This paper describes a novel control algorithm for dynamic walking of biped humanoid robots. For the test platform, we developed KHR-2 (KAIST Humanoid Robot-2) according to our design philosophy. KHR-2 has many sensory devices analogous to human sensory organs which are particularly useful for biped walking control. First, for the biped walking motion, the motion control architecture is built and then an appropriate standard walking pattern is designed for the humanoid robots by observing the human walking process. Second, we define walking stages by dividing the walking cycle according to the characteristics of motions. Third, as a walking control strategy, three kinds of control schemes are established. The first scheme is a walking pattern control that modifies the walking pattern periodically based on the sensory information during each walking cycle. The second scheme is a real-time balance control using the sensory feedback. The third scheme is a predicted motion control based on a fast decision from the previous experimental data. In each control scheme, we design online controllers that are capable of maintaining the walking stability with the control objective by using force/torque sensors and an inertial sensor. Finally, we plan the application schedule of online controllers during a walking cycle according to the walking stages, accomplish the walking control algorithm and prove its effectiveness through experiments with KHR-2.


Drill and practice, simulation, and tutorial are the main formats of computer-assisted instruction, yet tutorial format is particularly suitable to conceptual school subjects. When a knowledge module is added to the tutorial format, it is termed an intelligent tutoring system (ITS). Although ITS evaluation studies greatly influence interest in and support for the future ITS work, valid evaluation methodologies are lacking because ITS is fairly new. Consequently, this article examined the ITS evaluation studies, with the focus on the methodological issue. The critical component in ITS is the knowledge component that has not been evaluated adequately to verify the knowledge. Definitely summative evaluation is more difficult than formative evaluation since it involves the comparison of ITS with human tutors using traditional teaching methods across extensive subject domains.


The 14th IEEE International Workshops on Enabling Technologies: Infrastructure for Collaborative Enterprises (WET ICE 2005) was held at Linköping University, Sweden, on June 13-15, 2005. WET ICE is organized as a set of autonomous workshops that cooperate through plenary talks and joint sessions. The workshops have individual paper presentations and discussion sessions. During the joint sessions, the work in the different workshops is summarized and common topics are discussed. Further, important topics for future work are identified. For this reason, WET ICE proceedings are post-conference proceedings that include summary reports of the workshops and the discussions. This year's WET ICE consisted of six workshops of which the last one was run for the first time: (i) AgentBased Computing for Enterprise Collaboration (ACEC), (ii) Distributed and Mobile Collaboration (DMC), (iii) Security Technologies for Collaborative Architectures (STCA), (iv) Evaluation of Collaborative Information Systems and Support for Virtual Enterprises (ECE), (v) Emerging Technologies for Next Generation GRID (ETNGRID), and (vi) Collaborative Peer-to-Peer Information Systems (COPS). In the first plenary talk "Towards a Semantic Web for Bioinformatics," Dr. Patrick Lambrix from Linköping University discussed the need of the Semantic Web (a vision of a further development of the World Wide Web) to facilitate locating, retrieving, and integrating information available through data sources and tools on the Web and focused then on ontologies as one important technology to make this vision happen. Dr. Christoph Schuba, Sun Microsystems, motivated in his plenary talk "Systemically Secure Architectures—Lessons from the Trenches" the need for systemically secure architectures and discussed an approach to build them. There were also two social events. We hope the participants enjoyed the Swedish smörgåstårta and our boat trip and dinner on Kinda Kanal. We would like to thank all the people who made this WET ICE a success. We thank Sumitra and Ramana Reddy, the WETICE Organizer and Finance Chair, for their long-term planning and support, as well as all the workshop organizers, the plenary speakers, the authors, and the participants for contributing to an interesting program and discussions. Also, WET ICE 2005 would not have been possible without the other members of the local organization committee (Almut Herzog and He Tan) and our other local helpers (Cecile Åberg, Shanai Ardi, Claudiu Duma, Vaida Jakoniene, Dennis Maciuszek, Lena Strömbäck, and Juha Takkinen). Further, we acknowledge the financial support of our sponsors: IEEE Computer Society, The Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet), Sun Microsystems Inc., the municipality of Linköping, Concurrent Engineering Research Center at West Virginia University, and Linköping University. We hope to see this year's participants again at WET ICE 2006, which will be held at the University of Manchester, UK, June 26-28, 2006. Information about this event can be found on the Web page: www.wetice.org.


Background: Delivering quality health services in a cost effective manner is becoming an increasingly critical issue for insurance companies and government agencies. The Clinical Framework used as part of peer review has been proposed as an alternative for institutions to control costs and maintain optimal clinical care. Objectives: To develop a concise set of principles for use by clinicians and regulators to determine the need for treatment within in a compensable setting. Method: The Clinical Framework was first implemented in 2003 at the Victorian WorkCover Authority as part of peer review of physiotherapy management of injured workers. It consists of five principles that clinicians and institutions use to determine the ongoing need for intervention. The Framework allows clinicians to exercise judgment in selecting treatment with due consideration to the evidence and patient's individual needs. Results: Following its introduction in 2003, it broadened to apply to chiropractic, osteopathy, psychology, and occupational therapy. In 2012 it was endorsed across Australia for motor accident and worker's compensation bodies by the representative bodies of the above disciplines. In 2013 Federal Minister Shorten released a review of the SRC Act which recommended amendments including "medical treatment must meet objective standards such as those in the Clinical Framework." Discussion: This paper will discuss some of the issues that have been addressed in implementing the Clinical Framework on over 20,000 files over the past ten years. Conclusions: The Clinical Framework is a document that has won broad acceptance across the Australian compensable system in allied health as part of sustaining quality care while reducing unnecessary costs.


The growth of settlement as a result of rural-urban drift has caused large number of people to move to the various peri-urban areas due to housing shortage and higher rent in the central city. This study examines housing condition of the peri-urban area in Oyo state using Apete as a case study. Data was obtained with the use of structured questionnaires randomly administered to the residents of Apete to obtain information on the physical, structural and environmental conditions of the housing in the area. Using binary regression methods of analysis, the study shows that there is a significant relationship between housing structural condition and resident accessibility to housing services. It concluded that there should be spatial equality in the provision of facilities and services to the peri-urban areas and creation of an – information system on ruralurban development. The implication of this is that the development of peri-urban should not be left to land speculators in order to ensure orderly development. Keyword: rural-urban outfit, peri-urban, housing condition. I. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY Urbanization in Nigeria as in most developing nations is caused mostly by rural-urban migration and characterized by lowest level of economic and general absence of required. Industrialization to accelerate socio-economic development. Most settlement in Nigeria such as Ibadan were urbanized prior to the advert of the colonial masters. However, their presence only accelerated the urbanization rate with the advent of colonial masters; another dimension was added to the urbanization trend through the foreign and paid job economy (Mabogunje 1978). According to the 1991 census, the growth rate of the urban areas was put at 5 percent while that of the rural areas was put at 2.5 percent. One of the major need of the large concentration of people in the cities was shelter. Housing is the worst hit by the high rate of urbanization and natural increase. There was high deficit in housing stock resulting in high rate of homelessness. According to Aina (1989) since public housing efforts have so far failed in developing country, the urban poor have attempted to resolve housing crisis by building their own shelter and settlement. Tofowomo (2008) stated that population growth; rise income, ineffective land use and excessive growth as well as social problems in central cities, rise of automobile and employment are generally major causes of peri-urban in different parts of the world. Pile to the fact that most peri-urban areas provide cheap and accessible kind for the urban poor who are able to put up a structure and inhabit without much constraints. The area is thus characterized with sub-standard structures and uncompleted houses without most of the infrastructural facilities provided. This paper examined the housing condition of peri-urban areas in Oyo state using Apete as a case study. II. CONCEPTUAL ISSUE/LITERATURE REVIEW Urbanization is accomplished by globalization which is associated with the creation of new urban economic cores, increased demand. For services and new criteria for selecting and evaluating economic activities.(Sassen 2002,Shaws &Satish 2007). Peri-Urban is an expression that originates from the French word Peri urbanization which is even used by French statics to describe spaces between the city and the country side that are shaped by the urbanization of former rural areas in the urban fringe both in qualitative (diffusion of urban lifestyle) and a quantitative (new residential zones) (INSEE 2008). It is also defined by (Adesina 2007) as part of metropolitan countries that is not settled densely enough to be called urban. Peri-urban has been used to define a place concept of process (Narain,V.and Nischal,S. 2007). Peri-urban area is also called rurban space, outskirts or hinterland defined by the structure resulting from the process of peri-urbanization. It can also be described as landscape interface between town and country. It is an expansion of functional rural-urban linkages such as communing (Wikipedia 2015). PERI–URBAN HOUSING IN OYO STATE: CASE STUDY OF APETE ... www.ijhssi.org 63 | P a g e Peri-urban according to (Freidberg 2001, Simon,D.Macgregor,D.Nsiah,G.K.and Thompson,D.(2003), (Briggs 1991) is characterized by high and increasing population density, small holdings, rich countryside homes, poor slums, diverse sources of income, lack of regulations contested land tenure rights, uncoordinated conversion of farmland to housing, pollution, environmental problems, intensified resource exploitation, considerable economic dynamism and a severe lack of service provision. It is also observed as a widely branded ugly development with tendency to discounity and haphazard layout which reveals the outcome of improper planning inadequate policies and lack of good governance (Rikko 2000). The area is also characterized by inadequate access to basic services both social and physical infrastructure housing finance (Vienna a 2004). The development of peri-urban is observed to be an inevitable consequence of urbanization as cities in developing countries continue to grow, the peri-urban area moves outwards in waves. (Nottingham and Liverpool Universities 1998). However, according to (Rikko et al 2013), the degree as well as growth or urban sprawl varies between the developed and developing countries. Developing countries experienced alarming and uncontrolled rate of development due to unprecedented urbanization and urban population growth. III. THE STUDY AREA Apete is in Ido Local Government Area, of Oyo state. Located in the suburb of Ibadan which falls on longitudes 7 0 2 and 7 0 4 east of the Greenwich Meridan and latitudes 3 0 35 and 4 0 10 North of the equator and is precisely falls on the North-Western part of the city of Ibadan. The population of Apete by the 2006 census was 103,261. Apete is bounded in the North by the proposed Western bye pass in the east by the Polytechnic, Ibadan, in the west by Eleyele water works while in the south by a river. Apete people are majority an agrarian in nature but due to effect of the Polytechnic, Ibadan on Apete, the people have diverted into various commercial activities such as carpentry, mechanic, hair dressing, motor cycle riders and so on.Figure 1 reflects the local government s in Ibacan. Apete neighbourhood, the study area is shown in fIgure 3.4.


