Action research was conducted in Bangladesh to determine whether a high level of fertility control behavior can be attained in a country of very low socioeconomic status including very low levels of literacy and womens status and if management training help can improve the performance of service delivery systems. 20 family planning officials participated in a 14-week non-degree management training program conducted in Dhaka. The research found that competently executed determined effort is a far faster and more effective alternative to socioeconomic development-led contraception in a developing population. A carefully designed and executed intervention can achieve a high level of contraceptive use and thereby control fertility without waiting for significant improvement in a countrys socioeconomic indicators. For example in the 19 experimental thanas the contraceptive prevalence rate increased by an average of approximately 10 percentage points within 12 months of training. These findings demonstrate how a task-focused well-designed and properly conducted management training backed by well organized and managed follow-up can effect major improvement in a systems effectiveness and productivity even if that system is staffed by a demoralized and apathetic work force.


The article considers the preconditions for development of the criterial approach system for the choice of measurements means in designing and modernization of technological processes. Also, main spheres of measurement means parameters are chosen and explained.


This paper presents a motion tracking control methodology based on sliding mode strategy for a flexure-based micro/nano manipulator driven by a piezoelectric actuator. This control methodology is proposed for tracking of desired motion trajectories in the presence of uncertain system parameters, non-linearities including the hysteresis effect, and external disturbances in the control system. In this paper, a four-bar link is investigated and a lumped parameter dynamic model is established for the formulation of the proposed sliding mode motion control methodology. The convergence of the position tracking error to zero is assured by the approach in the presence of the aforementioned conditions. The stability of the closed-loop system is proven theoretically, and a precise tracking performance in following a desired motion trajectory is demonstrated in the experimental study. With the capability of motion tracking, the proposed control methodology can be employed in realising high performance flexure-based control applications.


This study used flow cytometry to determine the peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets and a sandwich enzyme immunoassay to measure the plasma levels of interleukin-2 (IL-2) and soluble IL-2 receptor (sIL-2R) in 34 patients in different stages of recurrent aphthous ulcers (RAU) and in 32 age/sex-matched normal control subjects. In the exacerbation stage of RAU, a significant increase in the percentages of CD3+ (p < 0.001), CD4+ (p < 0.001), CD4+ IL-2R+ (p < 0.001), CD8+ IL-2R+ (p < 0.01) and IL-2R+ cells (p < 0.001), in the CD4+/CD8+ (p < 0.01) and CD4+/CD3+ CD8+ ratios (p < 0.01), and in the plasma level of IL-2 (p < 0.001) was found in the patients as compared with the levels in the normal control subjects. However, in the post-exacerbation stage of RAU, there was a significant decrease in the percentage of CD4+ cells (p < 0.05) and in the CD4+/CD8+ (p < 0.01) and CD4+/CD3+ CD8+ ratios (p < 0.001), as well as a significant increase in CD8+ cells (p < 0.001) in the patients, as compared with the levels in the normal control subjects. Because the CD4+, CD4+ IL-2R+ and CD8+ IL-2R+ cell counts and the plasma level of IL-2 increased simultaneously in the patients in the exacerbation stage of RAU, we suggest that the markedly increased plasma level of IL-2 may have been secreted by the increased number of activated CD4+ cells, and that the expression of IL-2R by activated peripheral blood lymphocytes was upregulated by the plasma level of IL-2 in patients with RAU. In addition, the increase and then decrease of the CD4+/CD8+ ratio in the RAU patients and the increased number of CD4+ IL-2R+ and CD8+ IL-2R+ activated T cells in the RAU patients support the role of cell-mediated cytotoxicity in the immunopathogenesis of RAU.


Property value effects of linear river ferries that service multiple stops in cities are under-explored. The Brisbane CityCat, CityHopper, and CityFerries combine to form a ferry system with 24 terminals. A geographically weighted regression (GWR) approach is used to determine property value effects of the system. Cross-sectional property data is used in combination with a set of neighborhood variables derived from 2011 census data, spatial feature location, and transport datasets (roads, busway and train station locations) for the city. The preferred global model had a good fit and showed expected signs for all parameters, showing that property prices tended to decline with distance from ferry terminals, when controlling for other variables. For every kilometer close a location is to a ferry terminal, there is an expected price increase of 4 percent on average, across the study area. The GWR local model also had good fit and suggested property value gains around specific terminals. Visual inspection suggests that locations where more ferry-oriented development opportunities have been taken in recent decades are the sites with the greatest positive property value effects. The implications are that land developers are justified in seeking ferry terminals to service their developments.


This paper presents the application of augmented reality technology in education, combining with the current situation of applying virtual reality education, analyzes the problems existing in the virtual reality application in education, puts forward some suggestions, and finally prospects the developing trend of the technology of virtual reality now.


The role of the central nervous system in the development and course of anaphylaxis has received relatively little recent experimental attention. 9,13 At the turn of the century, pioneer investigators considered the brain to be the target organ initiating the reaction, until experiments demonstrated components of the syndrome in the presence of decerebration and decapitation. 1,20,21 Knowledge of the immunologic and biochemical aspects of anaphylaxis has since been extensively advanced, but neural factors in the syndrome remain to be delineated. Closely resembling human asthma, anaphylactic shock in the guinea pig terminates in a relatively sudden respiratory death. The release of H substances (histamine, acetylcholine, or anaphylatoxin) in the antigen-antibody reaction results in bronchospasm. Autopsy reveals emphysematous lungs fixed in deep inspiration as a consequence of spasm, edema, and mucous exudate. Bronchospasm occurs in vitro in the presence of histamine. In the intact animal this reaction may be modified because the


Customer profiling is becoming increasing important in modern retail industry. In this paper, we propose an approach which can either build customer profile from scratch or refine existing customer profiles. In our method, all the products in sale are attached with pre-defined labels. We build the customer profile according to the corresponding transactional data. The advantage of this approach can be summarized as follows: (1) The transactional data can provide better understanding of the characteristic of the customers; (2) The customer profile can be updated adaptively and reflect the newest behavior of the customer. Experimental results indicate the advantage of our methods.


The fatigue crack propagation behavior of the nickel base superalloy CMSX-2 in single crystal form was investigated. Tests were conducted for two temperatures (25 and 700°C), two orientations ([OOl][l lo] and [OOl][OlO]), and in two environments (laboratory air and ultra-high vacuum 10-7 torr). Following FCP testing, the fracture surfaces were examined using scanning electron microscopy. Transmission electron microscopy was used to determine the size and shape of the y' precipitates. FCP rates were found to be relatively independent of the temperature, environment and orientation when correlated with the conventional mode I stress intensity factor. Examination of the fracture surfaces showed two distinct types of fracture. One type was characterized by { 111) fracture surfaces which were inclined relative to both the loading and crack propagation directions. These features, while clearly a result of the fatigue process resembled cleavage fractures along { 111) planes. Such features were observed at 25 and 700°C ; they were the only features observed for the 25°C tests. The second type had a macroscopically dull loading appearance, was microscopically rough and grew normal to the loading axis. This feature was seen on the specimens tested at 700°C (in both air and vacuum) and had a similar appearance to conventional fatigue fractures. Although in this region the crack plane was macroscopically normal to the loading direction, it deviated microscopically to avoid shearing the y' precipitates. In view of the complex crack growth mechanisms, mixed fracture modes, and lack of any difference in FCP rates, it is hypothesized that the correlation between FCP rates and stress intensity parameter is probably coincidental. The implications for life prediction of higher temperature turbine components based on conventional fracture mechanics are significant and should be further investigated. Superalloys 1992 Edited by S.D. Antolovich, R.W. Stusrud, R.A. MacKay, D.L. Anton, T. Khan, R.D. Kissinger, D.L. Klarstrom The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, 1992


Fewer postharvest technologies are available for use on organic than conventional fruits and vegetables. Even though biopesticides are perceived as likely candidates for postharvest use on organic produce, only some biopesticides will be approved as organic compounds for various reasons. An example is the defi nition of a biopesticide used by regulatory agencies such as the EPA which includes compounds that will not be considered organically acceptable. Fortunately, there are other existing or new technologies that could be acceptable on organic fruits and vegetables. Some examples are hot water immersion treatment or a hot water rinsing and brushing, new innovative controlled atmosphere techniques, alternative sprout control agents, naturally occurring volatiles and biofumigants. More re- search is needed on each of these technologies, both singly and in combination with each other.


Polymers are a kind of attractive hosts for laser dyes because of their superior optical homogeneity, and high transparency in pumping and lasing range. Copolymers usually have higher damage threshold and better photostability than mono-polymers. Solid dye samples based on copolymer of methyl methacrylate (MMA) with 2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate (HPMA) doped with 1-, 3-, 5-, 7-, 8-pentamethyl-2, 6-diethylpyrromethene-BF2 (PM567) are prepared. Spectra and lasing properties of the samples are studied. Compared to the samples based on monopolymer polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), enhanced slope efficiency and photostability are obtained in the copolymers. The highest slope efficiency is 45.1%, and nearly one-fold increase of photostability is obtained. The longest useful lifetime of 4390 pumping pulses is presented with the pump energy as high as 183 mJ per pulse at repetition rate of 10 Hz. The results indicate that the laser performances of solid dye mediums can be greatly increased using copolymer of MMA with HPMA as host.


