Cultured fibroblast cells derived from a skin biopsy sample taken from normal human adult were exposed to a potent carcinogen, 4-nitroquinoline I-oxide. Alterations of cell growth pattern such as higher density and piling up of cells were noticed in some fractions of cultures that were successively subcultured after nitroquinoline oxide treatment. Morpholog- ically altered cells retained this growth pattern and became established lines of transformed cells without showing the limited life-span characteristic of normal cells in culture. The transformed cells showed a higher saturation density and the ability to grow in soft agar, properties that are usually correlated with neoplastic transformation of cells in culture. Selection of preexisting transformed human cells as a mechanism of this observed transformation seemed unlikely because clones of these normal cells could also be used to assess the transforming effect of nitroquinoline oxide. Preliminary results suggest that nunmerous cell divisions were required for the development of the transformation after nitroquinoline oxide treatment of these human cells. When the transformed cell lines were injected subcutaneously into nude (athymic) mice, solid tumors were produced at the site of inoculation. Treatment with N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine also induced cell transformation, in a manner similar to treatment with nitroquinoline oxide. However, transformation was not induced with (i) 4-aminoquinoline I-oxide (a noncarcinogenic derivative of 4-nitroquinoline I-oxide), (ii) 3-methylcholanthrene (a carcinogen that cannot be metabolically activated by the target cells employed), or (iii) the solvent dimethyl sulf oxide. The human risk from environmental carcinogens has been as- sessed mainly by epidemiological methods and by carcino- genesis experiments in animals. In recent years rapid assay systems have been developed using various species, including prokaryotes, and various test conditions. However, considering the evolutionary aspects of biological functions such as repair activity, endogenous virus expression, metabolic capacity, etc., it is likely that there may be some discrepancy between the results obtained with animals or prokaryotes and the potential carcinogenicity of environmental substances for humans. To resolve the problem of extrapolation of experimental results into human risk, it is of great importance to understand the rela- tionship of the response to chemical carcinogens among dif- ferent species and assay systems. It would be very useful to develop a system for the transformation of human diploid cells by chemical substances in order to establish a better method for the assessment of human risk from environmental carcinogens as well as for understanding the mechanisms of human carci- nogenesis. The use of cultured human diploid cells has many advantages for genetic and biochemical studies. The most important of


Study of the literature and the models used in other countries, with higher or lower degrees of development for their financial and banking systems, raise for Romania, in our opinion, several issues which deserve a closer research. One of those issues concerns the fundamentals of real estate prices and the influence of household income, demographic changes and credit access on the dynamics of the housing market. Another area of interest is centered on the manifestation of a wealth effect that is associated with owning a property; as such an effect is present in other countries, as reported in literature. The National Bank of Romania defines this phenomenon as "the effect of the wealth value on the decisions of the population and the companies, regarding their consumption and investment decisions". This effect can be generated either by variations in the value of assets owned (stocks, financial assets, real estate, etc.), or by the level of debt (i.e. housing, consumption, investment loans, including payments due). Therefore, such an increase in the population's net wealth or an improvement of companies' balance sheets can manifest a positive effect on consumption and investment, thus benefiting the aggregated demand. In a future research we plan to study the influence of the real estate market on Romania's economy, especially through lending, construction activity, household consumption and stock market investment, with the aim of measuring this effect. The three directions for research require in-depth analysis of the complex dynamics of the sectors connected to the housing market and the acquiring of pertinent and up-to-date statistical data which should reflect price changes and other parameters of this field of study. Given the limitations of our database, with a narrow access to data regarding the direct population consumption, we have chosen to use the values for lending in lei as a proxy, which indirectly mirrors the indicator we wish to include in the research. We believe that the final purpose of the consumption loan reflects, in a significant measure, the population's inclination towards consumption. With this in mind, we will analyze the correlation between the evolution of consumption lending and the population income. From here we will ascertain the inclination towards housing investment.


The accuracy of forest inventory by compartments using radar-derived stand profiles is investigated by applying multivariate statistical methods. The radar-derived stand profiles were produced by a helicopter-borne ranging scatterometer. The following stand characteristics are evaluated using radar data: mean height, stem volume per hectare, basal area per hectare, development class, land class, bog type and fertility class. The accuracy of the method is compared with accuracies of other existing remote sensing methods.<<ETX>>


Before dawn, the Peregrine Falcon flies steadily north over the top of the city and then out across fields. Ten minutes later it reaches the big marsh, and in the half-light skims over the reeds and water on set wings. Its flight is swift and surprisingly low. The sudden appearance of the falcon, just visible against a pearl-gray sky, startles a duck into flight, but the falcon courses onward. At a bay where marsh grasses give way to a pastured meadow the falcon circles once, silently, then with a burst of speed it cuts across the pasture. In the short, damp grass two Soras feed hurriedly, picking numb grasshoppers gleaming metallically in the dawn light. First one Sora, then the other rises in flight, fluttering awkwardly, feet dangling, to return to the safety of the marsh. But the falcon is upon them before they are aware of its presence; there is no perceptible pause as with one foot it snatches a Sora, lowers its head to crush the prey's head with its scimitar beak, and heads back towards the distant city, the Sora held tightly against its body.


Structural, optical and photocatalytic properties of ZnO powders prepared by a precipitation method were systematically investigated by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), UV-Vis diffuse reflectance measurement and UV-Vis absorbance measurement. The antibacterial activity was tested by a broth microdilution method. All calcined ZnO powders exhibited a hexagonal wurtzite structure. The ZnO powders formed various shapes depending upon the concentration of n-propylamine used. The Eg value of ZnO powders depended upon defect concentration. The photocatalytic property of ZnO powders depended on the particle shape and defect concentration. The best photocatalytic efficiency of 100% was observed from the ZnO powders prepared at R = 2 after irradiating by the blacklight for 90 min. All ZnO powders can damage only S. aureus and the agglomerated sheet-like ZnO powders prepared at R = 2 showed the best antibacterial property with a MIC value of 1.5625 mg/mL.


Tumor response to chemotherapy has been shown to predict outcome in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, osteosarcoma, and Ewing Sarcoma. We evaluated whether tumor necrosis following neo‐adjuvant chemotherapy is prognostic for survival in hepatoblastoma (HB).


A critical examination of RHIC paradigms is presented. Topics include: search for a critical point with a low energy scan; the lack of understanding of radiative processes in a medium in QCD compared in detail to examples from QED; the reason why some physicists started to measure particles at large p{sub T} in the 1960's; a review of the discovery of hard-scattering in p-p collisions in the 1970's via single-inclusive and two-particle correlations and application of these techniques at RHIC. Several paradigms in both soft and hard physics which are popular at RHIC are discussed and challenged.


Human activity recognition (HAR) is an interesting research area in machine learning. The purpose of human activity recognition study is to automatically detect human activities from the information acquired from different sensors, and to analyze this information using statistical techniques. Big data still a challenging problem in human activity prediction. Several approaches have recently been developed to find practical ways to solve high dimensionality of data problems. The mean objective of this work is to deal with HAR big data modeling in order to maximize the classification accuracy while minimizing the number of factors. The proposed framework has been tested on a publicly HAR available dataset and the results have been interpreted and discussed.


The term supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) refers to atrial arrhythmias, including atrial fibrillation, atrioventricular nodal reentry, and atrioventricular reentry due to accessory pathway(s). In clinical practice, SVT may present as narrow- or wide-QRS tachycardias, and with the potential exception of atrial fibrillation, most of them are usually, although not invariably, manifest as regular rhythms. They are usually intrusive, symptomatic, and anxiety provoking but not dangerous. However, depending on their cycle length and the patient's background, they could also be, rarely, life-threatening conditions. In the acute setting, consideration of epidemiology data, clinical presentation, and the 12 lead ECG can provide diagnostic clues for differential diagnosis between SVT and ventricular arrhythmias, and guide appropriate therapy.


It occurs to us that the findings in a large series of basal metabolism observations—more than 2,500 on about 1,200 subjects—should have the wide circulation which onlyThe Journalcan give. These reports will be published in detail in special journals shortly, but we wish to make a preliminary report on the research because of the renewed interest in the activity of the thyroid gland as part of the general interest in the internal secretions; and because many ideas are current in regard to the overaction or underaction of the thyroid, which do not seem justified, or at least are controverted, by these findings. As a result, subjects are assumed to be hyperactive and treated as such on bare symptomatology such as irritable heart and loss of weight or after unreliable tests; while, on the other hand, many are fed thyroid on the assumption that increased weight or other symptoms


The influence of an intercropped agroecosystem of oilseed rape, canola-type ( Brassica napus L.), and field pea ( Pisum sativum L.) on the population level of the flea beetle, Phyllotreta cruciferae (Goeze), was evaluated for 3 yr in east-central North Dakota. Treatments included two monocultures of oilseed rape (8 kg/ha of live seed) and field pea (200 kg/ha of live seed) and three intercropped mixtures of field pea to oilseed rape (150:2, 100:4, and 50:6 [kg/ha]). Flea beetle counts per 0.5 m2 were highest in the oilseed rape monoculture in all 3 yr of the study but significantly higher from the other treatments in only one year. The sex ratio of P. cruciferae adults collected was not influenced by the treatments. The land equivalent ratios (LER = [intercropped yield for pea/monoculture yield for pea] + [intercropped yield for rape/monoculture yield for rape]) for the intercrop treatments did not exceed 1.0, indicating that the intercrops selected were not as efficient for yield as the monocultures. This intercrop system was not effective in reducing flea beetle loads on a per-plant basis, nor was there a yield advantage from this intercrop system.


