"The marsh represents a rare natural environment of its kind for a number of reasons. First, the marshes were the cradle of the Sumerian civilization and an environment that embraces a unique biodiversity. Its geography and vast area, which is equivalent to the size of a country like Lebanon, made it a resting place and provided food and reproduction for migratory birds. It is worthy of being included in the World Heritage List as one of the treasures of the world that must be preserved, but unfortunately, the Iraqi marshes have not been subjected throughout history to extensive and systematic drying operations, which reached 95% of their total area, as they were exposed to during the era of the previous dictatorial regime in the nineties of last century, which led to the emergence of a number of environmental problems that collectively led to the disruption of natural ecological balance through the loss of the ability to achieve the environmental balance and causing biological diversity damage . This is as a result of the lack of incoming water resources and the high percentage of salinity and pollution, which caused the death of huge numbers of wildlife and aquatic life, as well as the extinction of large numbers of them, causing a mass migration of the population of those areas to other areas that provide them with a minimum standard of decent living after they lost their main sources of livelihood represented by fishing and raising animals. The paper aims to present a study on the impact of the widespread and systematic drying stages that began after the Iran-Iraq war in the eighties of last century and culminated in the nineties, bringing the percentage of the remaining water from the marshes to 5% in 2002, and the extent of its impact on the destruction of the environment and biodiversity, which includes humans and animals, as well as migratory birds from Siberia to the Indian subcontinent, which lost their habitats and places for laying eggs and breeding. It will also present a number of solutions that will help reduce the environmental degradation that the marshes have been exposed to."


Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease that involves the arterial wall and is characterised by the progressive accumulation of lipids in the vessel wall. The first step is the internalisation of lipids (LDL) in the intima with endothelial activation which enhances the permeability of the endothelial layer and the expression of cytokines/chemokines and adhesion molecules. These events increase LDL particles accumulation in the extracellular matrix where they aggregate/fuse, are retained by proteoglycans and become targets for oxidative and enzymatic modifications. In turn, retained pro-atherogenic LDLs enhance selective leukocyte recruitment and attachment to the endothelial layer inducing their transmigration across the endothelium into the intima. While smooth muscle cell numbers decline with the severity of plaque progression, monocytes differentiate into macrophages, a process associated with the upregulation of pattern recognition receptors including scavenger receptors and Toll-like receptors leading to foam cell formation. Foam


The idea of repeating musical themes in various configurations is a technique practiced since ancient times and is still valid today. Recognizing the ways of the motivic transformation and identifying the type of intervention on a work (paraphrasing, or quotation) reveals not only the composition process of the author but also makes possible the aesthetic description of the musical content. The learning objectives (like many disciplines) have undergone changes in the digital context of the pandemic year, so the main goal in the elaboration of specialized courses is maintaining students' interest in music and especially encouraging their analytical introspection of scores and musical auditions.


One embodiment of the invention relates to a tar or impurity removal apparatus for reproducing poisoning or the activity decreases to a plasma in the process of reforming catalyst and reforming the tar removal or impurities. Removing tar or impurities according to an embodiment of the present invention apparatus, to the gasification and melting the waste is connected to the gasifier, the gasifier for converting a first synthesis gas first communication path to advance the primary synthesis gas, the first is branched from the selector valve, the selector valve provided in the connecting passage on the first connecting the second passageway to the third connecting passage being selectively connected to the passage, the second passageway and the second passageway a first reforming catalyst and the second reforming catalyst, wherein the first modified time function catalyst is the catalyst, wherein the second reforming catalyst to reproduce the second reforming catalyst (108) installed respectively converting the first syngas to a secondary synthesis gas when work first plasma reactor in which the installation, and the second reforming catalyst is a catalyst, and a second plasma reactor being installed in the first reforming catalyst to reproduce the first reforming catalyst . Catalyst, the plasma reactor, reforming catalysts, synthesis gas, and the selector valve, reproduction, poisoning


Introduction Discussion continues on nuclear risks, especially at present on the alleged link between paternal doses and subsequent cancer in their children. Various legal cases remain under consideration and it is worthwhile reporting another that reached the stage of a High Court hearing, particularly since the case concerned present and future risk to health rather than causation of an established case of cancer or injury.


The use of antibiotics has unleashed high bacterial resistance. This outcome triggered the urgent need for effective new antibacterial agents to treat infectious diseases. A promising source for the production of antibiotics and several other bioactive substances are endophytic fungi. These microorganisms inhabit in and bring benefits to living plant tissues. Thus, the aim of this paper was to know the endophytic fungi associated with Oryctanthus alveolatus (mistletoe) and assess their potential to inhibit pathogenic bacteria. A total of 86 endophytic fungi were isolated from the stems and leaves of O. alveolatus. Of these fungi, 29 were selected for the assessment of antimicrobial activity. The antimicrobial activity of the obtained extracts was evaluated using the agar diffusion method towards two Gram-positive pathogenic bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis) and two Gram-negative bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli). The extracts were tested at concentrations of 200, 500, 700, 800, 900 and 1000 µg.mL-1. The antimicrobial test showed that two (COA 009 and 014) of the 29 extracts inhibited bacterial growth of at least one of the strains each, from both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The extracts with the inhibitory activity were derived from the fungi Curvularia sp. (COA 009) and Diaporthe sp. (COA 014).

 Key words: Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, microorganisms, Loranthaceae.


1. The electrical and mechanical responses of the anterior byssal retractor muscle (ABRM) of Mytilus edulis to acetylcholine (ACh), high [K]O or the removal of external Ca were examined under a variety of conditions. 2. ACh (10(‐6)‐‐10(‐3)M) produced contracture tensions larger than those produced by high [K]O (30‐300 mM) for a given amount of depolarization. In Ca‐free solution, the rate of decline of ACh‐contractures was much smaller than that of K contractures, though both ACh‐ and K‐contractures eventually disappeared. 3. 5‐HT (10(‐4)M) of procaine (1 mM) markedly reduced the height of ACh‐contractures, but had little or no effect on K‐contractures. The height of K contractures was markedly decreased by Mn ions (20 mM) or low pH (4‐5), while ACh‐contractures remained unaffected. 4. Partial replacement of [Na]o by choline (30‐100 mM) reduced both ACh‐induced depolarization and contracture tension, whereas K‐contractures remained unchanged even after total replacement of [Na]o by choline. 5. ACh could produce little or no tension when applied during the relaxation phase of K‐contractures, while high [K]o produced the maximal contracture tension when applied during the relaxation phase of ACh‐contractures. 6. Following the removal of external Ca from solutions containing less than 10 mM‐Mg, the ABRM showed a marked tension development associated with repetitive electrical activity superimposed on a gradual decline of membrane potential. 7. These results suggest that ACh‐contractures are mainly due to the release of intracellularly stored Ca, while K‐contractures are mainly associated with the inward movement of external Ca.


The modified Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) equation was formulated for a system of flat dissimilar double-layers by considering the excluded volume effect. Limiting solutions of the modified PB equation derived for an isolated plate, and for two-plate system at large and small separations and arbitrary electrolyte composition were discussed. Results obtained for the parallel-plate geometry were generalized to regularly shaped bodies (either convex or concave around their contact point) bearing thin double-layers by applying the surface integration procedure analogous to the Derjaguin summation method. The excluded volume effect proved to be important for the dimensionless parameter β larger than 10−2 leading to a considerable increase of the potential difference across double-layers and to a slight increase of the interaction force between bodies at large separations. At small separations, however, the force remains finite due to the excluded volume effect (in the constant charge model) in contrast to previous results predicting that the force should tend to infinity in this limit. It was also predicted that the presence of trace amount of polyvalente ions (e.g., Al3+ ion) decreased considerably the force between bodies immersed in a 1–1 electrolyte.


Among the scale-resolving approaches, hybrid RANS-LES methods present the most competitive balance between accuracy and computational cost. In particular, in those applications where complex turbulent flows at high Reynolds number are involved. One of the most popular, actively evolving and comprehensively studied is the non-zonal DES approaches' family. Their current development is aimed at solving the so-called "grey area" problem which is mostly the delay of RANS-to-LES transition to the mesh-resolved turbulence in the shear layers. To treat it, some modifications of the DES approach are recently proposed. They consist in the use of either a special subgrid scale (∆̃ω, ∆SLA) [1, 2] adapted to the shear layers, or more advanced alternative (not Smagorinsky) LES models [1] (σ or WALE models), or their joint usage. We present a new approach which is based on the so-called least mean square subgrid length scale, ∆lsq [3], with optional usage of the novel LES subgrid model (named S3QR) presented in [4]. The ∆lsq formulation appear to be simpler in implementation and less empirical in comparison with the ∆̃ω and ∆SLA ones especially applied to arbitrary unstructured meshes. Evaluation of the new DES modification is done using the three well-known computational cases with reliable reference data: turbulent flows in the channel with a sudden expansion with ratios 5/4 and 2; immersed subsonic round turbulent jet. Two unstructured control volume codes are considered: NOISEtte and OpenFOAM. The analysis based on comparison with reference data and the results obtained using another approaches (proposed in [1, 2]) includes both near field flow characteristics and far field noise (for the jet case).


