Introduction The tooth loss is considered a serious event on the life of patients and it may take them to social withdrawal. The rehabilitation through prosthetics can improve self-image of total edentulous. Objective This study aimed to assess factors associated with feelings related to tooth loss and the expectations regarding the new prosthesis. Methods A cross-sectional study with 119 total edentulous patients (age range: 29-87 years) undergoing prostheses treatment in a University Clinic. Results The patients who reported having lost their teeth due to fear of undergoing treatment or access difficulties were the ones who suffered most from tooth loss (OR = 2.57). Younger patients (OR = 3.33) and female (OR = 3.89) were those that showed more expectations for the prosthesis that was being made. Conclusion Women and young people are those who express more anger or sadness due to tooth loss and have aesthetic and socialization expectations for the new prosthesis.


Thirty sea beet (Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima (L.) Arcang) and beet (Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris L.) plant introduction (PI) accessions from the Beta collection of the USDA-ARS National Plant Germplasm System were screened for resistance to Beet severe curly top virus (BSCTV) and other closely related Curtovirus species in 2012. Commercial cultivars Monohikari and HM PM90 and Betaseed, Inc. germplasm line G6040 were included as susceptible and resistant checks. The curly top evaluation was conducted at the USDA-ARS North Farm in Kimberly, ID which has Portneuf silt loam soil and had been in alfalfa in 2011. The field was plowed in the fall and in the spring, fertilized (90 lb N and 110 lb P2O5/A) on 16 Apr 12, sprayed with Ethotron (2 pt/A), and roller harrowed. The germplasm was planted (density of 142,560 seeds/A) on 21 May. The plots were two rows 10 ft long with 22-in row spacing and arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The fields were sprinkler irrigated and hand weeded as necessary. Plant populations were thinned to about 47,500 plants/A on 19 Jun. Plants were inoculated at the four to six leaf growth stage on 22 Jun with six viruliferous beet leafhoppers per plant. The beet leafhoppers were moved twice a day (right after sunrise and just before sunset) for one week by dragging a tarp through the field. The plants were sprayed with Lorsban 4E (1.5 pints/A) on 4 Jul to kill the beet leafhoppers. The plots were rated for foliar symptom development on 10 Jul using a scale of 0-9 (0 = healthy and 9 = dead; Mumford 1974), with disease index (DI) treated as a continuous variable. Data were analyzed using the general linear models procedure (Proc GLM-SAS), and Fisher's protected least significant difference was used for mean comparisons. Disease development was uniform and other disease problems were not evident in the plot area. The disease pressure in the test was severe with good disease development in the more susceptible lines. Most of the lines were not significantly different from the most resistant check. These accessions will be retested and, if the resistance is confirmed, entered into USDA-ARS breeding programs to enhance sugar beet germplasm with increased resistance to Beet severe curly top virus (BSCTV) and other closely related Curtovirus species. These data will be entered into the USDA-ARS, NPGS GRIN database (http://www.ars-grin.gov/npgs/index.html).


The retrospective research of uveites was carried out among the population of the Perm Territory. The negative dynamics was brought out, which is typical for the whole class of ocular diseases and its adventitious organs and also for the uveites.


http://journals.cambridge.org/lvc Language Variation and Change is the only journal dedicated exclusively to the study of linguistic variation and the capacity to deal with systematic and inherent variation in synchronic and diachronic linguistics. Sociolinguistics involves analysing the interaction of language, culture and society; the more specific study of variation is concerned with the impact of this interaction on the structures and processes of traditional linguistics. Language Variation and Change concentrates on the effects of linguistic structure in actual speech production and processing (or writing), including contemporary or historical sources. To subscribe contact Customer Services


Background Breast surgery is one of the most common surgeries in the world, and pain after breast surgery is very common, representing one of the key factors affecting the quality of life after surgery. With the development of clinical techniques, thoracic paravertebral block (TPVB) has gradually become the preferred regional anesthesia technique for postoperative breast analgesia. Methods Using Web of Science as the data source, medical articles about the application of TPVB in breast surgery published from 1900 to 2022 were retrieved and imported into CiteSpace and VOSviewer software. Using bibliometrics and knowledge mapping visualization methods, the literature was analyzed from the aspects of publication, author, institution, country, high-frequency keywords, keyword clustering, emergence words, and so on. Results A total of 299 articles were included. according to the yearly numbers of articles, the trend is increasing annually. The most published authors in this field are Susan M. Steele, Roy A. Greengrass, Brian M. Ilfeld, Karmakar Manoj Kumar, and Stephen M. Klein. The League of European Research Universities, University of Toronto, and Duke University are the 3 institutions with the largest number of publications, and their cooperation degree is relatively low. Articles of American origin predominated. TPVB is the major keyword associated with the application of TPVB in breast surgery, which appears most frequently and has a high research interest. Conclusions The trend and characteristics of TPVB application research in breast surgery were visualized, and the studies in this field are generally increasing annually in number, providing useful bibliometric analysis for researchers to further explore in this field.


A facile, high yielding access to rare chimeric compounds combining phosphorus ylides with complex glycosyl formamides is described. We determined x-ray structures gaining structural insight into this compounds class. In addition, data mining of similar compounds deposited within the Cambridge Structural Database was performed. These derivatives could be used either as synthetic intermediates via the ylide functionalization and glyco chemical biology synthons or improving the pharmacokinetic properties of a potential bioactive molecule, exploiting the glycosyl moiety.


The Internet of Art as in public and connected art installations gives birth to interactivity and participation, which in turn, introduce new challenges, not only to the production of artworks, but also in how to involve the participants and how to evaluate the results of target experiences, such as social connectedness, context, playfulness, and gamification. This case study presents an example of interactive and participatory forms of the Internet of Art. We have used a multimethod approach including qualitative research methods to understand preschool-aged children's experiences who used the Sigrid-Secrets Augmented Reality application in playing the game of geocaching and finding physical artworks prior to the geocache. We have observed two groups of preschoolers play-testing, analysed the videotaped documentation of the testing, and followed the children drawing their memorable experiences of the geocaching trail. By using the Playful Experiences (PLEX) framework, we have evaluated the preschoolers' memorable experiences of playing. Our findings demonstrate how augmented techniques can be used to transform the physical surroundings in order to create a hybrid game-world suited for learning and fun. In this game-world the player can become immersed in the flow of playful experiences, and engage with edutaining exercises while being simultaneously connected to both to the Internet of Art and to the physical dimensions of the real world environment.


SIR,-A clause has been inserted in the committee stage of the Opticians' Bill to make chain-store glasses illegal, the reason given for this despotic ruling being the danger of missing serious eye disease. I think that the standing committee has been erroneously panicked into this suggestion by the steadily increasing number of registered blind persons and the emotional stresses attached to the word " blindness." In the committee discussion, which largely centred round this word " blindness," there was not one first-hand medical opinion available, though various lay opinions and some second-hand opinions were quoted. Now it seems to me that Parliament, and others, should be better informed on this point. First, sham eye-testing is despicable and is much worse than no test at all. We certainly wish to have improved standards in this to safeguard the public, but I think the proposed ruling eliminates the wrong thing. I do quite a lot of examination of blind persons and have yet to come across one case attributable to the use of such self-selected off-the-counter glasses. On the other hand I see in the hospital clinics about two new cases per week of serious eye disease missed by opticians. One does not blame them for missing disease unless it is blatant, for they are not medical men. The danger is, I think, obvious from this, that attention to real eye disease is put off when the patient has had a real eye-test and thinks that he is all right for a year. But so long as he has had no eyetest he is not deceived. There is no harm in him trying a pair off the counter, or a friend's glasses. If they do not suit-and they at least do no permanent harm-then the person will quickly go to seek further advice. I am not advocating that people in general should do this, but at least these chain-store spectacles do not deserve the present condemnation. They can be very useful in emergencies, such as loss or breakage of reading glasses. If one has a basic asymmetrical error, such as astigmatism, so that one already has distance glasses, one can always get emergency help for reading by wearing a pair of plus ones over the top. Another use is to tide a patient after a cataract operation over the delay till he is ready for a permanent correction, and for this one can keep a few adequate and very economical plus elevens handy. Why should what amounts to a monopoly be established in glasses ? The analogous General Medical Council does not prohibit the sale of harnless patent medicines. This prohibition would just drive the sale or swopping of such glasses underground, and I do not think it is reasonable.-I am, etc.,


This paper presents the results of design, installation and field measurement of a prototype underwater-turbine-generator-based micro hydro power (MHP) generation system. The studied MHP system employs the flowing water energy of the agricultural irrigation of one of the irrigation ditches of Yunlin Farmland Irrigation Association, Taiwan. Fundamentally, the irrigation ditches are used to distribute irrigation water to different farmlands. Design of a MHP has to meet practical conditions of the selected ditch such as depth, width, water flow rate, days of water flowing, etc. The designed MHP unit consists of a prototype underwater turbine, a gearbox, a three-phase self-excited induction generator with a switchable excitation capacitor bank, a three-phase diode bridge rectifier, a DC-to-DC buck converter, and a DC-to-AC inverter. An embedded-system-based monitoring and control system of the MHP unit is also properly designed to measure the electrical data of the MHP system. According to the field measurement results, the designed prototype underwater-turbine-generator-based MHP system can stably offer adequate electric power to the connected loads.


Paper describes a method for measuring power transfer efficiency (PTE) and power delivered to the load (PDL) in inductive links with desired source and load impedances using Network Analyzer (NA) and Spectrum Analyzer (SA). Characteristics of an inductive link vary by the source (input) and load (output) resistors. Although measuring the PTE and PDL using NA and SA is simple, straightforward, and accurate, the measured results are valid only for the ports' impedances at $\mathbf{50}\ \Omega$. We present a method that allows using NA and SA for measurement with any desired source and load resistances that match the actual operating conditions. For this purpose, we 1) add resistors in series or in parallel with the NA ports, 2) measure PTE by NA and PDL by SA (over $\mathbf{50}\ \Omega$), and 3) calculate the actual PTE and PDL. This method provides more flexibility in design and optimization of inductive links by finding the optimal load resistor and model from measurement of the link. We have verified the functionality of the proposed method by simulating, implementing, and measuring the performance of a prototype inductive link for energizing small implants.


