The homogeneous nucleation of ice in solution droplets is known to be an important mechanism of ice particle formation in the Earth's upper troposphere. It is known that the metastable cubic phase of ice can form when inorganic solution droplets freeze below about 200 K and that this may influence cloud properties and water vapor in the upper troposphere. However, many tropospheric aerosols contain a large and sometimes dominant proportion of oxygenated organic material in addition to inorganic substances. It is shown here that the threshold freezing temperature below which cubic ice forms and persists is shifted to considerably higher temperatures in solution droplets containing a carboxylic acid (2-hydroxypropane-1,2,3-tricarboxylic acid, citric acid, C6H8O7). Cubic and the stable hexagonal ice are the only phases to crystallize in micrometre sized citric acid droplets and therefore always exist in contact with aqueous citric acid solution. It is argued that the extremely high viscosity of low temperature aqueous citric acid solutions plays an important role in stabilizing cubic ice. The implications of these findings for ice clouds in the Earth's atmosphere are discussed.


Green sand casting and chill mould casting methods are representing the slow and fast cooling rates of the brass casting, respectively. The compositions of the raw material for this study were about Cu70 and Zn30, which falls under alpha (α) brass. Slow cooling rate casting shows coarse dendritric structures with large spacing between the dendrites. On the other hand, faster cooling rate casting shows finer grains with shorter dendrite spacing. The developed structure during solidification influences the properties of the cast samples. As grain size decreases, the strength of the cast brass increases; micro-porosity in the casting decreases and the tendency for the casting to fracture also decreases. However, the macro-examinations of fracture surfaces of these castings show the differences in the cast samples. Fracture surfaces of the sand cast specimen show larger dimples taking longer time to break indicating higher elongation. However, chill cast specimen shows smaller dimples and cleavage type fracture surface having higher strength and lower elongation.


BACKGROUND
Atypical fibroxanthoma (AFX) and undifferentiated high grade pleomorphic sarcoma (UpS) are histologically very similar, if not identical. However, they differ significantly in clinical outcome.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
We used comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) to screen 24 AFX and 12 UpS for genomic alterations.

RESULTS
DNA copy number changes were observed in 20/24 AFX and in all UpS. The most frequent alterations occurring with comparable frequency in both tumors were deletions on chromosomes 9p and 13q. We also detected statistically significant differences of genetic alterations between the two tumors concerning deletions on 1q, 3p, 5q, 11p, 11q, gains on 7q, 12q and high level gains on 5p and 11q.

CONCLUSION
Despite their very similar histology, AFX and UpS show clear differences in their genetic alterations. This might contribute to the different biological behavior of the two tumors. On the other hand the similarities in genetic alterations on chromosomes 9p and 13q might suggest a common pathogenetic pathway.


INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Immune-related adverse events (irAEs) develop in some patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) on immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. The association of irAEs with prognosis has been reported in melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer, but remains unclear in mRCC. This study aimed to evaluate the association of irAEs with prognosis in patients with mRCC treated with nivolumab. METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated 47 mRCC patients treated with nivolumab following systematic therapy. The irAEs involved the liver, kidney, pancreas, and skin, and endocrine, pulmonary, and gastrointestinal systems, with grading based on the CTCAE v4.0. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) after nivolumab initiation were compared according to irAE development. RESULTS: irAEs developed in 23 patients (48.9%). Median time from therapy initiation to irAE development was 1.38 months. Rash/pruritus was the most frequent event (n=11, 23.4%). irAEs with grade ≥3 were observed in 9 patients (19.1%). PFS and OS were significantly longer in patients with irAEs than in those without irAEs (median 2 year-PFS: 44% vs. 5.89%, p=0.0002; 2 year-OS: 76.9% vs. 53.4%, p=0.0130). Multivariate analyses showed that irAE development was independently associated with longer PFS and OS (PFS: HR 0.27, p=0.0011; OS: HR 0.27, p=0.0472). Furthermore, objective response rate was significantly higher in patients with irAEs than in those without irAEs (63.6% vs. 13.0%, p=0.0005). In addition, median OS after irAE development was 23.0 months. CONCLUSIONS: This retrospective study showed that patients with irAEs had favorable outcomes after nivolumab therapy. The data showed that irAE development might be an effective surrogate marker of patient survival on nivolumab. Figure. No caption available. Figure. No caption available. Source of Funding: None.


This paper presents a study of model reduction techniques, as well as controller reduction via closed-loop considerations in designing robust tilt controllers to improve the curving performance of high-speed railway vehicles. The schemes make exclusive use of local practical signal measurements, i.e. sensors mounted on the current passenger coach. The fundamental problem related to straight-forward classical nulling-feedback control is presented, and the commercially used command-driven with precedence scheme is introduced. Simulation results and an appropriately defined tilt control system assessment method are employed for illustrating the efficacy of the reduced-order robust tilt controller.


Two new fluorescent-labelling techniques for studying peptide transport are described. A peptide transport system has been demonstrated in a higher plant tissue, the scutellum of germinating barley embryos. This system has been extensively characterized, and found to have many similarities to peptide transport systems in microorganisms and mammalian tissues. Evidence has also been obtained for the existence of a peptide transport system in the membrane of an intracellular organelle, possibly the vacuole. Peptide transport is an active process and appears to require the production of a proton gradient across the plasmalemma. Disruption of the proton gradient not only inhibits peptide transport, but also causes general exodus of amino acids from the embryo and affects amino acid metabolism. Considerable pools of small peptides have been detected in both the endosperm and embryo of the germinating barley grain. The concentrations of peptides achieved in the endo sperm are of the right order of magnitude for the efficient operation of the peptide transport system. It seems that the uptake of small peptides by the scutellum of germinating barley embryos is of considerable importance in the transfer of nitrogen from the endosperm to the embryo during the iLobilization of zhe protein storage reserves.


This article explores the linkages between community events and a rise in community social capital by analyzing a case study of the Up Helly Aa fire festival in Lerwick, Shetland. Through ritually repeated action that now translates as tradition, Up Helly Aa interprets and reinterprets what it means to be a Shetlander. It relies on personal donations and local businesses for funding, and this financial self-reliance can be seen to permit exclusionary actions towards visitors and reaffirm notions of traditionally constructed gender roles. This article examines the complex negotiations that take place during the festival surrounding gender, identity, heritage, tourism, and belonging to a place. It concludes that given the physical and social landscape in which the festival occurs, the reutilization of community celebration and fostering of community identity cannot be discounted despite Up Helly Aa's less than politically correct approaches to inclusionary participation and tourism development.


The hope for precision medicine is to tailor prevention, treatment or screening recommendations for individual patients based on their genotype, which will ultimately result in modified health behaviors (e.g. risk reducing behaviors or screening) and improved patient outcomes. For example, clinical testing for the BRCA1/2 mutations has become a standard-of-care practice as evidence-based cancer prevention strategies (e.g. prophylactic oophorectomy) have been shown to reduce cancer morbidity and mortality. Given the complexity of genetic information and potential for false reassurance and psychosocial distress, genetic counseling has traditionally been delivered in-person. Yet, there is a limited workforce of genetic providers who are generally located in academic and urban centers and this in-person delivery model often requires patients to travel to a potentially distant and unfamiliar medical setting to receive cancer genetic testing with a genetic provider. Some patients proceed with testing without a genetic provider (i.e. with their local physician) or they do not proceed with testing at all. Thus, there remain significant access, time, and patient cost barriers to in-person genetic services that could contribute to disparities in both uptake and outcomes of genetic services. Additionally, emerging obligations to return actionable genetic research findings and expansion of genetic tumor testing are introducing additional demands for genetic services. Thus, as clinically relevant genetic applications increase, innovative delivery models to promote access to cancer genetic education and services are needed both in the clinical and research setting. Alternative models include telephone counseling, real-time two way videoconferencing and utilizing web-based education and portals to increase access. This session will review ongoing and published studies evaluating remote genetic services, including the available evidence, advantages and limitations of phone, videoconference and web-based genetic services. Citation Format: Angela R. Bradbury. Remote genetic services to increase access to genetic testing in low resource settings. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Ninth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2016 Sep 25-28; Fort Lauderdale, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2017;26(2 Suppl):Abstract nr IA27.


BACKGROUND
Little is known about the cost-effectiveness of secondary prevention after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The aim of this study was to estimate the cost-effectiveness of statin therapy.

METHODS
A cost-effectiveness analysis was performed using data from the Lescol Intervention Prevention Study (LIPS). In the LIPS trial, patients with normal-to-moderate hypercholesterolaemia who had undergone a first PCI were randomised to receive either fluvastatin 40 mg twice-daily plus dietary counselling or dietary counselling alone. A Markov model was used to estimate the incremental costs per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) and life year gained (LYG). Costs were based on prices and reimbursed charges, utility data were drawn from literature. Monte Carlo simulations and multivariate analysis were used to assess uncertainty.

RESULTS
Routine statin treatment costs an additional €734 (SD €686) per patient over ten years compared with controls. It resulted in an additional 0.078 (0.047) QALYs or 0.082 (0.041) LYG. The incremental costs per QALY and LYG were €9312 (€14,648) and €8954 (€16,617) respectively. Anticipating a willingness to pay of €20,000 per QALY, there is a 75.1% chance that fluvastatin treatment is cost-effective.

CONCLUSION
Statin therapy with fluvastatin is economically efficient with regard to reducing heart disease in the Netherlands when given routinely to all patients following PCI.


