The "Family Health" Strategy has been created to replace the traditional model of healthcare. It assumes the integration of subjective and social dimensions of users, overcoming the reduction of the health/disease process to pure technical-scientific limits. The scope of this article is to understand how the health professionals deal with popular wisdom of the Family Health Strategy users. The methodology is explanatory with a qualitative approach, using the focal group as a technique for the collection of data, and content analysis for interpretation of the results. The sample is formed by participants of the seven teams of the Family Health Strategy of the municipality of Campo Bom State if Rio Grande do Sul, chosen according to criteria of competences, totaling twelve members. The results present divergences between professionals about accepting or not accepting popular wisdom. Many do not consider the subjectivity and the social representations of popular culture in the health/disease process. Others only tolerate this knowledge as a strategy to make the users accept the proposed therapy. However a minority values this knowledge as complementary to the scientific universe, in the construction of a comprehensive approach.


Monitoring and analysis of the content of five heavy metals (i.e., Cd, Hg, As, Pb and Cr) in soybean plantation soils in central Sanjiang plain were conducted using the geographic information system (GIS). Statistical analysis indicated, strong intensities of spatial correlation among As, Cr, and Pb, whereas moderate intensities of spatial correlation were observed between Cd and Hg. Therefore, the content and the spatial distribution of the heavy metals are primarily affected by the parent material, topography, soil properties, and other internal factors. However, the effect of external factors, such as industrial pollution, farming methods, as well as the application of pesticide and fertilizer, should also be investigated.


This paper analyses oppression and subjugation of women in patriarchal society in Bapsi Sidhwa's novel Ice Candy Man based on Simon de Beauvoir's (1988) feminist theoretical perspective. The novel is analyzed on the following grounds. Firstly, in a patriarchal society woman is considered as an object and her oppression is veiled in the name of domesticity and marriage. Secondly, patriarchal society has made dual standards for man and woman to oppress woman. Thirdly, silence on the part of woman invites more oppression on her and encourages her exploitation. Lastly, woman's realization is essentially required to resist her operation. Following these grounds, the research discusses Sidhwa's endeavour to unveil men's hegemony and the struggle on the part of women to come out of their submissive position. The technique of close reading is used to analyze and interpret the text in qualitative approach. Through close reading of the text, the study finds out that Sidhwa empowers women to come out of their domestic lives to bring change not only in their own but also in other women's lives. She defends women's cause, by upholding the view that until woman herself does not raise voice against oppression, she will be suppressed throughout the life.


The ability to assess the neurological state of patients with neurodegenerative diseases on a continuous basis is an important component of future care for these chronically ill patients. In this paper we describe a set of algorithms to infer gait velocity and its variability using data from an unobtrusive sensor network by incorporating a simple dynamic description of a patient's movements within his or her residence. The sensors include a combination of passive motion detectors and active radio frequency identification tags. The dynamic model is a simple 4 state hidden Markov model. We investigated the ability of this model to assess gait velocity and its variability using data from a six month pilot study of several patients with early stage Parkinson's disease


Background Self-Inflicted Harm is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality. Previous studies have shown that there are different patterns of SIH among different racial groups. This study aims to describe SIH admission rates and patterns among different racial groups in Los Angeles and to evaluate whether admission rates have changed over a ten year period (2001–2010). Methods Data for this retrospective study includes all cases of hospital admission in Los Angeles with SIH based on the ICD-9:E950–E958 for 2001–2010. ICD-9 codes for schizophrenia, episodic mood disorders, depressive, anxiety, personality adjustment, sexual and gender identity disorders, as well as alcoholism and substance abuses were used. Results A total of 2459 patients with SIH were identified. African Americans(AA) had the highest ten year average of SIH rate (11.6/100,000) followed by Caucasians(CC) (8.44/100,000), Latinos(LT) (6.21/100,000) and Asians(AS) (1.64/100,000). The SIH admission rates remained steady throughout the 10 year study period (P value = 0.3064) and none of the racial groups showed a significant change (P value CC = 0.2445, AA = 0.2120, LT = 0.6898, AS = 0.1237). Median age of SIH was significantly lower in Latinos (LT = 28 versus CC = 43, AA = 39 and AS = 40 (P value < 0.001). Overall, episodic mood disorders where the most common psychiatric comorbidity among all racial groups. However, AAs had the lowest probability of episodic mood disorder comorbidity (CC = 55.87%, AA = 39.52%, LT = 41.84%, AS = 47.66%, P value < 0.001) and the highest probability of schizophrenia comorbidity (CC = 10.47%, AA = 20.84%, LT = 8.00%, AS = 10.49%, P value < 0.001). Conclusions SIH admission rates as well as the gap between different racial groups have remained steady during the study period which can raise concerns about the effectiveness of programs aimed at decreasing SIH admission rates and/or reducing interracial disparity.


BACKGROUND
The decision to fit one or two hearing aids in individuals with binaural hearing loss has been debated for years. Although some 78% of U.S. hearing aid fittings are binaural (Kochkin , 2010), Walden and Walden (2005) presented data showing that 82% (23 of 28 patients) of their sample obtained significantly better speech recognition in noise scores when wearing one hearing aid as opposed to two.

PURPOSE
To conduct two new experiments to fuel the monaural/binaural debate. The first experiment was a replication of Walden and Walden (2005), whereas the second experiment examined the use of binaural cues to improve speech recognition in noise.

RESEARCH DESIGN
A repeated measures experimental design.

STUDY SAMPLE
Twenty veterans (aged 59-85 yr), with mild to moderately severe binaurally symmetrical hearing loss who wore binaural hearing aids were recruited from the Audiology Department at the Bay Pines VA Healthcare System.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Experiment 1 followed the procedures of the Walden and Walden study, where signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) loss was measured using the Quick Speech-in-Noise (QuickSIN) test on participants who were aided with their current hearing aids. Signal and noise were presented in the sound booth at 0° azimuth under five test conditions: (1) right ear aided, (2) left ear aided, (3) both ears aided, (4) right ear aided, left ear plugged, and (5) unaided. The opposite ear in (1) and (2) was left open. In Experiment 2, binaural Knowles Electronics Manikin for Acoustic Research (KEMAR) manikin recordings made in Lou Malnati's pizza restaurant during a busy period provided a typical real-world noise, while prerecorded target sentences were presented through a small loudspeaker located in front of the KEMAR manikin. Subjects listened to the resulting binaural recordings through insert earphones under the following four conditions: (1) binaural, (2) diotic, (3) monaural left, and (4) monaural right.

RESULTS
Results of repeated measures ANOVAs demonstrated that the best speech recognition in noise performance was obtained by most participants with both ears aided in Experiment 1 and in the binaural condition in Experiment 2.

CONCLUSIONS
In both experiments, only 20% of our subjects did better in noise with a single ear, roughly similar to the earlier Jerger et al (1993) finding that 8-10% of elderly hearing aid users preferred one hearing aid.


International volunteers (IVs) are promoted as catalysts for change in development cooperation. However, little is known about what makes them successful in generating positive changes in developing communities. The present study proposed an affective measure of competencies for IVs and longitudinally examined the relationship between their competencies and volunteer performance such as perceived achievement and outcomes for counterpart organizations. Using panel survey data on the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV), a serious of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses identified three distinct correlated factors which correspond to each of the predicted key competencies, initiative for challenge, intercultural negotiation, and project management under stress. Tests of longitudinal measurement invariance on these measures established partial scalar invariance, indicating that their factor structure is mostly stable over three measurement times: before, during and after volunteering. A series of hierarchical linear regression analyses showed that all three competencies predicted perceived volunteer achievement and/or outcomes for counterpart organizations but at different stages of volunteering. The study also found that these competencies declined toward the end of the first year overall, and then increased toward the end of the volunteer service. Implications for practice are discussed.


A population of the Northern Long-nosed Potoroo Potorous tridactylus tridactylus in Tyagarah Nature Reserve on the far north coast of New South Wales was first recorded in 1985. In 1992, a cage-trapping study captured 15 individuals in the central section of the reserve and the population was estimated at 80–90 individuals at that time. A subsequent cage-trapping study in 2004 captured four individuals in the southern section of the reserve, but further cage- and camera-trapping surveys in 2009 and 2012 failed to detect any individuals. Additional camera-trapping surveys between 2012 and 2015 and more intensive surveys between 2015 and 2016 also failed to detect any individuals. The lack of detections from targeted surveys over seven years between 2009 and 2016 suggests that the Tyagarah population of the subspecies has been lost. Reasons for this loss are unclear but may be due to a combination of factors including isolation of the reserve by urban development and highway upgrades, a lack of fire for 40 years, competition for food with the local population of the Australian Brush-turkey Alectura lathami, prolonged drought and possibly, predation by the Red Fox Vulpes vulpes and non-target effects of predator control programs.


Recent innovations in the field of information technology and communications are radically changing the way international organisations conduct business. In this competitive environment, having the necessary tools to streamline business transactions and secure digital payments is crucial to business success. Electronic Payment Systems for Competitive Advantage in E-Commerce provides relevant theoretical frameworks and the latest empirical findings on electronic payment systems in the digital marketplace. Focusing on the importance of e-commerce in business development, including the advantages and disadvantages of e-payments, this book is an essential resource for business professionals who want to improve their understanding of the strategic role of e-commerce in all dimensions, as well as for both researchers and students.


Despite best efforts in choosing a suitable alloy, it is frequently impossible to find a single material that is ideal for the particular application in a centrifugal compressor or steam turbine. In these situations, a coating may be used to exploit the beneficial properties of two or more materials for the purposes of enhancing a particular property for service under specific conditions or reducing the cost by allowing for the use of less expensive substrate material, among other reasons. Coatings are often designed to be multifunctional so they can address multiple problems simultaneously. Centrifugal compressors in the petrochemical industry and steam turbines offer several opportunities for the use of coatings due to the often harsh and changing conditions of the process. This paper discusses several commonly encountered issues and how coatings can be used to mitigate them by maintaining design performance for longer periods and reducing the cost of maintenance associated with these problems.


