Introduction Bacterial cytotoxic proteins, such as vaginolysin (VLY) produced by Gardnerella vaginalis, are thought to be virulence factors that in vitro alter cell integrity and local immunity. VLY may play a significant role in bacterial vaginosis (BV), therefore we assessed whether G. vaginalis dominant vaginal microbiota and immune markers were associated with higher concentrations of VLY in reproductive-age women. Methods Forty women self-collected mid-vaginal swabs in a cross-sectional study. Microbial communities were characterised by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequence analysis. VLY (ng/ml) was detected by ELISA and normalised by a cube root transformation. Absolute bacterial abundance of G. vaginalis (log10 transformed) was estimated by multiplying its relative abundance by the sample total bacterial burden estimated by qPCR. Pro-inflammatory immune markers were quantified by Luminex and categorised above and below the median. Multivariate linear regression models evaluated factors associated with VLY abundance and controlled for confounders, including smoking and history of vaginal douching. Results Vaginal microbiota clustered into 3 community state types (CSTs); 2 dominated by Lactobacillus spp. (Lactibacillus iners (CST-III) or L. crispatus (CST-I)), and one lacking Lactobacillus spp. and characterised by BV-associated bacteria including G. vaginalis and Atopobium vaginae (CST-IV). In the multivariate analysis, CST-IV, G. vaginalis bacterial load, a high Nugent Gram stain score, and a more basic vaginal pH (all p<0.03) were positively associated with increasing concentrations of VLY. TNF-α, TGF-β and IL-8 were inversely associated with VLY but only TNF-α remained significant in multivariate analysis (p=0.01). Conclusion This study confirms that vaginal microbiota lacking lactobacilli, as well as other clinical indicators of BV, were associated with higher concentrations of VLY in vivo. Inflammatory markers were inversely associated with VLY. Because VLY may alter the vaginal microbiota and local inflammation, the role of VLY in BV warrants further evaluation.


This paper will consider the oldest known image of St Columba, contained within a copy of Adomnan's Vita sancti Columbae, created around the middle of the 9th century in the monastery at St Gallen in Switzerland. Columba established a confederation of monasteries in Britain and Ireland, centred on his great foundation at Iona, before his death in ad 597. His fame spread to the Continent, in relation to a network of Carolingian monasteries with Scotto-Irish links, resulting in a persistent devotion to certain Irish saints, the context for which is outlined here. Rather than simply being an illustration in support of the manuscript, the image affirms the significance of Columba to the culture of St Gallen more than 200 years after his death. Most remarkably, a 'house-shaped' shrine – of possible Insular origin – features in the church setting of this image, and this is discussed in relation to the possible origins and identification of this object, possibly as a Columban reliquary. Whereas this paper focuses on the materiality of the image and especially on the extraordinary representation of the reliquary, an art historical assessment of the image is also essential to achieving a full understanding. As this is outwith the skills of the present author, the art historical significance will be fully explored in a forthcoming, accompanying paper by Prof Jane Geddes.


The ethical principle of respect for the autonomy of the patient has acquired an important place in psychiatric care. Within the dominant rights discourse this autonomy principle is onesidedly filled in from a negative concept of liberty: the protection of the individual from unwanted interference. Opposite to this interpretation of the principle of autonomy a number of alternative views are elaborated. Characteristic for these approaches is that they give a broader and richer interpretation of the autonomy principle. The implications of these different perspectives for clinical practice are illustrated on the basis of a case.


This paper addresses the control of multiterminal voltage-source converters at high-voltage direct current in the context of offshore wind farms. Droop control is commonly used to regulate the dc voltage in this kind of grid, and droop parameters are selected on the basis of steady-state analyses. Here, a control design methodology is proposed based on the frequency-response analysis. This methodology provides a criterion to select the droop gains, taking into account the performance specifications [i.e., the desired voltage errors and the maximum control inputs (currents)]. The application of the methodology is illustrated with a four-terminal grid.


Abstract The tungsten trioxide (WO3) is a promising material with important technologic and scientific applications, due to its electrochromic, gasochromic and photochromic properties. Usually, this material is synthesized following several routes, for example, sputtering, chemical deposition, sol-gel, hydrothermal, among others. However, these methods are complicated, have long processing times and use several chemicals with the possibility of keeping undesirable impurities. In this context, concentrated solar energy is an interesting and feasible option to process materials at a low cost and without greenhouse gas emissions. In this work, a simple and green synthesis method of WO3 by using the Solar Furnace of the Renewable Energy Institute of the National University of Mexico is presented. Tungsten oxide powder is obtained by means of tungsten electrodes in a high-temperature solar reaction chamber designed to work with concentrated solar energy under controlled conditions of the gas atmosphere. The oxidation reaction was carried out for three different temperatures: 600°C, 800°C and 1000°C, and for each temperature three different oxygen molar fractions were studied: 0.33, 0.41 and 1. Some results indicate the oxygen molar fraction does not affect the phase transformation and the WO3 triclinic was the most stable phase, appearing in all the temperature ranges and concentrations. The synthesis reported in this paper is presented as a green alternative in the development of processes for the synthesis of WO3, which promote renewable energy sources with very low greenhouse gas emissions and without toxic residuals.


Coats' disease diagnosed in adulthood is rare; therefore, the treatment options and longer clinical course are not well established. We report on two cases of adult onset Coats' disease, which have been observed for more than 10 years after conventional treatment. In the first case, a 76-year-old man with 9 years of diabetic retinopathy noticed a visual field defect in his left eye. Yellowish subretinal exudation with serous retinal detachment in his superior peripheral retina, and telangiectatic vessels with fluorescein leakage, numerous microaneurysms, and areas of capillary nonperfusion observed in a fluorescein angiography indicated adult Coats' disease, and retinal photocoagulation was applied. Within 1 year, subretinal exudation was regressed and visual acuity was improved from 20/50 to 20/20, and was maintained for the next 11 years. In the second case, a 71-year-old man presented with decreased vision in his right eye. The fundus of his right eye showed multiple telangiectasic vessels and subretinal exudates extended to the fovea, which is diagnosed as adult Coats' disease. Despite retinal photocoagulation, an increase of exudation and an enlargement of retinal detachment was observed within 1 month, and subsequently, additional treatment of cryotherapy was performed. Two months after these therapies, the exudation was regressed without retinal detachment, and visual acuity was improved to 20/200 which was maintained for the next 10 years. Even with adult Coats' disease, conventional therapies of retinal photocoagulation and cryotherapy are effective and are the initial choice for improving or maintaining visual function.


Power grid's traditional security assessment approach-based on SCADA data and off-line studies conducted long in advance of real time operations-are becoming increasingly problematic for real time operations because they cannot fully anticipate all the conditions faced by operators. New technologies that rely on accurate, high-resolution, real-time monitoring of actual (not hypothesized) system conditions using synchronized measurement technologies are needed to support the real-time operations. The purpose of these tools and systems is to monitor, assess, enable, and ultimately, automatically take the necessary control action to prevent or mitigate problems in real time. The proposed applications of synchronized measurements for power grids will provide the realtime operating staff with previously unavailable yet greatly needed tools to avoid grid instabilities, and to monitor generator's response to abnormal excursions in system frequency. The objective of this paper is to point out benefits of using synchronized measurements for selected realtime applications, to summarize ongoing projects and experience worldwide, and emphasize the need for a practical roadmap toward greater deployment of the technology


ABSTRACT Many commercial and academic institutions protect their commercially valuable research information using patents, making the patent literature a rich and early source of cutting-edge research. While scientists and students often create the data that finds its way into patents, some rarely read the patent literature. Here, we provide an informal and brief collection of hints and tips that may assist scientists and students who do not regularly read the patent literature to locate the key scientific findings that are disclosed by patentees. These tips will introduce the reader to: (i) the general structure of patents and the sections of the patents that scientists and students may find particularly helpful; and (ii) a few factors to keep in mind when using data disclosed in the patent literature, such as patent lifespans, jurisdictions and the patent review processes. Although this is not a comprehensive and complete guide to reading patents, the accessible nature of this informal introduction to patent reading should assist scientists and students to make more effective use of the cutting-edge research disclosed in patent specifications.


Mark De Ste Croix has worked in the area of paediatric sport and exercise physiology for over 17 years with a specific focus on enhancing our understanding of growth and maturation related changes in muscle strength. Mark studied for his PhD and held a post-doctoral research fellowship post at the world renowned Children's Health and Exercise Research Centre at the University of Exeter. His early work significantly enhanced our understanding of the age and sex related changes in strength during childhood. Using isokinetic dynamometry and magnetic resonance imaging Mark's work contributed to a greater understanding of the mechanisms associated with the age related development of muscle strength during childhood. His specific expertise in using isokinetic dynamometry with paediatric populations has contributed towards a national expert statement on assessment and interpretation using Isokinetic dynamometry. Since joining the University of Gloucestershire in 2003 Mark has employed his expertise in paediatric neuromuscular development to explore injury risk in youth sport. This has included securing competitive research grants from both FIFA and UEFA to explore the effects of football match play on injury risk in female youth footballers. Mark has also been commissioned by the English FA to conduct research into injury risk and injury incidence in female youth footballers. Mark also works closely with a number of football clubs around the world including Barcelona, Athletic Club Bilbao, and more locally with Bristol City and Bristol Ladies Academy. Mark has published over 60 articles on the topic in academic peer reviewed journals, co-edited 1 book, written 25 book chapters, presented at over 70 International Conferences and presented keynote lectures at 15 International conferences. Mark is currently the deputy-convener of the British Association of Sport and Exercise Science special interest group on paediatric sport and exercise, and co-director of the Exercise and Sport Research Centre at the University of Gloucestershire. In this lecture Mark will highlight the importance of understanding growth and maturation related changes in strength; explore the mechanisms associated with injury risk for youth sport; and propose appropriate pre-habilitation programmes for reducing injury risk.


