Introduction: Dyslipidemia is one of the key risk factors for cardiovascular disease in type 2 diabetes (T2D). The dyslipidemia is characterized by increased plasma concentration of triglycerides (TG), reduced concentration of high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and an increased concentration of small dense low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. Evidence from both animal and human studies suggests that insulin resistance (in adipose and liver tissues) is an important underlying cause of hypertriglyceridemia in subjects with metabolic syndrome and T2D. Hepatic de-novo lipogenesis and production of triglyceride rich VLDL are regulated via the phosphoinositide 3-kinase cascade. However, the role of a negative regulator of this pathway, the SH2 domain containing inositol 5-phosphatase (SHIP2) remains unknown. Methods and Materials: In the present study, we studied the molecular mechanisms linking SHIP2 expression to metabolic dyslipidemia using overexpression or suppression of SHIP2 gene in HepG2 cells exposed to oleate (0.5 mM). Results: The results showed that, comparing to the control group, the overexpression of the wild type SHIP2 gene (SHIP2-WT) led to a higher total lipid content (28%), whereas overexpression of the dominant negative SHIP2 gene (SHIP2-DN) reduced total lipid content in oleate treated cells by 40%. Overexpression of SHIP2-WT also lead to a significant increase in increased intra and extracellular triglyceride levels and enhanced the expression of lipogenic genes such as SREBP1c, FAS and ACC. On the other hand, overexpression of the SHIP2-DN gene prevented oleate-induced de-novo lipogenesis in HepG2 cells. Discussion and Conclusion: All in all, these findings suggest that SHIP2 expression level is an important determinant of hepatic lipogenesis and its inhibition can potentially be a target in treatment of dyslipidemia in diabetic patients.


Physical asset management (PAM) is of increasing concern for companies in industry today. A key performance area of PAM is asset care plans (ACPs), which consist of maintenance strategies such as usage based maintenance (UBM) and condition based maintenance (CBM). Data obtained from the South African mining industry was modelled using a CBM prognostic model called the proportional hazards model (PHM). Results indicated that the developed model produced estimates that were reasonable representations of reality. These findings provide an exciting basis for the development of future Weibull PHMs that could result in huge maintenance cost savings and reduced failure occurrences.


In this paper we present the modeling, simulation and analysis of the energy conversion equations describing the behavior of a hybrid system of wind turbine and biomass/ gas turbine and district heating hybrid system for power generation and district heating. A numerical model based upon the aforementioned equations has been developed, integrated, coded and the results were compared to experimental data. The model fairly predicted with experimental dat


We report the continuous wave (CW) second harmonic generation (SHG) with a periodically poled KTiOPO4 (PPKTP) pumped by a diode laser at 852.356 nm, which is exactly resonant on the cesium D2 transition. An output power of 54.4 mW of blue light at 426 nm was obtained at the pump power of 136.4 mW. The conversion efficiency is about 40%. The best matching temperature is 318.3 K. This CW blue light can be used for atomic physics, especially for the generation of nonclassical light at the transition of cesium atom through optical parametric oscillator (OPO).


Composite materials for the most part depicted as the mixes of two or more materials that outcome in the unmistakable properties than that of guard materials. Fibre strengthened plastics have been all around utilized for get-together flying machine and transport key parts as a
delayed consequence of their specific mechanical and physical properties, for example, high particular quality and high particular robustness. Another pertinent application for fibre maintained polymeric composites
(particularly glass fibre strengthened plastics) is in the electronic business, in which they are utilized for passing on printed wiring sheets. The utilization of polymer composite materials is winding up being powerfully
essential. The present work delineates the change and mechanical portrayal of new polymer composites including glass fibre fortress, epoxy and maple cellulose fibre. The starting late made composites are delineated for their
mechanical properties. The composite spreads were set up by utilizing hand layup framework. The experiments were conducted on and studied the effect of post curing on hybrid composites. The result reveals that the
samples only with natural fibre have more promising results compared with synthetic fibre. The synthetic fibres get wrinkled due to post curing were as no such visuals in the natural fibres


This study investigates the effects of workplace smoking bans on smoking prevalence. Using a unique panel data set on state-wide smoking prevalence in all U.S. jurisdictions, while controlling for fixed and lagged effects, I find that smoking bans decrease overall smoking prevalence. The magnitude of this impact, however, makes the federal government's goal of reducing the national smoking rate from its current level to 12 percent by 2020 a hopeful aspiration. Nevertheless, this study demonstrates that workplace smoking bans, especially in conjunction with other statewide governmental initiatives, are a worthwhile endeavor in decreasing smoking prevalence.


PaleobotanySandwiched between the coal layers of an open-pit coal mine in the Wuda basin in Inner Mongolia is the imprint of a lush forest from the Early Permian period. The forest, whose imprint spans an estimated 20 square kilometers, was preserved when a volcano erupted roughly 298 million years ago. Ash hardened into a 66-centimeter-thick band of chalklike tuff that entombed trunks, branches, and even whole trees. Around the world, just a few ancient forests are known to have been preserved under ash. The Wuda tuff flora—the first discovered in Asia—is remarkably accessible and thick and contains a puzzling group of extinct fernlike plants. Protecting the remaining tuff bed long enough to study it will be no small feat, however. The region's economy depends on coal. Mining has already claimed parts of the fossilized forest, while excavations to extinguish coal-seam fires have destroyed other swaths.


This paper describes the KU-ISPL Multimedia Event Detection (MED) system employed for competing in the TRECVID 2015 hosted by NIST. The proposed system utilizes diverse audio/visual information source components which consist of a combination of low-level and semantic-level features and adopts an optimized information fusion technique for accurate and robust video event detection. In particular, the local descriptors of the system are composed of the heterogeneous features extracted from the audio/visual information sources of video contents. The fusion process combines the information source at either low-level or semantic-level so that the individual detection score for video events can be judicially appraised in terms of meaningful representation and significance. The results from self-test and the official evaluation have indicated that the proposed system outperforms the previous version.


The application of machine learning methods in quantum chemistry has enabled the study of numerous chemical phenomena, which are computationally intractable with traditional ab-initio methods. However, some quantum mechanical properties of molecules and materials depend on non-local electronic effects, which are often neglected due to the difficulty of modeling them efficiently. This work proposes a modified attention mechanism adapted to the underlying physics, which allows to recover the relevant non-local effects. Namely, we introduce spherical harmonic coordinates (SPHCs) to reflect higher-order geometric information for each atom in a molecule, enabling a non-local formulation of attention in the SPHC space. Our proposed model So3krates - a self-attention based message passing neural network - uncouples geometric information from atomic features, making them independently amenable to attention mechanisms. Thereby we construct spherical filters, which extend the concept of continuous filters in Euclidean space to SPHC space and serve as foundation for a spherical self-attention mechanism. We show that in contrast to other published methods, So3krates is able to describe non-local quantum mechanical effects over arbitrary length scales. Further, we find evidence that the inclusion of higher-order geometric correlations increases data efficiency and improves generalization. So3krates matches or exceeds state-of-the-art performance on popular benchmarks, notably, requiring a significantly lower number of parameters (0.25 - 0.4x) while at the same time giving a substantial speedup (6 - 14x for training and 2 - 11x for inference) compared to other models.


A $^{220}Rn$ source is deployed on the XENON100 dark matter detector in order to address the challenges in calibration of tonne-scale liquid noble element detectors. We show that the $^{212}Pb$ beta emission can be used for low-energy electronic recoil calibration in searches for dark matter. The isotope spreads throughout the entire active region of the detector, and its activity naturally decays below background level within a week after the source is closed. We find no increase in the activity of the troublesome $^{222}Rn$ background after calibration. Alpha emitters are also distributed throughout the detector and facilitate calibration of its response to $^{222}Rn$. Using the delayed coincidence of $^{220}Rn−^{216}Po$, we map for the first time the convective motion of particles in the XENON100 detector. Additionally, we make a competitive measurement of the half-life of $^{212}Po$, $t_{1/2}=(293.9 \pm(1.0)stat \pm(0.6)sys$)  ns.


The foliage of thirteen genetic clones of the nitrogen-fixing trees Erythrina berteroana, E. poeppigiana and E. cos tarricens is growing under similar environmental conditions in the Latin American Nitrogen Fixing Tree Arboretum, CATEE, Turrialba, Costa Rica, was evaluated by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry for toxic alkaloid content. The major alkaloid identified was B-erythroidine, a naturally derived drug used in the 1950s and 1960s as a neuromuscular blocking agent in surgery and electroshock treatments. Other alkaloids identified were a-erythroidine, erybidine, erythraline, erysodine, oxo-B-erythroidine and several previously undescribed compounds. There was a difference of more than two orders of magnitude in the B-erythroidine concentration between the clones with the highest and the lowest content. Although all clones tested contained some amount of B-erythroidine, at least one clone of each species was notably low in this drug. The results indicate that the expression of Erythrina alkaloids is at least partially under genetic control. A feeding study was performed utilizing goats on three experimental diets: control, 40% E. berteroana foliage and 40% E. poeppigiana foliage. The B-erythroidine present in the foliage of Erythrina species was hydrogenated in the rumen and B-erythroidine, dihydroerythroidines and tetrahydroerythroidines were detected it. the milk of goats in the Erythrina foliage treatment groups, however, these compounds were not detected in the milk the control group. Synthetic experiments demonstrated that the dihydroerythroidine isomers present in the milk and rumen samples were not the same isomers produced by catalytic hydrogenation. During catalytic hydrogenation, the conjugated diene in B-erythroidine is reduced to a single double bond at the 1-6 position. Mass spectral data indicate that the conjugated diene is conserved during hydrogenation of B-erythroidine in the rumen and that the double bond in the lactone ring may be hydrogenated. Synthetically derived dihydroerythroidine is ten times more potent than the parent drug, B-erythroidine, therefore there is a possibility that the presence of biologically hydrogenated dihydroerythroidines in the milk of goats which consume Erythrina foliage may pose a health hazard to individuals consuming the contaminated milk. Further studies designed to investigate the toxicology of biologically hydrogenated dihydroerythroidines are recommended.


