Understanding how Public Service Motivation (PSM) is tied to ethical or unethical conduct is critically important, given that civil servants and other public-sector employees throughout the world have been shown to exhibit high PSM levels. However, empirical evidence about the relationship between PSM and ethical or unethical behavior remains limited, due in part to the challenges of observing unethical conduct and overcoming social desirability bias in self-reported measures. We address these challenges by employing incentivized experimental games to study the relationships between PSM and two types of unethical behavior—corruption and dishonesty—as well as one type of ethical behavior: altruism. Based on data from approximately 1,870 university students at three research sites in Russia and Ukraine, we find evidence of a robust negative association between PSM and willingness to engage in corruption and a positive association between PSM and altruistic behavior. Results concerning dishonesty are more mixed. Our findings indicate that corruption and dishonesty are related yet fundamentally distinct concepts, particularly with respect to their compatibility with PSM. The findings additionally demonstrate that hypotheses about PSM and behavioral ethics generated in the Western context generalize well to the starkly different institutional context of the former Soviet Union.


Abstract Introduction It is uncertain if disparities in asthma diagnosis between Latino and non-Hispanic white children stem from differences in diagnosis over time among children presenting with similar clinical scenarios suggestive of asthma. Methods We evaluated the odds of International Classification of Disease (ICD)-coded asthma diagnosis in Latino (English and Spanish preferring) and non-Hispanic white children, overall (N = 524,456) and among those presenting with possible asthma indicators (N = 85,516) over a 13-year period, using electronic health record data from a multi-state network of community health centers. Results Among those with possible asthma indicators, Spanish-preferring Latinos had lower adjusted odds of ICD-coded asthma diagnosis compared to non-Hispanic whites (OR = 0.87, 95%CI = 0.77-0.99); English-preferring Latinos did not differ from non-Hispanic whites. Differences in ICD-coded diagnosis between ethnicity/language groups varied by presenting symptom. Conclusions Spanish-preferring Latino children may be less-likely to have ICD-coded asthma documented in the EHR when presenting with certain clinical indicators suggestive of asthma. Clinicians should be cognizant of the need for the follow-up of these indicators in Spanish-preferring Latino children.


This study of Kunwar Singh and his brother Amar Singh, the leaders of revolt in Bihar, is based on a variety of official archives and contributes much detail to our knowledge of the Indian Mutiny. Dr. Datta believes that there was a widespread conspiracy against the British government. William Tayler, the Commissioner of Patna at the time, also held this view, and Dr. Datta's use of his evidence on this point should be compared with the more sceptical analysis made by Dr. Surendra Nath Sen in his Eighteen fifty-seven (Delhi, 1957). On the other hand, Dr. Datta also argues— against Tayler—that Kunwar Singh himself had been meditating revolt for some time beforehand. Here one must regret the very scanty bibliographical information which Dr. Datta provides. Some of the sources which he cites suggest that more evidence must exist in the archives, but there is no way of telling how exhaustive his investigations have been.


Background. Immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) is the most frequent primary glomerulonephritis. The role of the microbiota and mucosal immunity in the pathogenesis of IgAN remains a key element. To date, the hypothetical relationship between commensal bacteria, elevated tumour necrosis factor (TNF) superfamily member 13 [also known as B-cell activating factor (BAFF)] levels, perturbed homoeostasis of intestinal-activated B cells and intestinal IgA class switch has not been clearly shown in IgAN patients. Methods. We studied the intestinal–renal axis connections, analysing levels of BAFF, TNF ligand superfamily member 13 (APRIL) and intestinal-activated B cells in IgAN patients, healthy subjects (HSs) and patients with non-IgA glomerulonephritides. Results. IgAN patients had increased serum levels of BAFF cytokine, correlating with higher amounts of five specific microbiota metabolites, and high APRIL cytokine serum levels. We also found that subjects with IgAN have a higher level of circulating gut-homing (CCR9 þ b 7 integrin þ ) regultory B cells, memory B cells and IgA þ memory B cells compared with HSs. Finally, we found that IgAN patients had high levels of both total plasmablasts (PBs) and intestinal-homing PBs. Interestingly, PBs significantly increased in IgAN but not in patients with other glomerulonephritides. Conclusions. Our results demonstrate a significant difference in the amount of intestinal-activated B lymphocytes between IgAN patients and HSs, confirming the hypothesis of the pathogenic role of intestinal mucosal hyperresponsiveness in IgAN. The intestinal–renal axis plays a crucial role in IgAN and several factors may contribute to its complex pathogenesis and provide an important area of research for novel targeted therapies to modulate progression of the disease.


Within the hazards‐ and disaster‐research community consensus exists as to factors that magnify or attenuate the effects of extreme natural events on local places. But less agreement and understanding exist concerning the methods or techniques for comparing hazard vulnerability within or between places, especially small‐island developing states. Using two Caribbean nations, Saint Vincent and Barbados, as study sites, we asked which island has the greater level of hazard vulnerability, and why. Results indicate that, although neither island has a large portion of its population living in extremely hazardous locations, Barbados has many more residents in risk‐prone areas. The methods used in this research provide valuable tools for local emergency managers in assessing vulnerability, especially through the delineation of highly vulnerable hot spots. They can also help donor organizations interested in vulnerability reduction on islands use their resources more efficiently.


The mixed layer behavior of dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine (DPPC) with fibrinogen at continuously compressed-expanded air/liquid interfaces was analyzed in situ by infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy (IRRAS). The reflectance-absorbance (RA) intensities and/or wavenumbers of nu(a)-CH2 and amide I bands for a mixed DPPC/fibrinogen layer at the interface were obtained directly by an infrared spectrometer with a monolayer/grazing angle accessory and a removable Langmuir trough. The nu(a)-CH2 RA intensity-area hysteresis curves of a DPPC monolayer indicate a significant loss of free DPPC molecules at the interface during the first compression stage, which is also supported by the corresponding nu(a)-CH2 wavenumber-area hysteresis curves. For a mixed DPPC/fibrinogen layer at the interface, the amide I RA intensity-area hysteresis curves suggest that the fibrinogen molecules were expelled from the interface upon compression, apparently because of the presence of insoluble DPPC molecules. The squeeze-out of fibrinogen evidently removed a pronounced amount of DPPC from the interface, as judged from the corresponding nu(a)-CH2 intensity and wavenumber data. Moreover, significant adsorption of fibrinogen was found during the subsequent interface expansion stage. With the in situ IRRAS analysis of the mixed layer behavior at the interface, the induced loss of DPPC by fibrinogen expulsion from the compressed interface and the dominant adsorption of fibrinogen to the expanded interface were clearly demonstrated.


The invasive measurement of the hepatic venous pressure gradient is still considered as the reference method to assess the severity of portal hypertension. Even though previous studies have shown that the liver stiffness measured by elastography could predict portal hypertension in patients with chronic liver disease, the mechanisms behind remain today poorly understood. The main reason is that the liver stiffness is not specific to portal hypertension and is also influenced by concomitant pathologies, such as cirrhosis. Portal hypertension is also source of a vascular incidence, with a substantial diversion of portal venous blood to the systemic circulation, bypassing the liver. This study focuses on this vascular effect of portal hypertension. We propose to generate and control the portal venous flow (to isolate the modifications in the portal venous flow as single effect of portal hypertension) in an anesthetized pig and then to quantify its implications on liver stiffness by an original combination of MRE and 4D-Flow Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). A catheter balloon is progressively inflated in the portal vein and the peak flow, peak velocity magnitude and liver stiffness are quantified in a 1.5T MRI scanner (AREA, Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen, Germany). A strong correlation is observed between the portal peak velocity magnitude, the portal peak flow or the liver stiffness and the portal vein intraluminal obstruction. Moreover, the comparison of mechanical and flow parameters highlights a correlation with the possibility of identifying linear relationships. These results give preliminary indications about how liver stiffness can be affected by portal venous flow and, by extension, by hypertension.


Cloud computing is essential in the field of modern computing systems, where cloud providers have to provide effective resource for the users to increase the quality of service. Cloud computing environment is where multiple users' login and the resources over cloud have to be allocated dynamically in accordance to the pricing schema. In this survey paper various resource allocation strategies with respect to Quality Of Service (QOS), efficiency, performance, have been discussed. More over the paper discusses about the limitations and advantages of resource allocation mechanism in cloud computing environment.


Purpose: Secondary lymphedema is a frequent complication of breast cancer associated with surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation following breast cancer treatment. The potential contribution of genetic susceptibility to risk of developing secondary lymphedema following surgical trauma, radiation, and other tissue insults has not been studied. Experimental Design: To determine whether women with breast cancer and secondary lymphedema had mutations in candidate lymphedema genes, we undertook a case–control study of 188 women diagnosed with breast cancer recruited from the University of Pittsburgh Breast Cancer Program (http://www.upmccancercenter.com/breast/index.cfm) between 2000 and 2010. Candidate lymphedema genes, GJC2 (encoding connexin 47 [Cx47]), FOXC2, HGF, MET, and FLT4 (encoding VEGFR3), were sequenced for mutation. Bioinformatics analysis and in vitro functional assays were used to confirm significance of novel mutations. Results: Cx47 mutations were identified in individuals having secondary lymphedema following breast cancer treatment but not in breast cancer controls or normal women without breast cancer. These novel mutations are dysfunctional as assessed through in vitro assays and bioinformatics analysis and provide evidence that altered gap junction function leads to lymphedema. Conclusions: Our findings challenge the view that secondary lymphedema is solely due to mechanical trauma and support the hypothesis that genetic susceptibility is an important risk factor for secondary lymphedema. A priori recognition of genetic risk (i) raises the potential for early detection and intervention for a high-risk group and (ii) allows the possibility of altering surgical approach and/or chemo- and radiation therapy, or direct medical treatment of secondary lymphedema with novel connexin-modifying drugs. Clin Cancer Res; 18(8); 2382–90. ©2012 AACR.


