The annual water status and phenological patterns of Rosmarinus officinalis plants in relation to irrigation were studied to improve the use of this species in gardening conditions. Rosmarinus officinalis seedlings were pot-grown for 4 months in the nursery. After this period, plants were transplanted to field conditions before three irrigation treatments were applied from Nov. 2000 to Dec. 2001 (control and deficit treatments: C, T-1 and T-2, respectively). The total amount of water applied by irrigation during the experimental period was 167 mm for control, 83.5 mm for T1 (50% of the control), and 50 mm for T-2 (30% to the control). Two main periods of vegetative growth (beginning of spring and fall) were observed in all treatments. At the end of the experimental period, deficit irrigation had altered the morphology of the R. officinalis plants, reducing plant height and shoot growth. Maximum flowering intensity occurred at the beginning of fall for all irrigation treatments. Deficit irrigation treatments induced a more intense flowering density, although of lower longevity than control plants. The annual pattern of shoot water potential at predawn reflected the irrigation regimes, although less difference resulting from irrigation effect was detected in this parameter at midday. Plants under deficit irrigation showed a conservative strategy in the use of water, reducing stomatal conductance. This finding may be of use for the successful gardening of Rosmarinus officinalis plants in semiarid conditions.


stability of common protecting groups during reaction. Ease in performing group and atom replacement is still another benefit, but the greatest value radical reactions bring to carbohydrate synthesis is in forming new, carbon–carbon bonds; in other words, even though radical reactions are capable of causing a variety of structural changes, their most valuable role is their most basic one, namely, building more complicated structures from less complicated ones.


Abstract Antibiotic use in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) patients during the COVID-19 pandemic has exceeded the incidence of bacterial coinfections and secondary infections, suggesting inappropriate and excessive prescribing. Even in settings with established antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) programmes, there were weaknesses exposed regarding appropriate antibiotic use in the context of the pandemic. Moreover, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance and AMS have been deprioritised with diversion of health system resources to the pandemic response. This experience highlights deficiencies in AMR containment and mitigation strategies that require urgent attention from clinical and scientific communities. These include the need to implement diagnostic stewardship to assess the global incidence of coinfections and secondary infections in COVID-19 patients, including those by multidrug-resistant pathogens, to identify patients most likely to benefit from antibiotic treatment and identify when antibiotics can be safely withheld, de-escalated or discontinued. Long-term global surveillance of clinical and societal antibiotic use and resistance trends is required to prepare for subsequent changes in AMR epidemiology, while ensuring uninterrupted supply chains and preventing drug shortages and stock outs. These interventions present implementation challenges in resource-constrained settings, making a case for implementation research on AMR. Knowledge and support for these practices will come from internationally coordinated, targeted research on AMR, supporting the preparation for future challenges from emerging AMR in the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic or future pandemics.


This was a retrospective study of 140 women attending a termination clinic from 1 April 2002 to 31 March 2003. All women had a transvaginal ultrasound scan. Of 140 women, 56 women benefited from the scan; 26.7% had non-viable pregnancy, 35.71% did not remember their LMP, 12.5% had discrepancy between the scan and LMP. Incidental findings were noted in 24.6% of which two had a twin gestation, nine had ovarian cysts, one had an ectopic pregnancy, one had a hydatidiform mole, one conceived with an IUCD and one had a bicornuate uterus with pregnancy in one horn. Two of the nine women with ovarian cysts needed a laparotomy. This study concludes that routine transvaginal scan (TVS) scan is an essential investigation for proper assessment of all women requesting termination of pregnancy. TVS is a safe and effective procedure which provides useful information regarding gestational age, viability of pregnancy and uncertain dates. In cases of the ectopic pregnancy and the hydatidiform mole transvaginal ultrasound helped us in appropriate management from the outset and minimised complications.


The development of nanoparticle platforms with long in vivo circulation half-life has long been one of the major goals in the field of cancer drug delivery. Long-circulating nanoparticles can more effectively localize to the tumor site through either passive or active targeting mechanisms. The current gold standard for bestowing long-circulating attributes involves the use of PEG, which surrounds the particles with a hydration layer and thereby prevents recognition by the mononuclear phagocyte system. Recently, a new strategy for synthesizing biomimetic nanoparticles has been inspired by the body's own long-circulating entities, red blood cells (RBCs). Such a system disguises drug nanocarriers as 'self' using membrane materials directly derived from RBCs. This method has been demonstrated to prolong particle systemic circulation half-life beyond that of the corresponding PEGylated systems. The RBC membrane-coated nanoparticles present a major breakthrough in drug delivery technology and show great promise for clinical applications. Herein we highlight the significance and the unique features of this nature-inspired nanoparticle platform and offer opinions on its future prospects.


In this paper, a number of powerful recent classes of turbo like codes are analyzed as possible candidates for the upcoming DVB Standards. The final selection is justified in terms of the best tradeoff between complexity and performance. One of these classes has been recently proposed by the authors in the framework of their ongoing work on the technologies, requested by the DVB Project, which could be considered as candidates for the second generation terrestrial transmission standard DVB-T2 (specification to be completed in 2009). In particular, with the aim of maintaining the maximum compatibility with the family of DVB standards, the authors are currently addressing individual technology elements for the DVB-T2 standard, such as practical low-complexity coding structures. To this end, a serial concatenated convolutional code structure has been proposed, which is expected to overcome the turbo like coding schemes currently used in the family of DVB standards.


Text message stream is a newly emerging type of Web data which is produced in enormous quantities with the popularity of Instant Messaging and Internet Relay Chat. It is beneficial for detecting the threads contained in the text stream for various applications, including information retrieval, expert recognition and even crime prevention. Despite its importance, not much research has been conducted so far on this problem due to the characteristics of the data in which the messages are usually very short and incomplete. In this paper, we present a stringent definition of the thread detection task and our preliminary solution to it. We propose three variations of a single-pass clustering algorithm for exploiting the temporal information in the streams. An algorithm based on linguistic features is also put forward to exploit the discourse structure information. We conducted several experiments to compare our approaches with some existing algorithms on a real dataset. The results show that all three variations of the single-pass algorithm outperform the basic single-pass algorithm. Our proposed algorithm based on linguistic features improves the performance relatively by 69.5% and 9.7% when compared with the basic single-pass algorithm and the best variation algorithm in terms of F1 respectively.


174 Effect of Varying Doses of Estradiol Benzoate on the body weight and blood picture in Turkeys Saad J. Gatie, Bassam A. Al-Shimmary and Mohammed S. Almuslehi Department of Physiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Kufa University, Najaf, Iraq Accepted: 14 / 2 / 2012 Summary A present study was carried out to investigate the effects of Estradiol benzoate 2 (mg/ml) hormone doses on the body weight and blood picture of Turkeys birds through studying the following parameters: body weight, RBC count , total WBC, MCV, MCH, MCHC, and platelet PLT. Forty growing Turkeys (30 days age) weighting between (250-350)gm were randomly divided into four groups (ten each group) treated as follows: Turkeys in the first group were injected with single dose of Estradiol benzoate (1 mg) on the first day of experiment (30 day post hatching) subcutaneously in the neck and termed as G1 group, the Turkeys in the 2nd group (G2) were injected Estradiol benzoate (2 mg) on the first day of experiment subcutaneously in the neck while the Turkeys in the third group (G3) were injected Estradiol benzoate (0.3 ml) at the first day of experiment subcutaneously in the neck the fourth group (G4) served as control, body weight was determined on (0, 15 and 30) days of experiment and blood samples were collected on 15 th and 30 th day of the experiment from groups to evaluate the blood parameters. Results revealed a significant increase (P<0.05) in body weight of G1, G2 and G3 in a comparison with control group at (15 and 30) days of experiment. Furthermore, in comparison among treated groups G2 and G3 also showed a significant increase (P<0.05) in the body weight as compared with G1 group during periods. Moreover, data revealed that all treated groups showed non-significant differences in blood parameters experiment as compared with control group.


In recent years, more and more wireless communications systems are required to provide also a positioning measurement. In code division multiple access (CDMA) communication systems, the positioning accuracy is significantly degraded by the multiple access interference (MAI) caused by other users in the system. This MAI is commonly managed by a power control mechanism, and yet, MAI has a major effect on positioning accuracy. Probability control is a recently introduced interference management mechanism. In this mechanism, a user with excess power chooses not to transmit some of its symbols. The information in the nontransmitted symbols is recovered by an error-correcting code (ECC), while all other users receive a more reliable data during these quiet periods. Previous research had shown that the implementation of a probability control mechanism can significantly reduce the MAI. In this paper, we show that probability control also improves the positioning accuracy. We focus on time-of-arrival (TOA) based positioning systems. We analyze the TOA estimation performance in a generalized CDMA system, in which the probability control mechanism is employed, where the transmitted signal is noncontinuous with a symbol transmission probability smaller than 1. The accuracy of the TOA estimation is determined using appropriate modifications of the Cramer-Rao bound on the delay estimation. Keeping the average transmission power constant, we show that the TOA accuracy of each user does not depend on its transmission probability, while being a nondecreasing function of the transmission probability of any other user. Therefore, a generalized, noncontinuous CDMA system with a probability control mechanism can always achieve better positioning performance, for all users in the network, than a conventional, continuous, CDMA system.


