During December 2019, a novel coronavirus named as 2019-nCoV, has emerged in Wuhan, China. The human to human transmission of this virus has also been established. Untill now the virus has infected more than seven thousand people and has spread to fifteen countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared 2019-nCoV as global health emergency due to its outburst well beyond China. There is need to develop some vaccines or therapeutics to control or prevent 2019-nCoV infections. The bottleneck with current conventional approaches is that these require longer time for vaccine development. However, computer assisted approaches help us to produce effective vaccine in short time compared with conventional methods. In this study, bioinformatics analysis was used to predict B cell and T cell epitopes of surface glycoprotein of 2019-nCoV that could be suitable to trigger significant immune response. The sequence of surface glycoprotein was collected from the database and analyzed to identify the immunogenic epitope. Both B cell and T cell epitopes were analyzed so the predicted epitopes can stimulate both cellular and humoral immune responses. We predicted 13 B cell and 05 T cell epitopes that later on were joined with GPGPG linker to make a single peptide. This computational approach to design a multi epitope peptide vaccine against emerging 2019-nCoV allows us to find novel immunogenic epitopes against the antigen targets of surface 2019-nCoV surface glycoprotein. This multi epitope peptide vaccine may prove effective to combat 2019-nCoV infections.


In this paper, we study the learning problem in contextual search, which is motivated by applications such as first-price auction, personalized medicine experiments, and feature-based pricing experiments. In particular, for a sequence of arriving context vectors, with each context associated with an underlying value, the decision-maker either makes a query at a certain point or skips the context. The decision-maker will only observe the binary feedback on the relationship between the query point and the value associated with the context. We study a PAC learning setting, where the goal is to learn the underlying mean value function in context with a minimum number of queries. To address this challenge, we propose a tri-section search approach combined with a margin-based active learning method. We show that the algorithm only needs to make $O(1/\varepsilon^2)$ queries to achieve an $\epsilon$-estimation accuracy. This sample complexity significantly reduces the required sample complexity in the passive setting, at least $\Omega(1/\varepsilon^4)$.


We compute section class relative equivariant Gromov-Witten invariants of the total space of P^2-bundles of the form P(O+L1+L2)-->C where C is a genus g curve, O is the trivial bundle, and L1 (resp. L2) is an arbitrary line bundle of degree k1 (resp. k2) over C. We prove a gluing formula for the partition functions of these invariants. Using this gluing formula together with localization techniques, we construct three explicit 3x3 matrices G, U1 and U2 with entries in Q((u))(t0,t1,t2), where u is the genus parameter, and t0,t1,t2 are the equivariant parameters. Then we prove that the partition function of the section class, ordinary equivariant Gromov-Witten invariants of X is given by trace(G^(g-1).U1^k1.U2^k2). As an application, we establish a formula for the partition function of the ordinary Gromov-Witten invariants of any P^2-bundle X over a curve of genus g for any class which is a Calabi-Yau section class. We prove that this partition function is given by 3^g(2sin u/2)^(2g-2).


The purpose of this study was to qualitatively examine self-practice by identifying the psychological skills that sport psychology consultants (SPCs) used to improve their consulting as well as where, when, why, and how they used those skills. The participants were 8 Canadian-based SPCs (3 male, 5 female) with a mean age of 37 years (SD = 6.86) and approximately 10 years of consulting experience, who were professional members of the Canadian Sport Psychology Association. Most SPCs were part-time mental performance consultants with either a PhD or a master's degree. Individual open-ended, semistructured interviews were conducted with the participants, and the data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The SPCs reported using deep breathing, goal setting, self-reflection, time management, imagery, mindfulness, self-talk, and bio-neurofeedback with themselves. They practiced these psychological skills at different times (e.g., when needed, before a session), in a variety of ways (e.g., spontaneously, deliberately, applying specific techniques), and for various purposes (e.g., refine their service delivery, achieve a work–life balance). As such, SPCs should be encouraged to "practice what they preach," given the range of potential benefits associated with the use of psychological skills (e.g., foster the consultant–client relationship, understand the psychological skill, enhance psychological constructs). Lay summary: The purpose of this study was to identify the psychological skills that sport psychology consultants (SPCs) used to improve their consulting. The SPCs reported using eight distinct psychological skills. They practiced these psychological skills at different times, in a variety of ways, and for various purposes.


In order to obtain high protein bread, enrichment of wheat flour with defatted soybean flour (DSF) was investigated. For laboratory bread making, the following were added to wheat flour: 30 or 40 % (w/w flour) extruded blend of corn meal (CM) and DSF prepared in two ratios (w/w) 75 % CM / 25 % DSF (blend 1) and 62.5 % CM / 37.5 % DSF (blend 2). All bread samples had high protein content >14 g/100 g (db), high protein digestibility in vitro (>93 %), significantly improved amino acid composition and lysine score. The optimal bread nutritive value and sensory quality was reached by addition of 30 % of blend 2.


"Exchangeability and measurement technology " is a important basic course in machinery majors.According to the characteristics of the course,the course system and teaching methods are improved in combination with process of building exquisite course.It is proved that it is efficient to improve students' learning ability.


Reverse auction is an effective tool for a 4PL to purchase transportation services. This paper investigated a new transportation services procurement problem for 4PL, which involves three features: the 4PL's loss-averse behavior, price and non-price attributes, and multiple transportation requests. An efficient multi-attribute multi-item reverse auction mechanism considering the 4PL ex-ante and ex-post satisfaction (EES-MMRA) is proposed to purchase transportation services for the 4PL. In the EES-MMRA, integrating the allocation rule with the 4PL ex-ante satisfaction, a 0-1 programming model is constructed to determine winning 3PLs and obtain efficient allocations. Then, a payment rule considering the 4PL ex-post satisfaction is established to ensure truthful bidding of 3PLs. And we discuss some desirable properties (e.g., incentive compatibility, individual rationality, efficiency, and budget balance properties) to justify the EES-MMRA mechanism, subsequently. Next, several numerical experiments are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness and applicability of the EES-MMRA mechanism. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis presents the influences of the weights of the non-price attributes, risk attitude coefficients, and loss aversion coefficients. Finally, we conduct comparison analysis to show the advantages of the EES-MMRA mechanism over the known Vickrey–Clark–Groves (P-VCG) mechanism.


Obesity continues to be a public health issue in the United States. Obesity is a major risk factor for other medical conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders, and some cancers. Healthcare providers play a key role in assisting and providing support to patients who are obese or have obesity-related health problems. They can educate patients who are trying to lose weight and maintain weight loss. However, barriers exist in quality of care. For example, nurses and other healthcare providers may at times have negative attitudes toward and beliefs about patients who are obese. Additionally, healthcare providers may rely on family or self-report of a patient's height and weight, and those estimates are often inaccurate. To improve the care of patients struggling with weight, the clinical nurse leader (CNL), for example, can play an important role in educating nurses regarding issues that affect the patient with obesity. The CNLs can provide educational opportunities that p...


Hospitals are the places where, either the patients or other health workers can encounter with dangerous problem of several bacterial, fungal, viral, parasitic infectious agents, especially the emerging and life threatening ones such as, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin resistant Enterococcus faecalis (VRE), Stenotrophomonas sp., and multi drug resistant Acinetobacter sp., Pseudomonas sp.. The reasons of these resistant microorganisms that can threaten the life of patients and hospital personnel are the floor, the surface areas, the clinical equipments, the medical and dental devices, and the dental unit water lines in hospitals, which might be a reservoir for them and may cause to cross-infections among patients and other people. Hospital infections bring about prolonged hospital stay length, increased mortality and morbidity rate, cost rise, labor loss, deterioration in quality of life, adverse effect on the doctor's success, and disruption in the treatment of patients. Therefore, disinfection processes in medical and dental hospitals against to the agents play a key role to form safe and clear environment and avoid the infections causing to failure in treatments


Monitoring and evaluation the quantity of the three sectors, agriculture, livestock and fisheries is conducted independently by each local government through the statistics and annual reports. But the development of information fishery and livestock sectors served from annual reports and statistical results have not been able to provide geographic information systems commodities in each district. The results of the development of the geographic information systems indicates that the category feature helps the user to view a visualization mapping fisheries sector and livestock commodities. Based on the visualization mapping analysis results, fisheries sector shows that six of the districts in Barito Utara that has not only a maximum production of fish from the river and three sub-categories of the category of the lake. For the results of visualization mapping livestock sector analysis in cattle category shows that six districts (Lahei, Teweh Tengah, Teweh Timur, Montalat, Gunung Timang and Gunung Purei) is able to fulfill the food needs of beef as a whole districts.


Two chromatographically and enzymatically distinct forms of acid phosphatase have been separated by gel filtration from an extract of guinea-pig epidermis. These enzymes, termed APase 1 and APase 2 , had pH optima for p -nitrophenyl phosphate hydrolysis around 5.0. APase 1 was inhibited by fluoride, L(+) tartrate, and lead nitrate, but was insensitive to formaldehyde and glutaraldehyde. In contrast, Apase 2 was insensitive to fluoride, L(+) tartrate, and lead nitrate, but was sensitive to formaldehyde and glutaraldehyde. K m values for APase 1 and APase 2 with p -nitrophenyl phosphate as substrate were 0.09mM and 0.125 mM, respectively.


