes to this cytokine.


Ghana is a well known mining nation and hard rock mining has been going on since the 10th century. Mining companies in Ghana are well aware of the regulatory requirements to carry out blasting activities such that neighbouring communities are protected from excessive impact as a result of blast vibrations amongst other known blast impacts. However in the absence of local blasting standards in respect of ground vibrations companies are compelled to import standards from their countries of origin or from some other sources. Communities continue to complain of cracks in their house as efforts by companies have not produced the desired results. This paper studied the building types in the mining communities and determined threshold levels for ground vibrations based on crack monitoring activities carried out on some structures within the communities. The results revealed that much lower ground vibration levels than those currently adopted were required to protect the type of structures prevalent in the mining communities. The paper makes some recommendation for best practice.


Chronotropic effect on the isolated sinus node of the frog heart and the unit activity of the pacemaker cells were studied during separate and joint stimulation of sympathetic and parasympathetic pathways. The joint stimulation entailed parasympathetic bradycardia or augmented the initial negative chronotropic response occurring in case of the parasympathetic stimulation alone. In most cases the joint stimulation diminished the speed of the slow diastolic depolarization and shortened the pacemaker AP. Thus the sympathetic and parasympathetic effects were not antagonistic in relation to the rhythmicity of the sino-atrial pacemaker. The possibility that catecholamines may increase the efficiency of the cholinergic action is discussed.


A general overview about the actual management and processing of hazardous waste in Germany and Brazil is presented in this paper. Emphasis has been given to the new technologies and practices adopted in both countries, with a comparison of the legislation, standards and natural trends. The case studies of two large industrial hazardous waste sites are described in detail: ZVSMM - Zweckverband Sondermull Entsorgung Mittelfranken at Schwabach in Germany and CETREL Industrial Landfill and Incineration Unit at Camacari - Brazil.


INTRODUCTION
Partial nephrectomy has a 3%-4% incidence of local treatment failure. This study is to present a series of percutaneous cryoablation for locally recurrent renal cell carcinoma after partial nephrectomy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Five consecutive patients were referred to our quarternary center's multidisciplinary Small Renal Mass (SRM) Center for assessment after failure of partial nephrectomy. Tumor size and location was noted. CT-guided cryoablation was performed using an argon/helium-based system (Healthtronics, Austin, Texas, USA). Patients were admitted overnight for observation. Patients were followed with serial imaging, laboratory tests and examination at our SRM Center. Tumor size, location, and nephrometry scores were documented for each patient.

RESULTS
Four tumors were endophytic and one was exophytic. The median tumor size was 2.2 cm (1.8 cm-4.0 cm). Nephrometry scores were 8a, 7x, 4p, 6x, 7p, and 6p prior to cryoablation. Median follow up after cryoablation was 32 months (20-39 months). One patient with a 4.0 cm endophytic tumor developed a second recurrence measuring 2.9 cm 13 months following ablation, which was managed successfully with repeat cryoablation with no evidence of disease after an additional 19 months of follow up. Two patients developed self-limited hematuria which was conservatively managed. There were no other complications, and all patients remained at their pretreatment performance status.

CONCLUSIONS
Percutaneous cryoablation appears to be a safe and effective nephron-sparing modality for control of locally recurrent disease following partial nephrectomy. Most recurrent tumors are endophytic. One patient suffered a second local recurrence, which was managed successfully with repeat cryoablation.


Among botanical extracts used as insecticides, essential oils (EOs) are promising alternatives to chemical insecticides. EOs are synthesized by plants, and they play a key role in plant signaling processes including also attractiveness toward pollinators and beneficial insects. Plant species producing essential oils (over 17,000 species) are called aromatic plants and are distributed worldwide. Our review aims to evaluate research studies published in the last 15 years concerning the use of EOs in stored product protection. More than 50% of the retrieved manuscripts have been published by authors from Eastern countries (Iran, China, India, and Pakistan), investigating different aspects related to insect pest management (exposure route, effect on the target pest, and mode of action). Coleoptera was the most studied insect order (85.41%) followed by Lepidoptera (11.49%), whereas few studies targeted new emerging pests (e.g., Psocoptera). Almost all the trials were carried out under laboratory conditions, while no experiments were conducted under real operating conditions. Future research studies concerning the use of EOs as insecticides should focus on the development of insecticide formulations which could be successfully applied to different production realities.


A variety of commercial and local government social credit systems (SCSs) are now being implemented in China in order to steer the behavior of Chinese individuals, businesses, social organizations, and government agencies. Previous research finds that these SCSs are employed by the Chinese state as "surveillance infrastructure" and for social management. This article focuses on a different angle: the public's opinion of SCSs. Based on a cross-regional survey, the study finds a surprisingly high degree of approval of SCSs across respondent groups. Interestingly, more socially advantaged citizens (wealthier, better-educated, and urban residents) show the strongest approval of SCSs, along with older people. While one might expect such knowledgeable citizens to be most concerned about the privacy implications of SCS, they instead appear to embrace SCSs because they interpret it through frames of benefit-generation and promoting honest dealings in society and the economy instead of privacy-violation.


Anomaly detection is a fundamental yet challenging problem in machine learning due to the lack of label information. In this work, we propose a novel and powerful framework, dubbed as SLA$^2$P, for unsupervised anomaly detection. After extracting representative embeddings from raw data, we apply random projections to the features and regard features transformed by different projections as belonging to distinct pseudo classes. We then train a classifier network on these transformed features to perform self-supervised learning. Next we add adversarial perturbation to the transformed features to decrease their softmax scores of the predicted labels and design anomaly scores based on the predictive uncertainties of the classifier on these perturbed features. Our motivation is that because of the relatively small number and the decentralized modes of anomalies, 1) the pseudo label classifier's training concentrates more on learning the semantic information of normal data rather than anomalous data; 2) the transformed features of the normal data are more robust to the perturbations than those of the anomalies. Consequently, the perturbed transformed features of anomalies fail to be classified well and accordingly have lower anomaly scores than those of the normal samples. Extensive experiments on image, text and inherently tabular benchmark datasets back up our findings and indicate that SLA$^2$P achieves state-of-the-art results on unsupervised anomaly detection tasks consistently.


Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) have been commonly reported due to the overuse worldwide of antibiotics. Antibiotic overuse disturbs the environment and threatens public human health. The objective of this study was to measure the residual concentrations of veterinary antibiotics in the tetracycline group (TCs), including tetracycline (TC) and chlortetracycline (CTC), as well as those in the sulfonamide group (SAs), including sulfamethazine (SMT), sulfamethoxazole (SMX), and sulfathiazole (STZ). We also isolated the corresponding ARGs in the agroecosystem. Four sediment samples and two rice paddy soil samples were collected from sites near a swine composting facility along the Naerincheon River in Hongcheon, Korea. High performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) was employed with a solid-phase extraction method to measure the concentration of each antibiotic. ARGs were identified by the qualitative polymerase chain-reaction using synthetic primers. SAs and their corresponding ARGs were highly detected in sediment samples whereas TCs were not detected except for sediments sample #1. ARGs for TCs and SAs were detected in rice paddy soils, while ARGs for TCs were only found in sediment #2 and #4. Continuous monitoring of antibiotic residue and its comprehensive impact on the environment is needed to ensure environmental health.


