OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to assess the operation time, shear bond strength, placement accuracy and wear resistance of three composite materials (Filtek Z350XT, Filtek Z350XT Flowable and SonicFill) that were used to make attachments for clear aligners.

SETTINGS AND SAMPLE POPULATION
Laboratory of Stomatology of Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. A total of 129 human mandibular premolars were collected, 69 of which were assigned to 3 groups (A1, B1 and C1). The remaining 60 teeth were divided into 3 groups (A2, B2 and C2).

METHODS
Z350XT composite resin was used in groups A1 and A2 to bond the attachments. Z350XT Flowable composite resin was used in groups B1 and B2. SonicFill composite resin was used in groups C1 and C2. The operation time, shear bond strength, the placement accuracy and wear volume loss of three composite materials were evaluated.

RESULTS
The operation time of Z350XT Flowable and SonicFill was shorter than Z350XT (P<0.05). The shear bond strength of SonicFill was higher than Z350XT and Z350XT Flowable (P<0.05). The SEM showed that the bonding interface of Z350XT and SonicFill was compact. The 3D deviation and volumetric change in the 3D designed attachments and the attachments after actual bonding of Z350XT Flowable were greater than that of Z350XT and SonicFill (P<0.05). The wear volume loss of SonicFill and Z350XT was less than that of Z350XT Flowable (P<0.05).

CONCLUSION
SonicFill seems to represent a suitable material for producing attachments, which optimized the property combination.


BACKGROUND The goal of antibiotic prophylaxis is not to sterilize the operative field, but to minimize the perioperative bacterial load to the level that will not result in clinical infection. Patient-related risk factors, such as poor nutritional status, smoking, diabetes and impaired immune system, and nature of the surgery should be reviewed when considering prophylactic use of antibiotics. Postoperative surgical site infections (SSIs) occur in <1% of patients undergoing clean head and neck operations, such as uncontaminated thyroidectomy, parotidectomy, or submandibular gland excision. Therefore, antibiotic prophylaxis is not thought to be beneficial. It is required though for patients at risk for development of infective endocarditis. According to the American Heart Association, prophylaxis should be administered to high-risk and offered to moderate-risk patients (Table I). Based on the available evidence, breach of a mucosal barrier in clean-contaminated cases requires antimicrobial prophylaxis, as it decreases SSIs substantially. The controversy on choice and duration of antibiotic regimen remains.


Disclosed is a battery (200) comprising a cell stack (201) of at least one individual cell in a cell case, an electronic component (100, 202), electrical conductors between the cell stack (201) and the electronic component (100, 202) and a injection-molded part (203) which completely surrounds the electrical conductor is substantially and both with the cell pack (201) as well as with the electronic component (100, 202) is in positive connection and connecting, in which (in the electronic component 100, 202) are integrated adjacent at least one electronic circuit (103) and the outer contact surfaces (101, 204) of the battery (200). Furthermore, a method for producing such a battery is described in which a cell stack (201) of at least one electrochemical single cell in a cell case and an electronic component (100, 202) in the adjacent at least one electronic circuit (103) and the outer contact surfaces (101, 204) of the battery are integrated, are placed in an injection mold and the remaining free space is filled with a liquid plastics compound, which is subsequently cured.


Esophageal injury often results in a scar, leading to refractory strictures. The NLRP3 inflammasome activates caspase‐1, causing the maturation of interleukin (IL)‐1β. Here, we aimed to investigate the preventive effect of pirfenidone (PFD), an antifibrotic drug, on esophageal stricture after ulcer healing and studied its mechanism by focusing on the activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome.


The shear strength of rockfill materials (RFM) is an important engineering parameter in the design and audit of geotechnical structures. In this paper, the predictive reliability and feasibility of random forests and Cubist models were analyzed by estimating the shear strength from the relative density, particle size, distribution (gradation), material hardness, gradation and fineness modulus, and confining (normal) stress. For this purpose, case studies of 165 rockfill samples have been applied to generate training and testing datasets to construct and validate the models. Thirteen key material properties for rockfill characterization were selected to develop the proposed models. Validation and comparison of the models have been performed using the root mean square error (RMSE), coefficient of determination (R2), and mean estimation error (MAE) between the measured and estimated values. A sensitivity analysis was also conducted to ascertain the importance of various inputs in the prediction of the output. The results demonstrated that the Cubist model has the highest prediction performance with (RMSE = 0.0959, R2 = 0.9697 and MAE = 0.0671), followed by the random forests model with (RMSE = 0.1133, R2 = 0.9548 and MAE= 0.0665), the artificial neural network (ANN) model with (RMSE = 0.1320, R2 = 0.9386 and MAE = 0.0841), and the conventional multiple linear regression technique with (RMSE = 0.1361, R2 = 0.9345 and MAE = 0.0888). The results indicated that the Cubist and random forests models are able to generate better predictive results of the shear strength of RFM than ANN and conventional regression models. The Cubist model was considered to be more promising for interpreting the complex relationships between the influential properties of RFM and the shear strengths of RFM to some extent, which can be extremely helpful in estimating the shear strength of rockfill materials.


A number of strategies have aimed to assist countries in procuring antiretroviral therapy 4 (ARV) at lower prices. In 2009, as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria 5 (GFATM) commenced a voluntary pooled procurement scheme however, the impact of the 6 scheme on ARV prices remains uncertain. This study aims to estimate the effect of VPP on 7 drug prices using Efavirenz as a case study. This analysis uses WHO Global price report mechanism (GPRM) data from 2004 to 2013. Due to the highly skewed distribution of drug Prices, a generalized linear model (GLM) was 12 used to conduct a difference-in-difference estimation of drug price changes over time. These analyses found that voluntary pooled procurement reduced both the ex-works price 16 of generic Efavirenz and the incoterms price by 16.2% and 19.1%, respectively (P<0.001) in 17 both cases). The year dummies were also statistically significant from 2006 to 2013 18 (P<0.001), indicating a strong decreasing trend in the price of Efavirenz over that period.


ABSTRACT This study prepares thermoplastic chitosan/nano ZnO (CZ) composites by thermomechanical treatment in an internal mixer. Dilute hydrochloric acid aqueous solution is used as the destructuring agent of chitosan and solvent of nano ZnO. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy confirm the chitosan–ZnO interaction. The crystallinity and UV transmittance of the composites decreases, while their thermal stability increases due to the addition of nano ZnO. The antibacterial activity of the CZ composites is examined in terms of their inhibitory and bactericidal effects against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Bacillus subtilis. Improved antibacterial properties are obtained for the CZ composites, compared to pure chitosan sheet. Gram-positive bacteria (S. aureus and B. subtilis) are more sensitive to the antibacterial activity of the CZ composites than Gram-negative bacteria (E. coli). This work provides a simple method to prepare chitosan-based materials and obtains CZ composites with improved antibacterial activities, which can be applied in agriculture and food safety.


The development monetary policy rule has become a fashionable macroeconomic modeling as pioneering by Taylor (1993)  Indonesia is one of emerging market countries that has advantages in adopting the Taylor monetary policy rule that was implementing together with inflation targeting framework dealing with the central bank law of Bank Indonesia on the new task for stabilizing the domestic currency, so that the new law of Bank Indonesia might be appropriate to adopt inflation targeting framework (Taylor, 2000). According to the new law, Bank Indonesia is obliged to announce the inflation plan at the beginning of the year to the public. Alamsyah, Agung and Zulverdy (2001), point-out that Bank Indonesia has become implemented the inflation targeting framework because it was obligated by the new law of Bank Indonesia. Practical of inflation targeting framework (ITF) in many countries adopted Taylor modified monetary policy rules with using many anchors. Svensson (1999) argued that because uncertain of some economic variables behavior, using interest rate as single anchor as recommended by Taylor rules can be robustness. Bank Indonesia have practical a single anchor called SBI Rate in implementing the inflation targeting framework.  SBI Rate is recommended by McNelis (1999) and also Darsono et. al (2002)  as the single instrument rule for managing  inflation gap and output gap in Indonesia. This paper is intends to study the development of policy rule theory and its possibility of those model developed for implementing at Bank Indonesia macroeconomic model.


We have established a visualization system for spatial illuminance, in order to visually recognize the three-dimensional luminous condition in a lighting space. It calculates illumination vector and mean spherical illuminance at every point on a regular grid, and displays them graphically with perspective. This paper describes the simulation and analysis of the luminous environment of a soccer ground and an interior, including the spherical presentation of mean spherical illuminance distribution, color contours of mean spherical illuminance distribution on a certain 2-D section, perspective display of pointing arrows, and isosurface of mean spherical illuminance. These readily understandable presentations enables us to lay the foundations for applying spatial illuminance to the analysis of lighting conditions.


This paper proposes a genetic algorithm to find the optimal array sets for microarray experimental design problems. Based on family competition, heterogeneous pairing selection and two new genetic operators, the proposed method can find the optimal designs of limited experimental materials under a statistical model (ANOVA). The proposed method is applied to several design problems whose numbers of target mRNA samples range from 5 to 70, which are more extensive than classical studies, with different number of arrays. We apply A-optimality criterion to get best possible designs with the smallest average variance when comparisons between all pairs of treatments are of equal interest. Experimental results demonstrate that our approach can find the optimum of each testing problem rapidly.


We consider an overhead crane whose control variables are the length of the rope and force/velocity at the gantry. The output consists of the position of the load. The objective is to design a closed‐loop tracking controller which also takes into account the transient behavior. First we show that this system has no well‐defined relative degree, which unfortunately does not allow to apply established methods for adaptive control to achieve the objective. To circumvent this problem, we design a dynamic state feedback which results in a system with relative degree four. Thereafter, we apply a funnel controller to this feedback system. We show that our approach can be used to move loads from one to another given position in the situation where there are several obstacles which have to be circumnavigated.


