The present thesis was designed to evaluate the qualitative and quantitative aspects of plastic surgery research by means of a bibliometric citation analysis of plastic surgical presentations and publications. Citations to such published work provides an indication of the impact and the relevance of the scientific contribution. The quantity and the number of citations to publications by plastic surgeons and residents from The Netherlands increased during the last 50 years. Most specialists published from the moment of their graduation at medical school until 6 years after their registration as plastic surgeon. Current residents published more and better than their predecessors. Surgeons and residents published the greater part of their work in plastic surgery journals with relatively high impact factors. For each given year, this impact factor is the number of citations to articles published in the journal over the two previous years divided by the total number of citable articles published in that journal during the same two years. Citation of published work by other researchers provides an indication of the scientific relevance of one's work, and the number of citations in specialist journals may be used to measure the relative impact of scientific work. Consequently, the impact factor is increasingly used to establish to whom grants, subsidies, and awards are appointed. Likewise, the relative importance of a journal may be established on the basis of citations made to its individual articles. However, the journal IF was found to be a particularly weak indicator of scientific value of surgical publications as we found that most citations to such publications are made after the period of two years that is critical to the IF. Additionally, a limited number of articles is likely to attract the bulk of citations to that journal and less-cited articles may be given credit because of the impact of these few, frequently cited articles. The most cited articles dealt with the reconstruction of acquired defects and with basic or experimental research. Most articles still originate from the USA, but the absolute and relative number of articles originating from Europe and Asia is rapidly increasing. Authors from small countries have a more efficient output relative to the number of inhabitants and GDP of their country. Nevertheless, in practice, the main determinant to cite an article is often the impact factor of the journal, not the methodology or quality of research. It is of great concern that the impact factor which is accepted as a measure of journal quality contains a fundamental statistical error which influence editors, peer reviewers, grants, awards and subsidies distribution in a negative manner. Therefore, we calculated an alternative for the present journal impact factor by means of The Journal Performance Indicator Revisited (JPIR).


Mucus is a slippery substance that lubricates and protects the linings of the airways, digestive system, reproductive system, and other organs and tissues. In people with cystic fibrosis, the body produces mucus that is abnormally thick and sticky. This abnormal mucus can clog the airways, leading to severe problems with breathing and bacterial infections in the lungs. These infections cause chronic coughing, wheezing, and inflammation. Over time, mucus buildup and infections result in permanent lung damage, including the formation of scar tissue (fibrosis) and cysts in the lungs.


We describe a novel research-focused conference for undergraduate women in Computer Science. Pioneered at Carnegie Mellon University in 2007 and refined over four subsequent iterations (in 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017), OurCS (Opportunities for Undergraduate Research in Computer Science) organizes participants into small teams, led by field experts, to explore open-ended research topics. Sessions devoted to hands-on research total more than 12 hours over the course of three days. Demand for the conference has increased steadily, and the model is ready for export. Regional versions geared towards local academic communities and other underrepresented groups will appear on the scene this year. We describe the model and the expansion plans, and provide evidence of success in strengthening and sustaining the research interests of the participants.


Nonverbal vocalizations in dementia are important clinically since they generally have been regarded as disruptive behavior that is disturbing. The aim of the present study is to describe the interactional pattern, including the prosodic package, of nonverbal vocalizations in a participant in a late stage of dementia. The acoustic analysis shows that the vocalizations do not differ significantly from the verbal utterances regarding mean fundamental frequency or pitch range. The mean fundamental frequency, F0, of the utterances from Anna was significantly higher than the mean F0 from the other elderly participants. The analysis demonstrates that there is a singing-like type of vocalizations that does not resemble the previously described patterns of nonverbal vocalizations. This pattern of the nonverbal vocalization does not resemble the intonation of Anna's verbal utterances. The other participants perceive Anna's vocalizations as potentially meaningful turns. Nonverbal vocalizations in clinical settings should be taken as communicative contributions.


The Plague Diagnostic Workshop, cosponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), was held on March 8 and 12, 1998. Participants represented major laboratories involved in plague diagnostic test implementation and development, the WHO Collaborating Centers for Plague Research and Reference (Almaty, Kazakhstan; Stavropol, Russia; and Fort Collins, Colorado, USA), the WHO Collaborating Center for Yersiniosis (Paris, France), WHO headquarters, and the Pan American Health Organization. Other participants came from Brazil, China, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Madagascar, Myanmar, Peru, Russia, South Africa, Taiwan, Tanzania, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela, and Vietnam. From the United States, state and local public health laboratory specialists from California and New Mexico, Naval Medical Research Unit #2, and private industry personnel also participated. The goals of the workshop were to assess the laboratories' capabilities to perform plague diagnostic tests worldwide; discuss test methods; develop a program for molecular characterization of Yersinia pestis, with emphasis on monitoring drug resistance strains; and initiate worldwide electronic links between laboratories. During the first session, representatives reported on their countries' plague activities and presented results on improved and new tests for plague. During the second session, presenters discussed molecular methods used in typing Y. pestis and electronic methods for linking laboratories through the Internet. Participants also met during the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases to discuss issues ranging from plague diagnostic criteria to adoption of new test methods. Recommendations were made to broaden and refine the plague laboratory diagnostic criteria. Three working groups were created to evaluate and develop international standards of Y. pestisspecific F1 antigen, F1 antigen-sensitized sheep red blood cells, and specific bacteriophage stock. A fourth working group was charged with evaluating new diagnostic tests. Guidelines and recommendations were made for molecular typing of isolates using plasmid and protein profiling, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, and ribotyping. The workshop participants also worked toward establishing an electronic bulletin board and soliciting support for another workshop in 2 years to certify the results of the working groups. Plague Diagnostic Workshop1


Abstract Objectives: To present the cardiovascular risk factors in idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) patients enrolled in a nationwide epidemiological survey of hearing disorders in Japan. Materials and methods: We compiled the cardiovascular risk factors in 3073 idiopathic SSNHL subjects (1621 men and 1452 women) and compared their proportions with controls as part of the National Health and Nutrition Survey in Japan, 2014. The cardiovascular risk factors consisted of drinking and smoking habits, a history of five conditions related to cardiovascular disease and body mass index. Results: The proportion of current smokers was significantly higher among men aged 50–59, 60–69 and 70+ and among women aged 30–39, 40–49 and 60–69. The proportion of patients with a history of diabetes mellitus was significantly higher among men aged 50–59, 60–69 and 70+, but not in women. In addition, male and female SSNHL subjects aged 60–69 showed lower proportions of current drinking; and female SSNHL subjects aged 60–69 showed higher proportions of overweight (BMI ≥25 kg/m2). Conclusions: The present cross-sectional study revealed showed significantly higher proportions of current smokers among both men and women as well as those with a history of diabetes mellitus among men across many age groups in patients with idiopathic SSNHL compared with the controls.


Alcohols are among the most abundant and readily available organic feedstocks in industrial processes. The direct catalytic functionalization of sp3 C-O bonds of alcohols remains the main challenge in this field. Here, we report a copper-catalyzed synthesis of benzyl-, allyl-, and allenyl-boronates from benzylic, allylic, and propargylic alcohols, respectively. This protocol exhibits a broad reaction scope (40 examples) and high efficiency (up to 95% yield) under mild conditions, including for the preparation of secondary allylic boronates. Preliminarily mechanistic studies suggest that nucleophilic substitution is involved in this reaction.


This article explores how social networking sites have been used or might be used in the land use context. Part I focuses on the use of social networking for land use planning and zoning. It includes a discussion of the pros and cons of the use of social networking sites to present public information and to gather public input and invite general participation in the process, as well as to provide notice to the public of forthcoming government decision-making. This section offers concrete examples of how this technology is currently being used in the land use context. Part II focuses on the professional ethical considerations of the various players in the land use game as it specifically relates to the use of social networking sites. For lawyers, the applicable Rules of Professional Conduct are examined and for Planners, the Code of Ethics of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) is explored for guidance. The article concludes with a warning that that although there are benefits to the use of social networking tools for land use planning and zoning initiatives, attorneys, government agencies, planners and others should use caution when employing these tools, being certain to weigh ethics and professionalism implications, social justice goals and public participation mandates and aspirations against the advantages of these tools, and the uncertainty of how courts might apply myriad legal mandates in cyberspace.