A previous study from this laboratory has shown that cardiac sympathetic afferent stimulation by epicardial application of bradykinin (BK) and capsaicin was significantly enhanced in the dog with experimental heart failure (HF). The present study determined whether activity from cardiac sympathetic chemosensitive afferent endings is enhanced in HF. Rapid ventricular pacing was induced in six dogs. Five sham dogs served as controls. At the time of the acute experiment, the dogs were anesthetized with pentobarbital sodium (30 mg/kg iv). A thoracotomy was performed in the second intercostal space, and single afferent fiber discharge from the left cardiac sympathetic nerve was recorded. Baseline cardiac sympathetic afferent discharge rate (spikes/s) and its responses to intra-atrial injection of BK were compared between sham and HF groups. Baseline cardiac sympathetic afferent discharge rate in the HF group was significantly elevated compared with the sham group (4.3 ± 0.5 vs. 2.2 ± 0.6 spikes/s, P < 0.05). In addition, cardiac sympathetic afferent responses to left intra-atrial injection of bradykinin (2 and 5 μg/kg) and capsaicin (5 and 10 μg/kg) were also significantly augmented. The sensitized cardiac sympathetic afferent responses to BK (2 and 5 μg/kg, left intra-atrial injection) in the HF group were significantly reduced by the cyclooxygenase inhibitor indomethacin (5 mg/kg iv). The sensitized cardiac sympathetic afferent response to capsaicin (5 and 10 μg/kg, left intra-atrial injection) in the HF group was preserved. It is suggested that the cardiac sympathetic chemosensitive afferent sensitivity is significantly enhanced in dogs with HF even though the baseline cardiac sympathetic afferent discharge is elevated.


There is a dearth in the literature on how to capture the uncertainty generated by material surface evolution in thermal modeling. This leads to inadequate or highly variable uncertainty representations for material properties, specifically emissivity when minimal information is available. Inaccurate understandings of prediction uncertainties may lead decision makers to incorrect conclusions, so best engineering practices should be developed for this domain. In order to mitigate the aforementioned issues, this study explores different strategies to better capture the thermal uncertainty response of engineered systems exposed to fire environments via defensible emissivity uncertainty characterizations that can be easily adapted to a variety of use cases. Two unique formulations (one physics-informed and one mathematically based) are presented. The formulations and methodologies presented herein are not exhaustive but more so are a starting point and give the reader a basis for how to customize their uncertainty definitions for differing fire scenarios and materials. Lastly, the impact of using this approach versus other commonly used strategies and the usefulness of adding rigor to material surface evolution uncertainty is demonstrated.


Political risk is a complex phenomenon. This complexity has incentivized scholars to take a piecemeal approach to understanding it. Nearly all scholarship has targeted a single type of political risk (expropriation) and, within this risk, a single type of firm (MNCs) and a single type of strategic mechanism through which that risk may be mitigated (entry mode). Yet "political risk" is actually a collection of multiple distinct risks that affect the full spectrum of foreign firms, and these firms vary widely in their capabilities for resisting and evading these risks. We offer a unified theoretical model that can simultaneously analyze: the three main types of political risk (war, expropriation, and transfer restrictions); the universe of private foreign investors (direct investors, portfolio equity investors, portfolio debt investors, and commercial banks); heterogeneity in government constraints; and the three most relevant strategic capabilities (information, exit, and resistance). We leverage the variance among foreign investors to identify effective firm strategies to manage political risk. By employing a simultaneous and unified model of political risk, we also find counterintuitive insights on the way governments trade off between risks and how investors use other investors as risk shields.


The impact of climate fluctuations on the dynamics of soil moisture is studied through a stochastic model of soil water balance. The analysis focuses on the changes of soil water content induced by the interannual variability of rainfall observed at the decade‐to‐century timescale. Extensive data analyses have been performed to characterize the statistical properties of such a variability. Particular attention is paid to the year‐to‐year variability of the average value of soil moisture during the growing season because of its relevance to the mechanisms affecting the physiology of plants and the dynamics of ecosystems. It is found that the probability distribution of the average seasonal soil moisture may be either unimodal or bimodal depending on the different combinations of climate, soil, and vegetation parameters. The possible occurrence of a double mode has both hydrologic and ecologic implications that are analyzed here.


Background: Determining the magnitude of glenoid bone loss in cases of shoulder instability is an important step in selecting the optimal reconstructive procedure. Recently, a formula has been proposed that estimates native glenoid width based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measurements of height (1/3 × glenoid height + 15 mm). This technique, however, has not been validated for use with computed tomography (CT), which is often the preferred imaging modality to assess bone deficiencies. Purpose: The purpose of this project was 2-fold: (1) to determine if the MRI-based formula that predicts glenoid width from height is valid with CT and (2) to determine if a more accurate regression can be resolved for use specifically with CT data. Study Design: Descriptive laboratory study. Methods: Ninety normal shoulder CT scans with preserved osseous anatomy were drawn from an existing database and analyzed. Measurements of glenoid height and width were performed by 2 observers on reconstructed 3-dimensional models. After assessment of reliability, the data were correlated, and regression models were created for male and female shoulders. The accuracy of the MRI-based model's predictions was then compared with that of the CT-based models. Results: Intra- and interrater reliabilities were good to excellent for height and width, with intraclass correlation coefficients of 0.765 to 0.992. The height and width values had a strong correlation of 0.900 (P < .001). Regression analyses for male and female shoulders produced CT-specific formulas: for men, glenoid width = 2/3 × glenoid height + 5 mm; for women, glenoid width = 2/3 × glenoid height + 3 mm. Comparison of predictions from the MRI- and CT-specific formulas demonstrated good agreement (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.818). The CT-specific formulas produced a root mean squared error of 1.2 mm, whereas application of the MRI-specific formula to CT images resulted in a root mean squared error of 1.5 mm. Conclusion: Use of the MRI-based formula on CT scans to predict glenoid width produced estimates that were nearly as accurate as the CT-specific formulas. The CT-specific formulas, however, are more accurate at predicting native glenoid width when applied to CT data. Clinical Relevance: Imaging-specific (CT and MRI) formulas have been developed to estimate glenoid bone loss in patients with instability. The CT-specific formula can accurately predict native glenoid width, having an error of only 2.2% of average glenoid width.


Abstract. Clouds detection is an important pre-processing step for accurate application of optical satellite imagery. Recent studies indicate that deep learning achieves best performance in image segmentation tasks. Aiming at boosting the accuracy of cloud detection for multispectral imagery, especially for those that contain only visible and near infrared bands, in this paper, we proposed a deep learning based cloud detection method termed MSCN (multi-scale cloud net), which segments cloud by fusing multi-scale convolutional features. MSCN was trained on a global cloud cover validation collection, and was tested in more than ten types of optical images with different resolution. Experiment results show that MSCN has obvious advantages over the traditional multi-feature combined cloud detection method in accuracy, especially when in snow and other areas covered by bright non-cloud objects. Besides, MSCN produced more detailed cloud masks than the compared deep cloud detection convolution network. The effectiveness of MSCN make it promising for practical application in multiple kinds of optical imagery.


Abstract The parasitic mite Varroa destructor devastates honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies around the world. Entering a brood cell shortly before capping, the Varroa mother feeds on the honey bee larvae. The hormones 20‐hydroxyecdysone (20E) and juvenile hormone (JH), acquired from the host, have been considered to play a key role in initiating Varroa's reproductive cycle. This study focuses on differential expression of the genes involved in the biosynthesis of JH and ecdysone at six time points during the first 30 hr after cell capping in both drone and worker larvae of A. mellifera. This time frame, covering the conclusion of the honey bee brood cell invasion and the start of Varroa's ovogenesis, is critical to the successful initiation of a reproductive cycle. Our findings support a later activation of the ecdysteroid cascade in honey bee drones compared to worker larvae, which could account for the increased egg production of Varroa in A. mellifera drone cells. The JH pathway was generally downregulated confirming its activity is antagonistic to the ecdysteroid pathway during the larva development. Nevertheless, the genes involved in JH synthesis revealed an increased expression in drones. The upregulation of jhamt gene involved in methyl farnesoate (MF) synthesis came into attention since the MF is not only a precursor of JH but it is also an insect pheromone in its own right as well as JH‐like hormone in Acari. This could indicate a possible kairomone effect of MF for attracting the mites into the drone brood cells, along with its potential involvement in ovogenesis after the cell capping, stimulating Varroa's initiation of egg laying.


We consider the issues that arise from an examination of the continuum between two social learning paradigms that are widely used in robotics research: (i) following or matched-dependent behaviour and (ii) static observational learning. We use physical robots with minimal sensory capabilities and exploit controllers using neural network based methods for agent-centred perception of model angle and distance. The robot is first trained to perceive the dynamic movement of a robot model carrying a light source, then the robot learns by observing the model demonstrate a behaviour and finally it attempts to re-enact the learnt behaviour. Our results indicate that a dynamic observation using rotation performs significantly better than static observation. However given the embodiment of the robot a dynamic strategy using both rotational and translational movement becomes more problematic. We give reasons for this, discuss lessons learned for combining these types of social learning and make suggestions for requirements for imitator robots using dynamic observation.


Four-bar mechanisms are widely used in the industry especially in rotary engines. These mechanisms are usually applied for attaining a special motion duty like path generation; their high speeds in the industry cause an unbalancing problem. Hence, dynamic balancing is essential for their greater efficiency. In this research study, a multi-objective differential evolution algorithm is used for Pareto optimization balancing of a four-bar planar mechanism while considering the shaking moment and horizontal and vertical shaking forces as objective functions. This is necessary since the high magnitude of shaking forces and moment affect the fatigue life of the mechanism. The design variables are both kinematic and dynamic parameters of the moving links. The Pareto charts of five-objective optimization exhibit a large number of non-dominated points, which provide more choices for optimal balancing design of the planar four-bar mechanism. A comparison of the results obtained from this study with those reported in the literature shows a significant decrease in shaking forces and shaking moment.


