The article examines the conceptual foundations of ESG within the framework of the Russian practice of brand formation, analyzes the activities of the alliance of the largest Russian companies concerned about the modern investment agenda. Recommendations on the use of ESG principles in branding are given. The features of brand formation from the perspective of creative industries are revealed.


The ATLAS Collaboration at the Large Hadron Collider is releasing a new set of recorded and simulated data samples at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected in pp collisions at the LHC. This new dataset was designed after an in-depth review of the usage of the previous release of samples at 8 TeV. That review showed that capacity-building is one of the most important and abundant uses of public ATLAS samples. To fulfil the requirements of the community and at the same time attract new users and use cases, we developed real analysis software based on ROOT in two of the most popular programming languages: C++ and Python. These so-called analysis frameworks are complex enough to reproduce with reasonable accuracy the results -figures and final yields- of published ATLAS Collaboration physics papers, but still light enough to be run on commodity hardware. With the computers that university students and regular classrooms typically have, students can explore LHC data with similar techniques to those used by current ATLAS analysers. We present the development path and the final result of these analysis frameworks, their products and how they are distributed to final users inside and outside the ATLAS community.


A 21-year-old man underwent pre-emptive kidney transplantation from a living-related donor due to end-stage kidney disease with unknown etiology. Serum creatinine level decreased from 6.5 mg/dL to 1.6 mg/dL on the first day of transplantation. Postoperative Doppler ultrasonography was within normal limits. The following day, blood pressure increased up to 200/120 mmHg despite triple anti-hypertensive treatment. In addition, hemoglobin levels decreased from 9.4 g/dL to 7.9 g/ dL. Therefore, the patient was evaluated for anemia and resistant hypertension.


Since China has the extremely wide land area, study of equilibriating the interregional energy demand/supply is a more practical subject than that of national total energy. demand/supply. However, the natural energy resources are located mainly in the undeveloped northwestern inland area, therefore, the energy demand/supply in the southeastern coastal area strongly depends on the long distance transportation. In the present study, an interregional general equilibrium model has been constructed for China's energy issues, and then the growth of energy demand/supply has been calibrated by region and by sector. Moreover restriction on the capacity of long distance transportation is examined calibrating the its effects on the interregional and intersectoral linkages.


Let R be a Cohen–Macaulay local ring with a canonical module ω R . Let I be an 𝔪-primary ideal of R and M, a maximal Cohen–Macaulay R-module. We call the function n⟼ℓ(Hom R (M, ω R /I n+1ω R )) the dual Hilbert–Samuel function of M with respect to I . By a result of Theodorescu, this function is of polynomial type. We study its first two normalized coefficients. In particular, we analyze the case when R is Gorenstein.


In this paper, the design of a high step down ratio (66:1) phase shift full bridge (PSFB) DC/DC converter used for data center power supplies in terms of primary side MOSFETs selection is covered. A detailed analysis of the converter's operation considering the impact of the output junction capacitance of primary side MOSFETs on the current RMS value has been performed. The study shows that a smaller output junction capacitance will lead to a smaller RMS current value on both primary and secondary side. For the high step down phase shift full bridge converter, transformer winding loss is the dominant loss; the reduction of current through the transformer will lead to a higher efficiency of the whole converter. This phenomenon is observed in experimental waveforms, and its impact on the converter's efficiency is also validated through experiment.


The aim
of this paper is to present the concept of a simple and cheap upgrade for
electric water boilers, allowing them to provide power quality services to the
distribution grid. The upgrade requires only minimum additional hardware and it
is easily installable. "Smart Boilers", as the upgraded boilers are named,
perform precise active and reactive power control, but most significantly
mitigate line current harmonics. Αctive and reactive power control is
implemented by appropriate regulation of the modulation sinewave amplitude and
phase, respectively. This type of control is easily customizable in order to accommodate
a variety of power quality targets, depending on the required level of services
and available grid monitoring equipment. The method used for line current
harmonic compensation is based on the injection of mirror harmonics created at
the modulation stage of the converter. It is indifferent of harmonic source: it
is equally successful at mitigating harmonics caused by the power electronic
converter of the Smart Boiler, other sources of current harmonics or loads. The
achieved grid services are clearly beyond the "on/off" operation of electric
boilers, currently implemented by Demand Side Management (DSM) in order to
shift load away from peak hours. It has been demonstrated through simulations,
that Smart Boilers can assist voltage regulation at terminal buses, compensate
reactive power and suppress harmonic currents at lines.


The ability of a substance to undergo oxidative self-heating was determined by exposure of it to air at temperatures of 100 °C,120 °C or 140 °C in a 25 mm or 100 mm wire mesh cube and measure the maximum temperature within 24 hours using self-made thermal stability test instruments.The experiments proved that mancozeb content equal to 60% and above,no matter which packaging for the product,are a self-heating substance;content of less than 60% of the Mixture,only base on test results to determine whether a substance is a selfheating substance.


The paper compares two basic approaches to education and training of seafarers: (a) the academic approach based on the traditional system of education as applied in well-established scientific disciplines and (b) the approach promoted through STCW 95 convention based on more or less encapsulated modules of knowledge and professional skills.
The strengths and weaknesses of each approach are considered from several most important viewpoints (the future seafarer, government decision-makers, educational institutions) and in light of the experience gained during recent changes of the maritime education system that took place in Croatia over the last two years following forced institutional transition from the more academic to the more professional-oriented MET system.
At the end of the paper a proposal has been made concerning the combined approach capable to satisfy the needs of the future seafarer, state administration and shipping industry and at the same time being perceptive to future international harmonization among states at different levels of industrial and social development.


The Casimir force is calculated both analytically and numerically by the surface mode technique in the configuration of two parallel plates separated by an anisotropic media with in-plane optical axis. The result reveals that the relative impact of the anisotropy on the Casimir force decreases with the separation and different signs of the anisotropy could correspond to different impacts on the directions of the Casimir force. The anisotropy can change the average value of permittivity of the intervening media and then change the inequality among the permittivities of the two plates and the intervening media, which is the physical explanation for the behaviours above. The thermal effect is also calculated and compared with previous results. It shows that the non-zero temperature tends to suppress the impact of anisotropy at small separations but to enhance it at large separations in our case.


Recent literature presents parenthood as a crisis and/or growth experience (Russell, 1974). This paper refocuses this issue from an orientation toward outcome to one on process. It examines the transition into fatherhood in terms of six tasks which must be completed or mastered if this process is to be gratifying and rewarding. These tasks include decision-making, mourning, empathic responding, integrating, differentiating from the extended family and establishing family boundaries, and synergizing. These tasks were derived from the authors' work with groups of fathers-to-be in a prepared childbirth program. Group work with these fathers is also described in terms of appropriate clinical interventions. The role of self-disclosing, providing information, eliciting affect, recruiting interpersonal resources, normalizing, and personalizing are examined as intervention strategies which can be utilized in such groups.


This contribution questions landscape representations amongst the Shui who live in Guizhou province (south China). This ethnic group, which has a strong specific cultural component, has seen its daily landscapes transformed by the implementation of tourist activities. The state-led growth of the tourist industry that started in rural areas during the early 1980s and reached Guizhou in the early 2000s has unfolded according to a highly standardized official scheme. Territories have been transformed drastically in order to set new landscape stages. In this context, the article highlights the way tourismification is changing the relationship between the Shui and their daily landscape, or more broadly, their milieu (to borrow the words of Augustin Berque). Tourism is now an integral part of this milieu through the hybridated representations of the landscape that have emerged from local residents, tourists, and the state.


The need to build an automobile mechanic settlement, abattoir and a proposed meat processing factory at Aboru residential estate necessitated a geophysical assessment (using a Dar-Zarrouk parameter – longitudinal unit conductance, S) of the vulnerability of the subsurface aquifers in the study area against the expected long-term anthropogenic impacts of these facilities on the groundwater system. Thirteen (13) Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) points and four (4) Dipole-Dipole resistivity profile lines were occupied on four traverse lines across the study area. Isoresistivity and Isopach maps were generated and Total Longitudinal Unit  Conductance, S of the earth materials overlying the aquifer was computed and the aquifer protective capacity (APC) map was generated. The VES delineated four (4) geo-electric layers namely; topsoil, pebbly/lateritic sand, clay/clayey/silty sand and sandstone. The depth to the sandstone aquifer ranges from 30.6 – 39.4 m with resistivity values ranging from 851 – 1437 Ωm. The iso-resistivity and isopach maps reveal that the near surface lateritic materials with resistivity values ranging from 350 – 1150 Ωm and thicknesses ranging from 2 – 29 m are pervious. The Total Longitudinal Unit Conductance, S varies from 0.0164 - 0.1168 mhos indicating a poor to weak protective capacity rating across the study area and the APC map reveals that the north-eastern and western parts of the study area show areas with weak protective capacity ratings while other areas are characterized by poor protective capacity rating. As such, the establishment of the proposed service facilities in the study area is strongly discouraged as the nature of their operations has a high potential to contaminate and eventually pollute the sub-surface aquifers on the long-run. If however the inevitability of their establishment cannot be set-aside, then secondary measures must be taken to forestall a direct impact of their operations on the subsurface. Keywords : Aquifer, Dar-Zarrouk, Vulnerability, Longitudinal Unit Conductance


Energy and technology draw much attention these days. Against the background of low-carbon economy, the utilization of clean energy, or green energy seems irreplaceable. It's been widely accepted that technological innovation increases energy efficiency. This paper attempts to create a new Cobb-Douglas production function and estimate the impact of technological innovation over energy saving regarding to clean energy and non-clean energy by adding technological innovation factor. We assume that technological innovation has constant growth rate. Based on the new function model, an empirical study of Leshan District (LSD) is presented and time serial data is used from 1995 ∼ 2009. The result of our study indicates that the performance of clean-energy-saving effect of technological innovation still has large room for improvement in LSD, which provides policy implication for decision makers.