Motivation Advances in cloning and sequencing technology yielded a massive number of genome of virus strains. The classification and annotation of these genomes constitute important assets in the discovery of genomic variability, taxonomic characteristics and disease mechanisms. Existing classification methods are often designed for a well-studied virus. Thus, the viral comparative genomic studies could benefit from more generic, fast and accurate tools for classifying and typing newly sequenced strains of diverse virus families. Results Here, we introduce a fast, accurate and generic virus classification platform, CASTOR, based on a machine learning approach. CASTOR is inspired by a well-known technique in molecular biology: Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP). It simulates the restriction digestion of genomic material by different enzymes into fragments in-silico. It uses two metrics to construct feature vectors for machine learning algorithms in the classification step. We benchmark CASTOR for the classification of distinct datasets of Human Papillomaviruses (HPV), Hepatitis B Viruses (HBV) and Human Immunodeficiency viruses (HIV). Results reveal true positive rates of 99%, 99% and 98% for HPV Alpha species, HBV genotyping and HIV M group subtyping respectively. Furthermore, CASTOR shows a competitive performance compare to well-known HIV-specific classifier REGA and COMET on whole genome and pol fragments. With such prediction rates, genericity and robustness, as well as rapidity, such approach could constitute a reference in large-scale virus studies. Finally, we developed the CASTOR web platform for open access and reproducible viral machine learning classifiers. Availability http://castor.bioinfo.uqam.ca Contact firstname.lastname@example.com


Electrical arcs are usually created with the breakdown of air, requiring an average electric field (AEF) of at least 100 kV/m in long spark gaps. This thesis explores a novel method of creating long electrical arcs using exploding wires (EWs). Arcs up to 60 m long have been produced with AEFs of just 4.5 kV/m. Extensive observations of the EW process are presented, which demonstrate that the arcs, which are a type of 'restrike', form via the seldom-reported 'plasma bead' restrike mechanism. Beads of plasma appear to form at sites of wire fragmentation, and can expand and coalesce into a continuous plasma column. There are strict conditions under which the plasma beads, and hence restrike channels, are produced. A restrike prediction model has been developed to provide a reliable method of producing restrike. The model was derived from the improved understanding of the restrike mechanism, and uses the wire's length and the energy supply voltage and characteristics as inputs. Capability diagrams are then constructed, which allow researchers to easily design experiments that will produce restrike. Extensive descriptions are provided of the experimental environments that were designed and constructed to facilitate long distance EW experiments. Experiments have been performed inside a high voltage laboratory, in the laboratory's outdoor compound, off the laboratory's earth grid and completely off-site. The off-site location allowed vertical experiments, suspended by a weather balloon, to be performed. This led to a theory on artificially triggered lightning, which is one of many exciting future applications that are suggested. It is also predicted that other research groups will be able to create arcs of several hundred metres long.


A high precision technique for measuring dissolved oxygen
was used in conjunction with the coulometric back
titration for total inorganic carbon in seawater, to make
observations of the photosynthetic and respiratory
quotients in a culture and an open ocean environment. The
relationship between the PQ and the nitrogen source
utilised was assessed by the concomitant measurement of
nitrogen assimilation by the 15-N mass spectrometric
technique, with the aim of resolving some of the
uncertainty surrounding the calculated and observed PQ
values.
For the most part the PQ values were found to lie within
the constraints set by theory. A complete resolution of
the exact relationship between the PQ and the nitrogen
source was limited by the analysis of the ambient NH3
concentrations.
Measurements of community production and respiration were
made in the N.E.Atlantic as part of the BOFS programme.
concomitant 14-C rate measurements were made, enabling a
comparison of the methodologies. The comparison of the
oxygen and 14-C technique was found to be affected by the
magnitude of the respiration rate, resulting in elevated
PQ values.
The in vitro techniques employed in this study were
compared to in situ techniques for the analysis of the
fluxes of oxygen and carbon dioxide. It was confirmed that
the in vitro techniques were not a serious or overriding
cause for concern.
The productivity rate measurements from the oxygen
technique were used to assess the critical depths which
are consistent with the development of the phytoplankton
bloom. A relationship was observed between the critical
depth and the net community production rate.


We propose a novel single shot object detection network named Detection with Enriched Semantics (DES). Our motivation is to enrich the semantics of object detection features within a typical deep detector, by a semantic segmentation branch and a global activation module. The segmentation branch is supervised by weak segmentation ground-truth, i.e., no extra annotation is required. In conjunction with that, we employ a global activation module which learns relationship between channels and object classes in a self-supervised manner. Comprehensive experimental results on both PASCAL VOC and MS COCO detection datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. In particular, with a VGG16 based DES, we achieve an mAP of 81.7 on VOC2007 test and an mAP of 32.8 on COCO test-dev with an inference speed of 31.5 milliseconds per image on a Titan Xp GPU. With a lower resolution version, we achieve an mAP of 79.7 on VOC2007 with an inference speed of 13.0 milliseconds per image.


Most organizations have failed in completing their projects due to different factors such as funds, planning, time, manpower and others factor. Various frameworks or guidelines are practiced by organizations to strive against the existing challenges. Project management office (PMO) can be defined as an emerging concept that defines and maintains the standards of project management within an organization. In the UAE, even though most of the public sectors implement the project management strategy, the majority of organizations are still following the traditional practices. The main objective of this paper is to analyze and provide a review of the literature on framework for establishing project management office practices. keywords—PMO, UAE, public sectors, framework.


The investigation of the interannual and interdecadal variations in hurricane activity has been an important topic of study lately, especially with regard to their implications for climate change issues. On the interannual time-scale, the El Nino and Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phase has been correlated with hurricane activity in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific Ocean Basins. For example, various atmospheric and oceanic parameters that influence hurricane development become significantly altered during an El Nino event, leading to suppressed easterly wave development and growth in the Atlantic, but more activity in the Eastern Pacific Ocean Basin. This study examined the interannual variability of hurricane intensity (measured as wind speed and interpreted through the Saffir-Simpson Scale) from 1938 through 2007 in the Atlantic and 1970 through 2007 in the Pacific basins, respectively. These data were then compared with the occurrence of El Nino/La Nina events as defined using the Japan Meteorological Association (JMA) index. El Nino/La Nina variability superimposed on variability associated with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) was also examined here. Not surprisingly, during an El Nino year the intensity of Atlantic hurricanes was found to be weaker than during a neutral year or a La Nina year, but these conclusions were opposite in the Eastern Pacific Ocean Basin. There were also significant differences found in hurricane intensity between El Nino and La Nina years when the PDO was in phase 1 (warm phase), rather than when the PDO was in phase 2 (cool phase). This study also examined the interannual variation in hurricane intensity by genesis region (i.e. Atlantic: the eastern and western Atlantic Ocean Basins, the Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico; Eastern Pacific: divided into quadrants using 20o N and 125o W as the quadrant intersection point). Finally, the utility of this information in a long-range forecast application is demonstrated. THE INTERANNUAL VARIABILITY OF HURRICANE ACTIVITY IN THE ATLANTIC AND EAST PACIFIC REGIONS


Human cultural traits, such as languages, musics, rituals and material objects, vary widely across cultures. However, the majority of comparative analyses of human cultural diversity focus on between-culture variation without consideration for within-culture variation. In contrast, biological approaches to genetic diversity, such as the analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) framework, partition genetic diversity into both within- and between-population components. We attempt here for the first time to quantify both components of cultural diversity by applying the AMOVA model to music. By employing this approach with 421 traditional songs from 16 Austronesian-speaking populations, we show that the vast majority of musical variability is due to differences within populations rather than differences between. This demonstrates a striking parallel to the structure of genetic diversity in humans. A neighbour-net analysis of pairwise population musical divergence shows a large amount of reticulation, indicating the pervasive occurrence of borrowing and/or convergent evolution of musical features across populations.


The Naval Postgraduate School Networked Vehicle Simulator IV (NPSNET-IV) is a low-cost, student-written, real-time networked vehicle simulator that runs on commercial, off-the-shelf workstations (the Silicon Graphics IRIS family of computers). NPSNET-IV has been developed at the Naval Postgraduate School's (NPS) Department of Computer Science in the Graphics and Video Laboratory. It utilizes Simulation Network (SIMNET) databases and SIMNET and Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) networking formats. The DIS networking format is flexible enough to allow multiple players to game over the Internet. The availability of NPSNET-IV lowers the entry costs of researchers wanting to work with SIMNET, DIS, and follow-on systems. Without the contributions of the department's M.S. and Ph.D. candidates, the NPSNET project would be impossible to maintain and continue. The diversity of their interests accounts for the broad range of research areas within the project.


A dazzling literary thriller - the story of Sigmund Freud assisting a Manhattan murder investigation. Think SHADOW OF THE WIND meets THE HISTORIAN. THE INTERPRETATION OF MURDER is an inventive "tour de force" inspired by Sigmund Freud's 1909 visit to America, accompanied by protege and rival Carl Jung. When a wealthy young debutante is discovered bound, whipped and strangled in a luxurious apartment overlooking the city, and another society beauty narrowly escapes the same fate, the mayor of New York calls upon Freud to use his revolutionary new ideas to help the surviving victim recover her memory of the attack, and solve the crime. But nothing about the attacks - or about the surviving victim, Nora - is quite as it seems. And there are those in very high places determined to stop the truth coming out, and Freud's startling theories taking root on American soil.


Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) is so-named because its expression is enhanced in advanced prostate carcinomas, where its increased presence correlates with a poor prognosis. The protein is also called glutamate carboxypeptidase II and is a transmembrane protein with peptidase activity. PSMA has been found in endothelial cells in tumor vasculature. Given roles of other peptidases in angiogenesis, Conway et al. explored the possibility of such a role for PSMA. They used an in vivo angiogenesis assay in knockout mice lacking PSMA to show that loss of the PSMA protein inhibited formation of new blood vessels. Proteolysis contributes to remodeling of the extracellular matrix that is necessary for angiogenesis, but further studies by the authors suggest that PSMA may instead be part of a complex regulatory loop that controls integrin signaling and activation of the p21-activated kinase 1 (PAK1). In vitro cell invasion studies with PSMA-null cells or with inhibitors of the enzyme showed that PSMA has an important role in cell invasion and in signaling from β1 integrins to focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and PAK1. The authors confirmed that PSMA interacts with the actin-binding protein filamin A. Disruption of this interaction with a peptide designed to compete with PMSA for binding to filamin A decreased the peptidase activity of PMSA and decreased phosphorylation of PAK1 in cultured cells. PAK1 also interacts with filamin A, and the authors propose that it may compete with PMSA for binding to filamin A. The interaction of PMSA and the cytoskeletal protein filamin A may allow a feedback signal from integrin β1 and PAK to keep PMSA activity in check. Inhibition of PAK by expression of a peptide corresponding to its autoinhibitory domain enhanced association of PMSA with filamin A, increasing its peptidase activity. Further understanding of PMSA's roles in control of angiogenesis may allow new strategies to inhibit angiogenesis in cancers and other diseases to which it contributes. R. E. Conway, N. Petrovic, Z. Li, W. Heston, D. Wu, L. H. Shapiro, Prostate-specific membrane antigen regulates angiogenesis by modulating integrin signal transduction. Mol. Cell. Biol. 26, 5310-5324 (2006). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Text comprehension is a complex activity that requires resources from short term memory (STM) and from episodic memory (EM). Strategies directed to goals and intentions avoid an overload of the STM and activates the EM. To study the influence of aging on those mechanisms, we analyzed the recall of a story by two different groups of adults: 17 subjects, 30 to 50 years old, and 14 with more than 60 years of age. The younger group remembered more propositions than the elders, but both groups recalled better the macro than the microstructure. No differences regarding number of inference, interference, and reconstruction were found. Nevertheless, residual analysis showed that younger adults organized their recall telling the actions of the original story, whereas the older adults chose a subjective organization of the main facts, suggesting that due to a reduction of the working memory, the elderly elaborated strategies to have access to information of the EM, showing their mental representations in their recall.


Abstract. A primary goal of Earth system modelling is to improve understanding of the interactions and feedbacks between human decision making and biophysical processes. The nexus of land use and land cover change (LULCC) and the climate system is an important example. LULCC contributes to global and regional climate change, while climate affects the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems and LULCC. However, at present, LULCC is poorly represented in global circulation models (GCMs). LULCC models that are explicit about human behaviour and decision-making processes have been developed at local to regional scales, but the principles of these approaches have not yet been applied to the global scale level in ways that deal adequately with both direct and indirect feedbacks from the climate system. In this article, we explore current knowledge about LULCC modelling and the interactions between LULCC, GCMs and dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs). In doing so, we propose new ways forward for improving LULCC representations in Earth system models. We conclude that LULCC models need to better conceptualise the alternatives for upscaling from the local to global scale. This involves better representation of human agency, including processes such as learning, adaptation and agent evolution, formalising the role and emergence of governance structures, institutional arrangements and policy as endogenous processes and better theorising about the role of teleconnections and connectivity across global networks. Our analysis underlines the importance of observational data in global-scale assessments and the need for coordination in synthesising and assimilating available data.


'Hate speech' or 'hate propaganda' played a significant part in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. This contribution investigates to what extent the international human rights regime, at the global level under the United Nations (UN) and the regional level under the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), dealt with this aspect of the genocide. As a state party to the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), both placing an obligation on states to prohibit 'hate speech', Rwanda initially submitted state reports to the treaty monitoring bodies. Despite indications of its importance, 'hate speech' was not prioritised during the examination of these state reports. In the run-up to and during the genocide, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, state reporting ceased. Special measures adopted by the treaty bodies (such as an 'urgent' procedure or special decisions) were ineffective. The response of the regional system, set up under the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, including the establishment of the position of Special Rapporteur on Extra-judicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, was even less meaningful. In conclusion, the reform of international human rights law - especially the state reporting procedure - is suggested, and the creation of a pro-active fact-finding committee, integrated with and connected to the relevant political organs, with a constant focus on urgent situations, is advocated.


The conventional model of coalition formation considers every possible subset of agents as a potential coalition. However, in many real-world applications, there are inherent constraints on feasible coalitions: for instance, certain agents may be prohibited from being in the same coalition, or the coalition structure may be required to consist of coalitions of the same size. In this paper, we present the first systematic study of constrained coalition formation (CCF). We propose a general framework for this problem, and identify an important class of CCF settings, where the constraints specify which groups of agents should/should not work together. We describe a procedure that transforms such constraints into a structured input that allows coalition formation algorithms to identify, without any redundant computations, all the feasible coalitions. We then use this procedure to develop an algorithm for generating an optimal (welfare-maximizing) constrained coalition structure, and show that it outperforms existing state-of-the-art approaches by several orders of magnitude.


Stress testing is part of today's bank risk management and often required by the governing regulatory authority. Performing such a stress test with stress scenarios derived from a distribution, instead of pre-defined expert scenarios, results in a systematic approach in which new severe scenarios can be discovered. The required scenario distribution is obtained from historical time series via a Vector-Autoregressive time series model. The worst-case search, i.e. finding the scenario yielding the most severe situation for the bank, can be stated as an optimization problem. The problem itself is a constrained optimization problem in a high-dimensional search space. The constraints are the box constraints on the scenario variables and the plausibility of a scenario. The latter is expressed by an elliptic constraint. As the evaluation of the stress scenarios is performed with a simulation tool, the optimization problem can be seen as black-box optimization problem. Evolution Strategy, a well-known optimizer for black-box problems, is applied here. The necessary adaptations to the algorithm are explained and a set of different algorithm design choices are investigated. It is shown that a simple box constraint handling method, i.e. setting variables which violate a box constraint to the respective boundary of the feasible domain, in combination with a repair of implausible scenarios provides good results.


Many thoracic surgeons are terrified to come anywhere near the recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN), especially on the left side. The reason for this fear is the dreaded complication of damaging the nerve and causing loss of voice, among other serious complications. RLN palsy ranks among the leading reasons for medicolegal litigation of surgeons because of its attendant reduction in quality of life. It is not surprising, therefore, that thoracic surgeons can be timid and self-assuring in their reasoning that 'the best way of avoiding injury to the RLN is not to look for it'. Unfortunately this adage has gained credit through long use and the lack of clear descriptive anatomy in the medical literature targeting the needs of the thoracic surgeon. It is the purpose of this publication to dissipate all the myth around the anatomy of RLN, and encourage its deliberate exposure as a first step towards safety. In the author's unit, this approach has virtually eliminated the risk of injuring the nerves during mediastinal nodal dissection. It has to be said that the use of bipolar diathermy devices in video assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) played a major role in safe dissection around the RLN.The course of the right RLN is short, and the thoracic surgeon is unlikely to damage it. The left RLN anatomy is more complex and requires in-depth understanding. The thoracic surgeon is encouraged to expose the nerve early in nodal dissection to avoid damaging it. Absolute knowledge of the RLN anatomy is mandatory to thoracic surgical practice, and the author strongly believes that the best way to avoid injuring the RLN is to expose it and monitor its motor branch.


Organizations need legitimacy to be able to operate effectively. Consequently, and just like their participants, multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) need to respond when faced with legitimacy challenges from external parties. We build on current theory to identify three organizational elements that can be made the subject of legitimacy critique - i.e., statutory procedures, objectives and mechanisms - and use these elements to structure our analysis of a conflict-ridden case concerning the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). Whereas prior work suggests that organizations can respond to such conflicts in a fashion consistent with either moral entrapment or decoupling, we show that organizations can also respond by deflating their statutory procedures and objectives. A deflationary response can help organizations maintain their validity by diminishing the ability of external parties to advance propriety-legitimacy critiques against them. By examining this alternative response, we expand the scope and refine the analytic detail by which organizational legitimacy conflicts can be investigated.


An outstanding scholar, writer, critic, artist, historian, and social commentator, Lu Xun (1881–1936) is also known for his numerous pseudonyms. However, the significance of these pseudonyms has remained relatively little studied. This paper attempts to examine how these pseudonyms extended their erstwhile political rationale. In so doing, we hope to shed some new light on the understanding of Lu Xun both as a writer and as a man. We argue that localities, allusions and symbolism featured in Lu Xun's pseudonyms; these not only enrich the literary contexts of his writing, and increase the effectiveness of his discourse, but also contribute – albeit in a subtle way - to the ideological and emotional complexity, sophistication, and paradox of the author as the literary conscience of modern China. Through the fabric of Lu Xun's pseudonyms, we see how traditional forces are still at play in his reception of Western discourse of modernity; how different places – Shaoxing, Tokyo, Sendai, Beijing, Shanghai, even Europe - are linked and different experiences interwoven to shape who Lu Xun was. Like his writing, Lu Xun's pseudonyms may be seen as a vortex of modernity in which Chinese tradition, Western influence and historical contingency interact.