The problems of logistics, maintenance and reliability, as imposed by automation on users of military electronics, are presented. It is reminded that the military is very careful to avoid telling industry how to build equipment, and therefore, in theory, automation should be only of military academic interest. On the other hand, with the cost of military electronics sometimes reaching staggering proportions, and with the economic status of the country as important as its military prowess, it is pointed out that the armed services have had a definite and active interest in automatic assembly equipment. The characteristics of Naval shipboard equipment are enumerated as embracing MIL standard component parts, and a relatively small number of non-interchangeable units repairable on shipboard at the component-parts level. Describing the Bureau's policy as leaning toward a broad production base with small business participation, it is noted that machines for automatic production are costly. Naval automation objectives compatible with these basic conditions are listed as including the use of conventional MIL component parts to build a wide variety of units, by means of low cost machinery which is capable of flexible programming. Emphasized is the need for selling the new concept to field personnel, and for expediting general specification changes in order to keep pace with technological progress. Automation is credited with a considerable contribution to reliability. It is suggested that, through the use of interchangeable subassemblies or modules, advantages are gained; yet it is indicated that the Navy would still want to maintain the ability (when the chips are down) to repair "the throw-away subassemblies." It is concluded that there should be no insurmountable difficulties in making changes to the present logistics and maintenance methods, in order to realize the full benefits of automatic assembly.


Abstract: Total body irradiation and high‐dose chemotherapy, applied as a preparatory regimen for bone marrow transplantation (BMT) in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), are particularly hazardous to the gonads and, in addition, can impair hypothalamo–pituitary–gonadal control. Longitudinal data on pubertal development and gonadal function in these patients are limited. Twenty‐one ALL patients (15 males, 6 females) who had successfully undergone allogeneic BMT before puberty (age at BMT: 3.4–12.3 yr) were followed up in University Children's Hospital, Tübingen, Germany over 2 (minimum) to 14 (maximum) years. Tanner development scores, serum testosterone and estradiol, basal follicle‐stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) were analyzed. During pubertal age, the levels of FSH and LH rose consecutively, resulting in noticeably elevated serum concentrations in 100% and 89%, respectively, of boys older than 14 years and in 75% and 75%, respectively, of girls older than 13 years. Nevertheless, pubertal development has been normal in all patients except in one boy and two girls who required substitution with sexual steroids, as timely puberty (i.e. boys < 14 years, girls < 13 years) did not start. In males with normal puberty, testosterone levels, however, were found to be low–normal. In conclusion, after BMT preceded by total body irradiation for childhood ALL, gonadal function is impaired. Even if normal pubertal development occurs, deficiencies in long‐term endocrine function cannot be ruled out. In view of the high FSH levels, the prognosis for fertility is doubtful.


Several antimicrobial urinary catheter materials have been developed, but, although laboratory studies may show a benefit, none have significantly improved clinical outcomes. The use of poorly designed laboratory testing and lack of consideration of the impact of VBNC populations may be responsible. ABSTRACT Catheter-associated urinary tract infections have serious consequences, for both patients and health care resources. Much work has been carried out to develop an antimicrobial catheter. Although such developments have shown promise under laboratory conditions, none have demonstrated a clear advantage in clinical trials. Using a range of microbiological and advanced microscopy techniques, a detailed laboratory study comparing biofilm development on silicone, hydrogel latex, and silver alloy-coated hydrogel latex catheters was carried out. Biofilm development by Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Proteus mirabilis on three commercially available catheters was tracked over time. Samples were examined with episcopic differential interference contrast (EDIC) microscopy, culture analysis, and staining techniques to quantify viable but nonculturable (VBNC) bacteria. Both qualitative and quantitative assessments found biofilms to develop rapidly on all three materials. EDIC microscopy revealed the rough surface topography of the materials. Differences between culture counts and quantification of total and dead cells demonstrated the presence of VBNC populations, where bacteria retain viability but are not metabolically active. The use of nonculture-based techniques showed the development of widespread VBNC populations. These VBNC populations were more evident on silver alloy-coated hydrogel latex catheters, indicating a bacteriostatic effect at best. The laboratory tests reported here, which detect VBNC bacteria, allow more rigorous assessment of antimicrobial catheters, explaining why there is often minimal benefit to patients. IMPORTANCE Several antimicrobial urinary catheter materials have been developed, but, although laboratory studies may show a benefit, none have significantly improved clinical outcomes. The use of poorly designed laboratory testing and lack of consideration of the impact of VBNC populations may be responsible. While the presence of VBNC populations is becoming more widely reported, there remains a lack of understanding of the clinical impact or influence of exposure to antimicrobial products. This is the first study to investigate the impact of antimicrobial surface materials and the appearance of VBNC populations. This demonstrates how improved testing is needed before clinical trials are initiated.


We study a model of strongly correlated S=1/2 fermions on the planar pyrochlore, or checkerboard, lattice, at fractional (1/8) filling. Starting with the extended Hubbard model in the limit of strong Coulomb repulsion, low-energy configurations can be mapped onto hard-core dimer configurations whose dimers carry a spin degree of freedom. An effective Hamiltonian similar to the kinetic term of a quantum dimer model on the square lattice which rotates two parallel dimers (in a spin-singlet configuration) by 90 degrees naturally emerges. We also introduce an additional term in the Hamiltonian, a generalized dimer plaquette interaction, in order to realize a closer analogy to the latter model. For a strong dimer plaquette attraction stabilizing a columnar phase, a spontaneous dimerization takes place in the direction of the columns of (spin-carrying) dimers. Using exact diagonalizations of two-dimensional periodic clusters, the analysis of the low-energy spectrum and of several types of correlation functions gives indeed evidence for a new type of lattice symmetry breaking phase, the eight-fold degenerate Mixed Columnar-Plaquette Crystal, and for a transition from this phase to a Resonating-Singlet-Pair Crystal (found in previous studies) which restores the rotational symmetry of the lattice. Similar conclusions and phase diagram are also reached from a simple variational approach.


This study attempts to determine the impact of the reclassification on income smoothing practices by Islamic banks in Malaysia through loss provisions. It is well acknowledged that Islamic banks set up an allowance for loss provisions in order to absorb any future losses. However, alternative mechanisms, such as Profit Equalization Reserve (PER) and Investment Risk Reserve (IRR) instead of loss provisions, are used to smooth income. This study determines whether the exercise by Islamic banks in Malaysia to reclassify Islamic deposits to investment accounts after the enacted Islamic Financial Service Act (2013), may have caused unintended consequences in less profit payout to investment account holders. The results do not indicate any unintended consequences of less profit payout to investment account holders from the present exercise by the Islamic banks in Malaysia to distinguish Islamic deposits from investment accounts.


This study was conducted to determine the optimum time for plant analysis, which can provide useful indications of nutrient deficiencies in plants, and to establish limit values for nutrient supplies to fibre hemp (Cannabis sativa L.). The effect of nutrient supplies on the nutritional status of fibre hemp was estimated by leaf analysis in a long-term field fertilisation experiment at four NPK levels on chernozem meadow soil in Szarvas, Hungary in 1999 (good water supplies) and 2003 (dry). The optimum time for the diagnostic analysis of fibre hemp was found to be late May or early June, when plants in the 5–7-leaf stage are 70–100 cm in height, with a biomass of 2–5 t ha dry matter, depending on water and nutrient supplies, variety and production condition. Nutrient supplies to hemp can be considered satisfactory if plant analysis reveals 5–6 % N, 0.5–0.6 % P and 2.7–3.3 % K in the youngest fully developed leaves in late May. A stem yield (10 % moisture content) of 12– 17 t ha was achieved when rainfall supplies were adequate (1999), while in the dry year (2003) the lower nutrient concentrations in the uppermost leaves, indicating nutrient deficiency, resulted in a maximum stem yield of only 6–8 t ha. The low, satisfactory and high values for the concentrations of N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu reported in the paper could be used to elaborate a fertiliser recommendation system for hemp.


The use of saline water in the production of vegetables constitutes at the moment an essential activity, facing the rising demand of fresh water, as for the agricultural activity as for the urban and industrial supplying. This study aimed to evaluate production and physiologic indicators of lettuce in hydroponic system with the use of saline waters. The experiment was carried out in a greenhouse in the period from December 2007 to January 2008, in Piracicaba, Brazil. The experimental design was randomized blocks in factorial scheme - five salinity levels obtained with the addition of NaCl, which resulted in different water electrical conductivity levels (dS m-1): 0,42, 1,53, 3,52, 5,55, 7,43 - and two cultivars of lettuce - Veronica and Pira Roxa. It was determined the fresh and dry mass of leaves, stem, roots and shoot and the content of nitrate, proline and chlorophyll. The increase of water salinity reduced lineally the fresh and dry mass of leaves, stem, roots and shoot. The cv Veronica produced 36% and 57% more shoot fresh and dry mass, respectively, than Pira Roxa. The cv. Pira Roxa accumulated 25% more nitrate (3008 mg L-1), presented 50% more total chlorophyll (1,46 mg g-1fresh mass) and 71,43% more proline (0,21 µM g fresh mass - 1) than the cv Veronica, showing a mechanism of avoiding salinity stress. Cultivars Pira Roxa and Veronica presented loss of 69% and 64% of commercial productivity, respectively, when the most saline water (7,43 dS m-1) was used. In the other hand dry matter was reduced in 53% and 44%, respectively, for cv. Pira Roxa and Veronica in the most saline water. The results obtained in this study can indicate the possibility of using saline water as an alternative for the production of vegetables, specially for growers that have saline water available but restricted fresh water, even with reduction of productivity.