Preliminary results are presented on the VLSI design and implementation of a novel algorithm for accurate high-speed Fourier analysis and synthesis. The arithmetic Fourier transform (AFT) is based on the number-theoretic method of Mobius inversion. Its computations proceed in parallel, and the individual operations are very simple. Except for a small number of scalings in one state of the computation, only multiplications by 0, +1, and -1 are required. If the input samples were not quantized and if ideal real-number operations were used internally, then the results would be exact. The accuracy of the computation is limited only by the input A/D (analog-to-digital) conversion process, any constraints on the word lengths of internal accumulating registers, and the implementation of the few scaling operations. Further simplifications are obtained by using delta modulation to represent the input function in digital form, so that only binary (or preferably, ternary) sequences needs to be processed in the parallel computations. The required accumulations can be replaced by up/down counters. The dynamic range of the resulting transformation can be increased by the use of adaptive delta modulation.<<ETX>>


In a study aimed at finding environmentally benign adjuvants for glyphosate, ethoxylates of rapeseed oil and of methylated rapeseed oil were synthesized, with ethylene oxide (EO) content up to 40 and 8 respectively. They had less influence on spray retention by barley shoots than ethoxylated (15 EO) tallow amine (ETA). At 10 g L(-1), ethoxylated rapeseed oil with 30 or 40 EO and ethoxylated methylated rapeseed oil with 6 or 8 EO promoted glyphosate uptake by barley leaves to a greater extent than ETA at the same concentration. However, uptake rates were similar when the concentration was lowered to 2.8 and 3.1 g L(-1) for rapeseed oil derivatives and ETA respectively. In the case of ethoxylated methylated rapeseed oil with 8 EO (MeOil-8), glyphosate uptake increased when MeOil-8 concentration was raised from 5 to 10 g L(-1). In bioassays under controlled conditions, ethoxylated rapeseed oil with 40 EO (Oil-40) and MeOil-8 were slightly less effective than ETA in favouring the efficacy of glyphosate on barley. The same was found on ryegrass. However, both rapeseed oil derivatives compared well with glyphosate formulants such as ethoxylated diethylamine and alkyl ethoxy phosphate. In one field experiment, the efficacy of glyphosate in the presence of Oil-40, MeOil-8 or ETA was comparable with that of a commercial formulation. In another trial, MeOil-8 was as effective as ETA, but Oil-40 performed less well. It is concluded that ethoxylates of rapeseed oil and of methylated rapeseed oil are a promising chemistry for glyphosate adjuvants, provided that their ethylene oxide content is high.


Abstract It is important to properly simulate the extent and ice water content of tropical anvil clouds in numerical models that explicitly include cloud formation because of the significant effects that these clouds have on the radiation budget. For this reason, a commonly used bulk ice-phase microphysics parameterization was modified to more realistically simulate some of the microphysical processes that occur in tropical anvil clouds. Cloud ice growth by the Bergeron process and the associated formation of snow were revised. The characteristics of graupel were also modified in accord with a previous study. Numerical simulations of a tropical squall line demonstrate that the amount of cloud ice and the extent of anvil clouds are increased to more realistic values by the first two changes.


Ventilation is the primary means of diluting atmospheric contaminants in underground mines. The majority of equipment in underground hard rock mines are diesel powered vehicles, which produce toxic gases such as Carbon Monoxide (CO) and Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx), as well as carcinogenic Diesel Particulate Matter (DPM). The airflow quantity for an underground mine is usually based on the engine power of diesel vehicles used in the mine, multiplied by unit airflow requirement, such as 0.05 to 0.06 cubic metre per second per kilowatt engine power (m3/s per kW) used in Australia or 0.047 to 0.092 m3/s per kW used in Canada. These unit airflow requirements are stated in local mining Occupational Health & Safety (OH&S) regulations. However, the origin of these unit requirements is not clear, i.e. whether they are derived from scientific studies or are empirically based. Due to this, it is impossible to ensure that the values stated in the regulations are sufficient to dilute contaminants emitted by diesel equipment. This paper traces the history of these requirements based on literature review and online interviews with fellow underground ventilation practitioners and academics to find the origin of these requirements. A review of the relevance of these requirements in today's situation is also outlined in this paper.


Pythium ultimum is a soil pathogen that can cause seed decay and damage to roots in common bean. In this study, the response of a set of 40 common bean genotypes to P. ultimum and inheritance of the resistance in the 92 F₇ recombinant inbred lines (RIL) developed from a cross between Xana and Cornell 49242 was investigated by using emergence rate and seedling vigor. Emergence of the 40 genotypes showed a significant association between white seed coat and response to this pathogen. Among these, 11 common bean genotypes, all with colored seeds, exhibited a high percentage of emergence and seedling vigor not significantly different (P > 0.05) to noninoculated plants. Response of the RIL population revealed both qualitative and quantitative modes of inheritance. A major gene (Py-1) controlling the emergence rate was mapped in the region of the gene P, a basic color gene involved in control of seed coat color, located on LG 7. Using the RIL subpopulation with colored seeds, a significant quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with the emergence rate (ER3(XC)) and another with seedling vigor (SV6(XC)) were identified on the LG 3 and 6, respectively. QTL SV6(XC) was mapped in the region of the gene V, another gene involved the genetic control of color. QTLs associated with seed traits were mapped in the same relative position as regions involved in responses to P. ultimum suggesting the possible implication of avoidance mechanisms in the response to this pathogen.


Decision-making for major projects is often outside the legal remit of local governments in Australia. Nevertheless, local governments are the legitimate representatives of their communities and as such, can potentially make an important contribution to the decision-making process. However, little is known about how they may do so. This paper addresses that gap by analysing two case studies: Coal Seam Gas projects in northern New South Wales and the proposed East West Link tunnel in Melbourne. The research finds that local governments can contribute to good governance by increasing the quality and availability of information, community participation, and opportunities for local deliberation. However, this study also found a number of barriers to local governments making these contributions, which can disincentivise and limit local advocacy. The paper suggests there may be a range of benefits to be gained by reducing those barriers.


SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) in regulatory regions of GNAS gene impact upon cardiac performance in vivo showed no association with the systolic function of the heart, because the cardiac function is not only described by the systolic function, but also by the diastolic function, the question is whether the GNAS Haplotypes affect the diastolic function having therefore an influence on the outcome.
 Methods: We examined 255 patients undergoing coronary aortic bypass grafting. Two millilitre blood was withdrawn to identify the two important SNPs of the GNAS gene and the patients receive an intraoperative evaluation of the diastolic heart function.
 Gene extraction was performed, followed with its genotyping using the polymerase chain reaction technique. The Haplotypes were matched to the echocardiographic results of the transoesophageal echo which were performed in the cardiosurgical operations theatre.
 For a two group comparison we used the χ² test or the Fisher's exact test if any expected count was less than five. For categorical variables with more than two possible values, exact P-values have been estimated. A two-sided P-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. All statistical tests were done using SPSS version 24 (IBM 2016, USA). The results show a correlation between diastolic dysfunction and age, s blocker therapy, previous myocardial infarction and glucose intolerance.
But unfortunately the SNPs of the gene GNAS does not seem influence the diastolic dysfunction and the link between the different outcomes between the GNAS haplotypes stays unknown.