Acute mesenteric ischemia continues to be associated with high mortality. We hypothesized that delays in surgical consultation and operation are independently associated with increased mortality and sought to identify modifiable characteristics associated with delayed management. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 72 patients diagnosed with acute mesenteric ischemia. Twenty-six (36%) patients died, of which 14 (54%) had care withdrawn. Delay in operation (>6 hours after surgical consultation) was associated with increased mortality (adjusted OR 3.7; 90% CI, 1.1-12). For patients for whom care was not withdrawn, delay in surgical consultation (>24 hours after disease onset) was associated with increased mortality (adjusted OR, 9.4; 90% CI, 1.3-65), as was delay in operation (adjusted OR, 4.9; 90% CI, 1.1-22). For those managed medically, early surgical consultation was associated with improved mortality (Odds Ratio [OR], 0; 90% Confidence Interval [CI], 0-0.34). Patients with delayed surgical consultation were more likely to have abdominal distension, elevated lactate concentration, acute renal failure, vasopressor administration, and a lack of abdominal pain. The acquisition of CT imaging trended toward an association with delayed surgical consultation (P = 0.06). We conclude that early surgical consultation is associated with improved outcome even for patients managed without operative intervention, and that CT imaging may delay appropriate care.


This study aims to estimate the prevalence rates of β-thalassemia and Sickle cell disorders in the adult population screened (n = 275,819) as part of the Kuwaiti National Premarital Screening Program. All the individuals who applied for a marriage license during the years 2009 and 2020 were covered by the program. A network of four reception centers in the Ministry of Health facilities and one Premarital Diagnostic Laboratory (PDL) in Maternity Hospital were involved in performing all investigations for hemoglobinopathies. The total number of individuals identified with β-thal trait was 5861 (2.12%), while 22 individuals (0.008%) were diagnosed with β-thal disease. A total of 5003 subjects (1.81%) were carrying the Sickle cell trait, while 172 subjects (0.062%) had Sickle cell disease including Sickle cell anemia (SCA). Results showed that the program succeeded indeed in preventing the marriage of 50.4% of risky couples by issuing unsafe marriage certificates. Yet more efforts are needed to improve the program's main objective of decreasing high-risk marriages. In particular, health care systems should be ameliorated in a way to intensify the counselling mechanism for the high-risk couples, strengthen the awareness of the general population and induce earlier age screening policies.


The modification of the Alfven resonance absorption mechanism due to the presence of charged dust grains is considered. Damping due to the charging of the grains is included, and it is shown that a dissipative short-wavelength mode exists close to the resonant frequency. Resonance absorption of a wave launched into a density gradient where resonance is encountered will occur via mode conversion into the dissipative mode with subsequent strong dissipation.


Synaptic neurotransmission is necessary but does not sufficiently explain superior cognitive faculties. Growing evidence has shown that neuron–astroglial chemical crosstalk plays a critical role in the processing of information, computation, and memory. In addition to chemical and electrical communication among neurons and between neurons and astrocytes, other nonsynaptic mechanisms called ephaptic interactions can contribute to the neuronal synchronization from different brain regions involved in the processing of information. New research on brain astrocytes has clearly shown that the membrane potential of these cells remains very stable among neighboring and distant astrocytes due to the marked bioelectric coupling between them through gap junctions. This finding raises the possibility that the neocortical astroglial network exerts a guiding template modulating the excitability and synchronization of trillions of neurons by astroglial Ca2+-associated bioelectromagnetic interactions. We propose that bioelectric and biomagnetic fields of the astroglial network equalize extracellular local field potentials (LFPs) and associated local magnetic field potentials (LMFPs) in the cortical layers of the brain areas involved in the processing of information, contributing to the adequate and coherent integration of external and internal signals. This article reviews the current knowledge of ephaptic interactions in the cerebral cortex and proposes that the isopotentiality of cortical astrocytes is a prerequisite for the maintenance of the bioelectromagnetic crosstalk between neurons and astrocytes in the neocortex.


The ability of Streptococcus pneumoniae
to induce infection relies on its virulence factor machinery. A previous study has
identified essential proteins that might be responsible towards the pathogenicity of S. pneumoniae serotype 2 strain D39. How
ever, 39
of them were yet functionally and stru
cturally uncharacterized. Thus, by using in silico approach, this study aims to annotate the
function and the structure of these unannotated proteins. Initially, all 39 targeted proteins went through primary screening
for template
availability and pathogen
icity. From there, 11 of them were selected and were further analyzed on the basis of their physicochemical,
functional and structural categorization using an integrated bioinformatics approach by means of amino acid sequence and stru
cture
-
based analysi
s.
The obtained data suggested that all targeted proteins showed high possibility to be involved in either cell viability or
cell pathogenicity mechanism of the bacterium, with SPD_1333 and SPD_1743 being the two most promising proteins to be further
studied.
Findings from this study could provide a better understanding of the pathogenic ability of this microorganism and thus,
enhance drug development and target identification processes in the aim of improving pneumococcal disease control.


The ultrafine grain sizes and high diffusivities in nanophase materials assembled from atomic clusters suggest that these materials may have a strong tendency toward superplastic mechanical behavior. Both small grain size and enhanced diffusivity can be expected to lead to increased diffusional creep rates as well as to a significantly greater propensity for grain boundary sliding. Recent mechanical properties measurements at room temperature on nanophase Cu, Pd, and TiO{sub 2}, however, give no indications of superplasticity. Nonetheless, significant ductility has been clearly demonstrated in these studies of both nanophase ceramics and metals. The synthesis of cluster-assembled nanophase materials is described and the salient features of what is known of their structure and mechanical properties is reviewed. Finally, the answer to the question posed in the title is addressed. 34 refs., 6 figs.


Data on the provision of seven types of reproductive health care were collected from private physicians in four specialties: general/family practitioners (GP/FPs), general surgeons, obstetrician-gynecologists and urologists. All ob-gyns, and eight in 10 GP/FPs, provide the pill, IUD or diaphragm. Over nine in 10 ob-gyns provide infertility and obstetric care and prenatal genetic screening; but only one-third or fewer of GP/FPs do so. Ob-gyns and urologists are far more likely to perform sterilizations than are GP/FPs and surgeons (nine in 10, compared with one-fifth to one-half). Although ob-gyns are the most likely to perform abortions, only four in 10 do so. Among ob-gyns who do not perform tubal sterilizations or abortions, and among urologists who do not perform vasectomies, the primary reason is moral or religious objections (reported by 59-71 percent). For GP/FPs and surgeons who do not perform the three procedures, the leading reason is that they do not perform surgery or that type of surgery; however, 34 percent of nonproviders in these specialties report moral or religious opposition to abortion. Eight in 10 ob-gyns will provide contraceptives to minors without parental consent, but only six in 10 GP/FPs will do so. One-half of doctors who perform female sterilizations, and eight in 10 of those who do vasectomies, require spousal consent. Among those who perform abortions, half require parental consent for minors. Access to private reproductive health care is quite limited for the poor, because many physicians will not accept Medicaid reimbursements or reduce their fees for low-income patients.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


A method to determine the electronic properties at nanointerfaces or of nanostructures by utilizing intermittent contact atomic force microscopy and contact spectroscopy in one system is developed. By combining these two methods, the integrity of the interface or structure is maintained during imaging, while the extraction of the electronic information is obtained with contact spectroscopy. This method is especially vital for understanding interfaces between metal nanoparticles and substrates, where the nanoparticles are not tethered to the surface and can be combined with new and evolving techniques of thermal drift compensation to allow for a larger range of experiments on nanointerfaces and nanostructures in ambient environments. An experimental probe for quantifying the properties of individual interfaces with diameters in the range of 20 to 100 nm is developed, which is based on scanning probe microscopy.


Abstract Parasitoids of Anastrepha fraterculus (Wiedemann) were monitored on ripe fruit of 3 native and 1 exotic, wild Myrtaceae species in the Province of Entre Rios, NE Argentina, between Jan and Mar 1993 and 1994 with the aim of identifying indigenous parasitoid species and determining natural parasitization rates and fruit infestation levels. The fruit species surveyed were Psidium guajava L. (common guava), Feijoa sellowiana (O. Berg) O. Berg (feijoa), Eugenia uniflora L. (Surinam cherry), and Myrcianthes pungens (Berg) Legrand (mato). Altogether 2,186 tephritid puparia were obtained, 95% of which were A. fraterculus and 5% of which were Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann). Of 1,667 adult insects that emerged from these puparia, 1,378 were A. fraterculus, 89 C. capitata, and 200 larval-pupal parasitoids, representing 4 species of 2 Hymenoptera families: Doryctobracon areolatus (Szépligeti), D. brasiliensis (Szépligeti), Utetes anastrephae (Viereck) (all Braconidae, Opiinae), and Aganaspis pelleranoi (Brèthes) (Figitidae, Eucoilinae). All these parasitoid species are new reports for Entre Rios. Moreover, these records represent the southernmost natural distribution range in the Americas for these species. Doryctobracon areolatus and A. pelleranoi were recovered from all of the Myrtaceae species sampled, and they were the most abundant parasitoid species. Infestation patterns by A. fraterculus in mato, Surinam cherry, guava, and feijoa varied from 15.2 to 41.8, 21.3 to 49.4, 34.1 to 109.2, and 78.9 to 140.6 larvae per kg of fruit, respectively. Highest levels of parasitism were recorded in P. guajava, whereas M. pungens had the lowest parasitization rates. However, overall mean parasitism levels (i.e., considering all parasitoid species) did not appear to have great differences when comparing Myrtaceae species, collection sites, and years. The relative abundance and parasitization rates data of the recovered parasitoids in the 4 Myrtaceae species suggest some degree of host plant preference by U. anastrephae and D. brasiliensis.