Offshore wind farming is a contentious new form of sea use and a prominent driver of change across Europe. Drawing on the results of the research program Zukunft Kuste Coastal Futures, this contribution considers the resilience of the social-ecological system to the introduction of offshore wind farming in a northern German case study region. We do so by focusing on regime shifts and cross-scale effects, described through the concepts of adaptive cycles and ecosystem services. Offshore wind farming is shown to lead to a potential slow regime shift in the marine ecosystem, as well as a more rapid regime shift in the seascape. These shifts lead to changes in the available ecosystem services and conflicts between new and traditional sea and seascape values. We then explore the impact of these changes on the socioeconomic system on the coast. Against the background of the system's current state and constraints, we argue this impact could be creative and innovative, but this trajectory depends on an internal socio-political shift and willingness to change.


Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility of Volume‐of‐Interest (VOI) scanning in multi‐slice CT to reduce radiation dose while maintaining image quality within the VOI. Methods: Scanning patients with a limited scan field‐of‐ view can substantially reduce radiation dose but usually cause severe truncation artifacts. VOI scanning involves adding a filter in the x‐ray beam to strongly attenuate peripheral photons, so that much lower x‐ray intensity is delivered to the region outside a preselected VOI while allowing the original intensity within the VOI. A semi‐anthropomorphic abdominal phantom was sequentially scanned with 240, 180, 120, 60, 30, 15 and 10 mAs at 120 kVp on a dual source CT scanner. A 10‐cm diameter cylindrical VOI was selected at the center of phantom. Six rods with various attenuation levels were located within the VOI. Projection data outside the VOI were replaced with data acquired with lower mAs to simulate VOI projection data. CTimages were reconstructed using same reconstruction kernels as the full dose scan. CT numbers and noise were measured on images with and without the VOI filter. Radiation dose with and without the VOI filter was estimated using 16 projection views over a 180 range where the VOI filter was manually placed in the x‐ray beam.. A simulated VOI study was also performed using patient data. Results: CT numbers and noise inside the VOI were comparable to those obtained with a full dose scan for mAs level outside the VOI as low as 6.25% of the full mAs. Radiation dose outside the VOI was reduced up to 50%‐65%, while dose inside the VOI was reduced by 25%–30%. Diagnostic information within the VOI appeared to be preserved, although only large anatomic structures outside the VOI were visible. Conclusions: VOI scanning is feasible in multi‐slice CT and may substantially reduce patient dose, while preserving image quality inside the VOI.


Dissolution of hydroxyapatite (HAp) in distilled water and related mechanical properties were investigated. The commercially obtained stoichiometric HAp powders were used as starting materials. After preparing powder compacts, the disks were sintered at 1200oC for 2 h in air with under moisture protection. The sintered specimens were then placed into 40 ml of 7.4 distilled water. After immersing for certain period of time at 37oC, weight loss, microstructure, and mechanical characteristics of the specimens were investigated. Fracture toughnesses were measured for both sintered and immersed HAp for comparison. Evidence for the surface damage was observed with appearance of micron-level of pitting and grain boundaries dissolved. The value for fracture toughness decreased due to dissolution of the materials.


We present an novel analytical framework for modeling current IP offloading schemes and show their comparative performance. We analyze relevant parameters, including IP routing re-convergence time, the number of affected IP routes, and the cost of circuit capacity used for offloading. Our results show that emerging offloading solutions based on invisible bypasses can better maintain network stability and reduce the routing reconfiguration effort compared to the traditional traffic engineering approaches that modify the IP routing.


Introduction: Although tamponade due to pericardial effusion that develops in advanced stage lung cancer is rare, it is a life threatening complication. Case report: 59 and 72 years old 2 female patients diagnosed with cardiac tamponade were hospitalized in Cardiology Clinic of Balækesir State Hospital. Massive pericardial effusion that caused diastolic collapse of right ventricle was detected in their echocardiographies. Inoperable lung cancer was diagnosed as a result of bronchoscopy performed due to pathologies observed in their radiograms. Despite repeated pericardiocentesis, fluid continued to accumulate rapidly. Hence, pericardioperitoneal window was formed through subxifoid route to obtain continuous drainage in both patients. Significant pericardial effusion didn't develop in echocardiographies in the 2nd and the 6th month post-operative follow-ups. Conclusion: Subxiphoid pericardioperitoneal window is a simple, safe and effective surgical procedure. It may be performed in some patients with malignant tamponade.


Two types of model Pt–Cu catalysts are designed and prepared to explore the contribution of the geometric and electronic effects from copper to the catalytic performance of Pt nanoparticles in the selective hydrogenation of p-chloronitrobenzene (p-CNB). One model Pt–Cu catalyst (called Cu/C–Pt) is Pt nanoparticles deposited on ultra-small copper particle-decorated activated carbon, and the other is copper particle-decorated Pt/C catalyst (called Pt/C–Cu). Cu/C–Pt catalyst has an activity lower than that of Pt/C, but the selectivity of the desired product p-chloroaniline (p-CAN) on the Cu/C–Pt catalyst is much higher than that on Pt/C. On the Pt/C–Cu catalyst, p-CNB cannot be completely converted into p-CAN. The dechlorination rates of p-CAN on Cu/C–Pt catalysts are three orders of magnitude lower than that on Pt/C. More interestingly, the dechlorination reaction of p-CAN on Pt/C–Cu cannot be observed. High resolution TEM images of our Pt–Cu catalysts show that Pt nanoparticles keep their crystalline structure after incorporation with copper. The dispersions of Pt in 2Pt/C, 5Cu/C–2Pt, and 2Pt/C–5Cu reach 0.106, 0.083 and 0.027, respectively (the numbers before Pt and Cu represent their percentages), revealing that Pt nanoparticles in Cu/C–Pt have a larger exposed surface than those in Pt/C–Cu. It can be deduced that copper mainly exerts an electronic effect on the catalytic performance of Pt nanoparticles in Cu/C–Pt. On the other hand, the geometric effect on Pt from copper in Pt/C–Cu leads to not only a low dispersion of Pt nanoparticles but a weak activity in catalytic hydrogenation of p-CNB and dechlorination of p-CAN. The interaction between Pt nanoparticles and Cu nanoparticles at room temperature is also discussed.


One of the main criticisms of the Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal has been that it is deficient at identifying and correcting the wrongful convictions of the factually innocent. These criticisms stem from the court's perceived difficulties in relation to appeals based on factual error. The main ground of appeal for errors of fact is fresh evidence, and these appeals are particularly problematic because they require the court to trespass on the role of the jury somewhat in assessing new evidence on appeal against the evidence at trial in order to determine whether the conviction is unsafe. The broad consensus is that the court's difficulties are caused by three main issues: its deference to the jury verdict; its reverence for the principle of finality; and a lack of resources to deal with huge numbers appealing. There is less agreement in identifying the source of the problems because it is not clear whether they derive from legislative powers or the interpretation of those powers by the judiciary. This article uses both qualitative and quantitative empirical research in order to try to determine what the court's approach is in fresh evidence appeals and, if there are problems, whether it is the law or the interpretation of the law by the judiciary which is to blame. It also proposes reforms designed to make it easier for the court to rectify miscarriages of justice.


• Governor Gray Davis has proposed a $1.10 increase in the cigarette tax and Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson has proposed a $2.13 increase in the cigarette tax. • The state's Tobacco Education and Research Oversight Committee has noted that the California Tobacco Control Program has ceased to be competitive with the tobacco industry and recommended that $200 million from any tobacco tax increase be used to reinvigorate the Program; doing so would require 20 cents per pack to be allocated to the Program. Previous experience from California (and elsewhere) indicates that doing so would substantially reduce tobacco consumption. • There is strong public support for increasing the tobacco tax; with 74% approval, the highest of any option considered. • Allocating a portion of any cigarette tax increase to the Tobacco Control Program so it could assist smokers in quitting and prevent young people from starting would address the "fairness issue," that the tobacco industry and its allies have often used successfully to argue against tobacco tax increases. • The only loser from a tobacco tax increase and reinvigorated Tobacco Control Program would be the tobacco industry: a $1.10 tax would cost the tobacco industry $667 million in lost sales annually; a $2.13 tax would cost the tobacco industry $1.05 billion in lost sales annually • The Tobacco Securitization Bonds will not affect the general fund, even if smoking decreases. These bonds have been collateralized entirely by payments from the Master Settlement Agreement and the bondholders have no claim on the general fund or any other state revenue. • A tobacco tax (after allocating 20 cents for Tobacco Control) would generate substantial revenues for the state General Fund through a combination of increased excise and sales taxes: a $1.10 tax would net $806 million; a $2.13 tax would net $1.59 billion • Implementing either tax proposal will increase sales tax revenues for local government: a $1.10 tax would net $47 million for local government; a $2.13 tax would net $92 million for local government • The combined effects of the price increase and reinvigorated Tobacco Control Program would have substantial benefits for California smokers: with a $1.10 tax, 555,000 smokers would quit; with a $2.13 tax, 818,000 smokers would quit • There would be immediate benefits (in the first year) in terms of reduced heart attacks, low birth weight infants, childhood asthma, and sudden infant death: 475 heart attacks, including 145 deaths would be prevented with a $1.10 tax (700 and 215 with a $2.10 tax); 380 low birth weight births would be prevented with a $1.10 tax (560 with a $2.10 tax); 500 new cases of childhood asthma would be prevented (745 with a $2.10 tax); 20 cases of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome would be prevented (30 with a $2.10 tax); about $29 million would be saved in direct medical costs ($43 million with a $2.10 tax) • Over the longer term, risks for other diseases – such as cancer – would fall and risks of heart disease would continue to fall. The health and economic benefits at steady state would be: 1,500 cancer deaths would be prevented annually with a $1.10 tax (2,200 with a $2.10 tax); 1,400 cardiovascular deaths would be prevented annually with a $1.10 tax (2,000 with a $2.10 tax); 1,000 lung disease deaths would be prevented annually with a $1.10 tax (1,600 with a $2.10 tax); 5,800 smoking-related deaths would be prevented annually with a $1.10 tax (8,500 with a $2.10 tax); about $2.27 billion would be saved in total medical costs with a $1.10 tax ($3.34 billion with a $2.10 tax) • It is unlikely that increased smuggling, internet, or other nontaxed sales would substantially affect these revenue estimates. • These estimates are based on price elasticity values derived from taxable sales, which already account for any smuggling • When cigarette prices went up by $1.20 in 1999 (because of a combination of Proposition 10 and price increases by the tobacco industry to pay for the Master Settlement Agreement), there was not a substantial amount of smokers obtaining cigarettes from illegal sources. • An increase in smuggling or nontaxable sales large enough to offset the increased revenues would have to amount to around half all the cigarettes smoked in California, 483 million packs for a $1.10 tax and 573 million packs for a $2.13 tax. • Smuggling 483 million packs would require enough mobile homes to reach 135 miles, from Sacramento to Reno, Nevada if parked end-to-end; smuggling 573 million packs would require mobile homes stretching 169 miles, from Sacramento to 4 miles past Fernley, Nevada. • The Tobacco Securitization Bonds will not affect the general fund, even if smoking decreases. These bonds have been collateralized entirely by payments from the Master Settlement Agreement and the bondholders have no claim on the general fund or any other state revenue. • Even with a $2.13 increase in the cigarette excise tax, Californians still would be subsidizing smoking through the medical system at $5 per pack.


