Background: Background: There is an increasing pool of evidence describing detrimental outcomes of patients with hematological malignancies with acute COVID-19. Aims: Aims: to evaluate risk of death with acute COVID-19 in patients with various hematological malignancies in comparison to matched control patients from a large single institution registry. Methods: Methods: We retrospectively analyzed all consecutive hospitalized COVID-19 patients treated in period 3/2020-3/2021 in our institution (University hospital Dubrava) that served as a regional COVID-19 referral center during the pandemic. Data from a hospital Registry project were used. Patients with hematological malignancies were compared to the case-control matched group of patients without malignant disease. Matching was performed according to age, sex and modified Charlson comorbidity index (with subtracting points provided for hematological malignancy in hematological malignancy patients). Results: Results: Out of total 4014 consecutive hospitalized COVID-19 patients, there were 154 patients with hematological malignancies. There were 81/154 (52.6%) male patients. Median age was 71 years and median Charlson comorbidity index was 5 points. Most represented hematologic malignancy subtype was chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) present in 37/154 (24%) patients, followed by aggressive lymphomas (30/154 (19.5%)), plasma cell dyscrasias (28/154 (18.2%)), acute leukemias (21/154 (13.6%)), indolent non Hodgkin lymphomas (18/154 (11.7%)), myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS, 12/154 (7.8%)) and chronic myeloproliferative leukemias (8/154 (5.2%)).


Measurement of height, weight, skinfold, blood pressure and lipoprotein lipids were carried out as a part of a cardiovascular risk factor survey in Fiji in 1983. Observations were limited to urban and island-dwelling Melanesians and it was found that, while the urban population was fatter than the island dwellers, their systolic pressures were significantly lower in both men and women. Removal of subjects previously diagnosed as having hypertension in both populations left the island population with higher systolic pressures than the urban group but the difference was no longer significant at the 5 per cent level.

Lipoprotein lipids were broadly similar in the two populations with values similar to New Zealand Caucasians. There were no differences in high density lipoprotein cholesterol levels between the two population groups, nor were there differences between men and women.

A total of 24 men and women were known cases of coronary heart disease at the time of the survey, a further 47 had symptoms suggestive of the disorder.


Spain was unsuccessful in ensuring vaccination for all its infant population during the XIX Century. Using as a case-study the city of Alicante we deal, in this, work with the main causes of this failure. The absence of proper public health services, the opposition or the neglect of the population and some technical obstacles were the main reasons for the very irregular vaccination practices in Alicante.


Layered metal dichalcogenides (LMDs) have been extensively employed as saturable absorbers (SAs) for demonstrating passively Q-switched or mode-locked lasers due to the advantages of wide absorption range and ultra-fast recovery time. In this paper, the nonlinear saturable absorption property of another IV-VI LMDs tin disulfide (SnS2) was investigated. SnS2-polyving alcohol (PVA) film was successfully prepared and employed as a SA for demonstrating an Er-doped passively Q-switched fiber laser. Under a pump power of 637 mW, the maximum average output power was 9.33 mW. The minimum pulse width was as narrow as 510 ns, which, to our knowledge, is the narrowest pulse width obtained within passively Q-switched Er-doped all-fiber ring-cavity lasers. The results indicate that film-type SnS2-PVA SA has excellent nonlinear absorption properties and outstanding performance in obtaining short-pulse passively Q-switched operation, which will promote the practical applications of SnS2 in the field of ultrafast photonics.


removal of the colouring matters from petroleum ether extracts by activated charcoal does not appear to influence the removal of the dermatitis-producing factor from the solution by fuller^s earth. The pyrethrin contents of the various preparations show no obvious correlation with irritation, which agrees with the work of Martin and Hester. This may mean that the dermatitis factor is not associated with the p^Tethrin content. The degree of separation of the pyrethrins in the course of the removal of the dermatitis factor is noteworthy, and application of this method to separate the various p3Tethrins is worth consideration.


Voice over IP (VoIP) exploits the ability of IP to deliver multiple services over a single access link. Increased computing power and available bandwidth in endpoints, reduced cost and size of elec ...


This paper presents a GaN-HEMT DPA IC based on a compact load network for LTE small cells. The gate widths of the transistors for the carrier and peaking amplifiers are optimized to have the same load impedance of 100 Ω. A shunt inductor is added to compensate for the output capacitor of each transistor with parallel resonance. A x-type high-pass impedance transformer based on lumped components is used to modulate the load impedance. Parallel inductors from the resonant circuit and the impedance transformer are merged for further simplification. As a result, only two inductors remain in the load network. For verification, a 2.6 GHz DPA IC with an on-chip load network and input matching networks was designed and fabricated using a 0.4 μm GaN-HEMT process. The DPA IC exhibited a peak output power of 43.9 dBm. For an LTE signal with a signal bandwidth of 10 MHz and a PAPR of 6.5 dB, a high drain efficiency of 55.5% with an ACLR of −30 dBc was obtained at an average output power of 37.4 dBm.


A survey was conducted in Teesta barradge to determine the fish production and livelihood status of fish farmers for a period of thirty six months (July 2017-December 2017). The survey was conducted on 30 fish farmers of 6 villages under 3 Unions. Data were collected through personal visit and interviews following a detailed questionnaire. Total fish production from the Teesta barradge was 120 tons in 2017. The total fish production in the Teesta barradge declined by 45% in 2017 compared to the production in 2000. Among the fish farmers 38% was illiterate whereas 12, 29 and 21% were educated upto primary secondary and higher secondary or above level, respectively. 70% fishermen were with 0.042 hectare lands. Above 65% were lived in nuclear-family and rest 35% are joint family. 35% people lived in earthen house, constructed by grass leaves and mud. The highest percentage (38%) fish farmers earned Tk. 50,000-75,000 per year, 27% earned Tk. 75000-1,00,000 and the rest 35% earned above Tk. 100,000 annually. About 48% of them were found to be use electricity. Fish farmers were found to face various problems such as social, economic and technical problems, which were identified during the study. Necessary overcome efforts are also suggested according to the problems © 2019 The Authors. Published by JFLS. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0). A R T I C L E I N F O Received: 10 January 2019 Accepted: 10 May 2019 Available online: 30 June 2019


4 by recoded race. It was found that 67.6% of the minority student sample population gave significantly lower, good evaluations than non-mlnorlfy students. I do not believe that this finding Is a necessarily reflection of race, but perhaps more reflective of In come. Possible factors for this finding could Include family Income and education. Of the minority student sample population, 67% fall below the family Income category of $60,000 a year, 58% fell below $50,000 a year, and $40% fell below 40,000 a year. The lower the Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.


Passive surface wave imaging based on noise cross-correlation has been a research hotspot in recent years. However, because randomness of noise is difficult to achieve in reality, prominent noise sources will inevitably affect the dispersion measurement. Additionally, in order to recover high-fidelity surface waves, the time series input during cross-correlation calculation is usually very long, which greatly limits the efficiency of passive surface wave imaging. With an automatic noise or signal removal algorithm based on synchrosqueezed continuous wavelet transform (SS-CWT), these problems can be alleviated. We applied this method to 1-h passive datasets acquired in Sichuan province, China; separated the prominent noise events in the raw field data, and enhanced the cross-correlation reconstructed surface waves, effectively improving the accuracy of the dispersion measurement. Then, using the conventional surface wave inversion method, the shear wave velocity profile of the underground structure in this area was obtained.


Many therapies had been proposed for acute stroke, few of them had been proved useful for clinical practice. It is possible that the therapeutic window for stroke is narrow, whichever treatment tried. Objective. This study aims to assess if time delay for medical care is associated to prognosis in acute stroke patients.


38 Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is characterized by a root with a high starch content 39 that has food and industrial uses. Because of this, it is a species of interest for genetic 40 improvement through biotechnological techniques such as genome editing. These 41 techniques are necessary since genetic manipulation in cassava presents barriers 42 because it is a highly heterozygous plant, which makes segregation of transgenes difficult 43 without losing characteristics of commercially established genotypes in the process. This 44 is why the development of DNA-free editing methods is crucial. For this purpose, it was 45 proposed to develop a plant regeneration protocol from protoplasts isolated from 46 organized embryogenic structures. The isolation yields were 6.47 x 10 cells/gram of fresh 47 weights and the viability of 89.5%. Two culture systems were tested, but agarose droplets 48 were chosen becauses structures formed inside of them had a defined three-dimensional 49 shape. The genotype effect, hormonal density and initial cell density were compared and 50 the number of microcolonies produced was evaluated. The genotypes showed no 51 significant differences, contrary to the hormonal combination and initial cell density. The 52 combination of factors with better yields was 2 x 10 cells/ml in medium with 2 mg/L of 53 kinetin, 1 mg/L of NAA and 1 mg/L BAP. In addition to this, in this combination of factors, 54 formation and growth of microcalli of the TMS 60444 genotype was evidenced 55 sporadically. To improve the frequency of microcalli formation and somatic 56 embryogenesis, it is suggested to make cultures with protoplasts embedded in agarose 57 with médium supplemented with 2 mg/L of kinetin, 1 mg/L of NAA and 1 mg/L BAP, use 58


Using the coverage grating-optical second-harmonic diffraction method, we have measured the diffusion rate of potassium on Re(001) in the coverage range of 0.6–1 ML. We observe a minimum in both the activation energy for diffusion and the diffusion preexponential at an initial potassium coverage of 0.75 ML. For potassium coverages of 0.93, 0.84, 0.73, and 0.59 ML, the activation energies for diffusion are determined to be 5.0±0.2, 3.9±0.7, 3.6±0.2, and 5.0±1.0 kcal/mol, and D0 is 5.6×10−3±0.3, 3.5×10−4±1.1, 5.8×10−4±0.3, and 3.7×10−1±1.9 cm2/s, respectively. The results are discussed in terms of electrostatic dipole–dipole repulsive interactions among neighboring adsorbates.


