Background: The LMA CTrach system is a new device for airway management and endotracheal intubation under direct vision in both anticipated and unexpected difficult intubation situations. Methods: We used this system in 100 patients undergoing general anesthesia for different types of elective surgeries. After randomly selecting the patients for intubation with this new device, the airway characteristics, height, weight, dental overbite and thyromental distance were all evaluated before induction. Our goal was to explore primarily the success rate of intubation with LMACTrach. Results: We were able to insert LMA CTrach and provide optimal ventilation in all 100 patients. Nonetheless, successful tracheal intubation was performed in 95 patients. Among our patients, 2 had Mallampati grade IV airways with short necks, body mass index (BMI) > 30, and without the capability to bite their upper lips. Amazingly both patients were intubated with this method, proving a device as an assuring approach in cases of difficulty with ventilation and intubation. Of all patients, 44 were females and 56 males. The mean age was 34 ± 2 years. BMI measured for all patients was 20-25 except for two cases who had BMI > 30. Conclusion: Since the LMA CTrach provided us with direct view of the larynx and vocal cords during intubation even in difficult cases, it can be assumed that this device is a precious aid as equal as fiberoptic bronchoscopy for the anesthesiologists.


The adoption of big data analysis in the legal domain is a recent but growing trend that highlights ethical concerns not just with big data analysis, as such, but also with its deployment in the legal domain. This article systematically analyses five big data use cases from the legal domain utilising a pluralistic and pragmatic mode of ethical reasoning. In each case we analyse what happens with data from its creation to its eventual archival or deletion, for which we utilise the concept of 'data life cycle'. Despite the exploratory nature of this article and some limitations of our approach, the systematic summary we deliver depicts the five cases in detail, reinforces the idea that ethically significant issues exist across the entire big data life cycle, and facilitates understanding of how various ethical considerations interact with one another throughout the big data life cycle. Furthermore, owing to its pragmatic and pluralist nature, the approach is potentially useful for practitioners aiming to interrogate big data use cases.


Abstract The effects of the isobutyl nitrite sold as incense and the chemically pure compound on various in vitro parameters of leukocyte function were studied. This was done because of the potential relationship of isobutyl nitrite use to the opportunistic infection and Kaposi9s sarcoma seen in homosexual men. Various concentrations of isobutyl nitrite dissolved in ethyl alcohol were added to various leukocyte cultures. The final added concentrations were 0.001 to 1.0%. Because of the poor solubility of the agent, the fluid concentrations were quite low after addition. Thus, the measured concentrations in the medium after preparation of 1% (v/v) solution were 0.45 mm at 1 hr, 0.04 mm at 24 hr, and 0.04 mm at 48 hr of incubation at 37° in 5% CO2 in air. At the 1% added concentration, the agent lysed leukocytes and reduced viability from 95% to 21% in 24 hr. At an added concentration of 0.5% or below, cell count and viability were unaffected, but the agent inhibited in vitro lymphocyte blastogenic responses to phytohemagglutinin, pokeweed mitogen, and concanavalin A. It also inhibited natural killer cell activity to the K562 cell line, lymphocyte-mediated antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity to the CEM cell line, monocyte-mediated antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity to human red blood cells, and in vitro adherence and transformation of monocytes to macrophages. Inhibitory effects were greater than 90% at the 0.5% concentration and were still detectable at 0.01%. Chemically pure isobutyl nitrite and the form sold as incense had identical effects. The agent volatilized from the tissue culture medium at 37° so that its effect on cell viability was reduced about one-third after 24 hr and was gone by 48 hr. The agent inhibited leucine, uridine, and thymidine incorporation approximately equally. Within 2 hr of exposure to isobutyl nitrite, uridine and leucine incorporation were markedly inhibited. After 24 hr of exposure to the agent, the effects on various lymphocyte function parameters were not reversible. The thymidine incorporation of myeloid and solid tumor cell lines was also inhibited by the same concentrations of isobutyl nitrite which inhibited leukocyte functions. Induction of α,β-interferon by polyriboinosinic-polyribocytidylic acid in mouse embryo fibroblasts was inhibited by pretreatment of the cells with isobutyl nitrite. These data suggest that isobutyl nitrite has nonspecific cytotoxic activity for various cells in vitro and could have immunosuppressive effects on tissues exposed in vivo during its recreational use. We speculate that these immunosuppressive effects, combined with the ability of nitrites to convert amines to nitrosamines, may be related to the development of opportunistic infections and Kaposi9s sarcoma in homosexuals who use this agent.


Meiosis in F1 plants of Triticale X Agrotriticum hybrids with 56- and 63-chromosomes and different genome composition is shown to be strongly violated. The following main anomalies of meiosis were revealed: the univalent state of chromosomes; an irregular movement of 8 to 33 chromosomes to the poles; the lag of 6 to 25 chromosomes and their premature splitting into chromatids; formation of micronuclei in diads and tetrads, formation of polyads. The average number of bivalents per one cell was 14.1-14.6.


The sorption properties toward Cu2+, Zn2+, Ni2+, Mn2+ and Co2+ ions, in synthetic and industrial waters with pH of 3.9–7.2, and the chemical stability of a titanium phosphate ion-exchanger synthesized at mild conditions and containing solely –H2PO4 groups, TiO(OH)(H2PO4)·H2O (TiP1) are investigated. TiP1 displays the highest Na+ uptake (6.3 meq. g−1) among TiP ion-exchangers and a maximum sorption capacity of ca. 1.55 mmol g−1 (i.e. 3.1 meq. g−1) for the studied ions, which is higher than the ones reported for exchangers composed predominantly of –HPO4 groups. The sorption isotherms were best described by the Temkin model while the Langmuir and the Freundlich models appear to be insufficient in describing all data. TiP1 shows fast kinetics with an equilibrium reached within 10–20 minutes and diffusion processes play a role in the initial period of sorption that is overpowered by chemisorption reactions in the overall rate controlling step. The selectivity order of the metal ions on TiP1 is determined as: Cu2+ > Zn2+ ≫ Mn2+ > Co2+, Ni2+, following the order of stability of MOH+ complexes and the corresponding activation parameters for a water molecule exchange in [M(H2O)6]2+ ions. The surface sorption data are in good correlation with the EDS data for these systems, supporting the idea of chemical sorption with no metal hydroxide precipitation. Additional sorption studies show that the quality of industrial waters after sorption reaches the EU recommendation for drinking water. The faster kinetics and the higher exchange capacity reveal that the presence of –H2PO4 groups strongly enhances the sorption properties of titanium phosphate sorbents.


Amisulpride, alike sulpiride, is a benzamide substitute used in treating schizophrenia and dysthymia in a few European countries (1). Authors describe amisulpride as D 2 and D 3 receptor antagonist, and recently as 5-HT 7a serotonin receptors antagonist (2). Moreover, a few case reports and clinical trials indicate amisulpride as a drug to reduce atypical antipsychotic-induced sialorrhea (3). Aim of this study is to investigate, by high resolution scanning electron microscopy (HRSEM), morphological changes induced in vitro by amisulpride in serous cells of human submandibular glands. Samples of human non-pathological submandibular glands obtained at surgery, were immersed in an oxygenated inorganic medium, according to the procedure described in our previous works (4), stimulated in vitro with amisulpride, and treated by our modification of the osmium maceration technique (5). By removing from serous cells all cytoplasmic organelles, we are able to visualize, by HRSEM, and quantify, with statistical method, the morphological changes on the surfaces of the plasmalemma involved in secretory processes. In particular, we calculated the density of microvilli, that of microbuds, and that of protrusions per µm 2 of the intercellular canaliculi luminal membrane. Our results show that amisulpride acts on secretory serous cells of human submandibular glands, promoting a reduction of microvilli and an increase of microbuds density. In particular, microbuds increased density indicate the presence of microexocytosis profiles that allow secretion of protein into lumen. Whereas the clinical treatment of sialorrhea with amisulpride (3) demonstrates a reduction of saliva production, our data illustrate that this drug has peculiar effects on secretory mechanisms involved in protein secretion. 1) Mortimer AM.: Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat , 5:267-77. 2009 2) Abbas AI. et al.: Psychopharmacology , 205:E-pub. 2009 3) Kreinin A. et al.: Int Clin Psychopharmacol , 21:99-103. 2006 4) Testa Riva F. et al.: Cell Tissue Res , 324:347-52. 2006 5) Riva A. et al.: Scanning Microscopy 13:111-22. 1999


Centrifuge modelling is a technique that has proved useful in the study of miscible transport processes through porous media. This report presents a discussion on the feasibility of modelling immiscible flow processes using a geotechnical centrifuge, with particular reference to the phenomena of fingering and residual entrapment. The analysis of scaling for the mechanism of fingering indicates that unstable wetting displacements can be modelled using centrifuge testing techniques. However, scaling analyses for the mechanism of capillary entrapment show that above certain critical Capillary and Bond numbers, the degree of non-aqueous phase liquid entrapment will be lower in a centrifuge model than the corresponding prototype. Nonetheless, it is argued this does not prohibit centrifuge modelling from making a useful contribution towards the study of immiscible flow processes in porous media.


Single crystals of sulfur-substituted iron selenide, FeSe1−xSx, were grown within eutectics of molten halides, AlCl3/KCl, AlCl3/KCl/NaCl or AlCl3/KBr, under permanent temperature gradient. The innovative "ampoule in ampoule" design of a crystallization vessel allows obtaining mm-sized plate-like single crystals with a sulfur content up to x ∼ 0.19. The sharp anomalies in the physical properties indicate the superconducting and nematic phase transitions in FeSe0.96 at TC = 8.4 K and TN = 90 K, respectively. Scanning tunneling microscopy reveals the presence of dumbbell defects associated with Fe vacancies and dark defects at the chalcogen site associated with S within the FeSe1−xSx series of compounds. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy shows the presence of two different superconducting gaps at both hole and electron pockets of the Fermi surface for low S content levels. As a function of sulfur content, TC follows the conventional dome-shaped curve while TN decreases with x. The overall appearance of the T–x phase diagram of FeSe1−xSx suggests the importance of nematic fluctuations for the formation of the superconducting state in these compounds.