Although testing accommodations are commonly provided to students with disabilities within large-scale testing programs, research findings on how well accommodations allow for comparable measurement of student knowledge and skill remain inconclusive. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which 1 commonly held belief about testing accommodations, namely that the read-aloud accommodation allows for better measurement on a math (MA) test than a reading/language arts (R/LA) test, was supported through an analysis of data from a statewide assessment program. An analysis of differential item functioning (DIF) was used to compare measurement for 2 groups of students with disabilities (i.e., those receiving a read-aloud accommodation [RA] and those not receiving an accommodation [NSD]) to that for a reference group of nonaccommodated students without disabilities. Analyses were conducted separately for MA and R/LA test sections. DIF was identified for both groups within both content areas. There tended to be more DIF identified for the RA group than for the NSD group, particularly on the R/LA test sections. This seems to indicate that the read-aloud accommodation was associated with greater measurement problems on the R/LA section than the MA section of the test.


Physical activity levels decrease during adolescence. Exposure to a variety of physical activities (e.g., concept of sampling within the developmental model of sport participation) has been suggested to foster physical activity, but little is known about the psychosocial mechanisms underlying the variety support-physical activity relationship. This study examined the relationship between different forms of variety support (number of activities, locations, and social contacts) and physical activity behaviour in adolescence. Perceptions of variety and basic psychological needs (competence, autonomy, relatedness) were tested as mediators. Participants (N = 369; Mage = 15 years; 59% female) completed a 36-item checklist representing their participation in physical activity, where they participated in those activities, and with whom they participated with, at 3 time points over a year (Time 1, 2 and 3). Perceptions of variety, competence, autonomy, and relatedness were measured 20 months after Time 1 (Time 4), and physical activity behaviour was measured 28 months after Time 1 (Time 5). Mediation using structural equation modeling was examined. Results showed that sampling activities (? = .21, p = .010), but not locations (? = .18, p = .052), or various social contacts (? = -.03, p = .772), positively predicted physical activity behaviour over time. Sampling had an indirect positive effect on physical activity behaviour (R2 = .26) through perceptions of variety (? = .12, p = .012), but not through perceptions of competence, autonomy, or relatedness. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in relation to the developmental model of sport participation and self-determination theory.Acknowledgments: This research was supported by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Post-Doctoral Fellowship awarded to Benjamin Sylvester. Isabelle Dore is supported by a Fond de recherche du Quebec – Sante post-doctoral research fellowship. Catherine Sabiston is supported by the Canada Research Chairs program. The data used in this analysis were drawn from the MATCH project, which was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and Sport Canada through the joint Sport Participation Research Initiative (Nos. 862-2010-0001 and 862-2014-0002) and by the New Brunswick Health Research Foundation (No. 20130729).


Blood is our body fluid that delivers essential substances (nutrients and oxygen) to the cells and exports metabolic waste products away from cells. Blood donation is a procedure in which a voluntary and healthy individual has his blood drawn for transfusion to the one who needs it. Securing safe blood components, based on voluntary, unpaid blood donation, are an important nationwide aim to prevent scarcity of blood. The donated blood has a huge role in surgery, injury, delivery of a baby and other bleeding cases. However, in a lot of low and middle-income countries like Ethiopia, blood provision is significantly inadequate. There is more reliance on family replacement and paid donors which are expected to have transfusion transmissible infections. This is because of many factors including lack of awareness and motivation, lack of knowledge, poor attitude, misconception, and so on. Without humane gifts of noble donors, that also from the heart, many lives might have lost for want of blood. Blood donation is the most generous and may be considered as the leading ever contribution to mankind. Hence, the young generation should be motivated to carry out this charitable activity. All the smiths and misconceptions should be removed in order that adequate extent of blood is made available at national and regional blood banks of Ethiopia for saving the life of patients. Thus, increasing knowledge, hastening the development of good attitude towards blood donation and establishing more donor clubs in the society particularly among students within high schools/preparatory schools and Universities of Ethiopia should be the target.


In the unified subquark model of all fundamental particles and forces, the mass of the Higgs boson in the standard model of electroweak interactions (mH) is predicted to be about 2 √ 6mW /3 (where mW is the mass of the charged weak boson, W ), which agrees well with the experimental values of about 125 GeV recently found by the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations at the LHC. It seems to indicate that the Higgs boson is a composite of the iso-doublet spinor subquark-antisubquark pairs well described by the unified subquark model with either one of subquark masses vanishing or being very small compared to the other. In the unified composite model, the masses of excited weak gauge bosons, W ∗ and Z, and Higgs bosons, H, as well as excited quarks and leptons are all predicted to be of the order of the composite mass scales, say 1 TeV, and to satisfy the relation of mWmW∗ = mZmZ∗ cos θw (where θw is the weak mixing angle). It strongly suggests that the excess of di-boson resonance events recently found by the ATLAS Collaboration at about 2 TeV may be explained by the productions and decays of the first excited states of either one of the weak and Higgs bosons, and the glueballs.


Herein, we report adsorption of Methylene blue onto Stishovite TiO2 nanocomposite in a batch adsorber method. The experiment was conducted under various operating parameters such as initial dye concentration, contact time, adsorbent dose, pH and temperature respectively. The kinetics of the adsorption process was conducted by the Pseudo second order, the Elovich equation and the intraparticle diffusion equation. Kinetic parameters, rate constants, equilibrium adsorption capacities and correlation coefficients for each kinetic equation were calculated and demonstrated. The final result shows that the adsorption process under study could be best described by the pseudo second order equation. The experimental data fitted well with both Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. Thermodynamic parameters reveals that the adsorption to be spontaneous and endothermic. A single stage batch adsorber has been designed for various volumes using the Langmuir isotherm.


The study of indigenous peoples and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) has been of particular interest in recent years. While TEK has been used in areas such as anthropology and conservation biology in the past, little has been done around TEK and resilient food production. The coming years will see the increasing effects of climate change on food production and food security. This research aims to understand and document TEK within the Soluve community in order to understand how people in the community can find ways to be more resilient in the future. In carrying out this research, ten members of the Soluve community were interviewed on food production practices in the light of their knowledge of TEK along with their knowledge of TEK. A thorough search of relevant literature was also central to my research method. The community of Soluve are affected by frequent flooding and rainfall resulting in limited food yields from gardens. The results of my research indicate that TEK is still practised and maintained in the Soluve community in terms of food production. In particular, traditional preservation methods such as smoking and drying in the Motu can help food last longer. Further research is needed, however, on the erosion of TEK, and how the people of Soluve can document this knowledge.


Winter wheat is one of the most important tillage crops in Ireland and Septoria tritici blotch (STB) resistance is a key beneficial trait for wheat grown there, owing to a climate that facilitates high disease pressure, its impact on crop yield and associated costs of protecting crops against disease Zymoseptoria tritici, the causative pathogen of STB grows inside host tissues for typically 10-14 days before disease symptoms become visible, beginning with chlorosis of the leaf, then progressing to necrosis and finally small black pycnidia appear Little fungal biomass accumulates during this latent period (LP), with large increases in fungal growth visible as the fungus shifts into the necrotrophic stage. However, a steady increase in Z. tritici DNA during the LP has been detected, using quantitative PCR. Throughout the course of this research the LP was defined as the time from infection by Z. tritici to the appearance of pycnidia on the leaf surface. Through a combination of laboratory, glasshouse and field experimentation in Ireland and England, this research provided a new insight into the LP of Z. tritici, by identifying a wide range of LP among diverse cultivars in glasshouse conditions [Chapter 2], substantial variation in LP and the rate of disease progression between seven cultivars in field conditions [Chapter 3] and the high correlation between Cq values, fungal growth and disease symptoms, indicating the potential for qPCR to be used to estimate the LP of STB [Chapter 4].

Latent periods vary between cultivars and knowledge of the length of the LP assists in identifying the factors which cause infection. Critically, the length of the LP is an important epidemiological factor in subsequent pathogen spread and the generation of epidemics. Therefore, identifying cultivars with extended LP's will in future increase opportunities to develop STB resistance in winter wheat populations.


Soluble molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) were prepared by reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization followed by ring-closing metathesis (RCM). The polymerization was done in the presence of a template to generate a processable star MIP. The core of the star polymer was a dithiobenzoate-substituted tris(β-diketonate)europium(III) complex. The tris(β-diketonate)europium(III) complex served as a polymerization substrate for the three-armed RAFT-mediated star polymer and as a luminescent binding site for dicrotophos, an organophosphonate pesticide. The star arms were AB block copolymers. Block A was either 1-but-3-enyl-4-vinylbenzene or a mixture of 1-but-3-enyl-4-vinylbenzene and styrene. Block B was styrene or methyl methacrylate. The but-3-enyls of block A were reacted by RCM with a second generation Grubbs catalyst to give an intramolecularly cross-linked core. The intramolecularly cross-linked MIP was soluble in common organic solvents. The 30% cross-linked soluble and p...


We analyse E-RFE (entropy-based recursive feature elimination), a new wrapper algorithm for fast feature ranking in classification problems. The E-RFE method operates the elimination of chunks of uninteresting features according to the entropy of the weights distribution of a SVM classifier. The method is designed to support computationally intensive model selection in classification problems in which the number of features is much larger than the number of samples. We test the elimination procedure on synthetic data sets, and we demonstrate the applicability of E-RFE for the identification of biomedically important genes in predictive classification of microarray data.