In 1905 Andrew Carnegie gave trustees of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching the sum of $10,000,000, the revenue from which would "provide retiring pensions for the teachers of Universities, Colleges, and Technical Schools in our country, Canada and Newfoundland." At the time, few institutions of higher learning in the United States carried pension plans for their faculty members. By 1915, seventy-three colleges and universities were participating in the Carnegie free pension system. Gradually, various contributory systems developed; indeed, today practically all higher education institutions provide retirement benefit programs. The most recent nationwide study of these programs asserts that "the retirement plan is by far the most significant staff benefit plan. It undoubtedly has more long-range influence on the institution . . . than all the other benefit plans together."2 In what follows I shall subject to critical scrutiny the idea of a retirement benefit plan (RBP). A good RBP can appeal considerably to faculty. Most professors place high value on attainment of financial security. As they grow older, their concern increases. Participation in an RBP usually eases this concern. In so doing, it enables faculty to continue to devote their energies with a singleness of purpose to institutional and professional concerns. Since cost of participation (if any) distributes over many years-often amounting to no more than 5 or 6 percent of gross salary-we hear few causes for complaining (at current salary levels, anyway). Faculty awareness that the employing institution contributes equal or greater amounts to the program reduces discontent to a minimum. In a word, faculty incline to perceive participation as relatively painless and a substantial benefit in the long term. Many college and university RBPs, furthermore, are transferable without loss of benefits from one educational institution to another. This feature likely renders an RBP attractive to many faculty. From the viewpoint of the employing college or university, an RB P may appeal for several reasons. First, institutions of higher education compete not only with each other but also with business, industry, and government. An institution's RBP may become an important factor in the professor's decision, especially a professor in his late forties or older, to accept an offer from one college or university rather than another. Of course, since almost all schools provide RB Ps, competition intra-academia probably centers on the relative strength of the plans and not


Within two weeks the patient had developed typical multiple vegetative lesions together with multiple bullae and painful erosions of the buccal mucosa. He was admitted to the East Surrey Hospital and treated as follows: (1) Sulphapyridine.-1 gramme four-hourly until 117 grammes were given. He improved steadily-after an initial lag period of fourteen days-but relapsed completely within seven days of the drug being withdrawn. He exhibited no toxic symptoms and the blood picture, which was normal, remained so. (2) Stovarsol.-6 grains after breakfast and 4 grains after the evening meal in courses of three days-separated by three-day intervals. Again he improved only to relapse after the tenth course despite the fact that the stovarsol was continued. He displayed no intolerance and there was no depression reflected in his blood picture-he was given anahaemin throughout. The deterioration continued and sulphapyridine was exhibited but he was now intolerant with violent vomiting and anorexia. It was therefore decided to treat him with aureomycin, one capsule (250 mg.) twice daily. The response was prompt. Within four days the skin was clear and within seven days the buccal mucosa was of normal appearance. He has now been treated for twenty-two days. (One ampoule twice daily for fifteen days and three ampoules daily for seven days.) There have been no toxic symptoms neither has relapse taken place. POSTSCRIPT (July 1950).-This patient relapsed within three weeks and despite a further course of aureomycin (5,000 mg. in twenty-four days) he showed no improvement. Another patient treated along similar lines with aureomycin made a prompt and complete initial response only to relapse within four weeks.-A. Y.


Aims:  To describe the trend of unintentional hospitalised injury in children aged 0–14 years in New South Wales (NSW), Australia during 1993–1994 to 2004–2005 and to estimate future projections of common child injury hospitalisations from 2006 to 2021.


Quantile regression estimate gives more complete information about the response distribution but is more costly to compute than mean regression. When the dimension is large, a ridge penalty is conventionally used to stabilize the estimate and achieve better bias‐variance trade‐off. We investigate a random projection approach to ease the computational burden and establish its statistical properties. Monte Carlo studies are carried out to illustrate the computational and statistical properties of the estimates.


This study uses a combination of Danish administrative register and survey data on a representative sample aged 18–64 (N = 11,114) to investigate the importance of social bonds to a romantic partner. Results show that people with strong social bonds to their romantic partner offend significantly less than people with weak social bonds to their partner. The study finds no difference in offending between people with weak social bonds to their partner and people without a partner. Additionally, one result shows that strong social bonds matter less for the risk of offending if a person is aged over 30; however, this result is mainly suggestive.


Lonicera japonica var.chinensis and L.fragrantissima potted plants were used to study their physiological response and salt tolerance under NaCl stress.The results showed that the electrical conductivity and MDA content increased with the increasing of salt concentration in both species.There was no obvious rise of H2O2 content in L.japonica var.chinensis,while a higher level of H2O2 content in L.fragrantissima was observed than control.There was a significant generating rate of superoxide radical(O-· 2) at early stage of salt stress in L.japonica var.chinensis,but the time was later than superoxide radical in L.fragrantissima.For L.japonica var.chinensis,the activities of SOD,APX,and CAT increased and then decreased,while the POD activity showed a constant increase during stress process.For L.fragrantissima,the SOD activity increased slightly during NaCl stress,however,the activities of APX and CAT increased first and then decreased.No obvious POD activity increment was detected,only a significant increment was observed under at the end of 100 mmol/L NaCl stress.These results suggested that the two Lonicera species could employantioxidant enzymes to eliminate ROS under salt stress.Meanwhile,the salt tolerance of L.japonica var.chinensis was better than that of L.fragrantissima by rapidly increasing the activities of antioxidant enzymes to decrease the lipid peroxidation level and reduce ROS damage.


Collaborative filtering (CF) is the most classical and widely used recommendation algorithm, which is mainly used to predict user preferences by mining the user's historical data. CF algorithms can be divided into two main categories: user-based CF and item-based CF, which recommend items based on rating information from similar user profiles (user-based) or recommend items based on the similarity between items (item-based). However, since user's preferences are not static, it is vital to take into account the changing preferences of users when making recommendations to achieve more accurate recommendations. In recent years, there have been studies using memory as a factor to measure changes in preference and exploring the retention of preference based on the relationship between the forgetting mechanism and time. Nevertheless, according to the theory of memory inhibition, the main factors that cause forgetting are retroactive inhibition and proactive inhibition, not mere evolutions over time. Therefore, our work proposed a method that combines the theory of retroactive inhibition and the traditional item-based CF algorithm (namely, RICF) to accurately explore the evolution of user preferences. Meanwhile, embedding training is introduced to represent the features better and alleviate the problem of data sparsity, and then the item embeddings are clustered to represent the preference points to measure the preference inhibition between different items. Moreover, we conducted experiments on real-world datasets to demonstrate the practicability of the proposed RICF. The experiments show that the RICF algorithm performs better and is more interpretable than the traditional item-based collaborative filtering algorithm, as well as the state-of-art sequential models such as LSTM and GRU.


Oxidation testing of K Basin-stored N Reactor fuel in dry air, moist air, and moist helium provided reaction rate data for the Spent Nuclear Fuel Project. The tests were performed on small samples from two spent nuclear fuel elements retrieved from the closed canisters of the K West Basin. The spent nuclear fuel samples were tested using a thermogravimetric analysis system modified for moist-gas operation to allow testing in moist environments. The tests were run at constant temperature and water vapor pressure. The moist helium tests used 6.5 H a water vapor, producing seventeen data between 75 C and 210 C. Eight of these data were excluded from primary consideration due to testing anomalies and balance drift issues. Regression analysis of the nine acceptable data provided good assurance that the moist-helium results are consistent with literature data within the temperature range of 25 C to 210 C. Concerns about possible oxygen poisoning from air in-leakage and mass transfer limitations on the test data were reviewed. If oxygen poisoning occurred it was not likely to have biased the data sufficiently to change the basic conclusions of comparability to the literature data. Mass transfer limitations did not appear to have had significant effect on the moist-helium data.


The video security system typically has a plurality of video cameras 70 and a plurality of monitors 24 and/or recorders for displaying and/or recording the output of selected ones of the video cameras. The transmission cable equalisation system 16 acts between a video camera selector 42 and a monitor 24 to equalise signal loss of respective transmission cables between the cameras 70 and the selector 42. A control computer 40 provides a conditioning signal input for the equalisation system for a particular transmission signal route between a particular video camera 70 and the selector 42.


It is with great pleasure that I introduce to you the 2013 Hydrological Sciences Award winner, Dr. Chris Milly. Chris is being honored "for fundamental contributions to our understanding of the connections between land surface processes and hydroclimatic variability." Through Chris's work, the world has a better understanding of how the Earth's energy and water cycles interact at the large scale to determine hydrological quantities, such as streamflow, of fundamental interest to society. He is eminently deserving of this award.


Freud published his ''On Narcissism: An Introduction'' in 1914. The writing has many levels, including, among other things, Freud's criticism of his former colleagues, Adler and Jung. Psychoanalysts received the essay with reservations. Ernest Jones, among others, expressed his concerns in his history of psychoanalysis. The aim of this study is to place Heinz Kohut's ideas about narcissism into the context of the history of ideas. Especially, the paper explores, at a theoretical level, the status of the castration complex both in self psychology and Freud's essay as well as seeks reasons why the discussion on narcissism should be continued.


