Stochastic gradient descent algorithms for training linear and kernel predictors are gaining more and more importance, thanks to their scalability. While various methods have been proposed to speed up their convergence, the model selection phase is often ignored. In fact, in theoretical works most of the time assumptions are made, for example, on the prior knowledge of the norm of the optimal solution, while in the practical world validation methods remain the only viable approach. In this paper, we propose a new kernel-based stochastic gradient descent algorithm that performs model selection while training, with no parameters to tune, nor any form of cross-validation. The algorithm builds on recent advancement in online learning theory for unconstrained settings, to estimate over time the right regularization in a data-dependent way. Optimal rates of convergence are proved under standard smoothness assumptions on the target function as well as preliminary empirical results.


This paper describes an Implementation Guide for an emerging standard for autonomic management &control of networks and services, namely the ETSI AFI GANA Reference Model for Autonomic Networking, Cognitive Networking and Self-Management (an emerging standard from ETSI). The implementation guide also takes into consideration the impact of emerging paradigms such as SDN and Virtualization. This is because as the standardized Reference Model has been published, it becomes important to provide an associated Implementation Guide that can be followed in implementing autonomic management & control in network architectures.


Twenty-nine teams involving 61 analysts used the same data set to address the same research question: whether soccer referees are more likely to give red cards to dark-skin-toned players than to light-skin-toned players. Analytic approaches varied widely across the teams, and the estimated effect sizes ranged from 0.89 to 2.93 ( Mdn = 1.31) in odds-ratio units. Twenty teams (69%) found a statistically significant positive effect, and 9 teams (31%) did not observe a significant relationship. Overall, the 29 different analyses used 21 unique combinations of covariates. Neither analysts' prior beliefs about the effect of interest nor their level of expertise readily explained the variation in the outcomes of the analyses. Peer ratings of the quality of the analyses also did not account for the variability. These findings suggest that significant variation in the results of analyses of complex data may be difficult to avoid, even by experts with honest intentions. Crowdsourcing data analysis, a strategy in which numerous research teams are recruited to simultaneously investigate the same research question, makes transparent how defensible, yet subjective, analytic choices influence research results.


The growing popularity of cloud-based machine learning raises a natural question about the privacy guarantees that can be provided in such a setting. Our work tackles this problem in the context where a client wishes to classify private images using a convolutional neural network (CNN) trained by a server. Our goal is to build efficient protocols whereby the client can acquire the classification result without revealing their input to the server, while guaranteeing the privacy of the server's neural network.
To this end, we design Gazelle, a scalable and low-latency system for secure neural network inference, using an intricate combination of homomorphic encryption and traditional two-party computation techniques (such as garbled circuits). Gazelle makes three contributions. First, we design the Gazelle homomorphic encryption library which provides fast algorithms for basic homomorphic operations such as SIMD (single instruction multiple data) addition, SIMD multiplication and ciphertext permutation. Second, we implement the Gazelle homomorphic linear algebra kernels which map neural network layers to optimized homomorphic matrix-vector multiplication and convolution routines. Third, we design optimized encryption switching protocols which seamlessly convert between homomorphic and garbled circuit encodings to enable implementation of complete neural network inference.
We evaluate our protocols on benchmark neural networks trained on the MNIST and CIFAR-10 datasets and show that Gazelle outperforms the best existing systems such as MiniONN (ACM CCS 2017) by 20 times and Chameleon (Crypto Eprint 2017/1164) by 30 times in online runtime. Similarly when compared with fully homomorphic approaches like CryptoNets (ICML 2016) we demonstrate three orders of magnitude faster online run-time.


ABSTRACTA traditional broadband extinction method is improved by introducing the cloud-screening module and aerosol modal adjustment module, and the new approach is known as optimized broadband extinction method (OBEM). Based on OBEM, it could retrieve 500 nm aerosol optical depth (AOD) database with the use of direct solar radiation. Comparison of the monthly average AOD from OBEM and Chinese Sun Hazemeter Network (CSHNET) for 2006–2010 over Beijing site shows that the retrievals and observations display a high degree of consistency. The correlation equation is Y = 1.00X – 0.01 with a correlation coefficient R2 of 0.83 and root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 0.08. The largest relative error for the yearly average value is only 3.85%. So it is clear that the OBEM could serve as an effective tool to retrieve highly accurate historical 500 nm AOD data and implement homogenization with the current observational 500 nm AOD monitored by satellites and sun-photometers. The yearly average AOD of Beijing in 1993–2010 is 0.58 ± 0.03, and the seasonal AODs in MAM (March–April–May) and JJA (June–July–August) are obviously higher than SON (September–October–November) and DJF (December–January–February), with values of 0.70 ± 0.14 and 0.64 ± 0.16, respectively. The long-term 500 nm AOD reveal significant periodic inter-annual characteristics


Canine distemper virus (CDV) is an acute, highly immunizing pathogen that should require high densities and large populations of hosts for long-term persistence, yet CDV persists among terrestrial carnivores with small, patchily distributed groups. We used CDV in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem's (GYE) wolves (Canis lupus) and coyotes (Canis latrans) as a case study for exploring how metapopulation structure, host demographics, and multi-host transmission affect the critical community size and spatial scale required for CDV persistence. We illustrate how host spatial connectivity and demographic turnover interact to affect both local epidemic dynamics, such as the length and variation in inter-epidemic periods, and pathogen persistence using stochastic, spatially explicit susceptible-exposed-infectious-recovered simulation models. Given the apparent absence of other known persistence mechanisms (e.g., a carrier or environmental state, densely populated host, chronic infection, or a vector), we suggest that CDV requires either large spatial scales or multi-host transmission for persistence. Current GYE wolf populations are probably too small to support endemic CDV. Coyotes are a plausible reservoir host, but CDV would still require 50000-100000 individuals for moderate persistence (> 50% over 10 years), which would equate to an area of 1-3 times the size of the GYE (60000-200000 km2). Coyotes, and carnivores in general, are not uniformly distributed; therefore, this is probably a gross underestimate of the spatial scale of CDV persistence. However, the presence of a second competent host species can greatly increase the probability of long-term CDV persistence at much smaller spatial scales. Although no management of CDV is currently recommended for the GYE, wolf managers in the region should expect periodic but unpredictable CDV-related population declines as often as every 2-5 years. Awareness and monitoring of such outbreaks will allow corresponding adjustments in management activities such as regulated public harvest, creating a smooth transition to state wolf management and conservation after > 30 years of being protected by the Endangered Species Act.


Computational calculations represent a very useful tool to study separately the occurrence of thermal and non-thermal effects of microwave irradiation through the determination of the thermodynamic and kinetic parameters of the reaction. In this paper, we approach the computational study of two previously reported cycloaddition reactions. All of the outcomes indicate the presence of a thermal effect alone for the microwave irradiation that produces changes in the regioselectivity or in the reaction mechanism.


When the machine is at high speed, serious problems occur, such as high frequency loss, difficult thermal management, and the rotor structural strength insufficiency. In this paper, the performances of two high-speed permanent magnet generators (HSPMGs) with different rotational speeds and the same torque are compared and analyzed. The two-dimensional finite element model (FEM) of the 117 kW, 60 000 rpm HSPMG is established. By comparing a calculation result and test data, the accuracy of the model is verified. On this basis, the 40 kW, 20 000 rpm HSPMG is designed and the FEM is established. The relationship between the voltage regulation sensitivity and power factor of the two HSPMGs is determined. The influence mechanism of the voltage regulation sensitivity is further revealed. In addition, the air-gap flux density is decomposed by the Fourier transform principle, and the influence degree of different harmonic orders on the HSPMG performance is determined. The method to reduce the harmonic content is further proposed. Finally, the method to improve the HSPMG overload capacity is obtained by studying the maximum power. The research showed that the HSPMG at low speed (20 000 rpm) has high sensitivity of the voltage regulation, while the HSPMG at high speed (60 000 rpm) is superior to the HSPMG at low speed in reducing the harmonic content and increasing the overload capacity.


Spleen cells from BN rats were separated in a discontinuous density gradient. Cells from different fractions were shown to be functionally diverse. Light cells were highly responsive in MLR, generated little killer activity and enhanced syngeneic recipient's IgM and IgG production in response to SRBC. Dense cells were unable to respond in MLR and suppress Ab response. Maximum killer activity was recovered from medium density fractions which were probably mixtures of helper and suppressor cells.


This article investigates the performance of active currency programs either as an asset class or as an overlay. The authors find that managed currency funds have produced positive returns over the years that are mainly due to the presence of trends in the foreign exchange markets. An active currency overlay program has the potential to beat both hedged and unhedged benchmarks in terms of absolute and risk-adjusted returns


Credit risk is crucial to understanding banks' production technology and should be explicitly accounted for when modeling the latter. The banking literature has largely accounted for risk using ex-post realizations of banks' uncertain outputs and the variables intended to capture risk. This is equivalent to estimating an ex-post realization of bank's production technology which, however, may not reflect optimality conditions that banks seek to satisfy under uncertainty. The ex-post estimates of technology are likely to be biased and inconsistent, and one thus may call into question the reliability of the results regarding banks' technological characteristics broadly reported in the literature. However, the extent to which these concerns are relevant for policy analysis is an empirical question. In this paper, we offer an alternative methodology to estimate banks' production technology based on the ex-ante cost function. We model credit uncertainty explicitly by recognizing that bank managers minimize costs subject to given expected outputs and credit risk. We estimate unobservable expected outputs and associated credit risk levels from banks' supply functions via nonparametric kernel methods. We apply this framework to estimate production technology of U.S. commercial banks during the period from 2001 to 2010 and contrast the new estimates with those based on the ex-post models widely employed in the literature.


