HIV/AIDS in Africa places a tremendous burden on the nursing profession. Hospitals are inundated with very sick and dying AIDS patients and nurses often find that their role as healers has shifted to a great extent to that of caregivers, counsellors and educators . AIDS also calls for nurses to go beyond the strict Western-based bio-medical model to be able to help and understand patients who come from a traditional African background. This article discusses relevant aspects of the traditional African worldview by explaining what health, sickness and sexuality mean in traditional Africa. Traditional African perceptions of the causes of illness (God, ancestors, witches, pollution and germs), perceptions of sexuality, the importance of having children, cultural beliefs inhibiting the usage of condoms, the importance of community life, as well as the controversial issue of confidentiality in Africa are discussed. The implications for AIDS care and counselling in Africa are explored and suggestions on how to use traditional beliefs and customs to the advantage of AIDS education, are offered.


Infection by helminths (worms) may be limited solely to the intestinal lumen or may involve a complex process with migration of the adult or immature worm through the body before localization in a particular tissue. Complicating our understanding of the host– parasite relationship and the role of chemotherapy in helminth-induced infections is the complex life cycle of many of these organisms.Whereas some helminths have a simple cycle of egg deposition and development of the egg to produce a mature worm, others must progress through one or more hosts and one or more morphological stages, each metabolically distinct from the other, before emerging as an adult. Furthermore, an infective form may be either an adult worm or an immature worm. Treatment may be further complicated by infection with more than one genus of helminth. Pathogenic helminths can be divided into the following major groups: cestodes (flatworms), nematodes (roundworms), trematodes (flukes) and less frequently, Acanthocephala (thorny-headed worms). The complex life cycle and host–parasite relationship means that treatment is sometimes difficult and may have to be protracted. Most available anthelmintic drugs exert their antiparasitic effects by interference with (1) energy metabolism, (2) neuromuscular coordination, (3) microtubular function, and (4) cellular permeability. The mode of action of most drugs used in the treatment of helminthic infections is summarized in Table 54.1. Some of the drugs used in the treatment of diseases caused by helminths also are used in the treatment of specific protozoal diseases.


The association between the use of inhaled β agonists and the risk of death and near death from asthma has previously been reported. It was based on a nested case-control study of 129 cases and 655 control subjects selected from a cohort of 12301 users of asthma drugs followed during the period 1980 through 1987. In this paper, we examine the question of asthma and non-asthma mortality using data from the entire cohort of 12301 asthmatics. There were 46 asthma and 134 non-asthma deaths in this cohort, for which there were 47842 person-years of follow-up. The overall rate of asthma death was 9.6 per 10 000 asthmatics per year. This rate varied significantly according to the use of fenoterol, albuterol, or oral corticosteroids in the prior 12 months and the number of hospitalisations in the prior 2 years. The rate decreased significantly, by 0.6 asthma deaths per 10 000 asthmatics per year over the study period, after controlling for the effect of the four other risk factors. It also increased significantly with the use of all β agonists, and more so for fenoterol than for albuterol, although this difference was partly explained by the dose inequivalence of the two drugs. Change-point dose-response curves showed that the risk of asthma death began to escalate drastically at about 1.4 canisters (of 20 000 μg each) per month of inhaled β agonist, the recommended limit. For non-asthma death, the overall rate of 28 deaths per 10 000 asthmatics per year was not related to the use of inhaled β agonists. We conclude that the strong association between the use of inhaled β agonists and asthma mortality is confined primarily to the use of these drugs in excess of recommended limits. Non-asthma mortality, including that from cardiovascular causes, is not associated with the use of inhaled β agonists. (Am J Respir Crit Care Med 1994 ;149 :604-10)


The climate change agenda is populated by actors and agencies with different objectives, values, and motivations, yet many seek decision scale climate information to inform policy and adaptation responses. A central element of this network of activity is the climate information website (CIW) that has seen a rapid and organic growth, yet with variable content and quality, and unfettered by any code of practice. This builds an ethical–epistemic dilemma that warrants assessment as the presence of CIWs contribute to real‐world consequences and commitment. This study considers the context of CIW growth, and reviews a representative sample of CIWs to draw out key issues for consideration in CIW development. We assess content, function, and use‐case value through a dual approach of a typology and user experience narratives to evaluate the general efficacy of a CIW. The typology reveals strong contrasts in content, complicated interfaces, and an overload of choice making it difficult to converge on a stable outcome. The narratives capture user experience and highlight barriers that include navigation difficulties, jargon laden content, minimal or opaque guidance, and inferred information without context about uncertainty and limits to skill. This illuminates four concerns: (1) the ethics of information provision in a context of real‐world consequences; (2) interfaces that present barriers to achieving robust solutions; (3) weak capacity of both users and providers to identify information of value from the multimodel and multimethod data; and (4) inclusion of data that infer skill. Nonetheless, results provide a positive indication of a community of practice that is still maturing. WIREs Clim Change 2017, 8:e470. doi: 10.1002/wcc.470


The limited functionality of seals that are used in hydraulic machines to prevent the liquid from leaking into the bearings may result in decrease in machine efficiency and reliability and may cause an accident of the whole hydraulic machine. However, not every damage of seals must result in a shutdown of the whole machine. In case of partially or fully flooded bearings, the machine can temporarily operate with significantly increased input power and with lower efficiency. Such a limited operation of the machine shortens its lifetime and is accompanied by the presence of torque loss on the shaft. The measurement of torque loss can be helpful during the design process of new machines as well as for an analysis of hydraulic losses and efficiency of prototypes. Moreover, the real-time measurement of torque loss can be used for remote online monitoring of hydraulic machines. The aim of this paper is to present primarily an experimental investigation of the viscous torque loss for ball bearings submerged into liquid. The CFD simulation is also included to distribute the total torque loss between the hub and the bearing. The main goal is to modify the drag coefficient, respectively the friction loss coefficient in SKF's and Palgrem's empirical model. The new coefficients may provide a prediction of torque loss in the fully flooded bearings which is not possible with existing models. The torque loss characteristics are determined for specific ball bearings too. In contradiction to partially flooded bearing situation, it is obvious from a experiment, that some coefficients in Palgrem's model and SKF model are dependent on revolutions when bearings are fully flooded. The experimental investigation of viscous torque loss are carried out for various types of ball bearings, all fully submerged into two various liquids, i.e., oil and water.


This paper provides estimates of individual and aggregate revenue elasticities of income and consumption taxes in New Zealand, based on the 2001 tax structure and expenditure patterns. Using analytical expressions for revenue elasticities at the individual and aggregate levels, together with a simulated income distribution, values for New Zealand were obtained. Results using equi-proportional income changes suggest that the aggregate income and consumption tax revenue elasticities are both fairly constant as mean income increases, at around 1.3 and 0.95 respectively. This latter estimate assumes that increases in disposable income are accompanied by approximately proportional increases in total expenditure. If there is a tendency for the savings proportion to increase as disposable income increases, a somewhat lower total consumption tax revenue elasticity, of around 0.9, is obtained for 2001 income levels. However, non-equiproportional income changes are more realistic. Allowing for regression towards the geometric mean income reduces these elasticities, giving an elasticity for income and consumption taxes combined that is only slightly above unity. Examination of the tax-share weighted expenditure elasticities for various goods also revealed that, despite the adoption of a broad based GST at a uniform rate in New Zealand, the persistence of various excises has an important effect on the overall consumption tax revenue elasticity, especially for individuals at relatively low income levels.


An appraisal of the current ecological status of Asejire Reservoir was carried out using the reservoir phytoplankton composition and community structure. Monthly sampling was carried out in nine selected sites for twelve months. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, Shannon-Weiner and Evenness indices. One hundred and fifty-four phytoplankton taxa were identified. Taxa dominance was in the following order: Microcystis sp. were the most abundant species followed by Anabaena sp. and Closterium sp. The riverine zone accounted for 50.8% of the total phytoplankton population. One-way analysis of variance between the zones indicated that there was a significant difference (F=11.41, df=2, p=0.0000146) in the spatial distribution among the stations. Most of the recorded phytoplankton species are cosmopolitan with the presence of the following species: Staurastrum , Closterium , Cosmarium , Anabaena , and Oscillatoria . The presence of some pollution indicator species is a cause of concern and the need to ensure holistic and effective monitoring measure is put in place to safeguard the reservoir.


. We have previously developed a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for detection of Echinococcus granulosus infection, which proved very sensitive and specific for identification of infected dogs. We have now developed a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay, which amplifies the same genomic repeated sequences of E. granulosus for coprodetection. This assay enabled detection of a single egg in fecal samples and showed high species specificity for E. granulosus with no cross-amplification of DNA from closely related helminths, including Echinococcus multilocularis . Because the method does not require thermocycling for DNA amplification, or electrophoresis for amplicon detection, it can potentially be used for premortem identification of E. granulosus -infected dogs to enable large-scale surveys in endemic countries where highly specialized equipment to undertake PCR analysis is rare.


Background Injuries caused by sharp objects, which involve biological hazards are considered as one of the most important factors that lead to stress among the nursing staff. Contact with sharp objects is a major concern among healthcare workers, especially nurses. Objectives This study was done to determine the amount of stress caused by exposure to sharp medical instruments among nurses. Materials and Methods This was a cross-sectional research on 527 nurses, working at different medical centers across Iran, with a cluster-sampling method. The relevant data was collected with a valid and reliable questionnaire. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of internal consistency of this instrument was 0.92 and interclass correlation coefficient was 0.94 Results The results showed that ward satisfaction, having master of science, age, and number of contacts were significantly able to predict variance in stress scores. The adjusted line regression model explained 36% of the overall variance in stress score (R2 = 0.60) Conclusions The results of this study showed that exposure to sharp objects may cause high stress in the nursing staff. Considering higher levels of stress in the area of contact care, the provisions on how to deal with patients and safe care can help reduce stress.


