Background and Purpose— Studies suggest that women with stroke are investigated less aggressively and receive tissue plasminogen activator less frequently than men. We tested whether gender differences in the investigation, treatment, and outcome of stroke are due to confounding factors. Methods— Gender differences in the use of investigations, trial enrollment, treatment with intravenous tissue plasminogen activator, and in-hospital outcomes were examined in data from our prospective registry using multivariate analysis to adjust for age, prestroke functional status, stroke subtype and severity, and atrial fibrillation. Results— Of 2725 consecutive hospitalized patients (1996 to 2006), 88% had ischemic stroke and 48% were women. Women were older (median age, 77 versus 70 years), had more severe strokes, and were less likely to be independent prestroke (78% versus 87%) compared with men (all P<0.001). The proportion of women, but not men, aged ≥80 years, increased significantly between 1996 to 1997 and 2005 to 2006. After adjustment for confounding, women were less likely to have infratentorial strokes (OR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.62 to 0.97), be able to walk unaided on admission (OR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.54 to 0.87), be treated with tissue plasminogen activator (OR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.35 to 0.72), experience pneumonia (OR, 0.38; 95% CI, 0.26 to 0.55), achieve a discharge Barthel Index of ≥95 (OR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.61 to 0.94, and were more likely to experience a urinary tract infection (OR, 2.06; 95% CI, 1.61 to 2.64). There was no gender difference in adjusted use of investigations. Conclusion— The majority of the gender differences in stroke were explained by confounding. More research is required to understand gender differences in stroke pathophysiology and the utilization of thrombolytic therapy.


The rising incidence of health‐endangering obesity constantly calls for more effective treatments. Gastric intramural injection of botulinum neurotoxin A (BTX‐A) as a new modality carries great promise yet inconsistent therapeutic efficacy. A layer‐specific delivery strategy enabled by dissolving microneedles is hence pioneered to investigate the working site of BTX‐A and the resulting therapeutic effects. The drug‐loaded tips of the layer‐specific gastric paralysis microneedles (LGP‐MN) rapidly release and achieve uniform distribution of BTX‐A within the designated gastric wall layers. In an obesity rat model, the LGP‐MNs not only prove safer than conventional injection, but also demonstrate consistently better therapeutic effects with muscular layer delivery, including 16.23% weight loss (3.06‐fold enhancement from conventional injection), 55.20% slower gastric emptying rate, improved liver steatosis, lowered blood lipids, and healthier gut microbiota. Further hormonal study reveals that the elevated production of stomach‐derived glucagon‐like peptide‐1 due to the muscularis‐targeting LGP‐MN treatment is an important contributor to its unique glucose tolerance‐improving effect. This study provides clear indication of the gastric muscularis as the most favorable working site of BTX‐A for weight loss and metabolic improvement purposes, and meanwhile suggests that the LGP‐MNs could serve as a novel clinical approach to treat obesity and metabolic syndromes.


Efforts centered on: nanocrystal photovoltaic fabrication, ultrafast dynamics and aberration-corrected STEM characterization of II-VI core, core/shell and alloyed nanocrystals, and fundamental investigation and applications of ultrasmall white light-emitting CdSe nanocrystal.


PURPOSE: To prolong the storage life of farm products preserved in a refrigerated to maintain quality by controlling the amounts of N, O and CO inside the refrigerated container through any specified method. CONSTITUTION: When an internal atmosphere control system 14 in a closed space 10 of the freezing container or the like is started, at the same time, an electric controller 50 is operated, and a compressor 30 is operated corresponding to the input from a gas sensor 40 composed of an O2 sensor and a CO2 sensor. Next, a flow controller 38 is operated in response to the input from the sensor 40 so that the concentration of O2 and CO2 in a cabinet can become a set value and by operating the controller of air heater 34, its output temperature is maintained at the prescribed value. Successively, when air is at the set temperature as a result of monitoring of the O2 sensor, the output is automatically corrected and when a determined change occurs at the temperature of CO2 sensor as a result of monitoring of the CO2 sensor, the output is automatically corrected. Further, when each operating parameter shows abnormality, this is indicated.


This paper constructs a system dynamics model in or der to analyze the evolution over time of the number of traffic accidents in a generic region in which different scenarios are considered. Mainly, a set of three instruments is used to fight against them: information campaigns, traffic legislation and a monitoring system. The structure of the model is assembled by considering two aspects. First, the influence of the instruments on the causes of the traffic accidents and then, the structure takes into account how authorities adapt the intensity of the instruments in according to certain target. The simulation model integrates s veral non-linear relationships and delayed links in addition to two random elements. A Monte-C arlo simulation is employed to obtain significant paths of traffic accidents under differ ent scenarios and public strategies. The simulation results exhibit how the instruments work in every scenario and its global efficiency. The best solution is not always the same. Sometimes , th lower number of traffic accidents requires that the instruments are used continuously , but on occasions, it is obtained when the instruments are used intensively. Then, under a tig ht budget, the implementation of a public road safety strategy requires a special analysis of costs and efficiency.


The cellular architecture of the developing brain under physiological conditions has been widely studied over the years using rodent models ([Gotz and Huttner, 2005][1]), human fetal brains ([Polioudakis et al., 2019][2]), and, more recently, in vitro three-dimensional models of the primate and


The results of the 1981 survey conducted by the Committee on Opportunities for and Status of Women in Agricultural Economics indicated that men and women within the profession differ with respect to type of employment, level of education, years of experience, and academic background (Lundeen and Clauson, Redman 1981, Lee, Lane). The studies presented by committee members at the 1981 annual meeting determined that proportionately fewer women than men are employed in academic jobs, have Ph.D. degrees, or majored in agricultural economics as undergraduates. Women also average approximately half the years of experience accumulated by men in the profession. These differences are reflected in the rank and salary of female agricultural economists. A lower proportion of women than men in academic jobs have tenure. Furthermore, significant salary differentials between male and female American Agricultural Economics Association (AAEA) members were found to exist even after accounting for education, experience, and other variables hypothesized to be determinants of salary. AAEA membership data developed since the 1981 survey provide additional information on men and women in


RECONSTRUCTION TO WORLD WAR I, AND FROM THE 1920S TO THE HISTORY-MAKING WATERGATE SCANDAL AND THE ELECTION OF PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER.


Self-organizing network (SON) is a well-known term used to describe an autonomous cellular network. SON functionalities aim at improving network operational tasks through the capability to configure, optimize and heal itself. However, as the deployment of independent SON functions increases, the number of dependencies between them also grows. This work proposes a tool for efficient conflict resolution based on network performance predictions. Unlike other state-of-theart solutions, the proposed self-coordination framework guarantees the right selection of network operation even if conflicting SON functions are running in parallel. This self-coordination is based on the history of network measurements, which helps to optimize conflicting objectives with low computational complexity. To do this, machine learning (ML) is used to build a predictive model, and then we solve the SON conflict by optimizing more than one objective function simultaneously. Without loss of generality, we present an analysis of how the proposed scheme provides a solution to deal with the potential conflicts between two of the most important SON functions in the context of mobility, namely mobility load balancing (MLB) and mobility robustness optimization (MRO), which require the updating of the same set of handover parameters. The proposed scheme allows fast performance evaluations when the optimization is running. This is done by shifting the complexity to the creation of a prediction model that uses historical data and that allows to anticipate the network performance. The simulation results demonstrate the ability of the proposed scheme to find a compromise among conflicting actions, and show it is possible to improve the overall system throughput.


Cotton boll worm, Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is an important polyphagous pest throughout the world. Due to the adverse effects of chemical pesticides, alpha-amylase enzyme inhibitors in insects have been noticed as an alternative method for the pest management programs. In this project, whole gut of the fourth instar larva was dissected and the enzyme extract was pulled out. After removing seed protein extracts of Prosopis farcta and Cicer arietinum by sodium chloride 0.1 M, the effect of four different concentrations of both seed extracts (1.48, 1.2, 0.87 and 0.42 μg) were studied on alpha-amylase activity of boll worm. According to the data, the protein extract of P. farcta had greater ability to inhibit cotton boll worm amylase. Enzyme assays in the presence of different concentrations of C. arietinum and P. farcta extracts showed enzyme inhibition in a dose-dependent manner. The maximum enzyme inhibition was in pH 9. Zymogram analysis confirmed quantitative enzyme assay and showed a sharp reduction in the band thickness during the amylase inhibition. Consequently, the seeds of both P. farcta and C. arietinum, had the potential to be considered as effective and important sources of alpha-amylase inhibitors and noticed as substitutes for chemical pesticides in the near future.


A critical and mutually enriching conversation may be facilitated between Jürgen Moltmann's eschatology and some of the concerns of contemporary theologians of mission. In the service of greater theological clarity, the following essay suggests four distinct lines of inquiry: how Moltmann's understanding of an "eschatologically open future" challenges the modern doctrine of cause and effect; the importance of a Trinitarian depiction of God as a sending God; Moltmann's proposal for a robust, Christian theology of history; and the scope of God's salvation, particularly as it is related to Moltmann's complicated and creative panentheism.


Swollen ankle might be a problem of differential diagnosis in young patients performing physical exercises. A mass on the posteromedial region of the ankle might be attributed to the presence of Accessory Soleus Muscle (ASM), the most common supernumerary muscle in the lower leg. We present the case of a young male with swelling and moderate pain on the posteromedial part of the right ankle after prolonged physical exercise. Musculoskeletal examination identified ASM. A conservative approach (symptomatic medication, physical therapy) was recommended with good results.