Background All implanted cardiac devices including pacemakers and defibrillators undergo regular checks in pacemaker clinics, and often fluoroscopic screening of the devices leads is performed due to changes in pacemaker parameters such as changes in threshold, impedance and sensitivity to rule out macroscopic abnormalities with the leads. Objective The objective of this study was to review the practice of fluoroscopic lead screening and to assess whether there is any correlation between fluoroscopic findings and device parameters abnormalities that alter patient management. Methods We retrospectively reviewed data from reporting database and clinical letters from patients notes in 2014. 64 patients were identified that underwent fluoroscopic screening procedures during 2014. Indications for screening, screening findings and recommended actions were recorded for each procedure. Screening included 40 (53%) complex devices, 24 (31%) regular bradycardia devices and 12 (16%) advisory devices including 4 Telectronics Accufix right atrial leads, and 8 St Jude Riata Right ventricular ICD leads (Table 1) Results Fluoroscopic screening abnormalities were detected in 14 out of the 64 devices screened.There were 20 devices revision procedures performed in total. However, these were performed in only 7 (50%) of those devices that showed screening abnormalities. All these devices actually showed displaced leads on screening, and loss of capture on pacemaker check, which was the main indication for screening. Continued monitoring was recommended in the other 7 devices that showed screening abnormalities.No screening abnormalities were detected in 11 devices that required revision procedures where interventions were mainly based on different electrical issues identified.Therefore, devices interventions were driven by abnormalities detected during pacemaker checks more than abnormal screening findings. 3 procedures followed screening pre box change screening which showed normal findings. Conclusion Fluoroscopic screening of the cardiac devices is a simple procedure for imaging the device and its leads in motion. This allows for improved visualisation of the leads and identification of small abnormalities that would otherwise be missed by still radiology tests such as x-rays. In our study, there was no correlation between electrical abnormalities that initiated lead screening, and findings on fluoroscopy. Exception was in cases of loss of capture where there was almost a consistent finding of displacement of the relevant lead, albeit the number is small to make this conclusion. We concluded that screening should continue in the following settings: (1) annual screening for advisory leads, (2) if loss of capture is detected, even though all cases were due to lead displacement, it will allow for better planning in cases where the lead is perforated through a chamber. As there is poor correlation for the rest of the indications it might be worth conducting larger review of practices to establish whether the yield from routine screening is useful. Our institution will review practices over last 5 years subsequent to this finding.


Data privacy is a major problem that has to be considered before releasing datasets to the public or even to a partner company that would compute statistics or make a deep analysis of these data. Privacy is insured by performing data anonymization as required by legislation. In this context, many different anonymization techniques have been proposed in the literature. These techniques are difficult to use in a general context where attacks can be of different types, and where measures are not known to the anonymizer. Generic methods able to adapt to different situations become desirable. We are addressing the problem of privacy related to graph data which needs, for different reasons, to be publicly made available. This corresponds to the anonymized graph data publishing problem. We are placing from the perspective of an anonymizer not having access to the methods used to analyze the data. A generic methodology is proposed based on machine learning to obtain directly an anonymization function from a set of training data so as to optimize a tradeoff between privacy risk and utility loss. The method thus allows one to get a good anonymization procedure for any kind of attacks, and any characteristic in a given set. The methodology is instantiated for simple graphs and complex timestamped graphs. A tool has been developed implementing the method and has been experimented with success on real anonymized datasets coming from Twitter, Enron or Amazon. Results are compared with baseline and it is showed that the proposed method is generic and can automatically adapt itself to different anonymization contexts.


Introduction The global conservation of biodiversity will require efforts at multiple levels to be successful. Because herbicides are applied annually to 100,000's of hectares of forest lands in the Southeastern Region, U.S.A, it is crucial we know their short-term and long-term impacts on forest biodivetsity, structure, and composition. It is recognized that effective applications of forestry herbicides initially decrease floristic diversity (Blake EC al. 1987, Wilkins et al. 1993, Zutter and Zedaker 1988). Composition is altered because species are differentially controlled. But for how long? Structural changes are initiated because crop tree growth is usually increased. But how do alterations in\ structural dynamics influence diversity and composition of mid-story and under-story species? Only \ the companion study to the current study, which examined pine release treatments (Boyd et a2.i 1995), has examined longer term changes in plant diversity related to earlier applications of forestry . herbicides. In this current research, we tested for residual effects of site preparation applications . ' made 11 years earlier on plant species richness, diversity, and stand structure and composition. .


Aim: To compare the evolution of mannoproteins in a white wine submitted to two different stirring of lees processes: in French oak barrels (BA) and in a stainless steel tank equipped with French oak staves (IN).Methods and results: Total colloids were obtained by ultrafiltration and ethanol precipitation. Mannoproteins were isolated by adsorption on concanavalin-A and molecular weight separation. Sugar residues were characterized by GC analysis of their alditol acetates and protein content was determined according to Lowry method. Wines were submitted to sensory analysis.Conclusion: Three polysaccharide fractions were isolated from both BA and IN wines. Regarding sensory attributes, the only significant difference between BA and IN wines was the round mouth-feel. The BA wine showed a higher final polysaccharide concentration, which can be related to the rounder mouth-feel.Significance and impact of the study: This study is a technological approach of a process largely used by white wine producers who want to market a fresh wine produced with stirring of lees with a woody character. It reports the evolution of mannoproteins through four months of ageing on lees with two different stirring processes that can have a direct impact on the cost of the final product.


This essay considers the important but under-explored link between politics and constitutional interpretation in the realm of national security. The school of constitutional interpretation at which it looks is "presidential exclusivity," which has gone from relative obscurity to prominence in the political branches and in public debate over the past several decades. Exclusivists deem the President to have substantial discretion under Article II of the Constitution to override statutory limits that he believes interfere with his ability to protect national security. The first question that this essay takes up is why exclusivity has come so far over the past several decades in the political branches and why it has demonstrated appeal and staying power across parties. It concludes that exclusivity by and large is consistent with the post – World War II political incentives of legislators and Presidents alike, enabling them to associate themselves with the iconic image of a tough President and to situate their allegiance to that image in a larger narrative of keeping faith with the rule of law. The second question that this essay considers is how exclusivity manifests itself in the political branches. In this respect, the essay explains, among other things, that the combined effect of exclusivity's many active and passive uses is that of an elaborate shell game. In this "Article II shell game," accountability is the palmed object and potential accountability mechanisms are the shells. If the game is well played, the public will often be told that accountability does not lie under one shell for exclusivist reasons, but that it may lie under the next shell, only for the process to repeat ad infinitum.


Duplex stainless steels (DSSs) have been widely used as the structural components for chemical industries, oil and gas production and offshore applications due to its outstanding corrosion resistance in chloride-containing environments. However, depletion of chromium and molybdenum is a well-known problem in DSSs, especially in welded assemblies, hot-worked and improperly heat-treated parts heated at temperatures ranging from 500 to 900°C. As the sigma phase forms, it depletes the neighboring regions of Cr and Mo, thereby lowering the Cr and Mo contents of the surface oxides over these regions. Then the DSSs become susceptible to corrosion attack. Laser surface melting (LSM) is a possible route to restore the corrosion resistance of DSSs by melting the surface with a laser beam followed by rapid solidification for homogenizing chemical compositions. Different laser parameters will cause different phase distributions in the DSSs, and hence various corrosion properties may be resulted. In present study, microstructure and corrosion behavior of aged DSS 7MoPlus (UNS S32950) were investigated in 3.5% NaCl solution at 25 °C before and after LSM. By LSM, the corrosion resistance of aged 7MoPlus was found to be significantly enhanced as reflected by the increase in the corrosion and pitting potentials and decrease in corrosion and passive current densities. The improvement in corrosion resistance of the aged 7MoPlus after LSM is mainly attributed to re-dissolution and removal of the σ phase.Duplex stainless steels (DSSs) have been widely used as the structural components for chemical industries, oil and gas production and offshore applications due to its outstanding corrosion resistance in chloride-containing environments. However, depletion of chromium and molybdenum is a well-known problem in DSSs, especially in welded assemblies, hot-worked and improperly heat-treated parts heated at temperatures ranging from 500 to 900°C. As the sigma phase forms, it depletes the neighboring regions of Cr and Mo, thereby lowering the Cr and Mo contents of the surface oxides over these regions. Then the DSSs become susceptible to corrosion attack. Laser surface melting (LSM) is a possible route to restore the corrosion resistance of DSSs by melting the surface with a laser beam followed by rapid solidification for homogenizing chemical compositions. Different laser parameters will cause different phase distributions in the DSSs, and hence various corrosion properties may be resulted. In present study, mic...