There is a growing interest in morale as a potential substitute for sanctions, encouraged by exerimental evidence that people's morale affect their economic decisions. I show that while morale may be a substitute for sanctions for each citizen, it is not a substitute in the market. In a model where employed and self-employed differ in their opportunities for tax evasion, I demonstrate that a higher fraction of tax compliant citizens may reduce social surplus and tax revenues. In contrast to sanctions, morale usually differ between individuals and this distorts the ranking of costs among sellers and willingness to pay among consumer. Tax evading sellers crowd out tax compliant sellers with higher productivity. Tax evading buyers crowd out tax compliant buyers with higher willingness to pay. As a result, improved tax morale may lead to less efficient production and exchange. Experiments show how sanctions crowd out morale in some settings. My paper points to the opposite problem in markets: Low sanctions may crowd out morale. While the paper explores the effects of tax morale only, the results apply to a wide range of areas where morale matters for peoples choices in he market, such as environmental and safety regulation.


Earnings items are typically classified in financial reports based on their persistence and measurement subjectivity. Archival research examines investors' use of persistence and measurement subjectivity classifications for forecasting and valuation. However, this research typically examines only one of these classifications at a time and ignores the potential interactive implications of an earnings item's persistence and measurement subjectivity classifications. We recruited experienced financial analysts to participate in two experiments that examined the effect of measurement subjectivity classifications on analysts' use of persistence classifications when forecasting earnings items. We find that analysts rely less on an earnings item's persistence classification when measurement subjectivity is high relative to when measurement subjectivity is low. We also find that presentation format affects analysts' use of these two classifications. Specifically, we find that the matrix format (i.e., rows display persistence classifications and columns display measurement subjectivity classifications) facilitates analysts' combined use of persistence and measurement subjectivity classifications relative to the sequential format (i.e., the classifications are displayed separately). These findings suggest that archival research could improve its examination of market participants' use of earnings classifications for forecasting and valuation by recognizing that the implications of an earnings item's persistence classification can vary according to the item's measurement subjectivity classification. By also demonstrating how presentation format affects analysts' use of earnings classifications, our study provides further insights into this fundamental issue in accounting research and standard setting


Background and aims: Needle stick injuries are a common and serious occupational hazard in the medical settings. So, this study was aimed to assess the incidence of needle stick injury among medical students at Tabriz Imam Reza Hospital in 2014. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study which its data was collected from 211 medical students in Tabriz Imam Reza Hospital. The study was done using valid and reliable researcher's made questionnaire in December 2014 with getting inform consent from participants. The mentioned tool has two main parts; the first part studies the demographic and background variables and the second part focuses on the phenomenon of needle stick injuries and its relevant parameters. The data were firstly analyzed descriptively and the obtained results reported the qualitative variables in form of frequency (percentage) and for the quantitative variables the mean (standard deviation) was reported. Further on, the statistical relationship between demographic and background with Needle stick injuries parameters were assessed using Chi-square test. All these analyses were conducted using SPSS software and in all cases the significance of P was considered as less than 0.05. Results: Obtained findings showed that 36% of the medical students have experienced needle stick injuries in the last year (with Confidence Interval of 95%) and the mean annual frequency is equal to 3.11 times per person. Moreover, the study findings indicated that there is a statistical relationship between needle stick exposure and age (P=0.019), educational level (P=0.001) and the hospital ward (P=0.004) which students older than 30, medical research fellows and students working in the surgery and pathology wards experience needle stick injuries more than others significantly. Conclusion: This study showed the high incidence of needle stick injuries in medical students and highlighted the need for implementing precise interventions.


Following the end of the Cold War, many scholars and policymakers believed that Europe had reached an end of history in which the continent would live free of existential security threats. Recent shifts in State, have now put security policy back on the map for Europe. An uncontrolled stream of migration in a borderless Schengen area, coupled with Europe's historical troubles with failed integration and domestic radicalization present a dangerous opportunity for terrorist organizations. As a recent Europol report noted, the security risk posed by terrorism has increased in recent years, and is likely to continue on an upward trajectory for the foreseeable future. In 2015 alone, 151 people were killed and 360 wounded as a result of terrorist attacks in the EU. The ability of ISIL to conduct large scale attacks in Europe, as well as inspire self radicalized terrorists demonstrates the continuing threat posed by radical Islamist groups. The U.N. Security Council's ("UNSC")unanimous decision to enact a French‐proposed resolution affirming that IS is a "global and unprecedented threat to international peace and security," confirms that international terrorism is a global crisis.
European law enforcement agencies will have to step up their efforts in order to combat terrorist threats. However, these efforts will be less effective unless there is a clear and shared understanding of how terrorism should be conceptualized theoretically, and defined legally. Academic analysis of anti‐terrorism laws is therefore essential. While Europe faces a particularly high terrorist threat, the EU's counter‐terror strategy extends far beyond European borders. Some of the most important axis of cooperation in the fight against terrorist groups exists between the U.S. and the EU, as well as bilaterally between the U.S. and individual EU member states. In addition to their transatlantic partners, European policymakers collaborate with governments around the world in order to combat terrorist organizations.
Therefore, this chapter will shed some light on the counter ‐ terrorism international legal framework by using the post‐Morsi terrorist attacks in Egypt as a case study. Part II frames this legal apparatus by highlighting the lack of theoretical clarity on the meaning of terrorism, and reviewing the sociological literature on the elements of terrorism. Part III furthers this analysis by reviewing terrorist attacks committed in Egypt, and evaluates them under the terrorist‐related offenses, treaties and UNSC counter‐terrorism resolutions. Part IV examines whether or not there is an international crime of terrorism under international (customary) law, and Part V explores if those attacks rise to the level of war crimes and crimes against humanity (humanitarian law). The chapter concludes by making policy recommendations to combat terrorism.


To enhance drug delivery performance of popular drug eluting balloon against re-stenosis after angioplasty, we have an idea regarding to adjacent use of our unique laser driven thermal balloon of which characteristics could realize short term and uniform temperature elevation to modify drug delivery characteristics. We have already reported a delivery enhancement effect using this idea, however, detailed characteristics have not been studied yet. We studied balloon dilatation in terms of vascular circumferential tension on the heating drug delivery performance using porcine carotid artery wall ex vivo. The extracted carotid artery was used and circumferential tension of 0-30 mN/mm2 was added. Heating drug delivery was performed on this carotid artery with the heated solution of hydrophobic fluorescent Rhodamine B with 3 μg/ml in concentration at 37 and 70°C. We obtained a defined drug delivery quantity as well as delivery depth by a microscopic fluorescence measurement on a cross section of the drug delivered vessel wall. In the cases of 70°C, we found the drug penetration increase against 3°C case. We predict that the collagen thermal denaturation of the vessel wall may play important role to this penetration. In the case of 3°C, we found the drug concentration on the intimal surface with 7 mN/mm2 was increased as 10-30 times as other tension values. We found surface grooves in this case using an electron micrography. Therefore, we think that the drug delivery enhancement might be related to the groove formations of the vessel wall.


Epigenetic modifications, such as acetylation, phosphorylation, methylation, ubiquitination, and ADP ribosylation, of the highly conserved core histones, H2A, H2B, H3, and H4, influence the genetic potential of DNA. The enormous regulatory potential of histone modification is illustrated in the vast array of epigenetic markers found throughout the genome. More than the other types of histone modification, acetylation and methylation of specific lysine residues on N-terminal histone tails are fundamental for the formation of chromatin domains, such as euchromatin, and facultative and constitutive heterochromatin. In addition, the modification of histones can cause a region of chromatin to undergo nuclear compartmentalization and, as such, specific epigenetic markers are non-randomly distributed within interphase nuclei. In this review, we summarize the principles behind epigenetic compartmentalization and the functional consequences of chromatin arrangement within interphase nuclei.


Donor derived neutrophil reconstitution, defined as the normalization of the neutrophil counts and function after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), represents a prerequisite for the cure of patients with chronic granulomatous disease (CGD), expressed by a normalization of the nitroblue tetrazolium assay (NBT test), of the dihydro-rhodamine 123 (DHR) oxidation and of other confirmatory tests. These investigations together with the flowcytometric analysis of the lymphocyte subsets reconstitution at repeated post-trans-plant intervals predict the outcome after HSCT in these patients. Because a normalization of phagocyte activity implies a complete neutrophil engraftment with the presence of a stable and functional donor-derived neutrophil population in the transplant recipient, lineage-specific chimerism analysis represents also an important follow-up tool. All the above mentioned parameters have been investigated in two patients with CGD with a long history of life-threatening fungal and bacterial infections non-responsive to specific anti-infectious therapies, in whom the HSCT represented the only chance for cure. We showed that the hematological reconstitution in terms of absolute neutrophil count and function was very fast, within 1 month post-transplant, leading to a decisive and immediate clinical improvement of the patients, despite the delayed reconstitution of the lymphocyte subsets. The normalization of the neutrophil function tests in both patients correlated well with the achieved full donor chimerism and with the clinical outcome of these patients after the transplant. Further controlled clinical studies are warranted in order to comparatively assess the reconstitution of the lymphocyte subsets in bone marrow versus peripheral blood stem cell transplantation for CGD.


