The relationship between social policy and inequality has often been contentious in Latin America. In this context, this article analysed the relationship between social spending and income inequality in the region in the short, medium, and long run. For this purpose, data on 16 Latin American countries between the period 1990-2017 was gathered and analysed through a panel data study. The results showed that, in line with the findings at a global level, increased levels of overall social spending are indeed associated with reduced levels of income inequality in this region. However, each one of the four main areas of social spending were observed to have different effects on income inequality. Additionally, the results showed that, despite the reforms and the increases in budgets, the social protection and social services systems still have problems reaching those at the bottom of the income distribution in the region.


CDMA (code division multiple access) systems are critical building blocks of future high performance wireless and mobile computing systems. While CDMA systems are very mature for voice services, their potentials in delivering high quality data services are yet to be investigated. One of the most crucial component in an advanced wideband CDMA system is the judicious allocation of bandwidth resources to both voice and high data rate services so as to maximize utilization while satisfying the respective quality of service requirements. Specifically, in a multicode CDMA system, the problem is to intelligently allocate codes to the users' requests. While previous work in the literature has addressed this problem from a capacity point of view, the fairness aspect, which is also important from the users' point of view, is largely ignored. In this paper, we propose a new code allocation approach that is channel adaptive and can guarantee fairness with respect to the users' channel conditions. Simulation results show that out approach is more effective than the proportional fair approach.


Background and purpose of the study Fabaceae is the third largest family of flowering plants. Lack of essential oils in the plants of this family can be an advantage in search for safe and effective medicines. In this study the anticonvulsant effect of the leaves of Albizzia julibrissin, Acacia juliflora, Acacia nubica and aerial parts of Astragalus obtusifolius was evaluated in pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) and maximal electroshock (MES) seizure tests. Methods The hydroalcoholic extracts of the plants were obtained by percolation. Different doses of the extracts were injected to the mice intraperitoneally (i.p.) and occurrence of clonic seizures induced by PTZ (60 mg/kg, i.p.) or tonic seizures induced by MES (50 mA, 50Hz, 1sec) were monitored up to 30 min after administration. Acute toxicity of the extracts was also assessed. The safe and effective extract was then fractionated by dichloromethane and anticonvulsant activity of the fractions was determined. Finally, the constituents of the extract and the fractions were screened by thin layer chromatography. Results Among the extracts, only A. obtusifolius extract showed low toxicity and protective effect against clonic seizures with ED50 value of 3.97 g/kg. Fractionation of the extract led to increase in anticonvulsant activity and ED50 value of 2.86 g/kg was obtained for the aqueous fraction. Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, anthrones and saponins in the aqueous fraction. Major conclusion The presence of anticonvulsant compounds in A. obtusifolius suggests further activity-guided fractionation and analytical studies to find out the potential of this plant as a source of anticonvulsant agent.


Great strides occurred in the application of minimally invasive techniques for pulmonary lobectomy for almost all indications including advanced neoplasms. Novel treatments besides systemic chemotherapy might be useful to shrink large tumors to enable video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) or to enhance treatments for patients with disseminated or otherwise unresectable disease. Several such regional treatments are under investigation and they include inhaled chemotherapy, direct tumor injection, chemoembolization, bronchial artery infusion (BAI), and pulmonary suffusion. These all have specific advantages and limitations depending on the tumor anatomy, physiology and location. Alternatively, VATS theoretically reduces morbidity for oligometastatic disease regional therapy patients who formerly required thoracotomy for vascular access. Promising experimental work with in-vivo pulmonary perfusion patterned on successful methods learned from lung allograft resuscitation is underway. Some of these strategies (alone or combined with standard therapy) are reproducible with existing clinical expertise and should be tested further in clinical trials. This in order to continue the progress toward reducing the morbidity of local control in patients with advanced malignancy, particularly those who are frail.


Dynamic assessments (DA) of language have been shown to be a useful addition to the battery of tests used to diagnose language impairments in children, and to evaluate their skills. The current article explores the value of the information gained from a DA in planning intervention for a child with language impairment. A single case study was used to demonstrate the detailed qualitative information that can be derived from a DA procedure, and how that information may be used to elicit greater gains from intervention. The participant was a boy, aged 9, with a previously diagnosed language impairment. He was receiving language therapy regularly in a language resource base attached to his school. The CELF-3(UK) was used to monitor changes in his language, before and after two periods of intervention. The initial baseline phase consisted of regular ongoing language therapy. The second phase of therapy was modified by the speech and language therapist after receiving a report of the child's performance on the Dynamic Assessment of Sentence Structure (DASS; Hasson et al., 2012), and observations of the child's metalinguistic and metacognitive awareness. Greater gains observed in the second phase of therapy reflected the good modifiability shown by the child's performance on the DASS.


Sutherlandia frutescens (L.) R.Br. (SF) is a medicinal plant indigenous to southern Africa and used in folk and contemporary remedies for stress, chronic diseases, cancer, and HIV/AIDS. While previous studies have focused on physiological effects of SF on cellular and systemic abnormalities associated with these diseases, little is known about its effects in the brain and immune cells in the central nervous system. Results of this study indicate that ethanol extracts of SF (SF-E) suppress NMDA-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in neurons, and LPS- and IFNγ-induced ROS and nitric oxide (NO) production in microglial cells. SF-E's action on microglial cells appears to be mediated through inhibition of the IFNγ-induced p-ERK1/2 signaling pathway which is central to regulating a number of intracellular metabolic processes including enhancing STAT1α phosphorylation and filopodia formation. The involvement of SF in these pathways suggests the potential for novel therapeutics for stress and prevention, and/or treatment of HIV/AIDS as well as other inflammatory diseases in the brain.


Digital Solidarity in Education is a book for educators, scholars, and students interested in better understanding both the role technology can play in schools and its potential for strengthening communities, optimizing the effects of globalization, and increasing educational access. The digital solidarity movement prioritizes the engagement and mobilization of students from diverse racial, ethnic, linguistic, and economic backgrounds, and with giftedness and/or disabilities, to utilize and apply technologies. This powerful book introduces innovative technological programs including virtual schools, e-tutoring, and interactive online communities for K-12 students that can: • increase students' knowledge and understanding of advanced concepts while reinforcing their basic skills; • reinforce students' communication in their first language while introducing second and third language possibilities; • nurture students' capabilities to think analytically, while using creative and innovative ideas to think simultaneously "outside of the box." The experienced author team shows how collaborative partners from the private sector can assist public school systems and educators in creating access for all students to technological innovations, with a goal of increasing individual opportunities for future college and career success. Combining theoretical scholarship and research with the personal perspectives of practitioners in the field, this volume shares with readers both the nuts and bolts of using technology in education, and the importance of doing so.... Download ebook, read file pdf Promoting Equity, Diversity, and Academic Excellence through Innovative Instructional Programs


Chronic low back pain is a disease that most often affects people between 45 and 64 years. The incidence of low back pain goes from 60 to 90% and the annual incidence is 5%. Often low back pain is accompanied or replaced by an irradiated lower limb pain, configuring the symptomatology of lumboradiculalgia, whose most frequent cause is the disco-radicular conflict. The cause of the onset of pain, even excruciating, in cases of radicular compression of disc origin is not yet clear. Low back pain of disc origin is thought to be caused by direct mechanical compression factors; by indirect mechanical factors ischemia or venous stasis of vasa nervorum; and by type of immune-mediated inflammatory factors (reaction hernia) and/or biochemical evidence related to the disc type (the presence of substances which induce the inflammatory reaction). When a patient is suffering by chronic low back pain, apart from the algic problem, a series of changes in posture will occur, which contribute to worsen low back pain itself. The effects of a polluted posture and, therefore, the muscle retraction manifest in the joints in the form of compression, axial rotation and translation, resulting in modifications of the skeletal morphology (scoliotic attitudes, hyperkyphosis, valgus and varus of the knee, etc .) and possibly evolving into important postural disorders. Currently, the treatment of chronic low back pain and postural secondary disorders is still an open problem. The aim of this preliminary study is: i) to highlight the high incidence of low back pain by providing evidence that there is an anatomical substrate to low back pain originating in the disc; ii) and to assess the effects of the use of oxygen-ozone percutaneous paravertebral intramuscular therapy in synergy with a functional rehabilitation program in a group of patients suffering from chronic low back pain. From the data obtained, the combination of percutaneous paravertebral intramuscular oxygen-ozone therapy with functional rehabilitation is confirmed as an effective and safe method, whose favorable results are evident at the level of lumbar pain symptoms, postural secondary abnormalities, disability in activities of daily living, the mood and tone of the psychological state.