Objective The two prostheses expanded PTFE(Polytetrafluoroethene) and silica gel implant have been widely used in augmentation rhinoplasty.This study was to reveal the swelling differences between the two prostheses post augmentation rhinoplasty.These results provided the clinical analysis for doctors and patients to choose prostheses in augmentation rhinoplasty. Methods Patients were divided into two groups,the expanded PTFE group,and the silica gel implant group. The thickness of swelling was calculated using the three-dimensional facial reconstruction technology at 5 time points post augmentation rhinoplasty.The 5 time points were the day before surgery,the 1st day post surgery,the 3rd day post surgery,the 5th day post surgery and the 7th day post surgery.The thickness of swelling was compared between the expanded PTFE and the silica gel implant group at the 5 time points respectively. Results Both expanded PTFE and silica gel implant group displayed decreased thickness of swelling 1 to 7 days post augmentation rhinoplasty.Compared with the expanded PTFE group patients,the silica gel implant group did not show significant difference on the thickness of swelling 1 to 7 days post surgery. Conclusion Both expanded PTFE and silica gel implant group displayed the same detumescence speed post augmentation rhinoplasty. On the aspect of swelling post surgery,the doctors and patients were told that either expanded PTFE or silica gel implant prosthesis could be used in augmentation rhinoplasty.


AIM: To demonstrate the changes of activity and electron microscopic enzyme cytochemistry staining of H+-K+-ATPase of gastric parietal cells under stress in rats.METHODS: Twenty-four male SD rats were randomly divided into normal group,stress group and stress+omeprazole(OM) group.Water immersion-restraint stress(WRS) model in SD rats was performed.The ulcer index(UI) of gastric mucosa and H+-K+-ATPase activity of gastric parietal cells were measured.The changes of ultrastructure and electron microscopic enzyme cytochemistry staining of parietal cells were observed under transmission electron microscope(TEM).RESULTS: Compared with control group,the UI of gastric mucosa and H+-K+-ATPase activity of gastric parietal cells increased(P0.01 and P0.05) in stress group.In stress+OM group,both UI and H+-K+-ATPase activity decreased(P0.01) compared with stress group.Parietal cells were in a resting state in control group,and became active in stress group,where plenty of intracellular canaliculi were observed under the TEM.In stress+OM group,the dilated intracellular canaliculi lined with rare microvilli were founded.Enzyme cytochemistry staining showed that there was little black punctate enzyme reactive product scatted in intracellular canaliculi and the apical plasma membrane of parietal cells in control group,and there were large amounts of black enzyme reactive product accumulated at the intracellular canaliculi in stress group.Scarcely deposition of enzyme reactive product in intracellular canaliculi was observed in stress+OM group.CONCLUSION: The results indicate that the H+-K+-ATPase activity of gastric parietal cells increases under WRS,and is in accordance with ultrastructure changes.These findings suggeste that gastric acid might be one of the most important factors that result in stress ulcer.


The 1991 Swedish Work Environment Act stipulates that all schoolchildren should be regarded in the same way as adult workers and be provided with a safe and healthy work environment. This paper summarizes the scientific and practical data generated by a study of the quality of the physical and psychological environment and the injury risks in Swedish schools. As an introduction, a summary is presented of the scientific evidence accumulated by both Swedish and international studies on the characteristics and determinants of injuries to schoolchildren. The research project involved three phases, of which the first consisted in a questionnaire-based survey of physical/environmental problems and injury risks in schools during the 1995-1996 academic year. The questionnaires were completed by the principals of a sample of schools representative of schools throughout Sweden. The second phase focused on injuries to schoolchildren. A standardized injury data form was created by the research team with the twin goals of providing school occupational health professionals with a tool for collecting information on the characteristics and determinants of injuries to schoolchildren and of creating a registry of injuries to help target future research and intervention efforts conducted at the community and/or national level. The form was used by 79 Swedish schools during the 1996-1997 academic year, and the registry now includes 1 200 injuries. The third phase will deal with means and strategies for interventions aimed at improving school safety. First, the interventions used in schools to improve safety will be reviewed and their potential for reaching their goal will be assessed. Then, the research team will take part in a number of local and regional direct interventions targeting problems identified during the second phase of the research project.


Levulinic acid is a versatile platform chemical that can be derived from biomass as an alternative to fossil fuel resources. In this study, a series of heterogeneous iron modified HY zeolites (Fe/HY zeolite): 5% Fe/HY, 10% Fe/HY, 15% Fe/HY, and homogeneous functionalized ionic liquids (FIL): 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrachloroferrate ([BMIM][FeCl4]), 1-sulfonic acid-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([SMIM][Cl]), 1-sulfonic acid-3-methylimidazolium tetrachloroferrate ([SMIM][FeCl4]), were synthesized, characterized, and tested as a catalyst for glucose conversion to levulinic acid. The properties of Fe/HY zeolite were characterized using x-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy - energy dispersive x-ray (FESEM-EDX), x-ray fluorescence (XRF), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), nitrogen (N2) physisorption, thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), temperature programmed desorption of ammonia (NH3-TPD), and pyridine-FTIR. The synthesized FIL were characterized using carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and sulfur (CHNS) elemental analysis and carbon-13 and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (13C and 1H NMR). The acidic properties of FIL were examined using pyridine-FTIR, Hammett function, and acid-base titration. Experimental results indicated that the selective Fe/HY zeolite and FIL for levulinic acid production from glucose were 10% Fe/HY and [SMIM][FeCl4], with 62% yield at 180 °C for 3 h, and 68% yield at 150 °C for 4 h, respectively. For Fe/HY zeolite, catalyst with large surface area, high concentration of acid sites and appropriate ratio of Bronsted to Lewis acids seemed suitable for levulinic acid production. It was also discovered FIL which contained both Bronsted and Lewis acid sites, offered a good catalytic performance. Optimization of levulinic acid yield from glucose and oil palm fronds (OPF) were conducted using the response surface methodology (RSM). At optimum conditions, 61.8% and 19.6% of levulinic acid yields were attained from glucose and OPF, respectively, over 10% Fe/HY zeolite. Meanwhile, by using [SMIM][FeCl4] 69.2% and 24.8% of levulinic acid yields were produced from glucose and OPF, respectively. Both catalysts can be reused without significant loss of catalytic activity. Kinetic studies of glucose conversion to levulinic acid were performed using both 10% Fe/HY zeolite and [SMIM][FeCl4]. The kinetic parameters obtained were lower and comparable with previous catalysts employed in glucose conversion to levulinic acid. This study demonstrated the potential of proposed catalysts to be used in a biorefinery for processing renewable feedstocks at mild process conditions.


A fault detection apparatus and method of a motor-driven power-assisted steering system can have a configuration which detects a failure of the motor-driven power-assisted steering system in accordance with a vehicle speed, a steering torque, a steering angle, an engine torque and an estimated yaw rate, and if it is determined that the motor-driven power-assisted steering system fails , additional determines the type of error.


Cloud computing has revolutionized the IT industry through its on-demand provisioning of virtualized resources through the internet. Although it relies on sharing of resources to improve the performance of datacenters, it has increased the complexity of IT systems in recent years. To meet the market requirements, cloud providers are expanding their datacenters with a large number of servers leading to high energy consumption and therefore, increasing the carbon footprint. Environmental impact and rapidly surging energy costs have become a major concern for both the government bodies and the IT service providers. In this paper, we propose a genetic algorithm based hybrid load management strategy which uses multiple existing virtual machines allocation policies to minimize the energy consumption, the violations in the service level agreement and the number of migrated virtual machines. The presented solution approach is evaluated on CloudSim Plus simulation framework using the well known PlanetLab workload. The results obtained from the experiments show substantial improvement in energy consumption in comparison to the individual approaches while maintaining the performance constraints.


ABSTRACT Family law is an important constituent of law that deals with social relations within the family and the household. It regulates conflicts concerning marriage, divorce, child custody, adoption, inheritance and so on. During the Chinese Republican era (1912–1949), as a continuation of the practice in Imperial China, the settlement of conflicts emerging in the Uyghur domestic sphere was governed by Islamic law. In this article, based on several text corpora consisting of legal documents originating in southern Xinjiang (Khotan and Kashgar) from the Republican era, I will analyse the reasons behind such disputes and the final decisions made by Muslim judges. It will also touch upon women's position in pre-socialist Uyghur society, the role of village elders and fathers-in-law, patterns of dispute settlement, the influence of the different forms of divorce, and the parameters for further research on the texts.


Purpose. The purpose of the work is to ensure the improvement of the regulation quality of pulsed energy converters with simultaneous exclusion of undesirable dynamic modes from its dynamics. Construction of a simulation model of a bridge converter with phase control and soft switching operating on an arc load, studying static and dynamic characteristics, analyzing static and dynamic modes of a closed current stabilization system, studying the nonlinear dynamic properties oscillating mode of the stabilized converter operating on an arbitrary complex load. Originality. The theory of frequency control has been further developed by extending it to a new class of objects — power sources for electrical technologies with improved quality and accuracy indicators, which makes it possible to raise welding technologies and related technologies to a higher level, to solve many problems, including the problem of improving the final product quality. Practical value. The analysis of static and dynamic characteristics considered in the article and the use of new methods for calculating and measuring the equivalent frequency characteristics of converting devices with PWM should be considered as one of the stages of creating engineering methods for synthesizing power supply regulators, consider-ing the latter as essentially nonlinear systems and taking into account the possibility of undesirable dynamic modes . The closed-loop method allows to determine the frequency characteristics of the loop gain function of a PWM converter that adequately reflects the stability conditions and possible lasing modes.


