Accurate real-time speech recognition is not currently possible in the mobile embedded space where the need for natural voice interfaces is clearly important. The continuous nature of speech recognition coupled with an inherently large working set creates significant cache interference with other processes. Hence real-time recognition is problematic even on high-performance general-purpose platforms. This paper provides a detailed analysis of CMU's latest speech recognizer (Sphinx 3.2), identifies three distinct processing phases, and quantifies the architectural requirements for each phase. Several optimizations are then described which expose parallelism and drastically reduce the bandwidth and power requirements for real-time recognition. A special-purpose accelerator for the dominant Gaussian probability phase is developed for a 0:25 CMOS process which is then analyzed and compared with Sphinx's measured energy and performance on a 0:13 2.4 GHz Pentium4 system. The results show an improvement in power consumption by a factor of 29 at equivalent processing throughput. However after normalizing for process, the specialpurpose approach has twice the throughput, and consumes 104 times less energy than the general-purpose accelerator. The energy-delay product is a better comparison metric due to the inherent design trade-offs between energy consumption and performance. The energydelay product of the special-purpose approach is 196 times better than the Pentium4. These results provide strong evidence that real-time large vocabulary speech recognition can be done within a power budget commensurate with embedded processing using today's technology.


ABSTRACT Deformed arches are often key elements of archaeoseismic studies; arches have been in use for more than three millennia and damage, particularly moved keystones, are clear indications of a seismogenic cause. We introduce a damage evaluation scheme that allows a straightforward determination of the degree of damage to an arch based on laser scan models and digital images. The scheme is applied to 90 arches of the Nimrod Castle, which is neighboring the Dead Sea fault and which was heavily damaged during the 1759 Lebanon earthquake. The analysis shows that the a priori assumption of a correlation between arch orientation and damage degree does not hold for the entire building. An exception is a large tower including a secret passage in which voussoirs have dropped along a more than 20 m long section.


PURPOSE
The purpose of this study is to report preliminary evidence to support a new condition-specific measure of transition readiness that is theoretically grounded in the Stages of Changes framework. The Transition Readiness Assessment Questionnaire-Spina Bifida (TRAQ-SB) supplement is a newly developed tool used to measure independence and skill acquisition related to spina bifida. Similar to the Transition Readiness Assessment Questionnaire (TRAQ), the TRAQ-SB uses a 5-point Likert response set.

METHODS
Working with a multi-disciplinary team with expertise in the care of children with spina bifida, the authors developed twelve items pertaining to main aspects of SB self-management. The items were reviewed and revised through several iterations by the team and patients. The items were then fielded at a spina bifida Specialty Clinic, where 93 consecutive patients 12-25 years of age were approached to participate and 90 were administered the 20-item TRAQ and a 12-item TRAQ-SB questionnaire. A principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted on the twelve items with oblique rotation (promax). Criterion validity was also assessed by examining the correlation of the TRAQ-SB supplement with the TRAQ and with age.

RESULTS
Results of the factor analysis revealed that eleven of the twelve items loaded onto one factor with factor loadings ranging from 0.46 to 0.84. The scale yielded excellent internal reliability with a Cronbach alpha of 0.90. Correlations of the TRAQ-SB supplement scale score with the TRAQ overall scale score demonstrated good criterion validity (r= 0.74, p< 0.01). In addition, it was highly correlated with the TRAQ subscales, varying from 0.68 to 0.74 (all p< 0.01). Lastly, the TRAQ-SB was significantly correlated with age (r= 0.25, p< 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS
Results of our analyses indicated that the TRAQ-SB demonstrated good internal reliability and criterion validity as evidenced by strong correlation with age and the validated TRAQ measure. The TRAQ-SB tool can be useful to incorporate transition readiness assessment and self-management training into routine care for adolescents with spina bifida.


State governments have been passing laws mandating insurers to allow young adults to stay on their parents' health insurance plans past the age of 19 since the 1970s. These laws were intended to increase coverage, but research has been inconclusive on whether they were successful. We reconsider the issue with an improved approach featuring three key elements: a new, accurate dataset on state mandates; recognition that effects could differ greatly by age due to take up rate differences; and avoidance of endogenous characteristics when identifying mandate eligible young adults. We find the impact of the state mandates was concentrated among the 19 to 22 age group, for which dependent coverage increased sharply by about 6 percentage points. Overall coverage increased by almost 3 percentage points, with the difference explained by crowd out of public insurance. Crowd out of coverage through young adults own jobs was negligible. For those above age 22, we find little evidence of changes in coverage. We incorporate these insights into analysis of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) dependent coverage mandate, showing its effects were focused among those whom were previously ineligible for state mandates, or were eligible but older than 22. We argue the ACA's impact was broader because it had fewer eligibility conditions that implied parental dependence; young adults could be on their parents' insurance but still be relatively independent.


Aim: To obtain more detailed information on service availability and appropriateness and interagency networking for individuals with dual diagnosis (DD) at seven European centres. Methods: Data was collected using two parts of the three-part Treatment of Dual Diagnosis tool in seven European centres as part of the Integrated Services Aimed at Dual Diagnosis and Optimal Recovery from Addiction (ISADORA) study between 2002 and 2005 focusing on the nature, level and type of networking for individuals with co-morbid mental health and substance misuse problems (DD). A multi-level process of qualifying networking was used. Findings: Findings show that 50–90% of the listed centres across the ISADORA sites reported some level of networking but only 30% had a joint care agreement in place or shared patient/client records with at least one other agency. Barriers and facilitators to interagency collaboration are described. Conclusion: This pan-European study highlighted the need for a more integrated and focused approach to DD service delivery.


This article examines the interaction between human population genetics and the reconstruction of national identities and histories. Since the first use of mitochondrial DNA analysis of human origins in 1987, scientific research on population history using genetic technologies, or genetic history studies, has flourished, engaging with diverse politics of social identity and national belonging across the globe. Previous scholars have stated that a distinct feature of genetic history studies is the globalized research and commercial network enabled by technological innovations and social transformations during the 1990s. This paper contributes further to this literature by analyzing how local geneticists became part of the global research network and how globalization at large—e.g., economic liberalization and the rise of multiculturalism—functioned in the development of genetic history studies in South Korea. By focusing on a leading population geneticist, Kim Wook and his genetic origin research on Koreans, I will show the role that Korean geneticists had in reconfiguring Korean national identity—from an ethnically homogeneous group to an ethnically diverse one—while their research practices, questions, and methods were inspired and supported by domestic globalization policies and discourses and a transnational network of genetic history studies. I will also reveal the essential, albeit equivocal, part genetic knowledge played in the debate on national belonging in this county.


In underground coal mines, the use of explosives is very limited, particularly where the longwall method of mining is practised. However, occasionally the call for the use of explosives does occur in most underground coal mines. Explosive use today is generally confined to shooting a dyke, excavating an overcast in stone, for fault drivage, and for shaft sinking or drifting in cases where use of a road header is considered to be uneconomical. Explosives have also been successfully used in triggering goaf falls to prevent wind-blast or for remote mining through areas where methane gas does not drain below the 'outburst threshold limit' It is therefore essential that among the mine personnel there are employees qualified in the handling of explosives under varying conditions, and these qualifications should be up to date. This paper proposes that all shotfirers should undergo a refresher course in blasting at intervals of five years, so that up-to-date knowledge is disseminated. The essential modules of such a refresher blasting course should consist of the following: a) Familiarisation with current types of explosives and accessories; b) Types and modes of initiation; c) Blast design and calculation; d) Precautions to be taken before and after firing; e) Consideration of environmental factors; and f) Dealing with misfires. Above all, a safety culture amongst the personnel who handle explosives needs to be established, and strictly adhered to.


Background The purpose of the study was to preoperatively evaluate the demographics, etiology, and radiographic findings associated with moderate and severe hallux valgus deformities in adult patients (over 20 years of age) treated operatively over a 33-month period in a single surgeon's practice. Methods Patients treated for a hallux valgus deformity between September, 1999, and May, 2002, were identified. Patients who had mild deformities (hallux valgus angle < 20 degrees), concurrent degenerative arthritis of the first metatarsophalangeal joint, inflammatory arthritis, recurrent deformities, or congruent deformities were excluded. When enrolled, all patients filled out a standardized questionnaire and had a routine examination that included standard radiographs, range of motion testing, and first ray mobility measurement. A chart review and evaluation of preoperative radiographs were completed on all eligible patients. Results One-hundred and three of 108 (96%) patients (122 feet) with a diagnosis of moderate or severe hallux valgus (hallux valgus angle of 20 degrees or more) 70 qualified for the study. The onset of the hallux valgus deformity peaked during the third decade although the distribution of occurrence was almost equal from the second through fifth decades. Twenty-eight of 122 feet (23%) developed a deformity at an age of 20 years or younger. Eighty-six (83%) of patients had a positive family history for hallux valgus deformities and 87 (84%) patients had bilateral bunions. 15% of patients in the present series had moderate or severe pes planus based on a positive Harris mat study. Only 11% (14 feet) had evidence of an Achilles or gastrocnemius tendon contracture. Radiographic analysis found that 86 of 122 feet (71%) had an oval or curved metatarsophalangeal joint. Thirty-nine feet (32%) had moderate or severe metatarsus adductus. A long first metatarsal was common in patients with hallux valgus (110 of 122 feet; 71%); the mean increased length of the first metatarsal when compared to the second was 2.4 mm. While uncommon, the incidence of an os intermetatarsum was 7% and a proximal first metatarsal facet was 7%. The mean preoperative first ray mobility as measured with Klaue's device was 7.2 mm. 16 of 22 (13%) feet were observed to have increased first ray mobility before surgery. Conclusions The magnitude of the hallux valgus deformity was not associated with Achilles or gastrocnemius tendon tightness, increased first ray mobility, bilaterality or pes planus. Neither the magnitude of the preoperative angular deformity nor increasing age had any association with the magnitude of the first metatarsophalangeal joint range of motion. Constricting shoes and occupation were implicated by 35 (34%) patients as a cause of the bunions. A familial history of bunions, bilateral involvement, female gender, a long first metatarsal, and an oval or curved metatarsophalangeal joint articular surface were common findings. Increased first ray mobility and plantar gapping of the first metatarsocuneiform joint were more common in patients with hallux valgus than in the general population (when compared with historical controls).