Title Mapping Existing Research Output Focused on Higher Education Teaching and Learning in Ireland 1990-2015 Authors(s) O'Sullivan, Sara; Gibney, Amanda; Guerin, Suzanne; Staunton, Michael; Kalaitzake, Manolis Publication date 2015-06 Publisher National Forum Link to online version http://www.teachingandlearning.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Project-5-Mapping-Existing-Research-Output.pdf Item record/more information http://hdl.handle.net/10197/6860


The invention relates to an environmental-protection self-snow-melting asphalt pavement admixture and a preparation method thereof. The environmental-protection self-snow-melting asphalt pavement admixture is prepared from a component A, a component B and a component C, wherein the component A is solid particles formed by K or Na or Ca or Mg , and NO or SO4 or CH3COO or PO4 or Cl ; the component B is glycerin or silicone oil or tung oil or vaseline or lanolin; and the component C is NaOH powder or Na2CO3 powder or ore powder. The preparation method comprises the following steps: mixing the component A and the component B, so that the surface of the component A is evenly coated with a layer of component B, and the component C is attached onto the surface of the component A through the component B to form coating particles; and screening, and cooling to obtain the environmental-protection self-snow-melting asphalt pavement admixture. When in use, the admixture is added into the asphalt mixture to be used on the asphalt pavement, thereby reducing the snow melting by salt sprinkling, solving the problems of environment pollution and waste of resources when the snow melting agent is used, effectively preventing the pavement from icing for a long time, lowering the pavement maintenance cost in winter, keeping the roads clear in snowy days, and reducing the incidence rate of traffic accidents.


A vacuum instability due to a massless ghost in a hidden sector can lead to an effective equation of state for dark energy that changes smoothly from w = −3/2 at large redshifts, to w ≈ −1.2 today, to w = −1 in the future. We discuss how this ghost can be the Goldstone boson of Lorentz symmetry breaking, and we find that this breaking in the hidden sector should occur at a scale below ~ 10 KeV. The normal particles that are produced along with the ghosts are then predominantly neutrinos.


Tumorectomy was performed in a patient with hypervascular renal carcinoma on a solitary kidney. Prior to surgery, this patient had mild renal impairement (plasma creatinine 195 mumol/l, creatinine clearance 48 ml/min), but it was noted that 45 days after surgery his renal function had improved (plasma creatinine 142 mumol/l, creatinine clearance 63 ml/min). The hypothesis of a prerenal model of renal impairment is put forward, the probable physiopathological mechanism being a diversion of blood flow from the healthy kidney to the hypervascularized tumoral kidney.


The objective of this study is to place in historical and theoretical perspective some of the major achievements, as well as the shortcomings, in cataloguing and classification during the past hundred years


Palm oil mill effluent (POME) is a source of biogas generation that can be a substitute for fossil fuel. High content of biological oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) of POME has the advantage to produce large amount of biogas through anaerobic digestion. The purpose of this research is to develop a mathematical model to determine the optimal process pathway of biogas, covering from the purification technology to mode of transportation and utilization. A hypothetical case study is conducted to run and test the model, in which different target location with different utilization mode was chosen. The model chose membrane separation of biogas, pipeline transportation to the targeted site, and electricity generation as the optimal pathway for biogas processing and utilization. Sensitivity analysis is performed to determine the impact of product price on the biogas process pathway selection. The sensitivity analysis revealed that the price of Bio-CNG has an impact on the model. Sensitivity analysis suggested the Bio-CNG sales price should be at least 10.4 USD/GJ to be economically feasible.


We assessed the value and safety of using a low voltage test shock to predict cardiac and electrode impedance during subsequent high voltage, transvenous, sequential pulse shocks. Two transvenous defibrillation catheters were inserted in 15 patients undergoing electrophys‐iology study for the evaluation of ventricular tachycardia/fibrillation. A sequential pulse test shock at stored voltage of 50 or 300 volts was delivered during sinus rhythm and high voltage therapeutic shocks were delivered during induced ventricular tachycardia/fibrillation. The test shocks were well tolerated and caused only minimal discomfort. Peak delivered voJtage for each pulse of the test shock ranged from 34 to 116 volts (mean 62 ± 27) and for each pulse of the therapeutic shocks from 186 to 778 volts (mean 435 ± 146). There was a very strong relationship between the impedance of the test shock and the mean impedance of the therapeutic shocks (R = 0.89, P < 0.001). The mean impedance of the test shock was slightly greater than the mean impedance of the test shock as slightly greater than the mean impedance of the therapeutic shocks (mean 90 ± 24 ohms compared to 77 ± 16 ohms, P < 0.001), with a maximum difference between test and therapeutic shock impedances of 39 ohms (mean difference 8.4 ± 10.3 ohms). There was a significant inverse relationship between impedance and peak current (R = ‐ 0.49, P = 0.001). Cardiac and electrode impedance during (ransvenous defibrillafion can be predicted reliably and safely by a low voltage test shock. This technique provides a safe and simple method to ensure appropriate connections and electrode function for subsequent countershock therapies.


Trial by jury was introduced into the autonomous Croatian legal system in 1875 by adapting the Austrian model. The shaping of the institute was affected by internal and, indirectly, external factors. In contrast to the Austrian model, trial by jury in Croatia were restricted by their position in the judicial system, the scope of their competence, the number of courts and the fact that procedural provisions were made stricter to some extent. These restrictions were implemented in order to adapt to the actual conditions in Croatia, in accordance with the liberal political leanings of Croatian legislators who were sceptical of the socially limited environment and the political limitations coming from governments in Vienna and Budapest. The public prosecutor attempted to neutralise the irritation which trial by jury caused in politics by using the tactics of avoiding trial by jury and transferring the centre of gravity of repression to the professional courts. Since this method was inadequate in controlling the opposition press in the authoritarian political sphere which succeeded after 1884, trial by jury were neutralised by suspension and the formal limitation of the institute. However, liberalisation of the prevalent political orientation led to reaffirmation of trial by jury. Thus the development of trial by jury in Croatia and Slavonia took place within the parallel evolution of the legal and social, or rather political aspects of the institution and in the face of authoritarian attitudes towards trials by jury. The key influence on the fate of trial by jury was the political factor, while legal considerations, i.e. the conceptual limitations of the institute, were of secondary importance. The social determinants (social structure, level of education and the lack of a tradition of lay trials) were of indirect importance. The potential for trial by jury to continue developing was cut short by the First World War and all forms of lay trials were extinguished in the new Yugoslav state. In judicial practice proceedings conducted before juries were characterised by the tendency to use investigating reports, with little importance attached to witness statements during the main trial, the tendency of the defence to argue the truthfulness of incriminating allegations, short jury deliberations, the prevalence of acquittals and the imposition of very harsh sentences. Juries were composed mostly of craftsmen and intellectuals, and were multi-ethnic, with a prevalence of Croats, a good proportion of Jews and somewhat fewer Serbs. Although government and Serbian representatives in the Sabor supported the suspension and restriction of juries, complaining of the systematically anti-Serb orientation of jurors, the cases we have analysed from judicial practice provide no basis for such a conclusion. By all means, study of transfer and functioning of the jury trial in Croatian legal system gives a complex picture of the institute as well as its environment.


This pilot meta-analysis based on few reports has suggested a weak association between cellphone use and the risk of acoustic neuroma. These findings will need confirmation by analysis of more research reports. The results of the expanded study will be used as the basis for planning a long-term prospective study of the risk of cancer among long-term users of cell phones.


After years of hype, the use of mobile devices to buy goods and services may be ready for prime time, assuming developers can overcome some obstacles.


This research is aimed to investigate the effectiveness of rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) in order to increase self esteem on junior high school – bullied victim. Rational emotive therapy is a therapy that aimed at changing irrational to be rational thinking so subject may feel him/herself valuable, adequate and accepted. Therapy takes place for ten hours and presented in four sessions with each session takes place about 2,5 hours. Subjects are 10 junior high school – students who physically, verbally and relationally bullied, have low self-esteem and score averagely minimum for IQ. They were divided randomly into five experimental groups and five control groups. Data were collected using Self-Esteem Scale, task sheet, subject house book and interview. Data analysis used non-parametcric statistics, that was comparative test (Mann Whitney and Wilcoxon) to compare the alteration of selfesteem scores on experimental and control groups. The results showed that rational emotive behavior therapy proven to be effective to increase self-esteem from low-category (pretest) to medium-category (post-test) and remains two weeks after the treatment given (p < 0,05). Analysis of qualitative data showed that rational emotive behavior therapy will be more optimal if given to a subject whose intellectual capacity is upper average and is actively involved when therapy is taking place.


The Public-Private-Community Partnership (PPCP) model presented in this chapter has been generated through observation of the development, implementation and evaluation of the !Xaus Lodge / Transfrontier Parks Destinations (TFPD) model. The model incorporates principles of participatory development communication, including the need for dialogue, particularly where there may be differences between partners in ontology and rationality. The primary catalyst for the creation of a PPCP lodge will be more likely in response to a policy such as The White Paper on the Development and Promotion of Tourism in South Africa , Tourism in the Growth, Employment and Redistribution Strategy, responsible tourism and the strategies implemented by the government to operationalise these policies such as land reform and poverty alleviation programmes. The adaptive implementation and (co-)management approach views participation both as a means and as an end. Keywords: !Xaus Lodge; (co-)management approach; adaptive implementation; primary catalyst ; Public-Private-Community Partnership (PPCP) model; South Africa; tourism; Transfrontier Parks Destinations (TFPD) model


Realizing spatial reuse and fairness allocation simultaneously is a main object of Resilient Packet Ring (RPR), and achieving fairness based on flows is reasonable in many situations. This paper presents an algorithm DFAR-BF based on Generalized Processor Sharing(GPS). Each node calculates fairness value according to congestion status independently, and sends feedback packets upstream. Upstream nodes adjust accessing rate of every flow after comparing local and feedback information. Simulation shows that this algorithm achieves fairness and high utilization. It also resists oscillation under unbalance flow scenarios.


