The Haymarket Conspiracy: Transatlantic Anarchist Networks traces the evolution of revolutionary anarchist ideas in Europe and their migration to the United States in the 1880s. A new history of the transatlantic origins of American anarchism, this study thoroughly debunks the dominant narrative through which most historians interpret the Haymarket Bombing and Trial of 1886-87. Challenging the view that there was no evidence connecting the eight convicted workers to the bomb throwing at the Haymarket rally, Timothy Messer-Kruse examines police investigations and trial proceedings that reveal the hidden transatlantic networks, the violent subculture, and the misunderstood beliefs of Gilded Age anarchists. Messer-Kruse documents how, in the 1880s, radicals on both sides of the Atlantic came to celebrate armed struggle as the one true way forward and began to prepare seriously for conflict. Within this milieu, he suggests the possibility of a "Haymarket conspiracy": a coordinated plan of attack in which the oft-martyred Haymarket radicals in fact posed a real threat to public order and safety. Drawing on new, never-before published historical evidence, The Haymarket Conspiracy provides a new means of understanding the revolutionary anarchist movement on its own terms rather than in the romantic ways in which its agents have been eulogized.


A literary source text demands the translator's approach for each process of translation. This approach involves a complex and multifaceted analysis of the source text. As Pinter's novel The Dwarfs provides rich ground for such analysis, I present a selection of translation issues against the backdrop of a more general problem of translatability. Pinter is a master of English dialogue, which makes its translation a truly daunting task. The conversations between the characters are filled with expressions from cricket, dated British cultural references, puns, literary and Biblical allusions, phrases and formulaic expressions characteristic of Cockney, and numerous allusions to Shakespeare as well as his own earlier plays. I examine the translatability of The Dwarfs by discussing three translation codes: lexical-semantic, cultural and esthetic. Although these are closely interconnected and interdependent, I present a choice of issues within each code in order to submit for consideration the challenges facing a Pinter translator as well as to show the complexity of Pinter's artistic vision in one of his earliest works.


With increasingly popular marathon events in urban environments, such as in London and New York City, structural designers are faced with a great deal of uncertainty when assessing dynamic performance of bridges occupied and dynamically excited by people running. While the dynamic loads induced by people walking have been intensively studied since the infamous lateral sway of the London Millennium Bridge in 2000, reliable and practical descriptions of running excitation are still very rare and limited. This paper makes a step forward by bringing together a unique database of individual jogging force records and their simple mathematical model which can be used in everyday design practice. The forcing data has been collected in Vibration Engineering Section Laboratory in the University of Sheffield using a state-of-the-art instrumented treadmill, which is commonly used in clinical studies of human gait and sports biomechanics. The modelling strategy featuring Fourier harmonics of measured jogging force-time histories is adopted from a popular design guidelines for human walking excitation of structures. The results show a great scatter in the DLF data and no strong link with jogging footfall rate, which is the case with walking forces. This clearly suggests that traditional deterministic Fourier based approach is not the best modelling strategy for jogging loading. Uncertainty and inter-personal randomness of the force amplitudes indicate that stochastic rather than deterministic models of jogging forces should provide more reliable predictions of the bridge dynamics. These forces could be modeled in a similar fashion as other key dynamic loading of structures characterized by great randomness and uncertainty, such as wind and earthquake.


We study the synchronization of identical oscillators diffusively coupled through a network and examine how adding, removing, and moving single edges affects the ability of the network to synchronize. We present algorithms which use methods based on node degrees and based on spectral properties of the network Laplacian for choosing edges that most impact synchronization. We show that rewiring based on the network Laplacian eigenvectors is more effective at enabling synchronization than methods based on node degree for many standard network models. We find an algebraic relationship between the eigenstructure before and after adding an edge and describe an efficient algorithm for computing Laplacian eigenvalues and eigenvectors that uses the network or its complement depending on which is more sparse.


INTRODUCTION
Preliminary research has indicated that recreational ketamine use may be associated with marked cognitive impairments and elevated psychopathological symptoms, although no study to date has determined how these are affected by differing frequencies of use or whether they are reversible on cessation of use. In this study we aimed to determine how variations in ketamine use and abstention from prior use affect neurocognitive function and psychological wellbeing.

METHOD
We assessed a total of 150 individuals: 30 frequent ketamine users, 30 infrequent ketamine users, 30 ex-ketamine users, 30 polydrug users and 30 controls who did not use illicit drugs. Cognitive tasks included spatial working memory, pattern recognition memory, the Stockings of Cambridge (a variant of the Tower of London task), simple vigilance and verbal and category fluency. Standardized questionnaires were used to assess psychological wellbeing. Hair analysis was used to verify group membership.

RESULTS
Frequent ketamine users were impaired on spatial working memory, pattern recognition memory, Stockings of Cambridge and category fluency but exhibited preserved verbal fluency and prose recall. There were no differences in the performance of the infrequent ketamine users or ex-users compared to the other groups. Frequent users showed increased delusional, dissociative and schizotypal symptoms which were also evident to a lesser extent in infrequent and ex-users. Delusional symptoms correlated positively with the amount of ketamine used currently by the frequent users.

CONCLUSIONS
Frequent ketamine use is associated with impairments in working memory, episodic memory and aspects of executive function as well as reduced psychological wellbeing. 'Recreational' ketamine use does not appear to be associated with distinct cognitive impairments although increased levels of delusional and dissociative symptoms were observed. As no performance decrements were observed in the ex-ketamine users, it is possible that the cognitive impairments observed in the frequent ketamine group are reversible upon cessation of ketamine use, although delusional symptoms persist.


The publication presents a clinical case of hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia in a woman of 75 years. In the first part of the article, literature data on the incidence and features of Rundu-Osler-Weber disease are presented, modern diagnostic principles based on the Curacao criteria (1999) are reviewed, which allow to define the diagnosis as "reliable", with three criteria, "probable" — with Two criteria (most often the family nature of the disease and spontaneous nasal bleeding) and "doubtful", with one criterion of the above. Methods of treating hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia are considered, the authors draw attention to the fact that the choice of the method of therapy depends on the degree of damage to the target organ. Symptomatic methods of treatment suggest slight relief for patients, but hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia remains a progressive, severe and potentially life-threatening pathology. The second part of the article presents a clinical observation with late verification of the patient's P., 75 years of age. The data of medical history, including anamnesis, catamnesis, photographs of macro- and micro-preparations are given. The presented observation illustrates the severe course of hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia, manifested by severe hemorrhagic syndrome, due to vascular malformations, the gradual involvement of internal organs in the pathological process with the formation of arteriovenous shunts, aneurysms. The manifestation of hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia in the described clinical case was manifested as abundant nasal, uterine bleeding, skin telangiectasias, followed by involvement in the pathological process of the lungs, organs of the gastrointestinal tract. The authors were able to observe a variant of the course and manifestation of visceral vascular anomalies. This clinical case illustrates the need to take into account the totality of all the symptoms of the disease in hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia for early detection of the disease, dynamic observation of the patient and the timely administration of therapy


This study examined the single-channel basis of slow inactivation of Na+ currents (INa) in rat fast-twitch skeletal muscle fibers. A loose patch voltage clamp monitored changes in the maximum inward INa as the holding potential of the membrane patch changed. On a neighboring region of extrajunctional membrane of the same fiber, a gigaohm seal patch voltage clamp recorded single-channel INa. The maximum number of simultaneously open Na+ channels among a group of current traces indicated the maximum number of excitable channels. The holding potentials of the two voltage clamps were the same. Slow inactivation did not affect the open time or conductance of single Na+ channels. The number of excitable Na+ channels reversibly decreased during development of slow inactivation of INa and increased during recovery from slow inactivation of INa. Different stimulation protocols examined whether Na+ channels had to be in the closed, open, or fast-inactivated states to enter the slow-inactivated state. Na+ channels appear to be able to enter the slow-inactivated state from the closed, open, or fast-inactivated state.


Gold Rush is middleware supporting the writing of Java applications that reside on an intermittently connected mobile client device and access an enterprise database on a central server. While the client is connected to the central server, objects constructed from database entities can be cached in a persistent store on the client. While the client is disconnected, these entities can be manipulated within transactions that are logged on the client. Upon reconnection, the client application can replay these logged transactions to the server, modifying the database. A replayed transaction is checked for conflicts with other database updates that have occurred since the client obtained the input data for the transaction, and the client is notified when such a conflict arises. Communication between the client and the server is optimized to economize the use of a slow or expensive connection such as a radio link.


Although the colour distribution of globular clusters in massive galaxies is well known to be bimodal, the spectroscopic metallicity distribution has been measured in only a few galaxies. After redefining the calcium triplet index–metallicity relation, we use our relation to derive the metallicity of 903 globular clusters in 11 early-type galaxies. This is the largest sample of spectroscopic globular cluster metallicities yet assembled. We compare these metallicities with those derived from Lick indices finding good agreement. In six of the eight galaxies with sufficient numbers of high-quality spectra we find bimodality in the spectroscopic metallicity distribution. Our results imply that most massive early-type galaxies have bimodal metallicity as well as colour distributions. This bimodality suggests that most massive early-type galaxies experienced two periods of star formation.