The relationship between Mexico and the United States has never been an easy one. Mexicans often approach the relationship based on resentment of their rich and powerful neighbor, while U.S. attitudes and policy often seem formed under the aegis of what Octavio Paz has called "the twin sisters of ignorance and arrogance." In this comprehensive account of recent developments in the relationship, and the way in which internal developments in each country have affected the other, Sidney Weintraub helps dispel any doubt about each country's importance to the other-- and hence the importance of relations based on mutual respect and a realistic assessment of each other's needs. Adding to the difficulties is the enormous disparity in wealth between the two countries, together with differences in cultural and historical traditions. Public officials in each country have a perceived need to formulate policy on the basis of its appeal to domestic prejudices. Weintraub shows how misunderstandings growing out of these tendencies have exacerbated substantive problems between Mexico and the United States of trade, foreign debt, industrial development, unemployment and migration, drug trafficking, and environmental despoliation. He offers recommendations for arriving at solutions beneficial to both countries. The chapters on relations at the border and on migration patterns between the two countries make particularly clear that cultural and economic integration have grown rapidly, often in spite of official policies in both countries designed to keep this from happening, and point to a future of more rather than less interdependence. This book provides a solid framework for discussion of how best to negotiate this increasing--and crucial--integration.


Purpose Slipped capital femoral epiphysis (SCFE) can result in a complex three-dimensional (3D) deformity of the proximal femur. A three-plane proximal femoral osteotomy (TPFO) has been described to improve hip mechanics. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the benefits of using 3D print technology to aid in surgical planning. Patients and Methods Fifteen children treated with TPFO for symptomatic proximal femoral deformity due to SCFE were included in this study. Ten patients were treated by a single surgeon with (model group, n = 5) or without (no-model group, n = 5) a 3D model for pre-operative planning, and compared with patients treated by two senior partners without the use of a model (senior group, n = 5) to evaluate for a learning curve. Peri-operative data including patient body mass index (BMI), surgical time and fluoroscopy time were recorded. Results Children in all three groups had similar BMIs at the time of the TPFO. Post-operative radiographic parameters were equally improved in all three groups. On average, surgical time decreased by 45 minutes and 38 minutes, and fluoroscopy time decreased by 50% and 25%, in the model group compared with the no-model and senior groups, respectively. Conclusions Patient-specific 3D models aid in surgical planning for complex 3D orthopaedic deformities by enabling practice of osteotomies. Results suggest that 3D models may decrease surgical time and fluoroscopy time while allowing for similar deformity correction. These models may be especially useful to overcome steep learning curves for complex procedures or in trainee education through mock surgical procedures.


Samples of natural coffinite (USiO4·nH2O) from Grants uranium region, New Mexico were investigated in order to understand the alteration process of coffinite under reducing and oxidizing conditions. Alteration of the primary coffinite under reducing conditions was promoted by organic acids and as a result secondary coffinite precipitated. Subsequently oxidizing fluids altered the coffinite, and (Na,K)-boltwoodite and jachymovite precipitated with no rare earth elements. Based on the charge balance calculation we suggest that the amount of U6+ in the coffinite is less than 0.2 [apfu] and U6+ is accommodated in the structure via substitution: U4+ + Si4+ ⇔ U6+ + 2(OH)-. The high and variable analysis total of electron microprobe indicates that H2O is not an essential component in coffinite structure. The U-Pb ages of coffinite formation vary from 36.6-0 Ma suggesting that the coffinite has precipitated continuously in this period and organic matter can preserve reducing conditions even when oxidizing conditions dominate.


In November 2016, China's Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (SC-NPC) promulgated the PRC Cybersecurity Law, which will take effect on 1 June 2017. Although the law is mainly devoted to provisions concerning the security of information networks and, in particular, to mandating security procedures and requirements for 'critical information infrastructure' and 'critical information infrastructure operators' the Cybersecurity Law's provisions relating to data privacy articulate what are China's most comprehensive and broadly applicable set of data privacy principles to date.
These data privacy provisions reiterate many of the basic principles and requirements found in other laws and regulations, but the Law also includes new or more explicit requirements with respect to data correction rights, deletion, re-use and disclosure, breach notification to users and data localization. Still missing, however, are several common elements of other jurisdictions' data privacy laws, such as explicit user access rights, requirements on data quality and special provisions for sensitive data. The Law also does not establish a national data protection authority. There are also uncertain questions of scope, particularly in relation to public sector bodies.
While China has long lacked a broadly applicable national data privacy law, the scope and strengthened principles of this new legislation means that it can probably now be considered to be "China's Data Privacy Law," with which other lower-level laws and regulations must be consistent.
This article analyses the privacy-related aspects of the Cybersecurity Law, and in particular asks what (if anything) it adds to China's previous set of data privacy laws. Comparisons are made with China's existing data privacy laws.


On the basis of positive experience of democratic countries and taking into consideration present level of development of this science, the article analyses the state of the science of criminalistics and trends of its development in Lithuania. Hindrances to the development of the science of criminalistics are being enumerated, offers in regard to priorities of reform of criminalistics are being tried to ground, concrete proposals in regard to modeling of criminalistic institutions and deepening of criminalistic studies are given as well. submitted is the future trend of the science program devoted to problems of the science and its perspectives in the new century. In order to further develop the science of criminalistics, to connect science and studies, create modern methods of criminalistic research, to deepen teaching of criminalistics and to ensure appropriate upgrading of qualification of law and order officer, foundation of institute for scientific criminalistic research is proposed.


Ambient air samples were taken concurrently at four sites in northwest England to assess the role of domestic burning of coal/wood on ambient levels of PCDD/Fs, PCBs (including co-PCBs), and PAHs. Fifty-six samples (ca. 800 m3 each) were taken in January and February 1998 at an urban site, a rural reference site, and two village sites, which relied on domestic burning for space heating. Correlations with meteorological parameters found the urban site to be a source area of all POPs investigated, while the village sites had a local impact of PAHs and, to a lesser extent, PCDD/Fs. PCDD/F-levels changed simultaneously at all sites, pointing toward a combination of regional meteorological effects and increased domestic burning. Two sampling events, marked by low ambient temperatures and wind speeds, showed substantial increases in PCDD/F and PAH concentrations (by factors of 2−5). We estimate that local sources at the villages accounted for 25% of the ΣTEQ (with 75% stemming from advective transport) and 75% of the ΣPAHs in the ambient air at those sites (25% advective transport) during our winter sampling events. This study singled out PCDFs, notably the lower chlorinated ones, as good indicators of domestic burning, together with a range of PAHs. The co-PCBs #126 and 169 were found to behave like PCDD/Fs and PAHs rather than the more abundant "regular" PCBs, confirming that they have different sources to the environment.


In order to meet the increasing demands of capacity in land mobile radio cellular communication systems, the use of directional antennas has become an integral part of future communication systems. With purpose to gauge the capabilities of systems with directional antennas, it is essential to have a precise knowledge of angular and temporal representation of the dispersion of multipath waves in 3-D propagation environments. Such representation of propagating waves can only be achieved with the use of spatial channel models.Therefore, this thesis focuses on modeling and characterization of cellular mobile channels for 3-D radio propagation environments.The research work in this thesis consists of three parts. Part-I aims at the physical modeling of cellular mobile channels in 3-D radio propagation environments. Part- II characterizes the impact of mobility on the Doppler spectrum; while, part-III provides a geometrically based performance analysis of handovers in land mobile radio cellular systems.
The thesis begins with an overview of the basics of spatial channel models in different cellular environments and then proceeds towards a detailed and comprehensive survey of spatial channel models.Further, a generalized 3-D scattering model is proposed for macro-cellular land mobile radio cellular systems with a Mobile Station (MS) located at the center of a 3-D scattering semi-spheroid and a Base Station (BS) employing a directional antenna located outside of the semispheroid.The effect of directional antenna is thoroughly observed on spatial and temporal characteristics of the proposed model. Closed-form expressions for joint and marginal Probability Density Functions (PDFs) of Angle of Arrival (AoA) seen at MS and BS in correspondence with azimuth and elevation angles are derived.Furthermore, closed-form expressions for propagation path delays and trivariate joint PDFs of Time of Arrival (ToA) seen at MS and BS in correspondence with azimuth and elevation angles are derived. Moreover, the theoretical results along with observations illustrate the effect of directional antenna on the spatio-temporal statistics of the proposed 3-D spatial model. All the statistics are derived for both uniform and Gaussian scatter densities.
The proposed 3-D scattering model for the case of uniform scatter density, is shown to deduce all previously-proposed 2-D and 3-D models that assume uniform distribution of scatters with directional or omnidirectional antennas, found in literature for macro-cell environment. The theoretical results obtained are compared with some notable 2-D and 3-D scattering models to validate the generalization of the proposed model.Obtained theoretical results (for the case of Gaussian scatter density) for spatial statistics at BS are compared with an empirical set of measured data (found in literature), which also demonstrates the validity of proposed model.In the second part of thesis, the effect of mobile motion on the statistical characteristics of Doppler spectrum is presented. An analytical model to quantify the effect of directivity of the radiated waves from the BS antenna on the Doppler spectrum in 3-D radio propagation environment is proposed. Closed-form expressions for trivariate PDFs of propagation path distance, power, and Doppler shift are derived.Furthermore, general expressions for joint and marginal PDFs of elevation AoA, power, and Doppler shift are established.The obtained theoretical results along with the observations are presented that illustrate the effect of directivity of the antenna beam-width and the direction of MS's motion on the distribution characteristics of power Doppler spectrum.It is established that for motion of the MS in all directions, the spread in distribution of the Doppler shift observed is reduced significantly due to the use of directional antenna at the BS with a narrow beam directed towards the desired user. It is also observed that, for a sharp azimuthal beam of directional antenna, the multipath components corresponding to the scatterers in elevation plane result in the reduction of Doppler shift with an increase in their vertical distance from MS.
In part-III, an analysis for the impact of various channel parameters on the performance of handover in mobile radio cellular systems is presented. Using the proposed analytical model, a mathematical relation for the handover margin with velocity of MS, direction of mobile motion, and propagation environment is derived on the basis of path loss propagation model.Relationship for the ratio between the radius of coverage area and the length of overlapped region between adjacent cells is derived, which guarantees to satisfy the required handover margin.The impact of velocity and direction of MS's motion on the handover margin is comprehensively analyzed.The impact of propagation environment on the handover margin is also analyzed, where it has been observed that, the handover margin decreases significantly with an increase in the path loss exponent. For dense urban areas with higher propagation path loss exponent, the time margin available to perform the handover is less; therefore, quicker decision of handover is required to be made.


