A retrospective study examined the reactions to the termination of pregnancy for fetal malformation and the follow up services that were available. Women resident in Mid Glamorgan who had had a termination between 1977 and 1981 because of positive findings after midtrimester prenatal diagnostic tests for neural tube defect or chromosome abnormalities were interviewed at home using a semistructured interview schedule. Three retrospective internal comparison groups were formed from those women who had also had a spontaneous abortion, previous stillbirth, or neonatal death or previous termination for medicosocial reasons early in pregnancy. Of the 48 women interviewed, 37 (77%) experienced an acute grief reaction after the index pregnancy was ended. This reaction was akin to that documented after stillbirth or neonatal death. Twenty two women (46%) remained symptomatic six months after the pregnancy had been ended, some requiring psychiatric support, compared with no such reaction after spontaneous abortion or termination for medicosocial reasons. All the women who had previously had a stillbirth or neonatal death were visited at home either by the general practitioner or by the midwife after that event but such follow up was limited to only eight of the study group after termination for fetal malformation. The findings suggest that support is inadequate for these patients and that improved follow up and counselling services may lessen the adverse sequelae of termination for fetal malformation.


The treatment of bone defects is facing the situation of lacking donations for autotransplantation. As a valid approach, scaffold-based tissue engineering combines the construction of well-defined porous scaffolds with advanced cell culturing technology to guide tissue regeneration. The role for the scaffold is to provide a suitable environment with a sufficient mechanical stiffness, supports for cell attachment, migration, nutrients and metabolite transport and space for cell remodeling and tissue regeneration. The random copolymers poly(L-lactide-co-ɛ-caprolactone) (poly(LLA-co-CL)) and poly(L-lactide-co-1,5-dioxepan-2-one) (poly(LLA-co-DXO)) have been successfully incorporated into 3D porous scaffolds to induce specific interactions with cells and direct osteogenic cell differentiation. In this thesis, these scaffolds have been modified in chemical and physical ways to map and understand requirements for bone regeneration. Scaffold functionalities and properties, such as hydrophilicity, stiffness, size/shape, and reproducibility, were studied. The hydrophilicity was varied by adding 3–20 % (w/w) Tween 80 to poly(LLA-co-CL) and poly(LLA-co-DXO) respectively, which resulted in contact angles from 35° to 15°. With 3 % Tween 80, the resultant mechanical and thermal properties were similar to pristine polymer materials. Tween 80 did not significantly influence cell attachment or proliferation but did stimulate the mRNA expression of osteogenetic markers. The surface functionality and mechanical properties were altered by introducing nanodiamond particles (n-DP) into poly(LLA-co-CL) scaffolds by means of surface physisorption or hybrid blending. Scaffold with n-DP physisorbed showed improved cell attachment, differentiation, and bone reformation. Hybrid n-DP/poly(LLA-co-CL) composites were obtained by direct blending of polylactide modified n-DP (n-DP-PLA) with poly(LLA-coCL). The n-DP-PLA was prepared by sodium hydride-mediated anionic polymerization using n-DP as the initiator. Prepared n-DP-PLA could be dispersed homogenously in organic solvents and blended with poly(LLA-coCL) solution. The n-DP-PLA particles were homogenously distributed in the composite material, which significantly improved mechanical properties. For comparison, the addition of benzoquinone-modified n-DP (n-DP-BQ) did not reinforce poly(LLA-co-CL). This indicated the importance of specific surface grafting, which determined different particle-polymer interactions. For the treatment of critical size defects, a large porous poly(LLA-co-CL) scaffold (12.5 mm diameter × 25 mm thickness) was developed and produced by molding and salt-leaching methods. The large porous scaffolds were evaluated in a scaffold-customized perfusion-based bioreactor system. It was obvious that the scaffold could support improved cell distribution and support the stimulation of human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSC) especially with dynamic flow in a bioreactor. To improve the scaffolding technique, a three-dimensional fiber deposition (3DF) technique was employed to build layer-based scaffolds. Poly(LLA-coCL) scaffolds produced by the 3DF method showed enhanced mechanical properties and a homogeneous distribution of human osteoblasts (hOBs) in the scaffolds. Although poly(LLA-co-CL) was thermally degraded, the degradation did not influence the scaffold mechanical properties. Based on the computerized design, a 3DF scaffold of amorphous copolymer poly(LLAco-CL) provides high-precision control and reproducibility. In summary, the design of porous scaffolds is one of the essential factors in tissue engineering as to mimicking the intrinsic extracellular environment. For bone tissue engineering, an optimized scaffold can maintain a contact angle greater than 35 degrees. Pristine or modified n-DP, introduced as an additive by surface physisorption or direct blending, can improve scaffold mechanical properties and cell response. Various sizes of scaffolds can be easily produced by a mold-mediated salt-leaching method. However, when 100 % reproducibility is required, the 3DF method can be used to create customizable scaffolds.


Neequaye, D. A. (2018). Eliciting information in intelligence interviews through priming: An examination of underlying mechanisms. Department of Psychology, University of Gothenburg. An emerging body of research in human intelligence interviewing suggests that subtle influence tactics, such as priming, could be used to increase informants' disclosure of sensitive information. However, the mechanisms that elicit such subtle influences on disclosure are not fully understood. To contribute to this field of research, the present thesis sought to map out when and how priming tactics impact information disclosure. The work was based on a synthesis of current theoretical perspectives that generally explain how primes affect behavior. It was proposed that priming helpfulness motivations would facilitate information disclosure because previous research findings have indicated that activating individuals' helpfulness motivations increase their cooperation in various domains. In three studies with seven experiments (and two pilot tests) consisting of 1, 347 participants, the underlying mechanisms of helpfulness priming and the processes that elicit the potential influence of helpfulness priming on disclosure were examined. Study I investigated the theoretical proposition that behavioral assimilation to helpfulness priming occurs because a helpfulness prime increases cognitive accessibility to helpfulness-related content, which in turn mediates the impact of the prime on helping behavior (Experiments 1, 2, and 3). In addition, Experiments 1 and 3 investigated the role of the potential moderators, perspective taking and suitability affordances, respectively. The results indicated that helpfulness priming reliably increases helpfulness accessibility. However, no main effects of priming on behavior, nor interactions between priming and any of the moderators, emerged. Mediation analyses results were consistent with the hypothesis that helpfulness priming indirectly increases helping behavior by heightening helpfulness accessibility, but only in two of the five experiments, where participants subjectively perceived more suitable or relevant affordance to enact helpfulness. Taken together, the results of Study I suggested that variability in helpfulness accessibility and suitable affordances may promote the enactment of helping behavior. These findings were extended to an intelligence interview context (Study II and Study III) to explore the underlying mechanisms that engender the potential influence of helpfulness priming on information disclosure. Participants assumed the role of an informant with information about an upcoming mock terror attack. Subsequently, an interviewer solicited information about the attack using an interview style that displayed either high (helpfulness-focused) or low (control) fit with helpfulness. Before the interview, in a seemingly unrelated experiment, half of the participants were primed with helpfulness-related content and the other half were not primed. After the priming, the cognitive helpfulness accessibility of all the participants was assessed. Study II explored the proposition that a helpfulness-focused interview style, which draws on interviewees' primed helpfulness accessibility, would function as a high-suitability affordance and thus promote disclosure. Unexpectedly, the results revealed that the helpfulness-focused interview style decreased disclosure when helpfulness accessibility was low. Study III, which drew on the findings of Study II, examined the theoretical proposition that consistency between interviewees' primed helpfulness dispositions and an interviewer's (helpfulness-focused) interpersonal approach when soliciting information would facilitate disclosure. Providing some support for the proposition, the results indicated that helpfulness priming increased disclosure when the helpfulness-focused approach was used but not when the control approach was used. In all, regarding the underlying processes of information elicitation using priming tactics, this thesis suggests that implementing an interview style that does not match an interviewee's primed dispositions could counteract the goal of increasing disclosure. The findings also hint at the possibility that an interview approach that complements an interviewee's primed dispositions may work in concert with the previous priming to increase disclosure.


A number of factors contributed to the rise of political parties in the Sudan. Firstly, there was the discord in nationalist circles concerning the means most suitable for the quickest realization of the Sudan's independence. Some nationalists advocated a militant approach, even overt opposition to the Condominium Administration if need be; others sought to achieve the desired objective through co-operation with the Government. In due course, the militants gained the upper hand, a conflict with the Government developed and they turned to Egypt for support. The accompanying disagreement on the Sudan's political relation to Egypt exacerbated further the divisions in the nationalist movement. Secondly, the economic hardships prevalent in the Sudan during the war had generated considerable discontent among various sections of the population. The militants exploited the situation to mobilize political support for their demand for an immediate and effective participation by Sudanese in the government of their country. Thirdly, the rivalry between the two major religious orders served as another channel through which the nationalist struggle spread to the population in the countryside. Unlike the head of the Khatmiyya sect, Sayyid cAbd al-Rahman al-Mahdi cherished definite political ambitions. In the light of the growing debate on the Sudan's relation to Egypt, the political issues inevitably became intertwined with sectarian interests. Fourthly, British and Egyptian attitudes to the political future of the Sudan influenced nationalist commitments. British attitudes conveyed the impression that they were not intending to grant independence to the Sudan but rather prolong the lifetime of the Condominium. The Egyptians, on the other hand, spoke of a free and united Nile Valley, with the Sudan having its own internal administration. Sudanese nationalists were accordingly divided on whether or not union with Egypt was the shortest path to independence. Political parties thus emerged as organizations primarily dedicated to the realization of Independence through the one or the other means.