Objective To review the history and recent development of research on autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) in China. Data sources Both Chinese and English literatures were searched in MEDLINE/CD ROM (1979 – 2006) and the Chinese Biomedical Literature Disk (1979 – 2006). Study selection Published articles about ADPKD from mainland of China were selected. Data were mainly extracted from 58 articles which are listed in the reference section of this review. Results Some preliminary reports on cyst decompression surgeries and mutation analysis represent the contribution to the ADPKD research from China in the history. A serial of basic research and clinical studies on ADPKD in recent years also have been summarized. A technique platform for ADPKD research was firstly established. The genomics/proteomics/bioinformatics approach was introduced, which provide a lot of valuable information for understanding the pathogenesis. By denature high performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC) technique the entire PKD1 and PKD2 gene sequence screening system for Chinese Han population has been successfully established. Based on the characteristic data of Chinese patients, an integrated therapy protocol was put forward and won an advantage over the traditional therapy. Some novel experimental studies on therapy also were encouraging. Conclusions Remarkable progress of ADPKD research in China have been made recently. Still many works, including the government support, international collaboration and active participation of more Chinese nephrologists, should be enhanced to advance this process in the near future. Chin Med J 2006;119(22):1915-1924


Society and policy makers demand innovation systems oriented towards several goals of sustainable development. Therefore, recent literature has dedicated a growing interest to both innovation and sustainability in the pursuit of environmental, economic and social development; in addition, the emerging topic of 'sustainable innovation' (and 'eco-innovation') seems to combine the main features of them. The definition of these concepts has been significantly changed during the last decades, and a broad discussion continues today about which indicators should be used to measure innovation, sustainability and their combination. The current paper investigates this relationship, and - in the authors' opinion - the research question connected to the impact of the innovative product (and service and process) solutions on sustainability can be addressed by means of a stable theoretical framework. To study the interaction between innovation and sustainability, the usage of specific territorial features might represent a useful perspective to manage short-and long-term environmental and economic issues. As for the theoretical model, the present article considers a specific technique suitable for investigating the entire set of characteristics involved in the model. From a public makers and managerial point of view, the possibility of improving the firm' efficiencies in terms of several dimensions of sustainable innovation represents a relevant topic that must be encouraged.


Abstract The application of interventional radiographic procedures in the management of patients with liver and pancreatic pathology continues to expand. Percutaneous hepatobiliary interventional procedures that have received considerable attention in the past year include technical refinements of the transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt procedure used in patients with portal hypertension and esophageal varices, transshunt embolotherapy of persistent varices in patients with small-caliber mesocaval shunts, percutaneous and transcatheter embolotherapy of hepatic malignancies in patients with primary or metastatic lesions, and MR angiography in the preoperative evaluation of patients awaiting liver transplantation. Other topics reviewed include percutaneous and transvenous biopsy of orthotopic liver transplants, management of bile leaks and strictures after liver transplantation, use of a biopsy gun and larger gauge needles to obtain specimens for histologic analysis in patients with orthotopic liver and pancreatic transplants, percutaneous treatment of caval and hepatic venous stenoses in patients with Budd-Chiari syndrome using self-expanding stainless steel stents, percutaneous treatment of patients with hepatic Echinococcus granulosus cysts, and percutaneous managements of iatrogenic hepatic vascular injuries. General diagnostic evaluation and interventional procedures highlighted include using selective intra-arterial injection of calcium to localize small insulinomas. Recent review papers describing complications of percutaneous transabdominal fine-needle biopsy are analyzed. The diagnostic and therapeutic options available for treating patients with hepatic and pancreatic diseases are summarized in greater detail.


Summary
1Endophytic fungi are associates of most species of plants and may modify insect community structures through the production of toxic alkaloids. Fertilization is known to increase food plant quality for herbivores, but it is also conceivable that additional nitrogen could increase the production of the insect toxic alkaloid, peramine, in endophyte-infected plants.
2The relative importance of soil fertility and endophyte infection on herbivores and their natural enemies is unknown. As performance of the host plant is often affected by an interaction between endophyte infection and genetic background, four different plant cultivars were tested. The main questions addressed in this study were whether plant cultivar and fertilizer addition to endophyte-infected and endophyte-free Lolium perenne affect alkaloid concentrations, plant life-history traits and the abundances of aphid species and their parasitoids.
3In a full factorial outdoor experiment we found a strong positive effect of fertilizer on plant biomass and on the abundance of aphids and parasitoids. While plant traits differed between cultivars, there was little effect of cultivar on either aphid or parasitoid abundance. Only endophyte-infected plants contained alkaloids, and the concentration of peramine was enhanced in fertilized plants. However, endophyte infection had no negative effect on aphid or parasitoid abundances. Plant traits were only weakly influenced by endophyte infection in the field, which contrasts with plant growth room studies, where both germination rate and plant height were influenced by endophyte–cultivar interactions.
4The generally weak effects of endophytes in the outdoor experiment could be explained by various additional constraints under field conditions and the relatively low peramine concentration that we observed.


The Multistate Tax Commission's (MTC) Bulletin 95-1 refines and codifies its longstanding position that a mail-order seller has the requisite nexus to collect a state's use tax if it has a service employee in that state that regularly and continuously works on its behalf. This bulletin has been immediately criticized with varying degrees of intensity.

This article addresses the criticism of Bulletin 95-1. First, the article explains why the proposed "beyond-reasonable-challenge" standard is inappropriate in light of the Supreme Court's inconsistent sales tax nexus Commerce Clause jurisprudence. The article further analyzes Quill, and defends the MTC's interpretation of the holding in that case. The article then examines what constitutes "physical presence" after Quill, and clarifies the MTC's conclusion that in-state repairpersons provide sufficient nexus for out-of-state computer vendors to collect a state's use tax. The article concludes by explaining that Quill specifically addressed nexus in regards to sales tax, and that income tax nexus is less strict than sales tax nexus.


BACKGROUND
Vancomycin is used widely as empiric therapy for gram-positive organisms in patients with an intra-abdominal infection (IAI), even in those with no history of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection or colonization. Potential adverse effects of vancomycin include nephrotoxicity, increased cost, and bacterial resistance. We hypothesized that MRSA nasal screening could be used to predict patients with a MRSA IAI and used to avoid unnecessary empiric vancomycin use.

METHODS
A surgical infections database collected prospectively from a single institution was reviewed for all IAIs between January 1, 2000-December 31, 2011. Patients with and without MRSA obtained from abdominal cultures as either a monomicrobial or polymicrobial isolate were compared by univariate analysis. A multivariable logistic regression was performed to identify independent predictors of MRSA IAI.

RESULTS
Of 2,591 patients with an IAI, 240 patients had a nasal MRSA screen within 30 d prior to infection and abdominal culture data, with an incidence of 23% for MRSA IAI. Patients with MRSA IAI (n=45) had more healthcare associated infections, lower white blood cell counts and greater rates of positive nasal MRSA screenings compared with those with non-MRSA IAI. By multivariable analysis (C statistic=0.908), the strongest independent predictor of an MRSA IAI was a positive MRSA screen (odds ratio [OR] 40.9, confidence interval [CI] 14.2-118.1). The positive predictive value for a MRSA screen was 53% whereas the negative predictive value of a MRSA screen was 97%.

CONCLUSION
A negative MRSA nasal screen indicates with near certainty the absence of MRSA as part of an IAI. In the setting of a recent screen, empiric vancomycin can be withheld. Further, rapid MRSA nasal screening could be used to forego or to discontinue vancomycin therapy rapidly in the setting of IAI. This change in empiric antibiotic management of IAI may lead to decreased morbidity, reduction in cost, and a decrease in bacterial resistance.


Purpose: Preexisting antiviral antibodies in cancer patients can quickly neutralize oncolytic measles virus (MV) and decrease its antitumor potency. In contrast to "naked" viruses, cell-associated viruses are protected from antibody neutralization. Hence, we hypothesized that measles virotherapy of ovarian cancer in measles-immune mice might be superior if MV-infected mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) carriers are used. Experimental Design: Antimeasles antibodies titers in ovarian cancer patients were determined. The protection of MV by MSC from antimeasles antibodies, the in vivo biodistribution profiles, and tumor infiltration capability of MSC were determined. Measles-naïve or immune tumor–bearing mice were treated with naked virus or MSC-associated virus and mice survivals were compared. Results: MSC transferred MV infection to target cells via cell-to-cell heterofusion and induced syncytia formation in the presence of high titers of antimeasles antibody, at levels that completely inactivated naked virus. Athymic mice bearing i.p. human SKOV3ip.1 ovarian tumor xenografts passively immunized with measles-immune human serum were treated with saline, naked MV, or MV-infected MSC. Bioluminescent and fluorescent imaging data indicated that i.p. administered MSC localized to peritoneal tumors, infiltrated into the tumor parenchyma, and transferred virus infection to tumors in measles naïve and passively immunized mice. Survival of the measles-immune mice was significantly enhanced by treatment with MV-infected MSC. In contrast, survivals of passively immunized mice were not prolonged by treatment with naked virus or uninfected MSC. Conclusions: MSC should be used as carriers of MV for intraperitoneal virotherapy in measles-immune ovarian cancer patients. (Clin Cancer Res 2009;15(23):7246–55)


Due to the proliferation of applications for the Internet of Things, an increasing number of machine to machine (M2M) devices are being deployed. In particular, one of the M2M applications, video surveillance, has been widely discussed. Long Term Evolution (LTE), which can provide a high rate of data transmission and wide range of coverage, is a promising standard to serve as an M2M video surveillance system. In this paper, we studied a performance maximization problem in an LTE video surveillance system. Given a set of objects and a set of cameras, each camera has its own performance grade and its own coverage. The goal is to maximize the performance of the system by allocating limited resources to cameras while all objects should be monitored by the selected cameras. We propose a heuristic method to select the cameras and allocate resources to them to solve the problem. Moreover, to reduce the load of the LTE system, a dynamic adjustment method is also proposed.


