Two different previously conducted oxidative degradation experiments, were used as a basis of modeling monoethanolamine-degradation reactions. Literature and previous experience was used to construct reaction equations for the formation of five main degradation products; ammonia, N-(2-hydroxyethyl)formamide (HEF), N-(2-hydroxy ethyl)imidazole (HEI), N,N-Bis(2-hydroxy ethyl)oxalamide (BHEOX) and N-(2-hydroxy ethyl)glycine (HEGly), in addition to four intermediate products formaldehyde, formic acid, glyoxal and oxalic acid. Rate equations were developed for the reactions, and implemented in the degradation model. The model was thereafter fitted to the experimental data of both experiments, to provide parameters in the rate equations. The found parameters and rate equations were implemented in an obtained Aspen Plus absorber simulation. Three different absorber cases were created, with two different flue gas compositions. The ammonia emission in the simulation results ranged within reasonable 9.6 14.6 ppmv. However, a rough estimation of the degradation rate, showed that the rate in the simulations was much higher than previously measured in pilot plants. The results showed that the data set used for the modeling was too small to provide a complete degradation model. This resulted in several weaknesses in the model, such as independence of CO2-loading, temperature, contaminates and instability with respect to the concentration of dissolved ferric. Yet, the results also showed that it was possible to model degradation reactions in detail, and that further development of the model had good potential if more experimental data would become available.


Ontologies are widely used to represent user profiles in personalized web information gathering. Nowadays, how to gather useful and meaningful information from the Web has become challenging to all users because of the explosion in the amount of Web information. However, the mainstream of Web information gathering techniques has many drawbacks, as they are mostly keyword-based. It is argued that the performance of Web information gathering systems can be significantly improved if user background knowledge is discovered and a knowledge-based methodology is used. In this paper, a knowledge-based model is proposed for Web information gathering. The model uses a world knowledge base and user local instance repositories for user profile acquisition and the capture of user information needs. The knowledge-based model was successfully evaluated by comparing a manually implemented user concept model. The proposed knowledge- based model contributes to better designs of knowledge-based


Studies indicate that gender differences continue to persist in the various dimensions of industrial occupations both in Kenya and other parts of the world. This is in spite of the various efforts undertaken including the enactment of the various gender-based laws, and policies. Despite some notable gains, women representation in wage employment remains low forming less than 30 % of wage employment in Kenya. In addition, despite the policies framework, including the two thirds rule in the constitution and the new labour laws, gender disparities in employment continue to persist leading to underutilization of human resources. The differentials tend to firmly favour men over women yet meaningful development can only be achieved if all players are not only represented but if their capacities are well utilized. While gender balance is wide in all aspects of social, economic and political life, this study examined gender disparities in industrial occupations in Kenya. The main objective of this study was to identify the levels and the factors that influence gender disparities at the selected organizations in the manufacturing, the service sector and the related trade unions in Kenya. The disparities were examined at three levels, namely; the operational, the management and the trade union. Although several factors influencing gender disparities at work have been enumerated, the study investigated their relative importance to the industrial occupations in the selected organizations and the respective trade unions in Kenya. The study was guided by the structuralism theory and the concepts of socialization, particularly the division of labor. The fundamental conceptual proposition was that social structure influence socialization which may lead to gender disparities and the related division of labour. The study used the descriptive survey research design to obtain data from the manufacturing and the service sector industries as well as the related trade unions. The four organizations selected from these industries were the East African Portland Cement Company, the Telkom Kenya Limited, the Kenya Chemicals and Allied Workers Union (KCAWU) and the Communications Workers Union (CWU). These companies have both a national and international outlook and provide an opportunity for examining gender disparities in an environment of modern technology and business process re-engineering (BPR). Primary data were obtained from 360 respondents drawn from operational, management and trade unions levels using interviews, questionnaires, while organizations" records were used for secondary data. The data was then coded and converted to numerical codes which represent the attributes of the various variables of the proposed study. The findings revealed that despite the many strategies employed, gender disparities continue to persist in formal employment in Kenya. The margins of disparities were seen to increase up the organizational hierarchy and at the trade unions levels. Organizational and social factors were identified as main causes of gender disparities in Kenya. Some of the identified possible causes of disparities include recruitment procedures, job descriptions, long working hours, lack of appeal systems in promotions, poor implementation of policies, lack of health and safety provisions for expectant mothers, and family responsibilities. The key recommendations made included the introduction of the flexi-time working arrangements, enforcement of the two third rule at all organizational levels, introduction of the nomination in the election of trade union officials and regular labour inspections by the ministry in charge of labour.


Abstract Introduction Inhaled epoprostenol (iEpo) is a pulmonary vasodilator used to treat refractory respiratory failure, including that caused by Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia. Aim of Study To describe the experience at three teaching hospitals using iEpo for severe respiratory failure due to COVID-19 and evaluate its efficacy in improving oxygenation. Methods Fifteen patients were included who received iEpo, had confirmed COVID-19 and had an arterial blood gas measurement in the 12 hours before and 24 hours after iEpo initiation. Results Eleven patients received prone ventilation before iEpo (73.3%), and six (40%) were paralyzed. The partial pressure of arterial oxygen to fraction of inspired oxygen (P/F ratio) improved from 95.7 mmHg to 118.9 mmHg (p=0.279) following iEpo initiation. In the nine patients with severe ARDS, the mean P/F ratio improved from 66.1 mmHg to 95.7 mmHg (p=0.317). Ultimately, four patients (26.7%) were extubated after an average of 9.9 days post-initiation. Conclusions The findings demonstrated a trend towards improvement in oxygenation in critically ill COVID-19 patients. Although limited by the small sample size, the results of this case series portend further investigation into the role of iEpo for severe respiratory failure associated with COVID-19.


The authors analyze the effect of realized cross-sectional correlations of the S&P 500 on hedge fund alpha by proposing a unified model that extends the Fama–French five-factor model by adding a momentum factor and a dichotomous cross-sectional equity-market correlation factor. The use of dichotomous variables, to isolate cross-sectional equity-market correlation regimes, reveals factor exposures that would otherwise not be detectable using a continuous-time period analysis. The model achieves a robust forecasting efficacy rate. They find strong empirical evidence of idiosyncratic manager-based investment decisions (e.g., security selection, sector rotation, leveraging skills) during low correlation regimes, as evidenced by materially higher alpha, with the converse effect during high correlation regimes. The proposed model can be used as a practical benchmarking tool for hedge fund allocators, particularly when applied to equity-oriented hedge fund strategies.


Recurrent acute rejection remains a significant problem for recipients of renal allografts, with a large proportion of patients progressing to graft loss. The newly introduced Banff schema was used to determine whether the histologic pattern of acute rejection (severity and renal compartment scoring) could discriminate recurring from nonrecurring rejections and to examine whether objective rejection scoring had predictive value for rejection reversal and outcome. A total of 67 biopsies obtained from 50 patients with acute rejection were examined for the occurrence of recurrent allograft rejection. All patients were maintained on a cyclosporine-based triple immunosuppressive protocol and had biopsy-proven acute rejection without chronic changes. Rejection recurred in 13 patients (26%), of whom 4 further developed a third rejection. The majority of the patients developed this first rejection within 2 months posttransplantation. Demographics, prebiopsy renal function, immunosuppression, and peak serum creatinine level at the time of biopsy were similar in patients with multiple and single rejection. Peak levels of reactivity to panel of lymphocytes seemed higher in the group of patients with recurrent rejection, whereas HLA matching was similar for all patients. Banff scores for acute rejection did not discriminate patients at risk of rejection recurrence who had lower vascular (0.6 vs. 1.2), tubular (0.6 vs. 1.1), and lower cumulative SUM (3.0 vs. 4.5) scores on their first rejection when compared with patients with one rejection. Histological scoring was, however, significantly different when first and third episodes were compared in the same patient, indicating increased rejection severity with recurrence. Moreover, the rate of reversal of recurrent rejection by anti-lymphocyte therapy was significantly less than that of first rejection (P<0.05). In conclusion, these data demonstrate that Banff scoring correlated with rejection reversal and steroid responsiveness, yet rejection recurrence was independent of histological score of the first rejection. Furthermore, Banff schema provided an objective histological correlation to the poor clinical outcome seen with recurrent rejection. The data also suggest that patients with early mild rejection continue to be at risk for recurrence and graft loss.


Artificial intelligence (AI) is not some elusive, mystical technology that humanity is chasing, especially in regard to its usage
in digital subsurface workflows. Artificial intelligence has been complementing human intelligence since the 1960s, and AI was
deeply integrated into our personal and professional lives long before the technological revolutions of the 21st century. However, we tend to not realize how intrinsic AI is to our lives already. We are constantly moving the goalposts for defining AI as it solves more and more problems. This is known as the AI effect, where people tend to only think of AI as 'whatever hasn't been done yet' (Hofstadter, 1979). This article attempts to review the historical melding of human and artificial intelligence in digital subsurface workflows, with some extra focus on the field of geophysics.
Over time, exploration and production activity has become increasingly automated, with no signs of slowing down. This has
enabled domain experts to focus on more meaningful tasks such as research, domain concepts, and decision-making. The automation of data processing in the form of artificial intelligence and machine learning has already transformed the fields of geophysics, geology, and reservoir engineering in deeply powerful ways. Initially, human intelligence was only augmented by technology, but over time, more and more tasks traditionally performed by human minds were shifted on to computers. The offloading of these human tasks on to computers were implementations of artificial intelligence, and the added abilities to automatically learn and improve from experience without explicit programming were implementations of machine learning.