A recent strand of research has raised the question of whether a change is underway in the relationships that people have with work and nonwork. This body of work suggests that the manner in which people view unemployment and not working is changing. This chapter pursues and clarifies the first results of this research. The authors hypothesize a process of unemployment normalization, defined as the view that unemployment is a normal or even inevitable phase of life in a person's career path and is the result of exter‐ nal circumstances rather than personal ones. This was tested with 600 unemployed people in two different economic contexts—France and Luxembourg—using a scale that revealed two latent factors: Justification for current unemployment situation and Perceived normality of unemployment. The findings reveal differences in the degree of normalization according to socioeconomic variables as well as an impact on the perceived health of the unemployed.


In area CA1, intrahippocampal microinjection of somatostatin(SS, 0.03 to 0.3 nmol) caused single or a series of spike-sharp waves in the cortex electroencephalogram (EEG), the spectrum average total power of which is increased dose-dependently from 0.006 to 0.15 nmol. Microinjection of SS into the hippocampal CA1 subregion brought out epileptic-like behavioral responses and aggregated kainic acid (KA)-induced epileptiform activity of rats. With extracellular recording technique, the effects of SS on 114 units epileptiform discharge were investigated in penicillin (PEN)-treated 95 rat hippocampal slices. In response to the application of SS (10(-10), 10(-8), 10(-6) mol/L), the burst frequency of area CA1 62/105 (59.05%) recorded unit discharges was increased significantly, while that of 23/105 (21.9%) was decreased. These results suggest that SS in hippocampal CA1 subregion mainly precipitates epileptiform discharge. The addition of anti-somatostatin antibody (1 1000) to the perfusate partly blocked the epileptiform bursts triggered by PEN perfusion, while this antiepileptic effect of SSAB was reversed by application of SS (10(-8) mol/L). These indicate that endogenous SS may be involved in epileptiform discharge in area CA1 of hippocampus.


Purpose

This study aims to identify and establish effective housing financing concepts to be adopted by government in achieving its mandate of providing sustainable affordable housing for the poor to decrease the building of shacks, as well as proposing solutions to the housing deficit in South Africa. A rise in demand and shortage in supply of housing calls for the need to address issues of affordable housing in South Africa, and developing countries in general, to ensure a stable and promising future for poor families.

Design/methodology/approach

Literature has revealed that the South African government, at all levels, accorded high priority to the provision of low-cost housing. Thus, government has adopted subsidy payment as a method of financing affordable housing to ensure that houses are allocated free to the beneficiaries. This also addresses the historically race-based inequalities of the past, but unfortunately, this has not been fully realised. This study uses a sequential mixed method approach, where private housing developers and general building contractors were the research participants. The qualitative data were analysed using a case-by-case analysis, and quantitative data were analysed using a descriptive statistical technique on SPSS.

Findings

The results of the qualitative analysis reveal a gross abuse of the housing subsidies system by the beneficiaries of government-funded housing in South Africa. This is evident from illegal sale of the houses below market value. This has led to a continual building of shacks and an increased number of people on the housing waiting list instead of a decrease in the housing deficit. The results from quantitative analysis affirm the use of "Mortgage Payment Subsidies, Mortgage Payment Deductions, Down-Payment Grant and Mortgage Interest Deductions" as viable alternatives to subsidy payment currently in use to finance affordable housing projects by the South African Government.

Practical implications

At the moment, the focus of the South African National Government is continual provision of free housing to the historically disadvantage citizens, but the housing financing method being used encourages unapproved transfer of ownership in the affordable housing sector. This study thus recommends the use of an all-inclusive housing financing method that requires a monetary contribution from the beneficiaries to enable them take control of the process.

Originality/value

The relational interface model proposed in this study will reduce pressure on government budgetary provision for housing and guarantee quick return of private developers' investment in housing. Government must, as a matter of urgency, launch a continuous awareness programme to educate the low-income population on the value and the long-term benefits of the housing.


Literature data and three cases observed by the authors are described. Extrapulmonary inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor (EIMT) presented with proliferation of spindle cells with myofibroblast phenotype. Frequent recurrences and indefinite prognosis make to treat these lesions as true tumors. EIMT malignancy hyperdiagnosis is possible as morphologically it and some soft tissue sarcomas are alike.


Coastal infrastructure, cultural, and archeological sites are increasingly vulnerable to erosion and flooding along permafrost coasts. Amplified warming of the Arctic, sea level rise, lengthening of the open water period, and a predicted increase in frequency of major storms compound these threats. Mitigation necessitates decision-making tools at an appropriate scale. We present a study of coastal erosion combining it with a flooding risk assessment for the culturally important historic settlement on Herschel Island, a UNESCO World Heritage candidate site. The resulting map may help local stakeholders devise management strategies to cope with rapidly changing environmental conditions.

We analyzed shoreline movement using the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) after digitizing shorelines from 1952, 1970, and 2011. Using these data, forecasts of shoreline positions were made for 20 and 50 years into the future. Flooding risk was assessed using a cost-distance map based on a high-resolution Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) dataset and current Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change sea level estimates.

Widespread erosion characterizes the study area. The rate of shoreline movement for different periods of the study ranges from -5.5 to 2.7 m·a-1 (mean -0.6 m·a-1). Mean coastal retreat decreased from -0.6 m·a-1 to -0.5 m·a-1, for 1952-1970 and 1970-2000, respectively, and increased to -1.3 m·a-1 in the period 2000-2011. Ice-rich coastal sections, and coastal sections most exposed to wave attack exhibited the highest rates of coastal retreat. The geohazard map resulting from shoreline projections and flood risk analysis indicates that most of the area occupied by the historic settlement is at extreme or very high risk of flooding, and some buildings are vulnerable to coastal erosion.

The results of this study indicate a greater threat by coastal flooding than erosion. Our assessment may be applied in other locations where limited data are available.


Structural Query Language (SQL) is very restrictive in data extraction. Classical SQL queries have remarkable capabilities in terms of data extraction and answer formation from information stored at widely dispersed databases. Human queries are rarely crisp which poses challenges in efficient answer formation and data retrieval. These are based on human perception which is grossly inexact and imprecise based on world knowledge. Integration of query languages with fuzzy logic can increase their capability in data retrieval based on human perception. Query optimization is a difficult task in a distributed client/server environment as data location becomes a major factor. The integration of a query processing subsystem into a distributed database management system with fuzzy logic is used for analyzing query response time across fragmentations of global relations. Fuzzy logic based query optimization in distributed database have an important impact on the performance of distributed query processing.


Functional magnetic resonance imaging is an improved method for observing correlates of neural brain activity at high spatial resolution in human subjects. This technique is used for determining the specific regions of activation in the brain's cortical areas while the subject performs a pre designed motor task. Localized changes in cortical blood oxygenation during voluntary fist movements are modeled in a statistical framework such as general linear model (GLM) to obtain statistical parametric maps that represent various neuronal activations in the brain. fMRI was performed during visually cued motor task on a healthy subject in a 3.0 T scanner using gradient echo planar imaging with a 60 s repetition time. Evaluation of fMRI data is performed using SPM and final results are used to determine effective connectivity within a bilateral network comprising M1, premotor cortex (PMC) and supplementary motor area (SMA). Dynamic Causal Modelling (DCM) is used to analyze the effective connectivity between the above specified regions of the brain.


Modification of the strength of connections between neurons is widely accepted to be essential for information storage in the brain and thus form the basis of learning and memory. However, many regulatory mechanisms must exist in order for the richness of learning and memory to emerge from the simple long-term potentiation and depression of synapses. Metaplasticity, the regulation of synaptic plasticity by prior history of synaptic activity, is a newly discovered phenomenon which offers a deeper understanding of how synaptic plasticity is able to occur within an effective dynamic range and result in meaningful, coordinated changes in neural activity. A complete understanding of the mechanisms of plasticity and metaplasticity would not only be valuable for clinical application, but provide a link between the fields of biology, psychology, and cognitive science.


Central vascular catheters are an integral part of caring for a pediatric intensive care patient, providing hemodynamic monitoring capabilities, reliable vascular access for hydration, medication administration, and blood sampling. However, central vascular catheters put the patient at risk for central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs). In 2010, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services added CLABSI to the list of "never events." This article discusses the measures one hospital implemented to reduce the CLABSI rate, and the research that supports this evidence-based practice.


This study investigates the relevance of Jensen's (1986) free cash flow theory to the market for corporate control in Australia. We introduce two proxies of free cash flow, excess cash holdings and excess accounting cash flow and test the relationship between the level of excess cash and bidders' long-run post-acquisition performance. Results indicate that the level of excess cash holdings does not provide a significant explanation for the cross-sectional variation in long-run post-acquisition performance. Results from the flow measure of cash indicate that the acquisitions carried out by bidders with excess accounting cash flow are not value-decreasing. This finding is contrary to the free cash flow hypothesis proposed by Jensen (1986).