Variations in magnetic and electronic properties as a function of uniaxial strain in wurtzite (Ga,Mn)As nanowires (NWs) grown along the [0001] direction were investigated based on density functional theory (DFT). We found that (Ga,Mn)As NWs are half-metal, and the ferromagnetic state is their stable ground state. The magnetism of the NWs is significantly affected by the strain and by the substituent position of Mn impurities. By examining charge densities near the Fermi level, we found that strain can regulate the conductive region of the NWs. More interestingly, the size of spin-down band gap of the NWs is tunable by adjusting uniaxial stress, and the NWs can be converted from indirect to direct band gap under tension.


Crises such as COVID-19's have inequitable impacts on different countries, various population groups and diverse sectors of society and the economy. Areas of work and employment were met with a lot of challenges worldwide, and in particular in countries like Egypt with a large sector of vulnerable and precarious workers. This policy paper addresses the question of employment security both in response to crises such as COVID-19, and on the long term. To do so, the research maps 'vulnerable work', including informal labor, labor in the gig economy, self-employed and other types of precarious work. It then assesses Egypt's policy responses to COVID-19 with regards to the issues of unemployment and informal labor, including by assessing the efficacy of the irregular workers' fund and the diverse methods used to finance the crisis. Although some of those responses were in the right direction, their shortcomings revealed much deeper structural obstacles within employment relations and existing labor market vulnerabilities. This research thus provides policy recommendations, both on the short term in response to the crisis, as well as longer term to address vulnerability and precariousness in the world of employment in Egypt.


In this synthetic introductory essay, I consider the places of E. San Juan, Jr. as gleaned from the contributions to this special section: from San Juan's childhood in Manila and early education at the University of the Philippines at a time when veterans of the 1898 Revolution were still alive and peasant-based insurgency was on the rise; to his implicit contribution to the study of popular culture in the Philippines in the context of the emergence of nationalist struggle in the 1960s; to his turning point as a materialist literary critic who wrote the study on Bulosan which coincided with his own decision to stay in the United States; to his participation in anti-Marcos organizing as an exile devoted to the radical future of his homeland; to his maturation as a theorist of race and racism in American institutions of higher education; to his contributions to the development of Filipino Critical Theory and environmental activism; to his systematic critique of Western capitalist modernity as a major scholar from the Third World; and finally, to his attempt to vernacularize international solidarity. I argue that San Juan's body of work constitutes a decolonizing archive that records the unfulfilled projects of liberation struggles from the last century. I also suggest that such an archive is noteworthy because it reveals the direction of Third World revolutionary critique from decolonization to the crisis of globalization today.


For every $g\in\mathbb{N}_0$ and $\epsilon>0$, we construct a smooth genus $g$ surface embedded into the unit ball with area $8\pi$ and Willmore energy smaller than $8\pi + \epsilon$. From this we deduce that a minimising sequence for Willmore's energy in the class of genus $g$ surfaces embedded in the unit ball with area $8\pi$ converges to a doubly covered sphere for all $g\in\mathbb{N}_0$. We obtain the same result for certain Canham-Helfrich energies with $\chi_K\leq 0$ without genus constraint and show that Canham-Helfrich energies with $\chi_K>0$ are not bounded from below in the class of smooth surfaces with area $S$ embedded into a domain $\Omega\Subset \mathbb{R}^3$.
Furthermore, we prove that the class of connected surfaces embedded in a domain $\Omega\Subset\mathbb{R}^3$ with uniformly bounded Willmore energy and area is compact under varifold convergence.


In this paper, a superconducting YBa2Cu3Oy (YBCO) filter employs two sets of octagonal half-wavelength split ring resonators, which are designed to generate two passbands with compact size. The center frequency of the lower passband can be tuned by the outer resonators with loading spirals, and the center frequency of the upper passband can be adjusted by the inner resonators with interdigital structure. Both of them provide sufficient degrees of freedom to control the center frequencies and fractional bandwidths of the two passbands, independently. In addition, a pair of side-coupled stubs is applied to control the bandwidth of the lower passband whereas the interdigital structure is used to adjust the coupling strength between the inner split ring resonator (SRR). Based on the above-mentioned design methodology, a dual-band superconducting elliptic-function-response bandpass filter operating at 2.45 and 3.5 GHz is proposed in this paper. Simulated results show that the insertion losses in both passbands are less than 0.05 dB. Four transmission zeros are created close to the passband edges, resulting in high skirt selectivity. For fabrication, high-Tc superconducting YBCO films are deposited on double-side-polished 0.5-mm-thick MgO substrates. The overall size of this filter is 12.1 × 8.4 mm (about 0.25 × 0.17 λg, where λg is the guided wavelength at the center frequency of the first passband).


The concept of network slicing (NS) has been proposed for flexible resource provisioning where a physical resource is partitioned into logically independent networks on demand. The NS resource allocation implies the definition of a feasible path in the infrastructure network with adequate resource availability. However, due to complex structural characteristics of the backhaul transport network, a number of issues arise when fast deploying the end-to-end (E2E) slices onto network infrastructures. In this paper, a pair-decision resource allocation model is firstly formulated to construct the mapping relationship between logical networks and substrate networks in a coordinated way. In order to improve extreme quality of service (QoS) and user experiment, latency-optimal virtual resource allocation problem is defined, subject to the backhaul capacity and bandwidth constraints. The problem is formulated as an integer linear programming (ILP) and solved with the branch-and-bound scheme, whose resolution yields an optimal virtual network function (VNF) placement and traffic routing policy. Numerical results reveal that the proposed scheme can enable the transport network latency optimization with a reduction of up to 30% and 41.6% compared to the Network Slice Design Problem (NSDP) and Random Fit Placement Algorithm (RFPA) schemes respectively. In the meanwhile, the network load balance and serviceability have been improved efficiently with better resource utilization as well.


The risk and vulnerability literature emphasises the importance of increasing the adaptive capacity to natural hazards of exposed populations. This paper analyses the strategies of adjustment implemented by members of two flood-prone communities in Puerto Rico, and discusses how the adoption of these strategies and other factors could influence future adaptive capacity and vulnerability to floods. Semi-structured interviews with community members from different resource endowment groups were used to elicit the resources behind the process of adjustment along with additional factors that could influence future adaptive capacity, including their perceptions of risks related to floods. The analysis revealed how access to resources – including material, economic and human resources – has facilitated living with floods in these communities; although not everyone has been able to adapt in the same way. Past actions, along with public responses being undertaken in the area (i.e. flood control project and upstream structural modifications) appear to be reducing flood-risk perceptions and promoting a false sense of security among community members, irrespective of resource endowment group. For that reason, developing ways to increase awareness about future flood potential and making clear the need for complementary non-structural strategies is imperative. In short, the research findings emphasise that access to resources and cognitive factors are important determinants of adaptive capacity. Hence, both should be taken into account while developing practical strategies towards increasing adaptive capacity and reducing vulnerability to floods specifically, and to other natural hazards in general.


MORC family CW-type zinc finger 2 (MORC2) is a newly identified chromatin remodeling protein with emerging roles in the regulation of DNA damage response and gene transcription, but its mechanistic role in breast cancer development and progression remains unexplored. Here, we show that MORC2 promoted breast cancer invasion and metastasis and these effects depended on a proline-rich domain (PRD) within its carboxy-terminal region spanning residues 601-734. Induced expression of wild-type MORC2 did not significantly affect cell proliferation and cell-cycle progression, but promoted breast cancer cell migration and invasion in vitro and metastatic lung colonization in vivo. The PRD domain was dispensable for the protein stability and subcellular localization of MORC2, but depletion of the PRD domain substantially suppressed MORC2-mediated migration, invasion, and metastasis. Proteomic and biochemical analyses further demonstrated that wild-type MORC2, but not PRD deletion mutant, interacted with catenin delta 1 (CTNND1), a cadherin-associated protein that participates in tumor invasion and metastasis. Moreover, knockdown of endogenous CTNND1 by short hairpin RNAs suppressed the migratory and invasive potential of MORC2-expressing cells. Taken together, these results suggest that MORC2 promotes breast cancer invasion and metastasis through its PRD domain-mediated interaction with CTNND1.


Effects of electrical stimulation of the substantia nigra on responses of the lateral geniculate neurons to light were studied. Responses of the neurons to flash were enhanced or inhibited by conditioning stimulation of the substantia nigra. Enhancement of firing by nigral stimulation more often occurred in neurons excited primarily by flash, but inhibition was more commonly observed in those which showed a primary neuronal silence after light.


Abstract Neonatal hemochromatosis (NH) is a clinical syndrome consisting of liver disease and pathologic siderosis of various extrahepatic tissues. NH is a form of secondary hemochromatosis in which severe fetal liver injury causes iron overload due to poor regulation of maternofetal iron flux. Gestational alloimmune liver disease (GALD) has been established as the cause of fetal liver injury resulting in nearly all cases of NH. In GALD, sensitization of some women to a fetal liver antigen results in development of specific antifetal liver IgG antibodies. When delivered to the fetal circulation these antibodies bind to the antigen and activate the terminal complement cascade resulting in hepatocyte injury and death. GALD may produce subacute and chronic fetal liver injury (congenital cirrhosis) typical of NH. It may also produce acute injury and acute liver failure of the fetus and newborn, often with no iron overload or siderosis.


