The effect of 16,16-dimethylprostaglandin E2 (dmPGE2) and corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) on duodenal blood flow, alkaline secretion, and acid-induced deep duodenal villous injury was studied. The duodena of anesthetized rats were prepared for simultaneous measurement of alkaline secretion by back titration, and blood flow by hydrogen gas clearance; or for perfusion with 0.1 N HCl and histological examination of villous injury. The results revealed that the dmPGE2-induced increase in basal alkaline secretion (due solely to an increase in the volume of secretion) appears to be a better predictor of protection against exogenous acid-induced deep duodenal villous injury than rise in duodenal blood flow, since CRF induces a similar rise in duodenal blood flow but does not enhance alkaline secretion or reduce acid-induced villous damage. The absence of a greater loss of H+ during acid perfusion of the duodenum in the dmPGE2-treated rats, however, suggests that the mechanism of the dmPGE2 protection against acid-induced deep duodenal villous injury cannot be explained entirely by its ability to increase basal duodenal alkaline secretion.


A highly sensitive and fast responsive relative humidity (% RH) sensor based on In–SnO2 loaded cubic mesoporous graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) has been demonstrated in this study. The mesoporous In–SnO2/meso-CN nanohybrid was synthesized through template inversion of mesoporous silica, KIT-6, using a nanocasting process. Due to its 3D replicated cubic structure with ordered mesopores, the nanohybrid facilitates the process of adsorption, charge transmission and desorption of water molecules across the sensor surfaces. Consequently, the optimized In–SnO2/meso-CN nanohybrid exhibits excellent response (5 orders change in impedance) in the 11–98% RH range, high stability, negligible hysteresis (0.7%) and superior real time % RH detection performance. Compared to traditional metal oxide based resistive sensors with unique mesoporous/hierarchical/sheet-like morphology, the 3D mesostructured In–SnO2/meso-CN nanohybrid demonstrated a superfast response (3.5 s) and recovery (1.5 s) in the 11–98% RH range at room temperature. These results open the door for breath monitoring and show a promising glimpse for designing mesoporous 2D layered materials in the development of future ultra-sensitive % RH sensors.


The total detectable rate of Helicobacter pylori (HP) of 485 patients suffering from gastric diseases was 59.6%. The HP in gastric mucosa of chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG) patients was separated from the cell culture in vitro and transferred successively. The mice were perfused with exciccate alum, and the rabbits with aspirin to injure their gastric mucosa, then HP was perfused. Result showed that the change of experimental animals was identical with that of CAG patients by means of bacteriological and pathological examination. It revealed that HP was in agreement with Robert Koch's three principles about pathogenic bacteria. According to the bacterial infectious hypothesis of CAG, 53 Chinese medicinal herbs and prescriptions were investigated with bacteriostatic test. Panax notogenseng and Magnolia officinalis were discovered to be sensitive, Prunus mume and Corydalis yanhusuo were moderate sensitive, and Coptis chinensis and Rheum palmatum highly sensitive to HP. Decoction of Clearing up the Heat and Relieving the Blood Stasis and No.2 recipe of Huowei were used to treat 70 CAG patients with Stomach Heat Syndrome. The effective rate of gastroscopic examination was 85.7%, that of pathological study was 80%. In comparing with the group of Shanjiu Weitai, there was significant difference between the traditional Chinese medicine treated group and Shanjiu Weitai control group, the former being markedly better.


During storage of platelet concentrates the platelets show signs of activation, and extracellular protease activity becomes evident in the plasma. The consequences of platelet activation and plasma protease activity are potentially detrimental to the preservation of platelet function in vitro. The earlier use of prostaglandins during preparation of platelet concentrates to increase the harvest of platelets from whole blood did little to improve their shelf-life. Other compounds that sustain elevated cyclic AMP levels or that directly inhibit platelet agonists provide more effective inhibition of platelet activation during storage. Also, the inclusion of general or specific protease inhibitors appears to improve platelet preservation over extended storage periods. These studies demonstrate the possibility of prolonging the shelf-life of platelet concentrates stored at 22 degrees C through the addition of non-toxic formulations of inhibitors of platelet activation and protease activity.


The effects of chemical modification of orange peel, bagasse, and a mixture of peel and bagasse for lead ion removal from aqueous medium were evaluated. The chemical modification of biomass was carried out with sodium hydroxide and citric acid to introduce carboxylate groups on the surface of the biomass. Infrared spectra confirmed the presence of carboxylate groups at 1735 cm-1. Adsorption isotherms performed by static adsorption experiments fitted very well to the linear Langmuir and Freundlich models. The experiments were carried out at pH 5 during 500 min of shaking time. Orange modified peel (O-MP) presented the highest adsorption capacity (84.5 mg g-1), notably higher than other biosorbents described in the literature. The kinetic studies showed that the process obeyed a pseudo-second-order rate expression, thus indicating a strong interaction between the biosorbent and adsorbate. It was found that the chemical modifications of sorbents promoted an adsorption energetically more spontaneous, as indicated by negative values of Gibbs free energy. On the other hand, desorption studies showed low leaching of lead ions from the biosorbent, thus confirming the strong interaction of lead ions and the biosorbent. The satisfactory maximum adsorption capacity obtained and negligible cost of biosorbent makes the sub-products of orange a reliable natural material for the removal of lead ions from aqueous effluents.


Introduction: Trauma team activation is a kind of triage the staff of an Emergency Department (ED) exerts to determine whether a trauma team needs to be activated for severely injured patients and in what composition the team needs to be deployed. It is a difficult decision-making process which is often performed by ED nurses and influenced by several factors.
Objective: Understand the trauma team activation decision-making process at a Dutch ED and obtain insight in the importance of several factors of influence according to ED nurses.
Methods: Cross-sectional fractional factorial design. Patient factors (attributes) were identified by literature review and discussed with trauma experts. SPSS® Orthoplan was used to generate a fraction (n=25) of all possible alternative scenarios (n=2304), that consisted of combinations of the attribute levels. Scenarios were presented to 44 ED nurses at a level I trauma centre using a questionnaire with a total of 26 clinical vignettes. ED nurses were asked to rank the attributes according to their perceived importance.
Results: 27 ED nurses (61%) completed the questionnaire. The number of team activations per respondent varied for the possible teams. After normalizing the level mean rank scores, the level Airway-Breathing unstable was the most important level for trauma team activation based on the relative rank sum weight (0.115), followed by Mechanism of injury Fall of height >5m (0.171) and Airway-Breathing Intubation (0.172). There was no difference in attribute mean rank scores between two groups of ED nurses, stratified for years of work experience. The ICC for the different levels occurring in the three duplicate vignettes varied.
Discussion: We observed variation in decisions for trauma team activation and in consistency of the rank scores among the ED nurses under study. This implies that a decision support system could improve uniformity in the trauma team activation decision-making process.


Leadership is an important concept for GPs and has its own topic guide in the MRCGP curriculum. Simply put, leadership is about influencing others to take action for change. You may like to start this article by thinking of a few public figures you know, and what makes you think they are 'good leaders' – or not. This often highlights the fact that 'good' is defined both by how effective leaders are (…'he really changed the practice'…); and whether they lead people into actions that help or harm (… 'pay went up, but care got worse…'). As GPs, we need to recognise and develop our own leadership skills and be able to help others to do what is needed for effective patient care. This starts with having some definitions and building up through 'knowing about' and 'knowing how', towards understanding and applying our skills in practice. Leadership can also need action, beyond our own practice and that of our team, to the wider setting of the community, other parts of the workforce, and in the wider 'macro' sphere of changing the systems of care. This article will give you a framework for this learning. The article highlights some of the core capabilities of GPs, why you need them, and how you can develop them, linking this in with MRCGP Workplace-Based Assessment (WPBA) requirements. It also aims to show the links between 'knowing yourself' and 'working in organisations' - as GP leadership is needed at many levels.


Enterococci are important inhabitants of the animal intestine and are widely used in probiotic products. A probiotic strain is expected to possess several desirable properties in order to exert beneficial effects. Therefore, the objective of this study was to isolate, characterize and identify Enterococcus sp. from chicken cecal and fecal samples to determine potential probiotic properties. Enterococci were isolated from chicken ceca and feces of thirty three clinically healthy chickens from a local farm. In vitro studies were performed to assess antibacterial activity of the isolated LAB (using agar well diffusion and cell free supernatant broth technique against Salmonella enterica serotype Enteritidis), survival in acidic conditions, resistance to bile salts, and their survival during simulated gastric juice conditions at pH 2.5. Isolates were identified by biochemical carbohydrate fermentation patterns using an API 50 CHL kit and API ZYM kits and by sequenced 16S rDNA. An isolate belonging to E. faecium species exhibited inhibitory effect against S. enteritidis. This isolate producing a clear zone as large as 10.30 mm or greater and was able to grow in the coculture medium and at the same time, inhibited the growth S. enteritidis. In addition, E. faecium exhibited significant resistance under highly acidic conditions at pH 2.5 for 8 h and survived well in bile salt at 0.2% for 24 h and showing ability to survive in the presence of simulated gastric juice at pH 2.5. Based on these results, E. faecium isolate fulfills some of the criteria to be considered as a probiotic strain and therefore, could be used as a feed additive with good potential for controlling S. Enteritidis in chickens. However, in vivo studies are needed to determine the safety of the strain. Keywords—Acid tolerance, antimicrobial activity, Enterococcus faecium, probiotic.