The effects of compressibility on free (unsteady) viscous heat-conducting vortices are investigated. Analytical solutions are found in the limit of large, but finite, Reynolds number, and small, but finite, Mach number. The analysis shows that the spreading of the vortex causes a radial flow. This flow is given by the solution of an ordinary differential equation (valid for any Mach number), which gives the dependence of the radial velocity on the tangential velocity, density, and temperature profiles of the vortex; estimates of the radial velocity found by solving this equation are found to be in good agreement with numerical solutions of the full equations. The experiments of Mandella (1987) also report a radial flow in the vortex, but their estimates are much larger than the analytical predictions, and it is found that the flow inferred from the iexperiments violates the Second Law of Thermodynamics for two-dimensional axisymmetric flow. It is speculated that three-dimensionality is the cause of this discrepancy. To obtain detailed analytical solutions, the equations for the viscous evolution are expanded in powers of Mach number, M. Solutions valid to O(M2), are discussed for vortices with finite circulation. Two specific initial conditions – vortices with initially uniform entropy and with initially uniform density – are analysed in detail. It is shown that swirling axisymmetric compressible flows generate negative radial velocities far from the vortex core owing to viscous effects, regardless of the initial distributions of vorticity, density and entropy.


Iterated quadratic polynomials give rise to a rich collection of different dynamical systems that are parametrized by a simple complex parameter c. The different dynamical features are encoded by the kneading sequence which is an infinite sequence over {0, 1}. Not every such sequence actually occurs in complex dynamics. The set of admissible kneading sequences was described by Milnor and Thurston for real quadratic polynomials, and by the authors in the complex case. We prove that the set of admissible kneading sequences has positive Bernoulli measure within the set of sequences over {0, 1}.


Object recognition from images is one of the essential problems in automatic image processing. In this paper we focus specifically on nearest neighbor methods, which are widely used in many practical applications, not necessarily related to image data. It has recently come to attention that high dimensional data also exhibit high hubness, which essentially means that some very influential data points appear and these points are referred to as hubs. Unsurprisingly, hubs play a very important role in the nearest neighbor classification. We examine the hubness of various image data sets, under several different feature representations. We also show that it is possible to exploit the observed hubness and improve the recognition accuracy.


SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE 2019 AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER When Gilbert wakes one day from a dream that his wife has cheated on him, he flees - immediately and inexplicably - for Tokyo, where he meets a fellow lost soul: Yosa, a young Japanese student clutching a copy of The Complete Manual of Suicide. Together, Gilbert and Yosa set off on a pilgrimage to see the pine islands of Matsushima, one looking for the perfect end to his life, the other for a fresh start. Playful and profound, The Pine Islands is a beautiful tale of friendship, transformation and acceptance in modern Japan.


The goal of the present paper is on retrieving the electrical and geometrical parameters of a stratified medium with two rough interfaces. The inversion problem is formulated as a cost function optimization problem, and it is solved using the simulated annealing algorithm. The cost function consists in the integrated squared deviation between the co-polarized incoherent intensities obtained from the Small Slope Approximation and those obtained from the Small Perturbation Method. The inversion scheme is applied to the electrical and geometrical parameters involved into the analytical expressions of the incoherent intensities given by the SPM. We study the influence of the shape of the autocorrelation function and the isotropy factor upon the estimation of parameters. We test the sensitivity of the inversion scheme to noisy synthetic data. The study is applied to snow-covered soils in L-band. For the configurations under study, we show that the inverse method is efficient for eightparameter or ten-parameter predicting problems.


The e ect of low temperature plasma nitriding on wear resistance of Ti6Al4V alloy were investigated. There have been several studies to investigate the low temperature plasma nitriding on Ti6Al4V alloy. Plasma nitriding processes under gas mixture of N2/H2 = 3 were performed at temperature 535 ◦C for duration of 4, 8 and 12 h. Adhesive wear tests were carried out by using a tribometer in block-on-ring con guration (ASTM G77), in sliding conditions, without lubricants and in air. Surface hardness of the plasma nitrided samples were measured by a Vickers hardness tester machine. Scanning electron microscopy studies were conducted to understand the wear mechanisms involved during the adhesive wear. Wear rate was calculated using weight loss per unit sliding distance. It was found that the wear resistance and surface hardness of the alloy improved considerably after plasma nitriding process. The wear resistance of the plasma nitrided samples were higher than of the unnitrided samples. Extension of nitriding times from 4 h to 12 h in the Ti6Al4V alloy improved remerkably the wear resistance and surface hardness.


The lipophilization of polar antioxidants such as phenolics is an efficient way to enhance their solubility in apolar media. Thus, in emulsified systems, lipophilized antioxidants are supposed to locate at the lipid/aqueous phase interface and to lead to a better protection of unsaturated lipids. Herein, the antiradical activity of chlorogenic acid (5-CQA) and its corresponding esters with seven fatty alcohols (from methanol to eicosanol) have been achieved using the well-known 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method. Hydrophobation was shown to significantly improve the antiradical activity of 5-CQA esters which reached a maximum for butyl- and octyl-chlorogenate. In addition, for both 5-CQA and its esters, it was demonstrated that the global mechanism of DPPH* stabilization proceeded likely by electron transfer (ET), while it appeared that the pathways of DPPH* stabilization were different between 5-CQA and its esters, as confirmed by the LC-MS characterization of reaction products. Finally, strong differences were found between the tested molecules allowing the proposal of different DPPH* stabilization pathways by electron transfer for 5-CQA and its esters.


Many microalgae are rich in lipid. Due to their low growth rates in the autotrophic culture, the best alternative is to cultivate cells under different conditions such as heterotrophic or mixotrophic, which results in the highest yield of biomass and lipid in the shortest duration. In this study, Dunaliela bardawil (UTEX 2538) green microalgae was cultivated under different culture conditions, autotrophic, heterotrophic and mixotrophic, and effects on cell concentration, lipid production and reactive oxygen species (ROS), total chlorophyll and beta-carotene concentrations were investigated. Due to very low cellular growth, this alga is not recommended for heterotrophic culture. In terms of mixotrophic conditions containing different concentrations of glucose or acetate, the highest cell growth and lipid production in 60mM glucose was similar to the control (autotrophic condition), while the concentrations of chlorophyll and beta-carotene decreased. However, at all concentrations of acetate, a slight increase in cell growth was achieved, while the lipid content decreased. Additionally, the concentrations of chlorophyll and beta-carotene increased. A positive correlation was observed between beta-carotene biosynthesis and lipid production, as well as levels of reactive species of oxygen and lipid production in the presence of glucose and acetate. This study showed that for D. bardawil the mixotrophic culture with 60mM glucose was the most suitable type of culture for increasing lipid content and cell growth rates in less time (one week).


It is known to all that the performance of Para-virtualization virtualization machine is much better than full virtualization machine's. However, the full virtualization machine has advantage that it need not require modify the operating system kernel. Therefore we worked to improve the performance of network in the full virtualization environment. This paper provide a method to improve Xen network virtualization performance and so we could be both using the full virtualization machine without change the operating system and improve its performance to a high level.


: The paper concerns similarities and differences between childhood schizophrenia and schizophrenia of the adults from the standpoint of the genealogical background in the respective families. The degree of loading by manifest psychoses and the typology of nonmanifest disturbances among the parents of probands with an unfavorable development of early childhood schizophrenia was studied. The data obtained demonstrate heterogeneity of this form of childhood schizophrenia, confirmed as well by genealogical studies in a comparative age aspect.


Objective: To determine the impact of first trimester combined screening (FTS) (nuchal translucency and biochemistry) on the gestational age (GA) at diagnosis for fetal chromosome abnormalities (CA): Down Syndrome (DS), Trisomy 13 (T13), Trisomy 18 (T18), and Turner's Syndrome (TS), and timing of pregnancy termination. Methods: The Mount Sinai Prenatal Diagnosis Unit database was reviewed to ascertain all referrals for genetic termination over a 3 year period, specifically the number of women carrying fetuses with DS, T13, T18, and TS. The data were examined in relation to the year of diagnosis, availability of FTS, and the GA at diagnosis and termination. Results: Of the 496 women referred for genetic termination over the study period, 172 (34.7%) had CA. Of those with CA, 108 (62.8%) had fetuses with DS, 16 (9.3%) with T13, 37 (21.5%) with T18, and 11 (6.4%) with TS. There was no difference in the number of terminations for CA between 2000 and 2002, however, there was a reduction in the mean GA at termination for all studied CA (Table 1).


This article investigates the value transit travelers place on qualitative factors, such as comfort and convenience, and practical ways to incorporate these factors into transport planning and project evaluation. Conventional evaluation practices generally assign the same time value regardless of travel conditions, and so undervalue comfort and convenience impacts. More comprehensive analysis of transit service quality tends to expand the range of potential transit improvement options, and justify more investments in transit service quality improvements. This article examines the value passengers place on transit service quality, summarizes research on travel time valuation, explores how transit service quality factors affect travel time values and transit ridership, and discusses implications of this analysis.


A new species, Nocardiopsis halophila, is proposed. This species is represented by a single isolate obtained from a saline soil sample in Iraq. This organism grows in both synthetic and organic media containing concentrations of NaCl up to 20% (wt/vol) and is resistant to lysozyme. Whole-cell hydrolysates contain meso-diaminopimelic acid (cell wall type III) and no diagnostic sugars (sugar pattern C). The phospholipid type is type PIII. The predominant menaquinone is MK-10 (H6, H8), and mycolic acids are absent. This organism forms abundant white aerial mycelia and long irregularly branched spore chains that have a zigzag appearance and fragment into spores of various lengths. The substrate mycelia are extensively branched and are rarely fragmented. These properties suggest that this bacterium should be placed in the genus Nocardiopsis. However, this organism differs from all previously described species of the genus Nocardiopsis in its ability to grow in the presence of 20% (wt/vol) NaCl and also in many other physiological and biochemical characteristics. Thus, we propose that this organism is a new species, Nocardiopsis halophila. Type strain IQ-H3 has been deposited in the Culture Collection of the Institute of Microbiology, Academia Sinica, Beijing, People's Republic of China, as strain A.S.4.1195.