Purpose
This paper aims to explore the nexus between integrated reporting and sustainability embeddedness. It seeks to contribute to a better understanding of the nexus by obtaining in-depth insight from the sensemaking of those in practice.

Design/methodology/approach
A single exploratory case study design strategy was applied to a leading stock exchange listed company in the property industry in South Africa. Rich qualitative data were gathered by applying multiple data gathering techniques to a diverse group of employees within the case company.

Findings
This empirical study contributes a metaphor of a cog and chain and nine themes that elucidate employee sensemaking at the nexus. Integrated reporting was found to drive sustainability embeddedness and foster changes within the organisation. The themes offer in-depth insight into how employees made sense of integrated reporting as a driver for sustainability embeddedness.

Research limitations/implications
The findings emerged from a single case study that operated in a mandatory disclosure context and are therefore not generalisable. The findings reflect the intended outcomes of integrated reporting and further research to explore the unintended outcomes and challenges associated with integrated reporting is suggested.

Practical implications
The study contributes to a growing practice based agenda by offering a better understanding of how integrated reporting and sustainability are conceptualised and adopted in practice.

Social implications
The findings offer organisations' guidance on integrated reporting and sustainability embeddedness adoption which can have vast implications for society and the environment.

Originality/value
The study responds to gaps in the literature and calls for studies to explore the intersection between integrated reporting and sustainability embeddedness by engaging those in practice.


This study investigates the effect of a negative demand shock on the composition of worker types at firms and examines the change in the share of temporary agency workers. The 2007-2009 global financial crisis is used as the natural experiment to clearly identify the causal link between the demand encountered by a firm and the composition of its workforce in terms of worker types, as well as to rule out any reverse causation. The decrease in demand experienced by Japanese exporting firms is adopted as the exogenous demand shock. Results indicate that compared with other firms, those with higher export ratio, lower liquid asset ratio, higher share of temporary agency workers, larger increase in the share of temporary agency worker ratio, and lower volatility in their sales prior to the crisis decreased their share of temporary agency workers in response to the demand shock. The quantitative effects of these pre-crisis firm characteristics are all economically significant. These results suggest that temporary agency workers serve as a buffer to demand shocks, and liquid assets work as a substitute for temporary agency workers.


This research presents the results of a survey that was carried out with wheelchair users and mobility-impaired people. The focus of the survey was in identifying the importance of the physical and environmental variables that characterize the sidewalks according to the aspects of comfort, safety and environmental quality. Initially, the identification and organization of the variables were obtained by an iterative survey method with specialists in the areas of engineering, architecture, urban planning, physical therapy, occupational therapy and human mobility. This process resulted in a consensus regarding the variables that can be related to the aspects of comfort, safety and environmental quality. The characteristics selected by the specialists, as measures of the quality of the sidewalks were included in a survey with wheelchair users and mobility-impaired people in order to evaluate the importance attributed by them to each of the characteristics. It was found that their perception not always matches the hierarchy of importance of the variable as evaluated by the specialists. The objective population priorizes the physical characteristics of the sidewalks that offer a minimum of movement condition, rather then those that offer additional quality conditions in the aspects of comfort, safety and environmental quality.


: In the present paper, a new sonographic method of examining the breast is described. In the form of a laboratory model, it has been used to investigate 245 preoperative patients and 146 women referred for conventional sonography of the breast. All the patients had also undergone mammography. With the new procedure the examination situation is identical to that used for mammography, with a stainless steel plate (reference reflector) placed beneath the breast, and which appears on the B scan behind healthy tissue as a straight white line. Disordered reflectivity and elevation of this line indicate the presence of a lesion. Measurement of the lesion and the elevation of the reference line permit differentiation between benign and malignant disease. The use of both X-ray and sonographic findings improved the detection of cancers and reduced false-positive benign findings. Further technical improvements to this sonographic procedure could make it as rapid and reliable as mammography.


The air flow and turbulent fluxes features during the radiation fog formed on the dawn of 17 October 2007 is discussed in order to study the mechanism of an unexpected night fog, based on the meteorological and turbulent data obtained from the 250 m height tower in Tianjin, as well as the NCEP reanalysis data and other observational data. The results show that the lower layer easterly flow coming from the south region of the Northeast cold high pressure led to remarkable temperature fall and humidity value increase in the daytime prior to the fog formation, which quickly turned the dry boundary layer to be moist. The vapor transfer indicated that the vapor of the radiation fog was provided by the easterly advection from Bohai Sea, not from local area. Turbulent vapor fluxes increased ten times as that before the fog. The horizontal vapor fluxes transported against the wind direction, which led to the escape of water vapor from Tianjin city and the dissipation of fog.


Participants in building simulation supported projects are diverse (e.g. design teams, clients, project managers and simulation practitioners) and often geographically dispersed. There is much about conventional approaches to building performance assessments and work practices that reduces productivity and obscures useful indicators of performance. Often, the goal of understanding how the building works and the impact of design decisions is hampered by limitations in the presentation of performance data. Contemporary results display is often constrained to what was considered good practice some decades ago rather than in ways that preserve the richness of the underlying data. This paper reviews a framework for building simulation support that addresses these presentation limitations as well as making a start on issues related to distributed team working. The framework uses tools and communication protocols that enable concurrent information sharing and provide a richer set of options for understanding complex performance relationships.


Purpose
The purpose of this study is to ascertain how bereaved caregivers of a family member who died from a dementia-related diagnosis (a) define preparedness and (b) perceive its value.

Design and Methods
Purposive criterion sampling was employed to identify 30 bereaved caregivers of family members aged 65 and older who died with a dementia-related diagnosis. In-depth, qualitative interviews were conducted over a 12-month period, and qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the data.

Results
Only one third (n = 10) of caregivers interviewed were prepared for the death, and the majority who were prepared were enrolled in hospice. Five primary themes revealed ways that caregivers define various domains of preparedness: (i) accepting reality; (ii) knowing death is near; (iii) getting your "house in order"; (iv) saying "what you need to say"; and (v) giving "permission" to die. The majority (87%) believed that it is important for caregivers to be prepared, and the value of preparedness was exemplified in five domains reflecting the benefits of being prepared.

Implications
The results support further attention to the development and testing of interventions to address the unmet needs of caregivers of family members with dementia to help prepare them for the death in a variety of contexts.


Bioleaching of pre-treated spent refinery catalyst was performed using sulfur and iron oxidizing bacteria separately. Both the mixed cultures were grown at various concentration of either ferrous sulfate or elemental sulfur. Bioleaching process was conducted by varying the reaction time, effect of substrates and effect of catalyst amount. Under the most favourable transport conditions examined, (5g/L spent catalysts, 10g/L ferrous sulfate, reaction time 7 days) the mixed iron oxidizing bacteria were able to recover Ni, V, and Mo of 90, 80 and 54 % respectively. Higher catalyst and ferrous sulfate concentration showed decline result in recovery of Mo and V. Ni showed consistent results throughout the series of experiments (88 to 90% recovery). The mixed sulfur oxidizing bacteria were observed to be more effective than the iron oxidizing bacteria. The sulfur oxidizing cells were able to recover Ni, V and Mo of 88, 94 and 46 % respectively (spent catalysts 50g/L, elemental sulfur of 2% (w/v), reaction time 7 days). The oxidation of elemental sulfur to sulfate could play a vital role for extraction of the metals.


In this paper, I use some artificial intelligence techniques algorithms, which are the algorithms of the artificial immune system (positive selection algorithm and negative selection algorithm). Through these two algorithms, it is distinguished between the original and distorted English letters. Through the results of the patterns, which were obtained after the implementation of these two algorithms, I observed that the percentage of discrimination was 85% for the positive selection algorithm, and 80% for the negative selection algorithm. This discrimination was applied after the images had been divided into blocks, and then the properties of the images had been extracted by adopting the method of seven undependable momentums in order to gain patterns which are close to the original pattern of the introduced English letter.


Importance
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are commonly prescribed for knee osteoarthritis. However, they are associated with uncertain long-term clinical benefit and significant toxic effects.

Objective
To evaluate whether discontinuing NSAIDs and engaging in a telephone-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) program is noninferior to continuing NSAIDs for patients with knee osteoarthritis.

Design, Setting, and Participants
The Stopping NSAIDs for Arthritis Pain multicenter randomized withdrawal trial was conducted for 364 patients taking NSAIDs for knee osteoarthritis pain on most days of the week for at least 3 months between September 1, 2013, and September 30, 2018. Analysis was performed on an intent-to-treat basis.

Interventions
Participants discontinued their current NSAID and took 15 mg per day of meloxicam daily during a 2-week run-in period. Those who remained eligible were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to receive meloxicam or placebo for 4 weeks (blinded phase 1). Participants receiving meloxicam then continued this medication for 10 weeks, while those receiving placebo participated in a 10-week CBT program (unblinded phase 2).

Main Outcomes and Measures
The primary outcome measure was the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) pain score at 4 weeks with the noninferiority margin set at 1. Secondary outcomes included the area under the curve of the pain score after 4 weeks as well as the WOMAC pain score, area under the curve of the pain score, WOMAC disability score, and global impression of change after treatment at 14 weeks.

