Can art express things that science can´t? Communicating experiences of wine attributes is one important part of the practical knowledge of professional wine tasters working in different contexts. From this point of view a central question arise concerning how common terms and concepts emerge and how they are communicated in the wine tasting situation. The analytical perspective have been generated in attempts to quantify experienced and verbalised attributes, using analytical methods with no regard to context . The synthetic perspective, on the other hand, assumes that the wine taster first acquires an overall understanding of a wine's character and then, to the best of his ability, breaks this experience down into separate attributes. The synthetic experience is characterized by being generated during the interaction between the taster and the wine and therefore is related to the context. The synthetic experience, in comparison with the analytical one, is hard to grasp with traditional methods. On the other hand, when adapting an aesthetic perspective on the sensory experience we conclude that there are dimensions of the practical knowledge of wine tasters that can be explored in pragmatic-constitutive studies.The technique, inspired by the Dialogue seminar method, was applied in order to compare the judgements of attributes in four wines within different tasting groups of professional wine tasters. It was found that the variances in the terminology for the attributes investigated could be explained by the use of different markings for the same attribute. This indicates that the Dialogue seminar method, with applied modifications, might be a useful tool when training professional wine tasters. This might generate an overall understanding of the reality experienced by the wine taster. Based on our findings, we suggest that the method also can be used in order to introduce new concepts which might be included in a common language and thus make a connection between the analytical and synthetic experience.


Under which conditions and to what extent do governments pursue unpopular social policy reforms for which they might be punished in the next election? This article shows that there exists substantial cross-cabinet variation in the degree to which govern- ments take unpopular measures and argues that current studies cannot adequately explain this variation. Using insights from prospect theory, a psychological theory of choice under risk, this study hypothesises that governments only engage in unpopular reform if they face a deteriorating socio-economic situation, a falling political position, or both. If not, they shy away from the risk of reform. A fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fs/QCA) of the social policy reform activities pursued by German, Dutch, Danish and British cabinets between 1979 and 2005 identifies a deteriorating socio-economic situation as necessary for unpopular reform.It is only sufficient for triggering reform,however,if the political position is also deteriorating and/or the cabinet is of rightist composition.This study's findings further the scholarly debate on the politics of welfare state reform by offering a micro-foundation that helps one to understand what induces political actors aspiring to be re-elected to engage in electorally risky unpopular reform.


A new method based on the sorption of the nano-barium strontium titanate immobilized on the silica gel G(GBST) to heavy metal ions, included Mn(Ⅱ), Cu2+, Ni2+,Co2+ and Ag+, in waste water. The effects of process parameters such as pH, contact time, regeneration conditions and the effects of common coexisting ions on the ions uptake were investigated. The results showed that the manganese, copper, nickel, cobalt and silver ions studied could be quantitatively retained at a pH value range of 7~9. The adsorption capacities of GBST for manganese, copper, nickel, cobalt and silver ions were found to be 8.2 mg/g, 18.3 mg/g, 4.2 mg/g, 2.2 mg/g and 3.1 mg/g, respectively. The heavy metal ions adsorbed on the sorbent could be eluated completely with diluted HNO3 solutions. The GBST can be used as an effective adsorbent for the treatment of wastewaters contaminated with manganese, copper, nickel, cobalt and silver ions.


Background: Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) usually leads to paroxysms of short lasting but very severe pain. Between the attacks the patient is usually asymptomatic, but a constant dull background pain may persist in some cases. The mechanisms associated with the development of this chronic pain are not well understood. Objective: To determine trigeminal nociceptive fiber impairment in patients with TN comparing symptomatic and nonsymptomatic sides using the nociceptive blink reflex (nBR) and pain-related evoked potentials (PREP) and to identify possible central mechanisms of pain chronicity. Methods: We investigated 24 patients with TN without and 18 patients with TN with concomitant chronic facial pain. PREP and nBR were investigated following nociception specific electrical stimulation on both sides of the face and in each division of the trigeminal nerve (V1, V2, and V3). Results: We found prolonged PREP and nBR latencies and reduced amplitudes comparing symptomatic and nonsymptomatic sides in all patients with TN. In patients with chronic facial pain, however, PREP amplitudes were larger and latencies shorter compared to patients with TN without facial pain, while nBR results were similar across groups. Conclusion: The data suggest an impairment of the trigeminal nociceptive system due to demyelination and/or axonal dysfunction on the symptomatic side and locate this defect close to the root entry zone in the brainstem. Moreover, central facilitation of trigeminal nociceptive processing was observed in patients with trigeminal neuralgia with concomitant chronic facial pain indicating overactivation of central sensory transmission. This may represent a possible adaptive mechanism for the development of chronic pain.


A visual planimetric study of atherosclerosis of the aorta and the coronary arteries was conducted in 1571 residents of the city of Ryazan and in 769 inhabitants of the Ryazan region dying in the age of 10 and 69 years, as well as in 627 normal individuals engaged in physical and intellectual work, living in rural and urban settlements, dying in the age of 40 to 69 years (data from Ryazan, Tallinn, Kharkov). A randomized study has demonstrated that urban population displays more distinct atherosclerotic changes in the examined vessels than the rural population displays more distinct atherosclerotic changes in the examined vessels than the rural population. The differences in the severity of coronary atherosclerosis were significant between the compared groups of normal individuals engaged in intellectual activities, and insignificant between the groups of those engaged in physical labour. The severity of aortic atherosclerosis did not show any statistically significant differences between the groups of normal individuals living in urban and rural areas.


Stress situations are present in a developing country, and a few of the common problems usually seen by a GP are briefly described. Causes of emotional stress include: (a) interpersonal differences between family members, neighbours, etc.; (b) differences with ancestral spirits; (c) going against accepted traditional taboos; (d) differences with traditional leaders, chiefs, traditional healers (inyangas) and people who cast spells. The clinical presentation includes (a) conversion syndrome (hysteria); (b) headache; (c) inexplicable pains; (d) 'something moving up and down in one's body; (e) palpitations; (f) pain in the heart; (g) symptoms of depression; and (h) frank psychosis. Diagnosis may be difficult and is usually by exclusion. Gaining the confidence of the patient is important; ignorance of the patient's language and customs puts the doctor at a disadvantage. Where symptoms are of long standing, treatment is difficult, prognosis poor, and most cases need to be referred to a psychiatrist.


In this work, we study the reflection properties of coplanar waveguides (CPW) periodically loaded with shunt connected capacitances and periodically perturbed by varying the slot width. These structures are of interest because the low pass frequency response with spurious frequency bands, inherent to the presence of capacitors, can be improved. This is achieved through the attenuation of frequency parasitics that is obtained by the introduction of slot width modulation. Both sinusoidal and square wave patterns are considered and the effects of the relative position of reactive elements with regard to the perturbation geometry is analysed. According to coupled mode theory, the central frequencies of the rejected bands in periodic transmission media are given by the spectrum of the perturbation function. However, it is demonstrated that, due to the presence of capacitors, multiple spurious bands can be simultaneously suppressed even in the case of a singly tuned (sinusoidal) perturbation geometry. This result points out that the frequency selective behaviour associated to the presence of slot width modulation can not be interpreted in the framework of coupled mode theory, since the rejection of spurious bands in periodic loaded CPWs is not merely given by the spectrum of the perturbation geometry.


SUMMARY The extraordinary diversity of larval form and function in marine invertebrates has motivated many studies of development, ecology, and evolution. Among organisms with pelagic development via a larval stage, this diversity is often reduced to a dichotomy between two broad nutritional categories: planktotrophy and lecithotrophy. Despite the clear utility of the planktotrophy–lecithotrophy dichotomy to those interested in the history or consequences of life history patterns, it is also clear that a number of larval forms do not fit neatly into either of these general categories. Here we review studies of these intermediate larval forms, focusing on descriptions of larvae known as facultative feeders. Recent descriptions of larval development suggest that facultative feeders and other intermediate larval forms are not as rare as commonly assumed. We assess the importance of these forms for models of life‐history evolution and call for a more‐detailed and nuanced view of larval biology to account for their existence. Clearer knowledge of the phylogenetic distribution and frequency of occurrence of larvae that exhibit intermediate nutritional requirements is also essential for evaluating current ideas on evolutionary transitions between planktotrophy and lecithotrophy. Finally, intermediate larval types provide valuable and underutilized opportunities for testing hypotheses in the fields of larval ecology and the evolution of development.


In the last decade, Australia's marine and coastal policy-makers have sought to involve both the broad community and specific stakeholders in the development of policy for the marine and coastal environments, and in the stewardship of these environments. Such community involvement can lead to capacity-building within agencies, stakeholder groups and the community at large. In this paper we review the recent history of marine and coastal policies in Australia and, using specific examples, show that five elements of capacity-building, namely integrative place-making, collaborative policy-making, inclusive stakeholder involvement, and building relational resources, have emerged to some extent in Australian coastal and marine policies of the 1990s. We suggest that opportunities exist for developing these elements further, and that the process of collaborative learning is one way to help achieve this.


This paper presents the overall scope of the NASA Lewis High Performance Aircraft Propulsion Research Program. High performance fighter aircraft of interest include supersonic fighters with such capabilities as short takeoff and vertical landing (STOYL) and/or high maneuverability. The NASA Lewis effort involving STOVL propulsion systems is focused primarily on component-level experimental and analytical research. The highmaneuverability portion of this effort, called the High Alpha Technology Program (HATP), is part of a cooperative program among NASA's Lewis, Langley, Ames, and Dryden facilities. The overall objective of the NASA Inlet Experiments portion of the HATP, which NASA Lewis leads, is to develop and enhance inlet technology that will ensure high performance and stability of the propulsion system during aircraft maneuvers at high angles of attack. To accomplish this objective, both wind-tunnel and flight experiments are used to obtain steady-state and dynamic data, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes are used for analyses. This overview of the High Performance Aircraft Propulsion Research Program includes a sampling of the results obtained thus far and plans for the future.