GENDER ACTIVISM AND STUDIES IN AFRICA, EDITED BY SIGNE ARNFRED, AMANDA GOUWS, AND BABERE KERATA CHACHA, DAKAR: CODESRIA, 2005 ACTIVIST VOICES: FEMINIST STRUGGLES FOR AN ALTERNATIVE WORLD, EDITED BY MARJORIE MBILINYI, MARY RUSIMBI, CHACHAGE S. L. CHACHAGE, AND DEMERE KITUNGA, DAR ES SALAAM: E & D, 2003 Women's activism in Africa has taken many forms in its long history-from the political commentaries of performers, to organized protests, to advocacy by national organizations. In these two important collections, (mostly) African scholars and activists pull back from the exhilaration and exhaustion of their daily struggles to reflect on their achievements, challenges, and future. As such, they offer rare insights into the dynamic tensions and social divides inherent in efforts to scale up activism and advocacy from the community to the nation. Four chapters in Gender Activism and Studies in Africa provide insightful overviews of the relationship between gender activism and the formation of women's and gender studies programs in different countries: Nigeria (Charmaine Pereira), Ghana (Mansah Prah), South Africa (Amanda Gouws), and Uganda (Josephine Ahikire). Pereira analyzes the gaps between academic agendas and the daily experiences of gender inequity and subordination lived through by most Nigerian women. She explores how state funding, donor agendas, regional networking, international feminism, and the professional aspirations of academic women have widened the divide. In contrast, Prah argues that academic feminism and activism have so far had a "fairly productive partnership" (38) in Ghana, especially in mobilizing against domestic violence. This alliance, however, is predicated on a common middle-class background and thus a shared perspective on the efficacy of rights-based approaches. Gouws contends that the institutionalization of gender concerns in the academy in South Africa has depoliticized activism, in part because of the lack of a strong women's movement since the end of apartheid in 1994. She argues that the relationship between women academics and women activists has been at once "uncomfortable" and "mutually beneficial," because of tensions over representation and racism and differences of experience (40). Finally, Ahikire's study of Uganda foregrounds debates over whether the study of gender should be institutionally integrated or autonomous and produce "theoretical" versus "applied" knowledge. She rightly maintains that "the thin line between academic feminism and activism becomes more complex when we consider the lived situation of professed gender scholars" (61). The authors of the remaining five essays each pursue a different gender-related topic as a prism through which to view broader understandings of gender politics and gender studies. Charles Ukeje examines the long history of social protest by women in the oil-rich delta region of Nigeria. According to Ukeje, women's anticolonial struggles and their current demonstrations against oil companies share a concern with overcoming "the crisis of capital accumulation" and challenging the contradictions of gender, class, impoverishment, and exploitation that fuel these crises (68). Babere Kerata Chacha explores the practice of woman-to-woman marriage in Tanzania within the frameworks of African customary law and colonial and postcolonial legal systems. In contrast to those who misrepresent the practice as a sexual relationship between women, he draws on substantial evidence to show that although it was initially a way to enable women without sons to produce sons to secure their economic stability, it has become an economic relationship that allows some women to circumvent restrictions on their ability to obtain, invest in, and retain property. …


Abstract Purpose This article investigates the characteristics that trainees look for in a pediatric ophthalmology fellowship program. Methods A 14-question anonymous survey was created and sent out via the United States Postal Service to all physicians of American Association of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus. The survey addressed demographics, the interview process, and the qualities of fellowship training programs that were important factors in ranking fellowship training programs. A Likert scale was used to rate different qualities (1: not important, 9: very important) and summary statistics were reported as overall means and standard deviations. Results In total, 1,061 were mailed out with 413 returned amounting to a 38.9% response rate. The qualities with the highest mean were diversity of surgical procedures, volume of procedures/surgeries, reputation of the fellowship director, advice from mentor, emphasis on type of surgery performed, program association with an academic institution, and national reputation of program. The characteristics that ranked the lowest were presence of a Veteran's Administration hospital and presence of a county hospital. Females rated proximity to family significantly higher than males. Among responders who ranked volume of procedures/surgeries as very important, strabismus surgery was the most important. Conclusion Pediatric ophthalmologists chose fellowship training programs based on the diversity and surgical volume of procedures and the reputation of the program director.


The new launch of CUDA(Compute Unified Device Architecture) technology by Nvidia has freed GPGPU(Computation on the Graphic Processing Unit) technology from the graphics fixed pipeline and high-level shader language,allowing the design and implementation of SIMD (Single Instruction,Multiple Data) parallel algorithms on a much more simple way than previous method based on texture rendering.In this paper,the core concept of CUDA is first studied,then bi-cubic B-spline algorithm for image zooming is redesigned into SIMD mode according to CUDA programming model,so that time-consuming resampling part during the whole process can be implemented by parallel threads.Finally,implementation of this SIMD parallel algorithm using global memory and shared memory is detailed respectively.The result shows that this modified method based on CUDA is with high efficiency compared with the traditional Bi -cubic B -Spine interpolation algorithm implemented on CPU,can be easily extended,and shows great potential in real-time processing.


With the deployment of kinematic sensors, the recognition of human activities using triaxial accelerometer has become unavoidable in various fields. In this work, we propose an approach based on the selection of the most expressive signals describing the action. This selection is based on an entropy calculation as it presents the amount of information contained in the signal. The extracted descriptors are relative to the time-frequency domain. For classification, we used support vector machine to identify and to recognize the different actions. We proved the effectiveness of our approach by following experiments carried out on 3 public databases. Thus, the performances found are comparable to those introduced by other works.


In the context of market research, special attention is paid to the analysis of data based on time series. In this research the focus is on the panel analysis. The survey was conducted in Central Serbia within the companies engaged in purchasing, processing and sales of non-wood forest products (NWFPs). The aim of the research was to investigate the influence of independent variables (placement on the domestic market, export and sales prices of NWFPs) on the dependent variable – purchase of raw products. The purpose of the research was to emphasize the importance of certain factors that influence the purchase of raw materials. The subjects of research were: companies operating on the territory of central Serbia, purchase quantity, placement on the domestic market and export, as well as the prices of final products.


Landscape genomics correlates genetic variation patterns with geographic variables to investigate how geographical and environmental characteristics affect the genetic structure of populations (Luikart et al., 2003; Joost et al., 2007; Holderegger & Wagner, 2008; Pariset et al., 2009; Shwartz et al., 2009). A field combining molecular markers, genetics and landscape structure was first described by Manel et al. (2003) and its definition evolved and changed in the following years (Storfer et al., 2007; Holderegger & Wagner, 2006).


We have studied the kinematics of ∼2800 candidate close-pair galaxies at 0.1 < z < 1.2 identified from the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey fields. Spectra of these systems were obtained using spectrometers on the 6.5 m Magellan and 5 m Hale telescopes. These data allow us to constrain the rate of dry mergers at intermediate redshifts and to test the "hot halo" model for quenching of star formation. Using virial radii estimated from the correlation between dynamical and stellar masses published by Leauthaud et al., we find that around 1/5 of our candidate pairs are likely to share a common dark matter halo (our metric for close physical association). These pairs are divided into red–red, blue–red, and blue–blue systems using the rest-frame colors classification method introduced in Chou et al.. Galaxies classified as red in our sample have very low star formation rates, but they need not be totally quiescent, and hence we refer to them as "damp," rather than "dry," systems. After correcting for known selection effects, the fraction of blue–blue pairs is significantly greater than that of red–red and blue–red pairs. Red–red pairs are almost entirely absent from our sample, suggesting that damp mergers are rare at z ∼ 0.5. Our data support models with a short merging timescale (<0.5 Gyr) in which star formation is enhanced in the early phase of mergers, but quenched in the late phase. Hot halo models may explain this behavior, but only if virial shocks that heat gas are inefficient until major mergers are nearly complete.


Comprehensive text dedicated to the thorough training of professionals working with babies and young children who have hearing loss. A framework for the skills and knowledge necessary to help parents promote spoken language development through listening in to their young children who are deaf or hard of hearing. The book covers the most current information on hearing, listening, spoken language development and intervention for young children with hearing loss.It is unique in its scholarly and thoroughly readable style. Numerous illustrations, charts, and graphs illuminate key ideas. Children with Hearing Loss: Developing Listening and Talking Birth to Six is intended for graduate level training programs for teachers of children who have hearing loss, audiologists, and speech-language pathologists, but undergraduate speech-language-hearing programs, early childhood education and intervention programs, and parents of children who have hearing loss will also have interest in this new publication.


Franco-German security co-operation, 1949-1989 the Franco-German partnership and the Alliance after the Cold War post-Cold War trends in French and German security policies conclusions - the Franco-German partnership and the Western Alliance.


A diagnostic survey was undertaken ofchildren aged 11 to 19 years in Tameside with severe learning difficulties (intelligence quotient s<50). Eighty two children were identified and their medical records reviewed. A specific diagnosis for the retardation was documented in 25 (30%) of the children, 18 of whom had Down's syndrome. A probable aetiology or a disorder of unknown aetiology had been identified in a further 21 (26%) children. To confirm the existing diagnosis, identify new diagnoses, and offer genetic counselling, the parents of 63 children were offered detailed reassessment of their child. Fifty three children were reviewed, and a specific disorder identified in 25 out of 31 previously undiagnosed children. The most frequent diagnoses made were fragile X syndrome and Rett's syndrome. On completion of the survey, 61 of the 82 children (74%) had a specific diagnosis or probable aetiology identified, 12 (15%) had associated disorders such as cerebral palsy, and in only nine of the 82 children (11%) were there no clues at all to the cause of their retardation. fragile X chromosome was first demonstrated by Lubs in 1969,8 and its folic acid dependent expression and association with mental retardation reported in 1977.9 "0 The definition of the clinical syndrome during the late 1970s and early 1980s is summarised by Fryns."1 This disorder is now thought to be the second most common cause of mental retardation after Down's syndrome, with an estimated prevalence of 0 3-1/1000 males and 0-2-0-6/ 1000 females. 12-14 Identification of this inherited disorder in retarded children is important because of the genetic implications. Many aspects of the condition are not understood, however,'5 including transmission by apparently unaffected males, and the high proportion of heterozygous females who have some intellectual impairment usually of mild to moderate degree. The present study initiated by one of the authors (JCA) was undertaken to identify severely retarded children with fragile X syndrome in the Tameside borough, and where possible to reach a diagnosis in other children with previously unexplained severe retardation, so that families could be offered genetic counselling. Community Child Health, Tameside and Glossop Health Authority


This report presents the information available regarding the selection of ventilation for transonic test section walls and makes a recommendation for the NAL Trisonic tunnel.