Results
A total of 180 participants (161 men; mean [SD] age, 58. 2 [11.8] years) were randomized to receive placebo followed by CBT, and a total of 184 participants (154 men; mean [SD] age, 58.5 [10.0] years) were randomized to receive meloxicam. After adjustment for baseline pain and study site, the estimated mean difference in WOMAC pain score between the placebo and meloxicam groups after 4 weeks was 1.4 (95% CI, 0.8-2.0; noninferiority test P = .92). At week 14, the adjusted mean difference in WOMAC pain score between the placebo (followed by CBT) and meloxicam groups was 0.8 (95% CI, 0.2-1.4; noninferiority P = .28). There was no statistically significant difference in the global impression of change (mean difference in scores, -0.2; 95% CI, -0.4 to 0.1; P = .15) or lower extremity disability (mean difference in scores, 0.9; 95% CI, -1.4 to 3.2; P = .45) between the 2 groups after 14 weeks.

Conclusions and Relevance
Among patients with knee osteoarthritis, placebo and CBT (after placebo) are inferior to meloxicam. However, the WOMAC pain score differences between the 2 groups were small, and there were no statistically significant differences in participants' global impression of change or function after 14 weeks.

Trial Registration
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01799213.


Fair employment opportunities for women are considered as a strong indicator for achieving gender equity. Despite a steady growth in the rates of female labor force participation, chances for men and women to get employed and promoted in the workforce remain uneven. Moreover, the gender pay gap still exists and widens as educational attainment and job tenure increase (Bonvillain, 2006). The unfairness for women's employment provokes researchers to examine the belief system on women's role in work and family. Previous research has documented a strong association between gender attitudes and the actual social opportunities for women.  For example, studies on attitudes about gender, work and family among scientists contend that stereotypical attitudes about women's occupations in science might create interactions and structures that help legitimatize the gender hierarchy and maintain science as a male domain (Hanson et al. 2004). Other research argues that as the rate of women's labor force participation increases, attitudes change toward a greater acceptance of women's non-familial roles (Cherlin and Walters, 1981; Mason and Lu, 1988).This paper examines attitudes toward women's labor force participation which can influence and be influenced by the actual work environment for women, in order to gain a thorough understanding of gender inequality that  exist in the workforce.


Introduction: Breast cancer is a common cancer seen in women. The awareness of breast cancer plays an important role in the early detection and prevention of the disease, but due to lack of awareness regarding breast cancer screening, most of the cases are detected at later stages, which leads to lower rates of recovery. The presently aimed to evaluate the knowledge and awareness of breast cancer among the Muslim female population in Belagavi city, Karnataka. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 97 Muslim Women, and a direct semi-structured questionnaire was administered to collect data. Results: Our results indicated a low knowledge about breast cancer, breast self-examination, mammogram, and clinical breast examination. In total, 29% of women had knowledge regarding breast self-examination, but due to lack of practice, they never performed self-examination. The most common barrier for screening methods of breast cancer was that women were unaware of half of the screening methods and other barriers were related to their religious beliefs. Social media was found to be the main source of information among the female. Conclusions: In conclusion, the majority of women showed poor knowledge about breast cancer and screening methods. Additional effort should be put forth through women to increase the awareness of breast cancer screening, indicating the need to continue emphasizing the importance of early detection of breast cancer in the early stages.


OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to evaluate the level of ADMA (asymmetric dimethylarginine), SDMA (symmetric dimethylarginine), and IL-1β (Interleukin-1β) in gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) from periodontitis patients and control subjects.

BACKGROUND
ADMA and SDMA are potentially hazardous non-proteinogenic amino acids that limit nitric oxide (NO) synthesis and have many functions in various human disorders. ADMA causes a structural change in nitric oxide synthase, while SDMA blocks arginine cell uptake. Increased plasma ADMA has been widely recognized as a "trigger" initiating impaired NO bioavailability and vascular dysfunction, which ultimately leads to oxidative stress.

METHODS
Twenty-five patients with periodontitis (P) (Stage III, Grade C, n = 25) and 20 control (C) subjects were included in the study. The IL-1β level of GCF was measured by enzyme immunoassay (ELISA) and ADMA and SDMA by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).

RESULTS
Periodontitis patients had higher clinical parameters than controls (p < .001). Levels of IL-1β, ADMA and SDMA GCF were statistically significantly higher in group P than in group C (respectively; p = .003, p < .0001, p < .0001). There was no difference in the ADMA/SDMA ratio (p = .312) between the groups. There were significant positive correlations between clinical periodontal parameters and IL-1β, ADMA, and SDMA levels (p < .05). ADMA and SDMA levels were significantly correlated with IL-1β (p < .05).

CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that ADMA and SDMA may be involved in the pathogenesis of the periodontal disease.


Abstract The traditional Self-Organize Map (SOM) method is used for the arrangement of seabed nodes in this paper. If the distance between the nodes and the events is long, these nodes cannot be victory nodes and they will be abandoned, because they cannot move to the direction of events, and as a result they are not being fully utilized and are destroying the balance of energy consumption in the network. Aiming at this problem, this paper proposes an improved self-organize map algorithm with the introduction of the probability-selection mechanism in Gibbs sampling to select victory nodes, thus optimizing the selection strategy for victory nodes. The simulation results show that the Improved Self-Organize Map (ISOM) algorithm can balance the energy consumption in the network and prolong the network lifetime. Compared with the traditional self-organize map algorithm, the adopting of the improved self-organize map algorithm can make the event driven coverage rate increase about 3%.


Surfaces of sintered hydroxyapatite (HAp) were treated with four kinds of acids, hydrochloric acid (HCl), nitric acid (HNO3), sulfuric acid (H2SO4) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). On these acid-treated HAp surfaces, osteoblast-like MC3T3-E1 cells were cultured for 20 days. The matrix mineralization was observed in HCl-treated HAp and HNO3-treated HAp, but not in non-treated HAp, H2SO4-treated HAp and H2O2-treated HAp. Gene expressions of Bglap2 encoding osteocalcin and Akp2 encoding alkaline phosphatase were higher in HCl-treated HAp and HNO3-treated HAp than those in the others. These results indicate that not only hydrochloric acid but also nitric acid improves performance of HAp to mature osteoblast.


Batsell and Polking (1985) have recently proposed a new class of market share models. The models demonstrate that it is possible to decompose the ratios of market shares for any pair of products in any choice set into a natural hierarchy of inter-product competitive effects. One level in this hierarchy is a measure of the degree to which a product, say k, cannibalizes the market share of product i relative to product j. This paper proposes a new multidimensional scaling (MDS) methodology which uses the revealed substitutability between products to derive a representation of the competing products as points in a space of prescribed dimensionality. An interesting feature of the methodology is that it allows for the derivation of spaces which are either symmetric or asymmetric. In the symmetric space, each product is represented as a single set of coordinates. In the asymmetric space, each product is represented as 2 sets of coordinates: one set of coordinates for each product as a "drawer" of market share, and a second set of coordinates for each product as a "drawee" from which the "drawers" take share. The methodology and corresponding algorithm are discussed in detail and two applications are used to demonstrate the procedure.


This report examines the consequences of increased global trade on the world's transport infrastructure. More complex international freight flows as a result of diversified global trade patterns will change capacity requirements and increasingly reshape global transport networks over the coming decades. Policy makers need to understand now how these forces are likely to play out in order to ensure adequate and timely investment into transport infrastructure that will continue to provide the backbone of global trade and economic development.


Symptoms of Phytophthora seedling blight disease of cacao were found on 3 weeks old cacao seedlings at the nursery of Seed Production Division of Ghana Cocoa Board in New Tafo-Akim during routine surveys of cacao diseases in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Survey of seedlings in the nursery was conducted to determine disease incidence (DI). Heat sterilization of soil and drenching with Ridomil Gold plus 66 WP (6% metalaxyl-M and 60% copper (I) oxide) and Champion (77% cupric hydroxide) fungicides were evaluated for disease management. Symptoms of the disease started as vertical brown lesions above the cotyledon toward the top of cacao seedlings, causing the stems and leaves to wilt. Out of a total of 135,000 inspected cacao seedlings at the nursery, 2,525 (DI = 1.8%) seedlings were infected within one week of disease identification. Isolations from samples of infected tissues yielded Phytophthora palmivora. The fungicides were effective in disease control but heat sterilization of nursery soil before sowing cocoa beans was found to be the ideal control method.

 Key words: Seedling blight, cacao, Phytophthora palmivora, fungicides.


Abductor paralysis (bilateral), probably of nuclear origin (H. Barwell) . • (double), of traumatic origin (H. L. Lack) (left) (H. B. Robinson) . . . . ABERCROMBIE (Peter), a case of caseoiis rhinitis Abscess (cerebral), cured case (de Greift) . . . . (otogenous), technique of operation for, and subsequent treatment (H. Rnapp), 577 (E. Schmiegelow), 578 (B. Botey) •— • otitic origin of three cases (de Greift). recurrent (Delsaux) . . . . — (dental chronic), from root of incisor tooth, causing complete nasal obstruction on right side and external fluctuating swelling (H. Tilley) • (extra-dural), at a distance from its otitic origin, spontaneous opening through parietal bone (Ohavasse) following acute otitis media (Mercier-Bellevue) surrounding lateral sinus ; operation; recovery (L. Bar). intra-dural and later double cerebral, complicating chronic tympanic suppuration; operations; cure (B. A. Randall and B. H. Potts) . . . . . . . • (mastoid) five weeks after measles; operation; immediate recovery (L. A. Lawrence) . . . . . of cerebellum, case operated on six years ago (T. Barr and J. H. Nicoll) latent, after radical mastoid operation (Tretrdp) — left temporal bone from fatal case of (William 0. Bull) . — — of otitic origin, trephining middle and posterior fossae ; recovery (P. J a k i n s ) . . . . . . — preliminary step in operative treatment of (W. Milligan) with absence of mastoid antrum (P. McBride) . without external signs (Delsaux) — of frontal lobe (L. Gruening) in case of orbital cellulitis — of temporo-sphenoidal lobe complicated by symptomatic herpes zoster over anterior palatine nerve (H. S. Turner) — of thyroid body (M. Collier) . . . . — (retropharyngeal) of articular origin (Santalo) glandular) and diphtheria (Schiffers) (temporo-sphenoidal) of otitic origin (A. J. Brady) — (temporo-sphenoidal) operated on seventeen years ago (T. Barr) . Abscesses, multiple metastatic, in case of otitic pyaemia without thrombophlebitis of lateral sinus (H. Massier) . . . . Accident insurance, should the deaf be debarred from ? (J. A. Spalding) Accidents of occupation in relation to ear (A. Castex) Accommodation paresis, frontal sinusitis cause of (H. M. Fish) Acoumetric formal, simple and practical, choice of (Politzer, Gradenigo, Delsaux) . . . . . . . Acoumetric notation (P. Bonnier) . . . . . Acoumetry (metric) attempt at (Tretrop) . . . . Acoiistic channels (van Gehuchten) . . . . function of semicircular canals (G. Nuvoli) PAGE 272 301 165 272 488