Objective: Severe congenital neutropenia (SCN), also known as Kostmann syndrome (SCN3, OMIM 610738), includes a variety of haematological disorders caused by different genetic abnormalities. Mutations in ELA2 are most often the cause in autosomal dominant or sporadic forms. Recently, mutations in HAX1 have been identified as the cause of some autosomal recessive forms of SCN, including those present in the original pedigree first reported by Kostmann. We sought to determine the relationship between HAX1 gene mutations and the clinical characteristics of Japanese cases of SCN. Methods: The genes implicated in SCN (ELA2, HAX1, Gfi-1, WAS, and P14) were analysed in 18 Japanese patients with SCN. The clinical features of these patients were obtained from medical records. Immunoblotting of HAX1 was performed on cell extracts from peripheral blood leucocytes from patients and/or their parents. Results: We found five patients with HAX1 deficiency and 11 patients with mutations in the ELA2 gene. In HAX1 deficiency, a homozygous single base pair substitution (256C>T), which causes the nonsense change R86X, was identified in three affected individuals. Two sibling patients showed a compound heterozygous mutation consisting of a single base pair substitution (256C>T) and a 59 bp deletion at nucleotides 376–434. There was no detectable phenotype in any heterozygous carrier. All patients with HAX1 deficiency had experienced developmental delay. Three patients carrying R86X also suffered from epileptic seizures. In contrast, no SCN patient with heterozygous mutations in the ELA2 gene suffered from any neurodevelopmental abnormality. Conclusions: These findings suggest that the R86X mutation in the HAX1 gene is an abnormality in Japanese SCN patients with HAX1 deficiency and may lead to neurodevelopmental abnormalities and severe myelopoietic defects.


Wireless sensor system are accumulation of sensor hubs which send the detected information to sink hub. As sensor hubs are constrained to computational power and vitality asset, a vitality proficient usage of assets are basic keeping in mind the end goal to utilize organize for longer length. Hence data traffic inside network and large amount of data sending to base station need to be reduced. The main goal of data aggregation is to enhance the network life time by gathering an aggregate data in an energy efficient manner. Iterative Filtering algorithm are more reliable and efficient compared to existing method and it provides the way for aggregating the data at secure level and data trustworthiness. In order to strengthen security levels at cluster head cryptographic algorithm such as RSA algorithm is used to encrypt the aggregated data by   using public key and decrypt data at base station by using its own private key. Where this method is responsible for securing the information that is aggregated at cluster head and also secures the information passed through the networks. The simulation results shows that proposed method consumes less computation time, data transmitting, high security and   has a good storage capacity than compared to existing algorithm.


This study examined the effects of Section 1123 of Act 82 of 2012, a section of an omnibus bill relating to the Public School Code of 1949 (P.L. 30, No. 14), on selected school districts in Southwestern Pennsylvania. This specific section of the omnibus bill of amendments, commonly known as the Educator Effectiveness Model, relates to educator effectiveness and included policies and procedures relating to rating forms for and suspension of professional educators in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. School administrators, union presidents, and classroom teachers have all been affected by this legislation over the past four years, be it through trainings regarding the legislation or the actual implementation of the legislation at the local level. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects the legislation has had in these selected school districts relating to evaluation and supervision processes, and whether or not these changes have had any effect on professional development offerings that have been occurring in any of these districts.

Based on the findings of this study, the legislation has had a profound effect in these selected districts in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Many school administrators and union presidents report the additional paperwork, protocols, and focus on data (both student-level and observation-based) have helped to increase stress levels in the schools, both in administrators and teachers. These participants also report that the use of evaluation and supervision data is inconsistent amongst these districts, and amongst the buildings in each of these districts. Although some of the union presidents responded favorably to aligning professional development opportunities with data collected through the evaluation and supervision processes, the manner in which this would occur, or how to best implement the process, was not consistently reported by the participants in the study.


Due to increased public concern on the possible human effects of exposure to very low frequency magnetic fields (VLFMF) produced by household appliances , this paper examines the possible effects of VLFMF on the mutation of DNA molecules which is known to be a direct cause of cancer development. In this study, the bacterium Salmonella typhimurium TA1535/(pSK1002) was exposed to VLFMF and the expression intensity of the activity of /spl beta/-galactosidase, which is located downstream of the umu SOS gene operon, was examined using umu assay method with a non-exposure control. The results of the umu assay of the damage to DNA molecules caused by VLFMF exposure are reported. t-test results on the sample data showed no significant difference in three out of the four sets of measurements acquired. These results show that the possibility of a weak relation between exposure to VLFMF and damage to DNA can not be denied. However, the reference level according to the umu assay method stays around the double and thus it can be concluded that no effects from exposure to 20 kHz, 600 /spl mu/T magnetic fields in terms of damage in DNA molecules were observed.


[1] We present joint inversion of magnetotelluric, receiver function, and Raleigh wave dispersion data for a one-dimensional Earth using a multiobjective genetic algorithm (GA). The chosen GA produces not only a family of models that fit the data sets but also the trade-off between fitting the different data sets. The analysis of this trade-off gives insight into the compatibility between the seismic data sets and the magnetotelluric data and also the appropriate noise level to assume for the seismic data. This additional information helps to assess the validity of the joint model, and we demonstrate the use of our approach with synthetic data under realistic conditions. We apply our method to one site from the Slave Craton and one site from the Kaapvaal Craton. For the Slave Craton we obtain similar results to our previously published models from joint inversion of receiver functions and magnetotelluric data but with improved resolution and control on absolute velocities. We find a conductive layer at the bottom of the crust, just above the Moho; a low-velocity, low-resistivity zone in the lithospheric mantle, previously termed the Central Slave Mantle Conductor; and indications of the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary in terms of a decrease in seismic velocity and resistivity. For the Kaapvaal Craton both the seismic and the MT data are of lesser quality, which prevents as detailed and robust an interpretation; nevertheless, we find an indication of a low-velocity low-resistivity zone in the mantle lithosphere. These two examples demonstrate the potential of joint inversion, particularly in combination with nonlinear optimization methods.


A number of significant legal challenges impede the attribution of liability to parent corporations for the overseas operations of their subsidiaries. The multinational reach of these entities' activities raise questions as to which forum is appropriate to hear the case, under which state's jurisdiction an action may be brought and as to which state's domestic law should be applied. The elaborate corporate structures exhibited by many multinational corporations (MNCs), which often incorporate holding companies, joint ventures and external contractors, serve to complicate matters still further. The recent case of Akpan & Anor v Royal Dutch Shell plc & Anor dealt with these issues in an environmental context. The case formed part of a class action suit brought by Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands), a Dutch non-governmental organisation (NGO) promoting environmental protection, and four Nigerian farmers. The farmers had all experienced damage to their farmlands and fishing ponds resulting from numerous oil spills across three proximate regions between 2004 and 2007. Akpan, the only successful applicant, is a farmer and fisherman residing in the village of Ikot Ada Udo, Nigeria. Throughout the course of the action, all four Nigerian applicants were supported by Milieudefensie, which itself attempted to bring claims against both the parent company and its wholly owned subsidiary as a third party.


Introduction: According to previous studies, therapeutic inertia (TI) may affect 7 out of 10 physicians who care for MS patients, particularly in countries where clinical guidelines are not widely used. Limited information is available on the prevalence of TI and its associated factors across Canada. Objectives: (i) To evaluate factors associated with TI amongst neurologists caring for MS patients across Canada; (ii) to compare the prevalence of TI observed in Canadian neurologists to the prevalence of TI observed in Argentinean, Chilean, and Spanish neurologists (historical controls from prior studies). Design: One hundred and eight neurologists with expertise in MS were invited to participate in an online study in Canada. Participants answered questions regarding their clinical practice, risk preferences, management of 10 simulated case-scenarios. The design of that study was similar to that of the prior studies completed in Argentina and Chile (n = 115). TI was defined as lack of treatment initiation or escalation when there was clear evidence of clinical and radiological disease activity (8 case-scenarios, 440 individual responses). A TI score was created & defined as the number of case-scenarios that fit the TI criteria over the total number of presented cases (score range from 0 to 8), with a higher score corresponding to a higher TI. TI scores observed in the Canadian study were compared with those observed in Argentina and Chile, as both studies followed the same design, case-scenarios and methodologies. Predictors of TI included demographic data, MS specialist vs. general neurologist, practice setting, years of practice, volume of MS patients and risk preferences. Results: Fifty-five Canadian neurologists completed the study (completion rate: 50.9%). The mean age (±SD) was 38.3 (±15) years; 47.3% of the participants were female and 56.4% self-identified as MS specialists. Overall, 54 of 440 (12.3%) individual responses were classified as TI. 60% of participants displayed TI in at least one case-scenario. The mean TI score across Canada [0.98 (SD = 1.15)] was significantly lower than the TI score observed in the Argentinean-Chilean [1.82 (SD = 1.47); p < 0.001] study. The multivariable analysis revealed that older age (p = 0.018), years of experience (p = 0.04) and willingness to risk further disease progression by avoiding treatment initiation or treatment change (p = 0.043) were independent predictors of TI. Conclusions: TI in Canada was observed in 6 out of 10 neurologists, affecting on average 1 in 8 therapeutic decisions in MS care. TI in Canada is significantly lower than in the other studied countries. Factors associated with TI include older age, lower years of experience, and willingness to risk disease progression by avoiding treatment initiation or treatment change. Differences in clinical practice patterns and adherence/access to accepted MS guidelines may explain how TI in Canada differs significantly from TI in Argentina-Chile.


As an ophthalmic monograph compiled to systemize and elaborate the Yuan ji qi wei (Revealing the Mystery of Eye Disease) written to explore the gist of the original author, a valuable edition of the original Yuan ji qi wei. SHI Shi-de made reviews and comments to each eye disease included in the first volume of Yuan ji qi wei, followed by the rhymes on the etiology, manifestations, treatment and prescriptions written by his son SHI Guang, and rearranged and systemized the whole text made by his little brother SHI Shi-qi for better memory and popularization. He stressed the significant position of Yuan ji qi wei. The achievements of the Yan ke zheng zong yuan ji qi wei can be summarized into 4 points: the "18 disease" of eye disease is the guidelines for the differential diagnosis of ophthalmic diseases; Shi's annotation developed the essence of Ni's theory; SHI Guang's rhymes facilitated the spread of Ni's theory; the "hints for prescription" being the standards for the treatment of eye disease.