The linear induction motor (LIM) applied in low-speed Maglev train produces not only the thrust force to drive the train, but also the normal force that affects the levitation system. Three finite element models are employed to investigate the influence of transverse edge effect, longitudinal end effect, transverse edge shape of secondary aluminum plate and its temperature, etc., on the force performance under different slip frequency. For the transverse edge effect, a precise correction factor is proved to be more suitable than the common Russell and Norsworthy's factor. An analytical method using an equivalent circuit model is improved based on an existing model for nonferromagnetic secondary LIM. The amendments account for the primary iron loss, the eddy current of secondary back iron, and the calculation of normal force. Based on this equivalent circuit model, the performance curves of thrust force, normal force, efficiency, and power factor against the train velocity are obtained for given slip frequency and thrust force. The influences of transverse edge, longitudinal end, and air gap length are also investigated. Analytically predicted results are validated by finite element models and measurements.


Some extraordinary solutions of polymers in single solvents exhibit two liquid/liquid critical points, one within the usual composition range and a second one in the range of moderate to high polymer concentration. This particularity was studied theoretically by means of a recently established approach, which accounts explicitly for chain connectivity and for the ability of polymer molecules to respond to changes in their environment by conformational rearrangements. On the basis of model calculations, it is shown that the anomalous demixing behavior, i.e., the emergence of a second critical point, is bound to the necessary but not sufficient condition that a thermodynamically very unfavorable contact formation between polymer segments and solvent molecules (at feed conformation of the components) is associated with an extraordinarily favorable conformational response. Possibilities to forecast whether certain systems behave normal or in an anomalous manner are discussed.


Cells serve as culminating examples of integrated sensors and actuators, or biological robots, inspired by nature. Their membranes and internal regulatory networks are composed of a plethora of molecular machines, such as membrane and signalling proteins that drive a highly intelligent series of coordinated events, from metabolism to motility. Biostructures such as cells and membrane proteins serve as compelling fabrication materials for next-generation applications in medicine, energy, as well as micro/nanorobotics that can harness the intrinsic mechanisms of biology for practical applications. The interfacing of biotic with abiotic systems is expected to take advantage of the inherent evolution-perfected architectures of biology by using them to functionalize nonliving elements towards the fabrication of intelligent materials. Our work offers a strategic approach of intelligent material fabrication by interfacing the collagen Type I cellular adhesion factor with robust biomimetic copolymer membrane films that can be UV-crosslinked for enhanced durability and possess abilities to achieve high Langmuir-Blodgett deposition surface pressures for increased surface area coverage of the composite films. These films in turn serve as candidate modalities to interact directly with cell membrane-bound mechano-sensors that can use topographical or chemical cues to induce higher-order behavior within the cell such as architectural rearrangement, etc. Here, we report the use of a biocompatible ABA triblock copolymer to serve as a molecular buoy on a Langmuir film air/water interface for thin film depositions of collagen, a large structural protein amongst its many other biological functions. Immunofluorescence studies have been used to confirm collagen transfer onto solid substrates while surface pressure analysis was used to assess the dynamic nature of collagen interaction with the ABA triblock copolymer. In addition, in vitro C2C12 mouse myoblast culture atop these composite materials has revealed substrate-mediated influences on cellular morphology and architecture. Using these hybrid collagen-copolymer films to functionalize a wide array of surfaces may offer useful strategies for engineering bio-inspired integrated devices based on inherent cellular/molecular function, as well as the interrogation of biorobotic/cellular behavior and regulatory networks governing their architectural patterning based upon cell-matrix interactions


This study investigated the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the women of Zimbabwe. Drawing from womanist perspectives, the study reflected on pastoral care, gender equality and proposed new ways of engaging the Bible while recognising the impact of hermeneutics on lived realities. The research examined situational analysis reports from government and nonprofit organisations, journal articles and other academic sources focusing on various aspects of Zimbabwean women's contexts. Womanist perspectives were engaged to provide parameters for the reflection and the recommendation of alternatives that have potential to contribute towards the enhancement of women's lives. The study revealed a significant economic impact on those in the informal sector, which is largely occupied by women. Moreover, during periods of lockdown, there was a significant increase in the cases of gender-based violence (GBV), intimate partner violence (IPV) and child marriages. Churches were also impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted their operations even though many continued in their efforts to make a positive contribution to their members and society at large. While many churches had to discover creative ways to provide pastoral care for their flocks, when it comes to the complex challenges such as GBV, IPV, rape and child marriages, there is a lack of evidence demonstrating the church's practical attempts towards addressing them.Contribution: This paper suggests that gender equality and the employment of gender-sensitive biblical hermeneutics are alternatives that have real potential to contribute towards efforts targeted at safeguarding the liberation, well-being and flourishing of women during the pandemic and beyond. It also introduces seMadzimai, a womanist African-Zimbabwean Bible-reading approach.


In the early 1960s, the Mark III accelerator at the Stanford High Energy Physics Laboratory was used as the prototype test-bed for the SLAC two-mile accelerator. In the mid 1980s, the accelerator was dismantled and a large part of it was transported to the Duke University Free-Electron Laser Laboratory to form the basis of the injector for the 1-GeV Duke Storage Ring. The plan was to use the original accelerator sections and some RF equipment with new magnetic optics, vacuum system, gun and a modern control system. The first 295-MeV portion of the linac is now operational at Duke. The linac currently consists of eleven sections from the old linac with a single-cell RF gun. Our guiding principal has been one of economy and simplicity. We have not attempted to restore the accelerator to its original form, but have added modem components where necessary. We discuss some of the more interesting features of the linac, and how we have given new life to this venerable machine here at Duke.


I study the effects of changes in risk on asset prices across different time horizons (or time-scales) and provide a new insight into the dynamics of equity premia. I find that, contrary to the implication of standard models such as the Consumption-CAPM, risk premia are weakly related to consumption volatility at short horizons whereas long-run past volatility strongly determines the long-run dynamics of expected stock returns. More importantly I show that a model specified at a fixed time-scale may not necessarily lead to obtain a significant long-term risk-returns relation upon aggregation of the one-period dynamics of volatility and returns. I thus develop a consumption-based model that simultaneously characterizes both the short- and long-term behaviors of risk and returns and successfully replicates the pattern observed in the data. Whereas previous empirical literature has mainly focused on stock market volatility, when I estimate the model I am able to relate movements of equity premia at specific frequency intervals to sources of macroeconomic risk, as measured by conditional volatility of consumption. The empirical results emphasize the importance of simultaneously modeling consumption at multiple time-scales and point to changing consumption volatility as an important long-run priced factor.


This report is written in cooperation with Eskilstuna municipality public administration for urban planning. The reports purpose is to look into how other public authorities carry out public purchase of consultants and entrepreneurs in the urban planning area. The goal is to come up with suggestions of how Eskilstuna municipality public administration for urban planning can improve its purchasing process in this field in order to minimize the risk where a consultant or entrepreneur files an appeal against the decision of awarding a contract to another rival. The appeal can be filed to the county administrative court. The public administration for urban planning can do its purchases through the model of "lowest price" or "economically most favorable" for them. When using "economically most favorable", the department can value a number of soft parameters by giving them points and the offer which gets most points can be rewarded the right to sign a contract. Bidders who have not been rewarded the contract can file an appeal to the county administrative court if they have rejections about the department's decision. The court can either rule in the departments favor or against. If the court rules against the department then the entire purchasing process must be redone.


American sports writers' use of social media as a newsgathering tool has influenced journalism practice, further complicating the industry's abstract definition of "professionalism." This study builds on a pilot study published in the fall 2011 issue of Journal of Sports Media, which assessed print sports journalists' use of social media. In the current study, a survey was administered to 77 full-time print sports journalists who cover professional sports. This paper seeks to extend the pilot study and previous professional research in two ways: firstly, to assess how this specific subgroup of sports writers use Facebook and Twitter to gather information; and secondly, to analyze how these sports writers define "professionalism" and what industry factors correlate with chosen definitions, such as newspaper circulation and work superiors' attitudes toward social media. Cross-tabulations and chi-square tests were used to test hypotheses. Cramer's V or Phi, depending upon the cross-tabulation, were used to measure relationship strength. Results suggest this subset of sports writers more often uses Twitter for newsgathering purposing than Facebook. There is also a strong relationship between the frequency of Twitter usage and the definition of professionalism chosen; circulation size and instances of directly quoting from athletes' social media accounts; and age and Twitter usage.


A recurrent theme in much of the writing on development is
 that the prospects for the export of agricultural products from
 underdeveloped countries are bleak, and that these countries should,
 therefore, concentrate on expanding their exports of manufactures.
 Pakistan, too, has not been immune to such thinking, and over the years
 the authorities have attempted to stimulate industrial exports through a
 wide array of incentive schemes. On the one hand these" took the form of
 discouraging agricultural exports by the imposition of export taxes and
 by compelling the sale of these products at the official—and overvalued
 —exchange rate. On the other hand, the manufacturing sector was given a
 much more favourable exchange rate by way of the Export Bonus Scheme,
 was permitted to purchase its imported component at an artificially low
 rate through the Export Performance Licensing Scheme, and was exempted
 from taxation on exports. In addition, businessmen were permitted
 foreign exchange at the official rate in order to travel abroad to make
 contacts and conduct market surveys, export credit guarantee schemes
 were drawn up for manufactured products, while government-financed
 participation in foreign trade exhibitions was chiefly designed to
 provide a shop window for the products of industry.


OBJECTIVE
A functional deficiency of complement has been implicated but not conclusively demonstrated in the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). To test this, we studied several aspects of complement in 44 patients with SLE, 46 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and 102 blood donors.