the aim of this paper is to present the initial design for the algorithm used in my thesis on the topic Multimodal Transportation Route Planning for Navigation Purposes.


ilium. Strangely enough Stierlin's sign is absent in cancer of the caecum. Patient R. D., 29 years old, tailor. Father died of tuberculosis. Patient came to the University of California service, San Francisco Hospital, suffering from pain in the right iliac region. He had been treated for pulmonary tuberculosis which was of about one year's duration. His present illness began with a sudden pain in the right lower quadrant which disappeared in a few minutes some two and onehalf weeks before admission to the hospital. This pain recurred suddenly while walking and was accompanied by nausea and vomiting. The pain spread to the whole abdomen. The patient was admitted to the hospital with a fever of 100.50. Examination of the abdomen showed slight rigidity of the entire abdomen, lower more than the upper, and of the right more than the left, considerable tenderness in the outer half of the right iliac fossa. An elongated round boggy mass could be palpated at McBurney's point, w,hich was very tender. With rest in bed the pain and local symptoms disappeared in the course of a week so that there remains at the present time a patient with pulmonary tuberculosis and a mass about 2v'. inches long by an inch wide, sausage-shaped, lying obliquely in the region of the appendix only slightly tender on pressure and which undoubtedly is a hypertrophic tuberculoma either of the ilium or of the caecum. Stierlin's sign being present in this case we take it to be a lesion of the ilium. Chronic hyperplastic tuberculosis while probably more common in the iliocaecal region has also been observed in the sigmoid flexure. The diagnosis of subserous fibroma should be avoided until tuberculosis has been excluded. In conclusion it may be said that tuberculosis of the abdominal viscera is commonly associated with pulmonary tuberculosis but that the primary infection is to be searched for in the lymphatic system, especially the peribronchial and retroperitoneal glands; that the type in which tubercular peritonitis presents itself depends upon the rapidity of the inflammation, rapid processes being associated with tendency to formation of fluid and less tendency to the formation of adhesions a slower process giving rise to thickening and adhesions with fluid in the shape of walled-off collections and abscess formation, the most chronic giving rise to adhesions alone and hyperplastic growths in the walls of the intestine. Fever is usual in the acute and subacute forms and may be absent in the chronic forms, or there may be a subnormal temperature. That the fewer adhesions the better prognosis and that the ascitic form lends itself readily to operative interference. When operation is resorted to special attention should be devoted to the appendix, fallopian tubes and gall bladder. TOXIC GASTRIC HEMORRHAGE.* By E. L. CRISPIN, M. D., Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. While 'the development of gastric surgery has proved ulcer to be the most frequent cause of bleeding from the stomach and duodenum, the coincident development of pathology in the living has emphasized the fact that frequently there may be gastric hemorrhage without any demonstrable surgical gastric lesion. The opinion is prevalent among the laity that hematemesis means ulcer requiring operation, and hemorrhage from the stomach is too readily accepted by physicians as sufficient evidence to warrant surgery. I wish to call attention to the hemorrhages occurring from other than true surgical lesions, and to the importance of differentiating the causes of bleeding that are medical from those that are surgical. The calloused ulcer derives greatest benefit from surgery. However, gastric surgery has been, too often resorted to without benefit to the patient. Particularly is this true in cases in which hemorrhage was the principal cause for exploration. Often when an abnormal constitutional condition is not obvious, bleeding from the 'upper gastrointestinal tract is considered as coming from a so-called hidden or non-symptomatic chronic ulcer, and the patient carries a gastro-enterostomy for ulcer for which there was not sufficient evidence before operation and no evidence at the time of operation.' The burden of differentiating hemorrhage due to chronic ulcer from hemorrhage due to non-surgical conditions rests with the internist. It is true that we occasionally seeulcers, benign and malignant, of which the histories are meager and alone are not sufficient for clinical conclusion The proportion of these will decrease with a more general knowledge of 'the -varying clinical factors -that are helpful in -the recognition of the atypical group, and roentgenology will further assist in their diagnosis.' Clinical study supplemented 'by the -diagnostic efficiency developed in gastric roentgenology has made it possible to determine the presence or absence of' the bleeding gastric lesions that can be benefited by surgery in a very large percentage of the cases of hemorrhage 'from the stomach. To designate the oozing of blood from the stomach in the supposed absence of chronic ulcer, Sir Edwin Cooper Perry suggested to Hale White 1 the term "gastrostaxis," which is similar etymologically to "epistaxis." White 2 advanced the' opinion that there might be a clinical -group of this type among young women having pain, vomiting, and hematemesis, without ulcer symptoms, and in whom spontaneous recovery was the rule. The suggestion brought out considerable discussion in regard to gastrik hemorrhages of obscure origin by White,3 Bolton,4 and Hort.5 As the conditions in which such hemorrhages usually occur are toxic, the term "toxic gastric hemorrhage" suits our purpose better and will be used in re'ferring to them here. Blood that is vomited and tarry stools do not always mean hemorrhage from chronic gastric ulcer. Blood from the lungs and pharynx' may be swallowed and later vomited. Bleeding from


Accessible tourism is an emerging market full of potential and opportunities. This thesis aims to analyse the development trend of the accessible tourism market and explore the opportunities and challenges it brings. Through comprehensive literature research and field research, we find that the accessible tourism market is gaining attention, promoting the development of related industries and providing more travelling options for people with disabilities. However, there are still some problems in the market that need to be solved, such as improvements in facility construction and service quality. Therefore, the government, enterprises and society should join hands to promote the sustainable development of the accessible tourism market.


Least upper bounds on the magnitude and variance of the analogue-voltage error in a digital-by-analogue multiplier and a weighted-resistor digital-to-analogue convertor are obtained. These bounds depend on the accuracy of the circuit components and on the number of bits multiplied or decoded. The results are applied to a practical design problem.


Part of the Joint European Project TEMPUS 544083 "Enhancement of Russian creative education: new Master program in Digital Arts in line with EU standards [ENMDA]"


In the late 1990s a growing number of adults in the United States were employed in low-paying, de-skilled retail industry jobs without health insurance or other benefits, a trend that affects poor women with children most adversely. This article analyzes the proliferation of such employment using concepts borrowed from Beatrice and Sidney Webb's analysis of taxpayer subsidies to parasitic industries, proposing that such subsidies be replaced by government regulation to ensure living wages and legislation to promote unionization of low wage jobs. The 1996 welfare reform is briefly critiqued, focusing on employer tax credits initiated in conjunction with the reform. The author's analysis of mid-1990s Current Population Survey data shows that 76 percent of non-supervisory and production workers in the retail industry were not covered by employer-provided health insurance.


Sudden gains (SG) are large and rapid improvements of symptoms experienced by clients that are related to positive effects on outcome. However, little is known on why SGs happen or what are the mechanisms that underlie them. Ambivalence towards change is a client's variable related to outcome, however, it has not been previously studied in the context of SGs. Objective: The main purpose of this study was to explore the role of ambivalence in the context of SGs. Method: The sample consisted of 58 outpatients suffering from depression and/or anxiety disorders. The clients were treated using a manualized treatment for emotional disorders at an outpatient university-based clinic. SGs were detected with the Outcome Questionnaire 10.2. Results: 22.4% of the participants experienced a SG, occurring more frequently in session eight. Ambivalence levels dropped after a SG and the multilevel analysis suggested that the trajectory of ambivalence tends to be steeper in sudden-gainers. Contrarily, no association was found between therapeutic alliance and SGs. The results suggest that SGs are associated with ambivalence and reinforce the idea that ambivalence resolution is closely related with treatment success.


Type-1 lepra reaction commonly occurs in borderline leprosy as a result of cellular immune response to Mycobacterium leprae antigen, and it's characterized as acute inflammation. Clinical manifestations of type-1 lepra reaction are leprosy lesions with or without ulceration,
 edema, neuritis, permanent nerve damage and disability. Interleukin-17 (IL-17) and interferon gamma (IFN-γ) tests in leprosy patients can help in anticipating type-1 lepra reaction that commonly causes disability. This case control study was carried out from March to July 2015 in 60
 borderline leprosy patients with and without type-1 reaction at Skin and Venereal Unit of Dr. Soetomo Teaching Hospital, Surabaya, Indonesia. We used ELISAto measure IL-17 and IFN-γ levels. We found a significant IL-17 level difference between borderline leprosy patients with and without
 type-1 reaction (3.7 pg/mL vs. 3 pg/mL; p = 0.005). On the other hand, there was no significant IFN-γ difference between borderline leprosy patients with and without type-1 reaction (53.15 pg/mL vs. 44.15 pg/mL; p = 0.680). IL-17 had a more dominant role in type-1 lepra
 reaction. There was a significant IL-17 level difference between borderline leprosy patients with and without type-1 reaction.


Planning and control for uncertain contact systems is challenging as it is not clear how to propagate uncertainty for planning. We use a particle filter-based approach to propagate moments for stochastic complementarity system. To circumvent the issues of open-loop chance constrained planning, we propose a contact-aware controller for covariance steering of the complementarity system. Our optimization problem is formulated as Non-Linear Programming (NLP) using bilevel optimization. We verify that our contact-aware controller is able to steer the covariance of the states for stochastic contact-rich tasks


The article considers legal requirements for information-library support of higher schools with a musical profile. It takes into account known legal, organizational, and technological measures to facilitate the libraries music collections integration into the digital space. It outlines objectives of operating with media resources in «Media Library» department: media collection formation, its preserving and use studying, description in an electronic catalog, access provision. Authors determine materials format to be placed in the electronic library, propose modes of access and simultaneous media resources use: public, internal, local, limited ones. The problems are marked, which appear while working with the media collection: technical equipment, digitization quality, priorities of works selection for digitizing, digitized collections standardization.