Numerous studies have been carried out on patients afflicted with dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF), but various issues related to the disease, including the characteristics of the dengue virus (DENV), remain unclear. To address this deficiency, the current research was conducted to determine the correlation of clinical and subclinical presentations with dengue serotypes and plasma viral load. This prospective cohort study, which was performed at Tien Giang General Hospital from 2009 to 2014, involved 481 children who were under 15 years of age and had DHF for less than 72 hours. Results showed that among the patients, the highest proportion were composed of those suffering from DENV-1 infection (44.7%). The progression of the disease to dengue shock syndrome (DSS) owing to infection with DENV-2 and DENV-1 was significantly higher than that caused by infection with DENV-3 and DENV-4. No statistically significant differences in DENV viremia were found between the non-shock DHF and DSS groups. Finally, no correlation was found between dengue plasma viral load and clinical and subclinical presentations. The findings led to the conclusion that dengue serotypes can be used as a basis in ascertaining the prognosis of DSS and DHF.


Recent studies at the intersection of physics and deep learning have illustrated successes in the application of deep neural networks to partially or fully replace costly physics simulations. Enforcing physical constraints to solutions generated by neural networks remains a challenge, yet it is essential to the accuracy and trustworthiness of such model predictions. Many systems in the physical sciences are governed by Partial Differential Equations (PDEs). Enforcing these as hard constraints, we show, are inefficient in conventional frameworks due to the high dimensionality of the generated fields. To this end, we propose the use of a novel differentiable spectral projection layer for neural networks that efficiently enforces spatial PDE constraints using spectral methods, yet is fully differentiable, allowing for its use as a layer within Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) during end-to-end training. We show that its computational cost is cheaper than a single convolution layer. We apply it to an important class of physical systems incompressible turbulent flows, where the divergence-free PDE constraint is required. We train a 3D Conditional Generative Adversarial Network (CGAN) for turbulent flow superresolution efficiently, while guaranteeing the spatial PDE constraint of zero divergence. Furthermore, our empirical results show that the model produces realistic flow statistics when trained with hard constraints imposed via the proposed novel differentiable spectral projection layer, as compared to soft constrained and unconstrained counterparts.


Extension professionals can improve their use of social media as channels for extending programmatic efforts by maximizing target audience reach and engagement. We describe how implementation of a tool kit highlighting best practices for using social media improved Extension professionals' efforts to engage target audience members via social media. Specifically, we found that after having access to the tool kit, Extension professionals were able to prompt greater participation and engagement from the applicable target audience across three online platforms—Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Our findings indicate that Extension professionals can benefit from learning how to use social media more purposefully and implementing best practices for connecting with audiences.


Unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) is a popular speculative version of renal injury, associated with kidney drop. Throughout the time of UUO, nephron damage is started by a boosted intratubular hydrostatic pressure and also secondary ischemia. In the course of the disease, even more, general arbitrators of kidney injury are invited.
 Objective: Primary goal of this review was to highlight the complications following the Unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) and obstructive uropathy in general, as well as to discuss the therapeutic strategies for this urological condition.
 Material and method: We review the Published literature concerning unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) up to August, 2017. Search was conducted using electronic databases; Medline, and Embase. Search strategy through mentioned databases was performed using medical subject headings (MeSH) as following, "obstructive uropathy", "obstructive nephropathy", "Unilateral ureteral obstruction", "UUO". Furthermore, bibliographic of the articles were manually searched for having more relevant studies. Restriction to our search was applied to only English language published studies.
 Conclusion: Speculative UUO is an animal version of the human condition, which duplicates not only human-ureteral-tract-obstruction-induced kidney injury, it is largely held that CKD happens consequently of the procedure of damaging fibrosis. UUO is a well-described model of renal fibrosis and the mood of CKD occurrence while UUO persisting. Additionally, several crucial procedures in the pathogenesis of AKI as well as CKD, such as tubular cell injury, interstitial inflammation and fibrosis. Management approaches of UUO can be through several steps; first the diagnostic management which will indicate the need of the following two steps of treatment;  whether pharmacological, as rapamycin substantially undermined kidney interstitial damages in a UUO-induced rat version of renal fibrosis, suggesting that rapamycin could have the possibility to postpone the progression of the transformation of renal mesenchymal and kidney fibrosis of surgical treatment.


The deep body temperature of a leatherback turtle, Dermochelys coriacea, taken out of cold water, was 18�C above the water temperature. A large size favoring heat retention from muscular activity is probably responsible for this differential. Cooling rates (k) in water, measured on a second animal, were in the order of 0.001�C per minute per degree of difference between body and ambient temperature.


Abstract : The objective of the present study was to evaluate the performance of a new concept of sleeping shelter, the Cocoon-4, in the field and in the laboratory, and under different temperature and humidity conditions that could be encountered by the Canadian Forces. It was found that the concept of adding air to an airtight down sleeping shelter to vary the insulation while keeping the down dry works well. Some problems with the quality of construction and the design of some critical components such as the valves were observed which made the performance of the Cocoon less impressive than expected from the claims made by the manufacturer. It was concluded that the Cocoon-4 could be useful for the Canadian Forces as emergency shelter providing the manufacturer could improve on the quality of his product, and could add some modifications to the design.


Abstract The earthquake stresses in a structure are generally greater than those which would be produced by a constant acceleration equal to the maximum value reached during the earthquake; there is an amplification due to resonance. This effect depends on the period of the structure and is measured by a function of the period, designated here as the spectrum of the earthquake. A mechanical analyzer is described by which the spectrum curves for several strong-motion earthquakes have been plotted. It is shown how the spectrum can be used for the evaluation of earthquake stresses in complicated structures, and the particular example is treated of a multistory building with an elastic first story.


The ancient oriental game of Go has long been considered a grand challenge for artificial intelligence. For decades, computer Go has defied the classical methods in game tree search that worked so successfully for chess and checkers. However, recent play in computer Go has been transformed by a new paradigm for tree search based on Monte-Carlo methods. Programs based on Monte-Carlo tree search now play at human-master levels and are beginning to challenge top professional players. In this paper, we describe the leading algorithms for Monte-Carlo tree search and explain how they have advanced the state of the art in computer Go.


Abstract Recognition that informal cancer carers experience unmet needs and psychological distress has led to the development of a range of psycho-social interventions. The efficacy of such interventions is examined through a systematic review of the research literature, following National Health and Medical Research Council and Cochrane Collaboration guidelines. Of 13 level II randomised controlled trials (RCTs), only eight showed significant differences across groups, with moderate effect size. This included improvement in caregiver experience or appraisal of caregiving following psycho-education (two studies); improved sexual satisfaction, dyadic coping, relationship quality and communication, or reduced psychological distress, following couple counselling (4); reduced distress following family grief therapy (1); and reduction in distress in bereavement following home palliative care (1). Level III and IV studies were also reviewed, reporting positive effects of psycho-education (5), problem solving (3), an arts intervention (1) and a support group (1). However, methodological concerns limit the generalisability of findings of level III and IV studies. It is concluded that interventions should target those most in need of support; recognise specific needs of carers across cancer type and stage, gender and relationship context; be theory based; and evaluations should utilise RCT designs with outcome measures appropriate to the specific aims of the intervention, rather than global measures of distress.


The birth of a child requires adaptation and reorganization within the family system in order to accommodate the new family member and to allow the family to continue in its psychosocial development. Knowledge of the normative and transitional changes required at this stage of family life will enhance family practitioners' understanding of some of the common concerns and complaints related to them by various family members during the postpartum period. The Family FIRO model represents a helpful conceptual framework to increase the family physician's understanding of the issues of inclusion, control, and intimacy that are highlighted during the transition to parenthood. The authors briefly present this model and discuss its application to postpartum adjustment and its implications for health-care professionals.


A varying Q factor with depth induces modifications of seismic wave features due to anelastic propagation but also reflections at the discontinuities. Standard signal analysis methods often neglect the reflection contribution when assessing Q values from seismic data. We have developed an analytical quantification of the cumulative effects of both the propagation and reflection contributions by considering Kjartansson's model and a seismic plane wave at normal incidence on a step-like discontinuity. We show that the cumulative effects are equivalent to a frequency filter characterised by a bandform and phase that both depend on the ratio between the elastic and anelastic contrasts. When considering this filter applied to a Ricker wavelet, we establish an analytical expression of the peak-frequency attribute as a function of propagation and reflection properties. We demonstrate that this seismic attribute depends on the anelastic contrast, which cannot be neglected when assessing Q factors: the error in Q estimate is not linearly dependent on the anelastic contrast and we establish an analytical expression for the case where this contrast is weak. An unexpected phenomenon for a step-like interface is an increase in the peak frequency that is observed when the anelastic and elastic contrasts have opposite signs, with a constraint on the anelastic propagation properties. This behaviour allows for assessment of the elastic and anelastic parameters.