The study was conducted to assess the efficacy of Muguga Cocktail East Coast Fever (ECF) vaccine at a cattle-buffalo interface in some ranches in Laikipia County. It is not known with certainty how the current vaccine for cattle against East Coast Fever, that is, Infection and Treatment Method (ITM) using the Muguga Cocktail would perform in areas where buffalos exist with cattle. This is because of the suspicion that buffalo strain of T. parva circulating at the cattle-buffalo interface would lower the efficacy of the ITM with T. parva strains sourced from cattle. The specific objectives of the study were to;
1. Assess the efficacy of ECF vaccine in cattle at a cattle-buffalo interface in Laikipia County.
2 .Determine the viability of the ECF vaccine.
The study was conducted in two ranches which were conveniently selected including Mutara and Ole Naishu with herd sizes of 986 and 2,796 heads of cattle, respectively. A controlled trial was conducted on the two ranches whereby calves were recruited for the study. The calves had no previous history of East Coast Fever (ECF) infection. In both the treatment and control group, a total of 65 immunized and control calves were recruited in each of the ranches. The calves were randomly selected and allocated to immunized and control groups. Calves in the treatment group were injected with Muguga cocktail using a standard protocol developed at the Veterinary Research Institute, Muguga. Prior to the injection of the vaccine, a 30% long acting oxytetracycline was administered at a dose of 30mg per body weight by deep intramuscular injection. Any immunized calf that developed clinical signs of ECF with fever and presence of macroschizonts (7-10 days post immunization) in lymph node smears for at least three days was designated as ―ECF reactor‖. Calves were bled pre-immunization at day 0 and then again 35 days post immunization to determine the antibody response using an Indirect ELISA test, this was to test for the viability of the vaccine. Daily clinical surveillance was kept on all the calves in both the treatment and control groups for twelve months. The sero-conversion in the vaccinated group was 83% in Ole Naishu and 69% in Mutara. The sero-conversion among the control groups was 3.1% and 6.2% in Ole Naishu and Mutara respectively. The efficacy of the vaccine was established at 97.8% for Ole Naishu, and 78.4% for Mutara. The ECF vaccine (Muguga cocktail) was not as efficacious in Mutara ranch as in Ole Naishu ranch. This may be attributed to sharing of grazing of cattle with buffalos in Mutara which was not the case in Ole Naishu.


We examine the effects of monetary and macroprudential policies in the Asia-Pacific region, where many inflation targeting economies have adopted macroprudential policies in order to safeguard financial stability. Using structural panel vector autoregressions that identify both monetary and macro-prudential policy actions, we show that tighter macroprudential policies used to contain credit growth have also had a significant negative impact on macroeconomic aggregates such as real GDP and the price level. The similar effects of monetary and macroprudential policies may suggest a complementary use of the two policies at normal times. However, they could also create challenges for policy-makers, especially during times when low inflation coincides with buoyant credit growth.


Fundamentals of Drilling Engineering, an update of the classic Applied Drilling Engineering (Textbook Series Vol. 2), takes a new look at the basics of drilling engineering. Chapters are written by experts from industry and academia and provide numerous example problems to reinforce the concepts presented. This book is essential for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as industry professionals trying to gain detailed knowledge of basic drilling concepts.


This paper presents an ear biometric approach to classify humans. Accordingly an improved local features extraction technique based on ear region features is proposed. Accordingly, ear image is segmented in to certain regions to extract eigenvector from all regions. The extracted features are normalized and fed to a trained neural network. To benchmark results, benchmark database from University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB) is employed that have mutually exclusive sets for training and testing. Promising results are achieved that are comparable in the state of art. However, a few region features exhibited low accuracy that will be addressed in the subsequent research.


Malaria is a deadly disease caused by the plasmodium parasites. Approximately 210 million people get affected by malaria every year resulting in half a million deaths. Among several species of the parasite, Plasmodium falciparum is the primary cause of severe infection and death. Several drugs are available for malaria treatment in the market but plasmodium parasites have successfully developed resistance against many drugs over the years. This poses a serious threat to efficacy of the treatments and continuing discovery of new drug is necessary to tackle the situation, especially due to failure in designing an effective vaccine. People are now trying to design new drugs for malaria using AI technologies which can substantially reduce the time and cost required in classical drug discovery programs. In this chapter, we provide a comprehensive overview of a road map for several AI based computational techniques which can be implemented in a malaria drugs discovery program. Classical computers has limiting computing power. So, researchers are also trying to harness quantum machine learning to speed up the drug discovery processes.


The difference of forcing status between coal and gangue in the process of impact was a fundamental problem in separation of them. In order to finding out forcing status of coal and gangue, the impact process was emulated by finite element software. The variation curves of contact force, the time-course curves of stress and pressure at different locations on material and board hammer were gained. The simulation results showed that for the different material properties, stress and pressure variation of coal were less than gangue, and the impact point in board hammer has the worst forcing status.


BACKGROUND
Although the unemployment rate in Germany is currently low, more than a million persons in the country have been out of work for more than a year. In this review article, we address these persons' state of health, the effect of unemployment on health, and the influence of macroeconomic factors and social policy.

METHODS
This article is based on a selective review of pertinent literature in the PubMed database.

RESULTS
Large-scale meta-analyses and systematic reviews have shown that the long-term unemployed have an at least twofold risk of mental illness, particularly depression and anxiety disorders, compared to employed persons. Their mortality is 1.6-fold higher. Unemployment seems to be not only an effect of illness, but also a cause of it (i.e., there is evidence for both selection and causality). Learned helplessness is an important psychological explanatory model. Limited evidence indicates that the long-term unemployed have a moderately elevated prevalence of alcoholism; unemployment can be both an effect and a cause of alcoholism. Unemployment also seems to be associated with higher risks of heart attack and stroke. Cancer can lead to loss of employment. The link between unemployment and poorer health is strengthened by macroeconomic crises and weakened by governmental social interventions.

CONCLUSION
The long-term unemployed carry a markedly higher burden of disease, particularly mental illness, than employed persons and those who are unemployed only for a short time. The burden of disease increases with the duration of unemployment. The vicious circle of unemployment and disease can be broken only by the combined effects of generally available health care, special health-promoting measures among the unemployed, and social interventions.


Automatic human action recognition has been a challenging issue in the field of machine vision. Some high-level features such as SIFT, although with promising performance for action recognition, are computationally complex to some extent. To deal with this problem, we construct the features based on the Distance Transform of body contours, which is relatively simple and computationally efficient, to represent human action in the video. After extracting the features from videos, we adopt the Conditional Random Field for modeling the temporal action sequences. The proposed method is tested with an available standard dataset. We also testify the robustness of our method on various realistic conditions, such as body occlusion or intersection.


Women who inherit a mutated copy of the BRCA gene have a higher lifetime risk of developing breast cancer. No large epidemiological studies exist looking at BRCA mutation carriers in UK populations. All patients with BRCA1/BRCA2 mutation identified between 1995 and 2015 were included. Individuals were identified from a prospectively gathered data base. Genetics case‐notes were obtained and retrospective analysis performed. 581 female BRCA mutation carriers were identified with a median age of 34 (18‐81) at the time of testing. Of the 301 women who underwent diagnostic testing (symptomatic) 246 had been diagnosed with breast cancer, 89 with ovarian cancer and 37 had both at time of testing. Median age at diagnostic test was 51 (25‐81). 33% of women underwent risk‐reducing mastectomies (RRM); median age at surgery 45. This compares with 37% of women in this diagnostic group who underwent Risk‐reducing bilateral salpingo‐oopherectomies (RRBSO) at a median age of 46. Two hundred and eighty women underwent predictive testing (family history, asymptomatic), median age 36 (18‐81). 34% of women in this predictive group underwent RRM, median age 37. There was a 29% uptake of RRBSO (median age 44 years). Fifteen women (5%) developed breast cancer after being tested; none of these had undergone RRS. This unique study of all BRCA mutation carriers in Wales shows considerable variation in uptake of RRS. The decision to undergo RRS is complex and involves a number of factors, including a woman's age and life stage. As BRCA testing becomes more frequent and more gene mutation carriers are identified there will be significant implications for service allocation, screening demands, and provision of risk‐reducing surgery for this high‐risk patient group.


Fossils provide our only direct window into evolutionary events in the distant past. Incorporating them into phylogenetic hypotheses of living clades can help elucidate macroevolutionary patterns and processes, such as ancestral states and diversification dynamics. However, the effect fossils have on phylogenetic inference from morphological data remains controversial. Previous studies have highlighted their strong impact on topologies inferred from empirical data, but have not demonstrated that they improve accuracy. The consequences of explicitly incorporating the stratigraphic ages of fossils using tip-dated inference are also unclear. Here we employ a simulation approach to explore how fossil sampling and missing data affect tree reconstruction across a range of inference methods. Our results show that fossil taxa improve phylogenetic analysis of morphological datasets, even when highly fragmentary. Irrespective of inference method, fossils improve the accuracy of phylogenies and increase the number of resolved nodes. They also induce the collapse of ancient and highly uncertain relationships that tend to be incorrectly resolved when sampling only extant taxa. Furthermore, tip-dated analyses which simultaneously infer tree topology and divergence times outperform all other methods of inference, demonstrating that the stratigraphic ages of fossils contain vital phylogenetic information. Fossils help to extract true phylogenetic signals from morphology, an effect that is mediated by both their unique morphology and their temporal information, and their incorporation in total-evidence phylogenetics is necessary to faithfully reconstruct evolutionary history.