Fifth Chapter dealt with a deterministic inventory model with the following concepts stock and time dependent demand, permissible delay period offered by the supplier, partially backlogged shortages. There is an assumption that the distribution of demand is independent from time to time. But in real life the demand of goods is auto-correlated. Erkip et al., [25] opined that stock systems of major national supplier and producer have an auto-correlation of about 0.7. Sales of several items were examined and found to be auto-correlated by Lee et al., [60]. Inventory models with auto correlated consumption were also discussed by Lau and Wang, Urban [58, 113]. Forecasting technique may be considered as the most critical one since forecasting method has direct impact on the inventory system.


The concept of early modernity is shaking off its old Eurocentric connotations as historians of other regions and peoples find "common threads in the worldwide experience" of these centuries, most specifically in the "worldwide diffusion of new commodities." 1 This era is notable for more intensive and sustained interactions, including the translation of highly esteemed goods arising from Indigenous North American, African, Arabian and Asian cultures, moving to far flung world centers through the entanglement of people, goods, and political circumstance. 2 Understanding these changes is better achieved through investigations outside privileged realms, including with media like tobacco and the material meanings that ensued with its travels. Studies, such as this one, open vital historical vantage points, where subaltern knowledge and agency figure in singular ways. Marcy Norton is prominent among the new generation of historians who place Indigenous American and African peoples at the center of early modern Atlantic world events. 3 These histories reveal the porosity of European and Euro-colonial societies and the dependence of elite Europeans on material cultures that can be incorporated into the term Indigenous technology (whether arts, material culture, or processes of use). These materialities spread through colonial and metropolitan polities and cultures. 4 Norton argues for the term "technology" as a means to encapsulate tangible media—including tobacco pipes — which also includes the wisdom, cultural, and spiritual facets of things arising from the Indigenous Americas. Directing particular attention to the myriad of "subaltern technologies" that distinguished these works, systems of knowing and doing that ultimately revised wider material worlds, Norton delivers a riposte to the historic denial of "imperial and colonial dependence" on these technologies. 5 The tobacco pipe was a powerful translational tool. Its look and shape, feel and function footnote the transformational features of the early modern Atlantic world: landscapes of exchange. My focus is the multiple iterations of the pipe within the wider Atlantic basin arising from Indigenous forms, media that came to define this period, its solitary reveries and diverse sociabilities, systems of power, and deft resistances. The history of technology originally focused on chronologies of western innovations— the term


High power diode lasers with low modal gain (~4 cm-1), predicted to operate with very low filamentation, are shown to operate with near-field modulation depth half that of reference devices (~12 cm-1). However, beam quality is unaffected.


Since 1982 Valparaiso University has developed and used a Virtual Disk Access Method (vDAM) software system as an integral part of teaching a second year undergraduate course in File Structures and Algorithms. This software allows a student to emulate the management of a variety of fde organizations on a bulk storage device. VDAM is dynamic in that it can display what has occurred on a disk device or in the management of open channels at any stage of accessing a pretend, or virtu~ disk. These displays allow students to study many things which are not readily available in the usual programming environment. Students have been enthusiastic about using VDAM and have contributed revisions of the system to include new features and improve the user interface. Our experience indicates that this tool has enjoyed great success in the File Structures and Algorithms course by stimulating student interest and understanding.


"To conceive extravagant hopes of the future, are the common dispositions of the greatest part of mankind."Edmund Burker, 1728-97. The opening of the second year of the Society's existence found the Council facing the inevitable slowing down after the first waves of enthusiasm. Indeed, before the year ended, only Wenham and Brearey attended the December Council meeting, and no business could be transacted. Brearey reported that he had sent out sixty-eight letters to people who were likely to be interested, but none had shown any interest whatever. The difficulties of keeping the aeronautical infant alive were great. Few scientists or engineers could be persuaded to believe in heavier-than-air flight, although a number lent a readier ear to the possibilities of the airship.


Neopragmatists in public administration (PA) consistently argue that neopragmatism upgrades regular pragmatism. This claim rests on the contention that pragmatism is host to epistemic foundationalism, which undercuts legitimacy in PA. This article provides a new refutation of the upgrade claim, dissolving the hard-link constructed between epistemology and legitimacy by articulating theory-pluralism in research methods. Haack's "Analytic Framework" is advanced as a useful conceptualization of epistemic debates in PA, and Laudan's philosophy of science is advanced to provide a productive conceptualization of PA's theory competition. Theory-pluralism is then applied to a variety of research areas in PA, demonstrating the need for an approach that harmonizes PA's competing research traditions under the broader goal of problem resolution in PA.


Although recent studies have shown that pavement performance does vary by aggregate type, current portland cement concrete pavement design tools do not fully incorporate aggregate properties into the design process. Aggregate characteristics shown to affect pavement performance include strength, thermal properties, and shrinkage properties. The objective of this study was to investigate the material properties of crushed limestone and siliceous river gravel, two aggregates predominantly used in current pavement construction, and to determine a relationship between the properties of single-aggregate concrete and concrete made with predetermined blends of limestone and gravel. This report continues the work of Project 422/1244, which way limited to single-aggregate concretes. Additional models were developed to predict concrete properties of blended aggregate concrete for use in the design tools, CRCP and JRCP, described in previous 422/1244 reports. A computer program, CHEM2, was developed, which allows the pavement designer to estimate the material properties of concrete from an inexpensive chemical test. CHEM2 also predicts the properties of blended aggregates so that the user can determine the necessary blending ratio to control such troublesome properties as thermal coefficient of expansion and drying shrinkage.


Most investigations of refraction for archaeoastronomical research have been based on observations over flat terrain (Sampson 1994) or over a depressed horizon (Schaefer & Liller 1990). Such observations are not representative of the elevated distant foresights found in most archaeoastronomical sites. It has been shown (e.g. Young 2004) that the magnitude and variability of refraction is exceptionally strong near the horizon and decreases rapidly with increasing angular altitude. A recent study of refraction in archaeoastronomical contexts has demonstrated from meteorological principles the influence of strong temperature gradients near the earth's surface, the importance of local topography on refraction for low lines of sight, and from geometrical analysis the importance of refraction near the distant horizon marker and the relative unimportance of refraction near the observer. Quantitative investigation of this phenomenon shows that the magnitude of refraction at elevated horizon markers is reduced by one to two orders of magnitude in comparison to refraction over flat terrain (McCluskey 2017). The current investigation extends the previous study to consider geometric factors as they relate to the calculation of refraction, the variability of atmospheric refraction, and the relative importance of different meteorological parameters. This investigation closes by discussing the methods of computing refraction that are appropriate to various levels of precision. The results of this investigation and of prior work (McCluskey 2017) account for the consistency inferred from ethnographic reports of Puebloan astronomical observations and call for a positive reevaluation of the possible precision of archaeoastronomical alignments to distant horizon markers.


This study aimed to determined vitamin C content by capillary electrophoresis, total phenolic content (TPC), and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical-scavenging capacity in fruits of blackberry ( Rubus ulmifolius ), plum ( Prunus domestica ), carambola ( Averrhoa carambola ), cape gooseberry ( Physalis peruviana ), red and yellow guava ( Psidium cattleianum ), acerola ( Malpighia emarginata ), and jabuticaba ( Myrciaria cauliflora ). Among the studied fruits, acerola showed the highest vitamin C concentration (1266.5 ± 13.1 mg 100 g -1 fresh weight (FW)), TPC (666.4 ± 52.6 mg gallic acid equivalent 100 g -1 FW), and antioxidant capacity (1279.0 ± 25.9 mg ascorbic acid equivalent 100 g -1 FW), reinforcing that this fruit is an important natural source of bioactive compounds. The fruits jabuticaba, followed by red and yellow guava, showed intermediated values of TPC (285.4 ± 15.2 to 199.5 ± 10.6 mg gallic acid equivalent 100 g -1 FW) and antioxidant capacity (734.5 ± 5.8 to 362.0 ± 0.3 mg ascorbic acid equivalent 100 g -1 FW), while the fruits carambola and cape gooseberry showed the lowest values of both. Therefore, specially acerola, jabuticaba, red guava, and yellow guava can be considered a supply of bioactive compounds to the diet.


Introduction Paul Vincent Spade 1. The academic and intellectual worlds of Ockham William J. Courtenay 2. Some aspects of Ockham's logic C. G. Normore 3. Semantics and mental language Claude Panaccio 4. Is there synonymy in Ockham's mental language? David Chalmers 5. Ockham's nominalist metaphysics: some main themes Paul Vincent Spade 6. Ockham's semantics and ontology of the categories Gyula Klima 7. Ockham's philosophy of nature Andre Goddu 8. The mechanisms of cognition: Ockham on mediating species Eleonore Stump 9. Ockham's misunderstood theory of intuitive and abstractive cognition Elizabeth Karger 10. Ockham's ethical theory Peter King 11. Ockham on will, nature and morality Marilyn McCord Adams 12. Natural law and moral omnipotence A. S. McGrade 13. The political writings John Kilcullen 14. Ockham on faith and reason Alfred J. Freddoso 15. Ockham's repudiation of Pelagianism Rega Wood.


We report the development of a process allowing the selective, sustainable recovery of scandium (Sc) with 75% efficiency from Jamaican bauxite residue (red mud), a waste product from aluminum production. The process design is inspired by green chemistry principles and focuses on establishing highly selective process steps (sulfation, leaching, and precipitation) in order to minimize costs and waste produced. In addition to scandium oxide, the chosen approach produces mixed rare earth oxides as a side product, thus isolating an average of 88% of all rare earth elements contained in red mud. Furthermore, in light of predicted supply shortages of the critical material Sc and the need to establish cost-effective bauxite residue remediation techniques, a systematic Monte Carlo-based economic performance assessment framework is developed in order to evaluate the economic prospects of the proposed process system in the presence of irreducible uncertainty.