This paper describes a simple method to estimate the output power and efficiency load-pull contours of a class-B power amplifier (PA). Using successively improved-but still simple and intuitive-field-effect transistor nonlinear iDS (vGS,vDS) current models, this work starts by explaining the poor efficiency predictions provided by the Cripps load-line method, to then derive refined expressions to predict the output power load-pull contours and a novel analysis that produces useful estimates of the efficiency load-pull contours. These estimates are believed to constitute an invaluable tool for the analysis and design of single-ended class-B or Doherty PAs.


The psychological determinants for the formation of harmonious family relationships were highlighted: empathically oriented communication, humanistic style of children's upbringing, their high level of self-esteem, smoothing the difference between "Me-ideal" and "Me-real", positive attitude from others and self-respect.
  Based on the results of our observations, which we carried out in 2021 in the educational process of educational activities of secondary schools № 15 of t. Rivne, we can exactly conclude that for senior school age is quite characterized of emotional fluctuations in mood. Some pupils were also characterized (in some cases) by neurotic and protest, sometimes by aggressive behavior, but these were isolated cases. We have diagnosed that tense situations are arisen between parents and children from time to time. However, again, our observations show that maladaptive family relationships are never caused by a single cause. For example, parents' sexual problems have never been the predominant cause of maladaptive family relationships between parents and children, but aggressive tendencies caused by parents' sexual problems often exacerbate children's nervous and aggressive disputes with their parents. And even if young people find a way out of these disputes in some a way, in any case, the attitude towards parents remains negative, as, incidentally, the attitude of parents towards children (hair, clothes, hobbies, leisure, etc.).
          We identify as the most important topics of conflict of schoolchildren such as:
          - young people want to communicate, above all, with their peers, to defend their own interests and have weak parental control;
          - compared to adolescence, the importance of hairstyles and clothes increases significantly among high school students (the conflict is caused by the mismatch between the standards of high school students and the generation of parents). For high school students, the style of hair and clothing were associated with the relevant youth subculture, which was partly seen as some "message" of the adult world;
          - disagreements with parents and conflict situations on eroticism and sex occur at the age of 12-16, much earlier than in previous generations;
          - the time spent by high school students at school has been increased significantly. Conflicts between high school students and their parents about schooling are inaccuracies in homework, low school performances, and, at the same time, senior pupils do not have enough time to help their parents with household chores. However, the most important causes of family conflicts are children's smoking and their use of psychoactive substances. The latter more often there were aggravating relationships between boys and their parents (57% of male pupils and 32% of female ones). There are almost no differences between boys and girls when it comes to smoking (32% of pupils are male and 30% of them are female), and other problems are more common among girls.
          Senior pupils name the following causes of conflicts with their parents:
          - great differences in moral and value frames, attitudes and scripts of children and adults, especially in the period of personal growth (parents and children are also diagnosed with differences in personal experience, perception of the world, assessments of their own ethnic and national identity);
          - lack of clear, consistent boundaries of the transition from awareness of child dependence to the freedom of an adult;
          - lack of clear, consistent rules for parents to build family relationships, which significantly weaken parental power during the transition of children from childhood to adolescence;
          - psychological and social differences in characteristics between parents and children. Pupils explain the latter with different ideas of schoolchildren about themselves, their own future, the formation of personally and professionally significant experience of adults. The latter also laments the children's lack of perception of the evaluative and control role of adults in relations to the needs of pupils in achieving sovereignty;
          - mental overload of both parents and children and, as a result, – a change in scenarios and scenarios plans of family relationships.


NASA will design an eXternal Vision System (XVS) that, with other aircraft systems and subsystems, will ensure safe and efficient operations in all phases of flight for its Low Boom Flight Demonstrator vehicle. XVS is a combination of display, sensor, and computing technologies, creating an electronic means of forward visibility for the pilot. A flight test was performed evaluating a preliminary design of an XVS to quantify, by direct comparison, the ability of a pilot using an XVS to see and recognize airborne traffic compared to that of a pilot using forward-facing windows during challenging see-and-avoid scenarios. The data showed that the XVS and forward-facing windows were essentially equivalent in detecting and recognizing incurring traffic aircraft. The data also showed that the pilot using the XVS could see and recognize the incurring traffic at no less than 0.7 nm prior to the pilot using the forward-facing windows. The performance of the XVS was dependent upon the application of image contrast enhancement. Recommendations for future improvements were captured from evaluation pilot commentary. through the and validation of a sub-scale research creates a shaped sonic boom signature with a calculated loudness level of 75 PLdB (Perceived Level (PL), less during supersonic cruise (Mach ≥ 1.4) flight. A NASA-led team will conduct low-boom community response overflight studies with multiple test campaigns using the LBFD aircraft over


. Both Wick-It^o-Skorokhod and Stratonovich interpretations of the Parabolic Anderson model (PAM) lead to solutions that are real analytic as functions of the noise intensity " , and, in the limit " ! 0, the difference between the two solutions is of order " 2 and is non-random.


In this work the neutral meson properties have been investigated in the presence of thermo-magnetic background using two-flavor Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model. Mass, spectral function and dispersion relations are obtained in the scalar ($\sigma$) and pseudo-scalar ($\pi^0$) channels as well as in the vector ($\rho^0$) and axial vector ($a^0_1$) channels. The general Lorentz structures for the vector and axial-vector meson polarization functions have been considered in detail. The ultra-violet divergences appearing in this work have been regularized using a mixed regularization technique where the gamma functions arising in dimensional regularization are replaced with incomplete gamma functions as usually done in the proper time regularization procedure. The meson spectral functions obtained in the presence of a magnetic field possess nontrivial oscillatory structure. Similar to the scalar and pseudo-scalar channel, the spectral functions for each of the modes of $\rho^0$ are observed to overlap with the corresponding modes of its chiral partner $a_1^0$ mesons in the chiral symmetry restored phase. We observe discontinuities in the masses of all the mesonic excitations for a non-zero external magnetic field.


Objectives: A clinical pharmacist offers vital support in the expansion of a final prescription with improved patient management and enhanced safety. The aim of the current study to explore the Pharmacokinetics services at Ministry of Health (MOH) hospitals in Saudi Arabia with an emphasis on drug therapy monitoring and patient's education. Methods: This is a 2-months cross-sectional national survey related to the Pharmacokinetics services with a focus on drug therapy monitoring and education of pharmacist at MOH hospitals in Saudi Arabia. The study consisted of two parts; the first part captures demographic information and the second part contained 43 questions designed by the authors. It was derived from American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) guidelines and from the literature. We used the 5-point Likert response scale system to obtain responses of the participants; there were close-ended questions. The electronic questionnaire was distributed to all the coordinators of the clinical pharmacy services or to the drug information centers at MOH hospitals. All analysis was done through survey monkey system. Results: A total of 43 hospital pharmacies returned the survey, for a response rate of 86%. The most clinical pharmacokinetics services documented were drug quality reporting 34 (87.18%), drug information inquiries 35 (83.33%), adverse drug reaction 35 (81.40%) and medication error 35 (81.40%). Highest clinical impact and cost avoidance of clinical Pharmacokinetics services were drug information inquiries 25 (60.98%), the drug quality reporting system 21 (53.85%) and pharmacist intervention 21 (52.5%). Analysis of monthly workload for clinical Pharmacokinetics services were a number of drug information inquiries 28 (70%) and the number of prescriptions needs 25 (64.1%). The clinical Pharmacokinetics services education and training for pharmacists were found at average 7.8 (20.89%) hospitals with high percentages type of educations was short education course 1-5 days [15 (39.47%)] and long training course 4-5 weeks [8 (21.05%)]. While Pharmacokinetics services education and training for healthcare provider were found at main 6 (15.66%) hospitals only with high percentages type of educations was short education course 1-5 days [8 (20.00%)] and Pharmacokinetics competencies 7 (18.92%). Conclusion: Pharmacokinetics services on drug therapy monitoring was not competent at half MOH hospital, while only few of the hospitals had pharmacokinetics education and training to offer. Implementing the MOH pharmacokinetics services strategy with an emphasis on the drug therapy monitoring with education and training is required at all MOH hospitals in Saudi Arabia.


environments free of nostalgia for the future? The Berlin-based interlude brilliantly suturing these encounters describes how youth from different Balkan regions created a gallery-based installationexhibition to frame performed actions exploring civil-war repercussions and nation-building processes. Kuftinec's impressionistic and heart-stopping account presents a powerfully fragmented event with solo performers mostly in separate spaces and an ensemble-performed denouement that presents as collage moments of acute disconnection. In a book advocating theatre activities that inspire wardamaged youth to repair (for) the future, this startling, bleak, and challenging centerpiece iconoclastically eschews overt gestures toward utopian hope by ironically refracting the coping-strategy affects that remain. This lowlights a profoundly honest and brave between-the-lines disquiet regarding even the most skillful facilitations aiming to make a positive difference in the war-torn lives and lands of the youth they engage. The book's subtle conjunctions between global-city gallery installations and war-zone site-responsive events gesture toward fresh, alternative aesthetics for deconstructing the hellish environmental niches of third-millennium intraspecies degradation. Given the clarity, acuity, and probity of Kuftinec's analyses—which include a sharp suspicion of nation-forming narratives—it is fitting to venture a supportive caveat about theatre facilitation in severe conflict zones. To make a humane difference with young people in those circumstances certainly merits admiration and applause. Yet the contextual sensitivity of such practices indicates that an efficacious grip might best be gained by an aesthetic– analytical mix aimed at radical transformation through affective indirection, rather than via the head on routines of Boalian jokering. If so, might the historical terms of engagement of politically oriented participatory theatre no longer provide sufficient leverage on the sources of endemic violence in international environments? Does the African American–sourced theatricality of Wesley Days's "Middle East" interventions as reported in Kuftinec's closing chapter come closer to the radical transformative mark? That this stimulating book prompts such queries is surely a distinctive measure of its timeliness when everyday states of extreme exception appear to be becoming the global rule.