Hydrologists are often faced with the problem of missing values in a precipitation-runoff process database to construct runoff prediction models. They tend to use simple and naive methods to deal with the problem of missing data. Thus far, the common practice has been to discard observations with missing values. In this paper, we present some statistically principled methods for gap filling and discuss the pros and cons of these methods. We employ and discuss imputations of missing values by means of self-organizing map (SOM), multilayer perceptron (MLP), multivariate nearest-neighbor (MNN), regularized expectation-maximization algorithm (REGEM) and multiple imputation (MI) in the context of a precipitation-runoff process database in northern Iran in order to construct a serially complete database for analyses such as runoff prediction. In our case, the SOM and MNN tend to give similar and robust results. REGEM and MI build on the assumption of multivariate normal data, which we don't seem to have in one of our cases. MLP tends to produce inferior results because it fragments the data into 68 different models. Therefore, we conclude that it makes most sense to use either the computationally simple MNN method or the more demanding SOM. (Less)


Background: The food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), as a way to assess the dietary intake in comparison with other methods, is easier to analyze and takes less time and is less costly. Our aim in this study was to develop and validate an FFQ for estimating the intakes of selected antioxidants in elderly Iranian people. Materials and Methods: A total of 185 elderly people were randomly selected. Three-day food records were completed by the subjects and collected every 2 months and dietary intake levels of zinc, selenium, carotenes and vitamins C and E were estimated. Based on the food records data, geographic location, and age, an FFQ was designed to estimate antioxidant intakes during 1 year. In addition, for controlling energy intake, 2-day food records were also collected with the food frequency questionnaire. To assess the reliability, 40 individuals were asked to complete the FFQ twice with an interval of 3 months in between. Results: Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) between the two FFQs for antioxidant C, antioxidant E, carotene, selenium, and zinc were 0.62, 0.47, 0.51, 0.54, and 0.58, respectively (P < 0.05). In addition, Pearson correlation coefficients between the FFQ and the food records, after controlling energy for vitamin C, vitamin E, carotene, selenium, and zinc, were 0.46, 0.48, 0.38, 0.55, and 0.47 respectively (P < 0.001). Conclusion: According to the results of this study, considering the fact that the FFQ was designed for the elderly and the special conditions (patience, memory, etc.) and vulnerability of this age group, the questionnaire is relatively valid and reliable to use.


For over thirty years, health scholars have debated whether health care policies are converging, or becoming more alike, internationally. Convergence theories have always been particularly appealing in health care. Most countries generally struggle with the same challenges: how to provide quality care, to as many people as possible, for a reasonable price. Moreover, modern scientific medicine has not only influenced how countries around the world provide and regulate health care, but has also driven rising patient expectations. These commonalities invite theories of convergence: If policymakers in different jurisdictions face similar challenges, why wouldn't they adopt roughly similar solutions? In this article, I take the existing scholarship and form a new framework for understanding several recent international health care trends. Rather than focusing on policy convergence driven primarily by the public sector, I argue that the private sector is encouraging health care practices and standards to converge internationally. I use recent trends to examine this framework, including: international physician and nurse migration; international standardization of medical education; the medical tourism phenomenon; and international trade and standardization of pharmaceuticals, devices, and medical technologies. I also examine various trends pointing towards increased privatization and commercialization - particularly among developing countries - and discuss the unique role that the United States and organizations like the WTO, World Bank, and OECD play in promoting these trends.I conclude by examining the benefits and burdens of market-driven convergence, including the perils of commercialization, internal brain drains, and other phenomena that might warn against promoting convergence and privatization without some limiting mechanisms.


The risk assessment of anti-nutrient of consumed plant food of South Eastern Nigeria were estimated from actual quantity of plant food diet and the values compared with known risks levels from existing biological studies. The foods studied were yam, rice, garri, cassava fufu, tapioca and cowpea. Using the proportion of anti-nutrient composition of the plant food by weight, the anti-nutrients consumed were calculated from the weight of consumed food. The antinutrients were measures in mg/kg of food. The results show that the levels of lectin (0.05 mg.kg), cyanide (0.21-5.78 mg/kg) acceptable by existing studies while levels of phytate (23.5-130.65 mg/ kg), oxalate (4.7-95.6 mg/kg) and tannin (108.3 mg/kg) are high enough to be associated with health risk and further studies should be carried out to authenticate Maximum Residual Limits (MRL) of these ante nutrients in human to determine whether the levels on the foods consumed should be reduced or allow them as they are.


Modern code review enables developers to conduct light weighted inspections using tools and is a well-established part of the software development process. However, it is not clearly defined if current processes and methods are done efficiently. In this paper, we examined a dataset from a tool supported code review process provided by a multinational software development company to determine and test indicators for code review quality. Within an exploratory approach, inspecting data from over 250 000 entries in 5 years of reviewing practice, we checked dataset characteristics, reviewer workload, reviewer selection and social network metrics. We found evidence in all revised categories that the company lacks in an efficient code reviewing process. Our results prove that current code review practice needs better defined standards and with usage of our indicators and numbers, future studies can compare their observed code inspection performance.


In his Article, Professor Drennan notes that naming rights often have significant value. Therefore, he reasons that, when charitable contributions are made, the value of such naming rights should be subtracted from the amount of the contribution. Only the excess should be a tax-deductible contribution, and the burden should be on the donor to show that such an excess exists. To make this proposal work, there must be a way to determine (1) which categories of naming rights might be significant benefits; and (2) how such benefits can be valued. As to the first, Professor Drennan has given us some examples of some rights that are clearly significant, and some rights that are clearly not. However, there are a lot of rights in between that should be addressed. As to the second, in the noncommercial context, valuation is impossible. Therefore, donors will fail to meet their burden, and their contributions will be nondeductible. To solve this problem, as Professor Drennan suggests, donors and donees will agree at the outset on the value of the naming rights. However, such agreed valuations will also serve as liquidated damages, making it easier for donees to renege. As a result, donors will probably limit the duration of their naming rights in the first place. This result would be a step forward.


This study includes very initial analyses of ongoing research which investigate the relationship between term structure of interest rate and macro variables in Turkey. Initial .ndings indicate that corresponding relation has structural break around 2002 which coincides with new mon- etary policy namey in.ation targeting. In pre2002 period role of macro- economic variables in yield curve is limited however in post 2002 period macro variables play very crucial role in term structure of interest rate. We found that in.ation and exchange rate are two majar macro variables that determine the shape of yield curve.


We have determined the initiation time of laser-induced slip on a silicon wafer surface subjected to a near-infrared continuous-wave laser by numerical simulations and experiments. First, numerical analysis was performed based on the heat transfer and thermoelasticity model to calculate the resolved shear stress and the temperature-dependent yield stress. Slip initiation time was predicted by finding the time at which the resolved shear stress reached the yield stress. Experimentally, the slip initiation time was measured by using a laser scattering technique that collects scattered light from the silicon wafer surface and detects strong scattering when the surface slip is initiated. The surface morphology of the silicon wafer surface after laser irradiation was also observed using an optical microscope to confirm the occurrence of slip. The measured slip initiation times agreed well with the numerical predictions.


OBJECTIVE
To identify the prevalence of recurrent wheezing in infants in the city of Curitiba, PR, Brazil.

METHODS
A cross-sectional study carried out by means of administering questionnaires to the parents of infants aged 12 to 15 months attending health centers for immunization during the period between August 2005 and December 2006. This is a standardized and validated instrument consisting of questions on demographic characteristics, wheezing, respiratory infections and risk factors. At the time of the study the City Health Department had 107 health centers, 35 of which were selected by lots and distributed homogeneously across the municipal territory.

RESULTS
A total of 1,364 infants (45.4%) had episodes of wheezing during their first 12 months of life, with onset at 5.5+/-3.1 months (mean +/- standard deviation), and 678 (22.6%) had had three or more episodes. In 84.6% of the wheezing children treatment was with .2-agonists, with inhaled corticosteroids in 18.5%, oral corticosteroids in 24.3% and leukotriene receptor antagonists were used with 5.4%. The wheezing children exhibited nocturnal symptoms, intense difficulty breathing and visits to emergency services in the proportions of 58.9, 46.2 and 57.6%, respectively; 12.7% were admitted to hospital for asthma and 10.9% had had a medical diagnosis of asthma. Nocturnal symptoms, visits to emergency, severity of symptoms, hospital admissions for asthma and medical diagnoses of asthma were all more common among those who had suffered three or more crises (p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS
There is an elevated prevalence of wheezing among the infants of Curitiba, with early onset and elevated morbidity. It is possible that these infants represent a large contingent of asthmatics.