ABSTRACT Wang, G.-A., 2020. Marine disaster prediction based on mathematical model. In: Qiu, Y.; Zhu, H., and Fang, X. (eds.), Current Advancements in Marine and Coastal Research for Technological and Sociological Applications. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 107, pp. 230-233 . Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. China is a large marine country with a long coastline, which is 18000 kilometers long. Therefore, marine disasters occur frequently in China's coastal areas. Since 1989 to 2017, marine disasters have caused serious economic losses to China, totaling about 346.8 billion yuan, and the number of deaths and missing persons has reached 7054. At the same time, with the aggravation of global warming, green tide, red tide, typhoon and other natural disasters gradually increase. With the increasing frequency of marine disasters, great economic losses have been caused in coastal areas of China. Marine disasters have many characteristics, which are open and dynamic. By analyzing and solving the causes of marine disasters, we can better predict disasters. Therefore, we need to predict marine disasters, which will better plan and use marine resources and reduce the loss of marine disasters. Firstly, this paper analyzes the basic characteristics of marine disasters. Then, this paper introduces the data model of SVM. Then, the paper forecasts the green tide disaster. Finally, some suggestions are put forward.


C3, C4 or Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) photosynthetic pathways represent a fundamental axis of trait variation in plants, with importance at scales from genome to biome. Knowing the distribution of these pathways among wild species is a crucial first step in understanding the patterns and processes of photosynthetic evolution and its role in ecological processes at large scales (e.g. changes in the composition of biomes under global change). C4 photosynthesis is most prevalent in the Poaceae (grasses), which account for about half of allC4 species (Sage et al., 1999a).Research on the evolution and ecology of these plants has undergone a renaissance during the last 7 yr, catalyzed by phylogenetic analyses showing multiple parallel C4 origins (e.g. Christin et al., 2007; Vicentini et al., 2008; GPWG II, 2012), insights into the distribution of C4 species and assembly of the C4 grassland biome (Edwards & Still, 2008; Edwards & Smith, 2010; Edwards et al., 2010), and efforts to introduce the C4 pathway into rice (Hibberd et al., 2008; von Caemmerer et al., 2012). C4 photosynthesis is an excellent model for investigating complex trait evolution, because of the broad knowledge base describing its biochemical basis, evolutionary history, and ecological interactions (Christin et al., 2010).


The general task of image classification seems to be solved due to the development of modern convolutional neural networks (CNNs). However, the high intraclass variability and interclass similarity of plankton images still prevents the practical identification of morphologically similar organisms. This prevails especially for rare organisms. Every CNN requires a vast amount of manually validated training images which renders it inefficient to train study‐specific classifiers. In most follow‐up studies, the plankton community is different from before and this data set shift (DSS) reduces the correct classification rates. A common solution is to discard all uncertain images and hope that the remains still resemble the true field situation. The intention of this North Sea Video Plankton Recorder (VPR) study is to assess if a combination of a Capsule Neural Network (CapsNet) with probability filters can improve the classification success in applications with DSS. Second, to provide a guideline how to customize automated CNN and CapsNet deep learning image analysis methods according to specific research objectives. In community analyses, our approach achieved a discard of uncertain predictions of only 5%. CapsNet and CNN reach similar precision scores, but the CapsNet has lower recall scores despite similar discard ratios. This is due to a higher discard ratio in rare classes. The recall advantage of the CNN decreases with increasing DSS. We present an alternative method to handle rare classes with a CNN achieving a mean recall of 96% by manually validating an average of 6.5% of the original images.


Background and Review of Literature: Unplanned pregnancy is associated with poor mother and child outcomes physiologically and psychologically. Since contraception is an integral piece of family planning, ensuring that patients have quality information to make an informed decision about their birth control choices is important. Purpose. This intervention sought to increase women's contraceptive knowledge, correct use of their chosen birth control methods, and the number of women using birth control through an evidence-based interactive computer-based education. Methods: 20 participants were administered a pretest to assess their utilization, correct usage, and knowledge of contraception. Then, participants watched an interactive computer based educational module and were administered a first posttest immediately. Participants returned 1-3 months later to take a final posttest. Results: There was a statistically significant increase in knowledge scores between the pretest and the first posttest (paired t(19)=5.12, p <.001) and between the pretest and final posttest (paired t(19)=3.85, p = .001). There was, however, no significant difference in knowledge scores between the first posttest and second posttest (paired t(19)=-0.58, p = .568). There was a significant increase in self-reported correct use behavior scores (paired t(18)=3.63, p = .002). The number of women using contraception increased from 18 (90%) to 19 (95%) after the intervention. Conclusions: This computer-based education intervention increased knowledge about birth control, correct use of their chosen birth control method, and the number of women using contraception. Computer based education is a promising avenue for influencing contraceptive use behaviors and contraception knowledge.


Zinc ions were incorporated into the holes of diatomite and the antibacterial effects of the zinc diatomite was evaluated by plate counting of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Escherichia coli (E. coli). When 1wt% of the antibacterial zinc diatomite was incorporated into paint, almost all the S. aureus and E. coli on the surface were killed. This study revealed that the antibacterial capability of zinc diatomite can kill almost all of the bacteria in the diatomite holes and the surface. The preparation and microstructure of the antibacterial zinc diatomite were also studied.


Previous studies demonstrated that refrigeration in a balanced electrolyte solution with 10% serum at 4 C for eight hours allowed dog hearts to return to relatively normal function after homotransplantation.1Utilization of magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) as a metabolic inhibitor extended the tolerance of rat hearts to ischemia at normothermia from less than 15 minutes to four hours and of dog hearts from less than an hour to over three hours.2A solution of magnesium, glucose, and dextran 40 maintained satisfactory viability of the lung in situ at normothermia for over four hours and at 4 C for over eight hours.3The present study was designed to evaluate the preservative effects of combining a metabolic inhibitor and hypothermia for storage of isolated rat hearts up to 48 hours. Materials and Methods Albino rats averaging 250 gm in weight were anesthetized with ether and the hearts excised. The


Developments in software functionality afford new opportunities for cartographic visualization that improve capabilities for data exploration. By using proactive tools such as animation and hypermedia, users may browse database contents to view the organization of the data as well as the organization of the database. When visual tools are proactive, users initiate queries and steer data presentation in a manner consistent with the associative power of the human intellect. This paper argues for increased emphasis on proactivity in designing cartographic displays. A hypermedia implementation is presented for a biogeographical database. Software functions include animation and hypermedia for browsing data at multiple scales and times. Issues of graphical design and hypermedia navigation are emphasized.


Introduction Surgical training is undergoing major changes with significant reductions in time to train and an increasing focus on patient safety. Low fidelity, low-cost laparoscopic simulators have been shown to be an effective training tool and acceptable to trainees however there is no comparable evidence within the orthopaedic context. The Arthrobox is a multi-portal collapsible box that includes several interchangeable skills modules. The aim of this study was to assess whether a low cost portable simulator that trainees can take home is a useful method of improving basic arthroscopic skills. Methods 20 novices (medical students) underwent a 1 day training course on the Arthrobox and completed a stacking elastic band onto a 4-peg grid task. 6 portal configurations in order of increasing difficulty were assessed using time taken (seconds) and the Arthroscopic Surgical Skills Evaluation Tool (ASSET) global rating scale by two expert arthroscopic surgeons. Participants were then randomised into two groups. The control group(n = 10) received no further training whereas the test group(n = 10) were able to take the Arthrobox simulator home for free practice for 1 month. All participants returned to complete the same tasks and were assessed by the same experts. Results All 20 participants completed the study. The test group demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in time to complete the task in all 6 portal configurations (P < 0.05) whereas the control group did not demonstrate any improvement(P = 0.86). Mean ASSET scores showed statistically significant global improvement in the test group across all domains compared to the control group (P < 0.05). Conclusion This study demonstrates that a low-cost, portable simulator that can be taken home is a valid method of acquisition of arthroscopic surgical skills. Although lacking in face validity and realism the Arthrobox can complement other high fidelity simulators and has a role in delivering affordable, available and effective skills training.


Indies buildings in Gorontalo are spread within several areas, namely Ipilo, Biawao, and Tenda. These buildings serve as offices, houses, schools, hotels, religious building, and shop. Research on indies buildings in Gorontalo aims to find its locational pattern and to determine the relationship among those buildings. This research uses descriptive method with an inductive approach. Analysis of the data using the nearest neighbour analysis. The results showed a locational pattern of Indies buildings are clustered around the square. Based on their function, houses, and hotel are clustered, while school and office buildings are randomly located. The relationship between the building relates to the function of each building. Residential and office buildings are located adjacent to the effectiveness. School buildings are spread to facilitate access to people living in all parts of the town. Religious building is located in the center to facilitate access from every direction, and shops are clustered adjacent to the market as the economic center.


Exosomes are small membrane-bound vesicles secreted by cells that function to shuttle RNA and proteins between cells. To examine the role of exosomal micro RNA (miRNA) during the early stage of HIV-1 infection we characterized miRNA in exosomes from HIV-infected macrophages, compared with exosomes from non-infected macrophages. Primary human monocytes from uninfected donors were differentiated to macrophages (MDM) which were either mock-infected or infected with the macrophage-tropic HIV-1 BaL strain. Exosomes were recovered from culture media and separated from virus particles by centrifugation on iodixanol density gradients. The low molecular weight RNA fraction was prepared from purified exosomes. After pre-amplification, RNA was hybridized to microarrays containing probes for 1200 miRNA species of known and unknown function. We observed 48 miRNA species in both infected and uninfected MDM exosomes. Additionally, 38 miRNAs were present in infected-cell exosomes but not uninfected-cell exosomes. Of these, 13 miRNAs were upregulated in exosomes from HIV-infected cells, including 4 miRNA species that were increased by more than 10-fold. Though numerous miRNA species have been identified in HIV-infected cells, relatively little is known about miRNA content in exosomes from these cells. In the future, we plan to investigate whether the upregulated miRNA species we identified are increased in exosomes from HIV-1-positive patients.