METHODS
Prevention of immune precipitation (PIP) was measured by an enzyme immunoassay, levels of C1q, C4 and C3 by rocket immunoelectrophoresis, C4A, C4B and C3d by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), complement haemolysis (CH50) by standard methods and C4 allotypes by high-voltage agarose electrophoresis and sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE).

RESULTS
PIP was significantly reduced in SLE (P<0.001); the defect was revealed by a sensitive assay measuring this function of complement but not by the other tests employed. The patients were clinically well at the time of study, and levels of C3d, which have been shown to correlate with disease activity, were normal. The defect was more common in patients with early disease (P = 0.009), supporting a role in aetiology or early pathophysiology. PIP was positively correlated with levels of C4 (P = 3 x 10(-5)) and in particular the C4A isotype (P = 9 x 10(-10)) whereas C4B was redundant.

CONCLUSIONS
Our results reveal a defect in prevention of immune precipitation in SLE that is apparent at an early stage in the disease and correlates with low levels of C4A. These results indicate that subtle deficiencies of complement may predispose to SLE.


Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA

Bromodomain protein 4 (BRD4), a member of the bromodomain and extra-terminal domain (BET) protein family, binds to acetylated histone tails via its two bromodomains BD1 and BD2. It forms a complex with the positive transcription elongation factor b which controls phosphorylation of RNA polymerase II, ultimately leading to stimulation of transcription elongation. An essential role of BRD4 in cell proliferation and cancer growth has been reported in several recent studies.

The benzodiazepine JQ-1 is a strong antagonist of the binding of BRD4 to acetylated histone tails and has been used to elucidate the functions of the BET protein family members. JQ-1 is active in vivo in several therapeutic models but reveals a poor pharmacokinetic profile with high clearance and low oral bioavailability in animal studies. We investigated the benzodiazepine core of JQ-1 with the aim of optimization of oral bioavailability. Several possible core variations were identified that kept overall cellular activity but increased metabolic stability. The benzazepine BAY6356 was selected as a potent BET inhibitor with an improved overall pharmacokinetic profile and oral bioavailability between 60 and 100% in mouse, rat and dog. The strong antiproliferative activity observed in vitro in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and multiple myeloma (MM) cell lines was confirmed in vivo in the MOLM-13 (AML) and MOLP-8 (MM) tumor models implanted in SCID mice. Daily oral treatment at the Maximal Tolerated Dose of 30 mg/kg led to strong tumor reduction in MOLM-13 (17% T/C on day 13 post tumor implantation) and in MOLP-8 (4% T/C on day 19 post tumor implantation) xenografts (T/C≤ 40% = active, T/C≤10% = highly active, according to NCI criteria). In the MOLM-13 model, c-Myc down-regulation was shown in vivo. Furthermore, for a same total dose, intermittent dosing every other day or twice a week in the MOLP-8 model proved to be as active as daily dosing, demonstrating exposure-driven efficacy. These favorable preclinical data support the evaluation of BAY6356 for further development.

Citation Format: Norbert Schmees, Bernard Haendler, Pascale Lejeune, Antje Stresemann, Roland Neuhaus, Stephan Siegel, Amaury Ernesto Fernandez-Montalvan, Hilmar Weinmann, Volker Gekeler. New benzazepine BET-inhibitors with improved oral bioavailability. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 4749. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-4749


Abstract. A case study of Bangladesh presents a methodological possibility based on a global approach for assessing river flood risk and its changes considering flood hazard, exposure, basic vulnerability and coping capacity. This study consists of two parts in the issue of flood change: hazard assessment (Part 1) and risk assessment (Part 2). In Part 1, a hazard modeling technology was introduced and applied to the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna (GBM) basin to quantify the change of 50- and 100-year flood hazards in Bangladesh under the present (1979–2003) and future (2075–2099) climates. Part 2 focuses on estimating nationwide flood risk in terms of affected people and rice crop damage due to a 50-year flood hazard identified in Part 1, and quantifying flood risk changes between the presence and absence of existing water infrastructure (i.e., embankments). To assess flood risk in terms of rice crop damage, rice paddy fields were extracted and flood stage-damage curves were created for maximum risk scenarios as a demonstration of risk change in the present and future climates. The preliminary results in Bangladesh show that a tendency of flood risk change strongly depends on the temporal and spatial dynamics of exposure and vulnerability such as distributed population and effectiveness of water infrastructure, which suggests that the proposed methodology is applicable anywhere in the world.


: Laser CO2 was used to treat lesions of endometriosis which were produced experimentally in New Zealand rabbits. After the cornu of the uterus had been resected, hyperplastic endometrium produced by giving oestrogens beforehand was dissected out and fixed on the parietal peritoneum of the lateral walls of the abdomen. Four weeks later the endometrial implants which had grown under oestrogen stimulation were looked at histologically and destroyed by vaporisation using laser CO2. Histological control of the areas that were treated showed at the end of the second week the destruction of the implants and the lesions in its neighbourhood to a range of 0.50 mm. The zones which were treated, although they had been partially deprived of peritoneum because of the infiltrating characteristic of endometriotic lesions, were covered with a new peritoneal serosa which was slightly inflammatory in nature but which did not give rise to secondary adhesions.


Developing fast and robust methods for identifying multiple FIR channels driven by an unknown common source is important for wireless communications, speech reverberation cancellation, and other applications. In this correspondence, we present a new method that exploits a minimum noise subspace (MNS). The MNS is computed from a set of channel output pairs that form a "tree." The "tree" exploits, with minimum redundancy, the diversity among all channels. The MNS method is much more efficient in computation than a standard subspace method. The noise robustness of the MNS method is illustrated by simulation.


Dyslipidemia & local inflammation are the two major determinants of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Atherosclerosis leads to inflammation which is triggered by dyslipidemia. In this study we have tried to find out a correlation between lipid profile parameters & hsCRP, which is a very sensitive marker for inflammation. In this study hsCRP and the Lipid profile parameters were estimated in fifty two patients who visited the medicine OPD of College of Medicine & JNM Hospital, Kalyani. The results obtained indicate a strong significant positive correlation of total cholesterol (p value <0.001) and triglycerides (p value=0.032) with hsCRP and a negative correlation of HDL (p value=0.36) with the same. These results indicate that there may be a role for hsCRP in screening and risk stratification of atherosclerosis.


The proliferation of electronic commerce venues on the Web has dramatically expanded the reach of businesses. It is now much easier for a firm to deal directly not only with its customers, but with its entire supply chain. During the past several years, business-to-business transactions have become simpler, faster, and more accurate since the advent of electronic data interchange (EDI) and the explosive growth of information technology. The Internet is introducing yet another way for businesses to electronically conduct transactions in ways that are even more farreaching. Although this has led to some disintermediation at the brick-and-mortar level, new cybermediaries are being created to facilitate and validate the new business relationships. Internet auctions are being touted as one solution for at least some aspects of supply chain management. Attention so far has been primarily focused on the application of the technology. Although the technology facilitates the transactions and interactions of participants by increasing connectivity, other issues are also important in applying electronic auctions to supply chain management. The purpose of this paper is to identify and explore interdisciplinary issues potentially affecting the outcome of electronic business-to-business auctions in order to increase the awareness of Information Systems managers and auction participants so that effective implementation strategies can be developed.


The dynamics of the pure compounds and mixed crystals formed between cycloheptanol (cC7-ol) and cyclooctanol (cC8-ol) has been studied by means of broadband dielectric spectroscopy at temperatures near and above the orientational glass transition temperature. Both compounds are known to display at least one orientationally disordered (OD) phase of simple cubic symmetry, and within this phase, a continuous formation of mixed crystals was demonstrated in the past (Rute, M. A. et al. J. Phys. Chem. B 2003, 107, 5914). The dielectric loss spectra of cC7-ol and cC8-ol show, in addition to the well-pronounced alpha-relaxation peaks with a continuous temperature shift (characteristic of the freezing of the molecular dynamics), secondary relaxations (beta and gamma for cC8-ol and gamma for cC7-ol) which are intramolecular in nature. The dynamics of several OD mixed crystals was recently studied (Singh, L. P.; Murthy, S. S. N. J. Phys. Chem. B 2008, 112, 2606), and surprisingly enough one of the secondary relaxations was not evidenced. We show here by means of a careful set of measurements for several mixed crystals and of a detailed analysis procedure the existence of the secondary relaxations for the mixed crystals. The results, moreover, doubtless reinforce the physical origin of each of the secondary relaxations.