AIMS & OBJECTIVES: (1) To assess the awareness regarding PCPNDT Act & sex ratio, among students. (2) To Sensitize the Pharmacy students regarding declining sex ratio & create awareness by education. MATERIAL & METHODS: A cross-sectional opinion study was carried out in Rajaram Bapu Pharmacy College Kasegaon on 21st July 2014. In total 168 respondents participated with good response. A pretested & predesigned proforma was used to collect information under supervision & analyzed & interpreted with the help of percentage & chi square test. The sensitization was done with lecture & question answer session. RESULTS: Majority i.e.85.11 % were found in age bracket of 20 to 22 years with more female respondents. Almost i.e., 91.48 % aware about adverse sex ratio & PCPNDT Act. Commonest source of information was awarded to mass media (82.73%) more than half i.e. 58.92 % aware that sex determination is not permitted legally. Among them 27.97% exactly knew the punishment profile for violators. No girls to marry & rise in violence against women remained common future implication of female foeticide. Girls' attitude towards not going for sex determination found statistically significant compared with boys', X 2 =23.92, df =2, HS. Common place of male/female discrimination for girls was outside home & institute, while for boys it was in institute. CONCLUSION: In our study though majority were aware about adverse sex ratio & PCPNDT Act, knowledge about exact punishment for violators seemed to be less. Most believed that, social & sexual crime & lack of brides will be the likely implications in future. Boys' attitude towards not going for sex determination in future was less compared with girls'. It urge for proper guidance sessions for


In the present study, a case of sarcocystosis in the domestic horse from Egypt was described by electron microscopy. Of 32 recently died domestic horses from different localities in Egypt only 8 horses were found to be infected with sarcocysts with percentage of 25%. Domestic horses were collected from Cairo (8 horses) only 2 were be infected with 25%, from Gizah (7 horses) only 2 were be infected with 28.5%, Beni-Suef (6 horses) only 2 were be infected with 33%, from El-Fayum (6 horses) only one was be infected with 16.5.5% and from El-Menia (5 horse) only one were be infected with 20%. These samples were randomly collected from the previous localities of Egypt during (2010 – 2012) and were found to be infected with microscopic sarcocysts measuring 50 - 85 µm in width (mean, 65 µm) and 450-970 µm in length (mean, 750 µm), Electron microscopic examination showed that all sarcocysts had a single primary cyst wall measuring 2.0-4.3 µm (mean, 3.8 µm) that was folded into short nonbranched barrel-shaped protrusions, measuring 2.1-4.5 x 1.5-2.5 µm (mean, 3.7 x 1.9 µm). These protrusions contalned granular and tubular elements. Many septa were observed arising from the ground substance into the interior of the cyst, dividing it into numerous chamber-like compartments that surround the oval to globular metrocytes 2.5-4.8 x 4.5-9.2 µm (mean, 3.4 x 7.2 µm) and the banana-shaped merozoites 1.3 - 3.5 x 4.5 - 9.5 µm (mean, 3.1 x 8.2 µm).


The main objective of this study is to suggest the new sizing system proper to the boys in the high school students by classifying their somatotype for the development of educational environment and uniform. The sample for this work was chosen from data which were collected and measured by Size Korea during two years . In order to analyze feature of the somatotype of boys in the high school students, analysis was performed about 479 subjects on 37 body parts such as height (9 parts), width (5 parts), thickness (6 parts), circumference (7 parts), length (8 parts), body weight and Index. The result of this study can be utilized in various fields such as design of classroom, student uniforms, facilities and equipments for education at high school and university, etc.


Drawing on social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979), this study explored the impact of the peer group on childhood bullying. Participants were 351 students, aged 8 to 13 years, and 17 teachers. Involvement in bullying and other problem behaviors (e.g., getting angry easily or going in areas that are out-of-bounds) was assessed using peer-, teacher-, and self-reports. Peer-reports were also used to determine membership of friendship groups, norms of particular groups, and intra-group positions (prototypical versus peripheral). Results revealed that bullying was associated with other problem behaviors. Further, within-group similarities in both bullying and problem behaviors were evident. Bullying was also greater when it was endorsed by group norms and when children were prototypical versus peripheral members of bullying groups. The implications of the findings for the conceptualization of childhood bullying and the development of anti-bullying programs are discussed.


For a Riemann surface of analytically infinite type, the action of the quasiconformal mapping class group on the Teichmuller space is not discontinuous in general. In this paper, we consider pure mapping classes that fix all topological ends of a Riemann surface and prove that the pure mapping class group acts on the Teichmuller space discontinuously under a certain geometric condition of a Riemann surface. We also consider the action of the quasiconformal mapping class group on the asymptotic Teichmuller space. Non-trivial mapping classes can act on the asymptotic Teichmuller space trivially. We prove that all such mapping classes are contained in the pure mapping class group.


This note on divisible good auctions raises a question about the losers in such share auctions. Until now, no one has put explicit equilibrium bidding strategies in a general framework. In fact bidding strategies may be any weakly downward sloping bid schedules, so examples specifying distributions of the random variables and limiting the bidding strategy space are presented. I claim that the equilibrium stop-out price derived in the case of linear bidding strategies, the example developed in Wang and Zender (2002), is correct only if it is assumed ex-ante that every bidder wins a positive fraction of the good. But that assumption is particularly dubious. In practice, it is unusual for there to be no losers in a divisible good auction; especially in a Treasury auction.


Investigations were carried out under greenhouse conditions on lettuce cv. Ilanka. Seeds were sown in January 1982 and 1984. Lettuce was cultivated to middle of June up to full flowering time. It was found that the preparation fenoprop (2,4,5-trichlorofenoxypropionic acid as a dimethylamine salt) in concentrations of 10, 20 and 50 mg·dm -3 significantly decreased latex tipburn symptoms. Fenoprop increased the healthiness of the plants because treated plants were also less attacked by grey mould Botritis sp. Fenoprop also inhibited head formation in lettuce, but the weight of these plants was never smaller than control ones. Sometimes the weight of plants treated with fenoprop was significantly higher than of the control plants. Lettuce plants without heads had bolted earlier. Only the concentration of 100 mg·dm -3 of fenoprop retarded plant growth. The effect of K-NAA (potassium salt of α-naphthaleneacetic acid) on lettuce was weaker than the effect of fenoprop. After K-NAA treatment at a concentration of 25 mg·dm -3 , lettuce plants formed normal heads but latex tipburn symptoms were retarded.


In this article, we develop a structural model for studying how constellations of multiple institutional logics are instantiated at the organizational level. Conceptually, we complement an institutional logics perspective with structural interactionism and network theory and model a constellation as a nexus of organizational role identities and counterroles. The structure of such a nexus reveals degrees of differentiation and interconnectedness between logics as well as distinct interfaces. We validate and further develop our model through qualitative content analysis and semantic network analytical methods applied to the website of a large organization. Our study contributes to recent literature on institutional pluralism by further specifying the structural aspects of constellations of logics and different types of institutional pluralism (monolithic, fragmented, and modular). Specifically, we show how systems of role categories enable the identification of logics, and how multivocal roles create interf...


t the beginning of the sixteenth century Muscovite laws paid little attention to the concept of recompense for injured honor-beschestie. We do not even find the term in the code (Sudebnik) of 1497. Less than a century later the situation had changed noticeably: the Sudebniki of 1550 and 1589 listed numerous social categories-from Muscovite government officials and wealthy merchants to beggars, witches, and women of ill repute-whose members were each entitled to a specified financial recompense for injured honor. Only dangerous criminals and slavesmost slaves, at least-lacked the sort of "honor" for whose injury monetary compensation might be collected. Yet the burgeoning legal provisions on beschestie say little about the offense itself. What words or actions constituted injury to honor? How did an offended person obtain redress? And why did Russian authorities begin to pay so much attention to beschestie after the mid-sixteenth century? The codes tell us little, and we must seek the answers in other sources.


Intensive care unit is a special department of hospitals which is responsible to care for seriously ill patients. Patients in the ICU needs constant close monitoring from specialist and nurses with supportive equipments and medication [1]. The reason for admission world wide is different, the most common reason in Africa is head injury followed by respiratory failure, sepsis and obstetric couses [2-4]. ICU mortality rate in developed countries accounts 8% to 20%. Amoung all deaths, the ICU mortality rate accounts 20% in US, between 30% to 50% in africa. From east african countries a study in Uganda indicates 25% to 68% of death from medical and surgical ICU and 37.7% death in one referral hospital in Ethiopia [5-7].


The new compounded oil - expel-lent HQ-99 made up of dodecyl benzene sodium sulfonate and alcohol ether sulfate was described in this paper. And the D-phase emulsification method, physical simulation test and field experiment were also introduced. The results showed HQ - 99 instead of diesed oil as oil - expellent can increase oil production to 25 tons. The former,s average input of single well was only half of that of the latter. This method had a great economic benefit and it's ratio of input to output was 1:2.68.


With a superconducting transition temperature of 40 K and two superconducting gaps, MgB2 is full of surprises for both experimentalists and theorists.


The inverse problem ofdeducing atmospheric particulate properties frombistatic LIDARangular scattering measurements is investigated, andcertain scattering functions areidentified asbeing particularly sensitive toparticle size and/or particle refractive index. Methods arepresented forretrieving theparticle size distribution and refractive indexfromthese scattering functions. Examples arealso given ofretrievals ofparticle size distribution andrefractive index ob- tained fromactual bistatic LIDARdata.


Ni-MCM41 was prepared by direct hydrothermal(DHT),template ion exchange(TIE) and post-synthesis modification(PS) of pure silica material in the liquid phase methods.Effect of Ni-doping on the framework structure and morphology of nano-sized mesoporous si1ica was investigated with these three kinds of methods.TEM and XRD results showed that morphology and dispersity were not influenced and no oxide of Ni was synthesized by the post-synthesis method.The surface area of Ni-MCM41(PS) is 545 m~2/g,which is dropped from 757 m~2/g of MCM-41.The pore diameter and pore volume of Ni-MCM41(PS) are 4.3 nm and 0.86 cm~3/g,respectively,which are increased from 3.2 nm and 0.75 cm~3/g of MCM-41.