A new modification method for face gear driver was proposed based on a modification of pinion only and same tooth number between pioion and generating gear.The surface equation of tooth modified pinion was derived.The computational model for tooth contact analysis was established.The result indicated that the new design can obtain a parabolic function of transmission errors,make contact path tilt and reduce the sensitivity of contact path to alignment errors.


This paper concerns the implementation of variational iteration method (VIM) in solving the hyperchaotic Rössler analytically. It is a four dimensional system of ODEs with quadratic nonlinearities. The computation was made using a newly found version called the multistage VIM (MVIM) which offers some slight modification to the traditional VIM. Numerical comparisons are made between MVIM and the classical fourth-order Runge-Kutta (RK.4) with results displaying extremely good performance by MVIM, yielding great accuracy and efficiency. It is also evident that MVIM surpasses (in terms of accuracy) its two counterparts, the Adomian decomposition method (ADM) and Differential transformation method (DTM).


The different activities described by the generic word recycling are presented along with an evaluation of the benefits of recycling in terms of natural resources or energy savings and reduction of Green House Gas emissions. A detailed analysis is presented of steel recycling, by-product recycling and end of life consumer goods recycling. The GHG emissions avoided thanks to sustainable steel recycling are evaluated in a long-term perspective. By-product recycling is also a major issue that has already been addressed with satisfactory results, as blast furnace slag valorization in the cement industry. This exemplifies the cross-business valorization of by-products with strong implications in terms of GHG emissions mitigation. Metal recovery is not yet as fully developed although a fairly satisfying solution is being implemented on the basis of the Rotary Hearth Furnace which separates iron from zinc with production of a DRI and concentration of zinc to a high enough level for direct use by zinc smelters. The future European regulations for consumer goods will require a high level of recyclability that will favour the design with metals instead of other materials such as plastics. Recycling is a complex, rich and fruitful concept that is popular today and will remain strong in the future. It functions both in the market economy and in the administrative world, with by-products moving around the various production shops within a business or between businesses of different crafts. Sustainable recycling is a significant and majority resource for the steel industry which, along with its partners in the recycling loop, has been a pioneer in the world of recycling.


Does localization of diffuse adenomyosis impact reproductive outcomes after the frozen embryo transfer (FET)?

 Diffuse adenomyotic lesions involving the junctional zone (JZ) have a greater negative impact on reproductive outcomes than diffuse adenomyosis of the outer myometrium (OM).

 Adenomyosis is associated with higher miscarriage rate, significantly lower live-birth (LB) rate, and increased risk for pregnancy-related complications. However, the impact of adenomyosis on IVF outcomes remains unclear. Adenomyosis is often treated as a homogenous disease and studies on the effects of different types of adenomyosis on reproductive outcomes have yielded inconsistent results, due to a lack of standardized diagnostic criteria and a lack of agreement on the phenotypic classification of the disease based on their severity or location. There is a lack of studies considering the effects of the severity or location of adenomyosis on reproductive outcomes after FET.

 This prospective cohort study was conducted at a tertiary-care hospital between January 2019 and December 2022. A total of 585 infertile women undergoing the first FET cycle were recruited. The study population included 368 women with diffuse adenomyosis where 201 women had diffuse adenomyosis of JZ and, 167 women had diffuse adenomyosis of OM. 217 women with male infertility were taken as controls.

 Adenomyosis was diagnosed with 2D-TVS using MUSA criteria where patients with two or more features and diffuse adenomyosis were included. Patients with diffuse adenomyosis were further divided based on the localization of adenomyotic lesions in OM or JZ. All the patients underwent FET-cycle. Pregnancy outcomes and complications were compared between different groups-those with diffuse adenomyosis of JZ, those with diffuse adenomyosis of OM, and controls. Adenomyosis patients as one group were also compared with controls.

 The pregnancy rate was significantly lower in women with diffuse adenomyosis of JZ (26.37%) compared to diffuse adenomyosis of OM (47.9%) (OR:0.39, 95% CI 0.25-0.60; P < 0.0001). Similarly, the clinical pregnancy rate was also lower in diffuse adenomyosis with JZ involvement (23.38%) compared to women with diffuse adenomyosis of OM (42.51%) (OR:0.41, 95% CI 0.26-0.65; P = 0.0001). However, the biochemical pregnancy and miscarriage rates were comparable between the two adenomyosis groups. The LB rate was significantly lower in patients with JZ-involvement (16.42%) compared to women with OM-involvement (25.75%) (OR:0.57, 95% CI 0.34-0.94; P = 0.029). When all the adenomyosis patients were compared with the controls as one group, pregnancy rates were similar, but the miscarriage rate was significantly higher, and the LB rate was significantly lower in adenomyosis (P < 0.05). When the individual groups with adenomyosis were compared with controls, clinical pregnancy, and LB were comparable with the controls (P > 0.05) in women with OM involvement. However, when JZ was involved, the differences were significant (P < 0.05), highlighting the adverse impact of JZ involvement on IVF outcome. Pregnancy complications were comparable between the adenomyosis groups; however, there was a significantly higher incidence of gestational hypertension, IUGR, and pre-term labor for adenomyosis patients compared to the control (P < 0.05).

 In the absence of a universally accepted diagnostic modality and classification system for adenomyosis, this study used ultrasound due to its lower cost and easy availability. The sample size of this study is limited to 368 patients from a single centre, larger multicentric studies are needed to make definitive conclusions.

 Localizing adenomyotic lesions before starting IVF, may help in planning treatment strategies and provide adequate counseling on reproductive outcomes specific to each type. Pregnant women with adenomyosis should be managed carefully as high-risk pregnancies, considering the possible serious obstetric complications.

 CTRI/2019/01/016919


This research aims to analyse the historic merger between Robi and Airtel, two major telecom operators in a developing country, Bangladesh. There were six operators in the telecoms industry with Grameenphone as the dominant leader. Amid the fierce competition and price war, the merger has taken place and formed consolidated Robi Axiata, with the goal of developing the number one cellular network with widest coverage and the second largest operator of the country. The estimated outcomes of the successful merger are higher profitability and market share, increased subscriber base, higher economies of scale, financial stability, improved spectrum, extensive sale and distribution channels, etc. which will ultimately lead to a sustainable competitive advantage. However, while Robi Axiata has become the second largest telecoms operator, it has a lot to accomplish in order to improve financial performance and develop a competitive edge in the long-term. In addition, the gains from the merger are expected to be realised by the stakeholders, companies, industry, and customers. Currently, the consolidation has started a new era in Bangladesh economy and its actual benefits can only be verified in the future. With profound qualitative analysis, the study offers valuable managerial and policy implications.


An over-molded thick wall part, an insert used in forming the over-molded thick wall part, and a method of forming over-molded thick wall parts. In one embodiment, the over-molded thick wall part comprises: an insert having at least two sides, wherein at least one side includes a flat surface and wherein the insert is substantially free of sink marks and/or internal voids; and an over-molded outer component, wherein the insert is encompassed within the over-molded outer component. The over-molded thick wall part is substantially free of sink marks and/or internal voids. The insert comprises a first organic polymer and the over-molded outer component comprises a second organic polymer.


A field experiment was conducted at the farmer's field during winter (rabi) 2003-04 to study the effect of gypsum application (2 and 4 tonnes/ha) on 5 oat varieties in a moderately alkali soil (pH 9.3) irrigated with alkali water. Gypsum application did not significantly influence the green forage yield and crude protein content of 5 oat genotypes. Among the 5 genotypes, 'JHO 2000-6' performed better under alkali soil irrigated with alkali water by recording highest green forage yield besides highest Na:K and lowest K accumulation.


A given k-coloring c of a graph G = (V,E) is a b-coloring if for every color class ci, 1 ≤ i ≤ k, there is a vertex colored i whose neighborhood intersect every other color class cj , 1 ≤ i ≤ k, of c. The b-chromatic number of G is the greatest integer k such that G admits a b-coloring with k colors. In this paper, the authors find the b-chromatic number of central graph of the triangular snake. MSC: 05C15, 05C76.


Let \psi be a Hecke-Maass form on a cubic division algebra over \Q. We apply arithmetic amplification to improve the local bound for the L^2 norm of \psi restricted to maximal flat subspaces.


This part of SIM 3302 presents the habitat map of the seafloor (see sheet 7) of Offshore of Coal Oil Point, California (vector data file is included in "Habitat_OffshoreCoalOilPoint.zip," which is accessible from http://pubs.usgs.gov/ds/781/OffshoreCoalOilPoint/data_catalog_OffshoreCoalOilPoint.html). Using multibeam echosounder (MBES) bathymetry and backscatter data, potential marine benthic habitat maps were constructed. The habitats were based on substrate types and documented or "ground truthed" using underwater video images and seafloor samples obtained by the USGS. These maps display various habitat types ranging from flat, soft consolidated sediment-covered seafloor to hard, deformed (folded) or highly rugose and differentially eroded bedrock exposures. Rugged, high relief rocky outcrops that have been eroded to form ledges and small caves are ideal habitat for rockfish (Sebastes spp.) and other bottom fish such as lingcod (Ophiodon elongatus). Habitat maps will be presented in a map format generated in a GIS (ArcMap) and both digital and hard copy versions will be produced.