Malignant hyperthermia (MH) is a hypermetabolic disease triggered by volatile anesthetics and succinylcholine in genetically predisposed individuals. Nine point mutations in the skeletal muscle ryanodine receptor (RYR) gene have so far been identified and shown to correlate with the MH-susceptible phenotype, yet direct evidence linking abnormal Ca2+ homeostasis to mutations in the RYR1 cDNA has been obtained for few mutations. In this report, we show for the first time that cultured human skeletal muscle cells derived from MH-susceptible individuals exhibit a half-maximal halothane concentration causing an increase in intracellular Ca2+ concentration which is twofold lower than that of cells derived from MH-negative individuals. We also present evidence demonstrating that overexpression of wild-type RYR1 in cells obtained from MH-susceptible individuals does not restore the MH-negative phenotype, as far as Ca2+ transients elicited by halothane are concerned; on the other hand, overexpression of a mutated RYR1 Arg163Cys Ca2+ channel in muscle cells obtained from MH-negative individuals conveys hypersensitivity to halothane. Finally, our results show that the resting Ca2+ concentration of cultured skeletal muscle cells from MH-negative and MH-susceptible individuals is not significantly different.


Background The effectiveness of currently licensed vaccines against influenza has not been clearly established, especially among individuals at increased risk for complications from influenza. We used a test-negative approach to estimate influenza vaccine effectiveness (IVE) against hospitalization with laboratory-confirmed influenza based on data collected from the Global Influenza Hospital Surveillance Network (GIHSN). Methods and Findings This was a multi-center, prospective, active surveillance, hospital-based epidemiological study during the 2012–2013 influenza season. Data were collected from hospitals participating in the GIHSN, including five in Spain, five in France, and four in the Russian Federation. Influenza was confirmed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. IVE against hospitalization for laboratory-confirmed influenza was estimated for adult patients targeted for vaccination and who were swabbed within 7 days of symptom onset. The overall adjusted IVE was 33% (95% confidence interval [CI], 11% to 49%). Point estimates of IVE were 23% (95% CI, −26% to 53%) for influenza A(H1N1)pdm09, 30% (95% CI, −37% to 64%) for influenza A(H3N2), and 43% (95% CI, 17% to 60%) for influenza B/Yamagata. IVE estimates were similar in subjects <65 and ≥65 years of age (35% [95% CI, −15% to 63%] vs.31% [95% CI, 4% to 51%]). Heterogeneity in site-specific IVE estimates was high (I2 = 63.4%) for A(H1N1)pdm09 in patients ≥65 years of age. IVE estimates for influenza B/Yamagata were homogenous (I2 = 0.0%). Conclusions These results, which were based on data collected from the GIHSN during the 2012–2013 influenza season, showed that influenza vaccines provided low to moderate protection against hospital admission with laboratory-confirmed influenza in adults targeted for influenza vaccination. In this population, IVE estimates against A(H1N1)pdm09 were sensitive to age group and study site. Influenza vaccination was moderately effective in preventing admissions with influenza B/Yamagata for all sites and age groups.


The transmitted intensity and the modulation depth of plane polarized light are implemented to investigate influences of the low frequency external magnetic field on the ferrofluid film. The frequency of AC magnetic field is modulated from 5Hz to 400Hz, and the thickness of ferrofluid films are changed as 12 μm, 25 μm, 140 μm and 520 μm, and the mass concentration of magnetic nanoparticles is 5 %, 10 %, 20 % and 33.6 %, respectively. The experimental results show that (1) the mean value of the optical transmittance of ferrofluid film is decided by the thickness of ferrofluid film and the mass concentration of nanoparticles, but the frequency of magnetic field has no direct relation with it; (2) under a given magnetic field intensity, the optical modulation depth of ferrofluid film is determined by the film thickness, the nanoparticle concentration and the magnetic field frequency. It is further found that the single relaxation characteristics of magnetic nanoparticle, whose size is smaller than the critical value of the single magnetic domain, is the important factor of the frequency properties of nanoparticle in ferrofluid. These results may be beneficial to applications of ferrofluid in magneto-optic sensors.


Context: The present study evaluated oral hygiene & anomalies of tooth formation and eruption in adolescents. This was a cross-sectional study, with the primary data was collected from two different schools in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. Aims: Aim of the study was to evaluate oral health that includes maintenance of oral hygiene and dental anomalies in adolescents of Ahmedabad city. Methods and Material: In this study, total 500 healthy male and female subjects between 14-16 years of age were selected for the study and examined for the oral hygiene in the form of cleaning of teeth after all meal, flossing and regular visit to dentist for check-up. Also they were observed for dental anomalies which were divided into three types viz. dentitional, occlusal and space anomalies. Comparison of outcome parameters was calculated with significance test. Results: Awareness of oral hygiene was found improper in more than half of all adolescents. Occlusal anomalies were found in 48.8% of males & 50.8% of females which were most common among all anomalies. Though all anomalies were more prevalent in female than male subjects, dentitional anomalies were significantly more in female subject. Conclusions: Awareness for oral hygiene in adolescent of Ahmedabad city is found to be less. Females are even less aware than male. Malocclusion is the most common anomaly. All anomalies are more common in females.


attention to the conjunctive and disjunctive normal forms which can serve as criteria of tautologies and inconsistencies. He then shows in an abridged form how this propositional logic can be presented as a deductive system. He discusses modality briefly and presents outlines of the systems of Reichenbach, Heyting, and Lukasiewicz.


This study was to use the fuzzy theory to refine the "bottom-up" vulnerability analysis. The authors suggest that the decision threshold itself could be ambiguous for policymakers to use the system response surface, because it would be strongly affected by stakeholders' subjective opinions. Thus, the authors proposed to incorporate fuzzy thresholds into the probabilistic response surface, and provided a case study assessing flood risks under climate change. The topic is interesting and meaningful for impact assessment research communities. To my knowledge, prior vulnerability-based assessments have been focused mostly on how to address system responses to climatic or hydrologic stressors rather than on how to set the threshold that directly determines the status of system failure. In practice, as argued by the authors, the threshold is unlikely crisp, and hence its ambiguity needs to be condensed in the response surface. I think the authors' quantitative approach is novel and reasonable, and recommend minor revisions for final publication in Hydrology and Earth System Sciences. Please find my specific comments below.


Health care providers (HCPs) serving HIV-infected patients, especially in rural and underserved areas, have limited access to continuing medical education.Objective:To identify subgroups of HCPs who might benefit from a telehealth training program focusing on HIV/AIDS care based on HCPs' objective for attending the training.Methods:Hierarchical cluster analysis combined with thematic analysis identified the subgroups.Results:A total of 56 HCPs attended between 1 and 9 of the 12 sessions conducted (mean ≈ 2, standard deviation = 1.6). Subgroups identified included knowledge (HCPs interested in gaining, increasing, or updating their knowledge in HIV care), learn-expert (HCPs interested in learning, obtaining, or providing expert opinion), and observe-apply-network (HCPs interested in observing the training, applying knowledge gained to practice, and networking). No group differences were found in the participants' reaction to the session, change in knowledge following the training, and other important characteristics.Conclusion:Methodological contributions of the study are discussed.


Smallto mid-sized forest carnivores, also known as mesocarnivores, are an important part of the animal community within national forests. Many forest mesocarnivores are of conservation concern and are listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), have been petitioned for listing under the ESA multiple times, or have designations within the Forest Service that warrant consideration in decisions about planning, projects, or restoration. Mesocarnivores also receive heightened public attention and, as a result, are frequently the center of lawsuits brought against the Forest Service. However, there is no current monitoring framework in place to provide meaningful information about these species across larger scales. In addition, they are difficult to detect, occur in low densities, and have large home ranges. We propose an approach for monitoring fisher (Pekania pennanti), Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis), American marten (Martes americana), Pacific marten (M. caurina), montane red fox (Vulpes vulpes sspp.), and wolverine (Gulo gulo) across the western United States. This approach was developed with close collaboration between the Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station and the National Forest System (NFS), and focuses on answering three basic monitoring questions: (1) Is a species present? (2) Are multiple individuals of a single sex present? and (3) Are multiple individuals, including both sexes, present? To answer these questions we designed a goal efficient monitoring (GEM) framework with four occupancy states related to a rare species population. We developed a Bayesian multistate dynamic occupancy model to analyze this information over time and estimate the probability that a population is likely to remain in one of these four occupancy states or transition to a different state. This document elucidates the process that led to the decision to use this framework and outlines the conceptual basis for GEM. A practitioner's guide with detailed GEM implementation instructions will follow in a subsequent publication.


Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) framework was utilized in this study. Its purpose was to determine the correlation between independent variables consisting of Perceived Ease of Use (PEU), Perceived Usefulness (PU), Attitude toward Using (AU) with dependent variable Behavioral Intention to Use (BIU). Data collection techniques were carried out by distributing questionnaires through group discussion forums. Respondents consisted of medical workers and health cadres both in Jakarta and Yogyakarta. Data were analyzed using correlation test and t-test. The results of the correlation test state that the correlation between PEU and AU is 0.30, which shows a weak correlation. Meanwhile, the correlation of PU and AU is 0.56, PEU and BIU is 0.41, and PU and BIU is 0.47, which are considered as moderate correlations. Finally, a strong correlation exists between AU and BIU. T-test results show that the effect of PU on AU is statistically significant with CI = 95%. Likewise, the effects of PEU on AU, AU towards BIU, PU towards BIU, and PEU towards BIU are significant (p < 0.05).