This study examined the association of sociodemographic characteristics and smoking behaviors (i.e., cigarette, cigar, and waterpipe) with nicotine product harm perception in college freshmen. Students were asked to compare the perceived harmfulness of 11 nicotine-delivering products with that of a regular cigarette. Data were from a cross-sectional Internet survey conducted during the spring 2004 semester at a private university (N = 411). Binomial logistic regression was used to determine the association between sociodemographic and behavioral factors with nicotine product harm perception. A statistically significant association was found between nicotine product harm perception and sex, race, income, citizenship, and smoking behavior (p< or =.05). Regarding the three medicinal nicotine replacement therapies, 19.6% of respondents incorrectly perceived the nicotine patch to be as harmful as or more harmful than a regular cigarette; corresponding values were 24.1% for nicotine gum and 52.9% for nicotine inhaler. Respondents incorrectly perceived the following smoked tobacco products to be less harmful than regular cigarettes: ultra-light cigarettes (40.4%), waterpipe (37%), light cigarettes (35.2%), cigarillos (17.4%), and cigars (16.9%). Regarding smokeless nicotine products, 89.3% of respondents incorrectly perceived dip and chew to be as harmful as or more harmful than regular cigarettes; corresponding values were 36.2% for nicotine lollipops and 35.2% for nicotine water. Our findings reveal misperceptions about nicotine product harmfulness and underscore the importance of developing a science base to inform policies and educate consumers about these products.


Onion (Allium cepa) is an important vegetable crop in the United States and worldwide. In 2009, ca. 103,960 acres of onions were harvested in the United States at an estimated value of nearly $473 million including the 10,000 acres harvested in New York, valued at $46 million (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2009). Onion breeding has, for the last 60 years, focused largely on production of single cross hybrid varieties, created by crossing male sterile female lines with male fertile inbred lines. The shift from open pollinated varieties to hybrid varieties occurred in the 1950's after reports by Jones and Clark (1943) and Jones and Davis (1944) outlined how the cytoplasmic male sterility system allowed large scale production of hybrid seed, and demonstrated the significant increase in productivity of the resulting hybrids over standard open pollinated onion varieties. These hybrid varieties were adapted rapidly by onion growers, due to the increased yield (i.e. hybrid vigor) and uniformity. The creation of new male lines with novel beneficial traits for use in hybrid combination is a major strategy of onion breeding programs. When a desired trait, such as disease resistance, cannot be found in a crop species, it must be transferred from a related wild species through inter-specific crosses. Resistance to Botrytis leaf blight (BLB) was transferred to onion A. Cepa through inter-specific crossing with Allium roylei and backcross breeding. Another procedure used to develop homozygous inbred lines in crops such as maize, rice and Brassicas, is the creation of doubled haploid inbred lines. Trial results of two types of inbred lines, created using both inter-specific backcross breeding and doubled haploids, are presented. Two onion lines 07-801 (BC2F3) and 07-808 (BC1F3), resistant to Botrytis squamosa (Walker 1925) causal agent of Botrytis leaf blight (BLB), were produced through inter-specific backcross breeding to introgress the resistance gene Bs1 from A. roylei to A. cepa. BLB resistance levels of these lines were compared in inoculated trials with the susceptible commercial variety Festival. Four evaluations, the two in the greenhouse and two in the field, found these lines to be significantly more resistant the susceptible control Festival. In non-inoculated trials in commercial fields Bs1 heterozygous hybrids, created by crossing the resistant inbred line 07-801 with a susceptible female, were intermediate in BLB resistance. They showed disease levels that differed significantly in resistance from both the resistant male line and susceptible female. In an inoculated greenhouse trial with multiple B. squamosa isolates, the homozygous Bs1 male, heterozygous Bs1 resistant hybrid, and susceptible female had a similar pattern of resistance as that seen in the field. The inbred lines 07-801 and 07-808 could be used as males in hybrid combination to reduce yield loss due to BLB. The homozygous lines showed stronger resistance indicating that Bs1 is partially dominant and that using male and female parents, both homozygous for Bs1resistance, would create a more resistant hybrid. Twenty doubled haploid (DH) onion lines, produced from two different sources from the Cornell onion breeding program (Alan et al., 2003, 2004), were comparable in bulb weight with their source lines and Festival. Twentyfive DH hybrids, created using DH lines as males, were equivalent or significantly greater in bulb size and yield when compared with current commercial onion hybrids that share the same female parents. The ability of DH lines to be exceptionally productive, both as inbred lines and in hybrid combinations, may be attributed to the removal of deleterious sub-lethal genes that are fully expressed in the homozygous state during gynogenesis. These results suggest that doubled haploids could be used to both speed up that process of inbred line development and create higher yielding varieties.


Solder fatigue is one of the major product reliability concerns in electric packaging design. In this paper, the application of a mesh-insensitive structural stress method, previously developed by the authors, is demonstrated for characterizing fatigue of solder joints under thermal fatigue and mechanical fatigue conditions. Three sets of experimental data from literature are analyzed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the structural stress method in its ability to correlate test data over different packaging designs, test methods, etc. As evidenced in this study, the meshinsensitive structural stress method offers a simple but effective means to correlate the fatigue behavior of solder joints among various test conditions. The results show that the structural stress method can be used as an effective alternative to existing methods in the literature, in reliability design of electronic packaging.


Background: Dry socket is one of the most prevalent complications occurring after tooth extraction. The prevalence of such condition has been reported to be highly different, ranging from 0.5 to 68.4%. The etiology and pathogenesis of this entity are not clearly known and many related predisposing factors have been discussed. The goal of this study was to evaluate the relative prevalence of this entity after tooth extraction and determine the contributing factors in patient referring to Yazd dental clinics. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional prospective study was carried out at Yazd dental clinics (from May 2010 to Jun 2010). Four thousand seven hundred and seventy nine patients were selected and included in our study. Characteristics such as: age, gender, site of extraction, number of extracted tooth, trauma during extraction, oral hygiene, smoking, systemic disease, menstrual cycle, history of dental infection and oral contraceptive pill intake were determined and data was analyzed using descriptive statistical analysis and Fisher's exact test. P value ≤0.05 was considered significant. Results: Over the two-month period of the study, among of 4,779 patients, 28 patients returned with dry socket phenomena. Our results showed that the incidence of dry socket was 0.6% and females were more common involved than males (0.08% versus 0.04%). The ratio of mandible to maxilla was 2.5 to1 and mandibular third molars were more often involved than other teeth. Trauma, poor oral hygiene and smoking had increased the incidence of dry socket. Conclusion: The results of our study suggested that trauma during surgery or extraction and poor oral hygiene are important factors that increase the incidence of dry socket, these factors should be considered before and after tooth extractions.


Reduced GFR in patients with CKD causes systemic accumulation of uremic toxins, which has been correlated with disease progression and increased morbidity. The orally administered spherical carbon adsorbent AST-120 reduces systemic toxin absorption through gastrointestinal sequestration, which may slow disease progression in these patients. The multinational, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Evaluating Prevention of Progression in CKD (EPPIC)-1 and EPPIC-2 trials evaluated the effects of AST-120 on the progression of CKD when added to standard therapy. We randomly assigned 2035 adults with moderate to severe disease (serum creatinine at screening, 2.0-5.0 mg/dl for men and 1.5-5.0 mg/dl for women) to receive either placebo or AST-120 (9 g/d). The primary end point was a composite of dialysis initiation, kidney transplantation, and serum creatinine doubling. Each trial continued until accrual of 291 primary end points. The time to primary end point was similar between the AST-120 and the placebo groups in both trials (EPPIC-1: hazard ratio, 1.03; 95% confidence interval, 0.84 to 1.27; P=0.78) (EPPIC-2: hazard ratio, 0.91; 95% confidence interval, 0.74 to 1.12; P=0.37); a pooled analysis of both trials showed similar results. The estimated median time to primary end points for the placebo groups was 124 weeks for power calculations, but actual times were 189.0 and 170.3 weeks for EPPIC-1 and EPPIC-2, respectively. Thus, disease progression was more gradual than expected in the trial populations. In conclusion, the benefit of adding AST-120 to standard therapy in patients with moderate to severe CKD is not supported by these data.


Reproductive strategies are defined by a combination of behavioural, morphological, and life-history traits. Reproductive investment and offspring propagule size are two key traits defining reproductive strategies. While a substantial amount of work has been devoted to understanding the independent fitness effects of each of these traits, it remains unclear how coevolution between them ultimately affects the evolution of reproductive strategies, and how this might influence the relationship between dispersal and environmental factors. In this study we explore how the evolution of reproductive strategies defined by these two coevolving traits is influenced by resource availability and spatial structuring of the environment using a simulation model. We find three possible equilibrium strategies across all scenarios: a competitor strategy with high reproductive investment (producing large propagules which disperse short distances), and two coloniser strategies differing in reproductive investment (both producing small propagules which disperse long distances). The possible equilibrium strategies for each scenario depended on starting conditions, spatial structure and resource availability. Evolutionary transitions between these equilibrium strategies were more likely in heterogeneous than homogeneous landscapes and at higher resource levels. Transition from coloniser strategy to competitor strategy was usually a two-step process, with changes in propagule size following initial evolution in investment. This highlights how the interaction between the two trait axes affects the evolution of reproductive strategies, particularly where fitness valleys preclude the simultaneous evolution of traits. Our results highlight the need to incorporate trait coevolution into evolutionary models to help develop a more integrative understanding of the structure of natural populations and how the interaction between traits constrains or hinders evolutionary processes.