Let V be a smooth equidimensional quasi-affine variety of dimension r over C and let F be a (p× s)-matrix of coordinate functions of C[V ], where s ≥ p+ r. The pair (V, F ) determines a vector bundle E of rank s− p over W := {x ∈ V | rkF (x) = p}. We associate with (V, F ) a descending chain of degeneracy loci of E (the generic polar varieties of V represent a typical example of this situation). The maximal degree of these degeneracy loci constitutes the essential ingredient for the uniform, bounded error probabilistic pseudo-polynomial time algorithm which we are going to design and which solves a series of computational elimination problems that can be formulated in this framework. We describe applications to polynomial equation solving over the reals and to the computation of a generic fiber of a dominant endomorphism of an affine space.


World War II forced extensive and comprehensive social and political changes on nations across the globe. This comparative examination of health insurance in the United States and Japan during and after the war explores how World War II shaped the health care systems of both countries. To compare the development of health insurance in the two countries, Takakazu Yamagishi discusses the impact of total war on four factors: political structure, interest group politics, political culture, and policy feedback. During World War II, the U.S. and Japanese governments realized that healthy soldiers, workers, mothers, and children were vital to national survival. While both countries adopted new, expansive national insurance policies as part of their mobilization efforts, they approached doing so in different ways and achieved near-opposite results. In the United States, private insurance became the predominant means of insuring people, save for a few government-run programs. Japan, meanwhile, created a near-universal, public insurance system. After the war, their different policy paths were consolidated. Yamagishi argues that these disparate outcomes were the result of each nation's respective war experience. He looks closely at postwar Japan and investigates how political struggles between the American occupation authority and U.S. domestic forces, such as the American Medical Association, helped solidify the existing Japanese health insurance system. Original and tightly argued, this volume makes a strong case for treating total war as a central factor in understanding how the health insurance systems of the two nations grew, while bearing in mind the dual nature of government intervention-however slight-in health care. Those interested in debates about health care in Japan, the United States, and other countries, and especially scholars of comparative political development, will appreciate and learn from Yamagishi's study.


There is growing interest in heat pumps based on materials that show thermal changes when phase transitions are driven by changes of electric, magnetic or stress field. Importantly, regeneration permits sinks and loads to be thermally separated by many times the changes of temperature that can arise in the materials themselves. However, performance and parameterization are compromised by net heat transfer between caloric working bodies and heat transfer fluids. Here we show that this net transfer can be avoided-resulting in true, balanced regeneration-if one varies the applied electric field while an electrocaloric (EC) working body dumps heat on traversing a passive fluid regenerator. Our EC working body is represented by bulk PbSc0.5Ta0.5O3 (PST) near its first-order ferroelectric phase transition, where we record directly measured adiabatic temperature changes of up to 2.2 K. Indirectly measured adiabatic temperature changes of similar magnitude were identified, unlike normal, from adiabatic measurements of polarization, at nearby starting temperatures, without assuming a constant heat capacity. The resulting high-resolution field-temperature-entropy maps of our material, and a small clamped companion sample, were used to construct cooling cycles that assume the use of an ideal passive regenerator in order to span $\leq$20 K. These cooling cycles possess well defined coefficients of performance that are bounded by well defined Carnot limits, resulting in large ($>$50%) well defined efficiencies that are not unduly compromised by a small field hysteresis. Our approach permits the limiting performance of any caloric material in a passive regenerator to be established, optimized and compared; provides a recipe for true regeneration in prototype cooling devices; and could be extended to balance active regeneration.


Recently, materials undergoing a first-order magnetic transition (FOMT) near room temperature have attracted much attentions due to the possibility to use their large magnetocaloric effect (MCE) for magnetic refrigeration. Among them, the MnFe(P, X) (X = As, Ge, Si, B) family turns out to be one of the most promising due to the large isothermal entropy change ΔS, adiabatic temperature change ΔTad, a tunable Curie temperature (TC) and the practical advantages. Till now, most of the MCE studies on MnFe(P, X) focused on the intermediate magnetic field range (B ≤ 2T) as it is the most relevant field for applications. However, extending the field range of the MCE derivation is important from both fundamental and practical points of view. On one hand, it allows one to address the field dependence of the MCE quantities, the possible influence of the critical point, etc; On the other hand, high field ΔS or ΔTad data are useful for the optimization of the MCE at intermediate field. Indeed, at first glance, one can consider for FOMT that the ΔS or ΔTad will saturate above a given field value (B*(ΔS) or B*(ΔT)). The point is that in Giant-MCE materials, it might be advantageous to bring these B* (often at high field) as close as possible to the field used in application. Understanding the field dependence of ΔS, ΔTd and quantifying the B* in MnFe(P, X) is required for further optimizations.


The concept of solids retention time (SRT) was used for describing the growth of biofilm in a biological aerated filter (BAF) system. The SRT profile was obtained from the change in solids accumulation, estimated from the head loss profile data before and after backwash using the Carmen-Kozeny equation. The SRT profile along the filter bed depth showed the SRT of about 2 days for the lower layer and about 6 days for the upper layer. The overall SRT was determined by the direct estimation of excess solids mass during backwash and of solids retained in the filter bed. The ideal characteristic SRT distribution was maintained by regular backwash, for organic removal and nitrification. The SRT for high organic removal and nitrification is demonstrated by the SRT distribution along the filter bed in this BAF process.


Moniliophthora roreri is a pathogen of cocoa ( Theobroma cacao L.) that causes high economic losses in Ecuador. This paper is intended to present a protocol for the isolation of the pathogen from cocoa fruits cv. 'National', showing signs and symptoms of disease. The fruits were collected on farms of Napo (Ecuador). By wet chamber, it was able to induce profusely, sporulation on the surface of selected lesions. The isolations were performed from conidia directly located on the surface of fruits with brown powdery appearance. Isolation procedures and suggested of possible applications are presented.


OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this study was to characterize the histologic and immunopathologic results of 37 endomyocardial biopsy samples from patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) who were evaluated for unexplained global left ventricular dysfunction.

BACKGROUND
Recent studies have identified a growing number of patients infected with HIV-1 who develop unexplained left ventricular dysfunction and congestive heart failure. Myocarditis has been confirmed at autopsy in small numbers of such patients, although a pathogenic opportunistic infectious agent can rarely be identified.

METHODS
All patients had moderate to severe global left ventricular hypokinesia on two-dimensional echocardiography. Endomyocardial biopsy samples were evaluated by standard histologic studies, immunoperoxidase staining and in situ hybridization for cytomegalovirus and HIV-1 gene sequences.

RESULTS
Twenty-eight patients presented with New York Heart Association functional class III or IV congestive heart failure. Four patients had myocarditis secondary to known etiologies (opportunistic infection n = 2; drug-induced hypersensitivity myocarditis n = 2). Of the remaining 33 samples, 17 (51%) showed histologic evidence of idiopathic active or borderline myocarditis. Immunohistologic findings revealed induced expression of major histocompatibility class I antigen on myocytes and increased numbers of infiltrating CD8+ T lymphocytes. Specific hybridization within myocytes was observed in 5 of 33 samples with the HIV-1 antisense riboprobe and in 16 of 33 samples with the cytomegalovirus immediate early (IE-2) antisense riboprobe. All but one patient with specific myocyte hybridization presented with congestive heart failure; all patients had myocarditis and CD4+ cell counts < 100/mm3.

CONCLUSIONS
This study demonstrates that cardiotropic virus infection and myocarditis may be important in the pathogenesis of symptomatic HIV-associated cardiomyopathy.


The transmission-line modelling (TLM) method is extended to the analysis of dispersive and nonlinear propagation problems, significantly increasing the range of application of the method. Dispersion and nonlinearities are incorporated into the TLM scheme by loading with appropriate stubs. The modelling of nonlinear effects is illustrated by the incorporation of a nonlinear capacitor model, using the nonlinear discrete transform method, into the TLM method. Correct operation and energy conservation of the nonlinear discrete-transform method is discussed. The method is applied to the analysis of soliton propagation on a lumped component transmission line, and also to the self-focusing of femtosecond pulses in a Kerr medium. A dispersive stub, designed to model electromagnetic waves propagating in a plasma, is introduced which may be used to load one, two and three-dimensional TLM field nodes.


Higher fuel economy standards and more stringent limitations on greenhouse gas emissions for ground vehicles have been made due to public concerns about energy crisis and environmental issues. By organizing a group of automated vehicles into a platoon at a short intervehicular distance, the overall fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of vehicle platoon can be decreased due to reduced aerodynamic drag, which is called the platooning technology. In addition, the eco-driving technology can help further increase the fuel efficiency of vehicle platoon by optimizing speed trajectories of vehicles. However, little research has been done into the combination of the eco-driving and platooning technologies. Based on distributed model predictive control (DMPC), this paper proposes an ecological cooperative look-ahead control strategy for a platoon of automated vehicles travelling on a freeway with varying slopes, where both the eco-driving and platooning technologies are used. To maximize the fuel efficiency of vehicle platoon, an ecological cooperative look-ahead control problem (Eco-CLC) is first formulated based on DMPC, where rotational inertia coefficient related to reduction ratio of gear box, aerodynamic drag related to spacing and model constraints are considered. Since the Eco-CLC problem is a nonconvex and nonlinear optimization problem with hard state constraints, it is very difficult to quickly obtain its optimal solution. To enhance real-time control performance, after the hard state constraints of the Eco-CLC problem are transformed into parts of the multi-objective function using the band-stop function, the improved ecological cooperative look-ahead control (iEco-CLC) based on DMPC is given. A particle swarm optimization algorithm with multiple dynamic populations is further presented to quickly solve the iEco-CLC problem online. Simulation results demonstrate, compared with benchmarks, the proposed strategy can save more than 21% of fuel for vehicle platoon.