Abstract. Reactive halogen species (RHS), such as X·, X 2 and HOX containing X = chlorine and/or bromine, are released by various sources like photo-activated sea-salt aerosol or from salt pans, and salt lakes. Despite many studies of RHS reactions, the potential of RHS reacting with secondary organic aerosol (SOA) and organic aerosol derived from biomass-burning (BBOA) has been neglected. Such reactions can constitute sources of gaseous organohalogen compounds or halogenated organic matter in the tropospheric boundary layer and can influence physicochemical properties of atmospheric aerosols. Model SOA from α-pinene, catechol, and guaiacol was used to study heterogeneous interactions with RHS. Particles were exposed to molecular chlorine and bromine in an aerosol smog-chamber in the presence of UV/VIS irradiation and to RHS, released from simulated natural halogen sources like salt pans. Subsequently, the aerosol was characterized in detail using a variety of physicochemical and spectroscopic methods. Fundamental features were correlated with heterogeneous halogenation, which results in new functional groups (FTIR spectroscopy), changes UV/VIS absorption, chemical composition (ultrahigh resolution mass spectroscopy (ICR-FT/MS)), or aerosol size distribution. However, the halogen release mechanisms were also found to be affected by the presence of organic aerosol. Those interaction processes, changing chemical and physical properties of the aerosol are likely to influence e.g. the ability of the aerosol to act as cloud condensation nuclei, its potential to adsorb other gases with low-volatility, or its contribution to radiative forcing and ultimately the Earth's radiation balance.


This study was carried out to determine the growth, survival rate and some body measurements until weaning of lambs produced by the in vitro production (IVP) method in comparison with those of lambs produced by artificial insemination. The lambs in the experimental group were produced by the transfer of IVP embryos developed to the blastocyst stage after the in vitro maturation and fertilisation of oocytes obtained from the ovaries of slaughtered ewes. The results of this study showed that the lambs produced by the IVP technique had a higher growth rate until weaning than did the lambs in the control group (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences between the experimental and control groups in terms of survival rate and body measurements. It was concluded that the IVP technique, which provides significant improvements in population genetics, could be successfully applied in sheep breeding and could be of help in the improvement of the meat produced from lambs.


"The purpose of this thesis is to discuss the evolution of "infant" as a composite person in the first decade of the twentieth century. Data for this inquiry comes from the New York Times and the Washington Post newspapers. A content analysis was performed on articles containing infant as their main subject in these two venues between 1900 and 1910. Infant, it appears, emerged as a distinct category of being in the world by 1910. During this decade the "infant" was given a soul, their own category in mortality statistics, and additional legislation protecting their well-being. Prior to this time religious, scientific, political and other status holders were likely to use "infant", "baby" and "child" interchangeably. By 1910 the infant was becoming solidly abstract scientific and statistical idea while baby was coming to refer to the flesh and blood entity only."--Abstract from author supplied metadata.


The article aims to deepen our understanding of the change of marriage from being a consensual contract to being a solemn contract and follows systematic rather than historical criteria.. It is based on the distinction between three types of form: the form of the sacrament, juridic form or solemnity, and finally liturgical form. While for 1500 years the Church held that for a valid and sacramental celebration of marriage the form was sufficiently executed through the pronouncement of the words of consent, the Council of Trent prescribed a determined juridic form for the validity of the wedding: the exchange of consent before the parish priest and two witnesses. The Council succeeded in prescribing this juridic solemnity without changing the essence of the sacrament as constituted by form and matter. Thus it avoided changing the substance of a sacrament which would have presupposed possession of potestas excellentiae, a power that the Council held had not be granted to the Church. It conserved the role of causa efficiens of marriage for consent and reaffirmed that it was the spouses and not the blessing priest who were the ministers of the sacrament. Avoiding invalidating the contract and preferring to render the person inhabilis to contract without solemnity, the Council indirectly confirmed the doctrine of inseparability between the contract and sacrament of marriage. It is not possbile to invalidate the contract before it becomes a sacrament because the distinction between contract and sacrament is neither real nor temporal but exists only in the realm of theory. Confirming the doctrine that was alsready prevalent before the Council, and with the intention of changing as little as possible in the face of the Protestant challenge, the Council introduced a novelty at the disciplinary level that had enormous theological, juridical and pastoral significance.


Public school funding in the United States is not a product of intelligent design. Funding programs have grown willy-nilly based on political entrepreneurship, interest group pressure, and intergovernmental competition. Consequently, now that Americans feel the need to educate all children to high standards, no one knows for sure how money is used or how it might be used more effectively. This article shows that Americans can learn how to make more effective use of the money available for public schools. But to do so, states and localities must keep careful track of how money is spent; how children are taught and by whom; and what programs, schools, and teachers are most and less productive. Foundations should sponsor rigorous development and testing of new instructional programs, and every level of government should permit experimentation with alternative uses of funds, reproduce effective schools and programs, and abandon ineffective ones.


This paper discusses a novel metadata element set for describing cultural heritage objects and their digital representations, which is particularly useful for building virtual exhibitions. The element set is based on several international standards and current best practice in museums. Additional elements are used for describing new types of data used in virtual exhibitions and taking into account new ways of using that data. The implementation of the element set and a number of tools used to manipulate the metadata descriptions in the ARCO project are described.


Today's commercial environment demands the adoption of Total Quality Management (TQM), which a managerial approach that aims to achieve customer satisfaction and global competitiveness. Therefore, TQM is a systematic approach that views quality as the result of the integration of many organisational activities, i.e. engineering/construction, manufacturing, marketing and administration. Nevertheless, construction sector projects have long suffered from high fragmentation, considerable waste, poor productivity, cost and time overruns, and conflicts and disputes. This study develops a framework for the effective implementation of TQM within the Nigerian construction industry. The research focuses on construction projects undertaken by local construction organisations in Nigeria that originates locally and operates within the immediate project vicinity, state or country. It explores the significant contribution of the TQM philosophy to the Nigerian construction industry. The epistemological positioning of this research leans towards interpretivism, where an opinion survey with expert (interviews with expert) and a more general questionnaire survey were used to collect qualitative and quantitative data. Twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted with experts based on their experience in the construction sector, and 173 completed questionnaires were analysed. The questionnaire survey explores the capacity and the understanding of TQM amongst the indigenous firms within the Nigerian construction industry. Research findings highlighted two main challenges, which are leadership and communication. The data analysis informed the development of a framework for effective TQM implementation, which is intended to function as a guideline for construction industries in Nigeria. The development of a framework helped to identify impediments to the effective implementation of TQM within the Nigerian construction industry. This research highlights that such barriers are similar to those amongst similar organisations from different parts of the world. However, the impacts of some notable indicators, such as undesirable organisational behaviour regarding communication and leadership, have never previously been identified as impediments to TQM adoption. It is anticipated that the framework will help to improve the awareness and understanding of individuals and organisations about the implementation of TQM in the Nigerian construction industry and its potential impact on project performance.


We proposed and demonstrated an innovative magnetic field optical fiber sensor utilizing magnetic ferrofluid and a thin-core fiber (TCF)-based modal interferometer. The modal interferometer was fabricated by splicing a TCF between two single mode fibers. Two TCF interferometers with different dip wavelength were connected in a fiber to demonstrate the sensors multiplexing capability. The transmission dip wavelength of interferometer is shifting with a maximum sensitivity of 11.8 pm/Oe.


We have developed a modification to the ground motion model of Abrahamson [1] that takes into account the effects of basin generated surface waves. The main feature of our model is that for response spectral accelerations at periods of 4 and 5 seconds, the Abrahamson [1] model for soil sites should be scaled by a factor of 1.65 in order to represent the ground motions on soil sites located within sedimentary basins. Our finding that no scaling of the Abrahamson [1] model is required for periods shorter than 4 seconds reflects the fact that most of the deep soil recordings on which that model is based come from sedimentary basins. The fact that our first order model does not have a dependence on distance to the basin edge or the depth of the basin makes it easily applicable in ground motion calculations, especially those for probabilistic seismic hazard analyses, which typically involve the calculation of ground motions from many different scenario earthquakes occurring on a variety of faults surrounding the site. We have identified many second order basin effects that are not quantified in our first order model of basin effects.


Although the international trend in geolinguistics has been to utilize dialect resources via computer-based GIS, research in the Chinese field is still grounded in exploring the history of words using the classical method of linguistic geography. After describing the historical background of how we Japanese researchers carry out projects on Chinese dialects, this paper will demonstrate some of our findings: 1) The distribution of modern dialects is well accounted for in terms of "Northernization" and "Southern kernel area"; 2) Linguistic geography can make it possible to reconstruct the history of words unbiased by historical documents; 3) The development of stress accent in Northern dialects has caused some word groups to acquire grammatical elements in their forms, due to the function of analogical attraction; 4) Any word can be in collision with others due to internal and external factors. Chinese cases are explained in terms of homonymic and synonymic collisions.