Hospital infection has been a major problem for the patients admitted to the Hospital for the treatment of their own disease, because, most etiologic organisms of the Hospital infection are antiboitics-resistant strains and, the patient's resistance to the superimposed organisms is generally in a diminished state. The result is prolonged hospitalization. And especially, the patients admitted to the intensive care room, the superimposed infection will case lethal effect because of their own host factors. The following results were obtained. 1) The bacterial culture of the nasal cavity was obtained from 163 patients in 1.C.U. of Hanyang University Hospital, from March to June 1978. In the nasal cavity, the pathogenic bacteria were cultivated in 73 patients (44.8%). The infection was detected in the nasal cavity about 87.7% during the first three days of their hospitalization. 2) The main causative organism was Staphylococcus aureus and was isolated from 64.3% of the patients who had acquired Hospital infection after admission. Pseudomonas and Proteus were the next in the order of frequency. 3) The antimicrobial sensitivity was studied with various antibiotics such as Penicillin-G. Ampicillin, Linconcin, Chloramphenicol, Geopen, Cloxacillin, and Colistin. The Staphylococcus was sensitive to the Geopen, Cloxacillin, Cephoran, Minocin, Pseudomonas to Geopen. Panimycin, Gentamycin and Proteus to Chloramphenicol, Streptomycin, Gentamycin, Cephoran. 4) During the same study period, the nasal carrier rate of the pathogenic organism among 28 medical persons and medical service men who worked in the I.C.U. of Hanyang University Hospital was studied. Twenty five percent was found with Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumonia and the result of the sensitive test was the as the patients reports. 5) For the detection of the 1.C.U's environmental factor, ten blood agar plates were exposed to the air; the five plates for 30 min. and others for 45 min. The mean colony counts of the air-born bacterial culture was average under five.


The longitudinal oscillations of electron bundles in a moving space have been studied previously. The plasma waves behave as stuble compression waves. It is shown that there exists, at least in small bundles, transverse vibrations and that these vibrations are in general unstable. (J.S.R.) An experiment is described in which thermal electrons, t/sub e/ K 400 deg K, become polarized in detectable numbers by undergoing exchange collisions with oriented sodium atoms during which tbe atom orientation is transferred to the electrons. The collisions establish interrelated equilibrium values for tbe atom and electron polarizations which depend upon the balance between the polarizing agency acting upon the atoms (optical pumping) and the disorienting relaxation effects acting both on atoms and electrons. When now the electrons are furthermore artificially disoriented by gyromagnetic spin resonance, an additional reduction of the atom polarization ensues which is detected by an optical monitoring technique, thereby allowing a determination of the free-electron spin g factor, gi. Since it was experimentally convenient, at this stuge only the ratio g/sub j/(Na)/g/sub s/ = 1.000026 plus or minus 0.00003 was determined, showing no significant difference between g/sub s/ and g/sub j/ (Na), the g factor of the /sup 2/S,/sub 1/2/ sodiummore » ground state. From the experimental strength and width of the electron disorientation signal a lower limit was obtained for the sodium exchange cross section with thermal electrons: Q > 2.3 x 10/sup -14/ cm/sup 2/. This may be compared with a theoretical exchange cross section, Q = 2.3 x 10/sup -14/ cm/ sup 2/, which is derived under the assumption that the 3s/sup 2/ S/sub o/ state of the Na-- ion has essentially zero binding energy, thereby causing strong singlet scattering while the triplet scattering is negligible in comparison. Spin-orbit coupling during collisions of the electrons with the atoms of the inert argon buffer employed to slow down wall diffusion is discussed as the chief cause for the shortness of the observed freeelectron spin relaxation time, T/sub e/ ~ 6 x 10/sup -5/ sec. (auth)« less


Objective:To explore the alteration of serum leptin concentration in elderly patients congestive heart failure(CHF)and the relationship between the serum concentration of leptin and insulin.Methods:Radioimmunoassay was used to examine the serum leptin concentration in 50 elderly CHF patients and in 19 healthy elderly person as a control group.Results:The leptin concentrations of serum(10.56±4.03/4.65±3.01, P0.05 )and insulin(19 07±5.18 / 11 72±4 66, P 0 01)in elderly CHF group were significantly higher than those in the control group.There was significant difference among the serum leptin concentration in different heart function groups.The higher the heart function rank,the higher the serum leptin concentration.III / II(9.82±4 71 / 6.57±3.51, P 0 05),IV / III(12 98±4 04 / 9 82±4 71, P 0 05),There was a positive correlation between the serum leptin concentration and insulin the CHF group( r =0 603, P 0 01).The concentration of leptin was also positive correlate with body mass index waist to hip ratio,and fat percentage( r =0 699, r =0 537, r =0 651,均 P 0.01).Conclusion:There is elevation of serum leptin concentration in elderly CHF patient,which might due to the hyperinsulinemia in elderly CHF.


We make the electronic structure calculations of Ta2NiSe5 known as a candidate for excitonic insulators where the semiconducting or semi-metallic ground state becomes unstable against the coherent formation of excitons. We use the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) in the density functional theory, where the Hubbard-type repulsive interaction U is taken into account (GGA+U). We find that the material has a very simple quasi-one-dimensional (1D) electronic structure which relates to the formation of excitons. From the calculated partial density of states, band dispersion and spatial distribution of charge densities, we find in the first approximation that the conduction band is configured by the Ta 1D chain and the valence band is configured by the Ni-Se 1D chain.


We have observed that the normal to the polarisation plane of a whistler precesses around the geomagnetic field. Magnetic field observations by the Freja spacecraft have been used. These results were made possible by the use of an analysis which estimates the instantaneous polarisation properties of waves. During one event, the instantaneous normal of the polarisation plane precesses around the direction antiparallel to the geomagnetic field with an average deviation of 6°. In total, the normal precesses four times around this direction as the whistler frequency decreases from 2 to 0.4 kHz in about 0.2 s. Available theoretical understanding can not unambiguously explain the precession. We show that the precession of whistler wave vectors can be observed, and suggest to use this new observable parameter to put new constraints on the theories of whistler propagation.


This article focuses on the analysis of the application of intelligent decision support system in the visualization system of intelligent building digital marketing 4.0. First of all, starting from the Internet, propose the discussion background of the subject of this article. Next, it describes the development status and development trend of smart building and digital marketing 4.0 visual system based on the background of aging and intelligence. Finally, the article uses the real estate-related graphics, images, and attribute data collected by the system and uses virtual reality modelling technology to program to realize the Smart Building Digital Marketing 4.0 visualization system based on Arc objects. The technical methods for rapid modelling of the area where the real estate is sold are studied, and the indoor and outdoor virtual simulation environment of the real estate is established. Using geographic information system tools to realize the space management and simple query analysis of the virtual simulation environment.


Introduction : Nosocomial infection (NI) is defined as an infection developing in hospitalized patients, neither present nor in incubation at the time of their admission. It is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. NI is among the most difficult problems confronting clinicians who deal with severally ill patients. By prolonging the hospital stay of patients, NI adds significantly to the economic burden. The incidence of NI is estimated at 510% in tertiary care hospitals reaching upto 28% in ICU.


Wind is an important component that is beneficial to human life. For example, wind direction affects the landing and takeoff of an aircraft, wind helps fishermen for steering the boat while looking for fish. Wind can also be used as an alternative energy source that is environmentally friendly. Because of the importance of wind components, a device that can measure the wind parameters in a certain place is needed. Therefore, this study tries to create a cheap wind direction sensor which can be utilized by many people. In previous studies, reed switches, rotary encoders, and potentiometers have been used to create wind direction sensors. But this wind direction sensor has several weaknesses such as, it is not accurate, it has expensive production costs, and it has some friction that will strive against the movement of the wind, so it takes a minimum wind speed value for the wind direction measuring instrument to work. From these weaknesses, this study attempts to create wind direction sensors using other method namely light intensity method. This method used only a small LED light source with a Photodiode sensor, and a rotary disk. Test results indicated that this wind direction sensor had a mean of measurement error of 0.62% and the production cost of this wind direction sensor was only 50.300 rupiah or only about 3.5 US Dollar. From the value it can be concluded that the wind direction sensor made in this study was very well used to measure wind direction that occurred in a certain place and it could be produced with very cheap cost.


On May 18–19 2007, the second Annual Chapel Hill Drug Conference was held in North Carolina, USA and focused on bringing individualized therapy into clinical practice. Approximately 100 researchers, clinicians and policy makers convened to discuss the conference's theme: 'One of a kind: the search for individualized therapy'. The presentations did not focus on disseminating results of pharmacogenomic discovery studies, but instead this was a forum to discuss strategies for bringing individualized therapy from the bedside to routine clinical practice. This is a critical leap for the field, and one that is often underappreciated. Given the lack of numerous previous examples to use as a model, open discussion among stakeholders is imperative in order to realize the potential of individualized therapy to advance patient care.


The significance of upgrading current certification service for customer center manager and counsellor in Korea Call Center Information Research Center-affiliated Call Center College is dramatically increasing due to steady applicants for the last few years, while there is a need to expand the numbers of applicants with a new channel. This paper has suggested the directions for developing IBT system to hold a dominant position in the certification business industry. Providing IBT channel, mainly base upon internet and utilizing various IT infra for the PCCM (Preliminary Customer Center Manager)/CCCM (Certified Customer Center Manager), will increase the convenience of taking qualification exams for customer center managers and improve competitiveness in qualification certification business industry. Specifically, this study reviews overview of industry trends of domestic and overseas, success cases of test services, service model and methods of on-line test, and short and long term analysis of the domestic and overseas markets.


Fritillaria pallidiflora is an endangered officinal herb distributed in the Tianshan Mountains of northwestern China. We examined its phylogeography to study evolutionary processes and suggest implications for conservation. Six haplotypes were detected based on three chloroplast non-coding spacers (psbA-trnH, rps16, and trnS-trnG); genetic variation mainly occurred among populations and SAMOVA groups. This species is distributed in different deep valleys, and we speculate that these fragmented habitats cause gene flow barriers among populations and groups. We also speculate that during glacial periods, extremely low temperatures and aridity caused additional range shrinkage and fragmentation, factors consequently resulting in significant intraspecific differentiation in allopatric regions. For setting a conservation management plan, we identified the Lucaogou region as the most important area, and we designated two ESUs for separate management.