Proceedings: AACR 104th Annual Meeting 2013; Apr 6-10, 2013; Washington, DC

Background: The implementation of novel technologies such as array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) and next-generation sequencing has led to a deeper understanding of the genomic nature of cancer. However, these analyses have classically been done without respecting intra-tumor heterogeneity. Here, we applied a methodology that allows us analyzing the genomic profile of distinct tumor populations from individual tumors and their clonal evolution during the progression to castration-resistant disease. Methods: Matched pre- and post- hormone treated fresh frozen and/or formalin fixed prostate cancer samples were selected from our biobank. Clonal tumor populations were flow-sorted according to their nuclear DNA content. Sorted tumor populations were subjected to whole genome CGH and to full exome sequencing analyses by the use of Agilent SurePrint 2x400k microarrays and the SureSelect All Exon Kit, respectively. Results: The genomic analyses of the tumor samples underscore the presence of significant intra-tumoral heterogeneity. The analysis of matched tumor specimens allowed us to identify two particular patterns of tumor evolution during the progression after treatment: First, a more parallel pattern of tumor evolution, in which the ancestor population is breeding multiple aneuploid tumor clones. In this case, only the 2N ancestor population is able to withstand therapy by the acquisition of few specific genomic aberrations whereas the aneuploid populations are eradicated. Second, a more sequential pattern of tumor evolution with a tumor population that evolves out of a continuous line of clones. This population shows increasing signs of genomic instability over time, with a punctual event of chromothripsis (a massive destruction and rearrangement of chromosomal structures) resulting in castration-resistant clonal tumor populations. Conclusions: Genomic profiling of distinct clonal tumor populations during prostate cancer progression allows for analysis of intra-tumoral heterogeneity and the underlying clonal evolution. Importantly, this approach identifies genomic aberrations that were selected for under the pressure of hormone ablation therapy.

Citation Format: Joel R. Gsponer, Tanja Dietsche, Alexander Rufle, Elisabeth Lenkiewicz, Tobias Zellweger, Alexander Bachmann, Daniel D. Von Hoff, M T. Barrett, Cyrill Rentsch, Christian Ruiz, Lukas Bubendorf. The genomic evolution of prostate cancer under the selective pressure of anti-androgen therapy. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3181. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-3181


The National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC) has defined resiliency as the ability of a network to withstand the loss of assets and to recover quickly from such losses. How to measure the resiliency of a base station deployment is an important consideration for network planners and operators. In this paper, we propose a resiliency measurement method in conjunction with a performance metric such as coverage or supported throughput, where we define the resiliency as the maximum number of sites that can fail before the metric falls below a minimum acceptable threshold. Because the number of combinations of failures increases exponentially with respect to the number of sites in a given deployment, we introduce an algorithm that generates estimates of the lowest, highest, and average values of the metric for a given failure count while examining a subset of the possible failure combinations. We use an example deployment to demonstrate how the resiliency metric can be used to identify sites that have a disproportionate impact on performance; the network planner can harden these sites or, for a future deployment, adjust the site placement to reduce the effect of the high-impact sites.


Objective: To analyze whether parathyroidectomy can prevent the progress of metastatic pulmonary calcification (MPC) in patients with chronic renal failure (CRF). Methods: A male patient with CRF complicated with MPC who underwent parathyroidectomy for secondary hyperparathyroidism and parathyroid adenoma was followed up for 10 years. The changes of MPC and the levels of blood calcium and phosphorus were measured. We searched the relevant literatures in PubMed and Wanfang databases with the key words of "metastatic pulmonary calibration" and "parathyroidectomy". Then, we manually retrieved the references of the literatures. A total of 18 patients (17 patients from 14 publications as well as the present case) were analyzed. By comparing the characteristics of MPC improvement group and MPC progression group, the factors affecting the prognosis of MPC after parathyroidectomy were explored. Results: After parathyroidectomy, the thoracic CT images of the patient gradually worsened from normal to diffuse ground glass opacity of both lungs, which indicated that parathyroidectomy did not prevent the progression of MPC in this patient. Among the 18 MPC patients who underwent parathyroidectomy, 10 patients had improved MPC, three had CRF, and two received peritoneal dialysis or hemodialysis respectively; eight patients had progressed MPC, all of the patients were CRF patients, one patient received peritoneal dialysis, and other patients received hemodialysis. Compared between the two groups, the proportion of CRF patients (P=0.004) and hemodialysis patients (P=0.003) in the progression group were significantly higher than those in the improvement group. Conclusion: Parathyroidectomy cannot prevent the progression of MPC in hemodialysis patients with CRF.


Dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) is considered one of the most efficient techniques for reducing energy consumption. Our studies have found that the optimal operation speed with optimal energy efficiency typically achieves when the processor running at a specific speed other than the lowest speed. Additionally, there exists an inverse relationship between the memory access rate (MAR) and the frequency that can minimize the energy consumption. Therefore, a predictive model can be deduced from the memory access rate to determine a frequency that tends to minimize the CPU energy consumption. In this paper, the existence of a critical speed and the memory access rate-critical speed equation (MAR-CSE) is proved theoretically and practically. A lower bound for Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling is also defined. We report the most energy-efficient DVFS model that provide upper bounds of the reduction of energy consumption. The proposed approach has been implemented on embedded Linux operating system. The experimental results on energy consumption analysis show that our algorithm outperforms other existent DVFS algorithms.


The precision measurements of the monthly carbon and oxygen cosmic ray fluxes for the period from May 2011 to May 2018 with Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer on the International Space Station are presented. This period covers the ascending phase of solar cycle 24 together with the reversal of the Sun's magnetic field polarity through the maximum. The detailed variations with time of the carbon and oxygen fluxes are shown up to rigidities of 60 GV. The time dependence of the carbon to oxygen flux ratio is also presented, together with the flux ratios to the more abundant species proton and helium


With increased environmental focus and sustainability, classical water-based EOR with surfactants or polymers meet larger implementation scepticism. This has increased the attention toward water-based EOR methods with low environmental impact and lower costs, such as Smart Water and alkaline flooding. Both methods are based on the establishment of alkaline conditions in the formation. Chemical interactions among the rock minerals, reservoir fluids, and injection brine can be reflected in the pH of the produced water. Thus, the scope of this work is to investigate the development and transportation of pH through porous media during 1) low salinity (LS) Smart Water flooding, and 2) alkaline LS (alk. LS) waterflooding.
 Outcrop sandstone cores were used in core flooding experiments. Several pH-screening tests were performed to study the pH development during waterflooding. The ability of LS and alk. LS injection brines to increase the pH in sandstone core material with different mineralogy was compared, and the effect of pH on oil recovery was confirmed in an oil recovery test.
 The results of the pH-screening tests by LS brine injection showed a potential for increasing the effluent LS water pH up to 2 units in comparison to its initial pH-value. The oil recovery test performed on the same core material showed almost 10% incremental oil recovery during LS flooding in secondary mode, in comparison with formation water (FW) flooding. pH-screening tests with alkaline LS brine injection showed low potential for extra alkalinity above that obtained by LS brine injection. Transportation of alkalinity through a mineral system with large surface area seemed to be challenging due to pH buffering from brine/mineral interactions as well as from chemical interactions involving inorganic cations from the formation water.
 Based on the experimental results, ion exchanges between rock minerals and injected water can influence the reservoir pH and induce the wettability alteration. These chemical interactions can result in both development and consumption of alkalinity depending on the type of injected brine and chemical reactivity of the minerals. It was concluded that an in-situ generation of alkaline conditions at the waterfront seemed to have larger potential for EOR purposes than transferring the alkalinity of the injected brine through the reservoir.


The following CPR Atlas contains the biogeographical distribution of 240 common pelagic plankton taxa of the North Sea and North Atlantic Ocean. The biogeographical charts were produced using data collected by the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) survey from 1958 to 1999, incorporating over 155 000 plankton samples. The methodology on spatial interpretation of CPR data and protocols of the CPR survey are fully described in Beaugrand (2004, this volume). The charts are printed in alphabetical order of the genera within each major taxon. Nomenclature for diatoms is based on Hasle & Syvertsen (1996), for dinoflagellates on Steidinger & Tangen (1996), and for copepods on Park (1995) and Mauchline (1998). Details on selected taxa (indicated by * on the charts) are given following the index of the charts.


In this paper, the general exponential form of a neutrosophic complex number is defined by virtue of the formula for indeterminacy in the angle (θ+ϑI), where (θ+ϑI) is the indeterminate angle between two indeterminate parts of the coordinate axes (x-axis and y-axis), and the general trigonometric form of a neutrosophic complex number is defined. In addition, we also provide theorems with proofs for how to find the conjugate of neutrosophic complex numbers by using the general exponential form, division of neutrosophic complex numbers by the general exponential form, multiplying two neutrosophic complex numbers by the general exponential form, and the inverted neutrosophic complex number by the general exponential form.


A relatively neglected aspect of sustainable development is the creation of an enduring built environment that can be adapted to suit changing circumstances. This presents a significant challenge: how to evaluate a building's adaptability. The premise is introduced that adaptability is enhanced through the use of analytical tools which can provide better control of the building's system architecture that enables easier, and less costly, user-driven adaptations. More specifically it investigates what a dependency structure matrix (DSM), a square (N × N) matrix-based model that visualizes the relationships between elements within a system, can reveal about the capacity for an industrialized building to accommodate change, through clustering and impact analyses. Clustering analysis attempts to assess the system architecture on generic principles of change by organizing it into discrete modules, while the impact analysis examines propagation in 30 change scenarios by tracing dependencies within the DSM. Feasibility assessments of the scenarios are compared with the knowledge of a system expert. The results indicate the DSM analysis provided insights beyond the intuition of the system expert regarding change propagation, while the system expert's knowledge of component characteristics and overall composition of the building proved beyond the capacity of the DSM. Additional conclusions are drawn from the case study regarding DSM construction and the analytical process.


Time series with large discontinuities are common in many scenarios. However, existing distance-based algorithms (e.g., DTW and its derivative algorithms) may perform poorly in measuring distances between these time series pairs. In this paper, we propose the segmented pairwise distance (SPD) algorithm to measure distances between time series with large discontinuities. SPD is orthogonal to distance-based algorithms and can be embedded in them. We validate advantages of SPD-embedded algorithms over corresponding distance-based ones on both open datasets and a proprietary dataset of surgical time series (of surgeons performing a temporal bone surgery in a virtual reality surgery simulator). Experimental results demonstrate that SPD-embedded algorithms outperform corresponding distance-based ones in distance measurement between time series with large discontinuities, measured by the Silhouette index (SI).