Poisoning is one of the reasons for which Emergency Medical Teams are called. They range from mild and asymptomatic incidents to those complicated by shock and Sudden Cardiac Arrest. The causes of poisoning may be related to accidental contact with a potentially poisonous substance, but also to deliberate use or exposure to poison for suicidal purposes. Some of these events are classified as situations subject to the assessment of forensic specialists. Rescue procedures in case of poisoning depend on the type of poison, the course of poisoning and the clinical signs presented by the patient. Medical Emergency Procedures should always be based on the pursuit of circulatory and respiratory stability of the patient. Pre-hospital management is aimed at limiting further absorption of the poison and, if possible, implementing causal treatment through the supply of antidotes. In the absence of a specific antagonist, the patient should be treated symptomatically.


Making Numbers Count: The Art and Science of Communicating Numbers (2022), by Chip Heath and Karla Starr, is a practical guide to developing number sense. Full of useful tips and tricks, the book ends on a philosophical note that invites us to contemplate why each of us is simultaneously good and bad with numbers. The writing style is enjoyable, especially for a reference book, and it could generate fruitful conversation in numeracy courses as well as writing courses across disciplines and professions.


Using Ansys software to establish the perforated casing model,according to the elasticity and structural mechanics knowledge,this paper calculates and analyzes the influence of perforation density on compressive strength of casing.The results show that the Perforation density has limit for casing strength.The results provide a theoretical support for the rational design of the casing.


This article explores internal audit outsourcing practices in the South African public sector. It examines the extent of outsourcing, the rationales for outsourcing, the preferred external service provider(s) for an outsourced internal audit function (IAF), as well as the status of outsourced IAFs. Data were gathered using questionnaires to interview the heads of IAFs, namely chief audit executives (CAEs), and the users of internal audit services, namely the chairpersons of the audit committees (CACs), as well as the accounting officers (AOs) of national government departments in South Africa. The findings indicate that the respondents preferred in-house IAFs to outsourced IAFs, because of the perceived commitment to governance by in-house IAFs. However, due to a lack of technical expertise and a shortage of competent internal auditors, the IAF is often outsourced to external audit service providers. These results provide public sector authorities with insight into the status of internal audit practices in the public sector and will enable internal audit stakeholders to optimise their sourcing practices and meet stakeholder expectations.


The influence of the piezooptical effect on postlasing in electrooptically Q -switched Nd:YAG lasers is discussed and a simple method for its elimination is presented.


Different data have suggested that the density‐dependent inhibition of growth in normal 3T3 cells is due to the release of inhibitory factor(s) into the medium. The present results provide more evidence supporting this hypothesis. From conditioned medium of dense cultures of 3T3 cells, we fractionated a thermolabile inhibitory diffusible factor (I.D.F.) with a molecular weight of about 40.000 This factor decreased the [11C]‐inosine incorporation into purine nucleotides and into nucleic acids of stimulated 3T3 cells. DNA synthesis, determined by [11C]‐thymidine incorporation into nucleic acids, and protein synthesis (determined by the protein content of the cultures maintained in the presence or absence of I.D.F.), were also decreased. The possibility that I.D.F. is involved in density‐dependent inhibition of growth is discussed.


A method for adjusting electronic equipment incapable of passing an electrostatic discharge immunity test includes three simple and easy-to-use adjusting methods for the electronic equipment incapable of passing the electrostatic discharge immunity test, is a simple and reliable posterior remedial measure under the condition that an internal circuit of the electronic equipment is not changed greatly, intersection, integration and flexible application of the rectification methods are considered during actual application, technical references can be provided for some equipment for passing the electrostatic discharge immunity test, and the method for adjusting the electronic equipment incapable of passing the electrostatic discharge immunity test has a high application value.


Population growth has encourage an increasing of clean water needs as a basic human necessity, both in terms of quality and quantity. River water and rain water are sources of raw materials for these elementary needs, however global climate change has indirectly affected the hydrological characteristics of the last few decades. Thus, the use of ground water is a solution in meeting these needs. The research aims to identify the potential presence of ground water that can be used as a source of fresh water in the village of Gosoma, Tobelo, North Halmahera Regency. This potential fresh water investigation was carried out using a Mc Ohm Mark-2 OYO resistivity meter, while the Schlumberger configuration was the measurement method used. The length of the track geoelectric extends as far as 1,060 m, while for transverse profiles as far as 560 with a total number of measurement points of 6 points. The results of geoelectric measurements show that there are 2 layers that have the potential as deep aquifers. First groundwater layers predicted at a depth that varies between 21.10 m - 83.00 m and secondary groundwater layer may exist deeper than 95.90 m above the surface. This result were indicated by resistivity values measured at the observed points, where the values varies from 18.10 ohms to 91.30 ohms. Those resistivity value illustrates that lithology of the soil layer were indicated as a layer of sand and sandy tuff, where both of the rock lithologies layer have a potential as a layer of ground water.


A high-performance liquid chromatographic method with diode-array detection (HPLC–DAD) was developed for the simultaneous quantification of endogenous retinoids in bovine serum. The described technique was initially based on an extraction procedure and reversed phase HPLC method designed for human serum, optimised and validated in the bovine. Following denaturation of 2 ml samples, a one-step liquid–liquid extraction was performed. Analytes were separated on a symmetry C18 column in a total run time of 60 min. The retinoids were monitored at an optimal wavelength of 350 nm as chosen from the retinoid spectra. Retinal was added as internal standard because of its intermediate polarity. Peak-height and peak-area ratios were linear over a concentration range from 1 to 10 ng/ml for 13cis-, 9 cis-, and all-trans-retinoic acid, 100 to 600 ng/ml for retinol and 10 to 100 ng/ml for retinyl palmitate. Coefficients of variation were acceptable for both within-day and day-to-day assays. To allow the simultaneous analysis of the endogenous retinoids with a wide polarity range, recoveries were compromised. Nevertheless they systematically exceeded 60%. The proposed method is simple, specific and enables fast and accurate routine quantification of acid, alcoholic and esteric forms of retinoids. It was successfully applied to analyse 21 bovine serum samples from a clinical study. Simultaneous assay of endogenous retinoids has not yet been performed in cows. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.


ABSTRACT The purpose of the present study was to investigate sociodemographic variables, features of sexual abuse (SA), and first psychiatric evaluation results of abused children, and to analyze the relation of the psychiatric evaluation results to the children's age and gender, type and duration of abuse, abuser–child relationship, and marital status of the children's parents, at one of the most experienced Child Advocacy Centers (CACs) in Turkey. All data were obtained from reports prepared by child and adolescent psychiatrists. The sample of this study consists of 436 child sexual abuse (CSA) cases who admitted İzmir CAC between April 2014 and November 2015. The statistical analyses yielded significant relations between psychiatric symptoms and chronic abuse, the gender of the children, and type of abuse. Suicidal ideation and behaviors due to sexual abuse (SA) were also examined. According to our results, it is fair to say that children exposed to SA benefit from immediate psychiatric help because of their vulnerability for psychiatric disorders due to abuse. In this context, CACs are very important multidisciplinary establishments to determine children's multiple needs to ease their trauma with collaborative teamwork. Psychiatric evaluation should be part of this multidisciplinary context.


Artiach Editorial (1969-1974) was a Marxist publishing house created within a broader anti-Francoism cultural project, linked to the Comunist Party of Spain (PCE, Partido Comunista Espanol). In this paper we will study its origin, its bibliographic production and its dialectics, along with the mechanisms of ideological control of the dictatorship.


This paper describes the results of a survey of superintendents, who were asked to identify the most critical issues in managing and running small rural school districts. Thirty superintendents in southeastern Nebraska participated in the study. The problem of finances was the superintendents' greatest worry. They were also concerned about regional economic conditions, state regulations, salaries, and providing an adequate variety of classes. Superintendents feel that adequate financing of schools is based upon a positive perception of schools by community members, and that school boards are primarily interested in school curriculum. They are positive in their assessment of the overall quality of teachers they employ.