ABSTRACT Extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants are at particularly high risk for infection due to an immature immune system, invasive procedures such as endotracheal intubation, intravascular catheterization, and other factors. Neonatal infections in this population are associated with a high mortality, poor growth, and neurodevelopmental outcomes. Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) infection is an uncommon but potentially devastating cause of pneumonia and sepsis in the ELBW population. P. aeruginosa is an important cause of healthcare-associated infections (HAI) or nosocomial infections. P. aeruginosa can perceive unfavorable environmental changes and orchestrate adaptations by developing plasmid-mediated and adaptive resistance to antibiotics. We describe an ELBW infant born at 26 weeks' gestation who succumbed at 13 days of life to P. aeruginosa infection. Some of the factors related to the pathogenesis and multidrug resistance are described.


Social relationships play an important role in animal behavior. Bonds with kin provide indirect fitness benefits, and those with nonkin may furnish direct benefits. Adult male chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) exhibit social bonds with maternal brothers as well as unrelated adult males, facilitating cooperative behavior, but it is unclear when these bonds develop. Prior studies suggest that social bonds emerge during adolescence. Alternatively, bonds may develop during adulthood when male chimpanzees can gain fitness benefits through alliances used to compete for dominance status. To investigate these possibilities and to determine who formed bonds, we studied the social relationships of adolescent and young adult male chimpanzees (N = 18) at Ngogo in Kibale National Park, Uganda. Adolescent male chimpanzees displayed social bonds with other males, and they did so as often as did young adult males. Adolescent and young adult males frequently joined subgroups with old males. They spent time in proximity to and grooming with old males, although they also did so with their age peers. Controlling for age and age difference, males formed strong association and proximity relationships with their maternal brothers and grooming relationships with their fathers. Grooming bonds between chimpanzee fathers and their adolescent and young adult sons have not been documented before and are unexpected because female chimpanzees mate with multiple males. How fathers recognize their sons and vice versa remains unclear but may be due to familiarity created by relationships earlier in development.


Wavelength Raman converters have been developed for years to provide an elegant solution to easily shift the wavelength of existing lasers. In the pulse regime, due to relatively low Raman gains, these converters are usually limited to high-energy pulses, typically a few J or a few mJ in the nanosecond or picosecond regime. In order to build efficient Raman converters with lower energy pulses, we have developed a new class of fiber wavelength shifters based on Stimulated Raman Scattering in the liquid filling the hollow core of photonic bandgap fibers or Kagome fibers. The liquid choice, the design of the photonic crystal microstructure, the fiber length and its diameter give us enough degrees of freedom to realize efficient and versatile shifters, each being optimized for a specific wavelength shift. Connecting such a fiber device to a fixed wavelength laser allows delivering a new wavelength. With the same laser, another wavelength can be obtained by connecting another shifter. Using microlasers delivering 532 nm sub-nanosecond pulses of about 1 μJ, we already built a full series of shifters to reach any wavelength among: 556 nm; 561 nm; 582 nm; 595 nm; 612 nm; 630 nm; 650 nm; 667 nm; 772 nm. Hereafter, we detail how we design and optimize these new devices.


1. Partially purified pig blood lymphocytes were stimulated to transform in culture with phytohaemagglutinin. Initial cell activation was assessed by measuring the increase of uridine incorporation into RNA induced by phytohaemagglutinin. The phytohaemagglutinin/serum ratio for this effect was similar to that required for transformation; however, no inhibition at high phytohaemagglutinin/serum ratios was found during cell activation. 2. Without replenishment of medium the pool of competitors with added uridine for incorporation fell to zero during 2 days of culture. At certain critical pool concentrations uridine itself could stimulate the rate of uridine incorporation. 3. Most of the tritium from [5-3H]uridine added at the initiation of culture had been incorporated into RNA by the end of the second day of culture; the subsequent loss of radioactivity preceded a fall in the total RNA content of cultures. 4. RNA was qualitatively examined on sucrose density gradients. In the first 30min. after the addition of phytohaemagglutinin, increased labelling occurred predominantly between the 28s and 4s regions of the gradients. On the second day of culture with phytohaemagglutinin mainly RNA sedimenting beyond the 28s region of gradients was labelled in 30min.


The present thesis work focuses on the stability of intermediate temperature SOFC technologies and it is divided in two parts: (i)cathode stability in anode-supported cells and (ii)fabrication and operation of tubular metal supported SOFCs. In the first part, the stability of ferritic perovskite cathodes currently implemented at IK4-Ikerlan and SOFCpower (LSF-SDC and LSCF-GDC, respectively) was studied in a specific experimental DoE design. The influence of cathode processing and operation conditions together with intrinsic degradation mechanisms and extrinsic ones related to chromium poisoning and air humidification were analyzed in detail. Moreover, the effectiveness of two interconnect coating materials, MCO spinel and novel LNC perovskite against chromium poisoning of the cathode was studied. With this commitment, anode-supported half-cells manufactured by SOFCpower were used making profit of the verified high reproducibility of these cells.
 In parallel, work at IK4-Ikerlan in tubular MSC technology demonstrated critical instability related to the operation under high fuel utilization and deficient diffusion barrier layer (DBL) implementation. This allowed element interdiffusion during the manufacturing process between the metal support and the anode. In the second part of this thesis work, a second generation (G2) of tubular MSCs based on an innovative DBL has been developed in all aspects. This includes processing parameters optimization and stability studies. During this work, an intrinsic variable degradation mechanism related to the DBL and manufacturing process of MSC turned out to be critical in G2 cells stability during operation. At this point, understanding such a mechanism and determining its origin became the most fascinating challenge of my investigation.
 Overall, this thesis work focuses in the study of critical parameters in SOFCs stability. Factors affecting the stability of cell components over a wide range of operation conditions and degradation mechanisms related to the manufacturing process and operation are considered in detail.


This interpretive study explores the relationship between spatial qualities and school-parent engagement in three primary schools which serve low income periurban Indigenous families in north Australia. Drawing from interviews with educators and parents, school-based observations and community fieldwork conducted over the course of two years in two different towns, we found that educators are very concerned that schools, as western institutions, present cultural and physical barriers to effective engagement; but that this view is not shared by Indigenous parents. Rather than seeing this as a simple issue of cultural difference, our analysis seeks to unravel the curious way in which the otherness of school space is acknowledged in educator discourse. Only some place features of school are suggested as a barrier by educators while other aspects – such as the clear identification of insiders and outsiders through school routines and locales – remain unremarked. We conclude by suggesting that schools are inherently exclusionary, a foundational fact which both parents and educators accept and respond to, in ways which both explain the push for engagement within education policy and its irrelevance as a concern for parents.


The term "cleaning" in the food processing industries refers to the treatment given all product contact surfaces following each period of use to remove all physical evidence of soil and to apply a bactericidal treatment to sanitize all surfaces. The normal period of use is less than one day and all equipment is thus cleaned at least once every 24 h. Until recent years, cleaning of food processing equipment involved complete disassembly, manual cleaning by rinsing, brushing with solution, rinsing and sanitizing, and reassembly followed by application of sanitizing solutions just prior to processing. During the past two decades such manual cleaning procedures have been almost entirely replaced by Clean-In-Place (CIP) operations involving spray application or pressure recirculation of acid and alkaline detergent solutions under controlled conditions of time, temperature, and concentration. Such cleaning is essentially "chemical" in nature and processing equipment and CIP appurtenances are designed to permit the cleaning solution to be brought into intimate contact with all soiled surfaces and to be continuously replenished. Stainless steel is a nearly universal material of construction for all processing and CIP equipment incorporated in such systems. It is generally possible to design and apply equipment and programs which can produce surfaces that are physically cleaned and nearly free of bacterial contamination. Experience has shown that solutions of strong alkalis, moderately strong acids, and sodium hypochlorides are highly effective in removing organic and mineral soils of almost any nature when these solutions are utilized in the proper combination or sequence.


Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an approved procedure using a photosensitizer (PS) activated by light to selectively destroy malignant/premalignant cells. Transition metal complexes, such as Ru(II)and Os(II)-based PSs (Theralase Technologies Inc., Ontario. Canada), are activated in a wide range of wavelengths, are resistant to photobleaching and have a high singlet oxygen quantum yield and ability to produce cytotoxic reactive oxygen species (ROS). Their design allows fine-tuning of the photophysical and photochemical properties. They demonstrate Type I and II photoreactions, and some are activated in hypoxia. High PDT potency and activation under NIR light and even X-ray may provide an advantage over the approved PSs. Their ability to associate with transferrin (Tf) as an endogenous delivery system increases photobleaching resistance, ROS production, selective cellular uptake, and PDT efficacy in combination with a decreased systemic toxicity. This makes these PSs attractive for systemic therapy of recurrent/progressive cancers. Their PDT efficacy has been demonstrated in various in vitro and in vivo clinically relevant models. The unique properties of the mentioned PSs allow bypassing such limitations of PDT as low specific uptake ratio, insufficiently broad absorption band, and low efficacy in hypoxia. One of these PSs (TLD-1433) was successful against non-muscle invasive urinary bladder cancer unresponsive to contemporary anticancer therapies.