The pre-diagnosis of diseases with computerized systems is widely used in recent years for reducing diagnosis time and ratio of misdiagnosis. In this study, a pre-diagnosis system has been proposed which separates of healthy and epileptic seizures periods. For the experiments, EEG signals acquired from healthy and epileptic individuals were used. In feature extraction stage, recurrence quantification analysis (RQA); in classification stage, support vector machines (SVM), multilayer perceptron neural networks (MLPNN) and Naive Bayes classifiers have been utilized. Accordingly, in case of using MLPNN, 96.67% classification performance was obtained.


A solution is constructed for the homogenization problem of the elastic dielectric response of rubber filled with a random isotropic distribution of polydisperse spherical particles in the classical limit of small deformations and moderate electric fields. In this limit, the overall elastic dielectric response is characterized by five (two elastic, one dielectric, and two electrostrictive) effective constants. Explicit formulas are derived for these constants directly in terms of the corresponding constants describing the elastic dielectric response of the underlying rubber and the filler particles, as well as the concentration of particles. By means of comparisons with finite-element simulations, these formulas are shown to also be applicable to isotropic suspensions of monodisperse spherical particles, provided that the particle concentration is sufficiently away from percolation. With the aim of gaining physical insight into the extreme enhancement in electrostrictive properties displayed by emerging dielectric elastomer composites, specific results are examined for the case of suspensions wherein the rubber is incompressible and the particles are mechanically rigid and of infinite permittivity.


This report is a terminal evaluation of a UN Environment-Global Environmental Facility project implemented between 2011 and 2016.The project's overall development goal is to conserve globally important biodiversity in cocoa growing landscapes in Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Madagascar, Nigeria, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Peru. Its objective is "to change production in major cocoa producing countries and business practices in cocoa and chocolate companies, such that they conserve biodiversity in cocoa production landscapes, provide greater long-term stability to the industry and increased income for smallholders.


Railroad tank car top fittings are susceptible to damage and failure in rollover derailments, which might result in release of hazardous material lading. Prior research has focused on the susceptibility of fittings on non-pressure tank cars and potential mitigation strategies. This paper presents current work that extends the analysis/test methods and lessons learned to fittings on pressure tank cars. Pressure tank cars carry significantly more hazardous materials such as Chlorine and Anhydrous Ammonia, which are classified as Toxic Inhalation Hazards (TIH). In particular, this paper presents the results of analytical modeling and validation testing of top fittings on a base design Chlorine car.In addition, the paper compares and contrasts the test methodology employed in prior full scale tests of tank car fittings against the 9 mph evaluation scenario outlined in current Federal regulations governing the design of fittings on TIH tank cars, and further explores how full scale test results may be interpreted.© 2014 ASME


In album Four views of Cape Town, Cape of Good Hope, drawn from nature by TW Bowler, Cape Town : JH Collard, 1944.


As peer-to-peer (P2P) lenders evaluate the potential risk of each loan application, they may rely on subjective judgement given qualitative information. Academics have found loan approval rates to be associated with the borrower's personality traits, social capital, and appearances. However, the association between a borrower's language and probability of default has yet be considered. In this paper, we show that there are statistically significant linguistic differences in the free-text Lending Club loan descriptions between those that default and those that are fully paid. By newly engineering features on non-standard language and spelling errors, using natural language processing techniques and running multivariate logistic regression analyses, we find that the usage of slang words, short-hand abbreviations, and spelling errors are all associated with a higher likelihood of default when controlling for the borrower's income and loan amount. However, whether the errors were orthographic or phonological and the egregiousness of the error do not affect the probability of default. Finally, we discuss the ethical implications of potential discriminatory bias given the association between poor spelling and disability status (e.g. dyslexia), national origin (i.e. English language familiarity), and personality traits (carelessness), laying the foundation for future work on bias in P2P lending, and other scenarios involving applicant-oriented risk assessments.


In this paper, a novel method for palmprint recognition is proposed. In this method, each pixel of a palmprint image is considered as a coordinate in a high-dimensional image space. A linear projection based on Fisher's linear discriminant (FLD) is used to project palmprints from this high-dimensional space to a significantly lower dimensional feature space, in which the ratio of the determinant of the between-class scatter to that of the within-class scatter is maximized. High accuracies of 99% and 99.2% have been obtained in one-to-one matching and one-to-300 matching test respectively and the speed of this method is rapid enough for real-time palmprint recognition.


Engineering Cyber-physical information gathering and utilizing systems(CIGUS) presents the systems engineer with a difficult, multi-criterion, multi-objective decision problem. Research, development and design is done over many disciplines, across many domains, each with their specific models. Systems engineers are expected to provide a common level of communication amongst the domains to promote convergence to a design. We present novel information measures that enable combination of the underlying domain specific subsystems parameters in a way that makes the information yield of the system intelligible to decision makers and domain experts. These measures enable, for the first time, the application of multi-objective evolutionary algorithms and end-to-end computer aided engineering of CIGUS. Our novel approach is validated and verified through the application and direct comparison of simulated and experimental results of state-ofthe-art weather radar network test bed designs. The approach resulted in Pareto optimal point within an average of 10% of the actual case study design parameters and within 25% of the Pareto ideal point. No additional parameters beyond the underlying domain parameters were introduced. This demonstrates that the computationally aided engineering approach presented in this work facilitates engineering feasibility decisions and the subsequent evolution of the engineered systems in way that reduces cost and effort.


Rodney Wilson's book aims to highlight the religious-ethical basis of economic actions through the kaleidoscope of` "comparative religions perspectives on economics" (p. 21). The economic teachings of the three great religions in the Abrahamic tradition - namely, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - are juxtaposed here in one volume to facilitate a fruitful inter-religious dialogue on common moral and economic concerns of a modern society. Wilson, "as a Christian who has participated in interfaith dialogue" (p. 2), was well-placed to write such a wide-ranging, well-researched work which seeks to unite, rather than divide, the 'peoples of the Book', a welcome news for those who would rather reject the dark forebodings of the "Clash of Civilizations". He draws freely on a large number of writings of 'authentic' exponents of the Judaic, Christian and Islamic points of view and compares, without being polemical, their competing but mostly complementary (if seen in the 'correct' historic sequence), positions on economic matters. Written in a racy, persuasive style, the book impresses the reader as a work of significant scholarship.


This article presents a lesson that uses prediction items, clickers and visuals via PowerPoint slides to help prospective middle-school teachers address two common misconceptions: multiplication makes bigger and division makes smaller (MMB–DMS). Classroom research was conducted to explore the viability of such a lesson. Results show that the lesson was effective in creating awareness that multiplication does not always make bigger and division does not always makes smaller, uncovering students' misconceptions, and providing opportunities for students to learn from mistakes. Students liked the activity for various reasons, such as getting to learn certain mathematical ideas, to think about the problems, to work in groups and to have fun. The lesson was implemented slightly differently in two classes. The class with an additional phase involving prediction and voting via clickers in the PowerPoint lesson showed a gain of 36 points (an effect size of 1.3 standard deviations, SDs) from the pre-test to the exit-test whereas, the comparison class showed a gain of 25 points (an effect size of 0.87 SDs). In terms of students' written responses with regards to addressing the MMB–DMS misconceptions, there was however not much difference between the two classes.


(S)-1-(3-Hydroxy-2-phosphonylmethoxypropyl)cytosine (HPMPC, Cidofovir, Vistide) is an acyclic nucleoside phosphonate with broad-spectrum activity against a wide variety of DNA viruses including herpesviruses [Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and type 2 (HSV-2), varicella-zoster virus (VZV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), human herpesvirus type 6 (HHV-6) and equine and bovine herpesviruses], papovaviruses [human polyoma virus and human papilloma virus (HPV)], adeno-, irido-, hepadna-, and poxviruses. HPMPC has proved effective against these viruses in different cell culture systems and/or animal models. The mechanism of action of HPMPC is based upon the interaction of its active intracellular metabolite, the diphosphorylated HPMPC derivative HPMPCpp, with the viral DNA polymerase. HPMPCpp has been shown to block CMV DNA synthesis by DNA chain termination following incorporation of two consecutive HPMPC molecules at the 3'-end of the DNA chain. HPMPC confers a prolonged antiviral action, which lasts for several days or weeks, thus allowing infrequent dosing (i.e. every week or every two weeks). This prolonged antiviral action is probably due to the very long intracellular half-life of the HPMPC metabolites, particularly the HPMPCp-choline adduct. In clinical studies, HPMPC has proved efficacious in the treatment of CMV retinitis, following both intravenous injection (3 or 5 mg/kg, every other week) and intravitreal injection (single dose of 20 micrograms per eye). Initial clinical trials also point to the efficacy of both systemic (intravenous) and topical HPMPC (1% ointment) in the treatment of acyclovir-resistant HSV infections, and of topical HPMPC (ointment or injection) in the treatment of pharyngeal, laryngeal and anogenital HPV infections. HPMPC is now being pursued in the topical and/or systemic (intravenous) treatment of various infections due to CMV, HSV, VZV, EBV, HPV, polyoma-, adeno- and poxviruses.


ABSTRACT Academic researchers tend to use multiple items to measure a construct reliably, whereas practitioners tend to use single-item measures. But when constructs such as brand attitude, attitude toward the advertisement, and attitude toward behaviors are double concrete—with a clear, singular meaning in which the object being rated also is clear and singularly identifiable—a single-item measure suffices (Rossiter, 2011). Using the results of 189 advertising studies, the authors found no difference in effect sizes when the double-concrete dependent variables were measured with single or multiple items—which means data collection is more efficient and less tedious. That is good news for advertising researchers in an era of ever-decreasing response rates and attention spans of respondents.