This paper proposes reinforcement learning as a foundational stone of a framework for efficient spectrum usage in the context of next-generation mobile cellular networks. The objective of the framework is to efficiently use the spectrum in a cellular orthogonal frequency-division multiple access network while unnecessary spectrum is released for secondary spectrum usage within a private commons spectrum access model. Numerical results show that the proposed framework obtains the best performance compared with other approaches for spectrum assignment. Moreover, the framework is relatively simple to implement in terms of computational requirements and signaling overhead.


Background: The success of a Real World Evidence (RWE) study lies in collecting and processing high quality data. Data in RWE study can be collected in a paper format as in a Case Report Form (CRF) or electronically in the format of electronic Case Report Form (eCRF). For a multi-country/multi-centric study, eCRF can offer advantages over the conventional paper CRF for collection of data. An approach which is a combination of optimal eCRF design, user friendly interface and proper training can facilitate in collection of high quality data. Aim: The aim of this article is to highlight the significance of optimal eCRF design, user friendly interface and proper training in RWE studies. Conclusion: Implementation of EDC system with eCRF can be advantageous for a multi-country/multi-centric RWE studies, as it facilities real time monitoring, which can yield adequate data of high quality. Implementation of eCRF can be cost and time effective.


We propose a new interpretation of the dynamic behavior of the boomerang
and, in general, of the rigid bodies exposed to simultaneous non-coaxial
rotations. We have developed a new rotational non-inertial dynamics hypothesis,
which can be applied to understand both the flight of the boomerang as well as
celestial mechanics. The boomerang is a particularly significant, intriguing
and widely known case of bodies in rotation. We have analyzed the velocity and
acceleration fields generated when rigid bodies are exposed to successive
torques, in order to assess new criteria for this speed coupling. In this
context, reactions and inertial fields that cannot be justified by means of
classical mechanics take place. Accordingly, we propose a new Theory of Dynamic Interactions. We
believe that the results obtained will enable us to conceive a new perspective
in dynamics, unknown to date. After carrying out ample research, we have come
to the conclusion that there still exists an unstructured scientific area in
non-inertial dynamics systems subject to rotational accelerations. The aim of
this paper is to present information of the surprising results obtained and to
attract interest in research into dynamic field systems accelerated by
rotation, and the multiple and remarkable scientific applications arising
thereof. We further propose the boomerang as a clear example of the application
of the Theory of Dynamic Interactions.


The Spemann organizer has long been recognized as a major source of patterning signals during the gastrula stage of amphibian embryogenesis. More recent evidence has suggested that the ventral side of the embryo also plays an important role in dorsal-ventral patterning during gastrulation through the action of signaling factors such as BMP-4. Bmp-4 is closely related to the Drosophila decapentaplegic (dpp) gene, and like Bmp-4, dpp is excluded from the neurogenic region. Recently we showed that Bmp-4 functions in an analogous role to that of dpp in Drosophila, suggesting that the mechanism of dorsal-ventral patterning in Xenopus and Drosophila embryos may be conserved. To further test this hypothesis, RNA of the Drosophila short gastrulation (sog) gene was injected into Xenopus embryos, since sog has been shown genetically to be an antagonist of dpp function. Overexpression of sog RNA in Xenopus dorsalizes the embryo by expanding neurogenic and dorsal paraxial tissue. When ectopically expressed on the ventral side of the embryo, sog induces a partial secondary axis. In addition, sog partially rescues embryos ventralized by ultraviolet irradiation. Since sog induces many similar changes in gene expression to that caused by truncated BMP receptors, we suggest that sog functions in part by opposing BMP-4 signaling. The recent identification of a possible Xenopus sog homolog, chordin, in conjunction with these results supports the hypothesis that dorsal-ventral patterning mechanisms are conserved between these two species.


The relationship between the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) and state public policy has long been unsettled. According to some judges, scholars, and litigants, the FAA precludes courts from invalidating arbitration clauses under the contract defense of violation of public policy. However, in a practice that is impossible to square with that understanding of FAA preemption, courts have traditionally nullified arbitration clauses to advance a range of state interests, including preserving substantive rights under state law. Nevertheless, in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the FAA eclipses a rule that deemed class-arbitration waivers to be unconscionable when they prevented plaintiffs from pursuing numerous, low-value state law claims. Both Justice Scalia's majority opinion and Justice Thomas's decisive concurrence strongly implied that state public policy is not a permissible basis for striking down an arbitration clause. As a result, lower courts are now compelling arbitration — often through gritted teeth — of lawsuits that are destined to fail. Counterintuitively, I argue that Concepcion holds the seeds of an approach to FAA preemption that gives judges greater freedom to strike down arbitration provisions to further state interests. FAA preemption stems from its centerpiece, section 2, which makes agreements to arbitrate specifically enforceable "save upon such grounds as exist at law or in equity for the revocation of any contract." According to the conventional wisdom, the plain language of this "savings clause" immunizes arbitration clauses from state public policy: few state regulations apply across-the-board to "any contract." Yet the courts and commentators who embrace this view have not explained why its rigid textualism is appropriate in the context of the FAA, which displaces state law through the purposivist mechanism of obstacle preemption. Concepcion implicitly recognizes this disconnect and breaks new ground by relying not on the statute's text, but on its "purposes and objectives." I show that the purposivism that animates Concepcion is superior to textualist approaches to FAA preemption. The incoherence of the any-contract test and the centrality of context and legislative history to obstacle preemption suggest that purposivism should be the primary technique for mapping the FAA's dominion over state law. However, this path leads to a starkly different endpoint than the one Concepcion reached. A faithful, full-bore examination of Congress's goals reveals that the phrase "grounds . . . for the revocation of any contract" encompasses all traditional contract doctrines, including the venerable doctrine of violation of public policy. Thus, the public policy defense should only be preempted when it thwarts the FAA's "purposes and objectives." I propose a test to determine when this has occurred and apply it to controversial issues now pending in courts, including class arbitration, the unconscionability doctrine, and judicial or legislative rules that prohibit the arbitration of particular claims.


In precomputed radiance transfer (PRT), the radiance transfer operator is precomputed on vertices of a mesh. During rendering the transfer operator is combined with illumination to produce global illumination effects at real-time frame rates. However, visible error can be introduced by interpolating the transferred radiance between vertices. We propose to adaptively subdivide meshes with PRT in order to avoid the interpolation error. The mesh density is increased where the transferred radiance can change rapidly and introduce high error. We exploit the fact that the illumination frequency in PRT is bounded and thus we are able to perform the subdivision during the preprocessing phase. This obviates the need for dynamic mesh subdivision at render-time. The adaptive subdivision is guided by an error measure based on the transfer operator.


The organochlorine pesticide, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), is still used to combat the spread of malaria in several developing countries despite its accumulation and known hepatotoxic effects that have been demonstrated both in vitro and in vivo. N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) is a recognized hepatoprotective agent that has been reported to reduce hepatotoxicity initiated by many different compounds. The aim of this study was to determine whether NAC could counter in vitro hepatocyte injury induced by DDT or its two major metabolites, dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene and dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane. HepG2 cell cultures were used to assess the following parameters of toxicity: cellular viability, intracellular levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), mitochondrial membrane potential and initiation of apoptosis. None of the three test compounds induced ROS generation, yet exposure to any of the three compounds produced mitochondrial hyperpolarization, which was countered by NAC pretreatment. All three test compounds also induced apoptotic cell death, which was inhibited by NAC. Despite NAC counteracting some adverse intracellular changes due to organochlorine exposure, it appeared to aggravate the cytotoxic effects of the organochlorine compounds at low test concentrations. As the same outcome may also occur in vivo, results from the present study raise concern about the use of NAC as treatment for DDT-induced hepatotoxicity.


We present a multifunctional photonic switch that monolithically integrates an InGaAsP/InP quantum well electroabsorption modulator and an InGaAs photodiode as a part of an on-chip, InP optoelectronic circuit. The optical multifunctionality of the switch offers many configurations to allow for different optical network functions on a single chip. Here we experimentally demonstrate GHz-range optical wavelength-converting switching with only ~10 mW of absorbed input optical power, electronically controlled packet switching with a reconfiguration time of <2.5 ns, and optically controlled packet switching in <300 ps.


In this paper, we model a dynamic general equilibrium model of a small open developing economy. We model labor markets as including both formal and informal urban employment as well as rural employment. We find that modelling dual labor markets helps explain why output in developing economies may fall even as labor inputs remain constant during financial crises. An external financial shock may lead to a reallocation of labor from productive formal sectors of the economy to less productive informal sectors.