Unsupervised image-to-image translation is a central task in computer vision. Current translation frameworks will abandon the discriminator once the training process is completed. This paper contends a novel role of the discriminator by reusing it for encoding the images of the target domain. The proposed architecture, termed as NICE-GAN, exhibits two advantageous patterns over previous approaches: First, it is more compact since no independent encoding component is required; Second, this plug-in encoder is directly trained by the adversary loss, making it more informative and trained more effectively if a multi-scale discriminator is applied. The main issue in NICE-GAN is the coupling of translation with discrimination along the encoder, which could incur training inconsistency when we play the min-max game via GAN. To tackle this issue, we develop a decoupled training strategy by which the encoder is only trained when maximizing the adversary loss while keeping frozen otherwise. Extensive experiments on four popular benchmarks demonstrate the superior performance of NICE-GAN over state-of-the-art methods in terms of FID, KID, and also human preference. Comprehensive ablation studies are also carried out to isolate the validity of each proposed component. Our codes are available at https://github.com/alpc91/NICE-GAN-pytorch.


Background: Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) is a quantitative measurement of anisocytosis. RDW has prognostic value in humans with different cardiovascular and systemic disorders, but few studies have investigated this biomarker in dogs. Objectives: To compare the RDW in dogs with precapillary and postcapillary pulmonary hypertension (PH) and a control population of dogs and to correlate RDW with demographic, echocardiographic, and laboratory variables. Animals: One hundred and twenty-seven client-owned dogs including 19 healthy dogs, 82 dogs with myxomatous mitral valve disease (50 dogs without PH and 32 dogs with postcapillary PH), and 26 dogs with precapillary PH. Methods: Prospective study. Dogs were allocated to groups according to clinical and echocardiographic evaluation. RDW and selected laboratory and echocardiographic variables were compared among dog groups. Associations between RDW and demographic, laboratory, and echocardiographic variables were analyzed using correlation and multiple regression analysis. Results: Median RDW in dogs with precapillary PH (13.8%, interquartile range 13.2–14.9%) and postcapillary PH (13.7, 13.2–14.7%) was significantly increased compared to healthy dogs (13.3, 12.3–13.7%; P < .05 for both comparisons), but only dogs with severe PH had significantly increased RDW compared to dogs without PH (P < .05). Peak tricuspid regurgitation pressure gradient was significantly associated with increased RDW (rho = 0.263, P = .007). Serum urea concentration, hematocrit, age, and white blood cell number were significantly associated with RDW in the multivariate analysis. Conclusions and Clinical Importance: Underlying pathophysiologic processes associated with PH instead of severity of PH are likely responsible for increased RDW in dogs with PH.


The Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (TLIO) is the main project of the Institute of Italian Research Council "Opera del Vocabolario Italiano" (OVI). TLIO is a historical dictionary of Old Italian; its most important characteristic is that of having been founded on a huge database (around 19 million words in 1581 texts), consisting of texts written in any variety of mediaeval Italian and dated within 1375. The database is available in internet thanks to the international consortium ItalNet (http://www.italnet.nd.edu). The TLIO database not only allows the writing out of dictionary entries, but is also an autonomous tool, useful for the research on Old Italian.


Mumiramira village community is located at, Ngara district in Kagera region with population of more than 3,629 residents. In a way of solving the problem of inadequate water supply, communities decided to organize themselves to use the available water sources with support from other stakeholders. The major project objective was to improve access to water supply. The major activity planned under this project was to provide water management awareness and construct water supply schemes. With the support from the CED student, and GAD consult as well as the village government, the community and the management of Kabanga Nickel Company managed through community participatory methods to provide proper water management awareness to the community and provide water supply schemes. A non experimental research design was adopted where cross sectional survey methods were used to examine the relationship between variables. The data collection methodology used a mixture of open participatory tools. The Sampling process used both probability sampling and non-probability sampling. The design of the project was community based. Evaluation of the project has been done in order to assess achievements of the project and its sustainability. The CED student has managed to meet his objectives of facilitating the process at this point where the main project activities have been done. Participation of the community towards the project was very good but the community should further be educated on fully participation.


The aerodynamic effect of a novel combination of a Gurney flap and shockbump on RAE2822 supercritical aerofoil and RAE5243 Natural Laminar Flow (NLF) aerofoil is investigated by solving the two-dimensional steady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equation. The shockbump geometry is predetermined and pre-optimised on a specific designed condition. This study investigated Gurney flap height range from 0.1% to 0.7% aerofoil chord length. The drag benefits of camber modification against a retrofit Gurney flap was also investigated. The results indicate that a Gurney flap has the ability to move shock downstream on both types of aerofoil. A significant lift-to-drag improvement is shown on the RAE2822, however, no improvement is illustrated on the RAE5243 NLF. The results suggest that a Gurney flap may lead to drag reduction in high lift regions, thus, increasing the lift-to-drag ratio before stall.


The lustrin superfamily represents a unique group of biomineralization proteins localized between layered aragonite mineral plates (i.e., nacre layers) in mollusk shell. These proteins not only exhibit elastomeric behavior within the mineralized matrix, but also adhesion to the aragonite-containing composite layer. One member of the lustrin superfamily, Lustrin A, has been sequenced; the protein is organized into defined, modular sequence domains that are hypothesized to perform separate functions (i.e., force unfolding, mineral adhesion, intermolecular binding) within the Lustrin A protein. Using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and in vitro mineralization assays, we investigated structure-function relationships for two Lustrin A putative mineral binding domains, the 30 AA Arg, Lys, Tyr, Ser-rich (RKSY) and the 24 AA Asp-rich (D4) sequence regions domain of the Lustrin A protein. The results indicate that both sequences adopt open, unfolded structures that represent either extended or random coil states. Using geologic calcite overgrowth assays and scanning electron microscopic analyses, we observe that the RKSY polypeptide does not significantly perturb calcium carbonate growth. However, the D4 domain does influence crystal growth in a concentration-dependent manner. Collectively, our data indicate that D4, and not the RKSY domain, exhibits structure-function activity consistent with a mineral binding region.


We present a tool, PROST, which can achieve scalable and accurate prediction of server workload time series in data centers. As several virtual machines are typically co-located on physical servers, the CPU and RAM show strong temporal and spatial dependencies. PROST is able to leverage the spatial dependency among co-located VMs to improve the scalability of prediction models solely based on temporal features, such as neural network. We show the benefits of PROST in obtaining accurate prediction of resource usage series and designing effective VM sizing strategies for the private data centers.


Most papers studying the impacts of technology adoption on income trajectories assume that firms adopt frontier technologies when available. If these technologies are skill intensive, less-developed economies may fail in successfully implementing them and may become trapped in a low-growth equilibrium. Within a Schumpeterian growth model, we show that differences in adoption barriers and incentives to the accumulation of skills produce differences in the technology level that is optimal to adopt. If the economy is not overly distorted, copying nonfrontier technologies helps compensating for the scarcity of skills and increases the likelihood of copying frontier technologies in the long run. If distortions are significant, it may be optimal to copy less-advanced technologies even in the long run. If adoption is not a skill-intensive activity, then copying frontier technologies is always optimal; all economies achieve a high-growth equilibrium and only income differences persist in the long run.


statement as to the indication for operation would be helpful. If the indication was hypertension, the difference between the elective and emergency caesarean section groups is explained. If the indication was 'repeat' caesarean section, then the cause could be lack of labour contractions. Without such clarification there may be a reaction against elective caesarean section which is safer to the mother for both. the anaesthetic and obstetric considerations. Sincerely


This paper investigates the potential relationship between the credibility of fiscal policy and the cost of public debt. We analyze how a key component of fiscal governance, the ability of governments to commit the planned budget, affects the government borrowing cost. To test the hypothesis, we take the case in Indonesia over the period 2001-2013. Based on the quarterly data analysis, we found that the noncredible deficit rule tends to induce the interest rate. In contrast, the credible debt rule policy significantly reduces the borrowing cost for about 28 basis points. More interestingly, to reduce the interest cost burden of government debt, strengthening commitment to the fiscal rules is as effective as decreasing the size of debt. Those findings suggest that the credibility of fiscal policy matters to restore the fiscal burden in order to maintain fiscal sustainability in the long-run. Accordingly, improving the credibility of fiscal policy should be an integral part of the public sector reformation program in the country.


In the classic Pavlovian experiment, dogs associate the ringing of a bell with subsequent presentation of food. It has since been shown that dopaminergic neurons in the ventral midbrain respond (by spiking) to stimuli that predict the subsequent arrival of rewards. In trials where the reward does not appear, there is a corresponding drop in the activity of these neurons. These findings led to the proposal that the information encoded by these neurons is the prediction error, or the difference between actual and predicted rewards. Fiorillo et al. (see the Perspective by Shizgal and Arvanitogiannis) now find a new population of dopaminergic neurons that appear to encode reward uncertainty; the activity of these neurons increases as the delivery of reward becomes less certain. C. D. Fiorillo, P. N. Tobler, W. Schultz, Discrete coding of reward probability and uncertainty by dopamine neurons. Science 299, 1898-1902 (2003). [Abstract] [Full Text] P. Shizgal, A. Arvanitogiannis, Gambling on dopamine. Science 299, 1856-1858 (2003). [Summary] [Full Text]


In the year 2000, United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security stressed the importance of the full and equal participation of women in all efforts towards the maintenance and promotion of peace and security, including UN peace operations. Following the resolution, organizations and member states involved in multilateral peace operations affirmed their commitment to increase women's participation in these activities. More than 20 years after the adoption of the resolution, some progress has been achieved in enhancing women's representation in multilateral peace operations, but much remains to be done. This booklet provides data on aggregate personnel trends, annual snapshots of data on women's representation in leadership, and annual averages of women personnel in peace operations and in member state contributions. It looks at UN peace operations, European Union Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions and operations, and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) field operations. The objective is to support the efforts of multilateral organizations and their member states to increase the representation of women in multilateral peace operations. The statistics presented in the booklet aim to inform and foster the debate on the future of the women and peace and security agenda within the context of multilateral peace operations. They illustrate to what extent the organizations deploying multilateral peace operations and their member states are making progress towards increasing women's representation in multilateral peace operations. This overview also enhances the transparency of multilateral peace operations and provides insights into recent trends and developments.