Abstract: Group therapy has been widely discussed in terms of factors that work. Most of the previous work in this field is related to verbal psychotherapy, but it should not be assumed that non-verbal, activity-based groups, as well as combined group forms, have the same operating mechanisms as verbal psychotherapy groups. Thus, there is a need for more knowledge concerning the therapeutic mechanisms that other types of groups rely on. This article describes and discusses the expressive art therapy group at an eating disorders unit in Norway. Particular emphasis is placed on linking specific elements of a case example to a framework for describing therapeutic factors in groups.


What have Plato's, Hume's and Wittgenstein's dialogues in common? And what can we learn from this question for our understanding of Wittgenstein? – This paper is a transcript of a lecture given in Bergen on May 4th, 2001.


We prove that ${\Bbb Z}$ in definable in ${\Bbb Q}$ by a formula with two universal quantifiers followed by seven existential quantifiers. It follows that there is no algorithm for deciding, given an algebraic family of ${\Bbb Q}$-morphisms, whether there exists one that is surjective on rational points. We also give a formula, again with universal quantifiers followed by existential quantifiers, that in any number field defines the ring of integers.


Composite pipes find various industrial applications such as transportation of corrosive fluids, desalination plants, oil and gas industries. The present scenario of the composite industry aims to get damage free surface after machining. The leading methods of manufacturing glass fiber reinforced plastic pipes (GFRP) are hand lay-up and filament winding processes. The objective of the present work is to analyze the influence of machining parameters on material characteristics of GFRP pipes while machining. The Effect of machining parameters on tool wear and machining force are also evaluated. To reveal the quality of the machined surfaces the samples are observed through Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and the images are presented. The quality of the machined surface is investigated and presented in detail in this paper. The machining parameters are also optimized through simple regression and cross product regression methods.


Due to their unique properties such as high availability and reliability, distributed systems are gaining popularity nowadays. However, the rapid growth of Big Data in distributed systems creates new issues for dataset reliability and availability. In any distributed computer system, the presence and recurrence of failures is an inescapable factor. Both hardware and software components of distributed systems are prone to failure. As a result, the issue of fault tolerance is being recognized as the fundamental theme and essential requirement for the construction and maintenance of the distributed computing paradigm in order to achieve prominence and criticality. Fault tolerance refers to the application that must be executed even in failure conditions by detecting and correcting the fault. Reactive fault tolerance techniques are used to effectively troubleshoot the systems upon occurrences of failures. This paper aims to provide a better understanding of reactive fault tolerance techniques and identifies various approaches used as reactive fault tolerance in distributed systems. Based on the reviews done in this research, there are various reactive fault tolerance techniques that can improve the performance of the distributed systems in terms of availability, reliability, total execution time, and communication cost such as replication, checkpointing task resubmission, and job migration.


This study aims to analyse the impact of social media use and content on the mental health of young people in Indonesia. This research uses a quantitative approach using an online questionnaire. There were 1,402 respondents who participated in this study. The collected data was analysed using a multiple linear regression method with a mediation relationship. The tool used to process the data was IBM SPSS version 25. This research shows that social media use, social media content, emotion regulation, perceived stress, and poor sleep affects depressive symptoms. The results of this study can help regulators and health service providers to provide better facilities for handling mental health cases, especially those due to the use and content of social media. The results of this study are expected to help social media developers develop features that provide a safe online environment for social media users.


Although doctors and hospitals focus on producing health care, what people really want is health. Health care is just an expensive means to that end. What lessons can we learn from companies that failed because they didn't recognize the larger business they were in?


Concern is growing about essential services provision to West Australian Indigenous communities when the State Government takes over from the Federal Government in July.


Abstract Often overlooked aspects of mesmerism were the analgesic, healing and parasensory phenomena that could be elicited by simply making "long passes" over a person's body. This article traces the history and describes the replication of the mesmeric processes in a normal population. Distinct differences were perceived between hypnosis and mesmerism with the latter being experienced as a "deeper" trance. Implications for the applications of mesmerism to modern medicine are suggested and how changes in the body's electrical fields might add to a greater understanding of hypnosis.


Based on sample investigation and analysis of richness,evenness,diversity,structure complexity of forest community,the structures of Cratoxylum cochinchinense(Lour.) Blume population in different site classes were studied during the fast urbanization of Shenzhen City.The research results showed that C.cochinchinense and Litsea rotundifolia var.oblongifolia(Nees) Allen were closely relative species in C.cochinchinense population,and species competition trended stronger under better site condition.Richness,evenness anddiversity of C.cochinchinense population in better site were 1.58-1.85,0.67-0.87 and 1.34-1.60 times higher than those in poor site.It revealed that when patch habitat became poor,community structure would go forward simpleness and unstableness.In the process of urbanization,C.cochinchinense meta population became more dominant in Acacia confusa Merr.community and Ilex asprella(Hook.et Arn.) Champ.ex Benth.community,these would promote regressive succession process of forest communities.Enriching layer structure and improving patch habitat of forest communities are very important measures to control regressive succession process from subtropical evergreen broad-leaves forest to secondary shrub forest.The study of meta population structure could be used to guide conservation and utilization of forest resources.


ported in Wuhan, China in 2019, is an infectious disease caused by a novel coronavirus called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The incidence rate is lower in children than in adults, but as the number of infected patients has increased recently, the number of pediatric patients has also increased [1,2]. The typical symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough, chills, aches, headaches, anorexia, and anosmia [1]. Neurological manifestations can also occur in patients with COVID-19. Several studies have reported neurological manifestations of COVID-19 in children [1-4]. Panda et al. [4] reviewed these manifestations and reported that 16% of all such patients showed non-specific neurological symptoms, such as headache, myalgia, and fatigue, whereas 1% of them showed specific neurological symptoms, such as seizures and encephalopathy. Another study reported that neurological manifestations, including febrile and non-febrile seizures, were observed in 3% of children with COVID-19 [1]. Febrile seizures are relatively common neurologic disorders, affecting 2% to 5% of children under the age of 5 years. There are two types of febrile seizures: simple and complex seizures. Simple febrile seizures refer to generalized seizures pISSN 2635-909X • eISSN 2635-9103 Ann Child Neurol [Epub ahead of print] https://doi.org/10.26815/acn.2022.00374


This study aims to examine the relationship between price, promotion and corporate image on the decision to use Winnie's Wedding Organizer & Decoration services in Sukabumi City. The research was conducted on Winnie's Wedding Organizer & Decoration service users in Sukabumi in the period 2017 - 2019, with a sample of 86 customers. The hypothesis formulated in this study is as follows: "It is suspected that price, promotion, and company image influence the decision to use Winnie's Wedding Organizer & Decoration services in Sukabumi City".Based on the analysis and discussion obtained; regression equation Y = 6,697 - 0,180X1 + 0,057X2 + 0,930X3 + ∈. The total correlation (correlation) between price, promotion and company image with the decision to use Winnie's Wedding Organizer & Decoration in Sukabumi is in the strong category (0.603). The magnitude of the effect of total price, promotion and company image on the decision to use Winnie's Wedding Organizer & Decoration services in Sukabumi City (determination) is 36.4%, the remaining 63.6% is influenced by other factors not examined.


By the time of its arrival, the book titled Freedom was, ironically enough, weighted with baggage. Ten days before its official US release, media organisations reported that President Barack Obama had been spotted with a copy of the novel while on summer holiday at Martha's Vineyard. These reports led to a frenzy of internet commentary as booksellers and eager readers asserted their right to buy a book which hadn't yet been released. Their indignation was exacerbated when the New York Times published not one but two glowing, early reviews, praising the novel's 'limning prose' and declaring it a 'masterpiece of American fiction'. Not to be outdone, Time magazine named Jonathan Franzen the 'Great American Novelist' and made him the first writer in ten years to grace their cover. Tiring of these plaudits, the best-selling author Jodi Picoult set Twitter aflutter by noting the New York Times' preference for 'white male literary darlings'. Fellow chick-litter Jennifer Weiner followed suit, coining the hashtag '#Franzenfreude' to describe the experience of 'taking pain in the multiple and copious reviews being showered on Jonathan Franzen'. When, at last, Freedom was released, it entered the New York Times' bestseller list at number one...


Objective:To study the anti-inflammatory and anti-rheumatic mechanisms of sinomenine, a pure alkaloid extracted from the Chinese medical plant sinomeniuim acutum, on cytokines-related genes modulation. Methods: Cultured normal human peripheral blood mononuclear cytes(PBMIN) with sinomenine in vitro, isolated total RNA from different groups of treated and controlled cells to investigate the effects on mRNA expression of IL-1β, LL-8 with LPS stimulation by one-step and two-step RT-PCR techniques. Results: The results from the one-step RTPCR showed that the inhibition ratio on IL-lβmRNA expression in the group of mmol/L sinomenine was about( 15.7±5.52) % ; with two-step RT-PCR techneque demonstrated that the inhibition ratio of sinomenine in the group of sinomenine with the concentration of 1 mmol/L, 100 umol/L on IL-1βmRNA expression were ahout( 17.07 ± 7 .69)% ,(25 .99 ± .84)% respectively and the inhitition ratio in the group with sinomenine concentration of 1 mmol/L,100umol/L on IL-8mRNA expression were(2l.01 ±7.79)%,(16.04±7.55)% respectively .Conclusion: The therapeutic effects of sinomenine on rheumatoid arthritis(RA) may partially related to downregulating gene expression of IL-1β, IL-8 cytokines of the peripheral blood mononuclear cells.