Abstract The concept of Berge equilibria is based on supportive behavior among the players: each player is supported by the group of all other players. In this paper, we consider individual support rather than group support. The main idea is to introduce individual support relations, modeled by derangements. In a derangement, every player supports exactly one other player and every player is supported by exactly one other player. A unilaterally supportive strategy combination with respect to every possible derangement is called a unilateral support equilibrium. Our main insight is that in a unilateral support equilibrium, every player is supported by every other player individually. This is reflected by the alternative formulation of a unilateral support equilibrium in terms of pay-off functions, instead of using derangements. Moreover, it is shown that every Berge equilibrium is also a unilateral support equilibrium and we provide an example in which there is no Berge equilibrium, while the set of unilateral support equilibria is non-empty. Finally, the relation between the set of unilateral support equilibria and the set of Nash equilibria is explored.


ACKGROUND: Systemic corticosteroids are known to increase diabetes risk, but the effects of high-dose nhaled corticosteroids are unknown. We assessed whether the use and dose of inhaled corticosteroids ncrease the risk of diabetes onset and progression. ETHODS: We formed a new-user cohort of patients treated for respiratory disease during 1990-2005, dentified using the Quebec health insurance databases and followed through 2007 or until diabetes onset. he subcohort treated with oral hypoglycemics was followed until diabetes progression. A nested caseontrol analysis was used to estimate the rate ratios of diabetes onset and progression associated with urrent inhaled corticosteroid use, adjusted for age, sex, respiratory disease severity, and co-morbidity. ESULTS: The cohort included 388,584 patients, of whom 30,167 had diabetes onset during 5.5 years of ollow-up (incidence rate 14.2/1000/year), and 2099 subsequently progressed from oral hypoglycemic reatment to insulin (incidence rate 19.8/1000/year). Current use of inhaled corticosteroids was associated ith a 34% increase in the rate of diabetes (rate ratio [RR] 1.34; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.29-1.39) nd in the rate of diabetes progression (RR 1.34; 95% CI, 1.17-1.53). The risk increases were greatest with he highest inhaled corticosteroid doses, equivalent to fluticasone 1000 g per day or more (RR 1.64; 95% I, 1.52-1.76 and RR 1.54; 95% CI, 1.18-2.02; respectively). ONCLUSIONS: In patients with respiratory disease, inhaled corticosteroid use is associated with modest ncreases in the risks of diabetes onset and diabetes progression. The risks are more pronounced at the igher doses currently prescribed in the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. • The American Journal of Medicine (2010) 123, 1001-1006


Urine diversion (UD) systems are an innovative concept towards a resource-oriented and water saving sanitation system. From Sweden the technology spread over Europe. Firstly, installed in some buildings where the users had a specific "environmental" motivation, the technology widened and is reaching now a broader public (e.g. SolarCity in Linz, Austria (Oldenburg et al., 2009), office building of the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Larsen and Lienert, 2007), main building in the GTZ headquarters in Eschborn, Germany (Winker and Hartmann, 2010)). First investigations show that users appreciate the urine diversion concept (recycling of nutrients and water savings) but are unhappy with the inconveniences caused by the technical design of the UD flush toilets installed so far (Lienert and Larsen, 2010; Blume and Winker, 2011). Nevertheless, the technology implementations so far show that urine diversion is a realistic option for future sanitation planning in buildings (von Muench and Winker, 2009). Urine separation of 60-75% can be achieved (Larsen and Lienert, 2007). However, the remaining questions and discussions are targeting the next steps. The relevant options for the subsequent management of the urine are • direct treatment within the building or in the direct neighbourhood to achieve nutrient recycling and volume reduction. Potential treatment processes are steam stripping, evaporation, MAP precipitation and crystallization; • transport towards a central treatment unit. Transport can be undertaken by means of a piping system, gravity or pressure based, as well as a wheel based pick-up system including collection tanks and pick-up trucks; * Corresponding Author: email@example.com


Smoking and obesity remain the two most prevalent reversible health risk factors in Singapore. Glucagon-Like-Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists (GLP-1 RAs) are established therapies for diabetes mellitus (DM) and obesity. Recently, they have also shown promise in aiding smoking cessation. Once more robust studies of GLP-1 RAs support this finding, they may play an integral role in reducing the health impact of both risk factors in Singapore.


To study seasonal variations in blood pressure in Okinawa, a Japanese subtropical island, we examined 100 hypertensive and another 100 normotensive subjects for one year and obtained the mean blood pressure for each month. Major findings were as follows: 1) Blood pressure was lower in summer than in winter for each group of hypertensive, diabetic, normotensive, older and younger subjects. 2) Blood pressure in hypertensive diabetic subjects and hypertensive older subjects rapidly rose in autumn. 3) Blood pressure in normotensive younger subjects declined mostly in summer. 4) Although seasonal variations and trends in the blood pressure of Okinawan subjects were similar to those of Japanese mainland subjects, the Okinawans showed a consistently lower blood pressure than that of the mainlanders by about 10 mmHg for both systolic and diastolic values.


Among the thirteen original colonies, Pennsylvania was most successful at issuing paper money with only minimal effects on prices -- so much so that the colony's experience is sometimes seen as violating the classical quantity theory of money. Quantity theorists usually attribute this apparent anomaly to mismeasurement of the money stock. In contrast, I use data on money, prices, and real activity in Pennsylvania from 1723 to 1774 and for the United States as a whole from 1790 to 1850 (when the money stock is better measured) to show that the long-run behavior of money and prices is well explained by the quantity theory in both periods, despite the differences in institutional arrangements, once growth in monetized transactions is taken into account.


An innovative acousto-optic interconnection device is proposed that eliminates optical fan-out and fan-in losses suffered by other optical interconnection techniques. This approach allows essentially lossless permutations of about 30 single-mode fiber optic signals in a single integrated optics device, and supports arbitrary modulation formats and bandwidths since optical to electronic conversions are avoided. The reconfiguration time of this acousto-optic interconnection network is given by the aperture time of the Bragg cell and is usually between 100 ns and 10 µs, which is fast enough for many applications. Surface acoustic wave acousto-optic technology can be efficiently utilized for the space division switching applications with three key advantages. First, almost lossless permutations can be obtained because fanout and fanin losses are avoided. Second, even though N frequencies must be simultaneously applied to the device, an incredibly low rf drive power is required due to a sophisticated utilization of beam steering and phase matching techniques. Finally, an entire switch network is realized on a single integrated optics substrate, and these can be stacked up and combined to implement a novel 3-dimensional folding of a larger Clos network. The design, analysis, applications, and initial experimental verification of the acousto-optic photonic switch concept will be presented.


OBJECTIVE
To analyze the effectiveness of laparotomy and laparoscopy in the treatment of patients with blunt abdominal trauma.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Literature searching was conducted in accordance with the recommendations «Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses» between January 2015 and August 2021. We used the electronic databases PubMed, Cochrane Library, Scopus, eLibrary.

RESULTS
Laparoscopy reduces hospital-stay, postoperative morbidity and mortality in hemodynamically stable patients with blunt abdominal trauma compared to laparotomy.

CONCLUSION
Further systematic reviews and meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials are required to obtain high quality data.


The distance among closely related languages is usually measured from three dimensions: structural, functional and perceptual. The structural distance is determined by directly quantifying the phonetic, lexical, morphological and syntactic differences among the languages. The functional distance is measured based on the actual usage of the languages, e.g., mutual intelligibility and inter-lingual comprehensibility. The perceptual distance is related to the subjective judgment of the speakers about the similarity or intelligibility between their native language and the neighboring languages. Studies on language variation measure linguistic distances at least from one of these dimensions. However, as Gooskens (2013), Gooskens & Heuven (2018) and Tang et al. (2009) noticed, languages do not differ just in one dimension; they can be, for example, phonetically similar but syntactically different. The present study, therefore, combined these three perspectives to examine the distance among purposely selected ten South Ethiosemitic languages (Chaha, Endegagn, Ezha, Gumer, Gura, Inor, Kistane, Mesqan, Muher and Silt'e). The study specifically aims to (1) determine the areal classification of the languages; (2) illustrate the similarity or difference between the areal classification of the languages and previous classification by historical linguists; (3) determine the degree of mutual intelligibility among the languages; (4) examine the relationship among the three dimensions of linguistic distances, and (5) explore the major determinants (linguistic and non-linguistic) which contribute to the linguistic distance among the language varieties. The structural distance was determined by computing the lexical and phonetic differences based on randomly selected 240 words. The lexical distance was defined as the average of pairs of non-cognates in the basic vocabularies. Levenshtein algorithm (Gooskens & Heeringa, 2004; Heeringa, 2004; Kessler, 1995) was used to


The institution of land use planning in the cities of Nigeria significantly affects development. It is responsible for delays in securing land and development rights, affects plot sizes, and imposes unrealistic standards on housing development. No approach appears to have been developed so far to quantify these impacts systematically. Present methods rely on descriptive studies typically based on casual empiricism. A review of existing literature provides evidence of the application of quantitative methods for assessing the impact of planning on urban housing development in the UK, the USA and Hong Kong. While noting the differences in the planning regimes between developed and developing economies, this paper develops a multiple regression model to quantify the impact of land use planning on cities in Nigeria. The aim is to provoke more research in this area to generate measures to improve the system of land use planning in African cities.