This study is done in order to find out the coherence in advertisements of National Geographic Magazine. Such aim is broken into two main problems of the study: (1) What is the most importan knowledge of the shared background knowledge in interpreting the advertisements in National Geographic Magazine? (2) What type of inference is used by the reader in interpreting the advertisements in National Geographic Magazine? The theories used in solving these problems are Minsky?s frame theory, Schank and Abelson?s script theory, Sanford and Garrod's scenario theory, Van Dijk and Anderson?s schemata theory. Five advertisements from National Geographic Magazine collected as the data are analyzed using the four theories above. From the interpretation and conclusion of the analysis, it can be seen that the four theories above always occur in the process of describing the coherence of the advertisements of National Geographic Magazine. The existence of the first theory, Minsky?s frame theory, which has five elements of fiame, supports the choosing for the correct schemata. The second theory, Schank and Abelson?s script theory deals with understanding the intended meaning of the advertisements. The third theory, Sanford and Garrod?s scenario theory deals with understanding the reason behind the producing of the advertisements. The fourth theory, Van Dijk and Anderson?s schemata theory, are very important for schemata enable the readers to grasp the main topic for the advertisements. Difficulties in finding the schemata may influence in failure of finding the correct frame. If the reader does not have any background knowledge about the world, then the reader will also find difficulties in finding the intended meaning of the advertisements. If the reader cannot find the intended meaning of the advertisements, then the reader cannot know the reason behind the producing of the advertisements. In doing the analysis, the writer finds out that the most important knowledge is schemata for schemata means knowing what the advertisement is about. In the second place, the writer puts script for script means knowing the intended meaning of the advertisements. In the third place, the writer puts scenario as scenario is closely related to script; unable to know the script will also result in failure in knowing the scenario. In the fourth place, the writer puts frame for failure in knowing the frame and its elements will not have any effect in understanding the advertisements. While doing the analysis, the writer discovers that in some of the advertisements there is comparison used to show the connection between the sentences and the thing. The comparison shows in the form of metaphor and simile. For the inferences, the writer discovers that the inferences for the advertisements are mostly automatically made, only one advertisement is non-automatically made. The type of the inferences that occur are elaborative, logical, and evaluative inferences.


Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a spectrum of disease, extending from simple steatosis, through to inflammation and fibrosis with a significant risk for the development of cirrhosis. It is highly prevalent and is associated with significant adverse outcomes both through liver-specific morbidity and mortality, but perhaps more importantly, through adverse cardiovascular and metabolic outcomes. It is tightly associated with type 2 diabetes and obesity and both of these conditions drive progressive disease towards the more advanced stages. The mechanisms that govern hepatic lipid accumulation and the predisposition to inflammation and fibrosis are still not fully understood, but reflect a complex interplay between metabolic target tissues including adipose and skeletal muscle, and immune and inflammatory cells.


Activation of the Hedgehog pathway drives FLT3-mutated leukemia, and dual pathway inhibition effectively inhibits tumor growth. Acute myeloid leukemia is generally difficult to treat, and the presence of internal tandem duplication in a gene called FLT3 (FLT3-ITD) is associated with a particularly poor prognosis. Lim et al. discovered that patients with FLT3-ITD leukemia also have increased activity of the Hedgehog signaling pathway. Experiments in mouse models of FLT3-ITD confirmed the functional role of Hedgehog in the development of leukemia and showed that combined treatment targeting FLT3 and Hedgehog is effective as a therapeutic strategy in this setting. Y. Lim, L. Gondek, L. Li, Q. Wang, H. Ma, E. Chang, D. L. Huso, S. Foerster, L. Marchionni, K. McGovern, D. N. Watkins, C. D. Peacock, M. Levis, B. D. Smith, A. A. Merchant, D. Small, W. Matsui, Integration of Hedgehog and mutant FLT3 signaling in myeloid leukemia. Sci. Transl. Med. 7, 291ra96 (2015). [Abstract]


Configurable processors enable dramatic gains in energy efficiency, relative to traditional fixed instruction-set processors. This energy advantage comes from three improvements. First, configuration of the instruction set permits a much closer fit of the processor to the target applications, reducing the number of execution cycles required. Second, configuring the processor removes unneeded features, reducing power and area overhead. Third, automatic processor generation tools enable logic optimization, signal switching reductions, and seamless mapping into low-voltage circuits and processes, for very low-power operation. The first improvement has been well-studied. Analysis of the second and third improvements requires detailed circuit and layout experiments, which is the primary focus of this paper. Starting from a range of existing available power saving options, this work explores the tradeoff and analyzes the results: the design priority tradeoff, the process technology impact, and implementing low-power configurable processor using commercial scaled-VDD cell libraries compatible with mainstream SOC practices. These real processor designs can achieve power dissipation approaching 20/spl mu/W/MHz at 0.8V and close to 10/spl mu/W/MHz at 0.6V, using production 0.13/spl mu/m libraries. Finally, this work quantifies the dramatic process, voltage and temperature dependence in post-layout leakage power for small processor designs.


Events like the Bhopal disaster, the sale of products harmful to human health and safety, and child labour, especially in resource-scarce settings, raise fundamental issues of human dignity and ecological integrity. From a legal perspective, and in the context of Foreign Direct Investment by Transnational Corporations in developing countries, they highlight the lacuna of a holistic international legal framework and its implementation. This book embodies a critique of the complex web of public international law principles on economics, human rights and the environment, and their convergence or lack thereof, related regional (South Asian) and domestic (Sri Lankan) legal arrangements, interventions of states and non-state actors towards just, equitable and sustainable development. It is a quest for a middle path in the multidisciplinary landscape of international law, development and North-South power dynamics; globalization of free trade and investment and of social and environmental interests; and salient aspects of the philosophical, socio-economic and legal fabric of South Asia, viewed against the evolving, controversial and elastic sphere of international relations and law where consensus has hitherto been an elusive dream.


In this study, the rate of remission, relapse, and treatment resistance in 107 patients with microscopic polyangiitis and necrotizing and crescentic glomerulonephritis associated with antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies were assessed. Patients with Wegener's granulomatosis were excluded. Prospective criteria were identified to assess remission, relapse, and resistant disease. Ninety-seven of the 107 patients received treatment with corticosteroids (N = 25) or with cyclophosphamide and corticosteroids (N = 72). Of these patients, 75 (77.3%) went into remission (complete remission, N = 61; remission on therapy, N = 14). Of the 75 responders, 32 patients (43%) remained in long-term remission, for a mean follow-up of 44 +/- 29 months; 15 patients (20%) progressed to ESRD without signs of relapse, for a mean of 21.4 +/- 22.8 months after the end of treatment; 6 patients died. Twenty-two of the 75 patients who initially responded to treatment (29%) suffered a relapse that occurred within 18 months of the end of therapy and usually affected the same organ systems as on initial presentation. There was a significant difference in the remission rate between the corticosteroid-treated patients and the cyclophosphamide-treated patients (56% versus 84.7%, P = 0.003), and the cyclophosphamide-treated patients had three times less risk of experiencing a relapse than did corticosteroid-treated patients (0.31, 95% Cl = (0.12, 0.84)). Seventy-seven percent (17 of 22 patients) of treatment resistance occurred in patients who presented with fulminant disease or advanced and severe renal disease. It was concluded that most patients with microscopic polyangiitis or necrotizing and crescentic glomerulonephritis achieve remission with therapy. Relapses occur in 29% of patients and generally respond to retreatment. Initial treatment with cyclophosphamide and corticosteroids rather than corticosteroids alone results in a lower frequency of relapse. Even patients who require dialysis at presentation may benefit from treatment, however, patients who are not treated until the disease process is life-threatening may die before induction therapy is complete, indicating the continued need for early diagnosis and therapy.


In contrast to his contribution to other areas, Shubhashis Gangopadhyay's contributions to our understanding of poverty are often thought of as indirect consequences of the main themes of his work. Yet in more than 15 published papers Gangopadhyay directly takes on poverty, including its estimate and understanding its sources. Our contribution honours Gangopadhyay's work in this area by outlining an approach useful in deconstructing the changes and differences in the likelihood of poverty incidence. We highlight how far it can take us, and how it still leaves us far short of understanding much of what drives poverty.