In recent year, there has been remarkable progress in the use of high-field rare-earth barium copper oxide (REBCO) coils in NMR, MRI, and accelerator applications. No-insulation (NI) winding techniques are adopted to achieve high thermal stability and high current density. Thus, each winding in a non-impregnated NI REBCO coil can deform separately and move freely because of the thermal strain and electromagnetic force. The additional force and stress due to a screening current has also become an issue in REBCO coils. The screening current leads to a non-uniform force distribution in REBCO tapes and forces exceeding an acceptable value. It has been reported that REBCO coils have experienced mechanical deterioration or damage when operating under high magnetic fields. However, the detailed mechanism for this damage or deterioration has not been clarified. In order to clarify the detailed mechanism of this damage to a REBCO coil, the stress and strain during the winding, cooling down, charging, and discharging processes need to be evaluated. Furthermore, in NI REBCO coils, the turn-to-turn contact configurations are very important for the current bypassing, the thermal and mechanical stability. In previous studies, we have developed the numerical simulation code on the electromagnetic behavior of screening current and mechanical behavior of the turn-to-turn contact state. This study numerically evaluated the deformation and stress in REBCO tape and the turn-to-turn contact in NI REBCO coils.


Hospitals have to purchase new technology, update equipment, and replenish supplies continually to meet the needs of patients and the medical and nursing staff in a sound financial way. Thus, inventories must be maintained accurately and adequately with proper controls. Awareness of the cost of capital and operational supplies is essential to meeting budget allocations. With or without centralized buying, the MM department has the expertise to assist every department in purchasing to meet its needs and in setting and resetting inventory levels for its supplies. Explanations and formulas for handling capital equipment and regular supplies and some formats have been presented to facilitate the process. Because OR items are both expensive and numerous and OR storage space the most costly space in the hospital, physicians and nurse managers must understand the financial processes and inventory management and educate their staffs in these matters.


Chronic (cid:2) -opioid agonist treatment leads to dependence with withdrawal on removal of agonist. At the cellular level with- drawal is accompanied by a supersensitization of adenylyl cyclase, an effect that requires inhibitory G (cid:1) proteins. Inhibitory G (cid:1) protein action is modulated by regulator of G protein signaling (RGS) proteins that act as GTPase activating proteins and reduce the lifetime of G (cid:1) -GTP. In this article, we use C6 glioma cells expressing the rat (cid:2) -opioid receptor (C6 (cid:2) ) to examine the hypothesis that G (cid:1) o alone can mediate (cid:2) -opioid agonist induced adenylyl cyclase supersensitivity and that en- dogenous RGS proteins serve to limit the extent of this supersensitization. C6 (cid:2) cells were stably transfected with pertussis toxin (PTX)-insensitive G (cid:1) o that was either sensitive or insensitive to endogenous RGS proteins. Cells were treated with PTX to uncouple endogenous G (cid:1) proteins followed by exposure to the (cid:2) -opioid agonists [ D -Ala 2 , N -Me-Phe 4 ,Gly 5 -ol]-enkephalin or morphine. Supersensitization was observed in cells express- ing wild-type G (cid:1) , but this was lost on PTX treatment. In cells expressing PTX-insensitive G (cid:1) o supersensitization was recov-ered, confirming that G (cid:1) o alone can support supersensitization. In cells expressing the RGS-insensitive mutant G (cid:1) o, there was a greater degree of supersensitization and the concentra- tion of (cid:2) -agonist needed to achieve half-maximal supersensitization was reduced by 10-fold. The amount of supersensiti- zation seen did not directly relate to the degree of acute inhibition of adenylyl cyclase. These results demonstrate a role for G (cid:1) o in adenylyl cyclase supersensitization after (cid:2) -agonist exposure and show that this action is modulated by endoge- nous RGS proteins.


Background Endobronchial ultrasound‒guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) is a standard diagnostic method for mediastinal and hilar lymphadenopathy. Although rare, fatal infectious complications can occur following EBUS-TBNA. However, to date, there is a lack of effective preventive strategies to reduce these complications. We started a trial to investigate the effect of chlorhexidine mouthrinse on the prevention of microbial contamination during EBUS-TBNA. Methods This study is a single-center, parallel-group, assessor-blinded randomized controlled trial (RCT). We will enroll 112 adult participants undergoing EBUS-TBNA using a convex probe, and randomly assign them to two groups at a 1:1 ratio. The intervention group will gargle for 1 minute with 100 mL of 0.12% chlorhexidine gluconate before EBUS-TBNA, while the control group will have no mouthrinse before the procedure. Immediately after completion of EBUS-TBNA on all targeted lesions with an aspiration needle, a needle wash sample will be taken by instilling 5 mL of sterile saline into the used needle. The primary outcome is colony forming unit (CFU) counts in aerobic cultures of the needle wash samples. Secondary outcomes are CFU counts in anaerobic cultures, fever within 24 hours after EBUS-TBNA, and infectious complications within 4 weeks after EBUS-TBNA. Conclusion This trial was designed as the first RCT to investigate the effect of chlorhexidine mouthrinse on the prevention of microbial contamination during EBUS-TBNA. Results from this trial can provide clinical evidence for a simple, safe, and cost-effective strategy to prevent infectious complications following EBUS-TBNA (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT04718922, registered on 22 January 2021).


OBJECTIVE
Cerebral gray matter volume reductions have been found to progress over time in schizophrenia, with larger decreases related to poorer outcome, which has also been associated with cannabis use in schizophrenia patients. Progressive gray matter changes in patients who use cannabis may be more extensive than in those who do not.

METHOD
Patients with recent-onset schizophrenia (N=51) and matched healthy subjects (N=31) were included. For all subjects, magnetic resonance imaging scans were obtained at inclusion (T0) and at 5-year follow-up (T5). Nineteen patients used cannabis but no other illicit drugs; 32 patients did not use any drugs during the 5-year follow-up. At T5, clinical outcome was measured. Cumulative amount of antipsychotic medication during the interval was calculated. At T0 and T5, total brain, gray and white matter, and lateral and third ventricle volumes were measured. Univariate analysis of covariance and pairwise comparisons were performed.

RESULT
Schizophrenia patients showed a larger gray matter volume decrease over time than healthy subjects. They also showed larger increases in lateral and third ventricle volumes than healthy subjects and patients who did not use cannabis during follow-up. This decrement was significantly more pronounced in the patients who continued to use cannabis. These differences could not be attributed to outcome or baseline characteristics.

CONCLUSIONS
First-episode schizophrenia patients who use cannabis show a more pronounced brain volume reduction over a 5-year follow-up than patients with schizophrenia who do not use cannabis. These results may help explain some of the detrimental effects of cannabis use in schizophrenia.


BACKGROUND
IgA nephropathy is induced by the IgA-immune complex (IC). IgA nephropathy associated with heavy proteinuria is considered a more progressive form of the disease. To elucidate the mechanism by which the latter condition occurs, we investigated the effect of proteinuria on the glomerular deposition of IgA-IC.

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
BALB/c female mice that had been made proteinuric by adriamycin or bovine serum albumin (BSA) were injected with TEPC-15 hybridoma-derived IgA anti-phosphorylcholine (PC) and individual specific antigens. The 6-hour clearance kinetics of IgA were measured, and the accumulation of IgA deposits and the third complement component (C3) in the glomerulus were analyzed.

RESULTS
The clearance kinetics of 125I-IgA injected together with a specific antigen, PC-conjugated BSA (BSA-PC), showed only a minimal distinction between the experimental (proteinuric) and the control (nonproteinuric) groups of mice. However, analysis of renal tissue by immunofluorescence and light microscopic autoradiography revealed markedly enhanced mesangial IgA-IC deposition in the proteinuric mice receiving IgA and one of three specific antigens, BSA-PC, PC-conjugated cytochrome-c, and a pneumococcal C-polysaccharide. Immunofluorescence also showed augmented mesangial C3 deposition in proteinuric mice that received IgA/PC-conjugated cytochrome-c or IgA/pneumococcal C-polysaccharide. In addition, adriamycin or BSA per se did not influence glomerular IgA-IC localization.

CONCLUSIONS
Glomerular localization of nephritogenic IgA-IC was comparably enhanced in mice with proteinuria induced by various methods. Thus, a vicious cycle for the progression of IgA nephropathy might ensue in proteinuric states.


Tariff structures where charges depend on resource usage allow network operators to fairly recover costs from their customers. The notion of effective bandwidth is an important mathematical abstraction to the complex problem of quantifying resource usage. We consider usage-based pricing schemes which are based on some bound of the effective bandwidth and involve two measurements: the duration of a connection and the total volume transferred. The schemes are compared according to their fairness, i.e., their ability to capture the relative amount of resources used by connections. Our experiments involve a large set of MPEG-1 compressed video with different contents, and show that for links with a high degree of multiplexing, simple approximations can yield good performance. (10 pages)


In order to conduct successful long-term service and system architecture development, permanent infrastructures and development environment are essential. For this purpose, FMI is operating a vehicle winter testing track with advanced communication capabilities within ITS-G5 and 5G test network, along with accurate road weather data and services supported by road weather stations, IoT road weather sensor network and on-board weather measurements. The track is in Sodankylä, Northern Finland, where the long arctic winter period of more than half year allows road weather services development in (and for) severe weather conditions. This environment provides appropriate conditions for the development of advanced ITS safety services equally for traditional, autonomous and alternate energy vehicles, tailored road weather services for each special use case and accurate estimation of performance. Not forgetting the energy efficiency of traffic and communication infrastructures themselves, which are critical elements in the development of the future ITS. This paper introduces the test track infrastructures, related research ambitions and future plans.