OBJECTIVE
We compared the duration of ablation and the area of coagulation necrosis between a single ablation method (SAM) and a double ablation method (DAM) with a 'multitined expandable' electrode (LeVeen 2 cm) for radiofrequency ablation (RFA) using pig liver.

METHOD
In the SAM group, ablation was completed after the first roll-off. In the DAM group, an additional ablation was performed to achieve a second roll-off. The comparison was made of the time required for roll-off and the extent of coagulation necrosis between the both groups. The Ellipticity index (EI) quantitatively describes the shape of the general RF ablation zone in the axial plane.

RESULTS
There was no statistically significant difference in the interval until the first roll-off between both groups (SAM group: 100.7+/-24.7 seconds vs DAM group: 103.2+/-37.7 seconds, P=0.43). In the DAM group, the interval from the start of the additional ablation until the second roll-off was 154.0+/-86.9 seconds, longer than the interval for the first roll-off (P=0.023). The extent of coagulation necrosis was significantly more extensive in the DAM group (axial diameter, mean+/-SD, 26.2+/-2.8mm) x (maximal diameter: 29.3+/-1.6mm) x (minimal diameter: 26.5+/-3.6mm) compared to the SAM group with (23.0+/-3.3mm) x (23.7+/-3.1mm) x (20.0+/-2.5mm), respectively. Although there was no statistically significant difference in the EI between both groups, macroscopically, the shape of coagulation necrosis tended to be non-spherical in the SAM group and spherical in the DAM group.

CONCLUSIONS
The DAM with a 'multitined expandable' electrode was more extensive with a spherical zone shape compared to the SAM.


The normal respiratory function of the larynx has been described in detailed reports in both the otolaryngology and the respiratory physiology literature. The role of the posterior cricoarytenoid muscle in vocal cord abduction has been shown to be paramount in laryngeal respiratory function. However, only in recent reports has attention been directed toward disordered laryngeal function as evidenced in pulmonary disorders, such as asthma, or in association with underlying pulmonary disorders, such as asthma (ROAD) or emphysema (COPD), in this article, cases will be presented to demonstrate the role of disordered laryngeal function appearing as pulmonary disease and associated with various degrees of underlying pulmonary disease. The effect on pulmonary function tests and the role of treatment will be discussed.


Information on market characteristics is needed for effective planning and implementation of demand-side management (DSM) programs. A wide range of information can be obtained quickly and inexpensively from existing data sources. This report identifies the sources of secondary data, including federal, state and local government agencies, utilities, EPRI and various private organizations. The specific types of data available from these organizations and their applicability and usefulness in demand-side management, are reviewed. A PC-based software package, DATA-DSM, has been developed to assist the user in easily and quickly identifying the relevant secondary data sources. The Guidebook is organized in two volumes. The first volume provides a comprehensive listing of the data sources and software to assist market implementation planning, and provides a description and user guide for the DATA-DSM software package. The second volume provides the results for three illustrative utility case studies, and presents an illustrative example of the use of geographic mapping software to display secondary data. 14 figs., 32 tabs.


Large language models (LLM) such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and GPT-3 offer unique testbeds for exploring the translation challenges of turning literacy into numeracy. Previous publicly-available transformer models from eighteen months prior and 1000 times smaller failed to provide basic arithmetic. The statistical analysis of four complex datasets described here combines arithmetic manipulations that cannot be memorized or encoded by simple rules. The work examines whether next-token prediction succeeds from sentence completion into the realm of actual numerical understanding. For example, the work highlights cases for descriptive statistics on in-memory datasets that the LLM initially loads from memory or generates randomly using python libraries. The resulting exploratory data analysis showcases the model's capabilities to group by or pivot categorical sums, infer feature importance, derive correlations, and predict unseen test cases using linear regression. To extend the model's testable range, the research deletes and appends random rows such that recall alone cannot explain emergent numeracy.


A summary of progress made in micro-mechanistic approach to lifing of thermal barrier coatings for gas turbine blades. Aim is to develop a model for Thermal Barrier Coating lifetimes that predicts the physical changes occurring in terms of morphology and physical properties of the materials involved and combines these to predict failure lifetime under thermo-mechanical fatigue (TMF) conditions. A test matrix has been designed to isolate the effects of the various damage mechanisms and includes: (a) isothermal exposures, (b) Single step thermal exposures, (c) Thermal cyclic tests (d) a creep test and (e) TMF tests. The TMF testing uses a susceptor to produce representative temperature profiles as seen in service across the specimen. Initial results of the thickness of the Thermally Grown Oxide (TGO) layer are presented. A TMF test capability for TBCs that simulates conditions seen in service has been demonstrated.


THE dpKvoTara of the manuscripts is unmetrical; O reads dpKvadr/Ta and Hermann conjectured dpKvas dra. He did not go quite far enough; dpicvas dras would give appreciably better sense. With dra attention is divided between dndra and dra. Furthermore <j>iX6<j>p<ov and ara are so widely separated that when aVa is reached, any such addition to the subject is unexpected and disconcerting. We may also doubt whether Aeschylus's audience was as prompt as the modern scholar to associate the plain word 'net' with the 'toils of fate'. But with the genitive, the metaphor is explicit. The subject of itapdyei is now SOAO/XTJTIJ dwdVa, easily extracted from SoXo/ir/Tiv 8' dirdrav; the sense of the mesode coheres tightly: 'What mortal man can escape the wily trickery of the god? Who is swift-footed master of a nimble leap? [sc, of course, in order to escape. The answer, as so often with rhetorical questions, is No one. ydp is now given point.] For, with (a show of) friendship at first it beguiles a man and leads him into the toils of ruin.' I translate the manuscript reading, rather than Seidler's fashionable correction Trapaoaivei, but it should be emphasized that my suggestion is not affected by the metrical problems in these lines.


European media policymakers have latched onto the term "co-regulation." However, despite the term's frequent use, the underlying concept of "co-regulation" lacks terminological and, more importantly, conceptual clarity. In this article, we will examine the use of the term in the context of measures instituted to protect minors against harmful content in new media. In doing so, we will attempt to sketch a clearer picture of the concept of co-regulation and the current use of media-related co-regulatory measures. Although our analysis is primarily based on the European example, we will show that policies in Europe share a common regulatory context and challenges in the United States. First, we will outline the theoretical state of affairs based on doctrine and on European policy documents and legislation. In reaction to the increasingly obvious shortcomings of traditional legislation in the new, converging media landscape, the European Union searched quite actively for alternative regulatory mechanisms, and we will describe this evolving regulatory quest, first generally and then more specifically with respect to media policy. After outlining the theoretical framework, we will approach the concept of co-regulation in a more pragmatic way by describing concrete co-regulatory practices in different countries and in different media sectors, paying particular attention to the protection of minors against harmful content. Further, we will briefly consider different co-regulatory tools, such as filtering and rating instruments, and draw a tentative picture of the benefits and drawbacks of co-regulation. In short, this article will approach the concept of co-regulation from both a theoretical-descriptive perspective and a practical-illustrative perspective in an attempt to provide a greater degree of clarity to this high-profile regulatory technique.


PURPOSE
1) To compare the ability of functional mobility and balance assessments in discriminating fallers from non-fallers and recurrent fallers from those with fewer or no falls. 2) To compare the discriminatory accuracy of cut-off scores specific to this study sample with that of cut-off scores proposed in the literature for community-dwelling older adults.

METHODS
In a sample of 39 ambulatory older adults living independently in the community, fallers were identified on the basis of number of falls in the past year. Seven functional tests of mobility and balance were used to identify fallers and recurrent fallers on the basis of their fall history.

RESULTS
Discrimination of fallers from non-fallers was poor: Only a high-level balance assessment significantly discriminated these groups (p=0.0498, area under the curve [AUC]=0.68). Four assessments significantly discriminated recurrent fallers from those with fewer or no falls (ps=0.006-0.009), but their discriminatory powers were not significantly different from one another (AUCs=0.77-0.80, p>0.05). For two assessments, cutoff scores based on the study sample enhanced discriminatory accuracy relative to the literature-based cutoff scores.

CONCLUSIONS
To improve fall prediction for ambulatory community-dwelling older adults, future prospective studies should consider including high-level mobility and balance assessments and targeting cutoff scores to the level of function of this relatively high-functioning population.


We study several linear connections (the first canonical, the Chern, the well adapted, the Levi Civita, the Kobayashi-Nomizu, the Yano, the Bismut and those with totally skew-symmetric torsion) which can be defined on the four geometric types of $(J^2=\pm1)$-metric manifolds. We characterize when such a connection is adapted to the structure, and obtain a lot of results about coincidence among connections. We prove that the first canonical and the well adapted connections define a one-parameter family of adapted connections, named canonical connections, thus extending to almost Norden and almost product Riemannian manifolds the families introduced in almost Hermitian and almost para-Hermitian manifolds. We also prove that every connection studied in this paper is a canonical connection, when it exists and it is an adapted connection.


Abstract Although it is well established that features of maternal speech are associated with children's social understanding in the preschool years, few studies explore this relationship in middle childhood. Within the context of a prospective longitudinal study of a representative community sample of families (subsample n = 207, mean age = 82.88 months), we investigated concurrent associations between mothers' internal state language and aspects of 7‐year‐olds' social understanding, including children's understanding of belief and spontaneous references to internal states during free play. When sociodemographic, maternal, and child characteristics were controlled, mothers' references to their own cognitions were associated with dimensions of children's social understanding. Our findings suggest that exposure to others' perspectives contributes to children's advanced understanding of minds, which has implications for interventions that foster social understanding.


Aurora is the typical ionosphere track generated by the interaction of solar wind and magnetosphere, and its detection is significant to study of space weather activity. Space-borne ultraviolet detectors, especially far ultraviolet band image detecting device, provide abundant detecting data. Based on the special morphology of ultraviolet aurora images, the combination of texture and shape features is utilized to extract the features of ultraviolet aurora images, and then a support vector machine (SVM) is employed to classify the auroras. The experiment based on ultraviolet aurora image data obtained by the Polar satellite shows the feasibility and effectiveness of our feature representation method.