This study develops a new philosophical approach to the concept of political legitimacy. It aims to account for the meaning of legitimacy-claims in terms of their use in political practice. Explicating the meaning of political legitimacy in terms of practice casts the task of political judgment—assessing in practice whether a particular authority is legitimate or not—in a different light than established philosophical approaches do: it stresses the constitutive role and contested character of political identity, representations of authority, and the uptake and narration of events. This has implications for the way philosophers theorize about political legitimacy: it challenges the idea of a general philosophical theory that provides moral principles or criteria to be applied in practice, and shifts attention instead toward the task of explicating the modes of involvement in practice that political judgment requires. Taking as a starting point the political experience of subjects confronted by power, and drawing on the philosophy of language developed by Robert Brandom, this 'social-pragmatic' approach to political legitimacy aims to provide an account of what it is we do when we take an authority to be legitimate or illegitimate. By starting not with an account of what it is for political authority to be legitimate, but by asking what we do when we take it to be so—that is, by taking a 'pragmatic turn'—this study shifts the direction of questioning compared to established approaches to political legitimacy. On the approach developed here, to take political authority to be legitimate or illegitimate is to take a particular kind of practical stance toward it: to recognize its rule as normative, that is, to attribute to it an entitlement to rule and to undertake a commitment to treat it as a source of reasons. Conversely, to take political authority to be illegitimate is to withhold the attribution of an entitlement to rule. To say that political authority is legitimate or illegitimate is to make such a stance explicit. This social-pragmatic way of understanding political legitimacy has the consequence of situating political judgment—the task of assessing in practice whether political authority is legitimate (de jure) or merely purports to be so (de facto)—in the midst of an ongoing practical engagement. To be a political subject is to be involved in a practice that both enables and unsettles political judgment, exposing one to vulnerability, fallibility, and uncertainty as inherent features of political life. Political judgment appears not as a problem that can be resolved in theory by justifying the right set of principles and criteria, but as a predicament inherent in having a first-person perspective in relation to political authority; as a practical political task, rather than a philosophical problem.


average, QoL was valued higher than DC and Pr, and for all 3 outcomes, increases from low to intermediate levels were felt to be more important compared with increases from intermediate to high levels. No clinical characteristics were shown to be associated with different preferences. Individual preference weighted scores were calculated and were shown to be significantly different from scores without individual weightings in patients with active disease. Conclusions: We showed that CBC can be used to quantify individual patients' preferences for different outcome metrics. These preferences can be used to quantify a single patient-centred outcome metric for IBD patients. Because measured outcomes are significantly different when weighted based on individual patients' preferences, we propose that outcomes of care should be measured and rewarded accordingly.


: The use of temporary transvenous pacemakers has become firmly established. While the technique of temporary pacing is by no means the answer to all problems associated with myocardial infarction, it has clearly been lifesaving for certain patients treated in the community hospital. Temporary pacing is a simple and safe procedure with relatively few complications. It can be done in the community hospital by the faimly physician who has an interest in cardiology.


BACKGROUND
Our regional poison information center (RPIC) has developed and implemented an ongoing quality assurance (QA) initiative, using performance indicators and evaluation thresholds to permit a planned and systematic process for monitoring the quality, appropriateness and effectiveness of service.

METHODS
A 10-step QA plan was designed that included delineating the scope of care, identifying the most important aspects of care, identifying indicators and thresholds to monitor performance and outcomes, and establishing a formal medical audit review process to resolve questions and/or problems.

RESULTS
This QA program has resulted in verification of the validity of the RPIC's data and services. Threshold indicators (the incidence of accidental poisoning in children less than 6 y, incidence of intentional poisoning among children less than 18 y, appropriateness of home versus hospital management, and reduction in major/mortal outcomes in children less than 6 y) have all been successfully met during the past 12 mo. A medical audit committee objectively reviews and meets to discuss all unique poison exposures or those suffering major/mortal outcomes. Examples of identified problems include the lack of utilizing standard abbreviations during documentation and the need to standardize indications for consulting medical back-up.

DISCUSSION
RPICs are innovative health services with unique and increasing responsibilities and liabilities. A QA program, designed to objectively and systematically monitor and evaluate the quality and appropriateness of care rendered the poisoned patient, can improve care and resolve identified problems in a timely manner.

CONCLUSIONS
A formalized QA program is essential for all RPICs.


Abstract. On board the four Cluster spacecraft, the Cluster Ion Spectrometry (CIS) experiment measures the full, three-dimensional ion distribution of the major magnetospheric ions (H+, He+, He++, and O+) from the thermal energies to about 40 keV/e. The experiment consists of two different instruments: a COmposition and DIstribution Function analyser (CIS1/CODIF), giving the mass per charge composition with medium (22.5°) angular resolution, and a Hot Ion Analyser (CIS2/HIA), which does not offer mass resolution but has a better angular resolution (5.6°) that is adequate for ion beam and solar wind measurements. Each analyser has two different sensitivities in order to increase the dynamic range. First tests of the instruments (commissioning activities) were achieved from early September 2000 to mid January 2001, and the operation phase began on 1 February 2001. In this paper, first results of the CIS instruments are presented showing the high level performances and capabilities of the instruments. Good examples of data were obtained in the central plasma sheet, magnetopause crossings, magnetosheath, solar wind and cusp measurements. Observations in the auroral regions could also be obtained with the Cluster spacecraft at radial distances of 4–6 Earth radii. These results show the tremendous interest of multispacecraft measurements with identical instruments and open a new area in magnetospheric and solar wind-magnetosphere interaction physics. Key words. Magnetospheric physics (magnetopause, cusp and boundary layers; magnetopheric configuration and dynamics; solar wind - magnetosphere interactions)


Fibrinogen supports platelet aggregation by binding to specific receptors. The importance of the fibrinogen A alpha chain in this hemostatic function is controversial. We found that fibrinogen derivatives, isolated from plasma or obtained after limited plasmin digestion, that lacked approximately 13,000 to 46,000 MW peptides from the carboxyterminal of their A alpha chains (I-6, I-9, I-9D88) displayed undiminished capacity to support ADP-induced platelet aggregation and to bind to gel-filtered platelets. Analysis of their binding disclosed upwardly concave Scatchard plots that could be resolved into high- and low-affinity binding components similar to those of intact fibrinogen. The dissociation constant for high-affinity binding of fractions I-6 and I-9, however, was slightly higher than that of intact fibrinogen, correlating with the slight decrease in the rate of platelet aggregation observed using these fractions. Low-affinity binding was unchanged. In contrast, fibrinogen derivative I-9D88, lacking as much as 2/3 from the carboxyterminal side of both A alpha chains, was indistinguishable from intact fibrinogen in its ability to bind to platelets and support aggregation. This suggested that the small differences in binding affinities noted with fractions I-6 and I-9 were most likely due to changes in molecular conformation rather than to losses of specific peptides. A more degraded derivative (I-9D50) lacking even larger A alpha segments (MW 46,000 to 48,000), as well as aminoterminal segments (B beta 1-56) from the B beta chains, possessed only 70% to 75% of the platelet aggregating activity of intact fibrinogen. Its binding to ADP-treated platelets was quantitatively similar to that of intact fibrinogen but its Scatchard plot was linear, with loss of low-affinity binding. These data indicate that (1) fibrinogen binding to platelet receptors does not require the carboxyterminal 2/3 of the A alpha chain and (2) low-affinity platelet fibrinogen interactions as revealed by Scatchard analysis reflect fibrinogen binding to platelets via an aminoterminal segment of the A alpha and/or B beta chains, the loss of which results in a slight but significant decrease in platelet aggregation support.


Nowadays, railway transportation becomes a popular choice among commuter as
transportation mode to travel from one place to another. Thus, it makes the industry
grows faster especially at urban area. The complexity of rail network required high
level of safety features to prevent any interruption. For that purpose, this thesis will
show a proper procedure on how the prediction model of accident need to be
conducted using regression model. From the root cause analysis, the most contributory
factor to influence the accident can be identified. "Ishikawa diagram" is a popular tool
to identify problem occurring from the root where it begins. Process of identifying
required bundles of accident and incident investigation report at least for 5 years and
this thesis used data starting from 1999 to 2014. It was taken from several sources on
Australian Railways website. Analysis from Ishikawa shows there are ten main factors
involved to influences an accident. Those factors are "train driver mistake", "other's
human mistake", "weather influence", "track problem", "train problem", "signaling
error", "maintenance error", "communication error", "procedure error", and "others".
Each factor with positive correlation coefficient value to the type of accident and
incident were taken as parameter. Then, before completing the prediction model
formula, some of hypothesis needs to be tested to know which model among
regression model is suitable and give a better prediction result. Dispersion test is a test
to calculate dispersion value to know either data is under dispersion for value less than
1 (Poisson model is appropriate) or over dispersion for value more than 1 (Negative
binomial is appropriate). Then, Vuong test is applied to measure which model has a
better result between those two models. From the hypothesis, this thesis shows that
Zero-inflated model is the most fitted model to predict accident and incident cases of
collision, derailment and SPAD. In some country, they may have different system of
rail and geography, thus it should have different possibilities to influence accident and
incident. However, this method and procedure are available to use for them to identify
and predict the most influencing factor that contributes to the accident occurrences.


Objective To estimate the price elasticity of cigarette demand among youth in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). Data The Global Youth Tobacco Survey was used to obtain data on the smoking behaviour of 315 353 adolescents from 17 LMIC. Design Two-part model of cigarette demand with country fixed effects. The first part estimates the impact of prices on smoking participation while the second part estimates the impact of prices on the number of cigarettes smoked among current smokers. Besides controlling for individual characteristics such as Age, Gender, Parental Smoking and availability of Pocket Money, the authors control for confounding environmental factors such as anti-smoking sentiment, the prevalence of cigarette advertising and anti-tobacco media messAges, and ease of purchasing cigarettes. All countries in this study are represented with at least two observations over time, which allows us to control for unobserved country characteristics and/or policies that may influence smoking patterns within countries. Results estimated price elasticity of smoking participation is (cid:1) and the estimated price elasticity of conditional cigarette demand (cid:1) The total price elasticity of cigarette demand is (cid:1) 2.11, implying that an increase in price of 10% would reduce youth cigarette consumption by 21.1% at the mean.