We think that we are held equal before the law. This means that the state cannot treat us as inferior or superior to any other person in society. When the letter of the law goes together with the spirit of the law there will be few conflicts in our society. Why do we often come into conflict with each other? Hsun Tzu says that human nature is originally evil and his goodness is acquired by training. Hsun Tzu thinks that what is good and valuable is the product of human effort as culture. Shakespeare sees human beings as actors on the stage of the world because they cannot be described as a distinctive nature. But he values social order and stability. He tries to show this social stability as culture in his plays. By culture mean Hsun Tzu and Shakespeare that we obey the law and the standard of law is provided by nature. Shakespeare shows that mercy is needed in the application of law because the strict justice of law can do worse injustice than not applying it at all. Hsun Tzu says that the li regulates men's desires and purifies men's emotions. The mercy of Shakespeare and the li of Hsun Tzu are embedded in nature, and they can work as a measure of law for social harmony and peace. Their emphasis on social control comes from naturalism. They think that human beings obey the natural law as the ultimate order of the universe. But nature always changes and there are no absolute values in the world. Thus we need the very natural order that we transcend. Hsun Tzu and Shakespeare believe that nature presents us with the musical principle of harmony. Music functions as guidance for men's minds of good and evil. This is the Confucian view of music. Confucius tried to educate people on music and the li. But he himself knew that his teachings would not be effective as he hoped. This is the same dilemma as Hsun Tzu and Shakespeare are facing. That is why we still fall back on their view of the measure of law based on musical harmony.


Studies on post-collisional magmatic rocks can provide key clues to researching the crust–mantle interactions and the tectonic evolution of collisional orogenic belts. This study investigated a suite of newly discovered mafic intrusions in the middle of the East Kunlun orogenic belt through integrated analysis of petrology, petrography, and zircon U–Pb dating. The data could offer new insights into the generation of the Proto-Tethyan tectonic evolution. The result shows that these mafic intrusions are mainly gabbro and diabase, formed in the Early Devonian, with zircon U–Pb ages of 408.9 ± 2.0 Ma for gabbro and 411.1 ± 3.1 Ma for diabase. It consists of plagioclase, pyroxene, and dark minerals, and a small number of calcite and chlorite. Diabase has a small amount of amygdale. Their Na2O + K2O contents range from 3.47 wt.% to 5.45 wt.%, with Na2O/K2O ratios from 1.39 to 3.09, suggesting that they are calc–alkaline rocks. These rocks have an Fe2O3ᵀ content of 7.68 wt.%–11.59 wt.% and Mg# of 50.58–59.48, belonging to the iron-rich and magnesium-poor type. The chondrite-normalized rare earth elements show similar patterns that are characterized by enrichment of light rare earth elements, with (La/Yb)N of 3.27–6.75 and no significant europium anomaly, indicating the rocks are homogenous. The studied rocks are characterized by low contents of compatible elements Cr and Ni, enrichment of large-ion lithophile elements such as Rb, U, Sr, and Nd, and high-field-strength elements such as Nb, Ta, Zr, Hf, and Th. The mafic magma originated from the partial melting of the enriched mantle and was assimilated and mixed with crust materials during the process of migration. Based on the regional tectonic evolution, we interpret that the Proto-Tethys Ocean had closed in the Early Devonian, and that the East Kunlun region was in a post-collisional extensional tectonic setting.


This work proposes a new general-purpose framework for adaptive scheduling of entities that interact in an environment. The framework developed was employed for scheduling packets in a packet switching network (PSN) and focuses on determining the order in which packets should be forwarded from a queue based on the everchanging state of the network. A scheduling system has to constantly adapt to various network states (the changing network parameters) in order to achieve maximum policy compliance. The framework presented in this paper attempts to maximize policy compliance while minimizing overhead, implementation difficulty, and computational complexity. The utility assessment of forwarding a packet in a network and the quantification of its impact, on the overall policy compliance of the network is very difficult to achieve. The problem of relevant utility assignment with minimal computational complexity is achieved using a well-known utility assignment technique in operational research, Multi Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT). Adaptability to various network states is achieved by a state aware neural network, which helps in relevant utility assignment for a given state of the network.


OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Despite its critical importance in reproductive health, access to abortion care continues to be impeded by laws grounded in religious, political, or other ideologies. We will characterize abortion attitudes among US men who live in areas with restrictive abortion laws using qualitative methods. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: We will use a semi-structured interview guide to elicit men's attitudes about abortion, characterized within moral, legal, religious, political, and other domains. Inclusion criteria include English-speaking cisgender men, ages 18 to 65 who live in states with the most restrictive abortion laws as defined by the Guttmacher Institute. We will recruit participants through Facebook ads and interviews will continue until theoretic sufficiency. Using an inductive thematic analysis approach, transcripts will be coded for emergent themes by two researchers independently in QRS NVivo 12.0, with concurrent refinement of themes as interviews are completed. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: We will elucidate emergent themes regarding men's abortion attitudes which could include how men think of abortion as a medical, moral, or personal reality, why they do or do not support abortion provision, among many other possibilities. We anticipate that researchers can use the data obtained from this study to begin to build a conceptual framework of abortion attitudes among US men who lives in restrictive states. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: This study will fill an important gap in the literature by qualitatively characterizing abortion attitudes among a population that has political influence on abortion access. Results can inform policy and advocacy campaigns aimed at shifting public abortion attitudes towards increased acceptance.


In this article the author speaks about the use of algorithms in the process of teaching the native language at different stages of education in secondary school.


Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) can be considered as an efficient wireless communication alternative in regions where the terrestrial infrastructure is absent. In this paper we propose to use drones for public safety, especially, as a rescue solution for shipwrecked. The detection and the localization of the victims are carried out by a group of drones which receive SOS signals transmitted by their safety jackets. The proposed localization technique provides a good estimate of the target positions based only on the RSSI measurements of the received signals. In fact, using mobile UAVs allows to create a large number of virtual anchors so we can better localize victims. Simulations results show very low localization errors and good tracking capabilities of our algorithm for various scenarios. A performance enhancement is also noted when using multiple drones.


We report here in vitro flowering in six cultivars namely; 'Banquet', 'Gulf annual', 'Linn Perennial', 'Meridian', 'Quartet' and 'Tolosa' of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.). The frequency of in vitro flowering varied from 2.5% for 'Tolosa' to 90% for 'Gulf annual'. Out of the five media (RM1-RM5) tested to induce flowering in vitro, only RM5 medium (MS salt + vitamin + 0.50 mg L 6-benzyladenine (BA) + 2.0 mg L thidiazuron (TDZ) + 38.0 mg L CuSO4.·H2O) produced in vitro flowering. Vernalization (one week at 4°C) of the in vitro shoots improved the flowering efficiency by 35% compared to the non-vernalized control. Callus was induced from mature seeds on medium containing MS salts and vitamins with 4.0 mg L 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 30 g L sucrose. Unlike previously published reports of callus-based regeneration that requires several months in culture and associated somaclonal variation and albino shoot formation, we obtained normal shoots from mature seed-derived callus in 10-12 weeks. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Objective: We previously developed a predictive model to assess the risk of developing acute pancreatitis (AP) in patients with severe hypertriglyceridemia (HTG). In this study, we aimed to externally validate this model. Methods: The validation cohort included cross-sectional data between 2013 and 2017. Adult patients (≥18 years-old) with triglyceride levels ≥ 1,000 mg/dL were identified. Based on our previous four factors-predictive model (age, TG, excessive alcohol use, and gallstone disease), we estimated the probability of developing AP. Model performance was assessed using area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC). Results: In comparison to the original cohort, patients in the validation cohort had more prevalent acute pancreatitis (16.2% vs 9.2%, p<0.001) and gallstone disease (7.5% vs 2.1%, p<0.001). Other characteristics were comparable and not statistically significant. The AUROCs were almost identical: 0.8337 versus 0.8336 in the validation and the original cohorts respectively. In univariable analyses, the highest increase in odds of AP was associated with HTG, followed by gallstones, excessive alcohol use, and younger age. Conclusion: This study externally validates the four-factor predictive model to estimate the risk of AP in adult patients with severe HTG (TG ≥ 1,000 mg/dL). Younger age was confirmed to place patients at high risk of AP. The clinical risk categories suggested in this study may be useful to guide treatment options. Funding: none.


Hospital readmission within a 30-day period causes severe economic and healthcare impacts. According to a study, 76% of the hospitals readmissions can be prevented by providing out of hospital post-discharge care. In order to appropriately mark the patients with high chances of getting readmitted, numerous studies and researches have been performed which uses various supervised machine learning algorithms to predict the readmission probability of a patient using labeled discharge summaries and clinical notes. The datasets used in these studies are highly imbalanced and has high dimensionality, which affects classification performance negatively. This study uses data sampling technique to reduce the imbalance and feature selection technique to reduce high dimensionality, thereby improving the overall classification performance and reducing the evaluation time as compared to other industry standard hospital readmission frameworks reviewed in this study.


Application of dynamic programming to the deformable contours has many advantages, such as guaranteed optimality and numerical stability. However, long execution times of these methods almost always force researchers to use dynamic programming in combination with multiresolution methods. Multiresolution methods shorten the execution time by subsampling the original images after an application of a smoothing filter. However, this speedup comes at the expense of contour optimality due to the loss of details in the decreased resolution. In this paper, we present a new multi-level framework for deformable contour optimization, which can achieve faster optimization times and performs better than current multiresolution methods. To form the new levels, this method uses a very efficient algorithm to segment the original images with respect to the deformable contour external energy instead of subsampling. An exhaustive search on these segments is carried out by dynamic programming. A novel gradient descent algorithm is employed to find optimal internal energy for large image segments, where the external energy remains constant due to segmentation. We also introduce a new algorithm to pass the contour information more precisely between the levels. We present an analysis of time and performance comparisons with the current multiresolution methods by the experiments done on variety of medical images, which confirmed efficiency and accuracy of our framework.