Our goal is to detect defects in composite materials composed by multi-layer planar plates with a periodic set of circular cylindrical fibers embedded within each layer. As a starter, the work presented is electromagnetic (EM) modeling and imaging of missing fibers in a fiber array standing in air. The multiple scattering method is utilized to analyze the electromagnetic behavior, and the corresponding imaging model is established directly from Lippman-Schwinger integral formulation. With the imaging model, standard MUltiple SIgnal Classification (MUSIC), and the proposed joint sparsity which borrows the idea from sparsity theory, are applied to retrieve the locations of missing fibers. Various numerical results are provided to illustrate availability and accuracy of the modeling and imaging.


Machine learning systems regularly deal with structured data in real-world applications. Unfortunately, such data has been difficult to faithfully represent in a way that most machine learning techniques would expect, i.e. as a real-valued vector of a fixed, pre-specified size. In this work, we introduce a novel approach that compiles structured data into a satisfiability problem which has in its set of solutions at least (and often only) the input data. The satisfiability problem is constructed from constraints which are generated automatically a priori from a given signature, thus trivially allowing for a bag-of-words-esque vector representation of the input to be constructed. The method is demonstrated in two areas, automated reasoning and natural language processing, where it is shown to produce vector representations of natural-language sentences and first-order logic clauses that can be precisely translated back to their original, structured input forms.


This paper assesses the importance of infrastructure development as a factor in successful peacebuilding and vice versa in post-conflict zones. By acknowledging the changing nature of war, it recognizes the need for changing methods of post-conflict intervention and describes how linking the different sectors of development and peacebuilding can lead to more sustainable and effective results. Successful methods of integration, implementation, and evaluation of the two practices are presented as well as a case study on development projects in Kosovo in order to demonstrate the ways in which peacebuilding and development projects can be integrated to varying degrees of success. Examination suggests that while there are obvious theoretical linkages between peacebuilding and development and some successful projects utilizing the two concepts, further integration and evaluation of such practices are needed in order to improve reconstruction and reconciliation in post-conflict zones.


Abstract: Extensive areas covered by semi-permanent water bodies were common during the Miocene in the Neotropics. These floods are noteworthy because of their possible role in promoting the high biological diversity observed today in the Amazonia. In particular, a relatively good understanding of the floods has been achieved for the Llanos basin of Colombia and western Amazonia. In these two basins the evidence suggests episodes of marine incursions and development of lacustrine systems at different times during the Miocene. Other intra-montane basins in Colombia, like the Middle and Upper Magdalena basins, also show clear evidence that water bodies covered them during that time. However, the chronostratigraphy and paleoecology of these deposits are still unclear. In this study, we use the palynological record of the Middle and Upper Magdalena valleys to establish the age of the deposits of the Barzalosa Formation, a unit that preserves a detailed record of a lacustrine system deposited during the late early Miocene in the Upper Magdalena Valley. The results indicate that the Barzalosa Formation is correlative with the lacustrine deposits of the La Cira fossiliferous horizon in the Middle Magdalena Valley. This indicates that extensive lacustrine systems covered the intramontane basins of the northern Andes during the early Miocene. Paleoecologically, the Barzalosa Formation is the result of the evolution of a lacustrine system in three phases, which show marked differences in the proportion of algae, palynological composition and sedimentary depositional sequence. Climate and tectonic processes were the most probable mechanisms controlling the evolution of the Barzalosa system.


Although the LUT (look-up table) size of FPGAs has been optimized for general applications, complicated designs may contain a large number of cascaded LUTs between flip-flops. This results in unwanted glitch propagation along the LUTs, and wastes power. This paper proposes a flip-flop insertion, we propose insertion of new flip-flops between adjacent existing flip-flops to minimize glitch propagation and power loss. Each new flip-flop is timed by a phase-shifted clock with the phase calculated from the delays of LUTs and routing paths. This is different from traditional retiming methods that use the original clock or an 180-degree clock for the new flip-flops, and thus alters the original pipeline structure and synchronization. We start from a post-layout design, retiming its clock frequency and timing behavior. Multiple flip-flop insertion is an NP-complete problem because each new flip-flop affects the delays in the design. We have devised a glitch generation and propagation model for LUT-based FPGAs that take account of path delays while supporting reasonable complexity. We propose effective heuristics for flip-flop insertion and clock phase selection. Full-chip measurements, including all the overheads associated with the inserted flip-flops, show that our approach shows up to 38% of the total dynamic power. We have analyzed our scheme, showing the mechanics of clock assignment and glitch minimization, and the sources of power reduction.


Signal costs, and associated trade-offs, are widely thought of as fundamental to the evolution and maintenance of reliable signals. Contrasting this view, the amplifier mechanism postulates that signals may be deemed reliable by design rather than by costs. Although the idea is not new, investigation of amplifier signals in nature remains scant. Here we show that displays and body markings on the Mediterranean tarantula, Lycosa tarantula (L.) (Lycosidae), are consistent with interpretation as amplifiers of size and body condition. The size of tibia and abdomen ventral markings (which alternate between dark and pale patterns) presented to rivals during contests are highly correlated with body size and condition, respectively. Abdomen markings have the additional feature of placement on a region especially influenced by abdomen distension and therefore has greater proportional variation than the underlying amplified trait. In spite of the differences in size and in body patterns between spiders of two isolated and ecologically different populations, correlation between body marking and dimensions, and relatively high proportional variation of the abdomen markings, was maintained, probably reflecting the adaptive value of these traits. We conducted a feeding experiment which showed that the abdominal markings enlarged (stretched with abdomen distension) at a higher rate if spiders were provided with more food, further supporting the idea that this marking amplifies body condition.


This paper presents an integrated high quality factor tapered transmission line resonator for 60 GHz applications, in a 90nm digital CMOS process. The resonator takes advantage of the standing wave properties of shorted quarter wavelength transmission lines to enhance the resonant quality factor by trading off between resistive and conductive losses. The tapered resonator achieves over 70% quality factor improvement over an optimal uniform resonator and can provide even higher gains on lower loss substrates.


Five copper(II) complexes containing N,N′,N′′-trisubstituted guanidine ligands were synthesized and characterized by elemental analyses and UV-Visible, FT-IR, EPR and mass spectroscopic techniques. The synthesized copper(II) complexes (1–5) bear the general formula [Cu{C6H5CONC(NR)NHCH2C6H5}2] where R = phenyl (1), 4-methylphenyl (2), 4-ethoxyphenyl (3), 2-methoxyphenyl (4) or 1-naphthyl (5). The four coordinated square planar geometry of the complexes was confirmed by the single crystal X-ray diffraction study. The interaction of the Cu(II) complexes with calf thymus DNA (CT DNA) was explored using absorption and fluorescence spectroscopic methods. The results revealed that the complexes have an affinity constant for DNA in the order of 104 M−1 and the mode of interaction is non-covalent intercalation. The DNA cleavage study showed that the complexes cleaved DNA without any external agent. The interaction of Cu(II) complexes with bovine serum albumin (BSA) was also studied using absorption and fluorescence techniques. The cytotoxic activity of the Cu(II) complexes was probed in vitro against human breast (MCF7) and lung (A549) cancer cell lines. The complexes were also tested against mouse embryonic fibroblast (NIH 3T3) cell lines. Complexes 1 and 3 have good cytotoxic activity which is comparable with the cyclophosphamide drug. The complexes were less cytotoxic towards normal cell lines showing that they affect only cancer cell lines. Superoxide radical scavenging property of the complexes was assessed using the NBT assay. Copper(II) complexes showed appreciable superoxide radical scavenging activity with IC50 values ranging from 1.53 to 5.62 μM. A further molecular docking technique was employed to understand the binding of the complexes toward the molecular target DNA and human DNA topoisomerase I.


This paper reviews the composition and synthesis of hydrogels, the character of their absorbed water, and permeation of solutes within their swollen matrices. The most important properties of hydrogels relevant to their biomedical applications are also identified, in particular for use of hydrogels as drug and cell carriers, and as tissue engineering matrices.