Viruses have evolved the ability to bind and enter cells through interactions with a wide variety of host cell macromolecules. Here, we screened for AAV capsids that bind two host cell proteins expressed on the mouse blood-brain barrier, LY6A or the related protein LY6C1. Introducing interactions with either protein target generated hundreds of capsids with dramatically enhanced central nervous system (CNS) tropisms. In contrast to the AAV-PHP.B capsid family, which interacts with LY6A and only exhibits its enhanced CNS tropism in a subset of mouse strains, the capsids that engage LY6C1 maintain their CNS tropism in BALB/cJ mice. Compared to conventional in vivo screens for CNS cell transducing capsids, a single round of protein target binding screening recovered significantly more capsids with enhanced performance that were validated in subsequent in vivo screens. Moreover, the initial screening round generated reproducible and quantitative target binding data that enabled the efficient machine learning-guided generation of more diverse targetspecific capsids. This work demonstrates that AAV capsids can be directly targeted to specific proteins to generate potent gene delivery vectors with known mechanisms of action and predictable tropisms.


Field studies play an important role in curriculum at many levels. Within the Sustainable Leisure Management graduate program at Vancouver Island University (VIU), field studies play a critical role in allowing students to better understand the complexities of sustainability and innovation at the local/regional level. One particular course utilizes case studies as a research method and experiential education as a pedagogical philosophy, and in the 2012 edition highlighted by this article, the course examined sustainability and innovation on the Southern Gulf Islands of British Columbia, Canada.


Due to the exponential growth of wireless network based miniaturized device and sensors, the dream of context aware ubiquitous computing world is becoming realistic. In this ubiquitous world of context aware applications the users can get the information and share the information elsewhere instantaneously. Context aware meeting room is one of the interesting context aware systems where in the meeting of a given set of users will be organized as per the situation of users. In this paper we present the conceptual design and development of service recommendation system for prototypical context aware meeting room using Fuzzy Rules .The proposed recommendation system for context aware meeting room recommends the services by considering the users contextual parameters like role, priority and environmental conditions. The fuzzy rule is constructed using history database and knowledge base of the meeting. General Terms-Context aware meeting room, Fuzzy Rule, Bluetooth, Participants.


Significant evidence is available in the literature justifying the search for treatment technologies or process combinations to improve the decomposition of dozens of pharmaceuticals in wastewater. Conventional processing techniques are insufficient in removal of the pharmaceuticals, for having resistant waste and low biodegradability. Electron beam irradiation (EBI) may play an important role in this context, and relatively low doses have been reported for such purposes. The objective of this study was to apply the process of irradiation with electron beam in order to reduce the toxic effects of fluoxetine, propranolol, and a binary mixture of these pharmaceuticals in aqueous solution. Ecotoxicological tests conducted in two model organisms, Daphnia similis microcrustacean, and Vibrio fischeri bacterium. It was observed that D. similis was more sensitive to the pharmaceuticals and binary mixture, when compared to V. fischeri. When EBI was applied, all doses showed significant reduction of toxicity for D. similis, and the opposite for V. fischeri, when only 5.0 kGy showed a significant reduced of toxicity for the pharmaceuticals and binary mixture. 5.0 kGy was the best removal efficiency for toxicity, approximately 80% for D. similis and 20% for V. fischeri.


This paper examines the performance of DC electric rail guns using plasma-armature-accelerated projectiles. The adverse effects on performance of a black residue produced in the rail gun are examined. The residue appears to be responsible for causing secondary current paths within the rail gun. The secondary current paths result in muzzle velocities lower than predicted.


This article presents an approach to the terrain-aided navigation problem suitable for unmanned aerial vehicles flying at low altitude. The problem of estimating the state parameters of a flying vehicle is addressed in the particular situation where the GPS information is unavailable or unreliable due to jamming situations for instance. The proposed state estimation approach fuses information from inertial and image sensors. Absolute localization is obtained through image-to-map registration. For this purpose, 2D satellite images are used. The algorithms presented are implemented and tested on-board an industrial unmanned helicopter. Flight-test results will be presented.


Bluetooth technology started off as a wireless, short-range cable replacement technology but it has undergone significant developments over the last two decades. Bluetooth radios are currently embedded in almost all computing devices including personal computers, smart phones, smart watches, and even micro-controllers. For many of us, Bluetooth is an essential technology that we use every day. We provide an insight into the history of Bluetooth and its significant design developments over the last 25 years. We also discuss related issues (including security) and Bluetooth as a driving technology for the Internet of Things (IoT). Finally, we also present recent research results obtained with Bluetooth technology in various application areas.


An interesting effect of Fermi motion in n( gamma , pi -)p experiments on deuteron targets is the appearance of apparently parity-violating types of observables like asymmetry in the reaction plane and helicity of the recoil nucleon; these are found to be as large as 20% at typical geometries in the intermediate-energy region. Since these observables disappear in the limit of the spectator momentum tending to zero, their measurements provide a direct method to study the Fermi momentum distributions.


Introduction: Although numerous studies have been done to evaluate the diagnostic value of ultrasonography in diagnosis of renal calculi in children, there is still no consensus. Therefore, in the present systematic review and meta-analysis, we aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of ultrasonography in identifying renal stones in children. Methods: A comprehensive search of the electronic databases including Medline, Embase, Scopus and Web of Science was conducted up to July 2019. Diagnostic accuracy studies in children were included. Data was summarized and pooled. Area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity, specificity, diagnostic score and diagnostic odds ratio were reported with 95% confidence interval (95% CI). Results: Data from 7 articles were included. Pooled analysis showed that the area under the curve of ultrasonography in diagnosis of pediatric renal calculi was 0.94 (95% CI: 0.92 to 0.96). The sensitivity and specificity of this diagnostic modality were 0.80 (95% CI: 0.70 to 0.87) and 1.00 (95% CI: 0.84 to 1.00), respectively. Diagnostic score and diagnostic odds ratio of ultrasonography in detection of renal calculi were 110.32 (95% CI: 2.88 to 19.76) and 82362.41 (95% CI: 17.80 to 3.8 × 108), respectively. Conclusion: Overall, the low level of evidence indicates that sensitivity and specificity of ultrasonography in detecting renal calculi in children are 80% and 100%, respectively. However, due to the serious limitations of the included studies, well-designed prospective diagnostic accuracy studies are recommended for future studies.


Hotel reservation is an activity where a customer comes to the hotel to book a room and stay in a room that has been booked. Orders are made by customers, at the hotel Shades Rantaupapat the process of collecting the customers who will stay is still done manually. So that customers have to come to the hotel to make reservations directly. This reservation information system is an application that can help speed up registration or registration when at the reception. Cancellation can also be directly managed by the admin or receptionist. So as to provide other convenience in making reservations. In making this information system using a system development method in the form of a waterfall. At the time of making the programs using Visual Basic NET 2010. For databases that are used to create databases using SQL Server 2008. The application of this information system can help employees to record customers who stay overnight and manage information needs needed to support the hotel business.


Modern trading and cluster applications require microsecond latencies and almost no losses in data centers. This paper introduces an algorithm called FineComb that can estimate fine-grain end-to-end loss and latency measurements between edge routers in these data center networks. Such a mechanism can allow managers to distinguish between latencies and loss singularities caused by servers and those caused by the network. Compared to prior work, such as Lossy Difference Aggregator (LDA), that focused on switch-level latency measurements, the requirement of end-to-end latency measurements introduces the challenge of reordering that occurs commonly in IP networks due to churn. The problem is even more acute in switches across data center networks that employ multipath routing algorithms to exploit the inherent path diversity. Without proper care, a loss estimation algorithm can confound loss and reordering; further, any attempt to aggregate delay estimates in the presence of reordering results in severe errors. FineComb deals with these problems using order-agnostic packet digests and a simple new idea we call stash recovery. Our evaluation demonstrates that FineComb can provide orders of magnitude better accuracy in loss and delay estimates in the presence of reordering compared to LDA.


The implementation of learning that is still teacher-centered causes students to feel bored, and less involved in learning activities, so it is necessary to use an effective learning model in a lesson. The purpose of this research in literature is to see the use of the STAD learning model in improving the practical skills competence of SMK students. This research is a type of descriptive qualitative research with descriptive analysis and comparative literature from various journals and related research. The data in this study are analytic literative. Sources of data from previous studies related to research that are relevant to this research are the main key to the presentation of data analysis as a theoretical study which will be followed by further research. The main problem in this study is the results of observations from renewable research which concludes that there is learning that is still one angle, one object, namely the teacher. In fact, there is an awareness that is natural and intelligent of students that must be mixed so that they can place themselves in choosing education and understand the knowledge they are learning. The conclusion of this study is the strengthening of the STAD type cooperative learning model in improving the practical skills competence of vocational students. The implication of this research is that the STAD model treatment can encourage students to be more active in the learning process, foster student curiosity, and train students' thinking skills.


This paper investigates whether the type of institutional affiliation of a collateralized loan obligation (CLO) manager influences the manager's access to information and risk appetite. We base our investigation on CLO managers' trading of distressed loans. Our findings reveal that CLO managers affiliated with banks start to sell off their positions in loans arranged by their bank well before the onset of default and continue to do so even after default. In contrast, CLO managers affiliated with nonbanks do not lower their credit exposures to distressed loans. These findings are consistent with bank-affiliated CLO managers having access to private information but also being more concerned to mitigate the reputational risk exposure of their banking organization. On close inspection, we find that reputational concerns are a significant factor in the decision to divest defaulted loans. Although the value of private information after default is moot, we find that bank-affiliated CLO managers are significantly more averse to holding their own arranged problem loans than holding distressed loans arranged by unaffiliated banks. Besides helping us understand CLO managers' trading activities, our findings also highlight a potential limit to banks' ability to originate loans and distribute them via their affiliated CLOs.


