BACKGROUND
Enteric fever (EF) has become a travel-related disease in industrialized countries. The possible effects of vaccination on typhoid epidemiology in travelers are unknown. We compared the incidence and clinical and microbiologic findings in travelers returning with EF, according to pretravel vaccination status and vaccine type.

METHODS
We performed a nationwide descriptive analysis of EF incidence in Israeli travelers; EF is a notified disease in Israel. Data from 1995 through 2003 were evaluated; all cases of EF acquired during recent travel (6 wk) were included. From 1995 to 1999, the Ty21a oral vaccine was used exclusively in Israel. It was replaced with the Vi vaccine from 2000 to 2003. Patients with pretravel typhoid vaccination were compared with unvaccinated patients, and according to vaccine type.

RESULTS
Seventy-eight cases met our criteria. The causative agents were Salmonella typhi in 79.5% and Salmonella paratyphi A in 20.5%; 74.4% were acquired by travelers to the Indian Subcontinent. S. paratyphi A accounted for 10.5% of cases among Ty21a vaccinees as compared with 47.4% among Vi vaccinees (p = .02). For the Indian Subcontinent, the general attack rate of S. typhi and S. paratyphi A during the period of vaccination with Ty21a was 2.37 in 10,000 and 0.26 in 10,000 travelers, respectively, whereas during the period of vaccination with Vi, the attack rate was 1.40 in 10,000 and 0.79 in 10,000. There were no deaths; however, more complications and relapses occurred in the S. paratyphi A group.

CONCLUSIONS
Among Israeli travelers S. typhi infection is declining whereas S. paratyphi A is increasing, with most cases occurring in vaccinated travelers. Prior typhoid vaccination did not modify the course of the disease. S. paratyphi A infection in travelers is not milder than S. typhi infection. Although this is not a prospective, controlled, randomized trial, it appears that the Ty21a vaccine may be less effective for S. typhi but may offer some protection against S. paratyphi A. Sequential vaccination with the available oral and Vi vaccine may merit consideration. A more effective vaccine for S. typhi and S. paratyphi A is urgently needed.


The developed system of insurance protection is an integral part of functioning of high-grade market economy, both at state level, and at level of separately taken region. The national market of insurance болNŒNˆÐµÐ¹ is formed by degree at the expense of the regional markets in which development considerable disproportions now are observed. The problem of formation and development of the regional market of insurance is actual and unknown-explored. Author describes based functions of insurance market at regional level, offers a system of estimations of insurance potential of region, analyses dependences between insurance potential of region and social-economical development of region based on example of Permskiy kray.


Objective
To evaluate overactive bladder (OAB) in male and female patients with moderate or severe obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) and to investigate the impact of three months of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy on the symptoms of OAB.

Methods
Twenty-eight female and 45 male patients with moderate and severe OSAS whose obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) severity was evaluated according to the apnea-hypopnea index were included in the study. Patients' voiding symptoms were evaluated using the validated Turkish translations of overactive bladder symptom scores (OAB-V8) and the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire Short-Form (ICIQ-SF) at OSAS diagnosis and at 3-months after the CPAP therapy.

Results
Patients with moderate and severe OSAS were more likely to have OAB than the average population, and CPAP therapy improved the symptoms of OAB in both male and female patients. In addition, a positive association was observed between OSA severity and OAB-V8 and ICIQ-SF in female patients and between OSA severity and OAB-V8 in male patients.

Conclusion
Our findings suggest that CPAP therapy improves the clinical symptoms of OAB. Thus, unnecessary medical or interventional treatment of OAB can be avoided in such patients.


We prove convergence of an approximate Bayesian estimator for the (scalar) location estimation problem by recourse to a histogram approximant.We exploit its tractability to present a simple strategy for managing the tradeoff between accuracy and complexity through the cardinality of the underlying partition. Our theoretical results provide explicit (conservative) sufficient conditions under which convergence is guaranteed. Numerical simulations reveal certain extreme cases in which the conditions may be tight, and suggest that this procedure has performance and computational efficiency favorably comparable to particle filters, while affording the aforementioned analytical benefits. We posit that more sophisticated algorithms can make such piecewise-constant representations similarly feasible for very high-dimensional problems.


Due to the advantages of convenience, and difficulty of detection, copy-move forgery is one of the most common audio forgery forms. It is significant to decide whether there is a duplicated segment in the audio. In order to detect copy-move forgery, a new method is proposed in this paper. In the proposed algorithm, first the audio is segmented into syllables using a pitch tracking method. Second, each syllable analyzed with a 1-D local binary pattern operator. This operator calculates the histogram of each syllable. Mean square error is used to compute the similarities of histograms. The syllables which have similar histograms are detected as forged audio segments. Compared to another 1-D local binary pattern method, the proposed method has better detection results for copy-move forgery. Our experiments show that the proposed algorithm is feasible and effective, and robust against many common postprocessing operations such as noise addition, filtering, and compression.


The outbreak of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) has been widely covered on major U.S. media. "Chinese Virus" or "Wuhan Virus" became media buzz words especially at the beginning stage of the outbreak, which was feared to fuel anti-Asian hatred both in the U.S. and worldwide. This study examines the news coverage about COVID-19 in relation to Asians, mainly Chinese and China, on YouTube channels of major U.S. media outlets, and explores the relationship between the media framing and anti-Asian sentiments embedded in the comments beneath the news video. By content analyzing 50 news videos covering COVID-19 and Asians from 5 U.S. media organizations and 5000 comments, the findings suggest that attribution of responsibility and conflict are the most frequently used frames by the news reporting. The results also reveal that suspicion of conspiracy, rather than blaming, emerged as the most frequent theme embedded in hateful comments. One promising finding is that the frequency of hateful comments is significantly lower than that of non-hateful comments across all news frame categories.


The Scheldt estuary is a unique tidal estuary. The river originates from France and flows through Belgium and the Netherlands. The tide creates important flood risks in the Flanders region, including for the city of Antwerp. The Flemish government wants to update its flood protection policy, based on a cost-efficient reduction of risks of flooding and taking into account sea level rise. Against this background, the Flemish Waterway Administration commissioned a cost-benefit analysis of flood protection measures. To this purpose a series of models of different scientific disciplines was integrated within a cost-benefit analysis framework. Results of cost-calculation, hydraulic, ecological and agricultural models were integrated in a cost-benefit model. Protection against flooding was evaluated on a risk based approach. This means that not only probabilities of flooding were considered but also possible damages sustained by flooding. Consequently a non-homogeneous level of security was allowed. Measures evaluated include storm surge barriers nearby Antwerp or on tributaries, dike heightening and creating controlled inundation areas (floodplains). Constructing reduced tide areas which allows creation of new wetlands was also assessed. Benefits of nature development were taken into account when comparing costs and benefits of these measures. An optimal flood protection strategy was developed, and the optimal solution was tested using different kinds of uncertainty analyses for a wide variety of technical and economic parameters. The analysis showed that cost-benefit analysis is a very useful approach to assist decision-making processes on designing flood protection measures and this approach is certainly applicable to other estuaries.


Introduction: Lung fibrosis is a progressive, fatal disease that is characterized by increasing fibroblasts proliferation and extracellular matrix precipitation. Studies have shown that cyclooxygenase- 2 (Cox-2) could play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of lung fibrosis. In the current study, the effect of thalidomide on bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis was qualitatively studied in a laboratory animal model.
Methods: Thirty-two adult male C57BL/6 mice were randomly assigned to the following four groups: Group one received 2 mg bleomycin, group two received bleomycin in addition to 4 mg of thalidomide; group three received 4 mg of thalidomide, and Group 4 received 0.1 mg of 0.5% carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) via intraperitoneal (IP) administration. Finally, the expression of Cox-2 protein and the percentage of contact points of alveolar spaces and pulmonary connective tissue were determined.
Results: Our results showed that in the Bleo + Thal group compared to the Bleo group, the percentage of contact points of pulmonary connective tissue decreased significantly (P<0.001), while the percentage of contact points among the alveolar spaces increased significantly (P = 0.01). Also, immunohistochemical studies have demonstrated the number of Cox-2+ cells in the volume unit in the Bleo + Thal group decreased significantly in comparison with the group that received only Bleo (P = 0.012).
Conclusion: In conclusion, these results suggest thalidomide could alleviate the bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis and decreases the expression of Cox-2 protein.


The objective of this work is to examine various psychological forces underlying the behavior of people's online gambling, an increasingly popular form of entertainment in the gaming industry. Drawing on extant theories, we first developed a model of how cumulative outcomes, recent outcomes, and prior use affect online gambling behavior differently. We empirically tested the model using longitudinal panel data collected over eight months from 22,304 actual users of a gambling website. The results of a multilevel panel data analysis strongly supported our hypotheses. First, consistent with gambling theory, individuals' online gambling was found to increase with any increase in a cumulative net gain or cumulative net loss. Second, as the availability heuristic prescribes, a recent loss reduced online gambling, whereas a recent gain increased it. Third, consistent with the literature on repeated behavior, regular use and extended use moderated the relationship between current and subsequent gambling. Taken together, the present study clarifies how people react differently to immediate and cumulative outcomes and also how regular use and extended use facilitate routine behavior in the context of online gambling. In general, our findings suggest that the three perspectives, i.e., gambling theory, the availability heuristic, and repeated behavior, should be taken into account to understand online gambling, which is in essence a series of risk-taking attempts with the potential of eventually becoming routine behavior. This study is expected to offer valuable insights into other types of online games that could engage people in risking real or cyber money and, at the same time, could be easily enmeshed with everyday life e.g., fantasy sports, online virtual worlds.


