Purpose: To investigate the dependency of pitch and field width on the quality of whole brainradiotherapy (WBRT) treatment plans using helical tomotherapy and to compare the dosimetric quality of tomotherapy to conventional WBRT techniques. Method and Materials: Five (n=5) previously irradiated patients were retrospectively planned using the helical tomotherapy (TomoTherapy, Inc. Madison WI) treatment planning system (TPS). For each patient, four plans were generated with the following field width (FW) and pitch (P) parameters: (i) FW:5.0cm/P:0.86 (ii) FW:5.0cm/P:0.433 (iii) FW:5.0cm/P:0.287, and (iv) FW:2.5cm/P:0.433. Conventional lateral field plans were generated using Pinnacle3 TPS. All treatment plans were prescribed and normalized so that 95% of the PTV received at least 30.0Gy in 10 fractions. Dose calculations were performed with a nominal 4.0 × 4.0 mm2dose grid. Plan comparison metrics utilized were dose sparing to the OARs and the PTV homogeneity index (HI). Results: Significant sparing to the left and right eyes occurs when using tomotherapy. For the left eye, a mean reduction among all patients of 41.7% and 32.2% for the D2% and Dmean, respectively, was noted. Similarly, for the right eye, a mean reduction among all patients of 38.1% and 16.9% for the D2% and Dmean, respectively, was noted. PTV homogeneity improved by 2.3 and 4.9 times relative to conventional plan when using a 5.0cm and 2.5cm FW, respectively. Mean treatment times using a FW of 2.5cm and 5.0cm were 462.1s and 253.0s, respectively. Conclusion: Our results indicate that tomotherapy, on average, reduces the mean (∼25%) and maximum (∼40%) dose to the eyes as well as improves the homogeneity to the PTV by a factor of 2.3 relative to conventional WBRT. Using a FW of 5.0cm and pitch of 0.86, plans may be generated and treated quickly by reducing the beamlet calculation and radiation delivery times.


Speciation is the origin of reproductive isolation and divergence between populations, according to the "biological species concept" of Mayr. Studies of reproductive isolation have dominated research on speciation, leaving the origin of species differences relatively poorly understood. Here, I argue that the origin of species differences, and of novel phenotypes in general, involves the reorganization of ancestral phenotypes (developmental recombination) followed by the genetic accommodation of change. Because selection acts on phenotypes, not directly on genotypes or genes, novel traits can originate by environmental induction as well as mutation, then undergo selection and genetic accommodation fueled by standing genetic variation or by subsequent mutation and genetic recombination. Insofar as phenotypic novelties arise from adaptive developmental plasticity, they are not "random" variants, because their initial form reflects adaptive responses with an evolutionary history, even though they are initiated by mutations or novel environmental factors that are random with respect to (future) adaptation. Change in trait frequency involves genetic accommodation of the threshold or liability for expression of a novel trait, a process that follows rather than directs phenotypic change. Contrary to common belief, environmentally initiated novelties may have greater evolutionary potential than mutationally induced ones. Thus, genes are probably more often followers than leaders in evolutionary change. Species differences can originate before reproductive isolation and contribute to the process of speciation itself. Therefore, the genetics of speciation can profit from studies of changes in gene expression as well as changes in gene frequency and genetic isolation.


In this paper we present two well-known methods for topic identification. The first one is a TFIDF classifier approach, and the second one is a based machine learning approach which is called Support Vector Machines (SVM). In our knowledge, we do not know several works on Arabic topic identification. So that we decide to investigate in this article. The corpus we used is extracted from the daily Arabic newspaper it Akhbar Al Khaleej, it includes 5120 news articles corresponding to 2.855.069 words covering four topics : sport, local news, international news and economy. According to our experiments, the results are encouraging both for SVM and TFIDF classifier, however we have noticed the superiority of the SVM classifier and its high capability to distinguish topics.


Metformin is not only the first-line medication for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, but it is also effective as an anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative and anti-tumor agent. However, the effect of metformin during viral hepatitis remains elusive. Using an adenovirus (Ad)-induced viral hepatitis mouse model, we found that metformin treatment significantly attenuated liver injury, with reduced serum aspartate transaminase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT) levels and liver histological changes, presumably via decreased effector T cell responses. We then demonstrated that metformin reduced mTORC1 activity in T cells from infected mice, as evidenced by decreased phosphorylation of ribosome protein S6 (p-S6). The inhibitory effects on the mTORC1 signaling by metformin was dependent on the tuberous sclerosis complex 1 (TSC1). Mechanistically, metformin treatment modulated the phosphorylation of dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp-1) and mitochondrial fission 1 protein (FIS1), resulting in increased mass in effector T cells. Moreover, metformin treatment promoted mitochondrial superoxide production, which can inhibit excessive T cell activation in viral hepatitis. Together, our results revealed a protective role and therapeutic potential of metformin against liver injury in acute viral hepatitis via modulating effector T cell activation via regulating the mTORC1 pathway and mitochondrial functions.


Nowadays, ancient open-air theatres are often re-adapted as performance spaces for the additional historical value they can offer to the spectators' experience. Therefore, there has been an increasing interest in the modelling and simulation of the acoustics of such spaces. These open-air performance facilities pose several methodological challenges to researchers and practitioners when it comes to precisely measure and predict acoustical parameters. Therefore this work investigates the accuracy of predicted acoustical parameters, that is, the Reverberation Time (T20), Clarity (C80) and Sound Strength (G), taking the ancient Syracusae open-air theatre in Italy as a case study. These parameters were derived from both measured and simulated Impulse Responses (IR). The accuracy of the acoustic parameters predicted with two different types of acoustic software, due to the input variability of the absorption and scattering coefficients, was assessed. All simulated and measured parameters were in good agreement, within the range of one "just noticeable difference" (JND), for the tested coefficient combinations.


Transparent and conducting Al-doped ZnO (ZnO:Al) films were prepared on glass substrate using the RF sputtering method at different substrate temperatures from room temperature (RT) to 200 °C. The structural, morphological, electrical and optical properties of these films were investigated using a variety of characterization techniques such as low angle XRD, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Hall measurement and UV–visible spectroscopy. The electrical properties showed that films deposited at RT have the lowest resistivity and it increases with an increase in the substrate temperature whereas carrier mobility and concentration decrease with an increase in substrate temperature. Low angle XRD and Raman spectroscopy analysis reavealed that films are highly crystalline with a hexagonal wurtzite structure and a preferred orientation along the c-axis. The FE-SEM analysis showed that the surface morphology of films is strongly dependent on the substrate temperature. The band gap decreases from 3.36 to 3.29 eV as the substrate temperature is increased from RT to 200 °C. The fundamental absorption edge in the UV region shifts towards a longer wavelength with an increase in substrate temperature and be attributed to the Burstein-Moss shift. The synthesized films showed an average transmission (> 85%) in the visible region, which signifies that synthesized ZnO:Al films can be suitable for display devices and solar cells as transparent electrodes.


The IKZF1 gene, which encodes the Ikaros transcription factor, is frequently deleted or mutated in patients with B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemias that express oncogenes, like BCR-ABL, which activate the JAK-STAT5 pathway. Ikaros functionally antagonizes the transcriptional programs downstream of IL-7/STAT5 during B cell development, as well as STAT5 activity in leukemic cells. However, the mechanisms by which Ikaros interferes with STAT5 function is unknown. We studied the genomic distribution of Ikaros and STAT5 on chromatin in a murine pre-B cell line, and found that both proteins colocalize on >60% of STAT5 target regions. Strikingly, Ikaros activity leads to widespread loss of STAT5 binding at most of its genomic targets within two hours of Ikaros induction, suggesting a direct mechanism. Ikaros did not alter the level of total or phosphorylated STAT5 proteins, nor did it associate with STAT5. Using sequences from the Cish, Socs2 and Bcl6 genes that Ikaros and STAT5 target, we show that both proteins bind overlapping sequences at GGAA motifs. Our results demonstrate that Ikaros antagonizes STAT5 DNA binding, in part by competing for common target sequences. Our study has implications for understanding the functions of Ikaros and STAT5 in B cell development and transformation.


Discussed and reflected upon are experiences of participant-observation in accounting education in Kiribati intended to inform situations accounting educators face elsewhere. This is set in the context of the third world, the roles of accounting there and particular macro developments in Kiribati. Included are descriptions and explanations of the participant–observer's activities from 1997 to 1999 in this remote country of atolls scattered around the Pacific Ocean, followed by an elaboration of illuminating episodes that occurred while courses were staged for accounting specialists and accounting users. Main outcomes comprise reflections on the interrelated issues of how accounting and accountants are seen in Kiribati, the contrasting merits and demerits of domesticated and imported courses, and the transitory nature of programmes.


Forensic Engineering is a burgeoning field in the United States and elsewhere with specialized courses appearing in the engineering curricula at several colleges and universities. Unfortunately, this short book of 200 text pages organized into 21 chapters, does not capture the essence of this exciting and rapidly expanding field. To be sure, the book does contain some useful information but it is not a general treatment where a novice could learn something without prior background or exposure. This reviewer also feels an incorrect impression is created by entirely focusing attention on after-the-fact investigations (Monday morning quarterbacking) of accidents or failures with no attention devoted to the very significant role of forensic engineering in accident and injury prevention through effective design. The book appears to be merely a soiree of the author's excursions into forensic engineering through his consulting company. Furthermore, only very few scientific references are given although the number of topics treated is large.


Species of Aspergillus were the most prevalent fungi isolated from 51 samples of damaged flue-cured tobacco of the 1966 U.S. crop, comprising 57% of the total isolates. Other prevalent fungi were Penicillium (16%), Alternaria (8%), Cladosporium (4%), and Chaetomium (4%). Members of the Aspergillus glaucus group were isolated most frequently from samples with moisture contents ranging from 18 to 28%, whereas Alternaria, Cladosporium, and Penicillium were isolated consistently from samples containing 24 to 32% moisture. Aspergillus niger was prevalent in tobacco ranging in moisture content from 18 to 30%.