Recent water reform in Australia has focused on seeking to balance the needs of the environment and consumptive users through improved flow regimes. This is in response to declining ecological conditions, exacerbated by drought and the threat of climate change particularly in the Murray-Darling Basin. A programme of environmental flows integrated through multiple governance layers and managed by an independent federal-government entity operating in the water market on behalf of the environment has been established to help rectify the decline. While a challenge for this new entity involves determining when to release, trade or carry over water in storage so as to maximize environmental outcomes, early results point to real environmental gains within a highly regulated and diverse river system.


The Online Initiative to Support Content Development in the Middle Schools is a collaborative partnership among the Northwestern State University College of Education, the NSU Space Science Group, and the Louisiana Middle School Association which provides 45 hours of Continual Learning Unit training for middle school educators delivered electronically in each of the areas of science and math, along with a facilitator's guide for all training. The primary goal of this initiative is to collaboratively develop, implement, and continue the online delivery of math and science content-based professional development material to Louisiana middle school teachers. This online initiative to support content development for middle school educators is a collaborative effort to develop and disseminate math and science content modules aligned with No Child Left Behind requirements and National Staff Development Council criteria (NSDC, 2003) that is being required of middle school teachers. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) outlines the minimum qualifications needed by teachers and paraprofessionals who work on any facet of classroom instruction. It requires that states develop plans to achieve the goal that all teachers of core academic subjects be highly qualified by the end of the 2005–06 school year. No Child Left Behind gives states and districts the flexibility to find innovative ways to improve teacher quality, including alternative certification, merit pay for master teachers and bonuses for people who teach in high-need schools and subject areas like math and science (U.S. Department of Education, 2003). The Louisiana State Department of Education (LDOE) has addressed preparing, training, and recruiting highquality teachers by saying "In order to ensure that all teachers meet the definition of 'Highly Qualified' under Section 9101 of NCLB, the State, local education agencies (LEAs), and institutions of higher education (IHEs) have the opportunity to join forces to develop alternative routes to certification to increase the number of highly qualified teachers, principals, and assistant principals" (LDOE, 2003 par. 2). The project included three phases: Phase One collaboration, networking, and development; Phase Two review, pilot implementation, and evaluation; and Phase Three delivery and expansion. The program objectives designed to support the content training of middle school teachers follow: 1. Developing 45-hours of math modules and 45-hours of science modules based on middle school standards. 2. Training middle school teachers, new to electronic professional development, in the implementation and completion of online instruction. 3. Providing effective, content-based math and science Continuing Learning Units modules (CLUs) to middle school teachers throughout the State. 4. Developing a Facilitator's Guide and Web site that contain these math and science professional development modules for middle school teachers. Phase One: Initial planning with the grant PI's, Space Science Group (SSG) staff and Louisiana Middle School Association (LMSA) partners identified the content structure of the two 45 hour sets of professional development modules. Next, the collaborative module development teams composed of highly qualified middle school teachers, Science Out of this World staff, and College of Education Faculty built the modules and facilitation support materials. The modules are content-focused, center on the content for state math and science standards for 6, 7, and 8 grades, and are flexible enough to suit a wide middle school audience. Each module contains content-based material, field experiences and hands-on activities. Additionally, the SSG staff provided instructional design and Web support. Phase Two: Once the development of the modules was completed, the COE and NSU Middle Lab School faculty provided an initial review of the modules to check linkage with Louisiana Content Standards and Louisiana Department of Education CLU guidelines. Following the review, the SSG staff published the pilot modules on the Louisiana Middle School Association Web site at http://www.lmsaonline.org\clu . Next, feedback teams composed of six highly qualified middle school math and science teachers worked through the modules with facilitation support provided by SSG staff. Feedback from this evaluation was then incorporated into the final version scheduled for November, 2004, delivery. Phase Three: Announcements of the CLU offerings will be made jointly by the NSU Space Science Group (SSG) and the Louisiana Middle School Association (LMSA). Both organizations will contract with participants, facilitate the online modules, and award certification in the form of Continual Learning Units (CLUs) for completion of these modules following the guidelines of the Louisiana Department of Education. Additionally, Louisiana school districts can coordinate with NSU and LMSA in awarding the CLUs to teachers in their districts. Math modules are entitled Numbers and Number Relations, Algebra and Functions, Measurement and Geometry, and Data Analysis and Probability. Science modules are Physical Science, Life Science, and Earth Science in the Middle School. Each of the modules include an Introduction, Online Workshop Objectives, Workshop Duration, Grade Level Expectations (GLEs), Conclusion, and Additional Resource List. As an example, the Measurement and Geometry module covers Perimeter, Pythagorean Theorem, Area of Polygons, Circles – Circumference and Area, Surface Area, Volume, and Angles. One particular part of the module looks like this: Pythagorean Theorem Right triangles, triangles with a right angle, have a special relationship among their sides. The Pythagorean Theorem explains this relationship. It states that if a square is made on each side of a right triangle, the sum of the areas of the two smaller squares will be equal to the area of the largest square. This concept is illustrated below.


The results obtained in paper [1] prove that there is an opportunity to significantly decrease the bootstrap current in stellarators and to minimize neoclassical transport up to the level comparable to tokamak one. The proof uses fundamental ideas of 3D stellarator geometry optimization which are well described in the second section of the paper. This section forms a basis for all the results obtained in [1]. Unfortunately, the statements of the section are given with no references to the initial publications in which these statements were formulated for the first time either exactly in the same form or in a very close form [4–7]. It should be noted that these ideas originated from mirrors. The authors themselves note absolutely correctly that recently introduced by 'stellarator people', the term quasi-isodynamic is fully identical to the term omnigeneous which has been used by 'mirror people' for a long time [2]. At an early stage, fusion research works bifurcated into competing directions (tokamaks, stellarators, mirrors, pinches, etc) which used not only various magnetic field geometries and plasma production techniques but also various theoretical ideas for the optimization of plasma confinement. As a result, scientists working in a narrow subfield of fusion have a poor knowledge of physical ideas generated in other subfields even if such ideas are rather universal. For example, until now many plasma scientists have thought that the notion of magnetic surface and the powerful technique of magnetic flux coordinates (Hamada, Boozer et al) cannot be applied to mirrors and to other configurations with no rotational transform because there are no 'true' magnetic surfaces there. This mistake has been eliminated in paper [3] which attached extra physical significance to the notions of magnetic surface and of magnetic flux coordinates. The up-to-date state of fusion research is characterized by the convergence of theoretical approaches in various plasma subjects that is most evident for plasma turbulence studied in tokamaks and stellarators. A high degree of universality in the principles of 3D magnetic configuration optimization has been reached. In 1990, the fundamental concept of the pseudosymmetry of magnetic geometry was formulated by the efforts of many scientists. In pseudosymmetric configuration, all contours of the constancy of the magnetic field (B = const, isomagnetic contours) on equilibrium magnetic surfaces surround either the magnetic axis (poloidal pseudosymmetry) or the axis of the torus (toroidal pseudosymmetry). The fundamental requirement of pseudosymmetry is boundedness of the magnetic ratio, | | < ∞, where = (B × ∇ ) · ∇B B · ∇B , (1)


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effects of icariin on the osteogenic differentiation of rat bone marrow stromal cells (rBMSCs).

METHOD
rBMSCs were cultured by adherence screening method. Icariin was supplemented into the culture at 1 x 10(-5) mol x L(-1). The osteogenic differentiation markers including alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, CFU-F(ALP) and mineralized bone modulus were compared between the icariin-supplemented group and the control group. Total RNA was isolated and the gene expression of bFGF, IGF-1, Osterix(OSX) and Runx-2 was investigated by RT Real-time PCR.

RESULT
Icariin significantly improved ALP activity, CFU-F(ALP) amounts and mineralized modulus. It also can enhance the mRNA level of bFGF, IGF-1, Osterix and Runx-2.

CONCLUSION
Icariin enhances the osteogenic differentiation of rBMSCs significantly, which suggested that icariin has the potentiality to be a new drug of anti-osteoporosis or fracture healing.


It is typically assumed, without justification, that a weak coupling between a system and a bath is a necessary condition for the equivalence of a canonical ensemble and a microcanonical ensemble. For instance, in a canonical ensemble, temperature emerges if the system and the bath are uncoupled or weakly coupled. We investigate the validity region of this weak-coupling approximation, using a coupled composite-spin system. Our results show that the spin coupling strength can be as large as the level spacing of the system, indicating that the weak-coupling approximation has a much wider region of validity than usually expected.


The airway epithelium is one of the body's front-line defences against environmental factors. It is known that in diseases such as asthma and COPD the epithelial layer is susceptible to damage which propagates inflammation and airway remodelling. Whilst primary airway epithelial cells have been key to furthering our knowledge of respiratory diseases, their practicality in research is limited by their short lifespan when cultured in vitro. Work completed by our research group previously highlighted the potential of BMI-1 in extending the lifespan, whilst maintaining plasticity, of bronchial epithelial cells for research purposes. The aim of this project was to build further on this work and determine whether HBECs engineered to express BMI-1 are comparable to normal human bronchial epithelial cells (NHBECs).