Carbide precipitation behavior in Si-Mo ferritic ductile cast iron was investigated as functions of vanadium and chromium contents. Vanadium addition promoted the precipitation of carbides both in ferrite grains and at its grain boundaries. Pearlite was found to form near the cell boundary next to the eutectic carbides in the as-cast chromium alloyed specimens, and was fully decomposed by an annealing heat treatment. Vanadium addition led to the formation of fine precipitates, prohibiting the ferrite growth, resulting in smaller ferrite grains. The precipitate phase at grain boundaries in vanadium alloyed specimens was identified as vanadium carbide (VC1-x) and the stoichiometry of the eutectic carbide was almost same as that in Si-Mo ferritic ductile cast iron except for a higher vanadium content. However, in the case of chromium alloyed specimen, the ratio of iron in the composition of eutectic carbide was higher than those of Si-Mo and Si-Mo-0.5V cast irons.


Urolithiasis, a condition in which calculi are found in the urinary tract, has been known for centuries. Although the disease was considered casuistic in the pediatric population, its prevalence is rising among both children and infants. The occurrence of the disease is greater in developed countries, therefore urolithiasis should be considered a lifestyle disease. Its etiopathogenesis has not yet been well understood. Kidney stone formation is inuenced by factors such as climate, eating habits, profession, uid intake, genetic predisposition, urinary tract infections and malformations of the urinary tract. Calculi are usually composed of mixed mineral substances. Only about 30% are made up of one chemical substance, calcium oxalate being the most common. Urolithiasis can be asymptomatic and accidentally diagnosed. Abdominal pain is the most common clinical symptom, however disease presentation among infants is nonspeci€c. Hematuria is a common clinical €nding. Ultrasonography is the most important diagnostic tool in the diagnosis of kidney stone disease. Metabolic evaluation is required in every case of urolithiasis in the pediatric population, as metabolic disorders can be found in the majority of cases in this age group. The spontaneous passage of calculi less than 6mm in diameter is likely. Invasive treatment should be carried out if stones exceed 6mm in diameter or fail to expulse spontaneously. Prophylactic treatment includes adequate uid intake, healthy eating habits and physical activity to maintain a healthy weight. Urolithiasis is a recurrent disease, therefore long-term treatment, prophylaxis and a lasting change in dietary habits are essential.


This paper addresses the problems of estimating the values of both the outputs and the internal signals for a class of Wiener systems consisting of the cascade of an unknown linear time invariant systems and a known, rational, generically non-invertible nonlinearity, based solely on past input/output data corrupted by noise. This situation arises in many scenarios of practical interest where an explicit a-priori model of the linear system is not available. Examples include extracting geometric 3D structure from a sequence of 2D images (structure from motion), and nonlinear dimensionality reduction via manifold embedding. The main result of the paper is a simple, computationally efficient algorithm that is capable of handling intermittent measurements and does not entail identifying first the unknown linear dynamics. Rather, the problem of estimating the internal signals and interpolating missing data is recast into a rank-constrained feasibility problem. Although this problem depends polynomially in the data, we show that, by appealing to classical results on moments optimization, it can be reduced to a rank-constrained Linear Matrix Inequality optimization and efficiently solved using existing techniques. The potential of the proposed approach is illustrated by solving structure from motion problems using real data.


The research presented in this thesis concerns experimental studies of thin manganese silicide and germanide layers, grown by solid phase epitaxy on the Si(111)7×7 and the Ge(111)c(2×8) surfaces, respectively. The atomic and electronic structures, as well as growth modes of the epitaxial Mn-Si and Mn-Ge layers, were investigated by low-energy electron diffraction (LEED), angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES), core-level spectroscopy (CLS), and scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy (STM and STS). The magnetic properties of the Mn-Ge films were investigated by X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD).The Mn-Si layers, annealed at 400 °C, showed a √3×√3 LEED pattern, consistent with the formation of the stoichiometric monosilicide MnSi. Up to 4 monolayers (ML) of Mn coverage, island formation was observed. For higher Mn coverages, uniform film growth was found. Our results concerning morphology and the atomic and electronic structure of the Mn/Si(111)-√3×√3 surface, are in good agreement with a recent theoretical model for a layered MnSi structure and the √3×√3 surface structure.Similar to the Mn-Si case, the grown Mn-Ge films, annealed at 330 °C and 450 °C, showed a √3×√3 LEED pattern. This indicated the formation of the ordered Mn5Ge3 germanide. A strong tendency to island formation was observed for the Mn5Ge3 films, and a Mn coverage of about 32 ML was needed to obtain a continuous film. Our STM and CLS results are in good agreement with the established model for the bulk Mn5Ge3 germanide, with a surface termination of Mn atoms arranged in a honeycomb pattern. Mn-Ge films grown at a lower annealing temperature, 260 °C, showed a continuous film at lower coverages, with a film structure that is different compared to the structure of the Mn5Ge3 film. XMCD studies showed that the low-temperature films are ferromagnetic for 16 ML Mn coverage and above, with a Curie temperature of ~250 K.


In this research, AuNPs prepared by laser ablation in liquid (PLAL) at 750 mJ energy and 90 pulses. They have been added to N719-dye to form (Au-N719) mixture. TiO 2 paste was deposited on FTO substrates and immersion in a mixture dye and AuNPs. DSSC was fabricated and enhancement of the DSSC conversion efficiency was achieved. Scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction and UV-Visible spectrophotometer were used to characterize and study the DSSC components. The UV-Vis data show high absorbance of AuNPs+N719 dye compared to N719 dye only; that means the immersion of AuNPs in the N719-dye solution tend to increase the total absorbance of the dye. The XRD pattern of AuNPs has diffraction peaks at 38.2° and 44.4° which can be indexed by (111), (200) plane of Au in the cubic phase. The shape and size distribution shows spherical AuNPs with particle size about (50-60) nm. The relative increase of short circuit current density after the adding gold nanoparticles was about 76%. In the same way the relative increase of open circuit voltage after adding gold nanoparticles was about 6.7%. The total photon-to-current energy conversion efficiency for the standard DSSC is 1.75 while its 2.8 of the enhanced DSSC with gold NPs.The maximum enhancement is about 60 % under illumination (105 mW/cm 2 , (AM1.5).


trend appears stronger in the Scottish data and may in fact only be a sampling bias if our hypothesis that cysts all develop as apocrine and then mature to flattened is true. Previous studies, including those from his unit, have not indicated their frequency of follow-up: we suspect patients were seen at short intervals. In this setting a high proportion of immature apocrine cysts would have been detected. With time some of these cysts may not have been detected clinically as they dispersed or would change type as they matured to become flattened cysts. Follow-up protocols may introduce selection bias and might explain the large difference in magnitude seen between the two centres. The study of the evaluation of risk factors for the subsequent development of breast cancer is largely one of failures of proposed predictors. Whatever his prejudices, Mr Miller must accept that our results show that breast cyst type is not constant for an individual; it does not predict whether further cysts will develop or what type they will be. Its inconsistency means that it does not, and cannot, predict the risk of a subsequent breast cancer.


Abstract Conditions on aid agreements aim to increase aid effectiveness, and are, therefore, an important component of aid agreements. Yet little is known about why aid-recipient governments comply with these conditions. Some scholars have suggested a strategic-importance hypothesis: recipients comply when donors enforce conditions—and donors enforce conditions when recipients are not strategically important. However, there are many cases where strategically important countries comply with conditions and strategically unimportant countries fail to do so. We argue that to explain compliance, we must also understand how the desire to maximize revenue from major income sources, such as FDI and natural resource rents, changes the recipient's incentive to comply. Using data on World Bank records of compliance from 1964 to 2010, we find strong support for our hypotheses even after accounting for different model specifications and potential endogeneity. Paradoxically, donors can secure compliance from recipients for reasons unrelated to the promise of additional aid.


A central feature of the Nordic model of labor relations, namely, the collaboration between social parties at the workplace, has proven to be particularly effective during crises. This is the backdrop for our study of the experiences from Trade Union Representatives (TU-reps) during the corona pandemic. With a survey aimed at TU-reps from the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO), which represents just under half of the total unionized employees, we asked how the pandemic affected their participation and influence at the workplaces. Referring to the pandemic as a game changer, we discuss signs of change in TU-reps' possibilities for participation and influence under such difficult circumstances.
According to theTU-reps, interaction between the social parties intensified during the pandemic. Formal participation between the parties stands out to be crucial for enabling dialog and can therefore be labeled as the backbone of the Nordic model in times of crisis.


PURPOSE
Repeated use of cone beam CT (CBCT) in radiotherapy introduces extra imaging dose to patients. In this work, the authors propose a method to effectively reduce the imaging dose of on-treatment CBCT by incorporating previously acquired CBCT.

METHODS
The Karhunen-Loève (KL) transform was used to consider the correlation among the on-treatment low-dose CBCT and prior CBCTs in the projection domain. Following the KL transform, the selected CBCT projection data were decomposed into uncorrelated, ordered principal components. Then, a penalized weighted least-squares (PWLS) criterion was applied to restore each KL component using different penalty strengths, where the penalty parameter was inversely proportional to its corresponding KL eigenvalue. Following the inverse KL transform on the processed data, the FDK algorithm was used to reconstruct the on-treatment CBCT image. The proposed algorithm was evaluated using both phantom and patient data.

RESULTS
The proposed algorithm demonstrated the ability to suppress noise while preserving edge information effectively. This new strategy outperforms the PWLS algorithm without considering prior information based on the noise-resolution tradeoff measurement and analyze of the reconstructed small objects.

CONCLUSIONS
Information extracted from previously acquired CBCT can be effectively utilized to suppress noise in on-treatment low-dose CBCT. The presented strategy can significantly lower the patient CBCT radiation dose.