It is usually assumed the variables which are used in the optimization problems are continuous variables. However, the variables have discrete or integer values in many real life practices. Considering discrete integer variables in the optimization problems makes the problems more complex. There are few methods to solve these type of problems. The Harmony Search Algorithm inspired by improvisation of musical harmony and a recent variant of it, The Discrete Harmony Search Algorithm were investigated. It is thought that The usage of the Discrete Harmony Search Algorithm is going to provide a good alternative to solve the optimization problems.


The goal of this paper is to enable a 3D "virtual-tour" of an apartment given a small set of monocular images of different rooms, as well as a 2D floor plan. We frame the problem as inference in a Markov Random Field which reasons about the layout of each room and its relative pose (3D rotation and translation) within the full apartment. This gives us accurate camera pose in the apartment for each image. What sets us apart from past work in layout estimation is the use of floor plans as a source of prior knowledge, as well as localization of each image within a bigger space (apartment). In particular, we exploit the floor plan to impose aspect ratio constraints across the layouts of different rooms, as well as to extract semantic information, e.g., the location of windows which are marked in floor plans. We show that this information can significantly help in resolving the challenging room-apartment alignment problem. We also derive an efficient exact inference algorithm which takes only a few ms per apartment. This is due to the fact that we exploit integral geometry as well as our new bounds on the aspect ratio of rooms which allow us to carve the space, significantly reducing the number of physically possible configurations. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach on a new dataset which contains over 200 apartments.


Asthma is a common chronic inflammatory disease. Pathogenic mechanism underlying asthma is complex. The inflammatory response of asthma includes lymphocytes (T, B cells), ILC2, eosinophils and other types of immune and inflammatory cells. T CD4+ T helper 2 cells (Th2 cells) are thought to play a central role in regulating the phenotype of allergic asthma. Asthma is often closely associated with Th1/Th2 cell imbalance. Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are non-protein coding RNA molecules in the transcriptome, mainly including microRNAs (miRNAs), long non-coding RNAs and circRNAs, etc., which are widely found in eukaryotic transcriptome and participate in the regulation of a variety of biological processes. ncRNAs are considered to function as modulators of the immune system. Their biological changes represent an important mechanism for the development of immune-mediated diseases. This chapter mainly discusses the epigenetic regulation of Th2 cells and their cytokines in asthma by non-coding RNAs. It helps us to better understand the pathogenesis of asthma and find potential asthma biomarkers.


Through the observational study of stellar pulsations, the internal structure of stars can be probed and theoretical models can be tested. The main sequence -γ Doradus (Dor) and δ Scuti (Sct) stars with masses 1.2–2.5 M⊙ are particularly interesting for asteroseismic study. The -γ Dor stars pulsate in high-order gravity (g) modes, with pulsational periods of order of one day. The δ Sct stars, on the other hand, show low-order g and pressure (p) modes with periods of order of 2 hours. Theory predicts the existence of 'hybrid' stars, i.e. stars pulsating in both types of modes, in an overlap region between the instability strips of -γ Dor and δ Sct stars in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. Hybrid stars are particularly interesting as the two types of modes probe different regions of the stellar interior and hence provide complementary model constraints. Before the advent of Kepler, only a few hybrid stars had been confirmed. The Kepler satellite is providing a true revolution in the study of and search for hybrid stars. Analysis of the first 50 days of Kepler data of hundreds of -γ Dor and δ Sct candidates reveals extremely rich frequency spectra, with most stars showing frequencies in both the δ Sct and -γ Dor frequency range. As these results show that there are practically no pure δ Sct or -γ Dor pulsators, a new observational classification scheme is proposed by Grigahcene et al. (2010). We present their results and characterize 234 stars in terms of δ Sct, -γ Dor, δ Sct/-γ Dor or -γ Dor/δ Sct hybrids (© 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


We previously identified LH146, a diffuse X-ray source in the Lockman Hole, as a galaxy cluster at redshift 1.753. The redshift was based on one spectroscopic value, buttressed by seven additional photometric redshifts. We confirm here the previous spectroscopic redshift and present concordant spectroscopic redshifts for an additional eight galaxies. The average of these nine redshifts is 1.714 ± 0.012 (error on the mean). Scrutiny of the galaxy distribution in redshift space and the plane of the sky shows that there are two concentrations of galaxies near the X-ray source. In addition, there are three diffuse X-ray sources spread along the axis connecting the galaxy concentrations. LH146 is one of these three and lies approximately at the center of the two galaxy concentrations and the outer two diffuse X-ray sources. We thus conclude that LH146 is at the redshift initially reported but it is not a single virialized galaxy cluster, as previously assumed. Rather, it appears to mark the approximate center of a larger region containing more objects. For brevity, we refer to all these objects and their alignments as a large-scale structure. The exact nature of LH146 itself remains unclear.


In the perturbative AdS-CFT correspondence, the dual field whose source are the prescribed boundary values of a bulk field in the functional integral, and the boundary limit of the quantized bulk field are the same thing. This statement is due to the fact that Witten graphs are boundary limits of the corresponding Feynman graphs for the bulk fields, and hence the dual conformal correlation functions are limits of bulk correlation functions. This manifestation of duality is analyzed in terms of the underlying functional integrals of different structure.


Tango is a software simulation and tracing system used to obtain data for evaluating parallel programs and multiprocessor systems. The system provides a simulated multiprocessor environment by multiplexing application processes onto a single processor. Tango achieves high efficiency by running compiled user code, and by focusing on the information of greatest interest to multiprocessing studies. The system is being applied to a wide range of investigations, including algorithm studies and a variety of hardware evaluations.


Purpose
Trading illicit drugs on cryptomarkets differs in many ways from material retail markets. This paper aims to contribute to existing studies on pricing by studying the relationship between price changes in relation to changes in nominal value of the cryptocurrency. To this, the authors qualitatively study product descriptions and images to expand the knowledge on price formation.

Design/methodology/approach
The authors analysed 15 samples based on visual and textual scrapes from two major drug markets – for Dream Market between January 2014 and July 2015 and for Tochka between January 2015 and July 2015. This longitudinal study relates changes in process to variations in the Bitcoin exchange rate and selling strategies. The analysis of the marketing of drugs online also addressed the development of the vendor profile and product offers.

Findings
Product prices change in relation to variations in the Bitcoin exchange rate. This points to the application of mechanisms for automatic price adaptations on the market level. Real prices of the drug offers constantly increase. The authors assert that there is a bidirectional relationship. Vendors structure price and discounts to encourage feedback. And feedback in combination with signals of commitment and authenticity inform pricing. Product descriptions are an important feature in the successful marketization of goods, whereas product images are predominantly used as an aspect of recognisability and feature of the vendor's identity.

Research limitations/implications
Findings suggest that there is great potential for further qualitative research into the relationship between the online and offline identity of drug vendors, as well as price setting when entering the market and subsequent changes for offered products.

Practical implications
Findings also suggest that further investigation into the constitution and management of vendor's identity on the cryptomarkets would allow a better understanding of vendors and their interactions on cryptomarkets.

Social implications
A better understanding of drug trading on cryptomarkets helps to more effectively address potentials for harm in the online drug trade. Also targetting crime would benefit from a better understanding of vendor idenities and pricing.

Originality/value
The findings represent a valuable contribution to existing knowledge on drug trading on cryptomarkets, particularly in view of pricing and vending strategies.


The parabolic constant Kp is the most important kinetic constant characterizing the high temperature oxidation rate of superalloys. It is usually determined by plotting mass gain versus the square root of time which led, in the simplest cases where the mass gain kinetic faithfully followed the WagnerÂ's law, to a slope to which Kp is related by a simple relationship. Unfortunately detachments of the external oxide scale occurred in most cases, with as results the existence of jumps in the mass gain curves. These ones become thus tricky to analyse for deducing Kp with accuracy. The topic of this work is to evaluate the impact of two parameters, the surface fraction affected by an oxide scale detachment and the instant at which it occurs, on the value of Kp determined classically, this by simulatingmass gain curves and jumps induced by scale detachment and analysing them.


In this paper, we describe our work on providing a generic yet optimized GPU (CUDA/OpenCL) implementation for the 2D MapOver- lap skeleton. We explain our implementation with the help of a 2D convo- lution application, implemented using the newly developed skeleton. The memory (constant and shared memory) and adaptive tiling optimizations are applied and their performance implications are evaluated on dier- ent classes of GPUs. We present two dierent metrics to calculate the optimal tiling factor dynamically in an automated way which helps in retaining best performance without manual tuning while moving to new GPU architectures. With our approach, we can achieve average speedups by a factor of 3.6, 2.3, and 2.4 over an otherwise optimized (without tiling) implementation on NVIDIA C2050, GTX280 and 8800 GT GPUs respectively. Above all, the performance portability is achieved without requiring any manual changes in the skeleton program or the skeleton implementation.


In recent years, pre-trained large language models (LLMs) have demonstrated remarkable efficiency in achieving an inference-time few-shot learning capability known as in-context learning. However, existing literature has highlighted the sensitivity of this capability to the selection of few-shot demonstrations. Current understandings of the underlying mechanisms by which this capability arises from regular language model pretraining objectives remain disconnected from the real-world LLMs. This study aims to examine the in-context learning phenomenon through a Bayesian lens, viewing real-world LLMs as latent variable models. On this premise, we propose an algorithm to select optimal demonstrations from a set of annotated data with a small LM, and then directly generalize the selected demonstrations to larger LMs. We demonstrate significant improvement over baselines, averaged over eight GPT models on eight real-world text classification datasets. We also demonstrate the real-world usefulness of our algorithm on GSM8K, a math word problem dataset. Our empirical findings support our hypothesis that LLMs implicitly infer a latent variable containing task information.


04.11.2021 Resistance to antibiotics is on the rise worldwide. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques IPM alongside the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich have developed a process for rapidly detecting multidrug-resistant pathogens. The unique feature: Even one single molecule of DNA is sufficient for pathogen detection. In future, the platform could be introduced as part of point-of-care diagnostics on hospital wards or in medical practices as an alternative to the established PCR analyses or in combination with other diagnostic methods.