* Connectivity is a crucial process underpinning the persistence, recovery, and productivity of marine ecosystems. The Convention on Biological Diversity, through the Aichi Target 11, has set the ambitious objective of implementing a 'well connected system of protected areas' by 2020. * This paper identifies eight challenges toward the integration of connectivity into MPA network management and planning. A summary table lists the main recommendations in terms of method, tool, advice, or action to address each of these challenges. Authors belong to a science–management continuum including researchers, international NGO officers, and national MPA agency members. * Three knowledge challenges are addressed: selecting and integrating connectivity measurement metrics; assessing the accuracy and uncertainty of connectivity measurements; and communicating and visualizing connectivity measurements. * Three management challenges are described: integrating connectivity into the planning and management of MPA networks; setting quantitative connectivity targets; and implementing connectivity-based management across scales and marine jurisdictions. * Finally, two paths toward a better integration of connectivity science with MPA management are proposed: setting management-driven priorities for connectivity research, bridging connectivity science, and MPA network management. * There is no single method to integrate connectivity into marine spatial planning. Rather, an array of methods can be assembled according to the MPA network objectives, budget, available skills, data, and timeframe. * Overall, setting up 'boundary organizations' should be promoted to organize complex cross-disciplinary, cross-sectoral and cross-jurisdiction interactions that are needed between scientists, managers, stakeholders and decision-makers to make informed decision regarding connectivity-based MPA planning and management. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Al foams with high porosity were fabricated via melt foaming method. In this process, Ca and TiH2 are used as thickening and foaming agent. The macrostructure of aluminum foams exhibited homogeneous distribution of fine pore sizes at shorter holding time. From comparison of the actual pore sizes with ones calculated with modified Ostwald ripening, the measured pore sizes were well fitted to the calculated ones. These results suggest that hydrogen diffusion through pore walls from smaller pores to a larger one is the main process of pore evolution at least in the later period of holding. The detailed are discussed in the context.


BACKGROUND Recent conflicts have allowed the French Army Health Service to improve management quality for wartime-injured people during military operations. On November 13, 2015, it was in Paris that France was directly attacked and Bégin Military Teaching Hospital, like several hospitals in Paris, had to face a large number of gunshot victims. Thanks to our operational experience, injured people hospitalized in military hospitals benefited from a management based on triage and damage control (DC) principles. METHODS Forty-five patients were taken care of in our hospital with an average age of 32 years. During triage, eight patients were categorized T1 (with four extreme emergencies) and 10 were classified T2 and 27 as T3. Twenty-two patients underwent emergency surgery, 15 for soft tissue lesions of limbs, 8 for ballistic fractures (one of which was a cervical wound), and 5 for abdominal wounds. Two patients classified T1 died early. RESULTS In total, more than 50 operations were performed including iterative debridements, bone fixation, three amputations, and two flaps. After 9 months, all of the patients had healed. One woman with limb stiffness required an arthrolysis. CONCLUSION This event showed that terrorist attacks and mass casualties with war wounds can occur in France. Acquired experience regarding war wounds by the French Army Health Service is precious. Everyone must understand the importance of triage and the principles of damage control. Every hospital must be ready to face this type of massive influx of injured people (white plan). LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Epidemiological study, level V.


Coals react with oxygen from the moment they are produced and are subject to spontaneous combustion. As a result of the reaction, they emit harmful and dangerous gases to their surroundings. In addition, this situation leads to a reduction in the calories of coals. In the same way, losses of calories occur in the calories of coals under the rays of the sun due to their being exposed to the sun's ultraviolet rays to human influence. In this study, the changes that occur in both imported and domestic coals sold for commercial purposes in Konya by applying different milling times and different durations in calories changes under the influence of microwave in calories, are examined.


»Europäizität der litauischen politischen Elite. Europhilie, Russophobie und Neoliberalismus«. The article describes and analyzes the evolution of Lithuanian political elite's attitudes towards the European Union (EU) and its governance during the past decade (2004-2016). First, it reviews changes in the composition of Lithuania's political elite and assesses EU related policy decisions, which reveal the complex interrelations between national and supranational politics in a small but illustrative post-communist state. Second, it presents an analysis of the Lithuanian political elite's attitudes, which were surveyed in 2007, 2009 and 2014; it examines trends in the elite's attachment to Europe, their perceptions of threats to EU cohesion, changes in the levels of their trust in EU institutions, their conceptions of European governance, and their stances towards the management of financial and economic crisis. Comparing the three surveys captures evolution of the attitudes of the by and large consensually pro-European Lithuanian political elite. The Europeanness of the Lithuanian political elite also increases, an attitude which appears to be more a response to Russia-induced geopolitical destabilization than to the 2008 finan-


The high temperature oxidation (HTO) technique is at present the preferred method for analysis of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in environmental samples. There are two modes of oxidation being used, one with a platinum catalyst and the other without it. In this study, the performance of the HTO carbon analyzer has been compared in the presence and absence of a platinum-based catalyst. Analyses of natural water samples and reference standards show that removal of the catalyst results in lower oxidation efficiency in samples of high organic content. As a result, different calibration slopes were obtained. A measurable difference between DOC values obtained with and without the catalyst occurred at concentrations above 0.3 mM C.


Ant colony algorithms are a group of heuristic optimization algorithms that have been inspired by ants foraging for food. In these algorithms there are some agents, the ants, that for finding the suitable solution, search the solution space. Ant colony algorithms have some parameters like relative pheromone importance on trail and pheromone decay coefficient that convergence and efficiency of algorithms is highly related to them. Usually desirable value of these parameters regarding the problem is determined through trial and error. Some approaches proposed to adapt parameter of these algorithms for optimizing them. The most important feature of the proposed algorithms are complication and time overhead. In this paper we have presented a simple and efficient approach based on distribution of ant parameters for optimizing ACS algorithm and by using different experiments efficiency of this proposed approach has been evaluated and we have shown that the presented concept is one of the most important reasons in success for parameter adapting algorithms


A simple, sensitive HPTLC method was developed for the analysis of nicorandil in its commercial single component tablet formulations (5 mg). The stationary phase was precoated silica gel 60 F 2 5 4 . The mobile phase used was a mixture of chloroform:methanol:ammonia, (9:1:0.1 v/v). Detection of the spots was carried out at 254 nm. The method was validated in terms of linearity (200-600 nglspot), precision (intra-day variation:0.503 to 1.960%, inter-day variation:0.333 to 3.070%), accuracy (97.69 to 100.26%) and specificity. The limit of detection and limit of quantification for nicorandil were found to be 40 nglspot and 200 nglspot, respectively. The proposed method was successfully applied to determine nicorandil content of 10 individual tablet units of two market formulations, after extracting nicorandil with methanol. Both the formulations complied with the USP specifications (RSD less than or equal to 6%) of the content uniformity test. The proposed HPTLC method can analyse ten or more formulation units simultaneously on a single plate and provides a faster and cost-effective quality control tool for routine analysis of nicorandil tablet formulations.


An in vitro study performed using an isotopic method showed a decrease in susceptibility to chloroquine, quinine, and possibly mefloquine of 44 Plasmodium falciparum isolates collected in and around the city of Conakry in Guinea. Resistance to chloroquine was demonstrated by a mean EC99 at 149 nmol/l, above the cut-off value of 114 nmol/l. The mean EC99 for quinine reached 4,999 nmol/l; that is 5 times higher than that recorded in Gabon. Data collected in Guinea, where for many years drugs have been less readily available than in neighboring countries, do not suggest that drug pressure was essential for selecting resistant parasites.