The advance of internet applications, such as video streaming, big data and cloud computing, is reshaping the telecommunication and internet industries. Bandwidth demands in datacentres have been boosted by these emerging data-hungry internet applications. Regarding interand intra-datacentre communications, fine-grained data need to be exchanged across a large shared memory space. Large-scale high-speed optical switches tend to use a rearrangeably non-blocking architecture as this limits the number of switching elements required. However, this comes at the expense of requiring more sophisticated route selection within the switch and also some forms of timeslotted protocols. The looping algorithm is the classical routing algorithm to set up paths in rearrangeably non-blocking switches. It was born in the electronic switch era, where all links in the switches are equal. It is, therefore, not able to accommodate loss difference between optical paths due to the different length of waveguides and distinct numbers of crossings, and bends, leading to sub-optimal performance. We, therefore, propose an advanced path-selection algorithm based on the looping algorithm that minimises the path-dependent loss. It explores all possible set-ups for a given connection assignment and selects the optimal one. It guarantees that no individual path would have a sufficiently substantial loss, therefore, improve the overall performance of the switch. The performance of the proposed algorithm has been assessed by modelling switches using the VPI simulator. An 8×8 Clos-tree switch demonstrates a 2.7dB decrease in loss and 1.9dB improvement in IPDR with 1.5 dB penalty for the worst case. An 8×8 dilated Beneš shows more than 4 dB loss reduction for the lossiest path and 1.4 dB IPDR improvement for 1 dB power penalty. The improved algorithm can be run once for each switch design and store its output in a compact lookup table, enabling rapid switch reconfiguration. Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) based optical switches have been fabricated with over 1,000 ports which meet the port count requirements in data centre networks. However, the reconfiguration speed of the MEMS switches is limited to the millisecond to microsecond timescale, which is not sufficient for packet switching in datacentres. Opto-electronic devices, such as Mach-Zehnder Interferometers (MZIs) and semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) with nanosecond response time show the potential to fulfil the requirements of packet switching. However, the scalability of MZI switches is inherently limited by insertion loss and accumulated crosstalk, while the scalability of SOA switches is restricted by accumulated noise and distortion. We, therefore, have proposed a dilated Beneš hybrid MZI-SOA design, where MZIs are implemented as 1×2 or 2×1 low-loss switching elements, minimising crosstalk by using a single input, and where short SOAs are included as gain or absorption units, offering either loss compensation or crosstalk suppression though adding only minimal noise and distortion. A 4×4 device has been fabricated and exhibits a mere 1.3dB loss, an extinction ratio of 47dB, and more than 13dB IPDR for a 0.5dB power penalty. When operating with 10 Gb/s per port, 6pJ/bit energy consumption is demonstrated, delivering 20% reduced energy consumption compared with SOA-based switches. The tolerance of the current control accuracy of this switch is very broad. Within a 5 mA bias current range, the power penalty can be maintained below 0.2 dB for 8 dB IPDR and 12 mA for 10 dB IPDR with a penalty less 0.5 dB. The excellent crosstalk and power penalty performance demonstrated by this chip enable the scalability of this hybrid approach. The performance of 16×16 port dilated Beneš hybrid switch is experimentally assessed by cascading 4×4 switch chips, demonstrating an IPDR of 15 dB at a 1 dB penalty with a 0.6 dB power penalty floor. In terms of switches with port count larger than 16×16, the power penalty performance has been analysed with physical layer simulations fitted with state-of-the-art data. We assess the feasibility of three potential topologies, with different architectural optimisations: dilated Beneš, Beneš and Clos-Beneš. Quantitative analysis for switches with up to 2048 ports is presented, achieving a 1.15dB penalty for a BER of 10, compatible with soft-decision forward error correction.


Precise control of the timing of translational activation of dormant mRNAs stored in oocytes is required for normal progression of oocyte maturation. We previously showed that Pumilio1 (Pum1) is specifically involved in the translational control of cyclin B1 mRNA during Xenopus oocyte maturation, in cooperation with cytoplasmic polyadenylation element-binding protein (CPEB). It was reported that another Pumilio, Pumilio2 (Pum2), exists in Xenopus oocytes and that this protein regulates the translation of RINGOmRNA, together with Deleted in Azoospermia-like protein (DAZL). In this study, we characterized Pum1 and Pum2 biochemically by using newly produced antibodies that discriminate between them. Pum1 and Pum2 are bound to several key proteins involved in translational control of dormant mRNAs, including CPEB and DAZL, in immature oocytes. However, Pum1 and Pum2 themselves have no physical interaction. Injection of anti-Pum1 or anti-Pum2 antibody accelerated CPEB phosphorylation, cyclin B1 translation, and oocyte maturation. Pum1 phosphorylation coincides with the dissociation of CPEB from Pum1 and the translational activation of cyclin B1 mRNA, a target of Pum1, whereas Pum2 phosphorylation occurred at timing earlier than that for Pum1. Some, but not all, of cyclin B1 mRNAs release the deadenylase PARN during oocyte maturation, whereas Pum1 remains associated with the mRNA. On the basis of these findings, we discuss the functions of Pum1 and Pum2 in translational control of mRNAs during oocyte maturation.


In this paper we explore the decision regions of Linear Programming (LP) decoding. We compare the decision regions of an LP decoder, a Belief Propagation (BP) decoder and the optimal Maximum Likelihood (ML) decoder. We study the effect of minimal-weight pseudocodewords on LP decoding. We present global optimization as a method for finding the minimal pseudoweight of a given code as well as the number of minimal-weight generators. We present a complete pseudoweight distribution for the [24, 12, 8] extended Golay code, and provide justifications of why the pseudoweight distribution alone cannot be used for obtaining a tight upper bound on the error probability.


We give, for the first time, self-consistent exact solutions of inhomogeneous condensates in the quantum ${\mathbb C}P^{N-1}$ model in the large-$N$ limit. We find a map from a set of gap equations of the ${\mathbb C}P^{N-1}$ model to those of the Gross-Neveu (GN) model (or the gap equation and the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equation), which enables us to find the self-consistent solutions. We find that the Higgs field of the ${\mathbb C}P^{N-1}$ model is given as a zero mode of solutions of the GN model, and consequently only topologically nontrivial solutions of the GN model yield nontrivial solutions of the ${\mathbb C}P^{N-1}$ model. A single soliton is constructed from an anti-kink of the GN model and has a broken (Higgs) phase inside its core, in which ${\mathbb C}P^{N-1}$ modes are localized, with a symmetric (confining) phase outside. We further find a periodic soliton lattice constructed from a real kink crystal in the GN model, while the Ablowitz-Kaup-Newell-Segur hierarchy yields multiple solitons at arbitrary separations.


BACKGROUND/AIM
The aim of this study was to determine the antioxidative effect of curcumin on nicotine-induced mice testis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Sixty Swiss albino male mice were divided into five groups, each containing 12 mice. The first group was used as a control. To induce toxicity in the second and third group, nicotine (0.4 mg/kg/day) was injected intraperitoneally into mice for 14 and 28 days, respectively. The mice in the fourth and fifth group were injected with nicotine (0.4 mg/kg/day) and orally treated with curcumin (200 mg/kg) for 14 and 28 days, respectively. Testosterone levels were measured from blood samples and testis tissues were examined under light and electron microscopes.

RESULTS
Light and electron microscopic examinations of the nicotine-induced groups showed evident degenerations in spermatogenic cells, Sertoli cells, and Leydig cells. The groups treated with curcumin had less testicular alterations. The mice that were sacrificed after 28 days in the groups treated with curcumin showed minor degenerations. Furthermore, the median levels of testosterone significantly decreased in the nicotine-induced groups in comparison with those in the control group.

CONCLUSION
The results indicated that curcumin might be a potential therapeutic agent for testicular injury caused by nicotine addiction.


We examine the role of local currency bond markets (LCBMs) and foreign investor participation in these markets in capital flow volatility in emerging Asian economies over the period 1999 to 2020. Using a panel analysis and impulse response functions generated from a panel structural vector autoregression, we show that greater development of LCBMs across 10 Asian emerging economies in terms of capitalization helps to mitigate against capital flow volatility, while foreign investor participation has the opposite effect, particularly for less developed LCBMs. Our findings have policy implications from a financial stability perspective, whereby continued efforts to enhance LCBMs while reducing reliance on foreign investors should be encouraged. Strengthening the local investor base and mobilizing domestic resources through LCBMs ought to be a priority for raising long-term capital that will enable the financing of sustainable investment and development. Our findings also suggest that greater efforts are needed to enhance foreign exchange hedging arrangements for foreign investors in LCBMs, particularly in times of heightened financial stress.