The exclusion of illegally obtained evidence has long been the focus of theoretical research and legislative reform in China. After years of efforts, the exclusionary rule has finally found a foothold in Chinese statute. However, after the exclusionary rule has been officially established, the initial fervour for reform has given way to a difficult slog of changing actual practice. This article is based on a comprehensive empirical survey on the implementation of the exclusionary rule conducted by the author as the primary investigator. This article will address three key issues that stood out in the empirical surveys: the definition and scope of illegally obtained confession, proof of illegally obtained confession, and suppression hearing. In addressing each issue, the author will follow the similar structure: first share the empirical findings on the implementation of the exclusionary rule across the country, then examine the contributing factors causing the failure of implementation and identify the existing challenges that China encountered in implementing the new rules, and finally put forward some potential solutions to these problems based on comparative study and China's special situation.


The ornamentalists who worked in the chapel of São José do Jenipapo, located in the municipality of Castro Alves in Bahia and built in the 18th century (1704), allocated an important role to painting. That can be observed not merely in the painted woodcarving, covered in decorative elements and imitations of colorful stones, but also in the narrative and symbolic representations of Saint Joseph and the Holy Family that can be found in the main chapel, in the nave and in the narthex. The ceiling XXXI Colóquio CBHA 2011 [Com/Con]tradições na História da Arte 338 of the main chapel contains a narrative depiction of the nine stations of the life of Jesus' father; the ceiling of the nave shows the same saint represented in glory; the one in the narthex represents the jesuit trinity in the form of three hearts. We will address the techniques and decorative tendencies of the period, as well as Baroque, Rococo and Neoclassic stylistic traits and also the iconographic program focusing Saint Joseph's life and his importance for Catholicism after the Council of Trent.


This paper describes the creation of a multi-modal website that incorporates both haptics and speech recognition. The purpose of the work is to provide a new and improved method of internet navigation for visually impaired users. The rationale for implementing haptic devices and speech recognition software within websites is described, together with the benefits that can accrue from using them in combination. A test site has been developed which demonstrates, to visually impaired users, several different types of web application that could make use of these technologies. It has also been demonstrated that websites incorporating haptics and speech recognition can still adhere to standard usability guidelines such as Bobby. Several tests were devised and undertaken to gauge the effectiveness of the completed web site. The data obtained has been analysed and provides strong evidence that haptics and speech recognition can improve internet navigation for visually impaired users.


Abstract : The acute dermal toxicity potential of the candidate insect repellent CHR6 was determined in rabbits using abraded skin sites and plastic covering over the exposed area for 24 hours. No animals died or showed clinical signs of toxicity. The treated animals showed a slight irritation on the back, primarily along the abraded areas. This compound should be exposed to further toxicological testing for human use potential as an insect repellent. (Author)


Previously found mechanical system is studied which consists of the nonlinearly elastic layer subjected to external loading. The last is assumed to be a distributive control which causes in particular, localization of longitudinal nonlinear strain waves. Various types of localized nonlinear waves are achieved due to a suitable choice of the external loading. Wave profiles arising at variations around this optimal choice of the control are studied.


.Hu Yu-shu's contribution to rhetoric in China mainly reflects in three aspects:Firstly,the theory's building and constructing,he has done deeply discussion to the nature,the target and the task of rhetoric,etc.,and he has announced the relations of rhetoric andits adjoint disciplines,and he has made reasonable discipline localization for type of writingstyle;Secondly,he summarizes experience and promotes the development of science of con-temporary rhetoric;Thirdly,he pays attention to the methods,and he has analysed dialecti-cal,cross and dynamic method scientifically.


OBJECTIVE
To identify medical schools who had received, and were using, the tobacco curriculum called the Smokescreen Education Programme (SEP) and to determine the factors related to its introduction into medical schools.

DESIGN
This was a worldwide survey of university-based medical schools who had previously requested copies of the SEP. A questionnaire asking about receipt and use of the SEP (Q1) was mailed to 129 medical schools (response rate 71%). Respondents to Q1 who had received the SEP and agreed to complete a further questionnaire were sent Questionnaire 2 (Q2).

RESULTS
Seventy-four per cent of medical schools who had received the SEP stated that they were using it. Over three quarters of medical schools that responded to Q2 had addressed the teaching of tobacco and related diseases and were using the SEP. The majority reported that the SEP had greater benefits over current methods of teaching about tobacco.

CONCLUSIONS
Progress has been made in addressing the teaching of tobacco and related diseases in a self-selected number of medical schools worldwide. The SEP is a curriculum that appears to have utility across countries and cultures, providing the flexibility to incorporate pertinent information.


On the 25th of June 2012, at the faculty of Philosophy in Skopje was held the first tribune regarding the meaning of the impact factor for the Macedonian science. A tribune of this importance was organised for the first time in our country and it is why it attracted the attention and interest of meaningful number of visitors, even despite the high temperatures and summer holidays. The people that were present had the chance to listen and learn useful information for the impact factor, weaknesses and problems with which the Macedonian journals are facing every day and follow a short presentation to educate young future academic people for correct publication of their own labours in journals.     Foremost, Prof. Dr. Vladimir Trajkovski, who was one of the main culprits for the realisation of this tribune, started with short introduction of the lecturers and thanked the audience that decided to learn, widen and cherishes their thinking about this sensitive subject in Macedonia. Thanks to the advanced technology, the tribune was transmitted in-live on the internet for those who were not able to be directly present. The initial presentation was offered by Prof. Dr. Mirko Spiroski from the Institute of Immunobiology and Human Genetics on the subject "Measuring scientific contribution". He was talking about the scientometrics as a discipline for  measuring  and  analysing  the  science  and that the same one is mostly based on the scientific publications by Darek J. De Solla and Eugene Garfield. In his presentation he was talking about the Impact factor of influence as a measurement that shows the average number of quotations of scientific publications such as how this factor is calculated and possible manipulations. Also, he demonstrated graphs measuring the scientific contribution of the journals, as well as measuring the scientific contribution and search trough Macedonian journals. Trough his presentation, he managed to transfer one reasonable picture for the importance of the Impact factor, where Macedonia is on that issue and the problems the country is facing with it.  After him followed Dimitar Poposki, with a presentation titled "Impact factor versus open access". He was talking about the meaning of the Impact factor and the financial expenses related to obtaining suitable knowledge. The main accent was placed on the meaning of open access existence, namely, existence of free access to internet, reading, downloading and using the published scientific papers in eminent journals for the purpose to broaden the knowledge as professionals within the contemporary field of research. He also emphasised the Impact factor in the higher education in Macedonia, what should be done and in which manner to improve the existing law for education, as well as what should be done to enable the open access for the needs of the science.   At the end, Prof. Dr. Vladimir Trajkovski from the institute of Special Education and Rehabilitation gave a presentation on the subject "Impact factor and Journals in Macedonia focusing on the Journal of Special Education and Rehabilitation". In his presentation, he explained the meaning of the Impact factor for the journals and how this factor is calculated. The applicative value of the Impact factor was revealed and which persons should use it. In his presentation he emphasised on how the Impact factor should not be used, both the bad and the good sides and the existing critics regarding it. He exposed the number of recorded journals in the World and the fact that the medical discipline is the most easily followed. By figures were supported the journals with impact factor in the field of special education and rehabilitation in some countries among which was mentioned and Macedonia.         On the completion of this tribune, there was time period dedicated for open discussion used by the audience who presented their own thinking regarding the meaning and the necessity of the Impact factor in Macedonia.


In this research, we show how a reinforcement learning based algorithm called Fault-Tolerant Bio-inspired Flight Controller (FT-BFC) is capable of training a single neural network based model to fly a quadcopter with two, three, and four working rotors. Our algorithm can learn a low-level flight controller that directly controls angular velocities of motors to fly a quadcopter when it has four fully functional motors, and also, despite having one or two motor failures (That is, our proposed flight controller is a fault-tolerant controller as well). In the training and running of our controller, we do not use any conventional flight controller, such as a PID or SMC controller. We test our algorithm in a simulation environment, Gazebo simulator, and illustrate our simulation results that backing up our algorithm capabilities. Finally, before concluding our paper, we discuss the implementation of our algorithm in a real quadcopter.


Patients with mutations in NGLY1 cannot make tears (alacrima), have global developmental delay, movement disorder and liver dysfunction. N‐glycanase 1 (NGLY1) de‐glycosylates misfolded N‐glycosylated proteins in the cytoplasm as part of the ERAD pathway prior to their proteasomal degradation. Surprisingly, NGLY1‐deficient patient cells do not accumulate cytoplasmic misfolded N‐glycoproteins, suggesting a more complex function. Interestingly, new studies show NGLY1 is needed for transcription factor NFE2L1/NRF1 activation and normal mitochondrial function.


Objective To observe the effects of low dose irradiation (LDI) on autoiogous CIK cell proliferation, phenotype and killing activity in tumor patients, and to provide the evidence for clinical application of adoptive immunotherapy with CIK cells. Methods Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were separated from 10 patients with malignant tumor, and CIK cells were cultured with different cytokines. (1) After 10 d culture, C1K cells were irradiated with different doses as 30, 50, 80, 100 and 200 Gy of X-rays was also detected. The CIK cell proliferation and killing activity were measured with 3H-TdR incorporation assay and 3H-TdR release assay, respectively and the percentage variation of CD3 +CD56 + were measured with flow cytometry after 24 h. ( 1 ) Autologous CIK cells were irradiated with 80 mGy X-rays. At different culture time ( 12, 24, 48, 72 h) after irradiation, the killing activity was measured with 3H-TdR release assay. (3) The effect of 3d low dose irradiation of 80 mGy X-rays on thekilling activity of CIK cells was also detected. Results After the CIK cells were irradiated with different doses as 50, 80, 100, 200 mGy of X-rays, the CPM values were 20 048.6 ± 2332. 2 ( t = 2.2, P <0.05), 21 832.2 ±2975.9 (t=3.5, P<0.01), 21 000.3 ±2451.1 (t=3.3, P<0.01), 19908.1 ±2051.0 ( t = 2.2, P < 0.05 ), respectively and the proliferation of CIK cells were significantly higher than that of control group. The CD3 + CD56 + cell percentage of 50, 80, 100 mGy groups were ( 30.3 ±3.8)% (t=2.3, P<0.05), (32.3±3.4)% (t=4.2, P<0.01), (29.742.9)% (t = 2.4, P<0.05 ), respectively. The killing activity of CIK cells of 80, 100 mGy groups were 55.2 ± 5.0 ( t = 3.3, P < 0.01 ), 52.8 ± 4.1 ( t = 2.3, P < 0.05 ), respectively. The killing activity of CIK cells up-regulated significantly at 24 h, dropped to normal levels at 48 h and 72 h. After 80 mGy X-ray irradiation for 3 consecutive days, the killing activity of CIK cells at different time points were 55.2 ± 5.3 (t = 2.6, P <0.05),61.9 ± 4.4 (t = 4.7, P <0.01), 67.2 ±5.7 (t = 5.7, P <0.01) for 24, 48, 72 h,respectively. Conclusions LDI might have the hormesis effect on CIK cells.