Airport stormwater management has been an issue of national and international concern for several years with considerable focus directed to the impact of de-ic…


Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust, Herts, *Frimley Park Hospital, Camberley, Surrey, † University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Department of Urology, Clinical Sciences Unit, Leicester General Hospital, †† Renal and Urology Services, Haemodialysis Unit, Leicester General Hospital, Leicester, ‡ Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital, Basingstoke, § University College London, Division of Surgery and Interventional Science, London, and ¶ University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, Bristol, UK


The invention discloses a system and method for pushing a smart television voice to a mobile terminal. A smart television comprises a television chip and a sending module. The television chip is used for converting an analog audio signal into a digital audio signal which can be transmitted through a network. Network connection is established between the sending module and a receiving module. The sending module transmits the digital audio signal of the television chip to the receiving module of the mobile terminal through the network. A playing module is used for converting the digital audio signal into an audio signal and playing the audio signal. Therefore, the smart television voice can be pushed to the mobile terminal to be played. The system can be obtained and the method can be implemented without additionally purchasing equipment, the smart television can be without the function of audio output, it is only required that the sending module of the smart television transmits digital audio data to the receiving module through the network, and the mobile terminal can play the audio signal.


Embodiment of the present invention discloses a method for obtaining permission Root, comprising: a user terminal to function as SU opening local process, started JNI module in said local process; the terminal through the JNI module in the local process set the user ID to the user ID SU, SU acquiring the operating authority of the user, the security clearance of the system and environment variables; the process by the terminal JNI promoter module, the sub-process to the SU user operating authority Jar package loading; the terminal starts a service process resident in the Jar package acquired by the Root permission resident service process. Embodiments of the present invention also discloses a device for obtaining permission Root. According to the present invention, particularly Root privileges acquired reduce resource consumption, improve the success rate of obtaining permission Root, high applicability, enhanced user experience acquired advantages Root permission.


The utility model aims at providing a rapping-free circular wet-type electrostatic precipitator which realizes that vibration free is feasible, no dirt retention exists on the polar lines, flue gas at an air inlet and spraying liquid in spraying equipment are reasonably intersected by rotational flow so as to fully remove fine particles and sulfur and niter in the flue gas without influencing flue gas communication and achieve good dust removing effect. In order to achieve the effects, the rapping-free circular wet-type electrostatic precipitator comprises a circular reaction barrel; the inner side wall of the reaction barrel is a polar plate; a unit frame is fixed at the top of the reaction barrel, and provided with the polar lines; at least one air inlet is arranged on the side wall of the bottom of the reaction barrel; an air outlet is arranged at the top of the reaction barrel; the reaction barrel is also internally provided with a fixed spraying pipe parallel to the polar lines; spraying heads are uniformly and longitudinally arranged on the spraying pipe; and the spraying heads face to the direction of the polar plate, and an included angle is formed between the spraying direction and the polar plate. As the technical scheme is adopted, the spraying pipe sprays the polar plate, and a water film is directly generated on the polar plate by spraying, while is generated under the polar plate, so that the effect of rapping-free dust removing is achieved.


The present study has explored the relation between teaching aptitude and teaching competency of B.Ed. pupil teachers . A representative sample of 600 (300 male and 300 female) teachers from urban and rural B.Ed. colleges of three districts in Haryana was randomly selected. Teaching Aptitude Scale (2002) By L.C. Singh And Dahiya and Teaching competency Scale (2011) By B.K.Passi And M.S.Lalitha were used to collect the data. The study revealed that significant difference was found between teaching aptitude and teaching competency of rural male B. Ed. Pupil teachers. Similar results were found out for rural female B.Ed. pupil teachers. However results were reversed for urban male and female B.Ed. pupil teachers for the same comparison of teaching aptitude and teaching competency.


The traditional propeller agitators and gate agitators are used for stirring high viscosity materials.However,those agitators have many disadvantages,such as small scope,many dead angles and climbing by the pole automatically.Giving these disadvantages,a new screw agitator has been put forward.The structure design and helix theory equation of this new agitator was employed.3D model of the agitator are set up though the application of Solidworks.Meanwhile,the flow field analysis and numerical simulation are also presented.It is shown this type of agitator can stir the materials in a greater scope.At the same time,it can overcome the shortcoming of materials automatic climbing.It provides structure design for multifunctional food blenders.


The vertical target dispersion of gun is one of the key parameters for gun weapon,which reflecting the firing precision of gun.The measurement methods include the wood plate target,the acoustics target,the photoelectrical target and the photograph.For the wood plate target,a vertical target stands at the muzzle ahead in a distance.When firing,the projectile passes through the vertical target,the coordinates of projectile holes are measured by ruler,and the dispersion is calculated.For the acoustics target and photoelectrical target,the acoustics sensors or CCD sensors are arranged at muzzle ahead in a distance.When firing,the information of the projectiles passing through the target is acquired by the sensors,and the projectile coordinates are given by a computer automatically.The method of the wood plate target is simple and direct,but the measurement error is big.The methods of the acoustics target and the photoelectrical target possess high automatization,but the reliability needs perfecting.At present,the photograph method is a more practical method for measuring vertical target dispersion of gun.The method of photoelectrical target is a progress direction.


Mice deficient for complement factors C3, C4, or C5 are resistant to experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis (EAMG). Acetylcholine receptor (AChR) immune lymph node cells (LNC) of C3 deficient mice produce less interleukin 6 (IL‐6), and EAMG‐resistant IL‐6 deficient mice have less serum C3. Increased serum C1q‐circulating immune complex (CIC) levels correlated with EAMG disease severity in RIIIS/J mice. The CIC promotes EAMG severity by stimulating the production of LNC IL‐6, serum C1q, and C3 via FCγR interaction. Therefore, EAMG/MG could be treated by blocking the activation of classical complement pathway (CCP) and/or IL‐6. Anti‐C1q antibody administration before and following AChR immunization suppressed EAMG by reducing LNC IL‐6 production and neuromuscular junction deposits of IgG, C3, and C5b‐C9 complexes. Treatment with low dose (10 μg) of anti‐C1q antibody twice a week for 4 weeks in mice with ongoing clinical EAMG reduced the clinical severity of disease and LNC IL‐6 production. Therefore, inhibitors of CCP factors C1q, C2, or C4 could treat MG and would preserve the alternate complement pathway activation. Our goal is to tailor MG therapy using anti‐C2/C4 reagents in combination, with or without anti‐cytokine (e.g., anti‐IL‐6) reagents.


This paper presents a class of preconditioners for sparse systems arising from discretized partial differential equations (PDEs). In this class of preconditioners, we exploit the multilevel sequentially semiseparable (MSSS) structure of the system matrix. The off-diagonal blocks of MSSS matrices are of low-rank, which enables fast computations of linear complexity. In order to keep the low-rank property of the off-diagonal blocks, model reduction algorithm is necessary. We tested our preconditioners for 2D convection-diffusion equation, the computational results show the excellent performance of this approach.


Background: Due to various psychological and psychosocial factors, transgender (TG) individuals suffer from psychiatric disorders including substance use disorders (SUDs). Although factors influencing mental illness and stigma in TG persons have been identified, the literature is scarce regarding the factors influencing substance abuse among the TG population. The present review identifies the burden and risk factors for substance use among TG individuals in India. Methods: An electronic search of databases such as MEDLINE, ProQuest, and Google Scholar yielded 11 relevant Indian research articles. The factors moderating substance abuse among TG persons were reviewed. Results: Studies reveal that alcohol and tobacco use disorders are the most common SUDs among TG persons in India, apart from illicit drug use. Depressive symptoms, anxiety, unemployment, and discrimination in various spheres of life were associated with elevated substance use among TG individuals. Not being married, higher income, often out with family and friends, having more sexual partners, and interpersonal violence with partner predicted harmful and illicit patterns of substance use. Conclusion: Various demographics, sexual relationship characteristics, and psychosocial factors tend to influence substance abuse patterns. Future studies are needed to explore the influence of various physical, psychosexual, psychological, and psychosocial factors on the substance use patterns among TG persons in India.


This paper deals with the identification of discrete event manufacturing systems that are automated by a programmable logic controller (PLC). The behaviour of the closed loop system (PLC and Plant) is observed during its operation and is represented by a single long sequence of observed input/output signals vectors. The proposed method follows a black-box and passive identification approach; it allows building stepwise an interpreted Petri net (IPN) model. The identification method is composed of several polynomial time algorithms implemented in a software tool that generates and draws the IPN model.