Key-words. - Western Mediterranean, Convergent boundary, Tectonic reorganization, subduction, Back-arc basin, Basin inversion. Abstract. - In the western Mediterranean area, after a long period (late Paleogene-Neogene) of Nubian (W-Africa) northward subduction beneath Eurasia, subduction has almost ceased, as well as convergence accommodation in the subduction zone. With the progression of Nubia-Eurasia convergence, a tectonic reorganization is therefore necessary to accommodate future contraction. Previously-published tectonic, seismological, geodetic, tomographic, and seismic re- flection data (integrated by some new GPS velocity data) are reviewed to understand the reorganization of the conver- gent boundary in the western Mediterranean. Between northern Morocco, to the west, and northern Sicily, to the east, contractional deformation has shifted from the former subduction zone to the margins of the two back-arc oceanic bas- ins (Algerian-Liguro-Provencal and Tyrrhenian basins) and it is now mainly active in the south-Tyrrhenian (northern Sicily), northern Liguro-Provencal, Algerian, and Alboran (partly) margins. Onset of compression and basin inversion has propagated in a scissor-like manner from the Alboran (c. 8 Ma) to the Tyrrhenian (younger than c. 2 Ma) basins fol- lowing a similar propagation of the cessation of the subduction, i.e., older to the west and younger to the east. It follows that basin inversion is rather advanced on the Algerian margin, where a new southward subduction seems to be in its very infant stage, while it has still to really start in the Tyrrhenian margin, where contraction has resumed at the rear of the fold-thrust belt and may soon invert the Marsili oceanic basin. Part of the contractional deformation may have shifted toward the north in the Liguro-Provencal basin possibly because of its weak rheological properties compared with those of the area between Tunisia and Sardinia, where no oceanic crust occurs and seismic deformation is absent or limited. The tectonic reorganization of the Nubia-Eurasia boundary in the study area is still strongly controlled by the inherited tectonic fabric and rheological attributes, which are strongly heterogeneous along the boundary. These fea- tures prevent, at present, the development of long and continuous thrust faults. In an extreme and approximate synthesis, the evolution of the western Mediterranean is inferred to follow a Wilson Cycle (at a small scale) with the following main steps : (1) northward Nubian subduction with Mediterranean back-arc extension (since ~35 Ma); (2) progressive cessation, from west to east, of Nubian main subduction (since ~15 Ma); (3) progressive onset of compression, from west to east, in the former back-arc domain and consequent basin inversion (since ~8-10 Ma); (4) possible future subduction of former back-arc basins.


Both language and art can be considered as media for expressing meanings. This paper explores some suggestive parallels between meanings expressed through linguistic code-switching and meanings expressed in certain works of art. In particular, recent research on CS makes use of various notions which can be applied in the visual field: (1) heteroglossia/intertextuality: code-switching researchers such as Stroud have adopted this concept from literary studies to describe the exploitation by code-switchers of a 'double voice', i.e. the fact that much of what we say involves an implicit reference to the (real or imagined) words of others. (2) Contextualization : this refers to the strategic variations which speakers employ to create meaning within an agreed matrix of conventions. Gumperz developed the idea of contextualization cues, i.e. features of the form of the message which point to how the semantic content is to be understood. (3) Rational Choice v. Conversation Analytic approaches: Myers-Scotton's 'Rational Choice' model suggests that bilingual individuals' language choices are largely to do with the indexing of varieties to particular sets of 'rights and obligations'. Auer and Li Wei have shown that this only provides a partial explanation, and that linguistic choices provide a means of structuring conversation independently of such associations. Artistic examples taken from Roman Art, Renaissance Cretan icons and Picasso illustrate how, like code-switched utterances, works of art can derive meaning from (a) duality of reference, (b) the incorporation of an older tradition within a new work, and (c) from their vertical relationship with the context of their production and with their audience. Parallels identified here suggest that some areas of CS research are touching on universal semiotic patterns.


The objective of this study was to examine wheat production using direct seeding and conventional tillage in Middle Anatolia during the years of 2006-2007 and 2007-2008. In the experiment, conventional tillage and the direct seeding were used. Tillage and the direct seeding were applied in the dry farming conditions. The effect of treatments on mean emergence dates, percentage of emerged seedling, fuel consumptions and wheat yield were measured. The highest fuel consumption was measured in the conventional method as 46.1 l ha-1 whereas the lowest value was found in the direct seeding method as 10.7 l ha-1. Fuel consumption of the conventional method required four times more fuel than the direct seeding method. The best result for wheat yield was found in the direct seeding as 3388.9 kg ha-1 in 2008. The lowest wheat yield was found in the conventional method as 2290 kg ha-1 in 2007. The direct seeding gives the best result for fuel consumption and wheat yield. In the dry farming condition, the direct seeding methods can be proposed for wheat production in the Middle Anatolia.


Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a nonAlzheimer's form of dementia. Onset age lies in the mid-to-late 50s. FTD affects the frontal and/or the temporal lobes and is clinically divided into two main categories: behavioural variant (bvFTD) and language variant. FTD is characterised by heterogeneous pathology defined by pathogenic protein inclusions: microtubule-associated protein tau (MAPT), ubiquitin/transactive responses (TAR) deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)-binding protein 43 (TDP)-43, fused in sarcoma (FUS) and p62. MAPT, progranulin (PGRN) and, recently, C9orf72 genes represent the three main genetic markers associated with FTD. In addition, genetic variability in TDP-43, charged multivesicular body protein 2B (CHMP2B), valosin-containing protein (VCP), FUS and TMEM106B genes contribute to ⩽5% of cases. Research tools such as genome-wide association studies and exome and genome sequencing hold promise to further uncover the genetic underpinnings of this complex disorder.

Key Concepts:

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a nonAlzheimer's form of dementia; it affects behaviour, cognition and language, while memory (in the early phases).

The anatomical areas of the brain that are affected by atrophy are the frontal and the temporal lobes; based on this fact FTD is considered part of the spectrum called frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD).

FTD is a complex disease with insidious onset; no therapeutic measures are available as yet.

Behavioural variant FTD (bvFTD) is the most common syndrome of FTD, which is associated with gradual deterioration of behaviour and cognition.

Different protein inclusions in the brain are used to classify the pathology associated with FTLD.

TDP-43 and tau pathology represent the most common (∼90%) types of pathological signatures associated with FTLD.

MAPT, PGRN and C9orf72 are the major (∼95%) genetic markers associated with familial FTD.

TMEM106B regulates granulin protein levels.

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) and next-generation sequencing technologies whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole genome sequencing (WGS) hold promise for dissecting the genetic aetiology of complex diseases; in molecular genetics these technologies help in screening a wide range of genetic variabilities from SNPs to CNVs in large cohorts across different populations.

Keywords:

frontotemporal dementia;
frontotemporal lobar degeneration;
bvFTD;
PPA;
MAPT;
PGRN;
C9orf72;
TMEM106B;
tau pathology;
TDP-43 pathology


PURPOSE
To examine the utility of measuring magnetization transfer ratio for for delineating the dynamic changes of wallerian degeneration which occur after controlled injury in a feline model in which anatomic pathways are well understood.

METHODS
Using standard neurosurgical techniques, discrete lesions were made to ablate the visual cortex. Gradient imaging was performed serially at 1.5 T, with and without a saturation pulse to create a magnetization transfer effect. At varying intervals, the animals were killed for histologic analysis.

RESULTS
Within the first 2 weeks there is a statistically significant increase in magnetization transfer ratio relative to the control hemisphere within the white matter connections between the lateral geniculate nucleus and the visual cortex at a time when no effects are visually detectable on spin-echo images. Between 16 and 28 days, this reverses to a decrease in magnetization transfer ratio in both the lateral geniculate nucleus itself and the adjacent superolateral white matter. More remote white matter tracts remained stable, without significant change.

CONCLUSIONS
Magnetization transfer ratio seems to be more sensitive for early detection of degeneration than conventional spin-echo imaging. Moreover, temporal changes in magnetization transfer ratio seem to correspond well with known histologic phases of wallerian degeneration.


Background: Testing for HER2 amplification and/or overexpression is currently routine practice to guide Herceptin therapy in invasive breast cancer. At present, HER2 status is most commonly assessed by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Standardization of HER2 IHC assays is of utmost clinical and economical importance. At present, HER2 IHC is most commonly performed with the HercepTest which contains a polyclonal antibody and applies a manual staining procedure. Analytical variability in HER2 IHC testing could be diminished by a fully automatic staining system with a monoclonal antibody. Materials and Methods: 219 invasive breast cancers were fully automatically stained with the monoclonal antibody-based Oracle HER2 Bond IHC kit and manually with the HercepTest. All cases were tested for amplification with chromogenic in situ hybridization (CISH). Results: HercepTest yielded an overall sharper membrane staining, with less cytoplasmic and stromal background than Oracle in 17% of cases. Overall concordance between both IHC techniques was 89% (195/219) with a kappa value of 0.776 (95% CI 0.698–0.854), indicating a substantial agreement. Most (22/24) discrepancies between HercepTest and Oracle showed a weaker staining for Oracle. Thirteen of the 24 discrepant cases were high-level HER2 amplified by CISH, and in 12 of these HercepTest IHC better reflected gene amplification status. All the 13 HER2 amplified discrepant cases were at least 2+ by HercepTest, while 10/13 of these were at least 2+ for Oracle. Considering CISH as gold standard, sensitivity of HercepTest and Oracle was 91% and 83%, and specificity was 94% and 98%, respectively. Positive and negative predictive values for HercepTest and Oracle were 90% and 95% for HercepTest and 96% and 91% for Oracle, respectively. Conclusion: Fully-automated HER2 staining with the monoclonal antibody in the Oracle kit shows a high level of agreement with manual staining by the polyclonal antibody in the HercepTest. Although Oracle shows in general some more cytoplasmic staining and may be slightly less sensitive in picking up HER2 amplified cases, it shows a higher specificity and may be considered as an alternative method to evaluate the HER2 expression in breast cancer with potentially less analytical variability.


Stream classification methods classify a continuous stream of data as new labelled samples arrive. They often also have to deal with concept drift. This paper focuses on seasonal drift in stream classification, which can be found in many real-world application data sources. Traditional approaches of stream classification consider seasonal drift by including seasonal dummy/indicator variables or building separate models for each season. But these approaches have strong limitations in high-dimensional classification problems, or with complex seasonal patterns. This paper explores how to best handle seasonal drift in the specific context of news article categorization (or classification/tagging), where seasonal drift is overwhelmingly the main type of drift present in the data, and for which the data are high-dimensional. We introduce a novel classifier named Seasonal Averaged One-Dependence Estimators (SAODE), which extends the AODE classifier to handle seasonal drift by including time as a super parent. We assess our SAODE model using two large real-world text mining related datasets each comprising approximately a million records, against nine state-of-the-art stream and concept drift classification models, with and without seasonal indicators and with separate models built for each season. Across five different evaluation techniques, we show that our model consistently outperforms other methods by a large margin where the results are statistically significant.