Genetic variants in pre-microRNA (miRNA) genes or the 3'UTR of miRNA target genes could influence miRNA-mediated regulation of gene expression and thus contribute to the susceptibility and prognosis of human diseases. This study aimed to investigate the effect of 6 miRNA-related polymorphisms (miR-149 rs71428439, miR-146a rs2910164, miR-499 rs3746444, miR-423 rs6505162, miR-4513 rs2168518, and FABP2 rs11724758) on prognosis in 1004 patients with angiographic coronary artery disease (CAD). We found that miR-4513 rs2168518 was associated with blood pressure, triglycerides, total cholesterol, and fasting glucose levels, and risk of diabetes mellitus. miR-499 rs3746444 and miR-423 rs6505162 were associated with blood pressure and HDL levels, respectively. Both miR-4513 rs2168518 and miR-499 rs3746444 had significant impact on even-free survival. Furthermore, miR-4513 rs2168518 was associated with higher morality in CAD patients. In conclusion, miR-4513 rs2168518 and miR-499 rs3746444 might be potential biomarkers for the clinical prognosis of CAD.


Based on orthogonal experimental design, the key solidification controlling technology of Solidified/Stabilized (S/S) sludge with high total organic content (TOC) by cement, lime and metakaolin was explored by macroscopic tests, chemical components measurements and microscopic analysis. The macroscopic tests show that, the permeability coefficient is mainly affected by initial water content and lime content, and the unconfined compression strength is mainly affected by cement content and lime content. The chemical components measurements show that, the solidification effect of S/S sludge with high TOC is controlled by organic matter consumption, and organic matter consumption is determined by the alkaline environment from the cement and lime hydration reactions, which is mainly affect by the initial water content and lime-metakaolin content ratio. The microscopic analysis results show that, lime consumes parts of organic matter while excess lime produces weak Ca(OH)2 crystal fluffy sheet structure, matakaolin produces pozzolanic reactions with cement and lime instead of soil particles, and consumes the weak Ca(OH)2 crystal fluffy sheet structure produced by superfluous lime. The research has confirmed key controlling points of S/S sludge in case of high TOC, which will provide theoretical guidance and technical support for S/S sludge promotion with high TOC.


We present some of the results of a survey aimed at exploring the asteroseismological potential of the newly-discovered carbon-atmosphere white dwarfs. We show that, in certains regions of parameter space, carbon-atmosphere white dwarfs may drive low-order gravity modes. We demonstrate that our theoretical results are consistent with the recent exciting discovery of luminosity variations in SDSS J1426+5752 and some null results obtained by a team of scientists at McDonald Observatory. We also present follow-up photometric observations carried out by ourselves at the Mount Bigelow 1.6-m telescope using the new Mont4K camera. The results of follow-up spectroscopic observations at the MMT are also briefly reported, including the surprising discovery that SDSS J1426+5752 is not only a pulsating star but that it is also a magnetic white dwarf with a surface field near 1.2 MG. The discovery of g-mode pulsations in SDSS J1426+5752 is quite significant in itself as it opens a fourth asteroseismological "window", after the GW Vir, V777 Her, and ZZ Ceti families, through which one may study white dwarfs.


The gender equality discourse assumed a global dimension since the fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China in 1995. The hallmark of the Conference was the Beijing Platform for Action which was agreed upon by all 189 countries in attendance. Furthermore, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) subscribed to by United Nations member states in the year 2000, ascribed a worthy place to gender equality, highlighting its measurable targets. The inability of most states to meet the MDGs as at the end of 2015 necessitated the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with new targets and timelines. Though Nigeria is a signatory to many international conventions such as the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the country has repeatedly failed to effectively set a legal framework for gender equality. This is made obvious by the outright rejection of the Gender and Equal Opportunity Bill by Nigeria's upper chamber since 2010. Relying on secondary sources of data, this study interrogates the critical factors that have inhibited the bill from being passed into law. The study highlights three factors namely: the patriarchal nature of the Nigerian society and the Senate in particular, the cultural and religious dimensions and the content of the bill.

 Key words: Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Beijing platform for action, women's right, the millennium development goals (MDGs) and sustainable development goals (SDGs).


The nonlinearities induced by skyhook dampers are studied experimentally and analytically using a single degree of freedom base-excited system that is representative of the systems that such dampers are often used in. The experimental results are used to show that the nonlinearities introduced by skyhook dampers manifest themselves as high frequency peaks in the frequency spectrum of the system response. More precisely, using a pure tone input with a known frequency, it is shown that these peaks occur at odd multiples of the system input (or driving) frequency. Using a Fourier series analysis, it is proven that the nonlinearities are caused by the switching policy of skyhook dampers, in which the damper force is changed according to the relative sign of the sprung mass absolute velocity and the relative velocity across the damper. The analysis shows that the skyhook damper force always contains a frequency component that is equal to the frequency of the system input (as is expected for a linear system), in addition to other frequencies that are odd multiples of the input frequency. The damping force peak that occurs at the input frequency is necessary for controlling the forced response of the system. The peaks at higher frequencies, however, are not desirable – although always present – because they introduce corresponding peaks in the system response that can cause ancillary vibration problems. For most systems, the high frequency peaks can significantly diminish any isolation benefits that are gained by the skyhook damper. When using skyhook dampers, such effects must be considered and their impact on the system dynamics studied carefully.


Optical Burst Switching (OBS) is being envisaged as the next generation switching tech-nology to transmit Internet traffic directly over WDM networks with a fine granularity between Optical Circuit Switching (OCS) and Optical Packet Switching (OPS). It has higher bandwidth-efficiency than OCS. OBS is usually characterized by burstification, burst header packet (BHP) generation and data burst (DB) transmission. The burst header packet is transmitted first by the source to the destination followed by the data burst. Each intermediate node processes the header electronically so that the data burst corre-sponding to that BHP is transparently switched without requiring any O/E/O conversion. This unique feature of OBS requires a strict coordination between DB and BHP and thereby making it a challenging task. OBS has been implemented in WDM ring networks for FT-TR (Fixed tuned Transmitter and Tunable Receiver) systems and TT-FR (Tunable Transmitter and Fixed tuned Receiver) systems. In FT-TR systems, the number of chan-nel and destination collisions is higher whereas there is no source collision due to the fixed tuned nature of the transmitter. In TT-FR systems the number of channel collisions is large as multiple nodes communicate using the same channel but there is no destination collision. In this work I have implemented OBS in WDM ring networks for TT-TR (Tunable Transmitter and Tunable Receiver) systems. It has been shown that the pro-posed protocol is free from source and channel collisions, as well as reduces destination collision to a greater extent. The tunable transmitter and tunable receiver node architec-ture has been described. We compared the performance of TT-TR system with that of TT-FR system with respect to number of packets lost, average queuing delay and average propagation delay. It is found that the proposed protocol is more effective in avoiding collisions than the TT-FR.


In this paper we present the design and implementation of a security framework that extends the reference monitor of the Android middleware and deploys a mandatory access control on Linux kernel (based on Tomoyo [9]) aiming at detecting and preventing application-level privilege escalation attacks at runtime. In contrast to existing solutions, our framework is system-centric, efficient, detects attacks that involve communication channels controlled by both, Android middleware and the Linux kernel (particularly, Binder IPC, Internet sockets and file system). It can prevent known confused deputy attacks without false positives and is also flexible enough to prevent unknown confused deputy attacks and attacks by colluding applications (e.g., Soundcomber [11]) at the cost of a small rate of false positives.


Based on two phases of in-depth interviews with entrepreneurs who own China's economy hotel chains, this research explored these entrepreneurs' strategies for acquiring intangible resources through network ties and summarized the mix of strong and weak network ties that they used to acquire those resources at different development stages of their new firms. In the early start-up stage, the interviewed entrepreneurs used a mixture of strong and weak ties; in the establishment stage, they relied on strong ties; and in the final growth stage, they did not value network ties and only used weak business ties. Moreover, the network mixes used by these entrepreneurs to acquire different types of intangible resources are not identical. Sourcing human capital was a particularly valuable use of the network ties, both strong and weak, and many of the respondents used their ties to gain essential information and skills for running their hotels. The two-stage data collection revealed the dynamics of entrepreneurs' network mixes as firms progressed to new development stages.


This thesis consists of three papers that examine Marshallian sources of growth and interdependent location of Swedish firms and households. Paper [I] examines the impact of static and dynamic knowledge externalities and their impact on Swedish market operating firms growth pattern between 1997 and 2005. The three types of externalities are: (i) Marshall-Arrow-Romer (MAR), (ii) Jacobs, and (iii) Porter. My empirical findings for the 40 industries can briefly be summarized in the following points: (i) static MAR, Jacobs and/or Porter externalities are present in all but nine industries; (ii) except for five cases all industries are exposed to one or more of the MAR, Jacobs and/or Porter type of dynamic externalities; (iii) contrary to previous studies but in line with theoretical predictions, we do find positive and significant effects for static as well as dynamic Jacobs externalities. Paper [II] focuses on the presence of agglomeration economies in the form of labor pooling and educational matching and their impact on economic growth in Swedish manufacturing and service industries from 1997 to 2005. To accom- plish this I employ a translog production function that enables me to decompose the total agglomeration elasticities into returns that accrue to: direct agglom- eration effects, an indirect effect of agglomeration at given input levels, a cross agglomeration effect of matching on labor pooling and vice versa. Household services is the single industry where both the labor pooling and matching hy- pothesis is supported by our data. Publishing is the sole instance of better input usage due to matching consistent with the theoretical claim. Paper [III] studies the interdependent location choices of households and firms expressed as population and employment in Swedish municipalities. Using a model of the Carlino-Mills type to investigate the impact of various location attributes such as differences in public revenue and spending patterns, accessi- bility to jobs and potential workforce, quality of the labor pool, concentration of commercial, private and public services. The findings suggest that fiscal factors significantly alters the impact of housing and accessibility attributes compared to exiting studies on Swedish data. Another finding, in line with previous stud- ies, indicate that there is a significant degree of inertia in household and firm location choices.