Application scoring plays a critical role in determining the future quality of a lender's book. It is therefore important to monitor the performance of an application scorecard to ensure it performs as expected. Attention has so far been focused on application scorecard modeling and assembly techniques. An area that has received less consideration is application scorecard implementation. Performance measures on the accepted population appear to change in predictive power after the implementation of an application scorecard. This paper introduces and demonstrates a statistical measure to track the performance of the accepted population after the point of implementation on a comparable basis against the development window of the application scorecard.<br>


The incidence of Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in children and adults has increased worldwide over the past years in parallel with the incidence of obesity [1]. The incitement for the development of an increasing number of glucose-lowering agents is the expected revenue from the adult market; T2DM is prevalent among the adult population and is a life-long condition. On the other hand, the prevalence of T2DM is low in children. The European Paediatric Regulation [2] requires agreement on pediatric development via the so-called pediatric investigation plans (PIPs) before f iling the adult marketing authorization application, unless a waiver is granted. The Paediatric Committee (PDCO) judges the potential significant therapeutic benefit of the individual product in the pediatric population, and decides if a PIP or a waiver is required. In the case of T2DM, alternative treatments for children in Europe exist (lifestyle intervention, metformin and insulin), but are not deemed sufficient. In fact, the recent TODAY study showed that approximately 47% of children still have insufficient glucose control, despite treatment with lifestyle intervention and metformin [3]. Insulin, despite being an effective drug, has the disadvantage of causing weight gain in an already obese population, as well as being associated with a relatively high risk of hypoglycemia. Currently, diabetic complications can already be observed 3 years after diagnosis in children. Given the early onset of the disease in children, adequate control of blood-glucose levels are key to avoid (long-term) diabetic complications. Further treatment options are required to achieve this goal. So far, the EMA has agreed PIPs for 16 products for the treatment of T2DM (six GLP-1 analogues, five DPP4 inhibitors, three sodium glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors, one G-protein-coupled receptor-40 agonist and one dopamine agonist); of these, six are already authorized for adults in the EU. On average, a PIP will involve approximately 224 children who are between 10 and 18 years of age. Multiplying this by the 16 PIPs agreed so far, it sums up to almost 3600 pediatric T2DM patients required for the clinical trials agreed so far. Challenges with regards to recruitment of pediatric patients for these trials are expected for two reasons: T2DM is still a relatively rare condition in children, and more generally, inclusion of pediatric patients in clinical trials is unfortunately still a controversial issue [4]. In order to address the first point, one can ask if the PDCO could possibly perform comparative assessments between the different medicinal products within one condition and chose the most promising candidate. This would be especially interesting for products with the same mechanism of action. However, products in the same class are not usually developed at the same time and data available on the individual product are often limited at the time of PIP submission, which prevents this approach. Staggered pediatric developments among products of the same class could New medicines for Type 2 diabetes in adolescents: many products, few patients


THE CONCEPT OF GOOD MANUFACTURING PRACTICE (GMP) IN THE BEEF LUNG CHIPS PRODUCTION AT SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES (SME) "BU GANIK" (KLATEN, JAWA TENGAH) Beef lung chips is a snack produced from beef's lungs which was cooked by boiling, sliced into thin round with flavour and then fryed it with or without flour. Management evaluation process of beef lung chips had been done by checking every process, started from raw material, cooking process and packaging. The characteristics of Bu Ganik SME' beef lung chips' quality were analyzed of its (moisture content, ash content, protein content, FFA content, wholeness and yeast contamination) and making the concept of GMP. The processes of beef lung chips production at SME Bu Ganik were boiling, draining I, slicing, mixing the dough, frying, draining II and packaging. The characteristics of beef lung chips were moisture content of 0,65%, ash content of 2,074%, protein content of 16,22%, wholeness of 90,66%, FFA content of 1,20% and yeast contamination of 0,1x103 kol/g. The concept of GMP was needed to pursue the quality assurance and food safety of beef lung chips at SME Bu Ganik so that it could be accepted by the society and fullfil the requirement of SNI 01-4280-1996.


A theoretical investigation is reported into the effects of overlapping generations on the prediction of genetic gain from repeated within-population truncation selection for a quantitative trait. The gain resulting from the selection process produces genetic differences between the groups of breeding animals of different ages, and between the means of their progeny. These differences are not allowed for in the usual prediction formula. The correct allowances to make for the genetic effects of maternal age are derived for a simple situation. The implications of these allowances on the overall rate of genetic progress, and on the optimum age structure for maximum progress, are shown in a model pig breeding programme. The normal prediction formula underestimates the genetic gain which can be achieved if females are kept for five litters by 10 to 12%, and overestimates the disadvantages of keeping females for more than one or two litters.


In 2007, Radiohead released a downloadable album, In Rainbows, allowing consumers to pay what they thought the album was worth. The band responded to a moment of change in the music industry. Since then, other bands, like Nine Inch Nails and Coldplay, have made similar moves. Radiohead's capability to release an album and let the fans decide its worth relied on the image they built, which foregrounded their commodification. The historic move redefined the boundaries between art and commodity, a well know tension in popular music studies. The thesis focuses on popular music as communication in the changing industry. Using Radiohead's album as a case study, it looks at the changing boundaries in the tension between art and commodity. The thesis examines Radiohead's performance, its mediation by the press, and what the album's distribution method meant to the fans. INDEX WORDS: Radiohead, Popular music studies, Commodification, Art and commerce, Music press, Music fandom


Existing quantitative syntheses on how biodiversity responds to anthropogenic habitat change appear to sometimes mix different biodiversity metrics in drawing inferences. This "mixing metrics" practice, if prevalent, would considerably bias our understanding of biodiversity responses and render uninterpretable conclusions. However, the prevalence of this practice remains unknown, and the bias it potentially renders has not been empirically assessed. We fill this gap by conducting a systematic literature assessment of existing syntheses on biodiversity responses to habitat change, along with an analysis of a global database specifically on forest restoration. We found that the "mixing metrics" practice was used in almost a quarter of existing syntheses across a wide range of ecosystem and habitat change types. This practice predictably altered the quantitative, and frequently even the qualitative, inferences on biodiversity responses to forest restoration, in ways contingent on the composition of metrics mixed. We call on future syntheses to be cognizant of the difference in metric meaning and behaviors, and to avoid mixing different metrics in studying biodiversity responses to habitat change.


The option of reusing treated wastewater is becoming necessary for environment sustainability approach. In fact, wastewater effluent discharge regulations have become stricter leading to a better water quality. Municipal activities, agriculture, and rapid urbanization led to increased nitrogen and phosphorus discharge to the water system. More often, the effluents from municipal wastewater treatment plant failed to meet the national standard for effluent quality. Excess nutrients, mostly N and P is the main cause of eutrophication the which results in oxygen depletion, biodiversity reduction, fish kills, odor, and increased toxicity. Biological nutrient removal technologies are preferred and widely used to remove nitrogen and phosphorus from domestic wastewater and protect water quality. Chemical compositions in wastewater are highly diverse substances from simple compounds to complex polymers. Some wastewater samples were analyzed in this research. Conventional technology still retains the basic principle of complete nitrogen cycle through nitrification and denitrification. Anammox is a sustainable and cost-effective alternative to the basic method of nitrogen removal. Anammox has been identified as a new biotechnology for nitrogen reduction from wastewater. Compared to the common process of nitrogen removal, anammox can reduce 64% off aeration, 100% of an exogenous electron donor, and sludge production by 80-90%. Some benefits from anammox include high nitrogen removal rate, lower operational cost, and small space requirements. Anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR) in Indonesia has been used commonly as communal wastewater treatment. Promoting anammox process in ABR potentially become an improvement for ABR in removing nitrogen better. This combination process still outlined for further research.


Results of dielectric studies of electron-beam deposited holmium oxide thin films, examined in metal/insulator/metal (MIM) structures, are reported. The frequency domain characteristics of the capacitance, dielectric loss and complex impedance have been estimated from the time domain measurements of the charging and discharging currents. The influence of the voltage on the dielectric characteristics at 430 K has been tested. Experimental results clearly show that the dielectric response in the frequency range from 100 kHz to 20 Hz comes from the insulating film of Ho/sub 2/O/sub 3/ as well as from metal-insulator interfaces. The capacitance and resistance of Ho/sub 2/O/sub 3/ film and Al-Ho/sub 2/O/sub 3/ regions have been determined.


A Laue-Laue-Laue x-ray interferometer with the inclined third crystal plate was fabricated to demonstrate wavefront- dividing interferometry in x-ray region. Observed interference patterns showed the effects of spatial coherence of the incident wave, in addition to the incident angle dependent spatial fringes expected from the dynamical theory of diffraction. From the visibility of the interference pattern, the source size used was estimated using Van Cittert-Zernike theorem.


The prediction task is attracting more and more attention among the power system community. Accurate predictions of electrical quantities up to a few hours ahead (e.g. renewable production, electrical load, etc.) are for instance crucial for Distribution System Operators (DSOs) to operate their network in presence of a high share of renewables, or for energy producers to maximize their profits by optimizing their portfolio management. In the literature, statistical approaches are usually proposed to predict electrical quantities. In the present paper, we present a novel method based on matrix factorization. Our approach is inspired by the literature on data mining and knowledge discovery and the methodologies involved in recommender systems. The idea is to transpose the problem of predicting ratings in a recommender system to a problem of forecasting electrical quantities in a power system. Preliminary results on a real wind speed dataset tend to show that the matrix factorization model provides similar results than ARIMA models in terms of accuracy (MAE and RMSE). Our approach is nevertheless highly scalable and can deal with noisy data (e.g. missing data).


The recent development of cognitive neuroscience has invited inference about the neurosensory events underlying the experience of visual arts involving implied motion. We report functional magnetic resonance imaging study demonstrating activation of the human extrastriate motion-sensitive cortex by static images showing implied motion because of instability. We used static line-drawing cartoons of humans by Hokusai Katsushika (called 'Hokusai Manga'), an outstanding Japanese cartoonist as well as famous Ukiyoe artist. We found 'Hokusai Manga' with implied motion by depicting human bodies that are engaged in challenging tonic posture significantly activated the motion-sensitive visual cortex including MT+ in the human extrastriate cortex, while an illustration that does not imply motion, for either humans or objects, did not activate these areas under the same tasks. We conclude that motion-sensitive extrastriate cortex would be a critical region for perception of implied motion in instability.