Polybutadienes having a variety of different microstructures have been hydrosilated using HSiMexCl3 –x, x= 0–2 in the presence of H2[PtCl6]. High conversions of double bonds pendant from the main chain are observed but hydrosilation also occurs on the backbone of the polymer especially if there is a high percentage of backbone double bonds. This backbone hydrosilation is accompanied by double-bond migration along the polymer backbone to give conjugated diene units within the polymer backbone. These polymers have been further functionalised by reactions with alcohols [EtOH, EtO(CH2CH2O)2H, 4-hydroxybiphenyl or MeO(CH2CH2O)nH (Mn= 500 or 750)] in the presence of Et3N or by alkylation, e.g. with 2-lithiomethylpyridine or with 6-lithio-2,2′-bipyridine. Polymers containing —SiMex(OR)3 –xx= 2 or 0, R = EtO(CH2CH2O)2H or MeO(CH2CH2O)nH (Mn= 500 or 750) have been shown to form polymer electrolytes, in some cases with room-temperature conductivities as high as 2.5 × 10–5S cm–1. Sequential hydrosilation and epoxidation reactions have been carried out to give polymers in which the pendant double bonds have been hydrosiiated and the backbone double bonds have been epoxidised.


This work deals with geometric problems and the use of limited capability agents for these problems. Exploration and guarding problems have been extensively studied in computational geometry. The basic task is to monitor an environment (a polygon) either with a mobile guard or with a number of stationary guards (or guards with hard restrictions on the allowed movements). Though all these problems are easy to formulate—and have real-world interpretations that vividly illustrate them—some of these problems (as the classical art gallery problem) are hard to solve. The task of exploring an environment becomes more challenging if the environment is not known in advance, that is, there is no given ground plan and only areas that have already been visibly encountered by the explorer are known. Problems with this kind of uncertainty are called online problems. For offline problems the ground plan of the environment is known in advance. In this work we study one offline exploration problem and one exploration and guarding problem in the offline and online version, where the focus is on the latter. For our problems we do not deal with "almighty" explorers, but face limits on their perceptive capabilities. Other types of geometric problems can exploit this kind of limited agents: We present an exact and fast algorithm for an image analysis task with polyomino-shaped objects on a grid. Distributed Vision with Smart Pixels. An important image analysis task is the identification of objects present in a given image. If these objects are to be processed automatically, not only the identification of the objects themselves, but also of certain attributes is of interest. The images we treat are pixel (grid) images, with a possibly huge number of intertwined objects. We make an assumption on the pixels: Besides light detection, they can perform simple computations and communicate with their grid neighbors (smart pixels). Our goal is to extract attributes, such as the center of gravity or orientation, for each object in the image. In particular, we want to give a fast algorithm for this task. We show how the use of mobile agents, mimicked by messages sent by the pixels, allows for an exact algorithm—an agent sweep—that can cope with intertwined objects. We present how the attributes can be expressed as moments (of a random variable, considering the pixels as a point set in R) and how the sweep accumulates the necessary information. For the algorithm we prove a runtime of only O(W +H), with W and H being the width and height of the smallest bounding box for an object, respectively. Exploration with a Myopic Watchman with Discrete Vision. In the classical watchman route problem the task is to find a shortest tour for an explorer such that each point of a given polygon is visible from at least one point of the tour. For this problem exact algorithms for a variety of polygon classes exist. We study this problem with two restrictions on the watchman's capabilities: The scan range is limited and visibility information can only be acquired at discrete points, "scanpoints". A scanpoint in combination with all points of the polygon that can be seen from the point and lie within its scan range form a scan. The scans must fully cover the given polygon. The cost for a tour of this watchman is a linear combination of tour length and number of scan points used along this tour. We show that this problem is NP-hard and present approximation algorithms for different variants: A 2.5-approximation for rectilinear grid polygons and unit L∞ scan range, a 4-approximation for rectilinear grid polygons and unit L2 scan range and a max( 4 , πr a + πr 2 + π 2 )-approximation for the case of general polygons, an L2 scan range and a bounded ratio r/a between visibility range r and minimum side length a. All these approximation algorithms can also be applied for the bicriteria version, that is, approximating the scan number and the tour length separately. Exploration and Triangulation with a Swarm of Robots. The art gallery problem asks for a minimum number of (stationary) guards that allow for visibility coverage of a given polygon. Another classical problem in computational geometry is triangulation: The partition of a given polygon into triangles. We study a guarding problem linked to both of these problems: A swarm of agents with limited communication range has to establish a triangulated network in a given polygon. The edge lengths are limited to the communication range. The task is not only to give the positions, but to move to these locations in a connected fashion. Our goal is to minimize the number of robots used for this task, or, if the number of robots is limited, to cover as much area as possible with the triangulation established by these robots. We present NP-hardness results for both problems. Our focus is on the online variants, we give a lower bound of 6/5 for the competitive ratio for any strategy for the first problem, as well as a 3-competitive strategy. We prove that the second problem does not allow for a constant competitive ratio.


The 12th annual Community Bankers Symposium, cosponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), was held at the Chicago Fed on November 17, 2017. During a full day of speeches and panels, a group of 125 community banking executives, financial industry practitioners, and supervisory agency professionals who work in the Seventh Federal Reserve District1 explored the changing landscape for community banking. This article summarizes the event?s key presentations and discussions.


received by the hospital, or had not been taken within the recommended time of 6 to 14 days. Of 1000 sequential samples received from the Glasgow area during 4 weeks in 1977, in 4.2% of cases the child was 6 days old when the specimen was assayed, and must therefore have been less than 6 days old when the sample was taken. 93.8% of samples were taken at an 'acceptable' age of 7 to 21 days old; but in the remaining 2% ofcases, the child was over 3 weeks old before the test was done; in 0.8% of cases, representing 100 samples per year in Glasgow, or 700 in Scotland, the child was imore than 2 months-in some cases, as much as 7 months old. Obviously in these cases the value of the test is much reduced, with the possibility that permanent brain damage would already have occurred before it was performed. This has two consequences-firstly, doctors who are working with sick young children should be aware that they may not have had inborn metabolic errors excluded by the National Screening Programme; secondly, if neonatal screening is to be extended to other conditions of personal or economic importance, such as hypothyroidism or lead poisoning, a truly fail-safe and universal screening programme would be needed, if it is to justify its cost.


The vortex bioreactor (VBR) is a simple decentralised water treatment system (DeWaTS) that sits at the interface between swirl flow, biotechnology and chemical engineering. The device utilises swirl flow and suspended activated beads to achieve downstream water processing and has been tested for applications including centrifugal-driven separation, pathogen neutralisation and metal absorption. The VBR was optimised for the treatment of faecally contaminated effluents in the developing world, and the design features related to the key challenges faced by the wastewater industry are highlighted here. The VBR has two aspects that can be modified to generate different reactor conditions: the impeller, where the swirl flow is modified through alterations of rotation speed, and impeller geometry and the suspended activated beads, which facilitate mixing and alter the reactor surface area. Data from testing for some of the different applications mentioned above are presented here, and future planned developments for the technology are discussed.


This essay argues for reading Kathy Acker in terms of what the author calls the "plasticity" of her sentences. These syntactic structures disclose Acker's attempt to expose and negate a bourgeois ideology of adolescence and maturity. The essay pursues this argument through a reading of Acker's novel In Memoriam to Identity, in particular its interest in Rimbaud as both biographical icon and literary precedent. The essay then argues that Acker's concerted literary attack on an ideology of maturity relates to the projects of trans literature at several critical junctures.


We present an analytic solution of a Vaidya-charged black hole with hyperscaling violating factor in an Einstein-Maxwell-Dilaton model, where the scalar potential is key to the existence of a solution. By making use of this result we will study the process of thermalization after a global quench in a theory whose gravitational description is provided by the resultant solution. In particular we shall probe the system by entanglement entropy and show that it exhibits certain scaling behaviours during the process.


One of the major limitations for wider use of pultruded fiber reinforced polymeric (PFRP) composites in the civil engineering sector has been their behavior under elevated temperature and ultimately fire. This limitation arises not only due to the reduction in mechanical properties at high temperatures, including increased propensity to creep, but also due to limitations on the continuous working temperature causing permanent damage to the material as a result of thermal and oxidative degradation. Significant gains in property retention at high temperatures with crystalline polymers have been derived from the incorporation of fibrous reinforcement, but the development of new polymer matrices is the key for further elevation of the useful temperature range. This paper presents summary results of a research project focused on characterizing the viscoelastic behavior of commercially-produced, off-the-shelf unidirectional PFRP materials subjected to elevated temperature environments.


This investigation aimed at extending past research on expectation violations by arguing that violations vary both in valence and in their influence on uncertainty and that the combination of valence and uncertainty states conjointly influences judgments of a violator's social attractiveness. In explaining the predicted variance in uncertainty following violations, a distinction is proposed between congruent violations (i.e., behaviors that are more intense instantiations of a previously displayed message) and incongruent violations (i.e., behaviors that are opposite in meaning from previously displayed messages). Five models for explaining violation effects are contrasted. Results (a) confirm that violations differ in their impact on uncertainty, (b) generally support the validity of the proposed distinction between congruent and incongruent violations, and (c) show that the inclusion of uncertainty and valence in models of violation outcomes accounts for greater variance in social attraction than either one separately.