Objective: To highlight the need for a continuum of care model for the delivery of psychiatric services in Israel. Conclusion: Crisis assessment teams working in the community in collaboration with community mental health clinics and inpatient psychiatric units are required. The community clinics should have the capacity for providing assertive outreach including home visits as required. General hospital psychiatric units that are able to treat both voluntary and involuntary patients are also needed. The psychiatric service needs to be responsive to special needs groups with high morbidity such as those persons suffering from first-presentation psychosis and post-partum psychiatric illness. Two case vignettes are discussed that demonstrate the need for a continuum of care model.


This paper will examine the idea of the fold arid its assimilation into architecture through philosophy and mathematics. In all its iterations, the fold appears as two constitutive items: the fold as self-similarity, which implies recursion; the fold within the fold, and in turn, the fold as continuous discontinuity. The persistence of this conception of die fold will be demonstrated through a discussion of Leibniz's Monadology, Deleuze's Le Pli, and some mathematical ideas from catastrophe and chaos theory. This raises the issue of continuity between disciplines and thus the philosophical status this confers on the fold.


The conceptual modeling of the HCI is an essential element for being able to reach a true model driven engineering for a large broad of applications. If it is possible to find modeling method which take into account the conceptual modeling level, they are often hard to understand because they use specific formalism which do not facilitate the exchanges with the domain's experts who however are the right people for defining and validating this kind of models. What we propose through our approach is a modeling method of the HCI which, by being based on business process, facilitate the communication between the computer scientists and the domain's experts.


Most writers have focused on the Asian Miracle, the rapid economic growth of the Japanese, South Korean and Chinese nations in East Asia and India accompanied by South East Asian countries. In contrast, the goal of this survey is to explore the factors that threaten Asia's future. To frame his argument the author creates a risk map, a diagnostic tool for foreign policy specialists, journalists and other observers. The factors that make up the risk map include national security, "unfinished political revolutions", "lack of political community", "failed economic reforms" and future demographic risks. The author uses the map to construct a narrative about the serious risks this region faces. Attentive readers are likely to be convinced that Asia is more likely than not to fall prey to these risks in the future.


By constructing an improved interval-delay-dependent Lyapunov functional and introducing an extended Jessen's inequality,the paper proposed a stability analysis of a class of networked control systems with interval time-varying delay and nonlinearity.Neither free weighting nor model transformation is employed in the derivation of system stability criteria.It is shown that the new criteria can provide less conservative and more efficient results than the existing ones.A numerical example is given to demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method.


Welcome to 2012 - a new year in which to invigorate your Branch to make sure your voices are heard through the activities of the QNU in health reform, nursing professional development and industrial campaigns.


Foamed samples of three kinds of PE-HD,including PE-HD 7600M,PE-HD 5000S,and PE-HD 5200,and PE-HD/nano-montmorillonite composites were prepared via extrusion foaming.Crystallization behavior of 7600M,5000S,and 5200B was studied by differential scanning calorimetry(DSC).Density and electron micrographs of the three grades of PE-HD and their nano-OMMT composite foam samples were tested via true density meter and scanning electron microscopy(SEM).The result showed that melt flow rate had effect on the extrusion foaming.The lowest density of the foamed samples was 0.59 g/cm3 when the resin was 5200B and the content of foaming agent was 2 phr.The foaming effect was enhanced when the melt flow rate of the resin was higher.The addition of nano-montmorillonite improved the extrusion foaming of PE-HDs with higher melt flow rates.


In this Project, the students have made some files from the norms, judicial resolutions and journalistic news that deal whit the subjects under study of the Degree in Law, which present a "masculine" vision. To do this, they have discussed in class the norms and language of a sexist nature, completing it with the most recent national and international jurisprudence and have legally framed the journalistic information and have analyzed and systematized it. From here they have made some recommendations to move towards gender equality. In this way, we have achieved that the students have a thorough mastery of the topics studied and become aware of the need to move towards a more egalitarian and fairer society. In addition, we have very useful written material that supports us in class.


A visible orange photoluminescence (PL) was observed at room temperature from a barium titanosilicate BaTiSi2O7. The diffuse-reflection spectrum revealed the presence of an oxygen defect in the Ti–O polyhedral unit. The broad PL with the peak at 580nm was observed by ultraviolet (UV) excitation at 321nm as the PL excitation spectrum maximum, being sufficient for a visual confirmation under UV light. It was suggested that its peculiar PL is related to both the absolutely isolated pyramidal TiO5 unit pair and the oxygen defect in the TiO5 unit in the BaTiSi2O7 phase.


The thesis developed a technical proposal for safety and environmental management to control and protect safety and health of workers exposed to inhalation of particulate matter, in demolition processes of houses between 40 and 60 years of construction, located in the north - central part of Quito, and establish measures to minimize the environmental impact caused by the generation of demolition rubble products.
For develop the proposal, the researcher initiated by the analysis of the legal framework for construction industry and technical aspects of safety, health, hygiene and environment. Then, there were analyzed three processes of demolition and verified many aspects such us, activities and related personnel, current techniques for health and safety standards during the process, hazardous materials as part of structure, environmental management measures to rubble and hazardous waste. In addition in the three demolition processes were took samples to determine the daily exposure to particulate matter of one of the principal activities of the demolition process.
With this information the thesis proposed protection measures for exposed workers to prevent risk of inhalation of particulate matter, and propose how to manage rubble and waste in a safety way. The purpose is to formulate a specific prescription that regulate and monitor demolition activities, linking constructive development, worker safety and environmental protection.


RAID is a data storage virtualization technology that combines multiple disk drive components into a logical unit for the purpose of data redundancy or for the performance improvement. Data is distributed across the drives in several ways which is referred to as RAID levels, depending on the specific level of redundancy and performance requirement. Solid-state drive RAID is a strategy for improving performance that involves dividing and storing the same data on multiple solid state drives.A group of solid-state drives (SSDs) are connected together to create a redundant array of independent disks (RAID). An operating system sees the RAID as one large disk, but since read and write operations are being spread out over multiple disks, inputs/outputs (I/Os) can be carried out simultaneously, so that performance speed can be improved. In this paper we will discusss about various method by which data can be moved to and from other storage devices and how they overcomes the problem that occur when we store data in disk drives.


Indication to carotid endarterectomy (CEA) has been defined by many trials as NASCET [1], ECST [2], ACAS [3], ACST [4], and their revisions. Results have shown a significant benefit of this treatment in the prevention of ipsilateral stroke and death; however these trials did not focused on other secondary end-point, one of which is cognitive deterioration. Patients with carotid stenosis show a neuropsychological syndrome with decline of cognitive function and poor psychological well-being [5], but the association between carotid disease and cognitive impairment is not defined [6]. The atherosclerotic plaque can be theoretically responsible of cognitive deterioration secondary to multiple cerebral infarctions or by reducing the cerebral blood flow. Vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease often coexist in elderly [7]; moreover, it has recently observed that patients who suffered ischemic cerebrovascular events have greater risk of developing dementia [8]. About the second pathogenetic mechanism, it has been recently shown that cognitive impairment and decline are associated with asymptomatic high grade stenosis of the left internal carotid artery [9] CEA increased postoperative brain perfusion might improve cognition in patients with vascular dementia. As some studies report an improvement of cognitive function, while others more recent studies do not show significant cognitive progress and few proved impairment [10-14], the role of CEA in the prevention of cognitive deterioration results controversial. The purpose of this study is to investigate changes in cognitive function following CEA for high-degree internal carotid artery stenosis in a sample of asymptomatic patients with non-compromised cognitive function and with mild vascular dementia at baseline.


Recently there has been a surge of interest in neural architectures for complex structured learning tasks. Along this track, we are addressing the supervised task of relation extraction and named-entity recognition via recursive neural structures and deep unsupervised feature learning. Our models are inspired by several recent works in deep learning for natural language. We have extended the previous models, and evaluated them in various scenarios, for relation extraction and namedentity recognition. In the models, we avoid using any external features, so as to investigate the power of representation instead of feature engineering. We implement the models and proposed some more general models for future work. We will briefly review previous works on deep learning and give a brief overview of recent progresses relation extraction and named-entity recognition.


The purpose of this study is to describe and com pare the methods used by Thorndike, Thurstone, and Rasch for calibrating test items. Thorndike and Thur stone represent a traditional psychometric approach to this problem, whereas Rasch represents a more mod em conceptualization derived from latent trait theory. These three major theorists in psychological and edu cational measurement were concerned with a common set of issues that seem to recur in a cyclical manner in psychometric theory. One such issue involves the in variance of item parameters. Each recognized the im portance of eliminating the effects of an arbitrary sam ple in the estimation of item parameters. The differ ences generally arise from the specific methods chosen to deal with the problem. Thorndike attempted to solve the problem of item invariance by adjusting for mean differences in ability distributions. Thurstone ex tended Thorndike's work by proposing two adjust ments which included an adjustment for differences in the dispersions of ability in addition to Thomdike's adjustment for mean differences. Rasch's method im plies a third adjustment, which involves the addition of a response model for each person in the sample. Data taken from Trabue (1916) are used to illustrate and compare how Thomdike, Thurstone, and Rasch would approach a common problem, namely, the cali bration of a single set of items administered to several groups.