This prospective study of cellulitis identified β-hemolytic streptococci as the dominating cause in all investigated subgroups. Group C/G streptococci were more frequently detected than group A streptococci. No single clinical feature substantially increased the probability of confirmed streptococcal etiology.


There are several theorical results about order statistics and copulas in the literature that have  been mentioned also by Nelsen cite{p20}. The present study after reviewing some of these results, relies on  simulation technique to investigate the mentioned results about order statistics and copulas. The study concentrates on two well known Archimedean Gumbel and Frank families in the case that marginal functions $F(k)$  and $G(k)$  have different distributions.


Autoimmune polyglandular syndrome type 3 variant (APS3v) refers to an autoimmune condition in which both type 1 diabetes (T1D) and autoimmune thyroiditis (AITD) develop in the same individual. HLA-DR3 confers the strongest susceptibility to APS3v. Previously we reported a unique amino acid signature pocket that predisposes to APS3v. We found that this pocket is flexible and can trigger APS3v by presenting both thyroid (Tg.1571, TPO.758) and islet (GAD.492) peptides to induce autoimmune response. We hypothesized that blocking the specific APS3v-HLA-DR3 pocket from presenting thyroid/islet antigens can block the autoimmune response in APS3v. To test this hypothesis we performed a virtual screen of small molecules blocking APS3v-HLA-DR3, and identified 11 small molecules hits that were predicted to block APS3v-HLA-DR3. Using the baculovirus-produced recombinant APS3v-HLA-DR3 protein we tested the 11 small molecules in an in vitro binding assay. We validated 4 small molecule hits, S9, S5, S53 and S15, that could block the APS3v-HLA-DR3 pocket in vitro. We then developed a novel humanized APS3v mouse model induced by co-immunizing a peptide mix of Tg.1571, TPO.758 and GAD.492. The immunized mice developed strong T-cell and antibody responses to the thyroid/islet peptides, as well as mouse thyroglobulin. In addition, the mice showed significantly lower free T4 levels compared to controls. Using the APS3v mouse model, we showed that one of the 4 small molecules, Cepharanthine (S53), blocked T-cell activation by thyroid/islet peptides ex vivo and in vivo. These findings suggested Cepharanthine may have a therapeutic potential in APS3v patients carrying the specific APS3v-HLA-DR3 pocket.


Obligately parthenogenetic species are expected to be short lived since the lack of sex and recombination should translate into a slower adaptation rate and increased accumulation of deleterious alleles. Some, however, are thought to have been reproducing without males for millions of years. It is not clear how these old parthenogens can escape the predicted long-term costs of parthenogenesis, but an obvious explanation is cryptic sex. In this study, we screen for signatures of cryptic sex in eight populations of four parthenogenetic species of Timema stick insects, some estimated to be older than 1 Myr. Low genotype diversity, homozygosity of individuals and high linkage disequilibrium (LD) unaffected by marker distances support exclusively parthenogenetic reproduction in six populations. However, in two populations (namely, of the species Timema douglasi and T. monikensis) we find strong evidence for cryptic sex, most likely mediated by rare males. These populations had comparatively high genotype diversities, lower LD, and a clear LD decay with genetic distance. Rare sex in species that are otherwise largely parthenogenetic could help explain the unusual success of parthenogenesis in the Timema genus and raises the question whether episodes of rare sex are in fact the simplest explanation for the persistence of many old parthenogens in nature.


Changes in the abundance of ice-rafted debris in abyssal sediments of the Southern Ocean have been interpreted as evidence of variations in Antarctic glacial activity. When accompanied by a simultaneous increase in Mn micronodules, however, it is proposed that ice-rafted debris maxima may represent residual lag deposits, created during a period of reduced sedimentation rate caused by selective removal of the finer or lighter fraction by high-velocity bottom currents. An empirical relationship between ice-rafted debris and Mn micronodules in the southeast Pacific Ocean has been used to suppress the lag component in the total ice-rafted debris signal in order to isolate the ice-rafted debris caused by increased iceberg supply associated with increases in glacial activity in Antarctica. The spatial distribution of the mean accumulation rate of ice-rafted debris during the past 690,000 yr is complicated by local bottom-scouring activity, which causes erratic latitudinal variations of total ice-rafted debris accumulation rates. When the residual portion of ice-rafted debris is removed, a coherent latitudinal decrease of the mean accumulation rate of debris is revealed. The average northern limit of debris during the past 690,000 yr is not different from present conditions. A sharp maximum in debris accumulation occurs in the vicinity of the present Antarctic convergence, suggesting that the factors governing iceberg supply and melting rate have not changed appreciably during the period involved. Six periods of increases in Mn micronodule production are defined at intervals of 100,000 to 110,000 ± 20,000 yr. The linear correlation coefficient between ice-rafted debris and Mn micronodules during the past 690,000 yr defines two areas of intense winnowing, separated by the East Pacific Rise. The southernmost zone corresponds to an area independently described as one of high bottom-current activity. Our results indicate that the intensity of bottom-current winnowing on the north flank of the East Pacific Rise may be as great as in the southern zone. This could mean that the Eltanin Fracture Zone serves as a conduit for high-velocity Antarctic Bottom Water flowing onto the northern flank of the East Pacific Rise.


We address robust versions of combinatorial optimization problems, specializing on the discrete scenario case and the uncorrelated ellipsoidal uncertainty case. We present a branch and bound-algorithm for the min-max variant of these problems which uses lower bounds obtained from Lagrangean decomposition, allowing to separate the uncertainty aspect in the objective function from the combinatorial structure of the feasible set. For addressing the unrestricted binary subproblems arising in the uncorrelated ellipsoidal uncertainty case and in the twoscenario case, we devise fast combinatorial algorithms, where in the latter case we resort to solving a relaxation of the problem. In an extensive experimental evaluation we apply this approach to the robust versions of knapsack, shortest path, and minimum spanning tree problems. The results show that our approach clearly outperforms other solution methods in the uncorrelated ellipsoidal uncertainty case, as well as in the twoscenario case when the underlying problem is not given by a compact linear description.


Osteoarthritis, whose hallmark is the progressive loss of joint cartilage, is a major cause of morbidity worldwide. Recently, optical coherence tomography (OCT) has demonstrated considerable promise for the assessment of articular cartilage. Among the most important parameters to be assessed is cartilage width. However, detection of the bone cartilage interface is critical for the assessment of cartilage width. At present, the quantitative evaluations of cartilage thickness are being done using manual tracing of cartilage-bone borders. Since data is being obtained near video rate with OCT, automated identification of the bone-cartilage interface is critical. In order to automate the process of boundary detection on OCT images, there is a need for developing new image processing techniques. In this paper we describe the image processing techniques for speckle removal, image enhancement and segmentation of cartilage OCT images. In particular, this paper focuses on rabbit cartilage since this is an important animal model for testing both chondroprotective agents and cartilage repair techniques. In this study, a variety of techniques were examined. Ultimately, by combining an adaptive filtering technique with edge detection (vertical gradient, Sobel edge detection), cartilage edges can be detected. The procedure requires several steps and can be automated. Once the cartilage edges are outlined, the cartilage thickness can be measured.


This report is a terminal evaluation of a UN Environment project implemented between 2015 and 2018 in Darfur and Kordofan, Sudan. The project's overall development goal was to reduce the incidence of local conflict over natural resources through improved natural resource management (NRM) and strengthened institutions for dispute resolution. It worked towards strengthening inter-communal relationships and relations between communities and authorities over natural resources in the three targeted areas. The evaluation was undertaken at completion of the project to assess project performance (in terms of relevance, effectiveness and efficiency), and determine outcomes and impacts (actual and potential) stemming from the project, including their sustainability.


: Nurses should not hesitate to use full and effective doses of pain medication for the proper management of pain in the dying patient. The increasing titration of medication to achieve adequate symptom control, even at the expense of life, thus hastening death secondarily, is ethically justified.


Effect of metabolic acidosis on two distinct 25-hydroxyvitamin D(3)-1alpha-hydroxylase (1alpha-hydroxylase) systems was studied in the kidneys of vitamin D-deficient rats; one is localized in the proximal convoluted tubule (PCT), is activated in vitamin D deficiency, and is regulated primarily by parathyroid hormone (PTH) via cyclic AMP; the other is localized in the proximal straight tubule (PST), is latent in vitamin D deficiency, and is selectively stimulated by calcitonin via a cyclic AMP-independent mechanism. The 1alpha-hydroxylase activities were measured in the PCT and PST microdissected from the kidney of vitamin D-deficient rats with or without metabolic acidosis of varying duration. The 1alpha-hydroxylase activity decreased in the PCT from 0.74+/-0.07 fmol/mm per h to 0.24+/-0.02 at day 3 of metabolic acidosis without a further decline at day 7. Neither metabolic acidosis of 16 h duration nor reduction of the incubation medium pH from 7.4 to 7.0 affected the enzyme activity in the PCT. To examine the underlying mechanism for the suppression of 1alpha-hydroxylase activity, PTH, cyclic AMP, or calcitonin was given to rats with metabolic acidosis of 3 d duration. Although PTH failed to augment the suppressed 1alpha-hydroxylase activity in the PCT, cyclic AMP restored it to the level of control rats. The 1alpha-hydroxylase activity in the PST remained undetectable in control rats and in acidotic rats with or without PTH or cyclic AMP treatments. However, calcitonin stimulated the 1alpha-hydroxylase activity in the PST equally from undetectable to 0.75+/-0.09 fmol/mm per h in control and to 0.78+/-0.10 in acidotic rats. The data suggests that metabolic acidosis suppresses 1alpha-hydroxylase only in the PCT by inhibiting PTH-dependent adenylate cyclase, and that cellular events beyond cyclic AMP in the PCT and the events responsive to calcitonin in the PST are unaffected. The results show the definite advantage of using defined single nephron segments to study the hormonal and ionic control of the 1alpha-hydroxylase system in the kidney.