Introduction: Narcotics like morphine or pethidine are neither widely prescribed, nor readily available as analgesic drugs. Availability of fentanyl is relatively easier, but has tolerability issues and dependence liability. In post-operative setting, fentanyl and promethazine are frequently co-administered. This study aimed at determining the analgesic potential of promethazine in suitable mice models and at studying if combining it with fentanyl could produce analgesia comparable to pethidine, while reducing the dose requirement of fentanyl.
Materials and Method: Dose escalation studies were done to determine subanalgesic doses of fentanyl and analgesic potential of promethazine. Subsequently, analgesia by promethazine in combination with sub-analgesic fentanyl was compared to that caused by pethidine. Five groups of mice were evaluated before and after analgesic dosing. Group I served as vehicle control, Group II received pethidine, Group III and IV received combination treatments with promethazine and sub- analgesic doses of fentanyl, Group V received fentanyl. Evaluation of analgesia were done by tail flick analgesiometer and formalin test.
Results: Formalin test ratings showed equivalent scores in the pethidine group and fentanyl-promethazine combination groups. Tail-flick latency in the fentanyl-promethazine combination groups was significantly increased in comparison to the pethidine group. When promethazine was combined to sub-analgesic fentanyl, Tail-flick latency was also found to be similar to that of full analgesic dose of fentanyl.
Conclusion: The study showed that promethazine had notable analgesic activity in mice. When combined to sub-analgesic doses of fentanyl, promethazine produced better analgesia as compared to pethidine. Combining promethazine to fentanyl reduced the dose requirement of fentanyl without compromising the analgesic efficacy.

Keywords: Analgesic, Promethazine, Fentanyl, Pethidine, Pain Management


Studies have shown that the type of packaging can affect the quality and physico-chemical features of foods stored over a longer period of time. Important physico-chemical characteristics of wines that can change over a storage period are alcoholic strength, the amount of acidity or sulfur dioxide, relative density of wines or total dry extract. The aim of this paper was to determine and compare the physico-chemical properties of red wines (Cabernet sauvignon, Frankovka, Merlot and Pinot noir), stored over a period of one year in two different types of packaging (polyethylene terephthalate and bag-in-box). Relative density of wine, total dry extract, alcoholic strength, total acidity content, volatile acidity content, free and total sulfur dioxide content were determined after 3, 6 and 12 months of storage. The results showed that total and free sulfur dioxide content decreased over time in all wines. Volatile acidity and total acidity content increased over time. Alcoholic strength and total dry extract remained mostly stable. Relative density of wine decreased with time. There were no observed differences of these parameters in wines packed in polyethylene terephthalate and bag-in-box containers. Statistical multiple regression confirmed latter assertion.


Antimicrobial agents have been invaluable in reducing illness and death associated with bacterial infection. However, over time, bacteria have evolved resistance to all major drug classes as a result of selective pressure. The advancement of new drug compounds is therefore vital. The Anderson-Wright Lab has focused on developing potent and selective inhibitors of dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR), an enzyme key in cell proliferation and survival, in several pathogenic species. The lab has found that a set of compounds, known as propargyl-linked antifolates, are DHFR inhibitors that are both biologically effective and have strong pharmacokinetic properties. The efficacy of novel propargyl-linked antifolates in inhibiting DHFR was tested with enzymatic assays in three species: Candida albicans, Candida glabrata, and Klebsiella pneumoniae. In order to gauge the potency of the novel compounds, the results of the tests were referenced against assay results using trimethoprim, which is a known, powerful inhibitor of DHFR. Additionally, x-ray crystallography was employed to generate a three dimensional representation of inhibitor:pathogen DHFR interactions. The data from the enzymatic assay and x-ray crystallography were utilized to deduce the structural analogs of the propargyl-linked antifolates most effective in inhibiting DHFR in the given pathogens. Knowing what specific molecular features comprise an effective inhibitor allows the lab to strive towards more ideal drug compounds and allow for future development of increasingly powerful antimicrobials.


"Ancient Stepmothers" is the first full-length study of the stepmother in Graeco-Roman antiquity. Several perspectives are covered: literary, historical and sociological, the last-mentioned making use of comparative material from modern studies of stepfamilies. The portrayal of the stepmother in myth and literature is thoroughly explored. The historical background in Athens and Rome is examined with a view to determining the relationship between fiction and real life. The book makes an important contribution to the study of both literary history and family relationships: in particular, it sheds light on attitudes to women, the portrayal of the stepmother being an outstanding illustration of misogynistic prejudice. It will also interest sociologists wishing to place studies of the contemporary stepfamily in a wider historical context: for this reason, all Greek and Latin is translated into English.


Eight patients with the middle aortic syndrome are described. They were aged 2 months to 14 years at diagnosis; follow up was one to 11 years. Clinical presentations included asymptomatic hypertension (n = 5), severe headache, nose bleed, and chest pain (n = 1), and cardiac failure (n = 1). All had severe hypertension requiring multiple drug treatment. Diminished peripheral pulses were not helpful in the diagnosis, which is made on aortography. Associated clinical findings were Williams' syndrome (n = 3) and appreciable eosinophilia (n = 3). The differential diagnosis includes Takayasu's arteritis, fibromuscular dysplasia, and neurofibromatosis. Blood pressure was adequately controlled by medical treatment in six patients. Surgical angioplasty was performed in two. One patient remained normotensive without drug treatment 21 months after operation; the other died of sepsis and uncontrollable haemorrhage in the postoperative period. Medical treatment is satisfactory in most cases: surgery should be reserved for those in whom blood pressure cannot be controlled without unacceptable side effects of drug treatment. Although rare, the middle aortic syndrome should be considered in the differential diagnosis of hypertension when commoner causes have been excluded. Aortography is necessary for diagnosis.


The study investigates microcredit as a strategy for poverty reduction in Benue state, Nigeria. Primary data were used and applied on a cross-sectional data of 274 respondents in 2012. The analytical tools include descriptive statistics and logit regression model. The result shows that 0.52 and 0.022 incidence of sever poverty existed before and after microcredit. The Gini coefficient also indicates a high and low income inequality of 0.6 and 0.04 existed before and after microcredit. The result from logit regression techniques, indicates that the computed value of Nagelkerke R 2 is as high as 0.723, this implies that microcredit influence the poverty status of the respondents. The study concluded that microcredit institutions in the study area are bisected with myriad of problems. However, microcredit has help in reducing poverty among the respondents. The study recommends that the capital base of microcredit institutions should be increased so as to meet up with the required demand of respondents and also ensures that microcredit are judiciously use.


Compared with unicast, multicast over wireless ad‐hoc networks do not support reliability due to their inability to exchange request‐to‐send/clear‐to‐send (RTS/CTS) and ACK packets with multiple recipients. Although several media access control (MAC) layer protocols have been proposed to provide reliable multicast, these introduce additional overhead, which degrades system performance. A novel MAC protocol for reliable wireless multicast is proposed in this paper. By adapting orthogonal frequency division multiple access characteristics in CTS and ACK packets, the protocol achieves reliability over wireless multicast with minimized overhead.