This study was carried out to evaluate the practice and depth of knowledge of root canal treatment and pulpotomy by dentists in Kenya. Questionnaires were prepared and mailed to 114 dentists whose addresses were available. Sixty seven (58.8%) dentists responded. Of these, 67.2% carried out root canal treatment (RCT) and 43.3% carried out pulpotomy. The main reasons given by most dentists in the public hospitals for not carrying out these procedures routinely were lack of facilities and materials. Furthermore, it was found that amongst those who carried out these procedures, some used outdated techniques and materials. In order to reduce the large number of teeth lost through extraction, materials and equipment should be made available to enable dentists carry out root canal treatment and pulpotomies routinely. It is also necessary to have continuing dental education amongst dentists to update their knowledge of these procedures.


Endotoxin, a ubiquitous component of Gram-negative bacteria, is an important bioactive environmental factor linked to paediatric asthma incidence and severity in epidemiological studies.1 In challenge studies, acute effects of endotoxin exposure include bronchoconstriction, airways inflammation and airways hyper responsiveness.2 A recent literature review supported a causal association between house-dust endotoxin exposure and acute asthma exacerbations.3

Observational repeated measure studies employing personal monitors can be used to precisely measure endotoxin exposures encountered in the domestic setting, and to assess the timing and magnitude of the dose–response. In this way, effects of acute exposures can be studied in populations that could not ethically undergo exposure challenges, such as children and those with more severe asthma. Using this approach, Rabinovitch et al 4 studied 14 mostly African–American children who attended a school set up for children with difficult to control asthma in Denver. Children in this study had symptoms on average 2–3 times a week indicating uncontrolled asthma despite use of inhaled corticosteroids given at school. Personal endotoxin exposure in this study was associated with a doubling of the odds of experiencing asthma symptoms …


In this paper we present DAPPLE, a standalone End-to-End privacy preserving data classification service. It allows incremental decision tree learning over encrypted training data continuously sent by multiple data owners, without having access to the actual content of this data. In the same time, the learnt classification model is used to respond to encrypted classification queries while preserving the privacy of the query, the output corresponding to it and the model itself.


INTRODUCTION
In context of the global threat of antimicrobial resistance among pathogenic bacteria against conventional bactericidal antibiotics, investigation on complementary/ alternative approaches to manage bacterial infections is warranted. Present study aimed at investigating the anti-pathogenic potential of Phyllanthus emblica seed extract (PESE) against four different pathogenic bacteria.

METHODS
Hydroalcoholic extract of P. emblica seeds was tested for its possible in vitro quorum-modulatory potential against Chromobacterium violaceum, Serratia marcescens, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus through broth dilution assay. In vivo efficacy of PESE was assayed employing Caenorhabditis elegans as the model host for these four pathogens.

RESULTS
PESE was found to exert in vitro quorum-modulatory effect on C. violaceum, S. marcescens, P. aeruginosa, and S. aureus at ≥50 µg/mL. This extract could curb the haemolytic activity of all the four test bacteria by 23-65%, inhibit biofilm formation, and was also able to modulate their antibiotic susceptibility and catalase activity. Susceptibility of P. aeruginosa and S. aureus to lysis by human serum was enhanced under the influence of this extract by 23% and 49% respectively. Repeated exposure of both these notorious pathogens to PESE did not induce resistance in them. In vivo assay confirmed the protective effect of this extract on C. elegans, when challenged with the PESE-treated pathogenic bacteria. PESE also showed notable prebiotic potential by promoting the growth of three probiotic strains.

CONCLUSION
To the best of our awareness, this is the first report on quorum-modulatory potential of P. emblica seed extract, validating its anti-infective potential and prebiotic property.


Different models have defined the term disability and grouped persons with disabilities accordingly. Time and again, various terms and phrases have been used in different languages to identity persons according to the differences in their bodies and the level of functioning of those bodies. Analogies and metaphors create stereotypes and can affect the formation of an individual's self-concept. Clichés like "divyang", ie one who has some divine powers to compensate for the deficiency in the body, based on the supercrip theory of disability, can distort the self-concept and hamper identity formation. Society and the state cannot and must not shrug off their responsibility by using such sugar-coated terms to label individuals. The real requirement is the creation of a nondisabling environment and the provision of equal opportunities to those with disabilities rather than coining of new terms.


Abstract. Inferences on the development and morphology of extinct brachiopods must be informed by the ontogeny and shell ornamentation of extant brachiopods. Although the adult shells of extant brachiopods are well studied, detailed descriptions of the embryonic and juvenile shells of extant lingulides are lacking. Here, we describe in detail the shells of juveniles of Lingula anatina Lamarck, 1801 from Vietnam and the Republic of the Philippines. The following previously unknown properties of the lingulide shell are described: (1) a distinct border between the protegulum and the brephic shell; (2) drapes that develop on both the protegulum and brephic shell; and (3) the notched anterior margin of the brephic shell. The drapes and cogs on the brephic shell may be caused by the formation of setal follicles during the planktonic stage. Specimens of L. anatina from the Philippines have larger brephic shells than those from Vietnam, probably because the former have a longer planktonic stage. Based on comparisons of the first-formed shells of extant brachiopods with published data on fossil brachiopods, we suggest that the life cycle of extant lingulides, in which planktotrophic juveniles with a shell hatch from the egg envelope, is the most evolutionarily advanced brachiopod life cycle and appeared in the early Silurian. We suggest criteria for determining the type of life cycle based on the structure of the first-formed shell of brachiopods. Finally, we consider hypothetical scenarios of life cycles of fossil brachiopods, including true planktotrophic larvae in the Cambrian linguliforms.


Six monoclonal antibodies produced from mice immunised with Leptospira interrogans serovar hardjo were directed against determinants in the leptospiral lipopolysaccharide, as indicated by immunodiffusion and enzyme immunoassay (EIA), and opsonised leptospires for phagocytosis by mouse macrophages. Their specificities were studied by agglutination and EIA. Five antibodies reacted with some, but not all, members of the Sejroe and Hebdomadis serogroups, and one antibody agglutinated exclusively members of the Sejroe group thus indentifying a serogroup-specific epitope. None of the six antibodies reacted with representative serovars of any other serogroup.


Recently, gossip algorithms have received much attention from the wireless sensor network community due to their simplicity, scalability and robustness. Motivated by applications such as compression and distributed transform coding, we propose a new gossip algorithm called Selective Gossip. Unlike traditional randomized gossip which computes the average of scalar values, we run gossip algorithms in parallel on the elements of a vector. The goal is to compute only the entries which are above a defined threshold in magnitude, i.e., significant entries. Nodes adaptively approximate the significant entries while abstaining from calculating the insignificant ones. Consequently, network lifetime and bandwidth are preserved. We show that with the proposed algorithm nodes reach consensus on the values of the significant entries and on the indices of insignificant ones. We illustrate the performance of our algorithm with a field estimation application. For regular topologies, selective gossip computes an approximation of the field using the wavelet transform. For irregular network topologies, we construct an orthonormal transform basis using eigenvectors of the graph Laplacian. Using two real sensor network datasets we show substantial communication savings over randomized gossip. We also propose a decentralized adaptive threshold mechanism such that nodes estimate the threshold while approximating the entries of the vector for computing the best m -term approximation of the data.


The purpose of this study is to explore how university students and lecturers use social media to support their learning and particularly to understand how such emerging technologies usage impacts student learning experience and class communication. In this research, social media tools under consideration are social networking sites, media sharing sites, creation and publishing tools, social bookmarking, and the Internet messaging.  This research employed purposive selection to obtain the quality of data from semi-structured interviews of twelve students and four lecturers from the Victoria University of Wellington who are known to have experience of using social media tools in their courses.  The study identified two major usages of social media to support learning activities, five key usage activities for students and four major usage activities for lecturers. Students' choices and usages of social media applications were more diverse compared to the lecturers. The usages and preferences of students from different disciplines were varied. Moreover, there were numbers of social media interactions and communication among the students and their peers. Even though the interaction and communication between students and lecturers through social media was minimum due to the limited uses of social media for formal learning in class by lecturers and students, the lecturers and students expressed that the usage of social media helped improve class communication. Students' engagement was only area that affected by social media choices and communication using social media by lecturers. The choices and communication by students would affect greater and wider aspects of student learning experience such as learning ability, communication and collaboration, problem solving, access to information, and productivity. Even though the usage of social media to support learning by students and lecturers did not impact student learning experience equally, the findings suggest that it helps facilitate learning activities, benefit students, and enhance the student learning experience to some extent.