The rapid proton capture process ( rp -process) is believed to be responsible for energy production and the synthesis of elements in X-ray bursts. Although understanding the ( p , 𝛾 ) – ( 𝛾 , p ) equilibrium for a wide range of masses during the process is essential, it is hampered by the large uncertainties of several key isotopes participating in the rp -process. In the present work, we investigate the impacts of mass uncertainties on ( p , 𝛾 ) – ( 𝛾 , p ) equilibria in the rp -process, which strongly affects the reaction paths, the isotopic abundances of nuclei with A > 65 , the effective lifetimes of waiting points, and the luminosity of X-ray bursts. The results show that current mass uncertainties still result in rather large deviations up to two orders of magnitude in many astrophysical photodisintegration rates. The numbers of isotopes and the values of the mass resolving power required for precise mass measurements using the multi-reflection time-of-flight (MR-TOF) technique are estimated for future experiments at modern radioactive ion beam facilities, including the RAON in Korea.


The purpose of this study was to examine the intersections of experiential learning and critical reflection within the unique context of the Accademia Europea dell'Opera (AEDO), a music performance summer program specializing in opera. Researchers explored the development and implementation of a responsive model of reflection and considered the impact this model had on helping music students shift between multiple spaces of musical performance and skill development. Data were analyzed through a communities of practice framework, and findings drawn from the analysis are explored through the following themes: the complexities of building a new community, synergy between intrapersonal and interpersonal engagement, and participants' processes of reflecting and learning together.


Background- Responses to COVID-19 pandemic are conditioned by a perceived tradeoff between saving lives and paying the economic costs of contact-reduction measures. We develop and test the hypothesis that when populations endogenously respond to risk this tradeoff disappears. Methods- We develop a model of SARS-CoV-2 transmission where populations endogenously reduce contacts in response to risk of death. We estimate the model for 118 countries constituting 7.05 billion people and assess the existence of a tradeoff between saving lives and livelihoods. Results- We show that with endogenous responses communities go through three phases: rapid early outbreaks, control through initial response, and a longer period of quasi-equilibrium endemic infection with effective reproduction number (Re) fluctuating around one. Analytical characterization of this phase shows little tradeoff between contact reduction levels (underpinning economic costs) and death rates. Empirically estimating the model, we find no positive correlation (r = -0.241, p = 0.009) between (log) death rates and (normalized) contact levels across nations. While contact reduction levels are broadly similar across countries (5-95 percentile: 0.521-0.867 of pre-pandemic contacts), expected death rates vary greatly, by over two orders of magnitude (5-95 percentile: 0.03-17 deaths per million per day). Interpretation- Whether by choice or by the force of crippling death tolls, most societies will bring down interactions enough to contain SARS-CoV-2s spread. What we control is the severity of death toll required to compel us to act: greater responsiveness to risk can bring down deaths with no excess economic costs.


Globalization is an objective historical process,which is both a challenge and an opportunity to socialist development. The socialist countries should seize the chance to develop them. The key point is to develop economy.


The increasing penetration of rooftop photovoltaics (PVs) into the low voltage (LV) network in recent years, poses new challenges for maintaining grid stability and voltage regulation. Recent network codes require PVs to participate in grid support services, especially voltage support. To study the dynamic interactions between PV systems and the LV distribution network within a reasonable simulation time, this paper derives a linear state-space model of a two -stage PV system operating at maximum power point (MPP) with reactive power support capability. The linear state-space model is verified against a detailed component-level PV system in MATLAB/ Simscape Power Systems™. It accurately captures all system dynamics for the small deviations expected in grid support service (GSS) operation and allows large dynamic simulations to be computed 2200 times faster than the full switching model.


Based on summarizing the current researching situation of urban emergency water supply risk strategy,after analyzing the sources of urban water supply and water demands in Harbin,a conclusion was drawn that the water supply risk in Harbin included four kinds: resources deficiency risk,management risk engineering facility risk and water pollution risk.According to the risks above,emergent strategies were provided against each of them,which would benefit the relative researches on urban emergent water supply programme.


Urban structure is constantly changing. Its development was influenced by several important steps in history of any city. Up to interval of time, it is possible to accept the assessment of the pros and cons, but mainly emerging lessons for the future. When studying the map sources, the authors of the article found three main groups. These groups have got common working title barriers of the cities. For the single barriers of the cities were chosen the specific examples of urban structures on which the effects of their influence were demonstrated. On the basis of the influence of the three groups of barriers were defined two basic structures of the cities.


This article is devoted to the development of an algorithm for the preventive assessment of the fire danger of natural areas using remote sensing data (the preventive natural fire danger assessment algorithm). The problems of the current state of the remote sensing materials use for fires researches as a justification for the need of the algorithm are considered. A review of existing methods and algorithms of natural fire danger assessment is done. The algorithm development includes description of the general structure and the content filling process of different algorithm components. The algorithm is a stages sequence of remote sensing data processing and analysis in terms of fire danger. As a result of algorithm, the fire danger assessment of the observed territory is formed. A special feature of the algorithm is its preventiveness, universality (applicability for any territory), practical automatability (the ability to represent in the form of a program code for the processing of RSD) and flexibility (the ability to add and branch the sequence). In the end, general conclusions and recommendations on the use of the algorithm are given.


Event sequence conveys asynchronous pixel-wise visual information in a low power and high temporal resolution manner, which enables more robust perception under challenging conditions, e.g., fast motion. Two main factors limit the development of event-based object detection in traffic scenes: lack of high-quality datasets and effective event-based algorithms. To solve the first problem, we propose a simulated event-based detection dataset named EventKITTI, which incorporates the novel event modality information into a mixed two-level (i.e. object-level and video-level) detection dataset under traffic scenarios. EventKITTI possesses the high-quality event stream and the largest number of categories at microsecond temporal resolution and 1242×375 spatial resolution, exceeding existing datasets. As for the second problem, existing algorithms rely on CNN-based, spiking or graph architectures to capture local features of moving objects, leading to poor performance in objects with incomplete contours. Hence, we propose event-based object detectors named GFA-Net and CGFA-Net. To enhance the global-local learning ability in the spatial dimension, GFA-Net introduces transformer with edge-based position encoding and multi-scale feature fusion to detect objects on static frame. Furthermore, CGFA-Net optimizes edge-based position encoding with close-loop learning based on previous detected heatmap, which aggregates temporal global features across event frames. The proposed event-based object detectors achieve the best speed-accuracy trade-off on EventKITTI, approaching an 81.3% MAP at 33.0 FPS on object-level detection dataset and a 64.5% MAP at 30.3 FPS on video-level detection dataset.


Patients with McArdle disease lack muscle glycogen phosphorylase and therefore are unable to use glycogen within their muscles. The patients suffer from exercise intolerance as described by early fatigue during the start of exercise and during prolonged exercise at high intensities. Studies on patients with McArdle disease form the basis for experiments of nature as highlighted by Joyner et al. (2021), where even a small data set from unusual humans provides unique insights into the role of muscle glycogenolysis in exercise physiology (Joyner et al., 2021; Santalla et al., 2022). Historically, patients withMcArdle disease have been advised to refrain from exercise because of the risk of rhabdomyolysis, but some patients with an active lifestyle can increase their exercise capacity substantially with favourable metabolic adaptations (Santalla et al., 2022). Also, during acute exercise, the patients experience an augmented fat oxidation (Ørngreen et al., 2009) probably compensating for reduced carbohydrate metabolism. The study by Rodriguez-Lopez et al. (2022) provides important additional observations to this understanding by showing that the patients with McArdle disease demonstrate very high fat oxidation rates at exercise intensities close to their maximal. The patients reached a maximal fat oxidation rate of 0.53 g min−1, which was around 60% higher than the healthy controls (0.33 g min−1) included in the study. This very high maximal fat oxidation rate is remarkable given that the patients have a much lower maximal oxygen uptake rate (25 vs. 43 mL O2 min−1 kg−1), which offsets the link between training status and maximal fat oxidation. It also offsets an essential link between glycogenolysis and the provision of tricarboxylic cycle intermediates to support fat metabolism, but suggests that tricarboxylic cycle intermediates from other sources can be adequate for maximal fat metabolism. A high fat metabolism during exercise may among other factors be limited by decreased transport of fatty acids into the muscle cell, decreased mobilization of fatty acids from intramuscular triacylglycerol (stored in lipid droplets), or decreased carnitine palmitoyl transferase I-mediated transport of the fatty acids across the mitochondrial membrane. The study by Rodriguez-Lopez et al. (2022) clearly demonstrates that, despite a low aerobic capacity, patients with McArdle disease possess a very high maximal fat oxidation rate. To understand this phenomenon better, Rodriguez-Lopez et al. (2022) included assessments of key regulatory proteins in fat metabolism in muscles from a validated mouse model of McArdle disease and found no increase in a fatty acid transporter protein (CD36) or in lipolytic capacity (hormone-sensitive lipase), and even found a decreased mitochondrial capacity (as suggested by lower levels of 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase). Therefore, the results from the study by Rodriguez-Lopez et al. (2022) pave the way for investigating other potential regulatory steps in fat metabolism, such as carnitine palmitoyl transferase I and the mobilization of fatty acids from intramuscular lipid droplets tomitochondria, which is probably influenced by lipid droplet–mitochondrial interactivity and regulatory proteins as perilipins. The results conform with findings from healthy individuals, where a low muscle glycogen level is strongly associated with a high fat oxidation rate (Arkinstall et al., 2004). Studies on the role of muscle glycogen on physiological and biochemical aspects of muscle function in healthy individuals are challenged by a high variability of muscle glycogen content between the muscle fibres of the same muscle. Therefore, it would be interesting to explore the relationship between low glycogen content and enhanced fat oxidative capacity in more detail by assessments of glycogen and regulatory proteins of fat metabolism in single muscle fibres. Given the high fibre-to-fibre variation in glycogen utilization during exercise, assessments at the single fibre level have the potential to elucidate acute changes or chronic adaptations in specific fibres, which would not be detected in a mixed-muscle sample. The study by Rodriguez-Lopez et al. (2022) has important implications for patients with McArdle disease, who may benefit from interventions aiming to improvemaximal fat oxidation rates, which, in turn, may increase their aerobic fitness, as well as for the understanding of how glycogen depletion during acute exercise and trainingmay facilitate adaptations in fat metabolism. The study also underscores the importance of experiments of nature, where observations from unusual humans provide unique information of the regulation of human physiology (Joyner et al., 2021).