We perform the BFV quantization of the 2 + 1 projectable and the 3 + 1 nonprojectable versions of the Hořava theory. This is a Hamiltonian formalism, and noncanonical gauges can be used with it. In the projectable case, we show that the integration on canonical momenta reproduces the quantum Lagrangian known from the proof of renormalization of Barvinsky et al. This quantum Lagrangian is nonlocal, its nonlocality originally arose as a consequence of getting regular propagators. The matching of the BFV quantization with the quantum Lagrangian reinforces the program of quantization of the Hořava theory. We introduce a local gauge-fixing condition, hence a local Hamiltonian, that leads to the nonlocality of the Lagrangian after the integration. For the case of the nonprojectable theory, this procedure allows us to obtain the complete (nonlocal) quantum Lagrangian that takes into account the second-class contraints. We compare with the integration in general relativity, making clear the relationship between the underlying anisotropic symmetry of the Hořava theory and the nonlocality of its quantum Lagrangian.


Since the publication of the 2018 FIGO Cancer Report, giant strides have been made in the global effort to reduce the burden of cervical cancer, with the World Health Organization (WHO) rolling out a global strategy for cervical cancer elimination, aiming for implementation by 2030. In over 130 countries, including low‐ and middle‐income countries, HPV vaccination is now included in the national program. Screening has seen major advances with wider implementation of HPV testing. These interventions will take a few years to show their impact. Meanwhile, over half a million new cases are added each year. FIGO's revised staging of cervical cancer (2018) has been widely implemented and retrospective analyses of data based on the new staging have been published. Minimally invasive surgery has been shown to be disadvantageous in women with cervical cancer. This chapter discusses the management of cervical cancer based on the stage of disease, including attention to palliation and quality of life issues.


This study draws on a survey of 800 upper primary school students concerning their knowledge of certain 'new media' applications. The findings concur with other studies in suggesting that students' relationship with technology is more complex and nuanced than is conveyed by a simple branding of 'digital native'. Some differential experiences between classes and genders are identified, along with an important minority of students who have much more out-of-school experience with new media than others. The role of the school and teacher in inducting students to new media is presented as central, with important implications for curriculum leadership and teacher professional development.


Due to the current lifestyle, people in general and adolescents in particular are not physically active enough which put at risk their health. Immediate actions are needed to promote a more active lifestyle.
This paper introduces a platform that aims to encourage students to have a more active life. The platform suggests for each user to perform specific physical activities/exercises based on the physical activities that the user had during the day, the duration of the sleep and his/her profile (preferences, performance history) as well as some health parameters (heart rate, blood pressure, weight). All these tasks are realized through a game with an avatar that is controlled by the user by physical exercises (e.g. the avatar is placed in an environment and he/she must collect different objects by jumping, running). The exercises performed by the user are acquired using an RGB camera. Images are processed and the skeleton of the user is obtained using the OpenPose library. To increase motivation, the platform gives different rewards (e.g. more points) for executing physical tasks and suggests some collective physical activities based on the profile of each user.
The platform is multilingual, it supports Romanian and English language, with the possibility to extend it to other languages. The platform integrates a multimodal interface that enables the users to interact through voice and touch-based commands as well as touch-free gestures.
During the execution of a physical exercise, the platform tracks the performance of the user. The platform sends visual and phonetic notifications to the users' phones to suggest some the execution of some physical activities/exercises.


In this study, 210 intestinal Escherichia (E.) coli isolates from enteropathogenic diseased pigs were screened for their virulence factors (F4, F5, F6, F18, STa, STb, LT, STx2e and intimin) by PCR and serogrouped by slide-agglutination (O8:K87, O45, O138:K81, O139:K82, O141:K85, O147:K89, O157 and O149:K91). In total, 24.8% enterotoxigenic E. coli, 7.1% enteropathogenic E. coli and 5.2% oedema disease E. coli could be isolated. For enterotoxigenic E. coli, the most frequent virulence pattern was F4/STb/LT with the O-serogroup O149:K91 or O8:K87, followed by F18/STa/STb with the O-serogroup O141:K85. F18/STx2e was the common virulence pattern in oedema disease E. coli isolates and they were associated with the O-serogroups O139:K82 and O141:K85. Keywords: Escherichia coli, ETEC, EDEC, EPEC, pig, Switzerland.


Recent advances in the theory of evolutionary spectral analysis
of time-varying systems has led to a resurgence in the popularity of
frequency domain analysis techniques. Policies for adaptive control
of time-varying systems based on state-space and Liaponov techniques
require an accurate measurement of the system phase variables. Under
inherently noisy conditions, access to the complete system state is
seldom possible, and frequency domain analysis requirinq only input/output measurements has an obvious appeal. The sampling properties
of short-term spectral estimates are of central importance both in
system tracking and in choosing suitable control policies.
Goodman (1957) developed some of the sampling properties
associated with spectral estimates of complex bivariate Gaussian
processes. Akaike (1962-66) extended Goodman's results to multi
input/output linear systems with 'Gaussian input forcing functions.
Both these authors considered the case where the data sequences were
stationary.
This thesis reviews and extends the research of these two
authors with respect to single input/output linear systems.
It is shown that the sampling distributions associated with
spectral estimates of stationary open-loop systems are approximately
valid for a restricted class of non-stationary systems. Two examples
of non-stationary systems are investigated and an adaptive control
technique using input compensation in the frequency domain is
developed on a hydraulic fatigue loading rig. It is shown that
statistical tests developed earlier can successfully identify system variations when estimates are measured in a noisy environment.
The sampling distributions associated with spectral estimates
of closed-loop systems are developed and the results are applied to
the modelling and tracking of the human operator response in a trackinq
task situation, for various input signals.
With regard to future research, it remains to extend the results
for closed-loop systems to the time-varying multi input/output
case. In its full complexity this problem remains intractable but
by considering uncorrelated Gaussian inputs it reduces to determining
the distributions associated with multi-variate complex Gaussian
sequences.


With the development of virtualization technology, on-demand computing becomes more reliable and acceptable in industry, such as utility computing and IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service) of cloud computing. In virtualized environments, applications are running on VMs (virtual machines) configured with physical computing resources (CPU, memory, etc.). Inevitably, issues about performance management in such virtualized environments are highlighted, such as optimizing the overall performance, balancing the performance of applications running on different VMs, etc. In this paper, we focus on concurrent queries processing in database applications and propose a model-based approach for dynamic performance management in virtualized environments. Based on a normalized performance model we transform the performance management problem into a multiple objective optimization problem and solve it by genetic algorithm. We have carried out some experiments to evaluate the effectiveness of our approach, using PostgreSQL database and TPC-H queries in a virtualized environment.


Abstract The biodiversity of the deep-sea of the Gulf of California has received some attention during the last two decades. Preliminary observations have revealed a high diversity of benthic and hyperbenthic copepods. Copepods of the genus Rhizothrix were found in sediment samples taken during the Talud X cruise in the Guaymas Basin. These specimens belong to a new species, Rhizothrix longiseta. The new species is related to R. quadriseta Wells, 1967 from Inhaca Island, Mozambique by the armature complement of the third exopodal segment of the second, third and fourth swimming legs, and of the second endopodal segment of the third swimming leg. The females of these two species can be distinguished by the armature complement of the second endopodal segment of the first and second swimming legs, by the relative length of the inner seta on the third exopodal segment of the second, third and fourth swimming legs, by the shape and number of setae on the exopod of the fifth leg, by the length:width ratio of the caudal rami, and by the number of segments of the antennule. This is the first record of the genus Rhizothrix from the deep-sea down to 1570 m depth, and is also the first record of the genus for Mexico. Additionally, R. reducta noodti Galhano, 1970 is given full species rank as R. noodti.


Recently we described a beta-decapeptide (beta53-1) that folds into a 14-helix in aqueous solution, binds the oncoprotein hDM2 with submicromolar affinity, and inhibits the interaction of hDM2 with a peptide derived from the activation domain of p53 (p53AD). The solution structure of beta53-1 in CD3OH revealed an unexpected C-terminal unwinding that staggers the side chains comprising the hDM2 recognition epitope to better mimic those of p53AD. The structure-function relationship implied by this distortion suggested that a library of beta53-1 analogues possessing diversity along a nonrecognition face might contain molecules possessing greater affinity for hDM2. Here we describe (1) beta-peptide synthesis protocols that produce high quality one-bead-one-beta-peptide libraries suitable for on-bead screening without purification, (2) a versatile, scalable on-bead screen, and (3) a simple tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) decoding method. Using this procedure, we identified beta53-1 analogues with improved structural and functional properties.