An extensive use of perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) in the last 50 years has resulted in a worldwide spread of these persistent chemicals. Human populations are subjected to a large number of PFCs in ways that are not yet fully explained. The aims of this thesis are to develop and assure the quality of analytical methods in order to collect information on human levels and to facilitate the assessment of human exposure of PFCs. Solid-phase extraction (SPE) methods for human blood and milk using two sorbents, octadecyl (C18) and a weak anion exchange polymer (WAX), were developed. Perfluorinated alkyl sulfonates (PFSAs) and perfluorinated alkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs) with carbon chain lengths between four and fourteen together with perfluorooctane sulfonamide (PFOSA) could be extracted from human matrices. These extraction procedures enable selective and sensitive analysis of PFCs in human matrices using single quadrupole mass spectrometry (SQMS). The accuracy and reliability of the methods are discussed in the context of intralaboratory as well as interlaboratory quality assurance. Further improvements of the analysis are discussed including the evaluation of ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC). Human whole blood, plasma and serum from Sweden, Australia and the United Kingdom have been analysed. The blood matrix selection in the assessment and comparisons of human exposure to PFCs is crucial. Human plasma contains a high percentage of PFSAs and PFCAs. On the contrary, only about 20% of the total PFOSA content is present in plasma after removal of the red blood cells. Up to eleven persistent PFCs are detected in human blood, with detection levels between 0.1-0.5 ng/mL. A gender difference with higher serum levels for males is apparent. An age trend was observed for perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) levels in serum from Australia. The levels found in Australian serum indicate that emissions from the PFC production facilities are of less importance for human exposure. Matched human milk and serum samples from Sweden show that milk levels of PFCs are about 1% of the maternal serum level. Up to five persistent PFCs are found in human milk from Sweden, with detection limits between 0.005-0.1 ng/mL, and the levels in Swedish pooled milk samples have remained constant between 1996 and 2004. A linear relationship between the maternal serum level and milk level was seen for PFOS and its shorter homologue perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS). The daily intake of PFOS for a nursing infant in Sweden is estimated to be 121 ng/day if the maternal serum level is 20 ng/mL. Lactation is therefore a major exposure source for breast-fed infants. Monomethyl- and dimethyl-branched isomers of PFOS could be separated in human blood using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Human plasma contains a smaller percentage of the linear PFOS compared to commercially available PFOS standard materials, which indicate isomer specific uptake and/or elimination. A difference in the isomer composition is also seen between the countries studied. Human blood from the UK and Australia have significantly lower amount of linear PFOS (59-60%) compared to Swedish blood (68%). This geographical variation suggests different human exposure sources and pathways.


Lead isotopic compositions of young volcanic rocks from different tectonic environments have distinctive characteristics. Their differences are evaluated within the framework of global tectonics and mantle differentiation. Ocean island leads are in general more radiogenic than mid-ocean ridge basalt (m.o.r.b.) leads. They form linear trends on lead isotopic ratio plots. Many of the trends extend toward the field of m.o.r.b. On plots of 207P b /204Pb against 206Pb /204Pb, their slopes are generally close to 0.1. Island arc leads in general are confined between sediment and m.o.r.b. type leads with slopes of ca. 0.30 on a plot of 207P b /204Pb against 206Pb /204Pb. Pb, Sr and Nd isotopic data of Hawaiian volcanics are closely examined. Data from each island support a two-component mixing model. However, there is a lack of full range correlation between islands, indicating heterogeneity in the end members. This mixing model could also be extended to explain data from the Iceland-Reykjanes ridge, and from 45° N on the Atlantic Ridge. The observed chemical and isotopic heterogeneity in young volcanic rocks is considered to be a result of long-term as well as short-term mantle differentiation and mixing. Lead isotopic data from ocean islands are interpreted in terms of mantle evolution models that involve long-term (more than 2 Ga) mantle chemical and isotopic heterogeneity. Incompatible element enriched 'plume'-type m.o.r.b. have Th/U ratios ca. 3.0 too low and Rb/Sr ratios ca. 0.04 too high to generate the observed 208Pb and 87Sr respectively for long periods of time. Elemental fractionation in the mantle must have occurred very recently. This conclusion also applies to mantle sources for ocean island alkali basalts and nephelinites. Depletion of incompatible elements in m.o.r.b. sources is most probably due to continuous extraction of silicate melt and/or fluid phase from the low-velocity zone throughout geological time. Data on Pb isotopes, Sr isotopes and trace elements on volcanic rocks from island arcs are evaluated in terms of mixing models involving three components derived from (1) sub-arc mantle wedge, (2) dehydration or partial melting of subducted ocean crust, and (3) continental crust contamination. In contrast to the relation between 87Sr/86Sr and 143Nd /144Nd ratios of ocean volcanics, there is a general lack of correlation between Pb and Sr isotopic ratios except that samples with very radiogenic Pb (206Pb /204Pb > 19.5) have low 87Sr/87Sr ratios (0.7028- 0.7035). These samples also have inferred source Th/U ratios (3.0-3.5) not high enough to support long-term growth of 208Pb. Data suggest that their mantle sources have long-term integrated depletion in Rb, Th, U and light r.e.e. High 238U /204Pb (y a)values required by the Pb isotopic data are most probably due to depletion of Pb by separation of a sulphide phase. Relations between Pb, Sr and Nd isotopic ratios of young volcanic rocks could be explained by simultaneous upward migration of silicate and/or fluid phase and downward migration of a sulphide phase in a differentiating mantle.ration of a sulphide phase in a differentiating mantle.


Seventy-seven patients with MS and 44 healthy controls were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. MR imaging investigation included volumetric, diffusion tensor imaging, perfusion weighted imaging, and Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping analyses. Deep gray matter structures were automatically segmented to obtain volumes and mean values for each MR imaging metric in the thalamus, caudate, putamen, and globus pallidus. Patients with MS showed a multifaceted involvement of the thalamus and basal ganglia, with significant atrophy of all deep gray matter structures. In the relapsing-remitting MS group, WM lesion burden proved to be the main contributor to volume loss for all deep gray matter structures. BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Deep gray matter involvement is a consistent feature in multiple sclerosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between different deep gray matter alterations and the development of subcortical atrophy, as well as to investigate the possible different substrates of volume loss between phenotypes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seventy-seven patients with MS (52 with relapsing-remitting and 25 with progressive MS) and 41 healthy controls were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. MR imaging investigation included volumetric, DTI, PWI and Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping analyses. Deep gray matter structures were automatically segmented to obtain volumes and mean values for each MR imaging metric in the thalamus, caudate, putamen, and globus pallidus. Between-group differences were probed by ANCOVA analyses, while the contribution of different MR imaging metrics to deep gray matter atrophy was investigated via hierarchic multiple linear regression models. RESULTS: Patients with MS showed a multifaceted involvement of the thalamus and basal ganglia, with significant atrophy of all deep gray matter structures (P < .001). In the relapsing-remitting MS group, WM lesion burden proved to be the main contributor to volume loss for all deep gray matter structures (P ≤ .006), with a minor role of local microstructural damage, which, in turn, was the main determinant of deep gray matter atrophy in patients with progressive MS (P ≤ .01), coupled with thalamic susceptibility changes (P = .05). CONCLUSIONS: Our study confirms the diffuse involvement of deep gray matter in MS, demonstrating a different behavior between MS phenotypes, with subcortical GM atrophy mainly determined by global WM lesion burden in patients with relapsing-remitting MS, while local microstructural damage and susceptibility changes mainly accounted for the development of deep gray matter volume loss in patients with progressive MS.


Spiraeanthus schrenkianus (Fisch. and C.A. Mey.) Maxim is a plant species that belongs to the family Rosaceae, endemic to Kazakhstan and possibly Kyrgyzstan, but as an endangered species. This shrub is one of the oldest plants on our planet, however, little is known about the plants that co-exist with the S. schrenkianus. Knowledge about the coenoflora of endemic and endangered species is fundamental for a more accurate understanding of the potential threats on the plant's existence. To fill up this gap, the 15 coenopopulations of S. schrenkianus found in the Boraldaytau Mountains (Central part of the Syrdarya Karatau, Kazakhstan) and seven coenopopulations from the Betpak-Dala desert of Kazakhstan were analyzed. The coenoflora of S. schrenkianus consists of 232 species belonging to 146 genera and 41 families. The coenoflora from Syrdarya Karatau differed significantly from the Betpak-Dala desert, where only seven species occur together i.e., Adonis parviflora, Anisantha tectorum, Atraphaxis spinosa, Euphorbia falcata, Ixiolirion tataricum, Poa bulbosa, and Tulipa greigii. The similarity dendrogram of coenopopulations revealed greater differences in the floral composition of the plant communities, suggesting a disjunctive range in the target areas like Syrdarya Karatau, and the Betpak-Dala desert, Kazakhstan. The stability of S. schrenkianus is related to the ancient relict characters of the species formed in the Paleogene's arid conditions.


Cellulose fibers from sugarcane bagasse were bleached and modified by soybean oil in order to increase the hydrophobicity. The modified cellulose prepared by mising cellulose fibers with soybean oil in various quantity and ethanol as a solvent. the process was mixed using ultrasonic for 3 minutes and than was dried using oven at 110 oC for 60 minutes. Identification of the infrared spectrum confirmed that cellulose modified by 0,35 g and 0,5 g soybean oil generates signals carbonyl functional group at wavenumber 1750 cm-1. The XRD patterns indicated that degree of crystalinity from modified cellulose did not change significantly. In addition, the wettability test showed that the modified cellulose hard to dispersed in water solvent.


OBJECTIVE
To analyse adenovirus (Ad) numbers and types associated with paediatric gastro-enteritis in South Africa.

SETTING
Gauteng, 1994-1996.

METHODS
A total of 234 paediatric diarrhoeal stool samples were screened for Ad using commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs). Adenoviral isolates were typed, where possible, using restriction enzyme analysis.

RESULTS
Ad was detected in 23 (9.8%) specimens, of which 8 (34.8%) were found by subgroup F-specific ELISA to contain Ad40 or 41. Six of these isolates were typed and 2 could not be typed. Of the remaining 15 specimens, 2 isolates had restriction profiles that did not correspond with known Ads, while 2 were identified as Ad31 and 1 as a subgroup C Ad. The remaining 10 specimens negative for Ad40/41 were non-cultivable and could not be typed.