At present, there are some scattered evidence data pertaining to the use of an adaptive technique of radiotherapy in treatment of malignant glial tumors of the brain. Our evidence data obtained in MRI in the course of treatment show that the initial treatment plan may become irrelevant due to some changes observed in the tumor configuration. In its turn, it bears witness to the topicality of developing and introducing adaptive methods and techniques in the brain tumor treatment, which are capable to increase efficacy and tolerability in patients with primary malignant tumors of the brain. Aim. Our aim has been to develop an adaptive stereotactic method of radiotherapy in treatment of primary malignant brain tumors, which shall be capable to increase efficacy and tolerability of radiation therapy as well as reduce radiation dose to normal structures in the brain. Materials and methods. Our method has been elaborated with recruiting a group of 10 patients diagnosed with primary glioblastoma G IV, which have received specialized treatment at the National Medical Research Centre for Oncology at the Ministry of Health, the Russian Federation, in the period 2021-2022. The average age of the above patients is 43,4 years. All patients have undergone microsurgery covering the total resection of the tumor (3 patients) and subtotal removal of the malignant tumor (7 patients). The average time interval between the surgery and radiotherapy is 32,5 days. Before treatment, an intravenous contrast enhancement MRI of the brain with an axial pitch of 1 mm has been conducted employing the contrast T1, contrast-free T1 and T2 FLAIR modes. Planning of radiotherapy for this sort of patients has been carried out employing BrainLab Elements и Varian Medical Systems Eclipse. The CTV was defined as a 2,0 cm margin around GTV with an anatomical correction. The CTV-to-PTV margin was 0,1 cm. Doses have been administered as follows: a single dose of 2 Gy up to a total dose of 60 Gy in 30 fractions. The brain has been MRI-scanned in all patients with the use of intravenously introduced contrast agents with an axial pitch of 1 mm employing enhanced contrast/contrast-free T1 sequences and T2 FLAIR to redefine the radiotherapy targets (GTV, CTV, PTV). At fraction 30 we have completed MRI in order to estimate the treatment outcome. In the average, the radiotherapy course has taken 42-45 days, holidays included. For the purpose of the radiation therapy, used have been the Novalis Tx Varian Tx linear accelerator of kinetic energy of the beam of 6 MeV. Results We have developed our own adaptive stereotactic method of radiotherapy to treat the primary malignant glial tumors in the brain, which is capable of tracing the configuration of the post-surgery cavity, the residual tumor and the brain structures in the course of radiotherapy and adapting the therapy plan thereto that makes possible to reduce tissue volumes exposed to radiation due to a decrease in the tumoral and peritumoral volumes of the tumor and post-operative cavity. Conclusion. Our analysis has shown that in the course of radiotherapy some anatomical changes in the tumor configuration are found. An adaptive approach applied to radiation therapy allows monitoring the above changing volumes and correcting the treatment plan.


Significance Partisan biases in processing political information contribute to rising divisions in society. How do such biases arise in the brain? We measured the neural activity of participants watching videos related to immigration policy. Despite watching the same videos, conservative and liberal participants exhibited divergent neural responses. This "neural polarization" between groups occurred in a brain area associated with the interpretation of narrative content and intensified in response to language associated with risk, emotion, and morality. Furthermore, polarized neural responses predicted attitude change in response to the videos. These findings suggest that biased processing in the brain drives divergent interpretations of political information and subsequent attitude polarization. People tend to interpret political information in a manner that confirms their prior beliefs, a cognitive bias that contributes to rising political polarization. In this study, we combined functional magnetic resonance imaging with semantic content analyses to investigate the neural mechanisms that underlie the biased processing of real-world political content. We scanned American participants with conservative-leaning or liberal-leaning immigration attitudes while they watched news clips, campaign ads, and public speeches related to immigration policy. We searched for evidence of "neural polarization": activity in the brain that diverges between people who hold liberal versus conservative political attitudes. Neural polarization was observed in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC), a brain region associated with the interpretation of narrative content. Neural polarization in the DMPFC intensified during moments in the videos that included risk-related and moral-emotional language, highlighting content features most likely to drive divergent interpretations between conservatives and liberals. Finally, participants whose DMPFC activity closely matched that of the average conservative or the average liberal participant were more likely to change their attitudes in the direction of that group's position. Our work introduces a multimethod approach to study the neural basis of political cognition in naturalistic settings. Using this approach, we characterize how political attitudes biased information processing in the brain, the language most likely to drive polarized neural responses, and the consequences of biased processing for attitude change. Together, these results shed light on the psychological and neural underpinnings of how identical information is interpreted differently by conservatives and liberals.


'Capacity building' has become a ubiquitous term in the international peacebuilding community. While the need for capacity building in post-conflict contexts is widely accepted, discussions rarely venture into what it is in practical and operational terms, and how it ought to be done. This article 1 examines a major capacity building project in East Timor, focusing on capacity building as it occurs day to day and on the ground. Following a brief overview of the concept of capacity building, it identifies a number of key challenges that arise in initiatives in which internationals work directly with local actors to build their capacity. It then offers a set of concrete proposals, targeted at capacity builders and their managing institutions, for improved practice.


This study set out to examine the influence of place attachment on environmentally
responsible behavior in the context of Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park. For this
purpose, a total of 184 respondents made up of Sabahan (locals), other Malaysian
(domestic),and non-Malaysian(international) visitors who were screened to ensure
they had at least one previous visit to the marine park, participated in the survey.
Notably, this study conceptualized both place attachment and site-specific
environmentally responsible behavior constructs into three sub-dimensions
respectively (place dependence, place identity, place social bonding; and,
sustainable behavior, pro-environmental behavior, and environmentally friendly
behavior). Results showed that place dependence and place identity have a
significant impact on sustainable behavior. On the other hand, place social bonding
has a significant impact on pro-environmental behavior. Additionally, place identity
and place social bonding have a significant impact on environmentally friendly
behavior. This study examined whether visitors to TARP who have a level of place
attachment will display increased site-specific environmentally responsible behavior
in the theoretical perspective. The research model for this study was novel as the
measurement used for site-specific environmentally responsible behavior in the
current study is a new attempt to link the relationship of place attachment with
site-specific environmentally responsible behavior. From the managerial perspective,
this research is beneficial to natural resource management agencies which manage
and operate marine parks for example, Sabah Parks to promote sustainability of the
marine parks. This research offers significant insights for natural resource
management agencies in understanding the role of place attachment in fostering
site-specific environmentally responsible behavior. Limitations of this study with
subsequent recommendations for future research are suggested in this study.


PurposeThe highly contagious coronavirus and the rapid spread of COVID-19 disease have generated a global public health crisis. Crises are being addressed at various local and global scales through social distancing measures and guidelines, emerging working and living patterns and the utilisation of technology to partially replace physical learning environments. The purpose of this article is to capture the key messages of the contributions published in this special edition of Archnet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research, Volume 15, Issue 1, March 2021. Reviewing more than 70 submissions, 15 articles have been identified that are contributed by 35 scholars, educators and practitioners from 12 countries. The article calls for the need to embed trans-disciplinarity in current and future built environment research.Design/methodology/approachDriven by the fact that architecture, urban design and planning and built environment studies interact and have direct correlation with public health and virus spread. The approach to develop and present the key messages of the contributions is premised on three areas: (a) the pandemic condition as it relates to the built environment, (b) analytical reflections on the emerging themes and (c) the diversity and complexity embedded in these themes.FindingsWhile some contributions speak to the particularities of their contexts, others address regional or global parameters. The enquiry into architectural research, architectural education and architectural design indicates some of the important methods and tools to address the accelerated adoption, adaption and redesign needed to create a new and better normal which embeds flexibility, adaptability and continuous learning. The papers represent brilliant investiture to address the momentous insinuations the COVID-19 condition has on the built environment.Research limitations/implicationsThe diversity of implications reveals potential alternative futures for urbanity and society and the associated education and practice of future built environment professions. While the contributions invite us to critically envisage possibilities for future research and collective action, critical fast-track empirical research is needed to address how health is an integral component in the production of architecture and urban environments.Originality/valueThe diversity, complexity, depth and breadth of the contribution convey important insights on people, health and the spatial environments that accommodate both. Trans-disciplinarity, as it relates to research and action and to the production of urban environments, is viewed as a form of learning involving co-operation among different parts of society, professionals and academia in order to meet complex challenges of society such this pandemic condition. This approach has enabled the identification of three future research areas in architecture urbanism that include implications of virus spread on urban environments, how spatial and social distancing measures and protocols are altering our understanding of spatial design.