XV International Scientific Phycological Conference "The Diatoms: present and future research" (XV Diatom School) was held during 23–27 August 2017, in Papanin Institute for Biology of Inland Waters Russian Academy of Sciences, Borok, Yaroslavl reg., Russia. More than 50 diatomologists from Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Ukraine and Israel attended the Conference. The researchers discussed a lot of issues concerning morphology, taxonomy and biology of diatoms, biostratigraphy and using of diatoms in paleoreconstruction, ecology and biogeography of diatoms, problems of diatom evolution, molecular phylogeny and barcoding. The Volume of Proceeding based on the reports submitted to the Conference was prepared. The conference was dedicated to the 70th anniversary of Sergei Ivanovich Genkal, well-known outstanding diatomologist, author of more then 400 papers and monographs, i. e. "Iconographia Diatomologica".


Recently, two independent calculations have been presented of finite-mass ("self-force") effects on the orbit of a point mass around a Schwarzschild black hole. While both computations are based on the standard mode-sum method, they differ in several technical aspects, which makes comparison between their results difficult—but also interesting. Barack and Sago [Phys. Rev. D 75, 064021 (2007)] invoke the notion of a self-accelerated motion in a background spacetime, and perform a direct calculation of the local self-force in the Lorenz gauge (using numerical evolution of the perturbation equations in the time domain); Detweiler [Phys. Rev. D 77, 124026 (2008)] describes the motion in terms a geodesic orbit of a (smooth) perturbed spacetime, and calculates the metric perturbation in the Regge-Wheeler gauge (using frequency-domain numerical analysis). Here we establish a formal correspondence between the two analyses, and demonstrate the consistency of their numerical results. Specifically, we compare the value of the conservative O(?) shift in ut (where ? is the particle's mass and ut is the Schwarzschild t component of the particle's four-velocity), suitably mapped between the two orbital descriptions and adjusted for gauge. We find that the two analyses yield the same value for this shift within mere fractional differences of ?10-5–10-7 (depending on the orbital radius)—comparable with the estimated numerical error.


Today, approximately all the internet users have login accounts for internet sites and these sites require only the registration by human users but unfortunately some automated computer programs to enter these sites and use their resources through false registration. This paper introduces a new TIME-VARIENT CAPTCHA. In this paper we are not focusing on the effective development of Captcha but targeting a display of Captcha over the webpage for a fixed time, Captcha replaces itself until the final Captcha is filled by user. Refresh process just work with Captcha and don't affect the web page. So, now, automated program has to cover one more area to breach the Captcha: to determine the final entered Captcha.


In natural hazard warning systems fast decision making is vital to avoid catastrophes. Decision making at the edge of a wireless sensor network promises fast response times but is limited by the availability of energy, data transfer speed, processing and memory constraints. In this work we present a realization of a wireless sensor network for hazard monitoring based on an array of event-triggered single-channel micro-seismic sensors with advanced signal processing and characterization capabilities based on a novel co-detection technique. On the one hand we leverage an ultra-low power, threshold-triggering circuit paired with on-demand digital signal acquisition capable of extracting relevant information exactly and efficiently at times when it matters most and consequentially not wasting precious resources when nothing can be observed. On the other hand we utilize machine-learning-based classification implemented on low-power, off-the-shelf microcontrollers to avoid false positive warnings and to actively identify humans in hazard zones. The sensors' response time and memory requirement is substantially improved by quantizing and pipelining the inference of a convolutional neural network. In this way, convolutional neural networks that would not run unmodified on a memory constrained device can be executed in real-time and at scale on low-power embedded devices. A field study with our system is running on the rockfall scarp of the Matterhorn Hörnligrat at 3500 m a.s.l. since 08/2018.


Nominal amounts of Indium from 0.05 to 0.3 are found suitable to Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ (2212) and further dissociate Bi2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10+δ (2223) into Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ (2212) (2212), Bi2Sr2CuO6+δ (2201) and Sr-Cu-O phase when substituted in the Sr-site. In the two heat treatment profiles used, calcination at 837°C for 24 hours and sintering at 856°C 48 hours only produced around ~10% 2223. No In-based impurities were found as all diffraction peaks are accounted for the Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O system. As for calcination at 800°C for 24 hours and sintering at 837°C for 48 hours, the most prominent phase is the 2212 phase for about ~63.6%. Regardless of the heat treatment parameters used, increasing Indium content causes a decrease in Tc of the 2212 phase and have been detrimental to the formation of 2223 phase disappearing at nominal Indium amount of 0.3. In general, Indium inhibits the formation of 2223 by preventing the reaction of 2201, 2212 and impurities as observed in diffraction measurements.


ABSTRACT This reflective narrative explores the voices of two participants in the Early Childhood Professional Mentoring Group (ECPMG), created in response to our graduates' concerns about their lack of support as they entered the field of inclusive early childhood education. Building on their existing relationships with each other, and with us as their former instructors, the group fostered a community in which our graduates could engage in reciprocal peer support and group problem solving, developing their skills as educators, professionals, and reflective change agents. This model contrasts with other forms of professional development that follow a set agenda facilitated by an assigned leader. The open structure and lack of hierarchy in the group invited spontaneous discussions of daily practices and challenges, and allowed different styles of expression to emerge. Our reflective narrative on our work with the ECPMG highlights the power of peers in providing induction and mentoring support, and the value to teacher educators of listening to multiple voices in hearing new teachers' stories. We suggest that this type of mentoring be considered as an essential element of early childhood teacher education.


Skeletal morphology is greatly influenced by muscle action and articulation. Exertion of force by muscle use permanently alters bone shape. It can therefore be assumed that the muscles involved in speech production would play a role in shaping the stomatognathic structures (i.e. relating to the mouth and jaw). This study has been designed to explore the resulting cranio-facial manifestations of linguistic diversity amongst modern Homo sapiens. Utilizing data independently collected from American, French, and Philippine skeletal collections, it is concluded that a correlation exists (albeit not significant) between observed musculoskeletal markers on the human mandible and the repetitive tongue positions required of each population's presumed spoken language: American English, French, and Tagalog. Specifically, the production of vowel phonemes correlates to repetitive use of the genioglossus, which consequently affects mental spine formation. Degree Type Open Access Senior Honors Thesis Department Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology First Advisor Megan K. Moore Second Advisor Liza Cerroni-Long


Most online algorithms used in machine learning today are based on variants of mirror descent or follow-the-leader. In this paper, we present an online algorithm based on a completely different approach, which combines "random playout" and randomized rounding of loss subgradients. As an application of our approach, we provide the first computationally efficient online algorithm for collaborative filtering with trace-norm constrained matrices. As a second application, we solve an open question linking batch learning and transductive online learning.


The AMNIT process for production of concentrated ammonium nitrate solutions combines high thermal efficiency, low maintenance cost, optimal environmental compatibility and operating safety. The reaction of ammonia with nitric acid occurs, without production of any process vapour, in a pressurized recycle flow loop. The recycle solution, in which a slight amount of free ammonia is maintained, supplies heat to the various exchangers of the loop, for the final AN concentration to 97.5% which is suitable for the major part of granulation processes. The free ammonia in the production off-take is neutralized before pressure reduction and subsequent concentration steps. A specific feature of the AMNIT process is the self-regulating auto-thermal pre-concentration step. No external heat supply is required. The high thermal efficiency is combined with ease of operation and low maintenance. Efficient pH controls achieve a liquid effluent with the most stringent conditions of pollution control. All the significant features and benefits of the original CARNIT process, which started up in 1990 have been maintained: absence of corrosion, low maintenance cost and high on stream times of 99+%,for a capacity of 2750 tpd in a single process line. The production rate can be varied between 30% and 100% of design capacity.


Growth performance, carcass measurements and carcass characteristics of three fat-tailed Turkish breeds (Awassi = A, Morkaraman = M and Tushin = T) weaned at 2.5 months of age and subjected to semi-intensive feeding during a grazing period on pasture for 70 days were evaluated. At the end of the 70-day grazing period, M lambs showed the highest performance for daily weight gain and the amount of concentrate consumed per bodyweight gain in addition to grazing on pasture. The effects of the breed and sex of lambs on daily weight gain on pasture were significant (P < 0.05) and highly significant (P < 0.01), respectively. Male lambs were superior to female lambs with respect to daily weight gain on pasture. The slaughter traits, carcass measurements and carcass characteristics of 14 male lambs representing three fat-tailed breeds were compared at the end of the grazing period of the year in which they were born. After slaughter, carcasses were chilled at +4 °C for 24 h and measurements were taken on the intact cold carcasses. The carcasses were then dissected into wholesale cuts. The hot carcass weight and hindshank weight of M lambs were heavier than those of A and T lambs. M had a higher hot dressing percentage and larger M. longissimus dorsi (LD) area than those of A and T lambs. Most of the weights of wholesale cuts such as foreshank and breast, sirloin, leg, rib and hindshank were significantly (P < 0.05; P < 0.01) affected by sheep breed. It is recommended either that A, M or T male and female lambs weaned at 2.5 months of age in eastern Turkey should be fed with 450 g concentrate per head per day on pasture for 3 to 3.5 months of grazing season, or lambs should be supplemented with more than 450 g concentrate feed on pasture because native fat-tailed Turkish breeds supplemented with 450 g concentrate on pasture did not give carcasses with an adequate commercial weight at the end of a 70-day fattening period.


The present study provides an account of an experimental survey aiming at the evaluation of the catchability of the striped soldier shrimp, Plesionika edwardsii, using semi-floating shrimp traps off the Algarve coast (southern Portugal). Currently, this species is not targeted by the crustacean bottom trawl fleet, and preliminary results on product value suggest that this may become an economically viable new fishery. Preliminary results suggest that this fishery could contribute to the diversification of fixed gears of low environmental impact targeting deep-water crustaceans, in agreement with the objectives of both the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the reformed Common Fisheries Policy. However, potential spatial conflicts with trawling, the unknown size of the resource and a necessary precautionary approach may limit the number of licences that can be granted.