Guide to sources on how to conduct legal research in legal ethics and professional responsibility, including New York. Recent issues and changes concerning New York State Rules of Professional Conduct


Indian education system is governed by Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) at center and by various departments at the states. A significant amount of fund is allocated for usage of technology in education under key Government schemes. Schemes such as ICT @ Schools have potential for fostering academic growth and upgrading skills of students, which help immensely in their future employability. Several such schemes exist which pertain to technology in education and executed either directly by the state or through private entities. A policy for implementation of ICT was thought out and designed at national level. One of the UT, Jammu and Kashmir has significant ICT-related interventions in education system through e -content delivery and ICT based teachers' training and monitoring. The current research study evaluates the ICT policy and assesses its implementation at School level in terms of effectiveness towards mass education of the UT J&K. It recommends suitable measures for improvement in monitoring, implementation based on outcomes of the survey.


This paper presents a new demographic profile of extreme and moderate poverty, defined as those living on less than $1.90 and between $1.90 and $3.10 per day in 2013, based on household survey data from 89 developing countries. The face of poverty is primarily rural and young; 80% of the extreme poor and 75% of the moderate poor live in rural areas. Over 45% of the extreme poor are children younger than 15 years old, and nearly 60% of the extreme poor live in households with three or more children. Gender differ- ences in poverty rates are muted, and there is scant evidence of gender inequality in poor children's educational attainment. A sizable share of the extreme and moderate poor, 40 and 50%, respectively, have completed primary school. Compared with the extreme poor, the moderate poor are significantly more likely to have completed primary school and are less likely to work in agriculture. After conditioning on other individual and household characteristics, having fewer than three children, having greater educational attainment, and living in an urban area are strongly and positively associated with welfare. The results reinforce the central importance of households in rural areas and those containing large numbers of children in efforts to reduce extreme poverty, and are consistent with increased educational attain- ment and urbanization hastening poverty reduction.


Objective . In this work we analyzed the current literature data about the retinal damage in cardiovascular diseases and diabetes mellitus (published from 2005 to 2020). The damage of retinal vascular bed and optic nerve represents a relevant problem in the modern world in view of the significant prevalence, severity of retinal irreversible damage leading to disability, and in relation to comorbidity with cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Methods . Publications on selected topic were analyzed from 2005 to 2020. The search was carried out using the electronic databases of the Google Academy (https://scholar.google.com/), PubMed (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/), eLIBRARY.ru (https: //www.elibrary.ru/) and foreign and national journals devoted to cardiology, therapy and ophthalmology. Results . The analysis of literature showed that atherosclerotic lesion of the microvascular retinal bed is a significant risk factor for acute coronary syndrome myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke. However, the identity of atherosclerotic processes occurring in the retinal vascular bed and in the peripheral arteries remains open. A strong association was shown between hypertensive retinopathy (HR) has with MI, congestive heart failure (CHF) and CHD mortality in large-scale population-based studies such as ARIC and Rotterdam Study. The question of the predictive significance of GR, depending on its degree, remains debatable. There are consistent evidence on the association between HR and CHD and CHF. Diabetic retinopathy (DR) represents a neurovascular complication of diabetes. In predominantly clinical work, there is evidence of the significance of DR as a risk marker for Stroke, diabetics peripheral neuropathy, autonomic cardiac neuropathy, thickness of carotid intima-media, micro albuminuria. A number of other major clinical works has not shown a significant association between DR and stroke. A significant drawback of investigation of the relationship between DR and CVD is a lack of population studies on this topic. Conclusions . Despite the use of modern diagnostic methods and a fairly large number of studies of the eye vascular bed and retina, the data about their relationship with CVD remain scare and contradictory, which is largely due to the limited size of the studied samples, the variability of the estimates, and a complexity of the pathway of atherosclerosis and CVD. The study of association between CVD and retinal pathology in the Russian population with using of automatic assessment of the microvascular bed provides a unique opportunity to solve some contradictory aspects and obtain new data.


On August 24-26, 2009, a group of subject matter experts convened to begin work on developing tools for primary care provider offices.


Aiming at the sound absorption problem of anechoic coating in water seepage state, firstly, the sound absorption coefficient of anechoic coating in infinite water area with steel plate as backing is calculated based on transfer function method and finite element method, anAd the solution results are compared with the analytical result of uniform layered medium to verify the correctness of the solution method. Secondly, the calculation model of cavity containing anechoic coating with different seepage proportion is established to analyze the influence of water seepage on the sound absorption performance of anechoic coating. The calculation results show that within the calculated frequency band, water seepage proportion has different influence characteristics on different frequency bands of anechoic coating, and with the aggravation of water seepage, the peak point of sound absorption moves to medium and low frequency, and the singular value point of sound absorption coefficient moves to high frequency; and the singularity of the valley value of the sound absorption coefficient is mainly due to the change of the cavity resonance mode. The results of this paper can provide some reference for the acoustic performance evaluation of abnormal state of anechoic coating.


Purpose
Prediction of sediment yield for a particular river is essential to study the river morphology, agricultural land management and the lake/reservoir sedimentation investigation. The purpose of this research was to predict sediment yield by simulating and optimizing using model analysis from Bilate River.

Design/methodology/approach
Continuous daily sediment produced was estimated using sediment rating curve analysis. Sediment yield was simulated with soil and water assessment tool (SWAT) and the parameters were optimized by using Sequential Uncertainty Fitting algorithm. A total of 15 years of monthly flow and sediment yield data was calibrated and validated during the course of time.

Findings
Results evaluated through SWAT showed that the model performance was very good. From the model output prediction, the total measured and simulated sediment yield were 5.425 million ton/year and 5.538 million ton/year, respectively. The result indicates that there were high amount of soil loss resulting into sediment yield produced from the watershed per year which needs appropriate soil and water conservation techniques. Thus, the finding of this research work can provide an effective watershed/river basin management and environmental restoration.

Originality/value
This paper is an original research work and all the referred sources are cited properly wherever deemed fit.


The rapid development of new media gives an impact on almost every corner of people's life. This development also opens the opportunity to the missionaries to use social media as a medium to deliver Islamic propagation. Hence, the transformation occurs in the method of Islamic propagation delivery among the missionaries who started using social media, especially Facebook. This is because social media is suitable as a compliment and an alternative medium to the da'wah medium of the existing. However, the use of social media in delivering the message of Islamic da'wah should be carried out prudently and wisely to different audiences. Accordingly, this research aims to identify the category of the message, the function of the messages, and the delivery strategy of Islamic propagation through the medium of Facebook of five elected missionaries. Five Facebook pages have been chosen and analyzed using the thematic analysis with NVivo software. The theme of this study has been prepared in advance because this research involves the knowledge related to the Islamic laws that have been established by the tenets of Islam. The theoretical framework of this study is built base on the Framing Theory. The results obtained showed that the majority of the messages displayed in the selected Facebook pages categorized as religious missionaries. The function to encourage charity is a message that often discussed in the analyzed entry. However, the strategy of choice for missionaries to be applied on their Facebook page is the writing that has the effect of information. The findings can be referred to the missionaries and also to the government agencies and NGOs in practicing and strategizing before the establishment of Islamic missionary message is disseminated to the public. Utilizing an accurate delivery strategy will be more appealing and provide a positive impact on society.

Keywords: Social media, Facebook, Islamic Da'wah, Framing Theory


This article determines about technology level Dok Pembinaan Unit Pelaksana Teknis Balai Teknologi Penangkapan Ikan (UPT BTPI) Muara Angke, Jakarta. Assessment of technology level is conducted by using model technometric to calculate TCC (technology contribution coefficient) value from technology component, consist of: technoware (hardware), humanware (human resources), inforware (information component), and orgaware (organization component). Value of component contribution orgaware haves contribution is lower value as 0.347, whereas component humanware haves highest contribution as 0.600. TCC value from Dok Pembinaan UPT BTPI Mua-ra Angke as 0.447 indicate that technology in that shipyard has been fair and can be told that level of shipyard technology is semi modern. Key word : shipyard, technology, technometric model


This article explores the roles and relationships of the staff development educator with the nursing service administrator and with clinical leadership personnel. Content related to responsibilities, climate setting, communication, collaboration, and role development is presented. In today's changing health care environment, staff development educators need to capitalize on developing positive roles and relationships if their endeavors are to be effective.


We study the four-point function of the lowest-lying half-BPS operators in the N = 4 SU(N) super-Yang-Mills theory and its relation to the flat-space four-graviton amplitude in type IIB superstring theory. We work in a large-N expansion in which the complexified Yang-Mills coupling τ is fixed. In this expansion, non-perturbative instanton contributions are present, and the SL(2,Z) duality invariance of correlation functions is manifest. Our results are based on a detailed analysis of the sphere partition function of the mass-deformed SYM theory, which was previously computed using supersymmetric localization. This partition function determines a certain integrated correlator in the undeformed N = 4 SYM theory, which in turn constrains the four-point correlator at separated points. In a normalization where the two-point functions are proportional to N2 − 1 and are independent of τ and τ̄ , we find that the terms of order √ N and 1/ √ N in the large N expansion of the four-point correlator are proportional to the non-holomorphic Eisenstein series E( 3 2 , τ, τ̄) and E( 5 2 , τ, τ̄), respectively. In the flat space limit, these terms match the corresponding terms in the type IIB S-matrix arising from R4 and D4R4 contact interactions, which, for the R4 case, represents a check of AdS/CFT at finite string coupling. Furthermore, we present striking evidence that these results generalize so that, at order Open Access, c © The Authors. Article funded by SCOAP. https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP11(2020)016 J H E P 1 1 ( 2 0 2 0 ) 0 1 6 N 1 2 −m with integer m ≥ 0, the expansion of the integrated correlator we study is a linear sum of non-holomorphic Eisenstein series with half-integer index, which are manifestly SL(2,Z) invariant.