Electrostatic charge generation phenomenon in the case of hydrocarbons flowing through pipes has been studied for a long time. The charge generation depends on the nature of both the liquid and the solid. Because of the introduction of new plastic materials and due to fuel composition evolution, it became necessary to perform a comprehensive study of the subject in the particular case of an automotive environment. The streaming current measurement permits one to characterize charge generation when a fuel flows through a plastic pipe. However, this measurement must be carefully managed. In this paper, we are working on the validity and the accuracy of such measurements. The case of conductive and insulating pipes, and the double-layer development influence, are analyzed and discussed. In particular, we give a detailed methodology in order to measure reliable streaming currents and to wisely derive the space-charge density at the wall (/spl rho//sub w/). Experimental results are presented for some solid/liquid couples.


The goal of the paper is to summarize the results of the authors' questionnaire survey focused on identification and comparison of possible differences in study motivation and job expectations of students of one private and one public university in the Czech Republic to find out potential sources of students' dissatisfaction and to propose appropriate measures to improve the teaching process in order to achieve the sustainable development of the professional competencies of university students. The questionnaire survey was conducted by authors from February to April 2017. The respondents were full-time and combined bachelor's students of the College of Regional Development in Prague (private) and the Masaryk Institute of Advanced Studies of the Czech Technical University in Prague (public). The relevant data were obtained from 758 students. The data analysis was based on the calculation of relative frequencies (as a share from the total number of respondents) and the evaluation of the dependence of responses on the type of university (students of the private college and students of the public institute) using contingency tables and chi-square tests of independence. The results support the assumption that the current generation of university students studies to succeed in the future, but it has relatively high expectations about work and career that may reduce its employability if it does not have the appropriate work experience and social habits.


The assessment of liver fibrosis is a major issue in the management of patients with chronic hepatitis C. Liver biopsy has traditionally been considered the gold standard for the evaluation of tissue damage, including fibrosis. In addition, it detects associated lesions such as steatosis, steatohepatitis or iron overload, which provide useful information for patient management and prognosis. Liver biopsy is, however, an invasive procedure, with a risk of rare but potentially life‐threatening complications and it is prone to sampling errors. These limitations have led to the development of non‐invasive methods. Currently available tests rely on two different but complementary approaches: (i) a 'biological' approach based on the dosage of serum biomarkers of fibrosis; (ii) a 'physical' approach based on the measurement of liver stiffness, using transient elastography. Although significant progress has been made in the non‐invasive diagnosis of fibrosis, it is increasingly clear that these methods will not completely replace liver biopsy. Instead, non‐invasive methods and liver biopsy should be used in an integrated approach for more efficient and convenient management of patients with chronic hepatitis C. The aim of this review is to discuss the advantages and limitations of liver biopsy and non‐invasive methods and the perspectives for their use in clinical practice.


We examined the competitive relationship between two isolates of denitrifying bacteria, both of which grow well under aerobic conditions but differ in their ability to grow under denitrifying conditions. The growth and persistence of the two isolates, added to sterile soil or added to soil previously colonized by the other isolate, were monitored under aerobic and denitrifying (anaerobic) conditions. When isolates were added together to sterile soil, the isolate added at the higher density reduced the growth of the isolate added at the lower density. The magnitude of the growth reduction varied depending on the competitive abilities of the individual isolates and the aeration state of the soil. Prior colonization of soil with one of the isolates conferred a competitive advantage on the colonized isolate but did not lead to the disappearance of the challenging isolate. Fluctuations in aeration state caused large changes in the population density of one isolate and altered the competitive relationship between the two isolates. The competitive effectiveness of each isolate varied with cell density, the degree of prior colonization of the soil by the other isolate, and the aeration state of the soil.


Ultrasonic atomization, a process of generating fine droplets through irradiation of high-frequency ultrasound to a gas-liquid interface from the liquid underneath, is applied to separating ethanol from its aqueous solution. Towards its practical use, the process of collecting in two cooling stages the ethanol-enriched mist-generated via an ultrasonic atomizer (ultrasonic transducer operated at 2.4 MHz) with continuous feed of ethanol-water solution-using two cooling units in a series has been developed. The effects of operating conditions, especially cooling temperatures and gas flowrate, on ethanolenrichment and condensation characteristics are examined. It is found that the highly-enriched ethanol recovery could be attained in the 2nd stage by optimizing the 1st- and 2nd-stage cooling temperatures (as moderate as 5°C and up to-10°C, respectively). Regarding the carrier-gas flowrate, ethanol-rich mist consisting of small-size droplets tends to be carried selectively in favor of lower gas flowrate. Nevertheless, the desired recovery of enriched ethanol-i.e., a highest possible value of the recovered quantity of ethanol as well as the recovery concentration itself-is expected to be obtained in the 2nd stage by raising the carrier-gas flowrate under the present operating conditions. While the proposed two-stage cooling process tends to collect rather an appreciable quantity of less-enriched ethanol solution in the 1st stage, it is the 2nd stage that assures the desired quality of enriched-ethanol recovery.


In this article, the author argues for the need for students to have opportunities to dialogue with service users in social work education. Through such conversations spaces for critical-reflection are created in which individual, team, and professional discourses can be safely critiqued among a community of learners. Within professional courses of study the constructed nature of distinctions between service users and the professionals who "treat" them become apparent when consumers and their families tell their narratives of recovery to an audience of allied health students who are in their first year of hospital-based practice. The author proposes that social workers need to take a critical-reflective stance in relation to the teams and the professional discourses they work within. A critical-reflective approach enables students to analyze their practice within their organization's policies to look beyond the boundaries while paradoxically learning to work within them. This perspective is evoked by the use of service user narratives in educational programs of professional development. The implications for integrating consumer perspectives in social work education are discussed.


Video streaming is an important service provided by surveillance systems to enhance situation awareness. However, in military systems, data acquisition heavily depends on the network infrastructure. In this application domain, units are spread and the distance between the sources of data and the decision makers may be very large. In the case of video streaming, the demand for high network throughput poses some extra requirements on the network. Considering the mobility patterns of the military units and the diversity of the new generations of sensors, especially those used by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), the configuration and the management of the network must be so dynamic and so sensitive to data flow parameters that manual configuration is not acceptable. For this reason, the capability of the network to configure itself to offer the necessary Quality of Service is a must. Using principles of Software Defined Networks (SDN), this paper presents an analysis of video streaming for military surveillance in which multiple UAVs are employed as data providers through an SDN-enabled network, with promising results.


The research aimed to improve the growth, production of sawi and get better dose. The research carried out in the Technical Services Unit Faculty of Agriculture University of Riau from January to February 2014 and conducted experiments used Randomized Block Design (RBD) is P0, P1, P2, P3 and P4 (without organic fertilizer, green manure Calopogonium muccunoides 20 ton / ha (3 kg / plot), chicken manure 20 ton / ha (3 kg / plot), green manure  Calopogonium muccunoides 10 ton / ha + ½ urea recommended and chicken manure 10 ton / ha + ½ urea recommended). The parameters measured were plant height, leaf area, leaf number, fresh weight and fresh weight for consumption. The data were analyzed used analysis of variance and continued DNMRT at 5% level. The result showed that 1,5 kg chicken manure + ½ urea recommended and green manure Calopogonium muccunoides 1,5 kg + ½ urea recommended better dose for the growth and production of sawi . Keywords : urea fertilizer, organic fertilizer, sawi


Universities in Latin American countries are undergoing major changes in its institutional and academic settings. One strategy for continuous improvement of teaching and learning process is the incorporation of methods and teaching aids seeking to develop scientific research skills in students from their undergraduate studies. The aim of this study is the validation of a questionnaire to measure research skills with engineering students. Questionnaire validation was performed by: literature review, semantic and content validation by experts from three Latin American universities, finishing with a factorial and reliability validation. The instrument was applied to 150 students (75,3% men and 24,7% women) that were enrolled in the basic level of engineering. The validated questionnaire has 20 items. The correlations between factors of the instrument, show relationship and dependence between them, indicating the validity of the questionnaire. The reliability of the instrument was calculated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient, which reached a value of .91 in the total scale. The statistical results to validate the questionnaire have been significant, allowing us to propose this experience as a starting point to implement further studies about the development of research skills in university's students from other areas of knowledge


This paper examines the processes underlying changes to the once-extensive Bermejo Wetland, east of the city of Mendoza, Argentina (32°55' S, 68°51' W). Historical documents and maps from the 16th to 20th century are used to reconstruct environmental shifts. Historical documents indicate periods of increased snowfall in the adjacent Andes mountains, as well as high flow volumes in the Mendoza River. Data from georeferenced maps, the first from 1802 and the last from 1903, reflect the changes in the surface area of the wetland. The combined data sets show pulses of growth and retraction, in which major expansions coincided with more intense snowstorms and increased flow in the Mendoza River, which in turn influenced socio-economic activities. The wetland became progressively drier during the 19th century, before drying up completely around 1930, due in part to the construction of drainages and channels.


Background and aims Complement activation is one of the important pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and it has been revealed to associate with the activity of SLE. Complement regulatory proteins (CRPs) play critical roles on the regulation of alternative complement pathway, however, studies focus on the CRPs during SLE flare-up remains limited. This study was to investigate the change of CRPs and end products of compliment activation on active and remission phases of SLE. Methods Forty paediatric SLE patients were enrolled. The clinical manifestation, laboratory data, and serum CRPs, C5a, and C5b-9 on active and remission phases were analysed. Results The mean age of patients was 13.9±3.8 years with female predominant (7:1). The mean renal and non-renal SLEDAI at active and remission phases were 4.25 vs 0.45 and 8.32 vs 1.25, respectively. Fever, rash, and arthritis were the most common features and kidney was the most common involved organ at active phase. The mean serum complement factor H and I levels at active phase were significantly lower than that at remission phase. The mean serum CD46 level at active phase was higher significantly compared with that at remission phase. The serum C5a and C5b-9 at active and remission phases were no significant difference. Five patients had sequelae including 1 intracranial haemorrhage and 4 chronic kidney disease. Conclusions Serum complement factor H, I and CD46, but not C5a and C5b-9 were associated with disease activity of SLE.