Lipid digestibility of a high fat dairy product (sour cream (SC) containing milk fat) and its analogue (SCA; containing palm oil) was performed during in vitro digestion simulation using the Infogest method. Extent of lipolysis and fatty acid‐specific digestibility was determined using gastric lipase (GL) and pancreatic lipase (PL) or only PL. Milk fat from SC showed lower digestibility than palm oil from SCA and it was shown that GL has an important effect on short and medium chained fatty acids (SCFAs and MCFAs) however inhibition of GL is not the main cause of lowered lipid digestibility of SC. Structural analysis using fluorescent microscopy showed that the lower digestibility of milk fat is due to flocculation of globules, an effect not occurring with palm oil droplets. Moreover, lipid digestibility was evaluated in a real meal during co‐digestion simulations with cooked pasta. In this scenario, while lipid digestibility of SCA remained unchanged, extent of lipolysis of SC increased although only during digestion simulation using both enzymes (GL+PL). Results show that the flocculation protecting effect of pasta proteins during gastric digestion of SC. The proposed effect is underlined with the FA‐specific results showing an increase of GL‐preferred FAs, SCFAs and MCFAs.


This paper proposes a novel algorithm for robust finger blob detection in a multi-touch tabletop display where an array of multiple cameras is placed behind the display screen. The proposed algorithm reliably separates true finger touch blobs from false blobs introduced by palms and hovering hands in the presence of non-uniform illumination. The algorithm is based on majority quadrant search (MQS) which is designed to find a hand direction which leads to the removal of false blobs. Experimental results show that the proposed method reliably extract true finger touch blobs by rejecting the false blobs from a real interactive tabletop display with a multi-camera set-up.


The National Museum of Denmark and the Department of Geography at the University of Copenhagen have collaborated on a project investigating burial mounds near early Medieval churches. The aim was to identify a possible continuity in cult sites across the shift to Christianity in the late Viking Age. Charcoal samples from 18 mounds were radiocarbon dated but the results showed they were far older than expected. Control dating undertaken on burial mounds of known age confirmed that charcoal in the mound fill can at least be up to 3000 years older than the mound itself. As charcoal can survive in the surface soil layer for millennia, in spite of ploughing, bioturbation and frost, it may also dominate the charcoal pool of the grass or heather turfs used in the mound construction. Therefore, the article concludes, charcoal cannot be used to securely date archaeological features built with turfs and it is important to be aware of the possible presence of very old charcoal when selecting material for dating archaeological features, even those which otherwise would be judged unaffected by material from earlier archaeological periods.


Given a traveling salesman problem (TSP) tour H in graph G, a k-move is an operation that removes k edges from H and adds k edges of G so that a new tour H′ is formed. The popular k-OPT heuristic for TSP finds a local optimum by starting from an arbitrary tour H and then improving it by a sequence of k-moves. Until 2016, the only known algorithm to find an improving k-move for a given tour was the naive solution in time O(nk). At ICALP'16, de Berg, Buchin, Jansen, and Woeginger showed an O(n⌊2k/3⌋+1)-time algorithm. We show an algorithm that runs in O(n(1/4+εk)k) time, where limk→ ∞ εk = 0. It improves over the state of the art for every k ≥ 5. For the most practically relevant case k = 5, we provide a slightly refined algorithm running in O(n3.4) time. We also show that for the k = 4 case, improving over the O(n3)-time algorithm of de Berg et al. would be a major breakthrough: An O(n3−ϵ)-time algorithm for any ϵ > 0 would imply an O(n3−δ)-time algorithm for the All Pairs Shortest Paths problem, for some δ > 0.


Time series sometimes consist of count data in which the number of events occurring in a given time interval is recorded. Such data are necessarily nonnegative integers, and an assumption of a Poisson or negative binomial distribution is often appropriate. This article sets ups a model in which the level of the process generating the observations changes over time. A recursion analogous to the Kalman filter is used to construct the likelihood function and to make predictions of future observations. Qualitative variables, based on a binomial or multinomial distribution, may be handled in a similar way. The model for count data may be extended to include explanatory variables. This enables nonstochastic slope and seasonal components to be included in the model, as well as permitting intervention analysis. The techniques are illustrated with a number of applications, and an attempt is made to develop a model-selection strategy along the lines of that used for Gaussian structural time series models. The appli...


A full-wave combined modal expansion and aperture field integration method is applied for the efficient design of profiled corrugated horns with circular, rectangular or combined cross-section. The generalized modal S-matrix combination of adequate key building blocks, i.e., the circular, rectangular, or rectangular-to-circular waveguide step discontinuity, takes the influence of the higher-order modes and the aperture effect rigorously into account. An optimized broadband profiled corrugated circular horn design example utilizing 40 varying slot elements with a rectangular waveguide input section demonstrates the usefulness of the method by achieving more than 26dB return loss, about 20 dB gain, and less than -30dB cross-polarization for a bandwidth of about 1.7:1. The theory is verified by comparison with available measurements.<<ETX>>


Multigrid methods use a series of successively coarser grids to accelerate the solution of equations arising from the numerical solution of partial differential equations. A grid-cell-based geographic information system (GIS) with a map algebra language is capable of displaying and manipulating spatial data and attributes and handling the data arrays and results arising in ground-water simulation problems. To examine the efficacy of GIS to solve ground-water flow problems, we have performed ground-water modeling directly within a GIS without going outside the system for model solution. We have applied the multigrid method to solve steady ground-water flow problems in heterogeneous aquifers. Execution times for the GIS-multigrid approach using simple iterative techniques greatly exceed those of traditional ground-water simulation models due to the creation of temporary grids for intermediate calculations during the simulation. Efficient handling of boundary conditions is another difficult problem in GIS grid-cell-based modeling.


Epitaxial films of the magnetic shape memory alloy Ni–Mn–Ga have been deposited on (100) YSZ substrates in a previously unexplored high temperature deposition regime. The temperatures employed encouraged the development of the desired micrometer-size highly twinned martensitic grain structure, where the loss of manganese and gallium at high temperatures was compensated for through enrichments to the target material. The films show the desired shape memory alloy properties of having a well-defined reversible martensitic transformation, centered around 85 °C, a room temperature martensitic phase with an in-plane saturation magnetization of 64 emu g−1, and a magnetically induced reorientation of the martensite variants which occurs at a low magnetic field of 400 Oe. The films also exhibit a hysteresis loop in the magnetic transition, a feature attributed to the overlap of the magnetic and structural phase transitions. The results suggest that the described in situ route provides a superior pathway to the formation of Ni–Mn–Ga films.


We study THz radiation from magneto-optically induced ultrafast currents in GaAs. Magnetic field and excitation intensity are found to have a distinct influence on the shape of the THz traces. The results suggest that these currents are an appropriate tool to investigate k-space carrier dynamics in semiconductors.


In the period 2007-2013, the budget sector research, development, innovation and technology transfer (RDITT) in Romania was about 4 billion euro, i.e. an average of about 0.47% of Romania's GDP in the seven years. By comparison, in the German State of Baden-Wuerttemberg (BW) is invested annually in RDITT about 5.1% of state GDP, the industrial sector contributes nearly 80% of investments. A decisive role in the development of the RDITT in BW it has RDITT catalyst institutions such as Max-Planck Society, Fraunhoffer Society, Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers, Innovation Alliance, Steinbeis Foundation. This research aims to reveal the huge potential and benefits it can bring research, innovation and technology transfer in sustainable development of agriculture in Romania using catalyst institutions model. The material used in this study was experts of academia, experts of economics, promoting documents and laboratories visited at the University of Tubingen and at the Natural and Medical Sciences Institute of Reutlingen, Germany. The methods used were documentation, real visiting of the two institutions and analysis the facts and the documents. The conclusion is that using the European models of technology transfer (especially the German model), all the benefits will be found in the future in Romanian economy, bringing added value to the quality of life and wellbeing.


The temperature dependence of the neutron multiplication in typical BWR and PWR unit cells is determined as a function of fuel depletion when the fuel temperature is changed from 800/sup 0/K to 1200/sup 0/K. The cross section changes with temperature of the principal isotopes of Uranium and Plutonium, and of some fission products, are taken into account simultaneously in the lattice analysis by means of very detailed resonance profile tabulations in the resolved resonance region of each nuclide. In addition the small temperature dependence of non 1/v absorption cross sections is included in the thermal multigroup library, as well as the UO/sub 2/ group to group scattering kernel as a function of temperature in the thermal energy region. The report includes details relating to the temperature dependent cross section libraries, broad cross sections and fluxes, together with the calculational methods which make use of discrete ordinate integral transport calculations at epithermal energies and multigroup methods in the other energy ranges.