Objective To test the feasibility of applying population impact measures utilising local population data on established interventions for heart failure and diabetes mellitus. Design Modelling study. Setting Registered general practitioner (GP) population in a primary care trust (PCT) Data sources Local data sources included the quality and outcomes framework, chronic disease registers for coronary heart disease and diabetes, hospital episode statistics and a range of published risk data in heart failure and diabetes. Main outcome measures Number of events prevented in the population (NEPP) by increasing the uptake of established interventions expressed as the number of deaths, hospitalisations and cardiovascular events prevented. Results Data from 17 GP practices (representing 55% of the PCT GP registered population) were used to derive the NEPP. A 10% increase in the number of eligible patients receiving ACE inhibitors (n = 191) could result in at least 18 fewer deaths (95% CI 9.8 to 27.1) and 32 fewer hospitalisations (95% CI 24.9 to 40.7) for heart failure every year. Only 45% of persons with diabetes with an above target total cholesterol were receiving a statin; increasing this to 75% (additional 921) could lead to 44 (95% CI 15.6 to 73.1) fewer cardiovascular disease (CVD) events over 5 years. Similarly, more rigorous blood pressure control in an additional 662 diabetic patients could result in 26 (95% CI −2.7 to 55.6) fewer CVD events over 5 years. There were differences in the potential impact of these interventions according to subgroups within the PCT, as defined by age and geography (locality). Conclusions Local data and published literature estimates can be successfully combined to produce the number of events prevented within a locally defined PCT population (NEPP). Commissioners have shown interest in the utility of such a measure in identifying and quantifying areas for improvement.


With the introduction of new biologics such as anti-TNF-alpha antibodies and other therapies in the treatment of inflammatory arthritis, capable of halting joint destruction and functional disability, there are new pressures on diagnostic and prognostic imaging. Early demonstration of pre-erosive inflammatory features and monitoring of the long-term effects of treatment are becoming increasingly important. Early detection of synovitis offers advantages in terms of allowing early instigation of therapy and may allow the identification of those patients displaying more aggressive disease who might benefit from early intervention with expensive DMARD therapy. Advanced imaging techniques such as ultrasound (US) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have focussed on the demonstration and quantification of synovitis and allow early diagnosis of inflammatory arthropathies such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA). Synovitis represents a potential surrogate measure of disease activity that can be monitored using either MRI or US; the techniques have, generally, focused on monitoring synovial volume or quality as assessed by its vascularity. However to achieve these goals, standardisation and validation of US and MRI are required to ensure accurate diagnosis, reproducibility and reliability. Each modality has different strengths and weaknesses and levels of validation. This article aims to increase the awareness of radiologists and rheumatologists about this field and to encourage them to participate and contribute to the ongoing development of these modalities. Without this collaboration, it is unlikely that these modalities will reach their full potential in the field of rheumatological imaging. This review is in two parts. The first part addresses the role of US and colour or power Doppler sonography (PDUS) in the detection and monitoring of synovitis in inflammatory arthropathies. The second part will look at advanced MR imaging and Dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI techniques and in particular how they are applied to the monitoring of the disease process. (www.actabiomedica.it)


Background: Hypertension and diabetes are major risk factors for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease. Adherence is a primary determinant of the effectiveness of treatment because poor adherence attenuates optimum clinical benefit and paves the way for complications. Methods: The cross-sectional community-based survey was carried out among men and women aged 30 years and above in the field practice area of a medical college to assess treatment compliance with respect to hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus. The study comprised of 426 subjects, already diagnosed with hypertension (287) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (139). During house visits, data were collected by personal face-to-face interview using a pre-tested structured questionnaire. Compliance was determined by indirect methods, which included self-reporting and interviews with the patients. Results: Compliance to hypertension treatment was found to be 82.2%, while 83.6% of individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus were on regular medication. Among the individuals on regular medication, 88 (37.3%) of them had controlled blood pressure. Although the compliance was good, blood pressure control was not optimal. Adherence was better among females as compared with males. Literacy status and socio-economic background were not found to be associated with treatment compliance. High cost of treatment for hypertension (39.3%) and diabetes (30.4%) and asymptomatic nature of the disease were the most common reasons cited for not taking regular medications. Conclusions: Adherence to hypertension and diabetes treatment was good. High cost of medications and asymptomatic nature of the disease were the reasons identified among the non-adherent patients.


This paper provides a critical reading of the willful and speculative subjectivities of Octavia Butler's final novel, Fledgling (2005). It does so by reading the story in the space between Sara Ahmed's theory of affective economies and Slavoj Ẑiẑek's Lacanian psychoanalysis. Thinking through the experiences of the novel's protagonist (Shori), both in terms of her symbiotic relationship with humans and how her willfulness is resisted by other vampires, helps clarify the normative implications of Ahmed's and Ẑiẑek's disagreements about multiculturalism. Broadly speaking, the development of Shori's subjectivity in the face of overt racism can be read as the non-performativity of multiculturalism, as Ahmed puts it, rather than its hegemonic status, as Ẑiẑek would have it. This observation is reinforced in view of the novel's reproductive Afrofuturism, which is characteristic of much of Butler's work, in the sense that futurity is both a point of tension and a symbolic ideal to which our desires are oriented. This paper thus uses the novel to spatialize an important theoretical debate about liberal politics, and uses that debate to analyze the social context that renders the novel intelligible.


Tourism is the world's largest industry and one of the fastest growing sectors, accounting for over onethird of the value of total worldwide services trade. Tourism, in the last few decades, has become an indispensable source of income for developing countries. Tourism come in many shapes and forms such as social, cultural, economic and environmental and is recognized by specialists as a sector which support and sustain economic growth recording important increases in different parts of the world. It has proven effectiveness as it has significant effect on culture, environment and provide economic incentive both in developed regions and in developing or poor regions. This paper aim to examine the locals' people perceptions about economic, social and environmental impacts of tourism on the quality of life and cultural heritage of Siwa Oasis. A quantitative research method was adopted for this study. To achieve the research objectives, data has been collected through 236 questionnaires distributed among Siwa Oasis local citizens. Also secondary data has been used together with reviewing some literature in the field of tourism economics and tourism development. The results revealed that tourism development has positive impacts on Siwa Oasis citizens from the viewpoints of Siwa local people. However there are a quite number of citizens who failed to decide positive or negative scale for a number of tourism development measures. So tourism development policies in Siwa Oasis should concentrate on tourism projects that are fulfilling the requirements of sustainable tourism development. To maximize the benefits of tourism development in Siwa Oasis, it is essential to create local culture consciousness for the importance of concentrating on sustainability requirements in the future. [Tamer Hamdy Abd El Latif Ayad and Ye Shujun. Local People Attitudes toward Social, Economic and Environmental Impacts of Tourism in Siwa Oasis. Life Sci J 2013;10(1):2874-2883] (ISSN:1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite.com. 348


ABSTRACT
 Cyrtoxipha gundlachi and Orocharis gryllodes are two common, well-studied Florida crickets whose scientific names are in doubt. We determine that C. gundlachi Saussure (1874) may retain its name and designate a neotype to stabilize that interpretation. We find that Cyrtoxipha orientalis Desutter-Grandcolas (2003) is a valid species rather than a junior synonym of Cyrtoxipha gundlachi sensu Otte & Perez-Gelabert (2009) and that the Jamaican species C. clarki Otte & Perez-Gelabert (2009) is a close relative of C. gundlachi. Finally, we determine that the Florida species formerly known as O. gryllodes (Pallas 1772) is now Antillicharis oriobates Otte & Perez-Gelabert (2009).


Artist Pointer is critically questioning the role of the artist in a process of exhibiting digital art, no matter if being a piece of software or if the work became physical through digital manufacturing, like 3D printing, 3D milling or laser-cutting. Artist Pointer, like any digital art, has a digital DNA, no matter if it exists as software only or if it becomes physical in an exhibition through digital manufacturing. Therefore, digital art can be downloaded and exhibited everywhere and by everybody who has internet access and theoretically even without the artist's involvement. That enables to easily clone the work without referring to its creator. This is fundamentally different to analogue art, where usually an autograph is indicating the creator of an art work. With Artist Pointer I am questioning the artist's visibility in digital arts. Artist Pointer is a location sensitive replacement of the artist's autograph as it will -- where ever the exhibition is and I (the artist) am -- always point at me.


Forest ecosystems are an integral component of the global carbon cycle as they take up and release large amounts of C over short time periods (C flux) or accumulate it over longer time periods (C stock). However, there remains uncertainty about whether and in which direction C fluxes and in particular C stocks may differ between forests of high versus low species richness. Based on a comprehensive dataset derived from field-based measurements, we tested the effect of species richness (3–20 tree species) and stand age (22–116 years) on six compartments of above- and below-ground C stocks and four components of C fluxes in subtropical forests in southeast China. Across forest stands, total C stock was 149 ± 12 Mg ha−1 with richness explaining 28.5% and age explaining 29.4% of variation in this measure. Species-rich stands had higher C stocks and fluxes than stands with low richness; and, in addition, old stands had higher C stocks than young ones. Overall, for each additional tree species, the total C stock increased by 6.4%. Our results provide comprehensive evidence for diversity-mediated above- and below-ground C sequestration in species-rich subtropical forests in southeast China. Therefore, afforestation policies in this region and elsewhere should consider a change from the current focus on monocultures to multi-species plantations to increase C fixation and thus slow increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations and global warming.