Abstract Objective: To determine the prevalence of tubal abnormalities among infertile patients treated at  Srinagarind Hospital. Design: A descriptive study Setting: Infertility clinic, Srinagarind hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Thailand. Subject: Total of 523 female patients being treated at infertility clinic, Srinagarind hospital between  1 January  1998 to31  December 2000. Method: A retrospective review of demographic data, baseline infertility information and the results of tubal assesments (including both hysterosalpingography and laparoscopy) were conducted. Main outcome measure: Prevalence of tubal abnormalities in infertile females being treated in our infertility clinic during the study period. Results: Among the 523 patients being recruited to this study, 387 cases (74.0%) were diagnosed with primary infertility while the rest (136 patients or 26.0%) came to the clinic due to secondary infertility. The mean infertile period of all study subjects was 5.0 years. Regarding the methods used for tubal assessments, hysterosalpingography (HSG), laparoscopy and combination of the two methods were conducted in 417 cases (79.7%), 18 cases (3.4%) and 88 cases (16.8%), respectively. The prevalence of tubal abnormalities demonstrated in this study was 26.8 % (140 from 523 cases). Among the 140 patients with tubal abnormalities, the pathologies detected were cornual occlusion (42.8%), combined tubal abnormalities (32.9%), distal tubal occlusion (9.3%), hydrosalpinx (5.7%), peritubal adhesion (5.7%), and other abnormalities (3.6%). Other pelvic pathologies detected from laparoscopy were endometriosis (55.7%), pelvic adhesion (27.4%), leiomyoma (12.3%), and ovarian cyst (0.9%). Conclusion: Tubal abnormalities was detected in over one-fourth of all infertile females being treated at Srinagarind hospital.  Furhter study investigating the etiologies of these abnormalities is needed since it could be the measure to bring down the occurrence of   such conditions.


BACKGROUND
We have previously reported that combination chemotherapy based on the drugs cytarabine/platinum is effective in recurring lymphomas. In this phase II study, we prospectively studied a combination regimen of mesna/ifosfamide, mitoxantrone and etoposide (MINE) in patients with recurring lymphoma who had already received cytarabine/platinum but did not respond to the treatment.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
48 patients received MINE at the following doses: mesna 1.33 g/m2 i.v. daily x 3, and 500 mg p.o. daily 4 hours after each i.v. dose; ifosfamide 1.33 g/m2 i.v. daily, given concurrently with mesna, x 3 d; mitoxantrone 8 mg/m2 i.v. on day 1; and etoposide 65 mg/m2 i.v. daily x 3. Treatment cycles were 21-28 days apart, depending on patients' blood counts, with a maximum number of 6 cycles in responding patients. The histologic grade of the lymphomas according to the Working Formulation was low in 8 patients and intermediate in 40 patients. In the latter group, 12 were transformed from low grade.

RESULTS
Overall, 48% of the patients responded, with 21% having a complete response (CR), and 27% having a partial response (PR). The median survival time was 9 months, and the median follow-up of survivors is 51 months at this writing. Median time to treatment failure was 12 months for patients with complete responses, and 5 months for patients with partial responses. The most serious complication was myelosuppression, with 2 deaths resulting from neutropenic infection.

CONCLUSION
The MINE regimen induced responses in a moderate fraction of patients after their prior exposure to cytarabine/platinum salvage therapy, indicating there is no absolute cross resistance between these drug regimens.


For the winters of 1985 to 1989, ice-edge melt rates off Labrador and eastern Newfoundland were calculated from ice charts and satellite-tracked ice beacon data. The ice charts provided ice-edge motion and ice thicknesses, while the beacons provided ice-drift rates and rates of ice-edge retreat. Over the continental slope, ice-edge melt rates, ice-drift rates and heat fluxes required to melt the ice were all higher than those over the continental shelf. Ice-edge melt rates had a mean value of 18.0 km d−1 over the slope but reduced to 4.8 km d−1 over the shelf. Similarly, the mean ice-drift rate was higher over the slope (41.5 km d−1) than over the shelf (12.7km d−1). Ice-edge melt rates increased linearly, as ice-drift rates perpendicular to the edge increased. Estimates of heat fluxes (±30%), required to melt the ice at the ice edge, reached values of 700 W m−2 for 3-day periods and had a mean of 340 W m−2 over the slope and 130 W m−2 over the shelf.


Cetirizine is a potent, selective H1 histamine receptor antagonist. The effect of oral and inhaled eetirizine was assessed on the early bronchoconstrictor response to inhaled allergen in 10 mild atopie asthmatic patients in a double‐blind, randomized, plaeebo controlled trial. All were sensitive to Dermatophagoides pleronyssinus and this was used as the provoking allergen. The geometric mean PD20 FEV] values obtained at allergen challenge were measured as cumulative breath units (c.b.u.) and following oral cetirizine, inhaled cetirizine and placebo were 124–5, 75–7 and 76–7 c.b.u. respectively. These did not differ significantly. We conclude that neither oral nor inhaled cetirizine significantly attenuates the early response to inhaled allergen in atopie asthmatic subjects. However, the method of repeated allergen challenge is likely to be relatively insensitive. Clinical and Experimental Allergy, [o]. 23, pp. 528–531.


A prototype micro-scale Fluorescent Activated Cell Sorter (FACS) for life detection has been built and is undergoing testing. A functional miniature microfluidics instrument with the ability to remotely distinguish live or dead bacterial cells from abiotic particulates in ice or permafrost of icy bodies of the solar system would be of fundamental value to NASA. The use of molecular probes to obtain the bio-signature of living or dead cells could answer the most fundamental question of Astrobiology: Does life exist beyond Earth? The live-dead fluorescent stains to be used in the FACS instrument function only with biological cell walls. The detection of the cell membranes of living or dead bacteria (unlike PAH's and many other Biomarkers) would provide convincing evidence of present or past life. This miniature device rapidly examine large numbers of particulates from a polar ice or permafrost sample and distinguish living from dead bacteria cells and biological cells from mineral grains and abiotic particulates and sort the cells and particulates based on a staining system. Any sample found to exhibit fluorescence consistent with living cells could then be used in conjunction with a chiral labled release experiment or video microscopy system to seek addition evidence for cellular metabolism or motility. Results of preliminary testing and calibration of the FACS prototype instrument system with pure cultures and enrichment assemblages of microbial extremophiles will be reported.


In this paper, we address a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication system based on generalized spatial modulation (GSM) and dual-polarized (DP) antennas in sub-TeraHertz (sub-THz) bands to improve the Spectral Efficiency (SE) while reducing the spatial correlation effect and the space occupancy. Moreover, the joint Maximum Likelihood (ML) detector and a Modified Ordered Block Minimum Mean-Squared Error (MOB-MMSE) detector algorithm are proposed to detect jointly the complex symbols and the virtual bits conveyed by the activated polarization and the transmit antenna combination index. MOB-MMSE can achieve near-ML performance with low complexity. The performance of DP-GSM system over correlated Rayleigh/Rician fading and indoor sub-THz channels is studied. Provided results show that DP-GSM system is robust to the spatial correlation effects under Rician fading channel. In addition, an average bit-error probability (ABEP) upper bounding is derived and analyzed for the DP-GSM system over correlated Rayleigh/Rician fading channels. Since the sub-THz band suffers from many technological limitations and severe RF-impairments such as low transmit output power and important phase noise (PN), the DP-GSM system is studied by considering the sub-THz impairments. Moreover, the Dual Polarized Spatial Multiplexing (DP-SMX) and the Uni-Polarized GSM (UP-GSM) are compared with the DP-GSM system. The results reveal that DP-GSM with low order modulation schemes as QPSK outperforms the UP-GSM. Besides, DP-GSM and DP-SMX provide a good performance up to medium PN, which is interesting for sub-THz bands, but DP-GSM can reduce the transceiver cost by using a lower number of RF chains when the used transmitter architecture is based on RF-switching.


In this article I want to bring attention to the subject of women and work in Canada, with focus on their engagement in self-employment. This discussion is based on the economic and political history of women in Canada and is related to what Henrietta Moore (1994) refers to as gender ideologies. Although some women continue to perpetuate the gender ideology of what is traditionally regarded as women's work, such as in the case of a secretary I met, there are increasingly many who today choose self-employment as an innovative approach to work. My study of 50 women economic entrepreneurs in Toronto, Ontario, substantiates that there is a change in women's participation in the Canadian public economy. These self-employed women, as well as a few who have been employed, have relayed to me what has traditionally been perceived as the gender of business in Canada. This traditional idea has to a great degree prevented women from entering the public work force,first and foremost as employees, but even more so as selfemployed. The numbers of women engaged in economic entrepreneurship indicates a change in this area. In 1990 and 1995, Statistics Canada revealed that women are increasing in number among the self-employed in the employed workforce. Their growth rate is faster than what it is for men, and thus one third of self-employed Canadians are women (Canadian women entrepreneurs in growth sectors: a survey 1997:12).


Eight subjects having raised triglyceride levels associated with conditions such as diabetes, hyperuricaemia, obesity and hypothyroidism were given 50 g of bran per day to determine the effect of increasing dietary fibre on triglyceride and purine metabolism. The study was continued for two months. No significant effect was noted on the serum cholesterol or triglyceride level. There was a significant (P<0·0125) increase in the urate clearance during the initial two weeks of bran treatment, but serum uric acid levels did not alter.