In this work, numerical analysis of steady laminar natural convection in a roof with an isosceles triangular cross section has been performed for wintertime conditions. Base angles varying from 15° to 75°, that is, with corresponding aspect ratios between 0.13 and 1.87, have been used for Rayleigh numbers ranging from 103 to 105. The inclined and the base walls are maintained at cold and hot, respectively, representing the wintertime conditions. To perform the computational analysis, the finite-volume method is used for the discretization of the governing equations. The effects of the Rayleigh number and base angle on the flow field and heat transfer are analyzed. The detailed streamline patterns and temperature distributions are presented. The variation in the average convective Nusselt numbers versus Rayleigh numbers and base angles is given. The present study aims to help designers and builders to select the most suitable isosceles triangular roof base angle from an energy-saving point of view. It is found that roofs having low base angles are not suitable for wintertime conditions because of high heat transfer rates from the isosceles triangular attic space of the building.


Bishops are to be regarded primarily as representatives of cultures in process of redemption whose territorial location is merely incidental. Classical, patristics texts (Ignatius, Irenaeus, Cyprian, church Order literature etc.) are analyzed using insights from Durkheim's sociology. The survival of such a concept is traced through its Gregorian and early Irenaean distortions.


The prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has increased 54.7% from 2000 to 2016 nationally (CDC, 2016), and comparably, 52.38% in the district where this program evaluation was conducted. This increase, paired with legislative requirements through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and recommendations from the National Research Council on educating students with ASD, has challenged school districts to develop programming targeting specific impairments characteristic of students with ASD. The purpose of this study was to evaluate programming through the evaluation of individualized education plans (IEPs) of students with ASD in kindergarten through third grade for the presence of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requirements and National Research Council recommendations. Additionally, 13 special education teachers providing services to one or more students in the category of ASD completed a 30 item self-report questionnaire on their confidence in developing IEPs and programming for students with ASD. Sixty-three IEPs were evaluated in the study for IDEA and NRC indicator proficiency levels and cross-referenced with teacher confidence levels on developing IEPs and programming for students with ASD. The study concluded data analysis of IEPs and special education teacher confidence levels resulted in the identification of programming strengths and weakness that can be used by the district in this study to develop a structured plan for improvements in the development of IEPs specific to the identified areas of impairments for students with ASD (behavior, communication, socialization). Specific to the district in this study is a recommended focus on the development of IEP goals based on individual student needs and NRC recommendations for students with ASD, descriptions of student motivational systems when appropriate, specially designed instruction, educational placement and the relationship of teacher knowledge and confidence about ASD to IEP and program development. Evaluating IEPs of Elementary School Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder Pamela Lawrence Watkins GENERAL AUDIENCE ABSTRACT The prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has increased nationally by 54.7% from 2000 to 2016 (CDC, 2016), and 52.38% in the district where this program evaluation was conducted. The increase has challenged school districts to develop programming specific to the areas of impairment characteristic of students with ASD. The purpose of this study was to evaluate programming for students with ASD through the evaluation of individual education plans (IEPs). Additionally, special education teachers completed a self-report questionnaire on their level of confidence in developing programming and support systems for students with ASD. The areas of in need of improvement, indicated by the IEP evaluation, were cross-referenced with low confidence levels reported by teachers in the self-efficacy questionnaire. The study identified areas of weaknesses and strengths in programming that can be used by the district to develop a plan for improvement of the development of IEPs and programming specific to the areas of impairment (communication, socialization, behavior) characteristic of students with ASD.


The cocoa provides signif icant levels of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) by the leaf litter; the change of agronomic management causes variation in the contents of these elements in the soil. The objective was to evaluate the variations of the isotopes of δ13C and δ15N between two types of cocoa (CCN51 and Nacional), located in three soil orders in the province of El Oro, Ecuador. Thirty soil samples of 0.30 m deep and 25 samples of leaf litter were taken and the abundance of the isotopes of δ13C and δ15N were analyzed. The data were analyzed including two factors, cocoa types (CCN51 and National) and order of soils (Alf isol, Entisol and Inceptisol). The results showed that the ranges of the isotope of δ13C in soil were -23.81% (CCN51, Entisol) to -26.46% (National, Entisol) and in leaf litter -27.21% (CCN51, Alf isol) to -29.86% (National, Inceptisol). The ranges of the isotope of δ15N in soil were of 7.96% (National, Entisol) and 10.48% (National, Alf isol) and in leaf litter of 4.85% (National, Entisol) to 8.38% (CCN51, Alf isol). The averages of the δ13C in the soil were plants type C3. The values of δ15N in litter and soil was an indicator of low incidence of fertilizers nitrogenous origin inorganic in National and high mineralization of N in CCN51.


: A study was made of the effect of acute treatment of rats with intramuscular chlorophos and trichlorometaphos in a dose of 50 mg/kg on oxidation metabolism. The animals who had received low-grade gluten protein demonstrated, in the course of injections of organophosphorous pesticides, a considerable activation of glycolytic enzymes (aldolase and lactate dehydrogenase--LDH), changes in the spectra of LDH isozymes and an increase in the activity of a non-precipitated fraction of dehydrogenases belonging to the tricarboxylic acid series. This indicates the deterioration of aerobic oxidation and compensatory increase in little effective anaerobic pathway of carbohydrate transformation. In control rats, who had received casein, a full-value protein of animal origin, the administration of pesticides gave rise to insignificant changes, which points to the protective role of balanced nutrition aimed against toxic action of organophosphorous pesticides on oxidation metabolism.


Abstract Following the intraventricular injection of 5-hydroxytryptamine into the lateral ventricles of conscious mice, the concentration of brain lactate rose immediately but then decreased significantly compared with the saline injected controls. The concentration of brain glucose increased 20 min after the injection of 5-hydroxytryptamine. These effects of 5-hydroxytryptamine on lactate and glucose were qualitatively similar to those found following the administration of methysergide. After the parenteral adm inistration of 5-hydroxytryptophan, the lactate levels showed a biphasic change but brain glucose was significantly decreased for up to 90 min following the injection. p -Chlorophenylalanine potentiated the effect of 5-hydroxytryptamine by further increasing glucose and decreasing lactate levels. After histamine had been injected into the ventricles, the concentrations of bound glycogen and lactate were decreased whereas free glycogen and glucose were raised. It is suggested th at 5-hydroxytryptamine, and possibly histamine, are involved with control of glycolysis in the mouse brain.


High loads and bearing life requirements make journal bearings a potential choice for use in high power, epicyclic gearboxes in jet engines. Particularly, in a planetary configuration, the kinematic conditions are complex. With the planet gears rotating about their own axes and orbiting around the sun gear, centrifugal forces generated by both motions interact with each other and affect the external flow behavior of the oil exiting the journal bearing. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations using the volume of fluid (VoF) method are carried out in ANSYS fluent (ANSYS, 2013, "ANSYS Fluent User's Guide," ANSYS Inc., Canonsburg, PA) to numerically model the two-phase flow behavior of the oil exiting the bearing and merging into the air surrounding the bearing. This paper presents an investigation of two numerical schemes that are available in ansysfluent to track or capture the air–oil phase interface: the geometric reconstruction scheme and the compressive scheme. Both numerical schemes are used to model the oil outflow behavior in the most simplistic approximation of a journal bearing: a representation, rotating about its own axis, with a circumferentially constant, i.e., concentric, lubricating gap. Based on these simplifications, a three-dimensional (3D) CFD sector model with rotationally periodic boundaries is considered. A comparison of the geometric reconstruction scheme and the compressive scheme is presented with regard to the accuracy of the phase interface reconstruction and the time required to reach steady-state flow-field conditions. The CFD predictions are validated against existing literature data with respect to the flow regime, the direction of the predicted oil flow path, and the oil film thickness. Based on the findings and considerations of industrial requirements, a recommendation is made for the most suitable scheme to be used. With a robust and partially validated CFD model in place, the model fidelity can be enhanced to include journal bearing eccentricity. Due to the convergent-divergent gap and the resultant pressure field within the lubricating oil film, the outflow behavior can be expected to be very different compared to that of a concentric journal bearing. Naturally, the inlet boundary conditions for the oil emerging from the journal bearing into the external environment must be consistent with the outlet conditions from the bearing. The second part of this paper therefore focuses on providing a method to generate appropriate inlet boundary conditions for external oil flow from an eccentric journal bearing.


Abstract The size of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) can influence various aspects of their cellular uptake. Light microscopy is not capable of resolving most AuNPs, while electron microscopy (EM) is not practically capable of acquiring the necessary statistical data from many cells and the results may suffer from various artifacts. Here, we demonstrate the use of a fast EM method for obtaining high-resolution data from a much larger population of cells than is usually feasible with conventional EM. A549 (human lung carcinoma) cells were subjected to uptake protocols with 10, 15, or 30 nm diameter AuNPs with adsorbed serum proteins. After 20 min, 24 h, or 45 h, the cells were fixed and imaged in whole in a thin layer of liquid water with environmental scanning electron microscopy equipped with a scanning transmission electron microscopy detector. The fast preparation and imaging of 145 whole cells in liquid allowed collection of nanoscale data within an exceptionally small amount of time of ~80 h. Analysis of 1,041 AuNP-filled vesicles showed that the long-term AuNP storing lysosomes increased their average size by 80 nm when AuNPs with 30 nm diameter were uptaken, compared to lysosomes of cells incubated with AuNPs of 10 and 15 nm diameter.