In the last years the assessment and management of seismic risk in the manufacturing industry has received a continuously growing interest, due to the significant consequences, both direct and indirect, that can be triggered by earthquakes (e.g. (Tohoku, 2011; Emilia, 2012).
The present thesis is focused on the development and the application to real case-studies of different procedures for seismic risk assessment and management in the industrial and insurance fields. The research addresses to the problem at different scales: (i) a "large scale", typically the one of interest of the insurer, at which the number of buildings to deal with is of hundreds or thousands; a "meso scale", typically the one of large industrial groups, at which the number of building is of tens to hundreds; (iii) a "site-specific" scale, that is the one of interest for a single plant.
At each one of the previously listed scales, a different procedure has been proposed.
At the "large scale", a detailed assessment of vulnerability is, in general, unfeasible. Therefore, a prioritization scheme has been developed with the purpose of analysing a portfolio of structures and ranking their seismic risk in a coherent manner, in order to define a priority scale for further, more detailed, investigations. This approach is based on the evaluation of a conventional (or "nominal") seismic risk index, on the basis of extremely poor and easy to retrieve data, at least the year of construction and geographic location, for the production of which it is not required any visual inspection of the structures. This index is defined as the gap between the current seismic demand and the seismic capacity, the latter evaluated on the basis of seismic demand at the time of the design, assuming a perfect code compliance. In the case of structures not designed in a seismic zone, the horizontal capacity may be obtained from the design for other horizontal actions, such as that from wind. In order to implement the proposed prioritization scheme and compare it to other similar ones, available in literature, a tool named "NODE – NOminalDEficit – v1.1. beta" has been developed.
This tool enables to compute location-specific code-based horizontal performance demands, according to Italian code and seismic classification evolution since 1909. Moreover it contains the evolution of wind design and a map of soil categories according to current seismic regulations for the whole Italian territory.
Thanks to the collaboration with AXA Matrix Risk Consultants, this approach has been applied to a real case-study of 19 Italian industrial plants, visually surveyed by means of knowledge forms realized ad-hoc.
At the "meso scale", the number of buildings to deal with is of hundreds or thousands. It is believed that at this scale it is possible, according to the resources of the stakeholder, to achieve a level of knowledge about the structures sufficient to allocate a fragility curve to each structure of the portfolio or to classes of structures individuated in the portfolio. The proposed approach, therefore, consists in the rapid computation of expected loss due to earthquakes by the integration of hazard, fragility and exposure. Although the use of fragility curves can be considered a well-established methodology for computing seismic risk, significant differences exist among fragility functions computed in different geographical contexts, reflecting the differences in structural typologies, construction practice and materials. Therefore their practical use requires instruments for their managing, conversion and use along with hazard and exposure.
In order to overcome this shortcomings, the software suite named "FRAME - Fragility-based rapid seismic Risk AssessMEnt - v.1.0 beta" has been developed with the aim of providing for the management, the manipulation and the homogenization of an inventory of fragility curves. The inclusion in the software of seismic hazard at the global scale and the possibility of including exposure allow the computation of the expected losses worldwide.
At the "site-specific scale", the analysis of the seismic performance of an existing steel building has been performed in order to provide for the lack in fragility curves available in literature for this specific structural typology and to compute failure probabilities. The latter represent the most rational basis for assessing loss estimates and computing insurance premiums. Such an approach to seismic risk assessment, extremely demanding in terms of time and computational burden, is proposed to be applied at the scale of the single building, of a plant or, of a limited number of plants.
The analysed structure is the main workshop building of one of the most risk-prone plants of the case-study portfolio, as resulting from the prioritization analysis. The study of such a structure, designed according to obsolete structural codes about both the definition of the seismic design action and the design of steel structures, allows to enlighten and critically discuss some peculiar modelling aspects. Moreover, some findings deriving from non-linear response history analysis, related to the onset of different failure modes and the inclusion of residual drift in the assessment, have been discussed.
Although on principle independent each other, the three procedures outlined in the thesis can be structured in order to provide a unified framework for management and assessment of seismic risk of large dimensions structural portfolios.


This collection explores, in Adorno's description, `philosophy directed against philosophy'. The essays cover all aspects of Benjamin's writings, from his early work in the philosophy of art and language, through to the concept of history. The experience of time and the destruction of false continuity are identified as the key themes in Benjamin's understanding of history.


Abstract Skin tags (STs) are common benign dermal connective tissue neoplasms that are mainly composed of loose fibrous tissue. However, their exact etiology is not fully understood. Leptin is a major player in the biology and pathology of the skin and its appendages. It is linked to cell differentiation, proliferation, migration, and survival with pronounced effects on angiogenesis, blood flow, and tissue perfusion. This study aimed at investigating the possible role of leptin in STs pathogenesis and correlating its expression with different clinical and histopathological parameters. Using immunohistochemical techniques, we examined 90 subjects. These included 60 non-obese cases with STs and 30 age-, gender- and Body Mass Index-matched normal subjects as a control group. Leptin was overexpressed in STs compared with normal skin (p < .001). Nuclear and nucleocytoplasmic patterns were significantly associated with cases both in epidermis (p < .04) and dermis (p < .001). Higher epidermal leptin H score was significantly associated with female gender (p = .004) and haphazard collagen arrangement (p < .03). Higher dermal leptin H score was significantly associated with smooth skin tags (p = .01), dilated blood vessels (p = .04), presence of mast cells (MCs) (p = .002), presence of inflammatory cells (p = .004), and haphazard collagen arrangement (p < .001). In conclusion, leptin may play a role in STs pathogenesis through its effects on keratinocytes, fibroblasts and vascular endothelium. Further studies are recommended to clarify the molecular interplay between leptin and MCs in ST pathogenesis. Further studies are also needed to determine the significance of its nuclear expression.


Author(s): Vergara, Valeria; Barrett-Lennard, Lance | Abstract: The ability to modify the structure and context of vocalizations through learning plays a key role in the social interactions of many species. The investigation of categorical matching, an aspect of contextual vocal learning, is the first step toward determining how contextual learning plays a role in the use, comprehension, and categorization of sounds in the wild. To this end, we conducted a study at the Vancouver Aquarium to test the ability of a juvenile female beluga, Qila, to respond to playbacks of two types of in-air beluga calls with vocalizations that matched the category of call played (a scream, which is a vocalization type shaped over time with reinforcement and not part of this species'natural repertoire, and a pulse-train, a natural call category). We first tested Qila with random sequences of the same version of the two vocalizations with which she had been trained. Her overall success in matching all playback stimuli was above chance but not statistically so (66%). She had more difficulty matching screams (54% success) than pulse trains (80% success). We next played random sequences of six novel pulse-trains and seven novel screams, which Qila had not been trained with. She responded correctly to the set of novel stimuli of both call types in 64% of the trials, a success rate that did not differ statistically from chance. Again, she had more difficulty matching screams (55% success), relative to pulse trains (74% success). These results indicate that Qila successfully matched only pulse trains, the class that is part of this species' natural repertoire. Her poor performance on matching screams might be partly explained by a difficulty to perceive categorically a signal that lacks a function in the natural repertoire of belugas.Keywords: categorical matching, contextual learning, vocal learning, categorization, belugas


Conclusions. Tuberculosis of the salivary gland is mostly a medically curable disease entity but early diagnosis is very important to ensure complete remission. In cases with a high index of suspicion, reliable diagnostic methods such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) should always be considered before surgical intervention to enable differential diagnosis of a salivary gland tumor. Objectives. To investigate the clinical characteristics of major salivary gland tuberculosis and to review the literature relating to its diagnosis. Material and methods. Eight patients diagnosed as having major salivary gland tuberculosis between 1994 and 2004 were treated at one of three tertiary referral centers. Medical records, including imaging findings and the results of microbiological tests, Mycobacterium tuberculosis PCR and histopathology, were retrospectively retrieved and the literature was reviewed. Results. The parotid and submandibular glands were involved in 5 (62.5%) and 3 cases (37.5%), respectively. Neck CT demonstrated typical findings of salivary gland tuberculosis in 3 patients (37.5%). Fine-needle aspiration cytology revealed chronic inflammation in 6/7 patients (85.7%), 2 of whom (33.3%) showed caseous necrosis, strongly suggesting tuberculosis. Five of the 8 patients (62.5%) required resection of the affected gland and 3 (37.5%) received open biopsy. PCR was performed in half of the cases and was affirmative in every case. No significant differences were found between the surgically resected and non-resected groups in terms of treatment results or morbidity. All patients received anti-tuberculous chemotherapy for 8–12 months, with no disease recurrence.


The absorption of solar heat and the attendant thermal and mechanical loadings on the tubes of cavity receivers depend predominantly on the flux distribution of the incident solar radiation. For an axially symmetric cavity receiver with a parabolic dish collector, it is simple to determine the insulation pattern on the receiver internal surfaces if the system is ideal. In such a system the surface of the dish is perfectly parabolic (no contour flaws are present), and the sun's central ray impinges on the dish surface parallel to the focal axis (no sun tracking flaws are present). These two conditions cannot be achieved in practice, and therefore the feasible parabolic dish system is referred to as a "real" system although, in actual fact, it is only an approximation to any actual system. The purpose of this paper is to devise calculation principles which permit analysis of a receiver designed for ideal conditions (Bammert and Seifert, 1983; Bammert and Hegazy, 1984; Johanning, 1987) to verify its structural adequacy under the nonideal conditions to be expected in reality. Of the many possible imperfections in real collectors, two were selected which increase the loadings sustained. The first case concerns flaws in the contour of the dish surface. These locally increase the radiation concentration on the receiver inside walls and tubing. In the second case, sun-tracking errors give rise to axially asymmetric radiation distributions. In both examples, greater than design basis loadings will occur in the receiver tubing. Both kinds of flaws considered in this paper are of a purely deterministic nature. Other flaws statistically distributed on the dish surface (Kohne and Kleih, 1987, Guven, Bannerot, and Mistree, 1983; O'Neill and Hudson, 1978; Ratzel et al., 1987) do not cause structural overloading but must be taken into account in thermal performance analysis. The paper presents a method of analyzing the flux distribution on the internal surfaces of a cavity receiver with an approximately real parabolic dish collector. After a discussion of the theoretical principles, the effects of the collector contour and sun tracking errors on the insulation pattern are described with reference to an example.


Machine learning as a discipline has seen an incredible surge of interest in recent years due in large part to a perfect storm of new theory, superior tooling, renewed interest in its capabilities. We present in this paper a framework named Flux that shows how further refinement of the core ideas of machine learning, built upon the foundation of the Julia programming language, can yield an environment that is simple, easily modifiable, and performant. We detail the fundamental principles of Flux as a framework for differentiable programming, give examples of models that are implemented within Flux to display many of the language and framework-level features that contribute to its ease of use and high productivity, display internal compiler techniques used to enable the acceleration and performance that lies at the heart of Flux, and finally give an overview of the larger ecosystem that Flux fits inside of.