Trademarks have value because they reduce consumer search costs and thus promote overall efficiency in the economy. While the search costs theory provides a compelling argument for trademark rights, it also compels an equally important - but often overlooked - set of principles for defining and limiting those rights. Certainly, trademark laws can make it easier and cheaper for consumers to locate products with desired qualities, thus making markets more competitive. Yet if carried too far, trademark law can do the opposite: it can entrench market dominance by leading firms and make it harder for competitors to crack new markets. The evolution of trademark law reflects a continual balancing act that seeks to maximize the informational value of marks while avoiding their use to suppress competitive information. Most of the literature on the search costs theory of trademark law has focused on the theory as a rationale for trademark protection. In this article, we examine its role in supporting trademark defenses. We find that some trademark defenses unambiguously lower consumer search costs and thus promote the goals of trademark law. Another group of defenses, however, involves behavior that increases consumer search costs for some individuals even as it improves economic conditions for others. We believe that these latter defenses - genericness, functionality, and abandonment - may sometimes go too far in accepting increased consumer search costs as the cost of achieving competition. Rather than the all-or-nothing approach suggested by these doctrines, we suggest that consumers would benefit from a more nuanced approach in these doctrines.


This thesis presents a new robust filtering technique that suppresses impulsive noise in speech signals. The method makes use of Projection Statistics based on medians to detect segments of speech with impulses. The autoregressive model employed to smooth out the speech signal is identified by means of a robust nonlinear estimator known as the Schweppe-type Huber GM-estimator. Simulation results are presented that demonstrate the effectiveness of the filter. Another contribution of the work is the development of a robust version of the Kalman filter based on the Huber M-estimator. The performances of this filter are evaluated for a simple autoregressive process.


Infection caused by methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is an increasing societal problem. Typically, glycopeptide antibiotics are used in the treatment of these infections. The most comprehensively studied glycopeptide antibiotic biosynthetic pathway is that of balhimycin biosynthesis in Amycolatopsis balhimycina. The balhimycin yield obtained by A. balhimycina is, however, low and there is therefore a need to improve balhimycin production. In this study, we performed genome sequencing, assembly and annotation analysis of A. balhimycina and further used these annotated data to reconstruct a genome‐scale metabolic model for the organism. Here we generated an almost complete A. balhimycina genome sequence comprising 10,562,587 base pairs assembled into 2,153 contigs. The high GC‐genome (∼69%) includes 8,585 open reading frames (ORFs). We used our integrative toolbox called SEQTOR for functional annotation and then integrated annotated data with biochemical and physiological information available for this organism to reconstruct a genome‐scale metabolic model of A. balhimycina. The resulting metabolic model contains 583 ORFs as protein encoding genes (7% of the predicted 8,585 ORFs), 407 EC numbers, 647 metabolites and 1,363 metabolic reactions. During the analysis of the metabolic model, linear, quadratic and evolutionary programming algorithms using flux balance analysis (FBA), minimization of metabolic adjustment (MOMA), and OptGene, respectively were applied as well as phenotypic behavior and improved balhimycin production were simulated. The A. balhimycina model shows a good agreement between in silico data and experimental data and also identifies key reactions associated with increased balhimycin production. The reconstruction of the genome‐scale metabolic model of A. balhimycina serves as a basis for physiological characterization. The model allows a rational design of engineering strategies for increasing balhimycin production in A. balhimycina and glycopeptide production in general. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2012; 109:1798–1807. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


In an experiment with 120 Akar Putra chicken, the partial uropygialectomy effects at 4 ages on production performance was determined. The experiment comprised 5 treatments (24 chicken/treatment), with 3 replicates for each (8 chicken/replicate). Experimental treatments consist of a control treatment T1, partial ablation of uropygial gland (uropygialecomy) were applied on T2, T3, T4 and T5 treatments at 3, 4, 5 and 6 weeks, respectively. Body weight, weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio for males and females were recorded weekly. The results revealed remarkable significant (p<0.01) enhancing for partial uropygialectomy treatments than control group in all of males and females body weight, weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio measurements. Variation ratio of production performance parameters for Partial Uropygialectomy treatments than control group was calculated to support the results. Best results were indicated in T2 treatment when partial uropygialectomy performed at week 3.


Background Fibromyalgia is a painful musculoskeletal disorder that compromises function and quality of life. Studies show that no single treatment is completely effective in all patients and many of them seek complementary and alternative medicine. However its evidence is still insufficient. Objectives This clinical trial aimed to verify the effectiveness of Shiatsu (Japanese massage technique) in the improvement of pain, sleep quality and balance confidence of fibromyalgia patients. Methods This study involved 34 women aged 33 to 62 years, divided into two groups: Shiatsu Group (SG; n=17), which received 16 sessions of Shiatsu lasting 50 minutes, twice a week, and Control Group (CG; n=17), who received educational guidance through a booklet. Both groups were evaluated before and after 8 weeks. The following instruments were used: Visual Analog Pain Scale, Dolorimeter, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and Activities-Specific Balance Confidence Scale. Intergroup statistical analysis was performed using the t-test for data sets with normal distribution and the same variance and Mann-Whitney Rank Sum Test for data sets without normal distribution or equal variance. The significance level was α=0.05. Results At baseline, both groups were similar for all variables. After eight weeks, SG showed statistically significant improvement in pain (p=0.015), tender point pain threshold (p<0,001) and sleep quality (p=0.018), when compared with the CG. There was no statistically significant difference for balance confidence between groups. Conclusions The results indicate that the Shiatsu technique is effective in improving pain, tenderness and sleep quality in fibromyalgia patients. References Sarzi-Puttini P, Buskila D, Carrabba M, Doria A, Atzeni F. Treatment Strategy in Fibromyalgia Syndrome: Where Are We Now? Semin Arthritis Rheum. 2008;37(6):353-65. Jones KD, Horak FB, Winters-Stone K, Irvine JM, Bennett RM. Fibromyalgia is associated with impaired balance and falls. J Clin Rheumatol. 2009;15(1):16-21. Baranowsky J, Klose P, Musial F, Häuser W, Dobos G, Langhorst J. Qualitative systemic review of randomized controlled trials on complementary and alternative medicine treatments in fibromyalgia. Rheumatol Int. 2009;30(1):1-21. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


Digital inequality scholarship has rightly criticized the concept of the 'digital divide' for oversimplifying and distorting relations between digital media and social inequalities. Instead of focusing on binary conceptualizations of access, digital inequality scholars recommend studying 'differentiated use,' which depends on access, but which is mediated by additional factors such as skill. Despite these advances, much digital inequality scholarship retains many of the limitations of the digital divide framework it criticizes. As such, scholars thwart their honorable aims and paradoxically risk contributing to the reproduction of historical structures of power and privilege. This short paper identifies three persistent shortcomings with prevailing views about digital inequality: slippage between 'digital inequalities' and 'social inequalities'; unacknowledged normativity; and a deficit model of difference. The paper ends with brief recommendations for how scholars and practitioners can move beyond these limitations.


Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate true β-lactam allergy at a public pediatric hospital. Material and Methods: Children and adolescents with allergy symptoms were referred to the Allergy and Immunology Service, Hospital Infantil Albert Sabin, Fortaleza, Brazil. During the allergist interviews, β-lactam drug allergy was suspected in 24 patients. Results: Urticaria, angioedema, erythematous macules and papules were the clinical manifestations most frequently reported in 23 patients with immediate reaction. The drugs implicated were amoxicillin (58.3%), penicillin (20.8%), ceftriaxone (12.5%) and ampicillin (8.4%). The majority of the patients showed negative results for ampicillin, penicillin and ceftriaxone in skin testing and also negative results in oral provocation testing (OPT) to amoxicillin. One patient with clinical history of ceftriaxone allergy showed positive prick test to the drug and negative OPT to amoxicillin. Conclusion: b-lactam drugs are a very useful choice for treatment of bacterial infections in children. In this way, it is reasonable that hypothesis of allergy to those drugs be investigated. For this reason, during consultation, it is necessary that the allergist questions about drug allergy, apart from the original complaint (if it is not directly related to drug allergy). Upon suggestive history, the hypothesis of drug allergy should be ruled out by doing a careful laboratorial and clinical investigation. In order to rationalize the operating and economical costs related to skin testing and OPT, we suggest grouping a number of patients for whom the tests will be performed during a half-day period two to three times a year. Key words: Allergy, Beta-lactamic, Hypersensitivity, Pediatric, Public hospital.


Mental health of women is often looked at from a biomedical lens. Mental health issues resulting out of globalising economic and cultural forces are generally neglected. This often implies that social problems are understood as individual problems. Increasingly discourses in sociology and anthropology explore mental health in bio-cultural terms where social structural arrangements are said to contribute majorly to the phenomenon of psychosocial distress. There is a need to explore the ways in which the social and economic conditions which structure women's existence as part of poor urban households require attention. This article moves away from the mental illness paradigm through which distress of women is usually understood. With the help of narratives, it seeks to explore the distress of women in the context of the community they live in and the gender roles they negotiate.