Delayed-onset muscle soreness, or 'DOMS', affects many people after exercise and can impair future performance. It usually peaks one to four days after exercise and several strategies are used to overcome it. The effectiveness and safety of many of these strategies applied and promoted is unknown. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


Abstract The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact on health care utilization and expenditure trends over time of a personalized preventive medicine program delivering individualized care focused on lifestyle behavior modification, disease prevention, and compliance with quality-related metrics. MD-Value in Prevention (MDVIP) is a network of affiliated primary care physicians who utilize a model of health care delivery based on an augmented physician-patient relationship and focused on personalized preventive health care. Multivariate modeling was used to control for demographics, socioeconomics, supply of health care services, and health status among 10,186 MDVIP members and randomly selected, matched nonmembers. Health care utilization and expenditure trends were tracked from the pre period prior to member enrollment for a period of up to 3 years post enrollment. MDVIP members experienced reduced utilization of emergency room and urgent care services compared to nonmembers. Program savings ...


The invention relates to an ultrasonic human face distinguishing method and a distinguishing device. The distinguishing method comprises the following steps: (1) an ultrasonic signal is transmitted to an object to be distinguished; (2) an echoed signal is collected; eigenvector is drawn from the echoed signal; (3) according to the eigenvector obtained from the step (2), the distinguishing result is obtained from distinguishing and comparing identities in the established information database of the ultrasound human face; the distinguishing device comprises an ultrasonic sounder, an ultrasonic receiver, a feature extraction module, an ultrasound human face information database and an identify distinguishing module. The invention has the main advantages that very high spatial resolution is obtained; ample human face information can be extracted; the influence of the background on distinguishing humane face can be reduced; a 3D model and the human face can be separated; the deception of a picture and a video can be overcome; the data quantity can be reduced; the distinguishing speed can be increased; the device has higher discrimination; the needed ultrasonic human face database is characterized by little data quantity and is convenient for establishing large scale ultrasonic human face database.


ABSTRACT Tyndalized milk of goat, cow, and buffalo was found to be a potential substitute for fetal bovine serum (FBS) in the medium for the cultivation of Leishmania donovani promastigotes. The numbers (means) of promastigotes reached 2.6 × 107, 2.3 × 107, and 2.1 × 107/ml, respectively, in the medium supplemented with 10% milk of goat, cow, and buffalo, in comparison to 1.9 × 107/ml in the control with 10% FBS. In primary isolation, the milk-supplemented medium showed that 22 out of 26 samples were positive for promastigotes (84.6%) and the cells were maintained successfully during the observed period of 6 months.


Abstract Background We performed a pooled analysis of Asian pts in the phase III MONALEESA (ML) trials, which tested ET ± RIB in pts with hormone receptor–positive/human epidermal growth factor receptor-2–negative advanced breast cancer. Methods ML-2 and ML-3 enrolled postmenopausal pts; ML-7 enrolled pre/perimenopausal pts. To pool a homogenous population and reflect health authority recommended treatment, this analysis included all pts from ML-2, first-line pts from ML-3 and pts treated with a nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitor from ML-7. Results Pts were assigned to ET + PBO (118 Asian; 562 non-Asian) or ET + RIB (136 Asian; 651 non-Asian). In Asian pts, median PFS was 12.7 mo (95% CI, 9.1-15.6) with PBO vs not reached (NR; 95% CI, 16.6-NR) with RIB (hazard ratio [HR], 0.49 [95% CI, 0.34-0.70]). In non-Asian pts, median PFS was 16.5 mo (95% CI, 14.5-18.2) with PBO vs 25.3 mo (95% CI, 23.8-27.7) with RIB (HR, 0.59 [95% CI, 0.50-0.69]). In 182 Asian pts with visceral mets, median PFS was 12.7 mo (95% CI, 8.8-16.0) with PBO vs 23.9 mo (95% CI, 14.8-NR) with RIB (HR, 0.54 [95% CI, 0.36-0.82]). In 687 non-Asian pts with visceral mets, median PFS was 13.0 mo (95% CI, 11.1-14.9) with PBO vs 23.9 mo (95% CI, 19.9-29.6) with RIB (HR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.44-0.68). In Asian pts, overall response rate (ORR) was 33.1% (95% CI, 24.6-41.5) with PBO vs 49.3% (95% CI, 40.9-57.7) with RIB (P = 0.005). In non-Asian pts, ORR was 27.8% (95% CI, 24.1-31.5) with PBO vs 38.2% (95% CI, 34.5-42.0) with RIB (P  Conclusions Significant improvements in PFS and ORR were observed in Asian pts with RIB vs PBO. Discontinuation rates due to AEs were lower in Asian pts. Clinical trial identification NCT01958021; NCT02422615; NCT02278120. Legal entity responsible for the study Novartis Pharmaceutical Corporation. Funding Novartis Pharmaceutical Corporation. Disclosure S-A. Im: Research grant / Funding (self): AstraZeneca; Advisory / Consultancy: Novartis; Advisory / Consultancy: Hanmi; Advisory / Consultancy: Pfizer; Advisory / Consultancy: Eisai. Y-S. Yap: Honoraria (self), Advisory / Consultancy, Research grant / Funding (self): Novartis; Advisory / Consultancy: Pfizer; Travel / Accommodation / Expenses: Eisai; Travel / Accommodation / Expenses: AstraZeneca; Advisory / Consultancy: Roche. K.S. Lee: Advisory / Consultancy: Lily; Advisory / Consultancy: Novartis; Advisory / Consultancy: Pfizer; Advisory / Consultancy: Roche; Research grant / Funding (self): Dong-A Socio. L.M. Tseng: Honoraria (self), Advisory / Consultancy: Celgene; Honoraria (self), Advisory / Consultancy, Research grant / Funding (self), Travel / Accommodation / Expenses: Novartis; Honoraria (self), Research grant / Funding (self), Travel / Accommodation / Expenses: Roche Pharma AG; Research grant / Funding (self): MSD; Travel / Accommodation / Expenses: GlaxoSmithKline. S.C. Lee: Honoraria (self): ACT Genomics; Honoraria (self), Advisory / Consultancy: AstraZeneca; Honoraria (self), Advisory / Consultancy, Research grant / Funding (self): Eisai; Honoraria (self), Advisory / Consultancy: Lilly; Honoraria (self), Advisory / Consultancy: Novartis; Honoraria (self), Advisory / Consultancy: Pfizer; Research grant / Funding (self): Taiho Pharmaceutical; Travel / Accommodation / Expenses: Amgen. Y.H. Park: Honoraria (self), Travel / Accommodation / Expenses: Merck; Honoraria (self), Travel / Accommodation / Expenses: Novartis; Honoraria (self), Advisory / Consultancy: Pfizer; Research grant / Funding (self): AstraZeneca; Research grant / Funding (self): Eisai. I. Gounaris: Non-remunerated activity/ies: PharmaMar; Shareholder / Stockholder / Stock options, Full / Part-time employment: Novartis. M. Sondhi: Shareholder / Stockholder / Stock options, Full / Part-time employment: Novartis. A. Ridolfi: Shareholder / Stockholder / Stock options, Full / Part-time employment: Novartis. J.P. Zarate: Shareholder / Stockholder / Stock options, Full / Part-time employment: Novartis. Y-S. Lu: Honoraria (self), Advisory / Consultancy, Speaker Bureau / Expert testimony, Research grant / Funding (self), Clinical trial study fee; Grant for clinical study for ESR1 mutation detected by cell free DNA;: Novartis; Honoraria (self), Advisory / Consultancy, Research grant / Funding (self): Pfizer; Honoraria (self), Advisory / Consultancy: Boehringer Ingelheim; Research grant / Funding (self): Roche; Research grant / Funding (self): Merck Sharp & Dohme; Research grant / Funding (self): GlaxoSmithKline. All other authors have declared no conflicts of interest.


Proppant is one of the key aspects of a successful fracturing treatment and subsequent well production, and its quality is strictly controlled by ISO 13503-2, an international standard for proppant testing. Proppant suppliers, oilfield companies and their clients all around the world rely on the standard measurement procedures and limit values to ensure the quality of a product they produce or use for fracturing operations. ISO 13503-2 prescribes testing procedures; however, the standard does not contain information about uncertainty of final measurements. This information is essential for consistent quality assurance, for resolving inconsistencies between different laboratories, and for comparing properties of different products.
 An interlaboratory study was organized to evaluate the precision of ISO 13503-2 proppant testing. Four proppant samples were distributed among proppant quality control laboratories all around the world; 17 laboratories participated in the study. The obtained test data were used to calculate repeatability and reproducibility standard deviations (in accordance with ISO 5725-2) and uncertainty of ISO 13503-2 test data (in accordance with ISO 21748).
 The study showed that most proppant parameters measured using ISO 13503-2 methods yielded high uncertainty. For example, for turbidity and acid solubility values, the uncertainty was up to ±50%. Uncertainty of roundness and sphericity values was ±0.1 since the values are estimated by operator, making the test quite subjective. For crush resistance, the highest uncertainty among tested samples, ±40%, was observed for an HSP 30/50 sample measured at 15,000 psi stress. For absolute density, a systematic difference between values obtained using gas pycnometers from different manufactures was observed; also, the equipment differs by repeatability characteristics.
 The results of the interlaboratory study allowed estimating the uncertainty of ISO 13503-2 test methods. It was shown that high measurement uncertainty for some critical proppant parameters should be considered for correct interpretation of the obtained test results.