Aims: An Arctic Vegetation Classification (AVC) is needed to address issues related to rapid Arctic-wide changes to climate, land-use, and biodiversity. Location: The 7.1 million km2 Arctic tundra biome. Approach and conclusions: The purpose, scope and conceptual framework for an Arctic Vegetation Archive (AVA) and Classification (AVC) were developed during numerous workshops starting in 1992. The AVA and AVC are modeled after the European vegetation archive (EVA) and classification (EVC). The AVA will use Turboveg for data management. The AVC will use a Braun-Blanquet (Br.-Bl.) classification approach. There are approximately 31,000 Arctic plots that could be included in the AVA. An Alaska AVA (AVA-AK, 24 datasets, 3026 plots) is a prototype for archives in other parts of the Arctic. The plan is to eventually merge data from other regions of the Arctic into a single Turboveg v3 database. We present the pros and cons of using the Br.-Bl. classification approach compared to the EcoVeg (US) and Biogeoclimatic Ecological Classification (Canada) approaches. The main advantages are that the Br.-Bl. approach already has been widely used in all regions of the Arctic, and many described, well-accepted vegetation classes have a pan-Arctic distribution. A crosswalk comparison of Dryas octopetala communities described according to the EcoVeg and the Braun-Blanquet approaches indicates that the non-parallel hierarchies of the two approaches make crosswalks difficult above the plantcommunity level. A preliminary Arctic prodromus contains a list of typical Arctic habitat types with associated described syntaxa from Europe, Greenland, western North America, and Alaska. Numerical clustering methods are used to provide an overview of the variability of habitat types across the range of datasets and to determine their relationship to previously described Braun-Blanquet syntaxa. We emphasize the need for continued maintenance of the Pan-Arctic Species List, and additional plot data to fully sample the variability across bioclimatic subzones, phytogeographic regions, and habitats in the Arctic. This will require standardized methods of plot-data collection, inclusion of physiogonomic information in the numeric analysis approaches to create formal definitions for vegetation units, and new methods of data sharing between the AVA and national vegetation- plot databases.


The following "Expository" thesis paper is Postgraduate Research masters by research project entitled: "Engaging students in the use of Computer Coding in the Visual and Applied Arts within Higher Education: The Possibilities, Challenges and Opportunities". Although degree programs already exist in subject areas such as Computer Art and in Interactive Media there is a current trend that sees coding as a skill for all, and some even see it an emerging core subject along side subjects such as English and maths. As such there is opportunity for coding to be integrated in all areas of education, from Computer Science where it has its roots, to the Humanities and even Health and Medicine. This research looks at how computer coding can be integrated in a more universal form in the Visual and Applied Arts and highlights the important considerations and ways forward in todays new "coding for all" landscape, making it accessible and creating the opportunity for diversity through the integration of coding within visual arts subjects and indeed all subjects. It is an original piece of research. Qualitative and Quantitative information was collected through the collection and analysis of data from questionnaires with students and through interviews with creative professionals who had a proven and extensive history in creative digital technologies and creative coding. It is a systematic investigation following a structured methodology. It builds upon previous working experience involving small focus groups of art and design students learning coding for the first time. It is designed for the purpose of expanding knowledge and understanding, in the implementation of new and emerging technologies within Visual Arts Higher education. It was a rigorous investigation in that much data was collected from both students and creative professionals. Questions and interviews were designed to draw out the most relevant and informative information possible. The significance of the findings lie in the potential to design modernised forms of teaching and learning using interdisciplinary technologies within the Visual Arts in Higher education. The research also outlines new avenues of enquiry which could form the basis of Doctoral Research.


The need for alternative sources of water, especially for non-potable purposes, has been met in many states in the US and throughout the world through the use of reclaimed wastewater. Wastewater contains a wide variety of microbial pathogens that may pose a risk to human health if not properly controlled; however, there are currently no national standards for microorganisms or consistent treatment requirements in the US with regards to reclaimed water. Besides the routine monitoring for TC and FC bacteria that has been used for assessing water quality, several types of alternative microorganisms have been suggested as indicators of water quality, fecal pollution, and public health risks. These include enterococci, Clostridium perfringens, and coliphage among others. This project evaluated the removal of both indicators (TC and FC, enterococci, C. perfringens and coliphage) and pathogens (enteroviruses, Giardia spp. and cryptosporidium spp.) at 3 water reclamation facilities with varying treatment designs and operations. The facilities evaluated range in size from 20 to 44 million Liters per day capacity, with both shallow and deep bed sand/anthracite filters. Differences also existed in the disinfection processes for the 3 reclamation plants. The TC and FC showed a 5 to 7 log reduction throughout the treatment processes with no detectable levels in the final effluent. However, even though the alternative indicators (enterococci, C. perfringens and coliphage) showed reductions that varied from 2 to 6 logs, some levels of these indicators were consistently detected in 2 of the 3 facilities in the final reclaimed effluent. Both Cryptosporidium spp. and Giardia spp. were detected in the final effluent in all 3 facilities, even when no indicators were present. Virus detection was seasonal, and associated with cooler temperatures and less disinfection. The results of this study indicate that differences in filter design, operations, and disinfection approaches were responsible for differences in inter and intra facility water quality variability.


In a recent published work we proposed a technique to recover the absolute phase maps of two fringe patterns with different spatial frequencies. It is demonstrated that a number of selected frequency pairs can be used for the proposed approach, but the published work did not provide a guideline for frequency selection. In addition, the performance of the proposed technique in terms of its anti-noise capability is not addressed. In this paper, the rules for selecting the two frequencies are presented based on theoretical analysis of the proposed technique. Also, when the two frequencies are given, the anti-noise capability of technique is formulated and evaluated. These theoretical conclusions are verified by experimental results.


Can you reliably identify a person by examining the spectrographic patterns of his speech sounds? This is a scientific problem of social consequence because of the interest of the courts in this question. The Technical Committee on Speech Communication of the Acoustical Society of America has asked some of its members to review the matter from a scientific point of view. The topics they considered included the nature of speech information as it relates to speaker identification, a comparison of voice patterns and fingerprint patterns, experimental evidence on voice identification, and requirements for validation of such identification methods. Findings and conclusions are reported; supporting information is given in appendixes.


In this paper, we investigate the wave propagation and link quality of the Bluetooth wireless short range communication system in LOS office environments and assess its performance by employing various omindirectional and directive antennas. The measurement results show that the antenna type and its parameters have a huge impact on the quality and coverage of the Bluetooth link. We will also confirm some of the measurement results and observations by using FEMLAB simulation of the same building.


BACKGROUND
Although modifiable cardiovascular disease risk factors are common, some patients eschew conventional drug treatments in favor of natural alternatives. Pine bark extract, a dietary supplement source of antioxidant oligomeric proanthocyanidin complexes, has multiple putative cardiovascular benefits. Studies published to date about the supplement have notable methodological limitations.

METHODS
We randomized 130 individuals with increased cardiovascular disease risk to take 200 mg of a water-based extract of pine bark (n = 64; Toyo-FVG, Toyo Bio-Pharma, Torrance, California; Shinyaku Co, Ltd, Saga, Japan; also marketed as Flavagenol in Japan) or placebo (n = 66) once per day. Blood pressure, our primary outcome, and other cardiovascular disease risk factors were measured at baseline and at 6 and 12 weeks. Statistical analyses were conducted using regression models.

RESULTS
Baseline characteristics did not differ between the study groups. Over the 12-week intervention, the sum of systolic and diastolic blood pressures decreased by 1.0 mm Hg (95% confidence interval, -4.2 to 2.1 mm Hg) in the pine bark extract-treated group and by 1.9 mm Hg (-5.5 to 1.7 mm Hg) in the placebo group (P = .87). Other outcomes were likewise not significantly different, including body mass index, lipid panel measures, liver transaminase test results, lipoprotein cholesterol particle size, and levels of insulin, lipoprotein(a), fasting glucose, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein. There were no subgroups for whom intake of pine bark extract affected cardiovascular disease risk factors.

CONCLUSIONS
This pine bark extract (at a dosage of 200 mg/d) was safe but was not associated with improvement in cardiovascular disease risk factors. Although variations among participants, dosages, and chemical preparations could contribute to different findings compared with past studies, our results are consistent with a general failure of antioxidants to demonstrate cardiovascular benefits.

TRIAL REGISTRATION
clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00425945.


Intellectual property is gaining increased recognition as one of the most important organizational assets in the highly competitive global marketplace. As companies struggle to seize value from intellectual property, technological advances have prompted the formation of strategic partnerships between companies seeking to exploit unique intellectual assets. However, scholars have paid relatively little attention to the risks involved with intellectual property collaboration, given that relationships may be formed with organizations based in countries that have traditionally ignored intellectual property laws. Despite past advancements protecting intellectual property rights across the globe, the continued lack of effective enforcement remains cause for concern for organizations doing business abroad. Consequently, my primary motivation is to highlight the significance and severity of this issue, in order to guide future research and practice on the capacities necessary to develop effective collaborative relationships on a global scale. Based on emerging legal trends, I propose that U.S. organizations can reduce the anxieties associated with sharing intellectual property abroad by lobbying for increased extraterritorial application of domestic trade secret laws, employing contractual agreements with heightened protections, and championing the importance of intellectual property protections to overseas strategic partners.