The authors address an enforcement technique of integrity constraints against transaction updates in a relational database system. Transition axioms have been used effectively in checking integrity constraints for single update statements. The authors extend the idea of transition axioms to a transaction which is a sequence of read and update statements. Integrity constraints in this scheme are simplified without database access before the actual operations are performed avoiding the need to undo an illegal transaction. Transaction partitioning, which can reduce the overhead of checking integrity constraints significantly, is proposed. Partitioning a transaction becomes crucial when a transaction is associated with multiple integrity constraints.<<ETX>>


Introduction - Ongoing Covid-19 Calamity: As a disease, COVID-19 is still in the pandemic phase because infections continue to increasingly occur world-wide and various population groups are still susceptible. It is likely that the SARS-CoV-2 will not be eradicated but become endemic and continue to circulate and cause infections in pockets of the global populations for years to come. It may evolve into more transmissible and virulent forms with novel mutations and variants, and associated factors may worsen the overall scenario with involvement of newer population groups and world regions. Mutations, Variants and Immune Escape: The unabated prevalence increases risk of mutations, as the virus has more chances to mutate. Further, in areas where the incidence rates are high, selection pressures favour the emergence of variants that evade neutralising antibodies. Furthermore, as population groups receive vaccination, immune pressure is conjectured to facilitate and speed up the emergence of such variants by selecting for escape mutants. In due course, these selected variants would replace previous versions of the virus propelling the pandemic or the endemic disease later on. Associated Uncertainties with SARS-CoV-2: There are various associated uncertainties with the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the disease it causes. Due to evolving genomic changes, the virus elicits erratic and labile immune response. Simultaneously, the host factors are highly variable and largely uncontrollable. Further, the control measures and available vaccines for COVID-19 may not reduce the prevalence of infections drastically for multiple reasons. These epidemiological drivers would lead to persistence of the virus and endemicity of the disease interspersed by periodic outbreaks and re-emergence. The Human Life during Covid-19 Pandemic: With COVID-19 becoming an endemic disease, the SARS-CoV-2 virus would be first encountered during childhood, typically causing mild manifestations or none. The population groups will develop some immunity through natural infection or vaccination and may not suffer with severe illness, except in those with comorbid conditions or immune-compromised states, and the disease course would depend on evolving variants, efficacy of vaccines, and nature of immunity to the virus. The herd immunity against SARS-CoV-2 may remain a myth and with individual immunity being labile and waning after 6-8 months, booster doses of updated vaccine will be required at regular intervals. Future Scenario and Search for Solutions: To mitigate the spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus, various countries have implemented a wide range of control measures from time to time and likely to resort to, in future as well. There is need for genotyping and genomic sequencing capability for quick and effective utilization of epidemiological data. Simultaneously, the large deployment of COVID-19 vaccines under way needs a rapid and effective global effort. The next-generation vaccines may stimulate T cells effectively, apart from generating antibodies against the virus, and there is possibility of designing a universal coronavirus vaccine or pan-virus vaccine for immunisation against multiple variants and strains. On the therapeutic side, use of probiotics as adjuvant therapy may Improve the prognosis and clinical outcomes in COVID-19.


The macroscopic failure mode (tensile/hybrid/shear) of damage‐zone fractures in fault zones may influence the hydrogeological properties of the fault zone. Application of the Griffith‐Coulomb failure criterion, combined with the simple assumption that failures are predominantly induced by an increase in differential stresses and/or a decrease in effective normal stresses resulting from stress concentrations generated at the asperities/tips of faults, suggests that (1) only tensile fractures propagate from faults when the effective mean stress is less than the rock tensile strength, (2) tensile/hybrid fractures form when the effective mean stress is less than twice the rock tensile strength, and (3) shear fractures can develop when the effective mean stress is more than twice the rock tensile strength, which suppresses the formation of tensile/hybrid fractures. In this study, thin slots were precut in siliceous mudstone samples and mechanical experiments were conducted under a range of effective confining pressures using core samples with and without precut slots. A comparison of fractures formed in the samples at different applied effective mean stresses gave results consistent with the proposed model. The correspondence of model predictions and results was also corroborated by observations of natural damage‐zone fractures observed in the field, in boreholes penetrating the same siliceous mudstone as used in the experiments. The results indicate that fault zones containing numerous tensile/hybrid fractures are limited to domains that have experienced effective mean stresses of less than twice the rock tensile strength.


Since T. Gilovich, R. Vallone, and A. Tversky published their seminal 1985 paper, "The Hot Hand in Basketball: On the Misrepresentation of Random Sequences," there has been considerable study of the question of momentum in sports. The term "momentum" here refers to a condition in which psychological factors cause a player or team to achieve a higher (or lower) than normal performance over a period of time due to a positive correlation between successive outcomes. Put more plainly, sports momentum—if and when it exists—can be summarized as "success breeds success" (or, perhaps, "failure breeds failure"). Gilovich and colleagues referred to it as the "hot hand." Gilovich's research team studied questions such as whether a basketball player who has made several shots in a row becomes more likely to make the next shot than his or her normal shooting percentage would indicate. Finding no evidence for the existence of momentum, they concluded that basketball shots behave as independent trials. Basketball, baseball, tennis, and many other sports have been analyzed for momentum, and little statistical evidence has been found, although controversy about the issue continues. The best evidence for momentum has come in sports that involve competition between individuals, rather than teams, and have little variation within the course of play, such as bowling and horseshoes. Here, we investigate whether momentum exists in volleyball. By some accounts, volleyball is the most popular sport in the world in terms of the number of participants; the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) estimates approximately 800 million people play the game. There are, of course, many ways in which momentum could manifest itself in volleyball. We focus on whether "runs" of consecutive points by a team give evidence of momentum or whether they are manifestations of the natural variability that appears in the outcomes of chance Does Momentum Exist in Competitive Volleyball?


Background:Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a commonly seen disorder,including non-erosive reflux disease (NERD),reflux esophagitis (RE) and Barrett's esophagus (BE),its incidence rate has been increased in recent years.Aims:To investigate the relationship between RE,BE and various factors.Methods:Patients with gastroesophageal reflux symptoms were screened by reflux diagnostic questionnaires.Detection rates of RE,BE and esophageal adenocarcinoma were noted by gastroscopy,and effects of smoking,alcohol consumption,diet,age,gender and nationality on RE,BE were analyzed.Results:A total of 1834 patients with gastroesophageal reflux symptoms were enrolled.Among them,there were 234 (12.8%) RE,213 (11.6%) BE including 47 BE with intestinal metaplasia,and 5 (0.3%) esophageal adenocarcinoma.The detection rates of RE and BE in Mongolians were higher than those in other nationalities.The proportion of alcohol drinking was significantly higher in patients with RE and BE.The detection rates of moderate to high-grade dysplasia and esophageal adenocarcinoma were higher in patients with BE.Conclusions:The detection rates of RE and BE are higher in Mongolians,and alcohol consumption is closely correlated with injury induced by esophageal reflux.BE is the precancerous lesion of esophageal adenocarcinoma.


Objectives A recent review recommended UK postgraduate medical education should produce doctors capable of providing general care in broad specialties across a range of different settings. Responding to this, broad-based training (BBT) was introduced in Scotland in 2018 to provide postgraduate trainees with a grounding in four specialties. Introduced as an option for trainees after initial postgraduate 'Foundation' training, it comprises 6 months in general medicine, general practice, paediatrics and psychiatry. This study addresses two key BBT outcomes. It examines how successful BBT is in developing trainees who perceive they are able to work beyond traditional specialty boundaries to care for patients with complex, multifactorial healthcare needs. Second, it explores how well BBT prepares trainees for their next stage in training. Design A longitudinal qualitative study using semistructured interviews to collect data from BBT trainees, trainers and 'programme architects'. Fifty-one interviews were conducted, 31 with trainees (with up to three interviews per trainee across BBT and immediately afterwards (post-BBT)) and 20 with trainers. Data were subject to thematic analysis. Results Two overarching themes were identified: (1) trainees able to work beyond specialty boundaries and (2) preparation for the next stage in training. BBT trainees were able to see the links and overlap between different specialties and understand the interface between primary and secondary care. They did not perceive that BBT (as compared with single-specialty early-stage training) disadvantaged them, other than in terms of specialty examination preparation. BBT was seen as a way to keep career options open in a system where it is difficult to switch training pathway. Conclusions BBT has the capacity to create doctors who will carry on using their generalist skills to care for patients more holistically, even if they end up working in focused practice areas. BBT helps to keep options open for longer, which is beneficial in a highly structured training environment.


Abstract This article deals with the degenerate fractional Kirchhoff wave equation with structural damping or strong damping. The well-posedness and the existence of global attractor in the natural energy space by virtue of the Faedo-Galerkin method and energy estimates are proved. It is worth mentioning that the results of this article cover the case of possible degeneration (or even negativity) of the stiffness coefficient. Moreover, under further suitable assumptions, the fractal dimension of the global attractor is shown to be infinite by using Z 2 {{\mathbb{Z}}}_{2} index theory.


Based on the principle of LFMCW radar liquid level measurement,this paper analyzed the deficiency of FFT algorithms,which improved the measuring accuracy at the expense of increasing the amount of computation,and introduced an FFT-CZT algorithm to improve the measurement accuracy of the system.Finally the author simulated the spectrogram of the FFT and FFT-CZT processed radar echo signal respectively in MATLAB.Analysis of the theoretical calculations and MATLAB simulation results showed that the FFT-CZT algorithm not only can significantly improved the computational efficiency,but also increased the measurement accuracy of LFMCW radar liquid level gauge.