The idea of extra dimensions provides a promising approach to overcome various problems in modern physics. This includes theoretical as well as phenomenological aspects, such as the unification of the fundamental interactions or the hierarchy problem. Based on the seminal works by Kaluza and Klein that were published nearly 100 years ago, we denote theories with at least one compact periodic dimension as Kaluza-Klein theories. From a gravitational point of view the question arises, what are the fundamental solutions to Einstein's field equations of general relativity under these assumptions. In particular, in this work we are concerned with black hole solutions in Kaluza-Klein theory. Considering only the static case without electric charge, it turns out that there is a much richer phase space than in the usual four-dimensional theory, where only the Schwarzschild solution exists. There are at least two types of solutions with a completely different horizon topology: localized black holes with an ordinary spherical horizon and black strings with a horizon that wraps the compact dimension. Several arguments favor the conjecture that the solution branches of both types are connected via a singular topology changing solution that is controlled by the so-called double-cone metric. We study the regime close to this singular transit solution in five and six spacetime dimensions with the help of a highly accurate numerical scheme that we describe in detail. Consequently, for the first time we are able to show that in this regime the black objects exhibit a critical behavior, indicating that physical quantities are governed by universal critical exponents. Interestingly, such exponents were already derived from the double-cone metric. We show that our data confirms these values extremely well. This provides compelling evidence in favor of the double-cone metric as the local model of the transit solution.


The scaling of transistor has beenathe main thrust for innovation progressions inathe electronics semiconductor industry in the course of the most recent couple of decades. Keepingi ini mind the end goal to moderate short channeli effects (SCEs), the gate insulatori thicknessi andi source/drain junction depthi have beeni scaled down along with the channel length. As of late, notwithstanding, gate insulatori thicknessi scaling has impeded, as prove by the way that a effective oxidei thickness (EOT) .of 1 nmi hasi been utilized for as far back as 2-3 eras of CMOS innovation. Thoughi critical advancement has.been.done.in the improvement of high-permittivity. (high-κ) i dielectrici materials and metali gate innovation as of late, it will be hard proportional EOT well underneath 1 nm. This i makes source/drain junction depth i scaling considerably additionally squeezing for proceeded with transistori scaling. Moreover, asi thei measurements of MOSFETsi are downsized, the contact i resistance, leakage current problem progressively restricts transistor execution. This is on the grounds that the on-state resistance of a i MOSFET drops with i transistor scaling, while i contact resistance increments with contact territory scaling. Contact resistance increases rapidly. So to minimize the SCEs as well as to increase the drain current.a i new i device called recessed i source/drain. (Re S/D) SOI MOSFET i come into picture. And it is very important to express mathematically the amount of direct gate tunneling current of the device for better understanding and easy to implement in circuits. Firstly, an analytical i model for direct i gate i tunneling current of Recessed i Source/Drain Siliconi Oni Insulator (Re S/D SOI) .MOSFET hasi been proposed. The surface potential of the device has been modeled byi solving.the 2D poisson'si equationi assuming.a parabolic profile of surface potential in.the transverse direction of the channel. From the surface potential model we can calculate for minimum surface potential, which is then used.for the.calculation of direct gate i tunnelingi current. .The proposed model is then verified by varying different parameters like gate insulator thickness, channel doping concentration, drain.to.source voltage, for different gate dielectric materials. Lastly, we propose an analytical model to describe the drain current dependency on applied gate i voltage.and drain i voltage.of the device. For that, the charge in the channel region has been formulated and it has found that there is a linear dependency between the charge and applied voltages and surface potential of the device. It is found from the model that the proposed device model does not match with the conventional square law of on current for conventional bulk MOSFET. The proposed model is then verified by varying different parameters like applied gate voltage, channel thickness and source drain extension into the buried insulator region. To validate both the models we do the 2D simulation of the device by using the ATLAS tool from Silvaco.


Elements of digital life, such as information overload, distraction, privacy concerns, and interpersonal interactions, can significantly affect an indi-vidual's well-being. Cultivating digital wellness involves the ability to navigate these aspects of digital life and to make mindful decisions related to time spent, account settings, sharing, and more. Education in support of digital wellness and well-being is an important and growing feature of wellness-related initiatives on college and university campuses. Academic libraries can be key partners in these kinds of programs. This chapter shares approaches for librarians looking to support digital well-being. Following a review of the literature on digital wellness and college students, the author details a case study of two pilot approaches to digital wellness support at the University Libraries at Virginia Tech: contributing to a large campus-wide event and developing cocurricular workshops. Connecting relevant outreach and instructional programs to digital well-being, and framing them in wellness terms, offered librarians new opportunities to build partnerships across campus and to connect with students.


This chapter examines whether affluent states should commit significant funds to alleviate poverty abroad. It argues not only that they should, but also that their duties to those who live in poverty go far beyond this. This argument in favour of development aid is based on the idea that an individual has a duty to prevent something very bad from happening when they can do so at little cost to themselves. The chapter then highlights that the global order plays a significant role in the persistence of global poverty, and this further supports the case for development aid. It also considers the claim that states should prioritize meeting the claims of their own members ahead of the claims of those who live abroad. The chapter shows that, even if this is true, it does not undermine the case for committing significant funds to alleviate global poverty.


The patient with dementia suffers a chronic disorder, with no specific treatment and little therapeutic response, which is accompanied by high co morbidity and additional complications which cause multiple symptoms which limit the patient s autonomy still further, modify the environment and create progressive dependence. Thus, from all angles, approach is very difficult both in seeking the cause and in prevention and also for treatment. The objective of this review is to establish the guidelines for treatment in view of the long term course of the disorder, in accordance with the specific weight and intensity of symptoms from the onset of the illness by means of precise diagnosis of the deficits and control of the commonest disorders which occur over time, such as psycho affective, psychotic, sleep disorders or treatment of a state of confusion and control of the diseases which are most frequent in this population. Finally, we briefly analyze the health care and social requirements of these patients and suggest general recommendations for carers to improve management, classifying the states of dementia into three degrees of severity.


In today's era of digitalisation and internet, user authentication and the use of passwords has been a centerpiece for decades. There is substantial research in the field of password security. Unfortunately, the methods of storing the passwords and its mechanism have failed to fetch enough attention from the researchers. In the past few years, a lot of researchers recommended the use of a combination of security methods like steganography and cryptography to elevate the security of the system. However, it still does not assure the security of the password. In this paper, we propose a system that implements multi-level encryption with decentralized and distributed storage of enterprises' sensitive information and offers multi-layered security to the system. In this design, we introduce a password security equation, Password Protection = Encrypt + Split + Hide. According to our equation, we encrypt the password using AES-256, split it into pieces and hide it behind the images using steganography using AES-256 adding another layer of encryption and store it in a decentralized manner. When the user logs in to the system all the pieces of the password are retrieved from all the steganographic images, merged and decrypted to form a legitimate password in one piece.


This article theorizes the circulation of violence in the realms of immigration and labor. Through Walter Benjamin, I conceptualize the relationship between racial violence and law, and note that although violence can support the authority of law, excessive violence makes law vulnerable to decay. This tension between authority and excess is eased by humanitarianism. I find clues for disrupting this circulation in Benjamin's twin notions of the real state of exception and the general strike, introduced two decades apart and invested in theorizing how labor and other marginalized groups threaten the stability of law supported by violence. This reconstruction proceeds alongside an examination of the contemporary US regime of immigration enforcement, which combines the excessive violence of detention and deportation with marginal humanitarian adjustments, which ultimately legitimate violence. On the disruptive side, a Benjaminian reading of labor activism by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers offers three dimensions of emancipatory politics: (a) practices of refusal (to engage on the terms of the immigration debate), (b) the establishment of historical constellations (of racial regulation of labor constitutive of law), and (c) divine violence (through exposure of lawful violence in the food production chain).


To the best of the author's knowledge, this is one of the first times that a large quantity of flight data has been studied in order to improve safety.
A two phase novelty detection approach to locating abnormalities in the descent phase of aircraft flight data is presented. It has the ability to model normal time series data by analysing snapshots at chosen heights in the descent, weight individual abnormalities and quantitatively assess the overall level of abnormality of a flight during the descent. The approach expands on a recommendation by the UK Air Accident Investigation Branch to the UK Civil Aviation Authority. The first phase identifies and quantifies abnormalities at certain heights in a flight. The second phase ranks all flights to identify the most abnormal; each phase using a one class classifier. For both the first and second phases, the Support Vector Machine (SVM), the Mixture of Gaussians and the K-means one class classifiers are compared. The method is tested using a dataset containing manually labelled abnormal flights. The results show that the SVM provides the best detection rates and that the approach identifies unseen abnormalities with a high rate of accuracy. Furthermore, the method outperforms the event based approach currently in use. The feature selection tool F-score is used to identify differences between the abnormal and normal datasets. It identifies the heights where the discrimination between the two sets is largest and the aircraft parameters most responsible for these variations.