This thesis has been dedicated to explore the feasibilities of applying composite biomaterials to bone reconstruction in jawbones and skulls. The composite biomaterials used in our studies are composed of a polymer matrix and various calcium phosphate particles. The polymer matrix is made of a high-molecular-weight aliphatic polymer called poly(trimethylene carbonate)(PTMC) and it has taken different forms of membranes and disc-shaped porous scaffolds in different studies. The polymer of poly(trimethylene carbonate) possesses good mechanical properties for biomedical applications and can be degraded in vivo by enzymes via a surface erosion procedure. Thus, its good mechanical properties are maintained during degradation. The calcium phosphate particles used in our studies included β-tricalcium phosphate and biphasic calcium phosphate, a mixture of β-tricalcium phosphate and hydroxyapatite at a ratio of 20:80. β-tricalcium phosphate particles are known to conduct new bone formation in bone defects and biphasic calcium phosphate particles with micro pores have been shown to induce new bone formation. Although we did not find any positive effect of the composite materials on bone formation, the idea of incorporating calcium phosphate particles into PTMC matrices is promising. The optimal content of calcium phosphate particles in PTMC matrices needs to be determined to obtain composite materials which not only fill bone defects but also stimulate bone formation.


In addition to vertical time shifts commonly observed in time-lapse seismic images, horizontal displacements are apparent as well. These apparent horizontal displacements may be small relatively to seismic wavelengths, perhaps only 5 m at depths of 5 km, but they consistently suggest an outward lateral expansion of images away from a compacting reservoir. It is well known that apparent vertical displacements are caused mostly by a decrease in seismic wave velocities above compacting reservoirs. Those same velocity changes contribute to horizontal displacements. This contribution can be computed from the velocity changes that, in turn, can be estimated from measured vertical displacements. Horizontal displacements computed in this way are similar to those measured, and this similarity suggests that horizontal as well as vertical displacements may be largely due to velocity changes.


Against the background of a continuing biodiversity loss there is a strong need to improve the interfaces
between science and policy. Many approaches for such interfaces exist, the most recent being the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). A less prominent approach to interface science with policy consists of research projects directly linking with decision makers. Here we present insights and recommendations on how to do this successfully, highlighting among others the role of facilitating
mutual learning and enhancing interface expertise in institutions.


The generalized system function,associated with the radiated or scattered fields is presented in this paper,which is constructed by applying a windowed interpolation model-based parameter estimation technique.By analyzing the characteristics of poles of this system function in the operational frequency band,the resonant frequency and Q-value of the antenna and scattering systems are determined.Compared with the generalized MBPE procedure,this windowed scheme can reduce Pade function to only four orders,which effectively alleviates the problem such as ill-condition,low calculation efficiency etc.caused by high-order matrix.


Patient charges are increasingly advocated by government as a policy tool to raise revenue and regulate the utilization of primary health care. Since the Conservative government came to power in 1979, the charge for NHS prescriptions has risen sharply from 20 pence per item in 1979 to £3.05 in April 1990. Charges for sight testing were introduced in April 1989. An introduction, or increase, in patient charges often provokes fierce political and medical debate about likely effects on patients. Such debate can be informed by empirical evidence from the growing number of economic studies in the US and UK which quantify the statistical relationship between patient charges and health care utilization. This paper reviews the evidence on drug prescriptions and patient charges and presents data for the UK. The implications of patient charges for the efficiency and equity of primary health care provision are considered.


This paper analyzes the dynamics of a G0 cell cycle model of pluripotential stem cells so we can understand the origin of the long period oscillations of blood cell levels observed in periodic chronic myelogenous leukemia (PCML). The model dynamics are described by a system of two delayed differential equations. We give conditions for the local stability of the nontrivial steady state. We use these conditions to study when stability is lost and oscillations occur, and how various parameters modify the period of these oscillations. We consider a limiting case of the original model in order to compute an explicit solution and give an exact form of the period and the amplitude of oscillations. We illustrate these results numerically and show that the main parameters controlling the period are the cellular loss (the differentiation rate $\delta$ and the apoptosis rate $\gamma$), while the cell regulation parameters (proliferation rate $\beta$ and cell cycle duration $\tau$) mainly influence the amplitude.


The goal of this project is to develop a complete, fully detailed 3D interactive model of the human body and systems in the human body, and allow the user to interacts in 3D with all the elements of that system, to teach students about human anatomy. Some organs, which contain a lot of details about a particular anatomy, need to be accurately and fully described in minute detail, such as the brain, lungs, liver and heart. These organs are need have all the detailed descriptions of the medical information needed to learn how to do surgery on them, and should allow the user to add careful and precise marking to indicate the operative landmarks on the surgery location. Adding so many different items of information is challenging when the area to which the information needs to be attached is very detailed and overlaps with all kinds of other medical information related to the area. Existing methods to tag areas was not allowing us sufficient locations to attach the information to. Our solution combines a variety of tagging methods, which use the marking method by selecting the RGB color area that is drawn in the texture, on the complex 3D object structure. Then, it relies on those RGB color codes to tag IDs and create relational tables that store the related information about the specific areas of the anatomy. With this method of marking, it is possible to use the entire set of color values (R, G, B) to identify a set of anatomic regions, and this also makes it possible to define multiple overlapping regions.


Iron(iii) diamine sarcophagine (DiAmsar) has attracted great attention in biological and medical applications. In particular, for any potential in vivo application, knowledge about the interaction of iron(iii) DiAmsar with serum albumin is crucial. As a step towards the elucidation of the fate of iron(iii) DiAmsar introduced into an organism, first, iron(iii) DiAmsar was synthesised and characterised. In the next step, interactions of iron(iii) DiAmsar with human serum albumin (HSA) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) were systematically investigated by various spectroscopic methods (Fourier-transform infrared, UV-visible, fluorescence) and cyclic voltammetry and molecular docking techniques under simulated physiological conditions. The fluorescence intensities of HSA and BSA decreased remarkably with increasing concentration of iron(iii) DiAmsar. The Stern–Volmer quenching constant KSV at different temperatures and corresponding thermodynamic parameters such as ΔHo, ΔGo, and ΔSo were calculated. The binding distance of iron(iii) DiAmsar with HSA and BSA was also determined using the theory of fluorescence energy transfer. Further, the conformational changes of HSA and BSA induced by iron(iii) DiAmsar were analysed by means of Fourier-transform (FT)-IR. In addition, molecular docking was performed to explore the possible binding sites and the microenvironment conditions around the bound iron(iii) DiAmsar.


This work overviews the interface choices made for the 1:1 on-module buses and the 2:1 off-module buses. Custom circuits used, data recovery methods, signal integrity design and the system verification using register based diagnostics and eye margin mapping. The hardware based verification methods that heavily rely on the interface register based diagnostics and margin mapping are explained.


The signal detection technique to control the working-point by closed-loop is an effective method of interferometric fiber-optic sensors.The arithmetic of signal demodlation is improved based on the traditional method,which achieves the wider dynamic range,the bigger speed of detection and the higher precision of demodulation.The demodulation error is analyzed and simulated theoretically.The conclusion is that the measurable amplitude of the dynamic phase change and the permitted varying range of the working-point restrict each other.To validate the improved arithmetic,a simple Mach-Zehnder interferometer is designed.The experimental results have proved its correctness.


In structural study of seven bile acids it was identified that their propensity for solvate formation is directly related to the packing efficiency of the unsolvated phases: low packing index, voids, and unsatisfied hydrogen bonding lead to extensive solvate formation, whereas efficient packing leads to the opposite. This was determined to be caused by the presence of OH group attached to carbon C12. Solvate formation was determined to provide a noticeable improvement in the packing efficiency for compounds having ansolvates with inefficient packing.


F I G U R E 1 (a) Swelling of the lip. (b) Histopathology, showing granulomatous inflammatory infiltrates (H&E staining, ×100), forming noncaseating granuloma (c, H&E staining, ×400). (d) Perianal papules and nodules with swelling and tenderness. (e) Computed tomography, showing subcutaneous air accumulation in the left buttock. (f) Incision and drainage for subcutaneous abscess of the buttock. (g) Colonoscopy, showing cobblestone appearance of the ileum. (h) Histopathology, showing granulomatous inflammatory infiltrates (H&E staining, ×100) with multinucleated giant cells in the dermis (i, H&E staining, ×400) (a) (b) (c)


Occurrence, transformation, and fate of antibiotics in municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are becoming an emerging environmental research area. As pseudopersistent pollutants, antibiotics belonging to 6 classes (i.e., β-lactams, sulfonamides, quinolones, tetracyclines, macrolides, and others) have been frequently detected in sewage, activated sludge, digested sludge, and effluents. The authors summarized the latest information on occurrence, transformation, and fate of antibiotics in WWTPs based on more than 90 papers published in the past 8 years. The results show that extensive researches on antibiotics occurrence have been conducted mainly in East Asia, North America, Europe, and Australia. Adsorption, biodegradation, disinfection, and membrane separation were the dominant removal routes for antibiotic in different wastewater treatment processes of WWTPs. Many antibiotics cannot be removed completely in wastewater treatment processes and would enter into environment via effluent and sludge.


Deployment of global navigation satellite system (GNSS) buoy system as an array in a wide ocean is expected as a powerful tool for monitoring tsunami and ocean bottom crustal deformation in the region [1]. IoT non-terrestrial network (NTN) [2] is crucial to realize the system since the buoys are deployed in the ocean. In the GNSS buoy array, although data size sent from each buoy is small, it requires to accommodate more than 10 buoys while the satellite link in available. In this case, grant-free access, which brings advantages of low latency and small signaling overhead, is expected. In this work, the use of uplink based on non-orthogonal multiple access (UL-NOMA) [3] is evaluated as grant-free access in the GNSS buoy array. We propose a method of generating a low-density signature of NOMA by buoy's location (latitude and longitude) for reducing the signaling overhead and latency.