In The Minimum Wage and Labor Market Outcomes, Christopher Flinn argues that in assessing the effects of the minimum wage (in the United States and elsewhere), a behavioral framework is invaluable for guiding empirical work and the interpretation of results. Flinn develops a job search and wage bargaining model that is capable of generating labor market outcomes consistent with observed wage and unemployment duration distributions, and also can account for observed changes in employment rates and wages after a minimum wage change. Flinn uses previous studies from the minimum wage literature to demonstrate how his model can be used to rationalize and synthesize the diverse results found in widely varying institutional contexts. He also shows how observed wage distributions from before and after a minimum wage change can be used to determine if the change was welfare-improving. More ambitiously, and perhaps controversially, Flinn proposes the construction and formal estimation of the model using commonly available data; model estimates then enable the researcher to determine directly the welfare effects of observed minimum wage changes. This model can be used to conduct counterfactual policy experiments--even to determine "optimal" minimum wages under a variety of welfare metrics. The development of the model and the econometric theory underlying its estimation are carefully presented so as to enable readers unfamiliar with the econometrics of point process models and dynamic optimization in continuous time to follow the arguments. Although most of the book focuses on the case where only the unemployed search for jobs in a homogeneous labor market environment, later chapters introduce on-the-job search into the model, and explore its implications for minimum wage policy. The book also contains a chapter describing how individual heterogeneity can be introduced into the search, matching, and bargaining framework.


T-cells typically mature in the thymus gland, which eventually succumbs to agerelated atrophy, resulting in a decreased naive T-cell repertoire in middle to later years. Aged individuals and those with persistently reactivating herpesvirus infections have an increased reliance on the extrathymic maturation of T-cells due to the shrinking effects that age and latent viral infection has on the naive T-cell repertoire. Acute bouts of aerobic exercise are known to mobilize T-cells that exhibit both a naive and late-stage differentiation phenotype into the blood compartment; however, it is not known if recent thymic emigrants (RTE) or extrathymic T-cells contribute to the lymphocytosis associated with exercise. PURPOSE: To examine the impact of latent cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection on the mobilization of RTE and extrathymic T-cells in response to acute exercise. METHODS: Otherwise healthy CMV or EBV seropositive (CMV+ or EBV+) and CMV or EBV seronegative (CMVor EBV-) males (age 23-35y) completed a 30-min cycling protocol at 85% of maximum power. Lymphocytes isolated from whole blood before, immediately after, and one hour after exercise were surface stained with monoclonal antibodies to identify phenotypes of RTE (CD103+/CD62L-) and extrathymic T-cells believed to mature in the liver (CD3+/CD25/CD122+) and the epithelium of the small intestine (CD3+/CD4-/CD8-; TCRγδ+/ CD8αα+; CD3-/CD2+/CD7+). Cell populations were analyzed by flow cytometry and antibodies against CMV and EBV were determined in serum by ELISA. RESULTS: Preliminary analyses show that the proportion of RTE among the total CD3+/CD4+ or CD3+/CD8+ T-cell subsets did not change immediately after exercise, but was elevated above baseline 1h later due to the preferential egress of late stage differentiated T-cells. Neither CMV nor EBV status influenced the proportions of RTE in blood in response to exercise. T-cells mainly found in intestinal mucosa (i.e. CD3+/CD4-/CD8and CD3/CD2+/CD7+) were found to increase in blood immediately after exercise; an effect that appeared to be more pronounced in EBV but not CMV-infected subjects. CONCLUSION: An acute bout of aerobic exercise elicits the mobilization of T-cells exhibiting phenotype characteristics of extrathymically matured T-cells, suggesting that extrathymic T-cell mobilization contributes to the lymphocytosis associated with acute exercise. This effect appears to be amplified in subjects carrying a latent EBV but not CMV infection. Future research should attempt to establish the impact of long-term exercise and latent herpesvirus infections on the frequency of RTE and extrathymic Tcells in the aged, as this could have significant implications for age-associated immune dysfunction. 2010 TACSM Annual Meeting Houston, Texas


To model cohesionless granular flow using continuum theory, the usual approach is to assume the cohesionless Coulomb-Mohr yield condition. However, this yield condition assumes that the angle of internal friction is constant, when according to experimental evidence for most powders the angle of internal friction is not constant along the yield locus, but decreases for decreasing normal stress component from a maximum value of=2. For this reason, we consider here the more general yield function which applies for shear-index granular materials, where the angle of internal friction varies with . In this case, failure due to frictional slip between particles occurs when the shear and normal components of stress and satisfy the so-called Warren Spring equation .jj=c/ n D 1 .=t/, where c, t and n are positive constants which are referred to as the cohesion, tensile strength and shear-index respectively, and experimental evidence indicates for many materials that the value of the shear-index n lies between 1 and 2. For many materials, the cohesion is close to zero and therefore the notion of a cohesionless shear-index granular material arises. For such materials, a continuum theory applying for shear-index cohesionless granular materials is physically plausible as a limiting ideal theory, and any analytical solutions might provide important benchmarks for numerical schemes. Here, we examine the cohesionless shearindex theory for the problem of gravity flow of granular materials through two-dimensional wedge-shaped hoppers, and we attempt to determine analytical solutions. Although some analytical solutions are found, these do not correspond to the actual hopper problem, but may serve as benchmarks for purely numerical schemes. The special analytical solutions obtained are illustrated graphically, assuming only a symmetrical stress distribution.


Proceedings of the Sixteenth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics
Society: Special Session on General Topics in American Indian
Linguistics (1990), pp. 116-127


Miocene vegetation pattern and climate change in the northwestern Central Paratethys domain (Czech and Slovak Republic) The case study area covers the slopes of the tectonically quiet European platform and foreland of the tectonically active Carpathian mountain chain (Carpathian Foredeep and Vienna Basin). Therefore the research on pollen spectra mirrors not only the evolution of landscape in two areas with different geodynamics, but also climatic changes in the Central Paratethys domain during the studied time interval. According to the pollen data, the Early to Middle Miocene vegetation reflects subtropical climate with very mild (negligible) cooling events during this period. This is indicated by common occurrence of thermophilous taxa in the whole sedimentary record. The Middle Miocene landscape evolution, conditioned by uplift of the Carpathian mountain chain and subsidence of adjacent lowlands, led to commencement of the altitudinal zonation. The terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems confirm a subtropical climate (Miocene Climatic Optimum, Mi3 event) with some possible long term changes in humidity. The Late Miocene paleogeographical changes, but also general climatic oscillations in the northwestern Central Paratethys realm, resulted in decrease of the number of thermophilous taxa during this time (change in latitudinal position of the vegetation cover). Variously high mountain relief of the uplifted mountain chains (altitudinal zonality) created ideal conditions for mixed mesophytic forests (to open woodland — open grassland type), still with presence of evergreen taxa. A subtropical climate with gradual transition to warm temperate climatic conditions is supposed on the basis of the reconstructed vegetation cover.


Abstract The paper presents aspects of the design and execution of the Turdas tunnel located on the local variant (route), on the Coşlariu - Simeria section, from the rehabilitation project of Brasov – Simeria railway line, component part of Pan European Railway Corridor IV, for train circulation with maximum speed of 160km/h. The tunnel crosses through alluvial deposits with silt and clay with locally sand layers at the upper part, sand and gravel with water in the middle part and marly silty clay and neogenic marl, with swelling phenomena, at the lower part. The overburden is between 2.00m and 13.00m. The initial project provided execution in underground, on 510.00m in the central area and from surface at both ends, 225.00m at the entrance and 45.00m at the exit. The new optimized project, based on new geological and geotechnical studies, proposed an execution from surface for the entire length of the tunnel. To establish the optimal solution two methods of surface execution and structural solutions were analyzed comparatively: "Cut and Cover" and "Cover and Cut". The adopted method was "Cut and Cover", with a structural solution composed of a temporary retaining structure – diaphragm walls with a special internal lining. This has been divided in six sections with different behavioral types, taking into account the ground configuration in longitudinal profile and the geological and geotechnical data. The technological execution phases are presented in detail. To investigate the behavior of this type of structure under soil and swelling actions, three-dimensional finite element analyses were carried out, taking into account the execution phases for each cross section. A monitoring system was provided to verify the stresses in the temporary retaining structure and the internal lining and also to calibrate future calculations.


This study explores whether and how office property prices diffuse across quality classes in Hong Kong. The empirical results reveal that the trends in office property prices are stochastic and demonstrate significant price lead-lag relationships among office property classes. The lead-lag patterns are apparent in both the long run and the short run. In addition, shocks from Class C prices have the strongest and longest-lasting impact on office prices in Hong Kong. In addition to providing new evidence on the ripple effect of commercial property prices across quality classes, this is the first study to explore the ripple effect of commercial property prices in both the short run and the long run. This study is also the first to employ the Vogelsang test (1998) and impulse response analysis to investigate the diffusion of commercial property prices. The findings have implications for government authorities, investors, and financial institutions in terms of policy formation, the timing of office property investments, and the diversification of their office-property-related portfolios.


A survey of recent papers published in a range of scientific jour- nals showed that the use of blind methodologies is very rare in the so-called hard sciences. In the physical sciences, no blind experiments were found among the 237 papers reviewed. In the biological sciences, there were 7 blind experiments out of 914 (0.8%). There was a higher proportion in the medical sciences, 6 out of 102 (5.9%), and in psychology and animal behav- ior, 7 out of 143 (4.9%). By far the highest proportion (85.2%) was in para- psychology. A survey of science departments in 11 British Universities showed that blind methodologies are neither used nor taught in 22 out of 23 physics and chemistry departments, or in 14 out of 16 biochemistry and mol- ecular biology departments. By contrast, blind methodologies are sometimes practiced and taught in 4 out of 8 genetics departments, and in 6 out of 8 phys- iology departments. I propose a simple procedure that could be used to de- tect possible experimenter effects in any branch of science, by comparing the results of a given experiment conducted both under open and blind condi- tions.