Effective teachers create rich learning opportunities that foster understanding of key subject concepts, and part of their effectiveness is seen in the range and types of questions they ask pupils. While research literature on questioning abounds, little is written about how questioning theory develops capability within individual subjects. This paper examines teachers' questions from a subject perspective and links them to questioning theory by ranking within a hierarchy. Of 191 higher-order questions asked across 22 hours of Key Stage Three technology and design teaching in Northern Ireland, those questions relating to the key subject skill of analysing are examined.

Data indicate that teachers' higher-order questions are used both to induce responses and as a model of pupils' own analyses of design factors. The study highlights the difficulty in maintaining higher-order responses from higher-order questions by showing how teachers further articulated the concept of analysis on the basis of limited pupil responses. We highlight the need for teachers to provide opportunities for pupils to respond in ways that reflect depth of understanding of key technology and design skills. The paper concludes with a brief discussion about how question analysis contributes to a greater understanding of teacher effectiveness in technology and design.


Abstract Miocene patch reefs formed in turbid waters associated with high siliciclastic input at the seaward margin of the equatorial Mahakam Delta in eastern Borneo, SE Asia. Patch reefs were initiated on unstable substrates on localized low-relief bathymetric highs associated with delta-front channels or distributary mouthbars in the process of abandonment. Patch reefs developed only in shallow waters, formed low-relief buildups, lacked rigid frameworks, and had gently sloping margins. Although the biodiversity of the patch reefs may be comparable with that of clear-water systems, all the organisms present were adapted to turbid-water areas associated with siliciclastic, and sometimes nutrient, influx. The patch reefs were transient features, and their demise was influenced by increased siliciclastic and nutrient input, perhaps at times associated with deepening. Carbonate production and bioherm or patch-reef development can occur in turbid-water delta-front areas as localized or more regionally extensive units during any phases of eustatic sea level. However, development and preservation of turbid-water carbonates is most likely during relative transgression or perhaps late lowstand periods. This is in contrast with common highstand carbonates from clear-water shelves, where nearly pure carbonates interdigitate with siliciclastics. It is the interplay between factors such as tectonics, eustasy, delta lobe switching, shelf currents, and amount and size fraction of siliciclastic influx that ultimately controlled carbonate development and preservation.


India is endowed with a rich forest cover. Over 21% of country's area is covered by forest of varied composition and structure. Due to large amount of carbon stored in forests and their role in land surface and climatic processes, it is important to monitor forests for effective management and modeling studies. The disturbance regimes associated with forest regeneration and recovery, occurring in a heterogeneous matrix of confounding land covers makes forest monitoring an involved and complex task. Over a 13 year period (2000 – 2013), detection of forest cover loss at regional scale using a coarse resolution imaging sensor (MODIS - 250m) in Indian forests is attempted in the present study. MODIS provides a rich basis for forest cover monitoring at regional scales on an interannual to decadal timescales due its huge database and high temporal frequency. Forest cover loss across different forest types in parts of Maharashtra, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Telangana states were identified using a forest-likelihood and a multi-thresholding approach. The study reveals that considerable amount of deforested patches exist over the study areas during the 2000 to 2013. Results also suggested that the detection accuracy improved with the increase of fraction of deforestation in the MODIS pixel, but still relatively small changes were also detected.


What will the demands of distributive justice be in the post-genetic revolutionary world? Will genetic inheritance be regarded as socially distributed goods? This may seem a more reasonable position to assert as biotechnology progresses further toward human genetic manipulation. Advances in human genetics raise a number of unique considerations for theories of justice, ranging from the realisation of egalitarian ideals and the therapy/enhancement distinction to the scope and limits of reproductive freedom. As new empirical discoveries are made concerning the environmental and natural determinants of human welfare, theories of justice must re-conceptualise what the demands of justice are and how society can fairly distribute the natural and social goods which influence the life prospects of humans.

Key Concepts:

Aging is the progressive loss of function accompanied by decreasing fertility and increasing mortality with advancing age.

Distributive justice is concerned with what constitutes a fair distribution of the benefits and burdens of social cooperation.

Luck egalitarianism is the view which maintains that inequalities that are the result of factors beyond a person's control, such as inequalities in natural endowments, are unjust.

The Priority View maintains that it is morally more important to benefit the people who are worse off.

Procreative liberty is freedom in activities and choices related to procreation.

The Sufficiency View maintains that what is morally important is for everyone to have enough.

Keywords:

distributive justice;
equality;
genes;
John Rawls;
natural lottery of life;
reproductive freedom


Visible light mediated copper catalysed denitrogenative oxidative coupling of 2-hydrazinopyridines with terminal alkynes to form 2-(alkyl/arylethynyl) pyridines in the presence of O2 at room temperature is reported with 42 examples. This is the first report on visible light stimulated N2 elimination by an in situ generated copper(II) superoxo/peroxo complex. N2 and water are the only by-products. The green chemistry metrics evaluation signifies that the current method is ecofriendly and economically feasible. This method allows the green synthesis of mGluR5 receptor antagonists, 2-methyl-6-(phenylethynyl)pyridine (MPEP) and 2-((3-methoxyphenyl)ethynyl)-6-methylpyridine (M-MPEP).


We compared the effects of 0.125% ropivacaine with 0.125% bupivacaine in laboring patients using patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA). Fifty-one ASA physical status I or II term parturients with functioning epidural catheters were randomized to receive ropivacaine or bupivacaine using a prospective, double-blind design. Basal infusions (6 mL/h) were supplemented with patient-controlled boluses (5 mL) every 10 min as required. For inadequate analgesia, patients were administered 10-mL boluses of study solution until comfortable. There were no differences in verbal pain scores, amount of local anesthetics used, sensory levels, motor blockade, labor duration, mode of delivery, side effects, or patient satisfaction between the two local anesthetics. We conclude that 0.125% ropivacaine and bupivacaine are clinically indistinguishable and are both highly effective for labor analgesia using PCEA. Implications: This study compared labor analgesia from 0.125% ropivacaine and 0.125% bupivacaine using patient-controlled epidural analgesia. We found no significant differences in local anesthetic use, analgesic characteristics, or side effects between 0.125% ropivacaine and 0.125% bupivacaine. We conclude that these two drugs are clinically indistinguishable at this concentration. (Anesth Analg 1998;86:527-31)


Soil cations were desorbed by electro-ultrafiltration (EUF), i.e. by applying an external electric field to aqueous suspensions, and collecting the cations by ultrafiltration. Three different field strengths were used to obtain several cation fractions in a single extraction run lasting 35 min. Potassium desorbed in 10 min (K10) was closely correlated with the equilibrium activity ratio (AR0) of soil K measured in 0.01M CaCl2, for all but the sandy loam soils, while that desorbed in 35 min (K35) was less than the exchangeable K, but correlated closely with it. EUF values compared favourably with other soil K parameters, determined by conventional methods, for predicting uptake of K by rye-grass from ten soils during intensive cropping in the glasshouse. Sodium desorbed in 35 min (Na35) approximated to the exchangeable Na, although most of it was desorbed in the first 15 min. Na10 and Na35 accounted for about 56% of the variation in Na uptake by ryegrass at the first cut, and 68% of the variation in the cumulative uptake at the sixth cut. Between 9–24% of the exchangeable calcium was desorbed in 35 min, and magnesium desorbed was closely correlated with both the Mg concentration of the soil saturation extract and the exchangeable Mg. EUF extraction of Mg is less satisfactory than for K, Na and Ca owing to the precipitation of Mg(OH)2 on the cathode filter.


Abstract In transfusions, safety measures are used for the health of both receivers and donors. In this regard, early and sensitive markers are strongly needed. The aim of this study was to evaluate neopterin profile and tryptophan degradation in a group of Turkish blood donors. The effect of age, gender, blood type and Rh factor were also assessed. Neopterin was measured by ELISA kits. Serum tryptophan and kynurenine were determined by high performance liquid chromatography. Kynurenine/tryptophan (kyn/trp) was calculated to estimate tryptophan degradation. Tryptophan, kynurenine and kyn/trp levels were found to be higher in males compared with females (all p<0.05). Neopterin and kynurenine levels tended to increase with age in age subgroups (all p<0.05). On the contrary, smoking, Rh factor and blood types were all observed to have no effect on measured parameters (all p>0.05). In routine analysis, early and reliable biomarkers are needed. In parallel with current markers, neopterin can be used to select safe donors and to maintain the safety of transfusion. In the face of our results, we recommend that donations with neopterin levels above 19 nmol/L should be excluded from the program because increased neopterin levels indicate activation of the cellular immune system.


OBJECTIVE
To observe different brain effects of electroacupuncture (EA) stimulation of Guanyuan (CV 4) and Zusanli (ST 36) in the normal subjects by using functional magnetic resonance image (fMRI).

METHODS
Twenty-one healthy volunteers were recruited in the present study. fMRI was used to investigate brain responses [blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) signals] to EA stimulation of CV 4 and ST 36. A filiform silver needle was inserted into CV 4 or the left ST 36 randomly in two consecutive fMRI tests, and then manipulated with uniform reducing-reinforcing methods to induce "Deqi". fMRI scan was performed before needling, during needle retention, during EA stimulation, and post-EA. Volunteer's subjective needling sensations were recorded after EA. Data of fMRI were analyzed by using software SPM 2 and fMRI was mapped by Degree Centrality Measure method for whole brain correlation. The activation, deactivation, short-distance and long-distance functional connectivity maps of cerebral regions were investigated.