Matrix metalloproteinases, MMPs, are a family of enzymes capable of modulating connective tissue components. The expression of several MMPs is increased in oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCCs). They are assumed to have an important role in the development and progression of OSCCs. However, the exact role and mechanism of the regulation of MMPs in malignant transformation are still largely unknown. In this study, tumour-associated trypsin-2 (TAT-2) was detected in OSCC tissue sections, and its role in MMP-2 and -9 regulation in carcinoma cells was evaluated. The TAT-2 gene was transfected into two different OSCC cell lines and one immortalized oral epithelial cell line. In TAT-2transfected cells, MMP-9 activation increased OSCC cell invasion in chicken chorionallantoic membrane assay. Increased intravasation was prevented by tumour-associated trypsin inhibitor or specific gelatinase-inhibiting CTT-peptide. TAT-2 also converted MMP-1, -8, -13 and -3 into smaller molecular weight forms in vitro. However, TAT-2-transfected OSCC cells showed no conversion. TAT-2 was demonstrated to degrade powerfully type I collagen into small fragments in vitro. The cell surface receptor αvβ6 integrin is strongly up-regulated in OSCCs. By using β6-transfected OSCC cells, it was demonstrated that αvβ6 integrin down-regulates MMP-13 expression. However, this integrin did not regulate other collagenases or TIMP-1. β6-transfected cells invaded more efficiently through the basement membrane matrix, but their migration through type I collagen remained unchanged. MMP-8 expression was detected for the first time in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cell lines and corresponding cultured dermal and tumour fibroblasts. The localization of MMP-8 in HNSCC was determined by immunohistochemical stainings and in situ hybridization. MMP-8 production levels in carcinoma cells were faint and sporadic in HNSCCs sections. Ninety-two primary mobile tongue SCCs were subjected to MMP-8 immunohistochemical staining, and the staining results were compared to survival rates. MMP-8 was associated with improved disease-free survival in females but not in males.


The 81mm mortar fires a projectile that can reach Unmanned Arial Vehicles (UAVs also known as drones) and can thus provide a method for shooting them down. The suggestion is that the projectile can be launched on a ballistic trajectory until it reaches its highest point and can then engage a guidance system to steer itself onto the UAV. It is found that for the difficult case of fast UAVs flying at 100m/s the mortar is in range for over 100s. If the UAV is identified ahead of this contact then there is time to set up and lay the mortar prior to firing. The UAV can be attacked with fragments at distances of about 3 to 8m. This distance allows the specification for a guidance system. Optimization of fragments could reduce the burden on the guidance system.


This book deals with how empires affect smaller communities such as ethnic groups, religious communities, and local or peripheral populations. It raises the question of how these different types of community were integrated into larger imperial edifices and in which contexts the dialectic between empires and particular communities caused disruption. How did religious discourses or practices reinforce (or subvert) imperial pretenses? How were constructions of identity affected? How were Egyptians accommodated under Islamic rule, Yemenis included in an Arab identity, Aquitanians integrated into the Carolingian Empire, Jews into the Fātimīd caliphate? Why did the dissolution of Western Rome and the Abbasid caliphate leave different types of polities in their wake? How was the Byzantine Empire preserved in the seventh century; how did the Franks construct theirs in the ninth? How did events in early medieval Rome and Constantinople promote social integration in both a local and a broader framework? Focusing on the post-Roman Mediterranean, the book deals with these questions from a comparative perspective. It considers political structures in the Latin West, Byzantium, and the early Islamic world in a period exceptionally well suited for studying the expansive and erosive dynamics of empires and their interaction with smaller communities. By never adhering to a single overall model and avoiding Western notions of empire, this volume combines individual approaches with collaborative perspectives. The chapters are in-depth studies written in full awareness of the other contributions; taken together, they constitute a major contribution to the advancement of comparative studies on premodern empires.


The full potential of plastic gear usage is limited by not only poor mechanical properties but also equally poor temperature limits and poor heat conduction properties. Cooling holes were developed to decrease the amount of thermal damage on the contact surface. These cooling holes promote increased stress and tooth deflection, thus exerting a negative effect. This article compares various cooling holes for plastic gear configurations and proposes novel cooling holes. Thermal and mechanical simulations that consider specific aspects of plastic gear meshing were performed. The main objective of this article was to verify the best methods for reducing thermal damage through cooling holes. The results indicate the best compromise between the temperature reduction and the mechanical properties of the new tooth geometry. The results also indicate that the simple variations in the cooling holes proposed can improve tooth performance.


OBJECTIVE To describe diagnosis, treatment, and outcome of and risk factors for ophthalmic disease in leopard geckos (Eublepharis macularius) evaluated at a veterinary teaching hospital. DESIGN Retrospective case series. ANIMALS 112 of 144 (78%) leopard geckos that were evaluated at a veterinary teaching hospital in January 1985 through October 2013 and for which sufficient medical record information was available. PROCEDURES Information from medical records was used to identify leopard geckos with ophthalmic disease, characterize cases, and determine risk factors for the presence of ophthalmic disease. RESULTS Of the 112 leopard geckos, 52 (46%) had ophthalmic disease (mainly corneal or conjunctival disease). Female geckos were less likely to have ophthalmic disease, and there was a positive association between increasing age and ophthalmic disease. Use of a paper towel substrate, absence of any heat source, and lack of vitamin A supplementation were positively associated with a diagnosis of ophthalmic disease. Head dysecdysis was the only concurrent disorder significantly associated with ophthalmic disease. At necropsy, 5 affected leopard geckos had squamous metaplasia of the conjunctivae. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Results indicated that ophthalmic disease is a common finding in leopard geckos. The cause of ocular surface disease in leopard geckos may be multifactorial, and hypovitaminosis A may be an important risk factor. Although animals receiving supplemental vitamin A were less likely to have ophthalmic disease, further understanding is required regarding the metabolism of and nutritional requirements for vitamin A in leopard geckos.


Synopsis Radial MRI is intrinsically more robust to motion than Cartesian sampling; however, if large rotational motion occurs, the sufficiently dense sampling of conventional 3D radial acquisitions is disrupted and is difficult to recover retrospectively. The golden angle ratio has been used to generate a quasi-isotropic distribution of spokes over time in 2D, but is limited to fully correct for motion, which occurs in three dimensions. Extending the flexibility of golden-ratio spoke ordering to 3D radial sampling, combined with rigid-body motion tracking using electromagnetic sensors, enables robust retrospective correction by maintaining relatively uniform sampling, even in the presence of large-amplitude rotational motion.


An important desired ingredient of superconducting quantum circuits is a readout scheme whose complexity does not increase with the number of qubits involved in the measurement. Here, we present a readout scheme employing a single microwave line, which enables simultaneous readout of multiple qubits. Consequently, scaling up superconducting qubit circuits is no longer limited by the readout apparatus. Parallel readout of 6 flux qubits using a frequency division multiplexing technique is demonstrated, as well as simultaneous manipulation and time resolved measurement of 3 qubits. We discuss how this technique can be scaled up to read out hundreds of qubits on a chip.


Nedocromil sodium and cromolyn sodium are the only two currently available nonsteroid anti-inflammatory agents for treatment of asthma. Clinical differences between the two agents remain under continuous investigation with reports differentiating the two on the basis of atopy of the patient and reversibility of bronchoconstriction. This study investigated the efficacy of nedocromil sodium (4 mg, qid) for treatment of mild-to-moderate asthma in comparison to placebo using cromolyn sodium (2 mg, qid) as an active control treatment. Patients were primarily allergic asthmatics (with at least 15% reversibility) previously maintained on a regimen of regular bronchodilator therapy. During a 2-week run-in period, the patient's slow-release theophylline therapy was removed, and the patients were randomized to treatment after deterioration of asthma control (asthma symptom summary score of 3 for 7 of the 14 days). After 8 weeks of treatment, patients were returned to as occasion requires bronchodilator therapy, as per the 2-week baseline period. The results demonstrate that patients treated with nedocromil sodium showed statistically significant improvements during the primary time period (mean weeks 3 through 8) over placebo-treated patients as evidenced by all indexes of asthma symptoms, pulmonary function measures, and decreased bronchodilator reliance (p<0.05). Patients treated with cromolyn sodium demonstrated similar improvements over placebo-treated patients. Comparisons between nedocromil sodium and cromolyn sodium showed the two agents to be comparable in this group of primarily allergic patients with reversible disease. Between-group differences were noted for 3 of the 13 variables (nighttime asthma, FEV1, and forced expiratory flow rate between 25 % and 75% of the FVC) in favor of cromolyn sodium when the data were pooled during the primary time period. The number of patients missing 1 or more days from work/school/regular activity due to asthma was significantly fewer compared with placebo, and favoring nedocromil sodium over cromolyn sodium. No differences were observed among the three treatments for adverse events. This study demonstrated that in primarily allergic patients with reversible airways disease, nedocromil sodium and cromolyn sodium are both significantly more effective than placebo for treatment of mild-to-moderate asthma.


Stroke mostly occurs in elderly people and patient outcomes after stroke are highly influenced by age. A better understanding of the causes of stroke in the elderly might have important practical implications not only for clinical management, but also for preventive strategies and future health-care policies. In this Review, we explore the evidence from both human and animal studies relating to the effect of old age—in terms of susceptibility, patient outcomes and response to treatment—on ischemic stroke. Several aging- related changes in the brain have been identified that are associated with an increase in vulnerability to ischemic stroke in the elderly. Furthermore, risk factor profiles for stroke and mechanisms of ischemic injury differ between young and elderly patients. Elderly patients with ischemic stroke often receive less-effective treatment and have poorer outcomes than younger individuals who develop this condition. Neuroprotective agents for ischemic stroke have been sought for decades but none has proved effective in humans. One contributing factor for this translational failure is that most preclinical studies have used young animals. Future research on ischemic stroke should consider age as a factor that influences stroke prevention and treatment, and should focus on the management of acute stroke in the elderly to reduce the incidence and improve outcomes in this vulnerable group.