Objectives: The aims of this study were to explore employers' perceptions of people with mental illness, and to understand their attitudes and concerns about the employment policy for the disabled in Taiwan. Methods: In-depth interviews with 13 employers (including 7 employers who hired people with mental illness, and 6 who did not) were conducted. Responses were audio taped, transcribed, and coded. All the data were synthesized and interpreted. Results: Despite the fact that all employers agreed that people with mental illness had the same right to work as did normal people, over half were not willing to hire them because of concerns about their symptoms and work competencies. With regard to the employment policy, we found: 1) most employers were not aware of the employment policy; 2) the economic incentives seemed weak to employers; 3) most employers had insufficient knowledge about mental illness; 4) the quality of job coaches and employment support services was low. Conclusions: In order to increase employers' willingness to hire people with mental illness, the government should strengthen the support system for both employers and employees. Efforts should also be made to improve the quality of employment support services, adjust the economic incentives, increase awareness of the employment policy, and enhance knowledge and acceptance with regard to mental illness.


The paper presents current harmonic and inter-harmonic measurement of a Type-IV wind turbine. Characterizations and classifications have been performed with the representation of harmonics and interharmonics in a complex plane. The study of aggregations due to the summation of complex currents has been performed based on Monte-Carlo Simulation for harmonics and inter-harmonics. Aggregations occur less for low-order harmonics, more for high-order harmonics and most for inter-harmonics. Aggregations are shown to be largely independent of the produced power.


Students who undertake courses of study at colleges and universities are generally more successful in their learning outcomes if they are able to manage their personal knowledge well and effectively. This paper begins by discussing the meaning of personal knowledge management (PKM) and how it relates to teaching and learning, particularly to a commonly used instructional design framework. Some of the electronic tools that students might utilise are then discussed. Finally several electronic tools that might prove useful to students to aid their PKM are suggested.


In this contribution, we consider a heterogeneous two-tiered network where a tier of cognitive self-organizing small cells is deployed over the coverage area of a preexisting orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) macro cell. Neither crossnor co-tier cooperation or communication is established, thus no joint signal processing techniques can be implemented by the macro and small base stations (MBS/SBS). We assume that each SBS disposes only of a perfect local channel state information (CSI) w.r.t. the interfering links towards the macro and small user equipments (MUEs/SUEs) operating inside its coverage area. We design a novel cognitive interference alignment (IA) based scheme to protect the macro cell from the cross-tier interference, while mitigating the multi-user interference in the second tier. The optimal precoder that maximizes the spectral efficiency of the link connecting each SBS to its served SUE is found by means of a distributed one-shot strategy. Our numerical findings reveal non-negligible spectral efficiency enhancements with respect to traditional time division multiple access (TDMA) approaches. We show that the peculiar dimensionality of the considered non cooperative scenario is such that, the channel information w.r.t. the interfering links towards the SUEs does not yield spectral efficiency enhancements to the second tier. Finally, the proposed technique exhibits significant robustness to channel estimation errors, achieving remarkable results for the imperfect CSI case, and yielding consistent performance enhancements to the two-tiered network.


A particularly heavy effects sequence in the film Ratatouille depicts a colony of rats fleeing their home and crossing a long narrow river in several makeshift boats during a rainy afternoon. Nearly the entire sequence was photographed inches above the ground from a rat's perspective. Although this perspective provided a very interesting point of view of the world, it also brought an extra level of difficulty to an already challenging sequence. A raindrop creating a seemingly insignificant two-inch splash in the river could easily span one third the height of our final image. Described below is our approach to achieving believable water related effects from the point of view of a rat.


'As the authors in this fascinating volume point out, both heritage and identity discourse can be instrumentalized, by proponents and opponents of European integration, as they can be commodified, in branding efforts with various implementations. Just as in Macchiavelli's Europe, political and economic alliances shift, people get tired of things, are anxious, and in a tumultuous present they tend either to cling furiously to old (reinvented) identities or to redefine themselves on a regular basis. The past, and thus heritage, plays different roles at different times in these processes. In Renaissance culture, the Romans inspired a unity of thought we now label 'Renaissance' but in the politics and identity politics of the day, the effects were much more intricately patterned.French law became modeled on Roman law, and a Roman- inspired legal profession and administrative ethics arose that gradually permeated French society, but Spain and Italy itself proved quite different'


A FIRST COURSE IN MONTE CARLO shows you how to design, perform, and analyze the results of MC experiments based on independent replications, Markov chain MC, and MC optimization. The text emphasizes the variance-reducing techniques of importance sampling, stratified sampling, Rao-Blackwellization, control variates, antithetic variates, and quasi-random numbers. For solving optimization problems it describes several MC techniques, including simulated annealing, simulated tempering, swapping, stochastic tunneling, and genetic algorithms. Examples from many areas show how these techniques perform in practice. Hands-on exercises allow you to experience challenges encountered when solving real problems. An answer key to selected problems is included.


What are the teachings of the major world religious traditions about the status and care of the premature or sick newborn? This question becomes important in the context of neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) committed to the ideals of family-centered care, which encourages shared decision making between parents and NICU caregivers. In cases of infants with conditions marked by high mortality, morbidity, or "great suffering," family-centered care affirms the right of parents to assist in decisions regarding aggressive treatment for their infant. But while there is evidence that families' religious beliefs often profoundly shape their approach to medical decision making, few studies have tried to understand what major religious traditions teach about the care of the newborn or how these teachings may bear on parents' decisions. This volume seeks to address this need, providing information on religious teachings to the multidisciplinary teams of NICU professionals (neonatologists, advance practice nurses, social workers), parents of NICU patients, and students of bioethics. In chapters dealing with Judaism, Catholicism, Denominational Protestantism, Evangelical Protestantism, African American Protestantism, Sunni and Shi'a Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Navajo religion, and Seventh-day Adventism, leading scholars develop the teachings of these traditions on the status, treatment, and ritual accompaniments of care of the premature or sick newborn.


'Exoticisation Undressed' is an innovative ethnography that makes visible the many layers through which our understandings of indigenous cultures are filtered and their inherent power to distort and refract understanding. The book focuses in detail on the clothing practices of the Embera in Panama, an Amerindian ethnic group, who have gained national and international visibility through their engagement with indigenous tourism. The very act of gaining visibility while wearing indigenous attire has encouraged among some Embera communities a closer identification with an indigenous identity and a more confident representational awareness. The clothes that the Embera wear are not simply used to convey messages, but also become constitutive of their intended messages. By wearing indigenous-and-modern clothes, the Embera-who are often seen by outsiders as shadows of a vanishing world-reclaim their place as citizens of a contemporary nation. The analysis presented in the book makes visible 'ethnographic nostalgia', the distorting view that the present seems to emerge through the pages of a previous ethnography—a mirage: for example, the Embera carrying out their daily chores dressed as their grandparents. Ethnographic nostalgia distorts social reality by superimposing an interpretation of underlying cultural patterns over intentional or purposeful action. Through reflexive engagement, 'Exoticisation undressed' exposes the workings of ethnographic nostalgia and the Western quest for a singular, primordial authenticity, unravelling instead new layers of complexity that reverse and subvert exoticisation.


This study aims to investigate some characteristics of the moist processes of the Madden‐Julian oscillation (MJO), by making use of joint HDO (or δD) and H2O vapor measurements. The MJO is the main intraseasonal mode of the tropical climate but is hard to properly simulate in global atmospheric models. The joint use of δD‐H2O diagnostics yields additional information compared to sole humidity measurements. We use midtropospheric Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) satellite δD and H2O measurements to determine the mean MJO humidity and δD evolution. Moreover, by making use of high temporal resolution data, we determine the variability in this evolution during about eight MJO events from 2010 to 2012 (including those monitored during the DYNAMO (the Dynamics of the MJO), CINDY (Cooperative Indian Ocean Experiment in Y2011) campaign). These data have a higher spatiotemporal coverage than previous δD measurements, enabling the sampling of individual MJO events. IASI measurements over the Indian Ocean confirm earlier findings that the moistening before the precipitation peak of an MJO event is due to water vapor slightly enriched in HDO. There is then a HDO depletion around the precipitation peak that also corresponds to the moister environment. Most interevent variability determined in the current study occurs 5 to 10 days after the MJO event. In 75% of the events, humidity decreases while the atmosphere remains depleted. In a quarter of the events, humidity increases simultaneously with an increase in δD. After this, the advection of relatively dry and enriched air brings back the state to the mean. Over the maritime continent, δD‐H2O cycles are more variable on time scales shorter than the MJO and the interevent variability is larger than over the Indian Ocean. The sequence of moistening and drying processes as revealed by the q‐δD cycles can be used as a benchmark to evaluate the representation of moist processes in models. This is done here by comparing observations to simulations of the isotope enabled LMDZ (Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique Zoom) global climate model nudged with reanalysis wind fields. These simulations also give information to investigate possible physical origins of the observed q‐δD cycles.