Empirically, neural networks that attempt to learn programs from data have exhibited poor generalizability. Moreover, it has traditionally been difficult to reason about the behavior of these models beyond a certain level of input complexity. In order to address these issues, we propose augmenting neural architectures with a key abstraction: recursion. As an application, we implement recursion in the Neural Programmer-Interpreter framework on four tasks: grade-school addition, bubble sort, topological sort, and quicksort. We demonstrate superior generalizability and interpretability with small amounts of training data. Recursion divides the problem into smaller pieces and drastically reduces the domain of each neural network component, making it tractable to prove guarantees about the overall system's behavior. Our experience suggests that in order for neural architectures to robustly learn program semantics, it is necessary to incorporate a concept like recursion.


Since the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) came into force ten years ago a debate has rumbled on about its larger purpose. It was drafted in response to a long-standing campaign for a bill of rights for the UK which attracted support across the political spectrum. But to what extent can its legal form serve that purpose if, as has been suggested, the HRA was intended not just to incorporate most of the rights in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) into domestic law, but the totality of its case law? To shed light on the debate, this article examines the duty in HRA s.2 for domestic courts to "take into account" Strasbourg jurisprudence when considering a Convention right. We identify three broad approaches taken by the domestic courts to European Court of Human Rights jurisprudence: the mirror approach, the dynamic approach and the municipal approach. The parliamentary debate on s.2 reveals that the language of that section was purposefully drafted to avoid the domestic courts from being bound by Strasbourg jurisprudence, whilst still requiring them to take it into account. Developing this further, we suggest that the purpose of the HRA was to allow the courts to use the ECHR as a source of rights and freedoms to be interpreted domestically in the manner of a bill of rights, in order to enhance human rights in the UK.


Three-dimensional (3D) synthetic hydrogels have recently emerged as desirable in vitro cell culture platforms capable of representing the extracellular geometry, elasticity, and water content of tissue in a tunable fashion. However, they are critically limited in their biological functionality. Hydrogels are typically decorated with a scant 1-3 peptide moieties to direct cell behavior, which vastly underrepresents the proteins found in the extracellular matrix (ECM) of real tissues. Further, peptides chosen are ubiquitous in ECM, and are not derived from specific proteins. We developed an approach to incorporate the protein complexity of specific tissues into the design of biomaterials, and created a hydrogel with the elasticity of marrow, and 20 marrow-specific cell-instructive peptides. Compared to generic PEG hydrogels, our marrow-inspired hydrogel improves stem cell differentiation and proliferation. We propose this tissue-centric approach as the next generation of 3D hydrogel design for applications in tissue engineering.


Environmental self-auditing is said to deserve and require encouragement. Although firms can audit themselves more cheaply and effectively than regulators, they are deterred for fear that information they uncover will be used against them. To reduce this disincentive, the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Audit Policy lowers punitive fines when firms promptly disclose and correct self-discovered violations. While some contend that the Audit Policy is inadequate, EPA touts its success based on the policy's track record. Our examination of that track record leads us to question EPA's claim. Comparing the violations in these cases with those detected by standard EPA enforcement suggests that the typical self-audited violation is relatively minor. Cases arising under the Policy are more likely to concern reporting violations and less likely to concern emissions. The relative insignificance of self-audited violations raises a number of policy questions, including whether the Audit Policy should be revised to play a larger role in enforcement. © 2004 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.


The purpose of this study was to utilize a post-observation interview with 37 elementary and middle grades student teachers relating to items on the North Carolina Teacher Performance Appraisal Instrument(NCTAPI). The post-observation interview provided elementary and middle grades student teachers an opportunity to explain their reasons for choosing a teaching practice, especially when their choice was incongruous with what was taught in the professional education courses and inconsonant with research on teaching. Results of the eight major functions on the NCTPAI identified by student teachers as receiving frequent emphasis in their professional education courses revealed that, on all major functions, the majority of student teachers made choices inconsistent with what had been taught in professional education classes and what was congruent with research findings. Moreover, student teachers' explanations regarding their motivation for selecting a particular choice disclosed a low influence of university training on their decision. The problem of getting preservice student teachers to mesh theory taught in professional education courses with practice during their field experiences is documented in the research (Lortie, 1975; Hodges, 1982; Calderhead & Robson, 1991; Tabachnik & Zeichner, 1984). Many student teachers do not combine practice with research during their field experiences and make decisions contrary to what was taught in professional education courses and what is known about effective teaching research. Despite the universities and colleges revamping and improving course offerings, increasing program requirements and emphasizing effective teaching techniques often utilized in local K-12 schools, the controversy over the low utilization of what was learned at the university and what preprofessional teachers actually practiced from their university coursework during their field experiences continues (Calderhead, 1991). The low utilization of techniques learned at the university and implemented during field experiences is important because today, more and more, universities are held accountable, during the first two years, for the performance of students completing their teacher preparation program. Moreover, Tabachnik and Zeichner (1984) challenged researchers to examine what occurred during field experiences, i.e., how professional life was interpreted and acted upon by student teachers. As we learn more about what teachers need to know and how their growth in knowledge of teaching develops, this information should be included in our preservice program (Grossman & Richert, 1988; Ryan, 1995). The purpose of this study was to utilize a post-observation interview relating to items on the North Carolina Teacher Performance Appraisal Instrument. The post-observation interview provided student teachers an opportunity to explain their reasons for choosing a teaching practice, especially when their choice was incongruous with what was taught in the professional education courses and inconsonant with research on teaching. Literature related to socialization of preservice teachers and knowledge growth in learning to teach form the theoretical framework of this study. Research on teacher socialization has focused on the prior experiences preservice teachers have had with schools and schooling and how this prior experience influences their views about teaching and learning, particularly during their preservice education. Student teachers model the teaching performance of their previous teachers by synthesizing teaching behaviors from various teachers they have had into their idea of the teacher they would like to be (Ross, 1987). In fact, prior experience with schools is a more powerful socializing agent than teacher preparation training at the universities (Lortie, 1975). Coursework may hold the promise of imparting knowledge about teaching, yet teachers have traditionally and consistently denied the influence of their formal coursework, stating that what they learned about teaching during professional preparation, they learned through field experiences (Lortie, 1975; Grossman and Richert, 1988; Ryan, 1995; Curtner-Smith, 1999). …


Title of Dissertation: RELATIONSHIP OF PRINCIPAL'S LEADERSHIP BEHAVIORS TO ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AND SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT EFFORTS Betty Williams King, Doctor of Philosophy, 2006 Dissertation directed by: Professor Emeritus James Dudley Department of Education Policy and Leadership The purpose of this study was to compare the extent to which leadership behavior of principals differs in schools at risk for reconstitution and in schools judged as meeting state standards; and to determine the extent to which principals in these schools employ frame utilization strategies for school improvement as designed by Bolman and Deal (1992a). The sample population for the study was randomly selected by the school district's Division of Research Evaluation Assessment and Accountability (DREAA). Ten schools were selected to participate in the study: five schools labeled "at risk" and five schools "making adequate progress." Data collection was performed in 2006. The Leadership Orientation Survey designed by Bolman and Deal (1990) was distributed to principals, immediate supervisors of the principals, teachers, parents, and community representatives who serve on the School Improvement Team (SIT) in each school. The survey measured the extent to which leaders use four frames of leadership: structural, human resource, political, and symbolic. Cronbach alpha, a measure of inter-item reliability, was computed for each of the four frames. All were .75 or higher, indicating that the survey was reliable. Interscale correlations were computed for schools making adequate progress and for schools at risk. The correlations for teachers, parents, and community representatives for both school groups were strong and statistically significant, most in the .75 to .95 range. For principals and supervisors, the results of the correlational analysis were mixed. Some correlations were strong and statistically significant, .80 to .95, and others were weak and in some cases negative. This may be due primarily to the small number of principals in the study, four in each group of schools. The same limitation was true for supervisors, where there were five in each group of schools. A correlation is a measure of a linear relationship between two variables. It can range from -1.00 to +1.00. The results of the statistical analysis of the three research questions using independent t-tests indicated that for principals, supervisors, teachers, parents, and community representatives, there were almost no statistically significant differences in the use of the four frames for the schools making adequate progress or for the schools at risk. All of the means indicated that the principals were judged to often use the different frames. The only exception was the human resource frame, where there was a statistically significant difference favoring principals in the schools making adequate progress. The demographics information indicated that the most qualified professionals were found in the schools making adequate progress. RELATIONSHIP OF PRINCIPAL'S LEADERSHIP BEHAVIORS TO ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AND SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT EFFORTS


The Tolman electronic parameters (TEP) and cone angles were experimentally measured for a series of substituted proazaphosphatrane ligands by synthesizing their respective Ni(L(R))(CO)3 complexes, where L = P(RNCH2CH2)3N and R = Me, iPr, iBu and Bz. The complexes Ni(L(Me))(CO)3 (), Ni(L(iPr))(CO)3 (), Ni(L(iBu))(CO)3 () and Ni(L(Bz))(CO)3 () display CO vibrational frequencies (A1 mode) at 2057.0, 2054.6, 2054.9 and 2059.1 cm(-1), respectively. The TEPs for the phosphine ligands in are among the lowest measured, with values close to P(tBu)3 the most donating phosphine measured by Tolman. The cone angles of L(R) measured in are 152, 179, 200 and 207° for R = Me, iPr, iBu and Bz, respectively. The substituted proazaphosphatranes have larger cone angles compared to the analogous trialkyl subsituted monophosphines. Our study demonstrates that while the cone angles have a significant dependence on R, all of the substituted proazaphosphatranes are strong electron donors. Additionally, in order to determine the electronic donor strength of our previously reported multidentate ligand, TPAP, Ni(TPAP)(CO)2 () (TPAP = tris(2-pyridylmethyl)azaphosphatrane) and Ni(L(Me))2(CO)2 () were also synthesized and evaluated in a similar fashion.