This paper presents the main findings of an investigation conducted to identify factors that facilitate the successful implementation of Road Management Systems (RMS). The investigation covered 21 road agencies in 16 different countries. As with any computerized system, the successful implementation of a RMS depends on the interaction of three fundamental components: Processes, People and Technology. The study found that agencies successful in their implementations built strong foundations in all of these fundamental components over a number of years. First and foremost, successful agencies developed an "asset management mindset": they implement policies for managing their highway infrastructure as an asset whose value must be maintained and improved. They had appropriately-staffed organizational units with specific responsibility to implement the RMS, and the results were validated and utilized. Key elements of institutionalization that must be reviewed and explicitly addressed by the RMS are Business Plans, Budgets, and Policies. The RMS must be considered in the framework of the agency IT policies and architecture and Commercial Off-the-Shelf software wherever possible. If an agency has any concerns about its ability to operate and maintain specialist data collection equipment, then they should seriously consider outsourcing of data collection. Finally, no system is static. The most successful agencies have implemented continual quality improvement programs and are always looking for room for refinement and improvement in data collection procedures, quality assurance, road deterioration modeling, etc.


Background: PDE5i treatment is widely used in PAH, but some patients fail to reach/maintain treatment goals. Aim: RESPITE investigates the safety and efficacy of replacing PDE5i by riociguat. Methods: RESPITE is a prospective, multicenter, uncontrolled, open-label, single-arm, Phase IIIb trial. PAH patients in WHO FC III with 6MWD 165–440 m and cardiac index Results: Of 30 eligible patients (mean±SD age 57±12 years; 73% female), 70% and 30% were pretreated with sildenafil or tadalafil, respectively; 73% were receiving an ERA. All efficacy endpoints had improved at Week 24 with riociguat (Table).
 Four patients (13%) experienced clinical worsening, including 3 deaths (none drug related; 1 during the extension). The most common drug-related AEs were headache (17%), dyspepsia (13%) and epistaxis (13%); 1 patient discontinued due to drug-related AEs (both right ventricular failure and dyspnea reported). Conclusions: In the interim analysis of RESPITE, riociguat improved a range of clinical and hemodynamic endpoints in PAH patients transitioned from PDE5i. No new safety signals were observed.


This paper analyses the behaviour of productive efficiency in the Spanish regions for the period 1964–93. From a growth accounting approach, it describes the regional evolution of total factor productivity (TFP'), based on a private inputs production function. A stricter measure of efficiency is then quantified, which is not equivalent to Solow's residual, since public capital is included in the production function and constant returns to scale are not imposed. Finally, on the basis of the measures of total factor productivity and efficiency, the study discusses the existence of technological convergence among Spanish regions and the role played in it by public capital. The renewed interest in the analysis of the process of growth reflected in economic literature in recent years has also occurred in the case of the Spanish economy, with some peculiarities which are worth mentioning. In the 1980s, two important institutional changes took place: a profound political and administrative decentralization, the regions now being autonomous in many decisions on public expenditure, and the incorporation of Spain into the European Community, which as it is well known has a powerful regional policy. Both changes have meant that the analysis of regional economies, and especially their growth paths, have received much more attention from politicians and economists, and even from the population in general. In particular, intense discussion has taken place regarding the effects of development policies and on criteria for geographical distribution of infrastructures. In both cases, much attention has been paid to discussing their capacity to contribute to convergence among the different regions. As a consequence of this greater interest in the analysis of growth from a regional perspective, efforts have also been made to improve the relevant statistical information. In particular, statistical series have been drawn up for investment and accumulated capital stock in each region, both private and public.' This information, only recently available and the first of its kind, as far as we know, in the European regions, substantially broadens the possibilities of research into the Spanish case in this field, where before not even the simplest exercises in growth accounting could be attempted. Further‐more, since the series now available allow the time dimension of growth analysis to be combined with the regional dimension, it is possible to work with a panel of data and apply the corresponding techniques. This article analyses the growth of the Spanish economy over the period 1964–93, during which it can be observed that the per capita income levels of the Spanish regions converged. The objective of the study is to evaluate this process of convergence in income from the perspective of the productive efficiency of the regions, in three different ways. First, Section I considers the importance of the contributions of the private factors of production and of improvements in total factor productivity to the growth of output. Secondly, section II studies the existing relationship between the standard measure of efficiency (Solow's residual or TFP') and a stricter measure when the endowments of public capital are considered. Section III analyses whether or not the convergence in per capita income


Evapotranspiration (ET) connects the land to the atmosphere, linking water, energy, and carbon cycles. ET is an essential climate variable with a fundamental importance, and accurate assessments of the spatiotemporal trends and variability in ET are needed from regional to continental scales. This study compared eight global actual ET datasets (ETgl) and the average actual ET ensemble (ETens) based on remote sensing, climate reanalysis, land-surface, and biophysical models to ET computed from basin-scale water balance (ETwb) in South America on monthly time scale. The 50 small-to-large basins covered major rivers and different biomes and climate types. We also examined the magnitude, seasonality, and interannual variability of ET, comparing ETgl and ETens with ETwb. Global ET datasets were evaluated between 2003 and 2014 from the following datasets: Breathing Earth System Simulator (BESS), ECMWF Reanalysis 5 (ERA5), Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS), Global Land Evaporation Amsterdam Model (GLEAM), MOD16, Penman–Monteith–Leuning (PML), Operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBop) and Terra Climate. By using ETwb as a basis for comparison, correlation coefficients ranged from 0.45 (SSEBop) to 0.60 (ETens), and RMSE ranged from 35.6 (ETens) to 40.5 mm·month−1 (MOD16). Overall, ETgl estimates ranged from 0 to 150 mm·month−1 in most basins in South America, while ETwb estimates showed maximum rates up to 250 mm·month−1. ETgl varied by hydroclimatic regions: (i) basins located in humid climates with low seasonality in precipitation, including the Amazon, Uruguay, and South Atlantic basins, yielded weak correlation coefficients between monthly ETgl and ETwb, and (ii) tropical and semiarid basins (areas where precipitation demonstrates a strong seasonality, as in the São Francisco, Northeast Atlantic, Paraná/Paraguay, and Tocantins basins) yielded moderate-to-strong correlation coefficients. An assessment of the interannual variability demonstrated a disagreement between ETgl and ETwb in the humid tropics (in the Amazon), with ETgl showing a wide range of interannual variability. However, in tropical, subtropical, and semiarid climates, including the Tocantins, São Francisco, Paraná, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Atlantic basins (Northeast, East, and South), we found a stronger agreement between ETgl and ETwb for interannual variability. Assessing ET datasets enables the understanding of land–atmosphere exchanges in South America, to improvement of ET estimation and monitoring for water management.


Antiplatelet drugs have an established role in secondary stroke prevention. Several attempts have been made to boost the clinical effectiveness of these treatments by enhancing antithrombotic effects or lowering hemorrhagic risks. Cilostazol, a drug that primarily acts by inhibiting phosphodiesterase and, thus, platelet aggregation, is more effective than placebo at preventing stroke recurrence but has not been tested against routinely prescribed antiplatelet agents.

The manufacturer-funded second Cilostazol Stroke Prevention …


*The author expresses appreciation to Earl W. Kehrberg, John E. Kadlec, Edward E. Carson and Ludwig M. Eisgruber, as well as to Robert J. Dades, John A. Ginzel, Thomas L. Small, and many others for their counsel in the development of the paper of which this is the abstract. the present. Four retailed earnings ratios are developed to assist the user in comparing growth on the same farm in different years and on different farms in the same year. Consumption or "family living expense" is determined as the residual of earnings minus retailed earnings. Information from annual balance sheets and income tax forms is used as the basic data for determining earning and retailed earnings. It is suggested that the analysis provides a disciplined, consistent system of accounting for the total farm family unit. It can apply to both business and personal interests. The language of the system can help the farmer to better understand his financial growth, and it can improve communications between farmers, their lenders, and their other counselors.


This study of over 12,000 women inventors in Britain, France, and America reveals new insights about gender and creativity, and about incentives and institutions for innovation. Women tended to specialize in improvements of consumer final goods, the look and feel of existing items, and design-oriented products at the boundaries of art and technology. While their creativity was often directed toward improving family welfare within the household, many of their contributions proved to be valuable in the market for inventions. Family firms provided an important conduit that overcame social obstacles to their entrepreneurial efforts. By contrast, women were significantly less likely to be awarded prizes for their innovations, so it is not surprising that they typically opted not to participate in administered systems.


The Senior Committee on Environmental, Safety, and Economic Aspects of Magnetic Fusion Energy (ESECOM) was organized in late 1985 to provide an up-to-date assessment of magnetic fusion energy's prospects for meeting this last requirement. This report summarized our findings. We have given particular attention to the interaction environmental, safety, and economic characteristics in fusion-reactor design and to the identification of those directions within fusion technology that seem most likely to lead to combinations of the above characteristics that would make fusion an attractive long-term energy source compared to (or in symbiosis with) fission and other options. We did not explicitly consider inertial-confinement fusion, but, inevitably, some of our findings are relevant to the inertial-confinement approach as well as to magnetic confinement.


Regional logistics reflects the effects of logistics on regional economy,so it is necessary to evaluate regional logistics.An evaluation index system of logistics was built on the basis of eight cities in Chengdu metropolitan circle.The principal component analysis was combined with spss 19.0to make objective comparisons between and evaluations of the cities'logistics competitiveness according to principal component loadings and scores.The analysis showed that Chengdu,as the core of the metropolitan circle,was stronger than the other cities in competitiveness,and besides,logistics personnel and logistics competitiveness were closely related.


The beef cattle producers in the southern zone of the State of Mexico generally do not carry out adequate market planning of their finished steers. In additi...


Mel Bochner is conventionally considered a conceptual artist. Bochner, however, objects to the label and, having started his career as a painter, is now painting again. In fact he has been painting since 1973, in the immediate aftermath of the collapse of first generation conceptual art. How should Bochner's return to painting be understood? Perhaps counter-intuitively, Bochner's painting is best understood with reference to his short-lived and still little discussed photographic practice. The insights Bochner gained from his brief period of photographic experimentation are summarized in his work Misunderstandings (A Theory of Photography) (1967–70). By reconstructing and interpreting the significance of Misunderstandings for Bochner's artistic development, I reveal that it is also productive within the broader context of the ongoing reassessment of the critical significance of photoconceptualism.