EAK16-II (EAK) is a self-assembling peptide (SAP) that forms β-sheets and β-fibrils through ionic-complementary interactions at physiological ionic strengths. The soft materials can be injected in vivo, creating depots of drugs and cells for rendering pharmacological and biological actions. The scope of the applications of EAK is sought to extend to tissues through which the flow of extracellular fluid tends to be limited. In such anatomical locales the rate and extent of the fibrilization are limited insofar as drug delivery and cellular scaffolding would be impeded. A method is generated utilizing a carbodiimide cross-linker by which EAK fibrils are pre-assembled yet remain injectable soft materials. It is hypothesized that the resulting de novo covalent linkages enhance the stacking of the β-sheet bilayers, thereby increasing the lengths of the fibrils and the extent of their cross-linking, as evidenced in Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Fourier Transform (DRIFT) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy analyses. The cross-linked EAK (clEAK) retains polymeric microspheres with an average diameter of 1 µm. Macrophages admixed with clEAK remain viable and do not produce the inflammatory mediator interleukin-1β. These results indicate that clEAK should be investigated further as a platform for delivering particles and cells in vivo.


Apart from its unique and exciting electronic properties, many sensor based applications of graphene are purely based on its mechanical and structural properties. Here, we report a numerical and analytical study of a void in amorphous (small domain polycrystalline) graphene, and we show that the energetics of the void is a balance between the line tension cost versus the increased area gain. Using the concepts of classical nucleation theory, we show that the critical radius of a void formed in amorphous graphene at constant pressure is simply the ratio of the line tension at the void and the applied pressure. The values of the critical radius of the void for flat and buckled graphene are 3.48 Å and 3.31 Å, respectively, at 2 eV Å-2 pressure. We also show that the dominant finite size correction to the line tension is inversely proportional to the radius of the void in both flat and buckled cases. In contrast to conventional wisdom, with the help of a simple analytical model, we find that the shear modulus sets the lower limit of the line tension in the samples. This makes our study relevant for other two-dimensional amorphous materials such as h-BN, phosphorene, borophene, and transition metal dichalcogenides. Our results are useful for the better understanding of polycrystalline graphene under tension and therefore they have direct implications in the very fascinating field of strain engineering known as "straintronics" to manipulate or improve the properties of graphene.


Background: Detailed knowledge of the present situation is needed in order to design and implement quality improvement programmes to achieve the national goal of 'planned and safe fertility for all' in Iran. An understanding of the perspectives and views of clients and providers are also much needed. When this study was initiated there was a lack of studies on the quality of family planning and other primary reproductive health services in the country. Aim: To describe and explore the quality of public primary reproductive health care services, especially family planning, in an urban area of Iran, in order to identify areas and measures for improvement. Methods: Structured observations of 469 client-provider interactions and some clinical procedures at 34 health facilities, and exit interviews with 416 of the observed clients. Quality of services was assessed using pre-defined indicators (study I). In the qualitative studies (II, III), content analysis was performed on material from nine focus group discussions (FGDs) with 53 married women of reproductive age (study II) and four FGDs with 20 midwives or other family health providers at the facilities (study III). In study IV, an educational programme on family planning services was applied at a regular monthly meeting with half of the in-charges after random selection of the total of 74 family health units (intervention group). The other half constituted the control group. The educated in-charges were requested to carry out a similar kind of programme with all peers at their health facilities within one month. All in-charges received one self-administered questionnaire one month (follow-up I) and 27 months (follow-up II) after the education. Such tests were also performed by the peers at their workplace within one month after the in-charges' tests. Findings: The providers treated the clients respectfully in more than 80% of the consultations and discussed a return visit in 89%. Privacy was not assured in onethird of the cases. Over two-thirds of the clients were not encouraged to ask questions or raise concerns, and 54% were not satisfied with the amount of information given. The use of educational audio-visual and printed materials was very infrequent. Most new clients received their preferred contraceptive method, but were informed about neither other available methods, nor common side effects and warning symptoms related to the chosen method (study I). The women in the FGDs appreciated the public services for being generally accessible, but important shortcomings were identified. A need for improved privacy, a wider choice of contraceptive methods and clear information about side effects were stressed. Marital counselling was raised as a major unmet need. The women's sense of having the right to make autonomous reproductive health choices and to be treated with dignity and respect emerged as the main theme. A second, cross-cutting theme was their wish to get their husbands more strongly involved in family planning and sexual counselling (study II). The most satisfying for the providers was working with clients. A dominant theme in all FGDs was the providers' frustration about a number of factors, most of which were beyond their control. There were five categories of system and organisational barriers: multiplicity of tasks and incompatibility with the providers' own basic training; suboptimal supervision and management; too little time for clients; lack of privacy and appropriate materials for education and counselling; and inadequate opportunities for continuing education (study III). The health centres and health posts located in low-income areas on average had the highest workload for family planning and the highest turnover of staff. Knowledge (percent of maximal possible score) was significantly higher in the intervention group than in the control group, both at follow-up I (63%) and at followup II (57%); with a difference of 16 and 5 percentage units, respectively. Two of the nine reported items were performed at a significantly higher level among the non incharges in the intervention group at follow-up II compared with the control group. Conclusions: There is a gap between the national policy and the reality in the public primary health facilities with regard to the quality of reproductive health services. Multifaceted interventions are recommended to improve performance of the providers, and quality and responsiveness of the services to ensure women's reproductive health needs and rights. Special attention should be paid to interactive communication, information given to clients, privacy and confidentiality. Interventions should also address needs-based in-service education, including on-site peer education, supportive supervision and management, provision of educational materials, simplifying record management, and appointing more staff in socioeconomically deprived areas. Research is needed to identify the best ways to integrate the services without overloading and deskilling health workers and impairing their ability to deliver high quality services, as well as to find the most effective way of meeting the providers' continuing educational needs.


From today's perspective it is hard to comprehend just how complex the relationship was between religion and magic in the Middle Ages. Many unofficial rituals and beliefs existed alongside ones sanctioned by the Church. Educated clergy condemned some as magic, but it wasn't always easy to do this because many magical and superstitious practices employed religious language, rituals or objects. Charms recited over the sick to cure illnesses often invoked God and the saints; spells for love and other purposes might use consecrated substances such as the Eucharist. The people reaching for them could even justify their actions by citing biblical precedent. In this book Catherine Rider unearths previously unpublished evidence and new information concerning the widespread use of magical practices and the clergy's response. She asks how educated churchmen, when faced with a wide range of popular religious practices, decided which were acceptable and which were magic. How did they persuade others of their views? This book traces the change in the Church's attitude to vernacular forms of magic from the turbulent era of King John to the time of Henry VIII and the Dissolution of the Monasteries. These three centuries brought educated clergy into closer contact than ever before with unofficial religious practices and prompted them to draw up more precise guidelines on how to distinguish magic from legitimate religion. Magic and Religion in Medieval England provides a detailed picture of religious and lay life, including clerical education and pastoral care.


Dhaka alias Jahangirnagar became the capital of Mughal Subah-i-Bangalah in the early 17th century CE. As the principal seat of the region and the centre of trade and commerce, it attracted the opportunity seekers, travellers, traders, government officials from different parts of the then known world and became a true cosmopolitan city. During the Mughal period the city was full of beautiful palaces, forts, richly decorated houses, caravanserais, mosques, shops, streets, bridges, etc. But owing to the ravages of time and the unplanned development of modern Dhaka, nothing is left except a few mosques, tombs, the ruins of a fort, and a few local names associated with the Mughals. It is now difficult to locate Jahangirnagar, the Mughal capital of Subah-i-Bangalah, based on archaeological evidence. Previous researchers (mostly historians, and/or architects) attempted to locate the capital in the older of part of present-day Dhaka through analysing mostly historical narratives, and occasionally material evidence. Owing to a lack of training in archaeological data analysis, early assumptions and narratives show an absence of archaeological interpretation of material evidence. However, the present research does not seek to challenge the accepted narrative of Dhaka as the capital of Mughal Bengal; rather it is an attempt to comprehend the centrality of Dhaka by using archaeological evidence and by analysing some parameters developed from modified versions of Christaller's Central Place Theory presented by Kimmig and Gringmuth- Dallmer.


Working Memory (WM) is a central component of cognition. It has direct impact not only on core cognitive processes, such as learning, comprehension, and reasoning, but also language-related processes, such as natural language understanding and referring expression generation. Thus, for robots to achieve human-like natural language capabilities, we argue that their cognitive models should include an accurate WM representation that plays a similarly central role. Our research investigates how different WM models from cognitive psychology affect robots' natural language capabilities. Specifically, we explore the limited capacity nature of WM and how different information forgetting strategies, namely decay and interference, impact the human-likeness of utterances formulated by robots.


Information system business is currently witnessing an increasing demand for system conformance with the international regime of GRC Governance, Risk and Compliance. Among different compliance approaches, data protection and privacy laws plays a key role. In this paper, we propose a compliance requirement analysis method from early stages of system modelling based on a semantically-rich model, where a mapping can be established from data protection and privacy requirements defined by laws and regulations to system business goals and contexts. The early consideration of requirements satisfies Privacy by Design, a key concept in General Data Protection Regulation 2012. The proposed semantic model consists of a number of ontologies each corresponding to a knowledge component within the developed framework of our approach. Each ontology is a thesaurus of concepts in the compliance related to system along with relationships and rules between these concepts that encompass the domain knowledge. The main contribution of the work presented in this paper is the ontology-based compliance framework that demonstrates how description-logic reasoning techniques can be used to simulate legal reasoning requirements employed by legal professions against the description of each ontology.