In this paper, we propose an original framework for an intuitive tuning of parameters in image and video segmentation algorithms. The proposed framework is very flexible and generic and does not depend on a specific segmentation algorithm, a particular evaluation metric, or a specific optimization approach, which are the three main components of its block diagram. This framework requires a manual segmentation input provided by a human operator as he/she would have performed intuitively. This input allows the framework to search for the optimal set of parameters which will provide results similar to those obtained by manual segmentation. On one hand, this allows researchers and designers to quickly and automatically find the best parameters in the segmentation algorithms they have developed. It helps them to better understand the degree of importance of each parameter's value on the final segmentation result. It also identifies the potential of the segmentation algorithm under study in terms of best possible performance level. On the other hand, users and operators of systems with segmentation components, can efficiently identify the optimal sets of parameters for different classes of images or video sequences. In a large extent, this optimization can be performed without a deep understanding of the underlying algorithm, which would facilitate the exploitations and optimizations in real applications by non-experts in segmentation. A specific implementation of the proposed framework was obtained by adopting a video segmentation algorithm invariant to shadows as segmentation component, a full reference segmentation quality metric based on a perceptually motivated spatial context, as the evaluation component, and a down-hill simplex method, as optimization component. Simulation results on various test sequences, covering a representative set of indoor and ourdoor video, show that optimal set of parameters can be obtained efficiently and largely improve the results obtained when compared to a simple implementation of the same segmentation algorithm with ad-hoc parameter setting strategy.


Modern imaging techniques are a substantial part of treatment planning for minimally invasive radiotherapeutic procedures. The aim is three-dimensional assessment of the target volume and adjacent critical structures. In this paper, we report on our clinical experience with a precise system for stereotactic image correlation. Hereby, the advantages of each imaging modality can be combined. Precise immobilization of the patient is a prerequisite. The immobilization method has an accuracy of less than 1 mm. This method was evaluated in a clinical study in which a tumor control rate of 93% was achieved in patients with brain metastases after stereotactic single high dose radiotherapy. This indicated the excellent reliability of this treatment planning method. The integration of functional image information, such as blood flow or activation of cerebral cortical areas, will be evaluated in the future.


Frontal asymmetric activation has been proposed to be the underlying mechanism for depression. Some case studies have reported that the enhancement of a relative right frontal alpha activity by an asymmetry neurofeedback training leads to improvement in depressive symptoms. In the present study, we examined whether a neurofeedback training designed to increase the relative activity of the right frontal alpha band would have an impact on symptoms of depressive subjects suffering from emotional, behavioral, and cognitive problems. Our results indicated that the asymmetry neurofeedback training increased the relative right frontal alpha power, and it remained effective even after the end of the total training sessions. In contrast to the training group, the placebo control group did not show a difference. The neurofeedback training had profound effects on emotion and cognition. First, we replicated earlier findings that enhancing the left frontal activity led to alleviation of depressive symptoms. Moreover, cognitive tests revealed that the asymmetry training improved performance of executive function tests, whereas the placebo treatment did not show improvement. We preliminarily concluded that the asymmetry training is important for controlling and regulating emotion, and it may facilitate the left frontal lobe function.


Purpose

This study aims to investigate and compare the relationships of affective commitment, loyalty to supervisor and guanxi among Chinese workers in joint ventures (JVs) and state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

Design/methodology/approach

In the proposed model, job security is considered as an antecedent of affective commitment, and subordinate–supervisor guanxi is viewed as an antecedent of loyalty to supervisor. The model further suggests that affective commitment will affect employees' turnover intention and organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) and that loyalty to supervisor will affect employees' OCB. A data set consisting of 255 employees in three JVs and 253 employees in three SOEs in China is used to test the hypotheses empirically.

Findings

The LISREL results support the hypotheses and show the major differences of employees' attitudes and behaviour in JVs and SOEs today.

Research limitations/implications

This study shows the differences of effects of commitment on OCB in JVs and SOEs and also clarifies the mixed and inconsistent findings of the effects of affective commitment and commitment to supervisor on OCB in the previous literature.

Practical implications

Given that the effects of affective commitment and loyalty to supervisor on OCB are different in JVs and SOEs, different policies should be adopted to enhance the OCB in these two types of organisations.

Originality/value

The research results show the major differences of employees' attitudes and behaviour in JVs and SOEs today. The comparison of the results has implications to the extant literature.


Aquatic Invertebrate Consumption by the Major Fish Species in the Blacksmith Fork River by Theodore F. Meyers, l'!aster of Science Utah State University, 1971 Major Professor: Dr. William T. Helm Department : Wildlife Resources ix Exponential rates of digestion are described for brown trout and whitefish for July , October, December (1969), and April (1970). The slope of the line fitted to the digestion data from each month was defined as the instantaneous rate of digestion and applied to an exponential growth model to determine the instantaneous consumption rate . The digestion and consumption rates were applied to field measurements of percent fullness to determine the amount of food material ingested during a 24 hour period. Brown trout consumed 127, 24 , 19, and 84 mean percent of their stomach capacity in the July, October, December, and April studies. Whitefish consumed 74, 21, 46, and 51 mean percent of their stomach capacity in the same respective study periods. Mean daily ration from four major collection periods was calculated on fish in the 50 gram to BOO gram size range. Brown trout daily ration varied between 1.35 percent and 2.59 percent. Whitefish daily ration varied between 0.44 percent and 0.83 percent. X Brown trout diets were quite variable with 44 percent of their caloric intake comprised of terrestrial invertebrates in October, 55 percent of the December calories comprised of fish eggs, and 39 percent of the April calories made up of Leptoceridae larvae. Emerging imagoes were important items in the brown trout diets, contributing as much as 62 percent and not less than 11 percent of the numeric intake for one collection period. Whitefish did not rely upon emerging imagoes as a significant food source. Their stomachs consistently contained mayflies, chironomids, and caddis larvae. Both fish species occasionally consumed substantial amounts of the large stonefly, Pteronarcys.


Anyone who has ever noodled for organisms knows the thrill of the catch. Students may have heard of noodling catfish, a hazardous pastime in which a person wiggles a finger in hopes of catching a fish. Others may have never heard of this process of searching for a given organism using your sense of touch but not your sense of sight. Mollusks, such as mussels and snails, are a great group to noodle because they are prevalent in banks and bottoms of river basins and in sandy beach habitats. Furthermore, their shells are easy to come by and safe to handle. There are six classes within the phylum Mollusca. In the activities described in this article, we focus on the gastropod (e.g., snails) and bivalve (e.g., mussels) classes. Bivalves serve as good water-quality indicators due to their intolerance of wastewater treatment effluent and other anthropogenic (human-introduced) pollution sources. Mollusks play important roles within their ecosystems, but degradation of natural habitat, decreasing water quality, and increasing artificial structures contribute to the decreasing prevalence of freshwater species. In the two activities we describe in this article, designed for middle or high school life science or biology classes, students noodle bivalves and gastropods from a covered container, determining organism density as number per square meter and catch per unit effort. Students analyze their results and learn about using species as indicators of reduced habitat quality. (Safety note: Noodling for fish or mollusks in the wild is dangerous and should not be attempted by students.) Understanding the mollusk Gastropods move slowly, and mussels are nearly, if not completely, sessile (immobile)--making these creatures easy to sample. Malacologists (zoologists who study mollusks) noodle to randomly sample the aquatic environment and assess the abundance or density of mollusks. These researchers have to be aware of the sampling environment to understand their target organism because some species (e.g., snails from the genus Conus) can be venomous. Malacologists also investigate noodling sites to draw statistical conclusions about trends. [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] Mollusks serve roles (niches) in their ecosystems as scavengers and water purifiers and also serve as food sources for organisms in many freshwater and marine ecosystems. But as waterways become more polluted, many mollusks are disappearing. North America's freshwater mussel species (Bivalvia: Unionidae) were once a major part of the southeastern aquatic faunal diversity (Neves 1997). Now, over 75% of them are recognized as threatened or endangered. This decline is due to habitat loss and degradation, sedimentation, increases in nutrients, contaminants, and dam creation (Schilling and Williams 2002; Neves 1997). Some freshwater mussel species live in blackwater rivers that contain high concentrations of tannic acid from adjacent riverine swamp areas. Noodling site construction The two noodling activities described in this article are based upon a mollusk inventory that the first author conducted in the Canoochee River, Georgia (Figure 1; Sukkestad et al. 2005). Sampling was conducted at 235 locations, each with multiple replicate sites, and higher densities were found in the upper coastal plain of Georgia (68.42 mussels h-1) than the lower coastal plain (52.4 mussels h-1). (Mussel density is measured as catch per unit effort (CPUE = number per hour = no. h-1.) The population was estimated based on the values obtained across all these sites. Having replicate samples at multiple sites is important to draw sound conclusions, which is why we use multiple bins when we recreate this inventory in the classroom. This helps to provide a statistical foundation for the classroom activity described here. [FIGURE 2 OMITTED] Before the classroom portion of this activity, teachers must first construct the noodling bins (Figure 2) using the following materials: * one large 15 x 34 x 5. …