Using lentivirus transduction, eight primary human bronchial epithelial cell (HBEC) donors were infected to stably overexpress BMI-1. Cells overexpressing BMI-1 had an evident proliferative advantage in comparison to cells engineered to express an empty vector, as these cells underwent senescence within 3 passages, following lentivirus infection. By performing an MTT assay, cells modified to overexpress BMI-1 were shown to have greater metabolic activity than NHBECs. The impact of BMI-1 on cell properties were assessed using electric cell substrate impedance sensing (ECIS) and a two-step cell cycle assay. BMI-1 upregulation does not significantly alter cell adherence and cell spreading of HBECs. In addition, overexpression of BMI-1 did not impact the ability of HBECs to form a resistive barrier. It was also shown that the frequency of cells in the G1/G0 phase of the cell cycle was significantly reduced in cells engineered to overexpress BMI-1 in comparison to NHBECs. Preliminary RNA-sequencing analyses suggest alterations in gene expression exist as anticipated but these are modest and identifiable, representing just 2.3% of the genome (5% FDR).

Together these results show that the use of lentivirus to deliver and promote BMI-1 expression in HBECs is an effective genetic manipulation system. BMI-1 expression provides cells with a proliferative advantage and enhanced metabolic activity within cells. Furthermore, it has been shown that HBECs engineered to overexpress BMI-1 behave almost identically to NHBECs when cultured in vitro.


This paper is an attempt to provide an analysis of the European wine policy through the evolution of indicators of support producers dedicated using two of the most well know and used OECD' indicators: the Producer Support Estimate (PSE) and Producer Single Commodity Transfer (PSCT). The works focus on the different between wine and others three agricultural PSCT from 1986 to 2012: common wheat, milk and rice, with the goal of comparing different agricultural PSCT and to highlight the high different support. PSCT calculations do not include much of the EU wine budgetary support (such as distillation measures) considered within the classification of payments based on non-commodity criteria. As a consequence, PSCT value of wine is lower than what one would expect. The reduction is also due to negotiations in the WTO – Uruguay Round of the GATT, which required a reduction in protection (tariff and non tariff barriers), aimed to eliminate all agricultural policies with a distortive effect on trade flows and export subsidies.


End-user programming, particularly trigger-action programming (TAP), is a popular method of letting users express their intent for how smart devices and cloud services interact. Unfortunately, sometimes it can be challenging for users to correctly express their desires through TAP. This paper presents AutoTap, a system that lets novice users easily specify desired properties for devices and services. AutoTap translates these properties to linear temporal logic (LTL) and both automatically synthesizes property-satisfying TAP rules from scratch and repairs existing TAP rules. We designed AutoTap based on a user study about properties users wish to express. Through a second user study, we show that novice users made significantly fewer mistakes when expressing desired behaviors using AutoTap than using TAP rules. Our experiments show that AutoTap is a simple and effective option for expressive end-user programming.


The invention discloses a needleless injector compressed through a motor. The needleless injector comprises a motor compression device, a needleless injector body and a medicine taking port; the motor compression device comprises a stepping motor, a ball screw, a screw nut and a sliding platform; the needleless injector body comprises a lower half outer shell part, a main spring, a main rod, a resetting spring, an upper half outer shell part, a piston rod and a piston sleeve; and the medicine taking port is formed in the top of the piston sleeve. By means of the needleless injector, manual spring screwing is not needed, and a weak patient can conveniently use the needleless injector; operation is simple; and the springs are screwed, and automatic control over the injected dose has been achieved already.


Estimates of growth equations have found a role for openness, particularly in explaining rapid growth among East Asian countries. 'But major concerns of simultaneous causality between growth and trade have been expressed. This study aims to deal with the endogeneity of trade by using as instrumental variables the exogenous determinants from the gravity model of bilateral trade, such as proximity to trading partners. Our preliminary finding is that the effect of openness on growth is even clearer when we correct for the endogeneity of openness than in standard OLS estimates. We conclude with estimates of how much has been contributed to East Asian growth by openness (both the exogenous or geographical component of openness and the residual or policy component). I "-Trade .and Growth in East Asian Countries: Cause and Effect?" The record of rapid growth that many East Asian countries have attained over the last three decades is so spectacular that it has been claimed as supporting evidence by both sides in each of three debates (at least). First is the debate on whether the East Asians' success is proof of the superiority of protectionist policies on the one hand, or of outward-oriented policies on the other. Second is the broad debate whether the East Asian phenomenon is evidence of the virtues of government intervention in general, or of laissez-faire marketoriented policies.' Third is the debate over whether the statistics support growth based on simple accumulation of the factors of production (labor, education, and especially physical capital), or growth based on improvements in technology and efficiency (measured as an increase in Total Factor Productivity, or the "Solow residual").2 Finally, in the latter case, there would also be the question whether this increase in technical efficiency was due (i) to superior goverment policies, in which case East Asia may have valuable lessons for other countries, (ii) to some superior mode of social organization, perhaps some exogenous aspect of Confucian culture, (iii) to simple catch-up with the technologically more advanced 1 Examples include Krueger (1990) vs. Pack and Westphal (1986), or the controversy surrounding World Bank (1993), including Rodrik (1994a). Laissez-faire is not the same as outward-orientation, of course, because some governments deliberately use subsidies or an undervalued currency to promote outward orientation. 2 Young (1992, 1994a, 1994b), Kim and Lau (1994), and Krugman (1994) have upset conventional wisdom by arguing that growth among the four East Asian dragons, especially Singapore, can be explained by simple factor accumulation, with no important residual left over in most cases. 2 industrialized countries3, or (iv) to chance.4 The subject of this paper is trade-led growth. (In trade, we lump together exports and imports. We hope in a future version of the paper to attempt to distinguish export-led growth from the possibility of technological spillovers that could come via imports as easily as exports.) Quite a few empirical studies of growth rates across countries find that the ratio of exports to GDP, or some other measure of openness, is a significant determinant of growth', and often that it is an important determinant for East Asian countries in particular.6 A typical specification begins with the standard determinants of GDP suggested by neoclassical growth theory, and adds a variable for exports as a share of GDP. For example, Feder (1982) regresses growth rates for 31 semi-industrialized countries [1964-1973] against three variables: investment as a share of income, the rate of growth of the labor force, and the rate of growth of exports (times exports as a 'share of income). The coefficient on the last variable is highly significant statistically. Similarly, Edwards (1993, p.9-11) regresses the rate of growth of total 3 This is the famous convergence hypothesis: Barro (1991), Barro and Sala-i-Martin (1992), and Mankiw, Romer and Weil (1992). 4 Easterly (1995) and Easterly, Kremer, Pritchett and Summers (1993). The main problem with the chance argument is that the East Asian success stories are all located in the same region. But these authors point out that this ex post reasoning has some pitfalls. 5 Examples include Michaely (1977), Krueger (1978), Feder (1982), Kohli and Singh (1989), Romer (1989), Quah and Rauch (1990), de Melo and Robinson (1991), DeLong and Summers (1991), Dollar (1992), Edwards (1993a), and van den Berg and Schmidt (1994). Edwards (1993b) and Rodrik (1993) survey the literature. 6 Four examples are Helliwell (1992), Page (1994), Pack and Page (1994), and Fukuda and Toya (1995). Pack and Page find that manufactured exports, in particular, are important in the growth equation, and that this variable explains part of the East Asian success [and that its coefficient is the same as for other parts of the world]. Bradford (1994) surveys the literature. 3 factor productivity on two measures of openness -total trade as a percent of GDP and total tariff revenue as a per cent of trade -along with some other variables, and finds that "in every regression the proxies for trade distortions and openness are highly significant." The Problem of Simultaneity Between Trade and Growth Simultaneity is always a concern however. Rodrik (1994b, p.2), for example, argues that the standard view is "quite misleading on the importance it attaches to the role of exportorientation in the growth performance. It also has backward the causal relationship between exports, on the one hand, and investment and growth on the other."' Similarly, Bradford and Chakwin (1993) argue that causality runs from investment to growth and exports, rather than the other way around. Helpman (1988, p.6) asks "Does growth drive trade, or is there a reverse link from trade to growth?" When the equation features a regression of GDP against exports (or the rates of change thereof), the simultaneity problem is clear: a correlation may emerge simply because exports are a component of GDP, rather than because of any extra contribution that trade makes to growth. Quite a few stories of reverse causality are possible. Many studies have sought to identify some direct measures of trade policy, hoping that they are exogenous.8 But, aside ' The mechanism of reverse causality that Rodrik has in mind runs as follows: an exogenous increase in investment in a developing _country with a comparative disadvantage in producing capital goods, such as Korea, will necessitate an increase in imports of such goods (and in turn an increase in exports to pay for the imports). Levine and Renelt (1992) reach similar conclusions. 8 Ben-David (1993) focuses on the formation of the European Economic Community during the years 1959-1968 as an exogenous trade liberalization. 4 from difficulties in measuring trade policies, which are typically serious enough, a fundamental conceptual problem of simultaneity remains (e.g., Sala-i-Martin, 1991). What if free-market trade policies are no more important to growth than free-market domestic policies, but tend to be correlated with them? Then openness will be observed to be correlated with growth, even though trade does not cause growth. A number of studies have tangled with the challenge posed by simultaneity. Jung and 4IP Marshall (1985), Hutchison and Singh (1987, 1992) and Bradford_ and. Chakwin (1993) apply Granger-causality tests to the problem. Esfahani (1991) attempts a simultaneous equation approach. As so often in macro-econometrics, however, the simultaneity problem has remained largely intractable. What is needed are good instrumental variables, which are truly exogenous, and yet are highly correlated with trade. This paper offers tests with such instruments: trade shares as predicted by the gravity model. The gravity model of bilateral trade, in its most basic form, says that trade between country i and country j is proportional to the product of GDP; and GDPj, and inversely related to the distance between them (by analogy to Newton's theory of gravitational attraction between two masses). Other explanatory variables often added include populations (or per capita GDPs), land areas, and dummy variables representing landlockedness, common borders, common languages, and common membership in regional trading arrangements. While the gravity model has long been an ugly duckling of international economics -obscure and allegedly lacking theoretical foundations -it has recently enjoyed a swan-like revival. There are at least three reasons for that revival: its empirical success at predicting bilateral trade flows, improved theoretical foundations arising from modern theories 5 of trade' based on imperfect substitutes, and a new interest among economists in geography and trade that seeks to treat countries or regions as physically existing at particular locations in space rather than as disembodied constructs.9 Such variables as distances, populations, common borders and common languages, are as close to exogenous as we get in economics. From the viewpoint of a small individual country, the GDPs of trading partners are exogenous as well.' Yet these variables are highly correlated with trade. Thus they make good instrumental variables. A very intuitive way to implement the idea is to use the values predicted by the gravity model to instrument for the trade variable in the growth equation (or even to replace it, as in classic Two-Stage Least Squares). If trade still appears to be a significant determinant of growth with this correction (taking care, of course, to use the right standard errors), then we can conclude that the effect is causal and not spurious. In the latter case, we might also be able to go on and say something particularly interesting for the East Asian countries: to the extent that there is a Solow residual in the growth equation and it is associated with trade, how much of it can be explained by the proximity of the East Asian