Background: The aim of the study was to search if prognosis of ischemic cerebral stroke is affected by its subtypes with regard to its etiology, anatomical site, radiological size, and clinical severity. Methods: This study was conducted on 43 patients of both sexes with ischemic cerebral stroke admitted to the Neurology Department of Menoufia University Hospitals. Their ages were ranging from 48 to 72 years old and the mean age of cases was 61.26 ± 5.37, while in controls was 58.50 ± 4.70. Clinical severity of stroke was assessed using National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS). The etiological subtypes of stroke were classified according to Trial of Organization 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment classification. The anatomical site of stroke was evaluated by using the Oxford Community Stroke Project classification. Its size was measured by neuroimaging. Favorable outcome (FO) was defined as modified Rankin scale (0 - 2) while unfavorable outcome (UO) was defined as modified Rankin scale (3 - 6) after 3 months of onset of the stroke. Results: The UO was correlated with the large vessel stroke (P 3 mm (P = 0.007). The FO was correlated with small vessel disease (P < 0.001), mild NIHSS score (P ≤ 0.0001), lacunar infarction (P < 0.001), and infarct size < 1.5 mm (P = 0.001). Conclusion: The outcome of cerebral ischemic stroke may be affected by its subtype. This may help the clinician to tailor better individual plan of management. J Neurol Res. 2017;7(4-5):80-84 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/jnr450w


Amaranth grain (Amaranthus cruentus) is a pseudo cereal consumed in various parts of the world with potential as a source of dietary nutrients. Amaranth grain is a good source of protein and vitamins and therefore is used largely for feeding children and the elderly. Although it can be used to alleviate malnutrition, its processing and nutritional characteristics are not well established. Development of new products from amaranth will expand utilization of this raw material as cereal-based foods which play an important role in the diets of many people in Kenya. The aim of this study was to determine the nutritional and functional properties of Amaranthus cruentus grain grown in Kenya for preparation of a ready-to-eat product that can be recommended for nutritional interventions as infant complementary food. The effect of processing on the physicochemical and nutritional properties of amaranth grain was analysed. The functional properties, acceptability and stability of amaranth grain product were also determined. The treatment structure involved ungelatinized (raw) amaranth grain flour used as the control and pregelatinized amaranth grain flour referred to as the product. The product was well accepted with 20 minutes steaming period considered as the average time required to acquire a ready to eat product. The colour of raw amaranth grain was cream with a lightness (L*) value of 79.4, which slightly reduced after processing to 74.1, giving a slightly dark cream product. A notably high fat, protein and ash content was demonstrated, both in raw and processed grain. The proximate analysis mean values for raw and processed grain were moisture 10.2% and 2.4%; protein 17.2 and 16.7%; fat 7.0%, 7.0% ash 2.7 and 2.6%; crude fiber 3.8 and 3.1%; carbohydrates 59.2 and 68.3%, respectively. Amaranth grain contained good amount of unsaturated fatty acids 76.1%, with predominant ones being oleic 36.3% and linoleic 35.9%. The fatty acid profile associated with good amount of protein makes pregelatinized amaranth grain product a nutritionally balanced food appropriate for infant feeding. Amaranth grain product was rich in potassium, phosphorus, calcium and magnesium, which were not significantly (P>0.05) affected by the processing method. The tannins significantly (P≤0.05) decreased during processing while phytates were not affected. The water soluble vitamins reduced during processing which affects the nutritional value of the product. However the product was rich in tocopherols which are essential for infant growth and development. The amino acids composition of processed amaranth grain were not significantly (P≤0.05) affected by the processing method with essential ones identified as were histidine, threonine, valine, methionine, isoleucine, leucine, phenylalanine and lysine. Processing affected the functional properties of amaranth grain with water absorption capacity increasing from 343.9 g/100 g for the raw grain samples to 471.3 g/100 g for the product. However the protein water solubility decreased from 44. 1% to 27.4%. The dilution factor for the amaranth grain product was found to be 15 g/100ml with an acceptable viscosity for infant feeding. Due to moisture reduction in the product the bulk density reduced from 0.7 g/ml for the raw sample to 0.5 g/ml for the product. This study achieved the objective of developing a complementary product of adequate nutritive value that can be prepared using locally available resources and technology. Steeping and steam pregelatinization of amaranth grain produced a ready nutritious product with improved solubility during reconstitution, suitable for infant feeding.


The antifungal activities of most commonly used biocide chlorhexidine gluconate tested against eight pharmaceutical clean room fungal isolates like Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus terreus, Penicillium sp., Curvularia sp., Cladosporium sp., and Alternaria sp. The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) determined by using micro broth dilution method as per clinical and laboratory standards institute (CLSI) guidelines. No data exists on the determination of MIC of chlorhexidine gluconate on pharmaceutical clean room fungal isolates. MIC of chlorhexidine gluconate against species of Aspergillus and Penicillium species were ranged between 4 and 16 μg/mL. MIC of Curvularia, Cladosporium and Alternaria species also showed less than 8 μg/mL. This is the first study report using the CLSI broth microdilution antifungal susceptibility testing to determine the MIC value of chlorhexidine gluconate. ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY


This chapter explores some underlying issues bearing on relationships between engineering and Sustainability. It aims to help point towards ways in which engineering practice might avoid some of the dangers associated with pressures and rhetorics of justification and legitimation, such as to become more robustly aligned with authentic values and interests of Sustainability. Key to this is to recognise some deep resonances around the central preoccupations of much instrumental-style engineering with attempted performances of control. For it is similar imaginations of control that characterise the presently globalising 'infraculture' of Modernity itself. And it is to the associated problems of failed efforts at control, that the Sustainability movement is a reaction. In order practically to resist the associated fixations, fallacies and fantasies of control both in engineering and Modernity more widely, it is suggested that a starting point lies in enacting a distinction between control and care. A number of examples are explored – for instance around current responses to 'climate change' and visions of 'the Anthropocene' – where controlling imaginations are aggravating progressive values and where more caring practices would be more supportive of Sustainability. At the end, the chapter critiques visions of transitions to Sustainability as relatively technical expert-led challenges of controlling progress in particular notionally singular, depoliticised directions. It is argued instead, that a more caring approach might recognise the inherently diverse, political nature of Sustainability. Here, engineering is more about collective action than instrumental policy intervention – as just one among many ways to care for more plural, open-ended transformations.


This study investigates the causal-relationships between human capital and economic growth, and between infrastructure and economic growth in Arab World countries. The study covers the period from 1974 to 2013 using annual data obtained from the World Bank. Most importantly, the study uses advanced Granger causality for panel data with fixed coefficients which introduced by Venet and Hurlin. The full sample has been divided into a sub-groups according the income level, namely, rich countries and non-rich countries, to check if there any existence of the structural differences. The results indicate that the causal-relationships between variables of interest are highly heterogeneous in Arab World. However, there is a feedback relationship between human capital and economic growth and between infrastructure and economic growth in the full sample countries and rich countries group. Also, the results found a oneway causality running from economic growth to human capital and infrastructure in non-rich countries group.


This paper present examples of positive economic and social impacts of cultural projects and mentions an interpretation of the positive interaction between development and culture. Several best practices are explored for each single topic and guidelines for future IDB projects are suggested. This paper complement the document: Thinking Outside the Box: Arguments for IADB's Involvement in the Preservation and Development of Heritage in which were discussed topics related to the role of culture in development and the social impact of culture.


The article is aimed at analyzing issues related to the protection of monetary sources and securities of investors to be kept with stock brokerage firms of Lithuania. First part of the article gives general description of the situation with respect to the safety of funds also securities of the investors. Introductory part is followed by analysis of applicability of the respective provisions of the Civil Code in enhancing the level of protection for the funds of investors, the basic goal of which is to separate property of the stock brokerage firms from the property of their clients, i.e. investors. Further author investigates newly adopted laws which provide for the framework for the better protection of investors' funds and securities, also makes conclusions and recommendations on the steps that need to be taken in order to ensure their proper implementation. And finally, the article explains what should be the role of the respective State institutions in supervising the securities' market as well as the related activities.


Software systems evolve by adding new features, fixing bugs or refactoring existing source code. During this process, some problems may occur (e.g., backward-incompatibility, missing or unclear method deprecation) causing evolving systems and their clients to be inconsistent or to fail, decreasing code quality. As nowadays software systems are frequently part of bigger ecosystems, such problems are even harder to handle because the impact may be large and unknown.One solution to deal with such maintainability problems is the usage of rules to ensure consistency. These rules may be created by experts or extracted from source code repositories, which are commonly evaluated in small-scale case studies. We argue that existing approaches lack of: (i) a deep understanding of the benefits provided by expert-based rules, (ii) a better use of source code repositories to extract history-based rules, and (iii) a large-scale analysis of the impact of source code evolution on the actual clients.In this thesis we propose to analyze and improve rules to better support developers keeping track of source code evolution. We cover three aspects. The benefits provided by expert-based rules: we report on an investigation of rules created based on expert opinion to understand whether they are worthwhile to be adopted given the cost to produce them. The improvement of history-based rules: we propose two solutions to extract better rules from source code history. The impact of source code evolution on a software ecosystem: we undergo an investigation, in a large-scale ecosystem, on the awareness of the client systems about source code evolution.We evaluated the proposed approaches qualitatively and quantitatively in real-world case studies, and, in many cases, with the help of experts on the system under analysis. The results we obtained demonstrate the usefulness of our approaches.


We present forecasts for the accuracy of determining the parameters of a minimal cosmological model and the total neutrino mass based on combined mock data for a future Euclid-like galaxy survey and Planck. We consider two different galaxy surveys: a spectroscopic redshift survey and a cosmic shear survey. We make use of the Monte Carlo Markov Chains (MCMC) technique and assume two sets of theoretical errors. The first error is meant to account for uncertainties in the modelling of the effect of neutrinos on the non-linear galaxy power spectrum and we assume this error to be fully correlated in Fourier space. The second error is meant to parametrize the overall residual uncertainties in modelling the non-linear galaxy power spectrum at small scales, and is conservatively assumed to be uncorrelated and to increase with the ratio of a given scale to the scale of non-linearity. It hence increases with wavenumber and decreases with redshift. With these two assumptions for the errors and assuming further conservatively that the uncorrelated error rises above 2% at k = 0.4 h/Mpc and z = 0.5, we find that a future Euclid-like cosmic shear/galaxy survey achieves a 1-σ error on Mν close to 32 meV/25 meV, sufficient for detecting the total neutrino mass with good significance. If the residual uncorrelated errors indeed rises rapidly towards smaller scales in the non-linear regime as we have assumed here then the data on non-linear scales does not increase the sensitivity to the total neutrino mass. Assuming instead a ten times smaller theoretical error with the same scale dependence, the error on the total neutrino mass decreases moderately from σ(Mν) = 18 meV to 14 meV when mildly non-linear scales with 0.1 h/Mpc < k < 0.6 h/Mpc are included in the analysis of the galaxy survey data.