Types and uses of business technology are constantly evolving, causing business schools to constantly play catch-up with what's going on in industry. Interest in Information Systems as an undergraduate business major has waned since the technology bubble burst many years ago. Still, graduates in all disciplines must not only be trained in business technologies but must also embrace these technologies as essential elements of professional success. Leaders in the IT field, both academics and practitioners are re-thinking the rationale behind the traditional IS undergraduate curriculum. For the first time, a variety of career tracks under the business technology umbrella are being proposed. This paper describes a number of the changes taking place and prescribes a new focus for both an undergraduate technology major and supporting technology minors. This new focus is termed business systems analysis.


Historical urban textures are cultural heritages that can be expressed with their natural, cultural, visual and semantic characteristics and raise in value with


Marine fishes have a large parasitological fauna being able to produce or have toxins which can cause any type of adverse reaction that can condemn fishes. The aim of this work is to evaluate the freshness of pescada branca (Cynoscion leiarchus) marketed in coast towns located in the south of Espírito Santo State and set up parasitological indices (frequency and medium intensity of infection) in these animals found in that area. Five samples of pescada branca (C. leiarchus) in four establishments in each town named Piúma, Anchieta, Itapemirim and Marataízes were collected. Town called Presidente Kennedy was the only one where fishes were collected in one establishment. Samples were set in thermal boxes with ice, identified and sent to Parasitological Laboratory in Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo. Fishes were evaluated in relation to freshsness, measured, weighted, and necropsy were further made to evaluate parasitological level in muscle and celomatic cavity. Nematodes collected were cleaned in water and fixed in AFA solution for 24 hours. To the living worms, AFA solution was heated up to 60oC, so they can die stretched. After 24 hours, all worms were clarified by acid latic + phenol solution and identified thru optic microscope. From a total of 125 fishes examined, 25 worms with zoonotic potential were found being 21 from Contracaecum sp. genus and 4 from Pseudoterranova sp. genus, therefore the frequency found was 20% and the mean intensity was of 2,27 parasites/hosts. The results indicate the presence of nematodes cited in Revista Brasileira de Higiene e Sanidade Animal Brazilian Journal of Hygiene and Animal Sanity ISSN: 1981-2965


The invention discloses a server, a client terminal, an authentication system, a user authentication method and a data access method. The user authentication method comprises the steps that a first message which is used for requesting authentication of a user of the client terminal and sent by the client terminal is received, wherein the first message carries first authentication information and second authentication information, the first authentication information and the second authentication information correspond to the user, the first authentication information includes input information of the user, and the second authentication information includes card swiping information of the user; whether the first authentication information is matched with the second authentication information is judged; if the first authentication information is matched with the second authentication information, a second message used for expressing that the authentication succeeds is sent to the client terminal. In this way, the technical problem that existing user authentication schemes are lack of security is solved.


Small proteins, those encoded by open reading frames, with less than or equal to 50 codons, are emerging as an important class of cellular macromolecules in all kingdoms of life. However, they are recalcitrant to detection by proteomics or in silico methods. Ribosome profiling (Ribo-seq) has revealed widespread translation of sORFs in diverse species, and this has driven the development of ORF detection tools using Ribo-seq read signals. However, only a handful of tools have been designed for bacterial data, and have not yet been systematically compared. Here, we have performed a comprehensive benchmark of ORF prediction tools which handle bacterial Ribo-seq data. For this, we created a novel Ribo-seq dataset for E. coli, and based on this plus three publicly available datasets for different bacteria, we created a benchmark set by manual labeling of translated ORFs using their Ribo-seq expression profile. This was then used to investigate the predictive performance of four Ribo-seq-based ORF detection tools we found are compatible with bacterial data (Reparation_blast, DeepRibo, Ribo-TISH and SPECtre). The tool IRSOM was also included as a comparison for tools using coding potential and RNA-seq coverage only. DeepRibo and Reparation_blast robustly predicted translated ORFs, including sORFs, with no significant difference for those inside or outside of operons. However, none of the tools was able to predict a set of recently identified, novel, experimentally-verified sORFs with high sensitivity. Overall, we find there is potential for improving the performance, applicability, usability, and reproducibility of prokaryotic ORF prediction tools that use Ribo-Seq as input. Key points Created a benchmark set for Ribo-seq based ORF prediction in bacteria DeepRibo the first choice for bacterial ORF prediction tasks Tool performance is comparable between operon vs single gene regions Identification of novel sORF with DeepRibo is, with restrictions, possible, by using the top 100 novel sORFs sorted by rank. Experimental results show that considering translation initiation site data could boost the detection of novel small ORFs Determination of novel sORFs in E. coli using a new experimental protocol to enrich for translation initiation site. These data-set shows that still a significant part (here 8 out 24, so 1/3) are not detected dispute sufficient Ribo-seq signal. An additional 7 could be recovered using translation initiation site protocols. Tools should embrace the use of replicate data and improve packaging, usability and documentation.


This paper expounds the geography and history of Anduo Tibetan areas,analyzes the national sports and cultural characteristics in Anduo areas and points out the social values such as sports tourist development and the increasing of national cohesion.Its rich cultural connotation and the particular health value especially make it have wide potential for development in aspects like nationwide fitness,school physical education,competitive sports and sports tourism.


I was interested in the article titled, "Falls among elderly and its relation with their health problems and surrounding environmental factors in Riyadh" published in your journal.[1] The main objective of the study was to determine the prevalence of falls in the elderly and identify risk factors associated with them. I appreciate the study since not much research has been done in Saudi Arabia on the falls of elderly people.[2] The authors concluded that 57.7% of the elderly participants in their study had a history of a fall, a percentage which is much higher than reported in other studies. Also important was the significant role the environment played in the falls. A few clarifications are necessary here.


This survey of 957 Latino immigrant adults in urban and suburban communities in the greater Kansas City metropolitan area explores the migration experiences, employment contexts, family structures, and integration processes of an emerging and rapidly growing immigrant population. The study is an example of community-driven research, conducted by a nonprofit community development and immigrant rights organization in close partnership with local immigrant leaders.


This document provides an assessment of hazards as required by the National Environmental Policy Act for the alternative of restarting the reactor at the Transient Reactor Test (TREAT) facility by the Resumption of Transient Testing Program. Potential hazards have been identified and screening level calculations have been conducted to provide estimates of unmitigated dose consequences that could be incurred through this alternative. Consequences considered include those related to use of the TREAT Reactor, experiment assembly handling, and combined events involving both the reactor and experiments. In addition, potential safety structures, systems, and components for processes associated with operating TREAT and onsite handling of nuclear fuels and experiments are listed. If this alternative is selected, a safety basis will be prepared in accordance with 10 CFR 830, "Nuclear Safety Management," Subpart B, "Safety Basis Requirements."


The article studies the transformations of international public relations (PR), between 1943 and 1950, in the context of North American private industry, linked to the development of the Photographic Project of the Standard Oil Company (New Jersey), which sought the construction of a new myth about transnational capitalism, which will connect the economy, society and culture, beyond national states, amid a discursive crisis generated by World War II and the dominant populist and folklorist ideologies. It is demonstrated that this multinational, seeking to face an image crisis, revolutionized the field of public relations, from the use of a visual communication device, called industrial documentary photography, which would allow to connect in an unpublished and contradictory way, around the history of oil, to the United States with societies around the globe, mainly with Latin America.


Every genre of literature transforms with time by the means of form and content. Ghazal is the most popular and form-based genre of Urdu Literature. Though very confirmed and defined in its structure and form, Ghazal has also changed its structure and form with time. Especially in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, when new experiments are being performed particularly with the casting of this ancient kind of literature, Ghazal underwent many transformations in the name of modernity. This article encompasses these changes and modernization of Urdu Ghazal in the contemporary era and near past.


A general, mild, efficient and practical approach for the construction of functionalized γ-carboline derivatives has been successfully realized in water through a one-pot three-component reaction involving several aryl/hetero-aryl/alkyl/alkenyl/alkynyl/ferrocenyl aldehydes, 3-formyl indole derivatives and ammonium acetate as a cheap N-source. The most important feature of the current methodology is that this hetero-annulation reaction of indole to γ-carboline can occur in good to excellent yields with wider substrate scope at room temperature in water, starting from simple inexpensive raw materials under catalyst-free and oxidant-free conditions. Moreover, a facile access to pentacyclic quinolinone fused carboline derivative has been achieved through our methodology.


Indentifying anomaly correlations between data sets is the basis for rationalizig geopotential interpretation and theory. A procedure is presented that constitutes an effective process for identifying correlative features between the two or more geopotential data sets. Anomaly features that show direct, inverse, or no correlations between the data may be separated by applying filters in the frequency domains of the data sets. The correlation filter passes or rejects wavenumbers between co-registered data sets based on the correlation coefficient between common wavenumbers as given by the cosine of their phase difference. This study includes an example of Magsat magnetic anomaly profile that illustrates the usefulness of the procedure for extracting correlative features between the data sets.


