Given a graph in which a few vertices are deemed interesting a priori, the vertex nomination task is to order the remaining vertices into a nomination list such that there is a concentration of interesting vertices at the top of the list. Previous work has yielded several approaches to this problem, with theoretical results in the setting where the graph is drawn from a stochastic block model (SBM), including a vertex nomination analogue of the Bayes optimal classifier. In this paper, we prove that maximum likelihood (ML)-based vertex nomination is consistent, in the sense that the performance of the ML-based scheme asymptotically matches that of the Bayes optimal scheme. We prove theorems of this form both when model parameters are known and unknown. Additionally, we introduce and prove consistency of a related, more scalable restricted-focus ML vertex nomination scheme. Finally, we incorporate vertex and edge features into ML-based vertex nomination and briefly explore the empirical effectiveness of this approach.


In the frame of a research project conducted at the Smart Living Lab (SLL), a research center dedicated to the building of the future, this paper presents an algorithm that optimizes the coupling of local renewable energy production systems with energy storage devices and the different consumers both at the level of the building and of its peripherals. The main goal is to improve the energy self-sufficiency of a building by combining three aspects in the same time. The optimization criteria are the renewable energy based independence and the ecological (greenhouses gases emissions) and economical (costs) aspects. The underlying approach to perform the global optimization is first presented, explaining how the algorithm combines and optimizes these three criteria. For this purpose, it takes into account the current value of the state variables (temperature, etc.) and the forecasts future values. These data represent the input of a genetic optimization algorithm that computes the best use of each element of the production and storage systems to ensure the electrical and thermal energy demand. The choice of genetic algorithm is motivated by the large amount of optimization variables and the non-linearity of the score function. The typical computation time for this kind of optimization is short enough to allow a real time regulation. The composition of the energy production and storage is flexible allowing to integrate many technologies types, thus increasing its portability.


Smart optical composite materials suitable for ratiometric sensing applications and harvesting options have been developed. The hybrid materials consist of core/shell particles with Fe3O4/SiO2 as the core and different luminescent lanthanide-containing metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) as the shell. The magnetic properties enable collection of microparticles via an external magnetic field and, thus, a strong signal augmentation of the luminescence signal. Thereby, MOF luminescence functions as a read-out signal of the sensing that can be influenced by different chemical compounds, e.g. by quenching with low concentrations of water. The combination of MOFs, which contain different luminescence centers combined with a different sensitivity towards water, results in a system that can be exploited as a ratiometric sensor. We have utilized the MOFs 3∞[Eu2(BDC)3]·2H2O·2DMF (BDC2− = benzene dicarboxylate) and 2∞[Ln2Cl6(bipy)3]·2bipy (Ln = Eu, Tb; bipy = 4,4′-bipyridine) for functionalization of the microparticles, resulting in a color-tuned yellow-emitting mixed-MOF composite system together with a Fe3O4/SiO2 core. Interaction with water decreases the luminescence unequally for both luminescence centers, which enables a quantitative determination of the water content by analysis of the ratio of the Tb3+ and Eu3+ luminescence bands. This process is supported by possible harvesting via superparamagnetism of the composite. Altogether, high sensitivity with a detection limit of 0.3% (20 μg) is achieved, equal to Karl-Fischer titration but also suitable for an "on-the-fly" analysis.


Tremendous controversy exists today about legal treatment of hip hop music. Having just reached its thirtieth birthday, hip hop is now the second most popular type of music in the United States and an important musical and cultural force globally. The advent of hip hop has raised serious copyright law concerns. At the core of such concerns is the issue of sampling, or the use of pieces of existing recorded music within hip hop works, which has been deemed in some instances to constitute copyright infringement. Professor Arewa discusses issues that arise in the application of copyright to music generally as well as historical and cultural aspects of the hip hop debate. In discussions of music, particularly in the legal field, hip hop is considered within a tradition that values independent and autonomous authorship of musical works and that consequently reflects pervasive romantic author discourse. Within such discussions, the manner of music production of great masters of the European classical tradition may be seen as a model of musical production against which musical forms such as hip hop are often at least implicitly measured. The image of the classical tradition embedded in such discussions is, however, inaccurate and distorted. The classical music tradition is an invented tradition that was largely constructed in the nineteenth century and that no longer operates as an active tradition to which new works are being added in any quantity. Actual practice within the classical tradition varies significantly from the idealized imagery of this tradition evident in legal discourse about music. The image of the classical tradition is important because through characterizations of this tradition, hip hop musical production is distinguished from other methods of making music in a number of ways through the use of a series of implicit and explicit dichotomies. In looking at this classical tradition historically, however, it is clear that much continuity underlies the production of music generally, particularly in relation to musical borrowing, which was common in the European classical tradition in actuality as opposed to its constructed history. The varied uses of musical borrowing suggest that more careful consideration needs to be given to the extent to which copying and borrowing have been and can be a source of innovation within music and by extension elsewhere. Recognition of such borrowing needs to be incorporated into existing copyright frameworks as a basis for the development of commercial practices and liability rule based legal structures for treatment of music, including hip hop, which uses existing works in its creation.


The Limpopo River Basin is home to 14,000,000 people, at least half of whom live in rural areas. Over ten million South Africans live in the basin nearly 25% of the national population. The remaining population live in Botswana one million people, nearly 60% of the national population Mozambique and Zimbabwe. While there are no major cities located on the river, several major urban areas in or adjacent to the basin impact water availability including quality.