CONCLUSIONS
The high percentage of non-cultivable Ads other than Ad40/41 is unusual, and may possibly indicate the prevalence of hexon variants of Ad40/41 or of emerging Ad types in South Africa.


BACKGROUND
Microsatellite instability-high is a known biomarker for anti-PD-1/PD-L1 immune checkpoint therapy. It is also a known tumour feature of Lynch syndrome, detected most frequently in endometrial cancer. However, it remains unclear how microsatellite instability testing is carried out in the clinical field.

METHODS
Ninety-nine patients with gynaecological malignant tumours who underwent microsatellite instability testing as a companion diagnosis for pembrolizumab and 16 patients who previously underwent microsatellite instability testing as a screening for Lynch syndrome were recruited. Clinical information, microsatellite instability status, outcomes, genetic assessments and information about cancer tissue were retrospectively analysed.

RESULTS
Ninety-nine patients had 101 gynaecologic malignant tumours including 26 endometrial, 38 ovarian and 28 cervical cancers, 9 with other tumours including 2 synchronous endometrial and ovarian cancers. All tissue samples were successfully tested, even though some were ≥10-year-old samples. Three cases (3.0%, 3/99) showed microsatellite instability-high; all cases were endometrial cancers with one case of synchronous endometrial and ovarian cancer [11.5% (3/26) in endometrial cancer, 2.6% (1/38) in ovarian cancer], and there was no microsatellite instability-high in cervical and other cancers. One of the endometrial cancer patients received pembrolizumab treatment, but finally died of cancer. Two other cases underwent genetic testing; both were diagnosed as Lynch syndrome. Six cases (37.5%) showed microsatellite instability-high in screening for Lynch syndrome.

CONCLUSIONS
Microsatellite instability-high was less commonly detected as a companion diagnosis for pembrolizumab in unselected gynaecologic patients. Genetic counselling should be always provided along with treatment selection.


Different natural clay minerals, including halloysite, montmorillonite and kaolinite, have been proven to be efficient drug carriers providing for high and long lasting drug concentrations owing to their adsorption capacity and ion exchange property. Synthetic clays, however, are advantageous over the natural clay minerals in terms of purity of composition and controllable cation exchange capacity, factors that contribute to improve reproducibility of the host system. Here we studied a synthetic smectite clay as a candidate for high adsorption and controlled release rate. Via X-ray powder diffraction we verified that, under acidic conditions, the antibiotic ciprofloxacin was successfully incorporated in the synthetic clay fluorohectorite, while via UV-VIS spectroscopy we showed that the degree of the drug incorporation is at least 25% higher than for other systems reported in the literature. Furthermore, temperature dependent release studies allowed us to show that the release process is thermally activated and diffusion-controlled. Finally, via bacterial and toxicological tests, we demonstrated that the effectiveness and toxicity of pure ciprofloxacin is unaffected in the clay–drug complex.


A 14-year-old girl with lymphangiectasis of the skull causing rapid extensive destruction of the left orbit, zygoma, mandible, sphenoid, and occiput underwent radiotherapy with 2000 rad to the entire skull, mandible, and upper cervical vertebrae. Three years later, progression of the disease has ceased, and the involved bone is slowly remineralizing.


Unlike photographic image sensors with infrared cutoff filter, low light image sensors gather light over visible and near infrared (VIS-NIR) spectrum to improve sensitivity. However, removing infrared cutoff filter makes the color rendering challenging. In addition, no color chart, with calibrated infrared content, is available to compute color correction matrix (CCM) of such sensors. In this paper we propose a method to build a synthetic color chart (SCC) to overcome this limitation. The choice of chart patches is based on a smart selection of spectra from open access and our own VIS-NIR hyperspectral images databases. For that purpose we introduce a fourth cir dimension to CIE-L*a*b* space to quantify the infrared content of each spectrum. Then we uniformly sample this L*a*b*cir space, leading to 1498 spectra constituting our synthetic color chart. This new chart is used to derive a 3x4 color correction matrix associated to the commercial RGB-White sensor (Teledyne-E2V EV76C664) using a classical linear least square minimization.. We show an improvement of signal to noise ratio (SNR) and color accuracy at low light level compared to standard CCM derived using Macbeth color chart.


Mucoadhesives are used to enhance drug permeability and retention at mucosal membranes in the body. This is achieved by the adherence of a pharmaceutical dosage form to a mucosal membrane through interactions between a mucoadhesive material and the mucosa. Many polysaccharides (PSs) used in the food industry as thickeners, emulsifiers, stabilisers and fat replacers are also used as mucoadhesives in the pharmaceutical industry. This overlap of use has provoked an interest in utilising these PSs to modulate the organoleptic properties of food. This work aimed to elucidate the role of mucoadhesion in the organoleptic properties of simple food systems. Mucoadhesive PSs were either in an aqueous solution or cast into films containing flavour compounds. A novel method for assessing mucoadhesion for liquid formulations was developed using fluorescence microscopy with labelled and unlabelled PS. Time intensity and progressive profiling sensory experiments were employed to assess the impact of mucoadhesives on flavour perception in liquid and solid model food matrices. A range of in vitro tests were used to assess various properties of PS films loaded with flavourings such as texture analysis, dissolution and swelling ratios in order to explain perception results. Finally, a selected mucoadhesive (carboxymethyl cellulose) was incorporated into popcorn seasoning and sensory perception changes were assessed. This body of work describes method development to assess the mucoadhesive strength of PSs, shows that mucoadhesive PSs in solution prolong the retention of a model tastant in the oral cavity and controls delivery and thus perception of flavour from solid polymeric materials, and describes an attempt to incorporate a mucoadhesive PSs in a snack food formulation.


In this paper, a java-based simulator of Dynamical Systems and PID control is presented. This simulator implements linear low-order process models (first order, second order and third order), open-loop architecture and closed-loop architecture with a linear PID feedback controller. At the past, a hardware simulator (HW123b) for the three process models was developed in our group, and now the equivalent software version is presented. Modeling and dynamical simulation are now basic tools for understanding and verifying theoretical subjects. The main contribution is a Java application that can be used by the instructor / user in a blended learning environment to teach / learn the basic notions of dynamical systems behavior and also the effect of PID feedback controllers in the closed-loop system.


The design of a C-band phase shifter fabricated in a commercial 0.25 µm BiCMOS technology is presented. Phase shift is enabled by tuning the varactors of a lumped element, equivalent of a transmission line. Only one single control voltage is required. The circuit is optimised for adaptive antenna combining on the basis of the 802.11a standard and matched for 50 Ω terminations. Within a frequency band ranging from 5.2 to 5.8 GHz, the circuit yields a phase control range of higher than 195°, an insertion loss of only 3.6±1.5 dB, return losses higher than 12 dB and a 1 dB compression point above 10 dBm. The chip and circuit areas amount to 0.6 and 0.25 mm2, respectively. To the knowledge of the authors, at comparable phase control range, the lowest insertion loss for a passive phase shifter integrated in silicon reported to date is demonstrated.


The synthesis, isolation, and characterization of two high-valent manganese dimers with isomeric ligands are reported. The complexes are synthesized and crystallized from solutions of low-valent precursors exposed to tert-butyl hydroperoxide. The crystal structures display centrosymmetric complexes consisting of Mn(2)(IV,IV)(μ-O)(2) cores, with one ligand coordinating to each manganese. The ligands coordinate with the diaminoethane backbone, the carboxylate, and one of the two pyridines, while the second pyridine is noncoordinating. The activity of these complexes, under water oxidation conditions, is discussed in light of a proposed mechanism for water oxidation, in which this type of complexes have been suggested as a key intermediate.


Although regional resilience has come into fashion to understand how regional economies recover after shocks, it has suffered from dualistic thinking, which undermines its explanatory power. This article addresses this problem by developing a conceptual framework of uneven resilience of regions in a long-term perspective, on the basis of a comparative empirical analysis of adaptation and adaptability processes in two typical Chinese mining regions. This framework defines adaptation and adaptability in an evolutionary and mutually cohesive way that overcomes the traditional dualism. It also demonstrates how variations of adaptation-adaptability relationships can result in uneven regional resilience.


Abstract Transformation plasticity can be utilised to control residual stresses in steel welds. This requires special filler alloys that transform at a sufficiently low temperature to compensate for accumulated thermal contraction strains. However, the welding parameters needed to optimise the effect in multipass joints have yet to be established. This topic has been investigated by characterising the residual stress distribution in multipass welds fabricated with different welding alloys and baseplates using neutron diffraction to assess the effects of dilution and baseplate strength. While the use of richly alloyed weld metal does enhance fatigue performance in single pass joints, the extent of stress relief that can be derived from transformation plasticity is reduced due to incomplete martensitic transformation when further layers are deposited. For all cases studied, compressive stresses were measured in the weld metal with balancing tensile stress in the heat affected zone of the plate. The magnitude of the tension was observed to be a function of the strength of the baseplate. Recommendations are also presented for the combination of welding and material parameters that lead to the optimum exploitation of transformation plasticity as a method for boosting the fatigue performance of multipass welded joints.


This master thesis is an analysis of how the amount of health centers per inhabitant has changed since the Swedish government implemented a new health care reform in 2010. The reform implies a free choice of health centers in the Swedish regions and opens up the market for private firms. The purpose of the thesis is to study the effects of the different financing systems toward the health centers in the regions. The models are based on theories of the need of health care. Two of the independent variables which are studied are income and age. The empirical results go hand in hand with the health theories about where there should be a bigger need of health care. The implementation of the new health care reform changed the effect of the independent variables marginally. The conclusion of the thesis is that there should be more studies which take the different financing systems in account and are focusing on if the health care reform is following the guide lines of the health care system of Sweden.