This Article assesses the relationship between state climate change mitigation measures and potential national climate change legislation. It describes and evaluates eleven different legal and policy tools being employed by states. These are: customer choice of electricity providers, environmental labeling requirements for electricity sources, building codes requiring energy efficiency, demand-side management, system benefit charges, cap-and-trade programs, tax credits, net metering, planning and siting preferences for renewable energy facilities, CO2 limits for new power plants, and renewable energy portfolio standards.Two broad conclusions emerge from this analysis. First, these tools have considerable potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They achieve reductions primarily within the borders of the states that enacted them, not elsewhere. These tools are often used in mutually reinforcing combinations, not as stand-alone measures. While no one of these tools is necessarily capable of achieving great reductions, the careful combination of many tools is likely to have significant effects. To be sure, the effect of state actions so far is relatively modest. Still, they have considerable potential to reduce net emissions. These tools also provide a variety of benefits in addition to mitigating climate change. They are intended to conserve energy, limit other air pollutants, foster local economic growth, lower energy costs on the poor, and serve other purposes. Indeed, they are notable in part because these other benefits likely equal or even exceed their benefits in reducing greenhouse gases. Finally, these tools appear to involve negligible costs.Second, a strong case can be made for applying these tools at the national level. Many state tools result from, or work within the framework of, federal energy or environmental law. National use of these tools is likely to result in deeper reductions in net greenhouse gas emissions than state-by-state action. National uniformity in rules, particularly for market-based approaches, is likely to enhance the effectiveness of such approaches. National use of these tools is also more likely to reduce national security risks from climate change. If these tools can work at the state level, they surely can do so nationally. Because states have historic police power roles that are relevant to climate change, moreover, any national legislation should enlist the states in creative and effective ways.


I want to look at one aspect of the human good: how it serves as the basis for judgments about the moral right. One important view is that the right is always derived from the good. I want to suggest that the more one understands the nature of the human good, the more reservations one has about that view. I. OneRoute toConsequentialism Many of us think that different things make a life good, with no one deep value underlying them all. My own list includes: enjoyment, accomplishing something with one's life, deep personal relations, certain sorts of understanding, and the elements of a characteristically human existence (autonomy, liberty). Most of us also think that moral right and wrong are based, in some way or other, in how well individual lives go, and that the moral point of view is, in some sense or other, impartial between lives. Utilitarianism is a prominent, but not the only, way of spelling out this intuition. There is no reason why an account of the human good needs to be confined, in the classical utilitarian way, to happiness or to fulfillment of desire (on the usual understanding of that notion). Nor is there any reason why impartiality has to be confined to maximizing the good, counting everybody for one and nobody for more than one. We may generalize. Let us broaden the notion of the good. We might say, for instance, that though happiness is a good, so are the other items on my list. But though broadened, this notion of the good stays within the confines of individual goods; it still has to do with human well-being, with what promotes the quality of one person's life.


It has been reported that surface microstructural dimensions can influence the osteoinductivity of calcium phosphates (CaPs), and osteoclasts may play a role in this process. We hypothesised that surface structural dimensions of ≤ 1 μm trigger osteoinduction and osteoclast formation irrespective of macrostructure (e.g., concavities, interconnected macropores, interparticle space) or surface chemistry. To test this, planar discs made of biphasic calcium phosphate (BCP: 80% hydroxyapatite, 20% tricalcium phosphate) were prepared with different surface structural dimensions - either ~ 1 μm (BCP1150) or ~ 2-4 μm (BCP1300) - and no macropores or concavities. A third material was made by sputter coating BCP1150 with titanium (BCP1150Ti), thereby changing its surface chemistry but preserving its surface structure and chemical reactivity. After intramuscular implantation in 5 dogs for 12 weeks, BCP1150 formed ectopic bone in 4 out of 5 samples, BCP1150Ti formed ectopic bone in 3 out of 5 samples, and BCP1300 formed no ectopic bone in any of the 5 samples. In vivo, large multinucleated osteoclast-like cells densely colonised BCP1150, smaller osteoclast-like cells formed on BCP1150Ti, and osteoclast-like cells scarcely formed on BCP1300. In vitro, RAW264.7 cells cultured on the surface of BCP1150 and BCP1150Ti in the presence of osteoclast differentiation factor RANKL (receptor activator for NF-κB ligand) proliferated then differentiated into multinucleated osteoclast-like cells with positive tartrate resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) activity. However, cell proliferation, fusion, and TRAP activity were all significantly inhibited on BCP1300. These results indicate that of the material parameters tested - namely, surface microstructure, macrostructure, and surface chemistry - microstructural dimensions are critical in promoting osteoclastogenesis and triggering ectopic bone formation.


Objectives: Many medication management resources aim to improve the quality of prescribing, but simple resources naively do not address potential interactions when there are many diseases and many medications, while complex ones seem impractical to use during consultations. Limited work has explored health professional preferences regarding information resources for complex patients. This study aimed to explore the requirements for an information resource that HPs can use to assist in disease state management that takes into account all complexities of patient care, or at the very least, old age and multi-morbidity. Methods: Purposive convenience sampling was used to recruit geriatricians, general practitioners and accredited pharmacists for one hour, individual, semi-structured interviews through August 2011 to April 2012. Recruitment continued until data saturation. Nine geriatricians, one GP and five accredited pharmacists from the Melbourne metropolitan area were interviewed. Thematic analysis was conducted using NVivo9 software. Results: Study participants reported current resources do not assist with complex patient prescribing and lack relevance to the Australian setting. Difficulty in timely access to appropriate information and with contextualising vast amounts of new health information were identified hurdles in healthcare delivery, as were incomplete health care records. Key features which make resources useful include clear formatting, simplicity, use of peer-reviewed evidence-based recommendations, and ready access via an easy to use electronic interface. Conclusion: Current resources do not meet health professionals' needs when they seek practical assistance when prescribing to complex patients. Future resources need to address identified hurdles to providing optimal care and incorporate desired features.


Since the Tax Sharing Reform in 1994, the local government revenue of the People's Republic of China (PRC) has faced downward risk problems. This paper reviews the fiscal and taxation reforms in the central and local governments of the PRC and focuses on evaluating the effectiveness of fiscal transfers. We find that, to a certain extent, fiscal transfers significantly promote the construction of local infrastructure. Earmarked transfers had an effect, but lump-sum transfers did not. Results showed every 1% increase in earmarked transfers to be associated with a 5% increase in local spending on infrastructure. These fiscal transfers also increased the size of local government spending such that a 1% increase of fiscal transfer would increase the ratio of local fiscal spending to gross domestic product by 1%. The risk of the local fiscal revenue sources was also assessed, and results showed that land finance, local government bonds, and fiscal transfers from the central government are not sustainable in the long term. The local fiscal system in the PRC needs to focus on improving local taxes in the future, such as the property tax.


The Constitution's Preamble states, in part: "We the people of the United States, in order to… secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." While the word "blessings" in this context might mean simply benefits, it might have a more specifically ethical and dispositional meaning, such as benefits for which we should be grateful. Those who favor an evangelical reading of the Constitution might further specify the ethical and dispositional meaning, so that "blessings" recalls God's promise to Abraham and Israel and the relationship that this promise initiates. On this evangelical reading, the Preamble's aspiration to blessings fits within a familiar Biblical warrant for American exceptionalism.An ampler Biblical account of blessings (and curses), however, questions this warrant. The ampler account is ironizing; it tends to reveal incongruities throughout our picture of ourselves as blessed and as blessing others. Relocating or transposing the Preamble's Blessings Clause into this Biblical frame has a salutary ironizing effect, enabling us to see the whole project of securing the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity in a more critical light. Without irony, what is otherwise virtuous – our disposition to gratitude – is tainted by the vice of complaceny. Without gratitude, the virtue in irony declines into a self-congratulatory sarcasm.Suppose we read the Preamble's Blessings Clause in light of Biblical stories about how Jacob secured blessings to himself and his posterity. In this reading, the framers of the law ("fathers") suppose that they "secure the blessings" to and for the generations to come, but the children actually "secure the blessings" from the "fathers" (by deceit if necessary). "To secure the blessings" it is necessary to overthrow the law (albeit for the sake of realizing it). Ultimately, the blessings are not "secure," but instead open or at risk in a way that gives depth of significance to life and law. Life graced with blessings is not "secure," and the prosperity or abundance in "blessings" offers no immunity against the human circumstances of pain, loss, grief, anxiety, and guilt. The ground and source of the blessings upon "ourselves and our posterity" require that "we the people" mediate blessings to all humankind; but we exchange blessings for curses if do not act with humility and in awareness of our limitations and mixed motives.