For the experimental evaluation and characterization of ultrasound imaging transducer the only recommendation is the ASTM-Standard [1]. This conventional setup allows for a limited experimental investigation of cross-coupling and vibration modes. In this paper an optical measurement system using laser interferometry is adopted for the characterization of array transducers that were manufactured with two different backing materials. Particular attention is paid to the effect that constructional variations may have on the performance of the assembled transducer. The paper outlines the usefulness of the optical method during the manufacturing process when a reliable testing procedure is needed for improving the efficiency of the quality tests on ultrasound imaging array transducers.


Many modern messaging systems allow fast and synchronous textual communication among many users. The resulting sequence of messages hides a more complicated structure in which independent sub-conversations are interwoven with one another. This poses a challenge for any task aiming to understand the content of the chat logs or gather information from them. The ability to disentangle these conversations is then tantamount to the success of many downstream tasks such as summarization and question answering. Structured information accompanying the text such as user turn, user mentions, timestamps, is used as a cue by the participants themselves who need to follow the conversation and has been shown to be important for disentanglement. DAG-LSTMs, a generalization of Tree-LSTMs that can handle directed acyclic dependencies, are a natural way to incorporate such information and its non-sequential nature. In this paper, we apply DAG-LSTMs to the conversation disentanglement task. We perform our experiments on the Ubuntu IRC dataset. We show that the novel model we propose achieves state of the art status on the task of recovering reply-to relations and it is competitive on other disentanglement metrics.


Large-scale social simulations require a cognitively credible but computationally efficient cognitive architecture to support simulations with thousands to tens of thousands agents. In previous work developing and experimenting with a large-scale social simulation, we successfully employed an ad hoc cognitive model, a formula-based decision function. We explain why we now believe that a "fast and frugal" cognitive architecture to be superior based on its indistinguishable computational efficiency and much better cognitive plausibility.


In this overview of groundwave propagation, we address a particular class of propagation scenarios in the presence of surface terrain and atmospheric refractivity. Beginning with idealized analytically solvable models over a smooth spherical Earth, we trace the progression toward more "reality" through physics-based numerical algorithms, operating in the frequency and short-pulse time domain, which take advantage of computational resources. An extensive sequence of simulations for various terrains and atmospheric refractivities, as well as different source-receiver arrangements and operating frequencies, serves to calibrate these algorithms one against the other, and establishes the range of problem parameters for which each is more effective.


BACKGROUND
Ethical and professional guidelines recommend disclosure of medical errors to patients. The objective of this study was to review the empirical literature on disclosure of medical errors with respect to (1) the decision to disclose, (2) the process of informing the patient and family, and (3) the consequences of disclosure or nondisclosure.

METHODS
We searched 4 electronic databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Social Sciences Citations Index) and the reference lists of relevant articles for English-language studies on disclosure of medical errors. From more than 800 titles reviewed, we identified 17 articles reporting original empirical data on disclosure of medical errors to patients and families. We examined methods and results of the articles and extracted study designs, data collection procedures, populations sampled, response rates, and definitions of error.

RESULTS
Available research findings suggest that patients and the public support disclosure. Physicians also indicate support for disclosure, but often do not disclose. We found insufficient empirical evidence to support conclusions about the disclosure process or its consequences.

CONCLUSIONS
Empirical research on disclosure of medical errors to patients and families has been limited, and studies have focused primarily on the decision stage of disclosure. Fewer have considered the disclosure process, the consequences of disclosure, or the relationship between the two. Additional research is needed to understand how disclosure decisions are made, to provide guidance to physicians on the process, and to help all involved anticipate the consequences of disclosure.


Background TNF-α, an adipokine involved in systemic inflammation and a member of a group of cytokines that stimulate the acute phase reaction, has been related to the pathogenesis of both periodontitis and obesity. The objective of this study was to assess the serum levels of adiponectin, leptin and TNF-α of periodontally healthy normal weight (NW) patients, NW patients with chronic periodontitis (CP), periodontally healthy obese patients and obese patients with CP. Material and Methods Ninety-three patients were enrolled in this cross-sectional study: 30 periodontally healthy NW patients; 18 NW patients with CP; 21 periodontally healthy obese patients; and 24 obese patients with CP. Analyses included clinical and anthropometric outcomes, as well as the assessment of serum levels of adiponectin, leptin and TNF-α by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) or fully automated chemiluminescence immunoassay. One-Way ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis One-Way on Ranks, Dunn's Test and multivariable logistic regression (MLR) analyses were conducted to estimate the degree of association between periodontitis and obesity. Results Obese patients with CP showed significant more bleeding sites than the other three groups (p<0.05). Moreover, patients from the NWCP and OPH showed similar BOP percentages, as well as OPH group showed more bleeding sites than the NWPH group (p<0.05). The OPH group showed similar levels of adiponectin and leptin than the OCP group, but significantly higher than the NWPH and NWCP groups(p<0.05). MLR analyses showed that obesity was positively associated with the percentage of sites with bleeding on probing, with an odds ratio of 0.93 (95% confidence interval: -0.88, - 0.98; p=0.012). Conclusions The serum levels of adiponectin, leptin and TNF-α were not influenced by CP. Obese patients showed almost 10% more sites with BoP. In chronic periodontitis patients, obese subjects presented significant more BOP sites than normal weight subjects. Key words:Periodontitis, obesity, inflammation, adiponectin, leptin.