World is now endangered by the threat of fuel source scarcity and environmental degradation. Researchers all over the world are searching for the alternative energy resources to supplement the present energy needs and to conserve the conventional resources from depletion which are less costly and environmentally friendly. Harnessing the wind power and its utilization is one of the best possible answers. Investigations for recent years have revealed that wind energy has been the great deals to the rural farmers for their water pumping. Wind power can be used effectively in maintaining livestock, water supply, fish & ice farming, water desalination, sawing wood, irrigation, electrification, agricultural operations etc. If all possible considerations are given in exploiting wind energy, in the coming 4 to 5 decades it can meet 30% to 45% of the world's total energy demand contributing no unwanted emissions into the atmosphere. It can adjust more jobs and occupies fewer lands. It is cheaper than any other sources.Bangladesh possesses flat terrain, hilly & mountainous regions, open river banks & harbors, and a vast lengthy coastal belt by the sea "the Bay of Bengal" where reasonable wind flow round the year available. For most of the said areas, electricity supply from the mother grid is almost inaccessible due to various difficulties and limitations. Moreover, a total of 2105 MW national generation capability absolutely unable to meet the present suppressed peak demand of 2114 MW for the consumers already in the grid. This continuously causing a severe regular load shedding up to 30% of the peak demand. The large sized population of the above areas is being maintained over decades mostly from fuel wood, charcoal plant & agricultural residues, dung and very few from imported petroleum and derivatives as the only energy sources. The energy scarcity let the locality remained economically backward and noncontributing to the GDP. In some of the areas namely Chittagong Harbor, Coastal belts & City periphery, from recent observations the monthly mean wind speeds (m/s) ranging between 4.5 and 8.5 are recorded which show the genius prospect of reaping wind power in Bangladesh. Despite a promising future of this free fuel, benefits for utilizing this energy in Bangladesh are being missed because too little is known about either the resource or the technology. Wind energy can successfully be utilized in utility for supplementing our generation and to meet decentralized needs or wind-solar hybrids for Bangladeshi modern multistory buildings which are now meeting their energy deficit by individual diesel generators at higher money and environmental costs. In the context of Bangladesh, wind power to come to use, this paper is an attempt to describe the methodologies for site selection; wind data collection & regime modeling; power availability, conversion & storage; turbine performance monitoring & augmenting wind speed using cloth scoops including costs and environmental impact Assessment. This paper also discusses Bangladesh energy scenario and strategies for meeting deficit demand and summarizes global wind development and proposes that Bangladesh government and other agencies must take immediate initiatives towards implementing wind projects.Copyright © 1997 by ASME


BACKGROUND: Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus is one of the most common metabolic diseases worldwide. The most common complication of DM is diabetic neuropathy (DN), especially diabetic polyneuropathy (DPN). Vitamin D plays an important role in the pathogenesis of DN, thus affecting its severity which can be assessed using nerve conduction study (NCS). AIM: This study aimed to develop a predictive model of DPN severity based on vitamin D level. METHODS: This was a prospective cohort study involving 50 subjects with DM which was conducted in Haji Adam Malik General Hospital Medan. All subjects were fulfilling inclusion criteria underwent laboratory examination to determine HbA1c and 25 (OH) D levels. Predictive variables were sex, age, duration of DM, smoking status, type and number of anti-diabetic drugs, the presence of metabolic syndrome, HbA1c and vitamin D levels. A scoring system was developed to determine a predictive model. The DPN severity was assessed using NCS and was re-evaluated after 3 months. RESULTS: Most of the subjects were female (60%), belonged to ≥ 50 years old age-group (88%), with DM duration < 5 years (56%), were non-smoker (90%), we're using one anti-diabetic drug (60%), were using insulin (50%), had metabolic syndrome (68%), had HbA1c level > 6.5% (94%), and had vitamin D level < 20 ng/ml (56%). A score of > 4 on this predictive model of DPN severity had a relative risk (RR) of 2.70. The predictive model had a sensitivity of 82.8% and specificity of 61.9%. CONCLUSION: A score of higher than 4 on this predictive model showed a 2.7 times higher risk of severe DPN. A predictive model of DPN severity based on vitamin D level had high sensitivity and specificity.


AIMS
The ability to mother her infant is reduced in a woman with postpartum depression (PPD). Although antidepressant treatment effectively improves depressive symptoms, various domains of functioning, for example, work and relationships, do not universally improve with treatment. In this pilot study, we investigated whether maternal role functioning improved with antidepressant treatment in women with PPD.

METHODS
The pilot study was an exploratory analysis of a larger study. A subset of women (n = 27) from a randomized clinical trial (double-blind, 8-week trial of nortriptyline compared with sertraline) completed three outcome measures of maternal role functioning: gratification in the maternal role, the Infant Care Survey (ICS), and videotapes of maternal-infant interaction. The tapes were analyzed using the Child and Caregiver Mutual Regulation Coding Scale and Noldus Behavioral Coding Software.

RESULTS
The two antidepressants were equally efficacious in decreasing depressive symptoms and improving overall functioning and gratification in the maternal role. Differences between times 1 and 2 in the mother-infant interactions were related to time (increasing age of the infant) and not assignment of antidepressant or remission of depression.

CONCLUSIONS
Effective treatment with two antidepressants improves gratification in the maternal role but not self-efficacy or maternal-infant interaction in women with PPD. Results of the study can help women and their healthcare providers to weigh the benefits of short-term antidepressant treatment in the postpartum period. Future studies should consider outcomes related to a longer duration of treatment.


The field of numerical cognition represents an interesting case for action-based theories of cognition, since number is a special kind of abstract concept. Several studies have shown that within the parietal lobes adjacent neural regions code numerical magnitude and graspingrelated information. This anatomical proximity between brain areas involved in number and sensorimotor processes may account for interactions between numerical magnitude and action. In particular, recent studies have demonstrated a causal role of action perception on numerical magnitude processing. If objects are represented in terms of actions (affordances), the causal role of action on number processing should extend to the case of objects affordances. This study investigates the relationship between numbers and objects affordances in two experiments, without (Experiment 1) or with (Experiment 2) the requirement of an action (i.e., participants were asked to hold an object in their hands during the task). The task consisted in repeating aloud the odd or even digit within a pair depending on the type of the preceding or following object. Order of presentation (object-number vs. number-object), Object type (graspable vs. ungraspable), Object size (small vs. large), and Numerical magnitude (small vs. large) were manipulated for each experiment. Experiment 1 showed a facilitation – in terms of quicker responses for graspable over ungraspable objects preceded by numbers, and an effect of numerical magnitude after the presentation of graspable objects. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the action execution enhanced overall the sensitivity to numerical magnitude, however interfering with the effects of objects affordances on number processing. Overall, these findings demonstrate that numbers and graspable objects are strongly interrelated, supporting the view that abstract concepts may be grounded in motor experience.


This research project investigates gender stereotypes in primary school aged children. It considers whether gender stereotypes are present, whether age range has an impact on children's gender stereotypes and the impact preconceptions may have on children's career aspirations. This project uses questionnaires and interviews to collect data. The findings of this research suggest that primary school aged children do have gender stereotypes and that gender does play a role in children career aspirations, but children's gender stereotypes are varied and some children may even actively seek to expose gender stereotypes, especially girls. Boys appear to aspire to more physically demanding careers such as football whereas girls ambition lies in the intellectually demanding careers like that of doctors and teachers.


Porous potassium niobate (KNbO3, KN) system ceramics were prepared by a conventional sintering method using carbon black (CB) nanoparticles. First, KN nanoparticles with a size of 100 nm was mixed with CB nanoparticles and binder using ball milling with ethanol. The mixture was dried, and pressed into pellets using uniaxial pressing. After binder burnout, these ceramics was sintered in air. Their piezoelectric properties were measured and discussed a relationship between porosity and piezoelectric properties. As the results, with increasing porosity, piezoelectric g33 constant increased significantly, which suggested that porous ceramics were effective for stress sensor application.


Infrastructure is a facility that indirectly supports the educational process, such as: school gardens, roads to schools, study rooms, and others. Infrastructure is a part very important role for the success and smoothness of a process, including in the scope of education. Infrastructure is a facility that is absolutely fulfilled to provide convenience in carrying out an activity. TPQ An-Noerwahid Gunung Malang Village, Bogor Regency, is the target location for Community Service activity partners who do not yet have good infrastructure. When conducting a review of the TPQ, it was seen that the building in the study room was very unfit to be used as a place for learning for TPQ students. With limited money by local residents, it is very difficult for partners to develop the study room. Good infrastructure will make these students enthusiastic and no longer hampered by natural disturbances such as wind, rain, etc


The present chapter gives an overview of photophysical principles underlying the primary photosynthetic reactions in pigment–protein complexes, i.e., the absorption of light, excitation energy transfer and electron transfer reactions. From a common viewpoint the description of the above reactions requires theories that can include both the pigment–pigment (electronic) as well as the pigment–protein (electron–vibrational) coupling in an appropriate manner. Different theories are classified according to the relative strength of the two types of couplings. In the weak electronic coupling limit, a semiclassical and a quantum Fermi's Golden Rule type rate constant and their relation are discussed and applied to absorption and fluorescence, excitation energy transfer, and electron transfer, yielding the standard results by Lax/Kubo, Forster, and Marcus, respectively. Whereas for electron transfer reactions the weak electronic coupling limit is appropriate, in the case of excitation energy transfer and optical spectra, usually, the pigment–pigment coupling is of the same strength or even stronger than the pigment–protein coupling, a situation that is treated by theories that take into account delocalized excited states of the pigments. Multilevel Redfield theory describes excitation energy relaxation between different delocalized states and relates the relaxation times to optical line widths. In non-Markovian density matrix theories, besides a life time broadening due to exciton relaxation, vibrational sidebands of the optical lines are included. Another extension of Redfield theory, the modified Redfield theory, takes into account the reorganization of nuclei during exciton relaxation between different delocalized states. The generalized Forster theory allows a description of transfer between aggregates with strong intra- and weak inter-aggregate couplings. How the parameters (couplings, energies and spectral densities) of the dynamical theories can be extracted from experimental data and independent calculations is outlined also.