This paper presents the main features, characteristics and benefits of an economic and financial information management system that has been introduced in several departments at the University of Granada Spain. The system is web-based and intended to optimise efficiency in the management of public resources, according to e-government approach and principles. It is based on a combination of expressive, yet intuitive, query language, and faceted search, and has meant an important advance by comparing its performance with that achieved by other approaches. To assess the usefulness and functionality of this web-based system, in-depth interviews were conducted of different types of users. The methodological approach followed to address the analysis of this type of qualitative information is Constant Comparative Analysis from which it is derived a casual network whose main outcome is the improvement of economic and financial efficiency in the department. To encourage widespread use of the system, the application is open source software.


The ground current would lead to transformer DC magnetic bias in HVDC unipolar runtime, causing the transformer noise increases, increased vibration, overheating and other hazards, adverse affect on the series capacitors and even the grid. It introduces the research background and significance, the mechanism of DC magnetic bias, harm and suppression measures.


Definition An invasive, non-native, alien or exotic species is one that has been intentionally or accidentally released into an environment outside its native geographical range of habitat (Olenin et al., 2002). In the UK, according to Eno et al. (1997) the term 'nonnative' is used to indicate a species that has been established in UK waters, whilst 'alien' species are those that have been introduced via human activities but which have not become established and are incapable of establishing self-sustaining populations without deliberate intervention by 'man' (Eno et al., 1997). 'Alien' species are also referred to as 'nonestablished' species (Eno et al., 1997).


Introducing ethynylene linkages in a conjugated molecule can deepen the HOMO level, decrease the steric constraints and better delocalize the π electrons and so on, which are beneficial for organic solar cells. Furthermore, the typical method of introducing acetylene linkages by Sonogashira reactions can avoid the usage of toxic stannyl intermediates and potentially dangerous lithiation reactions. In this study, two simple small molecules BEDPP and NEDPP are designed and synthesized, in which two diketopyrrolopyrrole units are symmetrically connected to benzene and naphthalene cores, respectively, via acetylene linkages. And the BHJ (Bulk Heterojunction) solar cells based on BEDPP and NEDPP without using solvent additive and without any post-treatment for the active layers provide us power conversion efficiencies of 1.48% and 2.31% with remarkably high open circuit voltages up to 0.90 and 0.98 V, respectively.


We investigated the impact of the Palestinians' economic support programmes and the influence of Israeli army invasions on the place of birth during the second Palestinian uprising. We collected data on the number of births by place from the Palestinian Ministry of Health and Holy Family Hospital (HFH) in Bethlehem and on Israeli army's invasions into Bethlehem. We then analysed these factors. We see the percentage of births in government hospitals increased after a new health insurance scheme was introduced in 2001. The number of births in HFH decreased during this period. Israeli army invasions also contributed to the decrease of births in HFH during April 2002. However, reducing the charge for delivery at HFH in December 2002 greatly increased the number of births there. We concluded that, in urban Bethlehem, although movement restrictions contributed to the change in the place of birth, economic support programmes have also contributed to offsetting the movement restriction effects.


Abstract The German "bekommen-passive" is a recipient passive construction that is generally considered to be a case of "grammaticalization-in-progress". It emerges on the basis of constructional ambiguity: In a bracket structure with a finite form of the verbs bekommen or kriegen ('to get', 'to receive') and a past participle in sentence-final position, the get-verb can be reanalyzed as a passive auxiliary, when certain structural and semantic conditions are met. The new recipient passive construction is very productive, and its use is even extended to two-place verbs, where a very abstract notion of benefaction or malefaction is possible. The article will analyze the structural and semantic properties of the construction in a range of data and in correlation with the ongoing grammaticalization process of the construction. Also, the particular structural features of German that serve as a starting point for the reanalysis of this construction will be described. The semantics of the construction will be described on the basis of semantic classes of ditransitive structures, as suggested by Leirbukt 1997 and Goldberg 1995. It will be argued that there is a potentially wide-ranging semantic productivity with a construction, once it is established. Descriptions in terms of a form-function correlation are useful to capture a certain tendency in the meaning, but they should not exclude some potential flexibility with respect to the situation of use. The motivation for the development of the German bekommen-passive will be outlined with respect to findings and considerations from functional syntactic theories. Evidence from two corpus studies will be discussed to show that the general syntactic-pragmatic principle, that topics tend to become subjects cross-linguistically, motivates the emergence and distribution of the bekommen-passive construction.


In this paper we determine exact, analytical solutions of the parabolic, nonlinear diffusion equation θ t = (f 2 (θ)θ x ) x + f 1 (θ), in which we insist that at least one of f 1 and f 2 is arbitrary. To do this we find reductions of the equation using a method based on the Clarkson and Kruskal direct method (Clarkson & Kruskal, 1989, J. Math. Phys., 30 2201-2213). A modification to the 'algorithm' used and a generalization of the ansatz with which one begins are necessary. Clarkson (1995) states that 'it is not clear how the direct method... may be applied to equations which contain arbitrary functions [of the dependent variable]'. Here we show how this can be accomplished by a modification of the algorithm used. We also consider a more general ansatz in which the new independent variable depends not only on the given independent variables but also on the given dependent variable. Whilst this principle is now well known, to the author's knowledge, how this is done in practice has not been explicitly described, nor have any results determined from this generalized ansatz previously been reported. Finally we consider an ansatz which is equivalent to a combination of a hodograph transformation and the usual reduction. In each of the three cases we find new reductions in which f 2 remains arbitrary and f 1 is given in terms of f 2 . The first and third cases are of particular interest: for each, a large class of new reductions and solutions are found.


The research literature on families and educational achievement as it addresses African American populations is uniquely characterized by attention to educational failure rather than educational success (Slaughter, Nakagawa, et al., 1990). This orientation originated over 40 years ago with the "culture-as-social-class" conceptual model, which attempts to explain the behavior of lower income African American children and families in encounters with traditional schools (e.g., Davis, 1948). Even the most progressive of contemporary models addressing families and schooling in relation to this population such as those of Ogbu (1974, 1988), Brice-Heath (1988), and Clark (1983) have been compelled to account for the educational failures of urban African American children. Until recently, however, with the emergence of concerns over the increasing numbers of drug-addicted babies in African American communities, there has been no reason to suspect that significant numbers of African American children are born with inherent intellectual deficits. In fact, existing evidence supports the superiority in sensorimotor intelligence of African American children compared to their non-Black peers (Freedman & DeBoer, 1979). There is also ample scientific evidence that African American children are educable, regardless of the educational philosophy or racial composition of the schools they attend; yet, indicators across the course of children's educational lives reveal that parental choice of schools and parental involvement in the educational process are crucial components of effective schooling for African American children.


This paper investigates leader-follower consensus of multiple robotic manipulators in the task space, subject to kinematic and dynamic uncertainties, time-varying communication delays and absence of task-space velocity measurements. Observers on task-space positions and adaptive laws on uncertain kinematic parameters are constructed such that the task-space velocities are not required in the controller design. Based on these observers, a set of filters are constructed to facilitate controller design and to deal with time-varying communication delays. The dynamic uncertainties are resolved by the corresponding adaptive updating laws.


Polyvinyl alcohol and Mg and Cr nitrates were used as materials.Stoichiometric MgCr2O4 spinel nanocrystals were prepared by a microwave method.The molar ratio of metal ion to PVA monomer unit was 1:3 Precursors to the MgCr2O4 spinel was first prepared under 2.45 GHz and different powers of microwave.The MgCr2O4 nanocrystals were produced by calcining the precursors at temperatures higher than 500 ℃.The MgCr2O4 nanocrystals were characterized by X-ray diffraction(XRD) and transmission electron microscopy(TEM).The results showed that microwave method can be prepared MgCr2O4 nanocrystals with good spinel structure.It was an effective method for nano-complex oxides synthesis.