Plant nuclear CBC consisted of two subunits (CBP20 and CBP80) is involved in both conserved processes related to RNA metabolism and simultaneously in extremely dynamic plant stress response.


This article is an inquiry into the governance of science and technology. Try to clarify in the first instance, that in this new public policy approach raises the possibility for progress towards democracy scientific-technological, and suggests that this is necessary to recover from their background, commitment to the pursuit of equity and justice. Secondly it shows that current public policies regarding the production, distribution and use of scientific and technological knowledge there is a marked absence of fairness and equity for primacy that has gained a perspective on axiological character, where the technical values of efficiency, efficiency, applicability, competition, and innovation, characteristic of market models, are imposed as a criterion for assessing the usefulness of research results. And ultimately arises how changes in social referents owned research results, occurred after the war, have made private companies and governments of the countries, their interests precedence over purely economic purposes and political hegemony, against the achievement of welfare, as perceived in Colombia in the current public policy in relation to science, technology and innovation.


Hepatitis A is an acute disease in the liver, which results from infection with hepatitisA. The mortality rate tends to increase with age, in particular, when greater than 40 years of age. HAV infection is one of the most important public health problems all over the world, especially in areas with high prevalence rate of HAV. Prevalence of HAV infection shows great differences not only between different countries but also between different regions in the same country. It is inversely related to the level of socioeconomic status, sanitation and personal hygiene. Saudi Arabia is a part of our world. Jeddah is a big city that is growing in population and facing an increase in restaurants. Unfortunately,lots of families buy food from restaurants and eat food that is not prepared at home. These factors participated
in spreading Hepatitis A virus. The objective of this study is to investigate on the prevalence of Hepatitis A virus (HAV) in Jeddah population, Saudi Arabia. Also to find out the relationship HAV infection of our results with age, gender and ethnicity. Serum samples were collected from studied population between 2 and 35 or more years of age and stratified into the following age groups: 2 to 5, 6 to 9, 10 to14, 15 to19, 20 to 24, 25 to 29, 30 to 34 and more than 35 year, Serum samples were not available for less than 2 year of age. Serum samples also were stratified according to nationality into Saudi and non Saudi. Serum samples were stratified into male and female. Samples size were calculated to achieve a 95% confidence interval (CI) of approximately ±5% for each age group. The determination of antibody(IgG) was carried out by ELISA-test. For all age groups, there was no significant difference between genders regarding anti-HAV seropositivity. The prevalence of IgG antibodies to HAV was 33.1% overall, 33.6% among males and 32.5% among females with no statistically significant difference (P>0.05). However, it increased significantly with the age. The IgG antibodies to HAV were found in 20.3 % of Saudi population, and 49% of non Saudi population (p<0.05). The prevalence of HAV among adult population (39.3%) was higher than among children population (22.4%). The chi-square test showed significant differences in the prevalence of HAV between adult and children populations (p<0.05).


A new species of Chrysochromulina (C. latilepis sp. n.) is described by means of transmission electron microscopy of whole mounts prepared in situ from wild material. On structural grounds which are discussed, it is thought to represent a possible endemic in the nanoplankton of the Galapagos Islands. Relevant comparisons with other taxa include C. mantoniae Leadbeater and an un-named fragment of another species from South Africa.


Abstract Competitively, cost- and time-based scheduling should provide a firm with a powerful market advantage. The cost- and time-based priority scheduling concept is driven by profit maximization and quick response in a competitive market. The literature on shop scheduling contains numerous studies reporting on the use of dispatching rules that are based only on the time criterion. Alternatively there have been only a few published articles that specifically consider a composite of cost and time. Aggarwal and McCarl and Scudder and Hoffmann have investigated the use of cost and time information for determining the job priority in random job shops. One result of this study is a reconciliation of the differences between the Aggarwal and McCarl and the Scudder and Hoffmann study. Moreover, a simplistic priority rule based on profit margin and due dates is introduced and tested. The results reported in this research are an attempt to reconcile the issue of time-based versus cost-based priority rule performance.


Objective:To investigate resistance mechanism and molecular epidemiology of resistant strains bauman of imipenem.Methods:A total of 17 strains of imipenem resistant acinetobacter(Bauman imipenem resistant acinetobacter baumannii IRAB)were collected.E-test was used in drug sensitive test,and homology of resistant strains was analyzed by PFGE technology.Carbapenem resistant strains were scanned by the modified Hodge test.Sequencing and analysis of amplified BLA gene and gene sequence was performed by PCR.Results:17strains of imipenem resistant acinetobacter Bauman were from sputum,wound,blood samples.It showed that detected 17 strains had multi drug resistance,PFGE analysis showed that 17 strains could be divided into A,B,C,D four clones.Type A included A1 and two subtypes of A2.Modified Hodge test and PCR amplification confirmed that 17 strains contained OXA-23 gene.Conclusion:OXA-23 type carbapenemase is resistance mechanism of imipenem to carbapenem antibiotics.


Objective To evaluate the expression of interleukin-17(IL-17) and the effect of the probiotic BIFICO in 2,4,6-trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid(TNBS) induced murine colitis.Methods Mice in BIFICO group and TNBS group were respectively gavaged BIFICO or PBS daily from 5 days before the experiment until sacrifice at D7.TNBS/ethanol were clystered on the first day and fifth day respectively.Colons were removed to score for histological inflammation after the mice were sacrificed.Expression of IL-17 in colon was determined by immunohistochemistry method.Results Colonic microscopic score was lower significantly in BIFICO group than that in TNBS group(2.11±0.78 vs 3.22±0.97,P0.05).The expression of IL-17 in intestinal epithelium was significantly higher in TNBS group than that in normal control group(8.00±0.82 vs 3.50±0.55,P0.01),and reduced in BIFICO group(6.78±0.83 vs 8.00±0.82,P0.05).IL-17 positive cell counts in lamina propria was higher in TNBS group than that in control group(10.74±2.78 vs 0.90±0.70,P0.01),and reduced in BIFICO group(4.07±1.39 vs 10.74±2.78,P0.01).Conclusion Expression of IL-17 significantly increased in TNBS-induced colitis.BIFICO could alleviate the experimental colitis of mice by inhibiting IL-17 expression.


Objective To observe the prevalence and general clinical features of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related nephritis among middle school students, and to study the temporal and regional differences in the incidence of the disease. Methods A retrospective study was conducted among the middle school students who were in hospitalization due to HBV-related nephritis from March 1991 to February 2001. Results Students with HBV-related nephritis amounted to 33.8% and 15.4% of students with nephritis respectively during the first and the second five-years, with a significant difference ( P 0.05). Rural and urban students accounted for 73.1% and 26.9% respectively, the difference was also statistically significant. Conclusions Middle school students and adults are similar in the general clinical features of HBV-related nephritis, there is a trend towards declined incidence.


To insure the safe performance of rockfill dam faces in cold seasons,frost tests were carried out at a consistent empirical freezing speed of 20mm/day to study the frost susceptibility of the bedding materials.The influence of gradation,fine particle content,water content,and surcharge of the bedding material on frost heaving were obtained.When fine particle content was below 12%,there was no or only weak frost heaving.Frost increased linearly as fine particle content rose.When the fine particle content was fixed,the linear relationship between the water content and the frost heaving changed with the gradations.Typical water content of 7.5%,fine particle content of 12%,and concrete face density of 59g/cm3 are suggested for the bedding material to avoid frost damage.


The longest path problem on graph G is a classic problem which is to find a simple path such that the number of vertices of the path is maximum among all possible paths of G. In this paper, we show that the longest path problem can be solved in linear time on permutation graphs.


Based on the traditional three-pendulum method,we introduced the transfer function method and derived the expression of inertia moment of the three-wire pendulum system,which take into account air resistance and other damping effects of three-wire pendulum.This method increases swing angle of the system,and overcomes the drawback of big measurement error of swinging cycle because of the three-wire pendulum small-angle swinging.Applying the minimum zone condition system recognition theory to the system,we obtained the inertia moment of the measured object.


Government has planned Defense Information Plan as 5 big categories including M&S (Modeling & Simulation). Simulator is very useful training tool for soldiers with LVC features. Early 1990's, US Army has already developed many Virtual Training System such as VSTS. The VSTS includes both tethered and wearable simulators. The evaluation of VSTS has described 3 major categories, simulator performance, perceived training effectiveness and simulator sickness. In this paper, we propose the sickness criteria for evaluation of the virtual simulators, especially the trainee feels, within the framework of optical and proprioceptive immersion.