Bismuth-based oxides with chemical formula ABiO3, where A = Ca, Zn, Mg, have been recently synthesized and suggested to host ferroelectricity. As these materials possess favorable optical properties, the presence of ferroelectricity with large polarization would further enhance the possible applications, for example, in photovoltaics by improving the separation of charge carriers. In this work, first-principles Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations are performed to study the relative stability of the different polymorphs and to investigate the structural, electronic, and ferroelectric properties. Furthermore, the effect of compressive and tensile in-plane strain on the polarization and electronic properties is also considered. Our study suggests that CaBiO3 should have a large electric polarization (1.8 C/m2) comparable to the one of BiFeO3. Interestingly, the very high polarization appears with only slightly anomalous values of Born effective charges, which would point out a dominant ionic contribution. Our results call for further studies, both from experimental and theoretical sides, to confirm the large electric polarization CaBiO3 predicted in this work. For ZnBiO3 and MgBiO3, we have demonstrated that, up to large values of strain, the perovskite structure retains favorable ferroelectric and electronic (band gap) properties.


Non-edible plant biomass (lignocellulose) is a valuable precursor for liquid biofuels, through the processes of pretreatment and saccharification followed by fermentation into products such as ethanol or butanol. However, it is difficult to gain access to the fermentable sugars in lignocellulose, and this problem is principally associated with limited enzyme accessibility. Hence, biomass pretreatments that destroy native cell wall structure and allows enzyme access are required for effective biomass conversion techniques. This research studied two novel pretreatment methods on two wood species: 1) a deep eutectic solvent (DES) that, under heat, swells lignocellulose and partially solubilizes cell wall materials by causing breakage of lignincarbohydrate linkages and depolymerization of the biomass components, and 2) a chelatormediated Fenton reaction (CMF) that chemically modifies the nanostructure of the cell wall through a non-enzymatic cell wall deconstruction. After pretreatment, utilizing analytical techniques such as nuclear magnetic spectroscopy, wide angle x-ray scattering, and gel permeation chromatography, samples were analyzed for chemical and structural changes in the solubilized and residual materials. After single stage DES (choline-chloride-glycerol) and two stage, CMF followed by DES pretreatments, lignin/carbohydrate fractions were recovered, leaving a cellulose-rich fraction with reduced lignin and hemicellulose content as determined by compositional analysis. Lignin and heteropolysaccharide removal by DES was quantified and the aromatic-rich solubilized biopolymer fragments were analyzed as water insoluble high molecular weight fractions and water-ethanol soluble low molecular weight compounds. After pretreatment for the hardwood sample, enzyme digestibility reached a saccharification yield of 78% (a 13-fold increase) for the two stage (DES/CMF) pretreated biomass even with the presence of some lignin and xylan remained on the pretreated fiber; only a 9-fold increase was observed after the other sequence of CMF followed by DES treatment. Single stage CMF treatment or single stage DES pretreatment improved 5-fold glucose yield compared to the untreated sample for the hardwood sample. The enhancement of enzymatic saccharification for softwood was less than that of hardwoods with only 4-fold increase for the sequence CMF followed by DES treatment. The other sequence of treatments reached up to 2.5-fold improvement. A similar result was determined for the single stage CMF treatment while the single stage DES treatment reached only 1.4-fold increase compared to the untreated softwood. Hence, all these pretreatments presented different degrees of biopolymer removal from the cell wall and subsequent digestibility levels; synergistic effects were observed for hardwood particularly in the sequence DES followed by CMF treatment while softwoods remained relatively recalcitrant. Overall, these studies revealed insight into two novel methods to enhance lignocellulosic digestibility of biomass adding to the methodology to deconstruct cell walls for fermentable sugars. General Audience Abstract Wood is a valuable material that can be used to produce liquid biofuels. Wood main components are biopolymers cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin that form a complex structure. Nature has locked up cellulose in a protective assembly that needs to be destroyed to gain access to cellulose, convert it to glucose and then ferment it to bioalcohol. This process is principally associated with limited enzyme accessibility. Therefore, biomass pretreatments that deconstruct native cell wall structure and allow enzyme access are required for effective biomass conversion techniques. This research studied two novel pretreatment methods on two wood species: 1) a deep eutectic solvent called glyceline that, under heat, swells wood and partially solubilizes cell wall materials by causing breakage of bonds and converting it into smaller molecules (monomers and oligomers), and 2) a chelator-mediated Fenton system (CMF) that chemically modifies the structure of the cell wall. Pretreatments were tested individually and in sequence in sweetgum and southern yellow pine. After pretreatments, utilizing analytical techniques, fractions were investigated for chemical and structural changes in the solubilized and residual materials. Treated wood samples were exposed to enzymatic conversion. A maximum 78% of glucose yield was obtained for the glyceline followed by CMF pretreated wood. For yellow pine only a 24% of glucose yield was obtained for the CMF followed by glyceline treatment. All these pretreatments presented different degrees of biopolymer removal from the cell wall and subsequent enzyme conversion levels. Overall, these studies revealed insight into two novel methods to enhance wood conversion adding to the methodology to deconstruct cell walls for


Background: Work related neck pain (WRNP) is common among professionals. Its cause is multifactorial and results in loss of productivity and avoidable morbidity. Aims & Objectives: To estimate the prevalence and risk factors of WRNP among the support staff of a tertiary hospital. Material & Methods: 558 support staff were randomly selected to estimate the prevalence of neck pain. Staff with severe WRNP were then included in a nested case control study to identify risk factors. Results: 37% of workers reported neck pain in the preceding 3 months. Female gender, improper posture, jobs requiring repetitive movements, perception of decreased job control, high body mass index and psychosocial stress were identified as the significant risk factors. Conclusion: Better ergonomics, improving the perception of job control and encouraging micro breaks during the work time may decrease WRNP.


In the initial days of the netting, content was designed and hosted by a single person, group, or organization. But these days' webpages are increasingly composed of content from countless unrelated "third-party" websites in the business of advertising, analytics, social networking, and more. Third-party services have tremendous value: they support free content and facilitate web innovation. But third-party services come at a privacy cost: researchers, civil society organizations, and policymakers have increasingly called attention to how third parties can track a user's browsing activities across websites. This paper surveys the current policy debate surrounding third-party web tracking and explains the relevant technology. It also presents the Fourth-Party web measurement platform and studies we have conducted with it. Our aim is to inform re-searchers with essential background and tools for contributing to public understanding and policy debates about web tracking. Keywords-Web privacy; third-party tracking.


Since the universe is created, it essentially stands as a witness to Allah's attribute of creativity and power along with His many other attributes. At the same time because it addresses to the perception of conscious beings, it leads to the creation of knowledge. The universe signifies the knowledge of Allah, as it signifies his attributes, and the knowledge of human as it is the humans' perception. The dual structure of the universe both presents the source and the solution of the problem. The fact that both problem and its solution exist together in the universe creates a paradox for human mind. For a mind that perceives the universe as in the natural/mental process rather than the fact that it is created, the universe is an open phenomenal field and has nothing ambiguous in it. Therefore, such a mind is obliged to perceive the universe as a fully autonomous system. Whilst the mind that perceives the universe as a created entity, because it does not have the "open" conscious like the previous one, may face the danger of perceiving the universe mythically. A mind that only accepts that the universe is created and has no other knowledge on the matter cannot fully leave the mythical understanding. Therefore, seeing the universe both mythical and factual is a feature of the mind. From this point of view, the "anti-religion" understanding of all the materialist formations starting with the enlightenment philosophy seems to be very consistent in and of themselves. The revelation may be a guide to a mind that can understand the fact that the universe is created. It is not possible for it to guide the mind that cannot get passed that threshold. In this context, it is quite interesting that in the Qur'an it is frequently declared that Allah is the creator. The knowledge that Allah is the creator is not merely a knowledge but at the same time and maybe even more importantly a sign that the mind is ready to understand the revelation. This is where the faith occurs theologically. Once the mind is ready to understand the revelation, the "knowledge" phase begins. The knowledge on the formal level that cannot produce the readiness of the mind for the revelation cannot move on to the rational truths in the Qur'an. The objection of those who were the first to receive the call of the prophets, with a common voice, "This is nothing but magic", is nothing but the objection of the "false" open mind. By making the universe an "open" phenomenal field, the human mind can make a mistake that is difficult to get rid of by thinking that the universe will be truly open, and therefore it has to see revelation as the source of the problem. The objection "This is nothing but magic." cannot be limited to the messengers of the message. This objection has epistemological grounds. The fact the those who objected it at the first place gave up on their objections after they truly understood the revelation shows us that this objection was not merely about will at the first place. Since the objection "This is nothing but magic." has epistemological grounds, it shows us that this call cannot be understood as its limited formal structure. The call of the prophets to the revelation, to put into today's words, is related to all the knowledge areas starting with "the philosophy of education". The call to revelation is not an alternative call but a true, rational call with no alternatives. Similarly, all epistemological domains that are problematic with revelation have the same background in the objection "This is an obvious magic". Those who said "This is obvious magic" said this with the confidence of making a rational determination about the universe and life but Qur'an states that this is not the truth. When magic is considered within the framework of its use in the Quran, apart from its populist meaning, it starts with the history of humanity and continues with the same importance. The distance between the event and perception of it reveals the degree of the magic. The language of magic is not a utopic one, instead it is a language that is rational enough to be in use within the society. When a person does not recognize magic, he falls under the effect of magic, and when he does, he gets rid of it. The mind that thinks the magic is over is the mind that is exposed to magic the most.