Spinel samples of Li1.33xCo2-2xTi1+0.67xO4 crystallize in two space groups: Fd- 3 m for 0≤x≤0.40 and x=1, and P4332 for 0.50≤x≤0.875. In S.G. P4332 magnetic Co2+ ions occupy 8c sites (for x=0.75 and 0.875), or 8c, 4b and 12d sites (for x=0.50). In x=0.25 and 0.40 samples Co2+ occupy both 8a and 16d cation sites of the S.G. Fd- 3 m [1]. Observed differences in magnetic behaviour of the samples are induced by crystallographic distribution of Co2+. Possible paths for exchange interactions in S.G. P4332 were analysed. It was found that the superexchange is the dominant exchange mechanism where Co2+ (8c)-O(24e)-Co2+(12d) path was the most important one. On the basis of the results on crystallographic distribution we suggest x=0.50 sample as potential electrode material in Li ion rechargeable batteries.


To meet various application requirements, it is important to enable an improvement of a-C structure and properties, such as hardness, adhesion, and wear resistance. In this study, we used the Raman spectroscopy to investigate the a-C thin films structure dependence on the different deposition parameters. The effect of nitrogen, argon, and hydrogen gas flow rate was analyzed to determine the influence on the film properties. The change in the gas type, combination, and flow had a significant influence on the D and G bands of the a-C Raman spectra. The addition of N2 into the chamber promoted the sp2 creation, while with adding hydrogen the layer contained more sp3 bonds. The depositions of a-C thin films were carried out in pulsed arc discharge vacuum installation. Micro-Raman measurements of the deposited materials were performed using an ISA Dilor-Jobin Yvon-Spex Labram confocal system with 632.8 nm radiation from a He-Ne laser using a back-scattering geometry.


Grodek is a country village whose origin dates back to at least the fifteen century. The first written record of the village dates from 1409. In it is found acknowledgment of Wolczko Rekutowicz from Grodek as one of the founders and a supplier of furnishings to the local church. Originally belonging to the Duchy of Belz, the village together with the Duchy, was incorporated into the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland in 1462. After the first partition of Polish- Lithuanian Commonwealth, Grodek was annexed by the Habsburg Empire, then it became part of the Duchy of Warsaw and following the joint resolutions of the Congress of Vienna it was given to Russia. Today the village situated at the Huczwa river administratively belongs to Jarczow gmina (commune) as part of Tomaszow poviat in Lubelskie Province. During the period the piece of research covers, Grodek was mostly inhabited by Russian people and was an Orthodox parish. It in turn became a Greek Catholic parish following the Union of Brest. The first written record of an Orthodox Church comes from 1507 while 17th century documents confirm the existence of a Uniate parish. Having analyzed post- visitation protocols, it might be deduced that it was a wooden church poorly equipped with ecclesiastical utensils. There was also a bell tower and a cemetery alongside the church. It has been determined a paroch (parish priest) had some arable land as well as grassland at his disposal to support himself. Furthermore, he collected various ecclesiastical fees from his parishioners. From the period of time this research is focused on, personal information of 4 parochs as well as the approximate number of parishioners that varied between 14 and 70 has been established. Furthermore, the church is known to have been functioning in 1772 but it fell into ruin before 1798 after which the parishioners from Grodek attended the branch church in Podlodow.


Background. The variability in collagenase blends has been speculated as the single most important determinant of the success or failure in isolated islet yields in clinical islet transplantation. Examination of the formulation and potency of the widely used Liberase HI enzyme blend will uncover possible sources of imprecision. Methods. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and kinetic measurements of collagenase and protease activity were used to assess potency. Between four and nine clinical lots were assessed for various parameters such as relative formulation of collagenase isoforms, and recovered collagenase and protease potencies postreconstitution. Results. Six vials from a single typical lot had a mean enzyme content of 489±62.5 mg (mean±SEM; range 398–610 mg). The mean recovered collagenase activity was 2235±310 Wünsch units (WU)/vial (range 1794–2968 WU/vial). The percent coefficients of variation for collagenase and protease activity in these vials were 17.4%, and 13.4%, respectively. The increase in the presence of the collagenase Ib (CIb) isoform detected by HPLC analysis was related to the chronological order of the date of manufacture. The CIb isoform was found to have a reduced specific activity compared to intact collagenase I (CI) (3.8±1.2 WU/mg vs. 2.1±0.7 WU/mg, P<0.05). The presence of CIb was related to reduced islet yields in twelve human isolations studied. Conclusions. Variation in potency was observed between, and within lots of Liberase HI in this study. Differences in relative collagenase isoform composition may also affect the stability and potency characteristics of these blends.


Highland dancing has many similarities to ballet. Anecdotally, highland dancers are prone to sustaining injuries to their Achilles tendon (AT), but very few studies have investigated these injuries. The aim of the study was to examine the incidence and treatment of Achilles tendon injuries in competitive highland dancers. Seventy questionnaires were distributed at two major highland dance competitions in Scotland. The questions related to number of injuries to the AT, history and treatment of the injuries, training techniques, and competition habits. Thirty-eight questionnaires were returned and 33 were suitable for analysis. Ten of the dancers (30%) had experienced injuries to their AT and nine of the ten dancers had consulted a physical therapist. There were no statistical differences between injured and non-injured dancers in the number of hours practiced, or the type of floor used for practice. The injured dancers, however, were significantly older and had been dancing for a greater number of years compared to the non-injured dancers (p > 0.05). Health care practitioners, in particular physical therapists, have a major role in the prevention and treatment of AT injuries in highland dancers, especially regarding "older" dancers and those who have been dancing for many years.


BACKGROUND
Attempted joint salvage of infected primary arthroplasty traditionally has utilized joint washouts in combination with costly long-term inpatient parenteral antibiotic regimens. Outpatient and home parenteral antibiotic therapy (OHPAT) represents a potential alternative. However, there is a lack of published data on its value for primary deep arthroplasty infection. This paper describes the surgical and microbiologic outcomes of a cohort of patients with deep arthroplasty infections treated with OHPAT after surgical washout and debridement.

METHODS
Local OHPAT records identified all patients who underwent attempted joint salvage of a primary hip or knee replacement complicated by a deep post-operative infection between February 2006 and February 2009. Minimum follow-up for all patients was 24 mos. For each patient, hospital records were reviewed to ascertain the effectiveness of treatment.

RESULTS
In total, 14 patients (10 total knee replacements; four total hip replacements) were identified from the records. Eleven joints (79%) were salvaged. There was a trend toward a higher salvage rate with early infection (<6 mos after primary surgery), with eight of nine joints (89%) being salvaged, versus 60% (three of five) for later presentation. Methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus was the most common organism identified (43% of cases), and 57% of infections were polymicrobial. The average duration of OHPAT was 58 days. Two patients were readmitted because of clinical deterioration, both of whom later required revision. All patients, regardless of their outcomes, stated they were satisfied with the OHPAT service and believed it was more convenient than inpatient treatment. We estimate OHPAT saved approximately £13,000 per patient episode.

CONCLUSIONS
Use of OHPAT for deep infection after primary arthroplasty has a high success rate. It is effective at identifying patients failing treatment, is cost-effective, and has a high level of patient satisfaction.


Ecoacoustic approaches have the potential to provide rapid biodiversity assessments and avoid costly fieldwork. Their use in biodiversity studies for improving management and conservation of natural landscapes has grown considerably in recent years. Standardised methods for sampling acoustic information that deliver reliable and consistent results within and between ecosystems are still lacking. Sampling frequency and duration are particularly important considerations because shorter, intermittent recordings mean recorder batteries last longer and data processing is less computationally intensive, but a smaller proportion of the available soundscape is sampled. Here, we compare acoustic indices and processing time for subsamples of increasing duration clipped from 94 one-hour recordings, to test how different acoustic indices behave, in order to identify the minimum sample length required. Our results suggest that short recordings distributed across the survey period accurately represent acoustic patterns, while optimizing data collection and processing. ACI and H are the most stable indices, showing an ideal sampling schedule of ten 1-minute samples in an hour. Although ADI, AEI and NDSI well represent acoustic patterns under the same sampling schedule, these are more robust under continuous recording formats. Such targeted subsampling could greatly reduce data storage and computational power requirements in large-scale and long-term projects.


CEO pay is a controversial issue in America but there was a time, often overlooked today, when chief executives were not paid nearly as much as they are now. From 1940 to the mid-1970s executive pay was modest by today's standards even though U.S. business was generally thriving. What worked to keep executive pay in check? Economist Thomas Piketty and others credit high marginal income tax rates, leading to calls for a return to a similar tax regime. This paper casts doubt on the impact tax had and also shows that neither the configuration of boards nor shareholder activism played a significant role in constraining executive pay. It emphasizes instead the roles played by strong unions, a different and more circumscribed market for managerial talent, and social norms, explanations that do not easily lend themselves to generating modern policy prescriptions.


In this paper we generalize the concept of a non-transferable utility game by introducing the concept of a socially structured game.A socially structured game is given by a set of players, a possibly empty collection of internal organizations on any subset of players, for any internal organization a set of attainable payo.s and a function on the collection of all internal organizations measuring the power of every player within the internal organization.Any socially structured game induces a non-transferable utility game.In the derived nontransferable utility game, all information concerning the dependence of attainable payo.s on the internal organization gets lost.We show this information to be useful for studying non-emptiness and re.nements of the core. For a socially structured game we generalize the concept of p-balancedness to social stability and show that a socially stable game has a non-empty socially stable core.In order to derive this result, we formulate a new intersection theorem that generalizes the KKM-Shapley intersection theorem.The socially stable core is a subset of the core of the game.We give an example of a socially structured game that satis.es social stability, whose induced non-transferable utility game therefore has a non-empty core, but does not satisfy p-balanced for any choice of p.The usefulness of the new concept is illustrated by some applications and examples.In particular we de.ne a socially structured game, whose unique element of the socially stable core corresponds to the Cournot-Nash equilibrium of a Cournot duopoly.This places the paper in the Nash research program, looking for a unifying approach to cooperative and non-cooperative behavior in which each theory helps to justify and clarify the other.