Objectives:To assess the impact of the percentage of fluid infused as Lactated Ringer (%LR) during the first 2 days of ICU admission in hospital mortality and occurrence of acute kidney injury. Design:Retrospective cohort. Setting:Analysis of a large public database (Multiparameter Intelligent Monitoring in Intensive Care-II). Patients:Adult patients with at least 2 days of ICU stay, admission creatinine lower than 5 mg/dL, and that received at least 500 mL of fluid in the first 48 hours. Interventions:None. Measurement and Main Results:10,249 patients were included in mortality analysis and 8,085 were included in the acute kidney injury analysis. For acute kidney injury analysis, we excluded patients achieving acute kidney injury criteria in the first 2 days of ICU stay. Acute kidney injury was defined as stage 2/3 Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes creatinine criteria and was assessed from days 3–7. The effects of %LR in both outcomes were assessed through logistic regression controlling for confounders. Principal component analysis was applied to assess the effect of volume of each fluid type on mortality. Higher %LR was associated with lower mortality and less acute kidney injury. %LR effect increased with total volume of fluid infused. For patients in the fourth quartile of fluid volume (> 7 L), the odds ratio for mortality for %LR equal to 75% versus %LR equal to 25% was 0.50 (95% CI, 0.32–0.79; p < 0.001). Principal component analysis suggested that volume of Lactated Ringer and 0.9% saline infused had opposite effects in outcome, favoring Lactated Ringer. Conclusions:Higher %LR was associated with reduced hospital mortality and with less acute kidney injury from days 3–7 after ICU admission. The association between %LR and mortality was influenced by the total volume of fluids infused.


The effect of shock wave therapy on acute fractures of the tibia was studied in eight adult dogs. A fracture with a 3-mm gap was created in both tibias and the fractures were fixed internally with a small metallic plate and screws. Each of the right limbs received 2000 impulses of shock waves at 14 kV whereas the left limbs were used as controls. The evaluations included the callus formations based on serial radiographic examinations at 1, 4, 8, and 12 weeks and histologic examinations at 12 weeks for tissue distribution including bone tissues. Based on radiographic findings, there was no statistically significant difference in the amount of callus formation between the treated and the control groups at 8 weeks or less. However, the radiographic findings at 12 weeks statistically showed more callus formations in the treated group. In histologic examinations, there was significantly more cortical bone formation in the treated group at 12 weeks and the bone tissues were thicker, denser, and heavier. Shock wave therapy enhanced callus formation and induced cortical bone formation in acute fractures in dogs at 12 weeks. The effect of shock wave therapy seemed to be timedependent at 3 months.


In AT&T v. Concepcion, the Supreme Court struck California's so-called "Discover Bank rule" – a judge-made rule providing that arbitration agreements attended by class action waivers are unenforceable, if those agreements are contained in standard form consumer contracts. But, arguably, Concepcion leaves open and unresolved the viability of a state law challenge to a bilateral arbitration clause which is shown, in a particular case, to impose a forfeiture of the claimant's ability to vindicate his state law rights. Meanwhile, in the context of federal claims, the Second Circuit in American Express III reaffirmed in light of Concepcion its earlier holdings that a class action waiver contained in an arbitration agreement is unenforceable if it is proven in the individual case that the arbitration clause at issue would force the claimant to shoulder such costs as would prevent the claimant from effectively vindicating its federal statutory rights. On both the state and federal levels, then, cost-based vindication of rights challenges remain a significant concern to corporate defendants looking to exculpate themselves from exposure to aggregate litigation. All of this begs a question this paper seeks to answer: will the robust recognition of cost-based, evidence-backed vindication of rights challenges swallow up the basic ruling of Concepcion, rendering unenforceable arbitration agreements and class action waivers that the Supreme Court has held are otherwise to be enforced?


Drug analyses, whether for purposes of evaluating new drug products or as part of clinical monitoring programs, have become frequently requested tests in both clinical and industrial laboratories. From the time of phlebotomy, throughout the transportation, processing and storage of the specimen, during the actual analytical procedure and throughout the clerical reporting of the data, certain potential errors and limitations in the system exist which should be fully recognized for proper evaluation of the laboratory data.


Twenty-four groups of five professionals and managers used computer conferences to reach agreement on the best solution to a complex ranking problem. Two software tools for structuring the conferences were employed in a two-by-two factorial design. Groups with "designated leadership" (DL) used software support to elect a discussion leader. Groups with "statistical feedback" (SF) were presented with tables periodically that displayed the mean rank and degree of consensus for each item. DL improved levels of consensus; in the absence of a leader, SF improved level of agreement slightly. Statistical feedback as operationalized in this experiment was detrimental to the ability of a group to achieve "collective intelligence," defined as a group decision better than the prediscussion decision of any of its individual members. Characteristics of the individuals and groups were also associated with variations in outcomes.


The Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) has made an impact amongst many universities in the West, particularly in the United States, in that some universities are considering the inclusion of such open online courses in their regular curricullar offerings. Although there is still much research to be conducted in evaluating their effectiveness, relevance and utility, the sheer magnitude of the phenomenon compels some immediate response from educational and training organisations. Basically, it is a better packaging of online course offerings, employing renowned experts, providing more innovative and insightful communication of learning content worldwide and to a large extent at no negligible charge. Now more than two years old, MOOC is a novel way to use available technology to communicate with and teach large numbers of students and trainees. Although it has caught on well in the West, universities and organisations in the East and other developing countries have yet to follow suit. Whilst many universities still question the philosophy and wisdom of the new mode of "interfacing" with students, others question the status of intellectual properties of the professors and/or the universities they belong to, whilst others worry about sustainability and how the does the online system recover its costs. These are lingering issues that this article shall allude to in sharing this 'new kid' or 'new hero' in the online communication media.


Pair of black patent leather sling back pumps. Designed with slightly pointed rounded peep toes, the vamps are composed of two triangular panels of leather which join at points on instep, the join a diamond-shape of leather with circular center hole. The peep toe and the throat edged in black grosgrain ribbon. The sides near the toe-box are cut low, and flair back into the sling-back strap, which has a small black rectangular buckle. Modified French heel is covered with same black patent leather, and tapers almost to a thick "spike" heel shape.

Designer's stamps inside shoes:
Left shoe: "Palter De Liso Inc. / New York City"
Both shoes: "Palter DeLiso / Dresden Last"
Retailer's label sewn into right shoe: "Neiman Marcus Co. Dallas / Fenwyn / Trade Mark Reg'd"
Handwritten maker's notation inside each shoe: "6 1/2 B / S 42947 / 1521-9BH ."


An fMRI task developed in our laboratory has consistently identified the head of the caudate nucleus as a region with distinct responses to positive and negative outcomes (Delgado et al., 2000, Delgado et al., 2003, Tricomi et al., 2004). Subjects are engaged in a guessing game in which they receive monetary gain for correct guesses and monetary loss for incorrect guesses. Following a rewarding outcome, the caudate exhibits a relatively sustained hemodynamic response, while punishment responses are characterized by an early, high-amplitude peak response followed by a below-baseline dip in the caudate signal. This response pattern has been replicated across multiple studies in young adults; however, no published evidence has yet established the nature of reward and punishment signals in the striatum of healthy older adults. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to establish a valid method for measuring reward- and punishment-related activity in healthy aging, and to describe any age-related effects on the hemodynamic responses found in the striatum. Twenty older adults (51-68 y) and thirteen young adults (18-28 y) were scanned as they completed the card-guessing task. Older adults exhibited robust, outcome-specific responses in the anterior caudate with bilateral foci of activation that overlapped with the activation found in the young adults. Furthermore, older adults retained key features of the typical caudate response profile, with a sustained increase in the signal following reward outcomes and a decrease in the signal following punishments. However, older adults did not demonstrate an early, high-amplitude peak in the punishment response, which has been reported for earlier studies and was observed in the current young-adult sample. Finally, voxel-wise analyses identified two small clusters at or near the anterior caudate where older adults' signal appeared somewhat blunted relative to that of the young adults; similar blunting effects were found in a number of other regions throughout the brain. Overall, these findings validate the use of the card-guessing paradigm to assess outcome-specific responses in the striatum of older adults, and they point to some possible age-related effects that may be worthwhile to investigate in future studies.


Pulse design is investigated for time-reversal (TR) imaging as applied to ultrawideband (UWB) breast cancer detection. Earlier it has been shown that a suitably-designed UWB pulse may help to improve imaging performance for a single-tumor breast phantom with predetermined lesion properties. The current work considers the following more general and practical situations: presence of multiple malignancies with unknown tumor size and dielectric properties. Four pulse selection criteria are proposed with each focusing on one of the following aspects: eliminating signal clutter generated by tissue inhomogeneities, canceling mutual interference among tumors, improving image resolution, and suppressing artifacts created by sidelobe of the target response. By applying the proposed criteria, the shape parameters of UWB waveforms with desirable characteristics are identified through search of all the possible pulses. Simulation example using a numerical breast phantom, comprised of two tumors and structured clutter distribution, demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Specifically, a tradeoff between the image resolution and signal-to-clutter contrast (SCC) is observed in terms of selection of the excitation waveforms.


Abstract This paper reports research into teaching and learning of archaeological practical work and professional practice skills through an undergraduate work placements course offered by the University of Sydney. One aim of the research was to improve course assessment through the development of criteria to measure competency and learning outcomes, based on ideas of educational theorists such as Biggs, Collis and Ramsden. Data from markers' comments on student notebooks and supervisors' comments on student performance were analysed in terms of scales of learning and competency. The results are discussed in the wider context of professional archaeological practice in Australia, to address the questions: What is good archaeological practice and how can archaeologists measure and promote it? Given the current and likely future state of the Australian university system, how can universities and professionals best cooperate to improve student learning?