ABSTRACT Feeding on the blood of vertebrates is a risky task for haematophagous insects and it can be reasonably assumed that it should also be costly in terms of energetic expenditure. Blood circulates inside vessels and it must be pumped through narrow tubular stylets to be ingested. We analysed the respiratory pattern and the energetic cost of taking a blood meal in Rhodnius prolixus using flow-through and stop-flow respirometry to measure carbon dioxide emission, oxygen consumption and water loss before and during feeding. We observed an increase of up to 17-fold in the metabolic rate during feeding and a change in the respiratory pattern, which switched from a discontinuous cyclic pattern during resting to a continuous pattern when the insects started to feed, remaining in this condition unchanged for several hours. The energetic cost of taking a meal was significantly higher when bugs fed on a living host, compared with feeding on an artificial feeder. No differences were observed between feeding on blood or on saline solution in vitro, revealing that the substrate for feeding (vessels versus membrane) and not the nature of the fluid was responsible for such a difference in the energetic cost. Water loss significantly increased during feeding, but did not vary with feeding method or type of food. The mean respiratory quotient in resting bugs was 0.83, decreasing during feeding to 0.52. These data constitute the first metabolic measures of an insect during blood feeding and provide the first insights into the energetic expenditure associated with haematophagy. Summary: Feeding on blood is not only a dangerous task but also a costly activity. Rhodnius prolixus increases its metabolic rate 17-fold and its respiratory pattern changes during blood sucking.


A better understanding of the ultimate mechanisms driving bat fatalities at wind turbines (i.e., the reason why bats are coming in close proximity to wind turbines) could inform more effective impact reduction strategies. One hypothesis is that bats come into close proximity to turbines due to existing resources (e.g., roosting sites) in the immediate area. Thus, if resource hotspots for bats could be identified in areas proposed for wind energy development, then fatalities could be reduced by siting turbines away from such hotspots. To explore this, we conducted a resource mapping exercise at a 48 km2 wind energy facility in north-central Texas. We mapped known resources (such as water sources, roosting sites, foraging sites, and commuting routes) for the 6 bat species present and compared resource availability with observed fatalities and acoustic activity. Although resource mapping identified concentrations of known resources for all species, it did not predict bat activity or fatalities. For example, Lasiurus cinereus and Lasiurus borealis comprised >90% of the fatalities, yet we found no positive relationship between resource availability and fatalities or acoustic activity for either species. Furthermore, up to 33% of these fatalities occurred at turbines without known resources within 200 m of the turbines, demonstrating that the fine-scale distribution of resources may not effectively inform turbine siting for these two migratory species. The challenge, therefore, remains to determine why bats during the migratory season are coming in close proximity with wind turbines.


In the current Health and Social Care system, the NHS needs to make better use of information and technology, if it is to meet the demands of an ageing population with increasingly expensive treatment requirements. In this month's Technology Pages, Jo Yaldren and Matthew Van Loo explore the issue of inclusivity as it relates to technology-enhanced care and learning. The themes of digital literacy, autonomy, competence and confidence will be considered, and the cultural and organisational context of this wide-scale change will be highlighted.


The Best Within Us assembles a panel of distinguished scholars whose work has been central to understanding positive aspects of psychological functioning. Together, the chapters explore the many ways in which the philosophic concept of eudaimonia is being employed in psychology. Eudaimonia is defined in this volume as:FlourishingRealisation of potentials reflecting the true selfHappiness that comes from the pursuit of virtue/excellenceAlthough philosophy continues to pit hedonism and eudaimonism against one another, theoretical and empirical work in psychology leads to the conclusion that eudaimonic functioning is the most reliable basis for life satisfaction. The source of happiness plays the greatest role in the outcomes obtained. Chapters in this volume also reveal that eudaimonic functioning not only yields quality of life benefits to the individual, it also benefits others in the person's life and extended community. Individuals whose behaviours reflect eudaimonic functioning have demonstrably closer, more caring, and more intimate personal relationships, and engage more extensively in a wide range of prosocial activities. This book is for personality and social psychologists with a teaching and research interest in positive psychology, well-being, happiness, self-acceptance and self-esteem, identity, meaning in life, self-determination and autonomy, and motivation. Psychologists examining the intersections of psychology with philosophy will find much of interest here. This book is also for philosophers, sociologists, and political scientists, and graduate students seeking research ideas pertaining to quality of life.


A study was conducted to determine the prevalence and intensity of urinary schistosomiasis in Abarma district of Gusau Local Government Area of Zamfara State, Nigeria. A total of 400 urine samples were collected and analyzed for the eggs of Schistosoma haematobium using the standard filtration technique out of which 296 (74.0%) were found to be infected. The mean egg intensity of infection was 77.63 eggs/10ml of urine. The infection rate was higher among males 81.7% than the females 68.6%, although the difference was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). The males had higher mean egg intensity of 139.36 eggs/10ml of urine compared to the females with 38.16%eggs/10ml of urine. The highest infection was recorded in the age group 10-19 years, with 86.8% and egg mean intensity of 102.7 eggs/10ml of urine while the least infection rate occurred within the 30- 39 years and 50-59 years age groups, with 55.0 and 50.0 eggs/10ml of urine respectively indicating infection to be age specific (p < 0.05). Statistical analysis indicated the infection to be higher in lower age  group (p < 0.05). With respect to occupation, students were the highest infected (87.65%), followed by farmers (85.7%), traders (75.0%), housewives (58.7%) and civil servants (12.5%). Prolonged contact with water was a factor aiding infection as the people engaged in farming had the highest infection rate of 100.0% while those that went to the river to fetch water had the least infection rate of 52.7%. Those that went to the river for fishing had the highest mean egg intensity of 112.18 eggs/10ml of urine, while the least mean egg intensity occurred among those that engaged in swimming with 32.13 eggs/10ml of urine. These findings indicate that the area is endemic to urinary schistosomiasis and therefore prompt intervention in the study area is needed.


Authentication and identification methods based on human fingerprints are ubiquitous in several systems ranging from government organizations to consumer products. The performance and reliability of such systems directly rely on the volume of data on which they have been verified. Unfortunately, a large volume of fingerprint databases is not publicly available due to many privacy and security concerns.
In this paper, we introduce a new approach to automatically generate high-fidelity synthetic fingerprints at scale. Our approach relies on (i) Generative Adversarial Networks to estimate the probability distribution of human fingerprints and (ii) Super-Resolution methods to synthesize fine-grained textures. We rigorously test our system and show that our methodology is the first to generate fingerprints that are computationally indistinguishable from real ones, a task that prior art could not accomplish.


The use of dried blood spot (DBS) collection cards was investigated for the detection of therapeutic drugs used in cardiovascular therapy for assessing medication adherence. A liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) method was developed for the determination of, bisoprolol, ramipril, and simvastatin. Whole blood spiked with target analytes was used to produce 30 μl blood spots on specimen collection cards for calibration purposes. An 8 mm disc was cut from the dried blood spot and extracted using methanol: water (70:30, v/v). The High Resolution MS detection, at the precise mass of the target drugs, was carried out in electrospray positive ion mode. The LC-HRMS method successfully identified control volunteers who were known to be either adherent or non-adherent. There were no false positives from volunteers taking other cardiovascular drugs or from volunteers receiving no medication. Potentially therefore the system would identify non–adherent patients based on the absence of the target analyte in the DBS sample provided.


CONTEXT
Plantar fasciitis (PF) is a common and devastating disease. Despite different treatments, there is no clear evidence for the effect of these treatments on PF. One of the therapy methods used in physiotherapy is dry needling (DN). So the purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of DN on the pain and range of motion of the ankle joint and plantar fascia thickness in subjects with PF who are suffering from the trigger points of the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles.

METHODS
In this study, 20 volunteer females with PF were randomly assigned into DN treatment and control groups. Measurements were range of motion in dorsiflexion and plantar flexion, plantar fascia thickness, and visual analog scale measured before, immediately, and 1 month after the end of the intervention in both groups.

RESULTS
There were significant differences in the plantar fascia thickness and visual analog scale between the 2 groups. Plantar fascia thickness (P = .016) and visual analog scale (P = .03) significantly decreased in the treatment group. However, there was no significant difference in plantar flexion (P = .582) and dorsiflexion range of motion (P = .173) between groups.

CONCLUSION
The result of this study showed that DN can reduce pain and plantar fascia thickness in women with PF who are suffering from trigger points of the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
Level 1, randomized controlled trial.


In this paper, we investigate changes in the impacts of world crude oil prices on domestic prices in Japan. First, we employ a time-varying parameter VAR (TVP-VAR) approach to confirm that the rate of pass-through of oil prices declined, both at the aggregate and sectoral levels, for the period 1980-2000. Second, by utilizing Input-Output Tables, we find that changing cost structure of Japanese firms goes a long way toward explaining this decline. That is, by the year 2000, oil had become a much smaller component of the Japanese production cost structure. We further find that much of this is attributable to changes in relative prices: as oil became cheaper, it became less important in the overall cost structure, and thus pricing behaviors of firms became less responsive to its prices. Substitution effects, namely firms' shifts toward less oil intensive production, on the other hand, appear to be less important. We also study the period 2000-2007. We find that, although pass-through rates of oil prices increase in many instances, those increases are small in comparison to the drastic resurgence of oil in the cost structure of firms. We present some possible explanations for this finding.