The newspaper industry has long been looking for sustainable business models for theirdigital editions. One of their popular choices is the freemium business model based onfree and premium content with a paywall. However, freemium has not yet lived up tothe expectation of the industry and has not secured the revenues that industry playershoped for. This article discusses a number of the main principles of the freemium strategyand tactics, and highlights the critical points for legacy newspaper organisations.


Twin-row planting for soybean and maize has proliferated in Mid-South production systems during the past decade. Knowledge of cotton production with twin-row planting is limited. The objective of this research was to determine how cotton leaf-type isolines (varying in size and the degree of lobing) performed in both twin-row and single-row planting patterns. Field studies were conducted in 2011 and 2012. Four genotypes (MD 65-11 normal, MD 6511 okra, MD 65-11 super okra, and ST 4554B2RF) were grown in both twin-row and single-row planting patterns. Dry matter partitioning, leaf area index, light interception, nodes above white bloom, lint yield, and fiber quality data were collected. The response to twin-row planting when compared to single-row planting was consistent across all the cotton genotypes evaluated in this study. Twinrow canopies produced a greater early season leaf area index that intercepted more sunlight than the single-row pattern, but these differences diminished as the season progressed. Twin-row plots reached cutout approximately two days earlier than the single-row plots. Despite increased early season leaf area production and sunlight interception, no differences between planting patterns were detected for lint yield, the yield components, or fiber quality traits. Convenience of using a standard planting configuration across multiple crops may be the only justification for twin-row planting in cotton because neither lint yield nor fiber quality were impacted.


In light of the recent terrorists attacks and the increasing threat of bioterrorism, many U.S. citizens have turned to the Internet in an attempt to gather the supplies needed to protect them and their loved ones. Central to the effort is the increased purchasing of prescription drugs over the Internet. This iBrief explores the benefits and risks to consumers from buying drugs online, and examines recent initiatives to police the online pharmacy industry.


Abstract The structure and content of the Moab Fault zone are described for 37 transects across the fault zone where throws range from less than 100 m to c. 960 m. The 45 km long fault trace intersects a sedimentary sequence containing a high proportion of sandstones with good reservoir properties, interspersed with numerous mudstone layers. Typically, the fault zone is bounded by two external slip zones with the fault zone components separated by up to nine internal slip zones. Fault zone components are tabular lenses of variably deformed sandstones and sandstone cataclasites and breccia, with a wide size range, usually enclosed in a matrix of shaley fault gouge containing mm to m scale entrained sandstone fragments. Neither fault zone structure nor content can be predicted by extrapolation over distances as little as 10 m. Although variable in thickness, shaley gouge is always present except where the mudstone is <c. 20% of the faulted sequence. The distribution of shaley gouge conforms with existing algorithms for predicting the presence or absence of shaley gouge in subsurface fault zones. The fault zone heterogeneity is attributed to tip-line and asperity bifurcation processes.


One goal of normative multi-agent system theory is to formulate principles for normative system change that maintain the rulelike structure of norms and preserve links between norms and individual agent obligations. A central question raised by this problem is whether there is a framework for norm change that is at once specific enough to capture this rule-like behavior of norms, yet general enough to support a full battery of norm and obligation change operators. In this paper we propose an answer to this question by developing a bimodal logic for norms and obligations called NO. A key to our approach is that norms are treated as propositional formulas, and we provide some independent reasons for adopting this stance. Then we define norm change operations for a wide class of modal systems, including the class of NO systems, by constructing a class of modal revision operators that satisfy all the AGM postulates for revision, and constructing a class of modal contraction operators that satisfy all the AGM postulates for contraction. More generally, our approach yields an easily extendable framework within which to work out principles for a theory of normative system change.


Flexural deformation tests on a continuous, pultruded glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) beam are described. The two-span beam was loaded incrementally up to the deflection serviceability limit in both major and minor-axis flexure by a vertical point load applied at the centre of the longer span. The tests were repeated three times with respect to each flexural axis. Mid-span deflections, support rotations and axial strains on the flanges' outer surfaces at three cross-sections were recorded during both loading and unloading. It is shown that deflections, support rotations and surface strains are both linear and repeatable. A new exact analysis, based on classical shear-rigid beam theory, has been completed for simply supported, two-span continuous beams for any span ratio and with the longer span subjected to a mid-span point load. Formulae are presented for mid-span bending moments, support reactions, mid-span deflections, support rotations and surface strains. The deflection, rotation and strain formulae are used to predict the experimental deflections, rotations and strains corresponding to the serviceability load using the average longitudinal elastic modulus of the pultruded GFRP material (derived from tension coupon tests) and the beam's cross-section properties. It is shown that the predicted deformations and strains are in good agreement with the corresponding experimental values. The analysis has been developed further to include shear deformation, but, because the beam's two span-to-depth ratios are large (approximately 30:1 and 20:1), its effect on the predicted deformations is very small.


In the fabrication of heat treatable aluminum parts for the aeronautic industry, quenching is a key step to obtain the required mechanical characteristics after aging. For thick plates, thermal gradients cause non-homogeneous plastic strain resulting in residual stresses (RS) after quenching. In 7xxx alloys, precipitation phenomena may affect these RS. Quenching RS are extensively reduced by stress relief. However, RS at final temper could lead to some distortions during machining of large and complex parts. For their prediction, it is thus important to be able to model the full process and particularly the quenching. In this work a simple but realistic approach is presented to predict as-quenched RS. Instead of modeling precipitation, yield strength is characterized with a few Gleeble interrupted quench tests. The results are introduced in a finite element model and predictions are compared to residual stress measurements in plates of different thicknesses for two different 7xxx alloys.