Author(s): Schmidt, Bradley A. | Abstract: Sabine Scho's work is hard to pin down. The German publisher of Animals in Architecture—Kookbooks—is largely dedicated to contemporary poetry, perhaps leading one to an over-hasty taxonomy. Upon closer inspection, Scho's work, in particular Animals in Architecture, is a hybrid combining prose miniatures, poetry translations and fragments, sociological reflections, and photos with a green color filter. Indeed, Scho's work on this project first started with photography, spanning nearly a decade of visiting zoos across the globe. In 2012, she started a blog as a kind of accountability mechanism for finishing the book. However, there remained questions of form, content, even language. Largely written while living in Sao Paulo, Animals in Architecture contains many traces of Anglophone and Portuguese influence.In each of the book's twenty-two sections, Scho closes in on animals, whether camels, bats, penguins, or octopus. A quote from Hans Blumenberg is one of the two epigraphs to her introductory essay—aptly describing a central paradox of zoos: the relationships between the animals in the enclosures and the homo sapiens outside. Many of her poems remind us that it is often unclear who is watching whom. John Berger's essay "Why Look at Animals?" notes that zoos are simultaneously a "living monument" to the disappearance of caged creatures from our culture. People go to zoos to see animals, but it is unlikely that the animals want to see humans. Animals in Architecture documents an attempt to reconnect with these animals and its ultimate futility.Although I try to keep a close watch on the contemporary German poetry scene and had come across some of Sabine Scho's work before Animals in Architecture was published in 2013, I was quite surprised by this work's genre-bending mix of elements. In the following year, I tried my hand at translating these challenging texts and managed to place a couple poems in No Man's Land, an online journal dedicated to publishing German literature in English translation.Scho's regard has only increased in current German-language discourse. In particular, the significance of her contributions to debates on human relations with the environment have continued to grow; she was recognized with the Deutscher Preis fur Nature Writing alongside the poet Christian Lehnert in the summer of 2018. The following essay is among the most concise German-language takes on the subject of zoos, animals, humans, and the ways in which architecture exemplifies our fraught relationship.


Introduction: COVID-19 virus infection was a severe health impact in 2020. The direct repercussion is easily measured through its morbidity and mortality rates. Its indirect repercussion on health is still little measured, and this is the objective of this study. Methods: To determine the number of hospitalizations for general treatments, for the treatment of neoplasms and malignant skin cancer in the SUS, from 2008 to 2020, in the department of informatics of the SUS. Results: The parallelism of the data referring to the three groups selected above allowed to observe a drastic reduction in the number of hospitalizations in the SUS between the same months of 2019 and 2020: a decrease of 10.60% in general hospitalizations, 58.65% in hospitalizations for neoplasia and 156% in hospitalizations for malignant skin cancer. The reduction gradually worsened in 2020 from January. In June 2020, the number of hospitalizations for skin cancer treatment reflected values from 12 years ago. Conclusion: The follow-up of the historical series of hospitalizations in the SUS provides a tangible value that serves as a basis for understanding the direction of health measures. The indirect implications of COVID-19 may have an outcome as tragic as its mortality, as they impact specialized health services availability. Services of great specialization such as hospital cancer treatment attend complex cases, and their unavailability may reflect an increase in mortality from these causes-an indirect impact of COVID-19. © 2021, Sociedade Brasileira de Cirurgia Plastica (SBCP). All rights reserved.


Introduction: The identification of hepatitis B virus, human immunodeficiency virus as an occupational hazard in dentistry urged all practicing dentists, dental auxiliaries, and dental laboratories to employ appropriate infection control procedures. Aim: The aim of this study to investigate whether there is a scope for improvement in the practice of infection control measures. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using self-administered questionnaire, to obtain information about procedures used for prevention of cross-infection in dental practices. The study subjects, dental practitioners in Guntur district, were obtained using snowball technique. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 19 software. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to summarize the results and P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The mean age of the study population was 36.48 ± 8.94 years. Of the 183 study subjects, 136 (74.3%) were males and 47 (25.7%) females. Of the total practitioners, 45% usually treated ≥10 patients per day, and 52% had the habit of taking medical history for all patients. Statistically significant difference had been found between the practitioners with Bachelor of Dental Surgery and Master of Dental Surgery as their highest qualification, regarding the method of sterilization of handpiece (P = 0.03). Conclusion: This study result suggests that there was a scope for improvement in the practice of infection control procedures among dental care professionals.


This report is based on a research effort investigating the implementation of Enterprise Architecture (EA) in Malaysia. The rationale for this effort is based on the fact that currently limited studies have been carried out resulting in limited knowledge of EA among Malaysian practitioners. Studies have shown that organizations in Malaysia, both public and private, do practice EA but the EA activities were found to be incomplete or not adequately addressed.The
main objective of this research is to discover the trends in EA adoption and implementation in Malaysia.In achieving this, this study embarks on the following sub-objectives: (a) To assess EA activities in Malaysian organizations, both public and private; (b) To investigate the importance
of EA in addressing business issues; (c) To investigate the EA environment in terms of location, business area, people, governance, types of architecture, methods, tools and frameworks; and (d) To make recommendation based on trends in the adoption and implementation of EA in Malaysia.A survey study method using questionnaire was used to collect empirical evidences.The questionnaire was adopted from the Institute for Enterprise Architecture Development (IFEAD) country report 2005 that surveyed trends in EA in organizations across the world.A survey research method was employed involving one hundred organizations chosen at random from UUM's University-Industry Link database as well as lists of organizations from the Malaysia Computer Industry Association (PIKOM) directory, and the Malaysia National Computer Confederation (MNCC) directory. Descriptive and exploratory methods were used for
data analysis. Understanding Enterprise Architecture activities and importance of EA in Malaysia is observed through the following issues: (1) EA business issues; (2) EA environment; (3) EA governance; and (4) EA methods, tools and frameworks.The findings presented here gave us a general outlook of the EA activities in Malaysian organizations and its future directions.Overall, the study found Business and IT Alignment as the most important business issue in which EA is required.Next important and significant issues are Business Change, followed closely by Application Renewal. The private organizations indicated business and IT alignment as the most important reason for EA.This is consistent with prior studies.The public
organizations however, suggested that Better Work Environment is the most important reason for EA.In terms of the EA environment that relates to the EA methods, findings of this study indicate the trend is shifting from traditional or waterfall approach to Rapid Application
Development and the Rational Unified Approach.Future studies should also consider devising an instrument to measure the level of EA adoption.This would enable an organization to identify the extent of EA presence and practice in supporting the alignment between business strategy and IT adoption.


The article contains a preliminary glance at balanced clustering problems. Basic balanced structures and combinatorial balanced problems are briefly described. A special attention is targeted to various balance/unbalance indices (including some new versions of the indices): by cluster cardinality, by cluster weights, by inter-cluster edge/arc weights, by cluster element structure (for element multi-type clustering). Further, versions of optimization clustering problems are suggested (including multicriteria problem formulations). Illustrative numerical examples describe calculation of balance indices and element multi-type balance clustering problems (including example for design of student teams).


As genetic tools continue to emerge and mature, more information is revealed about the identity and diversity of microbial community members. Genetic tools can also be used to make predictions about the chemistry that bacteria and fungi produce to function and communicate with one another and the host. Ongoing efforts to identify these products and link genetic information to microbiome chemistry rely on analytical tools. This tutorial highlights recent advancements in microbiome studies driven by techniques in mass spectrometry.


Introduction:Optimal utilisation of hospital beds is very important.Identifying vacant beds(bed availability)for new/emergency patients is a very time consuming task for administrators.Non-availability of hospital beds can shed a negative light on the image of the hospital. Aim: This study focuses on the importance of proper allocation/identification and utilization of beds. Material and Method: Retro prospective study conducted at a tertiary care teaching hospital in South India.The study was done in three steps.In the first step,retrospective data regarding bed lists of the hospital was collected from the admissions office and medical records department of the tertiary care teaching hospital and the physical verification of beds was done.In the second step,a retrospective study was carried out in order to collect relevant hospital data concerning inpatient admissions,discharges,deaths and hospitalised days for the general wards,the intensive care units and the special wards from the medical record department and the information technology department.In the third step,the admission and discharge policy was studied to assess the reasons for bed blocking. Results: There is a difference in the bed complement as recorded in the admissions office v/s medical record department v/s physical verification. There is a difference in the bed occupancy in the admissions office vs the medical record department vs physical verification.The variation in percentage is because of the differences in the denominator(total number of beds assumed).


The SLAC Linear Collider (SLC) has begun a new era of operation with the SLD detector. During 1991 there was a first engineering fun for the SLD in parallel with machine improvements to increase luminosity and reliability. For the 1992 run, a polarized electron source was added and more than 10,000 Zs with an average of 23% polarization have been logged by the SLD. This paper will discuss the performance of the SLC in 1991 and 1992 and the technical advances that have produced higher luminosity. Emphasis will be placed on issues relevant to future linear colliders such as producing and maintaining high current, low emittance beams and focusing the beams to the micron scale for collisions.


The ETR1 receptor from Arabidopsis binds the gaseous hormone ethylene. A copper ion associated with the ethylene-binding domain is required for high-affinity ethylene-binding activity. A missense mutation in the domain that renders the plant insensitive to ethylene eliminates both ethylene binding and the interaction of copper with the receptor. A sequence from the genome of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. strain 6803 that shows homology to the ethylene-binding domain of ETR1 encodes a functional ethylene-binding protein. On the basis of sequence conservation between the Arabidopsis and the cyanobacterial ethylene-binding domains and on in vitro mutagenesis of ETR1, a structural model for this copper-based ethylene sensor domain is presented.