It is a sad irony that Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), the founder of modern nursing, who made such important contributions to public health through her advocacy of sanitation, statistics, and common sense, should also be remembered as history's most famous invalid and possibly as its most successful malingerer. After her return from the Crimean war hospitals in 1856 she suffered several bouts of illness, and both she and her friends, medical and lay, thought she was dying. From August 1857, when she suffered her first major attack, until 1880 she was an invalid, spending much of her waking hours confined to a couch. An attack at Christmas 1861 left her unable to walk and she remained bedridden for six years.

The nature of the illness that afflicted this precise, energetic, and inquiring woman was not understood then, nor has it been satisfactorily elucidated since. After her death medical opinion favoured the diagnosis of neurasthenia,1 an obsolete term denoting a symptom complex now associated with psychosomatic illness; retrospective diagnoses propose such a condition.2 3 This seems eminently reasonable from a review of the signs and symptoms of her illness: weakness, headache, nausea at the sight of food, breathlessness, tachycardia, palpitations, and precordial pain; furthermore, earlier in life she had a somewhat neurotic disposition.

Cope believed that after her superhuman efforts in both the Crimean war and the campaign for medical reform of the army (1856-7) Florence collapsed with a "stress" induced neurosis, but he was unable to explain why she did not recover.2 Such a difficulty does not arise with Pickering's diagnosis of an anxiety neurosis resulting from Florence's unresolved conflict with her mother and her sister,3 since such a neurosis will, if left untreated, often continue indefinitely. Nevertheless, this diagnosis has grave deficiencies. Firstly, Florence's sister Parthenope …


Preventable errors in American hospitals result in the deaths of thousands of patients each year. Studies suggest that the present need for a medical cultural transformation closely parallels that of the aviation community in the 1970s. Aviation crew resource management (CRM) training, based on effective communication and teamwork skills, may translate to healthcare through error management training. This quasi-experimental, quantitative study observed operating room attitudes about safety and medical errors among perioperative personnel at a major US hospital following an aviation-based team-intervention training program. Study results suggest a correlation between the CRM intervention and post-intervention changes in perioperative safety attitudes.


For Very Deep submicron Technologies, techniques based on the analysis of reflected laser beam properties are widely used. The Laser Voltage Imaging (LVI) technique, introduced in 2009, allows mapping frequencies through the backside of integrated circuit. In this paper, we propose a new technique based on the LVI technique to debug a scan chain related issue. We describe the method to use LVI, usually dedicated to frequency mapping of digital active parts, in a way that enables localization of resistive leakage. Origin of this signal is investigated on a 40nm case study. This signal can be properly understood when two different effects, charge carrier density variations (LVI) and thermo reflectance effect (Thermal Frequency Imaging, TFI), are taken into account.


Different approaches for digital workflows have already been presented for their use in palatal plates for newborns and infants. However, there is no evidence on the accuracy of CAD/CAM manufactured orthodontic appliances for this kind of application. This study evaluates trueness and precision provided by different CAM technologies and materials for these appliances. Samples of a standard palatal stimulation plate were manufactured using stereolithography (SLA), direct light processing (DLP) and subtractive manufacturing (SM). The effect of material (for SM) and layer thickness (for DLP) were also investigated. Specimens were digitized with a laboratory scanner (D2000, 3Shape) and analyzed with a 3D inspection software (Geomagic Control X, 3D systems). For quantitative analysis, differences between 3D datasets were measured using root mean square (RMS) error values for trueness and precision. For qualitative analysis, color maps were generated to detect locations of deviations within each sample. SM showed higher trueness and precision than AM technologies. Reducing layer thickness in DLP did not significantly increase accuracy, but prolonged manufacturing time. All materials and technologies met the clinically acceptable range and are appropriate for their use. DLP with 100µm layer thickness showed the highest efficiency, obtaining high trueness and precision within the lowest manufacturing time.


: An employer's initial response to the new accounting rules for employer-sponsored retiree medical plans can irreversibly shape the retiree medical costs and liabilities that will emerge over the next several decades.


This paper presents a study and a comparison of the use of different information-theoretic measures for polygonal mesh simplification. Generalized measures from Information Theory such as Havrda–Charvat–Tsallis entropy and mutual information have been applied. These measures have been used in the error metric of a surfaces implification algorithm. We demonstrate that these measures are useful for simplifying three-dimensional polygonal meshes. We have also compared these metrics with the error metrics used in a geometry-based method and in an image-driven method. Quantitative results are presented in the comparison using the root-mean-square error (RMSE).


Random forest method is one of the most widely applied classification algorithms at present. From the actual big data scene and requirements, the application of random forest method in the big data environment to conduct in-depth study. Due to the big data needs to process a huge number of features at the same time, and the data pattern changes constantly over time, the accuracy of a random forest algorithm without self-renewal and adaptive algorithm will gradually reduce over time. Aiming at this problem, analysis on the characteristics of random forest method, presents how to realize the self-adaptation ability with random forest method in similar situations, and verified the feasibility of the new method of using the actual data, and analysis and discussion of how to further research and improve the random forest method in big data environment.


Operational sex ratio (OSR) theory predicts that sexual differences in potential reproductive rates (PRRs) create biases in the OSR and thus determine the relative strength of sexual selection (competition and choice) operating on each sex. Although this theory is well accepted, empirical studies that quantify it are still lacking. This paper presents such a study. I measured the natural OSR of Galilee St. Peter's fish (Sarotherodon galilaeus) in the field (Lake Kinneret) and examined the direction of mate choice in the laboratory. The OSR in Lake Kinneret was male biased. Both a male-biased sex ratio and higher male reproductive rates (twice as fast as females) contributed to the skew in the OSR, but the sexual differences in PRR were shown to be the main factor causing variation in the OSR. Females, the sex with the lower PRR, were more selective for mates. The faster male reproductive rate may explain why females are more selective for mates despite varying less in quality.


It may seem odd that someone from the most overpriced, wasteful and inequitable health care system in the industrialised world should pen a report on how to make the UK National Health Service (NHS) more cost-effective. Yet from the very deregulated nature of US markets have emerged useful lessons, as the leading buyers (that's American for 'commissioners') face up to all the ways that they did not save money during the 1980s when they thought they had. My aim is to employ familiarity with both systems in order to extract 'adaptable policy lessons' that could be used in the UK. While based on a good deal of experience in the NHS over the past eight years, this report attempts to provide new ideas and fresh perspectives in an informal manner designed to stimulate discussion of fundamental issues. Discussing fundamentals, however, raises a problem about language. I do not mean the problem of figuring out how one can not only put a boot in a trunk but a trunk in a boot. Rather, I mean the highly politicised language of British health policy and how much control seems to be exercised over what people say, think and even perceive. For example, soon after the landslide victory of the Labour party in 1997, a prominent figure in health policy corrected my talking about fundholding by instructing me that 'Fundholding no longer exists.' For a moment I thought, 'My, things really have changed rapidly since I was last here four months ago.' Then I realised that there were just as many fundholders as before and that they covered half the nation. My colleague was coaching me in political correctness, but what degree of denial or mental muzzling was built into the coaching? Experiences like this make me wonder if there is a Minister of Acceptable Language who issues such edicts, to which everyone seems eager to conform, even if they know the edict makes no sense. Such practices are dangerous, even crippling, because one can no longer talk or think about something, at least in official circles where critical thought might make a difference. Fortunately, I found in subsequent weeks quite a number of policy experts talking and thinking about the f- word without getting arrested for Unacceptable Language. But the word 'commissioning' in our title is another matter. I had originally proposed that this report be titled Effective Purchasing. But when next I returned in October 1997, I was told that 'Purchasing is out.' Indeed, everyone had fallen into line with the mythical Minister of Acceptable Language by dropping the p- word and replacing it with 'commissioning.' This replacement may do the NHS, the Labour Party, and the nation a disservice; for commissioning is a fudge word that obscures accountability, and lack of accountability is a serious problem in the NHS. If I buy and you sell, everyone knows who is doing what and who is accountable. 'Commissioning', however, raises real worries. When it was first coined after the NHS reforms, I believe by Ian Carruthers about 1991, commissioning meant the same as 'commissioning a building.' You think through what will work best, from the ground up, and then you find the right people and 'commission' them to do it. The term captured the essence of 'needs-based purchasing,' the challenge still with us today to think through what configurations of health services will best meet the needs of the people served. But by the mid 1990s, 'commissioning' had become fuzzy, as in the term 'GP commissioning'.2 This meant advising the purchaser, certainly a potentially instructive role, but a kind of non-accountable, vicarious form of purchasing. This is a far cry from Carruthers, as the Chief Executive of the Dorset Health Authority, acting as an enlightened commissioner of new service configurations, with the authority and funds to back up his decision. The current plans to form Primary Care Groups and have them 'commission' services to one degree or another, in one relation or another to their health authority, invites problems of who will be responsible to whom and for what? The answer will vary greatly, and the fogginess of 'commissioning' will obscure what needs to be clarified. Beware. We are talking about spending more than £45 billion of the people's hard-earned money annually.