The pricing of the European cash-settled swaptions is analysed. The standard market formula results are compared to results obtained from different models. Significant discrepancies are observed, justifying the title.


STUDY OBJECTIVES
To understand the theory and results of how to improve physician performance, as part of overall health-care quality improvement. In particular, to study whether and how guideline production and dissemination affects physician performance.

DESIGN
Review of meta-analyses and structured reviews; review of behavior change theories implicit in interventions to change physician performance.

SETTING
Primarily the United States.

PATIENTS OR PARTICIPANTS
Various patients and physicians, determined by reviews.

INTERVENTIONS
None.

MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS
There is no unifying theory of physician behavior change tested among physicians in practice. Attempts to affect individual physicians' performance have often met with failure. Mixed results are found for almost all interventions reviewed. Multiple interventions yield better results.

CONCLUSIONS
The answer to the question of what works to improve an individual physician's clinical performance is not simple. Emerging theory and evidence suggests that applications of behavior-change methods should not be focused on which tools (don't) always work. Instead, guideline development and implementation methods should be theory driven and evidence based (supported by evidence that proves the theory correct). In particular, the framework of evidence-based quality assessment offers some insight into past failures and offers hope for organizing attempts at guideline implementation.


In order to promote better growth of bifidobacteria, according to the nutritional needs of bifidobacteria, the carbon and nitrogen source of MRS medium and enrichment factors were optimized by orthogonal experiment in this paper. The results showed that the optimized MRS medium was 0.37% soya peptone, 1.13% tryptone, 1% glucose, 0.7% yeast extract, 7.5% carrot juice, 7.5% tomato juice, 5.0% maize hydrolyzates. As a result, the numbers of bifidobacteria cultured in optimized MRS medium were 10 times than in ordinary MRS medium.


The purposes of this study are to find out the thematic development patterns in the writings of EFL students of English Writing Community UNNES and to examine to what extent the students achieve coherence in their writings in terms of thematic development.This study is a discourse analysis. The thematic structure and thematic development were realized through thematic system (Theme and Rheme). The object of the study is the texts that were written by the members of EWC in the academic year of 2014/2015. The unit of the analysis were the forms of clauses and clause complexes. There were 18 texts from two different genres(decription and exposition) and three different grades (first, third, and fifth semesters). The analysis of the data was done based on the following steps: first, the texts were divided into clauses and then analyzed based on Theme-Rheme theories offered by Gerrot & Wignell(1995). Next step was analyzing the Thematic development based on the theory suggested by Eggins (1994). The last step was drawing the conclusions based on the finding. After analyzing the data, there are three typs of Theme found in the texts. The Themes are topical, textual, and interpersonal. The Theme mostly used is Topical Theme. It is because the writers are beginner writers who prefer to choose the simplest way in producing a text. The writers produce the clause with the same pattern, which states the subject at the beginning of the clause as the starting point. It was also revealed from the analysis that there are more than one types of Thematic development found in their text. Each text has two or three patterns of Thematic development. Theme reiteration is the most often used pattern in EWC members' writing. It is because the pattern is the easiest way that the students can use in developing a text. Based on the findings, there are some of the texts that still lack of cohesion or coherence. In other words, the members still find difficulties in the way they organized the information into a good writing. Therefore, for the lecturers, especially who teach writing subject, they should find alternative way to teach writing.Thematic structure and thematic development can help the students to decide which part should be put in the first and which elements that follow. In addition, the students also can choose the pattern that they will use in their texts in order to make it organized better. Therefore, their writing will achive both coherence and cohesion. If their products of writing achive the coherence and the cohesion, it will be easier to the readers to get the point of the writing itself.


bou Mines' business model and aesthetic practices. While Blau gave them a place to meet and grow as artists in San Francisco, Stewart and Papp housed the group in New York, where it could develop its work without the risk of financial collapse. As this narrative suggests, Fischer's book further documents the importance of Blau, Stewart, and Papp in the creation of a vibrant theatre scene in the United States during the 1960s and '70s.


This paper analyzes advantages of information service institution providing competitive information services and puts forward some suggestions on information service institution providing enterprise competitive intelligence services


The charge transfer reaction between atenolol and quinalizarin was studied.The determination was based on the formation of the charge transfer complex between atenolol(donor)and quinalizarin(acceptor forming)in alcohol-water solution with λmax at 568 nm and the apparent molar absorptivity of 7.91×103 L5mol-15cm-1.Beer's Law was obeyed in the range of 0~30 mg/L of atenolol and the relative standard deviation was 0.92%(n=6).The proposed method is simple,rapid and accurate for determination of atenolol in tablets with the recovery of 98.9%~101.6%.


Paper presents the results of study of influence of fine coal fraction addition to coking blend and its partial briquetting on coke quality parameters CRI and CSR. CRI and CSR are currently the key quality parameters of coke commonly used to assess its technological suitability for blast furnace coke. The raw materials used for the research were coals and fine coal fractions (flotation concentrates) from one of the domestic producers of coking coals. These coals are the basic components of blends used in the domestic coke industry. Studies have shown that increase in the content of flotation concentrates (FC) in the coal blend results in a significant reduction of the bulk density of the coal charge. As a consequence of the decrease in the density of the coal charge, coke reactivity CRI increased and coke strength after reaction CSR decreased. To minimize the adverse impact of FC addition, partial batch briquetting was implemented. Briquetting of the coal charge made it possible to produce coke with qualitative parameters similar to the same blend without the addition of a flotation concentrate and allows to improve the quality of coke produced or to produce coke of the same quality but with a higher share of semi-soft coals


Abstract Heat dissipation in nanoelectronics has become a major bottleneck to further scaling in next-generation integrated circuits. In order to address this problem and develop more energy-efficient nanoelectronic transistor, sensor, and storage devices, we must understand thermal processes at the atomic scale, which requires numerical simulation of the interaction between electrons and heat, carried by quantized lattice vibrations called phonons. Here we examine in detail the phonon emission and absorption spectra in silicon at several elevated values for the electron temperature. The effect of electric field on the electron distribution and equivalent electron temperature is obtained from full-band Monte Carlo simulation for bulk silicon. The electron distributions are used to numerically compute the phonon emission and absorption spectra and discover trends in their behavior at high electron temperatures. The concept of electron temperature is used to understand the relationship between field and heat emission, and it is found that longitudinal acoustic (LA) phonon emission increases at high electron temperatures. It is also found that emission of slower zone-edge phonons increases for all phonon branches at high electron temperatures. These conclusions at high electric fields can be used to enable heat-conscious design of future silicon devices.


Avian pathogenic Escherichia coli O1 (APEC O1) is a pathogenic bacterium that causes significant economic losses in the poultry industry and raises concerns about zoonotic infections. The development of effective vaccines against APEC O1 is essential due to antibiotic resistance and the potential for severe symptoms in both chickens and humans. In this context, we have been focusing on the O1A, O1B, and O1C antigen structures derived from E. coli O1 lipopolysaccharide (LPS). In this study, the first synthesis of pentasaccharide repeating units of the O1B and O1C antigens was successfully achieved. The synthesis and immunological evaluation of their conjugates with bovine serum albumin (BSA) were conducted. Only the O1A-pentasaccharide structure is a glycotype candidate for APEC O1. Keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH)-O1A pentasaccharide conjugate was also synthesized, and its immunogenicity was evaluated by the ELISA assay. The efficient production of antibodies capable of binding to both APEC O1 LPS and the O1A-pentasaccharide structure was observed, indicating that O1A pentasaccharide is a promising vaccine candidate against APEC O1.


This paper provides valuable information about the functional aspects of the heart and cardiovascularsystem (CVS). The features extracted in this work by considering the heart signal as a sound signal can assist in formulating better techniques to diagnose cardiac disorder. The aim of this research is to develop signal analysis methods and provide a computerized cardiac auscultation system. In particular, the work focuses on feature extraction derived from the phonocardiographic (PCG) signal by using advanced signal processing techniques.


The condition on which variable coefficient linear equation (or equation set)can be transformed into constant coefficient linear equation or other solvable integral equation has been discussed Some results of significance have been obtained


Nickel foam-supported CuO@NiCo2O4 nanoforests with a mesoporous hierarchical core/shell structure are prepared by combining a facile, scalable, and cost-effective thermal oxidation method with a simple hydrothermal method followed by a calcination procedure. The smart hybridization of CuO nanowires and NiCo2O4 nanosheets into a hierarchical core/shell array configuration results in remarkably enhanced electrochemical performances with high specific capacitance, excellent rate capability and good cycle performance compared with pure nickel foam-supported NiCo2O4 nanosheets. A high specific capacitance of 1298.8 F g−1 at a current density of 1 A g−1 has been exhibited and excellent rate capability of about 96.3% capacitance retention at 5 A g−1 can be obtained. The CuO@NiCo2O4-based supercapacitor exhibits a very long cycle life with only 2.1% capacitance loss after 2000 cycles and the coulombic efficiency remains about 100% during the cycling. In addition, the assembled CuO@NiCo2O4//AC ASC device delivers an energy density of 27.9 W h kg−1 at a power density of 749.6 W kg−1, and the energy density is as much as 17.7 W h kg−1 even at a high power density of 7496.5 W kg−1. These excellent electrochemical performances demonstrate that the nickel foam-supported hierarchical core/shell CuO@NiCo2O4 nanowire heterostructure array electrodes are highly desirable for application as advanced supercapacitor electrodes.


We report tunable third harmonic generation of vortex beams in a chirped dual-periodical LiTaO3 optical superlattice. The generated vortex beam has a 2.3-nm tuning range in the blue with a conversion efficiency of about 1.5%.