Why did lodging corporations opt for the asset light model in the first place and why did they adopt it at different times? The answer to such questions could not only help further explore the fundamental question in strategy of why do firms' strategy differ, but also provide insights to managers as to the implications of such strategic choices on corporate performance. Built around three stages and three propositions, the theoretical model proposed in this article integrates constructs from the managerial capability, isomorphism literature, the resource-based view, and Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) to depict the triggers of vertical disintegration. This model underlies the dynamics of a highly significant phenomena in hospitality industry: the development of the asset light model.


Speckle in rear-projection screens, such as those used in microfiche viewers, reduces resolution and can cause viewer fatigue. Many speckle-reduction techniques have been tried with varying degrees of success, including rapid movement of a single screen in its plane, the use of two stationary spaced screens, liquid-crystal screens, and the use of two closely spaced screens in slow relative orbital motion. We describe a simplified, two-screen support that permits only linear screen motion, and show that such motion provides total speckle elimination. An analysis of speckle in such screens is presented which accounts for the observed remarkable sensitivity of the speckle pattern to minute screen displacements. To confirm this analysis we have measured the speckle pattern's correlation as a function of screen displacement using the speckle interferometry method of Francon. We consider the effects of a spatially and spectrally extended incandescent light source, and conclude that these effects are negligible in our application compared to the effect of screen motion. We show that these three speckle-reducing effects (screen motion, spatial extent of the source, and spectral extent of the source) can be considered together by introducing the notion of space-time correlation cells.


During its seven-year run, Buffy the Vampire Slayer attracted a wide range of viewers and almost unprecedented academic interest. Sex and the Slayer explores one of the most talked-about topics in relation to this pioneering TV series-gender. As fantasy, Buffy potentially opens up a space for alternative representations of gender. But how alternative can popular television be? Taking a feminist cultural studies approach, Jowett explores the ways in which the series represents femininity, masculinity, and gendered relations, including sexuality and sexual orientation. Written for undergraduates, Sex and the Slayer provides an introduction to the most important theoretical and historical underpinnings of contemporary gender criticism as it examines a range of thought-provoking issues: role reversal, the tension between feminism and femininity, the"crisis" of masculinity, gender hybridity, the appeal of bad girls, romance, and changing family structures. Through this introductory analysis, Jowett shows that Buffy presents a contradictory mixture of "subversive" and "conservative" images of gender roles and as such is a key example of the complexity of gender representation in contemporary television.


Take a first look at the next generation of Windows Server-with insights direct from the popular author and Microsoft MVP Mitch Tulloch and the Microsoft Windows Server team. With this insider's introduction, you will get to preview and evaluate Windows Server code name "Longhorn." You will learn how to use new features that help you improve security, performance, reliability, and operational efficiency, as well as how to automate deployment and administration. Examine Windows Hypervisor virtualization, Windows Deployment Services, Internet Information Services 7.0, Windows PowerShell™, Network Access Protection, and other security features. Take a guided preview from the experts and get ready to plan for deployment and perform your first upgrades and migrations to Windows Server code name "Longhorn."


This article will identify and define the concept of transdiegetic sound space in computer games, and discuss the relationship of this space to action and events in the game. The point of departure for the article is based on discussions of the diegetic space in film theory, but the argument will be supported by writings on the role of sound for usability purposes in web applications and software, as well as views on games as a framing of a separate field of action and how computer games interpret this . Although sound is in focus in this article, it should be noted that transdiegeticity is relevant for a greater understanding of spatial relationships in computer games in general.


Epilepsy is such a fascinating and enigmatic condition to study. Not only are seizures common on a population basis, they commonly feature among a range of structural, metabolic, and inflammatory disorders. An attempt to understand the etiology of the epilepsies underpins the 2010 International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) classification and yet there are many incongruities that mean our current knowledge about the causes of epilepsy can be apparently contradictory. This review is therefore very timely, featuring a cavalcade of great thinkers and writers. It was important for us to recruit clinicians who could tackle the full complexity of these themes and yet describe them in an articulate fashion.

Some of these themes are nonintuitive: For example, it appears that the rarer the epilepsy syndrome, the more likely we are to understand its etiology. Rare devastating epilepsies often form part of a broader disease phenotype, such as in a metabolic condition; however, it is the importance of de novo mutagenesis—in genes that do not normally tolerate variation—that has really expanded the field. The immune basis of certain epilepsies is currently so established that it is possible now to start someone on immunosuppressive therapy even without identifying a specific autoantibody. The risk of seizures following traumatic brain injury remains above the population rate for many years following the apparent resolution of the injury. The identification of a recurrent de novo mutation in KCNC1 makes us think again about the genetic architecture underpinning the progressive myoclonic epilepsies. And the more we understand about the common epilepsies, the more surprises they throw up. For the genetic generalized epilepsies, it is their genomic deletions and duplications in the form of copy number variation; for the focal epilepsies it has been the rise of Mendelian mutations in single genes such as DEPDC5 and GRIN2A. Finally, we are reminded that there is much more to tumor-associated seizures than lesion clearance alone and that the patient factors and pathophysiology must each be taken into account.

Our wish is that when this themed edition is revised in 10 years or so, that not only have these authors made great strides in understanding "idiopathic" epilepsies better, but that there is a growing field of treatments made possible in light of this information. The results of uncontrolled and pragmatic trials of sirolimus for Pretzel syndrome or quinidine for KCNT1 encephalopathy are tantalizing glimpses into what that 2025 themed edition of Seminars in Neurology might look like.

It was a real pleasure working with such a talented group of authors and we are grateful that they have shared their insights. We know that you will enjoy reading their chapters on the etiology of epilepsy.


PAUL CHADWICK, MAX BIRCHWOOD, AND PETER TROWER: Cognitive Therapy for Delusions, Voices and Paranoia. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, England, 1996, 210 pp., $55.00, ISBN 0-471-93888-2. It may seem anachronistic now, but there was a time when clinicians took seriously the psychotherapeutic treatment of schizophrenics and other psychotic patients. There used to be genuine optimism, at influential institutions such as Austin Riggs, that intensive psychoanalytic psychotherapy would be successful in alleviating psychotic symptomatology. With the remarkable efficacy of pharmacological treatments, clinicians currently pay little attention to the patient's internal psychological make-up, other than to use rehabilitation or psychoeducational approaches that represent efforts to help the patient accommodate to disturbing residual symptoms and functional deficits. In their new volume, Chadwick, Birchwood, and Trower challenge this pervasive skepticism, and take the psychotherapy of psychosis quite seriously. They claim that delusions, auditory hallucinations, and paranoia are amenable to relatively brief (20-30 sessions) psychotherapeutic interventions. Psychotherapy works, as they see it, because psychotic symptoms are merely exaggerations of normal psychological phenomena. Symptoms are not discontinuous with normal experience; rather, they are manifestations of basic cognitive mechanisms, regarding how people interpret and make inferences and attributions about events. As such, psychotic experiences will respond to cognitive therapy interventions. Although cognitive therapists have traditionally found psychotic patients to be untreatable, the authors label their approach "cognitive therapy," and scrupulously examine the beliefs and evaluations underlying psychotic experiences, engaging floridly paranoid individuals in ongoing psychotherapy. Using an ABC framework, they conceptualize all experiences and interactions in terms of Activating events, Beliefs, and emotional (or behavioral) Consequences. Delusions and paranoid thinking reflect beliefs about certain events and experiences, once those events are placed within an appropriate context. Even perceptual distortions, such as voices, are considered activating events, with associated beliefs and evaluations. As Chadwick et al. view it, these beliefs are the source of problems, not the psychotic experiences per se, and these beliefs may be changed. They will not directly confront a delusions, but they will subtly call it a belief (as opposed to a fact), challenge inconsistencies within the delusional logic, and ask about reactions to hypothetical contradictions. All these strategies are attempts to access the patient's self-evaluations. These three British psychologists ground their therapy in general social psychological theory, which may not be familiar to nonpsychologists. For example, they discuss self-other attributions, but make no mention of the concept of "projection." They speak of other-self or self-self evaluations in ways that are quite similar to object relations theorists, and yet there is no reference to this way of thinking. Considering the long tradition of conceptualizing psychosis in terms of lack of ego boundaries, it would have been useful to discuss the notion of paranoid delusions as a defense against fear of merger. …


Objectives: Toxoplasma gondii is a ruthless intracellular parasite belonging to Coccidae. Toxoplasmosis is a disease affecting 500 million people worldwide. The seroprevalence varies from 5% to 90% depending on geographical location, age, habit of eating, raw meat or unwashed fruit and vegetables, and general level of hygiene. The objective of the current study was to assess the prevalence of this parasitic disease which lately seems to be elevated generally in Iraq and particularly in the middle and northern Iraq. A prospective study was carried out on females which attended public hospitals complaining of abortion and/ or infertility during 2009. Methods: We collected blood samples from the female patients to detect the presence of specific antibodies of Toxoplasma gondii utilizing direct agglutination test which was compared with ELISA techniques for evaluations of their testing sensitivity. The history of all patients was taken particularly abortion and marriage periods with and/ or without children with the family. Results: Direct latex agglutination test and ELISA methodology gave almost the same results when both were utilized for the detection of the toxoplasmosis in the sera of the women examined. A high frequency of toxoplasmosis incidence was seen among women with one abortion group which happen during their marital life. Conclusions: It was concluded that the high prevalence of toxoplasmosis among the investigated high risk women at Al-Hawija and at Al-Baiji districts is due to many risk factors including age, number of deliveries, contact with host animals. This disease was elevated after Iraq occupation with a frequency of infection more than 40% compared to eighties of Iraqi life which was the frequency of the infected women with toxoplasmosis which did not exceed 2% of the women tested at that time by our laboratories.