STUDY OBJECTIVES
The incidence and prevalence of pertussis in adults have increased in recent years. It has been shown that previously immunized adults and adolescents are the main sources of transmission of Bordetella pertussis. The aim of this study was to describe the clinical presentation and the clinical course of pertussis in children and young adults who were immunized previously against B pertussis.

DESIGN
Retrospective study.

SUBJECTS
Children and young adults who were reported by local physicians to the Department of Epidemiology in the Israeli Ministry of Health with serologically confirmed pertussis and who were immunized previously were included. Information sought included personal data, epidemiologic data, signs and symptoms, laboratory results, initial diagnosis, and treatment.

RESULTS
In the 95 previously immunized patients with serologically confirmed pertussis (mean age [+/- SD], 8.9 +/- 4.4 years old; range, 5 to 30 years old), the mean duration from onset of symptoms until the final diagnosis of pertussis was 23 +/- 15 days. The disease was usually atypical and generally mild. All the described patients had cough, usually prolonged, lasting 4 +/- 3.6 weeks. Only 6% had the classic whoop. The mean WBC count was 8.7 +/- 2.6 cells/mm6, and the lymphocyte count was 40 +/- 12%. Two patients were admitted to the hospital for severe pneumonia. Among the reported cases, the proportion of patients between the ages of 10 and 45 years increased from 6.5% during the period from 1971 to 1980, to 26% during the period from 1980 to 1990, and to 38% during a 1989 outbreak.

CONCLUSIONS
Pertussis in previously immunized individuals is usually characterized by an atypical and relatively mild clinical course. Patients suffer mainly from a prolonged and persistent cough. Early diagnosis may lead to prompt administration of therapy. Prophylaxis of exposed persons might be effective in decreasing both severity and transmission of the disease.


In order to improve the germination of corn seeds in saline conditions, effect of seed priming by various concentrations of salicylic acid (SA) (0, 1, 2 and 3 mM), was investigated. Saline solution of (0, 1, 2 and 3% Nacl) was applied to impose salinity stress. In present study, the effects of four salicylic acid (SA) concentrations on germination and seedling growth of corn were evaluated at the physiological laboratory of Agriculture Research Station of Islamic Azad University, Shiraz, Iran, during 2013. Experimental design was factorial based on randomized complete design in three replications. The reveled that germination and plantlet growth of corn severely reduced by salinity. SA priming had a beneficial effect on germination percent, germination rate and germination index, which was related to imbibitions rather than reserve mobilization, since the dry biomass of cotyledons was unchanged by salt stress and SA priming. Results illustrated that SA priming with induced salinity stress were significant effect on final germination percent, germination rate and germination index, seed vigor index, seedling fresh weight, radical traits. Maximum final germination percent, germination rate and germination index were relating to 1, 2 mM SA treatments' under non salinity stress. With considering the results, highest seed vigor index was belonged to 1, 2 mM SA treatments' under 1% salinity condition. In this experiment, maximum seedling fresh weight was relating to 2 mM SA treatment fewer than 2% salinity condition. In recent research, two factors of SA treatments and salinity concentrations were not significant interaction on radical fresh weight trait. Our results was indicated that hormonal priming, especially with 2 mM salicylic acid, can be a good treatment for Corn (Zea mays L. var. Sc.704) to enhance uniformity of emergence and seedling establishment under normal as well as saline conditions and it concluded that seeds priming had reduced the severity of the effect of salinity.


Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of surgical treatment to correct the main deformities associated with flexible cavovarus foot due to Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. Methods: Fifteen patients (18 feet) with flexible cavovarus feet due to Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease were evaluated and underwent surgery between 2000 and 2015. We used a "triple surgery" protocol: a combination of plantar fasciotomy, valgus-inducing osteotomy of the calcaneus, and lengthening osteotomy of the first metatarsal. After a mean follow-up time of 105 (48 to 198) months, we developed a numerical scale to assess the main aspects of patient complaints: pain (3 points), function (3 points) and deformity (4 points). The scale considered the results of the visual analog pain scale, the American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society Scale, and the Coleman block test, as well as clinical and radiographic evaluation of gait and cavovarus deformities. Results: According to the numerical scale, the results were considered satisfactory in 15 of the 18 feet (84%) and unsatisfactory in 3 (16%). Conclusion: In the medium term, the "triple surgery" protocol proved efficient for correcting cavovarus deformities, providing functional improvement while preserving mobility without pain complaints. In the final analysis, through the "triple surgery" protocol, early indication for arthrodesis can be avoided, postponing sacrifice of the hindfoot joints. Level of Evidence IV; Therapeutic Studies; Case Series.


Restoration ecology is required to access the role(s) of microorganisms in facilitating mine spoil genesis, activity, biodiversity, ecosystem function, and metabolic response as a measure of reclamation in a chronosequence coal mine overburden spoil. Differentiation between six mine spoil and native forest soil was determined based on microbial enumeration and enzyme activity. The relationship between microbial populations and enzyme activity was analyzed. Kinetic parameters (Vmax and Km) have greater significance as early and sensitive indicators to assess changes in microbial activity representing quantity and affinity of soil enzymes (amylase: 2.013- 12.629; invertase: 8.193-411.528; protease: 2.949-75.942; urease: 2.544-29.307; phophatase; 3.106-53.608 and dehydrogenase: 0.225-2.129). The catalytic efficiency (Vmax/Km) was estimated to be higher in NF as compared to mine spoil, which reflects an impression on microbial community with a change in soil enzymes. Principal component analysis was performed to discriminate soil profiles, which holds potential as complementary criteria for evaluating the progress of reclamation.


Salvage therapy for relapsed large-cell lymphoma (LCL) is more effective in patients with minimal disease, suggesting that early detection of relapse might increase the chance of long-term survival. To determine whether current follow-up procedures are effective in identifying preclinical disease, we analyzed patterns of relapse in 139 LCL patients who achieved a complete remission (CR) with high/moderate-dose methotrexate with leucovorin, bleomycin, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and dexamethasone (M/m-BACOD). The timing and results of all posttreatment follow-up tests were examined in the 36 patients who relapsed from complete remission (CR) and 46 controls who remain in CR. Despite conscientious posttreatment follow-up, only two of the 36 relapses (6%) were detected before the development of symptoms. Sixty-seven percent of patients relapsed in new disease sites (42% in new and old sites, and 25% in new sites only). Consistent with this observation, the tests most sensitive to clinical relapse were those not targeted to specific sites of disease: gallium scan (sensitivity, 90%), physical examination (80%), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (65%). Of screening tests performed, only LDH was successful in detecting preclinical relapse, with a sensitivity of 42% and specificity of 85% for impending symptomatic relapse. These results indicate that conventional screening was ineffective in detecting preclinical relapse in LCL patients. We recommend prospective evaluation of a strategy that (1) screens with a frequency appropriate to a patient's risk of relapse, (2) uses sensitive test(s) not targeted to specific sites, and (3) limits aggressive screening to those high-risk patients eligible for potentially curative salvage therapy.


Unconventional studies of UAE is in the early stage, especially in the western part, where the wells were drilled only for conventional oil & gas, with few unconventional data acquired. Shilaif formation is one of the main source rock of Cretaceous in western UAE. The main lithology of Shilaif are argillaceous limestone, lime mudstone and shale. Source rock geochemical analysis and basin modeling studies of western UAE show good source rock of Shilaif with high TOC, large thickness and high maturity mainly distribute in the south-east part of the study area, which is the high potential area for unconventional oil exploration.
 Based on the available 3D seismic data and log data, a series of techniques were used to predict the sweet spots of unconventional oil of Shilaif source rock, which includes the following main techniques: 1. 3D Seismic CRP Gather Conditioning; 2. Petrophysics Modeling; 3. Pre-stack Inversion; 4. Fracture Prediction; 5. Hydrocarbon Prediction; 6. Pore Pressure Prediction; 7. In-Situ Stress Analysis. Based on these techniques, one SW-NE belt of sweet spots were predicted in Lower Shilaif formation of the study area, with thick good source rock, high oil retention, high brittleness, high pressure, medium fracture and medium DHSR.


Identification of miRNA-mRNA modules is an important step to elucidate their combinatorial effect on the pathogenesis and mechanisms underlying complex diseases. Current identification methods primarily are based upon miRNA-target information and matched miRNA and mRNA expression profiles. However, for heterogeneous diseases, the miRNA-mRNA regulatory mechanisms may differ between subtypes, leading to differences in clinical behavior. In order to explore the pathogenesis of each subtype, it is important to identify subtype specific miRNA-mRNA modules. In this study, we integrated the Ping-Pong algorithm and multiobjective genetic algorithm to identify subtype specific miRNA-mRNA functional regulatory modules (MFRMs) through integrative analysis of three biological data sets: GO biological processes, miRNA target information, and matched miRNA and mRNA expression data. We applied our method on a heterogeneous disease, multiple myeloma (MM), to identify MM subtype specific MFRMs. The constructed miRNA-mRNA regulatory networks provide modular outlook at subtype specific miRNA-mRNA interactions. Furthermore, clustering analysis demonstrated that heterogeneous MFRMs were able to separate corresponding MM subtypes. These subtype specific MFRMs may aid in the further elucidation of the pathogenesis of each subtype and may serve to guide MM subtype diagnosis and treatment.