Dear Editor, Although antimicrobial treatment of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) infection is standard therapy for patients, mortality remains high as for the complications which includemyocarditis.1 Understanding the regulation of the proteome in the S. aureus bacterium may provide new insights in the treatment of this bacterial infection and also new basic knowledge of molecular signalling. Post-translationalmodification (PTM) of the lysine residue has significant consequences for functional and regulatory implications, including cytoskeleton complexes.2 Specifically,N-lysine acetylation (Kac) and succinylation (Ksucc) prove to act as important PTMs for regulating various biological processes, including amino acid metabolism, protein translation and energymetabolism.3,4 In this study, we systematically investigated lysine acetylation and succinylation sites in S. aureus using mass spectrometry (Supporting Information) and identified 1778 lysine acetylation sites from 794 proteins and 1651 lysine succinylation sites from 450 proteins. The finding, to our knowledge, is the largest number of acetylated and succinylated proteins to be discovered in S. aureus. Among the 794 lysine acetylated proteins in S. aureus, 48.1% and 6.3% have one or over five acetylated sites, respectively.We identified the top three proteins to bemost poly-acetylated, which were oligopeptidase F (17 sites), phosphoglycerate kinase (11 sites) and elongation factor G (10 sites). For 450 lysine succinylated proteins, 33.3% were singly modified and 24.2% were poly-succinylated. The top three poly-succinylated proteins were bifunctional autolysin (23 sites), foldase protein PrsA (20 sites) and phosphoglycerate kinase (19 sites) (Figure 1A,B). To further characterize Kac and Ksucc sites, we examined the sequence motif around the identified peptides. Highly conserved motifs were found to be matched in the identified acetylated peptides (Figure 1C,F). These highly conserved motifs are consistent with previous reports, including eukaryotes, where Kac-tyrosine (Y) and Kachistidine (H) motifs were reported.5,6 A heat map further


BaZr 0.8 Y 0.2 O 3-d protonic conductors, prepared by the ceramic route, were pressed and sintered with ZnO and B 2 O 3 sintering aids. The sintered pellets were analyzed by X-ray diffraction and impedance spectroscopy. Polished and thermally etched surfaces of the pellets were observed in a scanning probe microscope. The highest values of apparent density, 95%T.D., were obtained with 2 and 5 wt.% ZnO. The lowest value of electrical resistivity was evaluated in the yttrium-doped barium zirconate compounds with 5 wt.% ZnO. Boron oxide and zinc oxide sintering aids were efficient to improve the apparent density as well as the electrical conductivity of BaZr 0.8 Y 0.2 O 3-d protonic conductors.


Time-domain terahertz and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy techniques are employed for investigating of the low-frequency dynamics of H2O@C60 endofullerene at temperatures 6–300 K. A number of absorption lines associated with rotational transitions of water molecules entrapped inside C60 cage are observed and assigned. Fitting absorption lines with Lorentzians allowed us to obtain the temperature dependences of the lines' parameters – frequency position, strength and damping.


Various mobile apps have been released to track and promote mental health and well-being. Despite the high interest in developing these apps, they suffer from high attrition rates. These apps have limited utility if they are delivered in a manner that does not maintain individuals' engagement. Engagement features are therefore a critical factor to consider for fostering intended benefits. While there is considerable research on analysing the engagement features of these apps available in English, our understanding of engagement features in such Arabic apps is limited. Moreover, much less is known about mobile sensing in Arabic apps. To address this gap, we systematically searched app stores, identified 110 apps available in Arabic, and analyzed their features based on existing mHealth assessment frameworks. Our analysis found that available Arabic apps poorly implemented engagement features, apart from basic features such as sharing and reminders. Surprisingly, Arabic apps missed mobile sensing capabilities and AI applications. This paper highlights the importance of employing mobile sensing and persuasive design principles in the future design of Arabic apps.


The goal of this article is to propose a theoretical framework based on a macro model that can be used to examine the relative importance of permanent and transitory shocks in explaining variations in tourist expenditure and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at business cycle horizons. We estimate the model for Australia. Our findings reveal a common-trend and common-cycle relationship among tourist expenditure and GDP, and the variance decomposition analysis of shocks reveals that at business cycle horizons permanent shocks explain the bulk of the variations in output, while transitory shocks explain the bulk of the variations in tourist expenditure.


Summary Involvement of the oesophagus in lympho-granulomatosis (M. Hodgkin) is rarely described in the literature. We report the case of a 47 year old male with dysphagia, due to infiltration ol the oesophagus as part of generalized lympho-granulomatosis. Endoscopy 4 (1971), 207-209


Semisolid metal processing or Thixoforming is a developing technology where the material is processed in the freezing range. Thixoforming process results in components with better mechanical properties as compared to conventional processes. The material at this temperature is very soft and as a result lower loads may be applied to obtain the final shape of the component. Process parameters like ram speed, temperature of the billet and die temperature influence the mechanical properties like tensile strength, hardness and wear behavior of thixoformed component. In the present study an attempt is made to understand the effect of process parameters on the mechanical properties of aluminum alloy by carrying out experimental studies. The results indicate the significant influence of billet temperature and die temperature on the tensile strength and hardness of the material.


This article examines President Richard Nixon's gift of a portion of his prepresidential papers to the United States, his attempt to take an illegal tax deduction for this gift, and the role of archivists in bringing the matter to public attention. The chronology of the gift draws on interviews with participants in the affair, and on records held by the National Archives' Nixon Presidential Materials staff. The article explores causes and implications of the affair and concludes that the scandal resulted in part from the acts of certain Nixon administration officials and from the National Archives' placement under the General Services Administration (GSA). The article also examines the negation of the Presidential Records Act by several recent executive orders and the likelihood of future scandals involving presidential records at the National Archives. Richard Nixon has the dubious distinction of being the only president of the United States to resign his office. His administration's records are similarly distinguished as having required the passage of special legislation to prevent their seizure by the president. The status of these presidential materials has embroiled the National Archives in controversy and litigation ever since. The Watergate affair was not the first scandal caused by the legal status and ownership of Richard Nixon's records. The first Nixon papers controversy centered on whether legal transfer of a selection of Nixon's prepresidential papers to the federal government had been made before a cutoff date set by Congress in tax reform legislation. This earlier incident, the subject of this article, raised some key archival issues. These include the need for an institution to have physical possession of a deed of gift for collections of private papers; a reminder of the politicization of archival functions before the National Archives gained independence from the General Services Administration (GSA) in 1985; and the importance of the Presidential Records Act in ensuring timely public access within established archival procedures. Finally, this incident highlights the ongoing battles over access to presidential records and the consequences for archivists and historians. This content downloaded from 18.104.22.168 on Tue, 30 Aug 2016 05:45:14 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 10 ARCHIVAL ISSUES Vol. 26, No. 1, 2001 Background to the Gift To understand why Nixon's 1969 gift of prepresidential papers ran into trouble, it is necessary to examine briefly the legal requirements for a presidential gift to the U.S. government, the 1RS requirements for a tax deduction for charitable donations, and the process by which the National Archives accepted these gifts. Presidents since George Washington had done as they wished with the papers of their presidencies, which led to priceless materials being burned, sold, or otherwise scattered. Legislation passed in the 1970s took long strides toward opening these materials to the public. The 1974 Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act declared official presidential papers to be public property and the papers of all presidents beginning in 198 1 to be the property of the United States. The 1978 Presidential Records Act established a time line for release within an archival framework for opening or restricting unclassified presidential materials. From 1949 to 1985, the National Archives (then known as the National Archives and Records Service, or NARS) was a subagency of the GSA. The Presidential Libraries Act of 1955 authorized the GSA to accept legal title to presidential materials; the GSA in turn delegated that authority to the National Archives. The GSA was further authorized to accept gifts with restrictions on access to assure presidents that sensitive or personal material would not be disclosed without their permission.1 The intent of the act, which allowed the GSA to accept title to presidential papers without enabling legislation, was to encourage presidents and other public figures to donate their papers to the federal government. The process by which deeded papers were transferred to the National Archives had generally been adhered to since the passage of the Presidential Libraries Act. Every year from 1965 to 1968, President Lyndon Johnson followed his predecessors Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower in annually deeding portions of his papers to the U.S. government.2 It became expected, although not legally required, that a president would donate his papers to the National Archives in preparation for eventual placement in a presidential library. Tax deductions for such gifts enticed prospective donors who otherwise would have sold their papers to collectors. Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, and Johnson had benefited financially from their annual gifts to the National Archives. Johnson described this routinized process to his successor Richard Nixon shortly after Nixon's election in November 1968.3 Typically, the president asked an appraiser to select a group of papers valued at a certain amount. After the president approved the appraiser's choices, his attorney executed a legal document transferring the selected materials to the U.S. government. Nixon assigned his personal tax attorney to look into the possibilities of a gift for the year 1968.4 Nixon hired appraiser Ralph Newman, who had also designated President Johnson's gifts, to perform this function. A selection of Nixon's prepresidential papers were physically transferred to the National Archives, where they were inventoried and stored until Newman designated a gift at the end of the calendar year.5 A deed of gift specifying certain restrictions on access to the papers was drafted, signed by Nixon, and delivered to the GSA on December 30. This content downloaded from 18.104.22.168 on Tue, 30 Aug 2016 05:45:14 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms THE FIRST NIXON PAPERS 11 The 1968 transfer met the three requirements of a gift: clear intent to give; delivery and relinquishment of dominion over the gift by the donor; and acceptance of the gift by the donee.6 A schedule attached to the deed described the contents of Nixon's gift and the title was clearly transferred to the National Archives.7 The schedule listed the contents of 21 containers consisting of 41,300 items. These included papers and artifacts from Nixon's congressional and vice presidential terms, among them speeches, correspondence files, audiotapes documenting the 1960 campaign, and the original manuscript to Nixon's Six Crises} As the end of the year approached, President-Elect Nixon decided to replace the team of tax attorneys who had successfully claimed a tax deduction for the gift of papers for tax year 1968. The law firm of Kalmbach, DeMarco, Knapp and Chillingworth now represented Nixon in all his personal legal matters and Frank DeMarco was assigned responsibility for preparing the president's tax return, including overseeing a similar gift of Nixon's papers for tax year 1969.9


This article solves the problem of management graduates' competitiveness as a destination generalizing result of education. The estimate technique of the strategic and potential competitiveness, based on the bank of the methods and technologies for a degree in Quality Management, is offering.