A model network comprising climate models, a hydrological model, a catchment-scale model for phosphorus biogeochemistry, and a lake thermodynamics and plankton dynamics model was used to simulate phosphorus loadings, total phosphorus and chlorophyll concentrations in Lake Vansjø, Southern Norway. The model network was automatically calibrated against time series of hydrological, chemical and biological observations in the inflowing river and in the lake itself using a Markov Chain Monte-Carlo (MCMC) algorithm. Climate projections from three global climate models (GCM: HadRM3, ECHAM5r3 and BCM) were used. The GCM model HadRM3 predicted the highest increase in temperature and precipitation and yielded the highest increase in total phosphorus and chlorophyll concentrations in the lake basin over the scenario period of 2031-2060. Despite the significant impact of climate change on these aspects of water quality, it is minimal when compared to the much larger effect of changes in land-use. The results suggest that implementing realistic abatement measures will remain a viable approach to improving water quality in the context of climate change.


Fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) is a neurotrophic factor that promotes stem cell renewal for cultured neurogenitor precursor cells, such as those from adult rat hippocampus (AHPs). However, FGF-2 is only effective alone if the cells are initially plated at a high density, suggesting that there may be a factor produced by the culture that cooperates with FGF-2 to stimulate stem cell proliferation without stimulating differentiation. Taupin et al. isolated a 21-kD protein from AHP-conditioned medium, identified as glycosylated form of the cysteine protease inhibitor cystatin C (CCg), which was responsible for promoting the effects of FGF-2. Furthermore, the carbohydrate moiety on CCg was essential for this activity, but the protease inhibitor activity of CCg was dispensable. The dividing AHP cells in culture and mitotic neural stem cells in vivo were labeled by an anti-CCg antibody. Finally, injection of AHP cells engineered to produce a secreted form of FGF-2 and CCg, but not the cells that produced the nonglycosylated form of CCg, stimulated proliferation of neural progenitors in adult rat dentate gyrus. Thus, a combination of paracrine and neurotrophic factors appears to regulate neurogenesis. Taupin, P., Ray, J., Fischer, W.H., Suhr, S.T., Hakansson, K., Grubb, A., and Gage, F.H. (2000) FGF-2-responsive neural stem cell proleferation requires CCg, a novel autocrine/paracrine cofactor. Neuron 28: 385-397. [Online Journal]


The fossil record of cranial material from titanosaurid sauropods is very poor and no complete skull has been described so far. Here we describe a new braincase (MUCPv-334) that was recovered from reddish sandstones of the Rio Colorado Subgroup (Late Cretaceous) of the region of Bajo del Añelo, approximately 20 km north of the town Añelo (Neuquén Province, Argentina). This specimen is attributed to the Titanosauridae based on the ventrally projected basipterygoid processes, a common condition shared by other titanosaurids. The robustness of MUCPv-334 together with an unusually expanded crista prootica and the presence of an anterior prolongation of the parasphenoid reaching the basal tubera were not reported in other members of the Titanosauridae, indicating a larger diversity in the braincase morphology of this sauropod clade than previously thought.


Hypoxia is a common feature of tumor cells. Nitroreductase (NTR), a common biomarker of hypoxia, has been widely used to evaluate the extent of tumor hypoxia. In this study, three fluorescent probes (FBN-1-3) were synthesized to monitor the extent of hypoxia in cancer cells in real time. FBN-1-3 were composed of a fluorescein analogue and one of three different aromatic nitro groups. Of these probes, FBN-1 showed excellent sensitivity and selectivity in detecting hypoxia via a reduction in O2 concentration. Confocal fluorescence imaging and flow cytometry demonstrated that HepG-2, A549, and SKOV-3 cells incubated with FBN-1 under reduced oxygen conditions showed significantly enhanced fluorescence. A mouse HepG-2 tumor model confirmed that FBN-1 responds rapidly to NTR and can be used to evaluate the degree of tumor hypoxia. The changes in intra- and extracellular NTR in tumor cells were also concurrently monitored, which did not reveal a link between NTR concentration and degree of hypoxia. Our work provides a functional probe for tumor hypoxia, and our results suggest the fluorescent response of our probe is due to a decrease in O2 concentration, and not NTR concentration.


Recent scholarship has found evidence that refugee flows may inadvertently contribute to the spread of conflict across borders. Little is known, however, about the spatial diffusion of conflict within a state's borders and what role internal displacement plays in such a dynamic. This question is of relevance because of the particular marginalization of internally displaced persons, which make them at risk of predation and militarization by armed groups. Drawing on a novel global data set on internal displacement, we evaluate this question and find evidence for a similar mechanism leading to conflict spread operating at the domestic level.


1. The renal handling of calcium and magnesium was studied in six patients with persistent hypomagnesaemia after cis-platinum treatment for testicular tumours. 2. In comparison with normal subjects, the patients showed hypomagnesaemia (mean 0.54 mmol/l), which was associated with a normal urinary magnesium excretion (mean 4.83 mmol/24 h). Urinary calcium excretion was significantly lower in the patients than in the normal subjects (mean 2.05 vs 5.15 mmol/24 h, respectively; P less than 0.01), despite slightly higher total serum calcium levels (2.53 vs 2.38 mmol/l, respectively; P less than 0.05). During magnesium chloride infusion, when serum magnesium levels were comparable in patients and controls, urinary calcium excretion remained lower in the patients, indicating that hypomagnesaemia was not the cause of the hypocalciuria. 3. Dietary magnesium supplementation resulted in a significant increase in the serum magnesium levels in the patients, while dietary magnesium deprivation resulted in a comparable decrease in urinary magnesium excretion in patients and controls (to 1.46 and 2.00 mmol/day, respectively), although the serum magnesium level fell further (to 0.46 mmol/l) in the patients. 4. The dissociation of renal calcium and magnesium excretion appears to be part of the intrinsic tubular defect caused by cis-platinum. This dissociation of urinary calcium and magnesium excretion, which resembles that seen in Bartter's syndrome, may result from a lesion in the distal convoluted tubule.


Some doubt whether a pope can articulate, even for Christians, a coherent social vision. However, scholars dealing with political, social, and economic concerns benefit from an exposition of papal pastoral concerns; the Church is, after all, on the front line of social practice and grapples with the same issues as political, social, and economic theorists. In Caritas in Veritate ( CV ), Benedict tackles the politically ignored third-rail issues, outlining current social problems with traditional Vatican diplomacy. Our goal here is twofold: first, to show how CV challenges scholars to offer perspective on pathological factors impacting culture; second, to address those sections of CV dealing with economics that potentially are subject to misinterpretation. Policy issues concerning globalization, intermediate institutions, national sovereignty, international trade, and the environment are discussed. Barry Keating and Maryann O. Keating, "Benedict XVI as Social Realist in Caritas in Veritate," Journal of Markets & Morality 14, no. 2 (Fall 2011): 345-358


: This study designed to compare the vital role of the inflammatory immune responses and autoimmunity in development both types of diabetic mellitus by measurement of serum IL-17 , and Anti-Gad levels among patients groups and healthy by using ELISA kits . The study included sixty DM patients were divided into two groups : 30 patients with Type I DM ( 33.7% ) , and 30 patients with Type II DM (33.7%) . In addition to 29 healthy individuals were (32.6 %) . The results indicated an elevated mean serum level of IL-17 and Anti-Gad in both patients groups , as compared with the healthy control with significant difference . Also, the findings recorded a highly significant difference in IL-17 and Anti-Gad sera levels between both types of patient groups at (P< 0. 01) . According to the correlation results between IL-17 and Anti-Gad in patients groups , the data was demonstrated that the expression of IL-17 had a significant positive correlation with expression of Anti-Gad (P< 0.05) among Type I patients . Whereas an inverse very weak correlation was observed between IL-17 and Anti-Gad with no significant (P ˃ 0.05) in Type 2 patients . we concluded the an elevated levels of IL-17A in both types of DM may be as a prognostic factor for development them in Iraqi population. We also conclude that elevated Anti-Gad in Type II DM may be an indication of the rapid development of undiagnosed insulin deficiency in latent autoimmune diabetes in adult patients .