Ahstrmt The present study evaluated a teacher training program on child sexual abuse prevention developed by Hazzard, Kleemeier, Pohl, and Webb (1988b) entitled Child Sexual Abuse Prevent,ion: Teacher Training Workshop Curriculum. Minor modifications were made from the original program. A total of 42 teachers participated in the research project: 21 teachers were included in the training ccrndit,ion; 21 were control subjects. Teachers in the inservice group received 6 hours of training in three 2-hour sessions. The training sessions were conducted by individuals considered experts in t,he area of child sexual abuse. Responses of 21 teachers who participated in the training program were compared to those of 21 control teachers on pret,est., posttest, and follow-up measures. Relative to cant rol subjects, trained teachers demonstrated significant increases in knowledge about child sexual abuse, attitudes regarding prevention, identifying behavioral indicators of abuse, and appropriate intervention in pot,ential abuse cases. A S-month follow-up survey indicat.ed t.hat, trained teachers were more likely to have engaged in certain behaviors related to the training (e.g., talking with children and reporting suspected cases of abuse). Suggestions are included regarding future research in this area and use ofthe current training program with school personnel, particularly for the school psychologist..


(Na0.5Bi0.5)TiO3 (BNT) system ceramics are considered to be an excellent candidate for leadfree piezoelectric ceramics. In this paper, (1–x)Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3-xBaTiO3 (x = 0.03 ~ 0.10) was synthesized by conventional mixed-oxide technique. The powders were calcined at 950oC for 2 h and the pressed disks were sintered at 1145oC for 2 h in air atmosphere. The phase structure was investigated by X-ray diffraction technique (XRD). It is revealed that the morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) lies in a narrow composition range of x=0.05–0.08 but not a unique composition (x = 0.055 or 0.06) as shown before [1-4]. The microstructures of the ceramics were investigated by scanning electron microscopic. In addition, the piezoelectric and dielectric properties of this system were also investigated. It was indicated that both the piezoelectric and dielectric properties are better with the compositions lie near the tetragonal phase within the MPB than that whose compositions lie near the rhombohedral phase.


This article introduces a technique for three-dimensional inverse modeling of geothermal heat conduction through heterogeneous media. The technique is used to determine the basal geometry of a diapiric salt structure found on the continental slope offshore Texas. Salt is two to four times more thermally conductive than other sedimentary rocks. The geothermal field is perturbed by the presence of salt and results in an anomaly in the heat flow through the seafloor. The spatial variation pattern of the anomalous heat flow reflects the geometry of the salt body. The inverse modeling obtains a model for the thermal-conductivity structure that causes the heat-flow anomaly observed on the seafloor. The inversion algorithm systematically searches for an optimal thermal-conductivity model by iteratively minimizing the misfit between the model-predicted and the observed heat flow. To reduce the problem of nonuniqueness, the inversion incorporates a priori information constrained independently, such as the upper surface geometry of the salt and the lateral extent of the salt body, which can be delineated by a limited coverage of two-dimensional seismic data. In addition, it is assumed that the thermal conductivity of the sedimentary strata surrounding the salt body is well constrained. This inversion method is applied to a heat-flow data set obtained over a salt structure on the Texas continental slope. The salt structure was first surveyed with the single-channel seismic reflection, which yielded the a priori information necessary. The base of the salt was not imaged seismically. Then, three dozen heat-flow measurements were obtained on the seafloor over and off the salt feature. The inverse heat-flow modeling performed here shows that this structure is a salt tongue, which has a diapiric root on one side. According to the most optimal thermal-conductivity model obtained, the root seems to extend to 6 km below the seafloor. Refinement in the model geometry and additional constraints on thermal conductivities of the surrounding strata should yield a model that is more detailed and would allow more thorough geological interpretation of the salt structure.


Background: Coronaviruses (CoVs) belong to the family Coronaviridae, the order Nidovirales, and the genus Coronavirus. This research aimed to assess the risk of infection with SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) among healthcare workers at Imam Khomeini Hospital, Ardabil County, Northwest of Iran. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 201 health care workers of Imam Khomeini hospital were recruited. The questionnaire included demographic information (including age, gender, height, and weight items) and information about job and working conditions, the degree of exposure to people suspected of having the disease, and the degree of compliance with health protocols. Results: The mean age of the healthcare workers (HCWs) was 34.37 ± 7.42 years. In terms of job distribution, most of the HCWs were nurses (57.2%), and only 4.5% were experts. Regarding blood groups, most of the HCWs had the O+ blood group (35.3%). Besides, the PCR results showed that 85.1% of the HCWs had a positive PCR result, and 14.9% were negative. Conclusion: In general, nurses were the most at-risk group among HCWs. This is because they were more frequently in direct contact with patients than other staff members. © The Author(s) 2021;All rights reserved. Published by Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences Press.


In a prospective study, over a period of four years 11,528 anonymous questionnaires concerning premature unfitness for work among civil servants were evaluated. The questionnaire was devised by the investigators. The main items of interest were: age, sex, career and occupation, main diagnosis and accompanying symptoms, duration of illness, rehabilitation measures, and working capacity including medical assessment of unfitness for work. Included in this study were 9,348 investigations (excluded were reactivations); 40.9 % were from women and 58.9 % from men. The median age was 54 years (women 52, men 55). The range of illnesses among all those investigated included a large number of psychological disorders (43.3 %, n = 4,052) (diagnosis group F of ICD-10). Second place was taken by muscular/skeletal diseases (ICD-10 group M) in 17.4 % of cases (n = 1,630), and third place by cardiovascular diseases (ICD-10 group I) in 10.4 % of cases (n = 972). The median duration of the main disease was 24 months. Classified as no longer fit for work were n = 7,033 persons, corresponding to 75.2 % of those investigated. Among those unfit for work, psychological disorders were the reason in 46.2 % of cases (men 42.6 %, women 53.4 %). In this first prospective study of illness-related premature unfitness for work in civil servants, psychological and psychosomatic illnesses were found to be the 'number one' illness among persons taking early retirement. The median age at which these persons became unfit for work was 52 in women and 55 in men. In view of the high prevalence of psychological disorders, and the increasing tendency towards early retirement and the considerable jump forward in the age this happens compared to in previous studies with small collectives, a preventive strategy must be developed which takes into account the evidence gained in social-medical and occupational-medical practice.


Organizational theory has construed complexity as an objective characteristic of either the structure or the behavior of an organization. We argue that, in order to further our understanding, complexity should be understood in terms of the human cognition of a structure or behavior. This cognitive twist is illustrated by means of two theoretical approaches, whose relationship is discussed.


The response of equatorial ionosphere to the magnetospheric origin DP 2 current system fluctuations is examined using ground‐based multiinstrument observations. The interaction between the solar wind and magnetosphere generates a convection electric field that can penetrate to the ionosphere and cause the DP 2 current system. The quasiperiodic DP 2 current system, which fluctuates coherently with fluctuations of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) Bz, penetrates nearly instantaneously to the dayside equatorial region at all longitudes and modulates the electrodynamics that governs the equatorial density distributions. In this paper, using magnetometers at high and equatorial latitudes, we demonstrate that the quasiperiodic DP 2 current system penetrates to the equator and causes the dayside equatorial electrojet (EEJ) and the independently measured ionospheric drift velocity to fluctuate coherently with the high‐latitude DP 2 current as well as with the IMF Bz component. At the same time, radar observations show that the ionospheric density layers move up and down, causing the density to fluctuate up and down coherently with the EEJ and IMF Bz.