Psychiatr Danub. 2011 Dec;23(4):378-83. The effects of beverage type on suicide rate in Russia. Razvodovsky YE. Source Grodno State Medical University, 230009, Grodno, str. Gorky 80, Belarus. firstname.lastname@example.com Abstract BACKGROUND: Research evidence has suggested that the consumption of different types of alcoholic beverage may have a differential effect on suicide rate. The aim of this study was to examine the relation between the consumption of different beverage types and suicide rates in Russia. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Age-standardized sexand age-specific suicide rate for the period 1980-2005 and data on beverage-specific alcohol sale were obtained from the Russian State Statistical Committee. Time-series analytical modeling techniques (ARIMA) were used to examine the relationship between the sale of different alcoholic beverages and suicide rates. RESULTS: Vodka consumption as measured by sale was significantly associated with both male and female suicide rate. The consumption of beer and wine were not associated with suicide rate. The estimates of the age specific models for men were positive (except for the 75+ age group) and ranging from 0.069 (60-74 age group) to 0.123 (30-44 age group). The estimates for women were positive for the 15-29 age group (0.08), 30-44 age group (0.096) and 45-59 age group (0.057). CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that public health efforts should focus on both reducing overall consumption and changing beverage preference away from distilled spirits in order to reduce suicide rate in Russia.


This doctoral dissertation deals with the somewhat neglected relationship between mathematics and theatre. Specifically, the focus of this study is the penetration of modern mathematical thinking into European avant-garde theatre during the late 19th and early 20th century, particularly as regards the revolutionary experiments on scenic space and dramatic logic that occurred at the time. I will argue that modern European theatre underwent a period of crisis, whereby a number of avant-garde practitioners renounced the axioms of traditional theatre, particularly in relationship to the rule of mimesis,
representation, and verbal speech. Theatres of the Surd argues for a penetration of symbolic languages in the wake of a decline of word-based textuality in the theatre, combined with a cultural shift toward more abstract, technologically mediated and autonomous forms of theatrical practice. This work focuses on three seminal theatre practitioners of the late 19th and early 20th century avant-garde; namely, Alfred Jarry, Stanislaw Witkiewicz and Samuel Beckett, and the impact of non-Euclidean geometry and modern mathematical logic in their work. I will claim that the mathematisation of cultural practices in the late modern era marked a crucial watershed that played an important role in the transformation of the axiomatics of theatrical practice, and the emergence of a truly modern, post-Aristotelian and post-representational form of theatrical praxis. Thus, mathematics may be said to function within the ambit of cultural dynamics, insofar as its penetration into culture discourse and practice has helped modernise the way theatre is conceptualised and visualised.


This paper presents a non-linear numerical investigation of surface cracks in round bars under bending moment by using ANSYS finite element analysis (FEA). Due to the symmetrical analysis, only quarter finite element (FE) model was constructed and special attention was given at the crack tip of the cracks. The surface cracks were characterized by the dimensionless crack aspect ratio, a/b = 0.6, 0.8, 1.0 and 1.2, while the dimensionless relative crack depth, a/D = 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3. The square-root singularity of stresses and strains was modeled by shifting the mid-point nodes to the quarter-point locations close to the crack tip. The proposed model was validated with the existing model before any further analysis. The elastic-plastic analysis under remotely applied bending moment was assumed to follow the Ramberg-Osgood relation with n = 5 and 10. J values were determined for all positions along the crack front and then, the limit load was predicted using the J values obtained from FEA through the reference stress method.


The synthesis and antimicrobial activity of isochromane-type analogs of the pyranonaphthoquinone antibiotics are reported. Isochromane derivatives with (17a, b) and without (22a, b) a C-4 hydroxyl moiety and their corresponding quinones (19a and 23), were prepared. Both quinones exhibited antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus atrophaeus and Streptococcus agalactiae, while the related isochromanes were inactive. The results suggest that the quinone moiety is important for biological activity while the C-4 hydroxyl may not be essential.


In stream-based programming, data sources are abstracted as a stream of values that can be manipulated via callback functions. Stream-based programming is exploding in popularity, as it provides a powerful and expressive paradigm for handling asynchronous data sources in interactive software. However, high-level stream abstractions can also make it difficult for developers to reason about control- and data-flow relationships in their programs. This is particularly impactful when asynchronous stream-based code interacts with thread-limited features such as UI frameworks that restrict UI access to a single thread, since the threading behavior of streaming constructs is often non-intuitive and insufficiently documented. In this paper, we present a type-based approach that can statically prove the thread-safety of UI accesses in stream-based software. Our key insight is that the fluent APIs of stream-processing frameworks enable the tracking of threads via type-refinement, making it possible to reason automatically about what thread a piece of code runs on - a difficult problem in general. We implement the system as an annotation-based Java type-checker for Android programs built upon the popular ReactiveX framework and evaluate its efficacy by annotating and analyzing 8 open-source apps, where we find 33 instances of unsafe UI access while incurring an annotation burden of only one annotation per 186 source lines of code. We also report on our experience applying the typechecker to two much larger apps from the Uber Technologies, Inc. codebase, where it currently runs on every code change and blocks changes that introduce potential threading bugs.


Evolvable hardware (EHW) has shown itself to be a promising approach for prosthetic hand controllers. Besides competitive classification performance, EHW classifiers offer self-adaptation, fast training, and a compact implementation. However, EHW classifiers have not yet been sufficiently compared to state-of-the-art conventional classifiers. In this paper, we compare two EHW approaches to four conventional classification techniques: k-nearest-neighbor, decision trees, artificial neural networks, and support vector machines. We provide all classifiers with features extracted from electromyographic signals taken from forearm muscle contractions, and let the algorithms recognize eight to eleven different kinds of hand movements. We investigate classification accuracy on a fixed data set and stability of classification error rates when new data is introduced. For this purpose, we have recorded a short-term data set from three individuals over three consecutive days and a long-term data set from a single individual over three weeks. Experimental results demonstrate that EHW approaches are indeed able to compete with state-of-the-art classifiers in terms of classification performance.


For the first time in the history of international criminal law, the ICC Elements of Crimes included a statutory definition of sexual slavery as a war crime and as a crime against humanity. Such definition is derived from, and in fact almost identical to, the definition of enslavement in the same text. In July 2019, that language for the first time was adopted and applied in the conviction of general Bosco Ntaganda, the first ever conviction for sexual slavery as a war crime and as a crime against humanity at the ICC, as part of the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

This note argues for a reform in the language of the crime of sexual slavery as present in the ICC Elements of Crimes. The present formulation of such crime fails to correctly provide an independent standing for sexual slavery: that is, it does not adequately characterize the sexual nature of the crime as opposed to the broader category of enslavement. The note will focus on the drafting history that led to the present language, as well as on the problems arising from the Ntaganda decision.

The note highlights the theoretical and practical limits of the present formulation, and it will address the academic critiques the language already received. It will then provide for an alternative wording for the first element of the crime, a wording that is more reflective of the purpose arising from the negotiating history at Rome and that emphasizes the sexual nature of the offense.


The effects of feeding different calcium levels and limestone particle sizes on body and morphometric development of the digestive tract in replacement pullets were evaluated in this trial. One thousand and four hundred Lohmann LSL replacement pullets were assigned to a complete randomized design with a 5 x 2 factorial (calcium levels and limestone particle size) and five replicates of 28 and 18 birds/plot, respectively, for the periods from 3 to 7 and from 8 to 12 weeks old. The experimental diets contained: corn, soybean meal and wheat meal (wheat only at growing phase) and were formulated to be isonitrogenous, isoenergetic and isophosphorus (monoammonium phosphorus). Diets were supplemented with minerals, vitamins and phytase (500 FTU/Kg) and added with limestone in fine (DGM = 0.135 mm) and gross (DGM=0.899 mm) particle sizes to meet the levels of 0.60, 0.75, 0.90, 1.05 and 1.20% of dietary total calcium. The performance in the period from 3 to 12 weeks, morphometry of the digestive tract and contents of tibia ashes and minerals in animals slaughtered at 12th week old were evaluated. The feed intake increased linearly as the dietary calcium levels increased. No significant differences on weight gain, feed conversion, percentage of digestory tract and metatarsus length were noticed. Better tibia ash content were observed with 0.60% of calcium and a longer length of the small intestine in pullets fed diet with gross particle size of limestone. The diet with calcium level of 0.60% and gross particle size of limestone resulted in better esqueletic development, worse feed intake and larger length of small intestine.


This paper aims to make a graph representing an essential skeleton of a character from an image that includes a machine printed or a handwritten character using the growing neural gas (GNG) method and the relative neighborhood graph (RNG) algorithm. The visual system in our brain can recognize printed characters and handwritten characters easily, robustly, and precisely. How can our brains robustly recognize characters? In the visual processing in our brain, essential features of an object will be used for recognition. The essential features are crosses, corners, junctions and so on. These features may be useful for character recognition by a computer. However, extraction of the features is difficult. If the skeleton of a character is represented as a graph, the features can be more easily extracted. To extract the skeleton of a character as a graph from a character image, we used the GNG method and the RNG algorithm. We achieved to extract skeleton graphs from images including distorted, noisy, and handwritten characters.