ABSTRACT: The Clearfield® rice production system is an effective management tool for weedy rice and other weeds in the direct-seeded rice culture. However, if farmers cultivating the Clearfield® rice disregard stewardship recommendations, the industry could face a problem of herbicide-resistant weedy rice which would occur through the selection of outcrosses. This study aimed to confirm imidazolinone-resistant weedy rice in Malaysia. The resistant weedy rice (R-WR) was found to be 67 fold more resistant to OnDuty® (premix of imazapic and imazapyr) than the susceptible weedy rice (S-WR) based on the GR50 values (rate that causes 50% inhibition of shoot growth). The Clearfield® rice cultivar was 32-fold more tolerant to OnDuty® than the S-WR. Furthermore, the R-WR was 54 and 89 fold more resistant to imazapic and imazapyr applied separately than the S-WR, respectively. The Clearfield® rice was 140- and 40-fold more tolerant to imazapic and imazapyr, respectively than the S-WR. The R-WR biotype was susceptible to non-selective herbicides glyphosate and glufosinate, as well as the selective graminicide quizalofop. Oxadiazon controlled the R-WR biotype, but pretilachlor was ineffective. The present study documented the first case of weedy rice that was cross-resistant to imazapic and imazapyr in Malaysian Clearfield® rice field.


Abstract Navigation system is one of the most important aircraft systems. Accuracy and precision of position and attitude is extremely important for safe aircraft operations. The integrated INS/GNSS systems are commonly used as autonomous on-board devices for fulfilling this task. The INS sensors like accelerometers and gyroscopes are mainly affected by drift. The GNSS encounter stochastic disturbances with no tendency to grow in time but as each radio navigation system may be jammed or its signal can just be not available. These base properties of errors make these two systems well suited for integration. These were the main motivations for development of integrated navigation and attitude determination system, presented in this article. In the developed system, data is integrated from all available sensors, particularly INS, GPS, and air data computer. Navigation information from these sensors is combined using Kalman filtering algorithms to obtain robust solution, effective also in a case of failure/inaccessibility of GPS. Position calculated using the accelerations from INS is corrected by position from GPS and optionally by position calculated using the true airspeed (TAS) from ADC. Navigation system is modelled and programmed in MATLAB environment. The system was tested using the data from real experiments, proving efficiency of the method.


Hepatocellular adenomas (HCAs) are benign liver tumors recently characterized into 4 different types according to genetic, pathological and clinical features. The prognosis is not well established yet and malignant transformation has been recently associated with β-catenin activation. We aimed to describe a case of a pigmented HCA with β-catenin nuclear expression and inflammatory features and to review the cases of pigmented HCAs in the literature. We report a case of a young female patient without contraceptive use, with a liver tumor diagnosis. Liver biopsy revealed diffuse expression of β-catenin and a partial hepatic resection was performed. The histologic analysis revealed a hepatocellular tumor composed of uniform trabeculae of hepatocytes and solid areas, the later with a significant amount of black pigment highlighted by Masson-Fontana stain. Immunohistochemistry showed co-expression of C-reactive protein and serum amyloid A in the tumor. Literature review revealed that pigmented HCAs, previously reported as dark adenomas, are rare tumors. In HCAs, the presence of β-catenin activation should be searched for due to the higher risk of malignant transformation in hepatocarcinoma. We describe a pigmented HCA with β-catenin nuclear expression and inflammatory features being the fifth case reported so far.


This paper introduces a simplified HVDC model developed for modeling the steady-state and the dynamic behavior of a Voltage-Sourced Converter based on the Modular Multilevel Converter design. The simplified model is intended for time domain simulations in a positive sequence dynamic simulation program. The model is used for dynamic stability studies and performance analysis of the HVDC within a large AC network. The simplified model is validated against a detailed model comprising the complete converter controls.


This demonstration paper presents a Web-based adaptive interactive system for personalizing the checkout process of M-Commerce Web environments, coined Persona Check. In particular, the system personalizes the visual and interaction design aspects of a mobile Web-based checkout process based on users' cognitive style theory which argues that individuals have differences in the way they process and organize information, as well as experience their context and environment in different manners and perspectives. The Persona Check system consists of three main components: i) an M-Commerce environment for creating and managing the checkout process designs, ii) a user modeling component in which explicit user data collection methods are performed for eliciting the users' cognitive processing characteristics, and iii) an adaptive user interface that is responsible for performing rule-based mechanisms for deciding and communicating the "best-fit" checkout process design to the users based on their cognitive styles.


This paper, proposes a hybrid fuzzy logic-based particle swarm optimization (PSO) with cross-mutated operation method for the minimization of makespan in permutation flow shop scheduling problem. This problem is a typical non-deterministic polynomial-time (NP) hard combinatorial optimization problem. In the proposed hybrid PSO, fuzzy inference system is applied to determine the inertia weight of PSO and the control parameter of the proposed cross-mutated operation by using human knowledge. By introducing the fuzzy system, the inertia weight becomes adaptive. The cross-mutated operation effectively forces the solution to escape the local optimum. To make PSO suitable for solving flow shop scheduling problem, a sequence-order system based on the roulette wheel mechanism is proposed to convert the continuous position values of particles to job permutations. Meanwhile, a new local search technique namely swap-based local search for scheduling problem is designed and incorporated into the hybrid PSO. Finally, a suite of flow shop benchmark functions are employed to evaluate the performance of the proposed PSO for flow shop scheduling problems. Experimental results show empirically that the proposed method outperforms the existing hybrid PSO methods significantly.


The current status of immunotherapy of cancer dictates that tumour cells should express appropriate antigenic peptides on the cell surface associated with MHC class I antigen. Therapies designed to activate immunity against cell surface expressed target peptides are required to induce antigen specific cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL) capable of mediating tumour rejection and that such immune responses should produce immunological memory. The necessity for both MHC class I (CTL response) and class II (T-helper response) - restricted responses has been well documented and the nature of tumour antigens expressed on a wide variety of human cancers widely reported.


Sequential Monte Carlo methods, also known as particle methods, are a popular set of techniques for approximating high-dimensional probability distributions and their normalizing constants. These methods have found numerous applications in statistics and related fields; e.g. for inference in non-linear non-Gaussian state space models, and in complex static models. Like many Monte Carlo sampling schemes, they rely on proposal distributions which crucially impact their performance. We introduce here a class of controlled sequential Monte Carlo algorithms, where the proposal distributions are determined by approximating the solution to an associated optimal control problem using an iterative scheme. This method builds upon a number of existing algorithms in econometrics, physics, and statistics for inference in state space models, and generalizes these methods so as to accommodate complex static models. We provide a theoretical analysis concerning the fluctuation and stability of this methodology that also provides insight into the properties of related algorithms. We demonstrate significant gains over state-of-the-art methods at a fixed computational complexity on a variety of applications.


ISLAM is a religion that puts emphasis on the overall human life. It covers all aspects of the physical body, the soul or the spirit, the emotion and the intellect with the sole purpose of producing individuals who are able wholeheartedly enslave themselves to the Allah almighty in all sectors of their lives. This paper thus discusses on the responsibilities of a leader from the educational perspective. Inadvertently, the drive or thrust of an Islamic State does not encompass the administrative matters and the physical development only. However, it encompasses the efforts to develop human beings or individuals who are pure in mind, pure of heart and pure in deeds where they can function as a member of society who is civilized and has a high self-esteem. An individual's awareness towards one's responsibilities and a high self-esteem can bring for a peaceful and harmonious nation in spite of it being multi-racial and multi-religion. An Islamic society is form base on an irrevocable piety to the Almighty Creator. Thus, the establishment of the Islamic society base on the voice of development combines with material values and humanity. Because of this, the role of leaders of Islamic society should be proactive in plotting the path of a nation's educational system based on piety and faith. This is because education is the basic element in the development of mankind as well as the nation towards an excellent and outstanding society. The characteristic of Islamic Leadership that emphasizes a transparent and permeable culture makes it a high priority with the integrity of individuals as the core that can push forward an Islamic society towards an era that is excellent and glorious. Aside from that, the scenario of the role and responsibilities of leaders can make an individual realize and aware of the importance of piety, faith and self-esteem that create good geography and climate. It can also guide the economic, social and political aspects as well to nurture and keep the universal tradition and civilization.


The article deals with the formation of a region-level system of management for foreign economic relations in the Republic of Belarus. It emphasizes the importance of socially oriented foreign economic efforts for regional development. The article notes shortcomings in the current regulations that limit involvement of local authorities in efforts to encourage regions' integration into the world economy. It substantiates fundamental approaches to the formation of a mechanism for managing international economic relations at a regional level and suggests methods based on specific features of a managed region. The author stresses the need for institutional support of a region's efforts to establish and consolidate international economic ties. The proposed solutions imply improvements to the system of local government and local self-government in the Republic of Belarus.


In this study, an FEM code based on a critical state model is used to further understand the electromagnetic behaviour of Yb211‐doped Sm123 bulk superconductor by calculating the current and magnetic field distributions in doped samples both in uniform and non‐uniform external field conditions. The results of magnetization loops from the numerical modelling have been compared with experimental results and they show a good match. In the numerical calculation result, the highest trapped field value, Bz, is 0.49 T for x = 0.25. In addition, the value of Bz trapped field in a non‐uniform applied field is calculated as 18% larger than in uniform applied field and the current density of samples as a function of radius increase particularly at the sample edge with a non‐uniform applied field for the x = 0.25 sample. It can be said that this numerical method will be a useful candidate to get an easy solution to many electromagnetic problems of doped‐superconductor with complex geometries and in different field conditions as the performed numerical study is successful in clarifying magnetization, trapped field and pinning properties of Yb211‐doped Sm123 superconductor.