By summer 2021 moderate to exceptional drought impacted 28% of North America, focused west of the Mississippi, with serious impacts on fire, water resources and agriculture. Here, using reanalyses and SST-forced climate models, we examine the onset and development of this southwestern drought from its inception in summer 2020 through winter and spring 2020-21. The drought severity in summer 2021 resulted from four consecutive prior seasons in which precipitation in the southwest United States was the lowest on record or, at least, extremely dry. The dry conditions in summer 2020 arose from internal atmospheric variability but are beyond the range of what the studied atmosphere models simulate for that season. From winter 2020 through spring 2021 the worsening drought conditions were guided by the development of a La Niña in the tropical Pacific Ocean. Decadal variability in the Pacific Ocean aided drought in the southern part of the region by driving the cool-season to be drier during the last two decades. There is also evidence that the southern part of the region in spring is drying due to human-driven climate change. In sum the drought onset was driven by a combination of internal atmospheric variability and interannual climate variability and aided by natural decadal variability and human-driven climate change.


N-Thioacyl dithioimidocarbonates undergo 1,2- and 1,4-cycloaddition reactions with active olefins, diphenylketen, and diphenyldiazomethane; the products obtained with the latter two reagents differ from those obtained in the reactions with a related conjugated system, thioacylketen thioacetal.


When indicating induced abortion professional views are often ignored and technical performance is also deficient. In Hungary the start of the 1980s about 5000 pregnancies were terminated annually without cause based on justified medical indication. The medical indication for abortion is on a declining trend from 16% in 1979 to 9% in 1990. 95.5% of these abortions occur before the 12th week of pregnancy. 25.7% of the medical indications were for health reasons 59.4% were for the IUD 10.1% were for maternal problems and 4.8% were for fetal problems in 1990. The diagnostic X-ray dose is way below the teratological threshold yet .4% of indications cited this cause. The IUD in pregnancy does not cause malformations although the spontaneous miscarriage incidence is higher. It is necessary to have more accurate medical indications not just a blanket term such as IUD which really is not the reason for abortion it only indicates the demand for contraception. The causes have to be considered more carefully and the IUD as an indication should be questioned: without it 50% of medical indications would disappear.


The analysis of the clinical features of cytomegalovirus infection in 110 children aged 1 month to 5 years. In 35 children had congenital cytomegalovirus infection, diagnosed in the neonatal period which was made in only 2 children. Congenital infection more often had the character of the «hidden» CMV syndrome and was accompanied by congenital malformations of the kidneys, heart, central nervous system, eyes, liver and thyroid.


Post-wildfires geological hazards are an emerging problem in many places, including areas not typically associated with these events such as the Alpine Region. Hazards connected with post-fire processes such as debris-flows and flood-type events threatens people, infrastructures, services and economical activities. Apart from a few examples, there is a lack of models available to quantify the increase in susceptibility as a result of the modification induced by the wildfires. In this work we test the application of a modified version of the RUSLE, on GIS, to quantify the post-fire erosive phenomena for a case study in the north-western Italian Alps. The results of its application, taking advantage of high-resolution rainfall series and data deriving from field surveys, highlight the marked increase (more than 20 times) in erosion rates, quantified by expressing both the EI (erodibility index), the A (monthly soil loss) and the SL (monthly sediment loss) rise. The months of April, May and June represents the larger share of the total quantities. This is a consequence of the noticeable increase of the Erodibility Index EI, which for the post-fire scenario is more than one order of magnitude higher than the pre-fire one.


Reburning technology,fuel-lean reburning technology and mechanism of NOxreduction in reburning combustion were reviewed.The study also analyzed effect of several parameters such as mass ratio of reburn fuel to total fuel,reburning region temperature,equivalence ratio,residence time on reburning De-NOxefficiency.Taking into account the characteristics such as fluid in the tube and structure of petrochemical tube furnace,reburning or fuel-lean reburning DeNOx technology could be applied to petrochemical tube furnace without increasing the furnace height by taking full advantage of the recirculation in furnace.


The paper describes the condition of forming α-FeOOH in the alkaline solution and tlie various factors that influence the phase composition.


A method is developed to evaluate the spatial dependence of the energy spectrum of charged particle currents entering a process fluid from a bordering solid fuel region. This enables calculation of spatially dependent ionization-excitation rates including the general case where the formation rate varies with particle energy. Nondimensional plots permit application of the results to various fluid-fuel combinations and, with adjustment of two parameters, they may also be used for various particles including fission fragments, betas, alphas, and protons. The example of excitation of helium by alpha irradiation is examined in some detail.


A cleaner composition for electronic parts is provided to inhibit corrosion of silicon and other metals than silicon, and to easily remove fine contaminant particles and deteriorated or cured photoresist and polymer residue after etching. A cleaner composition for electronic parts comprises sulfuric acid, a peroxide compound, a fluoro-compound, ammonium phosphate, a metal corrosion-preventing compound represented by the following formula 1, a silicon corrosion-preventing compound represented by the following formula 2 and deionized water. In formula 1, each of A and B represents H or NR1R2; each of R1, R2 and R3 is selected from the group consisting of H, alkyl, hydroxyalkyl, aryl, -(CH2)m-COOH, -P(=O)(OH)2 and -(CH2)n-P(=O)(OH); each of m and n is an integer of 1-6; each of R5 and R6 is a linear or branched C1-C6 alkylene, monoxyalkylene or polyoxyalkylene, which is non-substituted or substituted with at least one substituent selected from the group consisting of hydroxy, hydroxyalkyl, aryl, -(CH2)p-COOH, -P(=O)(OH)2 and -(CH2)q-P(=O)(OH)2; each of p and q is an integer of 0-6; and a' is an integer of 0-2. In formula 2, each of R1-R5 represents H, halogen atom or a functional group such as nitro, alkyl, hydroxy, hydroxyalkyl, amine, carboxyl, sulfonic acid, sulfonamide, alkoxy, aldehyde, acetoxy, phosphonic acid, mercapto, allyl, aryl, aldehyde, alkyl or amyl, an alkylated, acetylated or halogenated derivative thereof, or a salt thereof.


A series of UV-PUA films with different active diluents were prepared, The effect of the content of active diluent TPGDA or TMPTA on Photopolymerization kinetics and Mechanical properties was studied. The effect of formulation on mechanical properties was investigated. The results showed that when the content of oligomer PUA was 40%-45%, the content of HEA was 8%-10%, the content of TPGDA was 10%-14% and the content of TMPTA was 18%-25% ,PUA films with good mechanical properties were obtained.


The report contains some results of the researches and designings of Microwave-light modules for the I l luminating and Irradiating plants, which use the electrodless Microwave discharges in (he different gases. The main problems and their solutions are considered for use in the plants of quasi-Sunlight and ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. The phenomenologica! picture of discharge excitation and stabilization is presented. The irradiation spectrums are shown. Some results and features of the creation the bactericidal plant for the complex Microwave, UVand ozone treatment are presented.


This report aims to provide a list of process indicators that will allow monitoring the EIP on AHA process over the period 2012-2020. It also presents main highlights from the baseline data in graphical format, based on the tables provided in Annex I. The latter show the indicators computed from the baseline, i.e. data from the 234 EIP on AHA commitments submitted to the EC in June 2012 through the First Invitation for Commitment. The analysis of the data collected through the 2013 Monitoring Survey and that submitted by participants through the Second Invitation for Commitment in April 2013 will be presented in the next updates of this report. Adding the respective data sets to the analysis will allow us to take into account the enlargement of the EIP on AHA to new regions/ countries and stakeholders and measure progress in general. Although the data presented in this report only refers to the 2012 baseline dataset, the selection of process indicators presented in section 2 has been based on the analysis of both the 2012 baseline data and the 2013 Monitoring Survey data which is why there are references to both datasets. The rationale behind this is the need for the process indicators to be as inclusive as possible so as to allow monitoring and comparing the evolution of the EIP on AHA not only for the 2012-2020 period but also between the baseline (the First Invitation for Commitment), the Monitoring Survey and the Second Invitation for Commitment. Last but not least this report also identifies first gaps related to the baseline data and issues that had to be resolved or decisions to be taken when processing the data.


A principal consideration in the design of ion propulsion systems is life-limiting erosion of the thruster grids by the impact of charge-exchange ions. Achieving adequate lifetime (10,000 hours or more for many potential missions) without grid wear-through can impose significant constraints on thruster performance when the grids are made of molybdenum. From empirical spuner yield data, it is predicted that the wear rate of grids made of carbon-carbon composite should be as little as one-tenth that of molybdenum grids. A previously reported comparative measurement of the erosion rates of grids of these two materials, however, showed a carbon-carbon wear rate as high as one-third that of molybdenum. This paper reports on a subsequent pair of tests conducted at an order of magnitude lower background pressure and with care taken to minimize the presence of oxygen, water vapor, and nitrogen in the propellant flow. In these tests, the carbon-carbon erosion wear rate was only one-fifteenth that of the molybdenum.


In this article the forward rate equation proposed in [6] is analysed; the equation is studied in dierent Hilbert spaces, namely H 1 ([0; +1)) and H 1 ([0; +1)), and in the locally convex space W 1;1 loc ([0; +1)), which is his natural space; for each of these spaces, explicit mild solutions and sucient conditions for the existence of invariant measures are presented. In the case of the Hilbert spaces, all the possible invariant measures are characterized.


The conversion of a MAS into a FIPA-compliant system (i.e. one that adheres to FIPA standards), is important to support interoperability across different MAS. Supporting such a conversion will also allow system developers to make more effective use of their existing systems. Such a conversion imposes amendments on the system architecture to conform to the new (FIPA) standards, which require extensive code re-writes and testing procedures. We propose a different approach to achieving FIPA compliance by providing specialized gateways, which act as wrappers between the legacy (non-FIPA) systems, and a system developed to FIPA specifications. We demonstrate this approach based on a MAS utilising an active digital library composed of multi-spectral images of the Earth, as part of the Synthetic Aperture Radar Atlas (SARA).