This article discusses the use of behavioral genetics in criminal cases and argues, contrary to the conventional view, that criminal responsibility theory limits the role behavioral predisposition testimony should play in assessing criminal responsibility. We proceed by reviewing criminal cases in which behavioral genetics and neurological evidence has been introduced - including claims that a defendant acted involuntarily, lacked the requisite mens rea, satisfied the mental defect element of an insanity defense, or was entitled to differential sentencing. This review reveals that courts have rejected the majority of these claims, but primarily because of the inadequacy of the science thereby leaving open the door for the introduction of such evidence in future criminal cases as the science further develops. The article then offers a more robust rationale for rejecting behavioral predisposition evidence when assessing a defendant's criminal responsibility. Using behavioral genetics as a tool, we explain why criminal responsibility theory clashes with defenses based on behavioral predispositions. We argue that the two components of criminal responsibility - liability and justifications and excuses to liability - operate with little regard to the infirmities of a criminal defendant. In so doing, we elucidate the fundamental characteristics underlying these components including the assumptions of legal free will and human agency, the voluntary act requirement, mens rea, and the reasonable person standard. We explain why seemingly anomalous defenses such as provocation and battered woman syndrome do not meaningfully challenge whether criminal responsibility operates without regard to a defendant's unique mental infirmities. Because liability and justifications and excuses to liability do not turn on individual infirmities, we conclude that behavioral genetics should not inform criminal responsibility.


This thesis is conducted in Northern Ethiopia, Bati woreda. It explores how the existing gender relation in Bati woreda plays a role on livelihood of female headed households. Qualitative method that include semi structure interview, focus group discussion, key informant interview and observations are the main data collection instruments. Twenty female headed households that compromised of widow, divorcee and separated are the main focus of the sturdy. The thesis used the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu theory of practice as the main theoretical framework, his important concepts like habitus, field and capital are used to analyze the livelihood of female headed households and their attempt to diversity their livelihood and get social capital. The livelihood framework developed by DFID has also used as a means to prepare the interview guide and structure the analysis.
The thesis found that the way female headed households are formed play a significant role in influencing female headed household livelihood. Habitus and capitals are also found as play important concept to help to clearly understand how gender relation in the woreda function. The study has also shown that the presence and / or absence of capital play a significant role in influencing livelihood of female headed households and enabling female household heads to resist and negotiate their household livelihood.


We investigated the physiological and morphological responses in six agroforestry tree species Dipterocarpus tuberculatus, D. alatus, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Hevea brasiliensis, Colocasia gigantea, C. esculenta under limited water availability. Withholding water resulted in reduced field capacity by 71%, 86%, and 48% in D. alatus, D. tuberculatus, and E. camaldulensis, respectively, resulting in wilting, leaf chlorosis, and leaf burn, respectively. Stomatal density varied among the plant species (1.4–6.2 stomata per 0.0625 mm2) and was unaffected by water regimes, whereas stomatal conductance (gs), transpiration rate (E), and water use efficiency were reduced when plants were subjected to water deficit conditions. Generally, intracellular CO2 of well-watered plants was not always maintained across increasing light intensity flux (PARi), although for E. camaldulensis this was not the case, as both wellwatered and water deficit groups showed a reduction with increasing PARi. Net photosynthetic rate was significantly increased in well-watered plants as compared to water stressed plants, depending on the degree of PARi. In addition, a positive relation between gs and E in each plant was demonstrated.


O-Methylation modulates the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) properties of small-molecule natural products, affecting their bioavailability, stability, and binding to targets. Diversity-oriented combinatorial biosynthesis of new chemical entities for drug discovery and optimization of known bioactive scaffolds during drug development both demand efficient O-methyltransferase (OMT) biocatalysts with considerable substrate promiscuity and tunable regioselectivity that can be deployed in a scalable and sustainable manner. Here we demonstrate efficient total biosynthetic and biocatalytic platforms that use a pair of fungal OMTs with orthogonal regiospecificity to produce unnatural O-methylated benzenediol lactone polyketides. We show that rational, structure-guided active-site cavity engineering can reprogram the regioselectivity of these enzymes. We also characterize the interplay of engineered regioselectivity with substrate plasticity. These findings will guide combinatorial biosynthetic tailoring of unnatural products toward the generation of diverse chemical matter for drug discovery and the PK/PD optimization of bioactive scaffolds for drug development.