We use first-principles calculations based on density functional theory to investigate the interplay between oxygen vacancies, A- site cation size/tolerance factor, epitaxial strain, ferroelectricity, and magnetism in the perovskite manganite series, A MnO_3 (A = Ca2+ , Sr^2+, Ba^2+). We find that, as expected, increasing the volume through either chemical pressure or tensile strain generally lowers the formation energy of neutral oxygen vacancies consistent with their established tendency to expand the lattice. Increased volume also favors polar distortions, both because competing rotations of the oxygen octahedra are suppressed and because Coulomb repulsion associated with cation off-centering is reduced. Interestingly, the presence of ferroelectric polarization favors ferromagnetic (FM) over antiferromagnetic (AFM) ordering due to suppressed AFM superexchange as the polar distortion bends the Mn-O-Mn bond angles away from the optimal 180°. Intriguingly, we find that polar distortions compete with the formation of oxygen vacancies, which have a higher formation energy in the polar phases; conversely the presence of oxygen vacancies suppresses the onset of polarization. In contrast, oxygen vacancy formation energies are lower for FM than AFM orderings of the same structure type. Our findings suggest a rich and complex phase diagram, in which defect chemistry, polarization, structure, and magnetism can be modified using chemical potential, stress or pressure, and electric or magnetic fields.


Batch normalization (batch norm) is often used in an attempt to stabilize and accelerate training in deep neural networks. In many cases it indeed decreases the number of parameter updates required to achieve low training error. However, it also reduces robustness to small adversarial input perturbations and noise by double-digit percentages, as we show on five standard datasets. Furthermore, substituting weight decay for batch norm is sufficient to nullify the relationship between adversarial vulnerability and the input dimension. Our work is consistent with a mean-field analysis that found that batch norm causes exploding gradients.


We report optimization of the steering efficiency of the 1-D opto-VLSI processor using direct power measurement method for wavelengths in the near-IR and 632 nm. Highest improvement observed for the signal and interport isolation is 8 dB and 12 dB respectively. This improved performance of the processor is crucial to the realization of low crosstalk reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers (ROADM) using opto-VLSI processors.


This paper proposes a life cycle oriented construction system that considers each construction parts; walls, bath units, kitchen utilities and other facilities as primitive artificial life (AL) forms consisting of a more complicated artificial life form, i.e. the house. As a start, we developed AL-based housing design assistant software that let AL-forms connect and construct house floor plans in 3-D virtual space, and AL-based remodeling design assistant software that wakes dormant AL forms up to re-generate new design plans. Those two of design assistant software are evaluated by questionnaires with mock customers.


COVID-19 has affected the reproductive health of women worldwide. Such effects were mainly on the reduction in child-birth, postponement of fertility plans and loss of lives of mothers and children as well as still births. The paper attempts to examine the factors associated with the impact of the pandemic on fertility intentions of women who are preparing to have a child even if they already had one or more children. Patient exit survey during 9 June 2022 to 8 July 2022 was conducted at selected hospitals among women who have visited an Obstetric and Gynaecological specialist at the Out Patient Department for consultation. Among 138 participant women who provided with oral informed consent to participate, 34 were infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-COV-2). The number of living children, gender of the children and the educational attainment of the mothers have been found to be significantly associated with change in fertility intention of women. A qualitative study is necessary to ascertain on why the number and gender of children is central to changes in fertility intentions at the times of the pandemic as such.


We present a tomographic reconstruction algorithm based on a frequential decomposition of the data. We show that the frequential components of the attenuation function to be identified can be reconstructed from the frequential decomposition of the data. Moreover, downsampling techniques added to the identification of null components and coupled to compression techniques, speed up the reconstruction time up to six compared to the classical FBP. We identify the optimal number of frequential components. We show reconstructions from real data. A parallel implementation of our new algorithm is then proposed and evaluated on two small PC clusters.


Background Liver hepatocellular carcinoma (LIHC), as the main type of liver cancer, has become a main health issue as the third-most common cause of mortality in cancer patients. However, conventional chemo- or radio- therapies shows little improvement in survival, which calls for novel therapies. Because of the immunotolerance mechanism existing naturally in liver, immunotherapy provides significant effect in treatment of LIHC patients. Up to now, various immunotherapies have been proposed, but due to the complex pathways from which LIHC cancerous cell escape immunosurveillance, combined therapies are often needed, which are still under development. Methods In the current study, with data downloaded from TCGA database, CIBERSORT was performed for identifying the composition of infiltrating immune cells and further statistical analyses using R 3.5.3 were carried out, aiming at connecting specific immune cells with clinical survival. Results With data of immune and stromal scores downloaded from the website of MD Anderson Cancer Centre, both showed significance in survival time. Further analyses based on the result of CIBERSORT demonstrated that the number of macrophages M0 and T cells CD8 infiltration between para-carcinoma and tumour tissues are markedly different. With combination of clinical data, we were able to identify that a higher amount of activated NK cells (p=0.008) and a lower amount of resting NK cells (p=0.047) presented a longer survival time. Conclusion With the help of the TCGA database and multiple techniques, statistical analyses of transcriptome profiling data and clinical data were successfully carried out. The results in this study may pave the way for a new therapeutic strategy which could be combined with current treatments to further improve the clinical outcome of LIHC patients. Further and deeper investigation of other available data, however, were needed in order to verify the results of current study.


The separation point of the flow around a circular cylinder has been numerically and experimentally investigated in the regime of Reynolds number less than 280. The present results reveal that the long-existing discrepancy in the data concerning the time-averaged separation angles reported in the literature results mainly from the oscillating characteristics of the flow separation on the cylinder surface and the experimental methodologies rather than the commonly mentioned blockage-ratio effect. In the present experiment, the time-averaged separation angles are obtained by averaging the instantaneous images from a soap-film flow visualization instead of from the commonly used streakline images from finite time exposures. Excellent agreement has been achieved between the present experimental results and numerical simulations by the spectral element method. Particle-streak visualization in a towing tank has also been conducted to compare with that of the two-dimensional soap-film experiments. It reveals that the separation angle is insensitive to the three-dimensional effect. Variations of the time-averaged separation angles with Reynolds number can be represented by a four-term $\theta _{s}\hbox{--}{\it Re}^{-1/2}$ relationship in the range of $7\,{\le}\,{\it Re}\,{\le}\,200$. Moreover, if the data in the very low Reynolds number region are excluded, a simple linear $\theta_{s}\hbox{--}{\it Re}^{-1/2}$ relationship can be derived for $10\,{\le}\,{\it Re}\,{\le}\,200$. Since the dimensionless boundary layer thickness and the Strouhal–Reynolds number relationship for the circular cylinder are also known to be proportional to ${\it Re}^{-1/2}$, this linear relationship offers direct evidence that the flow characteristics of the boundary layer extend downstream along the cylinder surface to the separation point in this ${\it Re}$-range. The blockage effect on the separation angle has also been quantitatively analysed.


Recently conducted research demonstrated the potential use of mouse dynamics as a behavioral biometric for user authentication systems. However, the state-of-the-art methods in this field rely on classical machine learning methods that necessitate the design of hand crafted mouse features for feature extraction. To simplify the feature extraction process, we leverage various deep learning architectures for mouse movement sequences classification, including convolutional networks, recurrent networks, and a hybrid model which combines convolutional and recurrent layers. It is known that the training of these networks with random initialization of weights on small datasets will produce models that perform poorly. Therefore, we consider a two-dimensional convolutional neural network that allows transfer learning, which is a domain adaptation technique effective for learning on small datasets. Although employing such architecture may seem counterintuitive, since the temporal information is discarded from the input data, the architecture has outperformed all the other deep architectures investigated, as well as a classical machine learning method. In order to understand the features learned, we adopt the layer-wise relevance propagation (LRP) algorithm to compute relevance scores for each part of the mouse curves. In addition, the models are measured for their usability and effectiveness in realistic scenarios.


Contents: Preface. Part I: The Emergence, Influence, and Development of Language. P. Lieberman, Language Evolution and Innateness. G. Bennardo, Language, Mind, and Culture: From Linguistic Relativity to Representational Modularity. P.W. Jusczyk, The Role of Speech Perception Capacities in Early Language Acquisition. Part II: Models of Language and Language Processing. N. Smith, Dissociation and Modularity: Reflections on Language and Mind. G.K. Pullum, B.C. Scholz, Linguistic Models. D.C. Plaut, Connectionist Modeling of Language: Examples and Implications. Part III: The Neurological Bases of Language. M. Kutas, B.M. Schmitt, Language in Microvolts. R.J. Zatorre, Functional and Structural Imaging in the Study of Auditory Language Processes. C. Chiarello, Parallel Systems for Processing Language: Hemispheric Complementarity in the Normal Brain. Part IV: Language Disruption and Loss. E.M. Saffran, Evidence From Language Breakdown: Implications for the Neural and Functional Organization of Language. M.T. Banich, P.E. Scalf, Neurocognitive Bases of Developmental Reading Disorders. Part V: Two Languages, One Brain. M. Mack, The Phonetic Systems of Bilinguals. M. Paradis, Differential Use of Cerebral Mechanisms in Bilinguals.


Cinnamon and Brewer's yeast extracts have been shown to potentiate the action of insulin in isolated adipocytes. In this study, isolated rat epididymal adipocytes were used to evaluate the influence of bovine serum albumin on insulin activity as affected by cinnamon and Brewer's yeast extracts. Albumin at 0.01-0.1% decreased the insulin stimulatory effects of cinnamon from 11.8- to 5.3-fold and 2% albumin decreased this effect to near control levels. Conversely, the insulin-enhancing properties of Brewer's yeast remained low in the presence of less than 0.25% albumin but subsequently increased 2.8-, 4.8- and 5.6-fold in the presence of 0.25, 0.50 and 1.0% albumin, respectively. In the absence of added insulin, increased activity of the insulin-stimulated utilization of glucose by both extracts was observed but only Brewer's yeast extract displayed additive effects when tested at higher insulin levels. Due to the inhibitory and enhancing effects of albumin on the insulin activity of cinnamon and Brewer's yeast, respectively, it is suggested that the effects of albumin be assessed when evaluating the insulin-enhancing effects of other substances using isolated adipocytes.