Three years ago, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released its landmark report The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, made possible by the support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). In light of the tremendous need for nurses in health care today and in the future—due to the growing numbers of people with chronic diseases, an aging population, and the need for care coordination— the report provided a blueprint for how to transform the nursing profession. Recommendations put forth by the report committee included removing barriers to practice and care, expanding opportunities for nurses to serve as leaders, and increasing the proportion of nurses with a baccalaureate degree to 80 percent by 2020. 1


Abstract Over the past three decades, Australia has seen more than a 100% increase in its rate of incarceration. A sizable part of this has come from the rise in incarcerated indigenous people. Australia also experiences problems related to high rates of recidivism, the increasing use of custodial sentences for parole violations, and the use of incarceration for minor offenses such as traffic violations. In response to these problems, a growing number of policy makers, public and private organizations, and academics have pushed for the development and implementation of justice reinvestment (JR) initiatives in Australia. This article provides an overview of JR. It highlights some of the more pertinent problems facing the justice system, offenders, victims of crime, and local communities in regards to the use of punishment and incarceration in Australia. It then considers the degree to which JR may or may not be able to deliver on some or all of its promises, in particular problems that it faces in terms of implementation, use, and long-term viability in Australia.


The medical community is constantly looking for technological solutions to reduce use-error and improve procedures to benefit the healthcare system worldwide. One area that has seen frequent improvement in the past few decades due to improved computing capabilities, lower cost and better displays has been augmented reality (AR) (Sauer, Khamene, Bascle, Vogt, & Rubino, 2002). In an operating room, surgeons and anesthesiologists are required to attend to a patient while receiving information from many different displays and instruments. This paper analyzes the human factors components of various AR devices and information display techniques to provide design guidelines for display configurations of wearable, medical AR devices that will improve upon current methods of information presentation in the operating room.


The environment of real estate value will be drawn as a space describing its four sources connected with the four components of value. Similarly we may refer the four groups of factors influencing the nature of value and also the built up of them considering market based expectations of it. In this case we try to give a broad overview of the different markers that are characterized by the two basic aspects of their essence - the nature and artifact based one. Named approach will give to us a possibility to follow a different accession to the sustainability.


An ongoing challenge within the HCI research community is the development of community norms for research ethics in the face of evolving technology and methods. Building upon a successful town hall meeting at CHI 2017, this panel will include members of the SIGCHI Research Ethics Committee, but will be structured to facilitate a roundtable discussion and to collect input about current challenges and processes. The panel will pose open questions and invite audience discussion of best practices focused on issues such as cultural and disciplinary differences in ethical norms. There will also be discussion of how ethical issues are handled in SIGCHI paper submission and reviews, processes for how we might create and disseminate ethics resources, and regulatory issues such as the recent IRB changes for U.S. institutions.


Hearing sensitivity, during trials in which a warning sound preceding a loud sound, was investigated in two harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena). Sensitivity was measured using pip-train test stimuli and auditory evoked potential recording. When a hearing test/warning stimulus, with a frequency of either 45 or 32 kHz, preceded a loud 32 kHz tone with a sound pressure level of 152 dB re 1 μPa root mean square, lasting 2 s yielding an sound exposure level (SEL) of 155 dB re 1 μPa(2)s, pooled hearing thresholds measured just before the loud sound increased relative to baseline thresholds. During two experimental sessions the threshold increased up to 17 dB for the test frequency of 45 kHz and up to 11 dB for the test frequency of 32 kHz. An extinction test revealed very rapid threshold recovery within the first two experimental sessions. The SEL producing the hearing dampening effect was low compared to previous other odontocete hearing change efforts with each individual trial equal to 155 dB re 1 μPa(2) but the cumulative SEL for each subsession may have been as high as 168 dB re 1 μPa(2). Interpretations of conditioned hearing sensation change and possible change due to temporary threshold shifts are considered for the harbor porpoise and discussed in the light of potential mechanisms and echolocation.


The errors in thermal conductivity measurement in three different designs of guarded hot plate caused by small temperature differences (unbalances) between test area and guard ring are described. The dependence of these errors upon: (a) the magnitude and direction of the unbalance, (b) the size and design of heater plate, (c) the conductivity and thickness of the specimens tested, and (d) the temperature difference between hot and cold plates is investigated. The percentage error in measured conductivity is shown to increase as the conductivity of the specimens tested decreases. Errors as high as 6 per cent were obtained even when the ASTM balance requirement was satisfied. There are two constants for any heater plate which determine its error sensitivity to unbalance. If these constants are known, the maximum tolerable unbalance required to achieve any desired accuracy in measured con- ductivity may be calculated. The experimental determination of these constants, involving a minimum of two tests on each of two sets of specimens of different conductivity, is described. per


Glucocorticoids (GC) and triiodothyronine (T3) are two endocrine markers commonly used to quantify resource limitation, yet the relationships between these markers and the energetic state of animals has been studied primarily in small-bodied species in captivity. Free-ranging animals, however, adjust energy intake in accordance with their energy reserves, a behavior known as state-dependent foraging. Further, links between life-history strategies and metabolic allometries cause energy intake and energy reserves to be more strongly coupled in small animals relative to large animals. Because GC and T3 may reflect energy intake or energy reserves, state-dependent foraging and body size may cause endocrine-energy relationships to vary among taxa and environments. To extend the utility of endocrine markers to large-bodied, free-ranging animals, we evaluated how state-dependent foraging, energy reserves, and energy intake influenced fecal GC and fecal T3 concentrations in free-ranging moose (Alces alces). Compared with individuals possessing abundant energy reserves, individuals with few energy reserves had higher energy intake and high fecal T3 concentrations, thereby supporting state-dependent foraging. Although fecal GC did not vary strongly with energy reserves, individuals with higher fecal GC tended to have fewer energy reserves and substantially greater energy intake than those with low fecal GC. Consequently, individuals with greater energy intake had both high fecal T3 and high fecal GC concentrations, a pattern inconsistent with previous documentation from captive animal studies. We posit that a positive relationship between GC and T3 may be expected in animals exhibiting state-dependent foraging if GC is associated with increased foraging and energy intake. Thus, we recommend that additional investigations of GC- and T3-energy relationships be conducted in free-ranging animals across a diversity of body size and life-history strategies before these endocrine markers are applied broadly to wildlife conservation and management.


Metal free half-metallicity has been the subject of intense research in the field of spintronics devices. Using density functional theoretical calculations, atomically thin graphitic heptazine carbon nitride (gh-C3N4) based systems are studied for possible spintronics application. Ferromagnetism is observed in all of the C-doped gh-C3N4 systems due to hole injection. However, a high energy phase of C-doped gh-C3N4 (CN2@gh-C3N4) shows strong half-metallicity with a Curie temperature as high as ∼400 K. The calculated Curie temperature is noticeably higher than the metal-free based half-metallic systems studied to date. Thereby, such a ferromagnetic half-metallic system with a high Curie temperature can be promising for high temperature spintronics applications.


This volume brings together thirteen papers on sound change dealing mostly with Romance in general, several Romance languages in particular (French, Italian, Rhaetoromance, Romanian, Spanish) and a few non-Romance languages as well (Basque, K'ichee'). Most papers are about the articulatory and acoustic causes of sound change and how spatiotemporal variation in production affects the perceptual identification of phonetic segments. Other relevant research topics are the relationship between phonetics and phonology and the influence of the speakers' age and provenance and of word frequency on the speed at which sound changes take place. The contributions of this volume report acoustic and/or articulatory data in support of particular explanatory interpretations which may inspire future work on diachronic phonology.