In many modern applications, such as intrusion detection and prevention systems, expert knowledge can be formalized in the form of regular expressions. After this formalization, a finite automaton checks whether a word belongs to a regular language. Deterministic finite automata have an optimal time complexity, but the number of automaton states (space complexity) can grow exponentially with the length of the regular expression. At the same time, the time complexity is the main disadvantage of non-deterministic finite automata. Therefore, reducing spatial complexity while maintaining low time complexity is highly relevant. In applied problems of regular language recognition, a significant problem is the problem of the exponentially growing number of states of the recognizing deterministic finite automaton depending on the length of regular expressions of the recognized language — the exponential explosion problem. There are the following three main approaches to solving this problem using finite automata: 1) restriction on signatures given by experts; 2) regular language modification — this approach assumes the appearance in the solution of a practical problem of recognizing errors of the first and second kind; 3) finite automata modification without recognizing regular language changing. The third approach can be implemented as a finite automata modification through compression algorithms and particular structural elements. The paper presents a review of modern solutions, the main idea of which is the transition from an abstract finite automaton, represented by a table-specified function, to a structural automaton that combines the abstract part stored in the memory and various structural elements such as bit arrays and counters. Some ideas and algorithms have become especially successful when solving the exponential explosion problem by adding special structural elements. First, such successful solutions include the use of counters. Second, the idea of storing additional information about the state machine. Third, the combination of non-deterministic and deterministic finite automata. Fourth, the economic attitude to the state machine regarding its location to fast and slow memory allows us to consider the empirical experience of accumulated malicious traffic in intrusion detection systems.


Monolithic integration of both electronic and optic components into a silicon-based platform will provide high-speed optical interconnects and solve the power-bandwidth limitations. However, the lack of strong optical effects in silicon has limited the progress in the transmitter-end applications. Recently our research had demonstrated strong quantum-confined Stark effect (QCSE) in germanium quantum-well modulators on silicon. This first strong physical mechanism for group-IV photonics has a comparable behavior to III-V material systems. With proper quantum well structure design, we also demonstrated QCSE in C-band for long distance communications with CMOS-operational temperatures. The device fabrication is also compatible with standard silicon chip processes. Since the QCSE, a type of electroabsorption effect, requires much shorter optical length, it is suitable for device miniaturizations and possible for use in both lateral and vertical modulator configurations. Moreover, silicon-germanium electroabsorption modulators are inherently photodetectors, this advantage will enable efficient transmitter/receiver applications for optical interconnects.


3,445,204 5/1969 Bartlett et al................. 126159.5 X ABSTRACT: An electrically controlled igniter assembly for lighting the fuel in an orchard heater or smudge pot. The as sembly includes an igniter cartridge loaded with a large main pyrotechnic charge and with a small ignition charge fired by an electric heating element to ignite the main pyrotechnic charge. The assembly further includes a cartridge holder com prising an open ended tube adapted to be secured to a smudge pot and project into the fuel chamber thereof, and a connector for electrically connecting an igniter cartridge inserted into the holder tube to an emergizing and control circuit by means of which the heating element of the cartridge is energized.


We appreciate the comments from the Letter to the Editor authored by Natera (maker of the Signatera MRD test) and collaborating investigators at Aarhus University (Aarhus, Denmark). While we respectfully disagree with the criticisms raised, as detailed below, we believe that this discussion highlights the need for the academic community to create a consensus on what analyses and endpoints should be considered standard when evaluating new approaches for the detection of minimal residual disease (MRD). First, the authors of this Letter to the Editor suggest that the endpoint used in our study is "unconventional" as it represented analysis of a landmark post-definitive therapy timepoint, defined as approximately 30 days postsurgery for patients undergoing surgery alone or approximately 30 days postadjuvant therapy for patients receiving surgery and adjuvant therapy. We strongly disagree. A postdefinitive therapy timepoint has been used in multiple previous MRD studies, including several of the key foundational studies in the MRD field (1–3). In fact, Reinert and colleagues also used a "postdefinitive treatment" endpoint as the primary analysis in their study (Fig. 2D and eFigure 7, Reinert et al, JAMA Onc 2019; ref. 4). The rationale for a postdefinitive therapy analysis is that for each group of patients, this is the point from which curative-intent therapy is complete and patients undergo standard observation only (5). Therefore, whether a patient develops tumor recurrence or not following this key assessment is purely dependent onwhether residual disease existed at the time of the postdefinitive therapy analysis, and importantly is not potentially affected by any intervening therapy. If one were to utilize a postoperative timepoint only, then for patients who went on to receive adjuvant therapy, one could not know for sure if a patient did not recur because they did not have disease post-operatively, or if they were subsequently cured by adjuvant therapy. Notably, we also provide analyses for each group separately (Supplementary Table S4). For the authors of this Letter to characterize the use of this endpoint as "inappropriate and misleading", when it has been used previously in multiple studies, and as the primary analysis in their own study, is both meritless and irresponsible. To further the discussion around standards in MRD studies, we believe that "landmark" ( 30 day postintervention) sensitivity should be a standard endpoint in MRD studies, as the first 1–2 months after completion of surgery or other definitive therapy represents the window in which clinical decisions based on MRD testing— whether to proceed with observation, or whether to escalate or deescalate therapy—are ideally made. Thus, the percentage of eventual recurrences that can be predicted at this early point is most clinically relevant. This is why the majority of MRD studies have included or focused on a landmark or 30-day timepoint analysis and also why we chose to utilize this endpoint for the primary analysis of our study (1–3). Of note, though they claim our study endpoint is "unconventional", Reinert and colleagues authored one of the few MRDmanuscripts that does not directly report a landmark sensitivity number. The reader is forced to calculate the landmark 30-day sensitivity, which from the data they provide in Fig. 2A is 41% (7/17 recurrences detected). We believe reporting a landmark sensitivity should be a standard endpoint for all MRD studies due to its key clinical relevance. The second criticism raised by the authors of this Letter is factually inaccurate: Patient TPS1473 had a clinical follow up of only 292 days postcompletion of definitive therapy (not more than a year, as they claim). Given that the patients in our cohort had varying lengths of clinical follow up post-definitive therapy, we approached specificity in two ways. First, we reported specificity for all patients on the study (95.4%). However, it was noted that the only two patients that had detectable ctDNApost-definitive therapy (of 17 total) but did not recur by the data cut had limited follow up of less than 1 year. Thus, it was not possible to determine whether these patients represented actual false positives or if these patientsmight go on to recur with additional follow up. Accordingly, we also reported that the specificity value for patients with at least 1 year of clinical follow up post-definitive therapy was 100%. These methods are clearly noted in the article. Finally, the authors of this Letter raise issue with the exploratory surveillance analysis performed in the study, which was based on the very methods from their study, in which they excluded 50 patients without surveillance samples (Table 1, Reinert and colleagues, JAMA Onc 2019; ref. 4) from their comparable analysis. As we noted in our manuscript, the lack of systematic, regularly scheduled serial draws for most patients in our cohort limited our ability to perform a comprehensive assessment of longitudinal monitoring, and thus these analyses were not the primary focus of the study. However, to best approximate the surveillance analysis performed in Reinert and colleagues, we assessed a cohort of patients with a serial draw within 4 months of recurrence, since the majority of patients with longitudinal draws in Reinert and colleagues had systematic draws every 3–6 months during the study and all but 2 patients who recurred ( 90%) had a draw within 4 months of recurrence (4). Importantly, as the basis for their analysis, Reinert and colleagues excluded from their surveillance analysis at least 7 patients (specifically, patients 20, 89, 92, 99, 103, 108, 125)whowere false negatives in the overall analysis but who lacked surveillance draws, and this is the only reason we similarly excluded such patients in our surveillance analysis in an effort to replicate these methods. If the authors of this Letter believe that doing so "artificially inflates sensitivity", then this criticism should be first directed at their own study, as thismethod increased the sensitivity in their study from approximately 41% at the landmark timepoint (as calculated above) to the 88% reported in their surveillance analysis. Furthermore, to ensure clarity of our analysis, we also reported the sensitivity including longitudinal draws, but without excluding patients who lacked surveillance draws (which we termed the Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology & Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center & Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.


The specific nature and dynamic of the emerging triple helix of state-industry-university relations in Japan and Singapore is analyzed in this article. The impact of globalization and the emergence of trans-disciplinary scientific fields on this institutional reconstitution are examined. Overall, the implications of these transformations for the debates over the knowledge society are discussed.


James Joyce and Virginia Woolf might retroactively be associated as allies in psychological realism, but Woolf's response to Joyce's Ulysses was complex. This thesis studies and contextualizes her response, revealing how Woolf encountered, wrestled with, and went beyond Ulysses. It attempts to resolve differing scholarly views by examining her reactions in her diaries, letters, reading notes, and essays, and by proposing a reading of Mrs. Dalloway as Woolf's creative response to Ulysses. Contextualizing her response shows how gender, class, social relations, and personal traumas are related to Woolf's experience of Ulysses and confidence as a writer. These challenges informed her response to Ulysses and her writing of Mrs. Dalloway. Ultimately, Woolf appreciated Joyce's attempt at psychological realism, but felt that his book failed. In Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf adopted the imperatives that Ulysses inspired, but went beyond Ulysses as she perfected her composed style and wrote the perspective of a woman.


The optimization performed by compilers when generating executable programs is critical for software performance yet tuning this process to maximize efficiency is difficult due to the large number of possible modifications and the almost limitless number of potential input programs. To promote the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning to this challenge, Facebook Research released Compiler Gym[1], a reinforcement learning environment to allow the training of agents to perform compiler optimization control on real C/C++ programs. Whereas previously published approaches use techniques such as Proximal Policy Optimization or Deep Q Networks, this work utilizes neuroevolution and achieves competitive performance on the cBench-v1[2] program set while demonstrating the highly adaptive properties of the neuroevolution approach.