In the Northern part of Serbia, which is part of Pannonian Basin, mute swan (Cygnus olor) population has notably increased over the last few decades. Like other birds from Anatidae family, mute swans are a host of numerous endoparasite species. The aim of this study was to acquire the data on identification and prevalence of endoparasites in mute swans in the Republic of Serbia, as that information is lacking. Individual faecal samples of sixty-eight adult mute swans were examined for the presence of endoparasites. Coprological examination was performed using flotation and sedimentation technique with saturated ZnSO4 solution. The samples were collected from December 2016 to March 2017, during epizootic of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N8 in the Republic of Serbia. Dead mute swans were collected from twelve different locations in the Northern part of Serbia. Altogether, 39.7% of the examined fecal samples contained different parasites. The endoparasitic fauna was divers and included 3 species of nematodes, 2 cestodes species, one trematode and one protozoan species. Nematodes were the most prevalent helminthes and among these the most frequent nematode species found was Heterakis dispar (17.6%), followed by Echinuria uncinata (5,8%) and Ascaridia spp. (4,4%). Four mixed infections were found, where double infection was the most prevalent. No endoparasites were found in faecal samples of mute swans collected from the locations Sombor and Titel. As this study covers a small population of mute swans, more detailed studies need to be carried out on a larger population in order to gain an insight into the diversity and prevalence of endoparasites in the Republic of Serbia.


textabstractFor more than two decades, the vast production of post-structuralist/post-positivist feminist critique and postcolonial feminist thinking within the field of International Relations (IR) and, more recently, Global Politics (GP) has prompted critical investigations on their modern and colonial foundations (for examples, see, Sylvester 1993; Pappart and Marchand 1995; Gruffyd Jones 2006; Shilliam 2010). In doing so, different epistemological positions have been deployed in attempts to destabilize narratives that (re)produce dominant ideas about 'the international' and 'global politics.' Today, these contributions constitute a fruitful background to the current wave of academic interest focused on critically understanding the epistemic foundations of IR and GP as disciplines responsible for thinking about how power operates in international and global spheresDecolonial thinking has recently played a key role in this critical endeavour
(Icaza 2010; 2015; Taylor 2012; Icaza and Vazquez 2013). Belonging to a
different geo-genealogy2 than that of post-colonial studies, decolonial thinking
takes as its point of departure the acknowledgement that there is 'no
modernity without coloniality' (Quijano 2000; Mignolo 2003; 2013; Walsh
2007; 2010; 2011; 2012; Lugones 2010a; 2010b; Vazquez 2009; 2011; 2014).
For the purposes of this text, the relevance of this affirmation is that
coloniality as the underside of modernity constitutes an epistemic location
from which reality is thought. This locus of enunciation, following Mignolo,
means that hegemonic histories of modernity as a product of the
Renaissance or the Industrial Revolution are not accepted but challenged in
order to undo the Eurocentric power projection inherent to them. Precisely, in
seeking to avoid becoming just another hegemonic project, decolonial
thinking is also understood as an option — in contrast to a paradigm or grand
theory — among a plurality of options


The morphologically uniform suborder Cyphophthalmi represents a basal group of harvestmen (Opiliones). As such, it plays an important role in the reconstruction of the karyotype evolution within this arachnid order. The cytogenetic analysis of 6 representatives of the suborder Cyphophthalmi, namely Miopsalis sp. (2n = 30; Stylocellidae), Austropurcellia arcticosa (Cantrell, 1980) (2n = 30; Pettalidae), Parapurcellia amatola de Bivort & Giribet, 2010 (2n = 32; Pettalidae), Paramiopsalis aff. ramulosus Juberthie, 1962 (2n = 28; Sironidae), Cyphophthalmus duricorius Joseph, 1868 (2n = 24; Sironidae), and Siro carpaticus Rafalski, 1956 (2n = 52; Sironidae) was performed. Fluorescence in situ hybridization with 18S rDNA probe was used to analyze the distribution of major ribosomal RNA genes in harvestmen. We confront the obtained cytogenetic data with current hypotheses on cyphophthalmid phylogeny to reconstruct their karyotype evolution. We conclude that the ancestral karyotype of harvestmen consisted of 2n = 30 elements with 1 chromosome pair bearing terminal rDNA clusters. The rDNA locus was multiplicated in the evolution of Cyphophthalmi. However, decreases as well as increases in the number of chromosomes have been detected in the karyotype evolution of Cyphophthalmi. Our data thus reveal unexpected diversity in cyphophthalmid karyotypes.


Jasperoid, a microcrystalline silica rock, occurs along the crest of the Magdalena Mountains and along the west-facing dip slope. It is the focus of this study because in similar settings in Nevada it is associated with economically important deposits of very fine grained gold. In the Magdalenas, jasperoid extensively replaces the Mississippian Kelly Limestone. Mineralogy displays strongly oxidized pyrite with internal zones of silver and copper sulfides; galena and sphalerite follow pyrite in the paragenesis. Geochemistry suggests that silicification of the limestones occurred in a single event. Gold ranges in concentration from 2 to 2,100 ppb, averaging 274 ppb; silver ranges from 2 to 200 ppm, averaging 22.3 ppm. Geothermometry indicates high temperatures consistent with the association of the silicification with proximal intrusive activity. Heat was advected through open space by the silicification event, and silica-rich fluids were carried into the karsted carbonate rocks of Kelly Limestone along faults and dikes. The fluids were prevented from reaching higher in the section by an impermeable seal of Pennsylvanian black shales and siltstones.The Magdalena mining district is located in the northern part of the Magdalena Mountains, 3-5 mi southeast of the town of Magdalena, Socorro County, NM. The mining district is accessible by four-wheel drive vehicle and foot trails from NM Highway 60. This study area covers about 3 mi2 and lies entirely within the boundaries of the Magdalena 7.5 minute quadrangle. Elevations in the map area range from 5,955 to 10,179 ft.Silicification of the upper part of the Mississippian Kelly Limestone in the northern Magdalena Mountains appears to be related to the thermal and hydrothermal processes that occurred during evolution of the 32.1 Ma Socorro caldera and 28.9 Ma Sawmill-Magdalena caldera which both overlapped the Magdalena mining district. However, it may be related to younger intrusions not exposed at the surface. In caldera settings, mineralization is often much later and related to intrusions into the ring-fracture zone which provides the structural pathway for mineralizing fluids. An example is the Mogollon mining district in southwestern NM, where the mineralization is some 10 Ma younger than the caldera.


Background: The treatment of severely injured patients, especially in older age, is complex, and based on strict guidelines. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study by analyzing our internal registry for mortality risk factors in deceased trauma patients. All patients that were admitted to the trauma bay of our level-1-trauma center from 2014 to 2018, and that died during the in-hospital treatment, were included. The aim of this study was to carry out a quality assurance concerning the initial care of severely injured patients. Results: In the 5-year period, 135 trauma patients died. The median (IQR) age was 69 (38–83) years, 71% were male, and the median (IQR) Injury Severity Score (ISS) was 25 (17–34) points. Overall, 41% of the patients suffered from severe traumatic brain injuries (TBI) (AIShead ≥ 4 points). For 12.7%, therapy was finally limited owing to an existing patient's decree; in 64.9% with an uncertain prognosis, a 'therapia minima' was established in consensus with the relatives. Conclusion: Although the mortality rate was primarily related to the severity of the injury, a significant number of deaths were not exclusively due to medical reasons, but also to a self-determined limitation of therapy for severely injured geriatric patients. The conscientious documentation concerning the will of the patient is increasingly important in supporting medical decisions.


The goal of this project is to measure electric activity in the brain due to firing of the neurons, parse wave to obtain attention and meditation level of brain and using it to move a Wheel Chair. The interactions between neurons create an electric discharge which cannot be measured using current technology. There are different techniques available to detect electric activity in brain. One technique is Electroencephalography (EEG). EEG measures voltage fluctuation along the scalp that results from the interaction between the neurons in the brain. These voltage fluctuations are processed and output to a microcontroller by the EEG sensor. The data packets obtained from the EEG sensor are stored in microcontroller. The attention and meditation levels are obtained from the processed data. These levels are used to control the direction and motion of the Wheel Chair.


Introduction: Leukoencephalopathy with brain stem and spinal cord involvement and lactate elevation (LBSL) is caused by a recessive mutation in the DARS2 gene and can be recognized by specific magnetic resonance imaging patterns. Case Report: A girl who developed leg tremors at age 4 years was diagnosed at age 17 years with LBSL -after evolution of ataxia and sensory loss. Examination at age 29 revealed mild spastic gait, ataxia, and sensory loss, and she did not require assistance to walk. Conclusion: This report illustrates the clinical and magnetic resonance imaging characteristics of a slowly progressive long-term course of childhood-onset LBSL.


2,3,4 Abstract: In this paper we propose a method to get the exact output for the query what a user enters, Since the search process becomes in-effective nowadays. To overcome this problem we can subdivide inferring process into different steps. When the query is submitted to the search engine, the query is forwarded to analyse. Analysing process is based on number of search results for that particular query and click through log is obtained. A framework is discovered from user click through log to cluster feedback session. From feedback session pseudo documents are generated to cluster search goals. Then CAP is formulated to evaluate the performance of inferring user search goal.


This paper presents a cooperative coevolutive approach for designing neural network ensembles. Cooperative coevolution is a recent paradigm in evolutionary computation that allows the effective modeling of cooperative environments. Although theoretically, a single neural network with a sufficient number of neurons in the hidden layer would suffice to solve any problem, in practice many real-world problems are too hard to construct the appropriate network that solve them. In such problems, neural network ensembles are a successful alternative. Nevertheless, the design of neural network ensembles is a complex task. In this paper, we propose a general framework for designing neural network ensembles by means of cooperative coevolution. The proposed model has two main objectives: first, the improvement of the combination of the trained individual networks; second, the cooperative evolution of such networks, encouraging collaboration among them, instead of a separate training of each network. In order to favor the cooperation of the networks, each network is evaluated throughout the evolutionary process using a multiobjective method. For each network, different objectives are defined, considering not only its performance in the given problem, but also its cooperation with the rest of the networks. In addition, a population of ensembles is evolved, improving the combination of networks and obtaining subsets of networks to form ensembles that perform better than the combination of all the evolved networks. The proposed model is applied to ten real-world classification problems of a very different nature from the UCI machine learning repository and proben1 benchmark set. In all of them the performance of the model is better than the performance of standard ensembles in terms of generalization error. Moreover, the size of the obtained ensembles is also smaller.