The mechanism regulating the equilibrium electrostatic potential in the scrape-off layer (SOL) of magnetic confinement devices is elucidated. Based on a generalized Ohm's law and the boundary conditions at the magnetic presheath entrance, an analytical expression for the equilibrium electrostatic potential is derived. Results imply that the relative importance of the plasma dynamics at the sheath and far away from the wall in setting the value of the electrostatic potential depends on the density and temperature drops that are established between the two regions. Global, three-dimensional fluid simulations of tokamak SOL turbulence in a simple configuration are performed, confirming the validity of our predictions. The results presented here are general and can be applied to other open-field-line configurations, including linear devices and simple magnetized toroidal devices.


The trigonometric KZ equations associated with a Lie algebra g depend on a parameter λ ∈ h where h ⊂ g is the Cartan subalgebra. We suggest a system of dynamical difference equations with respect to λ compatible with the KZ equations. The dynamical equations are constructed in terms of intertwining operators of g-modules.


: Motion tracking via Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) on mobile and wearable devices has attracted significant interest in recent years. High-accuracy IMU-tracking can be applied in various applications, such as indoor navigation, gesture recognition, text input, etc. Many efforts have been devoted to improving IMU-based motion tracking in the last two decades, from early calibration techniques on ships or airplanes, to recent arm motion models used on wearable smart devices. In this paper, we present a comprehensive survey on IMU-tracking techniques on mobile and wearable devices. We also reveal the key challenges in IMU-based motion tracking on mobile and wearable devices and possible directions to address these challenges.


Abstract Hydrodynamically developing and fully developed laminar flows in a semicircular duct are numerically and analytically investigated, respectively. As part of the analytical approach, scale analysis is used to develop order-of-magnitude estimates for the friction factor–Reynolds number product for developing and fully developed laminar flows in a semicircular duct. Dimensionless axial velocity distribution is determined and presented in terms of the dimensionless pressure drop constant for hydrodynamically fully developed laminar flow. Fully developed laminar frictional characteristics for flow through a semicircular duct are then deduced from the dimensionless axial velocity distribution, from which the location of maximum axial velocity and the ratio of maximum axial velocity to the mean axial velocity are determined. In addition, hydrodynamically developing laminar flow in a semicircular duct is numerically analyzed. Various developing flow region parameters, such as the apparent Fanning friction factor and incremental pressure drop number, for laminar flows in a semicircular duct are determined from the numerical analysis. Furthermore, the fully developed laminar flow results obtained from the numerical analysis are compared with the analytical solution, and good agreement is observed between them.


We have employed three-dimensional reconstructions and cytochemistry to analyze nonciliated bronchiolar epithelial (Clara) cells from rat lungs. We identified a previously unreported ovoid granule type, which was characterized by its relative electron-lucency and eccentric electron-dense core. These electron-lucent granules were less common than electron-dense granules and were polarized toward the Golgi. They occupied 0.51% of the cell volume. Quantitative analysis of cell volume fractions showed the more numerous electron-dense granules to be polarized toward the air border; they occupied 2.5% of the cell volume. Periodic acid-thiocarbohydrazide-silver protein staining for hexose sugars indicated no differences between the granule types with regard to their carbohydrate content. Multivesicular bodies occupied 0.42% of total cell volume and were distinctly polarized toward the surface of the Golgi. Rod-shaped granules were present in 4 of the 6 reconstructed cells, ranging in number from 0 to 9 per cell. Nine apparent secretory events were seen in 6 cells and all appeared as exocytosis. We conclude that rat Clara cells contain at least 3 morphologically distinct granule types located in different volumes of the cell, and that exocytosis is the mode of secretion. The functional relationship between the ovoid granule types could include precursor-product lineage or different secretory products. We suggest that multivesicular bodies and light granules are stages in dark granule genesis.


There can be no doubt that David Beckham is a public figure of intense media interest in contemporary Britain. This paper is the first stage in a project which aims to explore the circuit of representation and reception of Beckham in current culture. I use a grounded theory approach to generate and categorise the ways in which representations are constructed. The empirical focus is on the discourses around Beckham which are apparent in magazines from May to October 2002. This six month period covers some extremely significant events in his private and professional lives; from his injury just before the World Cup; his recovery and subsequent captaincy of England during the tournament; his on-going fashion and celebrity career with consecutive cover spreads for major magazines, to the arrival of Romeo - his second child. As such, this time-span provided ample and diverse examples of how he is represented in this particular form of lifestyle media. The conceptual categories generated through the grounded theory approach are analysed using ideas drawn from queer theory. My aim is to explore whether queer ideas of discursive resistance, disruption, or destabilisation, are useful explanatory frameworks when discussing the modes of representation which are deployed to construct David Beckham as a working class heterosexual subject. I suggest that queer theory does allow an appreciation of new elements being coded into working-class masculinity. However, current changes in the representation of masculinity may be more usefully understood as expansions of the 'sign' of masculinity operating as a commodity form.


The Green Moroccan Plan (GMP) is a national long-term strategy launched by the Moroccan government to support the agricultural sector as the main driver of social and economic development. The GMP involves a labeling strategy based on geographical indications, aimed at protecting and promoting the marketing of locally produced food specialties and linking their specific qualities and reputations to their domestic production region. We evaluated the success of this policy by comparing consumers' attitudes and preferences toward a local product having a geographical indication label to one without. We conducted a survey of 500 consumers in main Moroccan cities. The potential consumer set for the local product was found to be segmented, indicating the potential for a domestic niche of environmentally aware consumers preferring organically and sustainably produced food. We applied the analytical hierarchy process to prioritize the attributes of the commodities of interest, which underscores the importance of the origin when choosing a local product without origin labeling; for the labeled product, intrinsic quality attributes are considered to be more important. These findings demonstrate the limited promotion of the established origin labeling in the domestic market. Hence, we recommend that the Moroccan government reinforce the labeling scheme with an organic label to increase the market potential of the environmentally aware consumers by ensuring sustainable production of local products.


The review deals with the analysis of the properties of active forms of oxygen (AFO), generated by phagocytic cells, and their role in the development of a number of human diseases. Bacterial and viral infections contribute to the activation of the oxidizing metabolism of phagocytes. In the process of this metabolism the formation of toxic oxygen and nitrogen metabolites occurs. The defect of the system of activation calls prolonged microbial persistence whose most severe manifestation is chronic granulomatosis. On the contrary, the uncontrolled production of oxidants cause tissue lesions. The role of AFO in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases, peptic ulcer, the syndrome of respiratory insufficiency and bronchial asthma is discussed.


Summary The unreliability of the distal skin component of the gracilis myocutaneous free flap has been frequently reported. To improve the reliability of the skin we orientated the cutaneous paddle in a transverse direction in the proximal third of the gracilis muscle, as first described by Yousif et al in 1993. Their anatomical studies showed that cutaneous branches of the dominant proximal pedicle have a pronounced tendency to travel in a transverse direction, supplying the skin anteriorly over the adductor longus and sartorius muscles and extending beyond the posterior margin of the gracilis muscle. We adopted this transverse design and transferred myocutaneous gracilis flaps measuring up to 17×9 cm. The transverse gracilis myocutaneous flap was dissected in the subfascial plane to include the peri-gracilis fascia, which preserved the fascial vascular network and thus optimised skin-paddle perfusion. Ten transverse gracilis myocutaneous free flaps were performed over 3 years. Skin paddles ranged in size from 10×7 cm (70 cm 2 ) to 17×9 cm (153 cm 2 ) with a mean of 113.4 cm 2 . Five defects were located in the head and neck region, three in the lower leg, one in the thigh and one in the thorax. Patients were followed for an average of 16.6 months (range: 6–46 months). Minor complications (donor-site wound dehiscence and flap-wound-edge separation) occurred in four patients; however, all 10 flaps survived and healed with complete cutaneous survival.


Robust point cloud classification is crucial for real-world applications, as consumer-type 3D sensors often yield partial and noisy data, degraded by various artifacts. In this work we propose a general ensemble framework, based on partial point cloud sampling. Each ensemble member is exposed to only partial input data. Three sampling strategies are used jointly, two local ones, based on patches and curves, and a global one of random sampling. We demonstrate the robustness of our method to various local and global degradations. We show that our framework significantly improves the robustness of top classification netowrks by a large margin. Our experimental setting uses the recently introduced ModelNet-C database by Ren et al.[24], where we reach SOTA both on unaugmented and on augmented data. Our unaugmented mean Corruption Error (mCE) is 0.64 (current SOTA is 0.86) and 0.50 for augmented data (current SOTA is 0.57). We analyze and explain these remarkable results through diversity analysis. Our code is available at: https://github.com/yossilevii100/EPiC


The historical and present taxonomic and nomenclatural status of the following taxa were examined: "Vibrio terrigenus" Gunther 1894, "Vibrio percolans" Mudd and Warren 1923, "Vibrio alcaligenes" Lehmann and Neumann 1927, "Lophomonas alcaligenes" Galarneault and Leifson 1956, "Comamonas percolans" Davis and Park 1962, "Comamonas terrigena" Hugh 1962, "Pseudomonas terrigena" Hugh 1965, "Vibrio cyclosites" Gray and Thornton 1928, "Vibrio neocistes" Gray and Thornton 1928, "Vibrio cuneatus" Gray and Thornton 1928, and "Comamonas compransoris" Nozhevnikova and Zavarzin 1974. Most of these organisms have been misnamed. Deoxyribonucleic acid-ribosomal ribonucleic acid hybridization experiments localized "C. terrigena" ("V. percolans") NCIB 8193, "V. neocistes" NCIB 2582, and "V. cyclosites" NCIB 2581 on the Pseudomonas acidovorans ribosomal ribonucleic acid branch in the direct vicinity of Pseudomonas testosteroni. Deoxyribonucleic acid-deoxyribonucleic acid hybridization experiments, serological studies, gel electropherograms of soluble proteins, and a numerical analysis of phenotypic features supported placement of these strains and clinical isolate CCUG 12940 in a single taxon, for which we propose revival of the name Comamonas terrigena Hugh 1962. The type strain is strain NCIB 8193 (= ATCC 8461 = LMG 1253 = CCUG 15327). C. terrigena is the type species of the genus Comamonas Davis and Park 1962 nom. rev. An extensive phenotypic description of C. terrigena is given, and this species can be differentiated from P. acidovorans and P. testosteroni. "Achromobacter cystinovorum" NCIB 4854 is misnamed and was found to be very closely related to P. acidovorans. "V. alcaligenes" NCTC 9239 was found to be misnamed and is closely related to Pseudomonas diminuta, which is itself inappropriately retained in the genus Pseudomonas. The classification of "V. cuneatus" NCIB 8194 as Pseudomonas fluorescehs is confirmed. "C. compransoris" DSM 1231 and "V. cyclosites" ATCC 14635 (the so-called synonymous strain of "V. cyclosites" NCIB 2581) are definitely not members of C. terrigena. These two strains differ considerably from each other, as well as from all of the other strains investigated; their exact taxonomic position is unknown.