Nowadays, due to technological advances, continuous online training has been more relevant as part of professional and personal development of individuals. Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is now a means to education that allows participants to partake in topics of their interest. In order to conduct this research, it was necessary to carry a systematic review of papers related to the design and implementation of MOOCs around the world. In order to apply these findings in the development of a series of MOOCs which will be held on the topic of energy sustainability. This work is based on the Project 266632 "Binational Laboratory of Intelligent Management of Energy Sustainability and Technological Training", with funding provided by the CONACYT-SENER Energy Sustainability Fund (Announcement: S0019-2014-01). The research question that guided this study was What are the management and academic factors that influence an MOOC to be effective?. The methodology used in this research was Meta-analysis, which allows to merge results from manifold experiments or quasiexperiments with the purpose of achieving an appraisement of the size of the effect. A comparison among 16 case studies on the design and implementation of MOOCs was made, which provided the information needed to analyze each effect size. Among the most significant findings, it was identified that the following factors influence the effectiveness of an MOOC: high quality instructors and materials must be a part of these courses to maintain the interest of the participants, prompt feedback encourages participants to make contributions, forum activities are vital for doubts clearing and sense of belonging, and the implementation of an achievement board encourages participants to seek to reach their course goals. The results were applied in the instructional design of 10 MOOCs related to energy sustainability (http://www.energialab.com/demo3/cursos/) that are imparted in Mexico EDX platform within the project "Binational Laboratory of Intelligent Management of Energy Sustainability and Technological Training".


Speleothems are emerging as important and detailed chronological records of environmental change. Integrating exploration of modern speleothem records of environmental variability, related forcing factors, and understanding and suggests new potential proxies. This dissertation demonstrates the potential for developing novel proxy records of past regional environmental extremes, such as tropical cyclones, explosive volcanism, and enhanced seasonal contrasts from speleothems that are sensitive to transient infiltration events through very high-resolution, multi-parameter analysis of a rapidly growing, fracture-fed tropical stalagmite. A series of sample screening steps were developed prior to stalagmite collection in the field in order to increase the likelihood of collecting suitable samples sensitive to tropical cyclone precipitation events. Once the correct annual dating was established for a recent period (2001-1978), a weekly-monthly record of stalagmite stable isotope ratios showed low stable oxygen isotope excursions that corresponded to the historical record of tropical storm strikes in the region. Furthermore, excursion amplitude was related to the maximum intensity of storms prior to landfall. The same stalagmite contains a trace element record of the El Chichon eruption, validated by both Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICPMS) and Scanning X-ray Fluorescence (S-XRF). A dominant, broad spectrum trace element perturbation was recorded by both methods at 1982, coincident with a major explosive eruption of the nearby trachy-andesite El Chichon volcano in Chiapas, Mexico in April of that year. This result demonstrates the ability of stalagmites to record proxy evidence of a major regional tephra fallout event. The LA-ICPMS technique showed greater discriminating power between volcanic and extensive rainfall signals. A lag correlation analysis of weak El Nino forcing in Belize using a large suite of meteorological and satellite datasets required removal of seasonal variance in order to detect any El Nino response. Individual variables responded independently to El Nino, and no coherent lag timescale was evident. Analysis of biological factors including the belowground community will be required to assess the non-linear processes linking small changes in temperature and moisture extremes to large carbon isotope variations. Promising new proxies for tropical cyclone activity and low-latitude explosive volcanism may emerge from this work.


In this paper, an approach is proposed for the design of approximate inverse models for the controlled systems that have real and/or complex conjugate unacceptable zeros. The proposed approach utilizes a bi-causal formula to construct the inverse model, therefore, it can be applied to the design of both feedforward and feedback controllers. A design example is used to illustrate the proposed design approach. Using the derived optimal solution, a feedback controller and a feedforward controller are designed for an electrical DC servomotor. The tracking performance of the designed system and its robustness to parameter variations are examined through computer simulation and experimental verification.


A simple, rapid, precise and specific isocratic HPAE-PAD method for quantification of CGP69669A was developed and validated. CGP69669A is a glycomimetic of sialyl Lewis(x) and an antagonist of E-selectin with potential application in the treatment of inflammatory skin disease. Quantification was performed using a Dionex CarboPac(TM) PA-200 anion-exchange column (3 × 250 mm) with 100 mm NaOH solution as mobile phase, a flow rate of 0.50 mL/min and an injection volume of 10 μL. A quadruple potential waveform was used to detect the carbohydrate (+0.1 V from 0.00 to 0.40 s, -2.0 V from 0.41 to 0.42 s, +0.6 V at 0.43 s and -0.1 V from 0.44 to 0.50 s with current integrated between 0.20 and 0.40 s for detection) and rafinose was employed as an internal standard. The optimized conditions enabled rapid elution of CGP69669A (at 3.0 min) without interference from solvent peaks or substances present in the skin. The method showed good intra- and inter-day precision and accuracy and the response was linear from 1.0 to 25 µg/mL. This is the first validated direct method for the quantification of CGP69669A. It will now be employed in studies investigating the topical and transdermal delivery of CGP69669A in vitro and in vivo and it should also be of use for other applications of this molecule.


A major challenge of the heterogeneous wireless networks is how to jointly utilize the resources of different radio access technologies (RATs) in an efficient manner while simultaneously achieving the desired multi-service quality of service (QoS) and minimizing the service cost. To meet the challenge, this paper proposes an adaptive common radio resource management (CRRM) scheme in the context of wireless wide area network (WWAN) and wireless local area network (WLAN). The key parameters of the scheme are service type, user mobility and location information, load information, and service cost. The effectiveness of the proposed CRRM scheme is assessed analytically using the theory of Markov chains. Numerical results show that the proposed scheme minimizes the rate of unnecessary vertical handoffs (VHO), thereby providing stable communication without degrading call blocking performance and increasing service cost.


ABSTRACT The potential of ichnofabrics to yield information on endobenthic communities, organism behaviors, and paleoenvironmental conditions is widely recognized among sedimentary geologists. However, the extreme range in both ichnologic fidelity and temporal resolution of ichnofabrics is commonly not fully appreciated. Ichnofabrics developed in slowly deposited pelagic sediments, such as the Cretaceous Demopolis Chalk (U.S. Gulf coastal plain), represent one extreme. Ichnofabrics in the Demopolis Chalk, preeminently expressed only at transitions between marls and chalks, are time-averaged composites that formed over periods exceeding 8 kyr. Ichnologic fidelity is low; distinct biogenic structures reflect only the work of elite deep-tier tracemakers. Moreover, modeling that employs densities of elite burrows and burrow systems, sedimentation rates, and conservative estimates of trace-maker life spans indicates that preserved ichnofossils likely represent less than 10% of the time recorded in associated host sediments. Limited temporal resolution and completeness of these and comparable ichnofabrics call for caution in paleoenvironmental and paleoecologic interpretations and have implications for understanding behaviors, spatial distributions (patchiness), and vertical segregation (tiering) of tracemakers in marine pelagic substrates.


OBJECTIVES
This study examined the relationship between insurance status and emergency department (ED) disposition of injured California children.

METHODS
Multivariate regression models were built using data obtained from the 2005 through 2009 California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) data sets for all ED visits by injured children younger than 19 years of age.

RESULTS
Of 3,519,530 injury-related ED visits, 52% were insured by private, and 36% were insured by public insurance, while 11% of visits were not insured. After adjustment for injury characteristics and demographic variables, publicly insured children had a higher likelihood of admission for mild, moderate, and severe injuries compared to privately insured children (mild injury adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.36, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.34 to 1.39; moderate and severe injury AOR = 1.34, 95% CI = 1.28 to 1.41). However, uninsured children were less likely to be admitted for mild, moderate, and severe injuries compared to privately insured children (mild injury AOR = 0.63, 95% CI = 0.61 to 0.66; moderate and severe injury AOR = 0.50, 95% CI = 0.46 to 0.55). While publicly insured children with moderate and severe injuries were as likely as privately insured children to experience an ED death (AOR = 0.91, 95% CI = 0.70 to 1.18), uninsured children with moderate and severe injuries were more likely to die in the ED compared to privately insured children (AOR = 3.11, 95% CI = 2.38 to 4.06).

CONCLUSIONS
Privately insured, publicly insured, and uninsured injured children have disparate patterns of ED disposition. Policy and clinical efforts are needed to ensure that all injured children receive equitable emergency care.


Differential Diagnosis in Dermatopathology II is the second volume of a pair to appear in a similar format and with similar intent, as stated in the preface. The book considers a series of two dermatopathologic entities by way of a point-counterpoint juxtaposition of contrasting histologic observations. The point-counterpoint format has been successfully employed by the senior author as a teaching-lecture method, and many of the discussions replicate discussions in Dr Ackerman's printed course materials. In all, 45 dermatopathologic dyads are presented. The book is illustrated with 270 color photomicrographs and 90 gross color photographs. The volume is appended with a glossary and an index. Dr Ackerman and associates apparently took to heart Dr John T. Headington's review of the antecedent volume of this, to date, limited series of two books. Dr Headington faulted the choice of entities discussed in the first volume and suggested that he would have preferred to


Objectives: The purpose of this research is to understand the impact of consumer affinity on
brand perceptions. In particular, the study aims to investigate the effect of positive emotional
feelings that consumers establish and exhibit towards a foreign country on how they perceive
brands originating from the same country, measured by consumer-based brand equity and
brand loyalty. Finally, the study examines the impact of consumer affinity on country loyalty.
Methodology: The study employs a mixed method approach. Eighteen interviews were
conducted with UK consumers to understand what contributes to their affinity feelings and to
revise the conceptual framework developed by the researcher. Based on a review of literature
and the findings of the qualitative interviews, a conceptual model was developed for empirical
testing. To validate the theoretical model, survey data were collected from 507 UK respondents
who expressed their affinity feelings as well as their perceptions of car and clothing brands.
Findings: Results suggest that consumer affinity plays a vital role in determining brand
perceptions. Consumer affinity is positively related to the dimensions of consumer-based brand
equity and country loyalty. The dimensions of consumer-based brand equity mediate the
relationship between consumer affinity and brand loyalty.
Contribution: The study adds to our understanding of the construct of consumer affinity by
shedding light on what constitutes affinity feelings. In addition, the study provides a novel
conceptual framework to understand-the mechanism through which consumer affinity affects
brand perceptions. Finally, the study equips governments with tools to create and leverage
affinity feelings towards their countries in addition to providing marketing managers with
insights on how to make use of such feelings to better design their branding strategies and
position their brands in foreign markets.


Murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) gene products dispensable for growth in cell culture are likely to have important functions within the infected host, influencing tissue tropism, dissemination, or immunological responses against the virus. To identify such genes, our strategy was to delete large regions of the MCMV genome likely to contain genes nonessential for virus replication in NIH 3T3 cells. Mutant virus RV7 contained a deletion of 7.7 kb spanning portions of MCMV HindIII-J and -I. This virus grew comparably to wild-type (WT) virus in NIH 3T3 fibroblasts, primary embryo fibroblasts, and bone marrow macrophages. However, RV7 failed to replicate in target organs of immunocompetent BALB/c mice and severe combined immunodeficient mice, which are exquisitely sensitive to MCMV infection. This defect in vivo growth may be related to the observation that RV7 grew poorly in the peritoneal macrophage cell line IC-21, which is highly permissive for growth of WT MCMV. Two other mutant viruses with an insertion or smaller deletion in the region common to the RV7 deletion grew comparably to WT virus in the macrophage cell line and replicated in salivary gland tissue. The poor growth of RV7 in IC-21 cells was due to a block in immediate-early gene expression, as levels of RNA from immediate-early gene IE1 were reduced eightfold compared with levels for WT virus in macrophages infected with RV7. Consequently, levels of RNA from early and late genes were also reduced. The lower expression of IE1 in RV7-infected IC-21 macrophages was not due to defective entry of virus into the cells, as equal amounts of viral DNA were present in cells 3 h after infection with RV7 or WT MCMV. These studies demonstrate that deletion of sequences in HindIII-J and -I confer altered cell and tissue tropism.


Dumper is now used as a loading machine for intermediate mechanization in underground coal mining. For survival in the intense competition in the global business environment in recent years it is essential that LHD machine should be reliable and maintained effectively and efficiently. This paper seeks to study the reliability, availability and maintainability (RAM) of an 36T dumper machine with failure and repair data by KME method. The constraints and reasons for machine unavailability are outlined. The reliability and maintainability of an LHD and its subsystems are evaluated. Reliability and maintainability of an LHD system are disappointing. There is room to take decisions on optimal maintenance planning and machine improvement from this analysis.


BCH (Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem) codes over complex fields in the frequency domain have been proposed for image coding applications as robust channel coding methods. The embedded problem of estimation of complex sinusoids corrupted by white additive noise may be solved in different ways. A standard approach for modelling such signals employs low-order nearly nonstationary autoregressive (AR) models with complex parameters. In the paper linear prediction/ least squares based methods are used for parameter estimation including forward linear prediction (FLP) and forward-backward linear prediction (FBLP). The two parameter estimation methods have been applied to the first- and the second-order AR models with minimal number of samples to obtain efficient frequency estimators for decoding of BCH codes. Computer simulation has been carried out to compare different frequency estimation algorithms with regards to three significant criteria: frequency resolution, computing complexity and coding redundancy. The results show that different algorithms exhibit optimal combinations of characteristics for different constraints and importance of criteria.


The currency and banking crises which the Turkish economy faced in the last sixteen years are generally attributed to financial and fiscal fragilities, typical of developing countries with liberalised capital accounts. Although the sudden stops and reversals in capital flows seem to be the common factor underlying crises of that kind, the three cases analysed in the text took place at different international and domestic conjunctures and were unfolded in different policy environments. In the international context, the volume, composition and degree of volatility of capital flows made a major impact on the severity and evolution of the crises. In the context of the national economy, not only diverse exchange rate arrangements and demand management policies, but also the changing emphases on institutional issues put their imprint on the actual course of events. The paper starts with definitions, explanations and stylised facts about currency and banking crises. It later goes into exploring the behaviour of the relevant indicators (i.e. those related to balance of payments, finance and public sector accounts) in Turkey over the pre-crisis, crisis and post-crisis periods in each of the crises concerned. The possibility of using some of these indicators as advance warning signals is also discussed. The last three crises in the Turkish economy were not simply the outcomes of policy mistakes committed by Turkey alone, but were also highly influenced by systemic features of the world economy working under neoliberal principles. The fact that the Turkish governments since the capital account liberalisation have been either unable or unwilling to monitor the transmission mechanisms of international shocks into the domestic economy suggests that currency and banking crises in Turkey are likely to recur over the medium term.


There has been a recent rapid increase in the number of assays for cellular immunity in man and in information related to the mechanisms underlying the observed reactions. These tests have been applied clinically for three main purposes: (a) Evaluation of cell-mediated immune competence of patients with primary immune deficiencies and of possible immunological depression associated with cancer or other diseases. (b) Determination of major differences in histocompatibility antigens which might be important in rejection of organ transplants. Some cellular immune assays have become part of the routine battery of assays used for immunological evaluation of potential donors and recipients. (c) Measurement of specific immune reactivity against antigens associated with a variety of diseases, including infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases and cancer.


Chain reorientation may be induced in polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) in its β-phase by applying a deformation perpendicular to the pre-oriented polymeric chains. This reorientation begins right after the yielding point and seems to be completed when the stress-strain curve stabilizes. As the deformation process plays an important role in the processing and optimisation properties of the material for practical applications, different deformation stress was applied to the PVDF lamellas and their topographic change and piezoelectric response were studied by means of scanning force microscopy in a piezo-response mode. The experimental results confirm the previously observed chain reorientation that occurs right after the yielding point and that is completed when the yielding region is passed. This reorientation is accompanied by a stretching of the granular structures observed in the topographical images and variations in the domain response. The observed results help to explain the variations in the macroscopic response of the material.


Cyber-physical systems are a genre of networked real-time systems that monitor and control the physical world. Examples include unmanned aerial vehicles and industrial robotics. The experts who develop these complex systems are retiring much faster than universities are graduating engineering majors. As a result, it is important for undergraduates to gain exposure to these kinds of complex systems. This paper describes UPBOT, a robotics testbed hosted at the University of Portland, Portland, OR. The testbed features an extensible robot built from an iRobot Create chassis and a computationally powerful embedded system equipped with a wireless card. In the Spring 2012 semester, the testbed was used for a course project designed and assessed in the style of contract learning. Overall, students were enthusiastic about the hands-on and self-paced nature of the course, but some were concerned by the level of freedom. The lessons learned may inform other educators in project design in robotics education.


This article presents a working definition of the advanced practice registered nurse (APRN). The types of nurses that could be included in this definition and the benefits of broadening the category are discussed, as well as possible reasons for the less inclusive, previous definition of this category. Strategies are proposed for resolving concerns about broadening the category.


The cyclobutane unit is important to prepare complex natural products with biological activity due to the high ring strain. Among various approaches, [2 + 2] cycloaddition is one of the major strategies to prepare cyclobutane under light conditions. Recently, Rajanbabu's group reported tandem catalysis for asymmetric coupling of inactivated ethylene and enynes to functionalized cyclobutenes or cyclobutanes. However, the reaction mechanisms remain unproven. Herein, we demonstrate via comprehensive density functional theory calculations that the computed reaction mechanism for the formation of cyclobutene is in line with the originally proposed mechanism. However, the proposed mechanism for the formation of cyclobutane is computed to be unfavorable both thermodynamically and kinetically. Specifically, calculations reveal that a direct β-hydrogen transfer is more favorable than β-hydrogen elimination in the formation of (Z)-cyclobutane. More interestingly, several minimum energy crossing points (MECPs) are located along various potential energy surfaces, highlighting the importance of spin-crossing. All these findings could be particularly useful for the development of asymmetric Co-catalyzed [2 + 2] cyclization.


This work is concerned with the simultaneous tracking and shape estimation of a mobile extended object based on noisy sensor measurements. Novel methods are developed for coping with the following two main challenges: i) The computational complexity due to the nonlinearity and high-dimensionality of the problem, and ii) the lack of statistical knowledge about possible measurement sources on the extended object.


SUMMARY The large number of pesticide applications in apple orchards creates serious problems with pesticide residues and their side effects on beneficial organisms, the environment and human health. This is the reason behind the search for new systems for apple protection. The investigations were made in apple orchards of the Institute of Agriculture at Kyustendil, during the period from 1997-1999. Three scab resistant cultivars grafted on rootstocks MM106 were planted in 1996. The orchard was divided into four plots. Two plots were treated as "conventionally" and the other two were treated as "integrated" according to the general principles, rules and standards of integrated apple production. The key disease during the experimental period was powdery mildew, which can be controlled only with pruning of infected clusters and shoots during the first three years after planting. The key pests in the orchard during the nonbearing period were the green apple aphid and San Jose scale. In the integrated plant protection system, it is possible to reduce the number of insecticide treatments depending on the density of the main pests.


The dispersions of the top interface optical phonons and the side interface optical phonons in cylindrical quantum dots are solved by using the dielectric continuum model. Our calculation mainly focuses on the frequency dependence of the IO phonon modes on the wave-vector and quantum number in the cylindrical quantum dot system. Results reveal that the frequency of top interface optical phonon sensitively depends on the discrete wave-vector in z direction and the azimuthal quantum number, while that of the side interface optical phonon mode depends on the radial and azimuthal quantum numbers. These features are obviously different from those in quantum well, quantum well wire, and spherical quantum dot systems. The limited frequencies of interface optical modes for the large wave-vector or quantum number approach two certain constant values, and the math and physical reasons for this feature have been explained reasonably.