This thesis describes a number of synthetic approaches for obtaining chiral, enantiomerically pure natural products, in particular some semiochemicals. This has been accomplished by using various strategies; by starting from compounds from the chiral pool, by using chiral auxiliaries, via enzymatic resolutions or by chemical asymmetric synthesis. Hence, the sexual pheromone of Microdiprion pallipes, a propanoate ester of one or several isomers of 3,7,11-trimethyltridecan-2-ol, was synthesised, both as a mixture of all isomers and as the sixteen pure, individual stereoisomers. These compounds were obtained by joining different enantiopure building blocks stemming from the chiral pool. When compared with some synthetic blends, both the propanoate esters of the stereoisomeric erythro-3,7,11-trimethyltridecan-2-ols originally found in the extract from the female of M. pallipes, surprisingly, showed lower activities in biological studies. Indeed, the propanoates of two threo-isomers gave significantly higher responses in biological tests, than did the propanoates of the two natural erythro-ones. Because the synthetic strategy used earlier was not very efficient for the preparation of the threo-isomers of 3,7,11-trimethyltridecan-2-ol, we were encouraged to look for alternative synthetic approaches. The new synthetic strategy chosen led us to two key synthetic building blocks, an O-protected derivative of (2S,3S)-3-methyl-4-(phenylsulfonyl)butan-2-ol butanol and (3R,7R)-1-iodo-3,7-dimethylnonane. Deprotonation of the former followed by alkylation with the latter should give a compound with the desired carbon skeleton. For efficient preparation of the first building block, we developed a new diastereoselective addition reaction of dialkylzincs to some chiral aldehydes, the products of which were diastereomerically enriched 1,2-dialkyl-alkanols. Using this method, each enantiomer of the desired building block was obtained via efficient diastereoselective addition of dimethylzinc to each enantiomer of a 2-methylaldehyde. The resulting product, a diastereomerically and enantiomerically highly enriched 3-methyl-2-alkanol was further purified by enzyme catalysed acylation followed by some functional group interconversions. The second building block was prepared via convergent multistep synthesis, starting from a single, enantiomerically pure compound, (R)-2-methylsuccinic acid 4-t-butyl ester, derived from the chiral pool. The two enantiomerically pure building blocks, so obtained, were coupled together. Some additional functional group manipulations of the product produced furnished the desired isomer, which had shown the highest activity in field tests of the M. pallipes, namely the propanoate ester of (2S,3R,7R,11R)-3,7,11-trimethyltridecan-2-ol. This thesis describes a number of synthetic approaches for obtaining chiral, enantiomerically pure natural products, in particular some semiochemicals. This has been accomplished by using various strategies; by starting from compounds from the chiral pool, by using chiral auxiliaries, via enzymatic resolutions or by chemical asymmetric synthesis. Hence, the sexual pheromone of Microdiprion pallipes, a propanoate ester of one or several isomers of 3,7,11-trimethyltridecan-2-ol, was synthesised, both as a mixture of all isomers and as the sixteen pure, individual stereoisomers. These compounds were obtained by joining different enantiopure building blocks stemming from the chiral pool. When compared with some synthetic blends, both the propanoate esters of the stereoisomeric erythro-3,7,11-trimethyltridecan-2-ols originally found in the extract from the female of M. pallipes, surprisingly, showed lower activities in biological studies. Indeed, the propanoates of two threo-isomers gave significantly higher responses in biological tests, than did the propanoates of the two natural erythro-ones. Because the synthetic strategy used earlier was not very efficient for the preparation of the threo-isomers of 3,7,11-trimethyltridecan-2-ol, we were encouraged to look for alternative synthetic approaches. The new synthetic strategy chosen led us to two key synthetic building blocks, an O-protected derivative of (2S,3S)-3-methyl-4-(phenylsulfonyl)butan-2-ol butanol and (3R,7R)-1-iodo-3,7-dimethylnonane. Deprotonation of the former followed by alkylation with the latter should give a compound with the desired carbon skeleton. For efficient preparation of the first building block, we developed a new diastereoselective addition reaction of dialkylzincs to some chiral aldehydes, the products of which were diastereomerically enriched 1,2-dialkyl-alkanols. Using this method, each enantiomer of the desired building block was obtained via efficient diastereoselective addition of dimethylzinc to each enantiomer of a 2-methylaldehyde. The resulting product, a diastereomerically and enantiomerically highly enriched 3-methyl-2-alkanol was further purified by enzyme catalysed acylation followed by some functional group interconversions. The second building block was prepared via convergent multistep synthesis, starting from a single, enantiomerically pure compound, (R)-2-methylsuccinic acid 4-t-butyl ester, derived from the chiral pool. The two enantiomerically pure building blocks, so obtained, were coupled together. Some additional functional group manipulations of the product produced furnished the desired isomer, which had shown the highest activity in field tests of the M. pallipes, namely the propanoate ester of (2S,3R,7R,11R)-3,7,11-trimethyltridecan-2-ol. This thesis describes a number of synthetic approaches for obtaining chiral, enantiomerically pure natural products, in particular some semiochemicals. This has been accomplished by using various strategies; by starting from compounds from the chiral pool, by using chiral auxiliaries, via enzymatic resolutions or by chemical asymmetric synthesis. Hence, the sexual pheromone of Microdiprion pallipes, a propanoate ester of one or several isomers of 3,7,11-trimethyltridecan-2-ol, was synthesised, both as a mixture of all isomers and as the sixteen pure, individual stereoisomers. These compounds were obtained by joining different enantiopure building blocks stemming from the chiral pool. When compared with some synthetic blends, both the propanoate esters of the stereoisomeric erythro-3,7,11-trimethyltridecan-2-ols originally found in the extract from the female of M. pallipes, surprisingly, showed lower activities in biological studies. Indeed, the propanoates of two threo-isomers gave significantly higher responses in biological tests, than did the propanoates of the two natural erythro-ones. Because the synthetic strategy used earlier was not very efficient for the preparation of the threo-isomers of 3,7,11-trimethyltridecan-2-ol, we were encouraged to look for alternative synthetic approaches. The new synthetic strategy chosen led us to two key synthetic building blocks, an O-protected derivative of (2S,3S)-3-methyl-4-(phenylsulfonyl)butan-2-ol butanol and (3R,7R)-1-iodo-3,7-dimethylnonane. Deprotonation of the former followed by alkylation with the latter should give a compound with the desired carbon skeleton. For efficient preparation of the first building block, we developed a new diastereoselective addition reaction of dialkylzincs to some chiral aldehydes, the products of which were diastereomerically enriched 1,2-dialkyl-alkanols. Using this method, each enantiomer of the desired building block was obtained via efficient diastereoselective addition of dimethylzinc to each enantiomer of a 2-methylaldehyde. The resulting product, a diastereomerically and enantiomerically highly enriched 3-methyl-2-alkanol was further purified by enzyme catalysed acylation followed by some functional group interconversions. The second building block was prepared via convergent multistep synthesis, starting from a single, enantiomerically pure compound, (R)-2-methylsuccinic acid 4-t-butyl ester, derived from the chiral pool. The two enantiomerically pure building blocks, so obtained, were coupled together. Some additional functional group manipulations of the product produced furnished the desired isomer, which had shown the highest activity in field tests of the M. pallipes, namely the propanoate ester of (2S,3R,7R,11R)-3,7,11-trimethyltridecan-2-ol.


Textual Case Based Reasoning (TCBR) aims at effective reuse of information contained in unstructured documents. The key advantage of TCBR over traditional Information Retrieval systems is its ability to incorporate domain-specific knowledge to facilitate case comparison beyond simple keyword matching. However, substantial human intervention is needed to acquire and transform this knowledge into a form suitable for a TCBR system. In this research, we present automated approaches that exploit statistical properties of document collections to alleviate this knowledge acquisition bottleneck. We focus on two important knowledge containers: relevance knowledge, which shows relatedness of features to cases, and similarity knowledge, which captures the relatedness of features to each other. The terminology is derived from the Case Retrieval Network (CRN) retrieval architecture in TCBR, which is used as the underlying formalism in this thesis applied to text classification. Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) generated concepts are a useful resource for relevance knowledge acquisition for CRNs. This thesis introduces a supervised LSI technique called sprinkling that exploits class knowledge to bias LSI's concept generation. An extension of this idea, called Adaptive Sprinkling has been proposed to handle inter-class relationships in complex domains like hierarchical (e.g. Yahoo directory) and ordinal (e.g. product ranking) classification tasks. Experimental evaluation results show the superiority of CRNs created with sprinkling and AS, not only over LSI on its own, but also over state-of-the-art classifiers like Support Vector Machines (SVM). Current statistical approaches based on feature co-occurrences can be utilized to mine similarity knowledge for CRNs. However, related words often do not co-occur in the same document, though they co-occur with similar words. We introduce an algorithm to efficiently mine such indirect associations, called higher order associations. Empirical results show that CRNs created with the acquired similarity knowledge outperform both LSI and SVM. Incorporating acquired knowledge into the CRN transforms it into a densely connected network. While improving retrieval effectiveness, this has the unintended effect of slowing down retrieval. We propose a novel retrieval formalism called the Fast Case Retrieval Network (FCRN) which eliminates redundant run-time computations to improve retrieval speed. Experimental results show FCRN's ability to scale up over high dimensional textual casebases. Finally, we investigate novel ways of visualizing and estimating complexity of textual casebases that can help explain performance differences across casebases. Visualization provides a qualitative insight into the casebase, while complexity is a quantitative measure that characterizes classification or retrieval hardness intrinsic to a dataset. We study correlations of experimental results from the proposed approaches against complexity measures over diverse casebases.


Chitosan (CS)/montmorillonite (CS/MMT) coatings have been applied on fresh tangerine fruits for two times to study the effect of coating structure changes on their preservation performance. After the first coating, the second coating was conducted before (at day 3) and after (at day 5) the perforation of coatings during storage, respectively. During storage, the quality of fruits and the changes of coating morphologies were monitored. Results showed that, micro-pores appeared on the coating layer of CS/MMT-0 at day 3, which was coated for only one time at day 0, while perforation was significantly retarded by the second coating. Moreover, the coating carried out at day 3 on CS/MMT-3 was much more stable in structure compared to that at day 5 on CS/MMT-5. Furthermore, the accumulated decay rates of the coated fruits were much lower than that of the control group (CK), particularly CS/MMT-3. CS/MMT-3 showed higher contents of ascorbic acid and total soluble solids at the later stage of storage. The activities of defense-related enzymes (peroxidase (POD) and polyphenoloxidase (PPO)) in fruit peels were also higher in CS/MMT-3 and CS/MMT-5. Therefore, it demonstrated that the preservation performance of CS/MMT coating is closely related to the stability of coating structure, which can be enhanced by the second time coating.