Schemes are presented to implement FAT (factory accept test) of the master station of DAS (distribution automation system), test configuration contains emulated distribution network, test environment and test software, two types of test environments including total software scheme and software-hardware combined scheme are analyzed, and then generalize the conditions for automatic test. The implementation schemes of manual test and automatic test are analyzed in detail for the typical fault situations of feeder automation, and also include several kinds of special faults such as: telecontrol triggering fault, concurrent multi-faults, multi-sources fault, etc. Reliability tests make up of three aspects: 1) long-term continuous running under typically normal condition; 2) continuous automatic telecontrol with short period; 3) data avalanche test. The importance is analyzed for automatic test software performing long-term continuous test and result logging according to developmental and practical situation, and generalize the required time duration and data volume for presented test schemes.


Objective. To identify the current priorities of the fight against HIV/AIDS in the South-East region of Romania. Methods. The profile of HIV adult confirmed with HIV, the mortality rate and the risk factors related to death were analyzed in a retrospective study. Data were collected from the medical files of Galati HIV/AIDS Clinic. New diagnosed HIV infected patients, over age 15 were followed-up from January 2005 to December 2016. Results. During the 12 years study period, 225 new HIV adult cases were confirmed. The characteristics of the new diagnosed cases were: young age (average 25.17±11.94), predominant heterosexual transmission mode (73%) and high percentage of late presentation (67.6%). The retention in care rate was 91% and 95% of patients received ART. The mean annual mortality rate was 14.6‰, one third of deaths occurring during the first year after diagnosis. In the last 6 years, there was an increase trend in mortality rates, compared to the period 2005-2011, as HIV people are aging and more non-AIDS deaths are registered. The survival rates were not influenced by the first line ART, containing protease inhibitors, non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase or integrase inhibitors. However, all ART regimen significantly improved the survival rate. Conclusions. Even if ART improved HIV survival rates, the mortality rate among persons diagnosed with HIV was still higher than in the general population. As HIV patients are aging, continuing increase in non-AIDS comorbidities are expected in the next years. The local present priorities in the fight against HIV are to enhance the efficiency of ART, early HIV diagnosis and retention in care.


Light field (LF) technology is considered as a promising way for providing a high-quality virtual reality (VR) content. However, such an imaging technology produces a large amount of data requiring efficient LF image compression solutions. In this paper, we propose a LF image coding method based on a view synthesis and view quality enhancement techniques. Instead of transmitting all the LF views, only a sparse set of reference views are encoded and transmitted, while the remaining views are synthesized at the decoder side. The transmitted views are encoded using the versatile video coding (VVC) standard and are used as reference views to synthesize the dropped views. The selection of non-reference dropped views is performed using a rate-distortion optimization based on the VVC temporal scalability. The dropped views are reconstructed using the LF dual discriminator GAN (LF-D2GAN) model. In addition, to ensure that the quality of the views is consistent, at the decoder, a quality enhancement procedure is performed on the reconstructed views allowing smooth navigation across views. Experimental results show that the proposed method provides high coding performance and overcomes the state-of-the-art LF image compression methods by –36.22% in terms of BD-BR and 1.35 dB in BD-PSNR. The web page of this work is available at https://naderbakir79.github.io/LFD2GAN.html.


Quasiclassical trajectories have been used to investigate ion–molecule complex formation and dissociation in model systems. A model ion‐induced‐dipole potential was used to represent the long‐range attractive forces and an exponential was used for the repulsive part of the potential. The emphasis is on Cl−+Cl2 ⇄ [Cl3−]*, with some studies of the influence of ion mass on capture and lifetime. Capture cross sections as a function of complex lifetime were computed.


The discovery of two new oil fields makes the eastern Great basin province one of the most attractive frontier areas in North America. The Grant Canyon field in east-central Nevada produces from Devonian carbonates and has already flowed more than 4 million bbl of oil since its discovery 3 years ago. The Blackburn field discoveries produce from Mississippian siliciclastic and Devonian carbonate sediments in north-central Nevada. These hydrocarbons, as well as the other 12 million bbl of oil produced from eastern Nevada fields, were generated from shallow-water Mississippian siliciclastic sediments that were shed eastward off the Antler Mountains. Some of the hydrocarbons were probably generated during and before the Laramide thrusting event and were consequently trapped in large Laramide thrust structures and folds in eastern Nevada. Some of these structures have since been modified by Tertiary basin-and-range normal faulting, and some hydrocarbons have remigrated into smaller fault traps. Tertiary sediments in these small Tertiary fault traps have been the main target of exploration for the last three decades. This circumstance has precluded a concerted effort to explore Paleozoic sediments in large Laramide-age structures. A new effort is underway to evaluate the potential of Paleozoic sediments in Tertiary fault traps, whichmore » may lead to exploration of Paleozoic sediments in large Laramide structures.« less


The identity of every human subject is imprinted in the subject's mind. This work explores one possible approach to authentication of the user identity using implicit long-term memory, specifically, memory for faces. New elements include social-emotional associated actions similar to episodic memories used in the training and authentication procedure. Also in contrast with related studies, the method is designed to defeat shoulder-surfing attacks: even prolonged observation of the authentication procedure does not allow a third party to learn how to pass the challenge without special training. Potential applications, problems and ideas of alternative approaches are discussed.


Objectives : This study aims to evaluate the effects of natural herb mixutre (NHM) on atopic dermatitis and skin regeneration using in vivo test. Methods : NHM was prepared with DW. 25% of NHM was applied to skin lesion, where atopic dermatitis was induced by DNCB in NC/Nga mice. The levels of cytok...


In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness and value of the Maricopa Community College District Honors Program. The results of a faculty questionnaire revealed favorable attitudes toward the program, with more than 90% of respondents indicating that they enjoy teaching honors courses. Telephone interviews with faculty revealed that they especially enjoy working with honors students because they are motivated and willing to learn. Alumni questionnaire respondents were also generally positive about the program and felt that they are currently applying the knowledge and skills they acquired as honors students. Current student responses were also favorable toward the honors program, agreeing in most cases with alumni responses. A primary finding of this evaluation was that all of the evaluation participants considered increasing on‐campus recruitment and retention efforts as a means of improving the honors program. Eliminating concurrent classes and making more honors courses available to students were als...


Education and the economy are still a major problem in our country. The low level of community education causes the economy is still low. Cerme village of Lamongan regency is one example of civilization which also has problems both. This devotion focuses on the efforts to assist local msayarakt how to improve their reading ethos, internet recognize and how to do business or buying and selling transactions online or E-Commerce. Besides this dedication is done for one month. This form of advisory activities is the establishment of a reading park, internet installation and online business training or E-Commerce. With internet facilities that have been installed by UMSurabaya team hope after community training can access the latest knowledge and business with the help of internet. While for school children they can use the reading park and can access knowledge through the internet as well.


Due to the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020, college students', including first-generation students, were forced to transition to remote learning. First-gen students traditionally face many challenges in their academic and personal lives. The purpose of this evaluation research project is to understand the impact this major shift has had on first- generation college students' learning and challenges they faced in this process. Initially, a first- gen committee decided to conduct an assessment to evaluate how our undergraduate first-gen students were experiencing an unanticipated and rapid move to remote learning including their college experiences. 1,318 students participated in the survey measuring students' attitudes, perceptions, experiences, and their demographic background information and included feedback from one open-ended qualitative question. The results of the survey showed significant findings pertaining to first-gen students' in three areas: 1) Academic Learning Environment; 2) Financial Challenges; and 3) Psychological Well-Being. In response to the assessment, the First-Gen Proud committee suggested recommendations to faculty and staff to assist in supporting first- gen students at Texas State University.


To contribute to the preventive measures against local vibrations of ship's deck panels, some investigations into the prediction method of the natural frequency of the vibration of stiffened plates were done. Firstly, an analytical method based on the orthotropic plate analogy and the Rayleigh method using eigenfunctions of the Euler beam was shown, and numerical results of a regularly stiffened plate were compared with experimental results. And then, the method was extended to stiffened plates having one or two irregular stiffeners to obtain an approximate formula showing the relation between the change of the natural frequency and the size of the irregular stiffeners. The latter case was investigated for the purpose of providing a convenient design manual applicable to cure of local resonant vibrations of ships' deck panels by additional reinforcement of one or two stiffeners. In the analytical development the boundary was assumed to be rigidly supported and elastically restrained against rotation. In the experiment, however, only an extreme case i.e. simply supported boundary was investigated. The results of the investigation show that there is a fairly good conformity between the analytical results and the experimental ones in the first case, and that the approximate formula for the second case is confirmed also to be reliable for the design purpose. Considering that actual boundary conditions of deck panels in ship structures lie mostly somewhere between the simple support and the fixed, the authors discussed problems of the joint efficiency at the boundary of deck panels from the viewpoint of the practical application of the formulae.


This section discuses the counsellors' role in helping the client by making the client share all the feelings in open and analysing the situation honestly and concretely and trying to figure out with maximum clarity and detail how client deals with interpersonal situations.