Alcohol Policy and the Public Good, by Griffith Edwards et al. (Oxford, New York and Tokyo: Oxford University Press, 1994), 226 pp., $26.95 (paper only). I remember vividly my first encounter with Alcohol Policy and the Public Good, a recent volume sponsored by the World Health Organization's (WHO's) Regional Office for Europe. It was in November 1994, in a basement room of a Washington, DC, hotel at the end of the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association, where several of the authors had assembled to announce its publication and to review its findings. The room was nearly empty, the presentations informative if dry, the atmosphere typical of many APHA sessions-bored and quiet. There had been a press release regarding the session, but no press came to the event-or, perhaps more accurately, to the non-event. Yet I found myself in a state of euphoria at the end of the session. Despite the stale atmosphere, despite the dry presentations, despite the stiff writing of this volume, I recognized immediately its importance to the alcohol policy field and the potential for advancing effective policy measures on an international scale. My excitement and expectations soon proved to be justified. Before Alcohol Policy and the Public Good was even available in the United States, it had caused a storm of controversy in England and Europe. The Portman Group, an industry-funded lobbying group based in London that has as its mission keeping alcohol policy advocates at bay, had secretly offered several researchers large fees in exchange for negative anonymous reviews of the book. Professor Nick Heather, one of the researchers whom the Portman Group approached, blew the whistle, and the incident was prominently reported in the press. Dr. John Rae, the director of the Portman Group, was unapologetic: "I want to ensure the debate is not dominated by views of the anti-alcohol lobby," which, he claims, includes ideologues rather than scholars (The Globe, 1995). But the industry had shot itself in the foot. The furor generated by the attempted purchase of negative reviews gave the volume more publicity and notoriety than the authors could possibly have anticipated. Understanding the political context The notoriety that Alcohol Policy and the Public Good has received since its publication appears at first glance to be unwarranted. It provides no new theoretical understanding of alcohol problems and no new insights regarding strategies for their prevention. Rather, it simply builds on previous work of the last two decades: the WHO-sponsored report Alcohol Control Policies in Public Health Perspective (Bruun et al., 1975); the International Study on Alcohol Control Experiences, a two-volume report also sponsored by WHO (Makela et al., 1981; Single, Morgan and de Lint, 1981); and Alcohol and Public Policy: Beyond the Shadow of Prohibition, a report of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States (Moore and Gerstein, 1981), among others. In one sense, Alcohol Policy and the Public Good is simply an extended, annotated bibliography, cataloguing the research conducted in the last two decades that substantiates the theoretical framework and conclusions established in these earlier reports. Alcohol Policy and the Public Good's review of the research literature is itself an important achievement, despite the sometimes uneven writing style that is inevitable in such collaborations of distinguished international scholars. Yet other reviews have already been written (e.g., Walsh, Elinson, and Farrell, 1993; Gruenewald, 1993; Moskowitz, 1989; Ashley and Rankin, 1988; Holder, 1987; Room, 1984), and none of the conclusions or findings are new or very surprising to those in the field. So why is this volume so significant and controversial? The answer to this question lies in its thoroughness, timing and sponsorship. The Portman Group has responded to Alcohol Policy and the Public Good with deadly seriousness for very good political (not research) reasons. …


Software Defined Networks (SDN) is an emerging network paradigm that has brought a fundamental change to the traditional network by physically separating the control plane from the forwarding plane. The control plane is moved to a dedicated controller, which manages one or more underlying forwarding plane switches. Although the research on SDN has drawn considerable attention, still major concerns lie in addressing the scalability and security issues. To address the scalability issue, deploying multiple controllers is a possible solution. However, introducing multiple controllers creates other potential problems. For a given network to obtain the optimum number of controllers and their positions is an open question. In this aspect, our placement strategy minimizes switches to controller latency and ensure a failure-free control path scenario. To obtain a feasible solution we have used three population-based meta-heuristic techniques such as Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), FireFly Algorithm (FFA), and Genetic Algorithm (GA). The efficient sharing of control requests generated from switches to controller is an important research topic. To balance the controller load, dynamic switch migration is a promising approach, for which the selection process of switch and target controller plays an important role. As a solution to this issue, our switch migration strategy selects a switch with less control request to a target controller with less load variance. From a security viewpoint, the control plane is always on the verge of potential cyber threats like side channel attack, fake rule installation, data alteration etc. Notably, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks in control plane, is still a significantly challenging task. The proposed two-stage detection model can detect the DDoS attack on controller in an early stage. At first stage, the model uses the centralized traffic monitoring of SDN, to verify whether the incoming traffic is attack traffic or not. Once it confirms the attack alert, the second stage starts classifying and mitigating the attack. For an early detection of DDoS traffic, we have employed generalized entropy (GE) as the information distance metric at the controller. Moreover, we have trained the model with various Machine Learning techniques, for classifying different ongoing attacks. Such a classifier can fit into the proposed detection model which is capable of classifying different type of attacks with higher accuracy and lesser overhead to the controller. The outcomes of the simulation results signify the usefulness and effectiveness of the proposed approaches for addressing the scalability and security issues of SDN.


The first step in heme biosynthesis is the formation of 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA). Mutations in two genes, hemA and hemL, result in auxotrophy for ALA in Salmonella typhimurium, but the roles played by these genes and the mechanism of ALA synthesis are not understood. I have cloned and sequenced the S. typhimurium hemA gene. The predicted polypeptide sequence for the HemA protein shows no similarity to known ALA synthases, and no ALA synthase activity was detected in extracts prepared from strains carrying the cloned hemA gene. Genetic analysis, DNA sequencing of amber mutations, and maxicell studies proved that the open reading frame identified in the DNA sequence encodes HemA. Another surprising finding of this study is that hemA lies directly upstream of prfA, which encodes peptide chain release factor 1 (RF-1). A hemA::Kan insertion mutation, constructed in vitro, was transferred to the chromosome and used to show that these two genes form an operon. The hemA gene ends with an amber codon, recognized by RF-1. I suggest a model for autogenous control of prfA expression by translation reinitiation.


Background: Blood trace elements of people who are living or working in areas with high radioactivity have an important role in vital processes. The scope of this work is to measure the concentrations of blood trace elements of permanent workers in Mahallat′s hot springs. Materials and Methods: In this study, 30 persons of hot springs permanent workers in Mahallat (mean background dose: 21.6 mSv) were selected as a sample group and 30 persons with similar social class who received a normal background dose and were not engaged in any type of radiation work were selected as a control group. Five milliliters of blood sample was taken from each person and after preparation of the samples, the concentration of copper, iron, zinc and magnesium was measured with atomic absorption spectrometry. Results: The average concentration of copper, iron, zinc and magnesium in the irradiated group was 0.67±0.11, 1.54±0.41, 1.76±0.34 and 19.78±1.42, respectively and in the control group, was 0.78±0.06, 1.06±0.15, 0.85±0.05 and 20.34±0.57, respectively. Values of copper and magnesium in workers were found to be less than that of the control group. The mean concentration of iron and zinc in permanent workers was significantly more than that of the control group (P<0.05). Overall, no meaningful statistical correlation was found between the concentration of magnesium among the permanent presence in the area (P>0.05). Conclusions: The results showed that increases in the average concentrations of Zn and Fe and decreases in the concentration of Cu of workers was observed. The finding also showed that the probability of chronic exposure effects on body trace element concentrations was increases and each value of the doses could be dangerous.


In order to make the effect of processing clear, AM50A magnesium casting alloys were extruded at various extrusion conditions such as extrusion temperature and extrusion ratio. The mechanical properties of AM50A alloy increased with decreasing extrusion temperature. Tensile yield strength and tensile strength of extruded AM50A alloy were 389MPa and 420MPa respectively when the extrusion temperature was 348K. The microstructure of the extruded magnesium alloy showed large grains stretched to the extrusion direction and fine recrystallized grains. Decreased extrusion temperature resulted in improved strength and decreased elongation with increasing of the degree of work hardens and extrusion force. When the extrusion ratio is high, improvement of strength is prevented by rycrystallization and it was observed as crystal orientation by XRD. The elongation of the extrusion increased with the recrystallization of grains. Every magnesium alloy extruded at low temperature has high strength.


pathologist to advocate for general use techniques which, although suitable for his own laboratory and within the scope of the facilities at his disposal, may be quite impracticable and even dangerous for other institutions less well equipped. Dr. George Discombe (Journal, September 5, p. 569) does less than justice to the Consulting Pathologists Group Committee (Journal, August 15, p. 390). This Group is doing a service to the whole profession by ventilating the necessity for greater care and expert supervision in all stages of blood transfusion. It is particularly gratifying to note the Committee's reference to over-prescribing and to its plea for closer co-operation between clinicians and pathologists in this important field.


A 60-year-old man underwent computed tomography as part of colorectal cancer follow-up. A hypervascular nodule was found within the pancreatic tail and subsequently proved to be positive on [111In] DTPA-octreotide scan. A neuroendocrine tumor of the pancreas was supposed and a distal pancreatectomy performed. Heterotopic splenic tissue was finally proved by pathological examination. The present case suggests that intrapancreatic accessory spleen be considered in the differential diagnosis of pancreatic lesions positive on [111In] DTPA-octreotide scan.


BACKGROUND
Interactive voice response (IVR) technology integrates touch-tone telephones with computer-automated data processing. IVR offers a convenient, efficient method for remote collection of self-report data.