Abstract. This paper evaluates the impact of photolysis rate calculation on simulated European air composition and air quality. In particular, the impact of the cloud parametrisation and the impact of aerosols on photolysis rates are analysed. Photolysis rates are simulated using the Fast-JX photolysis scheme and gas and aerosol concentrations over Europe are simulated with the regional chemistry-transport model Polair3D of the Polyphemus platform. The photolysis scheme is first used to update the clear-sky tabulation of photolysis rates used in the previous Polair3D version. Important differences in photolysis rates are simulated, mainly due to updated cross-sections and quantum yields in the Fast-JX scheme. In the previous Polair3D version, clouds were taken into account by multiplying the clear-sky photolysis rates by a correction factor. In the new version, clouds are taken into account more accurately by simulating them directly in the photolysis scheme. Differences in photolysis rates inside clouds can be large but outside clouds, and especially at the ground, differences are small. To take into account the impact of aerosols on photolysis rates, Polair3D and Fast-JX are coupled. Photolysis rates are updated every hour. Large impact on photolysis rates is observed at the ground, decreasing with altitude. The aerosol specie that impact the most photolysis rates is dust especially in south Europe. Strong impact is also observed over anthropogenic emission regions (Paris, The Po and the Ruhr Valley) where mainly nitrate and sulphate reduce the incoming radiation. Differences in photolysis rates lead to changes in gas concentrations, with the largest impact simulated on OH and NO concentrations. At the ground, monthly mean concentrations of both species are reduced over Europe by around 10 to 14% and their tropospheric burden by around 10%. The decrease in OH leads to an increase of the life-time of several species such as VOC. NO 2 concentrations are not strongly impacted and O 3 concentrations are mostly reduced at the ground (−3%). O 3 peaks are systematically decreased because of the NO 2 photolysis rate coefficient decrease. Not only gas are impacted but also secondary aerosols, due to changes in gas precursors concentrations. However changes in aerosol species concentrations often compensate each other resulting in a low impact on PM 10 and PM 2.5 concentrations (lower than 2%). The changes in gas concentrations at the ground induced by the modification of photolysis rates (by aerosols and clouds) are compared to changes induced by 29 different model parametrisations in Roustan et al. (2010). Among the 31 model parametrisations, "including aerosols on photolysis rates calculation" has the strongest impact on OH concentrations and on O 3 bias in July. In terms of air quality, ground concentrations (NO 2 , O 3 , PM 10 ) are compared with measurements. Changes arising from cloud parametrisation are small. Simulation performances are often slightly better when including aerosol in photolysis rates calculation. The systematic O 3 peak reduction leads to large differences in the exceedances of the European O 3 standard as calculated by the model, in better agreement with measurements. The number of exceedances of the information and the alert threshold is divided by 2 when the aerosol impact on photochemistry is simulated. This shows the importance of taking into account aerosols impact on photolysis rates in air quality studies.


Here we report an unusual case of ruptured lung abscess, complicated by both a persistent air leak and empyema necessitans. This combination of problems, in a patient with significant co-morbidities presented major diagnostic difficulties and challenging pleural intervention issues . The case based discussion presented also highlights a number of important learning points that can be generalised to the assessment and management of patients with severe pleuro-pulmonary infections, including the minority associated with an acute air-leak.

Varun Sharma (VS): A morbidly obese (120 kg, body mass index 49) 43-year-old female presented to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Glasgow, obtunded and in acute respiratory distress. She had been bed or chairbound for 2 years due to chronic pain, primarily related to severe hidradenitis suppurativa (HS). Other past medical history included poorly controlled Insulin-dependent type 2 diabetes mellitus (glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) level 107 mmol/mol on admission), asthma and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. She reported a cough productive of large volumes of purulent, foul-smelling sputum and severe pain, particularly localised to the axillae and lateral chest walls. The patient was tachycardic (147 bpm), tachypnoeic and hypoxic. Oxygen saturations were recorded at 85% on air. Examination revealed accessory muscle use, reduced air entry, dullness to percussion and bronchial breathing at the right lung base. The patient did not tolerate a full skin examination due to pain, and reported multiple drug allergies, including suxamethonium and metronidazole, but no penicillin allergy. Treatment for probable community-acquired pneumonia was initiated (intravenous amoxicillin and oral clarithromycin) pending chest radiography. Initial laboratory investigations revealed a C reactive protein level over 300 mg/L and marked hypoalbuminaemia (14 g/L). Over the next few hours, the patient reported facial swelling. On repeat clinical assessment, no stridor or airway compromise was noted. Antibiotic allergy was suspected, and intravenous hydrocortisone and chlorphenamine were administered. However, her facial swelling worsened and a chest radiograph, acquisition of which has been delayed, revealed significant …


Identification and utilization of proxy characters in extant families has been accomplished with success for fossil members of the Calappidae, Hepatidae, Necrocarcinidae, Matutidae, and Hexapodidae. The fossil and extant Raninidae have been revised using primarily hard-part morphology preserved in the fossil record although formal designation of "proxy characters" has not occurred. Hard-part characters can also be used to differentiate among members of the Atelecyclidae and the Cheiragonidae. Thus, the method of using proxy characters is demonstrably suitable for application to a difficult group like the Xanthoidea.


This thesis will examine the political landscape that shaped the canonization
process of Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi, a seventeenth-century Tuscan mystic. Maria
Maddalena's visions, teachings and miracles led to her beatification-but only in
conjunction with a carefully orchestrated campaign by a number of influential
Florentines. Based on the contemporary descriptions of Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi's
visions, biographies written by two of her confessors, and transcripts from the
ecclesiastical investigation, this thesis will argue that the political connections of the
Medici and the Barberini clans proved critical to Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi's
beatification and canonization.
Maria Maddalena's visions, authenticated by the Catholic Church, and her
plan of reforms for her convent inspired Florentine support first for her beatification
and then for her canonization. This thesis will examine how religious imagery
influenced the Florentine and Mantuan nobility who then began to petition Rome for
her beatification. It will then analyze her confessors' illustrated biographies, which
by highlighting this noble support sought to put pressure on the Vatican. The thesis
then turns to those witnesses who testified on her behalf during the Church's
investigation into her veneration. It will demonstrate that Urban VIII's network of
family and clients was instrumental to Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi's beatification.
Furthermore, it will argue that Urban's continued influence on later popes, along with
continued support from Florence, brought about her canonization.