The micro-Doppler signals from moving objects contain useful information about their motions. This paper introduces a novel approach for human gait recognition based on backscattered signals from a micro-Doppler radar. Three different signal techniques are utilized for the extraction of micro-Doppler features via time-frequency and time-scale representations. To classify the human motions into various types, this paper presents a deep autoencoder with the use of local patches extracted along the spectrogram and scalogram. The network configuration and the learning parameters of the deep autoencoder, which are considered as hyperparameters, are optimized by a Bayesian optimization algorithm. Experimental results produced by the proposed technique on real radar data show a significant improvement compared to several existing approaches.


Summary

Herpotrichia pinetorum, Gremmenia infestans and Gremmeniella abietina were inoculated onto 2-year-old Anatolian black pine (Pinus nigra subsp. pallasiana) and Taurus cedar (Cedrus libani) seedlings planted in a high mountain forest (1800 m a.s.l) in south-western Turkey, to determine the effects of these fungi during winter. In June, 8 months after inoculation, 39.9% of experimental plants were dead and 20.4% of the surviving plants failed to flush. Gremmeniella abietina and H. pinetorum caused the most fatalities. Prevention of new shoot formation on surviving plants, however, was mainly an effect of G. abietina infections, although many surviving plants inoculated with G. infestans or H. pinetorum also failed to flush. All three pathogens had the potential to severely damage young plants of P. nigra subsp. pallasiana and C. libani growing at high elevations near to forests with heavy inoculum loads. The implications of this finding for P. nigra afforestations at high altitudes in Turkey are discussed. This study is also the first to report that G. infestans can infect and cause disease on young C. libani plants.


Doubly dynamic polymer networks were synthesized with two distinct exchangeable cross-linkers. The first linker is highly dynamic and rapidly exchanging hydrogen bonded 2-ureido-4[1H]-pyrimidinone (UPy) and the second is a thermoresponsive furan-maleimide Diels-Alder adduct (FMI). Two network architectures were considered: an interpenetrating network (IPN) where one network is cross-linked with the UPy linker and the other is cross-linked with the FMI linker, and a single network (SN) where both the UPy and FMI linkers are in the same single network. Remarkably, the IPNs were superior to the SNs with the same composition of the UPy and FMI cross-linkers when comparing peak stress, strain at break, fracture toughness, malleability, and self-healing. Both materials studied were stable and creep resistant under ambient conditions.


The red shiner, Cyprinella lutrensis, is native to watersheds in the southand central-plains states west of the Mississippi River, but its use as a bait fish for sport fishing has resulted in its introduction in many watersheds across the country. Cyprinella lutrensis is a tolerant generalist that typically thrives in degraded waters. Historically, the introduction of C. lutrensis has resulted in significant shifts in fish assemblages, either as a result of displacement of native fishes, or by hybridization with congeneric fishes. Cyprinella lutrensis has been introduced into the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River basin and thrives particularly in the impacted streams near Atlanta, Georgia. Fish samples collected near Atlanta by the National Water Quality Assessment Program of the U.S. Geological Survey in June and November, 1993 have shown C. lutrensis to be the dominant or co-dominant species in degraded streams of urban watersheds, representing up to 77 % of individuals and 12.5 % of species at a site. The continued use of C. lutrensis as a bait fish and the continued degradation of stream systems within the Atlanta metropolitan area constitute a serious threat to native fishes including the bluestripe shiner, C. callitaenia, which is listed as endangered by the state of Georgia and is a C-2 candidate for protection under the Endangered Species Act.


This paper explores the performance of feedback control when managing workflows in computing systems. Industrial systems nowadays can consist of geographically diverse and heterogeneous high-performance computing (HPC) clusters. When scheduling workflows over such platforms, it is often desired to observe a number of real-time objectives such as meeting deadlines, reducing slacks, and increasing platform utilisation. We apply a control theoretic approach to address scheduling-related trade-offs of workflows that are executed in HPC platforms. Our results show that model predictive control-based admission controller is efficient for scheduling periodic workflows in a homogeneous HPC cluster with respect to minimum slacks and maximum CPU utilisation.


The mRNA molecules coding for three mouse immunoglobulin A-type light (L) chains (MOPC-104E Al, RPC-20 Al, MOPC-315 A2) programme the cell-free synthesis of precursors larger than the mature proteins. Radioactive amino acid-sequence analyses of each of the three precursors labelled with [3H]alanine, [3H]serine, [3H]glutamine, [3H]glutamic acid and [3H]threonine showed that an extra piece, at least 18 residues long, is linked to the N-terminus ofthe mature L-chains. The N-terminal extra-peptide segment may be 19 residues long, since analyses of precursors labelled with [35S]methionine indicated an additional N-terminal methionine residue which was recovered in low yields. Presumably this is the initiator methionine, which is known to be short lived in eukaryotes. The mature forms of MOPC-104E, RPC-20 and MOPC-315 A L-chains are blocked at the N-termini by pyrrolid-2-one-5-carboxylic acid (pyroglutamic acid). Sequence analyses of precursors labelled with [3H]glutamine and [3H]glutamic acid showed incorporation only of glutamine in a position that matches with the position of pyrrolid-2-one-5-carboxylic acid in the mature forms of all three precursors, and incorporation ofglutamic acid in other positions. The data showed the absence ofglutamine-glutamic acid interconversion, since the radioactive peaks obtained from either 3Hlabelled amino acid were discrete, and free from cross-contamination. These results prove that glutamine is the precursor amino acid of pyrrolid-2-one-5-carboxylic acid at the N-termini of the mature MOPC-104E Al, RPC-20 Al and MOPC-315 A2 L-chains. Thus the formation of pyrrolid-2-one-5-carboxylic acid by cyclization of glutamine is a post-translational event which occurs after, or concomitant with, cleavage of the extra piece from the precursor to yield the mature L-chain. The variable (V) regions (110 amino acid residues) ofmouse A L-chains are quite similar: when compared with that of MOPC104E Al chain, the V-region of RPC-20 A1 chain differs in one residue, and the V-region of MOPC-315 A2 chain differs in 11 residues. The partial sequence data show that the N-terminal extra pieces of the two Al L-chain precursors have, so far, identical partial sequences; the extra piece of the A2 L-chain precursor differs from these in at least three out of 19 positions.


In this paper we chart the history of selected metaphors that have been used to describe Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) over the last 15 years. Martin Weller famously claimed in 2007 that "the VLE is dead". This provocation positioned the VLE as an object of history, forcing us to consider its past, present and future. This notion of historical mapping is important as many educational technologies that failed to deliver on their promises can be easily forgotten. Hence, we sought to develop a short history of VLE metaphors. Using a defined search and selection strategy we selected 30 metaphors spanning a 15-year period from 2004 to 2019 derived from a variety of sources ranging from social media to scholarly publications. We first arranged the metaphors according to a chronological timeline. Next we sought to unpack their significance by thematically analysing them using the notion of metaphorical concepts. Through this thematic analysis, six organizing metaphorical concepts were generated: Straitjacket, Behemoth, Digital Carpark, Safe Space, Smorgasbord and Pathfinder. We then used these metaphorical concepts as a lens, to map and explore historical developments and debates over the past two decades of educational technology. As the world scrambles to go online during the COVID-19 pandemic there has never been a more important time to remember and reflect upon digital learning history. Through this work we contribute to the history of educational technology by remembering its metaphors and what they have taught us. After we had navigated these historical seas, we noticed that the VLE was still here, as a limpet resolutely awaiting the next wave.


Yeast phosphatidylinositol transfer protein (Sec14p) is essential for Golgi function and cell viability. We now report a characterization of five yeast SFH (Sec Fourteen Homologue) proteins that share 24-65% primary sequence identity with Sec14p. We show that Sfh1p, which shares 64% primary sequence identity with Sec14p, is nonfunctional as a Sec14p in vivo or in vitro. Yet, SFH proteins sharing low primary sequence similarity with Sec14p (i.e., Sfh2p, Sfh3p, Sfh4p, and Sfh5p) represent novel phosphatidylinositol transfer proteins (PITPs) that exhibit phosphatidylinositol- but not phosphatidylcholine-transfer activity in vitro. Moreover, increased expression of Sfh2p, Sfh4p, or Sfh5p rescues sec14-associated growth and secretory defects in a phospholipase D (PLD)-sensitive manner. Several independent lines of evidence further demonstrate that SFH PITPs are collectively required for efficient activation of PLD in vegetative cells. These include a collective requirement for SFH proteins in Sec14p-independent cell growth and in optimal activation of PLD in Sec14p-deficient cells. Consistent with these findings, Sfh2p colocalizes with PLD in endosomal compartments. The data indicate that SFH gene products cooperate with "bypass-Sec14p" mutations and PLD in a complex interaction through which yeast can adapt to loss of the essential function of Sec14p. These findings expand the physiological repertoire of PITP function in yeast and provide the first in vivo demonstration of a role for specific PITPs in stimulating activation of PLD.


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Interpolation is an important operator in numerical methods for solving partial differential equations and in geospatial applications. There are many interpolation methods proposed in the past. In this work, a unified software framework is proposed through the use of design-patterns in object-oriented programming. By using this framework, little effort is necessary to implement different interpolations algorithms when commonality with implemented algorithms can be found. Furthermore, through this framework, it becomes easy to compare the performance of different algorithms because of the unified application interface..