METHODS
Twenty-six subjects recruited from an outpatient alcohol treatment center completed IVR and paper/pencil versions of a demographic and drinking history questionnaire, Stages of Change Readiness and Treatment Eagerness Scale, Drinker Inventory of Consequences, Obsessive-Compulsive Drinking Scale, Alcohol Dependence Scale, and two numerical rating scales of craving and desire to drink during the prior week. Administration of the instruments in both formats was repeated 1 week later. The order of administration method was counterbalanced between subjects and reversed across data collection sessions. Scale and subscale scores from both methods were correlated within sessions. Test-retest correlations were also calculated for each method. A criterion of alpha = 0.01 was used to control type I statistical error.

RESULTS
Intermethod correlations within each session were significant for all of the instruments administered. Test-retest correlations for both methods were also significant, except for the numerical ratings. Scores on the Alcohol Dependence Scale obtained via IVR were significantly lower than those collected by paper/pencil. Other differences between the data collection methods or across the sessions were inconsistent. The average IVR call length was 34 min and 23 sec. Paper/pencil forms required an average of 18 min and 38 sec to complete and an additional 10 min and 17 sec for data entry.

CONCLUSIONS
IVR technology provides a convenient alternative to collecting self-report measures of treatment outcomes. Both paper/pencil and IVR assessments provide highly convergent data and demonstrate good test-retest reliability. Alcohol Dependence Scale score differences between methods highlight special considerations for IVR adaptation of existing paper/pencil instruments. Benefits of IVR include procedural standardization, automatic data scoring, direct electronic storage, and remote accessibility from multiple locations.


Based on low-temperature hot-press sintering and rapid thermit reaction, heat-resistant metal matrix composites with nano-ceramic reinforcement were prepared via reactive hot pressing. According to XRD, the composites comprised predominantly of (fcc) Cr0.19Fe0.7Ni0.11, (fcc) Fe-Cr and alumina at 700°C through the highly-exothermic thermit reaction between the starting powders. Three-point bending strength, fracture toughness, Vickers hardness and relative density increased with the increase of hot-press sintering temperature and holding time. The improving mechanical properties may be explained by increasing of content of (fcc) Cr0.19Fe0.7Ni0.11. SEM analysis showed a microstructure consisting of equiaxial granules at 700°C for 1 h and a uniformly dispersed network of very fine grains at 700°C for 2 h. It is considered that, in the reactive hot-pressing process, Al atoms diffused into the metal matrix (Fe2O3, Cr, Ni) sites and formed Al2O3 and Fe-Cr-Ni matrix. Such a technique offers the possibility of synthesizing heat-resistant metal matrix composites with nano-ceramic reinforcement materials at considerably lower temperature.


To evaluate the morphologic basis of the different outcomes of toluene diisocyanate (TDI) asthma after quitting occupational exposure, we examined ten patients with TDI asthma who showed, at diagnosis, a positive TDI challenge test and nonspecific bronchial hyperresponsiveness (NSBH) to methacholine. After diagnosis, all patients ceased work and a 4- to 40-month follow-up was obtained with three to eight determinations of the cumulative dose producing a 15 percent fall in FEV1 (PD15FEV1) methacholine in each patient. Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and biopsy of bronchial muscosa were performed 3 to 39 months after cessation of work, in the absence of acute exacerbations of the disease. Total cell count in BAL fluid was moderately increased in four of ten patients, eosinophils were increased in five of ten patients, and neutrophils were increased in eight of ten patients. Mucosal biopsy specimens of main or lobar bronchi were available in eight of ten patients; epithelial damage and thickening of basement membrane was observed in almost all patients, as well as a mild-to-moderate inflammatory reaction in the submucosa, mainly represented by lymphocytes, eosinophils, and neutrophils. No relationship was observed between the cellularity of BAL and the degree of NSBH at the time of BAL; mean values of total cells and differential count were not different between patients with presence or absence of the different histologic findings. Mucosal biopsy and BAL were performed also in four subjects exposed to dusts without respiratory symptoms or NSBH; similar findings were obtained except for the absence of eosinophils in BAL and a lesser degree of basement membrane thickening and inflammatory reaction in the submucosa. The study of the changes in NSBH after quitting exposure showed that five of ten patients had a significant improvement in NSBH to methacholine, as evaluated by a positive significant linear regression between months of work cessation and PD15FEV1 methacholine; only one of these five patients had an increased number of eosinophils in BAL fluid. By contrast, four of the five patients with persistent NSBH after quitting exposure had an increased number of eosinophils in BAL. We suggest that persistent NSBH in TDI asthma after cessation of work may be related to an inflammatory reaction in which eosinophil infiltration seems to be a major determinant.


The conduct of the electrical networks has known in recent years major changes induced mainly by the technological development of power electronics as well as information systems and communication (Smart Grid), in addition to this is the integration of intermittent sources of production and competitive requirements advocating the power quality and the continuity of service as major objectives. That said it is understood that the electrical networks have a set of vulnerabilities due to the intrinsic parameters.The new concept of electrical networks regulation based on topological control can prevent major incidents following a saturation of transmission lines by providing a means of optimized regulation and means of safer and more effective communication.


Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) is a heterogeneous group of connective tissue disorders. Recently mutations have been found in the genes for type V collagen in a small number of people with the most common forms of EDS, types I and II. Here we characterise a COL5A2 mutation in an EDS II family. Cultured dermal fibroblasts obtained from an affected subject synthesised abnormal type V collagen. Haplotype analysis excluded COL5A1 but was concordant with COL5A2 as the disease locus. The entire open reading frame of the COL5A2 cDNA was directly sequenced and a single base mutation detected. It substituted a glycine residue within the triple helical domain (G934R) of alpha2(V) collagen, typical of the dominant negative changes in other collagens, which cause various other inherited connective tissue disorders. All three affected family members possessed the single base change, which was absent in 50 normal chromosomes.


We systematically reviewed evidence of disparities in tobacco marketing at tobacco retailers by sociodemographic neighborhood characteristics. We identified 43 relevant articles from 893 results of a systematic search in 10 databases updated May 28, 2014. We found 148 associations of marketing (price, placement, promotion, or product availability) with a neighborhood demographic of interest (socioeconomic disadvantage, race, ethnicity, and urbanicity). Neighborhoods with lower income have more tobacco marketing. There is more menthol marketing targeting urban neighborhoods and neighborhoods with more Black residents. Smokeless tobacco products are targeted more toward rural neighborhoods and neighborhoods with more White residents. Differences in store type partially explain these disparities. There are more inducements to start and continue smoking in lower-income neighborhoods and in neighborhoods with more Black residents. Retailer marketing may contribute to disparities in tobacco use. Clinicians should be aware of the pervasiveness of these environmental cues.


Nowadays, electronic devices are getting more complex, which make it also more difficult to use a single reasoning technique to meet the demands of the fault diagnosis. Integrating two or more reasoning techniques becomes a trend in developing intelligent diagnosis. In this paper we discuss the intelligent diagnosis problems and propose a diagnosis architecture for composite systems, which combines rule-based diagnosis and model-based diagnosis. These two diagnosis programs not only work efficiently with machine learning in different stages of the fault diagnosis process, but also efficiently improve the process by making the best use of their individual advantages


Efforts to promote corporate environmental responsibility (CER) require an understanding of stakeholder attitudes towards enhanced accountability. However, little is known about current attitudes on this subject. This study presents a survey of the attitudes of corporate managers across Australia and India towards 16 key contemporary environmental responsibility issues. The study sought to explore whether respondents from these countries, characterised by differing levels of development, differ in their attitudes towards environmental responsibility (ER). The findings indicate that Indian respondents were stronger in their support, and identified a select few issues to be more important over other environmental factors. Although Australian respondents moderately supported most of the environmental issues, they were not prominent in supporting most environmental issues under question. Results indicated overall positive attitudes towards ER by both the groups of respondents. Significant differences did exist between the 318 respondents on 8 of the 16 questions. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) confirmed three distinct environmental factors for Australian respondents and four environmental factors for Indian respondents.


Faced by a growing need of identification and delimitation of new and established cryptic species that are being lost at an increasing rate, taxonomists can now more than ever take advantage of an enormous variety of new molecular and computational tools. At this moment they should be open to all new available technologies in the so called 'technology-driven revolution' in systematics. The use of the 'DNA barcode' has been discussed by those applying successfully this approach to identify and diagnose species and by those who believe that the flaws in the use of this molecular marker are as many as to negate the worth of its employment. For insects of the order Lepidoptera neither side seems totally correct or wrong, and although many groups of lepidopterans have been taxonomically resolved by using exclusively or additionally this marker for diagnoses, for others the 'barcode' helped little to resolve taxonomic issues. Here we briefly present some pros and cons of using DNA barcode as a tool in taxonomic studies, with special attention to studies with groups of Lepidoptera developed in the last few years.


This paper focuses on the impact of agricultural support policies on the distribution of farming incomes, using measures to characterise and quantify the redistributive effects that are based on the change in the absolute Gini index. The provision of support to Scottish agriculture is found to have been at best ineffective as a means to reduce the average size of income disparities between farms. Agricultural policy is further shown to have been inefficient as a redistributive tool because of the adverse distributional effect of the re-ranking of farms induced by the provision of support.