RESULTS
The fullness and numbness feelings of the subjects were stronger during EA at ST 36 than at CV 4. EA at ST 36 or CV 4 induced apparent similar deactivation effects in the anterior cingulate and medial prefrontal cortices. The default mode of the brain at rest state was modified by needle retention and EA stimulation, respectively. The functional brain network was significantly changed after EA. The instant post-acupuncture effects (enhancement of the shortdistance functional connectivity) were mainly found in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (VMPF) and ventral anterior cingulate cortex (vACC) in the limbic-paralimbic-neocortical network, and there were a little bit stronger signals in ST 36 than in CV 4. CONCLUSION" EA stimulation of CV 4 and ST 36 induces a similar modulation effect in the limbic-medial prefrontal network in healthy subjects.


We divided the asaccharolytic, black-pigmented Bacteroides strains into two groups on the basis of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) base ratios, DNA hybridization (S1 nuclease method) results, and direct hemagglutination. One homologous group of strains, which included the type strain of Bacteroides asaccharolyticus and had guanine-plus-cytosine contents of 52 to 54 mol%, contained only nonoral isolates. Another DNA homology group contained all of the strains from periodontal pockets and some nonoral isolates. These strains appeared to belong to the recently described new species Bacteroides gingivalis Coykendall et al. B. gingivalis strains had guanine-plus-cytosine contents of 48 to 50 mol%, showed high DNA homology values, and shared hemagglutinating activity. No DNA homology was observed between the two groups. Using a different method of analysis for DNA homology (S1 nuclease method), we confirmed the conclusion of Coykendall et al., who separated these two groups into different species, B. asaccharolyticus and B. gingivalis. Two strains from infected root canals could not be placed in either of these two species. On the basis of the DNA homology results, all asaccharolytic strains were distinguished clearly from the saccharolytic, black-pigmented Bacteroides strains, which at present are classified in the species Bacteroides melaninogenicus.


We present a new method to protect projected content from secret photography using high-speed projection. Protection techniques for digital copies have been discussed over many years from the viewpoint of data protection. However, content displayed by general display techniques is not only visible to the human eye but also can be captured by cameras. Therefore, projected content is, at times, secretly taken by malicious small cameras even when protection techniques for digital copies are adopted. In this study, we aim to realize a protectable projection method that allows people to observe content with their eyes but not record content with camera devices.


The Port of Spain sewage ponds offer an opportunity to study wetland birds in a relatively constant habitat. Twenty-five visits were made between 1985 and 1986, and all species or seen or heard along a standard route were recorded. Of 107 species recorded, 55 were associated with the sewage facility and 34 with the surrounding mangrove. The remaining species utilized both habitats. The species list included 58 residents, 40 non-residents and nine species with both migrant and resident populations. The presence of Black-necked Stilts throughout the year with nesting in June and July was confirmed. Late or early dates are recorded for Least Sandpiper, Spotted Sandpiper, Red Knot, White-rumped Sandpiper, Black Tern, Prothonotary Warbler, American Redstart and Barn Swallow. Local movement is suspected for the Yellowbreasted Crake.


This paper reports the results of an exploratory qualitative study of how senior engineers in a research laboratory environment do personal information management (PIM). Responsive, semi-structured interviews were conducted with four senior engineers. Thirteen themes in four groupings emerged. The four groupings are: organization and retrieval, un-organized aspects, information keeping and preservation, and use of specialized tools. Themes not seen in other studies are: writing to remember and reporting to retrieve, and personal handbooks. The themes are described in detail. Implications for the design of information systems and future work are discussed.


This investigation studies the presence of the horn-motifs on a philological, literary, and iconographical basis in both the ancient Near Eastern context and the Hebrew Bible. The first chapter is devoted to a review of prior studies, particularly in the twentieth century. Throughout almost all this century, the "history-of-religion" school and the "form-critical" school have taken the lead in archaeological and biblical interpretations. New trends of interpretation developed in the late 1960s on some aspects due to the scientifically and systematically improved archaeological approach. Prior individual studies focusing on fragmentary aspects did not sufficiently elucidate the horn-motif. A comprehensive study of the horn-motifs in ancient Near Eastern context and/or in biblical context has never been attempted. A new assessment is therefore necessary. In the second chapter we followed a philological approach with the aim of discovering the meaning of the word "horn" in such ancient Near Eastern languages as Sumerian, Akkadian, Ugaritic, Aramaic, Sout-Arabic, and Hebrew. A complexity of meanings emerged as early as the ancient Sumerian compounds of signs. Many different meanings were reflected, in the respective language investigated, though new shades of meanings developed in the course of time, especially in Aramaic and South-Arabic. The morphological structures of the Hebrew word קרן are especially scrutinized. The results are summarized in charts. We attempted a close investigation in the third chapter of related ancient Near Eastern literature and iconographic materials relating to the horn-motif. Horn-motifs are present in both literature and iconography records. Ancient Near Eastern literature substantiated several iconographic presentations. Horned headdresses on gods and goddesses appear in most of the ancient Near Eastern cultures. The moon-god (sin) became the symbol of power and fertility in astral worship. His two emblems were the "horns" of the moon and the horns of the bull. The fourth chapter examines the morphological structure of the manifold occurrences of the word "horn" in its usages throughout the Hebrew bible. Each biblical text in which the terms qeren, "horn," appeared was investigated in its immediate and larger contexts. Our inquiry into the contextual settings made it apparent that the horn-motifs have largely been interpreted on too narrow a scale. This one-sided approach has caused the horn-motif to appear in an a priori set pattern where the animal horns, in a literal or metaphorical sense, dominate the origin and mean of "horn" in nearly all the passages. Our study indicates that the term qeren, depending on its contexts, can mean: rays (of brightness), power, refuge, vengeance (of Yahweh), weapon, horn-pair, totality, wing, messiah, king, and kingdom, etc. The horn-motifs in biblical contact differ from the general ancient Near Eastern pattern in several respects. First, Yahweh is never described as wearing horns. Second, the "horns" of the moon and the horns of the bull are unknown emblems in Israel and have no connection with Yahweh worship. The masks of the oracle-priests are unknown cult items in Israel. The horns of the alter have no animate concept attached to them. We conclude that two diametrically opposed traditions embracing the horn-motif move parallel in human history but are displayed on two different planes and point to two different levels: the horn-motif(s) in the ancient Near Eastern cultures on a horizontal level; the horn-motif(s) in the Hebrew Bible on a vertical level. The struggle for supremacy in human history on a horizontal level is disclosed in apocalyptic writings. The competitive powers are present as "horns." The horn-motif on the vertical level breaks into the horizontal drama and focuses on a power of cosmic and transcendent character that alone will be supreme and exalted.


BACKGROUND
Individuals with cancer often experience stress throughout the cancer trajectory and have a high risk of experiencing depression.

OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between allostatic load (AL), a measure of cumulative stress-related physiologic dysregulation of different body systems, and symptoms of depression in cancer survivors.

METHODS
Participants were 294 adult cancer survivors from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES 2007-2018). Allostatic load was measured using 14 indicators representing cardiometabolic risk, glucose metabolism, cardiopulmonary functioning, parasympathetic functioning, and inflammation. Depressive symptoms were measured with the Patient Health Questionnaire-9. The relationship between AL and depressive symptoms was investigated using multiple regression adjusted for diverse sociodemographic and diagnosis variables.

RESULTS
Higher AL was associated with higher depressive symptom scores. The higher risk of depression was concentrated among those survivors in the highest AL quartile, with 21% (95% confidence interval, 11%-32%) of survivors presenting a high risk of depression compared with 8% to 11% of survivors in the lower quartiles. In exploratory analyses, the relationship between AL and depressive symptoms was only significant among survivors with a lower income. In contrast, in survivors in the highest income group, depressive symptoms were lower and unrelated to AL.

CONCLUSION
High AL is associated with more depressive symptoms among cancer survivors.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE
Nurses have an important role in identifying psychological distress in cancer patients and survivors. Further research is needed to investigate the usefulness of AL as a marker in the context of cancer follow-up care and screening for psychological distress.


BACKGROUND
 Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2019, its far-reaching impacts have been witnessed globally across all aspects of human life, such as health, economy, politics, and education. Such widely penetrating impacts cast significant and profound burdens on all population groups, incurring varied concerns and sentiments among them.

 OBJECTIVE
 This study aims to identify the concerns, sentiments, and disparities of various population groups during the COVID-19 pandemic through a cross-sectional study conducted via large-scale Twitter data mining infoveillance.

 METHODS
 This study consisted of three steps: first, tweets posted during the pandemic were collected and preprocessed on a large scale; second, the key population attributes, concerns, sentiments, and emotions were extracted via a collection of natural language processing procedures; third, multiple analyses were conducted to reveal concerns, sentiments, and disparities among population groups during the pandemic. Overall, this study implemented a quick, effective, and economical approach for analyzing population-level disparities during a public health event. The source code developed in this study was released for free public use at GitHub.

 RESULTS
 A total of 1,015,655 original English tweets posted from August 7 to 12, 2020, were acquired and analyzed to obtain the following results. Organizations were significantly more concerned about COVID-19 (odds ratio [OR] 3.48, 95% CI 3.39-3.58) and expressed more fear and depression emotions than individuals. Females were less concerned about COVID-19 (OR 0.73, 95% CI 0.71-0.75) and expressed less fear and depression emotions than males. Among all age groups (ie, ≤18, 19-29, 30-39, and ≥40 years of age), the attention ORs of COVID-19 fear and depression increased significantly with age. It is worth noting that not all females paid less attention to COVID-19 than males. In the age group of 40 years or older, females were more concerned than males, especially regarding the economic and education topics. In addition, males 40 years or older and 18 years or younger were the least positive. Lastly, in all sentiment analyses, the sentiment polarities regarding political topics were always the lowest among the five topics of concern across all population groups.