Key words:
Low dose irradiation; Cytokine-induced killer cells; Proliferation; Phenotype; Killing activity


Studies of regional and chronological variation in skeletal markers of physical activity in past hunter-gatherer populations typically focus on adults, however, patterns of bone strength develop predominantly during childhood and adolescence. Ethnographic studies suggest that differences in environment and subsistence strategy would have brought about variation in how children grew up to be productive foragers capable of procuring food for themselves and others. Different foraging activities require varying degrees of physical strength and skills development. These factors would have influenced the age at which individuals began to participate in different foraging activities and lead to regional and chronological differences in the ontogeny of limb robusticity. This process is culturally-mediated in terms of the degree to which children are 'trained' in subsistence activities. Consequently, this study compares ontogenetic patterns in the development of bone strength with the aim of reconstructing physical activity patterns among the children of two Holocene hunter-gatherer populations.


Recently, it has been proposed that viral infection is involved in the pathogenesis of hypersensitivity syndrome. Cytomegalovirus (CMV), one of the aetiological agents of infectious mononucleosis, has never been reported as an organism associated with hypersensitivity syndrome. We describe a 64‐year‐old man with severe phenytoin‐induced hypersensitivity syndrome associated with CMV infection. Twenty‐five days after the patient was started on phenytoin, he developed high fever and a generalized erythematous rash followed by jaundice, renal failure and disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (DIC). CMV‐specific IgG antibodies were significantly increased 7 weeks after the onset of clinical symptoms and the increase was associated with the appearance of CMV‐specific IgM. CMV DNA was detected in the serum of the patient. Coinfection with other viruses, such as Epstein–Barr virus and human herpesviruses 6 and 7, could be excluded because antibody titres to those viruses did not increase during the clinical course of his illness. We suggest that reactivation of CMV may contribute, at least in some cases, to the development of hypersensitivity syndrome.


1 Segment epenthesis or prosodic features? 1.1 Epenthesis of predictable segments Prosodically driven epenthesis • In this talk I focus on various types of top-down epenthesis – Repair of dispreferred structures (onsetless syllables, hiatus) – Augmentation in designated positions, including 'stress-to-weight' – Prosody with a morphological source (e. g. Kohnlein 2011; Zimmermann and Trommer 2013) • Frequent approach: epenthesis of 'the least marked segment', although see de Lacy (2006) for a more nuanced discussion • Typologically frequent epenthetic consonants are [ʔ], [h], [t] • German *([ʔ])Amt • What's the problem?


mean age was sixty-one years anlll a-half. They comprised Sir H. Tliompson's entire and unselected work from the first case up to January I877. The published experience of Cheselden, Martineau, Brodie, and Fergusson was recorded. The sum of similar cases treated by them was 422. Of these 422, 69 were fatal, or i6y2 per cent., i.e., I in rather more than 6 cases. Of the 50o in question, 422 were by lithotrity, and 78 by lithotomy. The number of individuals operated upon was 420. Several of the lithlotrity patients being operated upon twice, a few three times. In all cases, a considerable interval and evidence of fresh formation, mostly a newlv descended uric acid calculus, had existed. Small phosphatic concrtetions, althougrh removed by lithotrity, were not reckoned as stone in the bladder. The chemical constitution of the calculi was as follows: uric acid, 3i3; phosphatic, 99; mixed, 8i ; cystic oxide, I ; pure phosphate and carbonate of lime, 2; phosphatic calculi formed on foreign bodies, 4. The mortality, accepting almost any death occurring within six weeks of the operation, was as follows in 422 cases of lithotrity, 32 deaths, or I in I3 cases; in 78 cases of lithotomy, 29 deaths, or I in 234 cases; in the total 500, 6i deaths, or i death in 8Y2 cases. The causes of death Mwhich were given in each case were tabulated, compared, and contrasted in the two operations, with inferences thereupon. Accidents met with in operating by each mode were detailed, and the manner in which they


This paper is aimed at reducing network load for saving bandwidth by designing appropriate trigger signals that decide when the transmission should be done. An event‐triggered piecewise continuous systems (PCS) based control for time‐varying trajectory tracking is proposed. By designing the sensor system and controller system, the communication between them is reduced while still retaining a satisfactory closed‐loop behavior of the whole system. The major idea behind a designed sensor system is the use of a Luenberger observer and planning of event‐triggered mechanism (ETM). The main principle behind the designed controller system is the proposal of a new event‐triggered PCS based controller. The development is motivated by consideration of variable network induced time delays. Tracking error is proved to be norm‐bounded in both the original and developed case. Finally, to show the proposed method's performance, we present the simulation results for a mobile cart.


The distributed data management system Rucio manages all data of the ATLAS collaboration across the grid. Automation, such as data replication and data rebalancing are important to ensure proper operation and execution of the scientific workflow. In this proceedings, a new data allocation grid service based on machine learning is proposed. This learning agent takes subsets of the global datasets and proposes a better allocation based on the imposed cost metric, such as waiting time in the workflow. As a service, it can be modularized and can run independently of the existing rebalancing and replication mechanisms. Furthermore, it collects data from other services and learns better allocation while running in the background. Apart from the user selecting datasets, other data services may consult this meta-heuristic service for improved data placement. Network and storage utilization is also taken into account.


This is the first in a series of papers describing the StatPro simulation model. In this paper we describe the basic building blocks of the whole simulation model: given a financial instrument whose price depends on some basic risk factors through a pricing function, it is possible to obtain the expected distribution of asset value from the expected distribution of the underlying risk factors. Therefore, a proper modeling of each possible risk factor is an essential feature of the model. The model here described has been implemented by StatPro in its SRM product and has been proven to be reliable and robust.


ABSTRACT Dr Ivy Williams was the first woman to be called to the Bar of England and Wales. Despite this, she never took up the practice of law and after this historic moment Dr Williams returned to her life as a legal academic. This article examines Dr Williams' journey in legal life, aiming to uncover her motivations for becoming admitted and her subsequent turning away from life at the Bar.  Prior to her admission, Dr Williams had suggested that women might practise as 'outside lawyers'.  With that in mind, this article will consider Dr Williams' scholarship and her contribution to legal academia and seek to answer whether this path can be seen as an alternative legacy to the women in law.


In the application of digital signal process multipliers play a vital role. With advances in technology, several researchers have tried and try to design multipliers which supply high speed, low power consumption, regularity of layout and thus less space or maybe combination of them in one multiplier factor. Thus, Compact VLSI design for four bit multiplier factor is planned during this paper that is appropriate for low power and high speed applications. Multiplier factor with high performance is achieved through the novel style of hybrid single bit full adder and Dadda algorithmic rule. The important path delay and power consumption of the planned multiplier factor square measure reduced by 65.9% and 24.5% severally when put next with existing multipliers. The planned multiplier factor is synthesized exploitation CADENCE five.1.0 EDA tool and simulated exploitation spectre virtuoso.


I recently came across an article published by the Department of Television, Radio and Film of the Univeristy of Texas at Austin, Texas, focusing on BBC America's screening of the Benny Hill Show.# The Benny Hill Show, a show staring Benny Hill, the comic sketch actor and one-time UK single charttopper, had been re-edited for re-screening to American audiences, and the aim of such editing was to remove politically incorrect elements that would not be tolerated in today's America as part of a TV schedule - namely racial stereotypes. Perhaps more accurately, racial stereotypes relating to races sufficiently well represented in the mainstream socio-political discourse for their stereotyping to cause alarm. What was left of the show after said incisions, the article argued, was the objectification of women. Interestingly enough it didn't offer any comment on the fact that this is apparently screenable content as part of the British mainstream's contribution to the American slipstream.Whether or not that might pass for contextualisation, I would like to use this as the launch pad, springboard, or indeed twanged knicker elastic to discuss the ways in which British comedy has responded to - and, if you must, participated in - changes in popular gender discourses since the 1940s.Comedy reflects what is accepted as a given within the larger discourses of a society at a particular time, and it is indeed in its nature to question such assumptions, at times programmatically, at others implicitly and perhaps coincidentally. In order that the following observations do not simply reflect the advancements in gender equality that have taken place over the last 80 years, I focus solely on comedy written and produced by men, and on some comedy performed by men only. This ignores the questions of women's roles offered since the 80s by French and Saunders and Victoria Wood and the more consciously feminist-branded performances of Jo Brand. It also ignores the provocation in questions of gender and sexuality delivered by Julian Clary and Eddie Izzard. (It was Izzard who offered the observation that he didn't mind homophobies, as long as they kept their homophobia behind closed doors and left him alone.) The intention is to limit the focus to reflect the change in discourses performed by those typically identified as representing hegemony, that is, men performing in the mainstream media and generally presenting themselves as heterosexual males. This includes, then, drag, where it is not used as part of a consistent persona. For the purposes of this discussion, it should be taken as read that British comedy's treatment regarding gender and sexuality have become more complex and indeed more inclusive with the gradual advancement of gay rights - but that is another discussion for another time.That's who. Now here's what: my discussion is limited to stand up and sketches only. Jokes and sketches operate through the reduction of a character to types; sitcom on the other hand allows for character development, to which I can't do justice in these pages. Some films on the other hand do work with types, particularly if they are strewn with characters, as indeed the most prolific of British comedy films, the Carry On films, are.The 1940s present an apt starting point - the war effort reintroduced the economic and military necessity of reintroducing the challenge to the common perception of gender roles that had surfaced in the earlier part of the century. Again a limitation: the raciest of the comics then broadcast on the BBC, Max Miller. Commenting directly on women doing 'men's work' during the war, he singles out the act of window cleaning. A woman was "right on top of a ladder, five stories high, cleaning windows. And they say it's unlucky to walk under a ladder ... here, listen ... I took a chance."Miller specialized in ribald gags in the music hall tradition, operating with innuendo and often not finishing jokes but interrupting them to admonish the audience for its filthy mind just as it constructed the punchline for itself or was prompted to do so by this form of flag. …