The incidence of the craniofacial cleft is rare ranging between 1.43 and 4.85/100,000 births. Tessier number nine cleft being the rarest, there are a few reports of detailed ophthalmologic examinations performed in them. In this study, 1-day-old female neonate delivered by normal vaginal delivery at term, weighing 1480 g presented with right eye dystopia, cleft extending through the lateral third of the upper eyelid, brow ending at the temporal region, conjunctival congestion, clear cornea 10 mm in diameter, normal anterior chamber, pupil 2 mm reactive to light, clear lens, and normal fundus. Cleft extended downward from the right medial canthus involving the nasal ala and left forearm had an oblique-crease with camptodactyly. We thus report a case of anterior segment abnormality with an oblique craniofacial cleft. The cause of which is unclear, amniotic band syndrome being a possible cause.


Background: Urothelial carcinoma is the common carcinoma of urothelium. Its incidence is high in developed countries but itsoccurrence is increasing in developing countries like Pakistan with mortality rate of 3.8/100,000 in males and 1/100,000 in females.HER2 is a member of the human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER/EGFR/ERBB) family.Amplification or over-expression ofthis oncogene has been shown to play an important role in the development and progression urothelial carcinoma.Objective: To evaluate the relationship between HER2/NEU expression and grades of urothelial carcinoma bladderMaterial and Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study for the period of six months from January to June, 2017conducted at Pathology section Rehman Medical Institute Peshawar. After approval from university Ethical board 63 cases wereselected by purposive sampling.The Tissue samples from diagnosed cases of urothelial carcinoma of urinary bladder were included.Cases of urothelial carcinoma from other sites were excluded. Paraffin embedded tissue blocks were cut and sections stained byH&E to evaluate histopathological features and tumor grades. Immunohistochemical expression of HER2 was determinedapplying standard techniques of immunohistochemistry.Results: Out of total 63 cases, 47 were males and 16 were female with a mean age of 60.7 years (range 14-90 years). There were38 High grade, 23 Low grade and 2 cases of PUNLMP. 36 cases were positive for HER2 expression in which 26(72.2%) were Highgrade, 9(25%) of Low grade and 1(2.7%) of PUNLMP. High grade was more common in HER2 positive cases and this relationshipwas significant (p<.05). Among positive 36 cases, 19 cases of +3 score were High grade, 05 in Low grade and 01 in PUNLMP whilescore 2+ was in 07 cases of High grade and 04 were in Low grade. The relationship of HER2 score was not significantly related tograde of tumor (p>.05)Conclusion: HER2 is highly expressed in high grades of urothelial carcinoma bladder and this relationship between HER2expression and tumor grades is statistically significant.Keywords: HER2, Urothelial carcinoma, Grades, Immunohistochemistry


Polygalacturonases (exo and endopolygalacturonases) belong to glycoside hydrolases family 28 of CAZy (carbohydrate active enzyme database) glycoside hydrolases (GHs), a diverse yet phylogenetically and structurally related gene family that degrades pectin in a variety of ways. This study deals with computational analysis of primary structure of exo and endopolygalacturonase from plants, fungal and bacterial sequences with respect to their physiochemical properties leading to differences in mode of action. Multiple sequence alignment of amino acid sequences revealed clear differences between exo and endopolygalacturonases. The N-terminal end of exopolygalacturonases is blocked by formation of high-rising wall by position specific presence of certain amino acids (Asp, Asn, Gly, Trp, Phe, Tyr, Gln and Leu), which were found to be conserved near the active site and N-terminal region of exopolygalacturonases. Formation of high-raising wall results in exo the mode of activity. Statistical analysis of the physiochemical properties showed significant differences in number of amino acids, negatively and positively charged residues, extinction coefficient and instability index of both the polygalacturonases. The percentage composition of Arg, Glu, Leu, Met, and Pro were significantly higher in exopolygalacturonases while percentage is higher in endopolygalacturonases. The phylogenetic tree reflected that plant; fungal, bacterial enzymes formed their own cluster with the distinction of exo and endo mode of action.


The article discusses the mechanisms of analysis and evaluation of musical works in relation to neuroscience. A projection of some developments of neuroaesthetics from visual forms of art to music as an audio system is proposed. In particular, the article checks whether the universal laws of perception proposed by the doctor of neuroaesthetics V. Ramachandran are applicable to music. The purpose of the article is to explain how the universal laws, according to which the brain works, correlate with the art of music.
Neuroaestetics as a young and, at the same time, sufficiently developed science gives us a new unique opportunity to understand the structure and functions of the "I" not only from the outside, observing behavior, but also studying the inner workings of the brain. For musical art, in which many processes take place in the subconscious, contact with the developments of neuroaesthetics and further research in the field of this science seems quite promising.
The perception of music, its understanding, performance, and composition are represented not only by creative actions with varying degrees of talent, but also are a complex set of neurophysiological processes in the human brain.
Dr. Ramachandran was primarily engaged in the study of the perception of objects of fine art. However, his "laws" work well in other forms of art, in music in particular. So, at the intuitive unconscious level, preference is given to the symmetric form of the work, repetitive predicted rhythm, logical harmony. When listening to a piece of music, pleasure is experienced in the process of the action itself, while in places where forms are completed, pleasure is enhanced by embracing and understanding the principles of the form itself. The evolutionary human brain is set up to search for the whole, to pick up this whole from the scattered elements. Getting a sense of pleasure in solving such problems is a kind of reward for the work done. Therefore, the value of the whole exceeds the value of the sum of its individual parts.
At the level of biological structures, all people are similar. Their uniqueness and individuality is formed mostly in the field of psychological processes. Therefore, regarding the universal principles of aesthetic perception, it can be argued that laws are given by nature, and specific content is acquired in the process of training and education.


In this paper, we propose a model for generating profitable trading strategies for Taiwan stock market. Our model applies the genetic programming (GP) to obtain prof- itable and stable trading strategies in the training period, and then the strategies are applied to trade the stock in the testing period. The variables for GP include 6 basic information and 25 technical indicators. We perform five experiments on Taiwan Stock Exchange Capitalization Weighted Stock Index (TAIEX) from 2000/9/14 to 2010/5/21. In these experiments, we find that the trading strategies generated by GP with two arithmetic trees have more stable returns. In addition, if we obtain the trading strategies in three historical periods which are the most similar to the current training period, we are able to earn higher return in the testing period. In each experiment, 24 cases are considered. The testing period is rolling updated with the sliding window scheme. The best cumulative return 166.57% occurs when 545-day training period pairs with 365-day testing period, which is much higher than the buy-and-hold strategy.


The Wilson action for Euclidean lattice gauge theory defines a positive-definite transfer matrix that corresponds to a unitary lattice gauge theory time-evolution operator if analytically continued to real time. Hoshina, Fujii, and Kikukawa (HFK) recently pointed out that applying the Wilson action discretization to continuum real-time gauge theory does not lead to this, or any other, unitary theory and proposed an alternate real-time lattice gauge theory action that does result in a unitary real-time transfer matrix. The character expansion defining the HFK action is divergent, and in this work we apply a path integral contour deformation to obtain a convergent representation for U(1) HFK path integrals suitable for numerical Monte Carlo calculations. We also introduce a class of real-time lattice gauge theory actions based on analytic continuation of the Euclidean heat-kernel action. Similar divergent sums are involved in defining these actions, but for one action in this class this divergence takes a particularly simple form, allowing construction of a path integral contour deformation that provides absolutely convergent representations for U(1) and SU(N) real-time lattice gauge theory path integrals. We perform proof-of-principle Monte Carlo calculations of real-time U(1) and SU(3) lattice gauge theory and verify that exact results for unitary time evolution of static quark-antiquark pairs in (1 + 1)D are reproduced.


In an effort to generate melt processable polyacrylonitrile (PAN) precursor fibers suitable for conversion to carbon fibers, an acrylonitrile/methyl acrylate (AN/MA) copolymer and two acrylonitrile/methyl acrylate/acryloyl benzophenone (AN/MA/ABP) terpolymers were synthesized at molar ratios of 85/15 and 85/14/1, respectively. The termonomer (ABP) was incorporated to accelerate crosslinking via UV irradiation, which serves to prevent relaxation of orientation and flow as the temperature of the fiber is raised during thermooxidative stabilization. Two molecular weights of the terpolymer and one molecular weight of the copolymer were studied to determine the effect of the termonomer, and the effect of molecular weight (MW), on the steady shear viscosity (η) and magnitude of the complex viscosity (η*). A higher rate of increase of η as a function of time was observed for the high MW terpolymer relative to that of the copolymer over the temperature range used. Using a temperature sweep and monitoring levels of η*, a minimum was observed at lower temperatures for both terpolymers. These results suggest that copolymerization with ABP significantly increased the thermally induced kinetics of crosslinking. Comparison of the η and η* data for the low and high MW terpolymers suggested that molecular weight also significantly reduced the melt stability (increased the kinetics of crosslinking). A chemorhelogical correlation was then used to quantify the effects of the termonomer and of molecular weight on the kinetics of crosslinking of the AN terpolymers. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 93: 2856–2865, 2004


An investigation concerning suitable termination techniques for 4H-SiC trench JFETs is presented. Field plates, p+ floating rings and junction termination extension techniques are used to terminate 1.2kV class PiN diodes. The fabricated PiN diodes evaluated here have a similar design to trench JFETs. Therefore, the conclusions for PiN diodes can be applied to JFET structures as well. Numerical simulations are also used to illustrate the effect of the terminations on the diodes' blocking mode behaviour.


Spreading behavior of droplets impinging on flat walls have been and still are often investigated. However, the experimental investigation of the lamella thickness and shape is very difficult due to the outer rim hiding the inside. For these investigations a new measurement method was developed measuring the lamella height profile along one axis. Additionally, this method can be used for time-resolved monitoring of lubricating films and component spacing in the range of a few micrometers up to several millimeters. This paper validates the proposed technique presenting the derivation of the describing equation and the experimental setup. For validating the thickness measurement of the lamella during a droplet impact, the time dependent film thickness of an evaporating isopropanol film with an initial thickness of approximately 300μm is measured. The results of the newly proposed method using a LASER line as pattern are compared to a commercial system based on confocal chromatographic interference (CCI) and an analytical solution for the mass transfer.