The effects of aqueous extraction and removal of silified epidermis from rattan canes on the maximum hydration temperature (T max ) and setting time (t max ) of two rattan cane species, Calamus deerratus and Lacosperma secundiflorum, mixed with Portland cement were investigated. T max ranged from 37.0 to 58.6 0 C and from 43.1 to 56.8 0 C for the C. deerratus and L. secundiflorum composites respectively while tmax was from 3.7 to 26.5 hrs and 7.4 - 25.7 hrs. Aqueous extraction increased the T max and reduced the t max of the rattan-cement mixes while removal of epidermis generally caused reduction in both Tmax and t max . The two rattan species seemed more amenable to cold than hot water extraction. Although cement inhibition of the Calamus species was greater than that of Lacosperma species, aqueous extraction improved the t max of the Calamus-cement composite more than Lacosperma-cement composite. Epidermis removal, species, aqueous pre-treatment and their interactions had significant effect on the setting time of the rattan-cement mixes. Keywords: rattan, cement composite, hydration temperature, setting time Journal of Applied Science, Engineering and Technology Volume9,: 5-17


Value chain analysis is an important tool to assess and enhance the performance of agribusiness. This paper analyzes the empirical application of a conceptual framework known as the Rural Web to evaluate the socioeconomic complexity of a specific agribusiness value chain. This can be used as a complementary approach to traditional value chain analysis. The proposed framework goes beyond linear descriptions of product flows and examines how supply chains are built, shaped and reproduced over time and space, while considering social, cultural, environmental and political aspects. The results demonstrate that the proposed framework is a suitable method for value chain analysis, principally for those whose early stages are based on small and medium-sized rural actors. The Rural Web analysis offers decision-makers a platform to identify key actors not traditionally considered in value chain analysis, as well as the social interrelationships that occur at different dimensions. It also enables the identification of corrective and preventive measures to enhance agribusiness value chains.


Purpose To evaluate the initial ten years of results from the intravitreal dexamethasone implant (DEX) in patients treated for retinal vein occlusion (RVO), diabetic macular edema (DME) or uveitis. Methods Retrospective chart review of patients receiving DEX since its FDA approval. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), central macular thickness (CMT) on optical coherence tomography, intraocular pressure and cataract status were collected. Baseline data were collected from the initial DEX and post-treatment data at the visit at least four weeks after the last DEX. Results In total, 315 eyes received 1216 DEX over 63.9±4.6 weeks. In the branch RVO (n=90), central RVO (n=59) and DME (n=62) cohorts, BCVA improved significantly (p<0.05). The uveitis (n=154) cohort did not have a significant change in BCVA, 0.62±0.04 to 0.61±0.04 logMAR (p=0.34). Younger patients, vitrectomized eyes, and eyes without a history of glaucoma were associated with significantly better BCVA outcomes in the uveitis cohort (p<0.05). Overall, CMT decreased significantly from 376.6±6.8 to 322.7±5.0 µm (p<0.05). Intraocular pressure increased significantly (p<0.001) and the percentage of patients requiring anti-glaucoma medications increased from 33.0% to 67.6%. Of phakic eyes, 58.8% (n=63) had cataract progression or underwent surgery with those who underwent surgery experiencing a significant improvement in BCVA (p<0.05). Conclusion Repeated DEX over extended follow-up offers significant anatomic benefits to all cohorts. Visual benefits are only seen in RVO, DME and select uveitis demographics.


We introduce a methodology to guarantee safety against the spread of infectious diseases by viewing epidemiological models as control systems and by considering human interventions (such as quarantining or social distancing) as control input. We consider a generalized compartmental model that represents the form of the most popular epidemiological models and we design safety-critical controllers that formally guarantee safe evolution with respect to keeping certain populations of interest under prescribed safe limits. Furthermore, we discuss how measurement delays originated from incubation period and testing delays affect safety and how delays can be compensated via predictor feedback. We demonstrate our results by synthesizing active intervention policies that bound the number of infections, hospitalizations and deaths for epidemiological models capturing the spread of COVID-19 in the USA.


Land-grant university and civil society development actors have long partnered with local and global communities to eliminate food insecurity. Despite the common aim of addressing food insecurity as a wicked problem, their approaches and designs differ in scope and scale. Similarly, levels of local stakeholder participation in agricultural development historically vary reflecting the complexity in relinquishing hierarchal decision-making power. In this pilot study, we investigated how participation is framed within the United States Agency for International Development's (USAID) policy, "The Journey to Self-Reliance". Subsequently, we sought to understand the implications of this framing on land-grant universities' agricultural development aims in addressing global food security. We drew upon Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis and Pretty's typology of participation in sustainable agriculture to analyze the inaugural speech launching the policy framework by the former USAID administrator. We also held two focus groups with development actors at two land-grant universities. Findings indicate local participation of governments, citizens, and civil society to be important. However, governmental participation may be contingent on accountability to both USAID and the private sector indicating an increased commitment to neoliberal ideology. The focus group themes identify self- reliance and its journey as prescriptive and at times, neocolonial, raising questions about participatory possibilities. The final theme illustrates land-grant praxis from participants as they advance visions for centering local partner needs through more equitable decision-making and resource sharing. We conclude with considerations for future research to more deeply understand the implications of "The Journey to Self-Reliance" policy through a CDA lens
Keywords: Agro-ecology, Extension, Theory and Practice, Qualitative Research, Community Development


To realize a three-dimensional virtual sound image with a Virtual Auditory Display (VAD), it is important to individualize HeadRelated Transfer Functions (HRTFs) for listeners. The purpose of the present study was to establish a fitting method for HRTFs based on a listening test. To this end, a number of sets of virtual images were synthesized using HRTFs of different individuals. The listeners were then asked to choose appropriate virtual sound images located in the intended orbits. To achieve our fitting method of HRTFs by such a subjective evaluation, it is desirable that the same HRTFs can be chosen with stability. In this study, the process used to select a set of HRTFs subjectively was examined in detail, and the features of the individualization of HRTFs by subjective evaluation were investigated. First of all, the process to choose the best of 32 sets of HRTFs by a Swiss-style tournament was repeated ten times, and the regularity of wins in the tournament was examined. As a result, it was understood that the same set of HRTFs is not always chosen and that the individualization method has probability features. The strength of the sets of HRTFs which won the tournament several times was then evaluated. A round-robin comparison with the 130 sets of HRTFs in our HRTF-corpus was repeated twenty times. It was shown that a subjective evaluation itself was also a probability feature. Moreover, the percentage of winning for the set of HRTFs which won the tournament was estimated to be about 15% from the results of the round-robin comparison.


Abstract—This paper concerns with the modeling, simulation, and emulation of a wind turbine emulator for standalone wind energy conversion systems. By using emulation system, we aim to reproduce the dynamic behavior of the wind turbine torque on the generator shaft: it provides the testing facilities to optimize generator control strategies in a controlled environment, without reliance on natural resources. The aerodynamic, mechanical, electrical models have been detailed as well as the control of pitch angle using Fuzzy Logic for horizontal axis wind turbines. The wind turbine emulator consists mainly of an induction motor with AC power drive with torque control. The control of the induction motor and the mathematical models of the wind turbine are designed with MATLAB/Simulink environment. The simulation results confirm the effectiveness of the induction motor control system and the functionality of the wind turbine emulator for providing all necessary parameters of the wind turbine system such as wind speed, output torque, power coefficient and tip speed ratio. The findings are of direct practical relevance.


In this paper, we investigate the efficacy of different quantum chemical solvent modelling methods of indole in both water and methylcyclohexane solutions. The goal is to show that one can yield good photophysical properties in strongly coupled solute-solvent systems using standard DFT methods. We use standard and linearly-corrected Polarisable Continuum Models (PCM), as well as explicit solvation models, and compare the different model parameters, including the choice of density functional, basis set, and number of explicit solvent molecules. We demonstrate that implicit models overestimate energies and oscillator strengths. In particular, for indole-water, no level inversion is observed, suggesting a dielectric medium on its own is insufficient. In contrast, energies are seen to converge fairly rapidly with respect to cluster size towards experimentally measured properties in the explicit models. We find that the use of B3LYP with a diffuse basis set can adequately represent the photophysics of the system with a cluster size of between 9-12 explicit water molecules. Sampling of configurations from a molecular dynamics simulation suggests that the single point results are suitably representative of the solvated ensemble. For indole-water, we show that solvent reorganisation plays a significant role in stabilisation of the excited state energies. It is hoped that the findings and observations of this study will aid in the choice of solvation model parameters in future studies.


Most analyses explain the increase in China's overall inequality during the reform period principally by means of the expansion of urban-rural income gap. This paper tries to shed light on a more complex relationship that appears to exist between primary distribution of income, top incomes share, and the Gini index. This relationship is mediated by the same urban-rural disequalizing mechanism existing in the Chinese economy, which is based on the hukou system. After presenting the main theoretical contributions that clarify the general relationship among those three variables, we describe that mechanism which has connected them in China during three last decades. As we shall see, there exists a link between the relative impoverishment of Chinese peasants, the consequent flow of rural-urban migration, its depressive effect on industrial wages, the resulting increase in the profits' share, and rising top incomes. The enrichment of urban top income households seems to drive the rise in the urban-rural gap, while labour's loss of share in national income ultimately accounts for the overall increase in the Gini index. The paper ends with a reflection on the ability of the latest policy measures taken by the Chinese government to reverse this pattern of inequality during the current global economic crisis.