A declining per capita consumption of beef and veal in Western Australia has encouraged an interest in the better matching of supply to consumer needs. Consumers' preferences for quality attributes of goods is reflected in the price consumers pay for the goods. These preferences may be transmitted backwards through each stage of the marketing channel and are reflected in the prices producers receive for goods of different quality. Producers are therefore encouraged to tailor these products to meet consumer preferences. Hedonic price analysis, a technique for analysing consumer preferences for quality attributes, is applied to different stages of the marketing channel, ie producer-wholesaler and wholesaler-retailer. A close correspondence in quality-related price differentials at the various levels of the marketing channel would indicate the possibility for efficient communication of price signals from consumers to producers. A sample of 516 cattle and carcasses has been chosen over a period of five weeks during winter and spring. Cattle are individually identified and their progress from live auction to carcass sale is studied with information collected as to selected quality characteristics and the prices. In this paper, the price of cattle has been hypothesised to be a function of liveweight, breed, nutrition, buying source, age, sex, fat depth, season, and location of abattoir; while the carcass price is explained by carcass weight, nutrition, age, sex, fat depth, fat and meat colour, fat and meat texture, bruising, season, and location of abattoir. The preliminary analysis indicated that weight, buying source, age, sex, fat depth, colour, texture, bruising and season are important characteristics for determinants of price.


Speckle photography offers a technique for measuring small strains on an object in the presence of large displacements. An analysis is presented of this technique, which accounts for the phenomena observed and predicts its capabilities and limitations. The analysis is sufficiently general to describe either of two related techniques, one that permits measurement of strains in the absence of large displacements and one that permits measurement of large displacements alone.


Abstract We review recent studies of the interconversion mechanism of OH···O hydrogen-bonded centrosymmetric dimers through proton transfer in the prototype crystals of potassium hydrogen carbonate (KHCO3) and benzoic acid (C6H5COOH). The point at issue is whether the proton distributions at various temperatures arise from classical statistical mixtures of tautomers or quantum mechanical superposition states. A related issue is whether it is possible to probe a quantum superposition without inducing decoherence and classicality. We show that neutron diffraction can realize decoherence-free measurements for strictly defined scattering geometries and thus evidence macroscopic quantum correlations. We present a theoretical framework for decoherence-free macroscopically entangled states of the sublattice of protons. The neutron diffraction cross-section of protons is enhanced by a factor of ~45, compared to regular Bragg diffraction, and quantum correlations are observed with remarkable contrast. At elevated temperatures, up to 300 K, quantum correlations are unaffected by proton transfer. The crystal is a coherent superposition of macroscopic tunnelling states, like Schrödinger's cat in a superposition of dead and alive states.


The use of technology in today's life has skyrocketed, leaving information providers with no option but to implement technological initiatives that will enable effective information access and dissemination. This paper aims to assess the readiness of Botswana public librarians to adopt the use of technology in the management of libraries and dissemination of information.,Convenience and purposive sampling were used to collect data from 21 participants via Survey Monkey software. The study questions were based on the Technology Readiness Index (TRI) by Parasuraman and Colby (2015). In addition, mixed-methods approach was adopted to collect both qualitative and quantitative data.,The study found out that public librarians are ready to adopt information and communications technologies (ICTs) in library services. This is evidenced by their usage of social media networks and emails. Results also show that public libraries in Botswana are facing various challenges such as low bandwidth, shortage of computers, lack of timely technological support and ICT skills by librarians.,These findings call upon the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development to setup/construct more public libraries and equip them with the necessary technology. This will enhance productivity and help libraries to meet the needs of the twenty-first century information seekers. An in-depth study should be conducted to establish the technological status in Botswana public libraries.,This is the first study conducted in Botswana to assess the public librarians' readiness to adopt new technologies.


OBJECTIVE
To create an evidence-based periodic health examination (PHE) form geared to long-term care (LTC) residents.

DESIGN
Two-phase study: literature review to develop a quantitative, cross-sectional, self-administered survey, and administration of the survey followed by a focus group. A PHE form for LTC residents was developed based on participants' recommendations.

SETTING
Hamilton, Ont.

PARTICIPANTS
A total of 106 health care professionals completed the survey; 10 LTC physicians participated in the focus group.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
The items deemed most important and most likely to be performed during a PHE; themes from focus group discussions.

RESULTS
Respondents' top 4 most important PHE items were also the top 4 items they thought were most likely to be performed during a PHE in LTC: reviewing active health status, reviewing pain control, reviewing medications, and screening for falls. Thematic analysis from the focus group discussion generated 3 main themes: current physician perspectives on the existing annual health examination in LTC, conceptual ideas for the new PHE form, and physician perspectives on the optimization of care in LTC settings. The findings from the survey, along with the themes from the focus group, were incorporated to create a PHE form for LTC residents.

CONCLUSION
The proposed PHE form emphasizes tracking a patient's functional course over time and combines evidence-based preventive health interventions and health assessments with what is clinically important for LTC.


Aims: We compared the radiological features and outcome of WHO defined severe pneumonia among HIV infected and exposed uninfected children randomised to receive penicillin or oral amoxicillin in Durban, South Africa. Methods: Of 425 children aged between 3 and 59 months with WHO defined severe pneumonia, 366 had anonymous HIV testing performed. Outcome was assessed by failure to improve at 48 h after enrolment or deterioration within 14 days. Chest radiographs were evaluated according to WHO defined radiological criteria for pneumonia and internationally standardised radiological criteria. Findings were stratified for HIV status. Results: 82 (22.4%) children were HIV infected, 40 (10.9%) were HIV exposed and 244 (66.7%) were HIV uninfected. The day 14 outcome in children <12 months of age was significantly worse in HIV-1 infected than HIV uninfected children (OR 2.8 (95% CI 1.35 to 3.5), p = 0.002), while HIV-1 infected and uninfected children aged ⩾12 months had equivalent outcomes. Parental penicillin and oral amoxicillin had equivalent response rates in all HIV groups. According to the WHO radiological classification, children who failed WHO standard antimicrobial treatment had significantly higher "other consolidates/infiltrates" than "endpoints for consolidation" in the HIV infected group (OR 5.45 (95% CI 1.58 to 21.38), p<0.002), while the reverse was true for HIV exposed uninfected children (OR 4.13 (95% CI 0.88 to 20.57), p<0.036). Conclusions: The WHO standard treatment guideline for severe pneumonia is inadequate for HIV-1 infected infants. The increased prevalence of "other consolidates/infiltrates" among HIV-1 infected children who failed standard treatment supports the addition of co-trimoxazole to WHO standard treatment.


Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for a systems thinking approach to health systems strengthening to increase adoption of evidence-based interventions (EBI). The Integrative Systems Praxis for Implementation Research (INSPIRE) methodology operationalizes the WHO systems thinking framework to meet cervical cancer elimination–early detection and treatment (CC-EDT) goals. Methods: Using a systems thinking approach and grounded in the consolidated framework for implementation research, INSPIRE integrates multiple research methodologies and evaluation frameworks into a multilevel implementation strategy. Results: In phase I (creating a shared understanding), soft systems methodology and pathway analysis are used to create a shared visual understanding of the CC-EDT system, incorporating diverse stakeholder perspectives of the "what, how, and why" of system behavior. Phase II (finding leverage) facilitates active stakeholder engagement in knowledge transfer and decision-making using deliberative dialogues and multiple scenario analyses. Phase III (acting strategically) represents stakeholder-engaged implementation planning, using well-defined implementation strategies of education, training, and infrastructure development. In phase IV (learning and adapting), evaluation of key performance indicators via a reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance framework is reviewed by stakeholder teams, who continuously adapt implementation plans to improve system effectiveness. Conclusions: The INSPIRE methodology is a generalizable approach to context-adapted implementation of EBIs. Impact: Replacing static dissemination of implementation "roadmaps" with learning health systems through the integration of systems thinking and participatory action research, INSPIRE facilitates the development of scalable and sustainable implementation strategies adapted to local contexts.


The distribution of leisure time between the genders is contested. Becker's theory of specialization suggests that there is an underlying gender equity in leisure, while the competing view suggests that women are now bearing a "dual burden" as both family providers and family carers. Using indicators of the quantity and quality of leisure drawn from the Multinational Time Budget Data Archive and the Australian Time Use Survey, we find some support for both views. Although men and women have similar quantities of free time; when the character of leisure is considered the gap between genders reemerges.


Healthcare is an important arena for improvement and innovation by the use of e-health solutions. But many obstacles exist, such as insufficiency in interoperability and usability. One reason for this problematic situation is that the development process has been inadequate. Swedish healthcare serves under regulations for public procurement. Hence, almost every e-health solution has to be procured to prevent an orientation towards illegal direct award of contracts. Specifying requirements that explain what the customer and users needs and why, is one of the most critical parts of that process. The customer gets what asked for, but often the requirements are on a high level of interpretation and not explicit or traceable enough. This prevents interoperability and usability from being a vital part of the prioritizing activity. Today knowledge about requirement processes and traceability is fragmented, and often more based on ideal models than on practical, real life experiences. The aim of this work is therefore to understand how traceability is managed and how it can be improved. I investigate who is most suitable to perform the "traceability activity" and, maybe even more important, the skill needed to fulfil that task. With a practice-based and ethnographical approach several studies have been conducted in different healthcare settings in Sweden, all closely connected to the design- and development process in e-health projects. The research shows that traceability maintains the relation between needs and solutions by providing a reality check for every step in the procurement and development. To accomplish that, requirements must be made explicit and interpretable for different stakeholders. The actors best suited for this "traceability activity" must have a holistic approach and know how to identify needs and relate them to the context. This demands a domain-specific knowledge about the healthcare setting and understanding how the organisation works practically and politically. It is crucial to also be skilled at usability, design, development and procurement. In addition, implementing IT in healthcare cannot be separated from business development. I argue that it is time to update the way healthcare development is managed and by whom. First, healthcare management must pay more attention on usability and the crucial role that healthcare professionals have as change leaders and needfinders to strengthening existing initiatives. Second, the design community must match existing initiatives and roles in healthcare with the designers' special knowledge to support innovation and design processes.