We study the problem of a simultaneous measurement of incompatible observables in the framework of Prugoveckiis empirical theory of measurement (i.e., the theory where the irreducible errors in individual measurements ought to be taken into account). We propose a solution for the main problem of this theory: negative probability distributions that arise for some states in the probabilistic description of a simultaneous measurement. These probabilities have a meaningful frequency interpretation. However, limits of relative frequencies exist only in a generalized sense and this is only a chaotic oscillation from the ordinary point of view. We present a measurement (i.e., a preparation and determinative measurements) where negative and usual Kolmogorov probabilities might arise. We show that there are two roots of negative probabilities: disturbance effects and the finite exactness of a measurement. Resume : Nous Otudions le problme reliO aux mesures simultanOes diobservables


Objective To more directly establish the effect of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)expression on the biological characteristics of human gastric cancer cells.Methods VEGF 165 sense and antisense gene expression vectors were introduced into human gastric cancer cells,respectively.Then cell cycle proliferative ability in vitro and growth in nude mice of transfected cells were examined.Results Cell cycle analysis showed that the number of transfected cells with antisense VEGF 165 gene had an average increase of 17.3% in G\-1 phase and decrease of 43.6% in S phase in comparison with that of transfected cells with sense VEGF 165 gene;Colony forming rate of the cells with sense VEGF 165 gene was higher than that of the cells with antisense VEGF 165 gene.The growth rate,the volume of the tumor were markedly higher in transfected group with sense VEGF 165 gene than those in other groups.Conclusions VEGF might promote angiogenesis in solid tumor.Antisense VEGF gene might inhibit its growth,in addition,VEGF might correlate with the proliferative activity of tumor cells.


The human body condition detection system designed by STM32 consists of MCU, power supply module, ECG module, skin electricity module, body temperature module, wireless transmission module and liquid crystal display module. The power supply module provides power for the whole system. MCU centralizes the calculation and processing of the data information in the whole system. ECG module collects the ECG signal of users through AD8232 chip. The skin electricity module collects the skin electricity signal through L324 chip. The body temperature module collects the temperature signal through NTC thermistor and displays ECG waveform and skin temperature value on OLED. Wireless transmission module communicates with intelligent terminal through CC2540 chip. Users can know their health status in real time. The system has the advantages of simple structure design, low power consumption and low cost, which makes the medical service more portable, personal and family-oriented.


The aim of this chapter is to reminde some fundamental concepts in Crystal Growth developed in the last century. These concern the definition of the state of non‐equilibrium, the equilibrium and growth shapes of crystals, the atomistic point of view on surface energy, the crystallochemical description of the surface in terms of bond chains and the first mechanisms unravelling the way crystals grow. We hope it can help to place in the proper scientific context the peculiar subjects of this book.


To investigate the expression, role and mechanism of action of long non‐coding RNA (lncRNA) ABHD11‐AS1 in endometrial carcinoma. The expression of lncRNA ABHD11‐AS1 was quantified by qRT‐PCR in human endometrial carcinoma (n = 89) and normal endometrial tissues (n = 27). LncRNA ABHD11‐AS1 was stably overexpressed or knocked‐down in endometrial carcinoma cell lines to examine the cellular phenotype and expression of related molecules. Compared to normal endometrial tissue, lncRNA ABHD11‐AS1 was significantly overexpressed in endometrial carcinoma. Overexpression of lncRNA ABHD11‐AS1 promoted the proliferation, G1‐S progression, invasion and migration of endometrial cancer cells; inhibited apoptosis; up‐regulated cyclin D1, CDK1, CDK2, CDK4, Bcl‐xl and VEGFA; and down‐regulated p16, while ABHD11‐AS1 down‐regulation has the opposite effect. RNA pull down demonstrated that lncRNA ABHD11‐AS1 binds directly to cyclin D1. Knockdown of cyclin D1 can reverse the effect of ABHD11‐AS1. Overexpression of lncRNA ABHD11‐AS1 increased the tumorigenicity and up‐regulated cyclin D1 in an in vivo model of endometrial cancer in nude mice. LncRNA ABHD11‐AS1 functions as an oncogene to promote cell proliferation and invasion in endometrial carcinoma by positively targeting cyclin D1.


Model 501 Pennograph is a super-sensitive precision instrument expressly designed for laboratory use where sensitivity of the highest order is essential and where super speed is needed. This scale provides sensitivities as fine as 50 milligrams and capacities up to 31/4 pounds. Pennsylvania Pennograph available in 52 models with wide choice of capacities , sensitivities, indication , charts and beams. .. making it the perfect scale for countless laboratory applications.


The construction of adequate mathematical models of real control systems is the primary goal of control theory. At present, system modeling and simulation is mainly covered by two approaches. The first approach considers the system as a «black box» and presents the system in the form of its constituent elements (the control object and the control system). A cybernetic approach to the construction, analysis and optimization of control system models operating under uncertain conditions was first proposed in [1-5]. In this paper, the feasibility of this approach is justified by the solution of the well-known paradox of independence (Gabor J. Szekely [6]).


Regardless of their material well-being,two heroes of Song of Solomon,Macon Dead Junior and Milkman Dead,suffers from mental imbalance in their spiritual being.This Thesis analyzes the underlying reason,which is the American dream,the atmosphere of economic society,aloofness from nature,and suggests staying with nature the way to deal with the disease.


Protein gene product (PGP) 9.5 is a new brain‐specific protein originally detected by high‐resolution two‐dimensional electrophoresis of the soluble proteins of human brain and other organs. We have purified this protein from human brain and raised a rabbit antihuman PGP 9.5 antiserum. The protein has a monomer molecular weight of ˜27,000 and is present in brain at concentrations at least 50 times greater than in other organs. Im‐munoperoxidase labelling has localised PGP 9.5 to neurones in the human cerebral cortex with no evidence of staining of glial elements. PGP 9.5 is estimated to be present in brain at concentrations of 200‐500 μg/g wet weight and represents a major protein component of neuronal cytoplasm. This new neurone‐specific cytoplasmic marker may prove useful in studies of neuronal development and in the detection of neuronal damage in disease of the nervous system.


Exoenzyme S (ExoS) is an ADP‐ribosyltransferase secreted by the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The amino‐terminal half of ExoS exhibits homology to the YopE cytotoxin of pathogenic Yersinia. Recently, YopE was found to be translocated into the host cell by a bacteria–cell contact‐dependent mechanism involving the ysc‐encoded type III secretion system. By using an approach in which exoS was expressed in different strains of Yersinia, including secretion and translocation mutants, we could demonstrate that ExoS was secreted and translocated into HeLa cells by a similar mechanism to that described previously for YopE. Similarly to YopE, the presence of ExoS in the host cell elicited a cytotoxic response, correlating with disruption of the actin microfilament structure. A similar cytotoxic response was also induced by a mutated form of ExoS with a more than 2000‐fold reduced ADP‐ribosyltransferase activity. However, the enzymatically active ExoS elicited a more definite rounding up of the HeLa cells, which also correlated with decreased viability of the cells after prolonged infection compared with cells infected with strains expressing mutated ExoS or YopE. This suggests that ExoS can act through two different mechanisms on the host cell. The expression of ExoS by Yersinia also mediated an anti‐phagocytic effect on macrophages. In addition, we present evidence that extracellularly located P. aeruginosa is able to target ExoS into eukaryotic cells. Taken together, our data suggest that P. aeruginosa, by analogy with Yersinia, targets virulence proteins into the eukaryotic cytosol via a type III secretion‐dependent mechanism as part of an anti‐phagocytic strategy.


This chapter provides a synthesis of twelve CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) projects, conducted by our research group, which were implemented to young students (aged 8–12 years) with the purpose to interweave language and content learning: that is, to develop students' foreign language skills simultaneously with enhancing their knowledge in aspects of history and developing their cultural awareness and multicultural understanding. Multimodal materials, such as stories, ppt, video clips, songs, movies, games and constructions were used to arouse the students' interest, in a 'game based' teaching environment, within a 'task-based' framework, which called for students working together on a common group task, and interacting while being involved in 'problemsolving'. The effectiveness and feasibility of the projects were estimated by collecting both qualitative and quantitative data on a formative and summative basis. The results indicated the positive effect of the CLIL approach on the students' FL skills language along with their considerable familiarization with the content (history and culture), b) seemed to have implications for changes in the Curriculum of Primary Education by contributing to the introduction of CLIL methodology in teaching young learners.


For a symmetric a-stable random vector (XI, .. ., X,, X,+ ,) with 1 < a < 2 and spectral measure r, we find a necessary and sufficient condition in terms of r for the conditional variance Var(X,+l 1 XI, . . . , XJ to be finite. We express the conditional vari- ance in terms of r, and we develop an additivity property when X,, . . . , X, are independent. These results are then applied to stable processes: scale mixtures of Gaussian processes, harmonizable and moving averages.