Herein, we present direct experimental evidence of pH oscillatory dynamics in the urea-urease enzymatic reaction conducted in a continuous reactor-membrane-reservoir system. Our results are consistent with earlier model predictions requiring differential transport of H+ and substrate. We report oscillations with periods in hundreds of seconds and the amplitude of ∼0.1 pH units.


The finding (Cramer, 1985) that psychological adjustment is positively related to facilitative relationship quality for females but not for males was not supported in a study of 61 couples. For males, both relationship quality and personality characteristics of neuroticism and extraversion were significantly related to psychological adjustment. However, for females, perceived relationship quality was not related to well-being once the effects of personality characteristics were controlled for. These findings are consistent with other reports of gender and sex-role differences in the process of social relationship support utilization. The findings may have implications for marital counselling.


This paper constructs an optimal configuration assessment, in terms of the financial returns, of the Overtopping BReakwater for wave Energy Conversion (OBREC). This technology represents a hybrid wave energy harvester, totally embedded in traditional rubble mound breakwaters. Nine case studies along the southern coast of Western Australia have been analysed. The technique provides tips on how to estimate the quality of the investments, for benchmarking with different turbine strategy layouts and overlapping with the costs of traditional rubble mound breakwaters. Analyses of the offshore and nearshore wave climate have been studied by a high resolution coastal propagation model, forced with wave data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). Inshore wave conditions have been used to quantify the exploitable resources. It has been demonstrated that the optimal investment strategy is nonlinearly dependent on potential electricity production due to outer technical constraints. The work emphasizes the importance of integrating energy production predictions in an economic decision framework for prioritizing adaptation investments.


Abstract We aimed to examine the contribution of splenic artery (SA) Doppler parameters in the detection of foetuses with late-onset foetal growth restriction (LO-FGR) and to evaluate its power in predicting adverse perinatal outcomes. Within the study's scope, 52 cases in the LO-FGR group and 92 cases in the control group were evaluated. The criteria determined in the Delphi procedure by an international consensus were used to define the LO-FGR. Middle cerebral artery (MCA) pulsatility index (PI) and SA PI were significantly lower in the LO-FGR group (p: .002, p<.001, respectively). Likewise, cerebroplacental ratio (CPR) was significantly lower in the LO-FGR group (p<.001). Decreased CPR and decreased SA PI were significantly and positively associated with an increased likelihood of exhibiting adverse obstetric outcome (p<.001, p: .012, respectively). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that the optimal cut-off value for SA PI was 1.41 to predict LO-FGR with 70.7% sensitivity and 61.5% specificity (AUC = 0.684; 95% CI, 0.594–0.774). Impact Statement What is already known on this subject? The main clinical difficulty in late-onset foetal growth restriction (LO-FGR) is the detection of the disease. What do the results of this study add? The splenic artery (SA) pulsatility index (PI) may contribute to both diagnostic and the prediction of adverse perinatal outcomes in LO-FGR cases. Our results showed that the SA PI value, as well as cerebroplacental ratio (CPR), can be a useful parameter in predicting negative outcomes. What are the implications of these findings for clinical practice and /or further research? Various degrees of uteroplacental insufficiency in foetuses with LO-FGR may be associated with abnormalities in SA Doppler velocimetry. Splenic artery Doppler velocimetry can be used for the clinical management of LO-FGR.


We study the problem of strategically eliciting the preferences of a decision-maker through a moderate number of pairwise comparison queries with the goal of making them a high quality recommendation for a specific decision-making problem. We are particularly motivated by applications in high stakes domains, such as when choosing a policy for allocating scarce resources to satisfy basic human needs (e.g., kidneys for transplantation or housing for those experiencing homelessness) where a consequential recommendation needs to be made from the (partially) elicited preferences. We model uncertainty in the preferences as being set based and investigate two settings: a) an offline elicitation setting, where all queries are made at once, and b) an online elicitation setting, where queries are selected sequentially over time in an adaptive fashion. We propose robust optimization formulations of these problems which integrate the preference elicitation and recommendation phases with aim to either maximize worst-case utility or minimize worst-case regret, and study their complexity. For the offline case, where active preference elicitation takes the form of a two and half stage robust optimization problem with decision-dependent information discovery, we provide an equivalent reformulation in the form of a mixed-binary linear program which we solve via column-andconstraint generation. For the online setting, where active preference learning takes the form of a multistage robust optimization problem with decision-dependent information discovery, we propose a conservative solution approach. Numerical studies on synthetic data demonstrate that our methods outperform state-ofthe art approaches from the literature in terms of worst-case rank, regret, and utility. We showcase how our methodology can be used to assist a homeless services agency in choosing a policy for allocating scarce housing resources of different types to people experiencing homelessness. We use historical data to generate candidate counterfactual housing allocation policies that differ in their fairness, efficiency, and interpretability characteristics and elicit the agency's values over these attributes.


There is a consensus that snow over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) modulates the regional climate significantly. Possible causes for the interannual variability of snow over the TP, however, are under debate, especially regarding the independent roles of El Niño‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Indian Ocean dipole (IOD). Based on in situ observational data analyses and model simulations, our study shows that impacts of ENSO and IOD on snow depth (SD) over the TP are different during early winter. In particular, ENSO mostly affects SD over the eastern TP, while IOD affects SD over the central western TP. Both above‐normal snowfall and cold temperature anomaly contribute to deeper‐than‐normal SD, with the former playing a more important role. Diabatic cooling of the suppressed convection over the western North Pacific that related to the positive phase of ENSO could excite an anomalous cyclonic circulation and strong cold temperature anomalies over the eastern TP. There is an enhanced moisture transported over the eastern TP from the tropics due to the anomalous cyclonic circulation, along with strong cold temperature anomalies, resulting in above‐normal snowfall in the eastern TP. On the other hand, anomalous convection over the western Indian Ocean related to the positive IOD could generate a wave train propagating northeastward and induce an anomalous cyclonic circulation over the central western TP. The associated anomalous circulation transports extra moisture from the tropics to the central western TP, providing conditions favorable for more snowfall over the central western TP. Opposite conditions tend to occur during negative phases of ENSO and IOD.


Evolution strategies with q-Gaussian mutation, which allows the self-adaptation of the mutation distribution shape, is proposed for dynamic optimization problems in this paper. In the proposed method, a real parameter q, which allows to smoothly control the shape of the mutation distribution, is encoded in the chromosome of the individuals and is allowed to evolve. In the experimental study, the q-Gaussian mutation is compared to Gaussian and Cauchy mutation on four experiments generated from the simulation of evolutionary robots.


The Goden Ass is a unique, entertaining, and thoroughly readable Latin novel - the only work of fiction in Latin to have survives on its entirety. It tells the story of Lucius, whose curiosity and fascination for sex and magic result in his transformation into an ass. After suffering a series of trials and humiliations, he is ultimately transformed back into human shape by the kindness of the Goddess Isis. Blending romantic adventure, fable, and religious testament, The Golden Ass is one of the truly seminal books of European literature, of intrinsic interest as a novel in its own right, and one of the earliest examples of the picaresque. This new translation is at once faithful to the meaning of the Latin, whilst reproducing all the exuberant gaiety of the original. This book is intended for students of Classics.


For this study of testosterone concentrations in 2 matched groups of men, 1 of lifelong nonsmokers and 1 of men smoking at least 30 cigarettes daily, 2 specimens of blood were collected with an interval of 7 days without smoking. The first specimens showed plasma testosterone to be higher in nonsmokers than in smokers, indicating that smoking decreases plasma testosterone. The difference in plasma testosterone between the 2 specimens from nonsmokers was insignificant, but in smokers the 2nd specimen showed a statistically significant increase in testosterone concentration. Reduced testosterone biosynthesis caused by carbon monoxide inhibition of Leydig cell microsomal hydroxylases seems to be the probable explanation of this effect. The possibility thus exists that cigarette smoking can contribute to infertility in men.


In China, the seed industry has fierce competition. The situation of homogeneous management and homogeneous products is serious. A key problem is simple and outmoded marketing channel of seed. It threatens sustainable development of seed enterprises. At present, the two-level distribution channel of seed industry has problems of similarity, low access threshold, and unfair benefit distribution, and thus urgently needs innovation. The innovation of distribution channel is inevitable requirement for promoting reorganization of China's seed industry and building of new order, is necessary weapon for dealing with trans-national seed industry competition, is essential measure for lifting the overall service level of seed industry, and is also essential means for conforming to stage development of China's agriculture. The innovation of seed marketing channel should consider changes of future agricultural development, deep-level demand of industrial market and services, sci-tech development level, fair distribution of industrial profit, and differentiated competition. It is recommended that channel innovation should follow the flat principle, have new and unique conception, give full play connection advantage of marginal industry, realize complementary advantages and mutual promotion, strengthen service awareness, combine with agricultural development trend, and seek sci-tech innovation of channel carrier – variety.