Conceptual modeling is of great importance not only to Information Systems and Software Engineering, but also to Simulation Engineering. It is concerned with identifying, analyzing and describing the essential concepts and constraints of a real-world domain with the help of a (diagrammatic) modeling language that is based on a set of basic modeling concepts (forming a metamodel). In this tutorial, we introduce the ontologically well-founded conceptual modeling language Onto-UML and show how to use it for making conceptual simulation models as the basis of model-driven simulation engineering.


Close collaboration between specialists from diverse backgrounds and working in different scientific domains is an effective strategy to overcome challenges in areas that interface between biology, chemistry, physics and engineering. Communication in such collaborations can itself be challenging. Even when projects are successfully concluded, resulting publications — necessarily multi-authored — have the potential to be disjointed. Few, both in the field and outside, may be able to fully understand the work as a whole. This needs to be addressed to facilitate efficient working, peer review, accessibility and impact to larger audiences. We are an interdisciplinary team working in a nascent scientific area, the repurposing of DNA as a storage medium for digital information. In this note, we highlight some of the difficulties that arise from such collaborations and outline our efforts to improve communication through a glossary and a controlled vocabulary and accessibility via short plain-language summaries. We hope to stimulate early discussion within this emerging field of how our community might improve the description and presentation of our work to facilitate clear communication within and between research groups and increase accessibility to those not familiar with our respective fields — be it molecular biology, computer science, information theory or others that might become relevant in future. To enable an open and inclusive discussion we have created a glossary and controlled vocabulary as a cloud-based shared document and we invite other scientists to critique our suggestions and contribute their own ideas.


Reference-based line-art colorization is a challenging task in computer vision. The color, texture, and shading are rendered based on an abstract sketch, which heavily relies on the precise long-range dependency modeling between the sketch and reference. Popular techniques to bridge the cross-modal information and model the long-range dependency employ the attention mechanism. However, in the context of reference-based line-art colorization, several techniques would intensify the existing training difficulty of attention, for instance, self-supervised training protocol and GAN-based losses. To understand the instability in training, we detect the gradient flow of attention and observe gradient conflict among attention branches. This phenomenon motivates us to alleviate the gradient issue by preserving the dominant gradient branch while removing the conflict ones. We propose a novel attention mechanism using this training strategy, Stop-Gradient Attention (SGA), outperforming the attention baseline by a large margin with better training stability. Compared with state-of-the-art modules in line-art colorization, our approach demonstrates significant improvements in Fr\'echet Inception Distance (FID, up to 27.21%) and structural similarity index measure (SSIM, up to 25.67%) on several benchmarks. The code of SGA is available at https://github.com/kunkun0w0/SGA .


A cyclin-dependent kinase delays the onset of anti-inflammatory responses by macrophages. Taking the time to inflame In response to the microbial product lipopolysaccharide (LPS), macrophages produce inflammatory cytokines to fight infection; however, they also produce anti-inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin-10 (IL-10), to resolve the inflammation. Na et al. highlighted the temporal regulation of these responses by finding that LPS also stimulated the early and transient synthesis of p35, a protein that binds to and activates cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (CDK5). The CDK5-p35 complex prevented macrophages from producing IL-10 and other anti-inflammatory factors. Mice deficient in p35 showed enhanced IL-10 production and were protected from tissue damage in a model of chemical-induced gut inflammation. Together, these data suggest that the early activation of CDK5 delays the production of IL-10 and the onset of anti-inflammatory processes. Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is an important anti-inflammatory cytokine that is produced primarily by macrophages. We investigated mechanisms by which the timing of IL-10 production was controlled in macrophages and found that cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (CDK5) activity was markedly increased in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)–stimulated macrophages through the synthesis of the CDK5-binding partner and activator p35. Degradation of p35 released the inhibition on anti-inflammatory signaling mediated by CDK5-p35 complexes. The transiently active CDK5-p35 complexes limited the LPS-stimulated phosphorylation and activation of various mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), thereby preventing the premature production of SOCS3 (suppressor of cytokine signaling 3), an inhibitor of inflammatory responses in macrophages, and IL-10. Furthermore, we showed that dextran sodium sulfate failed to induce colitis in p35-deficient mice, which was associated with the enhanced production of IL-10 by macrophages. Together, our results suggest that CDK5 enhances the inflammatory function of macrophages by inhibiting the MAPK-dependent production of IL-10.


In the context of dynamic optimization, plant variations necessitate adaptation of the input profiles in order to guarantee both feasible and optimal operation. For those problems having path constraints, two sets of directions can be distinguished in the input space at each time instant: the so-called sensitivity-seeking directions, along which a small input variation does not affect the active path constraints; the complementary constraint-seeking directions, along which a variation affects the path constraints. Hence, three selective input adaptations are possible, namely, adaptation along each set of input directions and adaptation of the switching times between arcs. This paper considers parametric variations around a nominal optimal solution and quantifies the influence of these variations on each type of input adaptation.


In this paper, a similar historical meteorological data search technique was put forward. This method took the weather forecasting data as clustering center, found those days that had the similarity weather factors, and then decoupled these loads into secular trend load and meteorological load as sample data for load forecasting. This method can improve the similarity of the loads between forecast day and sample days. Simulation results showed that these methods are valid and can make the load forecast more precision.


The M2 protein from influenza A plays important roles in its viral cycle. It contains a single transmembrane helix, which oligomerizes into a homotetrameric proton channel that conducts in the low-pH environment of the host-cell endosome and Golgi apparatus, leading to virion uncoating at an early stage of infection. We studied conformational rearrangements that occur in the M2 core transmembrane domain residing on the lipid bilayer, flanked by juxtamembrane residues (M2TMD21−49 fragment), upon its interaction with amantadine drug at pH 5.5 when M2 is conductive. We also tested the role of specific mutation and lipid chain length. Electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy and electron microscopy were applied to M2TMD21−49, labeled at the residue L46C with either nitroxide spin-label or Nanogold® reagent, respectively. Electron microscopy confirmed that M2TMD21−49 reconstituted into DOPC/POPS at 1:10,000 peptide-to-lipid molar ratio (P/L) either with or without amantadine, is an admixture of monomers, dimers, and tetramers, confirming our model based on a dimer intermediate in the assembly of M2TMD21−49. As reported by double electron-electron resonance (DEER), in DOPC/POPS membranes amantadine shifts oligomer equilibrium to favor tetramers, as evidenced by an increase in DEER modulation depth for P/L's ranging from 1:18,000 to 1:160. Furthermore, amantadine binding shortens the inter-spin distances (for nitroxide labels) by 5–8 Å, indicating drug induced channel closure on the C-terminal side. No such effect was observed for the thinner membrane of DLPC/DLPS, emphasizing the role of bilayer thickness. The analysis of continuous wave (cw) ESR spectra of spin-labeled L46C residue provides additional support to a more compact helix bundle in amantadine-bound M2TMD 21−49 through increased motional ordering. In contrast to wild-type M2TMD21−49, the amantadine-bound form does not exhibit noticeable conformational changes in the case of G34A mutation found in certain drug-resistant influenza strains. Thus, the inhibited M2TMD21−49 channel is a stable tetramer with a closed C-terminal exit pore. This work is aimed at contributing to the development of structure-based anti-influenza pharmaceuticals.


Both security and error control coding are very extensive subjects, each with a variety of sub-disciplines. A secure channel coding (joint encryption-channel coding) scheme provides both data secrecy and data reliability in one process to combat problems in an insecure and unreliable channel. In this paper, an adaptive secure channel coding scheme based on serial or parallel concatenated turbo codes is developed. Recent results indicate that the turbo principle delivers near-to-optimal strategies for the channel coding. Reliability and security are achieved by adapting the pseudo-random puncturing strategy to the conditions of the noisy channel. Simulation results show the relevance and superior performance of the proposed scheme at all signal-to-noise ratio levels.


Objective To examine the effect of repetitive contact sport-related head trauma on indices ofheart rate variability (HRV). Design Prospective Cohort. Setting Laboratory. Participants Forty-ninemale contact-sport (hockey or football) and four non-contact control athletes (age range: 17–22). Intervention Prior to (T1) and upon completion of (T2) the competitive athletic season, a three-lead electrocardiogram and Kubios software (Kuopio, Finland) were used to assess heart rate variability during 5-minutes of quiet stance and while actively squatting at 0.10 Hz. Independent variables included condition (rest-vs-active) and time (T1-vs-T2). Outcome measures Time-Domain: square root of mean squared differences of successive R-R intervals (RMSSD), percentage of successive R-R intervals that differ by more than 50 milliseconds (pNN50); Non-Linear: approximateentropy (ApEn). In a subset of participants (n=29) biomechanical head-impact exposure data was estimated usingthe xPatch (X2 Biosystems), affixed to the right mastoid. Main results RM-ANOVA indicateda significant main effect of timein contact sport but not control athletes (all p>0.133). HRV metrics were decreased post-season relative to baseline (95% CI:s for differences: MeanRR4–48 ms, p=0.045; RMSSD 1–9 ms, p=0.018; pNN50 0.689–5.98, p=0.010; ApEn 0.022–0.163, p=0.044). Significant correlations were observed between the average peak linear acceleration per hit experienced and the change in MeanRR(R²=0.1382), and RMSSD (R²=0.1525). Conclusions Exposure to repetitive subconcussive impacts overone season of contact-sport leads to decreases in heart rate variability. The magnitude of HRV reduction is related to the average magnitude of the linear component of hits to the head experienced during play Competing interests None.