: Introduction: Despite the use of plasma exchanges and intravenous immunoglobulins, Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) still carries non-negligible morbidity and mortality. Furthermore, the psychosocial consequences of GBS may persist longer than expected. Aims and objectives: The basic objective of the study is to analyze the level of hypoalbuminemia as prognostic indicator in GBS patients among local population of Pakistan. Material and methods: This descriptive study was conducted in Nishter Hospital Multan during January 2019 to July 2019. The data were collected from 50 patients of GBS which also include adults and child. The data were divided into two parts one include adults and one group include children. Venous blood samples were drawn from all patients within the first 24 hours after admission. Complete blood count, renal function test, and hepatic function test were performed within 24 hours of hospital admission and before the treatment, and serum CRP, albumin, neutrophil, lymphocyte, thrombocyte, CRP, NLR, and PLR levels were recorded. Results: The data were collected from 50 GBS patients. The mean age was 48.5±18.95 years in adults and 5±8.21 years in GBS-P. No significant relationship was found between NLR, PLR, CRP, and albumin levels and the demyelinating and axonal subtypes


Introduction: The first step to organize the research in community to achieve an understanding of the capabilities and facilities and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of research programs in universities. They were also aware of the high barriers to research in order to improve the quantity and quality of research in universities is essential. This study aimed to identify the barriers of research in field of medical education in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences staff. Materials and Methods: This is a mix method study which was contained 2 phase of expert panel and focus group. The method used in this study was identifying research barriers in focus groups of experts from the university in 6 sessions for two months, followed by practical suggestions presented by members. Results: In this study, 24 barriers in 6 domains (individual, organizational, strategic, educational, financial and cultural barriers) were identified by experts; the organizational and strategic aspects were mentioned as the maximum number of barriers while personal and cultural areas were the minimum number of blocks mentioned, respectively. Some proposals to eliminate the research barriers in various fields were presented by experts in the sessions. Conclusion: Considering the important role of research which is one of the main characteristics of planning for the future, organizations should pay special attention to the Universities. Regarding the results, removing the mentioned research barriers and using the recommendations are recommended in order to achieve better future in research.


Polymorphous light eruption (PLE) is a photosensitivity disorder of which the pathogenesis is not fully understood. Patient history in PLE is important since lesions are transient and often not present at time of consultation. Phototesting is done to reproduce the PLE skin lesions and to obtain information about the responsible action spectrum and the UV dose necessary to elicit skin lesions. However, phototesting is a time consuming procedure. Therefore, we wondered whether it would be possible to assess severity of disease based on the patient history alone. In chapter 2, we showed that the severity assessment in PLE based on patient history did not correlate with the severity as assessed by phototesting. Furthermore, many different phototesting protocols exist, resulting in very different success rates. In chapter 3, it was demonstrated that a maximum of 4 daily irradiations using UVA and UVB light sources is suitable and optimal for diagnostic phototesting in the majority of the PLE patients. More extensive test protocols have no clinical implications, however less extensive protocols may lead to substantial loss of positive test results. PLE lesions can be visible even within a few hours after UV exposure. Therefore, we hypothesized that an early induced mechanism is responsible for the initiation of PLE. In chapter 4, we showed that in PLE patients significantly less neutrophils infiltrate the skin at 18 h after 3 MED UVB irradiation compared with healthy controls, most probably due to local and not systemic pathomechanisms. The intrinsic chemotactic capacity of neutrophils, as well as the expression pattern of cell surface receptors, was similar in PLE patients and healthy controls, indicating that the reduced neutrophil infiltration in PLE skin is most probably not caused by an impaired function of circulating neutrophils. In chapter 5, sequential changes in mRNA regulating a broad spectrum of proteins involved in UV-induced inflammation of the skin in the first 18 hours after UVB exposure were found. After a single dose of 3 MED UVB, a gene specific expression time-dependency was observed in skin of PLE patients and healthy controls. At 3 and 6 h after UVB irradiation, no distinctive early mRNA expression pattern between PLE patients and healthy controls was shown. However, 18 h after UVB exposure, PLE patients showed a significantly increased mRNA expression of ICAM-1, CD25 and FOXP3 compared with healthy controls. Furthermore, we found that the expression of IL-1β was decreased in unirradiated skin of PLE patients. The increased mRNA expression of CD25 and FOXP3 suggests that T-cells expressing a regulatory phenotype play a role during the early phase of the UVB-induced response in PLE patients. Cis-urocanic acid (UCA) is present in the UV-exposed skin and has immunosuppressive properties. In chapter 6, we observed that PLE patients have significantly increased amounts of total- and trans-UCA in unirradiated buttock skin. After UVB irradiation significantly increased concentrations of trans- and cis-UCA were found in the skin of PLE patients. We hypothesized that the increase in cis-UCA might be responsible for a decreased neutrophil skin infiltration after UVB.


This paper examines a disagreement over epistemic "first principles" that takes place in the correspondence between Spinoza and Blyenbergh. Blyenbergh, following Descartes, states he will doubt that which is clearly and distinctly understood if it conflicts with Scripture. Spinoza, in turn, acquiesces completely to whatever his understanding shows him. Because they have a disagreement over the authority of reason, Spinoza "hardly believes that [their] correspondence can be for [their] mutual instruction." But their correspondence can serve for our instruction: In his dispute with Blyenbergh, Spinoza gives his clearest account of his commitment to reason. Like Descartes, Spinoza claims that because he experiences absolute certainty when he forms a clear and distinct idea, he completely acquiesces to the testimony of his understanding. Unlike Descartes however, Spinoza is unambiguous that this act of acquiescence is not to be understood as a voluntary act worthy of praise or criticism—but rather as an act of a spiritual automaton. I argue that by examining Spinoza's dispute with Blyenbergh, we gain important insight into the naturalistic epistemic approach that undergirds Spinoza's Ethics.


This paper presents the results of research aiming at discussing the relationship between mathematics teacher education and the development of project work in teaching practice. The data are taken from interviews with ten secondary and high school mathematics teachers as well as two questionnaires answered by each of them. It was possible to identify three different forms of working with projects: i) individually- teachers' own initiative; ii) by school recommendation- in a fragmented manner; iii) collectively. There are no evidences that the pre-service education influenced their work with projects. This preference was developed during their careers through participation on in-service courses, practical experience, and personal characteristics. In-service teacher education was the main aspect which contributed for their preference.


This paper studies an evolutionary multiobjective optimization algorithm, called EVOLT, which heuristically optimizes QoS (quality of service) in communication networks for electric power utilities. EVOLT uses a population of individuals, each of which represents a set of QoS parameters, and evolves them via genetic operators such as crossover and mutation for satisfying given QoS requirements. Simulation results show that EVOLT outperforms a well-known existing evolutionary algorithm for multiobjective optimization and efficiently obtains quality QoS parameters with acceptable computational costs.


Both national and international encouragements for research and development (R&D) projects have been growing worldwide. Since R&D projects includes various uncertainties related to time, technology, finance, and knowledge, risk management studies are highly significant for the success of these projects. In risk management, all of the potential actions that might have negative impacts on the processes or outputs of a project should be determined, and if it is possible, their negative impacts should be reduced before the project starts. In this study, after risks in R&D projects are determined, the alternative projects are prioritized with respect to these risks by using an approach based on interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy AHP and fuzzy information axiom. Interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy AHP is used to determine the importance degrees of the determined risk factors while fuzzy information axiom is used to evaluate R&D projects considering these risk factors. It is revealed that the most important risk is "Abnormal changes in cost" while the least important one is "Deficiencies in contract articles".


Statistical and numerical modeling tools were used to investigate the climatic effects of urbanization in Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey. Mann–Kendall trend test was applied to minimum temperature data from stations located in urban, suburban and rural areas in Istanbul to determine the existence and significance of trends, and the approximate years in which changes in the trends started. In addition, using a mesoscale atmospheric model, a sensitivity experiment was carried out to explore the atmospheric effects of urbanization in the city. Both statistical and modeling analyses indicated significant warming in the atmosphere over the urbanized areas. Mann–Kendall tests indicated statistically significant positive trends in the time series of the differences in minimum temperatures between urban and rural stations. Seasonal analyses showed that the urbanization effect on climate was most pronounced in summer. In most cases, the changes in the trends occurred in the 1970s and 1980s when the population growth rate in Istanbul increased dramatically. The model results exhibited a significant expansion of the urban heat island in Istanbul from 1951 to 2004, fairly consistent with the expansion of the city in this period. A two‐cell structure for the urban heat island emerged at the reference level from the difference of the July simulations with current and past landscapes: one on the European side and the other on the Asian side of the city. The maximum reference‐level temperature difference between the past and present simulations was found to be around 1 °C. The modeling experiment also indicated that the velocity of the prevailing northeasterly wind and the water vapor mixing ratio were both reduced over the city. The heating effect due to urbanization was found to penetrate about 600–800 m height in the atmosphere over the city, and the two surface heat island cells were found to combine aloft. Copyright © 2006 Royal Meteorological Society


In a territory being 3.500 km2, the cadmium deposits from the atmosphere were determined at 63 sites in 52 towns and communities. These determinations yielded a mean value ranging from 0.13 to 0.15 mg/m2 . 30 d. On the contrary, the mean value (-x) was 0.33 mg/m2. 30 d in the region of heavy-metal-emitting industries. The mean cadmium content in the aerosol was between 0.003 and 0.004 microgram m-3 and, respectively, 0.016 microgram m-3 in case of cadmium emission. It was calculated that the mean proportion of cadmium in the sedimentary dust was between 13 and 16 p.p.m. The cadmium burden, as estimated as cadmium sediment, correlated with the extent of the developmental area. The authors recommend for the present the following maximum permissible values: 0.05 microgram m-3 in the aerosol, and 0.15 mg/m2. 30 d. The cadmium content in the sedimentary dust may be considered to be a permanent burden applied via the food chain, whereas the content in the aerosol is of less importance to the total uptake in man. The calculation of the daily pulmonary uptake yielded a value of 0.075 microgram, from which an absorption of 0.038 microgram is estimated.