According to the manifestation theory in Islam, the God expresses himself through the mediator, and these mediators take on the meaning of symbol in art and beauty, and use the mystery language to express their inner concepts and nature. The way that God is portrayed in a religion determines the nature of its religious art. Islamic art has chosen the form of geometry, which is inherently similar to the ideal forms, to manifest exemplary forms in art, and geometric motifs in Persian painting can be one of the examples of using geometry to represent the exemplary world. Geometric motifs in Persian-Islamic arts are one of the types of images that can help artists to express facts. It means by combining geometry and philosophical and theological aspects, as well as spiritual and sacred allusions, they use the language of mystery and allegory to express facts. In the traditionalist view, geometric motifs were not merely a form of decoration in Islamic art; rather, each implies a message that the conscious viewer must attain to the highest meaning and truth from the material form and appearance.
The Illustrated manuscript of the three poems by Khwaju Kermani (Homay o Homayun, Kamal namah and Roudat al-Anwar), 798 AH/ 1395 AD, British Library, add. 18113, in various aspects, including geometric motifs used in paintings, is considered as a sample in the tradition of Persian-Islamic painting until the end of the tenth century AH. Therefore, research in this field is important. So, the aim of this article is to introduce and recognize the geometric patterns in this illustrated manuscript and analyze their numerical concepts based on the manifestation theory. The questions are: 1. What are the structural features of the geometric motifs that are used in the illustrated manuscript of the three poems by Khwaju Kermani? 2. What thematic analyses can be provided for the geometric patterns of this illustrated manuscript according to the manifestation theory in the Persian-Islamic arts? This research is developmental and done by descriptive-analytical method. The method of collecting information is documentary (library research method) and the method of analyzing information is qualitative.
The statistical population of this research is all the paintings of illustrated manuscript of the three poems by Khwaju Kermani (British Library, add. 18113) which consists of 9 paintings. Between these 9 paintings, only 4 paintings have geometric motifs that have been considered as research examples. The method of selecting research samples is non-probabilistic (selective) method and the criterion for selecting samples is the presence of geometric motifs in the painting. Examples are: "Homay in the Court of Faghfor of China", "Homay Arrives at Homayoun's Castle", "Parliament the Day after Homay and Homayoun's Wedding", "Bozorgmehr in the Presence of Khosrow Anoshirvan".
Twelve geometric motifs have been used in the illustrated manuscript of the three poems by Khwaju Kermani, which have been drawn based on the numbers 8, 6 and 4, respectively, and the emphasis on these special numbers has been in order to express their themes and concepts. The number eight with 79.2% is the most frequent geometric basis in the manuscript of the three poems by Khwaju Kermani. In the Islamic thought, the number eight is related to the world of examples, and the key to passing from the tangible world to the rational world, the transition between the earth and the heaven, and the interface between divinity and immortality. It is also reminiscent of the eight bearers of the Divine Throne, the eight heavens and the eight heavenly rivers. The number four symbolizes the earth and the tangible world. It shows the active attributes of nature and the passive attributes of matter as well as the four parts of human worldly life. According to the companions, the number four is manifested in a square which vertical lines indicate the descent of mercy and its horizontal lines represent the balance of creatures and divine justice, and they use it to indicate the two mystical states of intuition and absence. The number six is reminiscent of the six days of creation and corresponds to the body in the large world and is equivalent to six powers of motion in the small world. If the number six is represented as two inverted triangles, it indicates the relationship between body and soul. Furthermore, it is considered the number of perfection and mystery of the sky. According to the seven-color system in traditional chromatography, the predominant color of the geometric motifs of this manuscript is blue with % 52, which indicates benevolence, beneficence and self-control, and is often placed next to its complementary color, cream color. Also, due to the inherent correspondence of ideas and forms in Islamic civilization, most of the hexagonal patterns that are considered as symbols of the sky are painted in blue, and ultimately leads to the unity of meaning and form.


The aim of stroke rehabilitation is to ensure successful reintegration of stroke survivors (SSV) into their communities to enable them effectively discharge their physical, economic and social roles. This study assessed factors related to satisfaction with community reintegration (CR) of SSV in Kano metropolis. It was a cross sectional survey that recruited 68 consenting SSV using the purposive sampling technique. Assessments of CR, physical function, social support and depression were done with Reintegration to Normal Living Index (RNLI), Functional Independence Measure (FIM), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MPSS) and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) respectively. Spearman Rank Order Correlation and Wilcoxon Sign Rank tests were used to analyze the data at a level of statistical significance of 0.05 using SPSS version 16.0. A total of 36(52.9%) males and 32(47.1%) females with mean age of 59.69±13.568 years took part in the study. About 50 (73.6%) are modified dependent and 46 (67.6%) enjoyed moderate social support. The majority 87% (N=59) experienced severe restrictions to CR. There were significant correlations between RNLI and each of MSPSS (rho=0.249, p=0.041) and FIM (rho =0.406, p=0.001) scores. Occupational status (Z=-6.693, p=0.000), income (Z=-3.910, p=0.000) and driving status (Z=-5.292, p=0.000) changed significantly. It was concluded that the level of CR of most SSV in Kano metropolis was not satisfactory with significant loss of employment and earnings and ability to drive post stroke. Increased levels of social support and adequate recovery of physical functions are likely to improve satisfaction with CR. KEY WORDS : stroke, satisfaction, community reintegration, social support, driving, return to work


A successful program is the product of a flexible policy based on the needs of the community it is intended to serve. Because the diabetes caseload varies from one institution to another, each institution should assess its own needs and match its resources to the needs of its caseload. The needs assessment should be performed initially to guide the management of the program and to form the basis for program planning. It should be a continuing process that will allow the program to adapt to changing service requirements. In addition to the needs of the program, the needs of the individual patient should be assessed to provide the basis for the instructional program offered to each patient. The person with diabetes is recognized to be an equal partner in all aspects of the educational process.


The last 20 years have witnessed an increase in the attention paid to crimes of sexual violence. Academic research, social services, and the general public have responded to the steady rise in these crimes by subjecting them to increased scrutiny and address. Professionals and paraprofessionals responsible for the processing, supervision, and treatment of sex offenders are under increasing pressure. This study investigated the perceptions and experiences of professionals and paraprofessionals working with sex offenders. Such research is important because these perceptions influence practice. Using a semistructured interview schedule, 23 men and women were interviewed about various aspects of their work with sex offenders for between 1 and 2 hours. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic content analysis. The findings are discussed in terms of professionals'and paraprofessionals' perceptions of sex offenders and their offences and the manner in which such perceptions affect their professional practice.


Economic growth in China in recent decades has largely rested on the dynamism of its cities. High economic growth has coincided with measures aimed at improving the efficiency of local governments and with a mounting political drive to curb corruption. Yet the connection between government institutions and urban growth in China remains poorly understood. This paper is the first to look into the connection between government efficiency and corruption, on the one hand, and urban growth in China, on the other and to assess what is the role of institutions relative to more traditional factors for economic growth in Chinese cities. Using panel data for 283 cities over the period between 2003 and 2014, the results show that urban growth in China is a consequence of a combination of favourable human capital, innovation, density, local conditions, foreign direct investment (FDI), and, city-level government institutions. Both government quality ? especially for those cities with the best governments ? and the fight against corruption at the city level have a direct effect on urban growth. Measures to tackle corruption at the provincial level matter in a more indirect way, by raising or lowering the returns of other growth-inducing factors.


The laser is a non-traditional device used in many applications because it is a versatile flexibility and cost-effective. In this paper, different laser types of engraving different material were discussed for different fundamental researchers on laser engraving. Laser engraving is very practical to engrave hard and various material by removing part of layer from the surface to a specific depth. The effect of laser parameters such as wavelength, pulse duration, repetition-rate and mode of operation has studied various types of material. Also, the effect of material properties such as optical and physical properties with respect to incident laser radiation was studied. There are many kinds of industrial laser which are used for engraving like, carbon dioxide (CO2) laser, Neodymium-doped Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (Nd: YAG) laser, fiber laser and others. This review discussed the effect of three types of laser engraving on different material. With a sample comparison explains a summary of each author and the type of laser, material with the result and their application speed.


CONTEXT
The rotary diversified diet, which involves food elimination and rotation of remaining allowed foods, is commonly used in the management of environmental illness. No studies have considered patient adherence while evaluating the effectiveness of the diet in controlling symptoms.

OBJECTIVE
The study examined the severity of patients' perceived symptoms and dietary adherence during treatment with a rotary diversified diet.

DESIGN
A prospective and exploratory study using purposive sampling and the following data collection methods: personal interviews, symptom severity questionnaires, and food records to assess dietary adherence.

SETTING
Private clinic of a Toronto, Ontario physician specializing in environmental medicine.

PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS
Twenty-five female residents of Toronto, Ontario (aged 25-67 years) diagnosed with environmental illness.

INTERVENTION
Patients were treated with a rotary diversified diet for 16 weeks.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Symptom severity and dietary adherence were assessed after 4, 10, and 16 weeks of treatment. Adherence was assessed by comparing food records to the diet prescription.

RESULTS
At 16 weeks, patients reported a 50% decline in symptom severity for 5 of the 6 symptom categories assessed and for all categories combined. Those with closer elimination and rotation adherence reported a greater decline in gastrointestinal symptoms at 4 and 10 weeks of treatment, respectively. Improvement in total symptom severity was associated with closer rotation adherence at 10 weeks. Patients experienced difficulties in adhering to the diet.

CONCLUSIONS
Results suggest that the diet, if followed, is beneficial, especially in improving gastrointestinal symptoms. Further evaluation of its effectiveness is limited by its complexity and the nature of environmental illness. Because the diet is difficult to follow over time, patients require extensive nutritional counseling and support.


By using quarterly data from 2001-2007 and applying various approaches, we estimate real equilibrium exchange rate misalignment for Azerbaijani Manat (AZN) and find that AZN is slightly overvalued. Purchasing power parity approach does not explain the equilibrium exchange rate. However using behavioral and permanent equilibrium exchange rate approaches, we find that the relative productivity, terms of trade, trade openness, net foreign assets, government expenditures and oil prices are the main determinants of misalignment.