 CONCLUSIONS
 Through large-scale Twitter data mining, this study revealed that meaningful differences regarding concerns and sentiments about COVID-19-related topics existed among population groups during the study period. Therefore, specialized and varied attention and support are needed for different population groups. In addition, the efficient analysis method implemented by our publicly released code can be utilized to dynamically track the evolution of each population group during the pandemic or any other major event for better informed public health research and interventions.


The religion versus modernity dichotomy has become a platitude which is taken for granted by many researchers in the field of sociology of modernity. The dichotomy is the theoretical foundation of many violent ideologies, both religious and atheist. This thesis challenges the dichotomy and its variants – such as reason versus faith or 'the sacred' versus 'the secular' – as the results of the misreading of the history of the constitution of modernity. Modernity is historically shaped by and structurally intertwined with theology and sociologists' need to reveal those theological forgotten roots and hidden structures. This is the first goal of the thesis which begins with the search for the theological roots of modern atheisms. Showing the theological unconscious of the modern atheist discourses will let us to see two sides of modern Prometheanism: The first side, which is well-known, is about the rebellion against the transcendental and considering the transcendental as the projection of the human mind into the sky. The point is that there can never be an overwhelming consensus about either this Promethean description of the origins of religion or another description of man being the projection of God on earth. We, nevertheless, are living in a society which contains both of those options and a lot more alternative possibilities in between. So, while we cannot reach an overlapping consensus about the principles, we can pragmatically engage in the process of self-formation through co-practice. The argument is that the desire of self-formation, self-creation and self-actualisation is the second side of Prometheanism which will prepare us with a framework for co-practice.


Fourier transform power spectra of major axis cuts in V and Hα images were made for a sample of nine irregular galaxies. These power spectra reveal structure over a wide range of scales. For six of the galaxies the power spectrum slopes at intermediate scales (10–400 pc) in the V-band images range from -1.3 to -1.5. The similarity of slopes suggests that the same processes are structuring these systems. These slopes are slightly shallower than those observed in other galaxies in H I, molecular emission, dust extinction, and optical light. Three of the galaxies have flat power spectra like sky noise; these three galaxies are relatively indistinct in the direct images. The power spectrum slope for Hα steepens with increasing star formation rate, ranging from a shallow value comparable to the noise at low rates to a steep value with a slope of ∼-1.5 at high rates. This change reflects the increasing areal filling factor of Hα emission with increasing star formation rate and an apparently universal slope inside the Hα regions that is comparable to that for Kolmogorov turbulence. The power spectrum of H I in one galaxy has a steeper power law, with a slope of ∼-2.9. The fact that the power laws of star formation are about the same for dwarf galaxies and giant spiral galaxies suggests the microscopic processes are the same, independent of spiral density waves and galaxy size.


Abstract Jatropha curcas L. is a potential bioenergy crop but has a lack of improved cultivars with high yields and oil content. Therefore, increasing our understanding of J. curcas germplasm is important for designing breeding strategies. This study was performed to investigate the genetic diversity and population structure of Indonesian J. curcas populations from six different islands. To construct a reference, we de novo assembled the scaffolds (N50 = 355.5 kb) using 182 Gb Illumina HiSeq sequencing data from Thai J. curcas variety Chai Nat. Genetic diversity analysis among 52 Indonesian J. curcas accessions was conducted based on yield traits and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers detected by mapping genotyping-by-sequencing reads from Indonesian population to Chai Nat scaffolds. Strong variation in yield traits was detected among accessions. Using J. integerrima as an outgroup, 13,916 SNPs were detected. Among J. curcas accessions, including accessions from other countries (Thailand, the Philippines and China), 856 SNPs were detected, but only 297 SNPs were detected among Indonesian J. curcas populations, representing low genetic diversity. Through phylogenetic and structural analysis, the populations were clustered into two major groups. Group one consists of populations from Bangka and Sulawesi in the northern part of Indonesia, which are located at a distance of 1572.59 km. Group two contains populations from islands in the southern part: Java, Lombok-Sumbawa, Flores and Timor. These results indicate that introduction of diverse J. curcas germplasms is necessary for the improvement of the genetic variation in the Indonesian collections.


The lymphatic system plays a critical role in the process of reducing
inflammation and edema, as well as a major role in the immune response. It
moves fluid (lymph) from interstitial spaces in tissues via a network of
collecting vessels to the lymph nodes, where it is mostly emptied into the
venous system. Some fluid moves further along the lymphatic chain to other
lymph nodes and eventually empties into the thoracic duct. PBM reduces
swelling, and it seems likely that the lymphatic system is involved, although
limited evidence exists to confirm this. A PubMed search for a range of PBM terms (see Chapter 1) AND edema
OR oedema OR swelling returns over 50 abstracts. Most of these abstracts
are for post-mastectomy lymphedema, post-surgical swelling, acute soft-tissue injury, and arthritic joints. The mechanism by which light affects edema has not been adequately
explored, although it makes sense that it should because nitric oxide (NO)
modulates lymphatic vessel contraction and subsequent lymph flow, and it
has been established that PBM releases stores of NO8–10 and subsequently
improves blood flow. As with blood vessels, NO is produced by endothelial nitric oxide synthase
(eNOS) in lymphatic endothelial cells, which in turn affects the dilation and
force of lymph vessel contractions. Small amounts of NO are produced (by
eNOS) when lymph vessels are stretched (by movement or a stretch/massage
technique), and this leads to alternating periods of diastolic filling and systolic
ejection of lymphangions (the tiny functional units of the collecting lymphatic
system). Excessive amounts of NO produced by inducible nitric oxide synthase
(iNOS) during inflammation can overwhelm the NO gradients produced by
eNOS. The suppression of eNOS by iNOS disrupts the contraction/relaxation
cycle in favor of excessive contraction and subsequent reduced flow.


Medical image fusion is the process of registering and combining multiple images from single or multiple imaging modalities to improve the imaging quality and reduce randomness and redundancy in order to increase the clinical applicability of medical images for diagnosis and assessment of medical problems. Medical image fusion facilitates the retrieval of complementary information from medical images for diagnostic purpose. Exact information regarding the bones and tissues must be visually accessible to the physicians so as to obtain exact information and location required for the diagnosis and surgery of spinal cord. In this paper firstly the framework for fusing the MRI and CT image is presented which will preserve the bone structure and soft tissue details in the single image using the combination of wavelet and graph cut fusion technique. Secondly, a comparison of wavelet, graphcut and combination of wavelet and graphcut is made. The results of proposed method are analysed and compared visually. The proposed method can be helpful for better medical diagnosis. KeywordsImage fusion techniques, Wavelet method, Graph cut method


Recently there has been a trend to facilitate access to large government repositories of spatial data 1 . In addition, there is an increasing number of non-government spatial providers who provide access to large quantities of spatial data for little or no cost. These factors have promoted research into improving metadata standards and metadata retrieval. Unfortunately, current efforts have mainly focused on improving the textual description and subsequent textual query matching retrieval frameworks for spatial metadata. Consequently, current metadata standards only include spatial extent and spatial reference information. This has resulted in the current standards having limited spatial querying functionality. Spatial data by definition is spatial aware, therefore, the spatial component should be exploited as much as possible to allow more complex spatial querying of spatial metadata. This paper presents an extension to the existing ISO 19115 metadata schema for Geographic Information and details a framework that ranks the spatial similarity between a query and spatial metadata. The framework utilises an object frequency (of) and inverse spatial frequency (isf) which are incorporated into the spatial metadata schema. This novel methodology is based on the tf-idf method used for textbased information retrieval. A Bayesian inference retrieval engine is utilised to rank the similarity between spatial query and metadata. This contribution will allow complex spatial queries of spatial metadata. The spatial metadata will be ranked by spatial similarity which will improve the performance and efficiency of the spatial retrieval process.


Mean z-score, 95% CI and centile corresponding to the mean were calculated. One-sample t tests were carried out to verify if z-score distribution is equal to zero. Finally, we compared z-scores of male and female fetuses with Down syndrome (DS) by the means of two sample t test. Results: 132 CHA pregnancies was eligible for designed analysis, of which 80 cases with DS, 20 with Edwards syndrome (ES), 7 with Patau syndrome (PS), 17 with Turner syndrome (TS) and 8 with triploidy. The results are summarized in table. We proved no difference in growth pattern of fetuses with DS. The separate comparison of female and male fetuses with DS also revealed no significant difference (p>0,2). Otherwise, we observed significant growth restriction – similar in PS and TS (around 5th centile), severe in ES (0,5th centile) and the most striking in triploidies (<0,003th centile). Conclusions: Statistical analyses showed no significant difference in growth pattern of DS fetuses, regardless of their sex. By contrast, in TS, PS, ES and triploidy there was growth restriction of various extent, deepening in mentioned order.


Utilizing information systems in more strategic and competitively advantageous ways is important in organizations. However, the capability to do so varies among users. This research proposes a model of creative innovativeness with information systems (CIIS) in the context of IS usage. CIIS refers to a user's willingness and ability to explore information systems in a novel and cognizant manner. CIIS encapsulates personal innovativeness in the domain of information technology to acknowledge that willingness to explore is necessary, but novelty and creativity in exploring and utilizing IS are also needed to capitalize on the potential of IS. This paper makes an important contribution by identifying relevant traits that can be utilized in future research studies of IS users to achieve the maximum benefits of IS.