In the industry of metals, High-pressure die casting (HPDC) is one of the most important manufacturing processes. The air entrapment caused by the liquid metal flow in the slow shot phase of HPDC in a horizontal cold chamber is one of the factors that contribute to the porosity defect of die castings. The objective of this paper is to analyze a plunger acceleration law that is expected to minimize air entrapment in the slow shot phase, and thus to reduce porosity in manufactured parts. A threedimensional numerical model, based on the equations conservation of the mass, conservation of the momentum and energy equation, was developed and used to simulate the metal in the injection chamber. The follow-up of the free surface is ensured by the VOF (Volume Of Fluid) method. Sight the displacement of the plunger, the geometry of the field is variable and the numerical resolution uses a dynamic mesh. This resolution is carried out by the FLUENT computer code. Gas entrapments of different slow shot velocity profiles were simulated and the results show that it exists a optimal plunger velocity allowed to minimize the maximum gas occlusion in the shot sleeve.


Older persons with serious illnesses living in rural communities are an underserved population. They often live with heavy symptom burden and poor quality of life with limited access to resources. Nav-CARE (Navigation: Connecting Accessing Resourcing and Engaging) was developed to specially train and mentor volunteer navigators who help connect older persons with serious illness to the resources and information they need. Aims: This mixed methods longitudinal study evaluated Nav-CARE for feasibility, acceptability, ease of use, and satisfaction by older persons and volunteers. Methods: Nine volunteer navigators visited 23 older persons with serious illness every 3 to 4 weeks for 1 year. Data were collected from volunteer navigators, and older person participants at baseline, during the year- long implementation and post implementation. Results: Volunteer navigators and older persons reported Nav-CARE was easy to use, feasible and acceptable. The majority of older persons agreed or strongly agreed that they were satisfied with the navigation services (100%; 8/8), that navigation services were important to them (87%; 7/8), that they would recommend the program to someone else (87%; 7/8), and would participate in the program again (75%; 6/8). Similarly, volunteer navigators reported 100% (9/9) satisfaction with the program, 100% (9/9) would recommend it to others, and 67% (6/8) would participate again. Conclusions: Nav-CARE appears to be a feasible, acceptable, and satisfactory program for older persons with serious illness and volunteer navigators.


A time-of-flight detector based on microchannel plates (MCP) is under development. The main goal of this work is the creation of a radiation hard large area detector providing 10 ps time resolution in strong magnetic field. The conceptual detector design is described in details.


Group IV semiconductors, such as SiGe with a higher Ge fraction, are attracting attention as next-generation materials for high-mobility channel or thermal conductivity devices. Thus, we investigated the phonon dispersions of a Si1–xGex (x = 0.72) alloy crystal by the inelastic X-ray scattering (IXS) method. In this method, measurement with an X-ray beam with a small spot size of 75 μm and resolution of millielectronvolts is possible due to the synchrotron technique. The longitudinal and transverse phonon spectra of optical and acoustic modes were measured from the Γ to the X point in the phonon energy band (0–70 meV) with millielectronvolt energy resolution. SiGe showed dispersion characteristics similar to those of Si and Ge crystals. It was confirmed that the IXS method is useful for obtaining properties of phonon dispersion.


The speech perception ability of people with hearing loss can be efficiently measured using phonemic-level scoring. We aimed to develop linguistic stimuli suitable for a closed-set phonemic discrimination test in the Swedish language called the Situated Phoneme (SiP) test. The SiP test stimuli that we developed consisted of real monosyllabic words with minimal phonemic contrast, realised by phonetically similar phones. The lexical and sublexical factors of word frequency, phonological neighbourhood density, phonotactic probability, and orthographic transparency were similar between all contrasting words. Each test word was recorded five times by two different speakers, including one male and one female. The accuracy of the test-word recordings was evaluated by 28 normal-hearing subjects in a listening experiment with a silent background using a closed-set design. With a few exceptions, all test words could be correctly discriminated. We discuss the results in terms of content- and construct-validity implications for the Swedish SiP test.


A set-monotonic non-gradient algorithm is proposed for finding global minima of general nonconvex mathematical programming problems. The algorithm is based on the Cubic Algorithm /1/ equipped with a semi-certain distinction operator and the marginal comparison constant generator. An improved version of the algorithm is presented as compared with /2/.


Nanometer-emulsion RL-2 was a new drilling fluid additive prepared by physical and chemical methods. It had the characteristic of nanophase materials. The formulation of RL-2 was determined and its inhibition, lubricatioin and the performance of formation damage control were evaluated in laboratory. Results indicated that nanometer-emulsion RL-2 had good compatibility with drilling fluid and had some good performances in inhibition, lubrication and formation damage control. This emulsion was successfully applied in 20 wells of ShengLi oil field. This paper introduced its applications in KenDong405-Ping1 well and Zhuang block. The applications in field indicated that there was no collapse, a successful trip and electric logging and a high production when the nanometer-emulsion RL-2 drilling fluid was used. This drilling fluid can applied in horizontal well, extended reach well,deep well and exploratory well. Finally, the mechanism of nanometer-emulsion RL-2 was also probed into.


This article describes the background of the Sino-German co-operation in document delivery, necessity and possibility of co-operation, and the objectives, content, and the task of the collaboration, as well as the characteristics of China Direct system. It also introduces the co-operation mechanism of cross-domain information service and the significance of cooperation in document delivery services and future development.


This study aimed to manipulate a robotic shoulder even while the user is varying its point of view by applying a vector multiplication and controlling it using a camera with depth sensor. The system acquired the motion of the user's arm using Kinect sensor. The position of the user's joints was obtained using the Kinect Skeletal Tracking of Kinect SDK. Through the use of Visual Studio, we used C# and create a program to acquire the values of the skeletal coordinates and that was used to calculate the vectors using Cross Product and then the angles using Dot Product of the Vector Multiplication. The angles obtained were sent to the microcontroller through serial communication and then converted to signals for the movement of servo motors of the robotic shoulder. The rotation of the servo motors was according to the angles given as input. The researchers concluded that the system is effective in acquiring the user's shoulder angle for the mimicking of robotic shoulder for different point of views. Likewise, the researchers considered that the user's actual shoulder angle is close to the robotic shoulder prototype angle.


Background: Improving adherence to contraception requires an
 understanding of general practitioners (GPs) views of adherence and uptake. In this study we
 explored GPs perspectives on this aspect of prescription contraception. Method: A qualitative
 study was carried out, which involved individual interviews with 18 purposively sampled GPs.
 Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings: GPs believed that adherence to the
 contraceptive pill (OCP) was good for most across the life course. This assumption was often
 based on the notion of `individual responsibility`, and minimum interaction between the GP and
 service user on the issues of adherence, post first consultation. GPs were more familiar with
 prescribing the OCP than the long acting reversible methods (LARCs) and therefore continue to
 prescribe the OCP more frequently. Barriers to supporting adherence included awareness of the
 problem, time constraints and costs to the practice for prescribing LARCs. Furthermore, not all
 GPs provided LARCs due to inadequate training and potential deskilling. Discussion: It is
 necessary to address GP awareness, contraception training, skill maintenance, costs and time
 constraints to support adherence to and uptake of prescription contraception.


A time‐of‐flight (TOF) study of the particles leaving a CuCl target after irradiation by 15 ns laser pulses at 308 nm is performed. It is shown that the ejected species are Cl, Cu, CuCl, Cu2Cl, Cu2Cl2, and Cu3Cl3. The majority of the products consists of CuCl. The TOF spectra can be fitted by the sum of two contributions: a Maxwell–Boltzmann (MB) and a Gaussian‐type (G) distribution. The MB distribution has a temperature of T=6000 K for all masses. The average energy and the standard deviation in the energy of the G contributions are typical for every individual product. The results strongly suggest that the MB contribution is due to a single photon‐induced process, whereas the G contribution originates from a multiphoton and/or a multistep process.


Submitted for the DPP13 Meeting of The American Physical Society Origin and control of the picosecond pedestal in femtosecond laser systems and its effect on laser wakefield acceleration of electrons1 DMITRI KAGANOVICH, JOSEPH PENANO, DANIEL GORDON, MIKE HELLE, BAHMAN HAFIZI, ANTONIO TING, Naval Research Laboratory — The picosecond time scale pedestal of a multi-terawatt femtosecond laser pulse is investigated experimentally and analytically. The origin of the pedestal is related to the finite bandwidth of the laser system. Using a simple pulse splitter and delay line, we have produced significant (order of magnitude) improvement of sub-picosecond-scale laser contrast. We interpret this contrast enhancement as a result of linear interference among two chirped input pulses producing a modulated laser spectrum that is matched to the bandwidth of the optical system. Because we can work near points of constructive interference and the amplifier is run to saturation, the energy in the amplified pulse is preserved. This contrast enhancement is shown to increase the energy of laser wakefield accelerated electrons by creating favorable conditions for the accelerating plasma bubble. 1This work is supported by DOE and NRL 6.1 funding. Dmitri Kaganovich Naval Research Laboratory Date submitted: 09 Jul 2013 Electronic form version 1.4


Flesh in the Age of Reason The Modern Foundations of Body and Soul. by Roy Porter. Norton, New York, 2004. 592 pp. $29.95. ISBN 0-393-05075-0. Allen Lane (Penguin), London, 2003. £25. ISBN 0-713-99149-6. In his last book, Porter reviews 18th-century arguments about the mind, body, and soul to explore the interplay among "the moral, the material, and the medical" in Enlightenment Britain.