Breastfeeding has been the natural and normal means of feeding infants. Breastfeeding is universally acknowledged as providing health benefits for mothers and infants, decreasing infant mortality and morbidity particularly in developing countries, but also in more affluent societies. The research was retrospective cross sectional survey that assessed the mothers' attitude to children care and its effect on breast feeding. Simple random sampling was used in selecting four out of six nutrition units. Consecutive sampling was applied in selecting the sample of the research, and the data were collected in three month period. A twenty two items structured questionnaire was used in obtaining information from the respondents. Descriptive statistic was presented in percentage using tables and chi-square statistical tool was used in answering the research hypotheses using SPSS version 20 at 95% confidence interval (CI). The result shows that 58.4% were not practicing exclusive breast feeding and 50.4% of their children had not received due immunizations. Majority of the respondents (47.4%) stopped breast feeding due to child sickness and 31.4% said was due to assumed lack of breast milk. Hypotheses testing show that attitudes to children's feeding have no effect on children's illness, and attitude to mothers' illness has effect on children's illness. It is concluded that there is need for more effort in improving the mothers' attitude toward the proper care of children. Mothers need to be educated on exclusive breast feeding and immunization to children. Mothers should be informed that sucking of breast by the child greatly help in production and draining of milk; and lack of sucking could cause the milk production to cease. There is need for teaching mothers on how to prevent children from being affected with the mothers' illnesses. As most of the mothers in the area are not attending ANC, it is useful to apply house to house campaign to create awareness and pass information on the advantages of proper child breast feeding and disadvantages of suboptimal breast feeding. Keywords: assessment, breast feeding, children care, effect, mothers' attitude, Nigeria, nutrition units


DBS3 is a database system with extended relational capabilities designed for a shared-memory multiprocessor. This paper presents the design choices, architecture and performance evaluation of the current DBS3 prototype. The major contributions of DBS3 are: a parallel dataflow execution model based on data declustering, the compile-time optimization of both independent and pipelined parallelism, and the exploitation of shared-memory for efficient concurrent execution. The current DBS3 prototype runs on a shared-memory, commercially available multiprocessor. The initial performance experiments for single-user queries are promising and show excellent response times and scalability.<<ETX>>


Large amplitude motion of methyl groups in isolated molecules is a fundamental phenomenon in molecular physics. The methyl torsional barrier is sensitive to the steric and electronic environment in the surrounding of the methyl group, making the methyl group a detector of the molecular structure. To probe this effect, the microwave spectrum of 2,6-dimethylfluorobenzene, one of the six isomers of dimethylfluorobenzene, was measured using two pulsed molecular jet Fourier transform microwave spectrometers operating in the frequency range from 2 to 40 GHz. Due to internal rotations of two equivalent methyl groups with relatively low torsional barriers, all rotational transitions split into quartets with separations of up to several hundreds of MHz. The splittings were analyzed and modeled to deduce a torsional barrier of 236.7922(21) cm -1 . The results are compared to those obtained from quantum chemical calculations and with other fluorine substituted toluene derivatives of the current literature, where the methyl group is adjacent to the fluorine atom.


The most northern Australian haul-out site for the fur seal Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus is at Steamers Head, New South Wales (NSW). This study represents the first quantitative status report on the composition and abundance of seals at the Steamers Head haul-out and can be used as a baseline for future long term monitoring. Seasonal trends, environmental effects and disturbances on haul-out numbers were investigated for seals at this site. The haul-out site was occupied by both Australian A. pusillus doriferus, and New Zealand A. forsteri, fur seals, with A. pusillus doriferus the far more abundant species. For both species, adult males, sub-adults and juveniles were present, but subadults represented the most numerous age group. Observed numbers of hauled-out seals increased from occasional individuals during May, peaked at 135 in September, and declined during October. The seasonal occupation of the site suggests that those animals present are non-breeding. Daily haul-out numbers varied considerably. Two large declines in numbers coincided with stochastic disturbance from a landslide at the site and unusually intense naval bombardment at a nearby weapons range. No diurnal or tidal effects on haul-out behaviour were observed, though more A. pusillus doriferus hauledout in strong winds and warm air temperatures. At the site, which is sheltered, shaded, steep and has a southerly aspect, environmental effects have different influences on the fur seals' haul-out behaviour compared to more exposed sites. Thus generalisations regarding haul-out behaviour of seal species in response to environmental conditions need to be viewed with caution.


In this fully revised and updated third edition of China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know® , Jeffrey Wasserstrom and Maura Elizabeth Cunningham provide cogent answers to the most urgent questions regarding the newest superpower, and offer a framework for understanding China's meteoric rise from developing country to superpower. Focusing their answers through the historical legacies--Confucian thought, Western and Japanese imperialism, the Mao era, and the massacre near Tiananmen Square--that largely define China's present-day trajectory, Wasserstrom and Cunningham introduce readers to the Chinese Communist Party, the building boom in Shanghai, and the environmental fall-out of rapid Chinese industrialization. They also explain unique aspects of Chinese culture such as the one-child policy, and provide insight into Chinese-American relations, a subject that has become increasingly fraught during the Trump era. As Wasserstrom and Cunningham draw parallels between China and other industrialized nations during their periods of development, in particular the United States during its rapid industrialization in the 19th century, they also provide guidance on the ways we might expect China to act in the future vis-à-vis the United States, Russia, India, and its East Asian neighbors. Updated to include perspectives on Hong Kong's shifting political status, as well as expanding on President Xi Jinping's time in office, China in the 21st Century provides a concise and insightful introduction to this significant global power.


Far too many school boards and administrators deny that the study of music is one of the basics of education. Mr. Miller and Ms. Coen provide compelling arguments to the contrary. WHEN Wynton Marsalis his jazz combo to our college campus recently, he repeated what he said to the National Commission on Music Education. "Our nation suffers from a cultural problem more than a scientific one," he said. "Whether we re behind the Japanese is secondary. Our culture is dying from the inside." Unfortunately, some modem educators are part of the problem. They have forgotten the call of the founder of our American school system, Horace Mann, who believed that music was essential to the education of the young for the development of aesthetic appreciation, citizenship, and thinking. In today's schools, music as a subject of study is just as important as it was in Mann's day. But far too many school boards and administrators do not consider the study of music to be one of the basics of education. Few students in the U.S. have access to institutional or private music instruction that involves a balanced, sequential curriculum. And these conditions have a serious impact on American culture. Music is valued more as entertainment than for its contribution to the development of our cultural life.[1] America cannot afford to ignore the virtues that the discipline of music teaches young people. The U.S. school system has been under attack for some time by business leaders, politicians, and the news media. Whatever the merits -- or lack thereof -- of such criticisms, everyone agrees that our schools should do more to cultivate better-disciplined and harder-working citizens. Music is the one area of the curriculum that has already shown itself capable of doing the job. Ask former students about the subject that best taught them stick-to-itiveness, the value of hard work, and the importance of self-discipline. From those lucky enough to have taken part, the answer will be music. Consider the place of homework. Homework has never gone out of style in the music curriculum. It is impossible to master a band instrument without considerable discipline and many hours of practice. Informed school boards and administrators know this and so work to protect their school music programs. Where music programs have been cut, economic crisis has often remained. In one school district, administrators needed to cut $156,000 from the district budget. They argued that they could do so by cutting the positions of five music teachers. However, they failed to consider what would happen to the students who were then taking music classes. There were 2,529 instrumental music students in the district at the time of the proposed cut. As a result of cuts at the fifth- and sixth-grade levels and in the secondary music program, overall music enrollment would have dropped to 736 students. Thus 1,793 students would have to be placed elsewhere. The district would have had to add 29 new classes and hire more than six teachers for them. When music educators in the district pointed out to the administration that, in order to "save" $156,000, the district would have to spend $192,000, the administration reversed the Cut.[2] In 1991 Lorin Hollander wrote that what many of the recent national reports on education reflect is that we no longer nurture the creativity and humanity of our children. We may be destroying creativity in our nurseries and in the primary grades of our school systems. It is ironic that, as a growing body of psychological research confirms the critical importance of music and art for children, these programs continually come under the knife of budget-cutters. The problem is that much of the information supporting the value of music and art is not filtering down to the local level, where a great many decisions about the content of the curriculum are made.[3] The primary purpose of including music in the school curriculum is to disperse its message throughout the culture. …


The article is related to the theoretical analysis of the psychology of children's fears and empirical research aimed at identifying, clarifying, and receiving additional information about the causes of fears of six-year-old students. The purpose of the research is to identify and analyze the causes that may provoke fears of six-year-old students of the first grade, to offer parents methods of providing psychological assistance to children. Several research methods have been used. Theoretical: theoretical analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalization, systematization; empirical: art therapy technique, test, individual conversations. In particular, the following research methods have been used: drawing technique of art therapy designed to identify the causes that provoke children's fears; test «Fears in houses» (according to M. A. Panfilova) for conducting the diagnosis of fears; individual interviews were carried out to find out what the children were afraid of. It has been determined that the greatest fear of six-year-old boys is the fear of death and physical injury. Girls are most of all afraid of injections and doctors, as well as of height, depth, confined spaces. Both boys and girls are afraid of animals, disease, nightmares. It has been established that the most common fears among the six-year-old pupils are: natural (biological) – those related to the threat to the life of the child; social – fear and apprehension about changing their social status and internal – generated by the imagination, fantasy of the child. A guide for parents on how to avoid fears in six-year-old children at the primary stages of school education has been compiled. The use of art techniques to overcome children's fears has been proposed. It has been emphasized that creative ways of self-expression should be aimed at the development of child's relationship with himself and the external world. The relevance of using drawing techniques to diagnose and tackle the fears of six-year-old students of the first grade has been justified. It is noted that children's fears require the most careful examination and the earliest elimination in order to prevent the emergence of neurosis as a mental illness of the child at the primary stages of school education. The importance of modifying the work on eliminating children's fears at the initial stages of school education is noted. Keywords: fear; six-year-old students; art techniques; drawing technique; fairy-tale technique.