Introduction Pauline Hanson's comments in Parliament on the so-called `race issue' have been hurtful and divisive. She has referred to "the privileges that Aboriginals enjoy over other Australians" and has been critical of the so-called `guilt' or `Aboriginal Industry' putatively generated and defended by "the fat cats, bureaucrats and do gooders" who are said to feed off it.(1) She has not, of course, been alone; for example, Senator Ross Lightfoot has asserted on more than one occasion in Parliament that Australian Aborigines are the "bottom colour of the civilisation spectrum".(2) In any case, such provocative and often inaccurate speech has been Uttered with legal impunity, giving rise to a number of questions about the rights, duties and special privileges of Parliamentarians, especially where the issues of recognition and reconciliation are concerned. In the Westminster Tradition, Parliamentarians enjoy enormous speech freedoms. These freedoms affirm the sovereignty of Parliament, facilitate the cut and thrust of Parliamentary politics and, perhaps most importantly, ensure that the truth will out. It is imperative that our Parliamentarians are enabled to speak candidly without fear of the consequences.(3) While I wish to affirm the sovereignty of Parliament and its right to police its own breaches of privilege, I argue here not only that Parliamentarians in general have a stronger obligation than private citizens to speak truthfully and justly, but also that Australian Parliamentarians in particular have a special obligation to speak carefully and thoughtfully when referring to any issue affecting the original inhabitants of this nation. The speech of Australian Parliamentarians is a special case of speech for two reasons: firstly, the extraordinary privileges enjoyed by members of Parliament carry with them equally extraordinary duties to speak truthfully and temperately; secondly, non-Indigenous Australia's unusually uncomfortable and troubled relationship with Indigenous Australia and the absence of Aboriginal representatives in Parliament means that any speech on the subject should be chosen and uttered with great care. Free Speech Freedom of speech and expression is, of course, one of the most important themes in liberalism. For Justice Michael Kirby, "individual self-expression" is a "vital attribute" of a free society and is just as important as "the protection of life itself". The capacity to criticise the Government, he adds, "is a vital protection against tyranny".(4) That freedom of speech is a precondition of representative democracies was recently validated by the Australian High Court decisions which found in our Constitution an implied right to freedom of political communication. The Court found that since Australia is an (effective) representative democracy, guarantees of freedom of communication or discussion could justifiably be implied as a necessary condition of the practice of representative democracy.(5) But even the most vehement defender of free speech admits that there is no such thing as an absolute right of speech, As the late Justice Lionel Murphy noted: "free speech is only what is left over after due weight has been accorded to the laws relating to defamation, blasphemy, copyright, sedition, obscenity, use of insulting words, official secrecy, contempt of court and Parliament, incitement and censorship".(6) Every Australian is, therefore, restrained in her/his speech by these various conditions. All of us, that is, except for our Parliamentary representatives speaking from within the hermetic environment of the Parliamentary chamber. Nothwithstanding the fairly modest constraints imposed by standing orders and the informal bridle of party discipline, Australian Parliamentarians may more or less say what they like, protected as they are by Section 49 of the Constitution against questioning or impeachment "in any court or tribunal" outside of Parliament. …


The first Diels-Alder based synthesis of (-)-kainic acid is described. Danishefsky's diene and a vinylogous malonate derived from 4-hydroxyproline combine under high pressure to afford a key bicyclic intermediate with virtually no loss of enantiopurity. This adduct can be converted into the natural product with complete stereocontrol. [reaction: see text].


The effects of annealing and changes in stress state on the toughness of both 4 mm thick and 7 mm thick plates of a Zr-Ti-Ni-Cu-Be alloy have been determined. In the amorphous state, both notched and fatigue precracked specimens have been tested. The effects of changing the notch root radius from a fatigue precrack to that of a blunt notch on the fracture toughness are dramatic. The toughness increases from approximately 17.9 ± 1.8 MPa√m in the fatigue precracked specimens to in excess of 130 MPa√m in the notched specimens. These results are compared to similar tests on a range of structural materials, including aluminum alloys, steels, Ti alloys, and metal matrix composites. The increased toughness obtained by increasing the notch root radius in this bulk metallic glass far exceeds that typically observed in other structural materials. Possible reasons for this are presented. In addition, the effects of changes in loading rate and various annealing treatments on the toughness are presented and rationalized via both crack path and fracture surface observations. Annealing of this bulk metallic glass at temperatures below Tg produces increases in strength/hardness, rapid decreases in toughness, and a corresponding change in the fracture morphology. Changes in loading rate did not have a significant effect on the toughness for either notched or fatigue precracked specimens.


In this paper, we discuss our ongoing research in the domain of text and ontology driven clinical decision support system. The proposed framework uses text analytics to extract clinical entities from electronic health records and semantic web analytics to generate a domain specific knowledge base (KB) of patients' clinical facts. Clinical Rules expressed in the Semantic Web Language OWL are used to reason over the KB to infer additional facts about the patient. The KB is then queried to provide clinically relevant information to the physicians.


1. The Theme of the Individual 2. Beginnings 3. A Hesitant Eugenic 4. Magic, Thinking and Selection by Merit 5. Man, Woman, and Eros 6. The Individual's Contract 7. Old Age, Thanatos, and Last Things 8. Facing the Ideal Society. Citations of Plato's Works. Index.


Investigations into the use of 3 types of absorber tube shieldings with respect to heat losses were carried out. In this study a cylindrical parabolic solar concentrator was used to direct beam radiation on to the absorber-shielding configurations and tests were conducted in a wind-tunnel under varying wind speeds and absorber temperatures. Several wind speeds and temperature ranges were used to reflect local weather conditions. The study recorded reduction in heat losses due to shieldings. Also, percentage reduction in energy interception was found to be least with one glass shield arrangement. The equations of Duffie and Beckman and Kuehn and Goldstein in respect of heat loss calculations were used. Their predictions agreed well with, experimental results in most cases investigated.


Obesity is a potent predictor of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and associated risk factors, including hypertension. Perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) surrounds most blood vessels and modulates vascular tone. Under physiological conditions, PVAT exerts anti-contractile effects and sex differences are apparent in PVAT function. Under obese conditions, PVAT becomes dysregulated which may contribute to vascular dysfunction; how sex impacts the remodelling of PVAT and altered vascular contractility during obesity is unclear. We hypothesise that sex specific PVAT dysfunction in the setting of obesity is an important driver of sex differences in vascular pathologies and CVD risk.Adult (8wk) male and female C57Bl/6J mice received either chow diet (CD; 2.5%kcal fat) or high fat diet (HFD; 58%kcal fat) for 16 weeks (n=8/sex and diet). At 15 weeks of diet, blood pressure was assessed via tail-cuff plethysmography. At 16 weeks of diet, mesenteric arteries were isolated, and PVAT left intact or removed. Wire myography was used to assess the dilatory response to endothelium-dependent acetylcholine (ACh) and endothelium independent sodium nitroprusside (SNP). LogEC50 and %Preconstriction were calculated for each concentration response curve. PVAT was dissected from mesenteric arteries (mPVAT) and flash frozen for bulk RNA sequencing or fixed for histology. Data are mean ± SD and were analysed by two-way ANOVA.Under CD, the removal of PVAT did not change vasodilatory response to ACh or SNP in either sex. Under HFD, male mice showed reduced sensitivity (logEC50 PVAT vs no PVAT, p=0.0349) and maximal dilatory response (%Preconstriction PVAT vs no PVAT, p=0.0119) to ACh. This effect was not observed in females. Moreover, PVAT exerted no effect on dilatory responses to SNP in HFD groups of either sex, indicating an endothelium-dependent effect. Blood pressure was not altered in either sex by HFD. Transcriptomic analysis using RNA sequencing revealed female mPVAT is clearly distinguished from male mPVAT under HFD, but not CD conditions, with significantly down-regulated extracellular matrix remodelling and pro-inflammatory pathways, and significantly upregulated oxidative phosphorylation pathways. Histological analysis revealed potentiated adipocyte hypertrophy and collagen staining in mPVAT from males compared to females under HFD (p=0.034 and p=0.018 respectively).Our study shows that female mice are more protected from adverse effects of HFD, including PVAT-mediated endothelial dysfunction. Our RNA sequencing data provides insights into how pathophysiologic remodelling of mPVAT may contribute to the vascular outcomes of obesity-associated hypertension and suggests that this may be modulated by sex hormones. Further studies will unpick the underlying mechanism to identify potential targets for therapeutic intervention in obesity-associated hypertension. Funded by British Heart Foundation grant FS/19/55/34890. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2023 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.


At present most patronage predictions of transit systems are performed using UMTA Transportation Planning System (UTPS) package or some adaptation of it. The transit assignment produced by a typical UTPS system can be classified as an all-or-nothing limited equilibrium assignment. However, passenger loads assigned to a transit line can far exceed the line capacity. In such a case line headway has to be reduced to provide enough capacity to accommodate transit demand. If the increase in frequency is not accounted for by iterating again through the mode choice and assignment models, the equilibrium assumptions are violated. If equilibrium between demand and supply is achieved, it might occur at a point that requires transit capacity much beyond economically feasible or engineering practical levels. Thus the present transit assignment procedure suffers from two problems. First, trips are assigned to transit lines without regard to their actual capacity. Second, while some lines are assigned passenger loads beyond capacity, there might be other lines with just slightly longer travel times that are greatly underutilized. A realistic assignment should take into account and not exceed the actual capacity of every transit line. Furthermore, it should consider lines' capacities while rationally simulating people's travel behavior. A transit assignment algorithm is presented that takes into account the actual capacity of transit lines and assigns trips to more than a single path when the shortest path reaches its capacity. This procedure produces a practical Multipath Capacity-Limited Transit Assignment (McLAT). The procedure was implemented on an IBM mainframe computer using the standard UTPS package with the addition of only one FORTRAN program.


The present invention relates to a radioactive waste transport container, and specifically includes a dedicated transport container for transporting a radioactive waste storage container, such as a high-integrity container (HIC), or a shock absorbing device coupled to upper and lower portions of a transport container to mitigate an impact. It relates to a dedicated transport container. The dedicated transport container includes a container body; A lid coupled to the top of the container body; A plurality of securing devices protruding from the outer surface of the container body; And a lifting engagement device formed on the outer surface of the container body, wherein the lid comprises a circular flange and an o-ring formed on the lower face of the flange.  Radioactive waste containers, shock absorbers, gas inlets, detection holes, high soundness containers, lifting straps, trunnion


The thiokness d and optical constants n, k of amorphous silicon film have been determined simultaneously by transmission spectra. The accurate formulae for transmittance and reflectance as well as the detailed processes are given. The optical properties of GD-grown amorphous silicon films are studied.