Behavioural sensitisation is a progressive enhancement of stereotypic or locomotor behaviour following repeated intermittent administration of a psychostimulant or stress. It is a phenomenon thought to underlie many neuropsychiatric disorders (e.g. schizophrenia, addiction, depressive disorders, dyskinesia, and psychosis) although its own mechanism remains contentious. In this thesis a multidisciplinary approach was used to investigate the role of dopamine in behavioural sensitisation. Different in vivo and ex vivo techniques were used to assess and elucidate putative changes in dopaminergic neurotransmission of behaviourally sensitised animals. If so, this improved understanding of behavioural sensitisation could provide a better understanding of the pathophysiologies of neuropsychiatric disorders and provide more insight into why existing pharmacotherapies for these disorders are able to confer only modest benefit. Moreover, this improved understanding can lead to development of new medication and more effective therapies to treat neuropsychiatric disorders and therapies that address the specific problems associated with them.
Previously, an oversimplified view of neurotransmitter release was used for the development of current available drugs, i.e. stabilising either the attenuated or increased release of neurotransmitters without considering the involvement of synaptic plasticity. Therapies being used with modest effectiveness regulate dopamine transmission levels, suggesting a putative role for dopamine. The present study used chronic intermittent nicotine administration in rodents to induce behavioural sensitisation which was monitored behaviourally by measuring locomotor activity. Further studies were performed ex vivo assessing receptor binding, intracellular cAMP accumulation and electrically stimulated dopamine release. Prior to the pharmacological assessments, a novel LC-MS/MS method to measure (cyclic-) nucleotides was developed and a fast cyclic voltammetry (FCV) technique was established to measure real-time neurotransmitter release. Specific pharmacological tools were used to identify the role of dopaminergic neurotransmission in behavioural sensitisation. Finally, the ex vivo findings using tissue from sensitised and non-sensitised animals were compared to those findings obtained in vivo.


Textile-reinforced concrete (TRC) is a new innovative construction material that leads to light-weight and cost-effective construction. TRC consists of a finely grained cement-based matrix and high-performance, continuous multifilament yarns made of alkali-resistant glass, carbon, or polymer. Using these fibers provides superior mechanical properties and corrosion resistance in comparison with ferroconcrete. The application of epoxy resin coating to the textile materials improves the utilization of mechanical performance and handling properties as well. In recent years, researchers have studied alternative methods because coating process is very detailed and epoxy resin is of high cost. The experimental part of this chapter focuses on the experimental investigation carried out on high-strength concrete reinforced with hybrid yarns. Braiding technology was used to manufacture hybrid yarn from alkali-resistant glass fiber (ARG) and polypropylene (PP) filament. Next step, thermoplastic part of braided yarn was melted on press heating. Finally, TRC was produced from ARG, coated ARG, carbon fiber, coated carbon fiber, and heated hybrid yarns. Although the contribution of the heated hybrid yarn is limited, it is expected that the desired results will be obtained by changes in braiding yarn production and yarn composition ratios.


This study is a description of an action research project conducted by a fifth grade teacher in order to improve collaborative work during science investigations in a setting of a high-needs, high-diversity classroom. Treatments for the study included complex instruction, flexible grouping, and team-building exercises. Research spanned 20 weeks between two classes of fifth grade students with a combined population of 95% free and reduced lunch eligible. Data collection included triangulated quantitative and qualitative measures including Likert-style student peer reviews, attitude surveys, pre and post student interviews, and teacher observations all used for analysis purposes. Results showed that when using prescriptive treatments tailored to students' multiple intelligence, students showed increased engagement during science lab times.


Analyzing the risks of anthropogenic climate change requires sound probabilistic projections of CO2 emissions. Previous projections have broken important new ground, but many rely on out-of-range projections, are limited to the 21st century, or provide only implicit probabilistic information. Here we take a step towards resolving these problems by assimilating globally aggregated observations of population size, economic output, and CO2 emissions over the last three centuries into a simple economic model. We use this model to derive probabilistic projections of business-as-usual CO2 emissions to the year 2150. We demonstrate how the common practice to limit the calibration timescale to decades can result in biased and overconfident projections. The range of several CO2 emission scenarios (e.g., from the Special Report on Emission Scenarios) misses potentially important tails of our projected probability density function. Studies that have interpreted the range of CO2 emission scenarios as an approximation for the full forcing uncertainty may well be biased towards overconfident climate change projections.


This text is for courses that are typically called (Introductory) Differential Equations, (Introductory) Partial Differential Equations, Applied Mathematics, Fourier Series and Boundary Value Problems. The text is appropriate for two semester courses: the first typically emphasizes ordinary differential equations and their applications while the second emphasizes special techniques (like Laplace transforms) and partial differential equations. The texts follows a "traditional" curriculum and takes the "traditional" (rather than "dynamical systems") approach. Introductory Differential Equations is a text that follows a traditional approach and is appropriate for a first course in ordinary differential equations (including Laplace transforms) and a second course in Fourier series and boundary value problems. Note that some schools might prefer to move the Laplace transform material to the second course, which is why we have placed the chapter on Laplace transforms in its location in the text. Ancillaries like Differential Equations with Mathematica and/or Differential Equations with Maple would be recommended and/or required ancillaries depending on the school, course, or instructor. *Technology Icons These icons highlight text that is intended to alert students that technology may be used intelligently to solve a problem, encouraging logical thinking and application * Think About It Icons and Examples Examples that end in a question encourage students to think critically about what to do next, whether it is to use technology or focus on a graph to determine an outcome *Differential Equations at Work These are projects requiring students to think critically by having students answer questions based on different conditions, thus engaging students


Demonstration learning is a powerful and practical technique to develop robot behaviors. Even so, development remains a challenge and possible demonstration limitations, for example correspondence issues between the robot and demonstrator, can degrade policy performance. This work presents an approach for policy improvement through a tactile interface located on the body of the robot. We introduce the Tactile Policy Correction (TPC) algorithm, that employs tactile feedback for the refinement of a demonstrated policy, as well as its reuse for the development of other policies. The TPC algorithm is validated on humanoid robot performing grasp positioning tasks. The performance of the demonstrated policy is found to improve with tactile corrections. Tactile guidance also is shown to enable the development of policies able to successfully execute novel, undemonstrated, tasks. We further show that different modalities, namely teleoperation and tactile control, provide information about allowable variability in the target behavior in different areas of the state space.


Background: People with disabilities compose one of the largest and fastest growing subgroups of the U.S. population. Disability and rehabilitation issues are not well covered in most North American medical school curricula. This article describes the development and assessment of a 3-hr workshop for medical students on disability skills and awareness. Description: Fourth-year medical students on a required clerkship participated in the workshop on alternate months. The efficacy of the intervention was measured by a comparison between the participant and control students using a pretest and posttest self-efficacy questionnaire and a one-station Standardized Patient (SP) Clinical Case depicting a hemiplegic patient and a caregiver. Evaluation: Factor analysis of the survey yielded 4 subscales: Attitude, Advocacy, Interaction, Obtaining Services. There was a significant difference between the treatment and control group on the advocacy scale and on the SP communication and interstation exercises. Conclusion: A targeted educational intervention can have a positive effect on medical students' knowledge, skills, and attitudes toward patients with disabilities.


In this paper, we propose an integral equation approach for pricing an American-style Parisian up-and-out call option under the Black–Scholes framework. The main difficulty of pricing this option lies in the determination of its optimal exercise price, which is a three-dimensional surface, instead of a two-dimensional (2-D) curve as is the case for a "one-touch" barrier option. In our approach, we first reduce the 3-D pricing problem to a 2-D one by using the "moving window" technique developed by Zhu and Chen (2013, Pricing Parisian and Parasian options analytically. Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 37(4): 875-896), then apply the Fourier sine transform to the 2-D problem to obtain two coupled integral equations in terms of two unknown quantities: the option price at the asset barrier and the optimal exercise price. Once the integral equations are solved numerically by using an iterative procedure, the calculation of the option price and the hedging parameters is straightforward from their integral representations. Our approach is validated by a comparison between our results and those of the trusted finite difference method. Numerical results are also provided to show some interesting features of the prices of American-style Parisian up-and-out call options and the behaviour of the associated optimal exercise boundaries.


Debris sliding is one of the most important processes acting to transport sediment within mountainous regions. Detailed study of debris slide activity at the basin scale typically involves landslide inventories generated from aerial photographs. However, it has been shown that some types of rapid mass movement can be accurately identified using a combination of high-resolution satellite imagery and digital elevation data. This approach is beneficial as the digital products allow for a more accurate and efficient data throughput into various types of geomorphic analysis. Here, we demonstrate the use of an automated inventory in the geomorphometric evaluation of debris slide initiation for the Chilliwack Basin, British Columbia, Canada. Our results indicate that the occurrence of debris sliding is primarily determined by topographical controls. For basins that are in equilibrium with the existing climate, the frequency of debris sliding should demonstrate a strong relationship to bedrock geology as the production of unconsolidated materials available for failure is a function of weathering rates under these conditions. The lack of bedrock control within the Chilliwack Basin suggests a state of paraglacial relaxation, wherein glacial deposits dominate the sediment cascade within the area. Therefore, topographic parameters can be used to discriminate the location of metastable slopes where debris slide erosion will be active. The use of digital data in the characterization of debris slide occurrence would seem to be a viable alternative to the more traditional methods.