The pandemic of Covid-19 has become a global problem and a threat to general public health. Sigi Regency is a moderate risk area with an incidence rate of 3,567 confirmed positive patients and a death rate reaching 111 people; Covid data in Kulawi District shows 171 people, particularly in Polma Village, reached 16 people. This research aimed to determine the description of community compliance in the application of health protocols in Polma Village, Kulawi District, Sigi Regency. This was qualitative research with a case study approach. Community compliance with mask-wearing is lacking due to feelings of claustrophobia, forgetfulness, neglect, and limited availability. Handwashing compliance is also low due to limited facilities and people ignoring them. Compliance with social distancing is lacking because it's not a familiar habit and is sometimes neglected. Compliance with avoiding crowds is lacking due to cultural obligations. However, compliance with reduced mobility has improved due to essential needs and compliance with health protocols


Today's world is highly competitive, this requires a responsible dedication from the direct actors in the face of the educational work that has to be comprehensive, that must form an increasingly trained professional, but at the same time, with a critical eye and responsible that it doesn't become


Hunshan Dake sandland have been one of important sources of dust storm and dust aerosol in the Northern China since 1998 because of successive drought,frequent clod eddy and serious anthropogenic over-grazing action.In this paper,we employed the regional dust cycle model to simulate dust storms occurring in the Northern China from Apr.3 to Apr.14 in 2000.We also estimated the contribution of dust particles long-distance transported from Hunshan Dake sandland to dust mass concentration in lowest model atmospheric level in Beijing during dusty days in April 2000.The results showed that the dust particles longdistance transported from Hunshan Dake sandland accounted for less than 20.9% of dust mass concentration near the surface in Beijing during dusty days.The total contributions to dust concentration near the surface in Beijing during dusty days from other sources such as deserts in Mongolia,local regressive soil and desertification farmland soil in north China were greater than Hunshan Dake sandland.


This work presents a study of shunt active power filters (APFs), which are implemented by means of both fourlegs and three full-bridge voltage source inverter (VSI) topologies. These topologies are applied in three-phase four-wire systems for reactive power compensation and harmonic current suppression generated by nonlinear loads. The compensation reference currents used in both APFs are extracted from the synchronous reference frame (SRF) based controllers. A mathematical analysis of the four-legs and the three full-bridge topologies are presented in order to obtain the model in state space and the transfer functions of each system, allowing to set the proportional-integral (PI) gains used in the current controllers. Simulation results are presented in order to evaluate the performance of the APFs approaches.


For generalizing Farkas Lemma that is one of the basic theories of linear programming to the conic linear system, the paper uses the dual cone and strict separation theorem, and proves Farkas Lemma of the conic linear system. The conclusion shows that with the dual cone, the formats of Farkas Lemma are same both in the linear system and in the conic linear system. It offers the convenience studying the conic programming.


Introduction: Dental decays happened due to demineralization of dental minerals because of oral acidic environment. The minerals that usually dissolved out from the enamel are calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P). To ensure more Ca and P absorbed via remineralization, high Ca and P content in daily diet supply are required. In Malaysia, virgin coconut oil (VCO), coconut milk (CM) and coconut water (CW) are a few of many major diet component of daily diet. The aim for this study is to evaluate the Ca and P content of VCO, CM and CW. Materials and Methods: For these types of foods, Inductive Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) is used in analyzing their Ca and P concentration. The samples undergone acid digestion (Method 3051a) using Teflon vessels under 150°C. Then, the samples were diluted and the readings are compared. Result:The VCO showed highest concentration of Ca (472.62 ppb) followed by CW (453.33 ppb) and CM (444.00 ppb). Whilst, CM showed the highest P concentration with 251.00 ppb and least P concentration from VCO (54.07 ppb). Comparing the concentration of the minerals altogether, although Ca concentration in CM is the least, it is still considered high. Conclusion(s): With supports of high concentration of P, CM displayed a promising potential of Ca and P supply to promote remineralization of enamel caries.


A fundamental understanding of the impact of different hydrodynamic, scaling, and geometric conditions on cuttings transport are essential for successful wellbore drilling. This study presents a validated computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model for investigating cuttings transport phenomena in deviated wells with Herschel Bulkley drilling fluids at different drilling conditions.
 A CFD model was developed and validated with our experiments conducted in the TAMUQ flow loop (5-meter horizontal length, 4.5in. × 2in.) and open literature. The Eulerian-Eulerian approach simulated solid-liquid laminar and turbulent flow in annular geometry utilizing hexahedral mesh under transient conditions.
 It was observed that the optimum range for efficient hole cleaning is from 0–200 RPM, and increasing RPM above 200 will have a marginal impact on improving hole cleaning. Cuttings size of 0.004 m was determined to be the critical size for solid particle removal. Hole enlargement has a hugely adverse effect on the fluid-carrying capacity due to the reduction of fluid velocity in the enlarged section and cuttings concentrate. Poor hole cleaning signs were observed with increasing cuttings density and wellbore inclination between 45–60 degrees.


A large number of registration techniques rely on manually s e ected landmark points. A system based on neural principles has been developed to automatically ex tract landmark types and positional information from magnetic resonance images. A single self-organising m ap is used to develop the features (landmark types) so that the final landmarks represent statistically signific ant contour sections. The combination of landmark types and positional information form the landmark set, whi ch can then be used for automated registration. The paper discusses the landmark extraction system as well as th e steps necessary for subsequent image registration.


Three models,including GM(1,1)model,BP neural network model,and the combined model based on grey and BP neural network,were chosen to forecast small sample monitoring with different sample size and their accuracy and stability of forecast results were compared.The results show that the sample size has a significant effect on slope deformation forecast model,and the slope deformation forecast model can achieve a higher accuracy with the sample size increasing.In the case of small sample monitoring information,the accuracy of GM(1,1)model for small sample is relatively high,but its stability is lower and the forecast accuracy of the single BP neural network model is poor because of fewer sample.From the integrated analysis of the forecast results in the stability and precision,the combined model based on gray and BP neural network,is more suitable for slope deformation tendency forecast under small sample monitoring information than other two methods.


Adult triatomines were collected with a luminous trap and by hand in June and November 2016 in the Mucajai and São João da Baliza counties, in Center-Southern and Southern Roraima. Brazil. Eratyrus mucronatus Stål, 1859 and Rhodnius montenegrensis Rosa et al. 2012 are recorded for the first time in the Roraima state. The finding of E. mucronatus and R. montenegrensis in that area has expanded their known geographical distribution within Brazil and increased the number of records of triatomine species in Roraima state from 4 to 6.


Ilistopathological and electron microscopical studies were performed to in-vestigate lesions in a series of eight cases (7 to 180 days of age) of porcine cytomegalicinclusion body disease (inclusion body rhinitis) encountered in several hog yards inTowada City, Aomori Prefecture. The characteristic feature noted was the formation ofintranuclear inclusion bodies in the tubuloalveolar glandular epiLhelium of the nasalmucosa. These bodies were classified into three distinct types. In four cases, intranuclearinclusion bodies were demonstrated also in various other organs throughout the body, such as the trachea, bronchioles, salivary glands, lacrimal glands, kidneys, adrenals andNymph nodes. Associated frequently with the inflammatory changes of the nasal mucosawere splenic extramedullary hematopoiesis, glomerular nephritis and nonpurulentencephalitis. Electron micrographs of the nasal mucosa demonstrated intranuclear cap-sids and enveloped particles in cytoplasmic vacuoles and in the glandular lumen.


The Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics (RSAA) of the Australian National University (ANU) at Mt Stromlo Observatory is developing a wide-field Cassegrain Imager for the new 1.3m SkyMapper Survey Telescope under construction for Siding Spring Observatory, NSW, Australia. The Imager features a fast-readout, low-noise 268 Million pixel CCD mosaic that provides a 5.7 square degree field of view. Given the close relative sizes of the telescope and Imager, the work is proceeding in close collaboration with the telescope's manufacturer, Electro Optics Systems Pty Ltd (Canberra, Australia). The design of the SkyMapper Imager focal plane is based on E2V (Chelmsford, UK) deep depletion CCDs. These devices have 2048 x 4096 15 micron pixels, and provide a 91% filling factor in our mosaic configuration of 4 x 8 chips. In addition, the devices have excellent quantum efficiency from 300nm-950nm, near perfect cosmetics, and low-read noise, making them well suited to the all-sky ultraviolet through near-IR Southern Sky Survey to be conducted by the telescope. The array will be controlled using modified versions of the new IOTA controllers being developed for Pan-STARRS by Onaka and Tonry et al. These controllers provide a cost effective, low-volume, high speed solution for our detector read-out requirements. The system will have an integrated 6-filter exchanger, and Shack-Hartmann optics, and will be cooled by closed-cycle helium coolers. This paper will present the specifications, and opto-mechanical and detector control design of the SkyMapper Imager, including the test results of the detector characterisation and manufacturing progress.


In this paper, I want to explore some consequences, both practical and theoretical, of a cognitive linguistic approach to style. While these consequences follow in a rather straightforward way from basic principles of cognitive semantics (in particular the principle of construal), they have, as far as I know, not been stated in such a degree of explicitness that directions for future research can be formulated. So what I will first do is discuss how close, in my view, the relationship is between the study of style and the study of semantic construal in cognitive linguistics (section 2).


In this paper, a new Idiocerine leafhopper species and a new record species of the genus Tautocerus Anufriev, namely, Tautocerus serristleus, Tautocerus dworakowskae are described and illustrated from China. All the type specimens are deposited in the collection of Institute of Entomology, Guizhou University (IEGU). All measurements are in millimeters.


An oscillographic study of arcs formed between silver contacts in the rupturing of 120‐volt a.c. circuits containing resistive loads shows that reignition of the arc occurs at low speeds of contact separation. Data have been obtained by means of a ballistic wattmeter showing the effect of current and line voltage on arc energy for silver contacts opening at speeds from 0.024 to 16.7 inches per second. In the low speed range reignition is more prevalent at 225 volts than at 115 volts, and restriking of the arc occurs at higher speeds for higher currents. The formation of an arc in reigniting cycles is believed to be due to field emission of electrons, an average field of 0.30×106 volts/cm being found for all cases of reignition observed. Reignition occurred at potentials as low as 72 volts and the intermediate glow discharge normally observed in the interruption of inductive circuits did not appear.