The research documented in this thesis, Enhancing the Capabilities of Computational Chemistry using GPU Technology, has been carried out by Perri Needham at the University of Manchester and was submitted on the 30th August 2013 for the degree of PhD (Doctor of Philosophy). Three key enhancements were made to a semiempirical molecular orbital program to develop a fast, accurate method of calculating chemical properties of large (> 1000 atom) molecular systems, through the use of quantum theory. In this thesis the key enhancements are presented which are: the implementation of a divide-and-conquer approach to a self-consistent field procedure, in an effort to improve capability; the use of the novel technology, GPU technology, to parallelize the divide-and-conquer self-consistent field procedure, in an effort to improve the speed; the implementation of a newly developed semiempirical model, the Polarized Molecular Orbital Model, in an effort to improve the accuracy. The development of a divide-and-conquer approach to the SCF (DC-SCF) procedure (enhancement 1) was carried out using saturated hydrocarbon chains whereby the saturated hydrocarbon chain is partitioned into small overlapping subsystems and the Roothaan equations solved for each subsystem. An investigation was carried out to find the optimal partitioning scheme for saturated hydrocarbon chains in order to minimize the loss of energy experienced from neglecting some of the interactions in the system whilst maintaining near linear scaling with system size. The DC-SCF procedure was shown to be accurate to 10-3 kcal mol-1 per atom whilst calculating the SCF-energy nearly 6 times faster than using the standard SCF procedure, for a 698-atom system.The development of a parallel DC-SCF procedure and Cartesian forces calculation for use on a GPU (enhancement 2), resulted in a hybrid CPU/GPU DC-SCF implementation that calculated the energy of a 1997-atom saturated hydrocarbon chain 21 times faster than the standard serial SCF implementation and a accelerated Cartesian forces calculation that performed 7 times faster for a saturated hydrocarbon chain of 1205-atoms, when accelerated using an NVidia Tesla C2050 GPU. The hybrid CPU/GPU algorithm made use of commercially accelerated linear algebra libraries, CULA and CUBLAS. A comparison was made between CULA?s accelerated eigensolver routine and the accelerated DC-eigensolver (developed in this research) and it was found that for saturated hydrocarbon chains of > 350 atoms, the accelerated DC-eigensolver performed around twice as fast as the accelerated CULA eigensolver.The implementation of the Polarized Molecular Orbital model (enhancement 3) was validated against published isomerization energies and benchmarked against the non-nitrogen containing complexes in the S66 database. The benchmark complexes were categorized according to dominant intermolecular interactions namely, hydrogen bonding, dispersion interactions and mixed interactions. After assessment it was found that the PMO model predicts interaction energies of complexes with a mixture of dispersive and electrostatic interactions to the highest accuracy (0.69 kcal mol-1 with respect to CCSD(T)/CBS). The dispersion correction within the PMO model was found to ?overcorrect? the dispersive contribution for most complexes tested.The outcome of this research is a semiempirical molecular orbital program that calculates the energy of a closed-shell saturated hydrocarbon chain of ~2000 atoms in under 4 minutes instead of 1.5 hours when using a PM3-Hamiltonian and can calculate interaction energies of systems exhibiting a mixture of electrostatic and dispersive interactions to an accuracy of within 1 kcal mol-1 (relative to high-level quantum methods). To demonstrate a suitable application for the enhanced SE-MO program, interaction energies of a series of PAHs with water, phenol and methanol have been investigated. The resultant program is suitable for use in calculating the energy and forces of large material and (in future) biological systems by a fast and accurate method that would be impractical or impossible to do without these enhancements.


Monoethylene glycol (MEG) is commonly used for hydrate inhibition in fields that require continuous injection. Traditional processes for regeneration and reclamation of MEG require significant amounts of heat. Reclamation (salt removal) is usually done by complete evaporation of salty MEG in a flash separator under partial vacuum. Regeneration (water removal) is done by distillation. Heat integration in current processes is limited. The oil and gas industry is heading towards energy systems based on electricity from dedicated power plants or from the grid, in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions related to petroleum production. Current energy systems, at least offshore, are often based on gas turbines which produce electricity and drive large pumps and compressors. Heat is recovered from the exhaust gases, and sufficient supply of process heat is normally not a problem. However, in future scenarios, there may be little or no available source of low quality energy to produce process heat. Hence, efficient utilization of energy becomes even more important than today. Three process layouts for MEG regeneration and reclamation processes with vapor recompression of the steam from the distillation column were simulated in HYSYS. The simulations were based on a typical feed flow rate of rich MEG for a recovery plant. A compressor raises the saturation temperature of the steam in order to allow it to condense in the process heat exchangers. Thus, the external heat demand of the process can be reduced. Another advantage of vapor recompression is reduced cooling requirements, since heat which is normally rejected, is used internally in the process. Increased complexity and capital costs are the major disadvantages. Exergy analyses were performed on the proposed process layout. The analyses showed that the net reduction in exergy consumption for slip-stream reclamation is too low to be of practical importance. However, up to 30 % reductions in exergy consumption were observed when then the steam is condensed in the reboiler of the water removal unit. The tradeoff between heat transfer area and steam saturation temperature is subject to further optimization. Future activities should focus on the technological challenges of steam compression at relatively high temperatures. An economical optimization of the compressor discharge pressure and different compressor solutions should also be considered in order to further evaluate the feasibility and profitability of vapor recompression in MEG recovery units.


Strain-induced martensite transformation (SIMT) commonly exists around a crack tip of metastable austenite stainless steels. The influence of the volume expansion of the SIMT on the hydrogen diffusion was investigated by hydrogen diffusion modeling around a crack tip in type 304L austenite stainless steel. The volume expansion changed the tensile stress state into pressure stress state at the crack tip, resulting in a large stress gradient along the crack propagation direction. Compared to the analysis without considering the volume expansion effect, this volume expansion further accelerated the hydrogen transport from the inner surface to a critical region ahead of the crack tip, and further increased the maximum value of the hydrogen concentration at the critical position where the strain-induced martensite fraction approximates to 0.1, indicating that the volume expansion of the SIMT further increased the hydrogen embrittlement susceptibility.


Responsibility for infection control lies with all hospital departments in proportion to patient contact share. The primary focus in the development of a Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) team concept was determined by the concern over increased surgical wound infections at Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans Hospital, San Antonio, Texas, during the previous year. Concerns over increased morbidity and mortality and extended lengths of stay created a major impetus to implement phase II of the hospitalwide monitoring of infection control at the facility. The implementation of this hospitalwide monitor illustrates the diversity of ways in which employees are empowered, encouraged, and expected to become involved in daily implementation of CQI.


Little is known about whether dam removal achieves fish restoration objectives. In Chapter 2, I document the characteristics of dams that have been removed along with the methods and trends in fish response to dam removal. In addition, this chapter provides guidance for those embarking on dam removal projects to improve the evidence base (e.g., reliability, replicability, relevance) so that a systematic review on the topic will be possible in the future. In Chapter 3, I document the effectiveness of a nature-like fishway in supporting up- and down- stream movement of a threatened salmonid, bull trout, in Forty Mile Creek, Banff National Park. This chapter explores the biotic and abiotic factors influencing the probability of fish to approach and pass through the fishway as well as passage duration. This information will expand our understanding on system connectivity as a whole by combining both dam removal and fishway research together.


Herein we present a method of developing predictive models of viscosity for ionic liquids (ILs) using publicly available data in the ILThermo database and the open-source software toolkits PyChem, RDKit, and SciKit-Learn. The process consists of downloading ∼700 datapoints from ILThermo, generating ∼1200 physiochemical features with PyChem and RDKit, selecting 11 features with the least absolute shrinkage selection operator (LASSO) method, and using the selected features to train a multi-layer perceptron regressor—a class of feedforward artificial neural network (ANN). The interpretability of the LASSO model allows a physical interpretation of the model development framework while the flexibility and non-linearity of the hidden layer of the ANN optimizes performance. The method is tested on a range of temperatures, pressures, and viscosities to evaluate its efficacy in a general-purpose setting. The model was trained on 578 datapoints including a temperature range of 273.15–373.15 K, pressure range of 60–160 kPa, viscosity range of 0.0035–0.993 Pa s, and ILs of imidazolium, phosphonium, pyridinium, and pyrrolidinium classes to give 33 different salts altogether. The model had a validation set mean squared error of 4.7 × 10−4 ± 2.4 × 10−5 Pa s or relative absolute average deviation of 7.1 ± 1.3%.


The electron-rich, concave face of corannulene makes it an ideal candidate to host electron-deficient fullerenes, such as C60. The host–guest system is dominated by weak van derWaals interactions. Modelling of the C60@corannulene complex was carried out with nine different density functionals: B3LYP, B97-D, BP86, CAM-B3LYP, M06-2X, PW91, t-HCTH, wB97X, and wB97X-D, using the 6-31G(d) basis set. Results indicated that the functionals including an empirical dispersion correction term, B97-D and wB97X-D, gave the most reliable binding energy values when compared with ab initio SCS-MP2 benchmark computations. Additionally, a number of complexes with functionalised corannulene bowls were modelled at the wB97X-D/6-31G(d) level, with NMR calculations performed at the GIAO/wB97X-D/dec-6-31G(d) level. A linear trend was revealed between the number of substituents on corannulene and the strength of binding within complex with C60. Calculated 1H NMR Dd values for methyl groups on methyl substituted corannulene bowls were also linearly dependent on binding energy. Further results are reported here.


OBJECTIVE
To review current literature that supports a biologic basis of gender identity.

METHODS
A traditional literature review.

RESULTS
Evidence that there is a biologic basis for gender identity primarily involves (1) data on gender identity in patients with disorders of sex development (DSDs, also known as differences of sex development) along with (2) neuroanatomical differences associated with gender identity.

CONCLUSIONS
Although the mechanisms remain to be determined, there is strong support in the literature for a biologic basis of gender identity.