In the recent decade demographers turned their attention to investigating the effects of children on self-rated happiness or life satisfaction. The underlying idea of this strand of research is to find out whether it pays off for individuals to become parents in terms of their subjective well-being, given the costs of having children. Following this line of research, this article studies the impacts of childbearing on individual-level happiness in Poland; a country which experienced a rapid decline in fertility despite the particularly strong attachment of young Poles to family values. To this end, we applied methods for panel data analysis which allowed us to control for endogeneity of subjective well-being and parenthood. Our results reveal a significantly positive effect of the first child on the subjective well-being of mothers. For men, this impact is weaker and most likely temporary since it weakens with the child's increasing age. An important finding is that neither for men nor for women does the positive impact of parenthood rise with an increase in parity. This may explain the persistence of low fertility in this country.


BACKGROUND
Little is known on the efficiency of mental health care in small health areas (SHA) particularly where care is organised in sectors and information is incomplete.

AIMS OF THE STUDY
To develop an operational model of basic mental health community care (B-MHCC). and to use it to assess the technical efficiency of small health areas.

METHOD
A hybrid qualitative and quantitative method was followed to develop a B-MHCC model based on 12 indicators of residential and day care availability and utilisation. It was used for providing qualitative ratings of 12 SHA and to design an standard weighted input-oriented variable returns to scale-Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to assess the technical efficiency in each area with a maximum discrimination. The agreement between both strategies was tested via Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) and predictive validity.

RESULTS
One SHA was classified as efficient (benchmark) and seven as inefficient by experts. A DEA model based on two input and 4 output variables rated 6 areas as inefficient, five of these coincided with the experts' opinion (ICC: 0.87). The improvements which every inefficient area required to reach efficiency were also estimated.

DISCUSSION
The expert-driven model of community care (B-MHCC) is appropriate to test technical efficiency in Spain. The DEA model, combined with the qualitative rating, proved more useful to detect inefficiency than efficiency. It also provided the size of improvements needed to reach efficiency.

IMPLICATIONS FOR HEALTH CARE PROVISION AND USE
This model may help decision makers to adjust resource allocation as well as to monitor the efficiency changes over time within small health areas. However, further statistical correlation analysis must be carried out to determine parameter relationships and new mathematical parameter transformations must also be carried out to improve DEA results, as we cannot state that the model will provide similar results when applied to other SHA.

IMPLICATIONS FOR HEALTH POLICIES
The DEA model can be applied to care decision, planning and benchmarking. This approach could be relevant for health planning in countries where mental healthcare is organised in sectors, particularly when the available information on service availability and use is not comprehensive.


Presentations are crucial components of the knowledge sharing in organizations with the purpose of facilitating organizational acquisition and invention. Current web applications enabling users to collaboratively create presentation-like web contents and locate the created contents on a web page for knowledge sharing are insufficiently supportive of types of materials for presentations and the functions for visitors. We addressed challenges such as collaborative creation of web contents based on existing presentations and sharing created web contents seamlessly with useful functions and communication tools. To solve the problems, we proposed Slide Stack as a web platform for organizing and sharing of knowledge using presentations. The result of an experiment for evaluating a performance of real-time collaboration features showed that the especial features of the Slide Stack system for improving the presentation-like web contents ran without problems in practical use.


Although the transformation of relevant curriculum experiences for youth from impoverished backgrounds in large urban high schools in the US offers many leadership challenges for faculty, few studies have focused on the roles of students and teachers in the creation of distributed leadership practices to build and sustain improved learning environments. Through ethnography, this paper explores the leadership dynamics in one academy within a large urban high school whose students are mostly African‐American. Students in some classes had opportunities to participate in cogenerative dialogues and, in so doing, learned how to interact successfully with others, including their teachers and peers, and build collective agreements for future classroom roles and shared responsibility for their enactment. The study highlights the centrality of successful interactions among participants and the extent to which co‐respect and co‐responsibility for goals occur. Initially, a lack of trust within the community undermined tendencies to build solidarity throughout the community, despite a commitment of the academy's co‐ordinator to be responsive to the goals of others, listen to colleagues and students, and strive for collective goals. It is argued that all participants in a field need to take responsibility for accessing and appropriating structures to achieve positive emotional energy through collective curriculum leadership and climates that create and sustain educational accomplishments. Furthermore, it is suggested that individual and collective actions should be studied dialectically in subsequent research on leadership dynamics in schools.


In this paper I argue that education must be defined by our willingness to experience compassion in the face of others' suffering and thus by an ethical imperative, and seek to expose psycho-social processes of shame as dark matters that inferiorize and subjugate those expressing such compassion for the more-than-human world. Beginning with stories from my own life, I examine works of fiction including J. M. Coetzee's The Lives of Animals (1999) and Wendell Berry's Jayber Crow (2000), as well as Berry's reflection on his family's legacy of racism in The Hidden Wound (2010), to explore the deep cultural wound caused by human supremacy. I further argue the need for claiming deep love and thus heartbreak in the face of suffering as the foundations for a pedagogy of responsibility.


Accretionary orogeny that involves terrain accretion and subsequent reprocessing plays a crucial role in the Phanerozoic tectonics and continental growth of Asia. This study reports zircon U-Pb and Hf isotope data from the Chimei igneous complex, eastern Taiwan, part of the intra-oceanic Luzon arc that has accreted onto the Eurasian continental margin since ca. 5 Ma. Among 292 U-Pb dates and 267 Hf isotope ratios obtained for zircon separates from six andesites, ten grains of magmatic zircons gave a mean 206 Pb/ 238 U age at 9.0 ± 0.3 Ma, with e Hf(t) values from +20 to +12, which we interpret as the emplacement age of the Chimei complex. Remaining zircons, however, show inherited ages clustering at ca. 14 Ma (n = 9) and ca. 220 Ma (n = 56, the largest peak), along with much older ages of ca. 0.7 Ga, 1.9 Ga, and 2.5 Ga. Whereas the ca. 14 Ma zircons may have crystallized from the earliest magmatism of the northern Luzon arc, the Indosinian and older zircons suggest Cathaysia-type sources that we attribute to a continental fragment that split off from the Eurasian margin by opening of the South China Sea and then drifted and accreted to the western Philippine Sea plate before the Luzon subduction initiation. Consequently, magmas derived from the depleted mantle wedge evolved and picked up the continental zircons during ascent. Our study not only better integrates regional tectonics with magmatic records in Southeast Asia, but also signifies a modern example from Taiwan that highlights the importance of ribbon continents in Asian orogenesis over time and space.


This article summarizes a presentation given at the 2015 North Carolina Serials Conference by Derrik Hiatt and Lesley Jackson. The talk focused on principles useful when conducting license negotiations that Hiatt and Jackson discovered through their own experiences as electronic resource management librarians and, in Jackson's case, as an EBSCO representative. These principles cover a variety of concepts, but all seek to frame negotiation as an interpersonal relationship based on mutual need instead of the antagonistic, intimidating process that it can become.


Recent studies on the perception of speech have suggested that vowel identification depends on dynamic cues, rather than a single 'static' spectral slice at the vowel midpoint. The experiments reported in this paper seek both to test the extent to which vowel recognition depends on dynamic information, and to identify the nature of the dynamic cues on which such recognition might depend. Gaussian classification techniques, as well as different kinds of neural network architectures, were used to classify some 3000 vowels in /CVd/ citation-form Australian English words, following training on roughly the same number of vowel tokens produced by different talkers. The first set of experiments shows that when vowels are classified from three spectral slices taken at the vowel margins and midpoint, only diphthongs, but not monophthongs, benefit from the additional spectral information at the vowel margins. A further experiment shows that vowels are no better classified from a time-delay neural network than from the three-slice network in which time is not explicitly represented. At least for the citation-form, Australian English vowels in this study, these results are interpreted as being more consistent with a target, rather than a dynamic, theory of vowel perception.


Background To date, 11 HIV-1 subtypes and 48 circulating recombinant forms have been described worldwide. The underlying reason why their distribution is so heterogeneous is not clear. Host genetic factors could partly explain this distribution. The aim of this study was to describe HIV-1 strains circulating in an unexplored area of Mekong Delta, Vietnam, and to assess the impact of optimal epitope mutations on HLA binding. Methods We recruited 125 chronically antiretroviral-naive HIV-1-infected subjects from five cities in the Mekong Delta. We performed high-resolution DNA typing of HLA class I alleles, sequencing of Gag and RT-Prot genes and phylogenetic analysis of the strains. Epitope mutations were analyzed in patients bearing the HLA allele restricting the studied epitope. Optimal wild-type epitopes from the Los Alamos database were used as reference. T-cell epitope recognition was predicted using the immune epitope database tool according to three different scores involved in antigen processing (TAP and proteasome scores) and HLA binding (MHC score). Results All sequences clustered with CRF01_AE. HLA class I genotyping showed the predominance of Asian alleles as A*11:01 and B*46:01 with a Vietnamese specificity held by two different haplotypes. The percentage of homology between Mekong and B consensus HIV-1 sequences was above 85%. Divergent epitopes had TAP and proteasome scores comparable with wild-type epitopes. MHC scores were significantly lower in divergent epitopes with a mean of 2.4 (±0.9) versus 2 (±0.7) in non-divergent ones (p<0.0001). Conclusions Our study confirms the wide predominance of CRF01_AE in the Mekong Delta where patients harbor a specific HLA pattern. Moreover, it demonstrates the lower MHC binding affinity among divergent epitopes. This weak immune pressure combined with a narrow genetic diversity favors immune escape and could explain why CRF01_AE is still predominant in Vietnam, particularly in the Mekong area.