Introduction. Staphylococcus aureus is a major opportunistic pathogen especially in nosocomial settings. An increasing proportion of strains has intrinsic resistance to methicillin (MRSA) and recent reports documented the emergence of MRSA also in the community.The aim of this study was to evaluate methicillin-resistance in Liguria. Methods. 767 isolates of Staphylococcus spp have been collected from 10 laboratories, including 508 S. aureus: 292 (57.5%) hospital-acquired, 188 (37%) community-acquired, and 28 (5.5%) from healthcare settings; 259 coagulase- negative staphylococci (CNS): (193 (74.5%) hospital-acquired, 56 (21.6%) community-acquired, and 10 (3.9%) healthcare settings. Susceptibility tests were carried out by the disk diffusion method (CLSI, 2006) using cefoxitin (CFX) (Oxoid, Milan). MRSA has been also evaluated by PBP2' latex agglutination test (Oxoid, Milan) on 52 randomly selected S. aureus. Results. The data obtained indicated an incidence of MRSA in nosocomial settings up to 45.2%, while among the community-acquired isolates the percentage was 6.4%. With respect to CNS the figures were 61,8% and 10,6% for the nosocomial-and community-acquired organisms respectively. A 99% agreement between data of the coordinating centre and the various laboratories was found. Methicillin-resistance was confirmed in 52 S. aureus by PBP2' latex agglutination test. Conclusions. Present findings indicate that MRSA in community in the Ligurian area exists and this phenomenon requires future surveillance.


Pain is both the commonest and one of the most enigmatic symptoms in medicine. Its subjective nature renders management difficult and its conceptualization is complex. Reaction to pain cannot be easily generalized; group differences are postulated, based on sex, age, culture, psychiatric diagnosis and personality variables. Early developmental aspects of pain and discussed in animal studies and case reports but little systematic data exist. Experimental findings show the influence on pain response of cognitive and emotional factors. Clinically, the variables determining perception, reporting and reaction to pain are numerous and harder to study scientifically. Acute and chronic pain should be distinguished: the latter is more complicated, leading of ten to diagnostic problems and management stalemates. Discovering the relationship of pain to emotional phenomena, as cause or effect, is difficult, though essential to effective treatment. Various frames of reference apply: e.g., individual medical, familial, and "workmen's compensation" models. Reaction by family, lawyer, or work commission involves potential secondary gain and may reinforce or discourage pathological responses by the patient. The potential of pain for symbolic meaning and its acceptance as a "legitimate" medical symptom renders it ideal for both expression and masquerading of intrapsychic and interpersonal conflicts involving anger, punishment, control and dependency. Teaching about pain and its significance is best done in clinical settings such as obstetrical units and multidisciplinary pain clinics. Videotaped modular presentations with discussion provide a satisfactory though less desirable alternative.


The corporate decisions in the field of packaging aim to find and determine the optimal packaging functions and expenses at the same time. One-way packaging is also used in the practice, but returnable packaging is more common in the outbound flow of the automotive engine manufacturer companies. In addition, it can happen that packaging devices originally designed for one way are used multiple times, because the technical condition of the packaging ensures the repeated usage and the other way around. Transport distance is an important aspect while choosing the right packaging system, but according to our investigation the ratio between the purchasing cost of a new device and the cost of backwards transportation should also influence this decision. Therefore, the scope of this paper is to give a model of the cost structure of returnable industrial packaging operating in a closed loop system. The total cost will be especially determined by the return ratio, cost of return transport and planned number of uses.


Young Native American women from the Mackinaw Mission write to Mary Lyon and Zilpah Grant at the Ipswich Female Seminary. The 1829 letters reflect the progressive education offered to the students as well as the pressures they were under to forsake their language and culture and embrace evangelical Protestant Christianity


This thesis presents a visualized framework, called Visual Time, for representing and reasoning about incomplete and uncertain temporal information. It is both expressive and versatile, allowing logical conjunctions and disjunctions of both absolute and relative temporal relations, such as "Before", "Meets", "Overlaps", "Starts", "During", and "Finishes", etc. In terms of a visualized framework, Visual Time provides a user-friendly environment for describing scenarios with rich temporal structure in natural language, which can be formatted as structured temporal phrases and modelled in terms of Time Relationship Diagrams (TRD). A TRD can be automatically and visually transformed into a corresponding Time Graph, supported by automatic consistency checker that derives a verdict to confirm if a given scenario is temporally consistent or inconsistent. The thesis provides the following contributions:

1. Extended graphical representation for uncertain and incomplete temporal knowledge: An extended graphical representation for uncertain and incomplete temporal knowledge based on [KM1992] is proposed, supporting both logical connectives '∧' and '∨'. In Chapter 3, it is shown all the other logical connectives can be derively defined.

2. Time relation diagram (TRD): A time relation diagram (TRD) is designed for representing temporal relations between time elements which could be both point and interval. Each time element is denoted as a box consisting of three components: Name, Duration and Property. Temporal relations are denoted in terms of directed arcs. TRD allows expressions of both absolute and relative temporal relations, supporting both logical conjunctions and disjunctions.

3. A semi-automatic temporal information extractor: SUTime is a very useful tool for extracting verbs and temporal information [CM2012]. However, the extracted verbs and temporal information may play different roles when modelled by TRD. For example, in "He starts to start the car", "start" is an event while "starts" means the action "start" happens. An improved algorithm called Temporal Extractor algorithm (TE) is introduced in Section 4.2. Based on Stanford SUTime, TE can semi-automatically extract time elements and temporal relations from any arbitrary text to create a TRD.

4. Four algorithms: The first algorithm, Temporal Relation Algorithm (TRM), is designed to extract temporal relations from TRD. The second algorithm, Meets Table Algorithm (MTM) is introduced to convert all the extracted temporal relations into a Meets table. The third algorithm, Time Graph Algorithm (TGM) is described to draw the corresponding time graph of a given TRD. The fourth algorithm, Consistency Checking Algorithm (CCM), is designed to check the consistency of TRD. If the TRD is inconsistent, an audio verdict will alert and the corresponding time element(s) and natural texts will be marked in red colour.


This research is aimed at advancing machine design through specifying and implementing
(in "proof of concept" form) a set of tools which graphically model modular machines.
The tools allow mechanical building elements (or machine modules) to be selected and
configured together in a highly flexible manner so that operation of the chosen configuration
can be simulated and performance properties evaluated. Implementation of the tools
has involved an extension in capability of a proprietary robot simulation system. This research has resulted in a general approach to graphically modelling manufacturing machines
built from modular elements.
A focus of study has been on a decomposition of machine functionality leading to the establishment
of a library of modular machine primitives. This provides a useful source of
commonly required machine building elements for use by machine designers. Study has
also focussed on the generation of machine configuration tools which facilitate the construction
of a simulation model and ultimately the physical machine itself. Simulation aspects
of machine control are also considered which depict methods of manipulating a
machine model in the simulation phase. In addition methods of achieving machine programming
have been considered which specify the machine and its operational tasks.
Means of adopting common information data structures are also considered which can facilitate
interfacing with other systems, including the physical machine system constructed
as an issue of the simulation phase. Each of these study areas is addressed in its own context,
but collectively they provide a means of creating a complete modular machine design
environment which can provide significant assistance to machine designers.
Part of the methodology employed in the study is based on the use of the discrete event
simulation technique. To easily and effectively describe a modular machine and its activity
in a simulation model, a hierarchical ring and tree data structure has been designed and
implemented. The modularity and reconfigurability are accommodated by the data structure,
and homogeneous transformations are adopted to determine the spatial location and
orientation of each of the machine elements.
A three-level machine task programming approach is used to describe the machine's activities.
A common data format method is used to interface the machine design environment
with the physical machine and other building blocks of manufacturing systems (such as
CAD systems) where systems integration approaches can lead to enhanced product realisation.
The study concludes that a modular machine design environment can be created by employing
the graphical simulation approach together with a set of comprehensive configuration.
tools. A generic framework has been derived which outlines the way in which
machine design environments can be constructed and suggestions are made as to how the
proof of concept design environment implemented in this study can be advanced.


Abstract Since the term structure of interest rates embodies information about future economic activity, we extract relative Nelson-Siegel (1987) factors from cross-country yield curve differences to proxy expected movements in future exchange rate fundamentals. Using monthly data for the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, and the United States, we show that the yield curve factors predict exchange rate movements and explain excess currency returns one month to two years ahead. Our results provide support for the asset pricing formulation of exchange rate determination and offer an intuitive explanation to the uncovered interest parity puzzle by relating currency risk premiums to inflation and business cycle risks.


Thermal effects have been studied in the course of sorption-desorption of hydrogen isotopes by a finely powdered palladium deuteride using a differential scanning calorimeter DSC-111 SETARAM. During α-β transition an excess heat release is observed in palladium deuteride of about one watt per gram of deuteride. In similar experiments with palladium hydride no anomalous effects have been observed. On the basis of earlier computer modelling, relevant publications and our experimental results, the excess heat release during deuterium sorption-desorption by palladium deuteride is attributed to the fusion reactions of deuterium atoms yielding helium.