After oral exposure, prions are thought to enter Peyer's patches via M cells and accumulate first upon follicular dendritic cells (FDCs) before spreading to the nervous system. How prions are actually initially acquired from the gut lumen is not known. Using high-resolution immunofluorescence and cryo-immunogold electron microscopy, we report the trafficking of the prion protein (PrP) toward Peyer's patches of wild-type and PrP-deficient mice. PrP was transiently detectable at 1 day post feeding (dpf) within large multivesicular LAMP1-positive endosomes of enterocytes in the follicle-associated epithelium (FAE) and at much lower levels within M cells. Subsequently, PrP was detected on vesicles in the late endosomal compartments of macrophages in the subepithelial dome. At 7–21 dpf, increased PrP labelling was observed on the plasma membranes of FDCs in germinal centres of Peyer's patches from wild-type mice only, identifying FDCs as the first sites of PrP conversion and replication. Detection of PrP on extracellular vesicles displaying FAE enterocyte-derived A33 protein implied transport towards FDCs in association with FAE-derived vesicles. By 21 dpf, PrP was observed on the plasma membranes of neurons within neighbouring myenteric plexi. Together, these data identify a novel potential M cell-independent mechanism for prion transport, mediated by FAE enterocytes, which acts to initiate conversion and replication upon FDCs and subsequent infection of enteric nerves.


The article aims to highlight the importance and necessity of developing competencies, especially communication competencies in business and knowledge society. We started our research from the key competencies of communication in the mother tongue, communication in foreign languages, social and civic competences, cultural awareness and expression. These are recognized as part of lifelong learning and are seen as a combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes. These competencies described above, need to be cultivated in order to adapt to the changing of the labour market. In education and especially in higher education system, communication competencies are developed through blended learning, so that the young students will attain a level that equips them for adult and working life. This type of education also provides a basis for future learning. The practical part of the paper highlight and present, how key and transversal competencies are developed through blended learning, during an online course of Intercultural Communication in Business, on the online Moodle Platform. One of the main objectives of this course is to adapt students' knowledge and communication skills with the needs of the current economy and society. Another objective why we choose to create disciplines in blended learning format, refers to the integration of transversal competences, including the communication in learning and teaching. The article purposes to show the advantages, disadvantages, limits and uses - also known as ADLU Analysis -, for this way of teaching and learning by the help of the online Moodle Platform, for this discipline of Intercultural Communication in Business.


For successful firefighting, information is key. In this work, a general overview of the current challenges and trends of data management for firefighting in Germany and the Netherlands are examined. This was accomplished by conducting a literature review to find out the current state-of-the-art in research. The results of the literature review are then compared with expert sentiments and gaps between research and practice are revealed. Through the review, six challenge categories are identified: cartographic data harmonization, IS standardization, information gathering from unstructured data, canonical bodies of knowledge, and data-driven firefighting support. The challenges and trends are discussed in the context of Germany and the Netherlands and significant differences are presented. Lastly, the gaps between research and practice are thoroughly analyzed and potentials for future work revealed.


The San Andreas fault (SAF) is one of the most studied strike‐slip faults in the world; yet its subsurface geometry is still uncertain in most locations. The Salton Seismic Imaging Project (SSIP) was undertaken to image the structure surrounding the SAF and also its subsurface geometry. We present SSIP studies at two locations in the Coachella Valley of the northern Salton trough. On our line 4, a fault‐crossing profile just north of the Salton Sea, sedimentary basin depth reaches 4 km southwest of the SAF. On our line 6, a fault‐crossing profile at the north end of the Coachella Valley, sedimentary basin depth is ∼2–3  km and centered on the central, most active trace of the SAF. Subsurface geometry of the SAF and nearby faults along these two lines is determined using a new method of seismic‐reflection imaging, combined with potential‐field studies and earthquakes. Below a 6–9 km depth range, the SAF dips ∼50°–60° NE, and above this depth range it dips more steeply. Nearby faults are also imaged in the upper 10 km, many of which dip steeply and project to mapped surface fault traces. These secondary faults may join the SAF at depths below about 10 km to form a flower‐like structure. In Appendix D, we show that rupture on a northeast‐dipping SAF, using a single plane that approximates the two dips seen in our study, produces shaking that differs from shaking calculated for the Great California ShakeOut, for which the southern SAF was modeled as vertical in most places: shorter‐period (T<1  s) shaking is increased locally by up to a factor of 2 on the hanging wall and is decreased locally by up to a factor of 2 on the footwall, compared to shaking calculated for a vertical fault.


We study the effect of women's exposure to civil conflict violent events during childhood and early teenage years on the probability that they will experience domestic violence in their marriages as adults. In particular, we investigate the case of the internal conflict in Peru during the 1980s and early 1990s, and its effect on the incidence of domestic violence between 2004 and 2012. We find that female exposure to conflict violence increases their later risk of being a perpetrator and a victim of domestic violence. The average effects for women affected by the conflict are small, although they mask important heterogeneities as some regions were affected by the conflict more severely than others. The effects are substantial for women in the highest categories of exposure. We also find evidence that a potential mechanism through which exposure to the conflict affects domestic violence in the long-term is normalization of the use of violence. Women more exposed to conflict violent events are more likely to justify the use of violence against women and more likely to stay in a violent relationship.


Computer simulations are widely used to support decision making and planning in the agriculture sector. On the one hand, many plant growth models use simplified hy- drological processes and structures - for example, by the use of a small number of soil layers or by the application of sim- ple water flow approaches. On the other hand, in many hy- drological models plant growth processes are poorly repre- sented. Hence, fully coupled models with a high degree of process representation would allow for a more detailed anal- ysis of the dynamic behaviour of the soil-plant interface. We coupled two of such high-process-oriented indepen- dent models and calibrated both models simultaneously. The catchment modelling framework (CMF) simulated soil hydrology based on the Richards equation and the van Genuchten-Mualem model of the soil hydraulic properties. CMF was coupled with the plant growth modelling frame- work (PMF), which predicts plant growth on the basis of ra- diation use efficiency, degree days, water shortage and dy- namic root biomass allocation. The Monte Carlo-based generalized likelihood uncertainty estimation (GLUE) method was applied to parameterize the coupled model and to investigate the related uncertainty of model predictions. Overall, 19 model parameters (4 for CMF and 15 for PMF) were analysed through 2◊ 10 6 model runs randomly drawn from a uniform distribution. The model was applied to three sites with different man- agement in Muncheberg (Germany) for the simulation of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in a cross-validation ex- periment. Field observations for model evaluation included soil water content and the dry matter of roots, storages, stems and leaves. The shape parameter of the retention curve n was highly constrained, whereas other parameters of the retention curve showed a large equifinality. We attribute this slightly poorer model performance to missing leaf senescence, which is currently not implemented in PMF. The most constrained parameters for the plant growth model were the radiation-use efficiency and the base temperature. Cross validation helped to identify deficits in the model structure, pointing out the need for including agricultural management options in the coupled model.


Defending the Holy Land: A Critical Analysis of Israel's Security & Foreign Policy, by Zeev Maoz. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2006. 714 pp. $45.00. This book was written by a "strategist," as described by the author, as against the "linear" approach based on documents, which, in his view, is common to historians. The main thesis of this book is that Israel's foreign and security policies were, and still are, caught between two poles: that of unwarranted patanoia, and that of unjustified arrogance. The criticisms of both policies are not new, regardless of their various forms and contents, and some were born with Israel itself. Yet the author did not feel obliged to add to previous critical opinions-many among them politically inspired-any new data, anchored in serious archival research, done in the newly opened American, British, French, German, Israeli, and former Soviet primary sources (I acknowledge that primary Arab sources are usually unavailable). Moreover, the author declares at the opening of his book that historical research is not necessary in order to offer "strategic," i.e., value-bound, advice or a "critical" analysis of Israel's problems, even though he engages in most parts of the book in historical issues, already much debated, pertaining to the same problems. As a "strategist," the author feels free to find evidence for his "critical" analysis wherever he can find it, though he avoids archival research, but his information on Israel's foreign policy decisions and Israel's wars was is based upon secondary sources. Several among them, such as Avi Shlaim, Motti Golani, Tom Segev, and others, are criticized for ideological bias or missing facts, but they are clear-cut "histories" used by a "strategist" for his own purposes. Several other works used by him, including their methodology, were published more than three decades ago, when "perceptions" attributed to Israel's policy makers substituted for the missing primary sources, or indeed seemed to IR experts to be an analytical tool replacing them almost altogether. The necessary givens of Israel's domestic political system, based as it is on multiparty coalitions, elected by a proportional ballot, were mentioned, but hardly connected to the strategic-political developments around it; we learn about them by using both newly opened and older primary sources. The analyses of Arab sources-all of them secondary-would have benefited from either the knowledge of Arabic or some expertise in using authorized translations. The use of the late Malcolm Kerr's Arab Cold War (Kerr was a distinguished "Arabist," who had declared President Sadat's visit to Jerusalem and the ensuing peace process between Israel and Egypt "a bett ayal of the Arab cause" and Israel as the factor which prevented the Arabs from pursuing normal national development) may be a tribute to Professor Kerr's memory, after his death at Hezbollah's hand while serving as President of the American University in Beirut, simply because he was an American. The author's contempt for "historical" research leads him, to begin with, to several, surprising observations, which are "historical" all the same, among them that "Israel is by far [reviewer's italics added] the most conflict-prone state in modern history." One need only think of Prussia-Germany, starting with Frederick the Great, all the way through the Danish, the Austrian, and the French Wars, to WWI and WWII, with the millions who died as a result of them, or of revolutionary France, the Napoleonic wars, or France's colonial wars before and after its defeat in 1870, in order to criticize our "critical" author for simple, and yet arrogant ignorance, which might have been avoided if his historical-comparative-knowledge had been acquired first. …


Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) is an effective tool for information navigation. We applied RSVP to the increasingly important task of image browsing. In total nine RSVP interfaces were developed, implementing three RSVP modes and three control sets. An evaluation was carried out to investigate the effect of RSVP mode and control set on image retrieval time. Subjective measures were also taken using the NASA Task Load Index (TLX) worksheets. In the evaluation, a traditional thumbnailed image browser was used, so as to give a base for comparison. Choice of RSVP mode was found to have the greatest effect on image retrieval speed and user preference, with interfaces implementing floating RSVP petfonning significantly better than those implementing other RSVP modes. The floating RSVP interfaces were faster than the thumbnailed approach but not significantly so. Subjective satisfaction favoured the floating RSVP interfaces over the thumbnailed interface.