Prevalence of malnutrition in Indonesia is still high although it has some potential source of nutrients. Seluang fish (Rasbora spp.) is a river fish consumed by the people of South Kalimantan, Indonesia. This study analyzed the improvement of nutritional status in the malnourished rats after treatment with Seluang Fish. The study used malnourished white rats (Rattus norvegicus) using a low protein and fat diet for 8 weeks. The rats were divided into three groups; malnourished group (M) without other dietary treatment, standard diet (P1) and seluang diet (P2) for a period of four weeks. The malnourished group was sacrificed first, and after four weeks treatment, other groups were sacrificed; blood and bones were taken for weight, protein levels, hemoglobin levels, bone length, bone calcium levels and IGF-1 levels. The results showed that the average of body weight for all the studied groups ranged between 190 to 220g. Seluang diet had the highest serum protein levels (4.388 mg/dL), hemoglobin (19.7 mg/dL) and IGF levels (388.7 ng/mL). Standard diet had the longest bone length (3.547 cm) and the highest Calcium levels of 1.68 mg/g. Based on these results, it was concluded that Seluang fish may have the potential to improve the nutritional status of malnourished rats. Current Research in Nutrition and Food Science Journal Website:www.foodandnutritionjournal.org ISSN: 2347-467X, Vol. 06, No. (1) 2018, Pg. 127-134 CoNTaCT Triawanti firstname.lastname@example.com Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Lambung Mangkurat


Logbooks of procedures are helpful in determining the professional competence of trainees. There has been correspondence in the SAMJ on aspects of their use in South Africa - for example, the value of specifying the number of surgical operations in the logbook.
However, experience does not automatically translate into learning. Reflection is needed to turn experience into learning. Logbooks of procedures may be complemented by case reports that are structured so as to contain a reflective element.


Ultrasonic cleaning itself for cleaning a molded object of a liquid-crystalline resin is known to fibrillate the surface of the molded object and to be causative of the generation of new debris (dust). It is also known that adhesion of the fine dust to the molded object reduces the optical characteristics and other performances of the molded object. In order to prevent such performance decreases in a molded object, a technique is provided by which a molded object containing a liquid-crystalline resin is inhibited from suffering surface fibrillation even when subjected to ultrasonic cleaning. A molded object obtained by injection-molding a liquid-crystalline resin composition containing silica having an average primary-particle diameter of 5 [mu]m or smaller is regulated so that the difference between the surface roughness (Ra) of the molded object and the surface roughness (Ra) of the mold falls in the range not larger than 0.1 mm. The silica to be used is preferably silica having an average primary-particle diameter of 0.7 [mu]m or smaller.


Even now, malaria treatment should only be administered after laboratory confirmation. There are several principal methods for diagnosing malaria. All these methods have their disadvantages.Presumptive treatment of malaria is widely practiced where laboratory tests are not readily available. Microscopy of Giemsa-stained thick and thin blood films remains the gold standard for the diagnosis of malaria infection. The technique of slide preparation, staining and reading are well known and standardized, and so is the estimate of the parasite density and parasite stages. Microscopy is not always available or feasible at primary health services in limited resource settings due to cost, lack of skilled manpower, accessories and reagents required. Rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) are potential tools for parasite-based diagnosis since the tests are accurate in detecting malaria infections and are easy to use. The test is based on the capture of parasite antigen that released from parasitized red blood cells using monoclonal antibodies prepared against malaria antigen target. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), depend on DNA amplification approaches and have higher sensitivity than microscopy. PCR it is not widely used due to the lack of a standardized methodology, high costs, and the need for highly-trained staff.


Ding Richang,one of the main members of Westernation Party,realized the it was necessary to cultivate intelligence who had advanced thoughts for self-strong.Reforming imperial examinations was very urgent.He tried it from three aspects as following :One,reformig content of imperial examinations.Two,he strictly supervised exams. Three,adding a number of admitting exams in Tai Wan. His goal was that to improve the education level of the minority in this area.


The purpose of the article is to clarify the peculiarities of the formation of citizens' right to use natural objects of the ownership right of the people of Ukraine in the XX century. Methods. The research methodology consists of such methods of scientific cognition as: systematic and structural, historical and legal, comparative and legal, formal and legal, interpretation, deduction, induction, analysis, synthesis, etc. Results. The author studies in the section "Period of power changes on the territory of Ukraine" the peculiarities of the legal regulation of the rights to natural objects in the period from 1917 to 1920 and finds out that there was no single practice of regulating natural management relations at that time in Ukraine, since it changed depending on the region, the authorities whose sphere of influence extended to it and the year of issuance of the regulatory act. The author studies in the section "Soviet period" the specifics of the legal regulation of the rights to natural objects during Ukraine's stay in the USSR and finds out that the only form of the ownership to all natural objects was state, the natural management concept was significantly developed, the mechanism of administrative and legal provision for the realization of citizens' right to use natural objects of state property, an extensive system of legislation were formed. The author emphasizes in the section "Period of Sovereign Ukraine" how the approach to the regulation of the rights to natural objects was changed after Ukraine's secession from the USSR, especially the ownership right of the people of Ukraine to natural resources and citizens' rights to use them. Conclusions. The author indicates in the conclusions: when and which regulatory legal acts enshrined for the first time the people's ownership to natural objects, citizens' right to use natural objects of the ownership right of the people and the procedure to use them at the legislative level; main features of legal regulation of the rights to natural objects in the period from 1917 to 1920, the Soviet period and the period of sovereign Ukraine; the circumstances depending on guaranteeing this right. Finally, the author formulates a position according to which it is necessary to distinguish land plots and other objects that may be owned by others and those that constitute the exclusive ownership of the people due to their value and significance. Besides, the author emphasizes the need to get back to the method of normative and legal regulation of the rights to natural objects, which was used in 1990–1991, when the people of Ukraine were endowed with independent powers and had a real status of the owner to natural resources.


For 7 years now, the European Space Agency’s Swarm fleet of satellites surveys the Earth’s magnetic field, measuring magnetic and electric fields at low-Earth orbit (LEO) with unprecedented detail. We have recently demonstrated the feasibility of Swarm measurements to derive a Swarm Dst-like index for the intense magnetic storms of solar cycle 24. We have shown that the newly proposed Swarm Dst-like index monitors magnetic storm activity at least as good as the standard Dst index. The Swarm derived Dst index can be used to (1) supplement the standard Dst index in near-real-time geomagnetic applications and (2) replace the ‘prompt’ Dst index during periods of unavailability. Herein, we employ a series of information theory methods, namely Hurst exponent and various entropy measures, for analyzing Swarm Dst-like time series. The results show that information theory techniques can effectively detect the dissimilarity of complexity between the pre-storm activity and intense magnetic storms (Dst < 150 nT), which is convenient for space weather applications.


Interest in citizen science has been increasing rapidly, although the reviews available to date have not clearly outlined the links between the long-established practice of recording plant species' distributions for local and national atlases, or other recording projects, and the gradual development of more structured monitoring schemes that also rely on volunteer effort. We provide a review of volunteer-based plant monitoring in Britain and Ireland, with a particular focus on the contributions of expert volunteers working with biological recording schemes and natural history societies; in particular, we highlight projects and practices that have improved the quality of data collected. Although the monitoring of plant distributions at larger scales has led to numerous insights into floristic change and its causes, these activities have also led to the recognition that knowledge of species' abundances at finer-scales often provides a more powerful means of detecting and interpreting change. In the UK, this has led to the development of a new, abundance-based 'National Plant Monitoring Scheme'. We outline this new structured scheme, and review some of the design considerations that have been made during its development. New monitoring projects require a clear justification, and the launch of a new scheme is also an opportune moment to review whether some basic assumptions about the collection of monitoring data can withstand scrutiny. A distinction is often made between monitoring that is focused on answering particular, focused questions, and that which is more generally seeking to detect changes; for example, in species' distributions or abundances. Therefore, we also review the justification for such general 'surveillance' approaches to the monitoring of biodiversity, and place this in the context of volunteer-based initiatives. We conclude that data collected by biological recorders working within atlas or monitoring scheme frameworks will continue to produce datasets that are highly valued by governments, scientists, and the volunteers themselves.


Abstract : A class of satellite-based radio navigation systems is described which can offer precise, near global position-fixing capability to a wide variety of users. The system operation, based on one-way pseudo-ranging by a user to four satellites in 24-hour inclined, elliptical orbits, is described. Ground coverage and the factors influencing accuracy are discussed.


The method of dynamic variability (alternativity) for high technological project management is considered. The method involves parallel designing of alternative project group, analysis of variants after every life cycle stage and possibility of group composition correction. An example of method application when planning management system is given.


Blackening of zirconia (ZrO2) ceramics often occurs in active metal brazing, however, its discoloration mechanism and induced variation in mechanical properties remain unclear. Herein, ZrO2 ceramic and Ti are successfully brazed by Ag–Cu–Pd filler in vacuum along with the blackening phenomenon. In the brazed joints, the reaction layers of TiO2 + Ti3(Cu, Pd)O are formed adjacent to ZrO2, indicating that partial oxygen in ZrO2 is taken by active Ti in the liquid filler that dissolved from the Ti substrate. Furthermore, the height of the blackened ZrO2 ceramic near the brazing seam is in line with the amount of Ti content added to the filler, which infers that bulk‐sized black ZrO2 can be efficiently obtained by the interfacial reaction between Ti and ZrO2. Additionally, the black ZrO2 is having abundant Zr3+ defects and more tetragonal phase content than the original ZrO2. The formation of Zr3+ defects results in the blackening of ZrO2, while the phase transformation leads to reduced hardness, improved impact toughness, and enhanced wear resistance of black ZrO2. Thus, this blackening phenomenon of ZrO2 ceramics provides a new way to tune the mechanical properties of ZrO2.