Information security is one of the main factors to be considered when internet is used for secret information transmission. Secret data transmitted over the network must be protected from malicious or conspicuous users. Steganography is one of the foremost and fast developing techniques currently used in network to send the secret data without being distracted and which is a better technique than the earlier commonly used cryptography. In steganography a carrier signal is used for the secure transmission of secret information. The secret information is concealed in the carrier and transmitted. Audio steganography uses audio signals to hide the secret information. In the proposed audio steganography technique, cover audio file is transformed from time domain to wavelet domain using Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT), leading to secure data hiding. Text message is encrypted using dynamic encryption algorithm. Cipher text is then hidden in wavelet coefficients of cover audio signal. Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) and Squared Pearson Correlation Coefficient (SPCC) values are computed to judge the quality of the stego audio signal. Results show that stego audio signal is perceptually indistinguishable from the cover audio signal. Stego audio signal is robust against common signal processing attacks such as cropping, filtering, noise addition, resampling etc. Proposed method provides secure and least error data extraction.


Companies operate in turbulent and often adverse environment which
endangers not only their growth but also their survival. The situation is
additionally aggravated with the onset of crisis that increases risks.
Crisis is an economic disruption (recession or depression) which in precapitalist
societies was manifested as the crisis of insufficient production (means
of living scarcity due to natural disasters and other similar causes), while in the
capitalist economy it is manifested as the crisis of excessive production, or hyperproduction.
In marketing literature crisis is defined as the process of decline in
demand for raw materials, materials, products and services, including labour
(Shama, 1978) or as a situation in which the demand for products is lower than
in normal conditions (Kotler, 1973). According to the Dictionary of Marketing
(Rocco, 1993) economic crisis is accompanied by massive disparity between
supply and demand, price and capital value depreciation, sudden decline
in production, liquidation and termination of companies, dramatic rise of
unemployment and other similar consequences.
Although there are records of crises in the 17th and 18th century, economics
started to study crises in 1820, after the first crisis of modern economy ensuing
after the Napoleonic Wars (Baletic, 2009). With the onset of the Great Crisis
(1929-1933) the interest in studying crises has intensified, to be reduced during
the sixties due to the beliefs that crises cannot be repeated because modern
countries developed preventive and intervening stabilization mechanisms. All the great crises, regardless of their causes, have a negative effect on various
aspects of human life and on economic activities, which is most frequently
reflected in the decline of GDP, investments, demand, and employment. The
impact of crisis expands over political-economic regions globally but in different
ways depending on the regional economic structure, depth of financial markets,
source of exposure to risk, intensity and structure of international exchange,
character of financial transfers and modes of financial exposure (Buturac, Rajh,
Teodorovic, 2009). The researches indicate the differences in intensity of how
crisis impacts upon companies as well as in how companies respond to the crises
with regard to the type of crisis, country's political and cultural determinants,
market characteristics and range, respective industry and the company's size
(Ang, 2001; Shama, 1993).
The basic guidelines for a successful survival of crisis provided in literature
are: focusing on core business, networking and alliances, speed and flexibility,
planning, cost reduction, but at the same time retaining/increasing marketing
investment, especially in research and development (R&D) and promotion
(Trade & Enterprise New Zealand, 2008; Roberts, 2003; Ang, Leong and Kotler,
2000; Laitinen, 2000; McCallum, 1991). Namely, marketing planning and
budget proved significant positive correlation to company performance in the
period of crisis, measured by net profits, turnover and market share (Koksal and
Ozgul, 2007). Proactive action, which involves an offensive reaction to crisis,
has also proved as very effective in the period of crisis (Srinivasan et al., 2005;
McCallum, 1991). Companies that perceive crisis as a threat feel that they have
no control over the situation or business results, while eventually they react in
a passive, defensive and restrictive way. On the other hand, companies that
perceive crisis as an opportunity, feel that they have control over the situation
and their performance and therefore make additional investments at the time
of crisis.


BACKGROUND
The study of the relationship of emotional status and tumor etiology has been investigated in order to elaborate a multifactorial model able to provide an answer integrating the different disciplines on cancer. The aim of this work is to investigate the knowledge on the alexithymia construct, exploring the presence of such trait in women affected by mammary carcinoma and analyzing the used coping strategies. The study has also examined personal thoughts related to event control (locus of control).

METHOD
The Toronto Alexithymia Scale, Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced, and Locus of Control questionnaires were administered to a group of 86 women aged 31-55 years (mean = 43.7; SD 6.57)-experimental group (N = 44): women with breast cancer diagnosed in the last 6 months; control group (N = 42): women without oncologic pathology, referred at the aforementioned institutions to undergo a breast check-up.

RESULTS
According to our hypothesis and literature data, a significant presence of alexithymic subjects (36.4% versus 2.4%; chi2 = 20.9; P < 0.0001) and a tendency to adopt coping strategies not focused on the problem were reported among women with mammary carcinoma. This causes incapability to act in order to actively contrast pathology-linked stress or to lower the effects.

CONCLUSION
Our results indicate that the tendency to repress one's emotions is associated to some general schemes of reaction to stress which, when used in a dysfunctional manner (such as the attempt to ignore how threatening an event is), are maladaptive in the end.


The most important late Precambrian stratigraphic units of NE Africa and Arabia are tabulated within a crude radiometric framework, and inferred correlations are suggested. Two geographical groupings of stratigraphies can be recognized. Continental clastic sedimentary and anorogenic volcanic successions are found around the Tanzanian craton, while orogenic volcanic-volcanoclastic successions typify areas surrounding the the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.


The GB railway industry collects hundreds of close call records each day from workers. The information is provided as free-text descriptions of hazards on the railway. Frequently the hazards occur as a result of risk controls breaking down. Information on failed risk controls is an essential input to the railway's safety management system, but can be lost in the huge volume of information being reported.
This paper introduces a method based on natural language processing techniques that can automatically extract information on failed risk controls from text-based close call records. The method could substantially reduce the amount of effort needed to obtain critical safety information and is presented in a form that could be used immediately for supporting safety management of the railway.


An adaptive optimal control strategy for two terminal HVDC systems embedded in an AC network is presented. The control is based upon real-time measurements performed on the AC/DC system. The system modelling is general and applicable to large-scale power systems with an embedded HVDC link. The control algorithm incorporates the nonlinear power system dynamic equations. A novel feature of this development is the use of real-time system measurements as inputs to the optimal controller. The closed-loop optimal control law consists of both modeland measurement-based terms. The effectiveness of the optimal control algorithm in damping the electromechanical oscillations is illustrated with the use of a ninebus AC/DC system.


Constraining the timing of initial collision is critical for understanding how long-term plate convergence is accommodated at collisional plate boundaries. Reevaluation of the age of collision from orogenic thermal evolution requires distinguishing the onset of submarine continental accretion from earlier oceanic subduction and subsequent subaerial orogenic evolution. We present new thermochronological constraints from the first age-elevation relationship transect in Taiwan and zircon and apatite fission-track ages from sediments in the western foreland. Our data reveal the onset of cooling from at least 7.1 ± 1.3 Ma, at a minimum rate of 21 °C/m.y., in the submarine sedimentary wedge followed by a marked acceleration of subaerial exhumation after ca. 3.2 ± 0.6 Ma at an average rate of 1.7 km/m.y. Our data reflect the effect of margin architecture as Taiwan evolved from submarine accretion of the distal extremely thinned continental margin to crustal thickening of the proximal margin and orogenic development.


This paper presents the findings of a recently completed research project. It sheds light upon the appropriate governance of inter-firm relationships, in order to achieve competitive success for the whole partnership and its individual members. An exploratory study in the German automotive industry using inductive Grounded Theory was conducted, in order to form a set of propositions that were then validated. The research has resulted in the consolidation of these propositions into a novel concept termed Collaborative Enterprise Governance, which draws on an inter-disciplinary body of knowledge. The core of the concept is a competence based contingency framework that helps enterprise managers in selecting the most appropriate governance strategy (i.e. enterprise structure) for an inter-firm relationships within automotive supply networks (i.e. enterprises), depending on various exogenous and endogenous factors.


Background: The Functional Movement Screen is a tool used in athletic populations for predicting injury potential by assessing movement dysfunction. This tool may be of use in tactical populations (police officers, firefighters and military personnel) who perform daily duties of a physical nature, often carrying loads that negatively affect their movement patterns and cause physical injury. Purpose: This purpose of this review was to explore the literature on the use of the Functional Movement Screen in tactical populations. Methods: Literature databases were searched using key search words and terms. Studies meeting the inclusion criteria were critically evaluated using the Downs and Black protocol. Inter-rater agreement was determined by Cohen's Kappa. Results: Five articles were retained for evaluation with a mean Downs and Black score of 73%, (k=0.82). Studies included both genders from military and firefighting populations. Conclusion: Research suggests that the Functional Movement Screen can be reliably applied to a tactical population and may be of use as a screening tool. A score of below 14 may indicate an increased risk of injury. Furthermore, the tool can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of tactical conditioning programs. Further research is required to confirm and advance these findings within this population.