Primary congenital glaucoma (gene symbol: GLC3) is an ocular disorder that occurs for 0.01-0.04% of blind people. In the majority of familial cases reported so far, this condition is inherited as an autosomal recessive trait. We have recently used a group of 17 GLC3 families with a minimum of two affected offspring and consanguinity in most of the parental generation and mapped the first GLC3 locus (GLC3A) to the 2p21 region. Six families did not show any linkage to the GLC3A locus and thus provided evidence for genetic heterogeneity of this disorder. A total of eight families unlinked to the 2p21 region were used to search for the chromosomal location of the second GLC3 locus. Herein, we describe mapping of a new locus (designated GLC3B) for primary congenital glaucoma to the short arm of chromosome 1 (1p36.2-36.1) that is situated centromeric to the neuroblastoma and Charcot-Marie-Tooth type 2A (CMT2A) loci. A total of 17 DNA markers were genotyped from this region of chromosome 1. Four families showed no recombination with the two markers D1S2834 and D1S402 with a maximum lod score of 4.510 and 4.157 respectively. Pairwise and multipoint linkage analysis and inspection of the haplotypes revealed that the remaining four families are not linked to this part of chromosome 1, thus providing further evidence that at least one more locus for the autosomal recessive form of GLC3 must exist in the genome. Based on the recombination events, the overall linkage map of this region is: tel-D1S1192-D1S1635-D1S1193 - (D1S1597/-D1S489/D1S228)- [GLC3B/D1S2834/D1S402] - (D1S1176/D1S507/D1S407) - D1S2728-(MFAP2/D1S170) - D1S1368 - D1S436-D1S1592-cen.


This study aimed to propose an internet-based student admission screening system utilizing data mining in order for officers to reduce time to evaluate applicants as well as for the faculty to use less human resources on screening applicants that meets their proficiency and criteria of each department. Another benefit is that the system can help applicants efficiently choose a specialization that is suitable to their proficiency and capability. The system used a decision tree based classification method. Prior to system development, six models were created and tested to find the most efficient model which would later be applied for development of internet-based student admission screening system. The first three of six models employed a k-fold cross validation technique, while the remaining three models use a percentage split test technique. Experiment results revealed that the most efficient model was the data classification model that uses Percentage Split (80), which provided the precision of 87.90%, recall of 87.80%, F-measure of 87.60% and accuracy of 87.82%. To make the efficient student admission screening system, this experiment selected a data classification model that implements Percentage Split (80).


Attention-based architectures have become ubiquitous in machine learning, yet our understanding of the reasons for their effectiveness remains limited. This work proposes a new way to understand self-attention networks: we show that their output can be decomposed into a sum of smaller terms, each involving the operation of a sequence of attention heads across layers. Using this decomposition, we prove that self-attention possesses a strong inductive bias towards"token uniformity". Specifically, without skip connections or multi-layer perceptrons (MLPs), the output converges doubly exponentially to a rank-1 matrix. On the other hand, skip connections and MLPs stop the output from degeneration. Our experiments verify the identified convergence phenomena on different variants of standard transformer architectures.


Faced with depleting fossil carbon sources, the search for alternative energy carriers and energy storage possibilities has become an important issue. Nature utilizes carbon dioxide as starting material for storing sun energy in plant hydrocarbons. A similar approach, storing energy from renewable sources in chemical bonds with CO2 as starting material, may lead to partial recycling of CO2 created by human industrial activities. Unfortunately, currently available routes for the transformation of CO2 involve high temperatures and are often not selective. With the development of more sophisticated methods and better software, theoretical studies have become both increasingly widespread and useful. This concept article summarizes theoretical investigations of the current state of the feasibility of CO2 activation with molecular transition metal catalysts, highlighting the most promising reactions of CO2 with olefins to industrially relevant acrylic acid/acrylates, and the insertion of CO2 into metal–element bonds, particularly for the synthesis of cyclic carbonates and polymers. Rapidly improving computational power and methods help to increase the importance and accuracy of calculations continuously and make computational chemistry a useful tool helping to solve some of the most important questions for the future.


Abstract In the mid 50's background of the Politecnico di Milano, a group of students started to make use of a range of very personal stylistical references in the academic ex tempore, related to a specifi c historical and traditional baggage, giving thus birth to a protest that aspired to expose the limitations of razionalismo di maniera imparted by the academic way of teaching of the period. The 'provocative' use of arches, columns and pinnacles in the formal researches of Michele Achilli, Daniele Brigidini, Maurizio Calzavara, Guido Canella, Fredi Drugman, Laura Lazzari, Giusa Marcialis, Aldo Rossi, Giacomo Scarpini, Silvano Tintori and Virgilio Vergelloni earned them the epithet of 'giovani delle colonne'. The debate was destined to overcome the boundaries of the university in order to reach the condition of little revolution and excite the stagnant architectural Milanese debate in June 1955, through the public reading of the report by Guido Canella and Aldo Rossi in front of the exponents of the Movimento di Studi per l'Architettura. Their speech –based on the need to refer to tradition and recognise the humanistic essence, the fi gurative means […] of its expressive language– presumed the existence of an analogy with the line of research drawn by the BBPR group from the early years of the second postwar. The 'subversive restlessness' of the giovanni delle colonne seems to have driven Rossi to do research on the Milanese neo-classic and on Milan's architecture, starting from the 'reinterpretation' of tradition through an unexperimented linguistic key. In this view, the value of this group's experience –which was not considered by Reyner Banham in his attack to the Italian Retreat from Modern Architecture– is known for having disclosed or forced some of the themes Rogers discussed in his theory of continuita, preparing the ground for the development of an innovative operational method.


Details are given herein of the current main proposals for tidal energy provision from the Severn Estuary, in the UK, with particular emphasis being focused on the Severn Barrage project, as originally promoted by the Severn Tidal Power Group. In particular, emphasis has focused on assessing the potential hydro-environmental impacts and power outputs of a barrage across the estuary, with an unstructured grid, high resolution, model being developed and applied to the estuary to assess the implications of each of five shortlisted proposed schemes on the hydrodynamic, geomorphologic, flood risk and faecal indicator organism changes within the estuary. An outline is given of recent research on power refinements to the model to assess the options for power generation. The results show that the Severn Barrage has the potential to reduce the tidal currents in a highly dynamic estuary. This leads to the reduction of suspended sediment loads (particularly upstream of the barrage), an increase of light penetration within the water column and, potentially, an increase in the benthic bio-diversity and the level of aquatic life in the estuary. The results also show that the Severn Barrage will reduce markedly the risk of flooding upstream of the barrage and to a lesser extent downstream of the structure. In contrast the alternative options have far less impact on flood risk changes. In addition to the Severn Barrage some results are shown herein for a typical lagoon option, namely the Fleming Lagoon.


This chapter evaluates Brazilian perspectives on the Hague Principles. Despite the proposition of several bills in the 1960s, no legislative initiative to modernize the Brazilian private international law has succeeded so far. The most recent legislative proposals have focused on modifying Article 9 of the Law of Introduction to the Norms of Brazilian Law (LINDB) rather than the whole system. One of these proposals, pending before the Senate, amends the Brazilian Code of Consumer Protection and updates and expands the contents of Article 9 LINDB. This bill incorporates several provisions of the Hague Principles; it states the basic principle of party autonomy and authorizes choice of law in respect of international contracts (B2B transactions). As Brazil still waits for law reform, the Hague Principles may be relevant as persuasive authority before the Brazilian courts. In this sense, the Hague Principles may be used in the interpretation, supplementation, and development of the applicable rules and principles of Brazilian private international law.


A Web Optimization maintains and catalogs the content of Web pages in order to make them easier to find. The importance of WPO is only rising, as well as it grows, the need for tools that can assist developers in making the right also decisions grows. Hence that is the goal of this thesis: to build a tool that can be used for the continuous profiling of a web site's performance. Usually Search Engines search through Web pages for specified keywords. In response they return a list containing those documents containing the specified keywords. This list is sorted by a relevance criterion which tries to put at the very first positions the documents that best match the inquiry of user. In meticulous, since the size of the Web is quickly rising, the central issues observe elevated presentation algorithms for information management. Furthermore, nowadays Web Optimizations receive more searches per day over a collection of several billion web pages indexed. These particular, can easily explain why in such environments the efficiency, as the effectiveness, of Search and Index algorithms have issues became. Intended for this manner in this paper we are going toward proposing novel techniques aimed at enhancing the performance of a Web Optimization from different angles.


Purpose: To investigate the clinical use of low-dose multidetector row computed tomography (MDCT) for staging of invasive breast cancers with patients in the prone position. Methods: Three hundred twenty-two patients with 334 pathologically-verified breast cancers had low-dose MDCT breast imaging in the prone position for tumor staging before treatment between May 2006 and June 2010. We designed an additional computed tomography table pad with a hole for prone positioning. Patients lay prone on the table pad and the breasts were positioned within the rectangular hole. We obtained dynamic breast imaging from the lower neck to the lung base with the following parameters: 120 kVp, 50 mAs, and 3-mm reconstruction intervals. We evaluated the extent of the primary tumor, lymph nodal status, and distant metastasis in lung or bone, then assessed tumor staging based on the TNM classification of breast cancer. The assessed staging compared to the pathologic results for diagnostic accuracy. Results: Among the 334 invasive breast cancers, the overall diagnostic accuracy of tumor staging was 88.3% and the accuracy values of each tumor stage were 89.6% in T1, 90.8% in T2, 81.0% in T3, and 89.3% in T4. The overall diagnostic accuracy of lymph nodal staging was 86.3% and the accuracy values in each nodal stage were 82.9% in N0, 88.0% in N1, 89.7% in N2, and 93.3% in N3. Based on breast computed tomography scans, we detected distant metastases in 30 cases (7 lungs, 10 bones, 7 lungs and bones, and 6 livers). Conclusion: Lowdose MDCT scanning for invasive breast cancer patients in the prone position is a feasible imaging technique for tumor staging before treatment to evaluate primary breast tumors, lymph nodes, lungs, or thoracic bones with reduced radiation doses.