Higher Order Thinking skills (HOTs) are important thinking skills for lifelong learners, active social responsibility and proactive employees in the 21st century. The rapid development of technology in education has made learning anywhere and anytime possible. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of the integration of peer instruction in online social network could on students ability to answer HOTs questions. Peer instruction is one of the learning techniques that promote HOTs in a cooperative learning setting. It promotes students' participation in class and increases their learning engagement. This study applied repeated measures one group pre-post test design which was carried out among 20 students (purposive sampling technique) in higher education institution. It was carried out in 3 different sessions. Students have to answer HOTs questions in the form of multiple choices using an online quiz system, while peer instruction activities were carried out using and online social network app. Findings show that there is significant effect of peer instruction activities on students quiz scores and no significant difference of students peer instruction activities among the 3 learning sessions. Keywords—Peer instruction, Higher order thinking skills, Online Social Learn-


Physical computing is a complex activity that consists of different but tightly coupled tasks: programming and assembling hardware for circuits. Prior work clearly shows that this coupling is the main source of mistakes that unfruitfully take a large portion of novices' debugging time. While past work presented systems that simplify prototyping or introduce novel debugging functionalities, these tools either limit what users can accomplish or are too complex for beginners. In this paper, we propose a general-purpose prototyping tool based on conversation. HeyTeddy guides users during hardware assembly by providing additional information on requests or by interactively presenting the assembly steps to build a circuit. Furthermore, the user can program and execute code in real-time on their Arduino platform without having to write any code, but instead by using commands triggered by voice or text via chat. Finally, the system also presents a set of test capabilities for enhancing debugging with custom and proactive unit tests. We codesigned the system with 10 users over 6 months and tested it with realistic physical computing tasks. With the result of two user studies, we show that conversational programming is feasible and that voice is a suitable alternative for programming simple logic and encouraging exploration. We also demonstrate that conversational programming with unit tests is effective in reducing development time and overall debugging problems while increasing users' confidence. Finally, we highlight limitations and future avenues of research.


The Electronic System for Management of ILL's applications (smILLe – system management Interlibrary Loan electronically) in Library & Information Center is a web – based application that supports Interlibrary Loan either between users and library or among libraries. It is being deployed within the framework of "PLOIGIS" "From Information to Knowledge" (EPEAEK II) for the past 18 months based on the library's certain needs and taking into consideration the international interlibrary loan's protocols. SmILLe has been put in use officially since January 2008. At this point we believe it's worth to mention that smILLe is a pioneering system as far as Greece is concerned, due to the fact that it is the first time that a free software that has been deployed allows connection among systems based on ISO ILL protocol.
One of the system's characteristics is that it is divided into sub – systems making the management easier for the administrator. Among every sub – system remarkable is the full embedment of the account management applications subsystem that enables every possible move that an ILL can have. Another outstanding characteristic is the completion of a subsystem that enables interlibrary loan with the document provider SUBITO. All these new smILLe functions have already contributed a lot to the facilitation of librarians' work and to saving time. At this moment, a subsystem able to send orders directly to the VDX system is under deployment.
After a qualitative evaluation of the new system from the library stuff and the users – using printed questionnaires and interviews for the first and on-line questionnaires for the last ones- several results have come to light. Suggestively based on the survey among the library stuff it turns up that:
• every employee is absolutely satisfied from the new system
• the mean time an application is being processed has been reduced to 30%
as far as the statistics are concerned the mean time has been reduced to 1% as there is a full smILLe's statistics subsystem available every moment.


A new tunable optical delay line for OTDM applications can achieve sub-nanosecond tuning time across three time slots spaced 100ps apart. Using parallel fiber delays, the delay line requires only one modulator operating below the baseband data rate. A simple control algorithm based on a latency diagram can further reduce the average latency beyond that of the straightforward hardware implementation by 50%. Using the demonstrated delay line, 10 GHz electronics has the potential to access a throughput of 160Gb/s optical data.


The magnetoviscous effect, change in viscosity with change in magnetic field strength, and the anisotropy of the magnetoviscous effect, change in viscosity with orientation of magnetic field, have been a focus of interest for four decades. A satisfactory understanding of the microscopic origin of anisotropy of the magnetoviscous effect in magnetic fluids is still a matter of debate and a field of intense research. Here, we present an extensive simulation study to understand the relation between the anisotropy of the magnetoviscous effect and the underlying change in microstructures of ferrofluids. Our results indicate that field-induced chainlike structures respond very differently depending on their orientation relative to the direction of an externally applied shear flow, which leads to a pronounced anisotropy of viscosity. In this work, we focus on three exemplary values of dipolar interaction strengths which correspond to weak, intermediate, and strong interactions between dipolar colloidal particles. We compare our simulation results with an experimental study on cobalt-based ferrofluids as well as with an existing theoretical model called the chain model. A nonmonotonic behavior in the anisotropy of the magnetoviscous effect is observed with increasing dipolar interaction strength and is explained in terms of microstructure formation.