Gap junction channels (GJCs) mediate intercellular communication by connecting two neighboring cells and enabling direct exchange of ions and small molecules. Cell coupling via connexin-43 (Cx43) GJCs is important in a wide range of cellular processes in health and disease 1-3, yet the structural basis of Cx43 function and regulation has not been determined until now. Here we describe the structure of a human Cx43 GJC solved by cryo-EM and single particle analysis at 2.26 Å resolution. The pore region of Cx43 GJC features several lipid-like densities per Cx43 monomer, located close to a putative lateral access site at the monomer boundary. We found a previously undescribed conformation on the cytosolic side of the pore, formed by the N-terminal domain and the transmembrane helix 2 of Cx43 and stabilized by a small molecule. Structures of the Cx43 GJC and hemichannels in nanodiscs reveal a similar gate arrangement. The features of the Cx43 GJC and hemichannel cryo-EM maps and the channel properties revealed by molecular dynamics simulations suggest that the captured states of Cx43 are consistent with a closed state.


1. Population size, calves per female, female mean age and adult sex ratio of a moose (Alces alces) population in Vefsn, northern Norway were reconstructed from 1967 to 1993 using cohort analysis and catch-at-age data from 96% (6752) of all individuals harvested.

2. The dynamics of the population were influenced mainly by density-dependent harvesting, stochastic variation in climate and intrinsic variation in the age-structure of the female segment of the population.

3. A time delay in the assignment of hunting permits in relation to population size increased fluctuations in population size.

4. Selective harvesting of calves and yearlings increased the mean age of adult females in the population, and, because fecundity in moose is strongly age-specific, the number of calves per female concordantly increased. However, after years with high recruitment, the adult mean age decreased as large cohorts entered the adult age-groups. This age-structure effect generated cycles in the rate of recruitment to the population and fluctuations introduced time-lags in the population dynamics.

5. An inverse relationship between recruitment rate and population density, mediated by a density-dependent decrease in female body condition, could potentially have constituted a regulatory mechanism in the dynamics of the population, but this effect was counteracted by a density-dependent increase in the mean age of adult females.

6. Stochastic variation in winter snow depth and summer temperature had delayed effects on recruitment rate and in turn population growth rate, apparently through effects on female body condition before conception.


This paper reviews the first challenge on high-dynamic range (HDR) imaging that was part of the New Trends in Image Restoration and Enhancement (NTIRE) workshop, held in conjunction with CVPR 2021. This manuscript focuses on the newly introduced dataset, the proposed methods and their results. The challenge aims at estimating a HDR image from one or multiple respective low-dynamic range (LDR) observations, which might suffer from under-or over-exposed regions and different sources of noise. The challenge is composed by two tracks: In Track 1 only a single LDR image is provided as input, whereas in Track 2 three differently-exposed LDR images with inter-frame motion are available. In both tracks, the ultimate goal is to achieve the best objective HDR reconstruction in terms of PSNR with respect to a ground-truth image, evaluated both directly and with a canonical tonemapping operation.


We consider, in this paper, the problem of automatically testing Mobile applications while inferring formal models expressing their functional behaviours. We propose a framework called MCrawlT, which performs automatic testing through application interfaces and collects interface changes to incrementally infer models expressing the navigational paths and states of the applications under test. These models could be later used for comprehension aid or to carry out some tasks automatically, e.g., the test case generation. The main contributions of this paper can be summarised as follows: we introduce a flexible Mobile application model that allows the definition of state abstraction with regard to the application content. This definition also helps define state equivalence classes that segment the state space domain. Our approach supports different exploration strategies by applying the Ant Colony Optimisation technique. This feature offers the advantage to change the exploration strategy by another one as desired. The performances of MCrawlT in terms of code coverage, execution time, and bug detection are evaluated on 30 Android applications and compared to other tools found in the literature. The results show that MCrawlT achieves significantly better code coverage in a given time budget.


Raising Germans in the Age of Empire is a cultural history of the German colonial imagination around the turn of the twentieth century. Looking beyond the colonialist movement, it focuses on young Germans who grew up during this era and the various commercial and educational media through which they daily encountered the wider world. Using their imaginary colonial encounters, Jeff Bowersox explores how Germans young and old came to terms with a globalizing world. Chapters on toys, school instruction, popular literature, and the Boy Scouts (or Pfadfinder) reveal how Germans, through mass consumer culture and mass education, built a definitive association between colonial hierarchies and Germany's place in the modern age. By 1914 this colonial sensibility had been accepted as common sense, but it always remained flexible and vague. It could be adapted to serve competing and contradictory purposes, ranging from profit and pedagogical reform to nationalist mobilization and international socialist solidarity. Thus, as young Germans used images of imperialism to construct their own fantastical adventures, adults tried to use those same images to ward off the worst excesses of industrial modernity and to mold young people into capable and productive citizens. The result was a chaotic multitude of imagined empires vying for space in the public arena as Germans debated how best to raise the next generation of children. Raising Germans in the Age of Empire explains how colonial visions not only shaped Germans' engagement with globalization but also determined how they understood themselves as a modern nation.


An iterative equation based on dynamic programming for finding the most likely trajectory of a dynamic system observed through a noisy measurement system is presented; the procedure can be applied to nonlinear systems with non-Gaussian noise. It differs from the recently developed Bayesian estimation procedure in that the most likely estimate of the entire trajectory up to the present time, rather than of the present state only, is generated. It is shown that the two procedures in general yield different estimates of the present state; however, in the case of linear systems with Gaussian noise, both procedures reduce to the Kalman-Bucy filter. Illustrative examples are presented, and the present procedure is compared with the Bayesian procedure and with other estimation techniques in terms of computational requirements and applicability.


A strain of Arthrobacter globiformis utilizing 4-chlorobenzoic acid as a sole source of carbon and energy was isolated by the method of enrichment cultures from vegetable garden soil near Moscow. The yield of released chlorine upon the utilization of 4-chlorobenzoic acid exceeded 96% of the theoretically possible one. Biotin stimulated noticeably the utilization of the acid. The concentration of 4-chlorobenzoic acid that apparently did not inhibit the growth of the isolated organism was within the range of 0.5-0.6 g per litre. The strain utilized a number of mono- and dihydroxybenzoic acids but not benzoic acid. This observation make possible that dehalogenization occurs at the first step of preparative metabolism. The oxidation of 4-chlorobenzoic acid, 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, protocatechuic acid and galactose by the cells grown on these compounds has been studied and shown that the oxidation system for 4-chlorobenzoic acid is an inducible one whereas that for 4-hydroxybenzoic and protocatechuic acids is a constitutive or a semiconstitutive one.


Objects of Desire looks at the appearance of consumer goods in the 200 years since the introduction of mechanized production, whether in Josiah Wedgewood's use of neo-classicism for his industrially manufactured pottery or the development of appropriate forms for wirelesses. The argument is illustrated with examples ranging from penknives to computers and from sewing machines to railway carriages. In opening up new ways of appraising the man-made world around us, Objects of Desire is required reading for anyone who has any involvement with design and a revealing document about our society.


Despite a decade of research and development, multicast has not yet been deployed on a global scale. Among the difficulties with the current infrastructure are inter-multicast fairness support, multicast congestion control, and multicast routing. We focus on the inter-multicast fairness issue which addresses the way how the network resources are shared between competing multicast flows. We propose a simple and scalable single FIFO queue-based active queue management mechanism called MFQ (multicast fair queuing) to achieve the desired inter-multicast fairness. MFQ interacts with an external multicast bandwidth allocation module which implements a pre-defined inter-multicast fairness function. To guarantee a fine-grained packet queuing/dropping, MFQ uses a novel bandwidth sharing notion, called multicast allocation layer (MAL). Based on this notion, MFQ classifies multicast packets into layers and adjusts their weights in order to provide a bandwidth sharing being as close as possible to that given by the fluid model algorithm. Simulation results demonstrate that MFQ achieves the expected allocation for both responsive and non-responsive multicast flows. We validate our findings by analyzing the impact of network and groups dynamics on the expected bandwidth allocation and comparing it to that obtained by MFQ. Furthermore, we show that MFQ converges very fast to a stable state and easily adapts itself to the dynamic change of the flows weights.


Concerns have been raised about the adverse effect of fructose on blood pressure. International dietary guidelines, however, have not addressed fructose intake directly. A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to assess the effect of fructose in isocaloric exchange for other carbohydrates on systolic, diastolic, and mean arterial blood pressures. Studies were identified using Medline, Embase, and Cochrane databases (through January 9, 2012). Human clinical trials of isocaloric oral fructose exchange for other carbohydrate sources for ≥7 days were included in the analysis. Data were pooled by the generic inverse variance method using random-effects models and expressed as mean differences with 95% CI. Heterogeneity was assessed by the Q-statistic and quantified by I2. Study quality was assessed using the Heyland Methodological Quality Score. Thirteen isocaloric (n=352) and 2 hypercaloric (n=24) trials met the eligibility criteria. Overall, fructose intake in isocaloric exchange for other carbohydrates significantly decreased diastolic (mean difference: −1.54 [95% CI: −2.77 to −0.32]) and mean arterial pressure (mean difference: −1.16 [95% CI: −2.15 to −0.18]). There was no significant effect of fructose on systolic blood pressure (mean difference: −1.10 [95% CI: −2.46 to 0.44]). The hypercaloric fructose feeding trials found no significant overall mean arterial blood pressure effect of fructose in comparison with other carbohydrates. To confirm these results, longer and larger trials are needed. Contrary to previous concerns, we found that isocaloric substitution of fructose for other carbohydrates did not adversely affect blood pressure in humans.