INTRODUCTION
The time to first cigarette smoked after waking up appears to be a good predictor of plasma and urine cotinine levels; however, collection of blood and urine is difficult in population-based studies and may influence participation. We aimed to test whether time to first cigarette is associated with salivary cotinine.

METHODS
We used data from a cross-sectional study on a representative sample of the general population of Barcelona, Spain. We gathered information on smoking by means of a questionnaire and collected saliva for cotinine analysis. Of 1,245 participants, 22.9% were daily smokers, and the final sample for analysis consisted of 210 daily smokers.

RESULTS
There were significant associations between salivary cotinine and time to first cigarette, between cigarette consumption and time to first cigarette, and between salivary cotinine and cigarette consumption. Salivary cotinine had decreased as time to first cigarette increased. After adjusting for cigarette consumption and sex, there were significant differences in mean salivary cotinine according to time to first cigarette (≤ 5 min: 219.2 ng/ml; 6-30 min: 175.8 ng/ml; 31-60 min: 168.5 ng/ml; >60 min: 137.2 ng/ml). All paired comparisons were significant (p < .001) except in the 6- to 30-min group versus the 31- to 60-min group (p = .701).

CONCLUSIONS
After adjustment for the number of cigarettes smoked in the last 24 hr, time to first cigarette is associated with salivary cotinine concentration.


Consider a graph G = (V,E). At the vertices of G there are consumers of some product and the possible places of its production. For each vertex i in V the demand volume b(i), the cost f(i) for opening a facility and the restriction a(i) on the facility's capacity are given. For each edge e in E, there are given the cost of the transportation of the product unit ce and the maximum quantity qe of a product that can be transported along this edge. It is required to place the facilities in a way they satisfy all demand with minimal total cost of opening facilities and delivering the product to consumers. We propose a pseudo-polynomial time algorithm solving the problem with restrictions on facility and edge capacities on a tree graph, and discuss a polynomial time algorithm solving the problem with restrictions on edge capacities in the case of a line graph given.


Stellar evolution models are most uncertain for evolved massive stars. Asteroseismology based on high-precision uninterrupted space photometry has become a new way to test the outcome of stellar evolution theory and was recently applied to a multitude of stars, but not yet to massive evolved supergiants.Our aim is to detect, analyse and interpret the photospheric and wind variability of the O9.5 Iab star HD 188209 from Kepler space photometry and long-term high-resolution spectroscopy. We used Kepler scattered-light photometry obtained by the nominal mission during 1460 d to deduce the photometric variability of this O-type supergiant. In addition, we assembled and analysed high-resolution high signal-to-noise spectroscopy taken with four spectrographs during some 1800 d to interpret the temporal spectroscopic variability of the star. The variability of this blue supergiant derived from the scattered-light space photometry is in full in agreement with the one found in the ground-based spectroscopy. We find significant low-frequency variability that is consistently detected in all spectral lines of HD 188209. The photospheric variability propagates into the wind, where it has similar frequencies but slightly higher amplitudes. The morphology of the frequency spectra derived from the long-term photometry and spectroscopy points towards a spectrum of travelling waves with frequency values in the range expected for an evolved O-type star. Convectively-driven internal gravity waves excited in the stellar interior offer the most plausible explanation of the detected variability.


There are two types of dystonic tremor syndromes (DTS), dystonic tremor (DT) and tremor associated with dystonia (TAWD), and neither is understood. DTS likely share some mechanisms with nontremulous dystonia, and there may also be overlaps with essential tremor (ET). We studied 21 ET (8 females, 13 males) and 22 DTS human patients (10 females, 12 males), including 13 human patients with DT (writer's cramp with writing tremor) and 9 human patients with tremor associated with dystonia (TAWD; cervical dystonia with hand tremor). Tremors were analyzed using accelerometry and surface EMG of the antagonist pairs of arm muscles during posture, simple kinetic movement, and writing. Cerebellar inhibition was performed to assess cerebello-thalamo-cortical involvement. DT exhibited higher variability of peak frequency and greater instability of tremor burst intervals over time (higher tremor stability index) than ET or TAWD regardless of tasks. Intermuscular coherence magnitude between the antagonist pairs increased during the writing task in DT, but not ET or TAWD. ET and TAWD exhibited different phase relationships of the temporal fluctuations of voluntary movement and tremor in the kinetic condition. A linear discriminant classifier based on these tremor parameters was able to distinguish the three groups with a classification accuracy of 95.1%. Cerebellar inhibition was significantly reduced in DT, but not in TAWD, compared with ET and healthy controls. Our study shows that the two DTS are distinct entities with DT closer to nontremorous dystonia and TAWD closer to ET. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT This study provides novel findings about characteristics and pathophysiology of the two different types of dystonic tremor syndromes compared with essential tremor. Patients with DTS are classified into DT who have dystonia and tremor in the same area, and tremor associated with dystonia (TAWD) who have dystonia and tremor elsewhere. Our results showed that DT exhibits increased tremor variability, instability, and intermuscular coherence, and decreased cerebello-thalamo-cortical inhibition compared with TAWD. Our study shows that DT and TAWD are distinct phenotypes, and that the physiological characteristics of DT are more similar to nontremorous dystonia, and TAWD is closer to ET.


Kenaf fibre is a natural fibre which is growing in popularity due environmental issues and its properties as filler. Unsaturated polyester was used in this investigation via add 1% MEKP concentration ratio as the catalyst. This matrix was combined with untreated kenaf fiber with various fiber sizes (1-6) mm and (10-30) mm, alkalized with 6% NaOH solution for treated kenaf fiber to form natural fiber for two different fiber lengths composites. Composites were prepared by adding various percentages of kenaf fiber in unsaturated polyester resin. A general trend was observed whereby alkalized fiber composites possessed superior flexural strength and modulus and the maximum strength and modulus was at the 20wt% weight fraction. The length of (10-30) mm gave higher tensile and flexural properties compared to (1-6) mm. The modulus of elasticity showed a regular trend of an increase with fiber weight percent until 30% for both fiber lengths and afterwards a decrease in modulus of elasticity for composites with greater fiber weight fraction. The experimental modulus of elasticity was compared with the theoretical predictions and was found to be in good agreement with Hirsch's model while the results obtained from Cox – Krenchel underestimating the experimental data.


THROUGHOUT THE LAST DECADE, PHYSICIANS IN SEVERAL STATES have used ballot initiatives as a way to become politically active in campaigns intended to return to them some degree of control over their practices and the patientphysician relationship. Ballot initiative campaigns also provide medical students unique opportunities to work with physicians to affect health policy and hone their political advocacy skills. The initiative process, available in 24 states, allows citizens to circumvent the slower legislative process to adopt laws and amend state constitutions. In recent years, the initiative process has been used to advance controversial policies that at times have been blocked or ignored by legislature. In most states, an initiative must be affirmed by a simple majority of voters to carry the force of law. Of the more than 70 citizen-driven initiatives on election ballots in 2000, 11 addressed health care issues, including allocation of tobacco settlement funds, legalizing physicianassisted suicide and medical marijuana, and universal health coverage. One such campaign was the Massachusetts Health Care Reform Ballot Initiative of 2000. This ballot initiative grew out of the discontent of Massachusetts physicians with the use of financial incentives to limit patient care and control costs, the pressure to increase patient volumes as a means to increase profits, and policies that restrict a patient's freedom to choose or change his or her physicians. A group of 2300 physicians and health professionals drafted a ballot initiative calling for universal health care access, managed care reform, and a moratorium on the conversion of nonprofit hospitals and health plans to for-profit status. In addition to participating in political strategizing and canvassing, medical student interns worked alongside physicians and other volunteers to collect more than 100000 signatures from voters in Massachusetts to secure placement of the initiative on the November 2000 ballot. The measure, despite minimal fundraising and organization, narrowly failed at the polls, with 48% of the vote. In a poll taken about a month before voting, 72% of respondents reported that they supported the initiative. The opponents, including health maintenance organizations, several Massachusetts lawmakers, business associations, and other insurers, spent $5 million on an advertising campaign that portrayed the reforms as flawed, bureaucratic, and costly. The proponents, on the other hand, invested only $100000 in their campaign. Although the initiative did not become law, it helped renew legislative interest in health care reform. Its popularity, combined with other polling data, indicated that health care reform was important to the citizens of Massachusetts and thus prompted the Massachusetts legislature to enact a managed care reform bill that had been stymied in the legislature for more than 3 years. The bill passed by the legislature affirmed the autonomy of physicians to make clinical treatment determinations for their patients which had been restricted by managed care organizations. In addition, it strengthened protection from gag clauses that prevented physicians from discussing with patients the provisions of their health plan. The managed care bill addressed many of the issues cited as contributing to physicians' perceived erosion of autonomy and dissatisfaction. Although the Massachusetts Health Care Reform Initiative failed at the polls, it was indirectly successful. A wellcrafted and organized initiative campaign may serve as the impetus for lawmakers to more expediently enact important health care legislation. Medical students have also participated in similar ballot initiative campaigns in California in 1994 and Washington in 2000. In the face of corporate interests that usually dominate the initiative process, physicians and medical students have the unique advantage of direct health care experiences. These can be integrated with the political expertise of professional campaign staff to build coalitions, fundraise, advertise, and reach out to voters. Initiatives can be an efficient method for physicians and medical students to influence health care legislation, advance health care reform initiatives, and draw attention to policy issues that affect medical practice and patient-physician relationships.