Introduction: The most explosive HIV-AIDS pandemic areas in Asia and the world are India and Thailand while the common opportunistic infection in most developing countries is Tuberculosis (TB). The risk of tuberculosis disease progression is about 100 times greater in HIV sero-positive than in sero-negative people, and the mortality rate is about four times greater in HIV positive people with tuberculosis than in HIV negative people with tuberculosis. Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine the clinical manifestations and outcome among AIDS patients with Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections. Methods: This retrospective study was conducted at Bamrasnaradura infectious disease hospital Thailand, in which patients were identified for a period of six months and then followed up for the next six months. Adults from both sexes 16 years old and above diagnosed as AIDS-TB included in study. All the data collected by questionnaire was recorded, keyed, edited and analyzed by using Epi info 6 software and data is presented by: median and range for quantitative variables, frequency and percentage for qualitative variable. Discussion: A series of studies have been conducted in Thailand regarding tuberculosis with AIDS. Most studies showed tuberculosis as either the first or second most common opportunistic infection among AIDS patients. A high mortality of about 30% seen among AIDS patients with tuberculosis was reported in one study. Sixteen months is reported as the mean survival time among these cases. Results: In this study the most common clinical features observed were fever, loss of weight, and loss of appetite, cough, and enlarged lymph nodes. Oral candidasis is most frequently occurring opportunistic infection. PPE was a very common cutaneous manifestation. Streptomycin found to be the most frequent resistant drug. Conclusion: The majority of cases belong to the age group, which is socially and sexually active. Involvement of this group leaves a major impact on social and economical well being of the country as well as they play an important role in transmission of TB and AIDS. Lost of follow-up rate is very high and majority lost follow-up with in first month, an important factor in occurrence of drug resistance.


Fault detection remains a key problem for reducing the operation and maintenance costs of marine hydrokinetic (MHK) turbines. With this in mind, a deep bidirectional long short-term memory (Bi-LSTM) network for rapid detection of MHK turbine faults is presented. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme is validated using simulated time-series sensor data gathered from a novel Fatigue, Aerodynamics, Structures, and Turbulence (FAST)-based MHK turbine simulation platform. Four-factor analysis of variance is performed along with post-hoc testing at the 95% confidence level to establish the model's capabilities. Operating conditions, input length, training pitch, and generalization pitch are used as factors in this experiment. Models are trained on data consisting of 500 baseline and 500 faulty examples of a single blade pitch imbalance. To evaluate generalization performance, models are applied, without fine-tuning, on the remaining levels of fault. Over 70% mean generalization accuracy in all cases, with an optimal accuracy over 95% given 1 second lengths of data, is observed. No significant difference is found due to varying operating conditions, indicating a robust model. Training on lower levels of fault demonstrated greater generalization capability. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time Bi-LSTM has been applied as a building block, and that a deep learning-based method has been applied to only time-series sensor measurements for fault detection in MHK turbines.


Sitting in a meeting for 4 days, working at giving new prospective pharmaceutical compounds, chemicals as well as biologicals, International Non-proprietary Names (INN), reminded me again of how important a name is. In this case it is about selecting or devising a name that would provide information to the prescriber and the dispenser; a name that would be linked to a mode of action through a common stem; for which there is little chance of confusion with other drug names, no trademark conflicts, and no bad or specifically good connotations in the fantasy prefix that makes up the name in conjunction with the stem.


Get Started on Microsoft SQL Server 2008 in No TimeLearn to use all of the powerful features available in SQL Server 2008 quickly and easily. Microsoft SQL Server 2008: A Beginner's Guide explains the fundamentals of each topic alongside examples and tutorials that walk you through real-world database tasks. Install SQL Server 2008, construct high-performance databases, use powerful Transact-SQL statements, create stored procedures and triggers, and execute simple and complex database queries. Performance tuning, Database Engine security, Business Intelligence, and XML are also covered. Set up, configure, and maintain SQL Server 2008Build and manage database objects using Transact-SQL statements Create stored procedures and user-defined functionsOptimize database performance, availability, and reliabilityImplement solid security using authentication, encryption, and authorization Automate tasks using SQL Server AgentCreate reliable data backups and perform flawless system restoresUse all-new SQL Server 2008 Business Intelligence, development, and administration toolsLearn in detail the SQL Server XML technology (SQLXML)


The Kelo decision has unleashed a tidal wave of legislative reforms ostensibly seeking to control eminent domain abuse. But as a policy matter, it is impossible to determine what limits should be placed upon local government without understanding how cities grow and develop, and how local governments make decisions to shape the communities over which they preside. This Article examines takings through two very different models of urban political economy: public choice theory and the quasi-Marxist Urban Growth Machine model. These models approach takings from diametrically opposite perspectives, and offer differing perspectives at the margin regarding proper and improper condemnations. But surprisingly, both models stand united in opposition to economic development takings and both view skeptically the current wave of eminent domain reform. By discussing why each model comes to this conclusion, this Article sheds additional light upon the substantive limits that legislatures should place upon eminent domain authority and procedural reforms that would help assure proper exercises of that power within this circumscribed scope. The Article also recommends greater cooperation between legislatures and judiciaries to develop these broad standards and to assure that condemnation authorities adhere to them in individual cases.


Abstract
 Using a morphological dataset of 136 vegetative and reproductive characters, we infer the tracheophyte phylogeny with an emphasis on early divergences of ferns (monilophytes). The dataset comprises morphological, anatomical, biochemical, and some DNA structural characters for a taxon sample of 35 species, including representatives of all major lineages of vascular plants, especially ferns. Phylogenetic relationships among vascular plants are reconstructed using maximum parsimony and Bayesian inference. Both approaches yield similar relationships and provide evidence for three major lineages of extant vascular plants: lycophytes, ferns, and seed plants. Lycophytes are sister to the euphyllophyte clade, which comprises the fern and seed plant lineages. The fern lineage consists of five clades: horsetails, whisk ferns, ophioglossoids, marattioids, and leptosporangiate ferns. This lineage is supported by characters of the spore wall and has a parsimony bootstrap value of 76%, although the Bayesian posterior probability is only 0.53. Each of the five fern clades is well supported, but the relationships among them lack statistical support. Our independent phylogenetic analyses of morphological evidence recover the same deep phylogenetic relationships among tracheophytes as found in previous studies utilizing DNA sequence data, but differ in some ways within seed plants and within ferns. We discuss the extensive independent evolution of the five extant fern clades and the evidence for the placement of whisk ferns and horsetails in our morphological analyses.