In this article, we have compared the performance ratio-type estimators in some stratified ranked set sampling methods. These sampling methods are stratified random sampling, stratified ranked set sampling, stratified double ranked set sampling and stratified median ranked set sampling. In these methods, the ratio type estimators using auxiliary variable information such as coefficient of variation and kurtosis are examined. We have used a real data set to see the performance of estimators. We use the data concerning body mass index (BMI) as a study variable and the age and the weight as auxiliary variables for 800 people in Turkey in 2014. We stratified the data set using gender. A simulation study is carried out to see performance of the proposed ratio type estimators in these stratified ranked set sampling designs. The performances of these estimators are compared in terms of mean squared error (MSE) and percent relative efficiency (PRE). The importance of this study is that, a detail simulation study is done using a real data set and compare these stratified sampling designs in a study in the sampling literature.


Slow cortical potentials constitute neurophysiological indicators of cortical excitability. Behaviorally they correlate with attention and motor preparation. A system for biofeedback and self-regulation of slow cortical potentials (SCP) has been developed. The portable system allows on-line visual feedback of filtered and corrected slow brain potentials in a predetermined sequence of trials. Three different algorithms for transforming the original SCP-signal into a feedback-signal have been developed and were compared in a controlled outcome study. With the optimal feedback method subjects were able to produce cortical positivity and negativity on command after three sessions. Increases and decreases of negativity of up to 20 microV were also achieved. Therefore a simple and portable PC-based device for the clinical application of SCP-biofeedback is now available.


This work is motivated by the growing interest in injecting carbon dioxide into deep geological formations as a means of avoiding its atmospheric emissions and consequent global warming. Ideally, the injected greenhouse gas stays in the injection zone for a geologic time, eventually dissolves in the formation brine and remains trapped by mineralization. However, one of the potential problems associated with the geologic method of sequestration is that naturally present or inadvertently created conduits in the cap rock may result in a gas leakage from primary storage. Even in a supercritical state, the carbon dioxide viscosity and density are lower than those of the formation brine. Buoyancy tends to drive the leaked CO 2 plume upward. Theoretical and experimental studies of buoyancy-driven supercritical CO 2 flow, including estimation of time scales associated with plume evolution and migration, are critical for developing technology, monitoring policy, and regulations for safe carbon dioxide geologic sequestration. In this study, we obtain simple estimates of vertical plume propagation velocity taking into account the density and viscosity contrast between CO 2 and brine. We describe buoyancy-driven countercurrent flow of two immiscible phases by a Buckley-Leverett type model. The model predicts that a plume of supercritical carbon dioxide in a homogeneous water-saturated porous medium does not migrate upward like a bubble in bulk water. Rather, it spreads upward until it reaches a seal or until it becomes immobile. A simple formula requiring no complex numerical calculations describes the velocity of plume propagation. This solution is a simplification of a more comprehensive theory of countercurrent plume migration (Silin et al., 2007). In a layered reservoir, the simplified solution predicts a slower plume front propagation relative to a homogeneous formation with the same harmonic mean permeability. In contrast, the model yields much higher plume propagation estimates in a high-permeability conduit like a vertical fracture.


1. Explants of mammary tissue from pseudopregnant rabbits were cultured at 37 degrees C in air for 24-48h in Medium 199 buffered with 20mm-Hepes [4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1-piperazine-ethanesulphonic acid]. The medium contained insulin and corticosterone, or insulin, corticosterone and sheep prolactin in the presence or absence of ouabain, an inhibitor of Na(+)/K(+)-dependent adenosine triphosphatase. The responses of explants were assessed histologically, by measuring the tissue concentration of K(+), and by rates of synthesis of RNA, protein and fatty acids. The effect of ouabain on Na(+) and K(+) concentrations in slices of lactating rabbit mammary-gland tissue incubated for 1h at 37 degrees C in Krebs bicarbonate buffer was also studied. 2. Prolactin increased the concentration of K(+) in mammary explants, an effect prevented by ouabain. In slices of lactating tissue, there was a linear relationship between the log dose of ouabain (from 0.1 to 10mum) and increased Na(+) and decreased K(+) concentrations in the tissue. 3. Ouabain at concentrations up to 1mum did not affect the rate of synthesis of RNA, protein or fatty acids by explants cultured with insulin and corticosterone. By contrast, the stimulatory effect of prolactin on protein synthesis was diminished and the induction of medium-chain fatty acid synthesis by prolactin was almost abolished. RNA synthesis was unaffected. Histological examination showed no tissue damage by 1mum-ouabain. 4. Explants cultured in the presence of 2mum-ouabain for 24h retained their ability to respond to prolactin when the ouabain was removed from the culture medium. Between 24 and 48h they showed responses to prolactin of a magnitude similar to those of explants never exposed to ouabain. 5. These results show that a fully functional Na(+)/K(+)-dependent adenosine triphosphatase system is necessary for prolactin to promote secretory activity in rabbit mammary gland.


Automobiles, since the early years of industrial revolution, have satisfied the increasing need of transportation and speed. Even today they still are the most important and common transportation vehicles for the personal needs. They give the freedom of mobility on an individual level. They cover the driver in the public space giving him/her confidence and the comfort of a home. But they also represent driver's identity, so the other participants of the traffic interact with the driver through this image represented. Like a second skin over drivers' bodies, automobiles also serve as a form of reflection of the self; they are symbols of status and identity. This study is an extended proposal to a photographic series consists of portraits of customized automobile owners with their vehicles. It provides a framework for the photographic work and aims to summarize social theories on mass consumer culture and studies that describe automobile both as a symbol and as a commodity.


Motivated by its success in decoding turbo codes, we provide an analysis of the belief propagation algorithm on the turbo decoding graph with Gaussian densities. In this context, we are able to show that, under certain conditions, the algorithm converges and that-somewhat surprisingly-though the density generated by belief propagation may differ significantly from the desired posterior density, the means of these two densities coincide. Since computation of posterior distributions is tractable when densities are Gaussian, use of belief propagation in such a setting may appear unwarranted. Indeed, our primary motivation for studying belief propagation in this context stems from a desire to enhance our understanding of the algorithm's dynamics in a non-Gaussian setting, and to gain insights into its excellent performance in turbo codes. Nevertheless, even when the densities are Gaussian, belief propagation may sometimes provide a more efficient alternative to traditional inference methods.


Context. The results obtained by asteroseismology with data from space missions such as CoRoT and Kepler are providing new insights into stellar evolution. After five years of observations, CoRoT is continuing to provide high-quality data and we here present an analysis of the CoRoT observations of the double star HD 169392, complemented by ground-based spectroscopic observations. Aims. This work aims at characterising the fundamental parameters of the two stars, their chemical composition, the acoustic-mode global parameters including their individual frequencies, and their dynamics. Methods. We analysed HARPS observations of the two stars to derive their chemical compositions. Several methods were used and compared to determine the global properties of stars' acoustic modes and their individual frequencies from the photometric data of CoRoT. Results. The new spectroscopic observations and archival astrometric values suggest that HD 169392 is a weakly bound wide binary system. We obtained spectroscopic parameters for both components which suggest that they originate from the same interstellar cloud. However, only the signature of oscillation modes of HD 169392 A was measured; the signal-to-noise ratio of the modes in HD 169392B is too low to allow any confident detection. For HD 169392 A we were able to extract parameters of modes for ` = 0, 1, 2, and 3. The analysis of splittings and inclination angle gives two possible solutions: one with with splittings and inclination angles of 0.4−1.0 μHz and 20−40◦, the other with 0.2−0.5 μHz and 55−86◦. Modelling this star using the Asteroseismic Modeling Portal (AMP) gives a mass of 1.15 ± 0.01 M , a radius of 1.88 ± 0.02 R , and an age of 4.33 ± 0.12 Gyr. The uncertainties come from estimated errors on the observables but do not include uncertainties on the surface layer correction or the physics of stellar models.