Background: Oral cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality in the world over and is a major public health problem. There are numerous resources on the internet which provide information related to oral cancer. However, they may not be optimal and standardized. The present study was conducted to assess the quality, readability, and content of the online resources for oral cancer. Methods: The content analysis approach was employed for the present study. Google search engine was employed to search for various online resources on oral cancer. The first 50 websites were evaluated for their quality and readability. Flesch–Kincaid readability tests were used to assess the readability of the internet material and consisted of Flesch reading ease and Flesch–Kincaid grade level. The quality of websites was assessed by Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmarks and HONcode (Health Over Net code). Results: A total of 12 (32.43%) of the websites were fairly difficult to comprehend, while none of the websites were easy/very easy to comprehend. A total of 8 (21.62%) websites were readable by only college-level graduates. Overall, 21 (56.76%) of the websites did not have HONcode certification. Conclusion: The present study revealed that a majority of the websites were fairly difficult to comprehend and readable by college-level graduates. There is a definite need to monitor the quality of the websites on oral cancer. The present study highlights the need for stringent norms and regulations regarding oral cancer made available to the common man on the internet.


How does network centric organization of sensors affect time critical fusion of dynamic spatial-temporal events in urban environments? This question has become more pertinent today as sensor networks enable automation that holds the promise of monitoring and localizing terrorist threats in complex urban environments by harnessing the power of many inexpensive electromechanical devices like cameras, chemical and IR sensors. This paper presents innovative methods for exploiting the existing urban infrastructure to design and operate flexible sensor network topologies that utilize constrained resources effectively to support dynamic fusion needs. As a network of physically embodied intelligent agents that interact physically with the sensed phenomena, the cognitive abilities of the sensors are constrained by the laws of physics. As goal directed agents they evolve in real world operations to adapt to change in their physical environment and to collaboratively improve task performance. We present formal models and methods to adaptively reconfigure the urban network design space, in-situ, to capture the statistical characteristics of emerging change in the information dynamics. Building on this framework, we present several challenging urban area applications that require adaptive sensor networks to dynamically cluster sensing, processing and communications resources in space-time neighborhoods of emergent hotspots for progressively fine grained sampling and prediction, and collaborate with other dynamic clusters for event tracking. The urban sensor network can, thus, support high predictability of microscopic and macroscopic dynamic events.


Abstract. Separating the solid precipitation from liquid precipitation in an existing historical precipitation observation data series is a key problem in the monitoring and study of climate anomaly and long-term change of extreme precipitation events in difference phases. In this study, based on the comprehensive analysis of the historical daily temperature, precipitation data, and weather phenomenon records in the northern areas of Mainland China (north of 30° N), the threshold temperature of rainfall and snowfall in historical precipitation data for a complex and diverse geographical and climatic region were determined. A statistical model was established, and a method of separating solid precipitation from liquid precipitation was proposed. The main conclusions include: (1) in northern China, the actual threshold temperature range of the daily mean temperature of rain and snow determined based on weather phenomenon records was between −1.2–6.3 °C, with a difference of 7.5 °C among areas, and a mean threshold value of 2.81 °C for the whole region. The actual threshold temperature in the northern Tibetan Plateau was the highest (generally higher than 4 °C). The low threshold temperature values appeared in eastern Northeast China, North China, and northern Xinjiang Autonomous Region, which were less than 2 °C. (2) The actual threshold temperature decreased with increase in longitude east of 105° E; meanwhile, it was more dispersed in the areas west of 105° E. The actual threshold temperature was generally higher and more variable in the low latitude areas, while it was lower and more concentrated in the high latitude; the threshold temperature was lower in the low-altitude areas and higher in the high-altitude areas, and it generally increased with altitude. (3) There was a negative correlation between the actual threshold temperature and the annual precipitation; the actual threshold temperature was higher in the areas with less precipitation, and lower in the areas with more precipitation. The actual threshold temperature was negatively correlated with the annual average relative humidity, and was generally low in humid areas with relatively large humidity and vice versa. (4) The multivariate regression fitting model developed in this paper based on latitude, altitude, and annual precipitation was able to simulate the actual threshold temperature of the precipitation phase in northern China well. According to the calculated threshold temperature based on the model, the relative deviation of snow days and snowfall are smaller, and the stations with less than 10 % of relative deviation reached 95.1 % and 90.7 %, respectively. The results of this study can be used for the separation of solid and liquid precipitation events in the areas without sufficient weather phenomenon records or metadata.


This paper presents a pure textile, capacitive pressure sensor designed for integration into clothing to measure pressure on human body. The applications fields cover all domains where a soft and bendable sensor with a high local resolution is needed, e.g. in rehabilitation, pressure-sore prevention or motion detection due to muscle activities. We developed several textile sensors with spatial resolution of 2 times 2 cm and an average error below 4 percent within the measurement range 0 to 10 N/cm2. Applied on the upper arm the textile pressure sensor determines the deflection of the forearm between 0 and 135 degrees due to the muscle bending.


Language has multifaceted functions. Scholars consider language as form of communication where the communicator's aim is to educate, inform and call names. It is a system of human expression by means of words. It is also a system of signs, movements used to express meaning or feelings with a particular style or manner of expression. Language may be used as a tool for emancipation. It can also be used to denote terminologies and expressions used in ridiculing women in power position. After 1994, the Republic of South African government has been appointing women folks in higher posts of leadership than before. These women encounter prospects and challenges in government institutions such as Municipality, Provincial and National Government. These experiences differ drastically from the indigenous lives of women before the dawn of democratic dispensation. The paper seeks to investigate the prospects and challenges of indigenous language as a tool of ridiculing women in leadership positions in the Thulamela Municipality Area. To accomplish this endeavour, the researchers will use the qualitative methods.


In the context of non-linear structure formation, a web of dark filaments are expected to intersect the high density regions of the universe, where groups and clusters of galaxies will be forming. In this work we have developed a method for stacking the weak lensing signal of an ensemble of filaments between groups and clusters of galaxies. We detect a the weak lensing signal from stacked filaments between SDSS BOSS luminous red galaxies with the CFHTLenS data at the 5σ level, finding a mass of (1.6 ± 0.3) × 10M . Two methods of isolating the filament signal are presented: the method of non-physical pair subtraction, and the method of outside region subtraction. This signal is compared with the three-point galaxy-galaxy-convergence correlation function, as developed in Clampitt et al. (2014), yielding reasonably good agreement.


The vessel wall contains powerful inhibitors of thrombogenesis. One substance, a proteoglycan, is a strong anticoagulant but has only a limited effect on platelet aggregation. It prolongs the thrombin clotting time and partial thromboplastin time, but only blocks platelet aggregation induced by thrombin. Another vessel wall constituent, a prostaglandin derivative (prostacyclin), is a potent inhibitor of platelet aggregation. It antagonizes platelet aggregation induced by a variety of agents including adenosine diphosphate, collagen, arachidonic acid and thrombin; however, its only effect on coagulation is through the inhibition of platelet factor-3 release. Proteoglycans and prostacyclin comlement each other's antithrombotic activities, and together serve to limit the hemostatic response of blood to vessel wall injury. Vessels devoid of the intima continue to produce prostacyclin. Prostacyclin produced by these vessels is probably more important than that produced by vessels with the intima in the prevention of thrombus deposition.


Advanced energy minimization techniques (i.e. DVFS, Thermal Management, etc) and their high-level HW/SW requirements are well established in high-throughput multi-core systems. These techniques would have an intolerable overhead in low-cost, performance-constrained microcontroller units (MCU's). These devices can further reduce power by operating at a lower voltage, at the cost of increased sensitivity to PVT variation and increased design margins. In this paper, we propose an runtime environment for next-generation dual-core MCU platforms. These platforms complement a single-core with a low area overhead, reduced design margin shadow-processor. The runtime decreases the overall energy consumption by exploiting design corner heterogeneity between the two cores, rather than increasing the throughput. This allows the platform's power envelope to be dynamically adjusted to application-specific requirements. Our simulations show that, depending on the ratio of core to platform energy, total energy savings can be up to 20%.


Software quality requirements are a main driver for architectural decisions of software systems. Although the need for iterative handling of requirements and architecture has been identified, current architecture design processes do not provide systematic, quantitative feedback for the prioritization and cost/benefit considerations for quality requirements. Thus, in practice stakeholders still often state and prioritize quality requirements before knowing the software architecture, i.e. without knowledge about the quality dependencies, conflicts, incurred costs, and technical feasibility. However, as quality properties usually are cross-cutting architecture concerns, estimating the effects of design decisions is difficult. Thus, stakeholders cannot reliably know the appropriate required level of quality. In this research proposal, we suggest an approach to generate feedback from quantitative architecture evaluation to requirements engineering, in particular to requirements prioritization. We propose to use automated design space exploration techniques to generate information about available trade-offs. Final quality requirement prioritization is deferred until first feedback from architecture evaluation is available. In this paper, we present the process model of our approach enabling feedback to requirement prioritization and describe application scenarios and an example.


Special measurements of the effects of anxiolytics and anxiogens on the commonly used parameters of behavior of mice in a dark-light chamber (the rate of transitions and time spent in a dark and light compartments) demonstrated their low reproducibility in consecutive experiments. Therefore, these indices are not reliable (Lapin, 1992). One more parameter was tested in the present study. A decrease in the rate of leanings out of the dark compartment appeared to be a constant effect of standard anxiety-inducing drugs: caffeine, pentylenetetrazole, yohimbine, and a putative endogenous anxiogen phenylethylamine. Increase in the rate of leanings out, like increase in the rate of transitions and shortening of the time spent in a dark compartment produced by anxiolytics diazepam, chlordiazepoxide, hydroxyzine, phenibut and baclofen were not significant in the majority of experiments. That is why these effects of anxiolytics are not reliable for measuring the activity of anxiolytics in a dark-light chamber.