'Spartan' apple (Malus xdomestica Borkh.) trees on M.9 (T337) rootstock were planted in April 1994 at 1.25 m x 3.5 m spacing. Seven soil management treatments were applied within a 2-m-wide strip centered on the tree row and arranged in a randomized complete-block experimental design. Treatments included a weed-free strip (check) maintained with four annual applications of glyphosate; surface application of 45 t.ha -1 of Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) biosolids applied in 1994 and again in 1997; mulches of shredded office paper; alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) hay; black woven polypropylene; and shredded paper applied over 45 t.ha -1 GVRD-and Kelowna-biosolids applied in 1994 and 1997. All experimental trees were fertigated with phosphorus (P) in the first year and with nitrogen (N) annually. Cumulative yield for the first five harvests was higher for trees subjected to any soil management treatment relative to check trees. Maximum cumulative yield, exceeding check trees by 80%, was measured for trees grown with a shredded paper mulch with or without biosolids application. Trees from the three shredded paper treatments were the only ones significantly larger than check trees after six growing seasons. No increases in leaf nutrient concentration were consistently associated with improved tree performance. Notable effects included increased leaf P concentration associated with biosolids application, increased leaf K concentration after alfalfa mulch application and temporary increases in leaf Zn and Cu concentration associated with application of biosolids high in Zn and Cu. Use of both mulches and biosolids amendments benefits growth of trees in high density plantings despite daily drip irrigation and annual fertigation.


Every year, as a result of earthquake, abundant losses may be created as result of roof motion and sliding and rupture. Under normal conditions, the ground and soils forming the ground tolerate and transfer the existing stresses and any kind of action like excavation and release of trench and applying dynamic load could distort the balance of stresses and endanger stability of roof. In this study, behavior of a steel building in adjacency of excavation is studied. The pit is stabled using hybrid system of pinching and anchoring and is studied before and after excavation under the effect of far and near-fault earthquakes with regard to soil-structure interaction. The results obtained from nonlinear dynamic analysis of time history of two said spectrums showed that the momentum of floor in the structure after excavation is increased compared to the time before excavation. The momentum of floor in the desired structure in near-fault earthquake has been increased compared to far-fault earthquake before excavation compared to the time after excavation. However, the overall drift of floors in the structure before excavation in near-fault earthquakes has been increased more than far-fault earthquakes.


Heart rate variability (HRV) is a marker for autonomous activity in the heart. A key application of HRV measures is the stratification of mortality risk after myocardial infarction. The information entropy is a promising measure of HRV. Our hypothesis is that the information entropy of HRV, a non-linear approach, is a suitable measure for this. As a first step, we aimed at evaluating the effect of myocardial infarction on the entropy. Our method was to compare the entropy to standard HRV parameters. Essentially, one multivariate classification rule was generated based on existing HRV measures and one based on existing and new entropy measures. The gain in classification accuracy was then an evaluation criterion. The classification rules were expressed as decision trees. The simplicity and parameter choice of the augmented tree was the second criterion. Additionally, five entropy estimation techniques were compared in terms of estimation accuracy and discrimination strength. A key finding is that the entropy is reduced in patients with myocardial infarction with very high significance. Additionally, a simple threshold of the meanNN-normalised entropy outperforms the best multivariate standardsbased infarct classifier by 5-10%. The statistical and compression-based entropy estimations are with a correlation of >94% highly consistent and thus reliable. The entropy based on Burrows-Wheeler compression, implemented in Bzip2, yields the best entropy estimation for infarct analysis purposes.


Dominant 794nm wavelength upconversion emission, which originates from the Tm3+: 3H4®3H6 transition, has been recorded in Tm3+/Yb3+ codoped aluminum germanate glass under the 974nm wavelength laser excitation. Judd-Ofelt parameters W2 (6.52´10-20cm2), W4 (9.83´10-21cm2) and W6 (1.02´10-20cm2) indicate a higher inversion asymmetric and stronger covalent environment in the glass material. The spontaneous transition probability of 3H4®3H6 was derived to be 1121s-1, which is responsable for obtaining the powerful 794nm emission. K+-Na+ ion-exchanged multimode channel waveguide amplifiers have been fabricated based on the Tm3+/Yb3+ codoped aluminum germanate glass substrate. The relative gain coefficient of a 2.20cm channel waveguide was determined to be 1.58dB/cm at a signal wavelength of 810 nm under 457mW 980nm laser diode excitation.


: In this article, I celebrate and critique the evidence base for relationally-orientated therapy. The central role played by the therapeutic relationship in effective therapy is now supported by an impressive evidence base, but it is mostly quantitative evidence that is privileged. This article attempts a small corrective to widen the lens by presenting 5 categories of qualitative evidence: Qualitative meta-analyses of client experiences of therapy; case studies; qualitative studies of clients' experience; qualitative studies of therapists' experience; and discursive studies of interactions and language use. The richness, relevance, and resonance of qualitative methodology is demonstrated by exemplar studies which highlight a special role for exploring under researched areas. However, qualitative researchers face confounding epistemological and methodological challenges in trying to capture the impossible complexity, ambivalence, variability, and ambiguity of relational therapy experiences across different cultural contexts. No methodology (qualitative, quantitative or mixed) can hope to do justice to these questions on its own and both critical reflexivity and humility are needed.


Despite the rapidly growing interest, progress in the study of relations between physiological abnormalities and mental disorders is hampered by complexity of the human brain and high costs of data collection. The complexity can be captured by deep learning approaches, but they still may require significant amounts of data. In this paper, we seek to mitigate the latter challenge by developing a generator for synthetic realistic training data. Our method greatly improves generalization in classification of schizophrenia patients and healthy controls from their structural magnetic resonance images. A feed forward neural network trained exclusively on continuously generated synthetic data produces the best area under the curve compared to classifiers trained on real data alone.


Elicitation of the medial olivocochlear reflex (MOCR) causes a reduction in the amount of gain (amplification) applied by the cochlear amplifier. This gain-control function is thought to play an important role in speech-in-noise perception. Otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) offer a qualitative measure of the effect of the MOCR on cochlear gain, but a quantitative measure is lacking. The aim of this thesis was to test whether any of the putative perceptual correlates of MOCR-induced cochlear gain reduction might provide such a measure.

The first study (Chapter 2) is concerned with the mechanism of the overshoot effect, in which a brief signal presented at the onset of a masker is harder to detect when the masker is preceded by silence than when it is preceded by a "precursor" sound. It has been suggested that, in overshoot, the precursor might reduce cochlear gain by eliciting the MOCR and thereby cause a reduction in suppressive masking of the signal (adaptation of suppression). Overshoot, suppression, and adaptation of suppression were measured in the same participants. While the precursor yielded strong overshoot, and the masker produced strong suppression, the precursor did not appear to cause any adaptation of suppression. Predictions based on an established model of the cochlear input-output function indicate that the failure to obtain any adaptation of suppression is unlikely to represent a false negative outcome. It is argued that overshoot may be due to higher-order perceptual factors such as transient masking or attentional diversion. Overshoot was therefore not pursued as a quantitative measure of the MOCR.

The second study (Chapter 3) aimed to develop a quantitative measure of the MOCR by modifying the established temporal masking curve (TMC) method for estimating cochlear gain psychophysically. The TMC method involves measuring the lowest masker level needed to just render inaudible a weak signal as a function of the temporal gap between the masker and signal. Here, the masker's duration was shortened so that the masker would not itself elicit the MOCR in time to affect the signal's audibility. A new way of estimating cochlear gain from TMC data by fitting the entire data set with a generic model of the cochlear response function was also developed. Using this approach, the effect on cochlear gain of a broadband-noise elicitor presented to the contralateral ear was measured. The TMCs suggest that the elicitor reduced cochlear gain by 4 dB, on average. OAE suppression measurements in the same participants suggested that this gain reduction was mediated by the MOCR. The approach developed in this chapter provides a quantitative estimate of MOCR-induced cochlear-gain reduction caused by a contralateral elicitor.

The third study (Chapter 4) aimed to assess the validity of recent findings by Yasin et al. (2014), who reported an MOCR-induced cochlear-gain reduction by an ipsilateral elicitor that was four times larger than that found in the second study using a contralateral elicitor. Yasin et al. (2014) estimated cochlear gain reduction using the fixed-duration masking curve (FDMC) method, which is similar to the TMC method used in Chapter 3. In Chapter 4, the FDMC method was used to estimate the amount of gain reduction caused by a long ipsilateral elicitor, like the one used by Yasin et al. (2014). This was compared to the amount of gain reduction caused by a much shorter ipsilateral elicitor, which was presented at a level that produced the same amount of masking of the signal as the long elicitor, but was too short to have activated the MOCR in time to affect the signal detectability. The long and short elicitors both caused large psychophysical effects, indicating either that the MOCR acts more quickly than previously thought, or that the effect was not due to MOCR-induced cochlear gain reduction. OAE suppression was also found for both the long and short elicitors. It is argued that both the OAE and psychophysical effects of the short and long elicitors may, at least in part, be the result of nonlinear interactions between the elicitor and the masker resulting from direct temporal overlap of their cochlear responses.

This thesis provides evidence against the idea that MOCR-induced cochlear-gain reduction plays a major role in either overshoot or in a recently reported large psychophysical masking effect by an ipsilateral noise, both of which have previously been attributed to the MOCR. This thesis has also contributed towards the refinement of an approach for quantitatively measuring cochlear gain and MOCR-induced cochlear gain reduction by a contralateral noise. In future, this approach could become a valuable audiometric profiling tool, and may give insight into the individual differences that underlie hearing problems in audiometrically normal listeners. Parametric exploration of the MOCR using this approach may also allow the functional importance of the MOCR in humans to be better understood.