Objective: This paper aims at designing a fault tolerant controller for a launch vehicle electro-mechanical actuator using model reference adaptive controller. Fault detection and diagnosis is a crucial topic in spacecraft operations and an important aspect of on board software with respect to safety, performance and reliability. Method/Statistical Analysis: This paper commences by the mathematical modeling of an electro-mechanical actuator based on a BLDC torque motor. The system is then subjected to a servo design and it is used as the model system for a model reference adaptive controller. MIT Rule is used as the control law for model based controller. The residuals for fault detection are generated by model reference adaptive control technique and it has the capability to detect and isolate the errors. The continuous operation of the system is obtained using a real time reconfiguration achieved using the model based approach. The entire system was simulated in MATLAB/SIMULINK software. Findings: The servo design of the launch vehicle electromechanical actuator system was developed using the mathematical model and the compensated system was used as the model system in the fault tolerant scheme using the model reference adaptive controller. The fault tolerant controller scheme was able to detect, isolate the faulty conditions and switch over the system output to the model output during the fault condition. The system is driven by the model output when fault occurs. The application of MIT rule is mainly for low frequency signals. Applications/Improvements: The system could be used in the launch vehicle applications, in order to make the system give ideal response during system failure. The control law used for the model reference adaptive controller can be improved and the Lyapnov method or theory of augmentation can be utilized instead of MIT Rule.


Intense, simultaneous, room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) and thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) is observed in a series of donor-acceptor-donor (D–A–D) molecules. This dual-luminescence is stronger in the "angular" isomers, compared to their "linear" regioisomers, which is consistent with an enhanced intersystem crossing (ISC) in the former. Herein, we demonstrate that the small energy gap between the triplet levels, T1-Tn, below the lowest singlet state, S1, in the "angular" regioisomers, enhances the coupling between S1 and T1 states and favors ISC and reverse ISC (rISC). This is consistent with a spin-vibronic mechanism. In the absence of this "triplet ladder", due to the larger energy difference between T1 and Tn in the "linear" regioisomers, the ISC and rISC are not efficient. Remarkably the enhancement on the ISC rate in the "angular" regioisomers is accompanied by an increase on the rate of internal conversion (IC). These results highlight the contributions of higher triplet excited states and molecular vibronic coupling to harvest triplet states in organic compounds, and casts the TADF and RTP mechanisms into a common conceptual framework.


A human person is the totality of a number of aspects or dimensions: spiritual, social, economic, cultural and political. Each aspect is not to be taken as an autonomous part of one's personhood. All aspects or dimensions are interconnected. In this light, a holistic approach to facilitating total self-empowerment based on human dignity is realized. On total self-empowerment is anchored total human development. Moreover, total human development tends to spread out to bigger circles of human relationships and institutions like in barangays, the national community and the international communities because the claim to dignity is inherent in every human being. However, leadership from a total human development perspective has been elusive at the macro level since the levers of power have predominantly been controlled by the affluent few. Furthermore, with the advent of elitist globalization and monetized economies, consumerism and materialism have become the way of life, thus, reducing a person into an object, a cog in the great machinery of churning products and services that are all translatable to cash. Furthermore, this leads to a mechanical and materialistic world-view fragmenting the body-mind-spirit unity in the person, family, community and society. The study attempted to use an urban poor barangay as a microcosm of the low end section of an old city that is Manila; and for that matter, an old city in the Philippines in contrast to the planned barangays in middle-class subdivisions of a typical suburban community. Barangay 598, Zone 59, Sta. Mesa, Manila , despite being categorized as a poor community shows itself as alive, hopeful and vibrant through leadership conducive to the self-empowerment of people as they are facilitated to respond practically to all dimensions of their daily human problems and challenges. Leadership, therefore, played a crucial role in this situation since the people as a community would not have improved in many a sense without the qualities gleaned from the styles of leadership reflected from shared life stories. Using the phenomenological approach as a methodology, the themes have been identified. Reflecting on the interconnectedness of the themes served to draw out the eidetic insight — a vision of an ortho-praxis of leadership expressed in postulates for people's development drawn by the researcher and inter-subjectively validated by the co-researchers through focus group discussion (FGD) with the community leaders, her co-researchers. The eidetic insight served as the basis for further validation in other barangays in the process of community building that might be the foundation for macro level leadership.


MCM-41 is an ordered mesoporous material, displaying a honeycomb-like structure of uniform mesopores (3 nm in diameter) running through a matrix of amorphous silica. Because of the high porosity (pore volume » 1.0 ml g-1) and concomitant large surface area (approximately 1,000 m2 g-1) MCM-41 is in principle ideally suited to be used as a support material for heterogeneous catalysts, as it offers the possibility to apply (precursors of) active phases in a highly dispersed fashion. Unfortunately there is one pronounced drawback associated with MCM-41, viz. its limited stability towards a number of catalyst precursors. Therefore new methods have been explored to apply catalytically active phases, notably nickel / nickel oxide and molybdenum oxide, inside the mesopores of MCM-41. The results of these research efforts have been compiled in this thesis.
For the application of well-dispersed nickel (oxide) nanoparticles inside the mesopores use has been made of the favourable properties of an aqueous solution containing a chelated nickel precursor, viz. nickel citrate. During drying after incipient wetness impregnation the viscosity of such a solution increases tremendously, thus immobilising the nickel precursor inside the mesopores. Immobilisation is further brought about by hydrogen bonding interactions between the nickel citrate precursor complexes and the pore walls of the all-silica MCM-41 support material. Upon calcination the precursor complexes decompose and nickel oxide nanoparticles are formed, which are well-dispersed and situated exclusively inside the mesopores of the support. Reduction yields metallic nickel nanoparticles. During all the catalyst preparation processes the unique structure of the support material is well-retained.
Two new methods have been developed for the application of molybdenum oxide inside the mesopores of MCM-41. Both methods rely on incipient wetness impregnation of all-silica MCM-41 with a suitable (aqueous) molybdenum precursor solution. The first molybdenum precursor used consists of trivalent molybdenum chloride complexes, which have been obtained by electrochemical reduction. The other precursor is obtained by (slowly) adding ammonium heptamolybdate (AHM) to a 1 : 1 solution of hydrochloric acid and water, yielding MoO2Cl2-complexes. Catalyst preparation results, after drying and calcination, in MoO3/MCM-41 catalysts exhibiting unprecedented high loadings and dispersions of MoO3. Moreover, the favourable support properties are completely retained when one of these two precursors is used. Strikingly different results are obtained when a common catalyst preparation procedure is followed, using an aqueous solution of AHM: in that case the support structure is completely destroyed.
MCM-41 supported and reference molybdenum oxide catalysts have been tested in the catalytic oxidation of ethane. A much higher activity was obtained for MoO3 catalysts supported by MCM-41, compared to Aerosil-200 supported and bulk molybdenum oxide catalysts, thus corroborating the very high dispersion of MoO3 inside the mesopores of the MCM-41 support. A kinetic characterisation indicated that catalysis takes place via a so-called pseudo-redox mechanism and that (internal) diffusion limitations do not occur with the MCM-41 supported catalysts. Moreover, catalyst preparation with MoO2Cl2 as a precursor yielded more active catalysts than preparation with a trivalent precursor when MCM-41 was the support material. With Aerosil-200 an MoO2Cl2-precursor yields relatively large MoO3 platelets of a low dispersion, situated next to the support.


Worldwide, the prevalence of overweight people continues to rise. Especially, the increase in overweight children is of great concern. In 2000, 10% of all children aged 5-17 were overweight, a total of 155 million. Early childhood (defined as between 0 and 5 years of age) has been identified as one of the most critical periods for the development of obesity in later years. It is estimated that 22 million children below 5 years of age are currently overweight, and children from ethnic minority groups have a higher risk of obesity compared to their Caucasian peers.


High-throughput 454 DNA sequencing technology allows much faster and more cost-effective sequencing than traditional Sanger sequencing. However, the technology imposes inherent limitations on the number of samples that can be processed in parallel. Here we introduce parallel tagged sequencing (PTS), a simple, inexpensive and flexible barcoding technique that can be used for parallel sequencing any number and type of double-stranded nucleic acid samples. We demonstrate that PTS is particularly powerful for sequencing contiguous DNA fragments such as mtDNA genomes: in theory as many as 250 mammalian mtDNA genomes can be sequenced in a single GS FLX run. PTS dramatically increases the sequencing throughput of samples in parallel and thus fully mobilizes the resources of the 454 technology for targeted sequencing.


Since the discovery of spinal anaesthesia, it has been used widely with different additives in local anaesthetic drugs. Vasoconstrictors like phenylephrine, opioids, neostigmine and clonidine are some of the well known agents used to prolong the duration of block; whereas hypnotic, sedative and amnesic drugs are required to reduce the discomfort. However, they affect the ventilatory mechanisms and may lead to respiratory depression, with consequent hypercarbia and hypoxemia. A promising alternative to these drugs in anaesthesiology is the group of alpha-adrenergic agonist, which have excellent sedative and analgesic properties without respiratory depression. Clonidine an alpha 2 agonist has been used widely in the intrathecal route oral and intravenous routes to prolong the duration of spinal anagesia. dexmedetomidine, also an alpha 2 agonist, has eight times more affinity for alpha 2 receptors than does clonidine and has been used for pre-medication and as an adjunct to general anaesthesia. Various studies show that intravenous dexmedetomidine prolonged the sensory and motor blockade of bupivacaine spinal anaesthesia with good sedation and hemodynamic stability. The present study is designed to study the effect of intravenous dexmedetomidine with a loading dose of 1µg/kg and a maintenance dose of 0.5µg/kg on bupivacaine spinal anaesthesia with respect to duration of


Background and Purpose— Hyperperfusion syndrome (HS) after carotid endarterectomy (CEA) has been related to impaired cerebrovascular autoregulation in a chronically hypoperfused hemisphere. Our aim was to provide new insight into the pathophysiology of the HS using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies with diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and perfusion-weighted imaging (PWI). Methods— Five out of 388 consecutive patients presented 2 to 7 days after CEA, partial seizures (n=5), focal deficits (n=5), and intracerebral hemorrhage (n=3). In 4 patients, using sequential examinations, we identified vasogenic or cytotoxic edema by DWI; we assessed relative interhemispheric difference (RID) of cerebral blood flow (CBF) by PWI; and we measured middle cerebral artery mean flow velocities (MCA Vm) by transcranial Doppler (TCD). Results— None of the patients presented pathological DWI hyperintensities, consistent with the absence of acute ischemia or cytotoxic edema. In 2 patients, we found an MRI pattern of reversible vasogenic edema similar to that observed in the posterior leukoencephalopathy syndrome. Middle cerebral artery (MCA) mean flow velocities (Vm) were not abnormally increased at any time. PWI documented a 20% to 44% RID of CBF in favor of the ipsilateral to CEA hemisphere. Conclusions— HS can occur in the presence of moderate relative hyperperfusion of the ipsilateral hemisphere. MCA Vm values may not accurately reflect RID of CBF over the cortical convexity. We suggest that the hemodynamic pathogenetic mechanisms of the HS are more complicated than hitherto believed and that they may be more accurately described by the term "reperfusion syndrome."