Using experimental data, 3D modeling options were verified, which describe the strain during rolling of layers of a titanium-steel composite and based on the variational principles of continuum mechanics and the finite element method.


Cocaine dependence and psychopathology measured with the SCL-90-R Abstract: The analysis of psychopathological characteristics of people with cocaine dependence demanding treatment in centers of drug abuse is a relevant topic, due to the relevant increase of the- se demands in the last year. The objective of the present study is to analyze the presence of certain psychopathological symptoms and the disconfort perceived by the subject with the SCL-90-R in a sample of 11S subjects in treatment for cocaine dependence. The results obtained indicate that the scales of symptoms with more punctuation are these of depression, obsession-compulsion, para- noid ideation and interpersonal sensibility. The 36.5% of the sample would be located in the psy- chiatric population according the norms of this questionnaire. This suggests the necessity to eva luate these psychopathological characteristi cs for an appropriate design of the treatment of these people wich cocaine dependence what sufFer other disorders.


We read with interest the article reporting benefits of intravenous lipid emulsion (ILE) in preventing tramadol-induced in-hospital seizures in poisoned patients (1). We would first like to congratulate the authors for this impressive randomized investigation. However, we wish to comment on their findings. The main presumed mechanism of action for ILE in acutely poisoned patients, named "lipid sink", is limiting tissue distribution of lipophilic drugs potentially causing toxicity. Based on an in vitro model, ILE's ability to sequester a drug was shown to parallel its octanol-water partition coefficient (2), defined as the ratio of its concentration in a water-saturated octanolic phase to its concentration in an octanol-saturated aqueous phase and usually expressed as "LogP". Prediction of drug binding with ILE was additionally im-proved by combining its LogP with volume of distribution (VD), together accounting for 88% of ILE-attributed varia-tion in its serum concentration decrease (2). With a LogP of


A method and an apparatus for setting up sound source data of received broadcast data as a function sound of a mobile phone are provided to previously set up broadcast data and received broadcast data as function sounds of a mobile phone. A mobile phone comprises a broadcast receiving part(310), a temporary storage part(320), a decoding part(330), a selection part(340), a function sound setup part(350), and a function sound output part(360). The broadcast receiving part(310) receives DMB(Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) or DAB(Digital Audio Broadcasting) data. The temporary storage part(320) temporarily stores sound source data. The decoding part(330) decodes the sound source data stored in the temporary storage part(320) or the sound source data received through the broadcast receiving part(310). The selection part(340) selects a specific section among sound source data. The function sound setup part(350) sets up the sound source data of the specific section as a function sound to be outputted when a specific function is executed in the mobile phone. The function sound output part(360) outputs the function sound when the specific function is executed.


The law's development of the civil liability and the compensation for economics losses for oil pollution damage of the sea those suffered by victims, is marked by the great maritime incidents as : Amoco-Cadiz, Erika and Prestige. So, to fill the gap in international law and because there are a lot of national laws to cover it, 1969 is the beginning of the international law's system. So, the international convention on civil liability for oil pollution damage of 1969 which laid the shipowner's liability as a princip. In 1971, the international convention C. 71 has established an international Fund for compensation for oil pollution damage. It's an international two-degree compensation system. This system is completed by a private system : TOVALOP and CRISTAL agreements which are ruled out nowadays. The C. L. C 1969 and the C. 71 were revised by protocols in 1992 to improve them. But the international system has always keeped those weaknesses and those inefficiencies for intrinsic : - the limitation of compensation for loss ; the limitation of the range of the subjects ; the exception of environmental damage compensation; the limitation of the civil liability of the shipowner – than extrinsic reasons: the adoption of OPA 90 by USA. Those inefficiencies must be compensated by a new international system which must establish a fragmented liability. So, the liability for all the involved actors of oil transport should be set up. This new system could accentuate limitation of compensation for loss ; must attach the slightest value to environmental damage approving pure economics losses as recoverable and by application of the principle of the " polluter – pays ".


The percolation model is an effective tool to solve the problem of fluid flow in the pores; the situation of outsiders crossing the crowd is similar. This paper verifies the obvious percolation phenomenon in the randomly distributed crowd by [Formula: see text] simulation and reveals several characteristics and laws of the crowd percolation phenomena. Studies have shown that sites with different spatial dimensions have different densities of crowd percolation: when the actual density of the crowd is greater than the critical density of the crowd percolation, the outsider is difficult to pass through the crowd; otherwise, the outsider can pass through the crowd easily. Therefore, the critical density of crowd percolation can be one of the indicators of crowd management in public areas, which will provide important guidance for the design of public areas, site selection of public activities and crowd management.


In this paper Ι try to present briefly the starting theoretical and methodological points outlining the major hypothesis and arguments of my thesis, which is about urban policies during the time of crisis in Athens with an extra focus on resilience. Based on the primary findings of the research and the related literature review, Ι propose that resilience should be viewed as a governing logic of the urban crises, implementing different techniques to meet its ends, two of which are the making of the responsible citizen and the active community. In order to underline this, Ι concentrate on the official discourse, and especially the 'Preliminary Resilience Assessment', and the 'Athens Resilience Strategy for 2030'.


This paper presents the mechanical properties of selected composite materials for Formula Society of Automotive Engineers (FSAE) race car body panels. The objective is to present the best materials to be used as the body panels. Kevlar, Carbon and glass fibers were fabri-cated as specimens and underwent some mechanical tests to determine their tensile properties, fracture toughness and impact resistance. Results from the experimental works reveal that woven Carbon fiber scored the highest in two out of three tests (tensile and fracture properties), but has the lowest impact energy that is due to its lower density compared to the other two composite materials. On the other hand, the woven Kevlar fiber consistently showed a moderate result in all three tests, and the woven glass fibers only showed a better result in impact test. Considering all these results, the woven Kevlar fiber is chosen as the best materials to be used as the FSAE car's body panels, which is based on a trade-off between strength of the materials, fracture, weight, and impact resistance. The findings may be useful for the future design, fabrication and performance of the FSAE race cars.


The characteristics of a complex system are presented in the innovation activities of humankind.This paper summarized the recent findings of applying the complex system theory to study the innovation processes,with a special focus on the origin,structure and evolution of innovations.We noticed that many models and concepts used in the study of innovation systems are adopted from the biology systems,yet the social system and the biology system apparently are at very different levels of complexities.Therefore,this paper argues that while trying to explore the general rules that may apply to all complex systems,one should also keep mind open for the unique rules that apply only to the social systems,including the innovation activities.In addition,due to its interdisciplinary nature,it would be more fruitful for scholars from different academic backgrounds to join forces in the study of the innovation process under the complex system paradigm.


This paper describes a method of determining the forced periodic steady state response of non-linear circuits. the method is closely related to the work of Aprille and Trick Proc. IEEE, 60, 108-114 (1972) and also to the finite difference method for solving a boundary value problem.

The new approach is a shooting method in the sense that in every iteration an initial value problem is solved. It is, however, also a relaxation method, because in every iteration a periodic wave-form is obtained. This is achieved by solving in each step a linear time-dependent differential equation whose solution can be easily transformed into a periodic solution satisfying this linear equation. Because the iteration takes place on wave-forms rather than initial values and every solution satisfies the boundary conditions, the method is robust. It will be shown that for a causal approximation of the time derivatives the iterated wave-forms are equal to those found using the finite difference methods.


One important part of the teaching and learning process is reflection. The deeper a teacher's reflection, the better it is for the improvement of subsequent learning. This study aims to determine the depth of reflective thinking of pre-service mathematics teachers on their teaching practices. This type of research is descriptive research with a qualitative approach. The learning was conducted online for two months by ten students of pre-service mathematics teacher at five different schools. There are four types of reflection depth used, namely general type, description type, argumentation type, and contribution type. The method used was observation and in-depth interviews which were also conducted online. The instruments used were observation sheets, interview sheets, questionnaire sheets and portfolios. The results showed that the depth of reflective thinking of pre-service mathematics teacher increases from argumentation type to contribution type. This has a positive impact on improving the quality of learning.


Abstract Internal friction in aluminium thin films on a silicon substrate has been measured as a function of strain amplitude by means of a free-decay method of flexural vibration. Procedures for analysing the strain amplitude dependence of internal friction in thin-layer materials are presented, firstly for evaluating the internal friction in the film separately from the measured damping of the composite system, and secondly for converting the internal friction in the film into the plastic strain as a function of effective stress on dislocations. The stress-strain responses thus obtained for the aluminium films show that plastic strain of the order of 1019 increases nonlinearly with increasing stress. The microflow stress at a constant level of plastic strain is inversely proportional to the film thickness, which agrees with the variation in the macroscopic yield strengths.


This paper presents mathematical modelling and simulation of the thermal behavior in VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration) circuits. The mathematical model is based on the formulation of Heat Transfer equation and is discretized by finite difference method. The algorithm developed in Matlab® implements a computational model of a thermal transfer on substrate of VLSI circuit with arbitrary function and dimensions. Results are presented in a series of 3D images for different times of VLSI circuit. 3D images show temperature in z axis, dimensions in (x, y) axis and 2D images show temperature in color scale, dimensions in (x, y) axis. Last, this work present a relation between real time of simulation and the equivalent time of circuit's work.