This paper presents a 3D forward modelling algorithm with an adaptive finite-element method based on unstructured grids that when used with a circular scanning DC measurement technique can provide an indication of anisotropy in a layered earth. The accuracy of this algorithm is checked against 1D semi-analytical solutions for an arbitrarily anisotropic earth. This anisotropy produces a measurement paradox, results are dependent on the physical relationship between DC transmitter and receiver. To resolve this paradox, a circular scanning measurement technique has been suggested. Through analysing the response of typical anisotropic models, we study the characteristics of apparent resistivity related to the electrically anisotropic media and identification of underground electrical anisotropy. The results of numerical experiments shows the effectiveness of our algorithm and the analysis will be helpful to the interpretation of anisotropic DC resistivity data.


The Negro in the United States who writes books, plays, music, poetry; who dances, sings, paints, acts or performs, designs or creates in any way; who is a critic or a student of history - all of these are today faced with a great racial dilemma. The very fact that we stand on the threshold of more democracy and freedom has posed a cultural problem of a very complex nature. Put in the simplest terms, the problem is this: As Negroes of Afro-American descent, and as writers, artists, creative individuals, whose culture do we develop and uphold - an Afro-American culture or an Anglo-American culture? (Cruse, "Cultural" 49) One of the most promising of the young Negro poets said to me once, "I want to be a poet - not a Negro poet"; meaning subconsciously "I would like to be white." And I was sorry the young man said that, for no great poet has ever been afraid of being himself. And I doubted then that, with his desire to run away spiritually from his race, this boy would ever be a great poet. But this is the mountain standing in the way of any true Negro art in America - this urge within the race toward whiteness, the desire to pour racial individuality into the mold of American standardization, and to be as little Negro and as much American as possible. (Hughes 175) Harold Cruse's provocative question about African-Americans' choosing to develop and embrace Afro-American or Anglo-American culture initiated what came to be known as the Cruse-Redding controversy of 1958-59. Writing in an era of entrenched assimilationism, Cruse dared to proclaim the specificity of African-American culture. "The American Negro," he contended, "cannot be understood culturally unless [s/]he is seen as a member of a detached ethnic bloc of people of African descent reared for three hundred years in the unmotherly bosom of Western civilization" ("Cultural" 49). Reckless "integration," according to his diagnosis, had landed the African-American in a "cultural desert: the deracinating despair zone "between two opposing racial and cultural identities - the Afro-American and Anglo-American" (52). Cruse's quest was not for a naive "return to the source." For even as he established connections between Africa and African-America - for instance, the nascent wave of political decolonization in the former, signaled by the Ghanian independence of 1957, and the budding nationalism in the latter - he emphasized the "Americaness" of the distinctive African-American culture that needed affirmation and invigoration. If culture is the "soul of a race, nation, people or nationality," he argued, the African-American soul had "lost its power of communication," stunted, as it were, by "Caucasian idolatry in the arts, abandonment of true identity, and immature, childlike mimicry of white aesthetics" (53, 56). Since he believed the future to be especially bleak for African-American dominance in U.S. politics or economics, he recommended a profound "cultural rehabilitation and refurbishing" as the only precondition for a proper assessment of problems and strategies and therefore for a "firm grip" on African-American "destiny" (66). When Cruse published "An Afro-American's Cultural Views," the Brown v. Board of Education ruling of 1954 was just four years old. Its effects were yet to be fully absorbed, much less subjected to the kind of useful scrutiny only a critical distance could allow. International fame was emerging for Martin Luther Kin& Jr., the Civil Rights apostle who kept the embers of hope alive with integrationist fuel, and for a while, there seemed to be a consensus - if we see "consensus" as an agreement among those who have the wherewithal to make themselves heard - that "cultural integration," as King had crafted the elegant proclamation a year earlier, was the "promised land" of African-America (qtd. in Cruse, "Cultural" 60-61). Under these circumstances, the responses to Cruse's essay were predictable. One of the most cited is Saunders Redding's "Negro Writing in America," an address given at the First Congress of Negro Writers, organized by the American Society of African Culture in 1959. …


Recently, a new power split hybrid electric vehicle drive train has been developed by the Corporate Research and Development Department of the Robert Bosch Company. The new drive train differs from a conventional one in many respects. In this paper we investigate how these differences affect the vibrational behavior of the drive line. With the aid of a linear mechanical model, a modal analysis is performed and the effect of the control of the drive train on the eigenvibrations is studied. The analysis reveals, for example, a shuffle behavior, which can also be observed in vehicles with conventional drive train. The constant of the I part of the controller influences the vibrational behavior in quite a complex way. Starting from zero and steadily increasing the control parameter, one of the modes undergoes three metamorphoses. On the basis of this fundamental understanding, two strategies for the optimization of the drive line vibrational behavior are proposed. Furthermore, the simple mechanical model is refined with regard to various aspects. For example, tire slip is taken into account and a two-track model capturing asymmetric vibrations of the two axle shafts or wheels is considered.


The welding technology used for preheating flash butt welding was evaluated for workpieces with large welding section. The movement of the hydraulic proportion valve was controlled by a closed loop industral computer with the workpiece accelerated according to the predetermined flashing moving curve, so that the flashing process was violent but stabile. Both of the welding process control and the production management were integrated into the software control system. The system has many functions, such as transformation of the serial welding process, diagnosis and treatment of failures, parameter display and product number count, etc. The workpiece properties show that the welding system can be used to effectively flash butt welding large workpieces.


Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals may have lower levels of mental health compared to heterosexual people. This study examined the impact of sexual orientation on the components of minority stress (victimization, internalized homophobi a and concealment of sexual orientation), and the moderating role of social and family support in the relationship between sexual orientation and minority stress components. A total of 715 LGB people participated in this study, of which 29.1% reported being lesbian (n = 208), 32.2% gay (n = 230) and 38.8% bisexual (n = 277). Their ages ranged from 18 to 70 years (M = 24.14, SD = 7.18). The questionnaire was disseminated through social networks and answered on an online platform. A path analysis with moderation eff ects was conducted to test the interactions between the variables sexual orientation, victimization, internalized homophobia and concealment of sexual orientation. No relationship was found between the variables cited, which can be explained by the sociodemographic characteristics (race/ethnicity, income, education) of the participants. These results may be associated with a response bias due to the profi le of the participant sample of the present study.


Zen is one of the ten principal schools of Chinese Buddhism which was founded by Bodhidharma, and Han Shan is one of the most well-known Chinese poets of the Zen school. Although we do not know very well about his life, through his verses we know today that he left the lay world and went away to the Mountain Tiantai, where he lived as a hermit and wrote approximately three hundred poems. Most of his poems are about his understanding of the Zen education. Through the description of the environment and the use of natural images which are nearly always metaphors of the spiritual way, these poems manage to produce an artistic conception of Zen. This is why Han Shan was also known as a poet of Zen. Most of the time, it is impossible to reproduce a poem from one language to another, including the rhyme, the structure and the artistic conception of the original poem. So the aim of our work is to improve the target reader's comprehension about the Zen in Han Shan's poetry and offer our suggestions about how to translate it. Besides, we also expect that the results of our analysis could be used in the understanding and translation of other poets of Zen, such as Wang Wei, Bai Juyi, and so on.


Standard care for early stage breast cancer includes tumor resection and local radiotherapy to achieve long‐term remission. Systemic chemotherapy provides only low locoregional control of the disease; to address this, self‐assembling silk hydrogels that can retain and then deliver doxorubicin locally are described. Self‐assembling silk hydrogels show no swelling, are readily loaded with doxorubicin under aqueous conditions, and release drug over 4 weeks in amounts that can be fine‐tuned by varying the silk content. Following successful in vitro studies, locally injected silk hydrogels loaded with doxorubicin show excellent antitumor response in mice, outperforming the equivalent amount of doxorubicin delivered intravenously. In addition to reducing primary tumor growth, doxorubicin‐loaded silk hydrogels reduce metastatic spread and are well tolerated in vivo. Thus, silk hydrogels are well suited for the local delivery of chemotherapy and provide a promising approach to improve locoregional control of breast cancer.


Dear Editor, we have been reading with great interest the various articles published in your journal regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare systems. The pandemic is, indeed, a cause for grave concern, as proper clinical decision-making is challenged by exaggerated information.1 But if there is an overwhelming amplified immune response to the virus (e.g. cytokine storm), we believe there is also an ongoing excessive reaction from society (e.g. mass hysteria). Some authors already have called it coronaphobia,2 but we believe covidophobia would be a more appropriate concept, as it reflects fear of the disease and not fear of the virus itself. Therefore, we would like to propose covidophobia as the latest subtype of hypochondriasis (illness anxiety disorder) under the ever-growing modern phenomenon that is pandemic related cyberchondria (e.g. excessive online information search).3 Unfortunately, only time will tell if psychopharmacological and psychotherapeutic options used in the treatment of classic hypochondriasis will have some impact on these new syndromes. Looking at the cytokine storm and mass hysteria analogy further in depth, it is noteworthy to find that error and misinformation act in a similarly vicarious way as T-helper type 1 hyper response, with high levels of interleukin 1 Beta (IL-1β) and interferon gamma (IFN-γ), among others.4 In both cases, more information and in-depth research is necessary, since the intricate complexity is multifaceted and past experience may help, but not necessarily explain, the current situation.5 Using the Internet, misleading information propagates fast with an exaggerated reaction by its specific receptors: humans who may not necessarily be able to critically appraise scientific information. Since we do not know if the cytokine storm is accidental, or an intended viral strategy, we also do not know if viral misinformation is a result of deliberated hidden agendas or Dunning-Kruger phenomenon (illusory superiority as a form of cognitive bias).6 Other authors have already expressed this kind of concern, in particular what they called human bias.7 The Internet is populated with individuals, some quite well organized in groups, whose lack of trust in governments, pharmaceutical companies and mainstream media can be quite devoid of critical thinking. We then have a hyper stimulated society, much like a cytokine storm that overwhelms COVID-19 patients. Individually, surviving the infection will leave some patients with lung fibrosis. Collectively, the scars that COVID-19 will leave in society will take its toll, as other pandemics did in the past, increasing fear, inequalities, privacy violations, lack of empathy, and ideological extremism – a glimpse of a fascinating, yet perniciously dystopian future.