With its real-time capabilities, stream processing is popular for applications like anomaly detection for residential gateways and analytics for business intelligence. Just as other areas of computing, there has been an inevitable trend to shift stream processing to the cloud, thanks to virtualisation technologies and the ubiquity of theWeb. Recently launched Amazon Kinesis is amongst cloud-based streambuffer services that bridge the gap between off-cloud sources and cloud-based processing engines. Yet such services are prone to commercial or physical constraints on data ingest rate, calling for the parallelisation and chaining of processing nodes in amulti-layer topology. In this work, we studied the multi-layer parallelisation of time-based stream aggregation, a commonplace component in stream processing applications, under the impact of ingest rate constraints in the cloud. In particular, comprehensive analyses on rate transfer properties of processing nodes at various aggregation layers were conducted by considering the stream sources (e.g. residential gateways) and their information flow. This led to our proposal of systematic approaches to determining a parallelisation topology that avoids ingest rate saturation while minimising operational costs and deployment complexity. By applying these approaches, system over-provisioning or trial-and-error design can be eliminated. Our analyses were empirically verified through various simulations. Prototyping in the real Kinesis environment was also conducted to back up our analytical results and proposed topology determination approaches. It is noteworthy that, although the work has been motivated by and prototyped with Amazon Kinesis, it remains generic in nature and its applicability can extend beyond the specific scenario of Kinesis.


Background and Objectives: The present study examines backward inhibition (BI) and non-inhibitory switching performance among depressed and healthy participants in a modified mixed antisaccade task. Specifically, sad and neutral faces were incorporated in the design to examine executive control difficulties associated with brooding trait. Methods: Thirty-nine participants took part in the study, including 19 depressed patients and 20 healthy control subjects. Participants completed a diagnostic interview and self-report questionnaires, including the Beck Depression Inventory and Ruminative Response Scale-Brooding Subscale. They were then instructed to complete prosaccade and antisaccade trials in the pure and mixed blocks whereby eye gazes were tracked to assess inhibition and switching efficiency. Results: For the switching effects, a significant group × brooding × task type interaction was found as hypothesized when multilevel modeling analysis was employed. Switching deficits associated with brooding was found to be greatest when sad faces were presented to depressed group. No significant results in BI or error rates were observed. Conclusion: The patterns observed suggest that as opposed to BI, set shifting difficulty associated with brooding trait may be modulated by negative mood and cognition. In future research, emotional faces other than sad faces may be used to further explore if the observations could be generalized to other affective conditions.


Tobacco control leaders were extremely proud of the movement's achievements in the state of Minnesota. In sharing their perspectives and experiences with Mark Wolfson, they found a way of making sure that the story would get told. His training in social movements had given him an appreciation of the importance of understanding the social infrastructure on which movements are built, and Minnesota had built heavily on the infrastructure of health care and public health. What became apparent is that the struggle against the tobacco industry in Minnesota involved a close, collaborative relationship between government (or "state") actors and the leaders of the tobacco control movement. Wolfson develops both of these themes: building on the infrastructure of health, and state-movement interpenetration, to understand the emergence, growth, and outcomes of the tobacco control movement in Minnesota. He focuses on the advantages and constraints associated with these two related themes. He goes beyond the case study method to assess the generalizability of the pattern, and whether the same sort of movement can be used by other states in North America, and even in other countries and their social movements. How has the tobacco control movement become such a significant and successful force in shaping public policy, social norms, and the habits of millions of Americans? In this first such detailed study by a sociologist, Wolfson documents how the movement has grown over nearly three decades by building an infrastructure of health organizations and health professionals, and by fostering relationships with government. Rich in survey data, extensive interviews, and archival sources, this text is essential reading for courses in social problems, social movements, and public health. The general reader will also find it engaging, given the issues of tobacco use as an addiction and a social problem. Mark Wolfson is associate professor and director for community Research, Department of Public Health Science, Wake Forest University School of Medicine. His research has been funded by both governmental and private research grants.


: In response to the continuing disparity between industry expectations and higher education provision, this study examines the self-assessed capabilities of 1,024 business undergraduates in employability skills typically considered important by industry in developed economies. The findings indicate relative perceived strengths in 'social responsibility and accountability', 'developing professionalism' and 'working effectively with others', and weaknesses in 'critical thinking', 'developing initiative and enterprise' and 'self-awareness'. Although these findings align with those of recent employer-based studies, undergraduates rate themselves considerably higher than their industry counterparts. The implications of this overconfidence in personal ability, commonly associated with so-called Generation Y graduates, for persistent graduate skill gaps are discussed from the perspectives of industry, higher education and the graduates themselves. Possible ways of encouraging undergraduates to evaluate their capabilities more critically and accurately are discussed. Variations in perceived capability as students progress through their degree programmes are also examined.


We consider the problem of establishing a route and sending packets between a source/destination pair in ad hoc networks composed of rational selfish nodes whose purpose is to maximize their own utility. In order to motivate nodes to follow the protocol specification, we use side payments that are made to the forwarding nodes. Our goal is to design a fully distributed algorithm such that (1) a node is always better off participating in the protocol execution (individual rationality), (2) a node is always better off behaving according to the protocol specification (truthfulness), (3) messages are routed along the most energy-efficient (least cost) path, and (4) the message complexity is reasonably low. We introduce the COMMIT protocol for individually rational, truthful, and energy-efficient routing in ad hoc networks. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first ad hoc routing protocol with these features. COMMIT is based on the VCG payment scheme in conjunction with a novel game-theoretic technique to achieve truthfulness for the sender node. By means of simulation, we show that the inevitable economic inefficiency is small. As an aside, our work demonstrates the advantage of using a cross-layer approach to solving problems: Leveraging the existence of an underlying topology control protocol, we are able to simplify the design and analysis of our routing protocol and reduce its message complexity. On the other hand, our investigation of the routing problem in the presence of selfish nodes disclosed a new metric under which topology control protocols can be evaluated: the cost of cooperation.


Using a set of interregional input-output tables built by Guilhoto (1998) for 1995 for two Brazilian regions (Northeast and rest of the economy), the methodology developed by Sonis, Hewings, and Miyazawa (1997) is applied in the construction of a series of linkages such that it is possible to examine, through the nature of the internal and external interdependencies, the structure of trading relationships between the two regions. The methodology uses a partitioned input-output system and exploits techniques that produce left and right matrix multipliers of the Leontief Inverse. This procedure facilitates the classification of the types of synergetic interactions within a preset pairwise hierarchy of economic linkages subsystems. In general, the results show that the Northeast region has a greater dependence on the rest of the economy region than the rest of the economy has on the Northeast region, and at the same time the rest of the economy region seems to be more developed as it presents a more complex productive structure than the Northeast region.


To work efficiently, a market system requires institutions such as private property, legal and accounting systems, and a monetary framework. These institutions need not be in place, but the structure should be agreed upon so that market participants can value assets. The paper concentrates on decisions about the choice of monetary arrangements, price and wage setting. Several countries in Eastern Europe have adopted fixed exchange rates and wage controls. The paper argues that the combination is generally inconsistent; only one relative price can be fixed. Attempts to fix wage rates and the exchange rate increases uncertainty and imposes an excess burden. The paper proposes fixed exchange rates for East European countries and development of a clearing union. In contrast to time phased programs of liberalization, the paper argues that structural changes should be announced and price, wage, budget, and monetary reforms should be made simultaneously.


The 1996 Farm Bill and low commodity prices have regenerated interest in the impact of risk and farmers' risk attitudes on production agriculture. Previous research has used expected utility theory (EUT) and direct elicitation of utility functions (DEU) for eliciting risk attitudes. To overcome the criticism of EUT and DEU, a recently developed technique called the "closing in" method is adapted for eliciting farmers' risk attitudes. This method is applied to Illinois farmers by using a computerized decision procedure, and is validated by comparing the results to the farmers' self-assessment of their risk attitudes and score to a risk attitudinal scale.


Sociology is having an increasing impact on the study of international politics. Covering the range of different approaches and methodologies, leading international scholars examine the extent of this influence. They aim to promote a study of world politics which is sensitive to the impact of social structure and historical context, and will be of interest to scholars and students of sociology and political science as well as International Relations.


A concern with unity has been a consistent theme in modern Burmese politics. This article examines a particularly problematic conception of unity that I argue draws strength from its resonance with Buddhist moral notions of the self and overcoming self-centeredness. As a moral concept, this narrative of unity is idealized in devotion to a common purpose and loyalty to a group or community; it requires subsuming one's own interests for the benefit of the whole, something that encapsulates the Buddhist practice of rejecting atta (ego). Disunity, then, is the result of a group of individuals committed only to their own benefit; it is evidence of moral failure. This discourse of unity has been an effectively anti-democratic disciplining tool (deployed by both governments and opposition groups) for suppressing internal dissent. Despite General Aung San's oft-quoted slogan of "unity in diversity," political movements in Myanmar have been more commonly characterized by hegemonic attempts at imposing a top-down unity that labels deviation from or criticism of dominant positions as disloyalty. This article examines the perpetuation of a rigid, unitary understanding of unity and argues that developing a more flexible and accommodating notion of unity will be a necessary step in the process of national reconciliation.