Introduction. Due to the increasing popularity of the "green" economy and environmental protection, it becomes necessary to introduce environmental monitoring into the activities of economic entities. Eco-controlling refers to the design of information-analytical and regulatory support for management in the course of planning, forming, monitoring, analyzing and making management decisions in the field of environmental protection system, focused on the possible future. The aim of the aricle is to consider and improve the theoretical and organizational aspects of environmental controlling, to reveal its meaning and definition, taking into account the properties of the management system in the field of environmental protection. Methods. During the scientific research, such methods as comparison, systematization of information, data structuring were used. Results. An increase in the scale of economic activity in the process of active production leads to an aggravation of environmental problems. Ignoring the environment when making economic decisions provokes an increase in the specific indicators of environmental pollution. Therefore, there is a need to create a stable and effective mechanism that can provide a balanced solution to economic and environmental problems and environmental problems that affect the functioning of organizations, as well as the population. It is concluded that the introduction of environmental controlling into practice allows for a more detailed formation of an objective assessment and characteristics of the activities of individual segments of the organization, and also allows for a high-quality management process of the organization as a whole through the adoption and implementation of scientifically based management decisions.


One of the diseases that attack the lungs is pneumonia. This disease can attack someone with a weak immune system. Pneumonia is inflammation of the lungs that can be caused by pathogens, such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi. The purpose of this study was to classify fungal pneumonia, bacterial pneumonia, and lipoid pneumonia based on texture characteristics and the MLP method using machine learning WEKA. The method in this study has three stages including pre-processing, extraction of texture features consisting of Histogram and GLCM, and classification using the MLP (Multi Layer Perceptron) method. The results of the texture feature extraction showed that the three types of pneumonia were: lipoid pneumonia with brightness, sharp contrast random distribution on correlation characteristics, bacterial pneumonia with high brightness, high contrast random distribution on energy characteristics, and fungal pneumonia with brightness, sharp contrast, random distribution of homogeneity attributes. The third similarity of pneumonia is in the gray level that collects each other in the middle. The method used in this study resulted in the same accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity, namely 100%. The image classification in this study shows the success of the texture features and the MLP method in classifying pneumonia images accurately so that they can be used as additional tools that make it easier for medical experts.   ©2020 JNSMR UIN Walisongo. All rights reserved.


A VLSI chip has been designed to perform a high-speed pyramid data compression algorithm for image processing. The algorithm implemented in the VLSI chip requires dramatically less computations yet it is an effective technique to perform the data compression. The computational complexity of the algorithm is at least 10 times less than that of the standard algorithm, JPEG while offering comparable performances in image quality to JPEG. Moreover, due to the simplified computational algorithm, the hardware complexity will be 3 to 4 times less than the VLSI chips based on JPEG, thus the cost/performance of the proposed VLSI data compression chip will be 30 to 40 times cheaper than any existing standard data compression chip.


In this paper Neuro-dynamic programming (NDP) is proposed as an alternative to alleviate the "curse of dimensionality" of the Dynamic programming (DP) for optimal control of a fed-batch fermentation process in the L-lysine production. The most effective and cheapest method for the Llysine biosynthesis (in biological active form) is the microbiological method via a direct fermentation. In this paper an optimization method of the L-lysine production from strain Brevibacterium flavum 22LD is used and that is NDP. The results show that the quality of L-lysine enhances at the end of the process. The proposed method is particularly simple to implement and can be applied for on-line optimization.


Learning as a Generative Activity is a hard book to read. The writing is formulaic and dull. Much of the presentation consists of paragraph after paragraph describing one study after another. Included in the 206 pages of text are 21 pages of effect-size tables and 25 pages of references. Most of the chapters are overly repetitive. There is almost nothing new in the book. Yet, every teacher of students from elementary school through university should probably read it, not because I wish a dreary mental exercise on everyone else, but because the central message of this book is so important: Learning is not what most students and many teachers think it is.


A 43‐year‐old man had a 9‐year history of congestive heart failure manifested by an enlarged heart and symptoms of shortness of breath and chest discomfort. Heart failure had been preceded by a "viral illness" and he had been a heavy alcohol user until that time. Autopsy showed congestion and edema characteristic of heart failure and cardiomegaly with biventricular dilatation. Either viral or alcoholic disease, or both, could have been the cause of the cardiac problems.


This paper - part of a larger project - traces some
 identifiable and gendered shifts in anti-immigrant/refugee discourses in Europe,
 theUnited States and Canada during the 1990s. My case study of Toronto, Ontario
 - in particular, recent racist portrayals of Somali refugeewomen as welfare
 cheats and efforts by anti-racist groups to articulate counter narratives of
 immigrant rights - suggests, respectively,critical links with racist
 constructions of California, especially immigrant Los Angeles, and the need to
 develop longer-term anti-raciststrategies.


The purpose of this study is to extend the traditional environment–strategy–performance framework by including network theory to examine when a foreign firm can use its multinational corporation (MNC) network strength to buffer market turbulence and technological turbulence and when the foreign firm can deploy it to support the influences of marketing strategic postures (i.e., market responsiveness and product innovation) on firm performance. The author tests the hypotheses on data collected from 140 foreign firms in China. Although prior research has demonstrated that firms often use multiple strategies and resources to cope with environmental forces, the findings illustrate that different environmental segments have unequal bearings on market responsiveness, product innovation, and MNC network strength. In addition, despite the direct positive influences of individual marketing strategic postures and MNC network strength on firm performance, their combined effects are mixed. The author concludes with a discussion of the implications of these results for research and practice.


Continuous development in aerospace industry puts increasingly higher challenges for manufacturers of aerospace parts. The production process of aerospace parts must meet strict requirements. One of them is inspection of part's dimensions at the various stages of its production. It is important to proceed with the measurements when the part reaches desired temperature (usually 20°C). Temperature of the parts after machining process may be raised to approx. 60°C, hence they need to be cooled down. Cooling requires especially long time in case of large volume parts, which leads to prolongation of their delivery time. The research and development work in this field is therefore focused mainly on developing new solutions which may accelerate the cooling process. The present study describes the influence of temperature of workpiece on the result of dimensions measurement and a new design of refrigerator developed and patented by WALDREX Sp. z o.o. Refrigerator is equipped with an insulated container with cooling coil. The container is fixed in a stainless-steel frame. Provided solution enables fast and cost-effective cooling and keeping workpieces at a given temperature.


According to the theory of media representation, negative media coverage of social workers can affect the formation of negative stereotypes about this profession in public, reduce the willingness to cooperate with future users of social protection services, as well as job satisfaction and professional commitment among professionals. . It is important to have an insight into the quality of reporting and the media stereotype about social protection professionals from the point of view of the stereotyped group, in order to prevent and eliminate these negative effects. The aim of this research was to examine how professionals employed in social work centers in the Republic of Serbia perceive the stereotypical image that the media create about them, as well as how they assess the quality of domestic media coverage of their work. 242 professional workers from 49 centers for social work in the Republic of Serbia were examined. Data were collected using a questionnaire made up of scales designed to measure media stereotypes about professionals and assess the quality of reporting on their work in different media. Data were analyzed by descriptive, univariate, and multivariate statistical techniques. The results show that professionals believe that the stereotypical media image of them is mostly negative, both in terms of competence and in terms of interpersonal relationships with users. In addition, experts estimate that all the most relevant media in Serbia report on their work in a poor way. The results were interpreted in accordance with the market approach and the approach of professional responsibility in media reporting, as well as the principle of blaming professional workers in the framework of social protection.


The article is dedicated to St. Catherine of Alexandria, whose cult is still alive. The persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire by Emperor Maxentius left a mark in the form of conversion of many pagans, philosophers, and the empress to the faith in the One God. Analysis of the life of St. Catherine is based on sources.


In 1964, Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, the Tonkin Gulf Resolution allowed the expansion of the Vietnam War, the Beatles made their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, and the first president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), Dr. Maxwell Finland, addressed the 161 members of the Society's Second Annual Meeting in New York. Just 2 years earlier, Francis Crick, James Watson, and Maurice Wilkins had been awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids. A sagging interest in the field of infectious diseases was partly fueled by the naive notion that the development of antibiotics was the solution to the problem of clinical infectious diseases. IDSA had been chartered in 1963 by a group of -150 colleagues who were interested in infectious diseases. These individuals desired a more formalized structure to foster knowledge about infectious diseases and to win greater recognition of the value of infectious diseases research. The results of a poll that was taken among the members heavily supported making an independent organization, rather than a subgroup within the American Society for


The polarization state of a wave is an important factor in electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) and current drive (ECCD), for it strongly affects the propagation and absorption of the wave in the plasma. A real-time monitor of the polarization of the EC beam has been developed for use in ECRH/ECCD experiments in large helical device (LHD). Two orthogonal components of the wave field are measured in one of the miter-bends by use of a specially designed coupler and a waveguide circuit with a 0°–90° phase switch to deduce the polarization parameters: the polarization angle α and the ellipticity β. Since fast-response pin diodes are used for the switches, the polarization is determined every 3 ms, facilitating real time acquisition of the polarization. This article reports on the design and the principle of this monitor as well as on the algorithm used to calculate α and β. This article also reports on the method of calibration, for the accuracy of this measurement depends on it. Finally, a comparison ...