Sodium–glucose co‐transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibition reduces heart failure hospitalizations in patients with diabetes, irrespective of glycaemic control. We examined the effect of SGLT2 inhibition with empagliflozin (EMPA) on cardiac function in non‐diabetic rats with left ventricular (LV) dysfunction after myocardial infarction (MI).


Electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings provide an important means of brain-computer communication, but their classification accuracy and transfer rate are limited by unexpected signal variations due to artifacts and noises. In this paper, a nonlinear independent component analysis (NICA) extraction method for brain signal based EEG-P300 are proposed. The performance of the proposed method is investigated through a comparison of well known extraction methods (i.e., AAR, JADE, and SOBI algorithms). Finally, the promising results reported here reflect the considerable potential of EEG for the continuous classification of mental states.


The Aristotelian notion of friendship is a relatively under-discussed aspect of Aristotle's body of work. This particular concept involves the classification of the types of friend-ships, which carries some ethical implications. The aim of this article is to meticulously and appropriately expand upon the classification system proposed by Aristotle in order to include all other kinds of relationships. Thus, the Aristotelian concept of friendship will be thoroughly examined and expanded upon in this paper. The present discourse initiates with a discussion on the necessary and sufficient conditions required to qualify a social state as a relation. Aristotle's initial categories of friendship are clarified and validated onto relationships. The classification of a relation is established upon the foundational emotion, thereby enabling the identification of three distinct classes of relations. The amalgamation of each class with each type of relation culminates in a total of nine feasible relations. Ergo, a relationship can be ascribed as a composite of these nine relations. We shall delve into the substantiating argument for the assertion that any relationship can be exhaustively described as a composite of the nine relations. The discourse thoroughly examines and explicates the levels of relations and levels of its subjects, which significantly facilitate the identification and classification of the nature of any given relationship. Thus, this paper is a case for an Aristotelian ontology of relationships.


Chang'an was the most important city in early imperial China, yet this is the first comprehensive study of the Sui-Tang capital in the English language. Following a background sketch of the earlier Han dynasty Chang'an and an analysis of the canonical and geomantic bases of the layout of the Sui-Tang capital, this volume focuses on the essential components of the city--its palaces, central and local administrative quarters, ritual centers, marketplaces, residential wards, and monasteries. Based on careful textual and archaeological research, this volume gives a sense of why Sui-Tang Chang'an was considered the most spectacular metropolis of its age.Victor C. Xiong is Associate Professor of Asian History and Chair of East Asian Studies, Western Michigan University. He has written several articles on the urban, cultural, and socioeconomic history of early imperial China, with special focus on the Sui-Tang period.


Abstract— It has been recently shown that UVA (320–400 nm) irradiation of DNA in the presence of pyridopsoralens induces the formation of thymine cyclobutane dimers in addition to monoadducts. In this work, we measured the potency of a saturated pyridopsoralen to photosensitize DNA, despite its inability to covalently attach to DNA. First, from spectroscopic fluorescence measurements, we have shown that both analogs, saturated and unsaturated pyridopsoralens, namely 4′,5′‐dihydro‐7‐methyl‐pyrido[3,4‐clpsoralen (DH‐MePyPs) and 7‐methylpyrido[3,4‐c]psoralen, exhibit a similar global affinity for DNA. Secondly, we demonstrated, by footprinting experiments, that exposure of a DNA sequence to 365 nm UV radiation in the presence of DH‐MePyPs results in selective cyclobutane thymine dimerization. Thymines located in the immediate proximity of the 5′‐TA‐3′ step are exclusively affected and the frequency of this photoprocess depends on flanking sequences. We thus probe a selective thymine dimer photosensitizer. Results are discussed in terms of drug affinity and physical properties of the helix at the binding site.


Social behaviour and structures are often invisible in the archaeological record. However, rock art sometimes provides unique visual examples of social and cultural practices as perceived by the authors. Through a specific case study, a rock art scene from Injalak Hill (western Arnhem Land, Australia), this paper explores how the social information encoded in rock art scenes can be understood on the basis of three categories of analysis: the rock paintings, the archaeological/spatial context and the ethnographic context. This study demonstrates that patterns of composition are not at random in rock art scenes, but used to replicate social patterns of behaviour more than a simple action.


The three intensity polarizer-sample-analyzer imaging ellipsometry is used to measure the ellipsometric parameters (&PSgr;,&Dgr;). In addition to the ellipsometric parameters, we introduce an extra angle &agr; to measure the of the azimuth deviation of polarizer. After careful calibration, we found this deviation can indicate how much the surface normal slanted from the plane; then it can be used to deduce the thickness profile coated on a cylindrical lens. Using this technique, we not only can determine the radius curvature of the curved surface, we also can calculate the thickness of the thin film coated on a curved surface.


Background: Though a number of studies have described the distribution of substance P(SP)-like immunoreactivity in the spinal cord, they have been focused on lamina I and II of the dorsal horn and there are little morphological studies on the topographic distribution and ultrastructure of the SP immunoreactive neurons especially in the ventral horn of the spinal cord. this study was conducted to identify distribution pattern of SP immunoreactive neurons and to difine the synaptic organization of their processes in ventral horn of the thoracic cord of the cat by preembbeding immunocytochemical method using SP antiserum. Methods: Five adults cats of either sex were used and deeply anesthetized by intramuscular injection of ketamine. After removal of the spinal cord, samples of thoracic cord were taken and placed in fresh fixative at for 2 hours. Transverse sections thick were processed using the preembbeding immunocytochemical method and incubated consecutively in the specific primary antibody and the 10% normal goat serum, the rabbit anti-substance P antiserum, the biotin-labelled goat anti-rabbit IgG and finally the avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex. The processed tissue sections were throughly washed and stained in the black with 1% uranyl acetate. Section were examined on a electron microscope. Results: 1) SP immunoreactive neurons were observed in the gray matter around central canal. 2) In lamina I and II SP immunoreactivity was observed in both myelinated and unmyelinated nerve fibers, but in ventral horn only in the unmyelinated nerve fibers. 3) SP immunoreactive axon terminals with small round and large dense core vesicles made chemical synapses onto the dendrites of motor neurons in the ventral horn. Conclusion: SP immunoreactive neurons might play an important role in modulation of motor neurons in the ventral horn of the thoracic cord of the cat.


In this short communication, we have explored and compared the performance of Alternate Phase Return-to-Zero (APRZ) modulation format on both strongly and weakly managed dispersion maps with varying path average dispersion values. Our findings show that, as opposed to 0 or 180 deg APRZ, 90 deg APRZ is more efficient for both strongly and weekly managed dispersion maps in minimizing Intra Channel Fourwave Mixing (IFWM) for reliable 40Gb/s transmission.


Inspired by pioneering studies in the field of adult immigrants and second language acquisition, my dissertation research seeks to bridge the classroom as an inside space and the outside as lived social reality and to draw conclusions on how the interplay of these experiences affects and is affected by aspects of culture, attitudes and identity formation. Set in the specific context of the German Integration Course, this qualitative study is based on a series of guided conversations with and the written accounts of five adult immigrants enrolled in the Integration Course in Frankfurt, Germany in 2012. I am predominantly interested in sociopsychological factors affecting the learning process, including learners' perspectives on learning a second language in a compulsory setting in Germany, and the influence as well as the dependence of such perspectives on their identities and as result on their learning behavior. In my work, I don't draw a straight line between attitudes and language achievements. Much like water refracts light and produces images, I assert that our attitudes form interpretive stances through which we explain


In this paper, we propose a SPN 256 bit block cipher so called XSB(eXtended SPN Block cipher) which has a symmetric structure in encryption and decryption. The proposed XSB is composed of the even numbers of N rounds where the first half of them, 1 to N/2-1 round, applies a pre-function and the last half of them, N/2+1 to N round, employs a post-function. Each round consists of a round key addition layer, a substiution layer, a byte exchange layer and a diffusion layer. And a symmetry layer is located in between the pre-function layer and the post-function layer. The symmetric layer is composed with a multiple simple bit slice involution S-Boxes. The bit slice involution S-Box symmetric layer increases difficult to attack cipher by Square attack, Boomerang attack, Impossible differentials cryptanalysis etc.