- As the receiving end of an optical network opto electronics conversion of data takes place for the processing purpose. Electronic processing of high speed data dissipates huge amount of heat energy. this heat is directly proportional to the elements which are used in any circuit . huge numbers are elements used in any circuit design it means no huge amount of heat dissipation. This problem can be solved by reducing the number of element in the same circuit. In this proposed model the above said problem can be reduced.


In this paper, we generalized the results presented in the paper W. Long, S. Khaleghizadeh, P. Salimi, S. Radenović and S. Shukla, Some new fixed point results in partially ordered metric spaces via admissible mappings, Fixed Point Theory Appl. (2014), 2014:117, in the framework of partial metric spaces by using C−class function in ordered structure. Also, we provide an example to support our theoretical results and shows that obtained results are potential generalization of the already existing results in literature. AMS Mathematics Subject Classification (2010): 47H10, 54H25.


We consider the performance of distance-metrics method applied in demand estimation of carbonated soft drink products. Based on preliminary OLS outcome, the estimated coefficients are satisfied our prior expectations and results are consistent with previous research. Brand loyalty and strong substitution between products of the same group is found in our study, as also found in Rojas and others. Our tentative conclusion is that distance metrics method is worthy of further consideration in demand estimation and offers the potential for study of merger simulations.


Selective excitation of the 6s'(1/2)1(1P1) state of xenon by three-photon absorption produces, in the VUV range, three characteristic emissions of xenon at 129, 147 and 173 nm. For pressures above 1 Torr, the excitation spectra are obtained for laser excitation wavelengths lower than the wavelength corresponding to three-photon resonant excitation of the 1P1 state in accordance with the negative dispersion wavelength zone where third harmonic generation is possible. The sharp drops in these excitation spectra are explained by a four-photon absorption process. From the temporal analysis of the emission at 129 nm, it is reasonable to infer that an ionisation phenomenon is involved which leads to the formation of an upper atomic state responsible for the formation of radiative molecular states by three-body collisions.


This paper studies the heat storage system's influence on a solar chimney's power production. This study considers several material types, including solid and phase change materials, at the bottom section of a solar chimney for energy storage, and evaluates their effects on the energy yield and capacity to prolong the power output during the absence of the sun. A computational fluid dynamic model using COMSOL Multiphysics is performed to carry out this work. An initial steady‐state analysis using average monthly irradiance is implemented, after which the top two solid and phase change material options are selected. Subsequently, a time‐dependent simulation using a typical summer day is carried out for the chosen storage materials. The overall performance results are comparatively assessed in terms of average temperature, power generation, and efficiency. As a result, bismuth‐led‐tin‐cadmium and magnesium chloride hexahydrate present the highest power production among the phase change materials, giving a yearly average power output of 27.46 kW and a storage temperature of about 346 K. On the other hand, sandstone offers the highest overall annual average power production, yielding 31.49 kW, and a storage temperature of 352.17 K. This material also reflects the highest yearly average energy and exergy efficiencies with 0.122% and 0.128%, respectively.


A concept for improving the precision of reconstruction of the maxilla in terms of form and function, including gnathologic, functional, and prosthetic aspects, is presented with a prefabricated combined scapula flap. In four cases, a bony flap from the lateral border of the scapula with osseointegrated titanium implants, covered with skin grafts and encapsulated with a Goretex sheet to create a stable soft-tissue coverage, was performed. Three months later, the prefabricated combined scapula flap was harvested and transferred to reconstruct a maxillary bony and soft-tissue defect in the face using microsurgical vascular anastomoses to the facial vessels. One flap was lost because of vascular thrombosis and was repeated successfully 1 year later. In each of the four cases, full dental rehabilitation and marked improvement of the facial contour was achieved in a single surgical intervention of the face. For this purpose, new radiodiagnostic methods for precise correlation between the maxillofacial defect and the donor area were use. With this new concept, an organ-specific reconstruction of soft-and bony-tissue defects of the alveolar ridge and the hard palate, with a pseudogingiva and teeth, is possible in an optimal way.


Background: Part of patients with acute pulmonary embolism(PE) will develop into pulmonary hypertension(PH) including chronic pulmonary thromboembolic hypertension(CTEPH). Related risk factors need to be addressed to guide clinical practice. Objectives: To investigate the incidence of PH after PE and related risk factors. Methods: Consecutive patients diagnosed as acute PE admitted to our institute from 2006 to 2010 were included. All the patients were followed till Dec 2011. During the follow-up, patients with PH showed in echocardiogram, defined as estimated systolic pulmonary artery pressure(sPAP) over 50mmHg, received right heart catheterization to confirm the diagnosis of CTEPH. Results: 612 patients were included and the median follow-up period was 36 months. All-cause mortality was 17.3%. 15 patients developed into PH and 10 were diagnosed as CTEPH. The 1-, 2- and 5-year cumulative incidences of PH were 1.0%(95%CI 0.2%-1.8%), 1.3%(95%CI 0.3%-2.3%) and 3.5%(95%CI 1.5%-5.5%) respectively. Patients with varicose vein of lower limbs(HR 5.480,95%CI 1.058-28.385) and existence of PH at the beginning(HR 10.743,95%CI 2.315-49.852) had higher risk in developing into PH. Conclusions: CTEPH is a serious complication in a significant number of PE cases. History of varicose vein of lower limbs and estimated sPAP over 50mmHg at the first episode of PE seem to predict the risk of CTEPH in long-term follow-up.


Objective: To investigate associations between wood dust exp. and resp. symptoms in two studies 5 years apart from the same area. Methods: 2,032 woodworkers from 54 plants in study 1 and 1,889 woodworkers from 52 plants in study 2 returned a questionnaire on resp. symptoms, employment and smoking habits. Assessment of wood dust exp. was based on job exposure matrices including factory size, task and personal dust measurements (2,217 in study 1 and 1,355 in study 2). Results: The median (range) of inhalable dust conc. was 0.8 (0.4-1.6)mg/m 3 in study 1 and 0.6 (0.3-1.1)mg/m 3 in study 2. The prev. of selfrep. asthma was higher, but the prev. of resp. symptoms were lower in study 2 vs. study 1. In adj. logistic regression analyses wood dust exposure explained the difference in symptom prevalence between study 1 and study 2, but no effect was found for selfrep. asthma. No influence of sex, smoking and age was seen. Conclusion: An association between respiratory symptoms and wood dust exposure was confirmed.


Researches on pragmatic impairments in individuals with Asperger syndrome were reviewed in regard to its characteristics and interventions. The very wide diversity of their pragmatic impairments was studied in terms of speech acts, expressing mental states, comprehension of indirect speech, question and answer, conversational turn-taking, narratives, pronouns and addressing forms, inferential language, reference and cohesion, and humor and joke. As for theories on background of the impairments, theory of mind and relevance, central coherence, executive function, general semiotic deficit, and others were discussed. Then, intervention techniques were outlined. Those were social stories, social skills training, teaching theory of mind, individual and group interventions from socio-pragmatic viewpoint.


While use of local foods in U.S. school meal programs has increased dramatically since the 1990s, supply constraints are often cited as an impediment. We use responses from the nationally administered 2015 Farm to School Census to estimate a double hurdle model exploring how local food purchases by schools are influenced by local agricultural conditions. We find that direct to consumer agricultural production and milk production had a positive impact on local non-milk and local milk purchases, respectively. We find this result is robust to endogeneity and sample selection tests.


Penetration of renewable energy system for generation of electrical energy is fast growing on account of depletion of fossil fuels and environmental constraints. But the cost of a stand-alone system with respect to the load is the main obstacle. This paper presents a comparative case study of a stand-alone and grid connected Renewable energy system for a community in Mumbai India. WGS and SPVG are considered as the viable renewable resources for the location under study. Cost and Sizing analysis has been performed for both stand-alone and grid connected system using HOMER software. The results have been presented for both cases to bolster the conclusion of the paper. Keywords— Hybrid Energy Renewable System, Stand-Alone, Grid Connected, HOMER, Cost Analysis.


The activity associated with the Congo earthquake of March 20 1966 (mb = 6.5 to 7) was studied with emphasis on the time and magnitude distributions. The data were recorded at the Abéché, Chad, seismograph station operated by Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory. Over a period of about 70 days, 815 earthquakes with magnitude (mb) greater than or equal to 3.3 were recorded, and they form the basis for this study.
 The aftershocks are distributed with magnitude (mb) according to the formula long n = a - bm with b = 1.05 ± 0.07 at the 95 per cent confidence limits. The foreshocks have b = 1.06 ± 0.35 at the 95 per cent confidence limits. These b values are in general agreement with b values derived from other aftershock sequences throughout the world.
 Some authors have suggested that foreshocks may have a lower b value than background activity and that this difference might be used in earthquake prediction. In this paper, an evaluation is made of the limitations of this method of prediction. Assuming that such a difference in b values does exist, it is found that a closely spaced network of high-gain seismographs with wide dynamic range would be required to assure successful prediction.


Abstract Writing in El Grito del Norte, Enriqueta Longeaux y Vasquez connects the forging of an egalitarian future society and citizenry to the new revolutionary political consciousness emerging across the world at the close of the 1960s. She turns to revolutionary Cuba, in particular, to identify the basis for this radical consciousness and the new world it will create. The anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist politics of the Chicano Movement are revealed in the rich radicalism of the New Mexico–based newspaper El Grito del Norte. The newspaper played a pivotal role in recasting the local and ethno-nationalist politics of the Chicano Movement as a crucial part of the international struggle for revolutionary change. However, El Grito del Norte did much more than simply internationalize the views of El Movimiento: it helped to impart an anti-imperialist tone and character to Chicana/o radicalism.