Although distant supervision automatically generates training data for relation extraction, it also introduces false-positive (FP) and false-negative (FN) training instances to the generated datasets. Whereas both types of errors degrade the final model performance, previous work on distant supervision denoising focuses more on suppressing FP noise and less on resolving the FN problem. We here propose H-FND, a hierarchical false-negative denoising framework for robust distant supervision relation extraction, as an FN denoising solution. H-FND uses a hierarchical policy which first determines whether non-relation (NA) instances should be kept, discarded, or revised during the training process. For those learning instances which are to be revised, the policy further reassigns them appropriate relations, making them better training inputs. Experiments on SemEval-2010 and TACRED were conducted with controlled FN ratios that randomly turn the relations of training and validation instances into negatives to generate FN instances. In this setting, H-FND can revise FN instances correctly and maintains high F1 scores even when 50% of the instances have been turned into negatives. Experiment on NYT10 is further conducted to shows that H-FND is applicable in a realistic setting.


polyacrylate/nano-silicon dioxide nanocomposites were fabricated through a simple mixing process for resisting scratch and wear as coating. Chemical compatibility between polyacrylate matrix and nano-silicon dioxide (nano-SiO2) was achieved by functionalized nano-SiO2 via three silane coupling agents. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was done to characterize surface and wear morphology of the nanocomposites. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used for representing interfacial properties of the nanocomposites. A MM-200 machine and a Norman Tool RCA abrader were performed for testing friction and wear properties. SEM showed that incorporation of the nano-SiO2 functionalized with silane into the polyacrylate matrix showed a better dispersion than the composite without silane at low nanoparticle content (≤3 wt%). SEM also revealed that adhesive wear mechanism of the polyacrylate matrix was transited to dominated particle wear of the nanocomposites. An increase of glass transition temperature (Tg) was recorded via DSC at low nanoparticle content (1 wt%). Further addition of the nanoparticles to 3 wt% led to a 10°C increase in Tg comparing to neat polyacrylate. Results of friction and wear properties exhibited that friction coefficient and wear loss of the nanocomposites with silane were lower than those of the neat polyacrylate. The wear loss of the neat polyacrylate, the nanocomposite containing 3 wt% nanoparticles with silane KH570, and the nanocomposite with raw nano-particles were 108.6, 65.8, and 110.5mg, respectively. RCA results also showed a significant improvement of the nanocomposites in the presence of the nanoparticles with silane.


BACKGROUND
The cost of acute hospital care is often believed to increase with age among older persons. Our clinical experience in the acute hospital setting suggested that people aged 90 years and older may be a distinct cohort who have different health care needs and who use health resources differently from younger aged groups.

METHODS
To determine the cost of care for the oldest old and younger old patients in Massachusetts acute care hospitals, 1992 and 1993 discharge data from all nonfederal Massachusetts hospitals were examined (678 954 discharges) according to five age groups: 60 to 69 years (n=210 270), 70 to 79 years (n=256 781), 80 to 89 years (n=171 725), 90 to 99 years (n=39 170), and 100 or more years (n=1008). Average estimated total and ancillary costs per discharge and per diagnosis related group were calculated. Differences by gender and survivorship were also examined.

RESULTS
Hospitalization costs peaked in the 70- to 79-year age group and declined with age thereafter. Case mix was an important determinant of this trend. Despite lower cost per stay, average length of stay was longer for the oldest age groups. Ancillary costs accounted for 53% of the total costs per stay among the 60- to 69-year-olds and only 32% among the 100 or more-year- olds. For hospitalizations during which the patient died, the average cost per discharge decreased 61%, from $16886 for 60- to 69-year-olds to $6523 for centenarians. Costs were greater for decedents than for survivors, although these differences decreased dramatically with increasing age. Those aged 80 years and older tended to be hospitalized in nonteaching hospitals.

CONCLUSIONS
In the acute hospital setting, the oldest old cost less per admission than younger elderly patients. This finding must be considered when future health care costs are predicted for this fastest growing segment of our population.


In this paper, a generic and flexible optimisation methodology is developed to represent, model, solve and analyse the iron ore supply chain system by integrating of iron ore shipment, stockpiles and railing within a whole system. As a result, an integrated train-stockpile-ship timetable is created and optimised for improving efficiency of overall supply chain system. The proposed methodology provides better decision making on how to significantly improve rolling stock utilisation with the best cost-effectiveness ratio. Based on extensive computational experiments and analysis, insightful and quantitative advices are suggested for iron ore mine industry practitioners. The proposed methodology contributes to the sustainability of the environment by reducing pollution due to better utilisation of transportation resources and fuel.


From the practical experience gained in a neurological intensive-care ward criteria and parameters which require specific consideration in long-term artificial respiration are reported. These empiric data were gathered in the reanimation of 490 patients suffering from different illnesses of the nervous system. Treatment was most efficient in the cases of acute poliomyelitis, polyradiculoneuritis, botulism and myasthenia gravis. A detailed account is given of the metabolic changes observed in the application of artificial respiration. The facts reported indicate that during long-term artificial respiration the blood gas metabolism changes and the vital regulatory centres adapt to the condition.


This document describes the baseline single-shell tank (SST) waste retrieval sequence for the River Protection Project updated for Fiscal Year 2002. The double-shell tank (DST) space evaluation presents projected DST needs for Hanford for additional DSTs.


Mitt Romney accumulated his wealth as managing director of Bain Capital, a leveraged buyout fund (LBO). LBOs are driven by tax savings. Tax savings are transfers from other people to LBOs without any increase in GDP or national wealth. An LBO replaces the stock of established companies with debt. Johnson argues that because interest is deductible, the replacement can increase the value of the surviving stock by two to six times without any improvement in operating income. The increase in debt harms the private economy because the companies become very fragile and the leverage encourages the owner to bet the company.


Following a review of methods for measuring the microwave properties of dielectric materials and moisture measurement methods, majority of the thesis is concerned with the design, construction, and calibration of two different types of microstrip sensors for the determination of moisture content in rubber latex. The Microwave Office 2002 (MWO) was used to design both sensors the linear path and circular ring microstrip lines operating in the frequency range between 2 GHz and 3 GHz which gave the high correlation between dielectric properties and moisture content of latex. S-parameters of the sensors were measured using Professional Network Analyzer (PNA).
The microwave properties of interests were attenuation and Q-factor, the main focus of this thesis was to establish the relationship between the microwave properties of the sensors and moisture content in the rubber latex. The actual moisture content was found from standard oven drying method. The theoretical part described the variation in attenuation with frequency for various percentages of moisture content of the sample. The analysis was used to determine the optimum permittivity, width, height and impedance of the microwave substrate for a wide dynamic input range of the sensors. The sensors were fabricated and tested for a range of moisture content. All the sensors were calibrated using standard microwave calibration techniques. Additionally, calibration equations were developed to establish the empirical relationship between the measured attenuation and Q-factors with the actual moisture content. All the results were validated with the actual moisture content.
The microstrip ring and line sensor were successfully developed in prediction of moisture content for rubber latex. Both sensors give a different performance in term of sensitivity and mean error. The microstrip line sensor gives a good sensitivity compared to microstrip ring sensor with sensitivity for microstrip linear and microstrip ring sensors are 13.698 %/dB and 3.0697 %/dB respectively. While the microstrip ring sensor gives a smaller mean error compared to microstrip line sensor with mean error for microstrip ring and line sensor are 0.023 and 0.095 respectively.


In the present study, we have attempted to produce the porous Ti–Al intermetallic based alloys by pressure-sintering of the elemental powders of Ti and Al through a combustion reaction, with a NaCl space holder to achieve the development of a highly porous structure. The powders of Ti (particle size: <45 µm) and Al (particle size: <45 µm) were mixed to various total compositions of Ti–0-40 Al (at.%), and NaCl (particle size: 300–400 µm) was mixed with the Ti/Al powder to give a highly porous structure. The mixed powder was sintered at 700 °C under a constant pressure of 30 MPa to form cylindrical specimens with a diameter of 20 mm. The soaking of the specimens in pure water allows for the removal of NaCl (with a volume fraction of 60 %) and the formation of the pores to achieve a controlled relative density of 0.4. The present process can produce porous Ti–Al alloys with various compositions. In as-sintered Ti–Al specimens, an inhomogeneous microstructure consisting of Ti particles surrounded by the a Ti–Al alloy layer (various Ti–Al intermetallic phases) was observed. The as-sintered specimens exhibited the brittle behavior under compression, which is independent of their Al content. However, in a Ti–20Al alloy heat-treated at 1300 °C, a nearly Ti_3Al single-phase microstructure appeared in the porous specimen. The heat-treated porous Ti–20Al alloy shows both a high plateau-strength level of approximately 100 MPa and a high plateau-end strain over 50%, resulting in a high absorption energy. The present results demonstrate that controlling the microstructure for the formation of the Ti_3Al single-phase would be an effective method to achieve high energy absorption capacity of the porous Ti–Al alloy.


Abstract The Castlecomer Fauna, a Konservat-Lagerstätte from the Upper Carboniferous of Ireland, is dominated by two species of exceptionally preserved spinicaudatan conchostracan branchiopod crustaceans; over 300 articulated specimens are known from short lengths of core from two boreholes. The spinicaudatans were entombed at various angles to bedding in thin event beds deposited in a paralic environment. Cuticle is the only tissue represented. The fossils are essentially two-dimensional as specimens collapsed following decay-induced loss of the structural strength of the cuticle. Some three-dimensionality was retained, however, as clay-grade material, probably sediment, infiltrated the carapace during or after burial, preventing the valves from being compacted to the same plane as the body of the specimen. Cuticle-lined voids created by decay of the labile tissues (notably within the tubelike antennal rami) were lined or infilled by authigenic clay minerals that were subsequently metamorphosed. The antennae, mandibles, distal parts of the claspers, and the telson are preserved in excellent detail, often retaining all or most of their original relief. Other anatomical features (antennal protopods, head, proximal part of claspers, trunk appendages) are usually preserved in two dimensions, either as a film of carbon or a dark-colored stain. The antennules, maxillules, and maxillae are rarely preserved. Decay experiments confirm that this variation reflects differences in the recalcitrance (thickness and degree of sclerotization) of the cuticle that covered different parts of the body. Complete decay of certain appendages precedes appreciable deterioration in the morphology of others. Some of the disparity exhibited by exceptionally preserved fossil arthropods is likely to be taphonomic rather than biological in origin.