Introduction
A balance between economic growth and environmental sustainability can solve major global
challenges. This paper will adress how to utilize the current economic system to catalyze the transition
to a sustainable global economy that promotes a global sustainable development. The implementation
of the "carbon currency" will provide an automatic carbon compensation for the total environmental
impact of a product or service.
Theory
To secure a transition towards sustainability while the world population increases, we need to utilize the
close network of our global economy. Our concept shapes a sustainable global economy with a system
in parallel with the current economic model. Exploiting the strengths of the conventional economy, it is
possible to gradually phase in a sustainable model where renewable energy is produced at competitive
prices. A green economy will enable the production of goods and services that create human well-being
and simultaneously contribute to a sustainable global development (Towards a green economy, UNEP
2011). By creating six divisions the global economy will be well structured to systematically facilitate
sustainability. Renewable energy, clean transportation, green buildings, water management, waste
management and land management. The standard green economy divisions will enable financing of
new projects and is comparable across borders.
In order to standardize the global economy, we propose introducing a new currency. The "carbon
currency" would be an environmental pillar of the national and international trade. A climate-related
value is a measure that can be combined nicely with the current implementation of carbon credit, carbon
credits and binding emissions limits. By changing the origin of the currency it receives a significant
climate-related value in addition to the specific benefits derived from money within trading and social
development. The concept of the carbon currency is that CO2 equivalents form the basis in the new
economy. The price of goods and services is the price of the total social and environmental impact the
product or service has caused. When the market is controlled by the lowest possible impact on the
climate rather than the lowest possible price, consumption will automatically be steered towards a
sustainable development, and prices for environmentally friendly solutions is reduced.
The green economy thus operates with transactions between individuals, organizations and nations,
according to the normal per-capita adjustment. Transactions can take place between carbon exchange
and ordinary money and vice-versa, with a gradual transition to only carbon currency. Such a system
will control the economy so that the arrival of new transaction media such as digital currency bitcoins
will contribute to future sustainable economy rather than to undermine the world economy and creating
great uncertainty in the markets.
Conclusion
Globalization and new technology makes a new economic system available for major parts of the
world's population. By linking currency to the climate, developments follow known market models, but
instead of over-consumption of resources, the development in the green economy only be operated by
sustainable projects and environmentally friendly community solutions.
References
Towards a green economy, UNEP 2011:
http://www.unep.org/greeneconomy/Portals/88/documents/ger/GER_synthesis_en.pdf,retrieved 29/02/12


Abstract Determining habitat associations of small mammal species and environmental characteristics important for site occupancy are central to understanding species biology and community organization. Most studies of small mammal communities are done at a local scale and in 1 habitat, overlooking patterns manifest over a heterogeneous landscape. During the summers of 2009 and 2010 we trapped small mammals throughout Wisconsin at 180 sites among 13 natural habitats, capturing 3,261 individuals of 23 taxa. We modeled site occupancy using habitat characteristics for 16 taxa while incorporating imperfect detection and compared small mammal community similarity among habitats. Site variation in tree density, soil moisture regimes, and winter temperatures were the most important variables in describing occupancy of species. With the exception of Zapus hudsonius and Sorex hoyi, occupancy rates of species were not the same across habitats. Species-specific responses to habitat characteristics created distinct natural habitat associations leading to unique and predictable small mammal assemblages. This study demonstrates the importance of sampling across a wide range of environmental gradients and habitats when determining the distribution of species and how communities are organized at a landscape level.


Empirically based understanding of streamflow generation dynamics in a montane headwater catchment formed the basis for the development of simple, low‐parameterized, rainfall–runoff models. This study was based in the Girnock catchment in the Cairngorm Mountains of Scotland, where runoff generation is dominated by overland flow from peaty soils in valley bottom areas that are characterized by dynamic expansion and contraction of saturation zones. A stepwise procedure was used to select the level of model complexity that could be supported by field data. This facilitated the assessment of the way the dynamic process representation improved model performance. Model performance was evaluated using a multi‐criteria calibration procedure which applied a time series of hydrochemical tracers as an additional objective function. Flow simulations comparing a static against the dynamic saturation area model (SAM) substantially improved several evaluation criteria. Multi‐criteria evaluation using ensembles of performance measures provided a much more comprehensive assessment of the model performance than single efficiency statistics, which alone, could be misleading. Simulation of conservative source area tracers (Gran alkalinity) as part of the calibration procedure showed that a simple two‐storage model is the minimum complexity needed to capture the dominant processes governing catchment response. Additionally, calibration was improved by the integration of tracers into the flow model, which constrained model uncertainty and improved the hydrodynamics of simulations in a way that plausibly captured the contribution of different source areas to streamflow. This approach contributes to the quest for low‐parameter models that can achieve process‐based simulation of hydrological response. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Porcine pancreatic alpha-amylase (EC 184.108.40.206) produces short maltooligosaccharides from a single enzyme-substrate complex without dissociation by multiple or repetitive attack. Multiple attack is caused by relative sliding of the enzyme along the product chain of the enzyme-product complex without dissociation to form another productive complex. The Monte Carlo method was applied to the multiple attack mechanism to predict product distribution from amylose and amylopectin molecules of arbitrary sizes. The position of the initial attack to make the enzyme-substrate complex and branched reaction paths from the enzyme-product complex were selected by random numbers and probabilities. A simulated product distribution from 100,000 samples of amylose of chain length greater than 80 agreed completely with experimental data at the early stage of hydrolysis of amylose of mean chain length 90. On the other hand, the simulated product distribution from amylopectin agreed with experimental data of potato amylopectin when the effective chain length of the A chain was 9. Since the mean chain length of the A chain of potato amylopectin is 15, it is possible that amylopectin is partially compact in solution, so that the enzyme can recognize and act only on the outer side of the A chain at the early stage of digestion.


EFFECTS OF CONTINUOUS POSITIVE AIRWAY PRESSURE ON LIPID PROFILE, WAIST CIRCUMFERENCE, AND BODY MASS INDEX IN OBSTRUCTIVE SLEEP APNEA. N. Volkova, L. Farrell, L. Kerr, K. Van Gundy, M.W. Peterson, University of California, San Francisco-Fresno, Fresno, CA. Background: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Recent data suggest that OSA is independently associated with the cardiovascular risk factors that comprise metabolic syndrome. Continuous positive airway pressure treatment has been shown to affect multiple components, which have been associated with improved cardiovascular risk profile. No studies have been done that evaluated the effects of continuous positive airway pressure on the plasma lipid levels and waist circumference in patients with obstructive sleep apnea. Methods: Prospective observational study on consecutive patients referred to UCSF-Fresno Sleep Disorders Clinic and diagnosed with OSA by overnight polysomnographic evaluation and requiring CPAP treatment. The 12-hour fasting lipid level (total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides) was measured within 6 months before the CPAP treatment and at least 6 months after CPAP. Patients on lipid-lowering medications were included if the dose of the medication was not changed during the CPAP treatment. Presence of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, coronary artery disease, body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference before and after CPAP treatment were recorded. Compliance with CPAP treatment (as daily use) was obtained during a telephone interview. Results: A total of 268 patients have been enrolled in the study; 63 were excluded for incomplete data. The data collection was completed for 80 patients out of 205 who had at least 6 months of CPAP treatment. Thirty-seven patients were removed from final analysis due to changes in their lipid lowering medications. A remaining 43 patients were divided in two groups: 21 compliant with CPAP and 22 (51%) noncompliant with CPAP (control group). The demographics of the groups were similar. The proportion of patients with diabetes was 10% in the CPAP users group and 5% in the control group, with hypertension was 43% and 59%, and with coronary artery disease was 5% in both groups. The follow-up data revealed that compliant patients on CPAP had a nonsignificant decrease in BMI, waist circumference, and LDL and a nonsignificant increase in total cholesterol and triglycerides and a decrease in HDL when compared with controls. Age, sex, and ethnicity had no impact on lipid levels. Conclusions: In the preliminary analysis of the data on 43 patients, the compliance with CPAP treatment recommendation was 49%. There is no significant and consistent association of CPAP and lipid levels or metabolic syndrome parameters in these patients at 6 months.


SUMMARY: Culture filtrates of Trichothecium roseum contain two heat-stable substances that inhibit infection with plant viruses. One is trichothecin, an antifungal substance with the molecular formula C19H24O5; it sometimes visibly damages bean leaves. The other was isolated as a polysaccharide, [α] D 19° = -33°; it contains 1.1--1.4% nitrogen, yields 60--70% reducing sugars (as glucose) on acidic hydrolysis, and the predominant (45%) component sugar is d-galactose. The polysaccharide does not combine with tobacco mosaic virus in vitro. The extent to which infection is inhibited depends on the species of the host plant but not on the identity of the virus. Trichothecin, like ribonuclease, is relatively more effective with beans than with Nicotiana glutinosa, whereas the polysaccharide and two derivatives of trichothecin (trichothecolone and acetyltrichothecolone) affect N. glutinosa more than beans. Trichothecin inhibits infection when sprayed over leaves a day after they have been inoculated with viruses, but is ineffective when applied 2 days before. The polysaccharide inhibits when sprayed over leaves before inoculation but not after. It is suggested that inhibitors act by temporarily altering the metabolism of leaf cells so that introduced virus particles cannot multiply and are inactivated.