Abstract This paper describes the results of teacher education candidates' use of a Web-based assessment system including electronic portfolios. A teacher education program adopted a novel Web-based Accountability Model for assessment and learning. The Web-based Education Accountability System (EAS) was based on the Web-based Accountability Model, and consisted of an electronic portfolio sub-system, an online performance assessment sub-system, and an Accountability Center sub-system. The objective of this study was to experimentally test teacher candidates' views towards using the system. The experiment also examined the effect of the EAS on candidates' cognitive learning. Thirty-one preservice teacher candidates enrolled in teacher certification programs participated in this study in Spring 2002. Questionnaires were presented to candidates as pre- and posttests. Content analysis was employed to qualitatively analyze the electronic portfolio to examine the development of cognitive skills. The content analysis and questionnaire results showed that preservice teachers (1) thought the EAS positively facilitated learning to teach and helped them meet teacher standards over time, and (2) became more engaged in reflective and cognitive activities by using the electronic portfolio over time.


The football "field" might be a couple of miles long, and go through part of the town. Hundreds of participants might indulge in wrestling, kicking, and boxing, as well as in forwarding the ball toward a goal. The "game," indeed, might seem indistinguishable from a riot. In other parts of the country, however, local customs might induce a somewhat better regulated contest, for local rules differ widely. Other violent sports were equally popular—bear-baiting or bull-running, cudgeling or single stick combat, cock fights, foot racing, were some of the activities that holidays, fairs, "wakes," and celebrations might encourage. So, too, with the dancing, drunkenness, gambling, and sexual license that formed part of the celebration. Mr. Malcolmson's analysis of recreation in England is not, however, just an anecdotal account. It is a fascinating sociological study, splendidly researched and engagingly written, that not only tells an intriguing story but gives us insight into


An experimental investigation for impingement of under-expanded, axisymmetric jets on a flat plate has been conducted, and the surface pressure, the adiabatic wall temperature distributions on the plate have been measured in detail. For the explanation on the wall temperature distributions, the total temperature distributions along a free jet have also been measured with total temperature probes. In this study, the under-expansion ratio and the nozzle-to-plate distance have been considered as experimental parameters. Depending on nozzle-to-plate distances, different distributions of adiabatic wall temperature are shown by the energy separation at a jet edge and a impinged surface. Also, the recovery factor on a stagnation point decreases significantly due to the isolation of fluid particles in a central region.ヨ⨀ጊ攀Ѐ㘱〻Ԁ䭃䑎䷙ૻ6ㄶ㬅K䍄乍


After the completion and operation of the HSR (short for high-speed railway), a portion of passenger train flows in the existing parallel lines will transfer to the HSR, which is going to bring changes in the structure of train operation diagram, influences the carrying capacity of existing lines and releases the freight capacity of the network as well. This paper adopts the improved deduction coefficient method to calculate the releasing value of freight capacity in two cases, namely the decentralized dispatching and the continuous dispatching. Compared with the traditional deduction coefficient method, the result of the improved method is closer to the practical freight capacity. Taking Wuhan-Guangzhou segment of Beijing- Guangzhou high-speed railway for example, this paper quantifies the releasing value of freight capacity of Wuhan-Guangzhou segment belonging to the existing line based on comparative analysis of the number of passenger trains before and after the opening of the high-speed railway


Paralytic shellfish poisons have led to uncountable economic losses, and done potential harm to human health now. In order to overcome the limits of the traditional bioassay with mouse, many novel detecting methods have been developed, which made it possible to detect the paralytic shellfish poisons with sensitive, high effective and rapid methods. This paper systematically introduces the progress in research on paralytic shellfish poisons detection.


Network growth is currently explained through mechanisms that rely on node prestige measures, such as degree or fitness. In many real networks, those who create and connect nodes do not know the prestige values of existing nodes but only their ranking by prestige. We propose a criterion of network growth that explicitly relies on the ranking of the nodes according to any prestige measure, be it topological or not. The resulting network has a scale-free degree distribution when the probability to link a target node is any power-law function of its rank, even when one has only partial information of node ranks. Our criterion may explain the frequency and robustness of scale-free degree distributions in real networks, as illustrated by the special case of the Web graph.


BACKGROUND
Although the understanding of the health impact of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is incomplete, even less is known about the attitudes, perceptions, and motivations of women faced with the decision to use HRT. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relation between HRT use and women's perceptions of the risk and benefits associated with HRT use.

METHODS
A written questionnaire was administered to 387 women, aged 45 years and older, responding to a health plan invitation for free bone mineral density screening. Women were asked to estimate the lifetime probability of developing breast cancer, uterine cancer, osteoporosis, and myocardial infarction when taking HRT and when not taking HRT. Women rated their quality of life in their current state of health, with breast cancer, with uterine cancer, with osteoporosis, and after myocardial infarction.

RESULTS
HRT users perceived a greater risk reduction using HRT compared with HRT nonusers for osteoporosis (-34.9% vs -17.8%, P <.001) and myocardial infarction (-20.7% vs -8.4%, P <.001). HRT nonusers perceived a greater risk increase using HRT compared with HRT nonusers for breast cancer (16.5% vs 3.3%, P <.001) and uterine cancer (9.2% vs 0.6%, P =.004). HRT users estimated a greater quality-of-life reduction compared with HRT nonusers for osteoporosis (-31.0 vs -24.5, P =.006).

CONCLUSIONS
Regardless of whether they used HRT, women in this study overestimated their risk for all four diseases. HRT users perceived greater benefit and less risk using HRT than nonusers. The results of our study show that continuing efforts are needed to help women understand the risks and benefits of HRT.


Objective: The aim of this study was to compare between 2 types of long acting anesthetics: bupivacaine 0.5% and ropivacaine 0.75%, in terms of their duration of anesthesia, duration of analgesia and their effect in controlling postoperative pain after surgical removal of impacted lower third molars. Material and Methods: This study was conducted on fifty subjects referred to the Oral Surgery Department, Faculty of Dentistry, Mansoura University, for surgical removal of impacted lower third molar. Subjects were randomly assigned prior to surgery into 2 nerve block injections; the first group (group A) for an inferior alveolar nerve block (IANB) using bupivacaine and the second group (group B) for an IANB using ropivacaine. In each group, the patient's age, sex, type of impaction, severity of impaction was recorded. Time from the start of surgery till removal of impacted molar was taken as duration of surgery. Patients were instructed not to take any analgesics until numbness of lip and tongue receded.The time from onset of anaesthesia to when numbness of the lip and tongue receded as assessed by pricking is taken as the duration of anaesthesia. The time from the start of numbness to when the subject first requested a dose of oral analgesic (NSAID) was taken as duration of analgesia. Pain was assessed preoperatively and postoperatively, then patients instructed to record the extent of their pain at 3, 6, 9, and 12 hours on the day of surgery (D1), on the second (D2) and third days (D3) postoperatively. Post-operative analgesic consumption, inability to sleep because of pain, degree of overall satisfaction with the anaesthetic efficacy and postoperative pain management were considered. Results: The median duration of anaesthesia for the 7.5 mg/ml concentration of ropivacaine was approximately 6 hours, and for bupivacaine 5 mg/ml was approximately 7 hours. Bupivacaine can provide analgesia for 10.3 hours while ropivacaine can provide analgesia during the first 9.6 hours which is the period of maximum pain after third molar surgery. Conclusion: As regards a comparison of the study drugs with respect to post-operative pain experience, analgesic need and consumption, bupivacaine and ropivacaine appear to have equivalent efficacy.


The investigation results of the emission of noises accompanying the diesel engine powertrain running in unloaded condition at low or idle speed, are presented in the hereby paper. The multifractal nature of the tested signals was confirmed by means of two groups of parameters. The proposed local parameters are based on the distribution of the probability density of measures, segregated into subsets according to pointwise Holder exponents. The obtained spectra constitute a set of multifractal measures related to singularities representing the local scaling of measures in various points of the time series. Global parameters were defined on the basis of multifractal measures of the parametrised Renyi's entropy. These are properties treating summarily the whole spectrum of the emitted noise and reflecting changes of the vibroacoustic energy levels generated by noise sources. The tests encompassing simultaneous application of both groups of parameters confirmed their efficiency in the comparative analysis as well as in the subjective assessment of the noise level generated in the drive system of vehicles with diesel engines. This opens new possibilities within the simulation range of vehicle noises, for the needs of constructing the passive and active reduction systems of the effects of the vibroacoustic energy propagation.


This study aims to examine the moderating effect of time budget pressure on the influence of the independent auditor's professional skepticism and competence on fraud detection. This study uses a survey approach in the form of a questionnaire filled by 103 external auditors in Jakarta as respondents. The results indicate that if auditors have a high level of professional skepticism and competence, then the probability of fraud that will be detected is also high. Furthermore, time budget pressure cannot moderate the influence of auditor competence on fraud detection. This means that no matter how tight the time budget pressure that is faced by auditors, as long as they have competence, the detection of fraud by the auditor is still possible. Conversely, the results also show that auditors who have high professional skepticism cannot detect fraud if there is a time budget pressure. The results are expected to provide an input to auditors that they need to give more attention and consideration to the time budget assignment when signing a contract with the client.


This paper analyzes the exchange rate pass-through (ERPT) into consumer prices for 12 euro area (EA) countries within a cointegrated VAR (CVAR) framework. Using the Johansen cointegration procedure, results indicate the existence of one cointegrating vectors at least for each EA country of our sample. When measuring the long-run effect of exchange rate changes on consumer prices, we found a wide dispersion of ERPT elasticities, especially between "peripheral" and "core" EA economies. For instance, consumer prices rise by 84% in Portugal following one percent depreciation of exchange rate, while for the German economy the extent of pass-through is not exceeding 0.20%. Besides, the loading factors point out a very slow adjustment of consumer prices towards their long-run equilibrium across EA countries, explaining the weakness of ERPT estimates in the short-run.