The role of chemolithoautotrophic microorganisms has been considered to be of minor importance in coastal marine sediments and the impact of seasonal hypoxic/anoxic conditions on microbial chemolithoautotrophy in coastal marine sediments has not been investigated. Therefore, in this thesis the temporal and spatial changes of the diversity, abundance and activity of specific groups of chemolithoautotrophic microorganisms involved in the nitrogen and sulfur cycling, as well as the total microbial community, has been determined in coastal sediments by using DNA/RNA- and lipid-based biomarker approaches, i.e. the analysis and quantification of 16S rRNA and functional genes involved in carbon fixation and reoxidation pathways, intact polar and core lipids of Archaea, i.e. glycerol dibiphytanyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs), and ladderane lipids specific for anammox bacteria, as well as bacterial phospholipid-derived fatty acids (PLFAs). We focused on coastal marine sediments; (1) the Oyster Grounds in the central North Sea, exposed to decreasing bottom water oxygen concentrations (0−12 cm sediment depth), (2) different sediment types (sand, clay, and mud) of the Iceland Shelf (0−10 cm sediment depth), and (3) seasonally hypoxic and sulfidic sediments of saline Lake Grevelingen (The Netherlands) (0−5 cm sediment depth). Results show the presence and potential importance of chemolithoautotrophs in the biogeochemical cycling of carbon, nitrogen and sulfur. The research presented in this thesis has provided new insights on the temporal and spatial distribution of the diversity, abundance and activity of chemolithoautotrophic microorganisms such as ammonia oxidizing archaea (AOA, i.e. Thaumarchaeota) and ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB), anammox and denitrifying bacteria, as well as sulfate reducing and sulfur oxidizing microorganisms, including sulfide-dependent denitrifiers, and chemolithoautotrophic microorganisms involved in the Calvin-Benson-Bassham (CBB) and the reductive tricarboxylic acid (rTCA) cycle, in coastal marine sediments. Hypoxia and increasing sulfide concentration have proven to be key factors restricting the presence and activity of these groups. In addition, the interactions with other microbial groups and bioturbation seem to favor the presence of specific chemolithoautotrophs in unexpected sediment depths, for example the presence of Thaumarchaeota in depths where the oxygen concentration was expected to be undetectable, or the presence of anammox bacteria in bioturbated sediments where nitrate reducers could thrive and provide nitrite to fuel the anammox process.


Under current Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA) requirements, all new Federal information technology (IT) programs and modernization efforts using blockchain must meet National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) cryptographic standards. This report evaluates four major blockchain technologies – Ethereum, Hyperledger Fabric, R3's Corda, and Multichain – to determine their level of NIST compliance. The intent is to provide Federal IT managers with the critical information they need to determine which blockchain platforms may be used in their projects.


The invention discloses a preparation method of water transfer printing fictile. The preparation method comprises the following steps of: A, spraying underpainting liquid on the surface of fictile to be transferred in an environment with a temperature of 25-45 DEG C and a relative humidity not larger than 55%, standing for 25-35 minutes, and solidifying; B, transferring a water transferring film on the fictile obtained in the step A in water; C, standing the fictile obtained in the step B for 25-35 minutes in an environment with a temperature of 25-45 DEG C and a relative humidity not larger than 55%, and subsequently drying; D, solidifying the fictile obtained in the step C; and E, spraying cover liquid on the surface of the fictile obtained in the step D in an environment with a temperature of 25-45 DEG C and a relative humidity not larger than 55%, standing for 25-35 minutes, and solidifying so as to obtain the water transfer printing fictile. By utilizing the preparation method, the water transferring printing on the fictile is successfully realized, the operation is simple and easy, and output is large.


The effect of blade angle on droplet size spectrum of five rotary cage atomizers and one rotary disc atomizer used in Brazil was evaluated in a high speed wind tunnel, with an air speed of 180 km h−1. This study included the characterization of the droplet size spectrum, via laser diffraction instrument, generated by three blades angles, of 45, 60 and 75 degrees. The spray solution was composed of Picoxystrobin+ Cyproconazole fungicide (SC), at 20 mL c.p. L−1, and at a flow rate of 6 L min−1. As the angle decreased from 75 to 45 degrees, the rotational speed of the atomizers increased and the volume median diameter (VMD) decreased. However, increasing the rotational speed also increased the percentage of droplets smaller than 100 µm (% < 100 µm). At the blade angles of 45 and 60 degrees the atomizers showed that % < 100 µm was higher than 20% and VMD was smaller than 198 µm. The disc type atomizer resulted in the lower values of relative span (RS). The use of 75 degrees blade angle produced the highest values of VMD and the lowest values of % < 100 µm; these parameters were also affected by atomizer model and brand.


Singapore Airlines works out of Changi Airport hub and is the flag carrier of the city-state of Singapore. Find information on baggage & Checking details here


In this paper we discuss plasma accelerators which might provide high gradient accelerating fields suitable for TeV linear colliders. In particular we discuss two types of plasma accelerators which have been proposed, the Plasma Beat Wave Accelerator and the Plasma Wake Field Accelerator. We show that the electric fields in the plasma for both schemes are very similar, and thus the dynamics of the driven beams are very similar. The differences appear in the parameters associated with the driving beams. In particular to obtain a given accelerating gradient, the Plasma Wake Field Accelerator has a higher efficiency and a lower total energy for the driving beam. Finally, we show for the Plasma Wake Field Accelerator that one can accelerate high quality low emittance beams and, in principle, obtain efficiencies and energy spreads comparable to those obtained with conventional techniques.


A growing consensus suggests that a cause of support for undemocratic practices and partisan violence is that partisans misperceive the other side. That is, they vastly exaggerate the extent to which members of the other party support undemocratic practices and violence. When these misperceptions are corrected, citizens' own beliefs moderate. I present results from an experiment that show that misperception corrections do not have an effect in the presence of competing information (i.e., that challenges the validity of the correction or offers a conflicting narrative). Basic corrections do not constitute a robust way to counter democratic backsliding stemming from citizens' misperceptions. The results highlight the need to devise stronger misperception interventions and, more generally, to consider competing information environments when devising any scalable behavioral intervention.


105. On the numbers of tulips in the eighteenth century, see Aktepe (1952) 90, 113; Refik (1932), 47; Hazarfen (1995), 46; I am grateful to Tiilay Artan for providing me with originals of the judge's records (Eyiip Kad1 Sicilleri no. 188). From the hundreds-up to perhaps, two thousand-of varieties of tulips in the eighteenth century, but twenty types are current a century later (Abdiilaziz Bey [1995], 219-22).


The study examines the theoretical and practical aspects of insurance fraud at the current stage of eco-nomic development in the Russian Federation. Statistical information about the development of this problem is provided. In addition, the problems that arise in the neutralization of fraud in the insurance sector are inves-tigated, as well as measures to eliminate them are proposed.


Nowadays Rivier University experiences the exponential growth of international students (mostly from India) in M.S./Computer Science and M.S./Computer Information Systems programs. For the last 7 years, the number of students was grown by the factor of 12, and 436 degrees were conferred. The most significant increase of students in these programs took place in spring 2014 when the first large cohort of 48 international students arrived on campus (currently, we have 535 students), who brought new challenges mostly associated with the cultural and educational-system differences, such as weak academic background; weak code-programming and communication skills; ineffective study skills; numerous cases of cheating and plagiarizing (practically undetected among our "traditional" local graduate students); and attempts to avoid challenges in research studies by searching the existing patterns of the problem solving.


In this paper, we propose camera and flash calibration methods for improving the accuracy of 3D shape acquisition technique on a smartphone. In case of employing the shape from shading (SFS) technique using the camera and flash of the smartphone, reconstructed 3D shape is inaccurate due to the lens distortion, nonlinear sensor response, and flash's point light source property. In this paper, we propose practical techniques to improve the accuracy of reconstructed 3D shape by applying geometric, radiometric, and flash calibration of smartphone's camera and flash.


Background: Asthma in childhood is strongly associated with allergy, especially in developed countries. Common exposures such as tobacco smoke, air pollution, and respiratory infections may trigger symptoms and contribute to the morbidity and occasional mortality. Asthma is a highly prevalent chronic respiratory disease affecting 300 million people world-wide. Aim of the work: The aim of this study is to assess prevalence of bronchial asthma among primary school children and identify associated symptoms and its risk factors. Patients and methods: The present study was conducted in among 1170 children in primary schools in Assiut City in Upper Egypt. All children had inclusion criteria of age between 6-12 of primary school children. Data were collected by two questionnaires. Screening was done at two (2) steps. First step screening: children were screened for chest symptoms. The questionnaire was given to 1300 pupils, the number of pupils who respond to us were 1170 and those pupils become the screened number for our study, the age of those children range between 6-12 years old and the number of girls were 40.5% and the number of boys were 59.5%. Second step screening: All children who selected from first step screening who reported specified respiratory and asthmatic symptoms were selected and assessed individually for the second step questionnaire, as the numbers of those children were 84 children. For every diagnosed asthmatic child, we selected randomly a normal child from the pupils list inside each class. The questionnaire filled by the researcher inside the classes to have total number of 168 pupils. Results: Among asthmatic students males constituted 53.6% and females 46.4%. The prevalence of asthma among the studied students was 7.2%. Asthma was not significantly associated with age and gender. The prominent symptoms of asthma were wheeze 100%, cough 96.4% and dyspnea 40.5%. In our study 70.2% of children with asthma begun wheezing before 2 years age. The severity of asthma among studied children was mild asthma in 52.4%, moderate asthma in 40.5% and severe form of asthma in 7.1% as the frequency of attacks in past year was 1-2 times / year 33.3%, 3 times / year 40.5% and more than 4 times / year in 26.2%. The impact of symptoms on health among studied school children 100% of nocturnal awaking, 96.4% of emergency room visits and 66.7% of hospital admission. There was non-significant difference between asthmatic and non-asthmatic group regard to low weight for age ( 95th percentile). This study revealed that the presence of one type or more of other allergic disease (skin 23.8%, nasal 66.7% and eye 16.7%) was significantly associated with asthma (p = 0.000). History of asthma and other allergic conditions in the family was significantly associated with asthma in the studied children (p = 0.000). Using logistic regression analysis: a positive family history of allergy and the presence of other one or more allergic diseases were significantly associated risk factors for asthma. The triggering factors incriminated most for the attacks were dust (96.4%), smoke (92.9%), odors (80.9%) cold air (86.9%) drugs (9.5%), temperature changes (59.5%). Upper respiratory tract infections were the precipitating factor in more than two thirds of the studied children (92.9%). Exercise as a triggering factor of asthma occurred in 46.4% of the studied children in this study and has been reported in about 11.9% of the general healthy children. There was significant association between asthma and presence of family pets in the home as birds (83.3%), dogs (7.1%) and cats (13.1%). In this study there was significant association between asthma and family size.