A situation frequently encountered in medical studies is the comparison of several treatments with a control. The problem is to determine whether or not a test drug has a desirable medical effect and/or to identify the minimum effective dose. In this Bachelor's thesis, some of the methods used for testing hypotheses of ordered alternatives are reviewed and compared with respect to the power of the tests. Examples of multiple comparison procedures, maximum likelihood procedures, rank tests and different types of contrasts are presented and the properties of the methods are explored. Depending on the degree of knowledge about the dose-responses, the aim of the study, whether the test is parametric or non-parametric and distribution-free or not, different recommendations are given which of the tests should be used. Thus, there is no single test which can be applied in all experimental situations for testing all different alternative hypotheses.


During the ongoing financial crisis in the North Atlantic, the central role that money plays in monetary production economies is undergoing fundamental changes. Specifically, traditional money-creating institutions, both public and private, increasingly eschew the fulfillment of aggregate demand for money. The implications of this development are wide-reaching, both in terms of academic debate and the quickly evolving international monetary system. Based on Alain Parguez's insights and the monetary transformation of Argentina a decade ago, this article will present several initial conclusions regarding the changing role of money in current western capitalism.


Epiphytic microalgae attached to Posidonia oceanica leaves play a significant role through primary production, nutrient cycling and trophic fluxes in benthic ecosystems. Due to their sensitivity, epiphytic microalgae respond to environmental alterations more quickly than their host. The aim of this study is therefore to evaluate the ecological quality in Gökçeada Underwater Park (North Aegean) using epiphytic microalgal composition and abundance. In this respect, P. oceanica shoots are collected at 6 m, 15 m and 28 m in May, July, October 2009 and January 2010 to estimate the microalgal composition and abundance. Also, P. oceanica descriptors and physico-chemical parameters in the water column of the meadow lower limit are measured. Leaf surface improvement through greater depths, have provided a convenient substratum for epiphytic colonization. A total of 56 taxa belonging to epiphytic microalgae are composed of Bacillariophyceae (91%), Cyanophyceae (7%) and Dinophyceae (2%). Temporal and bathymetric dynamics of the epiphytic community structure and abundance depend on the environmental parameters; such as leaf surface, nutrients and turbidity. Also, a mucilage phenomenon, resulted in a low diversity due to the dominancy of filamentous cyanobacteria. Necessary data is supplied for a less evaluated region affected by agricultural activities and urbanization in the recent years.


In modem day, people mostly adult living in indoor compare to outdoor due to working purposed. A result of a research from cdc.gov, 2014 indicate that people spent about 90% of their time indoor. The research also indicate that the air inside a building is more polluted compare to outdoor air. The problems arise when these indoor air quality affect the health of the occupants health. Therefore, three indoor stadiums building was studied in this research. In this studies, three factor of indoor air quality is being focused which are humidity, temperature and air velocity. By using appropriate equipment which is velocicalc meter, the air indoor in the selected indoor stadiums of case study building will be tested. Other than that, an interview to the maintenance of the stadiums will be conducted to get more information about the IAQ in the selected indoor stadiums. Finally, the data collected will be analyzed. The finding from the study shows value of humidity, temperature and air velocity in each case study indoor stadiums are in satisfaction condition whereby each indoor stadiums show value of air velocity does not reach the standards set, while the humidity is slightly highest compare the permissible value from DOSH. Thus, proper conclusion and recommendation will be provided to overcome the indoor air quality problems in the future.


This paper describes a flexible method of teaching introductory robotics. Students program an autonomous mobile robot to complete a set of tasks of increasing complexity, including multirobot tracking. Two proximity detectors (1 b each) and a pair of photosensors (2 b each) provide six sensory inputs to logic circuits, which control two drive motors and two internal memory flip-flops. The robot brain is a digital logic circuit programmed by loading an AS CH code that specifies the logic circuit configuration, similar in approach to a field-programmable gate array. The logic circuit design evolves with task complexity. Two internal set/reset flip-flops can be used to design a finite-state machine to implement a memory. One novelty of the method is that students develop and test their logic circuits on a Web-based graphic simulation before downloading the code to an actual robot. The simulation is written in JavaScript to acquire sensor readings and control robot motors to interact with the environment in a flexible manner. The simulation is downloaded with the Web page and runs smoothly on the client's machine, eliminating the need for high-speed connections. The ASCII code producing successful simulation performance is downloaded to an actual robot through a printer port on a PC in the robot laboratory. A microcontroller on the actual robot interprets the ASCII code in the same manner as the simulation. Classroom experience indicates that evolving a robot brain is an effective teaching tool and students enjoy applying logic circuit design to program a robot.


This study explores the long-term effects of empowering 38 international graduate students with pronunciation learning strategies that they can use to improve their ability to link sounds within and across words. The effects of instruction are investigated through a mixed-method analysis that triangulates data from (a) a read-aloud test administered and recorded twice during the course, and again five months to two years after the course ended; (b) the same read-aloud test administered nine months after the testing in (a) to 23 of the 38 participants; (c) learners' responses to two questionnaires and a survey; and (d) the researcher's notes. The results reveal that students maintain a significant improvement over time regardless of their native language, gender, and length of stay in the US prior to instruction. There are, however, other learner characteristics and factors that seem to contribute to greater or lesser improvement over time. This paper identifies the pronunciation learning strategies taught for improving students' ability to link sounds, analyzes the factors contributing to lesser or greater improvement over time, and discusses the results and pedagogical implications of the study.


In this research, impregnated oil palm trunks (OPT) and polymer composites were prepared from a combination of dried oil palm trunks with phenol formaldehyde (PF) and urea formaldehyde (UF) resin in different resin percentages using an impregnation method. Time of impregnation was a parameter used to control the percentage of resin content in the oil palm trunks. These studies investigated the effect of resin content and types of resin on the physical properties of impregnated OPT. Water absorption tests revealed that OPT polymer composite with 75% PF resin loading had increases of 21% and 26% for OPT polymer composites with 75% UF resin loading. The thickness swelling of OPT polymer composites with 75% PF resin loading exhibited the lowest value of 3.30% as compared with OPT polymer composite with 75% UF resin loading, which exhibited a value of 4.30%. The dimensional stability of the OPT polymer composites with the highest resin loading was slightly lower when compared to rubberwood. Scanning electron micrographs show that PF resin placement in OPT polymer composites was better, and resin penetration retained the original dried OPT structure.


Path analysis of family data has been widely applied to resolve genetic and environmental patterns of familial resemblance. A prevalent statistical approach in path analysis has been, first, to estimate the familial correlations and, second, by assuming these estimates to be independently distributed, define a likelihood function from which maximum likelihood estimates of model parameters can be obtained and likelihood ratio tests of hypotheses performed. Although it is generally known that the independence assumption does not hold when multiple familial correlations are estimated from the same family data, this statistical method has still been used in these situations owing, in part, to the lack of any viable alternatives and, in part, to the lack of any knowledge about the specific quantitative effects of not meeting the assumption of independence. Here, using computer‐simulation methods, we evaluate the robustness of this statistical method to deviations from the assumption of independence. In general, we found that the failure to meet the assumption of independence leads to a conservative test of the goodness‐of‐fit of the path model, although likelihood ratio tests of specific null hypotheses were at times liberal, at times conservative, and at times nearly exact. Although the test statistics were found to be distorted, the parameter estimates using this method were nearly unbiased.


We propose a novel mechanism for production of baryonic asymmetry in the early Universe. The mechanism takes advantage of the strong first order phase transition that produces runaway bubbles in the hidden sector that propagate almost without friction with ultra-relativistic velocities. Collisions of such bubbles can non-thermally produce heavy particles that further decay out-of-equilibrium into the SM and produce the observed baryonic asymmetry. This process can proceed at the very low temperatures, providing a new mechanism of post-sphaleron baryogenesis. In this paper we present a fully calculable model which produces the baryonic asymmetry along these lines as well as evades all the existing cosmological constraints. We emphasize that the Gravitational Waves signal from the first order phase transition is completely generic and can potentially be detected by the future eLISA interferometer. We also discuss other potential signals, which are more model dependent, and point out the unresolved theoretical questions related to our proposal.


Responding to the world's instability in the economy, society, and in the environment, initiatives such as the EFA goals and MDGs acknowledge that the developing world is in crisis. For the rural people, who are the majority of the poor worldwide, economic, social, and environmental instability is a daily reality. Rural people are among the most vulnerable, the most marginalized, and the most oppressed groups and they make up the majority of the poor in most countries. With education as a catalyst for transformation, providing the rural people with the knowledge, skills, and tools they need to improve their lives, and taking into account the context and reality of rural people, sustainability has to be a part of this transformation process. Sustainable rural transformation as a holistic perspective takes into account rural needs, the context, and the process of transformation. This paper identifies the challenges that rural populations are facing, and argues how the concept and practice of education for rural transformation should work towards a sustainable development, envisioning a 'sustainable rural transformation'. This paper illustrates and examines the concept of sustainable rural transformation and why education and good practices are important to promote an equitable sustainable rural transformation and human well-being.