This research aims to determine the effect of leadership style, work discipline and work motivation on employee performance at Bank BNI Syariah in Medan. This type of research is quantitative research and uses primary data and secondary data, data collection techniques used in this study using questionnaires, interviews and literature studies, this research population is all employees at Bank BNI Syariah, Medan City. The sample used in this study is a saturated sample by making all employees of Bank BNI Syariah Medan City, amounting to 40 respondents. Data analysis using multiple linear regression. All data were processed and analyzed using SPSS version 16.00. The results of the study processed with SPSS version 16.00 showed that the R square value was 0.560 or 56%. This means that 56% of performance variations can be explained by variations in the three independent variables namely leadership style, work discipline and work motivation. while the rest (100% - 56% = 44%) is explained by causes outside the model. The results of the study (T Test) stated that the leadership style had a negative effect and significantly did not affect the performance of employees at Bank BNI Syariah, Medan City. Whereas the work discipline and work motivation variables have a positive and significant effect on the performance of employees at Bank BNI Syariah, Medan City. Results (Test F) with a significance value of 0.000 <0.05 indicate that leadership style, work discipline and work motivation simultaneously have a positive and significant effect on employee performance at Bank BNI Syariah, Medan City.


An approach to automating the design of memory-based VLSI architectures for FIR (finite impulse response) filters has been developed. The automation is based on the exploration of the design space and schemes for efficient memory replacement, algorithm formulation, architecture design, and evaluation method. Various schemes and design considerations were integrated to produce a parameterized MBA (memory-based architecture) that can easily be tuned to various hardware-speed requirements. This MBA is characterized by three design parameters. Differently configured MBAs result from specifying different values for these parameters. Hardware-speed evaluation formulas were established based on the required elements in MBAs. These elements include ROM, adders, and shift registers. These formulas and a cell library of a target technology can be used to design an optimally configured MBA by searching for the best values of the design parameters with the aid of a computer. Using the evaluation formulas and the parameterized architecture, an area-minimized architecture can be synthesized under a speed specification. Based on these results, an automatic synthesis too has been developed. >


A firewall is a software program or hardware with software program that creates a security perimeter whose main function is control unauthorized access of incoming and outgoing data or information over a network. Firewalls protect you from offensive software that may come to reside on your systems or from prying hackers. When connected to the internet, even a standalone PC or a network of interconnected computers make easy targets for malicious software & unscrupulous hackers. A firewall can offer the security that makes you less vulnerable and also protect your data from being compromised or your computers being taken hostage. A firewall protects the flow of traffic over internet and is less restrictive of outward and inward information and also provides internal user the illusion of anonymous FTP and www connectivity to internet.


Effective teachers use a variety of pedagogies to engage a wider diversity of students, providing a more equitable classroom. In this workshop, participants will explore the use of feminist and liberative pedagogies in CSET classrooms. These pedagogies are founded on the ideals of social justice and democracy. The workshop will include discussions of classroom management strategies, critiques and redesign of the engineering process, and assessment and evaluation of student learning. Participants will leave the workshop with a list of concrete ideas for implementing feminist and liberative pedagogies and an annotated bibliography of helpful references. This workshop continues the collaborative work of these authors, presented in a 2004 Special Session and a 2005 Paper Session at FIE conferences


Hans-Herbert Kögler ' s essay is an original and illuminating contribution to the discussion on how to ethically approach the Russo-Ukrainian War. 1 In my response, I concentrate on the aspects of Kögler ' s essay where he emphasizes the necessity of understanding the ' rationality ' of Russia ' s actions – as a condition of eventual negotiations and peace-making. I will focus on four themes, promoted by the Russian Orthodox Church – Russkii mir , Eurasianism, collective versus individual rights, and militarism – the conjunction of which provides theological hermeneutics consistent with the invasion of Ukraine. Kögler is right in pointing out that the expansionist character of Russia did not appear overnight in February 2022 but was building over the last decades. Over this period, Russia has internalized, yet again, the imperialist motif of its czarist and Soviet history. One could wonder to what extent the Russian political leadership is under the influence of Alexander Dugin or, indeed, any other philosophical or ideological frameworks of thought. However, I suggest that there has been an overlapping consensus, to use a Rawlsian term, between Russian policymakers, conservative intellectuals and the Church, which made the 2022 invasion actively or passively supported by the majority of the Russian population. The arguments to which different players appeal vary, but they


The interaction of isofraxidin with human immune gamma globulin(HGG) was studied in vitro by fluorescence spectra and FT-IR.The binding and thermodynamic parameters for the reaction were calculated according to Sips procedure and Gibbs-Helmholtz equation respectively at different temperatures. Molecular docking was used to calculate the interaction modes between isofraxidin and HGG. The Sips plots suggested that the binding of HGG to isofraxidin at 297,303,310 and 317 K was characterized by two binding sites with the average affinity constants k_0 at 10.708,9.152,7.084,5.386 L/mol, respectively.The binding process was exothermic,spontaneous and enthalpy driven.The binding was a non-specific interaction,mainly based on the interactions of Van der Waals forces and hydrogen bonds. The secondary structure compositions of free HGG and its isofraxidin complexes calculated quantitatively by the FT-IR spectrum results indicated that theβ-structure compositions of HGG decreased in the presence of isofraxidin,but the typicalβstructural conformation of HGG was still retentive.The average binding distance between isofraxidin and the tryptophan residues in HGG(3.57 nm) was obtained on the basis of the theory of Forster energy transfer.The experimental results indicat that HGG could be used as a transfer for isofraxidin in vivo.


A hydrogen atom consists of an electron, of charge \(-e\) and mass \(m_e\), and a proton, of charge \(+e\) and mass \(m_p\), moving in the Coulomb potential \[V({\bf r}) = \frac{e^{\,2}}{4\pi\,\epsilon_0\,|{\bf r}|},\] where \({\bf r}\) is the position vector of the electron with respect to the proton. Now, according to the analysis in Section [stwo], this two-body problem can be converted into an equivalent one-body problem. In the latter problem, a particle of mass \[\mu = \frac{m_e\,m_p}{m_e+m_p}\] moves in the central potential \[V(r) = \frac{e^{\,2}}{4\pi\,\epsilon_0\,r}.\] Note, however, that because \(m_e/m_p\simeq 1/1836\) the difference between \(m_e\) and \(\mu\) is very small. Hence, in the following, we shall write neglect this difference entirely.


Fluid therapy is a common treatment for hypovolemic scenarios to restore the lost blood volume and stabilize acutely ill patients. Automating fluid therapy can lead to a reduction of delay in care, a decrement in dosing errors, and a reduction of cognitive load on clinicians responsible for patient care resulting in improved patient outcomes. However, this process is highly challenging due to the complexity of patient's physiology and the variability of hemodynamic responses among patients. This work presents a novel machine learning approach based on reinforcement learning (RL) for automated fluid management, where the RL agent is designed to recommend subject-specific infusion dosages without having the knowledge of dose-response models and only by interacting with the environment (virtual subject generator). Compared to the state-of-the-art focusing on the entire population's data, the proposed approach uses individual patient's data to recommend patient-specific fluid dosage adjustment. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed approach outperforms a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) and a rule-based fluid resuscitation controller previously reported for an animal study.


s of Scientific Papers-WADEM Congress on Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2017 When Rescue Needs To Be Rescued: A Case Review of the Rollover of a Critical Care Ambulance with Patient on Board Benjamin N. Abo, Jeff Taylor 1. Emergency Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville/FL/ United States of America 2. Alachua County Fire Rescue, Gainesville/FL/United States of


The present study was undertaken to determine the correlation and path analysis in interspecific hybrids of Jatropha. Thirteen families along with one check were taken for study. The present investigation revealed that the characters such as seed yield per plant, weight of the capsules per plant, number of seeds per plant, number of capsules per plant, number of flower clusters per plant and oil content recorded siginificant and positive correlation with oil yield per plant. The path analysis also showed that the characters viz., weight of the capsules per plant and number of seeds per plant showed high positive and direct effect on oil yield per plant, whereas number of capsules per plant recorded positive and high indirect effect via number of seeds per plant on oil yield per plant.


Images are the source of information in many areas of scientific enquiry. A common objective in these applications is reconstruction of the true scene from a degraded image. When objects in the image can be described parametrically, reconstruction can proceed by fitting a high level image model. In this article we consider the analysis of confocal fluorescence microscopeimages of cells in an area of cartilage growth. Biological questions posed by the experimenters concern the nature of the cells in the image and changes in their properties with time. Our model of the imaging process is based on a detailed analysis of the data. We treat the true scene as a realisation of a marked point process, incorporating this as the high-level prior model in a Bayesian analysis. Inference is by simulation using reversible jumpversions of Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms which can handle the varying dimension of the image description arising


Rational molecular design of π-conjugated donor polymers is critical for developing high-performance organic solar cells. Random copolymerization strategy is a facile method of synergistic fine-tuning the light absorption, HOMO/LUMO energy levels, charge mobility, and solubility of donor (D)–acceptor (A) copolymers. Terpolymers PF8TBT which composed of three components, i.e., electron-rich 9,9-dioctylfluorene (F8), electron-deficient benzothiadiazole (BT), and π-bridge thiophene (T) moieties, are designed in such a way that only F8 unit possesses soluble side-chains. This strategy enables a facile and precise control of the influences of side chains on solubility, energy levels, molecular packing, and fullerene (PCBM) intercalation of PF8TBT. The optimal terpolymer PF8TBT21 (F8:T:BT = 0.67:1:0.33 mol%) maximally balances the solubility and the PL quenching efficiency with PCBM while exhibiting notable π–π stacking. The resulting additive-free inverted photovoltaic cell based on the PF8TBT21:PCBM blend shows a power conversion efficiency of 3.88% with an impressive open-circuit voltage close to 1 V.