In the past few years, wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are becoming more and more attractive because they can provide services that are not possible or not feasible before. In this paper, we address the design issues of an important type of WSNs, i.e., WSNs that enable environmental monitoring applications. We first provide an overview and analysis for our ongoing research project about a WSN for coastal-area acoustic monitoring. Based on the analysis, we then propose a cross-layer design framework for future WSNs that provide environmental monitoring services. The focus of the framework is the network layer design and the key idea of the framework is to fully understand and exploit both the physical layer characteristics and the requirements of upper layer applications and services. Particularly, for the physical layer characteristics, our framework 1) can enable advanced communication technologies such as cooperative communication and network coding; 2) can utilize the transmission characteristics for identifying/authenticating a sender; and 3) can exploit the communication pattern as a mean of sensing. For the requirements of applications and services, our framework 1) is service-oriented; 2) can enable distributed applications; 3) can utilize the fact that many applications do not have strict delay constraints. To illustrate the advantages of the framework, we also conduct a case study that may be a typical scenario in the near future. We believe that our study in this work can provide a guideline for future WSN design.


A year ago, I had one of the most significant interviews of my life. It was for a job I had worked toward for years, as a medical doctor doing research and teaching along with treating patients—a rare and highly competitive type of post in the United Kingdom. Toward the end of the interview, I was asked how I would balance the different parts of the role. I had expected this question and had thought about how I would answer. Still, I hesitated. I could say what I thought the members of the interview panel wanted to hear: I'm good at multitasking, prioritizing, and delegating, and I was confident that I would be able to juggle the various responsibilities. That would have been true—yet it didn't feel authentic. The more honest answer was that I knew it would be difficult, but I wanted to try anyway. I wasn't sure which answer to give.

![Figure][1]

ILLUSTRATION: ROBERT NEUBECKER

> "Trying to come across as someone other than myself was not the right approach."

I faced a similar problem 12 years earlier, when I applied to medical school. I was only 17 years old, and my education had left me believing that there were only right and wrong answers, especially in exams. In my mind, the interview was an exam—it, too, had right and wrong answers. But I didn't know what they were. No one in my family was a doctor. I come from the wrong side of the tracks, as they say. I had worked my way into a decent local school and done well in my classes, but I didn't speak the way my classmates did—or the way I imagined doctors did.

So, I found model answers on the internet, which put my mind at ease. But when I tried to use these answers as templates, it felt fake, as if I was trying to be somebody I wasn't.

This tension led me to stumble during the interviews. My own answers competed in my mind with those I'd found from other sources. The wires crossed on at least one occasion, when an interviewer asked me to give an example of a time when I had been caring. The answer that came to mind was that I volunteered at a nursing home and felt privileged to sit with the residents and listen to their stories. But I didn't think that was dramatic enough to impress the interviewers. So, instead I told them about when one of the residents got sick and I cleaned it up. I immediately felt embarrassed. That wasn't caring; that was basic cleanliness and hygiene, and it suggested that my best quality was skill with a mop. Right then and there, it was clear to me that trying to come across as someone other than myself was not the right approach.

My next interview attempt came a few years later, for a position I would start after medical school—a clinical job with a small academic research component. I wasn't sure what the panel was looking for, but I felt I had little to lose: New doctors in the United Kingdom are almost guaranteed a "normal" clinical job somewhere in the country, and I hadn't expected to be invited to interview for this more specialized position in the first place. So I was satisfied to present myself as I am, not as who I thought the panel members wanted me to be. I didn't second-guess myself. My answers were just that—they were mine. I was at ease and genuinely enjoyed the experience. And I was offered the job.

Fast-forward to my most recent interview and the question about how I would juggle the multiple responsibilities of the role. I hesitated—but not for long. I had learned the importance of being true to myself. So I answered simply: "With difficulty."

To my surprise and relief, the review panel members nodded knowingly and chuckled. They seemed to relate and to appreciate my candor and willingness to show my human side. I started the job a few months later.

I've come to realize that interviews don't have "right" or "wrong" answers. I still see them as exams, but they're not testing my ability to rehash somebody else's answers. The answers were always easier than I thought, because the exam is about something I am well acquainted with: me.

 [1]: pending:yes


One of the major concerns of health professionals working in the area of psychiatry is understanding the conditions under which patients adhere to prescribed treatments. While adherence is linked to some extent to the patients' comprehension of their illness, it is also a function of their social and demographic characteristics, such as age, social milieu, or sex. Another attribute also merits our attention, however: the patient's cultural affiliation and in particular, his or her religious background.


Picking of P and S waves is a fundamental process in seismology, and various kinds of picking techniques have been developed. Seismic waveforms change dramatically depending on the magnitude, the mechanism of the earthquake, and the positional relationship between the hypocenter and the seismic station.
 The availability of various picking techniques is supposed to be helpful for appropriately dealing with a variety of seismic records. Hence, in addition to the revision of conventional techniques, the development of new picking techniques is worthwhile. In the present study, we developed a new stochastic technique to detect P and S waves based on the statistical amplitude distribution in the seismic record amplitude.
 In the proposed method, the probabilistic density function (PDF) of the amplitude is calculated for each segment of seismic records, and the similarity between the PDF of the amplitude and that of the Rayleigh or Gaussian distribution is evaluated by divergence. Because Rayleigh and Gaussian distributions are typically found in amplitude distributions of highly random waves, such as coda waves, the divergence indicates the randomness of the seismic records. P and S waves are found by tracing the temporal change of the divergence.
 We tested the proposed method using local seismic records for a series of seismic events that occurred before and after the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake. The mean absolute errors for picking P and S waves are 2.72×10−2 and 7.38×10−2  s, respectively. The proposed method is a simple and new statistical picking method that enables automatic detection of P- and S-wave arrivals.


Abstract. The ionosphere is an anisotropic, dispersive medium for the propagation of radio frequency electromagnetic waves due to the presence of the Earth's intrinsic magnetic field and free charges. The detailed physics of electromagnetic wave propagation through a plasma is more complex when it is embedded in a magnetic field. In particular, the ground range of waves reflecting in the ionosphere presents detectable magnetic field effects. Earth's magnetic field varies greatly, with the most drastic scenario being a polarity reversal. Here the spatial variability of the ground range is analyzed using numerical ray tracing under possible reversal scenarios. Pattern changes of the spitze, a cusp in the ray path closely related to the geomagnetic field, are also assessed. The ground range increases with magnetic field intensity and ray alignment with the field direction. For the present field, which is almost axial dipolar, this happens for Northward propagation at the magnetic equator, peaking in Indonesia where the intensity is least weak along the equator. A similar situation occurs for a prevailing equatorial dipole with Eastward ray paths at the corresponding magnetic equator that here runs almost perpendicular to the geographic equator. Larger spitze angles occur for smaller magnetic inclinations, and higher intensities. This is clearly observed for the present field and the dipole rotation scenario along the corresponding magnetic equators. For less dipolar configurations the ground range and spitze spatial variabilities become smaller scale. Overall, studying ionospheric dynamics during a reversal may highlight possible effects of dipole decrease which is currently ongoing.


The SouthWest eoast of India is subjected to severe erosion due to attack by waves and. tidal overflow. Through the years the problem has intensified as beach front areas have become more extensively developed and subject to greater damage from the foree of the sea. More than 300 kms of the eoast is subjected to severe erosion due to constant attack by waves and tidal overflow, resulting in continuous recession, loss of valuable property and affecting many aspects of its economy* The paper presents the problem at the proper perspective. It deseribes the various physical factors of the Southwest eoast of India, namely the geomorphelogy, winds, waves, tides and currents, littoral drift, material characteristics, shore line and shore depth changes, effects of inlets and mudbanke. The study, evolution and development of different eeastal defense works and their behaviour and effectiveness is also presented.


Predicting protein domains is essential for understanding a protein's function at the molecular level. However, up till now, there has been no direct and straightforward method for predicting protein domains in species without a reference genome sequence. In this study, we developed a functionality with a set of programs that can predict protein domains directly from genomic sequence data without a reference genome. Using whole genome sequence data, the programming functionality mainly comprised DNA assembly in combination with next-generation sequencing (NGS) assembly methods and traditional methods, peptide prediction and protein domain prediction. The proposed new functionality avoids problems associated with de novo assembly due to micro reads and small single repeats. Furthermore, we applied our functionality for the prediction of leucine rich repeat (LRR) domains in four species of Ficus with no reference genome, based on NGS genomic data. We found that the LRRNT_2 and LRR_8 domains are related to plant transpiration efficiency, as indicated by the stomata index, in the four species of Ficus. The programming functionality established in this study provides new insights for protein domain prediction, which is particularly timely in the current age of NGS data expansion.