How realistic is it to assume that psychologists, linguists, philosophers and others may someday be able to construct a general theory of utterance interpretation? Over the past 50 years, scholars have uncovered a tremendous amount about the processes and products of human language understanding. We have proposed a huge assortment of theories to explain how very specific types of utterances may be interpreted (e.g., syntactically ambiguous expressions, figurative language, pragmatic implicatures), with some of us working hard to articulate more comprehensive theories that could be applicable to all aspects of utterance interpretation. Yet the empirical data reveals many complexities that, on the surface, make some doubt whether a general theory of utterance interpretation is a feasible possibility. This paper describes some of these complexities in the empirical literature, focusing on figurative language use. I go on to argue that language scholars must embrace the diverse ways that people use and understand utterances and suggest concrete steps that we all should take if we are to one day find a more general theory, one which is perhaps tied to how people engage in any intentional action.


The purpose of this research is to determine the technological pedagogical content knowledge competencies related to the development of the readiness of future teachers of preschool organisations for innovative activities. This study was carried out in accordance with the phenomenology pattern, one of the qualitative research methods. The study group of the research consists of 25 students studying in the departments of preschool teaching at various universities in Kazakhstan in the 2021–2022 academic year. Research data were collected with a semi-structured interview form developed by the researchers. As a result of the research, the vast majority of preschool teacher candidates stated that they found technology knowledge sufficient to improve their readiness for innovative activities. The majority of preschool teacher candidates participating in the research stated that they found their content knowledge sufficient to improve their readiness for innovative activities. The majority of preschool teacher candidates participating in the research stated that they found their pedagogical knowledge and technological pedagogical content knowledge partially sufficient in improving their readiness for innovative activities. As a result of the research, the necessity of expanding the education curriculum and giving educational conferences in universities in order to increase the technological pedagogical content knowledge of preschool teacher candidates has arisen.
Keywords: Preschool organisations, preschool teachers, technological pedagogical content knowledge;


This study investigates the factors that induce teenagers to engage on premarital sexual intercourse as perceived by the participants. The research instrument is administered to more than three hundred students in one of the universities in Mindanao. The random sampling technique was utilized to ensure the selection of sample from the university's population. Checklist opinion form was used to obtain the information from the participants. This study revealed that open-mindedness of the adolescents in the present days contributed most on their eagerness to engage in premarital sex. Although, the participants also revealed that the other factors utilized in this study have also their contributions that will push the adolescents to engage in premarital sex. In closing, the researchers have ascertained that a family having the difficult means of earning a living could not avoid to live in a low-cost housing or having a poor housing condition. At some extent, the sexual abuse experiences were not perceived by the participants as the most vital factor to engage premarital sex. Some participants rated the other items utilized in this study with little percentage to be the factors that would push the teenagers to engage premarital sexual intercourse.


Aim at object surface profile estimate from different cells of array tactile sensor, center mode data fusion structure was designed. Using Bayes estimate algorithm in fusion center, the influence of single sensor cell uncertain errors was decreased effctively, surface depth data measure and image reconstruction precision of object profile was improved, it is important in enhancing whole capability of tactile sensor system.


This paper presents a smoothing data association algorithm for a single target tracking in clutter. The proposed algorithm fuses the forward estimates and all the available measurement information retrodictions (but not backward track estimates) within the smoothing window to obtain the smoothed estimates. The measurement information retrodictions are obtained using the one-step-backward information filter propagation for fast calculation. The simulation studies show that the proposed algorithm improves the false track discrimination performance with similar root mean squared errors as the existing smoothing integrated probabilistic data association algorithm. Keywords—Smoothing data association, measurement information retrodictions, false track discrimination.


Abstract The deformation and fracture behaviours in fully lamellar TiAl alloys were investigated by unixial compression and an in situ TEM technique. The results indicated that the deformation and fracture behaviours in fully lamellar TiAl alloys were closely related to the relative orientation of the lamellae to the loading axis. When the lamellae were parallel to the loading axis, the slip in the α2 phase occurred along its prism plane, and microcracks nucleated preferentially along its prism plane. When the lamellae were perpendicular to the loading axis, slip became difficult, slip in the α2 phase occurred along its pyramidal plane, microcracks nucleated and propagated preferentially along its lamellar interface.


Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) is currently a major problem in Communications and Earth Observation, but it is even more dramatic in Microwave Radiometry because of the low power levels of the received signals. Its impact has been attested in several Earth Observation missions. On-board mitigation systems are becoming a requirement to detect and remove affected measurements, increasing thus radiometric accuracy and spatial coverage. However, RFI mitigation methods have not been tested yet in the context of some particular radiometer topologies, which rely on the use of coarsely quantized streams of data. In this study, the impact of quantization and sampling in the performance of several known RFI mitigation algorithms is studied under different conditions. It will be demonstrated that in the presence of clipping, quantization changes fundamentally the time-frequency properties of the contaminated signal, strongly impairing the performance of most mitigation methods. Important design considerations are derived from this analysis that must be taken into account when defining the architecture of future instruments. In particular, the use of Automatic Gain Control (AGC) systems is proposed, and its limitations are discussed.


The paper comparatively analyses the planting benefit of greenhouse and open field vegetables from economic and ecological benefit sides and explains the reason of their difference.The research result shows that from 1998 to 2009,greenhouse vegetables production of Shandong Province has significant positive economic benefit advantage in contrast with open field vegetables of Shandong Province and national average greenhouse vegetables in all times,showing an upward tendency as a whole.Greenhouse vegetables production of Shandong Province has more poor ecological benefit than open field vegetables of Shandong Province and national average greenhouse vegetables from 1998 to 2009.


The quantum nature of an optical device can be verified using benchmarks based on entanglement verification. Without requiring additional resources, we show how to rigourously extend such benchmarks to quantify how well devices preserve entanglement.


AIM
This study examined a two-fold moderating effect of the locus of control (LOC) and the nurses' job level on the stress-coping relationship.

BACKGROUND
The literature on stress lacks studies examining whether control, either as a personality trait or job characteristic, would overtake coping efforts.

METHODS
A three-way interaction effect (workload × LOC × job level) was applied to test the moderation model. Participants were hospital staff nurses and nurse managers (n = 934) in Finnish hospitals. They responded to an electronic-questionnaire that sought their work loads, coping behaviours and LOC.

RESULTS
The results provided support for the moderation model. Staff nurses with external LOC exerted more coping behaviours when experiencing a high workload. Job level significantly altered the moderating effect of LOC; staff nurses with an internal LOC and nurse managers with an external LOC disregarded coping efforts.

CONCLUSION
Extrinsic control inherent in higher job levels appeared to undertake the lacking disposition of control among externals diminishing coping efforts.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT
Job level interacts with LOC on the perception of control in hospitals. Staff nurses with internal LOC and nurse managers with external LOC could make a greater balance between personal and job resources effectively to deal with role overload.


Summary The Member States have sufficient leeway to maintain or flexibly shape the domestic map of consumer enforcement system within the European Union, thus reflecting the sociocultural conditions of the Member State concerned. In this study I focus on the consumer redress mechanisms in wider and narrow sense in the Hungarian legal system, highlighting the unique or special solutions.


The invention belongs to the field of lithium batteries and discloses lithium ion battery anode slurry and a preparation method thereof. The formula of the slurry adopts the following components according to parts by weight: 63-89 parts of lithium manganate, 1.8-3.6 parts of conductive agent, 2.5-4.8 parts of binding agent, 2-15 parts of dispersant and 58-80 parts of solvent. As the dispersant is added in the slurry, the viscosity of the slurry is reduced, the stability of the slurry is improved, and the phenomenon of slurry deposition is avoided in the coating process of pole pieces, therefore, the consistency of the slurry and the consistency of the distribution of the slurry on a current collector aluminum foil are improved, and the consistency and the cycling capability of the battery can be improved.


Weeding paper-cut flowers is a form of folk paper-cut,with its different types and rich connotations.As a festive symbols,has been commonly used in traditional wedding supplies information to pass festive folk art form,in the wedding day conveys the people's good wishes on the marriage.Weeding flowers in the traditional paper-cut idea of wedding supplies and significance of the application for the design of the times with a combination of cultural and modern wedding supplies offers many valuable reference.


We present a more efficient chaining protocol for video-on-demand applications. Chaining protocols require each client to forward the video data it receives to the next client watching the same video. Unlike all extant chaining protocols, our protocol requires these clients to forward these data at a rate slightly higher than the video consumption rate. Our simulations indicate that increasing the client video forwarding rate by 5 percent is sufficient to virtually eliminate the server workload for a two-hour video when request arrival rates remain above 30 requests per hour.


Share buybacks have become a popular way for companies to return capital to shareholders. However, there is an ongoing debate regarding the impact of share buybacks on the performance and shareholder value. This paper starts by examining the literature on share buybacks and aims at testing the signalling hypothesis (ie share buybacks are carried out to signal undervaluation of the stock) on share repurchases performed by banks. More specifically, the analysis conducted measured the impact of share buybacks on banks' performance as measured by the return on equity (ROE). The results show that there is low significant positive linear relationship between banks' share buybacks and their ROE.