Background: Incidental finding is an observation, not related to the current medical problem. Various incidental findings can be seen in the lumbar spine (LS) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) taken for evaluation of low back pain. Aims: To evaluate and analyze the spinal incidental findings in MRI LS of patients with low backache. Settings and Design: A retrospective, cross-sectional analytical study. Materials and Methods: All patients (n = 1269, males: 578, females: 691; mean age: 45 ± 15 years) with low backache, who underwent MRI of the LS at a tertiary care hospital in South India, during a period from January 2011 to August 2015. Two radiologists evaluated these examinations for the presence of incidental findings in consensus. We included fatty vertebral hemangioma (FVH), fatty filum terminale (FFT), extraspinal synovial cyst (SC), Tarlov cyst (TC), enostosis, and limbus vertebrae. Statistical Analysis Used: Calculated the prevalence of incidental findings and analyzed the relationship of these incidental findings with patient demographics. Results: Overall, incidental spinal findings were present in 390 patients (30.7%). FVH was the most common incidental finding (n = 205 patients, 16.16%), followed by extraspinal SC (n = 130 patients, 10.2%), and FFT (114 patients, 9%). A pattern of increasing frequency with age noted in the FVH (P = 0.001), TC (P = 0.017), and enostosis (P = 0.008). There was no significant sex predilection for the incidental findings. Conclusion: Incidental findings are common in LS MRI. Understanding on the nature and prevalence of these lesions is essential for the radiologist, for optimal reporting and for the clinician in appropriate interpretation of radiological reports.


There is mounting evidence that the vanilloid (capsaicin) receptor; transient receptor potential channel, vanilloid subfamily member 1 (TRPV1), is subjected to multiple interacting levels of control. The first level is by reversible phosphorylation catalyzed by intrinsic kinases (e.g. protein kinase A and C) and phosphatases (e.g. calcineurin), which plays a pivotal role in receptor sensitization vs. tachyphylaxis. In addition, this mechanism links TRPV1 to intracellular signaling by various important endogenous as well as exogenous substances such as bradykinin, ethanol, nicotin and insulin. It is not clear, however, whether phosphorylation per se is sufficient to liberate TRPV1 under the inhibitory control of phosphatydylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate. The second level of control is by forming TRPV1 heteromers and their association with putative regulatory proteins. The next level of regulation is by subcellular compartmentalization. The membrane form of TRPV1 functions as a nonselective cation channel. On the endoplasmic reticulum, TRPV1 is present in two differentially regulated forms, one of which is inositol triphosphate-dependent whereas the other is not. These three TRPV1 compartments provide a versatile regulation of intracellular Ca2+ levels. Last, there is a complex and poorly understood regulation of TRPV1 activity via control of gene expression. Factors that downregulate TRPV1 expression include vanilloid treatment and growth factor (notably, nerve growth factor) deprivation. By contrast, TRPV1 appears to be upregulated during inflammatory conditions. Interestingly, following experimental nerve injury and in animal models of diabetic neuropathy TRPV1 is present on neurons that do not normally express TRPV1. Combined, these findings imply an important role for aberrant TRPV1 expression in the development of neuropathic pain and hyperalgesia. In humans, disease-related changes in TRPV1 expression have already been described (e.g. inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome). The mechanisms that regulate TRPV1 gene expression under pathological conditions are unknown but a better understanding of these pathways has obvious implications for rational drug development.


Objective Prenatal maternal stress could have permanent effects on the offspring's tissue structure and function, which may predispose to cardiovascular diseases. We investigated whether maternal psychosocial stress is a prenatal factor affecting the blood pressure (BP) of offspring. Study Design In the Amsterdam Born Children and their Development (ABCD) study, around gestational week 16, depressive symptoms, state-anxiety, pregnancy-related anxiety, parenting daily hassles and job strain were recorded by questionnaire. A cumulative stress score was also calculated (based on 80th percentiles). Systolic and diastolic BP and mean arterial pressure (MAP) were measured in the offspring at age 5–7 years. Inclusion criteria were: no use of antihypertensive medication during pregnancy; singleton birth; no reported cardiovascular problems in the child (N = 2968 included). Results After adjustment for confounders, the single stress scales were not associated with systolic and diastolic BP, MAP and hypertension (p>0.05). The presence of 3–4 psychosocial stressors prenatally (4%) was associated with 1.5 mmHg higher systolic and diastolic BP (p = 0.046; p = 0.04) and 1.5 mmHg higher MAP in the offspring (p = 0.02) compared to no stressors (46%). The presence of 3–4 stressors did not significantly increase the risk for hypertension (OR 1.8; 95% CI 0.93.4). Associations did not differ between sexes. Bonferroni correction for multiple testing rendered all associations non-significant. Conclusions The presence of multiple psychosocial stressors during pregnancy was associated with higher systolic and diastolic BP and MAP in the child at age 5–7. Further investigation of maternal prenatal stress may be valuable for later life cardiovascular health.


Quantum key distribution (QKD) systems have already attained much attention for providing end-to-end data encryption to the subscribers. However, it is very important that the QKD infrastructure is compatible with the already existing telecommunication networks for a smooth transition and integration with the classical data traffic. Optical fibers and commercially available transceivers are the key element for implementing the quantum network because of the strong dependence of secure key rate on the loss budget and excess noise. In this paper, we report the feasibility of using off-the shelf telecommunication components to enable high performance Continuous-Variable Quantum Key Distribution (CV-QKD) systems that can yield secure key rates in the range of 100 Mbit/s under practical operating conditions. Classical multilevel phase modulated signals (m-PSK) are evaluated in-terms of secure key generation and transmission distance when they are implemented and detected with classical coherent receiver. The traditional receiver is discussed, aided by the phase noise cancellation based digital signal processing module for detecting the complex quantum signals. Furthermore, we have discussed the compatibility of multiplexers and de-multiplexers for wavelength division multiplexed quantum-to-the-home (QTTH) network.


OBJECTIVES--To evaluate the role of low molecular weight (LMW) IgM and CD5 B cells in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to explore the possibility that LMW IgM is derived selectively from this subset of B cells. METHODS--LMW IgM in sera and culture supernatants was detected by a sensitive immunoblot technique with an enhanced chemiluminescence detection system. CD5 B cells were determined by FACScan cytometry. In vitro studies were established in culture plates containing pokeweed mitogen with or without 2-mercaptoethanol (2-ME). Supernatants were obtained from CD5 positive hybridomas and CD5 negative hybridomas. Other immunological indices were measured by laser nephelometry. RESULTS--Circulating LMW IgM was detected in all rheumatoid patients with significantly higher levels being observed in sero-positive patients. LMW IgM correlated significantly with total IgM and RF. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from the majority of the patients with RA secreted LMW IgM in vitro as did mononuclear cells from a synovial fluid sample. The addition of low concentrations of 2-ME to the culture medium enhanced the proportions of secreted monomeric IgM. In contrast, PBMC from healthy subjects secreted only trace quantities of LMW IgM. In RA no significant correlations were observed between CD5 B cells and LMW IgM and RF. LMW IgM could be detected in the supernatants from both CD5+ and CD5- B cell lines. Finally, CD5 B cells were not significantly elevated in RA and levels remained constant over time. CONCLUSION--LMW IgM exists in high concentrations in RA sera and synovial fluid. Serum level correlates with RF and IgM. In vitro studies have suggested that the occurrence of LMW IgM may be due to an intrinsic defect(s) in the assembly of the IgM pentameric molecule. LMW IgM is unlikely to be derived solely from CD5 B cells.


The strategy known as wildland fire use, in which lightning-ignited fires are allowed to burn, is rapidly gaining momentum in the fire management community. Managers need to know the consequences of an increase in area burned that might result from an increase in wildland fire use. One concern of land managers as they consider implementing wildland fire use is whether they can meet the goals in the land management plan for the desired distribution of forest structural stages across the landscape with further increases in fire. These questions were explored for a 49,532 ha landscape on the Boise National Forest in Idaho that typically experiences mixed-severity and stand-replacing fires. The landscape simulation model TELSA was used to evaluate how increases in fire frequency and area burned might affect landscape composition and structure. Information about frequency, annual area burned, and size-class distributions of fires derived from a fire atlas for the northern Rocky Mountains were used to define the fire regime parameters for five different simulation scenarios. Scenarios with higher fire frequency and area burned resulted in landscapes dominated by earlier successional forest stages and only small patches occupied by large trees. Simulated variability in area occupied by different tree-size classes on this landscape was much greater than the desired ranges defined in the land management plan for the forest at large. A measure of dissimilarity (Euclidean Distance) from desired composition was used to evaluate scenarios for their relative ability to achieve long term land management goals. The lowest values of Euclidean Distance were for a scenario that represents a substantial increase in fire over 20th century fire regimes. Euclidean Distance increased for scenarios with very high rates of burning, implying an upper limit to the desired amount of fire for this landscape. These findings could be used to develop guidance for achieving desired conditions with wildland fire use.


Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text. Rationale: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a pervasive and critical health care problem. Elevated high-density lipoprotein-associated cholesterol (HDL-C) is associated with improved atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease outcomes on a population level, but clinical trials aimed at HDL-C elevation have not succeeded in improving atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease event risk. Nevertheless, human variants in the HDL receptor, encoded by SCARB1, are associated with dyslipidemia, suggesting that HDL metabolism, not HDL-C, is a suitable target for therapy. However, variants in SCARB1 have never been directly attributed to CAD by Mendelian inheritance. Objective: To determine if compound heterozygous variants in SCARB1 cause disease in 2 brothers with severe, early-onset CAD. Methods and Results: Using whole exome sequencing, we have identified rare, compound heterozygous variants in SCARB1 that segregate with severe, premature CAD, following patterns of Mendelian inheritance. Using induced pluripotent stem cell–derived hepatocyte-like cells from the proband, we discovered the maternal variant (c.754_755delinsC) to be the first identified SCARB1 null allele, characterized by the absence of RNA and protein expression. Further, we demonstrate that the variant on the paternal allele (c.956G>T [p.G319V]) results in decreased cholesterol uptake, decreased SR-BI:HDL binding, and increased affinity for SR-BI dimerization. Finally, we generated a p.G319V knock-in mouse model that displays nearly 100% homozygous lethality and elevated plasma cholesterol in heterozygous animals, confirming pathogenicity of this variant. Conclusions: In summary, our data provide the first molecular mechanism to show the Mendelian inheritance of CAD as a result of human SCARB1 variants. The rarity of these variants supports pathogenicity in this family. Furthermore, SR-BI p.G319V, which has previously been reported benign in the context of heterozygosity, was uniquely presented alongside a null allele, demonstrating the disease-contributing capability of loss-of-function SCARB1 variants within the population.


Background: The authors hypothesized that, for obese patients, delayed abdominal-based free flap (rather than implant-based and immediate) breast reconstruction would result in fewer overall complications and reconstruction losses. Methods: The authors retrospectively analyzed consecutive implant- and abdominal-based free flap breast reconstructions performed in obese patients between 2005 and 2010 by utilizing the World Health Organization obesity classifications: class I, 30.0 to 34.9 kg/m2; class II, 35.0 to 39.9 kg/m2; and class III, ≥40 kg/m2. Primary outcome measures included flap failures and overall complications. Logistic regression analysis identified associations among patient, defect, and reconstructive characteristics and surgical outcomes. Results: The analysis included 990 breast reconstructions (548 flaps versus 442 implants) in 700 patients. Mean follow-up was 17 months. Age, smoking, medical illness, and body mass index greater than 37 predicted overall complications on regression analysis. Implants demonstrated a higher failure rate (15.8 percent) than flaps (1.5 percent). Although failure rates were similar for immediate and delayed flap reconstructions overall (1.3 versus 1.9 percent) and among obesity classifications, there was a trend toward more implant failures in immediate rather than delayed reconstructions (16.8 versus 5.3 percent). Differences between immediate implant versus flap reconstruction failure rates were highest among more obese patients [class II (24.7 versus 1.3 percent) and class III (25.4 versus 0 percent) compared with class I (11.7 versus 1.4 percent)]. Conclusions: Obese patients (particularly class II and III) experience higher failure rates with implant-based breast reconstruction, particularly immediate reconstruction. Free flap techniques or delayed implant reconstruction may be warranted in this population. CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Risk, II.


The measurement of human respiratory signals is crucial in field of medicine. A disordered breathing pattern can be the first symptom of different mechanical or psycho-logical dysfunctions. Therefore, a real-time monitoring of the respiration pattern is a critical need in medical applications. In clinical settings, respiration measurement methods are used a large number of sensors to the patient"s body for recording vital signals, which might interfere with natural breathing of the patients and also cause discomfort if used for longer durations. This paper presents a novel algorithm for diagnosing lung status using photoplethysmographic (PPG) derived respiratory signals. The algorithm contains two steps. First one is the Respiratory cycle extraction process and second one is the Classification of respiratory activity. The pulse oximeter"s PPG signals can be well utilized for extracting respiratory activity, avoiding the usage of additional sensor for recording respiratory signal. Modified Multiscale Principal Component Analysis (MMSPCA) is used for extraction of respiratory activity embedded in the PPG signals. Functioning of the proposed algorithm is tested on the dataset consists of different PPG patterns i.e., normal, hypoventilations, hyperventilation"s and kussmaul recordings available with MIMIC database of Physio net archive. The second part is the evaluation of lung status according to the respiratory signal which is extracted from the PPG signal in the first part. Multiclass support vector machine (MSVM) classifier or Kernel Nearest-Neighbour (knn) classifier are used to classify the respiratory signals according to the features extracted from respiratory signal. This paper presents a comparative study of the classification of respiratory cycle using MSVM and k-nn classifier.


Female elected officials are underrepresented in the Republican Party relative to the Democratic Party. What accounts for this partisan disparity in women elected to office? The authors present evidence that registered voters exhibit a partisan gap in candidate-gender bias of a nature that would contribute to the partisan gender-gap in office-holding. Using an implicit mediation experimental design, the researchers find evidence that the partisan difference in gender preference is motivated by political inferences drawn from candidate-gender stereotypes. Both registered Democrats and registered Republicans move counter to the direction of bias when given information that reverses those stereotypes. Two important implications of the researchers' findings are that (1) there may be a voter-driven element to the partisan gender-gap in office, but (2) Republicans voters, whom they find to be as pro-female as Democratic voters when presented with a policy-congruent female candidate, are not the cause of persistently low levels of Republican women in office.


This research has aims to find out activities, Imtaq attitude, and Student Learning Result in Biology Lesson by applying Biology contextual imtaq characterized learning by Parents day strategy. The type of this research is Class Action Research (CAR), done by 2 cycles. It was done in SMA  Negeri 10 Kota Bengkulu. Instrument used is Observation Paper, questionnaire of Imtaq attitude and test paper. Result of this research at Cycle 1 is the average of student's activity 28.5 while at cycle 2 improve to 37.5. The average of student activities at cycle 1 is 28.8 and at cycle 2 are 36. Students Lesson result at both cycles also improve. At Cycle 1, the average score is 56.69 and the Completeness of Classical Study is 25 %, 76.70, while at cycle 2 is 76.70 and 87.50 % respectively. Students attitude to Imtaq is on high category, this can be seen at the average Students Imtaq attitude is 66.57 in cycles 1 and 67.17 in cycle 2 both in high category. This is showed from the score gotten improvement imtaq attitude; however it is not too high. Based on this research, can be concluded that Biology Contextual imtaq characterized learning improves activities, Imtaq behaviours and study Result Keywords: Biology Contextual Learning, Parents day strategies, Activities, Imtaq Character, Study Results


Background: Mesenteric lymphadenopathy is a common finding described by abdominal ultrasonography in children.Objective: To estimate incidence and significance of mesenteric lymphadenopathy (MLN) in children with chronic abdominal pain (CAP) as compared to healthy children. Method: A prospective observational study was conducted in the paediatric department of a tertiary care hospital. Cases included children of age group 5–15 years with CAP who were subjected to abdominal ultrasonography during the study period. Controls included children in whom abdominal sonography was performed for reasons other than abdominal pain. Descriptive statistics were used for the analysis of baseline characteristics of the study group. For the variables following normal distribution curve, mean and standard deviation were computed. The presence of enlarged nodes,their location, size and other significant findings were Recorded.Pearson's Chi-square test was used to analyse categorical variables between groups.Results: Three hundred and eighteen children were enrolled in the study. After excluding those who did not meet the criteria, the final study population included 110 cases and 138 controls. CAP was almost equal in both sexes with male: female ratio of 1:1.07. Mesenteric lymph nodes were detected by ultrasonography in 84 (72.1%) cases and in 41 (13.4%) controls. Significant MLN (≥5 mm short axis or >10mm long axis) was present in 62 (56.4%) of 110 children with CAP, in contrast to 16 (11.6%) of 138 controls (p <0.001). Most common location of the nodes was in the right iliac fossa (79%) followed by peri-umbilical location (77.4%) Conclusion: MLN, with lymph nodes more than 5mm on their short axis, is a significant finding in children presenting with CAP.


In the present study bovine chondrocytes were cultured in two different environments (static flasks and bioreactor) in knitted poly-L,D-lactide (PLDLA) scaffolds up to 4 weeks. Chondrocyte viability was assessed by employing cell viability fluorescence markers. The cells were visualized using confocal laser scanning microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The mechanical properties and uronic acid contents of the scaffolds were tested. Our results showed that cultivation in a bioreactor improved the growth and viability of the chondrocytes in the PLDLA scaffolds. Cells were observed both on and in between the fibrils of scaffold. Furthermore, chondrocytes cultured in the bioreactor, regained their original round phenotypes, whereas those in the static flask culture were flattened in shape. Confocal microscopy revealed that chondrocytes from the bioreactor were attached on both sides of the scaffold and sustained viability better during the culture period. Uronic acid contents of the scaffolds, cultured in bioreactor, were significantly higher than in those cultured in static flasks for 4 weeks. In summary, our data suggests that the bioreactor is superior over the static flask culture when culturing chondrocytes in knitted PLDLA scaffold.


We consider optimization problems whose parameters are known only approximately, based on noisy samples. Of particular interest is the high-dimensional regime, where the number of samples is roughly equal to the dimensionality of the problem, and the noise magnitude may greatly exceed the magnitude of the signal itself. This setup falls far outside the traditional scope of Robust and Stochastic optimization. We propose three algorithms to address this setting, combining ideas from statistics, machine learning, and robust optimization. In the important case where noise artificially increases the dimensionality of the parameters, we show that combining robust optimization and dimensionality reduction can result in high-quality solutions at greatly reduced computational cost.