The goal of this paper is to monitor numerical streams, and to find subsequences that are similar to a given query sequence, under the DTW (dynamic time warping) distance. Applications include word spotting, sensor pattern matching, and monitoring of bio-medical signals (e.g., EKG, ECG), and monitoring of environmental (seismic and volcanic) signals. DTW is a very popular distance measure, permitting accelerations and decelerations, and it has been studied for finite, stored sequence sets. However, in many applications such as network analysis and sensor monitoring, massive amounts of data arrive continuously and it is infeasible to save all the historical data. We propose SPRING, a novel algorithm that can solve the problem. We provide a theoretical analysis and prove that SPRING does not sacrifice accuracy, while it requires constant space and time per time-tick. These are dramatic improvements over the naive method. Our experiments on real and realistic data illustrate that SPRING does indeed detect the qualifying subsequences correctly and that it can offer dramatic improvements in speed over the naive implementation.


Despite the persisting notion that recreational reading does not have a place in the academic mission of college and university libraries, these libraries have a long history of providing pleasure reading for their patrons. During the latter half of the twentieth century, the idea of academic libraries meeting the recreational reading needs of students seems to have fallen out of favor, but a literature review of that time period shows that the collections themselves still existed. Discussion of—and justifications for—these collections, however, has enjoyed a resurgence in the library literature over the past decade. Given this renewed interest, this study seeks to assess just how common these collections are in US academic libraries today, and whether or not they are, in fact, enjoying a comeback from previous decades. This study surveyed the thirty-nine academic libraries that make up the Orbis Cascade Alliance in the Pacific Northwest, a diverse group of libraries in terms of size, type, budget, and student populations. The results of the survey show that a majority of libraries have a recreational collection and that these collections are valued by patrons and librarians alike. Recommendations are made for shifting the perspective on popular reading collections and their place in academic libraries, as well as for how to study them in the future.


This essay focuses on the consistently deployed but previously unnoticed figure of the Jew in the post–Uncle Tom's Cabin plantation novel, whether "anti-Tom" or abolitionist in orientation. I argue that this character does complex ideological work in these novels, in particular as they stage economic tensions between the North and the South. On the one hand, the Jew as depicted in this work embodies the threat of Northern capitalism, which many in the South viewed as an overwhelmingly powerful force. On the other hand, the Jew of these novels acts as a figure for Southern ambivalence about capitalism; indeed, he was in many instances a projected form of economic envy and self-division. In this the Jew was the figure through whom the South could, however reluctantly, come to terms with the capitalist underpinnings of the Southern slave economy and thus its own inextricable relationship to the North and, indeed, the many countries involved in the global slave trade.


Background The multiple wavelet hypothesis is an established theory to explain initiation and maintenance of atrial fibrillation (AF). Purpose We hypothesised that if the multiple wavelet hypothesis is valid for human AF, the ability of a chamber to support AF would be proportional to the Effective Atrial Conducting Size, a function of total area, conduction velocity and atrial refractoriness. Methods High density activation mapping (CS pacing) followed by complete wide area encirclement was performed in 27 patients (19 paroxysmal, 8 persistent) undergoing 1st time ablation. The following parameters were measured: (1) LA body area [A], was measured using Carto3; (2) Refractoriness [ERP] was measured at the posterior wall; (3) Total activation time [TAT] was measured from earliest to latest LA activation; (4) Conduction velocity [CV] was defined as sqrt(A)/TAT. Effective Atrial Conducting Size was calculated as A/(CV*ERP). A rigorous AF induction protocol consisting sensed doubles, sensed triples and incremental atrial pacing was applied. Sustained AF was defined as AF >30 s duration. Results Sustained AF was induced in 7 (26%) patients. Individually there were no differences in LA area, TAT, CV or ERP between patients with and without AF induction (all P>0.05, Figure 1). Effective Atrial Conducting Size was 3.2±0.8 m in patients in whom AF was induced, and 3.2 ±1.1 m in patients in whom AF was not induced (P=0.85). Conclusion Effective Atrial Conducting Size was not associated with the ability to induce AF. These data suggest that multiple wavelets are unlikely to constitute the dominant mechanism of AF in these patients. Abstract 48 Figure 1 Measured and calculated study parameters


Introduction Little has been published about racial/ethnic differences in the prevalence of overweight among adolescents that accounts in detail for socioeconomic status, acculturation, and behavioral and environmental factors. Increased understanding of factors associated with overweight can provide a rational basis for developing interventions to address the obesity epidemic in the United States. Methods Using a cross-sectional analysis of data from adolescents who participated in the California Health Interview Survey 2003, we estimated the prevalence of overweight and at risk of overweight, combined as a single measure (AROW, body mass index ≥85th percentile). We used logistic regression models to examine associations between AROW and risk factors. Results Twenty-nine percent of California adolescents were AROW. The prevalence of AROW differed significantly by sex and race. Boys were more likely than girls to be AROW (33% vs 25%). American Indians/Pacific Islanders/others (39%) were at highest risk, followed by Hispanics (37%), blacks (35%), whites (23%), and Asians (15%). For boys, older age, Hispanic or American Indian/Pacific Islander/other race/ethnicity, lower education of parents, and longer residence in the United States were significantly associated with AROW. For girls, Hispanic or black race/ethnicity, lower education of parents, and poor dietary habits were significantly associated with AROW. Conclusion The high prevalence of AROW among California adolescents in most racial/ethnic groups indicates the need for culturally specific and appropriate interventions to prevent and treat overweight.


Importance Harms and benefits of opioids for chronic noncancer pain remain unclear. Objective To systematically review randomized clinical trials (RCTs) of opioids for chronic noncancer pain. Data Sources and Study Selection The databases of CENTRAL, CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE, AMED, and PsycINFO were searched from inception to April 2018 for RCTs of opioids for chronic noncancer pain vs any nonopioid control. Data Extraction and Synthesis Paired reviewers independently extracted data. The analyses used random-effects models and the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation to rate the quality of the evidence. Main Outcomes and Measures The primary outcomes were pain intensity (score range, 0-10 cm on a visual analog scale for pain; lower is better and the minimally important difference [MID] is 1 cm), physical functioning (score range, 0-100 points on the 36-item Short Form physical component score [SF-36 PCS]; higher is better and the MID is 5 points), and incidence of vomiting. Results Ninety-six RCTs including 26 169 participants (61% female; median age, 58 years [interquartile range, 51-61 years]) were included. Of the included studies, there were 25 trials of neuropathic pain, 32 trials of nociceptive pain, 33 trials of central sensitization (pain present in the absence of tissue damage), and 6 trials of mixed types of pain. Compared with placebo, opioid use was associated with reduced pain (weighted mean difference [WMD], −0.69 cm [95% CI, −0.82 to −0.56 cm] on a 10-cm visual analog scale for pain; modeled risk difference for achieving the MID, 11.9% [95% CI, 9.7% to 14.1%]), improved physical functioning (WMD, 2.04 points [95% CI, 1.41 to 2.68 points] on the 100-point SF-36 PCS; modeled risk difference for achieving the MID, 8.5% [95% CI, 5.9% to 11.2%]), and increased vomiting (5.9% with opioids vs 2.3% with placebo for trials that excluded patients with adverse events during a run-in period). Low- to moderate-quality evidence suggested similar associations of opioids with improvements in pain and physical functioning compared with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (pain: WMD, −0.60 cm [95% CI, −1.54 to 0.34 cm]; physical functioning: WMD, −0.90 points [95% CI, −2.69 to 0.89 points]), tricyclic antidepressants (pain: WMD, −0.13 cm [95% CI, −0.99 to 0.74 cm]; physical functioning: WMD, −5.31 points [95% CI, −13.77 to 3.14 points]), and anticonvulsants (pain: WMD, −0.90 cm [95% CI, −1.65 to −0.14 cm]; physical functioning: WMD, 0.45 points [95% CI, −5.77 to 6.66 points]). Conclusions and Relevance In this meta-analysis of RCTs of patients with chronic noncancer pain, evidence from high-quality studies showed that opioid use was associated with statistically significant but small improvements in pain and physical functioning, and increased risk of vomiting compared with placebo. Comparisons of opioids with nonopioid alternatives suggested that the benefit for pain and functioning may be similar, although the evidence was from studies of only low to moderate quality.