(serotypes) of one or other of these species. The "names" of serovars and any other infrasubspecific designations are not affected by this operation. One profitable aspect of the operation IS that literature searches on nomenclatural matters prior to January 1, 1980, are no longer required. The situation should be viewed as though no bacteria had existed before January 1, 1980, and that on that date the species, the names of which appear in the list, first became extant. (This will sound odd to most people but then nomenclature is an odd subject!) The medical profession could aid the operation materially by consulting the new List and updating official and other documents to conform with the nomenclature of the List. For help with interpretation of difficult nomenclatural issues, readers should consult Professor V. B. D. Skerman, Department of Microbiology, University of Queensland.


As one of the common malignant tumors in the world, the esophageal carcinoma can be grouped in two categories based on its pathological features, i.e. esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and esophageal adenocarcinoma.


The authors propose a new method for accurate spectral estimation of noisy signals. The major drawback caused by trade-off between spectral resolution and variance is examined. The main aim of the paper is to show how the accuracy of periodogram estimation can be improved by adopting nonlinear averaging techniques of partially overlapped time slice of data samples. Also, the effects of the taper functions and the percentage overlap both on the computational cost and the improvements achievable are investigated. The derived expressions for the bias and variance point out the better performance of this method with respect to previous ones. Finally, the experimental validations of the results are shown.


Crevice corrosion products formed on titanium base materials exposed to WIPP Brine A at 150/sup 0/C have been analyzed by obtaining electron diffraction patterns of oxide films which were selected from various positions on the crevice surface. The crevice corrosion products for CP titanium and TiCode-12 are mainly an anatase form of TiO/sub 2/. Both materials also showed trace amounts of Ti/sub 3/O/sub 5/. The intensity of the Ti/sub 3/O/sub 5/ peak in the diffraction pattern is stronger in CP titanium than in TiCode-12. More Ti/sub 3/O/sub 5/ is formed in the center of the crevice. From the study, it seems that the color differences of oxides inside the crevice are mainly due to optical interference colors caused by varying film thickness. The open-circuit corrosion potential behavior of CP titanium and TiCode-12 has been examined in acidified Brine A at 80/sup 0/C. To reduce the potential effect of oxidizing impurities in test media these solutions were pre-electrolyzed. Both materials show breakdown of the passive film. TiCode-12 reaches a quasi steady state potential more rapidly than CP titanium. Breakdown of the passive film is attributed to the high chloride concentration with Ni being preferentially dissolved. Single-edged-notched tensile specimens have been usedmore » to obtain the apparent stress intensity factors at 2% crack extension in hydrogenated TiCode-12 with hydrogen concentrations up to 10,900 ppM. For high hydrogen levels the apparent stress intensity factor dropped roughly by a factor of 10 compared to nonhydrogenated TiCode-12. Fractographs show both alpha phase crystallographic fracture and alpha-beta interface cracking. These fractographs indicate that the formation of hydride is responsible for crack initiation for hydrogen concentrations above 5000 ppM.« less


This paper extends the treatment of single-neuron memories obtained by the B-matrix approach. The spreading of the activity within the network is determined by the network's proximity matrix which represents the separations amongst the neurons through the neural pathways.


Keeping in mind that the basic purpose of this product is to consistently and reliably deliver excellent images at the lowest possible patient dose, the DRX Plus incorporates several improvements in fundamental design over the DRX-1 product, delivering a 60% reduction in dark noise along with a 25% increase in sensitivity, for a noticeable improvement in Detective Quantum Efficiency (DQE). The benefit of this improvement is better signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in the images over previous offerings, or the opportunity to reduce patient exposure while preserving the same SNR in the presented image. Figure 1 illustrates the image noise improvement for a fixed exposure, resulting in an IEC Exposure Index of 135.


The genus Candida is caused morbidity and mortality in human beings. The virulence factors of the Candida albicans have the great role in the pseudohyphae formation by attached with epithelial cells and endothelial cells. The aim of the study was to evaluate the antifungal activity of extracts of two plant species used in traditional herbal medicine. The plants were selected on the basis of their reported ethnobotanical uses. Aqueous and acetone extracts of two plant species were screened in vitro for their antifungal activity against fungus C. albicans. 40µl concentration of Minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of Sandalwood extract in acetone and 60µl concentration of MIC of Arjun barks extract shows in acetone. We conclude from this that these extracts exhibit amazing fungicidal properties that support their traditional uses. The presence of phyto-compound in the extracts including, steroid, triterpenes, alkaloids, tannin, flavnoids, lactones, diterpines, giycosides, sapponins may be responsible for these activities. The acetone extracts of plant are more efficient as compared to the water extract.


The study examines the roles of college students in advancing sustainable development goals after covid-19.Questionnaire and interviews were employed.The research was carried out on college students across some continents through online interviews.Descriptive statistics that include frequency distribution and mean were used to analyze all data collected from both ends. From the result of the research,it was discovered that to enhance sustainable development goals,the health of an individual should be paramount.A threat to citizens health constitutes an immense challenge in achieving sustainable development goals. College students should adhere strictly to rules of personal hygiene,adequate nutrition,regular exercise and adequate rest.Also they should encourage and sensitize their peers,family members and the society at large on the importance of healthy living. Students should employ conventional methods of learning and engage in practical activities,vocational education should also be encouraged. Agricultural students should work more on site in commercial methods in order to produce large quantities of foods that will sustain society rather than a more theoretical approach of learning. College students should involve in voluntary community development activities and sensitize the community on how to maintain the available infrastructure in the society.Also, factors such as child-parent interaction,students-Teachers interaction, Intellectual and emotional development should be promoted by the students. College students should be aware of the harmful effects of climate change and environmental pollution.They should be aware of the need to reduce energy consumption in lighting ,cooking and transportation by using energy saving light bulbs,turning on the light only when necessary,use devices that work with solar energy,use public transport,bicycle and / or travel on foot.There is a need for union between different religion in order to promote peace and to achieve sustainable development goals.


FLEXOP is a project within the European Union's Horizon 2020 framework which develops methods for aeroelastic wing tailoring and active flutter suppression. The developed methods are integrated within a subscale flight demonstrator named T-FLEX. The demonstrator is a 65kg take-off weight, 7m wingspan unmanned aircraft with a V-Tail and is powered by a jet engine. T-FLEX is also used by the follow-up project, FLiPASED. The paper describes the flight test environment of the demonstrator by providing insight into the setup of the aircraft, its systems and flight surroundings. Special effort is made to explain the operational procedures and preparations required to safely perform the flight tests.


Purpose: Pembrolizumab is currently considered the standard second-line treatment for advanced urothelial carcinoma (UC). This study aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of pembrolizumab in patients with advanced UC in real-world data, which is not well-reported. Materials and Methods: The study included 97 patients with advanced UC whose lesions were classified according to the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST). The median age was 73 years. Nineteen patients (20%) with performance status (PS) 2–4 were included. The percentages of liver, lung, bone, and lymph node metastasis were 18%, 27%, 19%, and 76%, respectively. The efficacy, safety, and risk factors for prognosis were evaluated for patients with and without measurable lesions. Results: The best response was complete response in nine patients (9%) and partial response in 16 patients (17%). The median progression-free survival and overall survival were 3.7 months (95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.8–4.7) and 11.8 months (95% CI: 6.7–17.0), respectively. Twenty-one (22%) patients had no measurable lesions per RECIST. In univariate and multivariate analysis, PS 2–4 and lesions by RECIST


the last month, my German wirehaired pointer, Rosie, has twice had hematomas blood pillows the size of elongated matchboxes pop up on her right ear. Each time, the vet has charged me a hundred and forty bucks to slit them open and baste the flaps of skin back so the wound could drain. The ear, once so silky that I delighted in caressing it, is now lumpy with bald, pink scars. The day Rosie came back from the second surgery, she outran a lacrosse ball I had thrown for her, squared off in front of it and, with a quick jab of her head, caught it on the fly. It sounded like a fastball smacking into a catcher's mitt. Rosie happily retrieved the ball six more times before I noticed it was slick with darkening blood. It had splintered one of her canine teeth. When I ordered her into the house so I could examine the tooth, she pretended not to hear me. She stamped her feet and barked at the ball, demanding that I throw it. She's ten now, and hobbled with arthritis that has turned her front elbows into bony, misshapen knobs. Though she can't run for fifty minutes at a time anymore, she still whines fordemands!the five minutes, twice a day, in which she can chase the ball, and she sulks when she doesn't get it. This month's tribulations are merely new entries on a long list. Around eleven one night, as my wife, Erin, and I were settling in to sleep, we leapt out of bed when we heard a sharp crack, like a .22 capping off. Rosie, gnawing the cheese-stuffed femur of a cow, had split both the bone and her right molar. She kept gnawing. Other teeth have been chipped and worn by her aggressive chewing. Several are worn down to the gum line. Almost all her life she has taken estrogen supplements, because being spayed left her a bed wetter. She takes drugs for her arthritis, and she has a quarter-sized benign lump on her side and another the size of a BB on her


"In a number of different jurisdictions, Auditors-General have emerged as highly effective champions of public accountability, standing up for values such as transparency, probity and good governance … They have become central figures in the new, more pluralist version of public accountability, which seeks to supplement the traditional chain of ministerial accountability with alternative channels of accountability."


This article discusses the use and value of environmental mediation in Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is an instrument to integrate environmental aspects into policies, plans and programmes. Environmental mediation is a process that allows different stakeholder viewpoints to be taken into consideration. Kerstin Arbter explains how mediation was used in Vienna to allow stakeholder groups to participate in an SEA. Kerstin argues that mediation improved the quality of the assessment and produced a more sustainable and effective outcome, than would have been the case with traditional approaches.