The transcription of the 2000's European Water Framework Directive in France has led to define maximum volumes that can be abstracted in water bodies. In many French contexts, it requires reducing more or less drastically current water consumption, especially in agriculture where farmers were granted permits by the water policy authority, regardless the real level of water availability. To do so, French water law imposes, where water bodies are structurally in water scarcity, to create irrigation associations charged to share available water between farmers. And the challenge is particularly high in the groundwater case, where farmers are not embedded in collective irrigation schemes. Sharing rules have then to be designed from the ground up.
This communication presents and critics the way that innovative management instruments were explored in six cases' studies representative of the diversity of agricultural products and hydrogeological situations. These instruments were debated during 18 foresight workshops held with institutional representatives (50) and farmers (87). Foresight workshops had the advantages to make credible institutional and resource changes, and to retrieve from current but side-debates. In five cases, researchers took the lead of these workshops, and in the last one it was directly carried by a stakeholder (an Agriculture Chamber), which allows to test the transferability of such a method in real context with a direct implementing goal.
Lessons are drawn at several levels. Firstly, debating on contrasted scenarios is a robust way to facilitate discussions on something not implemented yet in France. Secondly, the context highly matters, in particular the perception of the reality of groundwater scarcitylevel. Thirdly, to debate on groundwater management tools has to be firstly embedded in a more general discussion, on the future of agriculture or at least on more broadly water challenges (like in terms of quantity and quality).


This paper presents an approach for the integration of multimedia metadata and their management based on Semantic Web technology. In particular, we propose a java-based Infrastructure for MultiMedia Metadata Management – 4M composed of five main components, an MPEG-7 feature processing unit, an XML database management unit, an algorithms ontologyexploiting unit, a multimedia semantic annotation and integration units. This way, we intend to introduce the novel idea of managing also algorithms on a variety of multimedia metadata (audio, images and videos) to add the capability of tracking data processing. This work is mainly carried out in the framework of the European Network of Excellence MUSCLE (Multimedia Understanding through Semantics, Computation and Learning), where ISTI-CNR is leading the 'Representation and Communication of Data and Metadata' Workpackage.


Textile effluents containing high amount of azo dyes and inorganic salts are largely generated and is one of the major causes of pollution due to its discharge without adequate treatment. In this study, heterogeneous photocatalysis using ZnO photocatalyst and UV-Vis light irradiation was proposed to treat the dye-containing wastewater in saline condition. The photocatalytic experiment was performed using Mordant Orange-1 (MO-1) as the model dye pollutant in the presence of Clions. ZnO photocatalyst was analyzed by XRD, FESEM-EDX and UV-Vis absorption analyses to determine its crystallinity, surface morphology with elemental composition and band gap energy, respectively. The XRD finding showed that ZnO was in hexagonal wurzite phase and the FESEM-EDX analyses exhibited that ZnO has irregular hexagonal shapes. The band gap of ZnO was determined to be 3.17 eV through the UV-Vis absorption analysis. Next, comparison study showed that ZnO has better photocatalytic activity and sedimentation ability than commercial TiO2. Besides, the effect of process parameters on the photocatalytic degradation of MO-1 were investigated and optimized. Under the experimental condition of 200 mM salinity concentration, 2.5 mg/L initial MO-1 concentration and solution pH 5.6, photocatalytic degradation efficiency of MO-1 in saline condition using ZnO achieved 92.37% after 160 minutes of UV-Vis light irradiation. In addition, mineralization study of MO-1 was investigated in terms of COD removal which achieved 67.09% after 240 minutes of light irradiation. Furthermore, kinetic study was performed employing Langmuir-Hinshelwood (L-H) first-order kinetic model. It was found that the kinetic data matched well with the L-H first-order model with the values kL-H and K obtained equal to 0.1726 mg/L•min and 0.0336 L/min.


Oxygen-free and low resistivity nickel (Ni) thin films are successfully prepared by plasma-assisted atomic layer deposition using nickelocene (NiCp2) as a metal precursor and ammonia (NH3) as a reactant. The properties of the deposited films are characterized by means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and four-point-probe measurements. The results indicate that the as-deposited films are Ni-dominated materials with small quantities of C and N, containing Ni–Ni, Ni–C, Ni–N, C–N and C–C bonds. Moreover, the films also exhibit excellent conformality on Si nano-pillars with an aspect ratio of ∼13. As the deposition temperature increases from 160 to 280 °C, the film resistivity reduces from ∼127 to ∼71 μΩ cm, which is related to the gradually enhanced Ni3C phase in the films. However, the work function of the film shows a weak dependence on the deposition temperature, increasing from 4.003 to 4.046 eV. After being annealed at 400 °C in the forming gas (N2/4%-H2), the resistivity is reduced significantly down to 11.8 μΩ cm, and the work function increases up to 4.136 eV. These are ascribed to an increase in the purity of the films, as demonstrated by the disappearance of N and the loss of C in the post-annealed films. Such a preparation technique of high quality Ni nano-films is very promising for advanced integrated circuits.


The social representation approach to understanding HIV/AIDS focuses on the ideas about the disease that are current in a society. A major claim arising from this approach is that blaming others for the spread of the disease allows individuals within the mainstream society to feel relatively safe from the disease, and so they do not take sufficient steps to protect themselves against the disease. This hypothesis was tested in three questionnaire studies involving two samples of young people from Ghana (N=460 and N=238) and one from the U.K. (N=221). Blaming others was measured in terms of beliefs about the origins of HIV/AIDS; blaming attitudes towards specific marginal groups within society; and stigmatizing attitudes towards those with the disease. The results of these studies provided some evidence in support of the hypothesis in relation to stigma (but not the other blaming variables). In both studies, there was a significant association between greater stigmatizing attitudes and reduced intentions to practice safe sex; and this relationship was mediated by reduced perceptions of vulnerability to the disease. Stigmatizing attitudes made a significant unique contribution to the variance in sexual intentions over and above the contribution of variables derived from the theory of planned behaviour and the health belief model. A large percentage of the Ghana samples showed negative attitudes towards condom use and stigmatizing attitudes towards those with HIV/AIDS, indicating a need for social policy to address these issues.


Effective communication is an essential aspect of growth and success. This is further reflected by the popularity and rapid growth of several web-based tools involved in mass, personal, and professional communications. Nevertheless, voice-based communication has its unique charm as it brings in an emotional aspect and hence greater impact. Just to emphasize on this, there are two educational articles in the current issue which describe in detail on how humans communicate and the understanding of the science behind human voice. Several factors can impair effective communication, which could be irreversible or reversible, and the current advancement in medicine has evolved effective therapeutics to speech acoustic disorders, which are highlighted in the articles in this issue. We also have two interesting articles, which highlight the novel technologies available in the biomedical research and have high potential to advance scientific understanding. One of the articles is on DNA microarray technology, which has several diversified medical and non-medical applications. The other article describes applying mathematics to understand cellular dynamics. Such mathematical application to biological science has potential to seal the wider gap and cater to unmet needs in biomedical research.


In an effort to discover the cause of, and a cure for singing disability, seventy-nice children and two adults were observed and given treatment between 1939 and the present time. Fifty of them were given various tests to this end, records being kept. Fifty-three were cured, five left the district, fifteen are still having lessons, and eight were improved but not cured, though it now seems that they might have been. The main cause was slower learning than normal, due to the absence of singing at home, or a lack of interest which often went with lower musical intelligence. Slower learning, as a rule only presented difficulty where it had been the subject of comment or criticism, and where the child had not been allowed to try to sing. The mental attitude thus created was a factor in almost every case. Occasionally the cause was an affection of the ear, nose, or throat; though hardness of hearing was scarcely ever the sole reason for the trouble. In a few instances it was due to a slight fault in the vocal organs; and in others, to bad production of the voice. In no case was it due to an abnormally low register; and tine deafness was found to be non-existent. In order to remedy the defect the child was helped to locates notes, then persuaded to sing ascending scales, and also made to attempt to sing songs of very easy type. The vowel sound 'loo' frequently, but not exclusively used, was found to be a splendid corrective of bad voice-production. Constant encouragement was given; and great patience and determination were necessary. The good results of the work were evident in the increased interest in musical activities, and in the general enthusiasm of those who had been taught to sing.


Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder associated with both structural and functional brain abnormalities. In the past few years, there has been growing interest in the application of machine learning techniques to neuroimaging data for the diagnostic and prognostic assessment of this disorder. However, the vast majority of studies published so far have used either structural or functional neuroimaging data, without accounting for the multimodal nature of the disorder. Structural MRI and resting‐state functional MRI data were acquired from a total of 295 patients with schizophrenia and 452 healthy controls at five research centers. We extracted features from the data including gray matter volume, white matter volume, amplitude of low‐frequency fluctuation, regional homogeneity and two connectome‐wide based metrics: structural covariance matrices and functional connectivity matrices. A support vector machine classifier was trained on each dataset separately to distinguish the subjects at individual level using each of the single feature as well as their combination, and 10‐fold cross‐validation was used to assess the performance of the model. Functional data allow higher accuracy of classification than structural data (mean 82.75% vs. 75.84%). Within each modality, the combination of images and matrices improves performance, resulting in mean accuracies of 81.63% for structural data and 87.59% for functional data. The use of all combined structural and functional measures allows the highest accuracy of classification (90.83%). We conclude that combining multimodal measures within a single model is a promising direction for developing biologically informed diagnostic tools in schizophrenia.


Stinging catfish (Heteropneustes fossilis) has high consumer demand due to its high iron and calcium contents. Also, being a lean fish, it is very suitable for people who do not prefer to consume animal fats. In view of its nutritional and therapeutic significance and lack of data on dietary phenylalanine: tyrosine ratio, a dose-response experiment was conducted to determine phe: tyr ratio for H. fossilis fry (4.1±0.3g). Six isonitrogenous (380 g/kg crude protein) and isocaloric (15.3 kJ/g digestible energy) amino acid test diets were prepared by adjusting 26.6 g/kg of total phenylalanine and tyrosine in varying ratios of phenylalanine/tyrosine (30:70, 40:60, 50:50, 60:40, 70:30, 80:20) on molar basis. Quadruplicate groups of fishes were fed with diets indicated for 12-weeks to apparent satiation, thrice daily. Mathematical analyses of Daily Growth Coefficient (DGC%), Specific Growth Rate (SGR%/day), Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) and Erythrocyte Osmotic Fragility (EOF) as quadratic-broken line regression analyses, exhibited optimum dietary phenylalanine: tyrosine ratio of 64.94: 35.06 corresponding to 15.83 g/kg: 8.55 g/kg on equimolar basis. Data of this study would be of high significance to ensure that optimum phenylalanine and tyrosine ratio of fish is met while using a greater variety of cost-effective dietary protein feedstuffs for sustainable aquafarming of this fish.


ABSTRACT This article seeks to illuminate the complexity of youth participatory action research (YPAR) through the use of two concepts: (1) transformative agency, a collective initiative to address conflicts and contradictions in activity systems, and (2) role re-mediation, the disruption of power relations. We demonstrate that these concepts, in comparison to the concept of civic participation, allow for an expanded consideration of the cross-contextual processes that are involved in collective mobilization to enact justice. To explore this area, we examine an afterschool YPAR program involving the adult authors and youth of color with intersectional identities—including emergent bilinguals and youth perceived as struggling academically. We illustrate three avenues of transformative agency and role re-mediation within the YPAR program: (1) engagement with critical fiction and non-fiction texts that expose power relations; (2) interactions between individuals within and beyond the YPAR space; and (3) production and dissemination of knowledge. Through this exploration, we illustrate how the lenses of transformative agency and role re-mediation can provide new understandings of change-oriented action in YPAR.


Radial velocity measurements have proven a powerful tool for finding planets in short-period orbits around other stars. In this paper we develop an analytical expression relating the sensitivity to a periodic signal to the duration and accuracy of a given set of data. The effects of windowing and the sensitivity to periods longer than the total length of observations are explored. We show that current observations are not yet long or accurate enough to make unambiguous detection of planets with the same mass and period as Jupiter. However, if measurements are continued at the current levels of accuracy (5 m s-1) for a decade, then planets of Jovian mass and brown dwarfs will either be detected or ruled out for orbits with periods less than ~15 yr. As specific examples, we outline the performance of our technique on large-amplitude and large-eccentricity radial velocity signals recently discussed in the literature, and we delineate the region explored by the measurements of 14 single stars made over a 12 yr period by Walker et al. Had any of these stars shown motion like that caused by the exoplanets recently detected, it would have been easily detected. The data set interesting limits on the presence of brown dwarfs at orbital radii of 5-10 AU. The most significant features in the Walker et al. data are apparent long-term velocity trends in 36 UMa and β Vir, consistent with super planets of mass of 2 MJ in a 10 yr period, or 20-30 MJ in a 50 yr period. If the data are free of long-term systematic errors, the probability of just one of the 14 stars showing this signal by chance is about 15%. Finally, we suggest an observing strategy for future large radial velocity surveys that, if implemented, will allow coverage of the largest range of parameter space with the smallest amount of observing time per star. We suggest that about 10-15 measurements be made of each star in the first 2 yr of the survey, then 2-3 measurements yr-1 thereafter, provided no (or slow) variation is observed. More frequent observations would of course be indicated if such variations were present.


Since September 11, 2001, the imagination of "low probability, high consequence" events has become a distinctive feature of contemporary politics. Uncertain futures - devastation by terrorist attack, cyber crime, floods, financial market collapse - must be discerned and responded to as possibilities, however probabilistically unlikely they may be. In The Politics of Possibility, Louise Amoore examines this development, tracing its genealogy through the diverse worlds of risk management consulting, computer science, commercial logistics, and data visualization. She focuses on the increasingly symbiotic relationship between commercial opportunities and state security threats, a relation that turns the trusted, iris-scanned traveler into "a person of national security interest," and the designer of risk algorithms for casino and insurance fraud into a homeland security resource. Juxtaposing new readings of Agamben, Foucault, Derrida, Massumi, and Connolly with interpretations of post-9/11 novels and artworks, Amoore analyzes the "politics of possibility" and its far-reaching implications for society, associative life, and political accountability.


Fishes are the largest and most diverse group of vertebrate animals, with an estimated 25,000 extant species (Nelson 1994), about equal to the number of all other vertebrates combined. In Australia, they are found in almost all aquatic habitats. The purpose of this work is to deliver an authoritative list of fish names and a brief summary of ecological, distributional and bibliographic information for use by other fish taxonomists, fishery personnel, government agencies, etc.


Objective : To determine the effectiveness of Paracetamol and low dose Ketamine in controlling burn pain during dressings. Setting : The burns ward of Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, a 750 bed capacity tertiary centre in Western Kenya. Subjects : Consenting patients were recruited to the study on admission. Babies and minors had consent given by their parents or guardians. Results : Of the Fifty nine patients who were recruited into the study, seventy percent of them were children. Male to Female ratio was 1.2:1. There was statistically significant change in the pain score on both FLACC and VAS (both p<0.001) after the introduction of low dose Ketamine with Paracetamol. The patients and healthcare providers were satisfied with the new mode of pain management during change of dressings for burn wounds. Conclusion : The use of oral Paracetamol combined with the low dose intravenous Ketamine, is effective in controlling burn pains during change of dressings. It is a safe and cheap alternative, that can be applied in remote and resource limited medical facilities.