Social exclusion can produce harmful affective and cognitive responses that undermine healthy functioning. Physical activity is known to have acute affective and cognitive effects that are adaptive and therefore may mitigate these responses. The purpose of this study was to assess walking as a strategy to reduce the effects of social exclusion on affect and working memory performance. Healthy female college students (N = 96, Mage = 19.2 ± 0.8 years) were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions: (a) sedentary plus neutral feedback, (b) sedentary plus exclusion feedback, (c) walking plus neutral feedback, or (d) walking plus exclusion feedback. Pre- and postactivity and pre- and postfeedback measures of affect and working memory performance were recorded. Excluded participants had a significant negative shift in affect following feedback, p < .05. Those who were sedentary prior to exclusion had lower affect scores following exclusion than the walking plus exclusion and neutral feedback conditions, p < .05. There were no direct effects of walking or social exclusion on working memory. However, perceptions of being ignored predicted smaller improvements in working memory performance for participants who were sedentary prior to exclusion, p < .05. The findings suggest that walking prior to social exclusion may mitigate the affective response to social exclusion as well as social perceptions that can undermine working memory. More broadly, this work supports continued examination of physical activity as a potential strategy for helping individuals cope with negative social experiences.


Neurofibromatosis type 1, NF-1, is a common monogenic (NF1) disease, characterized by highly variable clinical presentation and high predisposition for tumors, especially those of astrocytic origin (low- to high-grade gliomas). Unfortunately, very few genotype–phenotype correlations have been possible, and the numerous identified mutations do not offer help for prognosis and patient counselling. Whole gene deletion in animals does not successfully model the disease, as NF-1 cases caused by point mutations could be differentially affected by cell type-specific alternative splice variants of NF1. In this chapter, we will discuss the differential Microtubule-Associated-Protein (MAP) properties of NLS or ΔNLS neurofibromins, produced by the alternatively splicing of exon 51, which also contains a Nuclear Localization Sequence (NLS), in the assembly of the mitotic spindle and in faithful genome transmission. We will also commend on the major theme that emerges about NLS-containing tumor suppressors that function as mitotic MAPs.


In this article the author considers theoretical aspects of a new ecological or sustainable approach to city planning. The article explores inter-disciplinarity: the arguments for planning in the natural sciences (ecological rationality) and the social sciences (social rationality) and their interconnections (nature contract).


Emergent literacy is the term used to describe the reading and writing experiences of young children before they learn to write and read conventionally, and it is important for the construction of children's early reading skills and the enhancement of their later reading performance. The systematic review was conducted to examine the effectiveness of children's interactive reading apps in promoting emergent literacy for children between the ages of three and eight over the last decade (2013-2022). A total of 50 studies were included in this review, and it can be concluded that multimedia features (e.g., a dictionary, background music, and animated pictures) in children's interactive reading apps are effective for enhancing emergent literacy. Conversely, interactive functions (such as games and hotspots) may distract children's attention, leading to poor reading performances. This review also demonstrated the positive effects of children's interactive reading apps on improving their learning outcomes and behavior. In addition, the results indicated that well-designed apps could promote children's emerging literacy skills. However, more in-depth studies will be required in the future to provide designers with a well-defined guideline for designing reading apps for children.


There is growing interest in the use of virtual gaming worlds in education, supported by the increased use of multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) and massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) for collaborative learning. However, this paper argues that collaborative gaming worlds have been in use much longer and are much wider in scope; it considers the range of collaborative gaming worlds that exist and discusses their potential for learning, with particular reference to higher education. The paper discusses virtual gaming worlds from a theoretical pedagogic perspective, exploring the educational benefits of gaming environments. Then practical considerations associated with the use of virtual gaming worlds in formal settings in higher education are considered. Finally, the paper considers development options that are open to educators, and discusses the potential of Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) for learning in higher education. In all, this paper hopes to provide a balanced overview of the range of virtual gaming worlds that exist, to examine some of the practical considerations associated with their use, and to consider their benefits and challenges in learning and teaching in the higher education context. Keywords: virtual environments; game-based learning; constructivist learning environments DOI: 10.1080/09687760802526756


The background for this study is that many Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) are currently introduced in passenger vehicles aiming at providing increased traffic safety. This provides a need to assess the traffic safety effects from these systems. The question that this report highlights is how these systems are designed and how the effects are evaluated. The review resulted in identification of 300 references of which the most relevant are found in this report. The report contains a description of the background of why and how 20 systems or groups of systems have been developed, in which vehicles they can be found, a short technical description of how they work, publication of traffic safety effects and future development plans. Regarding statistical methods, an overview of how they work and the results when using these methods on ITS are described. In addition, the report contains a summary of ways of assessing safety effects from areas such as food, nuclear power and pharmaceutical industries. The conclusion is that there are currently many different ways of supporting the driver in the task of driving the vehicle. Regarding the impact on traffic safety of these systems it is still an open question which evaluation methods to use. (A). http://www.vti.se/EPiBrowser/Publikationer/R604ASVE.pdf


Ordered reconstruction phases on the 4H-SiC(1102) surface have been investigated using low-energy electron diffraction (LEED), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). After initial hydrogen etching, the samples were prepared by Si deposition and annealing in ultra-high vacuum (UHV). Two distinct reconstruction phases develop upon annealing, first with a (2×1), and at higher temperatures with a c(2×2) LEED pattern. After further annealing the fractional order LEED spots vanish and a (1x1) pattern develops. For the (2×1) phase, STM micrographs show that adatom chains develop on large flat terraces, which in view of AES consist of additional Si. These highly linear and equidistant chains represent a self-assembled well-ordered pattern of nanowires developing due to the intrinsic structure of the 4H-SiC(1102) surface. For the c(2×2) phase AES indicates a surface composition close to the bulk stoichiometry. For the (1×1) phase a further Si depletion is observed.


Vacuum insulation panels (VIPs) are increasingly being explored in building applications. Typically used in industrial processes such as aerospace engineering, cryogenics and refrigerator manufacturing, VIPs have been proven to provide a higher thermal resistance per inch than typical building insulation materials. However, there is speculation on the performance of these panels over an extended period of time due to various factors which gradually cause a reduction in thermal resistance. The purpose of this research project is to identify these variables and how they alter VIP performance over the product's service life. Based on a thorough literature review, the critical components were interpreted to develop a numerical model which can predict the future performance of VIPs as they age, based on initial material properties. This model is intended to benefit designers and researchers in the construction industry; in understanding the potential for vacuum insulation to contribute to building envelope design.

The results of calculation proved to be complementary to experimental results provided by the NRC, (initial calculated conductivities ranged from 4.17x10

The highest calculated conductivity was attributed to the low quality metalized (MF) VIP with a final conductivity after accelerated aging of 5.29 x 10

Some observations included that there is little difference between aluminum and metallic foils in their initial conductivity; however the aluminum foils represented in this report outperformed the chosen metallic foils over time, as they provided smaller gas and water vapour transmission rates. The core material variables with the greatest impact on performance were density and porosity. Some of the simulated panels exceeded the conductivity limit before the end of their service life, while others did not. Therefore the conclusion for VIP performance overall cannot be confirmed, although the development of standards within the industry would ensure high quality material integration within building systems.


This work reviews the advanced engineering materials widely used in the aerospace and automotive industries, with specific emphasis on titanium, aluminium and their alloys. It shows that titanium alloys are being used extensively in aircraft engine parts, while aluminium and its alloys have found broad application areas in airframe structures and various vehicle components. Due to their superior mechanical and physical properties, aluminium matrix nanocomposites have been used in several demanding fields, and among them, Al-Al2O3 nanocomposites provide a lightweight material with better wear resistance and thermal stability at elevated temperatures. To produce Al-Al2O3 nanocrystalline powders, a high- energy ball milling process could be an effective but simple approach. A selective laser melting (SLM) process could be used to produce advanced Al-Al2O3 nanocomposites as it has the potential to create final parts in any complex shape but without waste. Although several challenges are inherent to this process, such as high reflectivity, high thermal conductivity and oxidation, the future of the SLM of Al-Al2O3 nanocomposites is promising as research continues to focus on addressing these problems.


Angular scattering measurements on fluoride glass fibers or bulk samples are reported. Patterns obtained on crystallites or bubbles give several peaks which are dependent on particle size and refractive index. Peak positions and scattering levels on the experimental curves are interpreted using Mie scattering theory. Particle sizing is possible and the refractive index can be estimated.


Introduction Authorship parasitism (ie, no authors affiliated with the country in which the study took place) occurs frequently in research conducted in low-income and middle-income countries, despite published recommendations defining authorship criteria. The objective was to compare characteristics of articles exhibiting authorship parasitism in sub-Saharan Africa to articles with author representation from sub-Saharan African countries. Methods A bibliometric review of articles indexed in PubMed published from January 2014 through December 2018 reporting research conducted in sub-Saharan Africa was performed. Author affiliations were assigned to countries based on regular expression algorithms. Choropleth maps and network diagrams were created to determine where authorship parasitism occurred, and multivariable logistic regression was used to determine associated factors. Results Of 32 061 articles, 14.8% (n=4754) demonstrated authorship parasitism, which was most common among studies from Somalia (n=175/233, 75.1%) and Sao Tome and Principe (n=20/28, 71.4%). Authors affiliated with USA and UK institutions were most commonly involved in articles exhibiting authorship parasitism. Authorship parasitism was more common in articles: published in North American journals (adjusted OR (aOR) 1.26, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.50) than in sub-Saharan African journals, reporting work from multiple sub-Saharan African countries (aOR 8.41, 95% CI 7.30 to 9.68) compared with work from upper-middle income sub-Saharan African countries, with <5 authors (aOR 14.46, 95% CI 12.81 to 16.35) than >10 authors, and was less common in articles published in French (aOR 0.60, 95% CI 0.41 to 0.85) than English. Conclusions Authorship parasitism was common in articles reporting research conducted in sub-Saharan Africa. There were reliable predictors of authorship parasitism. Investigators and institutions in high-income countries, as well as funding agencies and journals should promote research from sub-Saharan Africa, including its publication, in a collaborative and equitable manner.