Recently, several classes of compounds have been shown to be potent, selective, and specific inhibitors of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 replication in vitro. These include the tetrahydroimidazo[4,5,1-jk][1,4]-benzodiazepin-2(1H)-one and -thione (TIBO) and the 1-[(2-hydroxyethoxy)methyl]-6-(phenylthio)thymine (HEPT) derivatives. Both the TIBO and HEPT derivatives specifically inhibit human immunodeficiency virus type 1 reverse transcriptase (RT). From a comparative study of the characteristics of RT inhibition by TIBO and HEPT, and from the competition between TIBO and HEPT for RT inhibition, we infer that both classes of compounds, although structurally unrelated, are targeted at the same site of the enzyme. Detailed functional and kinetic analyses indicate that this target site is functionally and possibly also spatially related to the substrate binding site.


Two arguments are commonly offered by those in the church who are sympathetic towards the LGBTQ movement. Some contend that the biblical writers were simply unaware of the complexities of same-sex attraction and transgenderism. Others contend that the church over the past two millennia woefully misinterpreted the biblical writers. The first argument undermines Scripture's sufficiency. The second undermines Scripture's clarity. The purpose of this article is to survey the teaching of the apostle Paul in response to these claims. In particular, attention will be focused on the emphases of Paul in the areas of anthropology (the doctrine of man), hamartiology (the doctrine of sin), and soteriology (the doctrine of salvation). As will be seen, Paul not only deals directly with many of the issues being debated today, but he leaves a timeless theological framework through which to respond to these issues in our day.


Education and personal development are simply matters of unfolding from within, which takes place when there is no authority and pressure. We need to provide the learners a stimulating environment for the development of a healthy mind. I think a new faith and vision in the youths will bring about a change in the educational system. There is a manifestation from the lower to the higher. The more we are able to manifest our human nature from within the better do we realize this. This occurs to oneself on one's own. In educational institutions there are students from different backgrounds, having different levels of intelligence, having aims in life to achieve. Our mission is to give "fire to their wings" of imaginations. The young minds are powerful source of energy and they must be developed and encouraged to bring about a transformation in the society.


Douglas Sirk (Claus Detler Sierck) was born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1900. He made nine films before fleeing Nazi Germany, eventually coming to America. His best-known films, made during the 1950s--all of them melodramas--were "Magnificent Obsession," "All That Heaven Allows," "The Tarnished Angels," "Written on the Wind," and "Imitation of Life" (made in 1958, released in 1959). Because of the special stamp he put on his melodramas, Sirk's best works transcend the constraints of their genre. In them, he both exemplified and critiqued postwar, conservative, materialistic life and its false value systems. There is much in Sirk, particularly in "Imitation of Life," that is of interest to us today. The time seems to be right for a new look at the film, its reception amidst scandal over the affairs of its star--Lana Turner--the relationships between its mothers and daughters, the tensions between its men and its women, the friendships between its black and white women, and the ambiguous, controversial approach of Sirk to his material. This volume includes the complete continuity script of the film, critical commentary and published reviews, interviews with the director, and a filmography and bibliography. It also includes an excellent introduction by Lucy Fischer.


physician who trained at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital. She also practiced at The Dean Center for Tick-borne Illness, Spaulding Hospital, where she treated children with complex Lyme disease. She currently serves as the Curriculum Director for Invisible International's Medical Education Initiative. Here are some frequently asked questions that she encounters in her practice.


Despite the touted benefits of embracing collaborative innovation, organizations continue to face the challenge of benefiting from it. The crux of the issue moves beyond whether to embrace collaborative innovation towards how to integrate knowledge across organizational boundaries for innovation performance. This research draws from the boundary spanning view and the IT capability literature to explore this issue. We conceptualize coordination roles as boundary spanners, inter-organizational systems usage as boundary objects, as well as inter-organizational task interdependence as boundary spanning process characteristic. We examine how the boundary spanners and boundary objects as well as their interaction effects with boundary spanning process influence inter-organizational knowledge integration, which consequently determines the collaborative innovation performance. This research-in-progress advances understanding of how organizations benefit from collaborative innovation, depending on the inter-organizational knowledge integration across boundaries. An appreciation of the boundary spanning mechanisms will help organizations mindfully manage collaborative innovation projects in future endeavors.


Having outlined the potential concerns relating to pension fund investment in hedge funds, the OECD carried out a survey to investigate what information pension fund regulators have on these investments and how they are being controlled. The survey confirms that pension fund regulators have little information regarding how pension funds in their jurisdiction are investing in hedge fund products (in terms of size of investments, the types of hedge funds pension funds are exposed and to what type of product). Only the Slovak Republic and Mexico (for the mandatory system) prevent pension funds from investing in hedge funds. Although the level of such investment is still very low in other countries, it is almost universally expected to increase. Few countries impose specific quantitative investment restrictions on pension fund investment in hedge funds, with most regulators exercising control via general investment restrictions and requirements (for diversification, transparency, through the prudent person rule etc.). Some regulators have provided pension funds with further guidance as how to handle these instruments. In terms of policy issues, most concern centre around financial risk control and how to improve transparency and disclosure in relation to these investments.


We develop a model in which ethnic minorities can either assimilate to the majority's norm or reject it by trading off higher productivity and wages with a greater social distance to their culture of origin. We show that "oppositional" ethnic minorities reside in more segregated areas, have worse outcomes (in terms of income) but are not necessarily worse off in terms of welfare than assimilated ethnic minorities who live in less segregated areas. We find that a policy that reduces transportation cost decreases rather than increases assimilation in cities. We also find that when there are more productivity spillovers between the two groups, ethnic minorities are more likely not to assimilate and to reject the majority's norm. Finally, we show that ethnic minorities tend to assimilate more in bigger and more expensive cities.


Epistemological beliefs and conceptions about teaching and learning have been assumed to be associated as both are concerned with knowledge. To ascertain whether and how the two constructs are related, a survey study was conducted with 604 pre-service teacher education students enrolled in the BEd programs of a university in Hong Kong. In terms of their epistemological beliefs, the sampled students tended to believe that knowledge is constructed during the learning process as a result of effort, that knowledge is not handed down by authority figures or limited by innate ability, and that knowledge is tentative and changing. In terms of their conceptions of teaching and learning, the students tended to agree more with constructivist than with traditional conceptions. Structural equation modeling showed that significant relations existed between epistemological beliefs and conceptions about teaching and learning held by the pre-service teacher education students. Constructivist and traditional conceptions of teaching and learning are related to epistemological beliefs in different but logical ways. The results are discussed in terms of the Chinese cultural context and implications for teacher education are drawn from the results.


This paper describes the results of a study on the effect of Internet of Things (IoT) on the economy. In the seminal study, Frey & Osborne (2013) reported that 47% of the total employment in the United States is at risk of computerization. Many studies estimate how automation of work influences employment. In Japan, however, there are few studies which investigate the effect of automation and networking on future employment. It is important to discuss this based on facts and evidence. In chapter 2, we reviewed previous studies which report results of our investigation on automation and future work. These results suggest that there is a consensus as to how automation of work affects future employment and how to prepare for future work. In chapter 4, we introduced how Germany approached this problem; the German government is leading the Arbeiten 4.0 (Work 4.0) project. In chapter 6, we reported the results of a case study of Japanese companies which innovate automation and networking.


Releasing detailed data (microdata) about individuals poses a privacy threat, due to the presence of quasi-identifier (QID) attributes such as age or zip code. Several privacy paradigms have been proposed that preserve privacy by placing constraints on the value of released QIDs. However, in order to enforce these paradigms, data publishers need tools to assist them in selecting a suitable anonymization method and choosing the right system parameters. We developed TIAMAT, a tool for analysis of anonymization techniques which allows data publishers to assess the accuracy and overhead of existing anonymization techniques. The tool performs interactive, head-to-head comparison of anonymization techniques, as well as QID change-impact analysis. Other features include collection of attribute statistics, support for multiple information loss metrics and compatibility with commercial database engines.


4D Video Textures (4DVT) introduce a novel representation for rendering video‐realistic interactive character animation from a database of 4D actor performance captured in a multiple camera studio. 4D performance capture reconstructs dynamic shape and appearance over time but is limited to free‐viewpoint video replay of the same motion. Interactive animation from 4D performance capture has so far been limited to surface shape only. 4DVT is the final piece in the puzzle enabling video‐realistic interactive animation through two contributions: a layered view‐dependent texture map representation which supports efficient storage, transmission and rendering from multiple view video capture; and a rendering approach that combines multiple 4DVT sequences in a parametric motion space, maintaining video quality rendering of dynamic surface appearance whilst allowing high‐level interactive control of character motion and viewpoint. 4DVT is demonstrated for multiple characters and evaluated both quantitatively and through a user‐study which confirms that the visual quality of captured video is maintained. The 4DVT representation achieves >90% reduction in size and halves the rendering cost.