Cebolla is an intersection of cryptographic mix networks and the environment of the public Internet. Most of the history of cryptographic mix networks lies in academic attempts to provide anonymity of various sorts to the users of the network. While based on strong cryptographic principles, most attempts have failed to address properties of the public network and the reasonable expectations of most of its users. Cebolla attempts to address this gulf between the interesting research aspects of IP level anonymity and the operational expectations of most uses of the IP network.


The militants who launched the car bombs clearly want to undermine the pro-Western governments in Riyadh and Ankara, but the attacks must also be viewed in broader terms. In the past year, al- Qaida and its regional affiliates have been attacking pro-Western Muslim regimes and soft targets from Tunisia to Indonesia in a shift that is justified ideologically but is driven by necessity: Al- Qaida does not appear to have the capability to mount large-scale attacks inside the United States at the moment. It is clear much of the terrorist activity in the past year in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Tunisia, Pakistan and Yemen has been regionally motivated and organized with less command and control from al-Qaida's senior leadership. This is a result of a gradual erosion of al-Qaida's leadership and its inability to launch spectacular operations on U.S. soil. This view is gaining ground in the counterterrorist community, but U.S. officials are wary of making such claims after failing to detect the presence of the Sept. 11 hijackers. In the late 1990s, bin Laden played a critical role in persuading Mr. [Zawahiri] to suspend his attacks in Egypt and to instead target the United States, Christians and Jews. He said internal strife alienates the Muslim constituency, whose support for al-Qaida is urgently needed, and diverts resources from its confrontation with the West. Mr. Zawahiri must be pleased that the path has returned to his deeply held convictions.


Abstract: Sentence and construction types generally have more than one pragmatic function. Impersonal deontic declaratives such as 'it is necessary to X' assert the existence of an obligation or necessity without tying it to any particular individual. This family of statements can accomplish a range of functions, including getting another person to act, explaining or justifying the speaker's own behavior as he or she undertakes to do something, or even justifying the speaker's behavior while simultaneously getting another person to help. How is an impersonal deontic declarative fit for these different functions? And how do people know which function it has in a given context? We address these questions using video recordings of everyday interactions among speakers of Italian and Polish. Our analysis results in two findings. The first is that the pragmatics of impersonal deontic declaratives is systematically shaped by (i) the relative responsibility of participants for the necessary task and (ii) the speaker's nonverbal conduct at the time of the statement. These two factors influence whether the task in question will be dealt with by another person or by the speaker, often giving the statement the force of a request or, alternatively, of an account of the speaker's behavior. The second finding is that, although these factors systematically influence their function, impersonal deontic declaratives maintain the potential to generate more complex interactions that go beyond a simple opposition between requests and accounts, where participation in the necessary task may be shared, negotiated, or avoided. This versatility of impersonal deontic declaratives derives from their grammatical makeup: by being deontic and impersonal, they can both mobilize or legitimize an act by different participants in the speech event, while their declarative form does not constrain how they should be responded to. These features make impersonal deontic declaratives a special tool for the management of social agency.


The focus of this dissertation is to understand the process and implications of capitalist incorporation and agrarian change in the frontier region of Northern Costa Rica within the San Juan-La Selva Biological Corridor. Within this larger narrative the analysis focuses on three major themes: agricultural intensification, migration dynamics and family farmers. Data utilized in this analysis includes: community workshops, 35 interviews with government officials, agribusinesses, producer organizations and large landholders, a randomized household survey of 139 households, grey literature, census data and extended participant observation. Key findings are as follows: Structural adjustment reforms have driven a trend of agricultural intensification through the expansion of pineapple, which has led to homogenization of the agricultural matrix's land cover. Pineapple expansion has also increased regional economic dependency on large agribusinesses, created incentives for land turnover, and has drawn labor migrants. These parallel social-ecological changes caused by the expansion of pineapple, undermine the biodiversity of the agricultural matrix and do not facilitate development of the agricultural sector in a way that is inclusive of the diversity of farmers present in the study region. Migrants to this region are largely marginalized populations with low socio-economic indicators of wealth and quality of life. International and internal migrants have come in two general waves; early migrants were seeking land and later migrants were seeking labor opportunities. The earliest migrants in the eldest life stage are faring the worst on the frontier and have not been able to capitalize on their land resources to tangibly improve their quality of life. The family farmer is in peril in this landscape and is primarily participating in traditional domestic markets. Collective organization and state help are critical factors that allow family farmers to persist and prosper in the political economic and eco-regional context of the frontier. This dissertation provides a model to inform future analysis of coupled human-ecological systems that accounts for social, political and ecological change as coupled parallel processes. (Resume d'auteur)


The current study tested the hypothesis that the effects of THC on affect are mediated by the ability of THC to alter attentional bias to positive and negative stimuli. The study was completed by 16 participants, all of whom were consistent marijuana users. During sessions, participants used a machine called a Quantified Smoke Delivery System, which delivers a controlled amount of smoke to the user, to smoke either a cigarette that contained THC or a placebo cigarette. After smoking, participants would complete a task. During tasks, participants were placed in an eye tracking apparatus in order to record the movement of their eye gaze using an eye tracking program while they looked at a computer monitor. Participants were presented with sets of two pictures depicting faces showing varying degrees of different emotions and instructed to look freely between the pictures. Participant eye-gaze was then analyzed. A clear interaction between time and drug type was found, such that the eye-gaze of participants was biased more toward the negative emotional picture during the first .667ms of gaze time. A greater bias for positive relative to negative and negative relative to neutral stimuli was also found in the placebo condition, and was not observed in the THC condition. The Effects of THC on Attentional Bias to Emotional Stimuli Page 4


To the Editor: Pertussis is a highly communicable, acute bacterial respiratory infection caused by Bordetella pertussis. In the United States, the incidence of pertussis declined dramatically after pertussis-containing vaccine was introduced in the 1940s (1,2). However, a resurgence of disease results in widespread outbreaks of pertussis nationally (3).

Beginning in August 2011, an outbreak of pertussis occurred in New York City (NYC), New York, USA. Reported pertussis incidence by month peaked in December 2011 (1.03 cases/100,000 persons) and remained above the baseline average monthly incidence of 0.11 cases/100,000 persons until February 2013. We hypothesized that provider awareness and altered practices after the start of the outbreak contributed to the sustained elevation in reported pertussis incidence.

To test this hypothesis, we surveyed NYC providers to assess their awareness of the outbreak, their consideration of pertussis in symptomatic patients, and the type and frequency of diagnostic testing ordered. The survey (available on request) was designed in FeedbackServer 5 (University of Massachusetts, Worcester, MA, USA; https://w3.umassmed.edu/fs/FeedbackServer/help/feedbackserver.htm) and consisted of 20 questions that required ≈5 minutes to complete by using a Web link. We distributed the survey in January 2013 to providers through 3 health department email lists: the NYC Health Alert Network, the Citywide Immunization Registry, and the Primary Care Information Project. The lists included ≈30,000 email addresses that were not mutually exclusive and that included nonmedical providers.

Through March 7, 2013, we received 1,316 responses; 887 (67%) were excluded from analyses for >1 reason: respondent did not complete all survey questions (74%); respondent did not practice in a hospital or outpatient facility (31%); respondent indicated that his or her primary facility was located outside NYC (6%); or response was a duplicate (<1%). Of the 429 (33%) responses included in our analyses, 69% of respondents served adults and 54% served children (23% served both adults and children); 38% practiced in a hospital, and 81% practiced in an outpatient setting (18% practiced in both hospital and outpatient settings).

Respondents were asked if and how they were aware of the pertussis outbreak; 84% reported previous awareness of the outbreak. The top reported sources contributing to respondents' outbreak awareness included health advisory alerts (local [80%], state [36%], and national [40%]); media reports (36%); and discussion with colleagues (29%).

In addition, respondents were asked how likely they were to consider pertussis infection in patients with prolonged cough before 2012 and currently. Reported consideration of pertussis before 2012 varied: 35% of respondents were likely or very likely to consider pertussis, 33% were somewhat likely to consider pertussis, 30% were unlikely to consider pertussis, and 3% did not know (unknown). However, 73% of respondents said that they were more likely to consider pertussis at the time of the survey than before 2012. The top reported sources contributing to increased consideration of pertussis mirrored those contributing to outbreak awareness.

Respondents were last asked to assess the type and frequency of diagnostic testing they used before and since 2012 (Table). Most (66%) respondents indicated that they did not perform diagnostic testing for pertussis before 2012. Among the 34% who tested for pertussis before 2012, the main diagnostic methods used were bacterial culture (46%) and PCR (45%). However, 12% of respondents indicated that they had changed the type of diagnostic test they used beginning in 2012; among these respondents, 33% were more likely to use pertussis culture and 63% were more likely to use PCR or to use culture and PCR. Of total respondents, 22% indicated that they ordered diagnostic tests more frequently since the beginning of 2012.

Table

Provider responses to survey questions related to diagnostic testing for pertussis, New York City, New York, USA*

Our investigation has limitations. We could not determine a survey response rate because of extensive overlap of the email lists used, and we lacked access to the lists; the response rate is assumed to be very low. Respondents included in the analysis may not have been representative of the broader NYC provider community. In addition, respondents may not have uniformly interpreted the survey because of the subjective nature of some survey questions, and recall bias may have affected responses. Also, respondent awareness of the outbreak is likely overestimated because the email lists used for survey distribution were used during the outbreak to distribute health alerts. Despite these limitations, our investigation shows the value of Web-based surveys distributed by email to gather information rapidly from a large provider community in a cost-effective and practical manner.