Aim of study – morphological analysis of the osteoplastic effectiveness of bone tissue biomineral (BTB) obtained without thermal and demineralizing processing, as well as studying the mechanisms of reparative osteogenesis for BTB implantation into bone defects. An experimental-and-morphological study was performed on 30 mature Wistar rats of control and experimental groups, in which perforation defects were produced in the proximal third of tibial shaft. In the experimental group an implant was inserted into the site of defect – granulated BTB. Surgical interventions were performed under general anesthesia. Animals were withdrawn from the experiment after 1, 2, and 3 weeks. The bones operated were fixed and embedded in paraffin and araldit. Histological sections were stained with hematoxylineosin and with picrofuchsin by Van Gieson. The chemical composition and surface microrelief of BTB granules were investigated using an electron-probe microanalyzer and a scanning electron microscope, the intensity of osteogenesis process was determined, as well as the degree of maturity of newly formed bone tissue in regenerated bone. The results of the study performed evidence the fact that early intense angiogenesis is provided, activation of reparative posttraumatic osteogenesis occurs, acceleration of both remodeling and organotypical restoration of the bone involved take place in case of BTB implantation into bone defects.


The purpose of this study is to find natural gait of biped robot such as human being by analyzing the COG (Center Of Gravity) trajectory of human being's gait. It is discovered that human beings gait naturally maintain the stability and use the minimum energy. This paper intends to find the natural gait pattern of biped robot using the minimum energy as well as maintaining the stability by analyzing the human's gait pattern that is measured from gait image on the sagittal plane and COG trajectory on the frontal plane. It is not possible to apply the torques of human's articulation to those of biped robot's because they have different degrees of freedom. Nonetheless, human and 5-link biped robots are similar in kinematics. For this, we generate gait pattern of the 5-link biped robot by using the GA algorithm of adaptation gait pattern which utilize the human's ZMP (Zero Moment Point) and torque of all articulation that are measured from human's gait pattern. The algorithm proposed creates biped robot's fluent gait pattern as that of human being's and to minimize energy consumption because the gait pattern of the 5-link biped robot model is modeled after consideration about the torque of human's each articulation on the sagittal plane and ZMP trajectory on the frontal plane. This paper demonstrate that the algorithm proposed is superior by evaluating 2 kinds of the 5-link biped robot applied to each gait patterns generated both in the general way using inverse kinematics and in the special way in which by considering visuality and efficiency. Keywords—5-link biped robot, gait pattern, COG (Center Of Gravity), ZMP (Zero Moment Point).


Sardar Ahmad, Bushra Shafi, Assadullah & Mussawar Shah Abstract The past two decades have witnessed a growing interest among researchers in exploring the linkages between the media and the attitudes and behaviours of young people in Pakistan. In the context of increased trend of watching of movies, this paper tries to explore the specific viewing patterns of movies in the adoption of deviant behaviour among young students. A sample of 360 respondents was selected on random sampling procedure from two Universities situated in Peshawar, namely The Agriculture University and Preston University Peshawar. Likert scale was used as measurement tool and association of variables was ascertained by using Chi-square test. The relationship between dependent variable (adopting deviant behaviors) and independent variables (preferred country for watching movies, place of watching movies, with home watch movies, types of movies watch) were tested by Chi Square Test. Other roles and viewing patterns will be discussed at the end of the paper with recommendations on how to tackle the issue in Khyber PakhtunKhwa, Pakistan.


The occurrence of environmental conditions favorable for severe convective storms was assessed in an ensemble of 14 regional climate models covering Europe and the Mediterranean with a horizontal grid spacing of 0.448. These conditions included the collocated presence of latent instability and strong deep-layer (surface to 500 hPa) wind shear, which is conducive to the severe andwell-organized convective storms. The occurrence of precipitation in the models was used as a proxy for convective initiation. Two climate scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) were investigated by comparing two future periods (2021–50 and 2071–2100) to a historical period (1971–2000) for each of these scenarios. The ensemble simulates a robust increase (change larger than twice the ensemble sample standard deviation) in the frequency of occurrence of unstable environments (lifted index 15 m/s) deep-layer shear were found to be small and not robust, except across far northern Europe, where a decrease in shear is projected. By the end of the century, the simultaneous occurrence of latent instability, strong deep-layer shear, andmodel precipitation is simulated to increase by up to 100% across central and eastern Europe in the RCP8.5 and by 30%–50% in the RCP4.5 scenario. Until midcentury, increases in the 10%–25%range are forecast formost regions.Alarge intermodel variability is present in the ensemble and is primarily due to the uncertainties in the frequency of the occurrence of unstable environments.


Seasonal Climate Outlooks have been issued in
Australia since the late 1980s. The Commonwealth
Bureau of Meteorology, together with the
Queensland Department of Primary Industries, and
the Queensland Department of Natural Resources
and Mines (under the Queensland Centre for
Climate Applications (QCCA) project) have been
providing climate forecast output since the late
1980s and early 1990s, respectively. Publicly
available forecasts from both organisations
generally take the form of probabilities that total
seasonal (three-month) rainfall will be above the
relative climatological median, with the probability
of below median rainfall being immediately
derivable. A supplementary derived forecast output
from The Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology
and QCCA issued on subscription provides the
probability of seasonal rainfall falling into the
three terciles (obtained by splitting the distribution
into three equal categories by frequency).
Tercile probabilities are obtained by means of a
notional shifted distribution which is not normally
issued pUblicly. This notional shifted distribution
could, in principle, be broken down into finer levels
of discrimination (quartiles, quintiles, deciles) in
a way which is statistically consistent with the
larger category probabilities, with the calculation
of associated hindcast skill estimates giving some
insight into the advisability of such a procedure.
However, this type of output is not currently being
produced or available for users. Interestingly, tests
on historical data suggest rather more skill for
forecasting the outer terciles (loosely, the tails of
the distribution) than for the middle tercile. With
this point in mind, the Bureau's current seasonal
forecasting model does not show strong probability
shifts towards the middle tercile in its three forecast
variables.
We have recently applied the 'Binomial Test' as a
means of assessing the appropriateness of
provision of data in the lowest quartile and decile.
In this way we suggest use of the lowest tercile,
quartile, or decile in climate forecast output may
be useful for enhancing drought prediction.


Abstract This article investigates the situation of non-camp Syrian refugees living in İzmir with a focus on socio-economic prospects and challenges concerning their survival and integration on the one hand and social acceptance by the host Turkish society on the other. The data were generated by semi-structured interviews conducted between February and April 2014 with non-camp Syrian refugees and Turkish citizens living in İzmir. The empirical research intends to contribute to the literature through insights on the socio-economic conditions of non-camp Syrians, their level of integration to Turkish society, difficulties and challenges encountered and the perception of Turkish citizens about the rising Syrian population in Turkey. It argues that Turkey's open-border and 'temporary protection' policies are approaching their limits with the increasing number of new arrivals and the concomitant difficulties faced in integrating into Turkish society. The paper suggests that there is an urgent need to create a 'rights-based approach' with a long-term integration policy and presents policy recommendations which aim to extend and secure the rights of Syrians through socio-economic adjustments without jeopardizing their social acceptance from and peaceful co-existence with Turkish citizens.


Myelin sheaths, wrapping axons, perform the following important functions: support, protection, feeding and isolation. Injury of myelin compact structure leads to an impairment and severe illness of the nerve system. Exact mechanisms underlying the myelination process and myelin sheaths damage have not established yet. Therefore search for substances, which provide regulatory and protective effects on the normal myelination as well as stimulating action on the remyelination after myelin damage, is of special interest. Recently it was shown that extract from mushroom Hericium erinaceus had activating action on the nerve tissue. So the aim of the present work was to study an influence of an extract from H. erinaceus on the cerebellar cells and the process of myelination in vitro. Obtained data revealed the normal growth of the nerve and glial cells with extract at cultivating. No pathologic or toxic action of the extract has been found. The cell ultrastructure was intact and similar to that observed in vivo. The process of myelination in the presence of the extract began earlier as compared to controls and was characterised by a higher rate. Thus, extract of H. erinaceus promoted normal development of cultivated cerebellar cells and demonstrated a regulatory effect on the process of myelin genesis process in vitro.


S ince China entered the World Trade Organization in 2001, the extraordinary growth of trade between China and the United States has had a dramatic effect on U.S. workers and the domestic economy, though in neither case has this effect been beneficial. The United States is piling up foreign debt and losing export capacity, and the growing trade deficit with China has been a prime contributor to the crisis in U.S. manufacturing employment. Between 2001 and 2011, the trade deficit with China eliminated or displaced more than 2.7 million U.S. jobs, over 2.1 million of which (76.9 percent) were in manufacturing. These lost manufacturing jobs account for more than half of all U.S. manufacturing jobs lost or displaced between 2001 and 2011.


Cavitation, usually known as a destructive phenomenon, involves turbulent unsteady two-phase flow. Having such features, cavitating flows have been turned to a challenging topic in numerical studies and many researches are being done for better understanding of bubbly flows and proposing solutions to reduce its consequent destructive effects. Aeration may be regarded as an effective protection against cavitation erosion in many hydraulic structures, like gated tunnels. The paper concerns numerical simulation of flow in discharge gated tunnel of a dam using RNG model coupled with the volume of fluid (VOF) method and the zone which is susceptible of cavitation inception in the tunnel is predicted. Then a vent is considered in the mentioned zone for aeration and the numerical simulation is done again to study the effects of aeration. The results show that aeration is an impressively useful method to exclude cavitation in mentioned tunnels.