Five species of mycoplasma are associated with several rat diseases. Mycoplasma pulmonis is the most important and most studied, possibly causing disease in rats and undermining the validity of laboratory experiments. M. pulmonis was isolated in 144/240 laboratory rats and identified by PCR in 155/240. This species was also detected in 12 human individuals (technicians of a laboratory animal house hold) in contact with these rats. The results were confirmed by sequencing of DNA products. Mycoplasma species are host specific; however, M. pulmonis was identified in humans, suggesting a case of unspecific colonization. Statistical analysis shows a greater risk for M. pulmonis colonizing individuals who are exposed to infected rats in animal facilities than individuals who do not. The detection of M. pulmonis in humans indicates a new status for this mollicute mycoplasmas in animal‐holding facilities.


It is a typical scenario that many organisations have their business processes specified independently of their business obligations (which includes contractual obligations to business partners, as well as obligations a business has to fulfil against regulations and industry standards). This is because of the lack of guidelines and tools that facilitate derivation of processes from contracts but also because of the traditional mindset of treating contracts separately from business processes. This chapter will provide a solution to one specific problem that arises from this situation, namely the lack of mechanisms to check whether business processes are compliant with business contracts. The chapter begins by defining the space for business process compliance and the eco-system for ensuring that process are compliant. The key point is that compliance is a relationship between two sets of specifications: the specifications for executing a business process and the specifications regulating a business. The central part of the chapter focuses on a logic based formalism for describing both the semantics of normative specifications and the semantics of compliance checking procedures.


In this study, we developed an efficient catalysis-oxidation method for the degradation of phenol in wastewater, in which the Fe3O4 nanocrystals and H2O2 were employed as catalyst and oxidation agents respectively. Firstly, Fe3O4 nanocrystal coated with PEG was prepared via an oxygenation-deposition hydrothermal method, TEM, FT-IR, BET and XRD characterization indicated that the prepared Fe3O4 nanocrystals had an average size of 26 nm and the specific surface of 35.25 m2/g. Using the prepared Fe3O4 nanocrystals as catalyst, the phenol in wastewater was efficiently degraded by H2O2. The degradability of the phenol was investigated by FT-IR, HPLC and UV–visible spectrophotometer, and the experimental results showed that the phenol was efficiently degraded by H2O2 and the Fe3O4 nanocrystals could be efficiently recycled. Finally, the possible catalytic reaction mechanisms and pathways of phenol degradation were discussed.


Transition probability determinations are reported for the 2 s2 1S−2s2p 1P transition in Be I and B II, based on lifetime measurements made by beam-foil excitation. The lifetimes were extracted by the ANDC method, which incorporates cascade-related decay curves into the analysis of the primary decay curve, thus accounting for the effects of cascade repopulation. The results are of higher precision than earlier measurements and improve the agreement with recent theoretical calculations.


Folic acid (FA) targets cancer by exploiting its overexpression of folic acid receptors (FR). A novel folate conjugated lipid coated mesoporous silica nanoparticle has been synthesized in this study to enhance cellular uptake and cytotoxicity and reduce multidrug resistance (MDR) in cancer. Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) have a high loading capacity of doxorubicin (DOX) (0.012 mg mg−1) due to their high surface to volume ratio. On coating these nanoparticles (DOX:MSN) with a lipid composition of DPPC:cholesterol:DSPE-PEG2000:DSPE-PEG2000(folate) (DOX:FLMSN), a pH dependent sustained release property is achieved (∼20% to ∼97% between pH 7.4–4.5 after 168 h of drug release). The system's cellular uptake efficiency was characterized against A2780S, A2780-Cis-Res (showing FR overexpression) and PC3 cells (lacking FR overexpression). DOX:FLMSN shows significant improvement in cellular uptake in A2780S and A2780-Cis-Res but not in PC3 cells due to FR underexpression in the latter. However, in FA saturated media, the improvement is neutralized due to receptor blocking by free FA. Cytotoxicity studies confirm the enhanced cell growth inhibition of DOX:FLMSN over free DOX and DOX:LMSN in both A2780S and A2780-Cis-Res cells, thereby ameliorating MDR. Therefore, FA introduces active targeting in FR overexpressing cancer cells whilst simultaneously disrupting MDR. The nanoformulation of DOX:FLMSN can be further investigated in vivo.


3D convolutional neural networks have revealed superior performance in processing volumetric data such as video and medical imaging. However, the competitive performance by leveraging 3D networks results in huge computational costs, which are far beyond that of 2D networks. In this paper, we propose a novel Hilbert curve-based cross-dimensionality distillation approach that facilitates the knowledge of 3D networks to improve the performance of 2D networks. The proposed Hilbert Distillation (HD) method preserves the structural information via the Hilbert curve, which maps high-dimensional (>=2) representations to one-dimensional continuous space-filling curves. Since the distilled 2D networks are supervised by the curves converted from dimensionally heterogeneous 3D features, the 2D networks are given an informative view in terms of learning structural information embedded in well-trained high-dimensional representations. We further propose a Variable-length Hilbert Distillation (VHD) method to dynamically shorten the walking stride of the Hilbert curve in activation feature areas and lengthen the stride in context feature areas, forcing the 2D networks to pay more attention to learning from activation features. The proposed algorithm outperforms the current state-of-the-art distillation techniques adapted to cross-dimensionality distillation on two classification tasks. Moreover, the distilled 2D networks by the proposed method achieve competitive performance with the original 3D networks, indicating the lightweight distilled 2D networks could potentially be the substitution of cumbersome 3D networks in the real-world scenario.


User software engineering (USE) is a methodology, with supporting tools, for the specification, design, and implementation of interactive information systems. With the USE approach, the user interface is formally specified with augmented state transition diagrams, and the operations may be formally specified with preconditions and postconditions. The USE state transition diagrams may be directly executed with the application development tool RAPID/USE. RAPID/USE and its associated tool RAPSUM create and analyze logging information that is useful for system testing, and for evaluation and modification of the user interface. The authors briefly describe the USE transition diagrams and the formal specification approach, and show how these tools and techniques aid in the creation of reliable interactive information systems.


Multiscale analysis of univariate time series has appeared in the literature at an ever increasing rate. Here we introduce the multiscale analysis of covariance between two time series using the discrete wavelet transform. The wavelet covariance and wavelet correlation are defined and applied to this problem as an alternative to traditional cross-spectrum analysis. The wavelet covariance is shown to decompose the covariance between two stationary processes on a scale by scale basis. Asymptotic normality is established for estimators of the wavelet covariance and correlation. Both quantities are generalized into the wavelet cross covariance and cross correlation in order to investigate possible lead/lag relationships. A thorough analysis of interannual variability for the Madden-Julian oscillation is performed using a 35+ year record of daily station pressure series. The time localization of the discrete wavelet transform allows the subseries, which are associated with specific physical time scales, to be partitioned into both seasonal periods (such as summer and winter) and also according to El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) activity. Differences in variance and correlation between these periods may then be firmly established through statistical hypothesis testing. The daily station pressure series used here show clear evidence of increased variance and correlation in winter across Fourier periods of 16-128 days. During warm episodes of ENSO activity, a reduced variance is observed across Fourier periods of 8-512 days for the station pressure series from Truk Island and little or no correlation between station pressure series for the same periods.


The Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act (ITPEA) increases penalties for crimes that involve the unlawful use of another person's identifying information. A subsection of the ITPEA—the aggravated identity theft provision—imposes a mandatory two-year sentencing enhancement on a defendant who "uses" a means of identification of another person during and in relation to a predicate felony. Currently, federal circuit courts disagree about whether the term "uses" in the statute is ambiguous and whether the rule of lenity should consequently apply to narrow its reach. On the one hand, courts that have held the statute to be ambiguous apply the rule of lenity to hold that a defendant qualifies for the enhancement only if the defendant has directly impersonated another person. On the other hand, courts that have held the statute to be unambiguous reason that the plain text of the statute demands that the defendant need only generally misuse another's information in the facilitation of fraud. This Comment argues that the rule of lenity is improper in the context of the aggravated identity theft provision because a variety of interpretive tools are available and operative. For that reason, courts should apply the statute in accordance with its broad plain meaning by construing "uses" as requiring only general misuse of another person's identifying information. This reading draws support from an analogous case in a comparable criminal context, interactions between interpretive canons


Bovine cervical mucus (BCM) is important for selection and transport of spermatozoa. When air-dried, BCM obtained at oestrus exhibits arborescent crystallizations, among other arrangements. Considering the relevant endocrine and reproductive information indirectly obtained from BCM crystallization, a morphological investigation was carried out to study its crystalline patterns. BCM samples were collected from healthy Holstein Friesian heifers at oestrus, their crystalline patterns photographed and its morphology analyzed. The majority of the crystallizations obtained showed the typical tree-like patterns reported for BCM. However, a highly symmetrical arrangement was found, characteri zed by a star-like morphology with six straight, highly defined axes that protrude from the same central point, forming 60o angles. In terms of current knowledge, this short report is the first to show this crystallization geometry in BCM, which, additionally, is remarkably similar to P6 B mucus reported for periovulatory human cervical mucus. Even though the role of mucus presenting this type of crystallization is as yet unknown for bovines, its possible functions are also briefly discussed here.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the dental caries status and treatment needs of children belonging to the fisher folk communities.