Reducing stigma and discrimination encountered by people who experience mental distress is a policy objective of the British government's current mental health strategy. This strategy considers third sector organisations providing support to people who experience mental distress to have a responsibility for, and a role in, stigma and discrimination reduction. The study takes a case study approach involving two third sector organisations in the North East of England; participant observation over the course of 6 months, 30 semi-structured interviews with staff and members, and 6 focus groups also involving staff and members. It is this combination of methods and the location of the study which makes this contemporary empirical study on stigma and discrimination relating to mental distress and support, and its contribution to knowledge, original. The research explores, describes, and analyses members' experiences of stigma and discrimination, and staff and members' experience of providing, performing, and receiving support. The study not only explores experiences of stigma and discrimination but also focuses on interactions in the support environment. Particularly by considering how relationships fostered in the support context of the organisations contribute to support which members describe as relatively free from stigmatising interactions. Employing a predominantly interactionist analysis of the empirical material, the findings indicate that the notion of 'proximity' of actors in the support environment is integral to deepening our understanding of stigma and relationships deemed by members as 'supportive'. Exploring the wider socio-political context in which support is performed highlights how aspects of the stigma discourse continue to be individualised via the paradoxical attribution of 'self-stigma' by some staff members- despite the 'hidden labour' of many members. However, and as identified by this study, the ways in which staff 'work' to reduce the distance that members are 'set apart' or 'distanced' seems to be a significant contributing factor to truncating the scope for stigmatising interactions in the context of the case study organisations.


A fossil canyon, known as Gevaram canyon and postulated to be of submarine origin, exists in the southern coastal plain of Israel. This canyon was excavated in rocks of Middle Jurassic age which unconformably underlie strata of Early Cretaceous age. The canyon runs in a northwest direction into the old Tethys through the Helez oil field and is at least 16 km long and 7 km wide. The canyon widens west of Helez. Maximum canyon depth is nearly 1,000 m; sediment fill consists mostly of dark-gray shale of the Gevaram Formation. Several sandy beds are present in the central part of the channel and limestone breccia derived from the wall rock fills the base. After the canyon was filled and buried, clastic beds of the Helez Formation accumulated in the southwestern part of the area; gray shale of the Gevaram Formation accumulated in the northwest. An embayment formed in the Helez area as a result of local subsidence caused by compaction of the shale that filled the buried canyon. Through that embayment the source beds of the Gevaram Formation reached the area in which the reservoir beds of the Helez Formation were deposited. Contact between reservoir beds and source beds thus was established, resulting in accumulation of oil in the Helez field.


BACKGROUND
Multiple myeloma (MM) is a malignant plasma cell proliferative disorder with limited immunotherapy treatment because of T cell dysfunction.

OBJECTIVE
To investigate the immunomodulatory function of bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (MM-BMSCs) on CD8+ T cells.

METHODS
Proliferation and cytotoxicity were detected by cell counting kit-8 assay. Cell cycle was detected by flow cytometry, and p16 expression was detected by PCR. The expression of fibroblast activation protein α (FAPα) was evaluated by immunohistochemistry.

RESULTS
Co-culture of CD8+ T cells with MM-BMSCs decreased the cell survival rate and increased the killing rate (p=0.03, p=0.001, respectively), the percentage of cells in G0/G1 phase and p16 expression (p<0.001). FAPα was mainly in the mesenchymal matrix of the MM microenvironment and elevated in MM derived bone marrow compared to healthy donors (p<0.001). The FAPα inhibitor PT-100, increased survival and the killing rate (p<0.001, p=0.043, respectively), and decreased the percentage of cells in G0/G1 phase and p16 expression (p=0.024, p=0.004, respectively).

CONCLUSION
Therefore, MM-BMSCs inhibit the proliferation and cytotoxicity of CD8+ T cells, significantly block the cell cycle and increase p16 expression in co-cultured CD8+ T cells in a cell-cell contact-dependent manner.


In this work we explore relationships between human and algorithmic schema matchers. We provide a novel approach to similar schema matchers termed coordinated matchers and use it to predict future human matching choices. We show throughout a comprehensive analysis that human matchers are usually coordinated with intuitive algorithms, e.g., based on attribute name similarity, and frequently do not assign lower confidence levels, which indicates over confidence in their choices. Finally, we show that human choices can be reasonably predicted using collaborative algorithmic opinions based on matchers coordination.


Adolescents in Africa are at high risk for HIV infection, other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and bacterial vaginosis (BV). Since behavior and burden of STIs/BV may influence HIV risk, behavioral risk factors and prevalence of STIs/BV were compared in HIV-seronegative adolescent females (n = 298; 16–22 years) from two South African communities (Soweto and Cape Town). STIs (Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Trichomonas vaginalis, Mycoplasma genitalium, herpes simplex virus (HSV)-1, HSV-2, Treponema pallidum, and Haemophilus ducreyi) were detected by multiplex polymerase chain reaction, human papillomavirus (HPV) by Roche Linear Array, and BV by Nugent scoring. Rates of BV (Nugent ≥7; 46.6%) and HPV (66.8%) were high in both communities. Prevalence of C. trachomatis and N. gonorrhoeae were >2-fold higher in Cape Town than Soweto (Chlamydia: 42% [62/149] versus 18% [26/148], p < 0.0001; gonorrhoea 11% [17/149] versus 5% [7/148], p = 0.05). Only 24% of adolescents with vaginal discharge-causing STIs or BV were symptomatic. In South African adolescents, clinical symptoms compatible with vaginal discharge syndrome had a sensitivity of 23% and specificity of 85% for the diagnosis of discharge-causing STI or BV. In a region with high HIV prevalence and incidence, >70% of young women with treatable conditions that could enhance HIV risk would have been missed because they lacked symptoms associated with syndromic management.


This study was carried out to assess Future Workshop (FW) regarding its usefulness as a participatory ergonomics method, using a descriptive evaluation design analysed by phenomeno graphical approach. The study was conducted among professional cleaners, health care personnel and miners, with a sample of 105 participating subjects in 8 different FWs. Multiple methods, giving a combination of both qualitative and quantitative data, were used for data collection. Good involvement of participants was observed during workshops. Evaluations immediately after FWs and 3 months later showed a strong relationship with high correlation, indicating that the perception of FW participants was very positive. Interviews revealed conformity between developed problem identification and proposed changes. Participants' own perceptions of FW,s influence on creativity depict their belief of developed ideas and solutions in order to identify and solve workplace problems. FW is considered to be a useful ergonomics tool, and its qualities are related to structure and practical performance.


Haematopinus tuberculatus is the main arthropod affecting buffaloes around the world. It causes intense itching and restlessness, altering feeding habits, thus reducing animal productivity. This parasitosis is seldom studied, as it does not lead to significant animal mortality or financial losses. In this project, we evaluated the efficacy and safety of two commercially available products for control of pediculosis in naturally infested buffaloes. A total of 24 milk producing, clinically healthy female buffaloes that were naturally infested by lice were included in this study. Animals were equally distributed into two groups: group 1 was treated with a single dose of pour on Fipronil (1%, Carval de Colombia, 1 ml of product per 10 kg of live weight). Group 2 was treated with a single dose of deltamethrin (5%, Bioara, SA), at a final concentration of 0,1% applied with an aspersion pump as a single bath of 4 liters of diluted solution per animal. Lice were counted weekly from day 1 to day 58 post-treatment. Up to day 23 post-treatment, no significant differences in efficacy were observed between products.Fipronil 1% consistently exhibited an efficacy above 70% from day 8 and until 30 day of the study. These results suggest that both products are efficient and safe to control lice infestations in buffaloes. However, fipronil 1% exhibited a greater residual effect, which reduces the number of baths required to treat infested animals, and reduces the probability of selecting for drug-resistant lice populations.


A 1992 meta-analysis did not find enough evidence to recommend one method of umbilical cord care as the 'best'. However, certain agents were deemed acceptable including triple dye, silver sulfadiazine and antibiotic ointments. In this paper, the authors sought to discover whether there was now evidence to support one specific method of cord care over others for the prevention of bacterial infection. After a limited search of the English language literature published in the past 10 years, little evidence was found to suggest that treatments to sterilize or speed up the drying of the umbilical cord were either routinely necessary or efficacious. Results from nine studies are summarized in this paper.


depletion is not convincingly supported by their data. The incidence of hypersegmented neutrophils in the blood can hardly be used as a criterion of folic-acid deficiency, since many of their patients with hypersegmented neutrophils had normoblastic marrows, and, conversely, only 10 of 15 cases with megaloblastosis showed an excess of hypersegmented neutrophils in the peripheral blood. If iron deficiency did initiate or exacerbate folic-acid deficiency one would expect fewer and less severe cases of megaloblastic anaemia in pregnant women who have received prophylactic iron. In our experience, which extends over the past nine years, this is not the case. On the contrary, the most florid megaloblastic marrow picture is seen in women who have taken regular supplements of iron in pregnancy. Several of our patients who 'iad received no iron prophylaxis up to about the 30th week of pregnancy were found to have an equivocal or frankly normoblastic marrow, but after two to three weeks' iron therapy marrow aspiration yielded a florid megaloblastic marrow. It is not really surprising that many pregnant women should be both iron and folicacid deficient when one inquires into the diet of these patients. There is also evidence that a state of malabsorption, which is probably reversible, develops in many patients in late pregnancy. This is reflected in the relatively high faecal fat output of women with megaloblastic anaemia in pregnancy.' Megaloblastic anaemia in pregnancy, therefore, resembles intestinal malabsorption rather than the post-gastrectomy syndrome. Finally, we do not share Dr. Chanarin's disappointment with the diagnostic value of the serum-folate assay. Four years' experience of this test has taught us that, once the technique is mastered, folate assay can detect at least 75% of cases of megaloblastic anaemia in pregnant women. If the labile folate factor is estimated2 a 96% correlation can be obtained with marrow findings in pregnant women.-We are, etc.,