China has a historic system of wide cycle tracks, many of which are now encroached by cars, buses and bus stops. Even with these conditions, college students still bicycle. On campuses, students park their bikes on facilities ranging from kick-stand-plazas to caged sheds with racks, pumps and an attendant. In other countries, including Canada, some of the newer cycle tracks need to be wider to accommodate an increasing number of bicyclists. Other countries will also need to improve their bike parking, which includes garage-basement cages and two-tiered racks. China could provide lessons about cycle tracks and bike parking. This study applied the Maslow Transportation Level of Service (LOS) theory, i.e., for cycle tracks and bike parking, only after the basic needs of safety and security are met for both vehicle occupants and bicyclists can the higher needs of convenience and comfort be met. With random clustering, a self-administered questionnaire was collected from 410 students in six dormitory buildings at Peking University in Beijing and an environmental scan of bicycle parking conducted in school/office and living areas. Cycle tracks (1 = very safe/5 = very unsafe) shared with moving cars were most unsafe (mean = 4.6), followed by sharing with parked cars (4.1) or bus stop users (4.1) (p < 0.001). Close to half thought campus bike parking lacked order. The most suggested parking facilities were sheds, security (guard or camera), bicycle racks and bicycle parking services (pumps, etc.). If parking were improved, three quarters indicated they would bicycle more. While caged sheds were preferred, in living areas with 1597 parked bikes, caged sheds were only 74.4% occupied. For the future of China's wide cycle tracks, perhaps a fence-separated bus lane beside a cycle track might be considered or, with China's recent increase in bike riding, shared bikes and E-bikes, perhaps cars/buses could be banned from the wide cycle tracks. In other countries, a widened cycle track entrance should deter cars. Everywhere, bike parking sheds could be built and redesigned with painted lines to offer more space and order, similar to car parking.


This paper reports on the results of a feasibility study on open access publishing for humanities and social sciences journals supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada's (SSHRC) Aid to Scholarly and Transfer Journals Program. The study is part of a broader effort of the SSHRC to better understand the landscape of Open Access and how best to implement this principle into the current research programs funded by SSHRC. As such, the study was designed to assist SSHRC in making policy and program decisions regarding its Aid to Scholarly Journals Program. In particular, this study focused on the current publishing practices of SSHRC funded journals, with the ultimate goal of understanding the financial implications for these journals if they were to provide open access to the journal content. The more immediate goal of the study was to gain better knowledge of the general level of understanding among journal publishers and editors on the impact of open access and on their scholarly societies' publishing program.


In the present study plasma membrane vesicles were prepared from livers of control and alloxan-induced diabetic rats and the substrate specificity and kinetic characteristics of alanine transport determined in both groups. Sodium-dependent alanine uptake at physiological alanine concentrations (100 microM) was enhanced threefold in diabetic as compared with control animals (0.31 +/- 0.04 vs. 0.11 +/- 0.01 nmol X mg protein-1 X 10 s-1). This accelerated influx corresponded to a three- to fourfold increase in the Vmax of alanine transport in diabetic versus control group (7.1 +/- 2.1 vs. 1.6 +/- 0.2 nmol X mg protein-1 X 10 s-1, P less than 0.05), whereas the Km of alanine uptake was unchanged (2.8 +/- 1.2 vs. 1.4 +/- 0.1 mM). Other neutral amino acids (20 mM) inhibited alanine transport to a similar degree in both groups. The sodium-dependent influx of glutamine (100 microM) was similar in diabetic and control groups (0.17 +/- 0.03 and 0.14 +/- 0.02 nmol X mg protein-1 X 10 s-1, respectively). The initial velocity of 22Na uptake (80 mM) into vesicles and half-maximal stimulation of alanine transport was achieved at essentially identical sodium concentrations (approximately 40 mM) in both groups.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Based on a mixed-methods approach using the 2006–2007 Morocco Living Standards Measurement Survey and qualitative interviews, this article examines the distinct roles that international migration and remittances play in female labor force participation (FLFP) in origin-country households and discusses the implications in terms of women's empowerment. We find that having an emigrant among household members increases FLFP for a given household, while receiving remittances decreases it. However, these effects are significant only for unpaid family work, that is, a category of work unlikely to lead to any form of economic empowerment. Although previous studies sometimes hypothesized that emigration could drive gender-sensitive development at origin, the quantitative and fieldwork findings suggest that, while paid work remains a route to female empowerment, predominantly male emigration is unlikely to play a positive role in supporting women's access to income-generating activities in a society characterized by strong patriarchal gender norms and poor job opportunities.


The fast transient fluorescence technique (FTRF), which uses the strobe master system (SMS), was employed to study the swelling of disc-shaped PMMA [poly(methyl methacrylate] gels. Seven gels were prepared by free radical copolymerization (FCC) of methyl methacrylate (MMA) with various ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDM) contents. Pyrene (Py) was introduced as a fluorescence probe during polymerization. After drying these gels, swelling experiments were performed in chloroform at room temperature. Py lifetimes were measured from fluorescence decay traces during the in situ swelling experiments. An equation was derived for low quenching efficiencies to interpret the behavior of lifetimes in the gel during swelling. It was observed that Py lifetimes in the gel decreased as swelling proceeded. The Li–Tanaka equation was used to determine the cooperative diffusion coefficients, Dc, which were found to decrease as the crosslinker content was increased. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 87: 464–472, 2003


Technological advances have created the ability to put lectures, tutorials, and student activities online for academic instructors. However, for most teachers, especially those accustomed to traditional delivery methods, this creates a daunting task that involves radical re-skilling and effort. E-Learning for Geographers: Online Materials, Resources, and Repositories draws lessons from a unique collaboration of an international team of geographers, educationalists and computer scientists in developing learning materials. Descriptions and access to the learning resources developed in the geography topic areas is provided to the reader along with general guidance relevant to all who intend to work in an array of applications within the vibrant and growing field of electronic/online learning.


We designed and set up an apparatus of oxygen reactive ion etching (O2 RIE) with parallel electrode configuration to remove a residual layer located on concave parts of ultraviolet nanoimprinted resist patterns and to maintain the pattern linewidth after dry etching. Imprint resist patterns with 45 nm line-and-space on a silicon wafer were fabricated with a bisphenol A-based UV-curable resin (NL-KK1) and a fluorinated replica mold under an easily condensable gas atmosphere. Cross-sectional field-emission scanning electron microscope observations revealed that the etching parameters of O2 mass flow rate, O2 pressure, and radio frequency (RF) bias power changed the resist pattern shapes. Steep resist patterns of the hardly changed linewidth could be left without the residual layer on the silicon substrates by tuning the parameters which caused anisotropic O2 RIE. The imprint resist mask was applied for a subsequent dry etching of underneath silicon without any metal hard mask layers, and 45 nm line-and-space silicon patterns could be obtained.


Climate change impacts on nature and the environment have been widely discussed and studied. Traditionally, a company's continuity management is based on risk analysis. There are also attempts to implement scenario-based methods in the risk management procedures of companies. For industrial decision makers, it is vital to acknowledge the impacts of climate change with regards to their adaptation strategies. However, a scenario-based approach is not always the most effective way to analyze these risks. This paper investigates the integration of scenario and risk-based methods for a company's adaptation planning. It considers the uncertainties of the climate change scenarios and the recognized risks as well as suitable adaptation strategies. The paper presents the results of climate risk analysis prepared for two Finnish hydropower plants. The introduced method was first piloted in 2008 and then again in 2015. The update of the analysis pointed out that at the company level, the climate risks and other risks originating from governmental or political decisions form an intertwined wholeness where the origin of the risk is difficult to outline. It seems that, from the business point of view, the main adaptation strategies suggested by the integrated risk and scenarios approach are those that support buying "safety margins" in new investments and reducing decision time horizons. Both of these adaptation strategies provide an advantage in the circumstances where also political decisions and societal changes have a great effect on decision making.


The responses of arterioles and venules to systemic hypoxia (fractional inspired O2 concentration 0.10) were determined for the rat cremaster muscle that was positioned with intact nerve and vascular supplies in a tissue bath that had controlled pH, O2 tension (PO2), CO2 tension (PCO2), and temperature. Blood pressure and heart rate were decreased significantly during systemic hypoxia. First- and second-order arterioles actively constricted during systemic hypoxia, whereas most first-, second-, and third-order venules had biphasic responses (dilation followed by constriction). There were no significant differences in the active arteriolar responses to systemic hypoxia when cremaster bath pH was altered from 6.9 to 7.2, or when bath PCO2 was changed from 60 +/- 2.2 to less than 5 mmHg; but, there was significantly greater arteriolar constriction with high bath PO2 (139 +/- 1.3 mmHg) in comparison to low bath PO2 (4.5 +/- 0.5 mmHg). Decreased bath pH, decreased PO2, and increased PCO2 had no effect on the dilation responses of first-, and second-, and third-order venules to systemic hypoxia; however, these bath alterations attenuated the constriction responses of third-order venules. alpha-Adrenergic receptor blockade did not alter the arteriolar responses to systemic hypoxia. Our data indicate 1) that there is a centrally mediated stimulus for constriction of first-order arterioles during systemic hypoxia, 2) that changes in local cremaster PO2, but not PCO2 or pH, can attenuate this centrally mediated arteriolar constriction, and 3) that the centrally mediated arteriolar constriction does not involve alpha-adrenergic receptors.