This paper outlines a transparent and nonintrusive checkpointing mechanism for use with FPGA-based digital mockups. A digital mockup is an executable model of a physical system and used for real-time test and validation of cyber-physical devices that interact with the physical system. These digital mockups are typically defined in terms of a large set of ordinary differential equations. We consider digital mockups impelemented on field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). A checkpoint is a snapshot of the internal state of the model at a specific point in time as captured by some controller that resides on the same FPGA. We require that the model continues uninterrupted execution during a checkpointing operation. Once a checkpoint is created, the corresponding state information is transferred from the FPGA to a host computer for visualization and other off-chip processing. We outline the architecture of a checkpointing controller that captures and transfers the state information at a desired clock cycle using an aggressive compression technique. Our compression technique achieves 90% reduction in data transferred from the FPGA to the host computer under periodic checkpointing scenarios. The checkpointing with compression yields 15-36% FPGA size overhead, versus 6-11% for checkpointing without compression.


There is correlativity between behaviour of head nurse and occurrence of both work stressors and distress reaction in nurse.Studies found a head nurse can buffer the effects of a demanding work environment on staff nurses by the appropriate leadership style.Presumably,this is a main way by which head nurses can reduce work stress among their staff.It's important for improving the quality and efficiency of nursing.


In a developing nation like Turkey, the English language plays a significant role in educational and socioeconomic mobility. English is acquired and taught as a foreign language (EFL) primarily in the classrooms. However, the ways in which English language is represented in classroom instruction have been hardly examined and understood. With that, this paper aims to depict two teachers' representations of the English language as influenced by a university entrance English language test administered in 2008 in Turkey. The two teachers' representations of the English language are projected from a 12th grade classroom at an Anatolian Lycee located in the Mediterranean region of Turkey. Doyle's task framework is employed, specifically in order to map what content representations emerged out of the teachers' classroom practices. Data sources include biweekly teacher logs, biweekly interviews, and biweekly classroom observations. The paper highlights that the two teachers' classroom representations of English were entrenched with the idea of highstakes test preparation for university admissions as they deemed test preparation as a major part of their classroom instruction. That is, representations of the English language were contracted to tested structures and items. The paper illustrates the teachers' representations of reading and grammar with the insight that division of labour, though not in the form of collaboration, made it possible for the teachers to cope with the contraction effect of test preparation


Background: Origanum vulgare (referred to as Spanish thyme and wild marjoram),is a member of the plant family Lamiaceae. Oregano contains potent components which contributes towards the cardiovascular and nervous systems, relieves symptoms of inflammation, and modulates blood sugar and lipids. Coffee which contains polyphenols attributes to a number of pharmacological activities that include antioxidant, antiinflammatory, immunomodulatory, anti-microbial, anti-cancer, cardioprotective and neuroprotective effects. Nigella sativa, black caraway is also called kalonji or nigella, and more common in the Far East, Mideast, Bangladesh, India and Africa. Nigella sativa contains active ingredients, in particular, thymoquinone, the main active constituent known for anti-inflammatory effect. Aim: To evaluate the antiinflammatory effect of oregano, coffee and black cumin formulation. Materials and methods: This study includes the usage of about 1g of oregano, coffee and black cumin extracts mixed with 100 mL of distilled water and boiled for 15 minutes, filtered and again concentrated till 10mL.The antiinflammatory activity of this formulation is assessed by using Bovine Serum Albumin assay. Results: The anti-inflammatory activity of oregano, coffee and black cumin aqueous formulation shows about 65% of inhibition when compared with standard.


In the present paper, we systematically studied the possible Orbital selective Mott transition (OSMT) in the $t_{2g}$ system, which has three orbital degeneracy. The slave Boson mean field theory is generalized to the three band systems with full Hund's rule coupling including spin flip and pair hopping terms. A new type of Mott transition which is driven by the crystal field splitting or the lattice distortion is found is this model. We argue that this new type of Mott transition may relate to the puzzling phase in $Sr_{x}Ca_{2-x}RuO_4$.


In recent years, integrating multiple functionalities into a single metasurface has become an emerging approach in advanced metasurface research for information multiplexing. The typical approaches include supercell design and/or multilayer design, which are essentially an integration of several metasurfaces and the information capacity of each metasurface has not been increased yet. Here, by fully exploiting the design degrees of freedom of nanostructures and decoupling the optical properties of incident light, we show metasurfaces with single-cell design can act as different functional devices to manipulate different optical properties at the same time. Hence, we can integrate different metadevices such as nanoprints and holograms into a single metasurface, which can significantly improve the information density, functionality and security of metasurfaces. Our research provides a new strategy to design multifunctional metasurfaces without burdening the nanostructure design and manufacturing, and we expect that a variety of novel nanooptical applications such as multi-folded optical anticounterfeiting, high-density optical storage, ultracompact information encryption, ultraportable image display for AR/VR and so on will emerge from our approach.


Given a matrix of weights, the linear order problem (LOP) consists of finding a permutation of the columns and rows in order to maximize the sum of the weights in the upper triangle. This paper introduces a modified discrete particle swarm optimization (PSO) which deals with LOP. It doesn't use exchange, crossover, mutation, insertion and deletion operators. But the positions of elements in solution permutation are stored in the particle instead of elements themselves. We only change our observation point of view and conceive the velocity as the shift in the position of elements. So the particle position is updated in much the same way as the canonical continuous PSO. Then the updated solution permutation was obtained by sorting the values of the updated position of elements. The proposed discrete PSO is also integrated with a greedy randomized adaptive search procedure (GRASP) and a local search scheme. Experiments on the linear order problem show that the proposed procedure provides extremely high quality solutions within a low number of evaluations. Ultimately, the proposed algorithm was able to improve 67 out of 75 best known solutions for instances of Random type I whereas for instances of Random type II, 26 out of the 75 best known solutions were improved.


We examine targeted sentiment analysis for the purpose of building a dialog system for academic advising. For dialog tasks such as course selection it is important to recognize the entities (i.e., courses and instructors) and the sentiment that students express toward them. We examine the effect of domain specific features, and show performance improvements for both the entity recognition and sentiment analysis tasks over baseline methods. A discussion of errors provides insight into the limitations of our method and directions for future work.


Nanostructuring boron-rich materials should significantly impact their thermal and electrical transport properties. Nonetheless, nanostructured monoliths of such materials could not be achieved in ...


The negative effect made by mining enterprises on the natural environment has complex origination. The intensive pollution is observed because of the influence of mineral deposits open-pit mining on the atmosphere, water resources and landscape complexes. Complex processes of environmental anthropogenic changes caused by open pits' operations have brought to light the problem of surface water pollution near large mining segments. Industrial wastewater of mining enterprises has a significant impact on the natural environment. In connection with the continuous and significant increase in the volume of mining, the amount of wastewater from mines, quarries and processing plants is constantly increasing. The main components of wastewater from operating mining enterprises are mine (quarry) waters, as well as runoff from atmospheric waters polluted by water erosion of dumps and mineral stacks. The paper describes the possible ways of quarry wastewater purifying – using hydrocyclones and artificial filtering arrays made from overburden rock.


The Gemini Adaptive Optics System, under construction at the Dominium Astrophysical Observatory of the National Research Council of Canada's Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics is unique among AO systems. Altair is designed with its deformable mirror (DM) conjugate to high altitude. This concept is only practical at an observatory where extraordinary measures have been taken to reduce local seeing degradation. We summarize these measures. We then describe Altair. Both the wavefront sensor foreoptics and control system are unconventional, because the guide star footprint on an altitude-conjugated DM moves as the guide star position varies. During a typical nodding sequence, where the telescope moves 10 arcseconds between exposures, this footprint moves by half an actuator and/or WFS lenslet. The advantages of altitude conjugation include increased isoplanatic patch size, which improves sky coverage, and improved uniformity of the corrected field. Although the initial installation of Altair will use natural guide stars, it will include features to use a laser guide star with minimal rework. Altitude conjugation also reduces focal anisoplanatism with laser beacons. The infrastructure of Gemini observatory provides a variety of wavefront sensor and nested control loops that together permit some unique design concepts of Altair.


Adapted from the author's convocation presentation at Saint Mary's College of California, Moraga, CA, April 30, 2014, this essay affirms the internationally evident success of Lasallian higher education. Observing that a robust network of resources has been developed on the path to current success, the author then extends a challenge for institutions to think in innovative ways about diversifying the existing network to better meet the globally pressing need for education.


Today, there are essential changes in the system of primary and secondary professional training of Russia caused by the deep socio-political and economic transformations in the state. Different questions concerning the professional training system of a modern worker and an expert, where the humanistic paradigm is actualized, are reflected in domestic and foreign psychological-and-pedagogical science. The possibility of professional training humanization is considered as its reorientation for a personality. From these positions the idea about the purposes, the content of education and upbringing changes and the given categories get new meaning.


Purpose to point out the efficacy and safety of collagen cross linking of the cornea as a parasurgical treatment of keratoconus

Methods corneal cross linking has been performed on 50 patients from 17 to 35 years old with topographical and clinical evolutive keratoconus

Results Cross linking treatment has been proven to strengthen the weak corneal structure by increasing collagen cross links, wich are the natural anchors within the cornea.These anchors prevent the cornea from bulging out and becoming steep and irregular.Several aspects of the procedure will be considered including ultrastructural and histological behaviour of the corneal collagen after this photodynamic procedure.