METHOD
Two hundred and sixty-seven children up to the age of 14 years were examined using the World Health Organization (WHO) oral health assessment criteria, 1997.

RESULTS
The prevalence of dental caries was found to be high in the study population. The unmet treatment need was also high.

CONCLUSION
Further research is suggested in order to explore and identify the prevailing aetiological factors responsible for the current status.


The purpose of this study is to examine how preschool teachers talk about how they work with developing interculturality in preschool. The study is based on the following questions: How do the teachers describe the work with interculturality in multicultural groups of children? How do the teachers describe the work with interculturality in monocultural groups of children? What are the differences between these descriptions? Through qualitative interviews with five preschool teachers working at two preschools we have analyzed how they talk about their work to develop interculturality. The first preschool has multicultural groups of children, and the second preschool has monocultural groups of children. In this study we have assumed the intercultural perspective as described by Lorentz (2014). The results show that the preschool with multicultural groups of children works actively with interculturality, while the preschool with monocultural groups of children does not work with interculturality, although the teachers have experience and ideas of how to work with interculturality.


The aim of this letter is to demonstrate the feasibility and potential of the novel in situ dust diagnostic method—capture by aerogel targets. Aerogel, a highly porous material with a density of a few tens of kg m−3, allows capturing of dust particles present during the discharge without destroying them. The first exposures in the TEXTOR scrape-off layer plasma showed that such targets are able to capture both slow and fast particles with sizes in the range from submicrometre to ∼100 µm. The technique provides information on dust velocity and size distribution as well as dust flux estimates. The composition and texture of the captured dust can also be studied in detail to shed light on dust formation processes.


The Texas Advance Directives Act was first passed in 1999 to help resolve conflicts between families and physicians when disagreements exist over continuing or halting treatments of patients. When the physician feels that continued treatment is ethically or morally unjustified and seeks to end life support for a patient against the wishes of the family, it establishes a specific path that must be followed to afford legal protection to the physician and institution. Its proponents believe that it reduces morally unjustifiable treatment of terminal patients, while its opponents argue that it places too much power in the hands of physicians and institutions. This review analyzes both sides of the argument, gives 2 examples of its application, and concludes that it is a good model but requires modification to correct some flaws.


We examined the scope of collaborative care for persons with mental illness as implemented by traditional healers, faith healers, and biomedical care providers. We conducted semistructured focus group discussions in Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria with traditional healers, faith healers, biomedical care providers, patients, and their caregivers. Transcribed data were thematically analyzed. A barrier to collaboration was distrust, influenced by factionalism, charlatanism, perceptions of superiority, limited roles, and responsibilities. Pathways to better collaboration were education, formal policy recognition and regulation, and acceptance of mutual responsibility. This study provides a novel cross-national insight into the perspectives of collaboration from four stakeholder groups. Collaboration was viewed as a means to reach their own goals, rooted in a deep sense of distrust and superiority. In the absence of openness, understanding, and respect for each other, efficient collaboration remains remote. The strongest foundation for mutual collaboration is a shared sense of responsibility for patient well-being.


Abstract Among various case studies addressing the reception of relativity, very few deal with Portugal at either the international or the national level. The national literature on the topic has mainly concentrated on the reactions to relativity of the Portuguese mathematical community. The absence of Portuguese astronomers alongside Eddington during the 1919 expedition to Principe, then a Portuguese island, has been implicitly equated with the astronomical community's lack of interest in the event. In reception studies dealing with general relativity, analysis has tended to focus on the physics and mathematics communities, less on the astronomers. Given that relativity was born at the interface of physics, mathematics and astronomy, reactions of members of these scientific communities depended on differences in shared traditions, values, problems and expectations, as well as on individual practitioners' idiosyncrasies. This paper addresses the contributions of the overlooked Portuguese astronomical community, evaluates the actions and reactions of its members to the expedition and assesses their role in the process of appropriation of relativity.


By utilizing the laser-induced pressure-pulse technique, the authors have quantitatively studied the behavior of space charge in unoxidized and oxidized low-density polyethylene (PE) samples whose thickness ranged from 100 mu m to 1 mm. The distribution of space charge changes with applied field, temperature, extent of oxidation and the thickness of the samples. Prominent negative space charge was formed near the cathode in oxidized PE, indicating that oxidation enhanced the electron injection from the cathode. The amount of negative space charge increased with applied field, and this suggests that the electron injection is enhanced by the applied field. The depth of charge centroid from the cathode became larger with increasing temperature and applied field. This indicates that electrons become more mobile as temperature increases. The complicated behavior of the space charge suggests that space charge formation is determined by the following competing processes: electron injection from the cathode, transport, trapping, detrapping, and charge exchange at the anode. >


Future high-performance wireless communication applications such as wireless local area networks (WLANs) around 5 GHz require low power and high quality integrated transceiver solutions. The integration of RF front end especially poses a great challenge to these applications as traditional system on chip (SOC) approach is quite inefficient. A system on package approach can address the problems in an optimum way. In this paper we present a comparison of different passive element fabrication choices. These passives are to be fabricated between different modules on an MCM-D substrate. Inductors and capacitors are compared on the bases of their Q-factors and SRF( self resonance frequency). RF receiver module is implemented using benzocyclobutene (BCB) as interlayer material.


Previously, we have shown that E5a can induce ex pression of the c-jun gene in human papillomavirus (HP¥)-I1 E5a transformed NIH 3T3 cells and human epidermal keratinocytes. In this study, we investigated the relationship between expression of the E5a gene and c-jun in pathologically confirmed condylomata specimens using mRNA hybridization in situ. The c-jun RNA concentration was significantly higher in condylomata specimens with ESa mRNA expression than in specimens without E5a mRNA expression, or in normal cervical specimens. The cells with c-jun expression were located predominantly in the basal and parabasal cell layers. These layers were also the primary location of E5aexpressing cells. This is the first demonstration of a strong correlation (74 %) between expression of the E5a and c-jun genes in condylomata specimens. This correlation might reflect regulation by HPV-11 E5a of c-jun gene expression in condyloma.


Cook and Blacher (2007) provide the most comprehensive review to date of psychosocial treatments for patients with tic disorders and are to be congratulated for their fine effort. The authors' conclusion that habit reversal treatment warrants designation as well established based on the American Psychological Association's Division 12 Task Force criteria should spur increased clinical and research interest in this treatment. However, to fully realize the promise of Cook and Blacher's findings, it is first necessary to understand the broad historical context surrounding the conceptualization and treatment of Tourette syndrome (TS), including fluctuating perceptions within the TS community about the efficacy and utility of psychosocial interventions. In related fashion, this commentary also addresses several barriers, some methodological and others based on historical misconceptions about psychological treatments, that have constrained greater acceptance of such interventions in the past. Finally, we present a model approach for the development and dissemination of evidence-based psychosocial treatments designed to facilitate maximal understanding and acceptance of these interventions by the TS treatment community.


ABSTRACT: We review forms of diaschisis and their relationship with neurobehavioral and neuropsychological findings. The following forms of diaschisis are discussed: (1) cortico-cerebellar diaschisis; (2) cerebello-cortical diaschisis; (3) transhemispheric diaschisis; (4) cortico-thalamic diaschisis; (5) thalamo-cortical diaschisis; and (6) basal ganglia-cortical diaschisis. For each form, the neurobehavioral and neuropsychological findings are discussed. Diaschisis can be classified from the behavioral point of view as follows: (1) forms in which the metabolic effect at distance is not followed by neurobehavioral impairment; (2) forms in which the remote metabolic impairment could induce neurobehavioral and neuropsychological disorders; and (3) forms in which the role of the lesion itself and its remote metabolic effects on the production of neurobehavioral and neuropsychological abnormalities cannot be disentangled.


Purpose: This study was done to review and summarize trends in research related to image of nursing in Korea and to explore directions for future research. Methods: Thirty-five studies published from 2003 to 2014 were reviewed, and the analysis was performed according to criteria adopted from Kim & Lee (2003). Results: There was a three-fold increase in the number of studies compared to a prior analysis study. Of these studies 50% were carried out with nursing students and 71.4% were survey type research. Elementary school students, patients, and guardians had positive images of nursing compare to middle school students and health related personnel. Experience of hospital admission or patient visit did not influence the nursing image of participants. Satisfaction with nursing as a career and clinical practicum were related to nursing image among nursing students and their satisfaction, and their nursing professional value and self-esteem had a positive correlation with nursing image. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that recent trends of nursing research on nursing image indicate a need for further research to eliminate negative stereotypes and build a more professional image for nursing are recommended.


Orthopedic hospitals, institutions with a high volume of surgeries, and hospitals with high Medicare populations should learn from the experiences of eye and ear hospitals, some of which could have been put out of business by Medicare outpatient payment reforms proposed in 1986 and partially implemented since then. As the reforms are refined, hospitals should analyze their vulnerability to the proposed changes using the matrix proposed in this article. They should also take steps to counter any negative impact on revenues and try to influence the nature and scope of the reforms.