Interpreters in lawful interception of communications are an almost invisible group of language professionals. They participate in secret surveillance measures and enable law enforcement authorities to intercept conversations held in a foreign language. This group of translational agents who perform a hybrid activity between interpreting and translation within an institutional legal context has received scant attention from either translation and interpreting or legal studies. If the topic is addressed at all, it is most often examined within the context of police interpreting, even though intercept interpreters do not participate in the kind of triadic communication situation typical of face-to-face interpreting. Moreover, the sensitive context makes it difficult to collect data on the topic. In this article, we analyse nine judgments rendered by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court (FSC) from 2002 to 2019 concerning lawful interception with interpreters. Higher courts not only dispense justice but also contribute to the continued development of the law. Their judgments are also a rich source of knowledge, providing rare information about an understudied research area. These judgments are crucial because, as we will argue, it is the legal order and its implementation through jurisprudence that shape the degree of (in-)visibility of intercept interpreters. In addition, these judgments provide valuable information about the working processes and professional context of intercept interpreters. Our qualitative content analysis reveals that the FSC explicitly demands the visibility of intercept interpreters and their activity in some cases while implicitly accepting or deliberately generating their invisibility in others. Cite as: Capus & Griebel , JLL 10 (2021), 37–98, DOI: 10.14762/jll.2021.37


This study measures and estimates the potential environmental and economic impacts of introducing transit-oriented corridors in Korea. By developing a TOC planning model concept through regression analysis, authors examine the relationship between TOC planning factors and transport modal share, and the impact of transit accessibility on transport modal choice. Several conclusions were drawn from the results; first, in order to promote mass transit, the area′s residential and commercial features must be intensified through a combination of mixed-use and a low ratio of road. Second, the transit modal choice analysis revealed that accessibility to mass transit is an important variable in determining its usage, along with the number of blocks per unit area and the pedestrian environment of the vicinity. Third, the results suggest that strengthening city-wide reliance on mass transit is effective in reducing environmental hazards to a significant degree: with a ridership ratio increase expected in the range of 3.5 to 5.9%, the resulting decreased road traffic would reduce CO2 emissions by 391 to 686 thousand tons. Finally, in terms of boosting the regional economy, higher pedestrian volumes of commuters would increase annual income for neighborhood retailers in the range of 7.4 to 13.6 million dollars.


The aim of this thesis is to examine how and why art museums engage with
audiences on Instagram and to identify the factors that indicate a successful social media
strategy. Instagram, in particular, the image-based social media platform that is suitable to
present and mediate digital visual content. It offered the opportunities for the museum to
mediate between communication and content-presentation in the platform that extended
beyond the physical space of the museum; allowing the museum to create new experiences
through their audiences' involvement and active participation. Therefore, knowing what
forms of activity will be most effective, and what prompts the audience to engage are all
crucial to the success of social media activity in the museum sector. While previous studies
have focused on the consumer perception of the social media usage among museums, little
attention has been paid to how museums implement social media effectively. The research
question is: How do museums communicate through Instagram and to what extent does an
Instagram account reflect the institutional objectives to engage with the audience? This
thesis is conducted on the basis of qualitative content analysis, by analyzing and interpreting
the contents from three of the prominent art museums in the Netherland: the
Rijksmuseum, the Stedelijk Museum and the Van Gogh Museum. The analysis not only
revealed the specific characteristics that varied between the museums, but also the
importance of Instagram in terms of audience engagement. In addition, three emerging
themes demonstrate the objectives of museums on Instagram, namely, enabling digital
consumption of artworks; taste formation and education, and public image of the museum.
All in all, three museums show some common tendencies to engage with its audience, while
the effectiveness of the strategy comes to how they can manage to catch on the attention
of the audience and stimulate them to interact.


Cosmology concerns itself with the fundamental questions about the formation, structure, and evolution of the Universe as a whole. Cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation is one of the foremost pillars of physical cosmology. Joint analyses of CMB and other astronomical observations are able to determine with ever increasing precision the value of the fundamental cosmological parameters and to provide us with valuable insight about the dynamics of the Universe in evolution. The CMB radiation is a relic of the hot and dense first moments of the Universe: a extraordinarily homogeneous and isotropic blackbody radiation, which shows small temperature anisotropies that are the key for understanding the conditions of the primitive Universe, testing cosmological models and probing fundamental physics at the very dawn of time. CMB observations are obtained by imaging of the sky at microwave wavelengths. However, the CMB signal is mixed with other astrophysical signals of both Galactic and extragalactic origin. To properly exploit the cosmological information contained in CMB images, they must be cleansed of these other astrophysical emissions first. Blind source separation (BSS) has been a very active field in the last few years. Conversely, the term "compact sources" is often used in the CMB literature referring to spatially bounded, small features in the images, such as galaxies and galaxy clusters. Compact sources and diffuse sources are usually treated separately in CMB image processing. We devote this tutorial to the case of compact sources. Many of the compact source-detection techniques that are widespread inmost fields of astronomy are not easily applicable to CMB images. In this tutorial, we present an overview of the fundamentals of compact object detection theory keeping in mind at every moment these particularities. Throughout the article, we briefly consider Bayesian object detection, model selection, optimal linear filtering, nonlinear filtering, and multifrequency detection of compact sources in CMB images. This article's goal is to present a tutorial on the detection, parameter estimation and statistical analysis of compact sources (far galaxies, galaxy clusters, and Galactic dense emission regions) in CMB observations.


Hot compression was conducted at a Thermecmaster-Z simulator, at deformation temperatures of 800-1040℃, with strain rates of 0.001-50 s-1 and height reduction of 50%. Grain size of the prior α phase was measured with a Leica LABOR-LUX12MFS/ST microscope to which QUANTIMET 500 software for image analysis for quantitative metallography was linked. According to the present experimental data, a constitutive relationship for a TC6 alloy and a model for grain size of the prior a phase were established based on the Arrhenius' equation and the Yada's equation, respectively. By finite element (FE) simulation, deformation distribution was determined for isothermal forging of a TC6 aerofoil blade at temperatures of 860-940℃ and hammer velocities of 9-3000.0 mm/min. Meanwhile, the grain size of the prior α phase is simulated during isothermal forging of the TC6 aerofoil blade, by combining FE outputs with the present grain size model. The present results illustrate the grain size and its distribution in the prior α phase during the isothermal forging of the TC6 aerofoil blade. The simulated results show that the height reduction, deformation temperature, and hammer velocity have significant effects on distribution of the equivalent strain and the grain size of the prior α phase.


Data storage is an integral part of IT infrastructures, where Quality of Service (QoS) differentiation amongst customers and their applications is essential for many. Achieving this objective in a production environment is nontrivial, because these environments are complex and dynamic. Numerous practical and engineering constraints render the task even more challenging. This paper presents SLED-2, a QoS differentiation solution that meets these challenges in offering effective protection to the performance of important workloads at the expense of less important workloads when needed. SLED-2 uses a customized feedback heuristic that rate-limits selected I/O streams. This approach is unique in that it accounts for a number of important practical considerations, including fine-grained controls, errors in storage systems models, and inexpensive and safe QoS management. SLED-2 has been implemented for the IBM DS8000 series storage servers and shown to be highly effective in a set of hostile and practical scenarios using test facilities for IBM storage products.


SATNet is an award-winning MAXSAT solver that can be used to infer logical rules and integrated as a differentiable layer in a deep neural network [1]. It had been shown to solve Sudoku puzzles visually from examples of puzzle digit images, and was heralded as an impressive achievement towards the longstanding AI goal of combining pattern recognition with logical reasoning. In this paper, we clarify SATNet's capabilities by showing that in the absence of intermediate labels that identify individual Sudoku digit images with their logical representations, SATNet completely fails at visual Sudoku (0% test accuracy). More generally, the failure can be pinpointed to its inability to learn to assign symbols to perceptual phenomena, also known as the symbol grounding problem [2], which has long been thought to be a prerequisite for intelligent agents to perform real-world logical reasoning. We propose an MNIST based test as an easy instance of the symbol grounding problem that can serve as a sanity check for differentiable symbolic solvers in general. Naive applications of SATNet on this test lead to performance worse than that of models without logical reasoning capabilities. We report on the causes of SATNet's failure and how to prevent them.


The growth of world energy requirements over the last two decades has created an increasing demand for crude oil. Production has doubled in each of the decades to meet the demand and it is forecast that the demand for crude oil will continue to increase to 1985. The annual production rate has now reached the level of the average annual discoveries over the last 25 years, and the remaining proved recoverable reserves will probably decline continuously as production rates continue to grow. The declining reserves will be insufficient to support the forecast demand after about 1978 when the demand may be limited by the availability of crude oil. It is estimated that about half of the ultimate recoverable reserves have been found to date. The discovery of the remaining reserves will present difficult technical problems.