Augmented reality (AR) takes natural user input (NUI), such as gestures, voice, and eye gaze, and produces digital visual overlays on top of reality seen by a user. Today, multiple shipping AR applications exist, most notably titles for the Microsoft Kinect and smartphone applications such as Layar, Wikitude, and Junaio. Despite this activity, little attention has been paid to operating system support for AR applications. Instead, each AR application today does its own sensing and rendering, with the help of user-level libraries like OpenCV or the Microsoft Kinect SDK.

In this paper, we explore how operating systems should evolve to support AR applications. Because AR applications work with fundamentally new inputs and outputs, an OS that supports AR applications needs to re-think the input and display abstractions exposed to applications. Unlike mouse and keyboard, which form explicit, separate channels for user input, NUI requires continuous sensing of the real-world environment, which often has sensitive data mixed with user input. Hence, the OS input abstractions must ensure that user privacy is not violated, and the OS must provide a fine-grained permission system for access to recognized objects like a user's face and skeleton. In addition, because visual outputs of AR applications mix real-world and virtual objects, the synthetic window abstraction in traditional GUIs is no longer viable, and OSes must rethink the display abstractions and their management. We discuss research directions for solving these and other issues and building an OS that let multiple applications share one (augmented) reality.


The spelling process of Dutch second-grade students using the word processor was studied in three different feedback conditions. In the no-feedback condition, they merely had to type words without being told whether the spelling was correct or not. In one of the feedback conditions they were only told whether the word was spelled correctly, whereas in the other feedback condition they were given suggestions when words were spelled incorrectly. Students learned about the spelling of words without receiving feedback. Providing feedback, however, improved spelling performance substantially more than no-feedback. The nature of the feedback affected spelling performance of native and non-native Dutch words differently. Native Dutch words benefited more from suggestions than non-native words, and both word types benefited equally when no suggestions were provided. The quality of the suggestions provided by the spelling checker was substantially better in case of native Dutch words. Thus, Dutch second graders are capable of making efficient use of the spelling checker only in case of native Dutch words.


Of 110 males selected for review with possible chancroid, 96 were clinically diagnosed as having chancroid, 7 as having herpetic lesions, and 7 as having syphilis. Of the 96 patients diagnosed clinically as chancroid, 76 (79.2%) were culture positive for H. ducreyi. 9 (9.4%) of these 96 patients yielded Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV). Both HSV and H. ducreyi were isolated from 5 of the patients, and from 4 of the patients HSV alone was isolated. 7 patients (6.4%) were clinically diagnosed as having herpetic ulcers. 5 of these grew HSV. Overall, 14 of the 110 patients (12.7%) yielded HSV. 1 patient, who presented with small vesicular lesions characteristic of HSV, yielded the virus on culture. The vesicles were initially negative for H. ducreyi, but 6 days later he had developed deep purulent ulcers in the same sites as the vesicular lesions and became culture positive for H. ducreyi snd HSV-negative. The possible association between HSV and chancroid is discussed in the light of these findings and comparisons made between the results of the present study and earlier findings made in Kenya and elsewhere, with suggestions being given as to the reasons for the apparent differences. The HSV isolation techniques used in this study may be less sensitive than those used in other studies, but it is highly unlikely that this possibility alone accounts for all of the observed differences. Patients with hepetic ulcers may be less likely to present early in the course of the disease, if at all, believing the infection to be minor and one that will heal on its own. It is also possible that HSV infection is less common in Kenya, either alone or as an initiator of chancroid, than in the US or Europe, becuase of a higher rate of childhood HSV infections in Kenya, which may confer a degree of immunity against genital HSV infection in this population. The lower prevalence of HSV in association with H. ducreyi reported may be at least partly the result of a much higher incidence in Kenya of chancroid which is not initiated by HSV. A higher incidence of HSV genital infection in Europe and America would also make it more likely that HSV would fortuitously be isolated more frequently from H. ducreyi positive lesions.


Background: Of patients with upper urinary tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC), 22–47% developed bladder recurrence after radical nephroureterectomy. Furthermore, the effect of surgery for UTUC-bladder cancer (BC) has not been well validated. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of standard primary BC surgical strategy on survival of patients diagnosed with UTUC-BC. Patients and Methods: A total of 676 UTUC-BC patients and 197,753 primary BC patients diagnosed from 2004 to 2016, were identified based on the SEER database. The Kaplan-Meier method and the Fine and Gray competing risks analysis were performed to assess overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific mortality (CSM). Multivariate Cox regression model and competing risks regression model were used to identify independent risk factors. Propensity score matching (PSM) was also performed to adjust potential confounding factors. Results: The baseline characteristics and survival outcomes of the two BC patient cohorts are quite different. For UTUC-BC patients, no significant difference in OS (NMIBC: p = 0.88; MIBC: p = 0.98) or cumulative incidence of CSM (NMIBC: p = 0.12; MIBC: p = 0.96) were noted for various surgical procedures. Local tumor treatment and partial cystectomy for UTUC-NMIBC patients produced lower 1-year (6.1%) and 3-year CSM (16.2%). Radical cystectomy for UTUC-MIBC patients produced lower 1-year (11.8%) but higher 3-year CSM (62.7%). After PSM for covariates, UTUC-BC patients still had a worse prognosis after surgery compared with primary BC patients. Based on regression models, older age, advanced T stage, N positive disease, M positive disease, and shorter interval between UTUC and BC were identified as independent risk factors for UTUC-BC patients. Conclusion: Standard primary BC surgical strategy did not provide significant survival benefit for UTUC-BC patients. Compared with primary BC patients, UTUC-BC patients had a worse prognosis after surgery, suggesting that current primary BC surgical guidelines are not entirely appropriate for UTUC-BC patients. Our findings underscore the continued importance and need for better prognosis and improved guidelines for management of UTUC-BC patients.


Nanomaterials are increasingly used as drug carriers for cancer therapy. Nanomaterials also appeal to researchers in the areas of cancer diagnosis and biomarker discovery. Several antitumor nanodrugs are currently being tested in preclinical and clinical trials and show promise in therapeutic and other settings. We review the development of nanomaterial drug carriers, including liposomes, polymer nanoparticles, dendritic polymers, and nanomicelles, for the diagnosis and treatment of various cancers. The prospects of nanomaterials as drug carriers for future clinical applications are also discussed.


"Social enterprise" is on the rise. Popularly defined, social enterprise means using traditional business methods to accomplish charitable or socially beneficial objectives. Social enterprise is quasi-charitable. It is a hybrid. It is neither entirely profit driven nor entirely philanthropic.Many individuals today boast that they are "social entrepreneurs" running "social enterprises," yet there is no universally accepted legal definition of the term "social enterprise." Further, there is no single legal entity that customarily is used by the typical social entrepreneur. New legal entity forms are emerging for social enterprise (e.g., L3Cs, B corps, benefit corporations, etc.), but even these new forms generally prove inadequate in one or more respects, particularly their income tax treatment.As a result, social entrepreneurs and their advisors have had to adapt and improvise with respect to their legal entity needs by using multiple organizations acting in concert to accomplish blended philanthropic and commercial endeavors. These multiple entity structures often are referred to as "contract hybrids" and usually involve collaboration between a for-profit entity and a nonprofit entity. Moreover, due to their inherent flexibility, liability protection, and malleable tax treatment, limited liability companies increasingly play a role in these for-profit/nonprofit contract hybrid structures.This article goes a step further by proposing a novel contract hybrid structure that uses multiple LLCs acting together to pursue a hypothetical social enterprise project. The proposed structure relies heavily upon the flexible nature of the LLC, particularly the LLC's ability to accommodate competing legal rights and duties among members with very diverse objectives. Furthermore, the keystone to the contract hybrid structure described in this article is a relatively recent Internal Revenue Service Information Letter that permits private foundations to make grants directly to wholly-owned LLC subsidiaries of public charities. The author postulates that using multiple LLCs acting together as described in the article combines the best attributes of both the for-profit and the nonprofit legal entity forms for entrepreneurs desiring to organize and operate a typical social enterprise.The article proceeds in four parts. Part I sets forth a hypothetical social enterprise project. Part II summarizes the principal advantages and disadvantages of using a nonprofit entity to pursue the project. Part III summarizes the principal advantages and disadvantages of using a for-profit entity to pursue the project. Finally, Part IV describes the new, proposed contract hybrid LLC structure that potentially reconciles the competing for-profit and nonprofit capital and other demands of the hypothetical project.


Structural and luminescence properties have been studied in silicon layers with dislocation-related luminescence. Multiple room temperature implantation of oxygen ions with doses low than the amorphization threshold was carried out. Silicon ions with a dose exceeding the amorphization threshold by two orders of magnitude were implanted at a higher temperature (≥ 80°C). Both the implantations were not followed by the amorphization of the implanted layers. Annealing in a chlorine-containing atmosphere resulted in formation of extended structural defects and luminescence centers. Some regularities and peculiarities in the properties of the extended defects and dislocation-related luminescence lines were revealed in dependence on the implantation and annealing conditions.


Abstract The Corona period created great challenges in the teaching and learning process. This presentation describes a research based on studying the subject of big data using virtual escape rooms. Due to the period it was decided that the final task in the Big Data course would be to build a virtual escape room that deals with a topic from the world of Big Data. The aim of the study was to examine how the understanding of various topics related to Big Data is sharpened when they are taught through virtual escape rooms. Each group of students chose a topic from the world of big data and built a virtual escape room around it. Peer learning was then performed, and each group edited rooms of other groups, so that each group learned about a variety of topics related to the big data world. By monitoring peer learning it was possible to assess the nature of the learning process experienced by the group. This unique learning allows for flexibility in terms of time and place in holding meetings. The interactions between the various group members contribute to enrichment the knowledge and the development of creative ideas. According to the results of the study, this type of learning sharpened different skills among the participants - social, communicative and thinking. It also developed a deep understanding when the escape room practically demonstrates the topic of big data in an optimal way through a variety of representations. During the activity in the escape room there is created an interesting and original connection between the materials and the ideas, open to a variety of interpretations. Digital tools are used effectively and creatively that contribute to understanding the message (Kemp, 2018).