The novel  Racimo  (2014) by Diego Zuniga is an ingenious assemble of local and global violence that traces a subtle relation between tragic events in different geographies and temporalities.  Racimo effectively evokes the traumatic past from a unique perspective that attempts to link the 1973  Copu d´etat  with the terrorist attacks in New York in 2001.  Local memory therefore is questioned from a global perspective. In other words, the novel suggests the need to exanimate the Chilean September 11 through its connection with the 9/11.


The study examines the extent and intensity of lopping as well as their relation to free size in Becheve Nature Research (BNR), Golf Course Range (GCR), Beau Range (BR), and Ikwette Range (IR) all located at Obudu Cattle Ranch, Cross River State, Nigeria. Four species, Afzelia africana , Daniellia oliveri , Pterocarpus erinaceous and Ficus thoningii . were chosen for the study. The vegetation study and results indicate varying degrees of utilization between the locations of the tree species. The crown condition had difference between the locations of the tree species. The frequency of crown condition is higher in BNR and Ikwette Range. The BNR had the highest frequency of woody plant that provide primate food with value 0.52 while Golf Course range, Beau range, Ikwette range has 0.32, 0.30, and 0.27 use value respectively. The human use value is more in Golf Course Range with 0.324 and very minimal in BNR with 0.29. The mean crude fiber (CF) content of the four plants (11.52%) is low. In conclusion, the spatial distribution of food strongly influences primates' patterns of movement. Keywords : Utilization, browse species, human use, Obudu Cattle Ranch


This paper presents an approach based on a preprocessing technique that allows the conventional subspace tracking method to be adapted to the case of coherent or highly correlated multipath signals in fading channels. The preprocessing technique, known as temporal smoothing, makes use of the independent fading property of the signal paths to decorrelate them. It gives better resolution than the common spatial smoothing methods in tracking the directions of the coherent paths.


The last 20 years has seen a tremendous increase in commercial and consequent scientific interest in members of the genus Bifidobacterium. Bifidobacteria are Gram-positive procaryotes that naturally inhabit the gastrointestinal tract of humans and other warm-blooded animals. Discovered at the start of the last century, bifidobacteria are considered as key commensals in human-microbe interactions, and are believed to play a pivotal role in maintaining a healthy gastrointestinal tract. Despite the generally accepted importance of bifidobacteria in gastrointestinal well-being, the underlying molecular mechanisms by which these bacteria function as probiotic commensal organisms is far from understood. Recent genome sequencing has given us a revealing insight into the genetic make-up of some members of the genus Bifidobacterium, although the availability of the full genomic sequence of complete bifidobacterial sequences represents only the first step in moving towards a better understanding of the biology of these organisms. This review will discuss the role that Bifidobacterium species play as a prominent probiotic component of our gastrointestinal microflora and provide some forthcoming insights into the general characteristics of Bifidobacterium genomes.


Furnishings in Sarraute - see The Planetarium - become things without their status as objects, forms given materiality, in a reversal of the realistic and historical perspective.


Fatigue tests of bolted joint were carried out under constant amplitude loading. In all tests, bolts were broken at the root of the first thread where the nut and bolt were engaged. The relationship between the stress amplitude, which was defined as the load divided by the effective cross-sectional area of the bolt, and the number of cycles to failure showed a curve similar to a typical S-N curve. To estimate the axial force of bolt in bolted joint, the compressive force of bolted joint was detected by using the self-made load cell during the fatigue test. The maximum compressive force decreased as the cycle increased, while the minimum compressive force was equal to zero independent upon the load cycle. The axial loading pattern applied to the bolt could be estimated based on the change of maximum compressive force and the test load amplitude. The fatigue tests of bolt were carried out under the estimated loading pattern. The fatigue life of bolt was in good agreement with the life of bolted joint.


In this paper, we investigate the relativistic quantum dynamics of spin-0 massive charged particles in a Gödel-type space–time with electromagnetic interactions. We derive the radial wave equation of the Klein–Gordon equation with an internal magnetic flux field and Coulomb-type potential in the Som–Raychaudhuri space–time with cosmic string. We solve this equation and analyze the analog effect in relation to the Aharonov–Bohm effect for bound states.


This study aimed to determine the effects of sea buckthorn pulp oil treatment (800 mg/day for 60 days) on inflammatory, systemic oxidative/reductive status and endothelial function, in obese children. A total of 41 obese children (10–18 years old) and thirty controls were enrolled. The measurements were done before and after pulp oil administration. Ultrasounds were used for flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) and carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) measurements and colorimetric and ELISA methods for biochemical parameters. In the obese children versus the lean ones, increased oxidative stress (high malonyldialdehyde, high respiratory burst (RB)), low antioxidant defence (low blood glutathione, low TEAC), inflammatory status (high CRP, ceruloplasmin), adipocytokines disturbance (low adiponectin and high leptin), insulin resistance (high fasting C peptide), low FMD (), and high IMT () were measured. Treatment reduced total cholesterol (), triglycerides (), RB (), leptin (), ceruloplasmin (), fasting C peptide (), blood pressure (), and IMT (). In conclusion, sea buckthorn pulp oil treatment prevents atherosclerosis by lowering triglyceridemia, cholesterolemia, and blood pressure (strong effects) and by reducing oxidative stress, inflammation, and insulin resistance (weak effects).


If the Church suffered a catastrophic depression for the past 25 years, this has been exactly contemporaneous with the age of contraception, a plague of black death within the Church and without.


PurposeThe onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has led to loss of lives and jobs and other adverse effects on persons, families and businesses. With its frightening tendencies, it was a sigh of relief with the discovery of vaccines to mitigate its disastrous effects. However, participation in the vaccination exercise in Ghana has been slow and unencoraging. This paper sought to identify the factors that influence the perception and willingness of individuals to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.Design/methodology/approachFor this study, structured questionnaires were administered to 1,350 respondents selected at random by way of purposive sampling from specific regions that were also randomly selected. Out of this sample, a total of 1,296 were found to be in useable form. The probit model estimation with marginal effects was used to determine both perception and willingness to take the COVID-19 vaccine.FindingsThe authors observed that increases in age and manufacturing sector workers were positively associated with vaccine perception, while both males and females residing in the Bono and Central regions had negative perceptions toward the vaccine. Among male workers, education and living in Accra had a negative relationship with vaccine perception, while for female workers, education had a positive influence on vaccine perception. Additionally, workers in the transport sector and those residing in urban areas were more inclined to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in Ghana, regardless of gender. Again, the authors observed that larger household size, people with no formal education and females with primary education were more willing. Also, increase in age for males reduced willingness, while residents in the greater Accra region were less willing to take the vaccine.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' belief and knowledge, the observations and recommendations made are consistent with theory and empirical studies and contribute immensely to the discussions about the most effective ways of combating the COVID-19 pandemic. It also offers a nuanced perspective on how policy-makers can enact policies that ensure efficient and effective ways of dealing with future epidemics.


painting of the fresco of the Saint Francis cycle in the Sassetti Chapel, in Santa Trinità, to the dates 17 June 1483 to the end of December 1485, a project involving both Davide and Domenico Ghirlandaio. Nearly as remarkable as the Vatican manuscript itself is the all-too-brief life of the leader of the transcription project, Lisa Venturini (1960–2005), whose life work Nicoletta Baldini has admirably carried on in her introductory essay and notes to the manuscript. The introductory section does not merely summarize the documents at some length but evaluates their importance in the light of all the other known documentation about this remarkable family, doing justice to both Italian and anglophone scholarship. The introductory essay meticulously documents the history of the papers themselves. There is only one very minor error I wish had been addressed: Domenico Ghirlandaio's initial annual salary as an apprentice is quoted as "fiorini 11 e soldi 4 per fiorino" (56). The transcription of the document makes this puzzling entry somewhat clearer: "fiorini 11 a soldi 4 per fiorino," only to raise another puzzle. Surely the correct exchange rate would have been four lire per florin. Was the quotation of soldi dutifully transcribed from the original, or was it transcribed incorrectly? Regardless, the introductory material makes frequent reference to works executed by Domenico, Davide, and Ridolfo, often in collaboration with Alessio Baldovinetti, and the Olschki publishing house has been generous in publishing full-color photographs of the major art works mentioned in the text. The introductory essay will be of immense interest and help to scholars and is punctuated with occasionally arresting detail. There is reason to be grateful for this illuminating exposure of the ordinary details of the lives of this well-known artistic family. Domenico and Davide, who often pleased their patrons by depicting them as attending personages in grand religious narratives, would surely have approved of both the detective work of their immediate descendants and of Venturini and Baldini's detailed social, economic, and familial contextualization.


At backbone network planning, an important task is to identify the failures to get prepared for. Technically, a list of link sets, called Shared Risk Link Groups (SRLG), is defined. The observed reliability of network services strongly depends on how carefully this list was selected and whether it contains every high-risk failure event. Regional failures often cause the breakdown of multiple elements of the network, which are physically close to each other. In this article, we show that operators should prepare a network for only a small number of possible regional failure events. In particular, we give an approach to generate the list of SRLGs that hit every possible circular disk shaped disaster of a given radius <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$r$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. We show that this list has <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$O((n+x)\rho _{r})$ </tex-math></inline-formula> SRLGs, where <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$n$ </tex-math></inline-formula> is the number of nodes in the network and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$x$ </tex-math></inline-formula> is the number of link crossings, and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\rho _{r}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> is the maximal number of links that could be hit by a circular disaster of radius <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$r$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. We give a fast polynomial algorithm to enumerate the list of SRLGs and show that its worst-case time complexity is asymptotically optimal under some practical restrictions. Finally, through extensive simulations, we show that this list in practice has a size of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\approx 1.2 n$ </tex-math></inline-formula>.