In widely divergent branches of mathematics, objects emerge which bear sufficient formal resemblance to the ideals of rings for them to be called "ideals". In a series of papers, Karl E. Aubert developed an axiomatic theory of ideal systems which subsumes most of the existing "ideal" theories. The goal of this paper is a representation theory for ideal systems in commutative monoids which will allow the formation of a cohomol-ogy theory for these systems. One of the results is a theorem which gives at once a monadic (co)homology for each ideal system. The base category in the monad includes PTOP, the category of pointed topological spaces and basepoint-preserving continuous maps, as a full subcategory and, for each ideal system, the category of algebras associated with the monad consists of the module systems over the ideal system. It is the module systems which are the principal objects of this study.


NADP-dependent isocitrate dehydrogenase (EC 220.127.116.11) from Mycobacterium phlei ATCC 354 was purified to homogeneity by ammonium sulphate fractionation, followed by DEAE cellulose and Sephadex G-200 chromatography. The pH optimum of the enzyme was 8.5. The Km values for isocitrate and NADP were 74 and 53 microM, respectively. Mn2+ was essential for enzyme activity. The enzyme lost all activity on incubation at 70 degrees C for 15 min; isocitrate and NADP protected against this thermal inactivation. p-Chloromercuribenzoate inhibited the enzyme; pre-incubation of enzyme with isocitrate + Mn2+ prevented this inhibition. The purified enzyme showed concerted inhibition by glyoxylate + oxaloacetate and was inhibited by oxalomalate.


Corporal punishment in school is allowed in 30 states in the United States. The American Academy of Pediatrics, together with numerous other child-advocacy groups, has reaffirmed its position that corporal punishment in schools should be prohibited by state statute in all states. This article provides background information and recommendations regarding the potential role for pediatricians in attaining this goal.


Novel is one of the learning media that can used by teacher and students in order to help the improve their reading knowledge. Acontrastive analysis to a compare first language and second language is used in this study in order to find kinds, differences and similarities of English and Indonesian suffixes.

The object of the study are the novels Englis and Indonesian entitled "The Rainbow Troops and Laskar pelangi" novel by Andrea Hirata and translated by Angie Kilbane. This study was design in content analysis qualitative research because the object of the study was a novel. Moreover, as the data was ini the form of words and field notes, so the data were analysed qualitatively. The researcher also conducted the analysis by used contrastive analysis to more focus on differences and similarities of English and Indonesian suffixes. The instrument used to collect the data is the form of checklist. Based on the background of the case above, this study is conducted: 1) to analyze the English and Indonesian suffixes. 2) to analyze the process od derived word classes after add the suffix.

The result of this study showed that in term of kinds English and Indonesian suffixes Noun (-acne, -ence, -er, -or, -ist, -ian, -tion, -tion, -ness, -ion, -ing, -ment, -ity, -ism, -dom, -ship, -ent, -ary, -ure, -tude, -hood, -eer, -logy, -age, -ant). Verb (-ize/-ise, -ate, -ify, -en). Adverb (-ly) and Adjective (-al, -ar, -ic, -ical, -able/-ible, -ous, -ful, -less, -ish, -ed, -ive, -er, -ate,-ent, -est). Indonesian suffixes there are: Noun (-an, -is, -isasi, -isme, -itas, -wan/-wati, -man). Verb (-an, -i, -kan). Adjective (-an, -al, -if, -is, -i, -iah). The difference English and Indonesia, English suffixes any adverb (-ly, lovely, politely, wisely, etc). Difference Indonesian and English suffixes that is Indonesian suffix any kind of nominal that is the example (-an, jutaan, ribuan ratusan, etc).


OBJECTIVES
We used Canadian population-based data to examine changes in the health of caregivers of children with complex health problems compared with caregivers of healthy children over a 10-year time period.

METHODS
The National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth collected data biennially from 9401 children and their caregivers in 6 waves from 1994-1995 to 2004-2005. We conducted growth-curve analyses of these data to model self-reported general health and depressive symptoms for 4 groups of caregivers: caregivers of healthy children, and caregivers of children with 1, 2, or at least 3 of 4 conceptually distinct indicators of child health problems. We modeled covariates for children (age, gender, only-child status) and caregivers (age, gender, education, income, marital status).

RESULTS
After we controlled for covariates, caregiver health outcomes worsened incrementally with increasing complexity of child health problems. Change in self-reported general health and depressive symptoms over the 10-year period was consistent across all groups of caregivers.

CONCLUSIONS
Poorer health among caregivers of children with health problems can persist for many years and is associated with complexity of child health problems. Attention to parental health should form a component of health care services for children with health problems.


In a typical distributed storage system, metadata is stored and managed by dedicated metadata servers. One way to improve the availability of distributed storage systems is to deploy multiple metadata servers. Past research focused on the active/standby model, where each active server has at least one redundant idle backup. However, interruption of service and loss of service state may occur during a fail-over depending on the used replication technique. The research in this paper targets the symmetric active/active replication model using multiple redundant service nodes running in virtual synchrony. In this model, service node failures do not cause a fail-over to a backup and there is no disruption of service or loss of service state. We use a fast delivery protocol to reduce the latency of total order broadcast. Our prototype implementation shows that high availability of metadata servers can be achieved with an acceptable performance trade-off using the active/active metadata server solution.


A damage identification method, based on structural time domain dynamic responses and Teager energy operator, is presented for sandwich panels with truss core in the paper. The dimensionless structural dynamic responses, i.e., dimensionless velocity and displacement, are combined to construct the damage index. Application of the method on sandwich panels with truss core in the cases of single damage and multiple damages with different extents are conducted. Effects of some factors on the proposed method are discussed, including excitation location, excitation frequency, boundary condition, number of points N in Poincare maps. Experiments based on laser Doppler vibrometer are conducted to verify the effectiveness of the method. Numerical and experimental results show that the proposed method is effective in detecting both single damage and multiple damages with different extents. Excitation location plays a very important role in affecting the effectiveness of the method. Excitation frequency has little effect on the method, and there is a great selection space of excitation frequencies. Increasing the boundary condition constraint is beneficial for damage identification. As the number of points N increases, the damage index results also change. There is a reasonable number of points N for the damage identification of sandwich panels with truss core. Besides, Teager energy operator plays a very important role in eliminating the fluctuations caused by boundary condition or environment.


Introduction:Human coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an emerging respiratory disease that has become pandemic worldwide. The patients have a range of mild to severe symptoms, such as pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, arrhythmia, shock, and other organs involvement. Clinical and hematological evidence can serve as a prognostic factor to detect severe cases of COVID-19. Objectives: The present study aimed to evaluate hematological parameters related to the severity of the disease in COVID-19 patients in Mashhad, Eastern Iran. Patients and Methods: All the individuals with positive real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction test results and the patients with clinical symptoms whose computed tomography scan results were matched with the diagnosis of viral pneumonia were included in the study. The hematological examinations and complete blood count of the patients were performed by the healthcare personnel through collecting blood samples at the time of admission and discharge from the hospital. Results: In total, 189 COVID-19 patients were included in the study, 47.6% and 58.73% of whom were over 60 years old and male, respectively. Investigation of the hematological parameters revealed that the number of white blood cells, mean value of corpuscular volume, number of platelets, and lymph count had significantly increased at the time of discharge (P<0.01). On the other hand, red blood cells, hemoglobin, hematocrit, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, and red cell distribution width values were significantly higher at the time of admission in comparison to discharge (P<0.01). Furthermore, it was found that male gender had a significant relationship with the development of lymphopenia in the patients (P=0.021). Conclusion: It can be concluded that hematological parameters and inflammatory biomarkers in COVID-19 patients could potentially act as the independent factors and affect the prognosis of the disease.


Abstract The overall goal of our paper is to examine how the evolution of groundwater governance in North China has affected the rural economy. Based on a random sample of 48 villages in nine counties in North China, our results show that over the last 15–20 years collectively owned tubewells have been gradually privatized. Our analyses demonstrate that increasing groundwater scarcity and policy intervention (mainly fiscal and financial subsidies for tubewell investment) have led to the observed shifts in tubewell ownership patterns. Our results also show that the privatization of tubewells has affected cropping patterns in North China. When villages shift towards private tubewells, farmers move into more water-sensitive and high-valued crops. Privatization, although having no effect on crop productivity in our sample, has a positive effect on income. Increased groundwater use is also shown to improve income distribution. However, the evolution of tubewell ownership in our study villages comes at a cost: increasing privatization is associated with falling water tables.


Recent analyses suggest that the impact of agricultural trade liberalization on developing countries will be very uneven. Simulations suggest that the effects of agricultural trade liberalization will be small, overall, and are likely to be negative for a significant number of developing countries. The Doha Round focuses on tariff issues, but these countries currently have practically duty-free access to European and North American markets under preferential regimes. Multilateral liberalization will erode the benefits of these preferences, which are presently rather well utilized in the agricultural sector. The main obstacles to the exports of the poorest countries appear to be in the non-tariff area (sanitary, phytosanitary standards) which increasingly originate from the private sector and are not dealt with under the Doha framework (traceability requirements, etc.). An agreement in Doha is unlikely to solve these problems and open large markets for the poorest countries. While this is not an argument to give up multilateral liberalization, a more specific and differentiated treatment should be considered in WTO rules, and corrective measures should be implemented.


In this paper, the microstructures typifying the common mylonites found in the Moine Thrust Zone at Eriboll are presented along with c-axis quartz textures. Typical cataclasite microstructures are also depicted. The study revealed that the deformation and softening mechanisms in fault rocks can change with increasing shear strain. It also revealed that strain can be extremely inhomogeneous on the microscale at high shear strains. There is evidence for episodic pulses of brittle behaviour which has been associated with possible seismic behaviour within the zone. The contribution concludes by outlining the microstructural and textural features that can be used to determine the direction of shearing in a mylonite zone.