This investigation indicates the importance of provider knowledge and practices for public health surveillance data. High awareness of an outbreak, increased clinical suspicion of pertussis, and increased frequency of diagnostic testing likely contributed to a sustained elevation in pertussis incidence. Advisory alerts and media reports were successful mechanisms for disseminating information to providers during the outbreak and likely altered provider behaviors that contributed to the increase in reported pertussis incidence. Previous reports have documented increased submission of disease notifications after media coverage of health concerns (4,5). Responses to our survey also highlight how pertussis incidence may be routinely underestimated because providers do not suspect the disease or test for it consistently.


From the Publisher:
The internet has recently grown from a fringe cultural phenomenon to a significant site of cultural production and transformation. Internet Culture maps this new domain of language, politics and identity, locating it within the histories of communication and the public sphere. Internet Culture offers a critical interrogation of the sustaining myths of the virtual world and of the implications of the current mass migration onto the electronic frontier. Among the topics discussed in Internet Culture are the virtual spaces and places created by the citizens of the Net and their claims to the hotly contested notion of "virtual community"; the virtual bodies that occupy such spaces; and the desires that animate these bodies. The contributors also examine the communication medium behind theworlds of the Net, analyzing the rhetorical conventions governing online discussion, literary antecedents,and potential pedagogical applications.


Abstract. Dinitrogen pentoxide (N2O5) and the nitrate radical (NO3) play important roles in atmospheric chemistry, yet accurate measurements of their concentrations remain challenging. A thermal dissociation chemical ionization mass spectrometer (TD-CIMS) was deployed to an urban site in Hong Kong to measure the sum of N2O5 and NO3 in autumn 2010 based on the signals of NO3− at 62 amu which has also been adopted in previous studies reported in literature. To our surprise, very large signals of N2O5 + NO3 were frequently observed at 62 amu in the daytime, with equivalent N2O5 + NO3 mixing ratios in the range of 200–1000 pptv. To investigate this unusual phenomenon, various interference tests and measurements with different instrument configuration were conducted. It was found that peroxy acetyl nitrate (PAN) contributed to measurable signals at 62 amu, and more importantly, this interference increased significantly with co-existence of NO2. Nitric acid (HNO3), on the other hand, had little interference to the detection of N2O5/NO3 via the NO3− ion in our TD-CIMS. According to the test results, the interference from PAN and NO2 could have contributed to 30–50% of the average daytime (12:00–16:00, local time) N2O5 + NO3 signal at our site. On the other hand, evidence exists for the presence of elevated daytime N2O5, in addition to the daytime signal at 62 amu. This includes (1) daytime N2O5 measured via the I(N2O5)− cluster ion with an unheated inlet, which was subjected to minimum interferences, and (2) observation of elevated daytime ClNO2 (a product of N2O5 hydrolysis) during a follow-up study. In view of the difficulty in accurately quantifying the contribution from the interferences of PAN and NO2 and untested potential interfering chemicals in the real atmosphere, we caution the use of 62 amu in the TD-CIMS for measuring ambient N2O5 in a high NOx environment like Hong Kong. Additional studies are needed to re-examine the daytime issue using other measurement techniques.


This paper studies the contagion of sovereign default across countries through common investors. We develop a multicountry model in which default in one country triggers default in other countries. Countries are linked to one another by borrowing from and renegotiating with common lenders. Countries default together because by doing so they can renegotiate the debt simultaneously and pay lower recoveries. Defaulting is also attractive in response to foreign defaults because the cost of rolling over the debt is higher when other countries default as these are times when the lenders' wealth is low. Such forces are quantitatively important for generating a positive correlation of spreads and joint incidence of default. The model can rationalize some of the recent economic events in Europe as well as the historical patterns of defaults, renegotiations, and recoveries across countries.


Abstract. Middle Holocene cultures have been widely studied around the Eastern-Mediterranean basin in the last 30 years and past cultural activities have been commonly linked with regional climate changes. However, in many cases such linkage is equivocal, in part due to existing climatic evidence that has been derived from areas outside the distribution of ancient settlements, leading to uncertainty from complex spatial heterogeneity in both climate and demography. A few high-resolution well-dated paleoclimate records were recently established using speleothems in the Central and Eastern-Mediterranean basin, however, the scarcity of such records in the western part of the Mediterranean prevents us from correlating past climate evolutions across the basin and deciphering climate–culture relation at fine timescales. Here we report the first decadal-resolved Mid-Holocene climate proxy records from the Western-Mediterranean basin based on the stable carbon and oxygen isotopes analyses of two U/Th dated stalagmites from the Gueldaman GLD1 Cave in Northern Algeria. Comparison of our records with those from Italy and Israel reveals synchronous (multi) centennial dry phases centered at ca. 5600, ca. 5200 and ca. 4200 yr BP across the Mediterranean basin. New calibrated radiocarbon dating constrains reasonably well the age of rich anthropogenic deposits (e.g., faunal remains, pottery, charcoal) excavated inside the cave, which allows the comparison between in situ evidence of human occupation and of climate change. This approach shows that the timing of a prolonged drought at ca. 4400–3800 yr BP blankets the onset of cave abandonment shortly after ca. 4403 cal yr BP, supporting the hypothesis that a climate anomaly may have played a role in this cultural disruption.


The financial crisis strongly marked states around the world due to the increasing indebtedness of the states and of the banks, which went through, with few exceptions, a prolonged recession. The year 2014 seems to mark a new economic cycle, and the turnaround is seen in Romania, a state which has made progress in reinforcing and stabilizing the public finance sector, as well as resuming economic growth which must be followed by economic development. The concept of economic development is more complex than economic growth, which involves the design of certain directions for long-term sustainable growth, based on the optimum use of available resources, on the continuous development of innovative potential and human capital, reducing social inequalities, etc., where the investment process has a particularly important role. From this perspective, analysing factors that influence the attraction of foreign investments, as a vector of economic development in the international context is the most important –this will be the main objective of this paper.


Starch-based confectionery products were prepared using different types of sugar. In addition to using different sugar, starch was replaced with soy protein isolate (SPI) in some of the products. 1H NMR spin-lattice relaxation experiments were performed for the collection of products in a broad frequency range from 4 KHz to 30 MHz to get insight into the influence of different sugar types and SPI on the dynamics of water in composite gel systems. The relaxation data have been decomposed into relaxation contributions associated with two different pools of water molecules characterized by different mobility. The translation dynamics of water molecules has been quantitatively described in terms of a dedicated relaxation model. The influence of the sample composition (the type of sugar and/or the presence of SPI) on the water mobility was thoroughly discussed. The results indicate that the addition of soy protein does not affect water dynamics for samples including sucrose. In addition, as the complementary measurements, physical properties of the products, such as the moisture content, water activity and texture, were investigated in terms of X-ray diffraction and thermogravimetric analysis.


We live in a fluid and mobile world, where rapid changes in our lives may suddenly occur. This is the case also for many people living in families. Family breakups are rather commonplace these days, being events usually representing major implications for all the family members affected by the changed living conditions, most often also meaning a change of residence, homestead and place. Such implications are particularly visible with the children affected by the breakups, whose lives now either have to be shared with only one parent, or to be shared between the two parents. In Norway the most common childcare arrangement after a divorce is that one of the parents gets the primary care responsibility, most commonly the mother. In a survey from 2004 about responsibility and care after the child support reform (Bidragsreformen) of 2003, Kitterod found that mothers got custody in 82 percent of all cases, fathers 8 percent, and 10 percent share custody for their children. This assignment is concerned about the last group; those who share custody for their children, also known as joint custody, (delt bosted).This arrangement is a relatively new and not a very widespread one, but we can see a growing tendency towards following this new trend. Joint custody is, however, a controversial arrangement, having led to many debates around its implications for the children and whether or not this arrangement is to their best interests. The arrangement implies that children spend an equal amount of time with both their parents, even though those no longer live together. Joint custody may be arranged in different ways, but most frequently the child live part time in each of his/hers parents` homes, normally one week at each place (Skjorten, 2007) Thus these children have two places to call their home, and their parents live every other week without their children in their separate homes. Is this a bad way for children to grow up, a restless and unsecure form of dwelling, critics might ask? Or is it a right step towards making children useful adults fit for an increasingly mobile and changing world?In my study I draw on my own experience, having a son living in joint custody for about seven years. Thus the background for my thesis is a curiosity about what this might mean for him and for his conception and personal relation to the notion of home. It is also based on how I myself experience my home, and my relation to home changing according to his presence or absence. What exactly is home, why do some places become homes, and can we relate home to several places?Accordingly, the aim of this thesis is to study the particular family arrangement called joint custody, trying to get an understanding of how this is organized, and its impacts on both the parents` and the children's experience of the place called home. Using geographical knowledge and theory about the concepts of place and home, I seek to illuminate questions related to these concepts. This is being done through the experiences of eight informants, two fathers and six mothers of children living in joint custody. The research was conducted by the author in the autumn 2008 in Trondheim, Norway, and applied through qualitative depth interviews.Home certainly is a complex term which has been used in many different ways throughout time. Home is here understood as a place, which on its own is an important and a rather complex concept in geography. Both these concepts are outlined and discussed in chapter 3. I especially draw on Doreen Massey (1994, 2005) and her understanding of places as meeting places. This relational approach is also a key element in the critical geography of home formulated by Blunt and Dowling in their book Home (2006).