In broiler chickens, an extensive spread of ESBL-forming E.coli was observed in the first week on fattening farms. This rapid spread was not observed in grandparent animals. A difference between broilers and grandparent animals is that the broilers are given coccidiostatics as feed additives, while the grandparents are vaccinated against coccidiosis. This study was performed to investigate if coccidiostatics can influence the growth of ESBL-forming E.coli, isolated from Dutch broilers. The effects of three ionophore coccidiostatics (used as feed additives in broiler feed) on the growth of ESBL-forming E.coli were studied in vitro. Furthermore a growth experiment with whole broiler feed was performed to detect other substances in the feed that might affect the growth of ESBL-forming E.coli.
Minimal Inhibitory Concentrations (MICs) were determined for salinomycin (concentration range 0,125 - 256 µg/ml), narasin (0,3125 - 64 µg/ml) and monensin (0,25 - 512 µg/ml). Six ESBL-positive strains and six ESBL-negative strains were tested. A growth experiment with a Bioscreen apparatus was performed with narasin and salinomycin for the same strains. Growth curves were made for each strain with concentrations of 1.25, 12.5 and 125 µg/ml salinomycin and 0.5, 5 and 50 µg/ml narasin (concentrations were chosen considering the concentrations of the substances in broiler feed). A growth experiment with 3 ESBL-positive and 3 ESBL-negative strains was performed with whole sterilised broiler feed suspended in the test medium.The results of determining the MICs of the tested strains for the ionophores showed that the growth of the tested ESBL-positive strains as well as the growth of ESBL-negative strains was unaffected by the presence of the coccidiostatics. For salinomycin and monensin, the MICs of all tested strains were >256 µg/ml and for narasin >64 µg/ml. The growth curves of the tested strains made with the Bioscreen showed no indication that salinomycin or narasin had a consistent inhibitory or stimulatory effect on the growth of the tested E.coli-strains. The inhibitory effects of salinomycin and narasin compared to the effects of the solvent ethanol were calculated, no trend in the effects on the growth of the tested strains was observed and there was no difference between the group ESBL-positive and ESBL-negative strains. The growth experiment with broiler feed showed no apparent effect of the broiler feed on the growth of the tested strains.
It can be concluded from this study that the coccidiostatics salinomycin, narasin and monensin have no consistent effect on the growth of ESBL-forming E.coli in vitro. The tests with broiler feed in the test medium did not indicate that other compounds of the broiler feed consistently affect the growth of ESBL-forming E.coli. However, the test with the broiler feed should be repeated to give more certainty about these observations.


Wavelength converters based on cross-phase modulation in semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) in the arms of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) provide a key network element for reconfigurable optical networks that incorporate wavelength routing. For system design purposes, the properties of the intensity and phase (chirp) modulation of the wavelength-converted signal for an SOA-MZI wavelength converter are important. In this paper, the small-signal /spl alpha/ parameter, which characterizes the converter chirp, and the conversion frequency response are characterized experimentally for an integrated all-active SOA-MZI wavelength converter. For both co- and counterpropagating signals, the variation of the a parameter along the interference and conversion curves is considered in detail. Three optical modulators with quite different chirp properties are used to generate the modulated input signal to the wavelength converter. The results demonstrate that the chirp of the wavelength-converted signal is primarily determined by the device properties and the intensity of the modulated input signal. The a parameter of the wavelength-converted signal is negative for noninverting operation and positive for inverting operation. An important contribution of the paper is the detailed assessment of this key device characteristic. The experimental characterization of the wavelength converter is incorporated into a device model that can be used to obtain the pulse response. Calculated and measured results for the time dependence of the intensity and chirp of the wavelength-converted signal are in good agreement. The conversion frequency response for the intensity modulation is also measured along the conversion curve. The 3-dB bandwidth is found to be generally about 8-10 GHz.


Evaluation of IS tools has received considerable attention in the literature, yet no consensus is apparent on characterising the important dimensions of an evaluation process. From an analysis of the literature, we identify a weakness in extant methods to support evaluation activities, and posit a framework for IS tool evaluation. We conclude that there is a need for enriched method support to deal with the complex socio-technical issues involved in the summative assessment of IS tools.


Weakly Supervised Learning: What Could It Do and What Could Not? Jinhui Yuan Tsinghua University Bo Zhang Tsinghua University Abstract: Weakly supervised learning is not only a typical way of human concept learning, but also has wide real-world applications. Of particular interest to this paper is the theoretical aspect of weakly supervised learning: (a) Could weakly supervised learning learn the target concept the same as that of fully supervised learning? (b) If yes, under what conditions it will and how to achieve it? In other words, this paper will investigate what weakly supervised learning could do and what could not. The basic idea is, weakly supervised learning could be transformed into an equivalent supervised learning problem, in which way, it could be understood with the tools of supervised learning. The major results of the paper include: (a) the hardness of weakly supervised learning depends on the properties of training data and the adopted feature representation; (b) though there is no theoretical guarantee for a unique identification of the relevant variables, incorporating minimum description length principle may help infer target concept; (c) weakly supervised learning could be solved by EM-style algorithm, which is not a novel idea, however, the theoretical analysis suggests that the E-step and M-step should adopt feature representations with distinct properties rather than using the same feature.


T cells from cancer patients are often functionally impaired, which imposes a barrier to effective immunotherapy. Most pronounced are the alterations characterizing tumor-infiltrating T cells, which in renal cell carcinomas includes defective NF-κB activation and a heightened sensitivity to apoptosis. Coculture experiments revealed that renal tumor cell lines induced a time-dependent decrease in RelA(p65) and p50 protein levels within both Jurkat T cells and peripheral blood T lymphocytes that coincided with the onset of apoptosis. The degradation of RelA/p50 is critical for SK-RC-45-induced apoptosis because overexpression of RelA in Jurkat cells protects against cell death. The loss of RelA/p50 coincided with a decrease in expression of the NF-κB regulated antiapoptotic protein Bcl-xL at both the protein and mRNA level. The disappearance of RelA/p50 protein was mediated by a caspase-dependent pathway because pretreatment of T lymphocytes with a pan caspase inhibitor before coculture with SK-RC-45 blocked RelA and p50 degradation. SK-RC-45 gangliosides appear to mediate this degradative pathway, as blocking ganglioside synthesis in SK-RC-45 cells with the glucosylceramide synthase inhibitor, PPPP, protected T cells from tumor cell-induced RelA degradation and apoptosis. The ability of the Bcl-2 transgene to protect Jurkat cells from RelA degradation, caspase activation, and apoptosis implicates the mitochondria in these SK-RC-45 ganglioside-mediated effects.


We consider relaxations for nonconvex quadratically constrained quadratic programming (QCQP) based on semidefinite programming (SDP) and the reformulation-linearization technique (RLT). From a theoretical standpoint we show that the addition of a semidefiniteness condition removes a substantial portion of the feasible region corresponding to product terms in the RLT relaxation. On test problems we show that the use of SDP and RLT constraints together can produce bounds that are substantially better than either technique used alone. For highly symmetric problems we also consider the effect of symmetry-breaking based on tightened bounds on variables and/or order constraints. constrained quadratic programming.


This study analyses the demand for cigarettes fitting observed zero outcomes with a trivariate model consisting of an equation for the starting smoking decision, an equation for the quitting decision, and an equation that models the level of cigarettes consumed. Five competing specifications are considered to explain level, with the ordered probit, which accommodates pile-ups of counts in the dependent variable, providing the best fit. Marginal effects of explanatory variables are calculated providing strong evidence of race and gender differences in consumption patterns. The estimated marginal effects are robust to alternative categorizations of the level of cigarettes.


I first show that most authors who developed Plural Quantification Logic (PQL) argued it could capture various features of natural language better than can other logic systems. I then show that it fails to do so: it radically departs from natural language in two of its essential features; namely, in distinguishing plural from singular quantification and in its use of an 'is-one-of' relation. Next, I sketch a different approach that is more adequate than PQL for capturing plural aspects of natural language semantics and logic. I conclude with a criticism of the claim that PQL should replace natural language for specific philosophical or scientific purposes.


In this paper we discuss the concept of co-adaptation between a human operator and a machine interface and we summarize its application with emphasis on two different domains, teleoperation and assistive technology. The analysis of the literature reveals that only in a few cases the possibility of a temporal evolution of the co-adaptation parameters has been considered. In particular, it has been overlooked the role of time-related indexes that capture changes in motor and cognitive abilities of the human operator. We argue that for a more effective long-term co-adaptation process, the interface should be able to predict and adjust its parameters according to the evolution of human skills and performance. We thus propose a novel approach termed progressive co-adaptation, whereby human performance is continuously monitored and the system makes inferences about changes in the users' cognitive and motor skills. We illustrate the features of progressive co-adaptation in two possible applications, robotic telemanipulation and active vision for the visually impaired.


The purpose of this study was to determine the status of wound care management among home health agencies (HHAs) in the U.S. The survey was mailed to 562 randomly selected HHAs within all 10 HCFA regions. Two hundred and ninety-six agencies (53%) responded to the survey. The majority (56%) of the respondents did not have written policies and procedures specific to wound management. The investigators were able to analyze the documents of those who had indicated that they had written policies and sent copies of them (n = 87, 67%). The majority (76%) of these had separate wound assessment protocols, but only 14% had separate preventive skin assessment protocols. Sixty-four percent had treatment protocols for more than one type of wound, while the remaining 46% used no specific treatment protocol or used treatments based on physicians' orders only. Most of the HHAs with written wound management policies required documentation of wound status; however, only half had patient/caregiver teaching as part of the policy. Although there is a need for clinically useful, well-tested, standardized approaches to wound care, the results of this study indicated that there is inconsistency regarding wound care management among HHAs within the U.S.


Eight staked, determinate tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) cultivars were harvested when green (before breaker stage) or when pink (breaker stage and riper) in two replicated field studies. In general, total yield and average fruit size were reduced when fruit were harvested at the green stage. Harvest maturity had only a small effect on occurrence of most fruit defects, except fruit cracking, which was more severe for pink than for green fruit in the early season experiment. Although total yields for pink harvested fruit were higher than for green harvested fruit in the early season study, the high incidence of fruit crack in pink fruit resulted in similar yields of U.S. combination grade (U.S. no. 1 and U.S. no. 2) fruit for both treatments. Because the largest fruit often bring a premium price, harvesting fruit when pink probably will result in a higher price per kilogram than harvesting fruit when green. Fruit harvested green, however, are generally firmer, more crack resistant, and require fewer harvests than fruit harvested pink.