The effect of co-doping LaCoO(3) with Ni and Nb has been investigated in the two solid solution series (1 - x)LaCoO(3)-xLaNi(2/3)Nb(1/3)O(3) and (1 - y)LaCo(2/3)Ni(1/3)O(3)-yLaNi(2/3)Nb(1/3)O(3). The materials were shown to be stoichiometric with respect to oxygen. The compositional effect on the evolution of the crystal structure, thermal expansion and electrical conductivity is reported. The chemical stability of LaCoO(3) in a reducing atmosphere was improved and the thermal expansion was suppressed at higher levels of Nb-substitution. The materials with mixed oxidation states on the B-site possessed superior electrical transport properties compared to solid solutions with cations in mainly isovalent oxidation states. The evolution of the electronic conductivity, thermal expansion and crystal structural is discussed with emphasis on the oxidation states of Ni and Co, and the spin transitions of Co.


Light is important for plant life as a source of energy to drive photosynthesis but also as an environmental signal regulating development or cellular events such as resetting of the circadian clock. Light itself can cause stress such as excess light, fluctuating light, photoperiod and ultraviolet light stress. Light quality, quantity and light duration are important sources of information to prepare plants for future light stress events. Recurring light stress results in acclimation processes to the changing light environment. Furthermore, light regulates the responses of plants to diverse biotic and abiotic stresses. For example, short day conditions or shady environments prime thermotolerance and increase cold acclimation. Similarly, during drought stress, light signaling is important for the plant´s stress response. Additionally, the light environment affects the plant´s responses to biotic intruders such as pathogens or insect herbivores. Light influence many stress responses resulting in positive growth-defense trade-offs. Under shade, however, plants prioritize growth over defense and stress responses. In this review, we summarize the impact of light as a stressor and its influences on abiotic and biotic stress responses with special focus on the role of the different light receptors and the crosstalk between light signaling components and stress response pathways.


This dissertation is devoted to the analysis of various aspects of inefficiency in the political economy. It consists of four self-containing theoretical essays. The first two chapters deal with the interplay between inefficiency and commitment. Chapter 1 studies the problem of commitment in autocratic regimes and its implications for growth. Chapter 2 argues that the absence of commitment undermines the validity of the Coase theorem. The next two chapters address alternative sources of inefficiency, abstracting from commitment-related problems. Chapter 3 discusses inefficiencies arising in organizations whose members possess veto power and suggests a way of mitigating the problem. Finally, Chapter 4 analyzes the impact of demand linkages on the efficiency of lobbying for trade policy. Chapter 1. "Autocracy, Devolution and Growth" Some autocracies have sustained high economic growth for many decades; others have stagnated at low levels of production. Paradoxically, the stagnating autocracies appear to possess more natural resources and be more resistant to political change than the growing autocracies. The paper argues that the scope for capital accumulation and growth in an autocracy is largely determined by the autocrat's incentive to cling to power. The main result of the paper is that there will be private capital accumulation only if the autocrat's benefits from political control are not too high. The reason is that, as capital accumulates and growth slows down, the autocrat faces an increasing temptation to expropriate the capitalists. Since expropriation eliminates growth, the autocrat may voluntarily refrain from expropriating if future growth is sufficiently large; otherwise, the temptation to expropriate can only be resisted through a credible commitment, that is, by devolving some political power. For autocrats with large benefits of control, for example valuable natural resource rents, devolution of power may always be unattractive. As a result, capitalists realize that they will eventually be expropriated, and capital accumulation therefore never starts. On the other hand, autocrats with small resource rents will eventually devolve power, since this commitment is necessary to sustain growth. Therefore, capitalists are willing to start accumulating despite the autocratic regime. In other words, autocracies are vulnerable to the resource curse. Chapter 2. "The Coase Theorem Is False" (with Tore Ellingsen) The paper provides simple and robust counterexamples to the Coase Theorem. More precisely, we show that equilibrium investments in club goods can be suboptimally small despite the presence of well-defined and perfectly protected property rights and the absence of transaction costs and informational asymmetries. The reason is that, in equilibrium, a club of owners will typically not exercise their right to exclude outsiders, preferring instead to exercise their right to sell access. As long as the club of owners does not have all the bargaining power in such ex post access negotiations, strategic non-membership provides a valuable free-riding opportunity. Chapter 3. "Club-in-the-Club: Reform under Unanimity" (with Erik Berglof, Mike Burkart and Guido Friebel) In many organizations, decisions are taken by unanimity. We analyze a model of an organization in which members with heterogeneous productivity privately contribute to a common good. Under unanimity, the least efficient member imposes her preferred effort choice on the entire organization. In the presence of externalities and an incomplete charter, the threat of forming an "inner organization" can undermine the veto power of the less efficient members and coerce them to exert more effort. We identify the conditions under which the threat of forming an inner organization is never executed, and under which inner organizations are equilibrium outcomes, and provide a rationale for the diversity of decision rules. Chapter 4. "Protection for Sale to Oligopolists" This paper modifies Grossman and Helpman's "Protection for Sale" model by allowing demand linkages and oligopolistic competition. It shows that increased substitutability between products weakens interest groups' incentives to lobby. For the case of two industries it obtains a particularly simple result: the protection of the organized industry's product falls, whereas the protection of the unorganized industry's product increases with product substitutability. The model suggests that empirical studies of the "Protection for Sale" may overstate the lobby groups' desire for protection.


Measuring the gain in income from migration is complicated by non-random selection of migrants from the general population, making it difficult to obtain an appropriate comparison group of non-migrants. This paper uses a migrant lottery to overcome this problem, providing an experimental measure of the income gains from migration. New Zealand allows a quota of Tongans to immigrate each year with a lottery to choose among the excess number of applicants. A unique survey conducted by the authors in these two countries allows experimental estimates of the income gains from migration by comparing the incomes of migrants to those who applied to migrate, but whose names were not drawn in the lottery, after allowing for the effect of non-compliance among some of those whose names were drawn. The authors also conducted a survey of individuals who did not apply for the lottery. Comparing this non-applicant group with the migrants enables assessment of the degree to which non-experimental methods can provide an unbiased estimate of the income gains from migration. They find evidence of migrants being positively selected in terms of both observed and unobserved skills. As a result, non-experimental methods are found to overstate the gains from migration, by 9 to 82 percent. A good instrumental variable works best, while difference-in-differences and bias-adjusted propensity-score matching also perform comparatively well.


In a slack deeferented m. triceps surae about 45% of 400 stretch receptors under study have a spontaneous discharge. The following facts indicated that some intrafusal fibres in the slack muscles are presumably in the prestretch state: 1) the isotonic contraction of the muscle diminished or abolished the spontaneous discharge; 2) at the beginning of the stretch of the slack muscle the initial slowing in the discharge frequency of the unit sometimes appeared; this slowing did not depend on the type of unit and occured in a unit among many others in the same preparation and under the same conditions of experiment; 3) the dynamic thresholds of spontaneously discharging units were lower than that of units without spontaneous discharge. It is suggested that a static stretch occurs in some muscle spindles, if the distance between two points of big fibres insertion on extrafusal fibres or tendon fascicules is longer than the length of intrafusal fibres. The initial slowing at the beginning of stretch is presumably due to viscous damping forces which must be higher in more viscous extrafusal fibres in comparison to that of intrafusal fibres.


We comprehensively studied the cellular immune response during acute human hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection by monthly prospective sampling of persons at high risk of infection. In 19 of 23 subjects, interferon‐gamma–secreting T cells specific for 1 or more peptides spanning the entire HCV polyprotein were detected 1 to 3 months after infection. The median time to development of interferon gamma responses to HCV peptides was 33 days (range, 29‐50 days), and these responses peaked between 180 and 360 days. Nineteen subjects had sufficient follow‐up to determine outcome, with 15 (79%) developing persistent viremia and 4 (21%) clearing viremia spontaneously. Of those with progression to chronic infection and detectable T cell responses, all lost recognition of one or more antigens recognized during acute infection, and the median reduction in the magnitude of responses was 85%. Most significantly, despite ongoing viremia, those who had persistent infection did not develop new epitope specificities after the first 6 months of infection. In conclusion, in most individuals, the CD8+ T cell responses generated early in HCV infection decline in peripheral blood and are not replaced with new responses. Supplementary material for this article can be found on the HEPATOLOGY website (http://www.interscience.wiley.com/jpages/0270‐9139/suppmat/index.html). (HEPATOLOGY 2005;42:104–112.)