Cancer cells display a unique phenomenon in which, even in the presence of oxygen, cells switch from oxidative phosphorylation to glycolysis as the primary source of ATP with consequent production of lactic acid. This phenomenon, called the Warburg Effect, is a hallmark of cancer. Lactic acid has long been considered as the necessary end product of this metabolic switch, where lactic acid is effluxed out of tumor cells to prevent intracellular acidification. Recent evidence however suggests that lactate and the excess protons in the tumor microenvironment play an active role in tumor growth. In particular, lactate has been shown to function as an agonist for GPR81, a G-protein-coupled receptor expressed on the surface of tumor cells. This autocrine signaling of lactate promotes tumor growth and metastasis, as well as angiogenesis and immune evasion. The present study assesses whether tumor cell-derived lactate has any paracrine role via its receptor in non-cancer cells present in the tumor microenvironment. We generated MMTV-PyMT-Tg mice, a spontaneous model for breast cancer, on Gpr81+/+ and Gpr81-/- backgrounds. The absence of Gpr81 reduced the mammary tumor incidence, delayed mammary tumor progression, and reduced lung metastasis. These data demonstrate the essential role of GPR81 in breast cancer growth and metastasis, but does not differentiate between Gpr81 in tumor cells versus Gpr81 in the tumor microenvironment. We then used the syngeneic transplant of the mouse mammary tumor cell line AT-3 into the mammary fat pads of wild type and Gpr81-/- mice to assess the involvement of Gpr81 in the microenvironment. AT-3 cells are negative for Gpr81, and therefore our model limits Gpr81 expression to non-tumor cells in the host mouse. We found the growth of transplanted tumor cells was significantly reduced in Gpr81-/- mice than in wild type mice. Preliminary RNA-sequencing transcriptome analysis of AT-3 tumors suggest an immunosuppressive function of Gpr81, where tumors grown in a Gpr81-/- background have much stronger gene expression profiles in T-cell signaling pathways. Specifically, AT-3 tumors grown in Gpr81-/- host express significantly higher levels of genes that are specific for T cells and antigen-presenting cells such as MHC-II complex molecules, T-cell co-stimulatory molecules, and transmembrane CD8. It is well established that tumor-cell derived lactate promotes tumor growth in an autocrine manner via Gpr81 expressed on tumor cells; our studies extend the tumor-promoting role of lactate beyond this autocrine function to include paracrine signaling via Gpr81 expressed on immune cells and possibly other cell types in the tumor microenvironment. Citation Format: Timothy Brown, Sabarish Ramachandran, Stefan Offermanns, Vadivel Ganapathy. The lactate receptor Gpr81 on non-cancer cells promotes an immunosuppressive phenotype in the tumor microenvironment [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 4357.


So long as micturating cystography remains the only practical way of diagnosing ureteric reflux in children, so long must it be used. The significance of reflux in a girl with recurrent urinary infection, particularly when she is young and when the infection is subacute, is that a risk of progressive renal damage is present and that precautionary chemotherapy should be applied.' This makes it important to demonstrate the presence or absence of reflux in young children with urinary tract infections. Discomfort mainly arises from catheterization, which is a disagreeable procedure at any age and particularly for children. It can be lessened, if the child is old enough, by a full preliminary explanation, by the use of an anxietyallaying drug on the previous night, and by use of local anaesthetic jelly as catheter lubricant. Older children find micturition in the x-ray room difficult and embarrassing. An atmosphere of brisk but sympathetic professionalism, and tactful forethought, are more helpful than sedatives, which often make matters worse. The risk of catheterintroduced infection is not great in a child's unobstructed urinary tract. Most such children have had an infection already, and chemotherapy can be relied upon to control infection after instrumentation. Kaude et al.2 have calculated unavoidable radiation at about 600 millirads in girls, when image intensifier screening is used, with full sized "spot" films taken during the procedure. The gonad dosage is somewhat less for boys. In both sexes it can be reduced by using 70 mm film to a dosage level of approximately 100-200 millirads. The average background radiation per person per annum in this country is 50-200 millirads. The maximum permissible whole body dose for x-ray staff is 5,000 millirads per annum. These figures indicate that while the dosage in micturating cystography is considerable, it is not enormous, and could be much reduced if 70 mm film became standard for this procedure.


The fusion cuisine is adapted to the culinary trends and has value and importance for guests, Mexican cuisine is known worldwide as the French, both are very important for their contribution of techniques, flavors and ingredients that exalt the preparations. This project stands out in merging the two kitchens succeeding in giving a unique touch to each dish and especially a different taste, the customer offers 5 courses that expose a small reminder of what is actually Mexican cuisine. As this project contains a thorough investigation and analysis of each procedure and history of accomplishments and justification of it.


Aerobic microbial granules, self-immobilized microbial consortia cultured in aerobically operated bioreactors, primarily consist of mixed species of bacteria ensconced in an extracellular polymeric matrix of their own creation. Such aerobically grown microbial granules have attracted considerable research interest in environmental biotechnology. In recent times, it has been demonstrated that the granules could be used for efficient degradation of recalcitrant organic compounds and for the treatment of a growing number of wastes. The objective of this study was to investigate whether aerobic granules could be used as novel biomass material for biosorption of uranium from aqueous solutions. The granular biomass for biosorption experiments was cultivated in a laboratory-scale sequencing batch reactor by feeding with synthetic wastewater. Biosorption of uranium [U(VI)] was studied at different initial pH values (1 to 8) and different initial uranium concentrations (6 to 750 mg l -1 ). Biosorption was observed to be rapid (<1 h) in acidic pH range (1 to 6) compared to that at pH 7.0 or above. Almost complete removal of uranium was observed in the range 6-100 mg l -1 in less than 1 h. Redlich-Peterson model gave the best fit when the experimental data were analysed using different adsorption isotherm equations. The maximum biosorption capacity of U(VI) was determined to be 218 ± 2 mg g -1 dry granular biomass. Further, it was observed that cations such as Na + , K + , Mg +2 , and Ca +2 were simultaneously released into the bulk solution during U(VI) biosorption, indicating the involvement of ion exchange mechanism in radionuclide uptake. Live and dead biomass did not show significant difference in U removal, indicating the involvement of a passive sorption process. The study suggests that aerobic granular biomass has the potential to be employed as an effective biosorbent material for recovering/removing uranium (and probably other radionuclides) from dilute nuclear wastes.


BACKGROUND
Transgender youth, particularly if they are transgender female and of a minority racial or ethnic group (i.e., minority transgender youth [MTY]), are known to have higher incidence of new HIV infections, substance abuse, and suicidality when compared with cisgender youth. Mental health disparities and substance use among MTY, between the ages of 13-24 years, have been underexplored in the United States, although they have serious public health concerns contributing to morbidity and mortality.

OBJECTIVES
To examine the US literature to discover what is known about the intersection of substance use, mental health disorders, and associated health risks for MTY.

DATA SOURCES
An integrative review exploring experimental and nonexperimental research was conducted from 2010 to 2018 using Cumulative Index for Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL), PsycINFO, and PubMed. Articles were selected if the research identified MTY, mental health and/or substance use risks, data-driven outcomes, or considerations that could potentially influence MTY outcomes. Ten articles were included in the final selection.

CONCLUSIONS
All studies addressed mental health, substance use, and/or health risks, although many of the articles explored all transgender youth outcomes without a particular focus on MTY. Identified factors linked to poor health outcomes included socioeconomic vulnerability, substance use, mood disorders, self-harm, and risky sexual behaviors.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE
The authors have provided recommendations regarding culturally appropriate, compassionate, evidence-informed practices for engaging MTY and their families to promote greater well-being for all youth, regardless of gender identity.


This paper presents a new heroic computing method for unstructured, low-order, finite-element, implicit nonlinear wave simulation: 1.97 PFLOPS (18.6% of peak) was attained on the full K computer when solving a 1.08T degrees-of-freedom (DOF) and 0.270T-element problem. This is 40.1 times more DOF and elements, a 2.68-fold improvement in peak performance, and 3.67 times faster in time-to-solution compared to the SC14 Gordon Bell finalist's state-of-the-art simulation. The method scales up to the full K computer with 663,552 CPU cores with 96.6% sizeup efficiency, enabling solving of a 1.08T DOF problem in 29.7 s per time step. Using such heroic computing, we solved a practical problem involving an area 23.7 times larger than the state-of-the-art, and conducted a comprehensive earthquake simulation by combining earthquake wave propagation analysis and evacuation analysis. Application at such scale is a groundbreaking accomplishment and is expected to change the quality of earthquake disaster estimation and contribute to society.


Compared to private field, the usage and spread of big data in public field are proceeded based on the aspect of infrastructure and the quality control of big data. Thus, it is necessary to conceive big data as a key resource, and attain the ability to reach needed information with ease, and guarantee the quality of data in order to use the big data in public field. This research covered the precedent research of the usage of big data and the demonstrative research model and research theory of the usage of big data in public field, based on infrastructure factor of big data such as legislation, behavior, technology and data quality factor such as the administration of data structure, database, and the usage of data. The results showed that, the higher the behavioral factor gets, the higher the conceived use of the user gets. In addition, the better the management of the construction of data structure and the database gets, the easier the user's understanding becomes. However, since the research results are highly dependent on limited samples and respondents have low understanding in words, it have the limitations in generalizing the results.


Media Literacy is a boring phrase to describe an exciting issue. When we held a debate on it tempers became frayed, passions ran high and voice were raised in a way that is usually associated with hot political topics. Why?


A new hybrid approach for deformable models is presented here and carried out in a virtual reality environment, achieving real time performance with haptic interactions. Our implementation consists in using two approaches for the deformable model. The deformation is modelled using simultaneously a Finite Element Method and a Mesh Free Method.
With this Mesh Free method, particles are used to simulate large deformations in the volume region near the surface of the object. The remaining internal volume of the object can be modelled employing a coarse mesh using the Finite Element Method.