Conclusion The procedure seems to be safe and effective in increasing stiffness of the cornea.More studies are needed to clarify the intrinsic mechanisms of the procedure


The impact of oil field development activities, like logging operation will affect land condition, thus affecting the Runoff Coefficient and erosion level on the land. The purpose of this research is to know the Runoff Coefficient value and land erosion value as a result of land changes on Trembes sub watersheds, Blora Regency, Indonesia. The method used to count Runoff coefficient value and erosion level by way of correlation of direct discharge measurement and concentration of suspended sediment. The result of direct measurement and analysis from rainfall event on the first and second day, on the land location which is cut down
with the areal of Sub Catchment Area between (10,000-8,100) m2, heavy rain between (6.23-9.09) mm, based on the obtained analysis the runoff thickness range between (7.04-4.13) mm,
and runoff coefficient range between 0.78-0.66. Whereas erosion level (the weight of Sediment per unit area) is range between 0.0059-0.012 Kg/m2, bearing in mind the rainy day is range between (73-138) per year, therefore the land erosion obtained was range between 4.3-8.8 ton/ha/year for 73 days of rain with the of erosion danger classification very light, and 594-1209 ton/ha/year for 138days rain, with erosion danger classification very heavy. Whereas direct measurement and analysis result from rain event on the first and second day, at the land location which is not cut down with the areal of sub watersheds about 8,500 m2, heavy rain
between (6.23-9.06) mm, based on the analysis it obtained the runoff thickness is range between (1.86-2.97) mm, and runoff coefficient range between 0.33-0.30. Whereas erosion level (the weight of Sediment per unit area) is range between 0.0001-0.001 Kg/m2, bearing in mind the rainy day is range between (73-138) per years, so, the land erosion obtained was range between 0.07-0.73 ton/ha/year for 73 days rain with erosion danger classification very light, and 10-101 ton/ha/year for 138 days rain with erosion danger classification very light to medium.


SIEGFRIED ,L., LIPTKOV` ,A., KME«OV` ,M., BIRO'OV` ,E., ROSOCHA ,J., KERESTE'OV` ,A., SEHNLKOV` ,H. K ISSN 0006-3088. (Biologia). ISSN 1335-6399 (Biologia. Section Cellular and Molecular Biology). In the present study we analysed haemolytic phenotype, relation to O groups as well as the presence of genes encoding enterohaemolysin, intimin and Shiga toxin in clinical Escherichia coli strains associated with haemolytic uremic syndrome and enteritis. We concluded that the presence of enterohaemolytic genotype was associated with intimin gene. Our results supported the nd- ing that both enterohaemolytic phenotype and genotype can be employed as an easily detectable marker for screening of enterohaemorrhagic in clinical samples.


Nowadays, it is difficult to find good stock advice free of charge that allows us to obtain the knowledge and techniques to start to the standard user in the world of stock investments. The main offers that are online, require an initial economic sacrifice and create some rejection by the investor to entrust the user's money to third parties without an assured reliability over the capital invested. This TFG is offered as an alternative, providing technical information enough advanced so that any user interested in making investments in the stock market, learn to detect the opportunities offered by the stock market to obtain profitability from their portfolio. Through predictive techniques, using algorithms trained with historical stock data, this TFG shows how to generate a system based on Machine Learning techniques. The studies carried out during the development, allow to obtain the knowledge necessary to operate in stock market autonomously in conditions similar to what would be achieved by proprietary tools.


This paper describes how the guide signing system for conventional highways emphasizes information related to highway class, number, and cardinal direction over destination information. The place name used in Destination signs is the next principal city or county seat rather than a more distant destination, indicating that conventional highway travelers are more interested in closer destinations and shorter trips. In comparison, freeway guide signs emphasize destination information and introduced the concept of using control cities in guide signs. Control cities are major population centers that provide a sense of direction and continuity in guide signing. The control city concept has been formalized for Interstate freeways through the creation of a national list of control cities. But there is little guidance for selecting place names for Destination and Distance signs on conventional highways. This paper also describes research that developed recommended procedures for selecting place names in Destination and Distance signs, including a classification scheme that can be used to define control cities for the conventional highway system in a state or region. The classification scheme defines six levels. Primary cities are the five largest cities in the state, secondary cities have a population over 25,000, and tertiary cities have a population over 2,500 or are a county seat. The other elements of the scheme include small towns, other place names, and highway junctions.


Supply chain information integration (SCII), an IT-enabled capability, enhances firms' collaboration with suppliers and clients resulting in better operations and performance. Bottom-of-pyramid segments in emerging markets pose distinct challenges due to their institutional context. The benefits that domestic and foreign firms can harness from SCII differ due to the distinct set of difficulties faced by these two types of firms. We suggest that SCII has a positive influence on firm performance through client collaboration for foreign and domestic firms, but SCII's influence is stronger for domestic firms; whereas supplier collaboration is positive for foreign firms but negative for domestic firms. We test our theory by comparing the outcomes of leveraging SCII for collaboration, across domestic and foreign firms in the automotive ancillary and part manufacturing sectors in India. We use a unique dataset of 133 firms and use both partial least squares and econometric analysis to test our theorized relationships.


The backfill mining method is one kind method that is high returns-ratio,low impoverishment rate,high mining cost,this method is suitable to the precious metal subterranean deposit of bad ore-bearing rocks stability as well as ore deposit mining which has special request.The mine using the backfill mining method,its distribution of the stope crustal stress and adjacent formation steady state is related with mining area geologic structure,country rock stress and ore-bearing rocks quality,also is related with the intensity,integrity and backfill craft of filled body.The stress distribution of the filled body and adjacent formation and its final steady state is decided in the result of the mutual function of filled body and the adjacent formation.


Camptotheca acuminata Decaisne is a tree unique to China, producing terpenoid indole alkaloid (TIA), camptothecin (CPT), and 10-hydroxycamptothecin (HCPT), which possesses strong anti-cancer bioactivity. The dynamics of HCPT and CPT during seed maturation, seed germination, postgerminative development and daily growth were measured by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). This article provides some evidence for presenting the theory that each characteristic of HCPT and CPT accumulation is under developmental regulation and then attempt to elucidate the metabolic relationships between them. HCPT accumulates particularly in young tissues and organs and is relatively unstable, while the distribution of CPT is more ubiquitous and stable. Their different distribution properties suggest that HCPT and CPT are differentially regulated and play distinct roles during development.


This researcch aimed to describe the students' spatial ability and self
efficacy at SMP Negeri 2 Banyumas viewed from gender. It applied qualitative
research methods using the Milles and Huberman models including data
reduction, data presentation, and conclusions. Subjects in this study were students
of class VIII E obtained by purposive sampling technique. The students were
grouped by gender, namely groups of male students and groups of female
students. Each of the four students selected for interview purposes. Data
collection techniques used self efficacy questionnaires, spatial ability tests,
interviews, and documentation. Based on the results of the study, it can be
concluded that male students were able to master aspects of spatial perception,
visual spatial, spatial orientation, and mind rotation. In other side, female students
were able to master 3 aspects, namely spatial perception, spatial orientation, and
mind rotation. Self efficacy of male students had confidence in the dimensions of
level, strength, and generality, while women had confidence in the dimensions of
level and generality.


Equality and efficiency are the characteristics of harmonious society.They are not only considered by modern scholars,but also discussed by ancient thinkers. So it may contribute to the construction of contemporary harmonious society to analyze the thoughts of equality and efficiency.


Introduction In situ simulation (ISS) consists of performing a simulation in the everyday working environment with the usual team members. The feasibility of ISS in emergency medicine is an important research question, because ISS offers the possibility for repetitive, regular simulation training consistent with specific local needs. However, ISS also raises the issue of safety, since it might negatively impact the care of other patients in the emergency department (ED). Our hypothesis is that ISS in an academic high-volume ED is feasible, safe and associated with benefits for both staff and patients. Methods A mixed-method, including a qualitative method for the assessment of feasibility and acceptability and a quantitative method for the assessment of patients' safety and participants' psychosocial risks, will be used in this study. Two distinct phases are planned in the ED of the CHU de Québec-Université Laval (Hôpital de l'Enfant-Jésus) between March 2021 and October 2021. Phase 1: an ISS programme will be implemented with selected ED professionals to assess its acceptability and safety and prove the validity of our educational concept. The number of cancelled sessions and the reasons for cancellation will be collected to establish feasibility criteria. Semistructured interviews will evaluate the acceptability of the intervention. We will compare unannounced and announced ISS. Phase 2: the impact of the ISS programme will be measured with validated questionnaires for the assessment of psychosocial risks, self-confidence and perceived stress among nonselected ED professionals, with comparison between those exposed to ISS and those that were not. Ethics and dissemination The CHU de Québec-Université Laval Research ethics board has approved this protocol (#2020–5000). Results will be presented to key professionals from our institution to improve patient safety. We also aim to publish our results in peer-reviewed journals and will submit abstracts to international conferences to disseminate our findings.


The aims were to describe causes of death associated with unplanned out‐of‐institution births, and to study whether they could be prevented.


The Internet of Things (IoT) revolutionized maintenance technology by allowing machines to communicate among themselves over the Internet in real-time. The very focus of Industry 4.0 towards automation and data exchange calls for the application of IoT in industry and for control, supervision, and maintenance of industrial equipment based on sensor data. The goal of this paper is to test several unsupervised machine learning algorithms for detecting anomalies in unlabeled (raw) data collected from a real e-coating plant that uses IoT technology. Unsupervised learning methods are advantageous because they do not require labeled data and benefit early stage anomaly detection in industry in general. The dataset used for training and testing is composed of real-time data gathered from the plant's sensors over a period of 15 days. For the purpose of anomaly detection, we used the following unsupervised machine learning algorithms: Interquartile Range (IQR), Isolation Forest, and Elliptic Envelope. The algorithms were compared with each other by the time required for training and the total number of detected anomalies. According to the observed results, it was shown that IQR needs much less time for training and detects three times more anomalies compared to the other two algorithms.