Contamination of water by pesticides is an important issue in many regions, posing problems in the environmental, water management and health sectors. To assess the extent of contamination of water, effective and properly designed analytical methods having sufficient sensitivity and accuracy are needed. However, no matter how excellent are the state-of-the-art analytical instrumentation and techniques applied, the data on trace concentrations of pesticides provided by the analytical system will be useless unless sufficient attention is given to sampling and sample preparation.

To collect a representative water sample for pesticide analysis, all sampling parameters must be selected properly. This refers predominantly to the selection of the appropriate sampling site, sampling technique and volume of the water sample. To prevent the sample matrix from any undesirable alterations during its transport from the sampling site to an analytical laboratory, physical (e.g. temperature, light intensity) and chemical/biochemical (e.g. pH, microbial growth) conditions must be under control, i.e. the sample must be preserved carefully. An efficient alternative to the transport of liquid water samples from the sampling point to the laboratory is on-site sorption of analytes on a solid phase. This minimizes the weight of transported samples and increases the stability of analytes.

The determination of trace concentrations of pesticides in water samples and the complexity of environmental matrices require the application of an efficient sample-handling procedure prior to separation and detection of these analytes. At present, liquid–liquid extraction (LLE) and solid-phase extraction (SPE) are the most frequently applied sample-handling techniques in the determination of pesticides in water. LLE is a traditional method that is still widely used in standardized methods. The increasing popularity of SPE is a result of its versatility and effectiveness and SPE is also preferred owing to the lower health risks.

The introduction of new sorbent materials, the development of automated sample-handling systems allowing unattended operation and newly emerging sample-handling techniques such as solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and membrane separation methods guarantee that sample preparation in pesticide analysis will remain a fertile area of development in the future.


The effect of ATP on the functional capacities of the isolated heart has been assessed. It has been shown that the drug at a concentration of 24 x 10(-6) M improves myocardial contractility and increases coronary flow volumetric rate. Favourable ATP effects manifested right after its administration into the circulating solution in improvement of all the physiological parameters, but were unstable. Nevertheless, the presence of ATP in the perfusate ensured high functional reserve and guaranteed stability of the isolated heart performance over 60-min observation period. The paper reviews the prospects of exogenous ATP application in cardiosurgical patients and outlines problems of drug administration techniques, as well as possible difficulties of its clinical use.


During the last years welded titanium components have been extensively applied in aeronautical and aerospace industries because of their high specific strength and corrosion resistance properties. Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is a solid state welding process, currently industrially utilized for difficult to be welded or "unweldable" aluminum and magnesium alloys, able to overcome the drawbacks of traditional fusion welding techniques. When titanium alloys are concerned, additional problems arise as the need for very high strength and high temperature resistant tools, gas shield protection and high stiffness machines. Additionally, the process is characterized by an elevated sensitivity to temperature variations, which, in turn, depends on the main operative parameters. Numerical simulation represents the optimal solution in order to perform an effective process optimization with affordable costs. In this paper, a fully 3D FEM model for the FSW process is proposed, that is thermo-mechanically coupled and with rigid-viscoplastic material behavior. Experimental clamping parts are modeled and the thermal loads are calculated at the varying of the cooling strategy. Finally, the effectiveness of the cooling systems is evaluated through experimental tests.


1. Non-desmosomal plasma membranes enriched in plasma-membrane marker enzymes and in metabolically labelled glycoproteins were isolated on a large scale from up to 500g of pig ear skin slices. Sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis and periodic acid/Schiff staining revealed the presence of four major glycosylated components in the apparent molecular-weight range 150000-80000. 2. A large proportion of the marker enzymes, the d-[(3)H]glucosamine-labelled glycoproteins and the periodic acid/Schiff-stained glycoproteins were solubilized by 1% (w/v) sodium deoxycholate. However, several non-glycosylated proteins, in particular those with mol.wts. 81000, 41000 and 38000 (possibly cytoskeletal components), were relatively resistant to solubilization. 3. The deoxycholate-solubilized membranes were fractionated by lectin affinity chromatography using both concanavalin A-Sepharose 4B and lentil lectin-Sepharose 4B. From 75 to 85% of the applied glycoprotein was recovered from the columns. From 30 to 40% of the recovered glycoprotein was specifically bound by the lectins and was eluted with 2% (w/v) alpha-methyl d-mannoside. The enrichment of labelled glycoproteins in the material bound by the lectins (2.5-fold) was similar with both lectins, although the yield was somewhat greater when lentil lectin was used. The glycoprotein-enriched fraction was also enriched in all the plasma-membrane marker enzymes, indicating their probable glycoprotein nature. 4. The glycoprotein-enriched fraction contained the four major periodic acid/Schiff-stained bands that were detected in the original plasma membrane. They had apparent mol.wts. 147000, 130500, 108000 and 91400. The higher-molecular-weight components contained relatively more d-[(3)H]glucosamine, indicating differences in the sugar composition or in the metabolic turnover of the individual glycoproteins in culture. The material bound by the lectins also contained a number of lower-molecular-weight Coomassie Brilliant Blue-stained components. These were weakly stained by periodic acid/Schiff reagent and were lightly labelled with d-[(3)H]glucosamine, indicating that they contained less carbohydrate than the four major glycoprotein bands. 5. Chloroform/methanol-extracted plasma membranes and isolated glycoproteins had a similar carbohydrate composition, containing sialic acid, hexosamine, fucose, xylose, mannose, galactose and glucose. Glucose was not enriched in the isolated glycoproteins, suggesting that it may be a contaminant. Xylose, however, was enriched in the isolated glycoproteins. It remains to be established whether this sugar, which is not usually found in plasma-membrane glycoproteins, is a genuine constituent of plasma-membrane glycoproteins in the epidermis.


Recently, we proposed new methods for approximately learning the maximum entropy (ME) joint pmf for discrete feature spaces. Our approximate techniques overcome the intractability that plagues most ME learning methods when given a general set of constraints. The resulting models are useful for classification as well as more general inference. Our method has been demonstrated to yield strong performance in comparison with Bayesian networks, dependence trees, tree-augmented naive Bayes models, and multilayer perceptrons. After first reviewing our method, we provide insight into why it works and how it is related to, albeit distinct from naive Bayes classification (NBC). The connection to NBC then naturally leads us to suggest a simple method for parsimoniously choosing the set of constraints to encode when forming the model. Finally, we provide new experimental comparisons for our method, with decision trees and with support vector machines.


The choice of endocrine agent for breast cancer depends on the menopausal status of the patient, the stage of disease, prognostic factors, and the toxicity profile of the agent. Endocrine therapies are typically given sequentially, with the least toxic therapy given first. Tamoxifen is considered first-line endocrine therapy for all stages of breast cancer. New antiestrogens in development include nonsteroidal agents related to tamoxifen and pure steroidal antiestrogens. Luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonists are an effective form of endocrine therapy for premenopausal women with advanced breast cancer, and aromatase inhibitors are effective in postmenopausal women. Newer and more selective aromatase inhibitors that are p.o. active and have improved side-effect profiles have been developed. Recent trials have found these agents to improve survival in comparison to the progestins; thus, aromatase inhibitors are replacing progestins as second-line therapy for metastatic disease. Current trials are examining the potential role of aromatase inhibitors as first-line therapy for metastatic disease or as adjuvant therapy for early disease. The antiprogestins and antiandrogens studied thus far have had only limited success in breast cancer clinical trials.


The American mink (Neovison vison) is a north American mustelid that has been farmed for its fur in Europe since the 1920s. It has been feral in the Netherlands since 1958. This paper discusses its distribution, diet, the indications for reproduction, and whether feral animals are born in the wild or are escapees. The American mink mostly occurs in areas where many mink are kept in farms. The largest distance between an observation and the nearest farm was 45 km. Sixteen animals caught by muskrat control officers were dissected. The stomach content of the 16 animals revealed a diet of amphibians, birds and small mammals. The dissections gave no clues about reproduction: one of three males was sexually active, but none of the 13 females showed placental scars, a thickened uterus or signs of lactation. Only one observation of reproduction in the wild was received. Isotope analyses of teeth and nails indicate that the animals generally only stay feral for a short period of time before being caught. The ratios of carbon and nitrogen isotopes of the wild caught animals were very close to the isotope ratios of ten reference animals from a fur farm, except for one adult female, whose teeth isotope values were different from the farm animals and as such she seems to have remained in the wild for longer and was possibly born in the wild. In general however most animals are caught shortly after escaping and only remain in the wild for a short period of time. It seems that feral mink stem from constant escapes and that muskrat control removes these feral animals. Thus, the existence or development of a feral population in the Netherlands is unlikely, especially since it is planned to phase out mink farming by 2024.


A fully integrated broadband coplanar waveguide left-handed metamaterial medium using GaAs technology for radio frequency/monolithic microwave integrated circuit (RF/MMIC) applications is reported and validated by the full wave simulation and measured results. The unit cell of the fabricated structures has a size of 0.09 mm2. The left handedness of the integrated left-handed structure extends from 2.3 to 17.5 GHz. The compactness and broad left-handed operating bandwidth make the presented left-handed metamaterial be well incorporated with RF/MMIC applications.


Since a motion error is the main phase error source in the aircraft synthetic aperture radar, several reconstruction algorithms with motion error correction have been developed. An efficient motion compensation via the known motion error information is proposed. Specifically, the proposed method is based on the subarea technique with shifting and the subaperture technique via the mean values of the motion errors. Then, using the extended Taylor approximation and the principle of the stationary phase, the motion errors are corrected through compensation at the mixing stage and the Stolt interpolation stage.