The increasing incidence of AIDS in the 1980s prompted inquiry into the resources required to meet projected needs. In the first economic study to appear on the illness, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimated that the costs of inpatient care were $147,000 per AIDS patient, heightening concern that the health care system would be overwhelmed by the epidemic. However, every study published subsequently has produced much lower cost estimates. As a result, many have concluded that treatment costs declined due to improved delivery of AIDS care. We offer an alternative interpretation, based on evidence demonstrating that the CDC's methods and assumptions yielded a figure about three times too high. The CDC's erroneous estimate had significant policy repercussions. Using the $147,000 figure, the health insurance industry lobbied successfully for the right to screen applicants for HIV. Next, when a study of San Francisco AIDS patients found local hospital costs per case to be $27,571, many concluded that billions of dollars could be saved if the "San Francisco model" of care (emphasizing home and community-based services and case management) were universalized. Since then, most programs for AIDS services have provided funds for community care. While such programs improve access to vital services, they are unlikely to guarantee "better care for less money." A more informed understanding of the cost of AIDS should lead to programs that also strengthen inpatient care.


The world is so dynamic and fast growing, things keep changing on a daily basis and as such, has experienced different phases of industrial revolution. Consequent to this, many countries have had their names listed among the developed countries of the world based on their economic development, while others are listed among the developing countries of the world. The secret of the developed countries no doubt, is rooted in the quality of research being carried out. However, one begins to wonder, are the developing countries not actually involved in research? This paper seeks to identify the challenges of conducting research and to suggest possible solutions in overcoming these challenges with a view to making Nigeria enlisted among the developed countries of the world. Difficulty in Accessing Funds, Absence of a Clear Cut Philosophy of National Development, Frequent disruption of Academic Calendar of our Tertiary Institutions, Reduced Rate of Mentoring Junior Researchers by Experienced and Senior Researchers, Braindrain, Lack of Motivation and Incentives for Researchers, Insecurity, Unsatisfactory Mode of Functioning Libraries.


Controversy has long existed among global coral experts over how to solve the coral crisis. This problem extends to the U.S. and its coral reef areas, but research on how this controversy influences restoration efforts in Florida is lacking. This study focused on Florida as an important and accessible case study to gain a closer look at the motivations behind coral conservation efforts taking place in real time. Due to a history of national and local coral legislation and consistent threats to Florida's coral reef tract, coral restoration has emerged as a legitimate form of coral-care that some reef proponents have chosen to resist the spread of reef decline in Florida. The restoration field formed in the late 1990s and continues to rapidly expand. This case study aims to fill gaps in the social literature on coral restoration, specifically from the standpoint of the study of expertise. Using a social-psychology framework for understanding values, I conducted twenty interviews with experts to explore the ways in which personal values and backgrounds of experts in the Florida coral restoration field have influenced coral-care in Florida. Throughout our interviews, coral restoration experts revealed personal values that motivated them to join the field and shared challenges to coral conservation in the Anthropocene. Values were one factor that impacted decision-making within the field. One value that some experts revealed, pristine wilderness, reflected early western and colonial conservation ideologies. As the field continues to expand, it is important for coral conservationists to reflect on their values and how it impacts the coral-care they provide. More so, to move past the challenges of the Anthropocene, conservationists in all fields must redefine their role to help the world transition into an epoch that removes the perceived divide between humans and nature, allowing us to work collaboratively and provide multispecies care not based solely on capital or investment.


Most social experiments are conducted in samples of sites that are not formally representative of the population of policy interest. These studies may produce impact estimates that are unbiased for the sample but biased for the population from which the sample was selected. Recent research has estimated the bias associated with nonrandom inclusion. Although some research has focused on solutions to the problem at the design stage or the analysis stage, research on ways to address this problem is still sparse. This paper provides four recommendations to help researchers obtain more representative samples in impact studies. The fundamental challenge is that, in most impact studies, sites are not required to participate if selected. Therefore, obtaining a sample that adequately represents the population of policy interest can be difficult, and the resulting impact estimates may suffer from external validity bias. The recommendations in this chapter address this challenge to help researchers obtain more representative samples when obtaining a perfectly representative sample is not possible. The recommendations, which are based on standard survey sampling methods, demonstrate that researchers can take practical steps to obtain impact estimates that are more generalizable from the study sample to the broader population of policy interest—and therefore more relevant for informing policy decisions.


NP-SPEC is a language for specifying problems in NP in a declarative way. Despite the fact that the semantics of the language was given by referring to Datalog with circumscription, which is very close to answer set programming (ASP), so far the only existing implementations are by means of Prolog and via Boolean satisfiability solvers. In this paper, we present translations from NP-SPEC to ASP, and provide an experimental evaluation of existing implementations and the proposed translations into ASP using various ASP solvers. The results show that translating into ASP clearly has an edge over the existing translation into SAT, which involves an intrinsic grounding process. We also argue that it might be useful to incorporate certain language constructs of NP-SPEC into mainstream ASP.


Synthetically modified proteins are increasingly finding applications as well-defined scaffolds for materials. In practice it remains difficult to construct bioconjugates with precise levels of modification because of the limited number of repeated functional groups on proteins. This article describes a method to control the level of protein modification in cases where there exist multiple potential modification sites. A protein is first tagged with a handle using any of a variety of modification chemistries. This handle is used to isolate proteins with a particular number of modifications via affinity chromatography, and then the handle is elaborated with a desired moiety using an oxidative coupling reaction. This method results in a sample of protein with a well-defined number of modifications, and we find it particularly applicable to systems like protein homomultimers in which there is no way to discern between chemically identical subunits. We demonstrate the use of this method in the construction of a protein-templated light-harvesting mimic, a type of system which has historically been difficult to make in a well-defined manner.


The compounds 4,4′-bis[(E)-2-R-vinyl]-2,2′-bipyridyl {R = ferrocenyl [(Fcv)_2bpy], octamethylferrocenyl [(Me_8Fcv)_2bpy] or 4-(diphenylamino)phenyl [(Dapv)_2bpy]} are used to prepare eight new complexes with Zn^(II)Cl_2, Zn^(II)(OAc)_2, or fac-Re^ICl(CO)_3 centers. The recently reported complex fac-Re^ICl(CO)_3[(Dapv)_2bpy] (Horvath, R. et al. Inorg. Chem. 2013, 52, 1304) is also studied. Electronic absorption spectra show intense d → π^* metal-to-ligand charge-transfer (MLCT) and π → π^* intraligand charge-transfer (ILCT) absorption bands, the relative energies of which correlate logically with the molecular structure. Cyclic voltammetry reveals a reversible oxidation wave for the Fc/Me_8Fc complexes, accompanied by quasireversible or irreversible ligand-based reductions. The Re complexes also show irreversible Re^(II/I) waves. Single-crystal X-ray structures are reported for (Me_8Fcv)_2bpy, Zn^(II)Cl_2[(Me_8Fcv)_2bpy], Zn^(II)(OAc)_2[(Fcv)_2bpy]·CHCl_3, and fac-Re^ICl(CO)_3[(Me_8Fcv)_2bpy]·0.5CHCl_3. Molecular first hyperpolarizabilities β are measured in DCM solutions via the hyper-Rayleigh scattering (HRS) technique at 1300 nm. Stark (electroabsorption) spectroscopic studies on only the MLCT bands in frozen butyronitrile allow the indirect estimation of lower limits for the overall static first hyperpolarizabilities β_0. Time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations on selected complexes confirm the expected assignments of their low energy absorption bands, with the best results obtained by using the M06 functional and Def2-TZVP/SVP/TZVPP mixed basis set. DFT predicts that the total static first hyperpolarizability β_(tot) increases in the Zn^(II)Cl_2 series in the order R = Fc < Me_8Fc < Dap, consistent with the HRS and Stark data. The computed β values increase substantially on moving from the gas phase to a DCM or MeCN solvent medium, and the essentially 2D nature of the chromophores leads to dominant β_(xxy) tensor components.


One of the most important aspects of a person's dental record may well prove to be it's potential value should the forensic dental identification of their remains become necessary. The better the quality of the antemortem dental records, the easier and faster the identification of the remains will be. The forensic dentist must be able to select identifying features by decoding the deceased's antemortem dental records. A study was conducted on two groups of dentists who were asked to self-assess the forensic dental value of the dental records maintained in their own practices. The three most frequently recorded identifying dental features, other than caries and restorations, were the presence of diastemas, displaced or rotated teeth, and dental anomalies. Surveyed dentists imbedded identifying information into the removable prosthetic devices fabricated for their patients an average of only 64% of the time. Only 56% of the two groups combined felt that their dental chartings and written records would be extremely useful in dental identifications. It is concluded that the quality of antemortem dental records available for comparison to postmortem remains varies from inadequate to extremely useful. Practicing dentists can become valuable members of the dental identification process by developing and maintaining standards of record keeping which would be valuable in restoring their patients' identity.


Noninterference, which is an information flow property, is typically used as a baseline security policy to formalize confidentiality of secret information manipulated by a program. Noninterference verification mechanisms are usually based on static analyses and, to a lesser extent, on dynamic analyses. In contrast to those works, this paper proposes an information flow testing mechanism. This mechanism is sound from the point of view of noninterference. It is based on standard testing techniques and on a combination of dynamic and static analyses. Concretely, a semantics integrating a dynamic information flow analysis is proposed. This analysis makes use of static analyses results. This special semantics is built such that, once a path coverage property has been achieved on a program, a sound conclusion regarding the noninterfering behavior of the program can be established.