The only indicator of development that is available from birth to maturity is skeletal age. This short review discusses how standard bone ages have been developed from assessment of radiographs, and describes the advantages and disadvantages of the 'atlas' approach as developed by Greulich and Pyle, and the bone by bone approach, as developed by Tanner. As the standards currently available are based mainly on historical series of radiographs from particular populations, it is stressed that national standards should be established and updated regularly if bone ages are to be used to assess development. The question of the clinical relevance of using bone age assessments of the hand and wrist to determine the state of maturation of the whole skeleton and, particularly, the growth potential is also discussed. It is concluded that, despite the difficulties of assessing bone age, and the assumptions on which the various methods are based, determination of skeletal development is clinically relevant in that it provides the only means of assessing rates of maturational change throughout the growing period. □ Bone age, skeletal maturation, ageing, development


This thesis focuses on the voices, activism and experiences of working-class women engaged with the Women's Movement between 1968 and 1979. It explores their interactions with feminism and class politics and places particular emphasis on their role in the Women's Liberation Movement and the productive and reproductive class struggles in the period. This approach defines the WLM as a part of the wider Women's Movement, alongside women's industrial and community conflicts. It argues that contemporary accounts seeking to recover the significance of 'sisterhood' or prioritise alternative identities in the movement often do so at the expense of its working-class participants and underplay the significance of 'class' in the political identities of middle-class liberationists. It asserts therefore that that the integration of working-class women and class politics into the story of the 1970s Women's Movement requires a reconsideration of the existing narratives of the WLM. In developing this perspective, it extricates the tension between the foundational and ideological importance of class and class politics at individual, regional and national levels of the WLM in Britain on the one hand and the intractable problems that class posed within and around the movement on the other. In so doing, it illustrates how both structural and cultural forms of class analysis can offer complementary insights into women's identity construction and political consciousness, with particular validity not only for social and political movements but also for the post-war period more widely.


Programmes such as Respecting Choices in the USA and Respecting Patient Choices in Australia have been developed to address the need for improved advance care planning. Numerous guidelines, policies and pieces of legislation exist to provide guidance on requirements for developing and documenting advance care plans. However the problem of sub-optimal advance care planning in hospitals persists. Problems have been identified in having 'difficult' conversations, documenting decisions made, the accessibility of advance care directives and applying advance care directives in practice. One of the approaches that can support better use of advance care plans in hospitals is the use of standards and accreditation processes. In Australia, new National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards include items regarding the need for systems to receive or prepare advance care plans in partnership with patients and families, and to document these in the clinical record. These National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards provide explicit statements of the expected level of safety and quality of care to be delivered to patients. The Standards are mandatory and hospitals need to be assessed against them from January 2013. The Standards provide an opportunity to embed systems that support effective advanced care planning in practice through a system-wide approach to quality improvement. These high-level standards complement the more detailed policy and educational programmes that already exist, and provide a focus for efforts to improve the safety and quality of end of life care for patients in hospitals.


The perception of a stimulus can strongly be modified by its spatial context. For example, when a vernier stimulus is flanked by two lines, performance deteriorates compared to a vernier without flanks. This is usually explained by local interactions, such as lateral inhibition or spatial pooling, between the vernier and the flanks. Here, we argue that local mechanisms are inadequate to explain this contextual modulation. In a range of experiments, we showed that performance depended on the global configuration of all stimulus elements. We presented observers with verniers flanked by lines of either same or different color, contrast polarity, or stereoscopic depth as the vernier. In all cases, performance is better when the flanks "ungroup" from the vernier. A similar effect was found when a vernier was flanked by two cuboids compared to two lines which are contained in the cuboids: Performance with flanking cuboids was superior. These results show that global aspects are crucial in contextual modulation. Vernier discrimination can be used as a tool to measure the strength of Gestalt laws


The supposition that the occurrence of flood event will have an inverse effect on rental values of residential housing properties is often accepted as a fact. However, the mechanism for this supposed impact has not been clearly articulated and the hypothesis is far from proven in Ghanaian housing rental market. This paper examined the impact of flood on residential rental values in Kumasi. The study adopted multiple research approaches in selecting zones with both flood and non-flood liable residential properties. The repeated sales model was then used to create local market indices to gauge flood impact on the rental values. The rental values of non-flooded residential properties were generally higher than their flooded counterparts by a margin of GHS 62.66 ±0.09 annually. While this supports existing postulations of a negative impact of flood on rental values, the results further showed that the extent of the impact varies across different residential property types. It is concluded that the wholesale assumption in literature that flood events diminish rental values should be interpreted with caution. The study recommends that the (dis)amenity effects of flood on rental values should therefore be assessed on case by case basis. Keywords: Floods, Ghana, Kumasi, Residential Rental Value, T-test


In December 2014, necrotic leaf spots were observed on more than fifty rose ( Rosa indica ) plants in a private garden at Lahore, Pakistan, all showing the same symptoms The infected plants were 1-2 year old and on an average 90% of the leaves were covered with 2-5 mm circular black spots, with irregu- lar margins without chlorosis around the margins. Initially, infected leaves remained attached to the plants but dropped when the spots coalesced and covered more than 80% leaf area. No symptoms were observed on flowers. For pathogen isolation, one spot per leaf from six symptomatic leaves of dif- ferent plants were cut into pieces, surface sterilized, inoculated on 2% malt extract agar (MEA) and incubated at 25 ± 2oC. Morphological observations were made on 7-day-old pure cul- tures. Colonies were greenish black and attained the diameter of 4 mm. Conidiophores were macronematous, smooth walled, up to 500μm long and 4-5μm wide, with intercalary and termi- nal swellings. Conidia were pale brown arising from terminal swelling of conidiophores, in the form of simple or branched chains. Conidia were spherical, subspherical or limoniform, 3-6 μm in diameter; ramoconidia were 2-4×7-3 μm in size. A representative pure culture of the fungus was deposited to First Fungal Culture Bank of Pakistan under the accession No.FCBP1517. Based on morphology, the fungus was identi- fied as Cladosporium oxysporum (Bensch et al ., 2010). For se- quencing of ITS region, a DNA fragment of ca . 600 bp was amplified using universal primer pair ITS1/ITS4 and total ge- nomic DNA as template. BLASTn results indicated that ITS nucleotide sequence of this strain (KT283681) had 99% simi- larity with many other isolates of C . oxysporum in GenBank, including KT936546, LC040920, KJ475816 and JQ775499. Pathogenicity test was performed three times on young pot- ted rose plants using two different isolates. Since the inoculum of this fungus persists in soil, conidia from pure cultures were suspended in sterilized water (10 7 spores/ml) and sprayed in the soil of three healthy plants; three control plants were treated similarly with sterilized water. All plants, covered with poly- thene bags, were kept in a growth chamber at 23 ± 2oC. Ne- crotic spots similar to those described above started appearing on leaves only on inoculated plants after 21 days of incubation. Re-isolation of same fungus fulfilled Koch's postulates. To our knowledge, this is the first report of R . indica leaf spot caused by C . oxysporum in Pakistan.


Results are presented regarding the development of functional electrochromic WO3 thin layers, using a simple, one step and fast process without the need of template or seed layers or even post-annealing, factors favoring large scale industrial deposition. In particular, low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) was employed to develop ɤ-monoclinic WO3 crystalline phase of granular agglomerations structure, with a thickness from 60 nm up to 160 nm onto FTO coated glass substrates. The effect of growth time and oxygen flow on the structural, morphological and electrochemical properties of WO3 thin layers was investigated. It was found that a deposition time of 15min and an O2 flow rate through the reactor of 0.1 l/min result in a more stable behavior during the interchange charge circles. Copyright © 2018 VBRI Press.


The mechanoluminescence (ML) emission during the elastic deformation of II-VI crystals occurs either due to the electrostatic interaction between dislocation segments and filled electron traps or due to the piezoelectrically-induced electron detrapping. According to electrostatic interaction model, bending of dislocation segments causes electron from the electron traps tunnel to the conduction band. The recombination of electron-hole emit energy which is absorbed by the Mn 2+ centers and the subsequent de-excitation gives rise to the light emission and according to piezoelectrically-induced electron detrapping the local piezoelectric field near the detect centers reduces the trap-depth, and therefore, the detrapping of filled electron traps takes place, and subsequently the energy released non-radiatively during the electron-hole recombination excites the Mn 2+ centers and de-excitation gives rise to the ML. The present paper reports that piezoelectrically-induced electron detrapping model is more suitable to explain the elastico ML of II-VI phosphors.


This paper considers the implications for 'empowering' practice with older people within community care, exploring the restrictions placed on this by policy and practice, and how a postmodern perspective may encourage the participation of older people and ultimately empower them. Different theoretical approaches used to consider older people and the impact of ageism on the relationship between the self and society are explored. The impact of a postmodern approach to 'empowering'practice with older people is analysed, including discussion of the role of individual 'narrative', 'co-authorship' and 'expertise'as methods of empowering older people to have a 'voice'on both an individual and group level within community care systems.


Using gift exchange theory to explain the growing trend of employers offering employer-supported volunteering (ESV) benefits, this article discusses the creation of exchange relationships between the employer and employee and between the volunteer organization and employee. Hypotheses derived from the employee's perspective are tested with a nationally representative sample of volunteers (n=3,658). Findings suggest that ESV benefits are positively related to hours volunteered by the employee. Volunteer hours predict employee perceptions of skill acquisition, and such perceptions are positively related to perceptions of job success and employer recognition. We discuss the implications of these findings for business, employees, and volunteer organizations, with an emphasis on human resource management policy and practice.