Abstract Metallic implants can be subjected to surface damage resulting in wear debris generation and ion release. Large amounts of metal ions released into body fluids may cause various harmful phenomena, from minor allergic reactions to more dangerous tissue necrosis and implant loosening. In hip joint prostheses, ions can be released from the bearing surfaces as a result of sliding at the head/cup interface and from non-bearing surfaces as a result of fretting or corrosion phenomena. In this paper, the focus is on the head–neck taper joint of the modular hip joint prosthesis subjected to high contact pressure fretting corrosion. Tests were performed on a Cr–Co–Mo tribocouple at 37°C in 0·9%NaCl solution using a ball on disc fretting tester. The free corrosion potential measurements were carried out during the friction process to assess how the sliding action at the interface affects the passivity of the material and how the passivity is re-established once the fretting wear ceases. Loading conditions were selected in order to simulate 60 and 80 kg patient body weight. Inductively coupled plasma measurements were carried out for solution samples collected after fretting experiments to detect metallic ions released during tribological contact. The wear tracks were analysed, and wear volumes were assessed using a white light profilometer. For all tests, the fretting loops characterising sliding behaviour of the interface and open circuit potential curves characterising electrochemical reactions were obtained. The average ion concentrations as a function of experiment duration were plotted and compared with volumetric wear. From the fretting loops and potential curves, the correlation between sliding conditions and depassivation/repassivation rate is discussed. The origin of metal loss for mechanical (fretting) and electrochemical (corrosion) processes is discussed. Analysis of the head/neck interface indicates the need for a long term fretting degradation model to consider various patient weights and forms of activity.


Subject, theme, goal. The article is devoted to the accounting for income and expenses from disposal of fixed assets. Questions of application of alternative accounting are very important for organizations in the absence of clear guidelines on accounting this kind of operations. Reasons are presented in order to identify the most appropriate method of recording transactions. Methods. Accounting treatments for income and expenses related to the operations of accounting of fixed assets with retirements for various reasons are disclosed through analysis and comparison of requirements of normative documents. The perspectives for the reflection of operations on the accounts regarding to the content of the draft regulations on accounting «Profits of organization» are considered. The results of the work. The author payed attention TO On factors that influence the experts' position in choosing the most appropriate ways of reflecting on disposal of fixed assets. The selected method of accounting is reflected in the accounting policies. The reasonable accounting approach to this kind of operations is necessary to improve organizational level of accounting in commercial organizations. The application of results. The article materials will be useful for specialists in accounting to make more informed decisions about the specific version of the accounting for the disposal of property, plant and equipment, fully complies with the requirements of normative documents. The conclusions. This review had led to the conclusion that in those conditions there is the feasibility of application the traditional way of accounting for asset retirement, which involves reflection on the account 91 «Other income and expense» of all amounts of income and expenses arising in connection with the retirement of the object, but not their net value. The «balanced» approach is considered as perspective variant, which will be widely used under the influence of changing requirements of normative documents.


In this thesis the local electronic as well as charge transport properties down to atomic length scales of epitaxial graphene on the SiC(0001) surface are investigated. To achieve this, next to well known scanning probe techniques, the method of scanning tunneling potentiometry (STP) is applied at 6 K and under UHV-conditions for the first time.
For this purpose, epitaxially grown graphene samples were prepared by resistive heating under UHV conditions and subsequently electrically contacted. The so-prepared samples are characterized by atomic force microscopy and low energy electron diffraction, showing a heterogeneous covered surface with mono- and bilayer graphene. In addition to the number of formed graphene layers the surface potential difference between mono- and bilayer graphene is determined under atmospheric conditions with the method of Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM).
For transport experiments and future applications the contact resistivity between epitaxially grown graphene and the electrical contacts plays a major role. By applying spatially resolved potential measurements at the gold-graphene interface with the KPFM method we, for the first time, succeeded to estimate an upper boundary for the contact resistivity of ρ_c=1×10-6 Ωcm².
The investigation of the epitaxially grown graphene samples with the method of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) allows the unambiguous identification of mono- and bilayer graphene and their hexagonal atomic structure without lattice defects over a few 100 nm². The underlying interface layer shows a strongly disordered quasi-periodic structure with numerous trimer structures, which are also visible at mono- and bilayer graphene coverage. Monolayer graphene is electronically strongly inhomogeneous on atomic length scales. In the energy range of E_F±100 mV a significant number of energetically localised and spatially varying states can be identified. These states even lead to variations in the local density of states at the Fermi energy on areas of 5 nm². In terms of bilayer-graphene, the measured degree of variations turns out to be rather small.
To analyse the electronic structure of graphene on energy scales around the Fermi energy, which is relevant for electron transport, the effect of thermovoltage in the tunnelling junction is exploited by the STP method. The spatial variation of the thermovoltage at estimated temperature differences of a few 10 to 100 K between tip and sample is in the order of a few 10 to 100 µV on mono- and bilayer graphene on the atomic scale as well as between mono- and bilayer graphene. Also it depends notably on the atomic properties of the used STM-tip. The high spatial and energetic resolution of this method makes it possible to analyse scattering mechanisms as intra- and intervalley scattering and demonstrates in contrast to previous assumptions, that also bilayer graphene is electronically strongly influenced by the interface layer.
The distinct local electronic disorder of the samples at the Fermi energy is also reflected in the transport experiments with the STP method. Significant voltage drops are observed on mono- and bilayer graphene surface and on localised defects like monolayer-monolayer and monolayer-bilayer junctions. The measured spatial potential distribution can be described well by a classical Ohmic transport model with specific resistivities for different defect types. Averaging over different sample areas, mono- and bilayer graphene have a virtually identical mobility of ~1000 cm²/Vs and a corresponding averaged mean free path of ~40 nm at 6 K. These values are well below theoretically expected values for a defect free graphene surface.
Furthermore, the influence of thermovoltage is investigated in the course of the transport studies, which is - in this case - an undesired side effect because the thermovoltage is in the same order of magnitude as the measured variations in the local electrochemical potential due to the lateral electron flow through the surface. This can lead to a faulty analysis of voltage drops. Yet, as it is demonstrated in terms of the experimental resolution the thermovoltage can be eliminated for measurements of the electrochemical potentials with opposite macroscopic current directions.
Moreover, the distribution of the electrochemical potential in the vicinity of  monolayer-bilayer and monolayer-monolayer boundaries is investigated. The potential drops are localized below half of the Fermi wavelength around the boundaries, whereas related to the topography the potential distribution shows a lateral shift in direction to bilayer graphene. A combined scattering mechanism of local changes of electron doping and wave function mismatch at the boundary of a monolayer‐bilayer junction is suggested as the cause for the observed lateral shift.


The Latin American wine industry, like so many others, has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, and has had to resort to digital strategies that in many cases represent a new experience for the industry and the consumer; at the same time, it has forced them to approach more current and modern technologies compared to the traditional methods that are typical of this industry. This study analyzes the impact of digital transformation on customer value creation in the context of small and medium sized firms (SMEs) in the Latin American wine industry during the Covid-19 pandemic. The research question is as follows: How has the digital transformation in Latin American impacted the wine industry during the Covid-19 Pandemic?This study is focused on a qualitative approach and is based on the literature review of current studies in general and in the Latin American Wine Industry in particular, both for comparative reasons, and to better contextualize it in its theoretical spectrum, all of which show the relevance of digital transformation and the importance of innovating their business model to create new distribution channels and new ways to deliver value to their customers. Regarding the theoretical implications, this article contributes to the analysis of new theories that have emerged in digital transformation due to the technological advances driven by the pandemic. It also contributes to management sciences, reviewing the proliferation of new sales channels with a digital focus.


Since PCA-Based Teeth-Image Personal
Identification Method [3] and LDA-Based Teeth-Image
Persona Identification Method [2] are not robust
against reflection and orientation, registered persons in
the database is rejected around 10%. This paper
proposes a method to improve the PCA & LDA based
teeth-image personal identification method. In this
method, the teeth image failed from the matching in the
PCA & LDA based system is reconsidered by feeding
back the image to eliminate the reflection and the
rotation problems. The enhanced teeth image is fed back
to PCA & LDA process in order to rescue misclassified
teeth-image. In the experiments, 500 teeth images are
tested with 200-teeth database. The results revealed that
of the 10% errors caused by the two problems, 5% are
correctly identified because of the proposed method.


The heavy dependence on online education during the COVID-19 pandemic has long-term consequences for teaching and learning. The problem statement of the present study is to identify, from a student-centered perspective, solutions for a teaching approach in the virtual environment to increase student involvement and stimulate active relevant learning. The research objectives are to describe the team dynamics in Project-Based Virtual Learning (PBVL) and to identify the advantages and disadvantages of learning in PBVL, from the students' perspective. At three separate intervals, 102 undergraduate students enrolled in three different courses wrote down reflections of their experience with PBVL in an online self-administrated reflective journal. Following a data-driven systematic qualitative content analysis of the students' learning journals, four main themes emerged regarding the learning experience in virtual teams: collaboration, communication, trust, and learning. Based on the results, a three-stage framework for PBVL team dynamics was proposed: Teambuilding–Teamwork–Team performance (TTT) framework. The results show that PBVL favors the development of professional, learning, and personal skills through collaboration.


Abstract To an art psychotherapist working with sandtray the material itself—the sand—may be central. Traditional sandtray largely sees the sand as a backdrop to the narratives created by the objects, as 'ground' rather than 'figure', the stage on which the action happens rather than the action itself. The paper starts from a specific 'child-led' innovative process of sieving sand and amplifies this with mythological and symbolic material to clarify how profound issues may unfold through attention to the drama: what is done, as well as the stories told about what is done. Sandtray is easily represented as though it is a 'diagrammatic' process. In this paper physicality, embodiment and enactment in relation to the material are re-emphasised, developing an art psychotherapy perspective on sand itself as an art material. The place of performance art as part of art therapy practice is briefly considered. Clinical vignettes are illuminated by parallels from Jungian psychotherapy and one of its central metaphors: alchemy. The 'alchemical' processes of dissolving, separating and purifying prime material—the sand—are explored as key psychotherapy processes. The accompanying images arose out of the therapist's reflective practice about the case.