There is a great number of potential risks for falls and injuries because of problems in the workplace. In 2010, there were almost 3.1 million nonfatal and 646 fatal illnesses and injuries disclosed in the workplace (BLS, 2010). Fatal and nonfatal occupational injuries have decreased in the recent years but there is still much room to improve. Inappropriate footwear has been attributed to 45% of all falls (Menant et al. 2008). Past studies have shown that industrial footwear can have a detrimental effect on balance (Menant et al. 2008, Chander, Garner & Wade 2013). Occupational footwear have not been designed based on foot biomechanics but based solely on physical safety. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect different types of occupational footwear have on dynamic balance for acute bouts of time. Thirty-one healthy adult males (aged 21.2 ± 1.4 years; weight 82.6 ± 15.4 kg; height 179 ± 9.4 cm) with no musculoskeletal, orthopedic, neurological, cardiovascular, and vestibular abnormalities were examined. The participants were expected to come to two visit days. The first was a familiarization and lasted about ten minutes, while the second was the actual test and lasted about an hour. Dynamic balance was measured on the NeuroCom Equitest MCT (BWM, BWL, FWM, FWL). Latencies values were found to determine reaction times to the perturbations. Individuals were randomly assigned the three different types of footwear: work boot (WB) (mass 0.39±0.06 kg), tactical boot (TB) (mass 0.53±0.08 kg), and low-top slip-resistant shoe (LT) (mass 0.89±0.05 kg). 1 x 4 [Testing Session x Footwear Condition (BF v. LT v. TB v. WB)] RMANOVA was used to evaluate balance dependent variables. Post-hoc pairwise comparisons identified differences between footwear conditions. Significant differences were found in FWM and FWL translations, but post-hoc comparisons found no differences between footwear. Significant differences were also found in the BWL translations between the barefoot condition and TB and between the barefoot condition and WB. Both the TB and WB had a higher boot shaft height as well as increased latency values. Higher latency values mean a longer time to respond to perturbations, which could result in a fall or injury. These results would suggest that based solely on latency values that the LT is the better footwear. If these findings were combined with findings on EMG, chronic responses, and SOT, one footwear could be deemed best.


The development of persistent pain in the shoulder region in patients who have disease of the coronary arteries is sufficiently common to warrant more comment than it has hitherto received. The mechanism responsible for the pain has not been determined, but the frequency of its occurrence is such as to indicate more than a chance relationship to the attendant heart disease. The pain occurs most commonly as an aftermath of myocardial infarction, but it also develops at times in persons who have frequent and severe attacks of angina pectoris and who present no evidence of having suffered from earlier coronary occlusion. One or both shoulders may be affected, but the left shoulder is more commonly involved than the right. The pain lasts for several weeks or months and is usually increased by movement of the arm but is not influenced by walking. In patients who experience attacks of angina pectoris


Numerous strategies have been managed to improve functional recovery after spinal cord injury (SCI) but an optimal strategy doesn't exist yet. Actually, it is the complexity of the injured spinal cord pathophysiology that begets the multifactorial approaches assessed to favour tissue protection, axonal regrowth and functional recovery. In this context, it appears that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) could take an interesting part. The aim of this study is to graft MSCs after a spinal cord compression injury in adult rat to assess their effect on functional recovery and to highlight their mechanisms of action. We found that in intravenously grafted animals, MSCs induce, as early as 1 week after the graft, an improvement of their open field and grid navigation scores compared to control animals. At the histological analysis of their dissected spinal cord, no MSCs were found within the host despite their BrdU labelling performed before the graft, whatever the delay observed: 7, 14 or 21 days. However, a cytokine array performed on spinal cord extracts 3 days after MSC graft reveals a significant increase of NGF expression in the injured tissue. Also, a significant tissue sparing effect of MSC graft was observed. Finally, we also show that MSCs promote vascularisation, as the density of blood vessels within the lesioned area was higher in grafted rats. In conclusion, we bring here some new evidences that MSCs most likely act throughout their secretions and not via their own integration/differentiation within the host tissue.


Congenital cardiac disease is found to be one of the most common
developmental anomalies in children, with increased risk of bacterial
endocarditis. This study was done to evaluate the knowledge and attitude of
the paediatric dental practitioners for the use of antibiotic prophylaxis
Material and Methods
The study is a cross sectional questionnaire survey conducted among the
practising Paedodontists in India. The questionnaire was designed based on
the current recommendations of American Heart Association and AAPD
guidelines. A total of 102 paediatric dentists responded to the survey.
Results
81% of the respondents perform treatment in patients with congenital heart
disease. 19% who did not prefer performing dental treatment in such patients
weren't sure of handling the situation and had a fear of risk involved. 73% of
the respondents preferred extraction followed by space maintenance, whereas
61% opted pulpotomy or pulpectomy as a treatment option. 23% felt pulp
therapy upto indirect pulp capping as a safer option. About 90% believed and
prescribed Amoxicillin/ Ampicillin 50mg/kg as the drug of choice for
prophylaxis. 76% believed that there is chance of developing resistance to
antibiotics used. AHA guidelines are the most relied one and 92% of the
practitioners updated their knowledge frequently.
Discussion
Majority of the practitioners followed the Guidelines & updated themselves
regularly. Inspite of the establishment of guidelines, a minority of
practitioners have inadequate knowledge regarding Conditions requiring
Prophylaxis & Antibiotics used and the Treatments Recommended.


A lack of direct single-cell readouts for bacterial kinase activity remains a major barrier to our understanding of most signaling systems. At the single-cell-level, protein kinase activity is typically inferred by the activity of downstream transcriptional reporters. Complicating this approach in vivo, promoters are often co-regulated by several pathways, making the activity of a specific kinase difficult to deconvolve. Here, we have designed and constructed new, direct and specific sensors of bacterial kinase activity, including FRET-based sensors, as well as a synthetic transcription factor that responds to phosphorylation. We demonstrate the utility of these reporters in measuring kinase activity in population-based and single-cell assays during various growth phases and antibiotic treatments. These sensors respond to a highly conserved bacterial Ser/Thr kinase, PrkC that has no known dedicated transcription factor and whose regulon is known to be convolved with an essential signaling system. We used these new sensors to measure PrkC activity in colonies, bulk culture, and single cells. Together these new sensors provide evidence for considerable heterogeneity in PrkC activity in actively growing populations. We further demonstrate that PrkC activity increases in response to a cell-wall active antibiotic that blocks the late steps in peptidoglycan synthesis (cefotaxime), but not the early steps (fosfomycin). This is consistent with a model where PrkC senses and responds to blocks in the extracellular steps in cell wall synthesis. As the design of these phosphorylation sensors is modular, we anticipate that this work may have broad applications to other bacterial signaling systems in the future.


Abstract. Vibration measurement techniques can be categorized into contact-type and non-contact-type techniques. These types of techniques can add mass-loading to a lightweight structure resulting in the negative performance of a structure, because sensors, high contrast speckles or targets should be mounted on a structure. Moreover, non-contact-type vibration measurement techniques have only been tested to detect vibrations using a single camera. As the vibrations occurring at the opposite sides of a rotating structure in a region of interest (ROI) can be different from each other. For 3-dimensional (3D) vibration measurement, the same position in videos acquired from two cameras should be used. Because the videos acquired by two cameras placed perpendicular to the structure can be used to detect the vibrations in the x-direction as well as y-direction. In this study, an epipolar line-based corresponding point selection on a rotating cylindrical structure was performed, to extract the same ROIs from videos recorded by two cameras. A fundamental matrix was constructed by using the targets attached on the structure and in the background. The coordinates of the mid-pixel of the ROI in a video acquired by one camera was used to determine the epipolar line for the same ROI in the video acquired by another camera. Then an edge-based vibration measurement technique was applied to measure the vibration in the extracted ROIs. The results were used to reconstruct a 3D vibration signal. The 3D vibration measurement results can be used to effectively recognize the deformations resulting in the negative performance of a structure.


The citizen Continental-America Telescopic Eclipse (CATE) Experiment was a new type of citizen science experiment designed to capture a time sequence of white-light coronal observations during totality from 17:16 to 18:48 UT on 2017 August 21. Using identical instruments the CATE group imaged the inner corona from 1 to 2.1 RSun with 1.″43 pixels at a cadence of 2.1 s. A slow coronal mass ejection (CME) started on the SW limb of the Sun before the total eclipse began. An analysis of CATE data from 17:22 to 17:39 UT maps the spatial distribution of coronal flow velocities from about 1.2 to 2.1 RSun, and shows the CME material accelerates from about 0 to 200 km s−1 across this part of the corona. This CME is observed by LASCO C2 at 3.1–13 RSun with a constant speed of 254 km s−1. The CATE and LASCO observations are not fit by either constant acceleration nor spatially uniform velocity change, and so the CME acceleration mechanism must produce variable acceleration in this region of the corona.


Rhetoricians have paid increasing attention to the influence of materiality and context on rhetorical action. However, such attention has yet to infiltrate discussions of constitutive rhetoric. This essay examines Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking as a case study for developing audience cultivation as a metaphor for analyzing audience development. This metaphor allows scholars to better account for the historical and material contexts that shape rhetorical efforts. Through analyses of Child's and other contemporary cookbooks, as well as rigorous attention to the political, economic, social, and cultural forces at play in midcentury American life, I argue that Child's success is not solely the product of her rhetorical prowess or charisma, but also the product of a constellation of extra-discursive elements that both enabled and constrained her rhetorical efforts.


In this paper lightlike ruled surfaces in 􀔹3 1=(􀔹3,-dx2+dy2+dz2) are studied with respect to whetherruling curves are spacelike or null. It is seen that, in the first case the Gaussian curvature of the ruled surfacesvanishes. In the second case the Gaussian curvature of the ruled surfaces are negative. In the second caselightlike ruled surfaces are totally umbilical. Furthermore, lightlike surfaces of revolution are shown to beonly cones, and the second type lightlike ruled surface.