The changing market environment (both locally and globally) is reflected in the changing position of individual wine-growers and wine-makers on the market. One of the ways how to strengthen the position of wine-growing and wine-making enterprises within the increasing competition on the current market is a cooperation in the form of horizontal or vertical coordination/integration of the interested enterprises and the formation of wine clusters. Typical characteristics of some wine clusters is their derivation from a specific factor - terroir of vineyards. One of the forms of demonstrating the characteristics of a terroir based wine is a certification system of wines with original certification (VOC). Development of clusters of wine-growing and wine-making enterprises in the Czech Republic on the basis of VOC appellation system has not yet received in the professional literature much attention. The aim of the research, whose partial results are presented in this paper, is deepening of the knowledge about the concept of appellation system VOC in the context of the Czech Republic and about the development of new associations of regional wine producers that are using the VOC appellation system. For this purpose, existing VOC associations in the Czech Republic were identified, their attributes were defined and their form was more precisely characterized based on the selected set of attributes. VOC certification was in the Czech Republic legislatively defined and introduced in 2004. Currently 7 such associations exist in the Czech Republic. From the analyses and comparisons carried out can be concluded, that the conditions for VOC certification are defined as a framework by law. Nonetheless, the analysis of the association characteristics shows that within this legislative framework, individual associations seek/choose their own specific solutions. This implies that rules and concrete operation forms of VOC associations are still being shaped. Further research in this field should focus on evaluation of the relationship between the chosen form of association and its performance results.


A key problem in the control of packet-switched data networks is to schedule the data so that the queue sizes remain bounded over time. Scheduling algorithms have been developed in a number of different models that ensure network stability as long as no queue is inherently overloaded. However, this literature typically assumes that each server runs at a fixed maximum speed. Although this is optimal for clearing queue backlogs as fast as possible, it may be suboptimal in terms of energy consumption. Indeed, a lightly loaded server could operate at a lower rate, at least temporarily, to save energy.


'Mentoring' has become the central issue of the 'restructuring programme' in education faculties in Turkey since 1998. This study aims to explore the participants' perceptions and experiences about the concepts of 'mentor' and 'mentoring'. A mentor and six English Language Teaching Department (ELT) students, who were in the final year of their training programme, participated in the study. A qualitative case study methodology was employed and data were collected through semi‐structured interviews with faculty students and mentors, semi‐structured journals kept only by the faculty students and debriefing notes kept only by the researcher. The findings demonstrate important issues about the nature, functions, benefits, and problems of the mentoring experienced by the faculty students at the particular department such as the need for developing selection criteria and training programmes for mentors and organising regular meetings and seminars about the partnership programme for mutual understanding and sharing opinions. Drawing on the data, recommendations and implications are suggested.


Presents an algorithm to align 2D images with similar densitometric patterns in the spatial domain. It performs automatic identification of control points through local maxima in normalized image cross correlations computed through projections of an image function on 2D orthonormal bases over a predefined circular domain. The image is subsequently subjected to translational and rotational corrections through an integrated transformation matrix obtained by the least-squares minimization technique. The algorithm restricts the corrections required for alignment to rotation and translation only, and care is taken to see that the image does not go through scaling (isotropic or anisotropic) or nonlinear distortions. The least-squares method results in implicit equations in three variables, theta , h, upsilon , representing rotation, and translations along x and y axes. The present algorithm, on the other hand, is based on an approximation that results in a set of explicit equations that are easy to solve. The mathematical validity of this approximation is proved and the results obtained show that the algorithm performs well with similar biological (histological, autoradiographic, and tomographic) images. The algorithm is iterative, and its computer implementation is discussed.


Abstract As nuncio in Munich and Berlin, Eugenio Pacelli had dealt with political issues far beyond the usual scope of his nunciatures. The Papal Secretary of State entrusted him with concordat negotiations with various European countries as well as with foreign policy issues of international significance. This was due not only to Pacelli's special expertise but also to the period of major upheaval during and after the First World War and Berlin's key geopolitical position as a hub linking the East and the West. It is therefore not surprising that in the papal representative's correspondence, the Soviet question, as well as the immediate consequences of the Paris Peace Conference, were the clear focal points of his international attention.


The electronic structure of zinc aluminate (ZnAl2O4) and that of zinc gallate (ZnGa2O4) were studied by the self-consistent tight-binding linearized muffin-tin orbital method with the atomic sphere approximation. The calculated results predict these zinc-based spinel oxides to be direct-gap materials. The direct gap at is found to be 4.11 eV for ZnAl2O4 and 2.79 eV for ZnGa2O4. With reference to the calculated band gap of 5.36 eV for MgAl2O4, the systematic decrease in the gap is attributed to the presence of 3d orbitals of Zn and Ga and the associated p-d hybridization in the upper valence band of zinc aluminate and gallate. Comparison of the contour maps of the electron localization function of ZnAl2O4 and ZnGa2O4 with that of MgAl2O4 clearly shows the bonding to be less ionic in the zinc-based spinel oxides. Finally, the calculations yield a smaller electron effective mass for zinc gallate as compared to that for zinc aluminate, suggesting a higher mobility of electrons in gallate.


Composite anodes made of NiO and SDC-(Li/Na)2CO3 were investigated in relation to their structure, morphology, and porosity. As a first step, the anode powder was prepared by mixing the NiO with SDC-(Li/Na)2CO3 via solid state reaction in weight percentage of 60 : 40 wt% and in various compositions of carbonates (20 and 30wt%), namely NiO-SDC8020 and NiO-SDC7030, respectively. The powder mixtures were then calcined at 680oC. The resultant powder was fine with surface area of about 13.10-13.70 m2/g and an average particle size of 0.32-0.37µm. The powders consist of two phases i.e. the cubic NiO and face-centered cubic structure SDC-(Li/Na)2CO3 as confirmed with x-ray diffraction. The microstructures were observed under scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The anode pellets were later compacted at different pressures (27, 32 and 37 MPa) and sintered at 600oC. The optimum porosity (20.99-24.78%) was achieved for samples of NiO-SDC8020 and NiO-SDC7030 sintered at 600oC and cold pressed at 32 and 37 MPa.


Electricity demand is influenced by atmospheric conditions, and, therefore it is important to quantify their relationships suitably for accurate electricity demand forecasting and the implementation of power‐saving policies. However, interdependencies and characteristics of covariance among meteorological variables within the same periodicities hinder the quantification of their direct and indirect impacts on electric power load. To investigate the strength of the direct correlation between atmospheric conditions and electric power load, this study harnessed a new partialization analysis method based on a partial phase synchronization index combined with wavelet transformation. The advantage of the proposed method is that it can be used to evaluate the degree of independent contribution of the variables over different spatiotemporal scales. Compared with traditional statistical analyses, this new partialization analysis shows that air temperature is the principal variable associated directly with electricity demand, but that the strength of the relationship varies with season and time scale. Relative humidity and wind speed have strong direct correlations with electricity in summer and winter, respectively. Insolation is directly coupled to the electric power load only on sub‐diurnal time scales. This investigation indicates that for accurate forecasting of electricity demand, changes in the coupling strengths of different atmospheric variables should be incorporated into the electric power load forecasting process. The study shows that a partial phase synchronization index, combined with wavelet transformation, is a useful tool that could be used in other studies to assess complex interacting atmospheric oscillations that cannot be assessed properly by traditional approaches.


Objective:To demonstrate that alvimopan (6 or 12 mg) accelerates recovery of gastrointestinal (GI) function in patients undergoing laparotomy for bowel resection or radical hysterectomy. Summary Background Data:Postoperative ileus (POI) following laparotomy may increase morbidity and extend hospitalization. Opioids can contribute to the duration of POI. Alvimopan is a novel opioid receptor antagonist in development for the management of POI. Methods:A total of 510 patients scheduled for bowel resection or radical hysterectomy were randomized (1:1:1) to receive alvimopan 6 mg, alvimopan 12 mg, or placebo orally ≥2 hours before surgery, then twice a day (b.i.d.) until hospital discharge or for up to 7 days. The primary efficacy end point was a composite of time to recovery of upper and lower GI function. An associated secondary end point was time to hospital discharge order written. Results:The modified intent-to-treat population included 469 patients (451 bowel resection and 18 radical hysterectomy patients). Time to recovery of GI function was accelerated for the alvimopan 6 mg (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.28; P < 0.05) and 12 mg (HR = 1.54; P < 0.001) groups with a mean difference of 15 and 22 hours, respectively, compared with placebo. The time to hospital discharge order written was also accelerated in the alvimopan 12 mg group (HR = 1.42; P = 0.003) with a mean difference of 20 hours compared with placebo. The incidence of adverse events was similar among treatment groups. Conclusions:Alvimopan accelerated GI recovery and time to hospital discharge order written compared with placebo in patients undergoing laparotomy and was well tolerated.


We theoretically investigate a two-component reaction-diffusion system that exhibits transient spatio-temporal chaos before reaching a periodic attractor. The transient times grow exponentially with the size of the system. The chaotic behaviour is characterized by the calculation of local Lyapunov exponents and the propagation velocity of a localized perturbation. Both the maximum positive Lyapunov exponent and the propagation velocity appear to be independent of the system size.


—Future smart grids will open the marketplace to novel services for grid management, such as Demand Side Management (DSM). To achieve energy saving in distribution systems, DSM aims at modifying load profile patterns of electricity demand by involving actively customers. In particular, residential customers can participate to this service by shifting their energivourous appliances (e.g. washing machine and dish-washer). Inthis paper, we present a novel DSM service to manage a day ahead balance. It exploits a human-in-the-loop approach to provide suggestions on shifting their appliances based on Latent Dirichlet Allocation algorithm combining both i) the probability density function of each customer's appliance usage and ii) the cost function. To assess our DSM service, we present our experimental results performed in a realistic environment where we simulated a virtual population of about 1 (cid:48) 000 families.


The present article identifies and discusses some of the books and scientific articles that played important roles in the development of the periodic law, before Mendeleev published his Periodic System in 1869. For each book, information is given about the edition in which the discovery was made, and for each scientific article, information is given about the form in which it was issued, such as whether offprints were printed in addition to the journal appearance. Some observations of interest to book collectors are included, such as assessments of the availability of these documents on the rare book market. This paper may also be of use to those who wish to learn about (or to teach) the history of the periodic law from the original documents that first announced important advances toward its creation.