Background: In animals, fetal testosterone (fT) plays a central role in organizing the brain and in later social behavior. In humans, exposure to atypical levels of prenatal androgens may result in masculine behavior and ability patterns. Normal inter-individual variation in fT levels has also been correlated with later sex-typed behavior. Methods: In the current study, 38 children (24 male, 14 female), whose fT was analyzed in amniotic fluid, were followed up at age 4. They were asked to describe cartoons with 2 moving mangles whose interactions with each other suggested social relationships and psychological motivations. Results: Females used more mental and affective state terms to describe the cartoons than males. fT was not associated with the frequency of mental or affective state terms. Females also used more intentional propositions than males. fT was negatively correlated with the frequency of intentional propositions, taking sex differences into account. ff was also negatively correlated with the frequency of intentional propositions when males were examined separately. Males used more neutral propositions than females. fT was directly correlated with the frequency of neutral propositions, taking sex differences into account. This relationship was not seen when males and females were examined separately. Conclusions: These findings implicate fT in human social development. The relevance of our findings to the 'extreme male brain' theory of autism is also discussed.


Abstract. Two receptor modeling techniques were applied to a common data set of daily measurements of 11 elements in particulate matter (PM). Samples of PM were collected in the 5 yr period at an urban site located at the sea coast. In the vicinity of the sampling site traffic is a permanent but not significant anthropogenic source. In this study we used both the Unmix and PMF receptor models for evaluation of the sources contribution. Unmix found thirteen solutions for several combinations of species, but four solutions satisfy the criteria Min R2 > 0.8 and Min S/N > 2. Unmix identified three and four sources in satisfactory solutions. The PMF model has given 3 possible solutions and by further analysis the best solution of four sources was selected. F peak refinement enabled finding a more realistic solution that includes re-suspension and traffic as dominant source contributions. The results given in this study are in accordance with the results of Enrichment Factors analysis presented in our previous work.


A modified continuum model of electro-statically actuated micro-beam is presented based on the modified couple stress theory. The new model contains a material length scale parameter and can capture the size effect, unlike the classical Bernoulli-Euler beam theory. The governing equation of the micro-beam is derived based on the Hamilton's principle, which accounts for the effects of the moderately large deflection, the residual stress and the fringing electrostatic field. The numerical analysis of mechanical characterization is performed by the Analog Equation Method (AEM). The effects of the couple stress on the static and dynamic responses, pull-in voltage and pull-in time are discussed.


In this paper the focus is on the extreme epistemological complexity of the relationship between religion and science as two dominant forces in our culture today. This complexity is aggravated by a seemingly conflictual postrnodern, pluralist challenge to a culture that already reveals itself as decidedly empirically-minded. For theology  and science a meaningful dialogue becomes possible only if both modes of reflection are willing to move away from overblown foundationalist epistemologies and, for theology at least, from the intellectual coma of fideism. The paper finally argues for a postfoundationalist epistemology where theo-logy and science, although very different modes of reflection, do share the  richness of the  resources of human rationality. In so doing it attempts to answer three crucial questions: i) are there good reasons for still seeing the  natural sciences as our clearest available example of rationality at work? ii) If so, does the rationality of theological reflec-tion in any way overlap with scientific rationality?  iii) Even if there are impressive overlaps between these two modes of rationality, how would the rationality of science and the rationality of religious reflection differ?


Nordic Retail and Wholesale Conference (The 2nd NRWC)Goteborg, November 10 – 11 2010. Predictors of service climate and intention to quit in Swedish retail: the role of relations in the work place Kerstin Isaksson, Agneta Brav, Sara Byding & Claudia Bernhard-Oettel:Malardalens hogskola, HST/Department of Psychology The service sector is growing and the level of service provided by the shops to the customers is considered important since the customer has the decision to shop or not. The retail sector is also the first experience of working life for a large number of young people in Sweden but this also seems to be related to relatively high rates of turnover. The service delivered is important both for the result of the shop in terms of sales but also for us as customers in affecting the treatment we get during our shopping. This paper aims at increasing knowledge about how good service develops. A key assumption is that the quality of service given to customers is related to the quality of relationships experienced in the workplace. However, the mechanisms behind this assumption need further exploration. The general aim of this study is to identify predictors of service climate to customers and intention to stay or quit among employees in large and small shops in Sweden. The role of employment conditions as well as individual factors and preferences are investigated together with relationships in the work place in terms of psychological contract fulfilment, support from supervisors and organzational climate. Data for this study builds on questionnaires distributed to all employees in 12 stores in Middle-Sweden on two occasions with a one year interval. At time one, 277 employees answered the questionnaire, their mean age was 32 years and about half of them (55%) were women. They had been employed from 6 months up to more than 30 years. About half of them worked full-time (54%), but working hours per week varied considerably from 5 to 60 hours. At time two, the second questionnaire was returned by 121 respondents and only 60 of them were actually responding to both data collections. The sample on the second occasion was generally somewhat older, with more stable employment and longer weekly working hours. Regression analyses were performed using the cross-sectional data sets from T1 and T2 but also the longitudinal data aiming to identify short and long term predictors of service climate, well-being of employees and intention to quit. The general pattern of results indicated that satisfaction with working hours and with the present occupation were more critical predictors of job satisfaction than actual contract and working hours (part time or full time). Furthermore, working conditions such as perceived time pressure was a significant predictor of well-being and intention to leave the job. Manager's fulfillment of promises and commitments as part of the psychological contract seemed to affect the general organizational climate and perceived support from supervisors which appeared to be the most important predictors of all outcomes. These factors were especially important as predictors of service climate. The most obvious conclusion, is that relations in the work place are critical both for service to customers and willingness to stay on the job for employees. Perhaps most important, the relationship between supervisors and subordinates, e.g. keeping promises and giving support spills over also to customer relations.


The authors introduce the GRASS GIS add-on module g.citation as an initial implementation of a fine-grained software citation concept. The module extends the existing citation capabilities of GRASS GIS, which until now only provide for automated citation of the software project as a whole, authored by the GRASS Development Team, without reference to individual persons. The functionalities of the new module enable individual code citation for each of the over 500 implemented functionalities, including add-on modules. Three different classes of citation output are provided in a variety human- and machine-readable formats. The implications of this reference implementation of scientific software citation for both for the GRASS GIS project and the OSGeo foundation are outlined.


Making Things Happen (MaTH) was devised as a six-module educational programme to support clinical governance leads (CGLs) in primary health care. The aim of the programme was to help develop practice CGLs' awareness, understanding and ability to initiate and manage change. The objectives of the training programme were: * to promote an increased and sophisticated understanding of clinical governance by building on knowledge gained already * to develop skills in delivering and sustaining improvements * to improve personal effectiveness in bringing about change. A pilot training programme was planned and delivered twice in 2003/2004 to two separate cohorts of clinical governance leads (n = 30 and n = 15) from two pilot primary care trusts (PCTs). The six training modules were delivered to the two groups by the same staff but at different times and in two separate locations. The effectiveness of the programme was evaluated in both PCTs at three levels. First the content of the programme was evaluated by the CGLs that attended the programme. Secondly, the value of the programme to the PCT was considered by the PCT co-ordinators. Thirdly, the effectiveness of the programme was considered by the presenting team. All three groups felt that the objectives were met, that the principles of MaTH training were sound and that it would be a valuable resource to offer nationally. It was also noted that training for PCT local co-ordinators in how to support clinical governance would be a useful training co-opportunity.


With the advent of generative models with a billion parameters or more, it is now possible to automatically generate vast amounts of human-sounding text. This raises questions into just how human-like is the machine-generated text, and how long does a text excerpt need to be for both humans and automatic discriminators to be able reliably detect that it was machine-generated. In this paper, we conduct a thorough investigation of how choices such as sampling strategy and text excerpt length can impact the performance of automatic detection methods as well as human raters. We find that the sampling strategies which result in more human-like text according to human raters create distributional differences from human-written text that make detection easy for automatic discriminators.


ABSTRACT Cloud computing is a new IT delivery paradigm that offers computing resources as on-demand services over the Internet. Like all forms of outsourcing, cloud computing raises serious concerns about the security of the data assets that are outsourced to providers of cloud services. To address these security concerns, we show how today's generation of information security management systems (ISMSs), as specified in the ISO/IEC 27001:2005, must be extended to address the transfer of security controls into cloud environments. The resulting virtual ISMS is a standards-compliant management approach for developing a sound control environment while supporting the various modalities of cloud computing. This article addresses chief security and/or information officers of cloud client and cloud provider organizations. Cloud clients will benefit from our exposition of how to manage risk when corporate assets are outsourced to cloud providers. Providers of cloud services will learn what processes and controls they can offer in order to provide superior security that differentiates their offerings in the market.


A pseudoaneurysm was diagnosed by ultrasound of popliteal fossa in a 40-year-old female following arthroscopic meniscectomy. The patient was treated successfully with a reversed saphenous vein graft (SVG). This case is used to review the literature concerning the complications of arthroscopic meniscectomy.


Abstract This article considers the nature of the paradigmatic, theoretical and methodological divergences characterizing the field of international sports studies. While historical contextualization is germane to many approaches, distinctive sub-disciplinary boundaries prevail. Specifically, we assess the significance of disciplinary barriers between historical and sociological approaches to the sporting past. While we detail evidence of extensive cross-pollination between the two sub-disciplines, the traditional disciplinary foci of empirical evidence (history) and theory (sociology) and associated differences in methodological traditions continue to constrain closer sub-disciplinary connections. Moreover, we suggest that the recent intellectual turn toward postmodernism and scepticism of realist epistemologies, while on one hand promising to challenge sub-disciplinary boundaries, has also compounded divides between many practitioners within the sociology of sport and sports history.