Three-dimensional simulations of turbulent and fully compressible thermal convection in deep atmospheres are presented and analyzed in terms of velocity power spectra, mixing-length theory, and production of vorticity. Density contrasts across these convective layers are typically around 11. The fluid model is that of an ideal gas with a constant thermal conductivity. The piecewise parabolic method (PPM), with thermal conductivity added in, is used to solve the fluid equations of motion. No explicit viscosity is included, and the low numerical viscosity of PPM leads to a very low effective Prandtl number and very high effective Rayleigh number. Mesh resolutions range as high as 512 × 512 × 256, and the corresponding effective large-scale Rayleigh numbers range as high as 3.3 × 1012. Compressional effects lead to intensely turbulent downflow lanes and relatively laminar updrafts, especially near the top boundary. The enstrophy contrast between downflows and upflows increases with mesh resolution (and hence with decreasing viscosity) and ranges as high as a factor of 30 in our highest resolution model. Vorticity is everywhere preferentially aligned with the principal direction of strain associated with the large-scale circulation. Near the top boundary, the strain field associated with the largest scale of convection dominates, which leads to a two-dimensional horizontal network of vortex tubes. For the same reason, both the upper portions of the downflow lanes and the lower portions of the updrafts contain many strong vertical vortex tubes with helicities of random sign. The horizontal vortex tubes near the very top of the downflow lanes tend to come in counterrotating pairs, with one on each side of the downflow lane. Therefore, as with observations of the Sun, there are upflows along each side of the prominent downflows in our simulations. Mach numbers in these convective layers are largest in the upper, more diffuse region. There they range as high as 0.8, which significantly modifies the pressure and gravitational force balance from that which would apply under static conditions. This effect is incorporated into our mixing-length analysis of the simulation data.


The present study aims to determine the efficacy and relevancy of the two foreign language courses required for preparing elementary prospective teachers to teach Science and Mathematics in English or French.  The study is a mixed one relying on quantitative data collected from the rating scales and the 5-point Likert-type Scale Questionnaires while the qualitative data is collected from the open-ended questions.  Data was collected from: a) a questionnaire addressed to professors and instructors who teach the two language courses: "Language of Teaching" (FCE) and "Techniques of Expression" (TE), b) a questionnaire administered to science and mathematics trainers, c) a questionnaire addressed to students in the 2 nd and 3 rd semesters majoring in science and mathematics Education, d) a questionnaire addressed to a purposeful sample—3 rd year students majoring in science and math education, and e) a questionnaire addressed to the science and mathematics coordinators. The objective of the questionnaires is to determine the participants' conceptions of the efficacy of the foreign language courses, and whether those courses meet the needs of the science and mathematics students. Results indicate that students were not satisfied with the language courses. Recommendations for teaching foreign languages to Science and Mathematics students are also highlighted.


This monograph, prepared as a report for the French Ophthalmological Society, shows the keen observation and attention to essentials which one is taught to expect from Morax. It is pleasant to be reminded that after a life so full of activity as clinician, teacher, editor and writer, he has found time and energy to continue the distinguished work in bacteriology for which he is known throughout the world. Of the group of conjunctival diseases associated with the formation of follicles, he has considered chiefly the type which is known as swimming-pool conjunctivitis, but which, as he shows, often occurs through other sources of infection. After reviewing the literature, he describes the clinical picture, illustrating it with careful notes. Lumiere photographs in color of twelve cases are shown. A table gives the essential data in these and seventeen other personal cases. The period of incubation is usually


Reduction of intestinal colonization of Salmonella enteritidis (SE) during the grow-out period is crucial to provide safer eggs, minimize economic losses, and reduce the spread of human salmonellosis. In the search for novel elimination and prevention methods based on feed supplementation, the effects of feed supplemented with nonimmunized egg yolk powder (did not contain anti-S. enteritidis antibodies), immunized egg yolk powder (with anti-S. enteritidis antibodies), egg yolk proteins, egg white, and skim milk powder were examined on laying hens. In the elimination study, the chickens were orally infected with SE then given a supplemented feed of 5, 10, or 15% (wt/wt) of each of the test samples. Fecal samples tested weekly showed an absence of SE after the first week of feeding nonimmunized egg yolk powder and a gradual decrease with the other samples. In the prevention study, Salmonella-free chickens were fed the supplemented feed for 4 wk and then infected orally. Fecal samples tested for 4 wk showed that SE was prevented from colonizing the intestinal tract throughout the test period by nonimmunized egg yolk powder, whereas the other samples only delayed the colonization. None of the fed supplements disrupted the balance of the intestinal microflora, and the counts in the feces remained constant. These results show that the administration of only 5.0% (wt/wt) of nonimmunized egg yolk powder can eliminate and prevent SE colonization in laying hens with no adverse effects. Furthermore, the present results indicate that hen egg yolk contains novel anti-adhesive or immunomodulatory components that may act to prevent SE infection.


A synthesized version of the standard dielectric image guide, called the substrate integrated image guide (SIIG), is proposed and presented. It provides numerous advantages related to fabrication precision, design flexibility, and assembly cost, whereas it still retains the low-loss properties of its conventional counterpart in the millimeter-wave range. This is achieved by artificially lowering the effective dielectric permittivity around a guiding channel through cutting a periodic pattern of air holes in a single high-permittivity substrate. In this way, entire circuits including millimeter-wave components can be fabricated and assembled subsequently by a lamination process. Details on the propagation properties of the SIIG and design rules are presented. Two different simulation approaches, which have proven useful for analysis are described, and theoretical results are validated by measurements of fabricated prototypes. It is shown that guide attenuation values as low as 35 dB/m or 0.07 dB/lambdag  at 94 GHz can be obtained in practice with high-resistivity silicon as a substrate material


Kinetic investigation of spontaneous leukosis in AKR mice have been carried in connection with a number of indices: changes in the mass of principal organs of the immune systems (thymus, spleen, lymphatic nodes), liver, alterations of haematological data (the sum of leukocytes, the percentage composition of blood cells, the quantity of undifferentiated cells), changes of physico-chemical conditions in cells (NMR-investigation). The dynamics of some of these indices and also life-spans of animals with leukosis after irradiation with doses 1.2-2.4 cGy (dose-rate 0.6 cGy/day) have been investigated. The enhancement of the frequency of leukosis and shortening the average and maximum life-spans of irradiated mice has been found.


A Scalable Distributed Information Management System (SDIMS) that aggregatesinformation about large-scale networked systems can serve as a basic building for a broad-range of large-scale distributed applications simplifying the design, development, and deployment of such services. In this document, we outline four key requirements such an aggregation system should satisfy to be useful as a general middleware building block – scalability with both nodes and data attributes, flexibility to accommodate broad range of services, administrative autonomy and isolation for availability and security, and robustness to reconfigurations in the system. We propose a new aggregation framework that leverages Distributed Hash Tables (DHTs) and a new aggregation abstraction that builds on a previously proposed abstraction in Astrolabe. We also present details of several significant applications that we propose to build on top of SDIMS.


The aim of this research work is to propose ticket based smart car/vehicle parking system using Internet of Things (IoT) along with mobile application in vehicular network. Smart Parking mobile app helps in finding a slot to park the vehicle using live information that is obtained from the sensors placed in the parking area. Initially the number of available parking slot in the parking area is calculated and the parking tickets are generated for all the parking slots. To avoid the occupancy of already booked parking slot by a random person, ticket based parking slot allocation is proposed here. Detection of available parking slot is done by using communicative method by considering the total number of parking spaces, number of vehicles parked already, number of cars waiting to park, number of vehicles that about to leave. All information's like slot allocation, slot direction and billing are collected by the sensors that are placed in each parking row and sent as a message to users mobile phones.


Sea level variation from four tide-gauge data in the Sunda Strait, Indonesia, in the year 2008 has been studied by using Wavelet 1 D Daubechius 1 level 5 type and Fast Fourier Transform methods. The hourly sea level variation in April and November (representing transitional seasonal conditions) is approximately +0.49 m; whereas in January (representing Northwest Monsoon condition) and July (representing Southeast Monsoon condition) can reach up to 0.48 m. In 2008, sea level variation in the Sunda Strait is mainly influenced by the monsoon. Results from this study show that there are at least three phenomena of sea level variations in the Sunda Strait, namely (1) seasonal variation (periodicity between 4-6 months) where it is believed influenced by the Java Sea; (2) intra-seasonal (periodicity between 1-3 months), which is more influenced by the Indian Ocean; and (3) tidal forcing (periodicity between 14-17 days, suggesting fortnightly tidal forces) which propagates from the Indian Ocean into the Sunda Strait. Result from surface geostrophic approximation calculation suggests that during Southeast Monsoon (June-August), monthly mean current flows southwestwardly towards the Indian Ocean with a velocity of 0.14-0.16 m/s. Whereas during Northwest monsoon (DecemberFebruary), current flows northeastwardly towards the Java Sea with a velocity of 0.14-0.17 m/s. Furthermore, on the daily time scale, tidal current in the Sunda Strait flows into the Java Sea (Indian Ocean) during high tide (low tide) with a velocity ranging from 0.51 to 0.72 m/s (0.48 to 0.51 m/s).


&NA; We review the psychology and neuroscience of reinforcement learning (RL), which has experienced significant progress in the past two decades, enabled by the comprehensive experimental study of simple learning and decision‐making tasks. However, one challenge in the study of RL is computational: The simplicity of these tasks ignores important aspects of reinforcement learning in the real world: (a) State spaces are high‐dimensional, continuous, and partially observable; this implies that (b) data are relatively sparse and, indeed, precisely the same situation may never be encountered twice; furthermore, (c) rewards depend on the long‐term consequences of actions in ways that violate the classical assumptions that make RL tractable. A seemingly distinct challenge is that, cognitively, theories of RL have largely involved procedural and semantic memory, the way in which knowledge about action values or world models extracted gradually from many experiences can drive choice. This focus on semantic memory leaves out many aspects of memory, such as episodic memory, related to the traces of individual events. We suggest that these two challenges are related. The computational challenge can be dealt with, in part, by endowing RL systems with episodic memory, allowing them to (a) efficiently approximate value functions over complex state spaces, (b) learn with very little data, and (c) bridge long‐term dependencies between actions and rewards. We review the computational theory underlying this proposal and the empirical evidence to support it. Our proposal suggests that the ubiquitous and diverse roles of memory in RL may function as part of an integrated learning system.