To develop circular economy is the only way to implement sustainable development and to accelerate a new accounting system-green GDP. The definition and calculation method was discussed, and green GDP was estimated taking Ningbo as an example. The necessities to develop circular economy and establish green GDP was described as well.


Abstract: Exploration drilling at Orakeikorako provides information on the hydrologic and thermal regime of the geothermal system, which is presently as high as 265C. The presence of almandine in Drillhole OK–1, at 1312. 5m drilled depth, is the only known occurrence of hydrothermal garnet in an active geothermal system from New Zealand. The formation temperature of the almandine, is not consistent with measured (bore) temperatures, but does coincide with fluid inclusion data and temperatures inferred from other secondary minerals, which suggest it formed at >240C, and possibly as much as 310C. Almandine is an important mineral geothermometer in active hydrothermal systems, and implications for its occurrence should not be discounted in fossil (mineralised) epithermal‐type hydrothermal systems.


Submitted for the MAR11 Meeting of The American Physical Society Femtosecond low-energy dynamics of superconducting and spindensity wave gaps in pnictides K.W. KIM, A. PASHKIN, M. BEYER, H. SCHÄFER, M. PORER, T. WOLF, C. BERNHARD, J. DEMSAR, R. HUBER, A. LEITENSTORFER — Magnetism and superconductivity (SC) in pnictides as well as a possible link between them are subjects of intense studies. The infrared spectral regime plays a pivotal role en route to a microscopic understanding since it provides direct access to the fundamental low-energy excitations, such as spindensity waves (SDW) and SC-induced energy gaps. We investigate Ba(Fe,Co)2As2 by combining ellipsometry and ultrabroadband terahertz (THz) pump-probe experiments. Following a femtosecond near-infrared excitation, the spectral hallmark of SDW located in the 10 30 THz window disappears with a characteristic saturation fluence of Φs ≈ 50 J/cm2 and recovers fast (τ < 1 ps), while the SC gaps below 3 THz are fully closed at a much smaller fluence Φs ≈ 3 J/cm2 and exhibit a slower relaxation behavior (τ > 10 ps). The distinct spectral, temporal and saturation behavior provide a unique environment to monitor the interplay of the two order parameters. Furthermore we observe coherent oscillation at 5.5 THz which corresponds to an Arsenic vibration. Our results may add new aspects toward an understanding of interactions between fundamental excitations in pnictides.


The procession of implementing the mekare-kare tradition consists of nyikat, ngastiti, sabetan pandan, mecane, meboreh, and megibung. In carrying out each of these processions, the community uses several traditional tools and wears distinctive traditional clothes. The naming of each entity in this tradition represents the lexicon of flora and fauna and the formation of relationships between language, humans and the environment. This activity is carried out to conserve the ecolexicon on Mekare-kare tradition. The method used to collect data is to refer to the note-taking technique. The results showed that ecolexic treasures such as traditional swing, white thread, boreh curry, baas, balai patemu kelod, don pandan madui, gantih nyoman, gedong patemu, woven pegringsingan, kamen, nyikat, ngastiti, mecane, maboreh, magibung, saput, tamiang, tuak, tiing, and udeng. This ecolexicon is in the form of root words, affix words, and compound words which are categorized as nouns and verbs. In terms of meaning, this ecolexicon contains both lexical and cultural meanings. Then, the ideological dimension refers to the use of Balinese and several terms with certain concepts in the mekare-kare tradition by every member of the Tenganan Traditional Village community. The sociological dimension refers to the community interacting and communicating using the Balinese dialect of Tenganan in a series of implementation of the mekare-kare tradition. Meanwhile, the biological dimension can be seen from every community in the Traditional Village of Tenganan who utilizes the potential of flora (plants) and some abiotic elements to make the facilities used in the mekare-kare tradition.


Cloud computing is a tendency of the development of the computer network and gradually become a hot topic.From the cloud computing implication,emphatically analyses the effects of cloud computing on library information resources,the cost,the integration and sharing,collections and services,etc.and analyzes several questions should be noticed in the application of cloud computing in the library.


Allison L. McDaniel, BS, BA THE ROLE OF ABCG5/G8 IN STEROL HOMEOSTASIS Dissertation under the direction of Ryan E. Temel, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Pathology – Lipid Sciences ATP-binding cassette transporters G5 and G8 (ABCG5/G8) excrete excess phytosterols and cholesterol from the body, thus playing a crucial role in sterol metabolism and whole body sterol homeostasis. The significance of phytosterol exclusion from the body is still unknown. Furthermore, there is evidence that ABCG5/G8 plays slightly different roles in sterol metabolism in the liver and small intestine. The goal of these studies is to define the tissue-specific role of ABCG5/G8 in whole body sterol homeostasis and to determine the significance of phytosterol exclusion from the body. The first aim was to determine the significance of phytosterol exclusion from the body. Wild-type and ABCG5/G8 knockout mice were fed a phytosterol-enriched diet. The high-phytosterol diet was extremely toxic to the ABCG5/G8 knockout mice but had no adverse effects on wild-type mice. ABCG5/G8 knockout mice died prematurely and developed a phenotype that included high levels of plant


The heavy Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Tunisia which is in progress now will have its impact on the translation industry in the forthcoming years. But while most Tunisian translation teachers and professional translators agree on the urgent need to bridge the gap between the translation classroom and the real world of the translation market (the Academic and Professional Gap (APG)), academic traditions are inhibiting a clear critical focus on this APG. Teachers are still educating students in general skills and academic institutions do not try to frame appropriate strategies to train them to work in specific jobs. Therefore, such traditions are less likely to allow students to be able to succeed when they join this market, and to expect sound career development as they upgrade their skills. Translatorship is after all granted by the market and not by any academic institution. In the face of these challenges, this paper will draw attention to some of the available opportunities which are deemed of paramount importance in any attempt to achieve more professionally-oriented translation training. These opportunities will lead to some concrete and practical suggestions on how to aptly use corpora in the translation classroom, on the one hand, and how to profit from the translation experience inside the United Nations system, on the other.


Plasmid vectors are one of the most important tools for the investigation of the functions of genes of interest. Efficient cloning of various vectors, according to different purposes, is critical for biomedical research. Previously, we reported a new method, designated as "Combinatorial Strategy", for cloning different vectors with various clone sites. We demonstrated that it is a quantitative law for recombinant DNA with our method, which is when two different clone sites are used, almost 100% transformants are positive clones, on the other hand, when one over-hang clone site, or different blunt clone sites are used, about 50% of the transformants are positive clones. We named this quantitative law as the "All or Half" law of recombinant DNA. Here, we summarized the mechanisms of recombinant DNA, provided a general protocol and suggested the predicted results for plasmid vector cloning. This is a revolutionary breakthrough of recombinant DNA technology.


A number of significant changes in operations at the Ashland Works of the Armco Steel Company occurred in 1992 which directly impacted the Amanda Blast Furnace operation. These changes included the shutdown of the hot strip mill which resulted in coke oven gas enrichment of the Amanda stoves and an increase of 75 C in hot blast temperature, transition to 100% continuous cast operation which resulted in increased variation of the hot metal demand, and the July idling of the sinter plant. Historically, the Amanda Blast Furnace burden was 30% fluxed sinter and 70% acid pellet. It was anticipated that the change to 100% pellet burden would require changes in charging practice and alter furnace performance. The paper gives a general furnace description and then describes the burden characteristics, operating practice with 30% sinter/70% acid pellet burden, preparations for the 100% acid pellet burden operation, the 100% acid pellet operation, and the 100% fluxed pellet burden operation.


We study the algebra generated by the adjacency operators on an edge-coloured graph. We stress the importance of graphs endowed with a certain type of distance function, defined on the set of vertices, and taking its values in the adjacency algebra. These include, in particular, the graphs on which a group acts strongly transitively, in a certain sense, as well as all association schemes, and all buildings in the sense of Tits.
About buidings, we prove more specifically that the usual distance function with values in the associated Coxeter group can be taken to define a distance with values in the adjacency algebra, which is itself none other than the corresponding Iwahori-Hecke algebra. We also prove that strong transitivity in our sense reduces, in the case of buildings, to the standard notion of transitivity on pairs of incident chambers and appartments.
We give a number of examples, and in particular we study the adjacency algebra of (the chamber system of) an affine plane (this is neither a building nor an association scheme). We describe this algebra completely, showing that it depends only on the order of the plane; we show that a distance function as above always exists; and we show that, when an affine plane admits a strongly transitive action in our sense, it must be Desarguesian.
We study circle geometries in the same fashion. Both situations involve a deformation of the group algebra of the symmetric group of degree 3, which is similar to a Iwahori-Hecke algebra, yet different. The representation theory of these algebras is worked out.
We conclude by associating an algebra to each Buekenhout diagram. The adjacency algebra of (the chamber system of) a geometry which belongs to a given diagram is a homomorphic image of the latter. Many open questions arise.


Travel and mobility form an increasingly important dimension of the lives of young people in many parts of the world. 1 Whether for study, career or migration there is a certain ubiquity to the discourses, if not always the reality, of travel and mobility and the benefits of experience as part of the process of growing up. The increased mobility that goes with such an emphasis also presents multiple opportunities for encounters across national borders and cultural differences that will contribute to future relations between individuals, communities and nation-states. 2 This article examines these propositions in the context of mobility between South Korea and New Zealand, focusing on the mobility of young Koreans to New Zealand for language study, and the mobility of young New Zealanders to South Korea to teach English. 3 The article examines in particular the different sorts of encounters that these mobile young people have in the cities of Auckland and Seoul and considers what sort of contribution the micro-politics of these experiences are likely to have for the future of Korea-New Zealand relations.