Recent spectroscopic, kinetics, and structural studies on cytochrome c oxidases (CcOs) suggest that the histidine-tyrosine cross-link at the heme a3-CuB binuclear active site plays a key role in the reductive O2-cleavage process. In this report, we describe dioxygen reactivity of copper and heme/Cu assemblies in which the imidazole-phenol moieties are employed as a part of copper ligand LN4OH (2-{4-[2-(bis-pyridin-2-ylmethyl-amino)-ethyl]-imidazol-1-yl}-4,6-di -tert-butyl-phenol). Stopped-flow kinetic studies reveal that low-temperature oxygenation of [CuI(LN4OH)]+ (1) leads to rapid formation of a copper-superoxo species [CuII(LN4OH)(O2-)]+ (1a), which further reacts with 1 to form the 2:1 Cu:O2 adduct, peroxo complex [{CuII(LN4OH)}2(O2(2-))]2+ (1b). Complex 1b is also short-lived, and a dimer Cu(II)-phenolate complex [CuII(LN4O-)]2(2+) (1c) eventually forms as a final product in the later stage of the oxygenation reaction. Dioxygen reactivities of 1 and its anisole analogue [CuI(LN4OMe)]+ (2) in the presence of a heme complex (F8)FeII (3) (F8 = tetrakis(2,6,-difluorotetraphenyl)-porphyrinate) are also described. Spectroscopic investigations including UV-vis, 1H and 2H NMR, EPR, and resonance Raman spectroscopies along with spectrophotometric titration reveal that low-temperature oxygenation of 1/3 leads to formation of a heme-peroxo-copper species [(F8)FeIII-(O2(2-))-CuII(LN4OH)]+ (4), nu(O-O) = 813 cm(-1). Complex 4 is an S = 2 spin system with strong antiferromagnetic coupling between high-spin iron(III) and copper(II) through a bridging peroxide ligand. A very similar complex [(F8)FeIII-(O2(2-))-CuII(LN4OMe)]+ (5) (nu(O-O) = 815 cm(-1)) can be generated by utilizing the anisole compound 2, which indicates that the cross-linked phenol moiety in 4 does not interact with the bridging peroxo group between heme and copper. This investigation thus reveals that a stable heme-peroxo-copper species can be generated even in the presence of an imidazole-phenol group (i.e., possible electron/proton donor source) in close proximity. Future studies are needed to probe key factors that can trigger the reductive O-O cleavage in CcO model compounds.


History is often thought to be dull and boring – where large numbers of facts are memorized for passing exams. But the past informs the present and future, especially in delineating the context surrounding specific events that, in turn, help provide a deeper understanding of their causes and implications. Scientific progress (whether incremental or breakthroughs) is built upon prior work. Chronological examination of computational chemistry's evolution reveals the existence of major "epochs" (e.g., transition from semi-empirical methods to first principles calculations), and the centrality of key ideas (e.g., Schrodinger equation and Born Oppenheimer approximation) in potentiating progress in the field. The longstanding question of whether computing power (both capacity and speed) or theoretical insights play a more important role in advancing computational chemistry was examined by taking into account the field's development holistically. Specifically, availability of large amount of computing power at declining cost, and advent of graphics processing unit (GPU) powered parallel computing are enabling tools for solving hitherto intractable problems. On the other hand, this essay argues (using Born Oppenheimer approximation as an example) that theoretical insights' role in unlocking problems through simple (but insightful) assumptions is often overlooked. Collectively, the essay should be useful as a primer for appreciating major development periods in computational chemistry, from which counterfactual questions illuminate the relative importance of theoretical insights and advances in computer science in moving the field forward.


Familial amyloid polyneuropathy (FAP) is caused by mutations of the transthyretin (TTR) gene, predominantly expressed in the liver. Two compounds that knockdown TTR, comprising a small interfering RNA (siRNA; ALN-TTR-02) and an antisense oligonucleotide (ASO; IONIS-TTRRx), are currently being evaluated in clinical trials. Since primary hepatocytes from FAP patients are rarely available for molecular analysis and commercial tissue culture cells or animal models lack the patient-specific genetic background, this study uses primary cells derived from urine of FAP patients. Urine-derived cells were reprogrammed to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) with high efficiency. Hepatocyte-like cells (HLCs) showing typical hepatic marker expression were obtained from iPSCs of the FAP patients. TTR mRNA expression of FAP HLCs almost reached levels measured in human hepatocytes. To assess TTR knockdown, siTTR1 and TTR-ASO were introduced to HLCs. A significant downregulation (>80%) of TTR mRNA was induced in the HLCs by both oligonucleotides. TTR protein present in the cell culture supernatant of HLCs was similarly downregulated. Gene expression of other hepatic markers was not affected by the therapeutic oligonucleotides. Our data indicate that urine cells (UCs) after reprogramming and hepatic differentiation represent excellent primary human target cells to assess the efficacy and specificity of novel compounds.


In this study, the susceptibility of 116 recent anaerobic isolates, including the Bacteroides fragilis group (n = 22), Bacteroides spp (n = 65), gram-positive cocci (n = 13), Clostridium spp (n = 10), and Fusobacterium spp (n = 6) were tested by agar dilution against a variety of agents suggested for prophylaxis or therapy. These agents included ampicillin sodium and sulbactam sodium, cefotaxime, cefoxitin, ceftizoxime, clindamycin, imipenem-cilastatin, metronidazole, and ticarcillin and clavulanate potassium. All anaerobes demonstrated 100% susceptibility to imipenem-cilastatin, metronidazole, ampicillin sodium and sulbactam sodium, and ticarcillin and clavulate potassium. Varying degrees of susceptibility (ranging from 60% to 100%) of Bacteroides spp to the selected panel of antibiotics were seen. Fusobacterium spp and the gram-positive cocci were inhibited by all agents tested. Clostridium spp was 90% susceptible to cefoxitin, 80% susceptible to clindamycin, and 100% susceptible to the other six agents. Due to the varying activity of these agents, local susceptibility patterns, antimicrobic spectrum, and cost effectiveness must be considered in the choice of agents used for empiric therapy.


The importance of leading by personal example or role modeling for effective leadership has been recognized in many leadership theories. However, leaders' ability to influence group behavior through exemplary behavior has received little attention in empirical work. This study explores leading by example through theoretical development and empirical testing of a moderated mediation model of the potential effects of leader organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). This model suggests that a leader's OCB may promote group OCB directly and indirectly by enhancing the group's belief that OCB is worthy. It also specifies the moderators of the direct and indirect effects of leader OCB on group OCB. Data from 683 members of 67 intact work groups, 67 group managers, and their supervisors support the hypothesized model. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.


Background: Over the last decade, new healthcare policies are transforming healthcare practices towards independent living and self-care of older people and people with a chronic disease or disability within the community. For professional caregivers in home care, such as nurses, this requires a shift from a caring attitude towards the promotion of patient autonomy. Aim: To explore how nurses in home care deal with the transformation towards fostering patient autonomy and self-care. Research design and context: A case study was conducted in a professional development course ('learning circle') for home care nurses, including participant observations and focus groups. The theoretical notion of 'relational agency' and the moral concept of 'practices of responsibility' were used to conduct a narrative analysis on the nurses' stories about autonomy. Participants: Eight nurses, two coaches and two university lecturers who participated in the learning circle. Ethical considerations: Informed consent was sought at the start of the course and again, at specific moments during the course of the learning circle. Findings: Three main themes were found that expressed the moral demands experienced and negotiated by the nurses: adapting to the person, activating patients' strengths and collaboration with patients and informal caregivers. Discussion: On a policy and organisational level, the moral discourse on patient autonomy gets intertwined with the instrumental discourse on healthcare budget savings. This is manifested in the ambiguities the nurses face in fostering patient autonomy in their daily home care practice. To support nurses, critical thinking, moral sensitivity and trans-professional working should be part of their professional development. Conclusion: The turn towards autonomy in healthcare raises moral questions about responsibilities for care. Promoting patient autonomy should be a collaborative endeavour and deliberation of patients, professional and informal caregivers together.


Developing inexpensive and efficient electrocatalysts without using precious metals for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is essential for the realization of economical clean energy production. Here we demonstrate a facile approach to access interconnected three-dimensional (3-D) porous tungsten-based (WS2 and WC) thin-films without using any templates. Benefiting from the 3-D open frameworks of these highly porous thin-films, there are enormous amounts of exposed active sites and efficient mass transport in favor of the HER. Both electrodes exhibit excellent catalytic activity towards HER with onset overpotentials of ∼100 mV for WS2 and ∼120 mV for WC, and similar Tafel slopes of ∼67 mV per decade. The long-term operation of these thin-film electrodes is confirmed by their electrochemical stability test. With the low loading mass (∼80 and ∼160 μg cm−2 for WS2 and WC, respectively), these porous thin-films are among the best tungsten-based HER electrocatalysts.


Chile has a large but relatively illiquid stock market. Global factors such as global risk appetite and monetary policy in advanced economies are key cyclical determinants of liquidity in Chilean equities. Evidence from a cross-section of emerging markets suggests strong protection of minority shareholders can help improve stock market liquitidity. Currently, illiquid in Chilean may have to pay 3½ percent more as cost of equity. Corporate governance should be improved, namely through the adoption of a stewardship code.


Motivated by the previous study of Maxworthy et al. 2002 we revisit the problem in which a lock release gravity current propagates into a stratified ambient fluid. High-resolution three-dimensional numerical simulations based on ILES framework are used in conjunction with a simple box model to develop a greater understanding of the complex interactions between the slumping gravity current and the internal waves that develop. Examination of the energetics of the system are carried out for both sub and super-critical gravity currents. The results show that for the sub-critical gravity currents the energy passed from the gravity current to the wave field and subsequently from the wave field back to the gravity current. Calculations of the energy transfer between the gravity current and the internal wave field will be presented.