Objectives We systemically reviewed the literature to assess how long-term testosterone suppressing gender-affirming hormone therapy influenced lean body mass (LBM), muscular area, muscular strength and haemoglobin (Hgb)/haematocrit (HCT). Design Systematic review. Data sources Four databases (BioMed Central, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science) were searched in April 2020 for papers from 1999 to 2020. Eligibility criteria for selecting studies Eligible studies were those that measured at least one of the variables of interest, included transwomen and were written in English. Results Twenty-four studies were identified and reviewed. Transwomen experienced significant decreases in all parameters measured, with different time courses noted. After 4 months of hormone therapy, transwomen have Hgb/HCT levels equivalent to those of cisgender women. After 12 months of hormone therapy, significant decreases in measures of strength, LBM and muscle area are observed. The effects of longer duration therapy (36 months) in eliciting further decrements in these measures are unclear due to paucity of data. Notwithstanding, values for strength, LBM and muscle area in transwomen remain above those of cisgender women, even after 36 months of hormone therapy. Conclusion In transwomen, hormone therapy rapidly reduces Hgb to levels seen in cisgender women. In contrast, hormone therapy decreases strength, LBM and muscle area, yet values remain above that observed in cisgender women, even after 36 months. These findings suggest that strength may be well preserved in transwomen during the first 3 years of hormone therapy.


In this article we discuss how the solvent energy-gap reaction coordinate arising in weak-overlap charge-transfer theory may be generalized to include nonequilibrium solvation effects in variational transition state theory (VTST) for arbitrary reactions of neutral or charged species. The discussion also indicates how the parameters of weak-overlap charge-transfer theory may be related to the potential energy surface of a reaction and the potential of mean force. This synthesis of aspects of weak-overlap charge-transfer theory and variational transition state theory provides a clearer picture of the usefulness and limitations of the energy-gap coordinate in Marcus theory or in more general contexts. Furthermore, it furnishes a new view of the role of solvent coordinates in electronically adiabatic reactions. As an example, we show how VTST provides a way to treat solute vibrational coordinates and collective solvation coordinates in a comparable way in the computational modeling of aqeuous proton-transfer ...


: The paper presents a new transducer for experiments to define parameters of the pattern of pulses in Tibetan medical sources. The transducer has a number of benefits which successfully measures pulse signals required for computer-aided processing.


Excerpt] Educational reformers and most of the American public believe that most teachers ask too little of their pupils. These low expectations, they believe, result in watered down curricula and a tolerance of mediocre teaching and inappropriate student behavior. The result is that the prophecy of low achievement becomes self-fulfilling. Although research has shown that learning gains are substantially larger when students take more demanding courses2, only a minority of students enroll in these courses. There are several reasons for this. Guidance counselors in many schools allow only a select few into the most challenging courses. While most schools give students and parents the authority to overturn counselor recommendations, many families are unaware they have that power or are intimidated by the counselor's prediction of failure in the tougher class. As one student put it: "African-American parents, they settle for less, not knowing they can get more for their students."


Abstract Objective  Palivizumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody approved for the prevention of serious lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in infants and young children at high risk of RSV disease. This systematic review summarized evidence on the effectiveness and safety of palivizumab when used in approved populations. Study Design  A systematic review of Phase III trials and observational studies was conducted according to the population, intervention, comparator, outcome, timing, setting (PICOTS) approach (PROSPERO, CRD42021281380). Target populations consisted of infants with a history of premature birth (≤35-week gestational age) and children aged <2 years with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) or with hemodynamically significant congenital heart disease (hs-CHD). Outcomes of interest included RSV-related hospitalization, admission to intensive care unit (ICU), requirement for mechanical ventilation, treatment-related adverse events (AEs), and RSV-related deaths. Information sources were literature search (Ovid MEDLINE and Embase), pragmatic searches, and snowballing (covering the period up to 07 September 2021). Results  A total of 60 sources were included (5 Phase III trials and 55 observational studies). RSV-related hospitalization rates following palivizumab prophylaxis in Phase III trials were 1.8% in premature infants and 7.9% in children with BPD, which were significantly lower than rates in placebo arms. In the real-world setting, similar hospitalization rates were found (0.7–4.0% in premature infants [16 studies] and 0–5.5% in patients with BPD [10 studies]) with ICU admission reported in 0 to 33.3% of patients hospitalized for RSV. In Phase III trials, RSV-related mortality rates were 0.2 and 0.3%, while AEs occurred in 11% of premature and/or BPD patients and 7.2% of hs-CHD patients, consisting mainly of injection site reaction, fever, and diarrhea. Similar results were found in observational studies. Conclusion  This systematic review supports the effectiveness and safety of palivizumab in the indicated populations. Key Points Systematic review supports the positive benefit-risk profile of palivizumab in the indicated populations. Real-world safety and effectiveness of palivizumab are consistent with Phase III trials results. Palivizumab reduces RSV-related hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and need for mechanical ventilation.


The introduction of electric heat pumps as an alternative to gas based systems for space heating offers a potential pathway for reducing the carbon emissions produced to meet domestic heating demand in the UK. The adoption of heat pumps has the potential to significantly re-shape typical domestic load profiles, however uptake within the UK is currently limited and the effects of wide-scale adoption on distribution networks is not well understood. Heat pump demand is highly sensitive to temperature, lessening load profile diversity, but is also influenced by behavioral routine and is therefore not entirely deterministic. This study develops a probabilistic demand model from real customer heat pump data for translating electrical heat pump demand/air temperature relations to account for regional variation. A LV network heat pump penetration study is performed to demonstrate how residential network impact can be assessed using the model. Keywords—heat pumps, low carbon technologies, load modelling, uncertainty


Propranolol as a dermatologic therapeutic tool was first described in 2008. Since then, propranolol has had a pivotal role in the dermatology arena for a myriad of cutaneous disorders. This article highlights the timeline of the incorporation of propranolol as a treatment option for a number of vascular lesions.


BACKGROUND: Immunosuppressive agents used in the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) could potentially increase the risk of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We aimed to compare COVID-19 frequency in patients with IBD with their households and identify the related risk factors. METHODS: Firstly, a multi-centered, observational study on 2110 patients with IBD and 2110 age-matched household members was conducted to compare COVID-19 frequency. Secondly, the data of patients with IBD and COVID-19 who had called the COVID-19 hotline were added. Multivariable logistic regression was used to evaluate the effect of age, type and severity of IBD, the number of comorbidities, and medications on the frequency of COVID-19 among the patients with IBD. RESULTS: The prevalence of COVID-19 in patients with IBD and household groups was similar (34 [1.61%] versus 35 [1.65%]; P = 0.995). The prevalence of COVID-19 increased from 2.1% to 7.1% in those with three or more comorbidities (P = 0.015) and it was significantly higher in those with severe IBD (P = 0.026). The multivariable analysis only showed a significant association with anti-TNF monotherapy (OR: 2.5, CI: 0.97-6.71, P = 0.05), and other medications were not associated with COVID-19. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of COVID-19 in patients with IBD was similar to the household members. Only patients with IBD receiving anti-TNF monotherapy had a higher risk of COVID-19 susceptibility. This finding could be attributed to the higher exposure to the virus during administration in health care facilities.


In the late 1990s, Yair Aharoni was one of the early international business scholars who spearheaded exploration of FDI in services. This chapter reviews a more recent development of trade in business services that involves the demand for and the emergence of a global sourcing industry for business services such as business processes, information technology infrastructure, software development, engineering services, innovation (product development and design, technology and process breakthrough, etc.), marketing and sales (e.g., customer relationships management), human resource management, contact centers, and knowledge process outsourcing. The chapter is based to a large extent on findings from the longitudinal international Offshoring Research Network (ORN) project, which was initiated in 2004 by the Duke University, Fuqua School of Business Center for international Business Education and Research (CIBER).


Tin plating on components finishes may grow whisker under certain condition. A42 (FeNi42) leadframe is well known on tin whisker growth after thermal cycling which caused by the thermal mismatch of tin and FeNi42. In this paper we study on finding the tin whisker mitigation to control the tin whisker growth within the whisker length specification limit (<50 mum) by studied on various leadframe pretreatment(descale) concentration, various pure tin plating chemistry and study on whisker mitigation technique on annealing (150C,1 hr) and SMT reflow


Study on CO 2 fixation for the growth of oil-produced green microalgae by cultivating the algae in illuminated glass containers was conducted. Green algae were isolated from some water pond samples around Banda Aceh. The samples contain mixed biomasses. The types of microalgae, as the results of the isolation was identified, and then cultivated in the CO 2 bubbled containers. The algae growth and oil yield were observed under different mediums (modified Detmer and modified CHU-13) and illumination (2 x 8 watts and 4 x 8 watts). Tanjong Selamat samples were used throughout this research based on initial screening stage. The two medium used led to different growths of the algae; the Detmer medium giving higher growth rate. Faster growth rates were found for cultivation using modified Detmer medium and 4 x 8 watts illumination. The oil yield was determined by solvent extraction method. Oil yield using the CHU-13 medium was 88.5%, much higher than the yield of Detmer medium sample 55.4%. It shows the potential use of local green microalgae to produce alternative bio-oil.


Abstract Does information regarding the economic consequences of a minimum wage affect the level of support for or opposition to minimum wage policy? We conduct an online survey of 2242 US respondents to study this question. We randomly assign differing, empirically plausible estimates of minimum wage impacts on three outcomes—employment, the distribution of minimum wage gains to households, and comparative impacts of a government transfer program versus a minimum wage— in order to explore the relationship between minimum wage consequences and political commitment. Our results show that while political commitment is indeed influenced by information on the policy's consequences, such information rarely leads to fundamental changes in political commitment. This is consistent with findings in the larger literature on the effects of information provision on political commitment. We offer a novel explanation for such findings by surveying respondents on their moral beliefs regarding the minimum wage, focusing on the extent to which these beliefs are consequentialist or non-consequentialist in nature. We find that non-consequentialist moral beliefs are prevalent among survey respondents and that the more intense are these beliefs, the less likely people are to be swayed by the policy's consequences.