Peroxisome proliferators (PPs) comprise the largest group of non-genotoxic carcinogens and include both synthetic and physiological ligands like hypoliidemic fibrates, anti-diabetic thiazolidinediones (TZD), non-steroidal anti-intlammatory drugs (NSAIDs), herbicedes, phthalate ester plasticizers, industrail solvents, polyunsaturated fatty acids and arachidonic acid metabolites. These structurally diverse compunds induce predictable responses in the rodent liver, including peroxisome proliferation, hepatocyte hyperplasia and hypertrophy and increased transcription particulary of genes involved in fatty acid meabolism. Long-term exposure results in carcinomas, PPs activate the nuclear receptors named peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARSs). They exist in three distinct isoforms; PPARα, PParγ and PPARδ, show divergent patterns of tissue expression and are thought to perform different physiological functions. In this thesis, PPs is referred to as all compounds activating either one of the three PPAR isoforms.In the late seventies the hypolipidemic PP ciprofibrate was shown to induce hypergastrinemia and secondary hyperplasia of the ECL cell in rat oxyntic mucosa after 2 months dosing, and formation of malignant carcinoid tumors after life-time (2 years) dosing. The results were explained by inhibition of gastric acid secretion. More recent studies rather suggest that the hypergastrinemia is induced by a mechanism indepentant of acid inhibition. Daily assessments reveal no increase in stomach pH, and co-administration with the proton pump inhibitor (PPI) omeprazole produces a potentiating hypergastrinemic effect. Significant hypergastrinemia is reached after at least 14 days of regular dosing, and further stimulation induces marked increase in antral gastrin mRNA abundance and modest growth of the G-cells. Ciprofibrate on the antral open-type G and D-cells has been suggested.Gastrin has a fundamental function as the main physiological stimulator of gsstric acid secretion and a potent growth factor as the main physiological stimulator of gastric acid secretion and a potent growth factor in the oxyntic mucosa. The specific effect on ECL cell mucosal cells, and particularly the cellular localization of the gastrin receptor (CCK-2), is still debated.In paper I, we used elutriation centrifugation of dispersed oxyntic mucosal cells from hypergastrinemic rats to examine long-term (6 weeks) trophic effects of gastrin, particularly on ECL cells and the parietal cell lineage in comparison to the whole oxyntic mucosa. In two groups of rats with different levels of PPI-evoked hypergastrinemia, total mucosal cell number, percentage of ECL-and parietal cells, and histamine content were determined before elutration fractions. The size and abundance of ECL cells were progressively increased after exposure to elevated levels of gastrin, as assessed by marked shifts in distrubution between the different elutriation fractions. Contrary, independent of the level of hypergastrinemia, the percentage of parietal cells and the distribution in different concentration-dependent specific trophic effect on ECL cells and a general proliferative effect on oxyntic mucosa, including the parietal cell lineage.In paper II, the localization of CCk-2 receptor-binding sites in corpus mucosa was demonstrated by arterial infusion of a fluorescein-labeled CCK-8 peptide (Fluo-CCK-8) to totally isolated, vascularly perfused rat stomachs. Fluo-CCK-8 was added in a concentration physiological for gastrin (130 pmol L-1) and the stomachs were stimulated for 1 minute before biopsies were taken. Using immunohistochemistry, bound Fluo-CCK-8 was found in the basal part of oxyntic mucosa, co-localized with histidine decarboxylase(HDC) immunoreactive ECL cells. No binding was found in the midglandular region were parietal cells dominate. Biological activity of Fluo-CCK-8 was confirmed by an immediate and marked increase of histamine in the venous effluent, and the specificity of the binding was proved by an abolished Fluo-CCK-8 binding in stomachs pre-perfused with excess amounts of native CCK-8. In conclusion, a physiological concentration (for gastrin) of the biologically active Fluo-CCK-8 was used to simultaneously demonstrate a functional response (histamine release) and CCK-2 receptor-binding sites localized to ECL cells in the basal part of corpus, and not to the midglandular region dominated by parietal cells.In paper III, laser microbeam microdissection (LMM) and laser pressure catapulting (LPC) were used to isolate single parietal and ECL cells from cell smears after dispersion of rat oxyntic mucosa and enrichment by eluriation. The mRNA from each single cell was isolated and subjected to one-step multiplex or conventional reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and nested PCR. For each individual cells, primers specific for the CCK-2 receptor were used in combination with primers for both the parietal cell marker gene H+/K+-ATPase and the ECL cell marker gene HDC. CCK-2 receptor mRNA was demonstrated in 33% of the parietal cells and 40% of the ECL cells. Representative CCK-2 receptor PCR products from both cell types were identical and >99% homologous to the published sequence for rat CCK-2 receptor mRNA, as verified by restriction enzyme cleavage and DNA sequencing. In conclusion, laser-assisted capture of dispersed cells allows sensitive and cell-specific analysis of several mRNA sequences in one individual cell. The results show that at least some of the parietal cells express the CCK-2 receptor mRNA.In paper IV, the effects on rat antral and oxyntic endocrine cells after long-term (8 weeks) oral dosing with the PP ciprofibrate were examined by looking at changes in morphology and mRNA expression. Also, the ability of the somatostatin analogue actreotide LAR to attenuate these effects was examined. Ciprofibrate increased gastrin mRNA abundance, the number and area of G-cells, and induced hypergastinemia. Concomitantly, there was a lack of reduction in antral D-cell parameters, which normally parallels an increase in G-cell function. Profound ECL cell hyperplasia was confirmed by increased HDC and chromogranin A (CgA) mRNA levels, number and area og ECL cells and plasma histamine level. Octreotide LAR did not affect the ciprofibrate-induced increase in G-cell parameters, but all parameters of both normal ECL cells and ECL cell hyperplasia, were ruduced. In conclusion, the PP ciprofibrate stimulates the G-cell activity by a mechanism unaffected by octreotide, but octreotide does inhibit both basal and gastrin-stimulated ECL function and growth.In paper V, implication of the PPARα receptor in the G-cell stimulating mechanism of ciprofibrate was elucidated by investigating whether another PPARα receptor in the G-cell stimulating mechanism of ciprofibrate was elucidated by investigating whether another PPARα-specific ligand (WY-14643) and a PPARγ-specific ligand (troglitazsone) could mimic the effects. Troglitazone did not induce hypergastrinemia, but to a lesser extent than ciprofibrate. Increases in ECL cell parameters were consistant with the level of hypergastrinemia. The oral dosing of both ciprofibrate and WY-15643 increased mRNA abundance of the peroxisomal enzyme acyl-CoA oxidase (ACO), which is a widely used marker of PPARα activation, and reduced mRNA abundance of the PPARα receptor. Both these changes were restricted to the antral mucosa and no effects were seen in oxyntic mucosa. By immunohistochemistry, the PPARα receptor was found in antrum and in co-localization with at least some of the G-cells. Maximal plasma gastrin concentration during the study and the increase in liver weight (in % of total body weight) were signiificantly correlated. In conclusion, these results support the hypotheses that PPARα-specific ligands could stimulate G-cells by acting locally from the stomach lumen through antral PPARα.


Link structures among items within an E-commerce Web site can be regarded as a potential recommendation that helps new consumers quickly locate relevant products. In this paper, combining a modified version of Google's PageRank method with economic analysis of word of mouth, we investigate whether a product's position within a network composed of recommendation links is incrementally informative about its future sales. Based on data from Amazon.com, we document that with consumer word of mouth and other product characteristics controlled, the position of a product within a recommendation network does influence consumers' purchase decisions, and models incorporating link structure have a higher incremental predictive power of future sales than models without. In addition, as time elapses, the relative weights consumers placed on recommendations with price discount and those without are different. Last, we develop a learning mechanism through which we find the optimal damping value of the PageRank IR model in the Amazon context. Our results show that compared to general Internet surfing behavior, consumer consumption on Amazon is less random. We conclude that even though the product position within a recommendation network does influence customers' purchase behaviors, product sales are still mainly driven by their own product characteristics.


After the end of World War I, international pressures prevented the Allies from implementing direct colonial rule over the former Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire. Instead, the Allies created a system of mandates for the governance of the Middle East. France was assigned Lebanon and Syria, and Britain was assigned Iraq, Palestine, and Transjordan. First published in 1976, Britain in Iraq has long been recognized as the definitive history of the mandate period, providing a meticulous and engaging account of Britain's political involvement in Iraq as well as rare insights into the motives behind the founding of the Iraqi state. Peter Sluglett presents a historical narrative of the development and implementation of the mandate in the face of considerable opposition in both Iraq and Britain and shows how the British maintained a "reliable" group of Iraqi clients in power to protect imperial interests. Sluglett explores the changing relationship between Britain and Iraq over the eighteen years of occupation and mandate, the interactions between Shi'ite and Sunni populations, the position of the Kurds, the boundary between Turkey and northern Iraq, and policies relating to defense, land tenure and the tribes, and education. A new conclusion attempts to analyze the legacy of the mandate and to offer some explanation for Iraq's continuing weakness as a state and the structural obstacles preventing the emergence of a plural political system.


We present an alternative way of measuring the Gorenstein projective (resp., injective) dimension of modules via a new type of complete projective (resp., injective) resolutions. As an application, we easily recover well known theorems such as the Auslander–Bridger formula. Our approach allows us to relate the Gorenstein global dimension of a ring R to the cohomological invariants silp(R) and spli(R) introduced by Gedrich and Gruenberg by proving that leftG-gldim(R) = max{leftsilp(R), leftspli(R)}, recovering a recent theorem of [I. Emmanouil, J. Algebra 372 (2012), 376–396]. Moreover, this formula permits to recover the main theorem of [D. Bennis and N. Mahdou, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 138 (2010), 461–465]. Furthermore, we prove that, in the setting of a left and right Noetherian ring, the Gorenstein global dimension is left-right symmetric, generalizing a theorem of Enochs and Jenda. Finally, using recent work of I. Emmanouil and O. Talelli, we compute the Gorenstein global dimension for various types of rings such as commutative א0-Noetherian rings and group rings.


Professional societies, established to support academic and professional staff in higher education, need to be vigilant of regional and international trends that affect their core business. In this paper, we provide an analysis of political, economic, social and technological factors that are impacting upon the Australasian higher education environment through considering the case of the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (ascilite). Drawing on two ascilite membership surveys along with the relevant literature we identify significant challenges for professional societies and offer some strategic insights for similar regional societies and their executive teams.


In this paper, we consider the exact top-k query problem in wireless sensor networks, i.e., where one seeks to find the k highest reported values as well as the complete set of nodes that reported them. Our primary contribution in this context is EXTOK, a provably correct and topology-independent new filtering-based algorithm for processing exact top-k queries. As a secondary contribution we confirm a previous result of ours by showing that the efficiency of top-k query processing algorithms, including EXTOK, can be further improved by simply choosing a proper underlying logical tree topology. We examine EXTOK's performance with respect to a number of parameters and different logical tree topologies while using both synthetic and real data sets. Our simulation reveal that EXTOK consistently outperforms the current state-of-the-art algorithm by a very significant margin and regardless of the underlying logical tree topology.


Although qubit coherence times and gate fidelities are continuously improving, logical encoding is essential to achieve fault tolerance in quantum computing. In most encoding schemes, correcting or tracking errors throughout the computation is necessary to implement a universal gate set without adding significant delays in the processor. Here we realize a classical control architecture for the fast extraction of errors based on multiple cycles of stabilizer measurements and subsequent correction. We demonstrate its application on a minimal bit-flip code with five transmon qubits, showing that real-time decoding and correction based on multiple stabilizers is superior in both speed and fidelity to repeated correction based on individual cycles. Furthermore, the encoded qubit can be rapidly measured, thus enabling conditional operations that rely on feed-forward, such as logical gates. This co-processing of classical and quantum information will be crucial in running a logical circuit at its full speed to outpace error accumulation.