We consider a distributed system that disseminates high-volume event streams to many simultaneous monitoring applications over a low-bandwidth network. For bandwidth efficiency, we propose a collaborative data-reduction mechanism, 'group-aware stream filtering', used together with multicast, to select a small set of necessary data that satisfy the needs of a group of subscribers simultaneously. We turn data-compressing filters into group-aware filters by exploiting two overlooked, yet important, properties of monitoring applications: 1) many of them can tolerate some degree of 'slack' in their data quality requirements; 2) there may exist multiple subsets of the source data satisfying the quality needs of an application. We can thus choose the 'best alternative' subset for each application to maximise the data overlap within the group to best benefit from multicasting. We provide a general framework that treats the group-aware stream filtering problem completely; we prove the problem NP-hard and thus provide a suite of heuristic algorithms that ensure data quality (specifically, granularity and timeliness) while collaboratively reducing data. The framework is extensible and supports a diverse range of filters. Our prototype-based evaluation shows that group-aware stream filtering is effective in trading CPU time for data reduction, compared with self-interested filtering.


Petroleum Geology is a complex discipline, drawing upon data from many technologies. It is the function of Well site Geologists to integrate processed data produced prior to and dur ing the drilling operation With their own geological observations. For this reason, it is necessary that geologists appreciate some of the technology, theory of measurement, and processing of this data in order to better assess and use them. In the Field Geologists's Training Guide (Exlog, 1985) and Mud Logging: Principles and Interpretations (Exlog, 1985), an introduction is given to the scope of petroleum geology, and the techniques of hydrocarbon (oil and gas) logging as a reservoir evaluation tool. This handbook is intended to provide the Logging Geologist, and those training for a Consultant Wellsite Geologist position, with a review of geological techniques and classification systems. This will ensure the maximum development of communicable geological informa tion. Whether a geologist's work lies in this direction or in the more applied field of pressure evaluation, it is the application of geological insight to engineering problems that distinguishes the professional logging geologist in the field. This book will be of interest to and become a regular reference for all geologists. 1 INTRODUCTION CUTTINGS RECOVERY 1. 1 In an ideal borehole and mud system, cuttings would be transported to surface with the same order and composition as they were cut, as in Figure 1-1."


Background
Outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT) is overused in cases where highly bioavailable oral alternatives would be equally effective. However, the scope of OPAT use for children nationwide is poorly understood. Our objective was to characterize OPAT use and clinical outcomes for a large population of pediatric Medicaid enrollees treated with OPAT.

Methods
We analyzed the Truven MarketScan Medicaid claims database between 2009 and 2012. An OPAT episode was identified by capturing children with claims data indicating home infusion therapy for an intravenous antimicrobial. We characterized OPAT use by describing patient demographics, diagnoses, and antimicrobials prescribed. We categorized an antimicrobial as highly bioavailable if ≥80% systemic exposure was expected from the peroral dose. We also determined the percentage of OPAT recipients in whom a follow-up healthcare encounter occurred during the OPAT episode in either the emergency department or as a hospital admission. We reviewed the primary diagnoses associated with these healthcare encounters to determine whether it was related to OPAT.

Results
We identified 3433 OPAT episodes in 2687 patients. A total of 4774 antimicrobials were prescribed during these episodes. Ceftriaxone and vancomycin were the most commonly prescribed antimicrobials. Highly bioavailable antimicrobials accounted for 34% of antimicrobials used for OPAT. An emergency department visit or hospital admission occurred during 38% of OPAT episodes, among which 61% were OPAT-related.

Conclusions
The high rate of medical encounters associated with OPAT in this cohort and the common prescribing of highly bioavailable antimicrobials underscore the opportunities for antimicrobial stewardship of pediatric OPAT.


This study was conducted to identify standards related to the objectives, content, learning-teaching process, evaluation, practice teacher and university practice teacher dimensions of the teaching practice curriculum and their actualization level in light of the standards-based evaluation model. The study follows the singular descriptive model and its population comprises practicing teacher candidates and university practice teachers from education faculties located in the Eastern and Southeastern Turkish provinces of Elazig, Erzincan, Erzurum, Diyarbakir, Malatya and Agri, and practice teachers working at Directorates of National Education in these provinces. The "simple random sampling method" was used in the study and 1,392 of the 2,075 individuals in the population were included in the sample. A 95-item scale was designed by the researchers to be used as the data collection tool. After completing the several stages of the scale development process, a pilot study was conducted on 312 candidate teachers using the draft scale consisting of 134 draft standards. The pilot study showed that the reliability coefficients of the study were Cronbach Alpha=.979, Bartlett= 59501.482 (p=0.000 and df= 17955) and Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO)=.850 and the load factor values of the scale was over .45. In addition, the test retest, parallel test and split half test reliability analyses of the scale were also made. The data were analyzed by using frequency and percentage, arithmetic mean, and standard deviation techniques. As a result of the study, a total of 95 standards were identified, 16 of which were in the objectives dimension, 15 in the content dimension, 14 in the learning-teaching process dimension, 14 in the evaluation dimension, 18 in the practice dimension, and 18 in the practice teacher dimension. It was also found that the standards in the objectives, content, evaluation and university practice teacher dimensions were actualized "Partially", while those in the learning-teaching process and practice teacher dimensions were actualized "Fairly". © 2013 IOJES. All rights reserved


Background Sugammadex is used for the rapid reversal of neuro muscular block. It was used on an unrestricted basis in our facility prior to July 2014 but has subsequently been restricted due to the removal of cost subsidies. Our aim is to determine the impact of restricting the use of Sugammadex on clinical outcomes. Methods A retrospective audit was conducted for the period January 1st to December 31st 2014. Sugammadex use was unrestricted during the first 6 months of this period and restricted over the following period. Patients who had endotracheal intubation for any surgery were included in the audit. Non- intubated patients, patients with incomplete data and patients who were intubated and transferred to the intensive care unit were excluded. The Operating Room Information System and medical records were used to obtain information on the operating theatre time, post-anesthesia care unit time and side effects such as postoperative nausea and vomiting, oxygen-de-saturation during recovery and anaphylaxis; Sugammadex usage and cost data obtained from the hospital pharmacy. Results 1347 and 1302 patients were included for the unrestricted and restricted periods, respectively. There were no significant differences between the time periods with respect to patient characteristics (Age, ASA) or side effects (oxygen de-saturation, nausea). While mean time in theatre was similar across the time periods, mean recovery time was significantly longer during the restricted period (P < 0.0001). One case of anaphylaxis was reported during the restricted period while no cases occurred during the unrestricted period. Median Sugammadex dose was 200 mg and its usage dropped by 54% in the restricted time. The cost of sugammadex was $180 AUD and Neostigmine $1.80 AUD. Conclusions Though unrestricting Sugammadex reduced recovery time but has had minimal impact on other clinical outcomes. Neostigmine represents a cheaper alternative and its use remains standard practice in our facility.


Prussian blue and its analogues (PBAs) have been widely investigated in fields such as lithium-ion batteries (LIB), supercapacitors, catalysts and water splitting due to their excellent physical and chemical properties. To boost their application, various novel architectures based on PBA cubes have been fabricated. In this work, a one-dimensional (1D) Co–Fe PBA cuboid with a length of 1–2 μm was solvothermally synthesized for the first time using a Co–Fe PBA cube as the building block through a self-assembly process. Time-dependent scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observation revealed that the PBA cubes underwent a structural decomposition into smaller cubes and then assembled to cuboids along a certain preferential orientation. Fascinatingly, this method can be expanded to other PBA cubes. After annealing, the obtained Co–Fe PBA cuboid-derived product, CoFe/NC-MCBs, can be used as a hydrogenation catalyst for highly effective reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP). This method provides great opportunities to fabricate novel cuboid structures with tunable chemical composition, which would promote the further application of PBA in different aspects.


The current study adapted the Derived Chemistry Anxiety Rating Scale (DCARS) into Turkish and investigated the preliminary psychometric properties of the Turkish version. The Turkish DCARS is composed of three components, which are derived from 32 Likert-type items that purport to measure anxiety experienced in chemistry-related situations. In the adaptation procedure, English–Turkish conformity, Turkish language conformity and understandability, and back translation were used. In the preliminary psychometric investigation, structural validity, content validity, concurrent validity, internal consistency, and test–retest reliability were examined. Results show that item translations have high conformity with the original items and experts found the Turkish items understandable. Validity analyses confirmed the adapted scale's three-factor structure. In addition, concurrent validity was evidenced by significant positive correlation coefficients between the scale scores and the test anxiety and state-trait anxiety scores. Reliability analyses indicate high consistency among the scale items both at the total and sub-scale levels and that scale and subscale scores were stable over time. We conclude that the Turkish DCARS is a promising assessment instrument in measuring chemistry anxiety levels among Turkish college students.


We exploit theoretically a class of rectangular cylindrical devices for noise shielding by using acoustic metamaterials. The function of noise shielding is justified by both the far-field and near-field full-wave simulations based on the finite element method. The enlargement of equivalent acoustic scattering cross sections is revealed to be the physical mechanism for this function. This work makes it possible to design a window with both noise shielding and air flow.