AMBASSADORS FROM EARTH : Pioneering Explorations with Unmanned Spacecraft. By Jay Gallentine. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press. 2009. FINAL COUNTDOWN: NASA and the End of the Space Shuttle Program. By Pat Duggins. Gainesville and Tampa: University Press of Florida. 2009.Both these popular histories of spaceflight are engagingly written by authors (Jay Gallentine a film and video engineer; Pat Duggins a journalist) who know their craft, and who seek to pass along awareness of the early decades of the Space Age to younger readers uninformed about formative events that often occurred before they were born. Academic specialists may decry the scarcity of footnotes, and will be bothered by the sometimes-glaring lack of references to important earlier works which could easily have augmented major portions of the analysis of both authors. Their students, however, will enjoy the glimpses of the very-human excitements and frustrations involved in scientific and technological advance.Both volumes have to be used with some caution. Meaning that, for example, what they don't say can be as important as what they do say. Both authors, for example, treat only a portion of their subjects. Gallentine covers an approximately 30-year "golden age" of lunar and planetary spacecraftthat ends with the 1977- 1989 Voyager "grand tour" of the outer planets (while curiously saying nothing about important pioneering missions like the first landers on Mars' surface (Viking 1 and 2). Duggins' narrative is weak on portions of the Space Shuttle and Space Station story-USA or (especially) Russian-before the Challenger tragedy of 1986, and ends with the (now largely defunct) President George Herbert Walker Bush Moon-Mars space vision of 2004-2009. The authors, additionally, have defects of their qualities. Meaning that both are very clearly "fans" of the space specialties they treat, and have little, if anything, good to say about human spaceflight (Gallentine) or planetary scientists and astronomers (Duggins). Both authors also ignore the Earthly applications satellites (after early particles and fields research ending about 1960) that were increasingly important-and divisive-within portions of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); and also ignore (with the exception of a brief manned military shuttle program) the increasingly large military satellite systems that affected the thinking and action of NASA administrators. Advocacy-driven narratives like these are capable and even eloquent. They do not, however, allow younger readers to comprehend how modern space-based networks of communications or weather satellites many use cell phones to access came to exist. Nor do they help students-or their teachers-understand how the modern era of space-based satellites has produced data that allow us to intelligently comprehend and visualize what environmental scientists are talking about when they address the many and growing challenges of climate change and "Global Warming."Both authors, additionally, depend heavily on interview data and can, on occasion, over-identify with their most important sources. Gallentine's collection of about twelve personal narratives, for instance, tends to be very kind to pioneers at Iowa State University (i.e. Dr. James Van Allen) and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. …


BackgroundIn Pakistan, the slow pace of declining fertility rate accounts for troubling consequences like multiple pregnancies, induced abortions, the low 34% contraceptive prevalence rate, and overpopulation. This coupled with the lack of literature on this topic in the country makes it pivotal to explore the gender roles and responsibilities of adults in marital life and within the family and their influence on Family Planning decisions in adults, in Karachi, Pakistan.MethodsThe study design involved purposive selection of 12 consenting married adults belonging to Gulberg Town, from whom detailed qualitative data was collected using open-ended, semi-structured interviews, supported by field notes. For the sake of anonymity, participants were assigned codes. Furthermore, all discussions were conducted in English or Urdu language by the female investigator herself and were audio recorded after obtaining participants' consent. Thereafter, a rigorous thematic analysis of the interviews was carried out, with the results being double-checked before being securely stored in soft or hard copy. ResultsThe study observations identified that gender roles and responsibilities do affect Family Planning decisions in Pakistan. The results were broadly categorized into two themes: superficial reasons and deeper reasons affecting FP decisions. The first theme has three main categories; interpretation of FP, awareness about FP, and couple as representative of FP decision making whereas the second theme has five categories; roles and responsibilities of men in the family, roles and responsibilities of women in the family, women autonomy, mind the gap or taming the women, and way forward. ConclusionsOur study findings suggest that while superficial reasons must be resolved, it is primarily crucial to eliminate the subtler, tap root factors influencing FP decisions by strongly addressing school curricula, nurses and other Health Care Workers (HCWs) to positively impact the society. Further qualitative and quantitative research is ultimately necessary for assessing the viewpoint of important stakeholders and how, using a multiprong approach, the stringent perceptions pertaining to Family Planning can be altered to benefit the society.


European economic integration with a minimalist social policy at EU level was in part made possible by strong domestic labour market and social welfare institutions. The main contention of this paper is that EU market liberalisation was embedded within institutions of social citizenship at domestic level, which served to counter the liberalisation of the internal market. But this settlement has been put under strain. In addition to the challenges posed to the sustainability of European welfare states by the global economic crisis, the internal market jurisprudence of the Court of Justice casts doubt on the sustainability of the 'embedded liberal bargain'. This paper focuses on the role of the Court, in particular in its jurisprudence on the interaction between (EU) market freedoms and (national) labour law, which undermines the ability of states to retain their regulatory autonomy over labour or social welfare law and, arguably, speeds up the unravelling of the 'embedded liberal bargain'.


Apatite (U-Th)/He ages reveal three distinct periods in the exhumation history of the northern Coast Mountains (∼54°N). A well-developed helium partial retention zone indicates little or no exhumation between ca. 30 and 10 Ma. Beginning at 10 Ma and extending to at least 4 Ma the range underwent steady but slow exhumation of ∼0.22 mm/yr, after which the exhumation rate increased by at least 70%. An 85-km-long He age traverse across the orogen at sea level shows that vertical offsets on post-10 Ma faults are minor. Furthermore, the sea-level He ages (14–2.8 Ma) inversely correlate with local mean elevation along the traverse. These data suggest that the Coast Mountains first appeared as a significant topographic feature only within the past few million years. This history is not consistent with suggestions that uplift of the range resulted from formation of the Queen Charlotte basin in early-middle Miocene time. We speculate that intense erosion by alpine and continental glaciation after 2.5 Ma triggered isostatic uplift and creation of the modern topography of the Coast Mountains.


Communists vilified her as a raging neurotic. Leftists dismissed her as a confused idealist. Her family pitied her as an exploited lover. Some said she was a traitor, a stooge, a mercenary and a grandstander. To others she was a true American heroine--fearless, principled, bold and resolute. Congressional committees loved her. The FBI hailed her as an avenging angel. The Catholics embraced her. But the fact is, more than half a century after she captured the headlines as the "Red Spy Queen," Elizabeth Bentley remains a mystery. New England-born, conservatively raised, and Vassar-educated, Bentley was groomed for a quiet life, a small life, which she explored briefly in the 1920s as a teacher, instructing well-heeled young women on the beauty of Romance languages at an east coast boarding school. But in her mid-twenties, she rejected both past and future and set herself on an entirely new course. In the 1930s she embraced communism and fell in love with an undercover KGB agent who initiated her into the world of espionage. By the time America plunged into WWII, Elizabeth Bentley was directing the operations of the two largest spy rings in America. Eventually, she had eighty people in her secret apparatus, half of them employees of the federal government. Her sources were everywhere: in the departments of Treasury and Commerce, in New Deal agencies, in the top-secret OSS (the precursor to the CIA), on Congressional committees, even in the Oval Office. When she defected in 1945 and told her story--first to the FBI and then at a series of public hearings and trials--she was catapulted to tabloid fame as the "Red Spy Queen," ushering in, almost single-handedly, the McCarthy Era. Shewas the government's star witness, the FBI's most important informer, and the darling of the Catholic anti-Communist movement. Her disclosures and accusations put a halt to Russian spying for years and helped to set the tone of American postwar political life. But who was she? A smart, independent woman who made her choices freely, right and wrong, and had the strength of character to see them through? Or was she used and manipulated by others? Clever Girl is the definitive biography of a conflicted American woman and her controversial legacy. Set against the backdrop of the political drama that defined mid-twentieth century America, it explores the spy case whose explosive domestic and foreign policy repercussions have been debated for decades but not fully revealed--until now.


The Internet of Health Things (IoHT) enables health devices to connect to the Internet and communicate with each other, which provides the high-accuracy and high-security diagnosis result in the medical area. As essential parts of the IoHT, computed tomography (CT) images help doctors diagnose disease. In the traditional disease diagnosing process, low-resolution medical CT images produce low-accuracy diagnosis results for microlesions. Moreover, CT images can only provide 2D information about organs, and doctors should estimate the 3D shape of a lesion based on experience. To solve these problems, we propose a 3D reconstruction method for secure super-resolution computed tomography (SRCT) images in the IoHT using deep learning. First, we use deep learning to obtain secure SRCT images from low-resolution images in the IoHT. To this end, we adopt a conditional generative adversarial network (CGAN) based on the edge detection loss function (EDLF) in the deep learning process, namely EDLF-CGAN algorithm. In this algorithm, the CGAN is employed to generate SRCT images with luminance and contrast as the input auxiliary conditions, which can improve the accuracy of super-resolution (SR) images. An EDLF is proposed to consider the edge features in the generated SRCT images, which reduces the deformation of generated image. Second, we apply the secure SR images generated from the deep learning method to perform 3D reconstruction. An advanced ray casting 3D reconstruction algorithm that can reduce the number of rays by selecting the appropriate bounding box is proposed. Compared with the traditional algorithm, the proposed ray casting 3D reconstruction algorithm can reduce the time and memory cost. The experimental results show that our EDLF-CGAN has a better SR reconstruction effect than other algorithms via the indicators of the peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and structural similarity (SSIM). In addition, our advanced ray casting 3D reconstruction algorithm greatly improves the efficiency compared with the traditional ray casting algorithm.


This study examines property tax levy (local tax levy) as a source of local health department (LHD) funding during a five year period (2006-2010) in all Minnesota counties by assessing fiscal effort, fiscal allocation and fiscal capacity. Local health departments rely on pluralistic funding from local, state, federal and private sources. However, local tax levy funding is unexplored and little is known regarding the extent of fiscal allocation (tax levy used for LHD), fiscal effort (potential amount of tax levy available for LHD), and fiscal capacity (wealth of community). More important it is not known to what extent variation between local jurisdictions fluctuated over time, how they are offset by declining funding from other sources, or whether other sources supplement total tax levy reductions. It is essential to explore these issues to provide a basic understanding of fiscal drivers for ongoing services. Our findings indicate that from 2006 to 2010 the local tax levy for public health as a percent of total local health department expenditures decreased 6.7%, while local tax levy for public health as a percent of total tax levy decreased 14.6%. However, during this time period the total per capita tax levy for all services increased 25.2%.