Optical interband excitonic absorption of semiconductor quantum wells (QW's) driven by a coherent pump field is investigated on the basis of semiconductor Bloch equations. The pump field has a photon energy close to the intersubband spacing between the first two conduction subbands in the QW's. An external weak optical field probes the interband transition. The excitonic effects and pump-induced population redistribution within the conduction subbands in the QW system are included. When the density of the electron–hole pairs in the QW structure is low, the pump field induces an Autler–Townes splitting of the exciton absorption spectrum. The split size and the peak positions of the absorption doublet depend not only on the pump frequency and intensity but also on the carrier density. As the density of the electron–hole pairs is increased, the split contrast (the ratio between the maximum and the minimum values) is decreased, because the exciton effect is suppressed at higher densities owing to the many-body screening.


In this study, we applied the environmental seismic intensity (ESI-2007) scale to a major recent Algerian earthquake. The ESI-2007 scale is an effective tool to assess the seismic hazard and has been applied to onshore earthquakes. Here we applied the scale to a recent earthquake (Mw 6.8, 2003) that took place offshore in the province of Boumerdes in the north of Algeria along the boundary between African and Eurasian plates. The main shock was associated to an unknown submarine structure. No surface ruptures were observed on the onshore domain, but many earthquake environmental effects (EEEs) were reported during several field investigations. In addition to onshore ground effects, this event triggered turbidity currents responsible for 29 submarine cable breaks. Mapping and describing coseismic ground effects allowed us to distinguish primary and secondary effects like coastal uplifts, liquefaction phenomena, tsunami waves, turbidity currents, cracks, rock falls, slope movements and hydrological anomalies. Considering the total area affected and the distribution of ground effects, we suggest intensity X that appears in agreement with intensity calculated in previous study with the EMS-98 scale. Thus, this method is validated even in the case of a coastal earthquake, and could be applied in the future to Algerian historical earthquakes that have affected scarcely inhabited zones but where EEEs were listed and located.


This paper analyzes trends and patterns of social inequalities in the choice of the upper secondary track in Italy (1958-1989). The latter is particularly important to understand the persistently strong effects of social origins on educational attainment in the Italian setting, given the relatively high degree of stratification of its educational system at the upper secondary level. Empirical analyses are carried out on a unique dataset obtained by merging five waves of the IARD survey on the condition of Italian youth (1983-2004), which allows to distinguish the effects of parental education and social class. Results show that, regardless of a huge and generalized expansion of the academic track, relative social inequalities did not decrease substantially neither in terms of parental education nor social class. Moreover, consistently with theoretical expectations, social class inequalities in the relative and absolute chances of enrolling at the academic track are stronger at high levels of parental education, while they are largely muted among low-educated parents. We suggest the latter as a possible mechanism to explain why educational expansion has not produced an overall decline in the association between social origins and educational attainment.


Recent empirical and theoretical research stresses it is important for survey respondents to believe that survey votes are consequential, meaning their votes can potentially influence whether a proposed policy is undertaken. We test the effect of a randomly assigned referendum tax on consequentiality, using a survey about water conservation in western North Carolina. We find that consequentiality is endogenous to hypothetical referendum responses. Specifically, as the assigned tax amount increases, respondents are less likely to find the survey consequential. As in related studies, respondents who self-report they perceive the survey to be consequential have a higher willingness to pay. (JEL Q25, Q51)


The purpose of this master thesis has been to explore how Appreciative Inquiry can be used in chemical
 engineering. The aim as been to develop an appreciative process model for chemical product development.
 A theoretical approach has been used to investigate four organizational subsystems; people, structure, task,
 and technology, for the potential of using Appreciative Inquiry in each of them, and to turn the obtained
 knowledge into suggestions on how to use Appreciative Inquiry in chemical engineering.
 It has been discovered that Appreciative Inquiry is capable of creating a new approach to involve and
 develop people in organizations, to design organizational structures and processes, and to shape the purpose
 of organizations. It has also been found that the conventional process for chemical product development has
 a potential for improvement based on appreciative approach.
 The conclusion was that Appreciative Inquiry can be applied in chemical product development; either by
 using appreciative methods within the conventional process or by using the appreciative process model which
 is developed in the report.


In global operation, the success of Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) projects are often highly dependent upon the type, level and quality of the communication exchange between the various disciplines involved in the design and implementation phases. The communication exchanges among building professionals take place in the form of documented 2D/3D CAD formatted design. Recent innovation in Virtual Reality (VR) technologies and AEC decision-support toolkits have now matured in the developing countries which enabled telepresence engagement to occur through collaborative environments. Several opportunities are now available, including significantly improved immersive interactivity with haptic support that can enhance users' engagement and interaction. Whilst several benefits can be cited from using this technology, it is postulated that current collaborative approaches could be significantly improved by augmenting immersive interactivity to enhance users' engagement and satisfaction in the process. This paper reviews the current situation of using VR interfaces in building design and construction management simulation and describes its related benefits and challenges. Game-Like VR interfaces are presented as a viable solution, particularly for promoting better integration of data simulation and communication through the whole construction design and management process. It is therefore argued that the use of such interfaces would have a positive impact on Architecture Engineering and Construction (AEC) projects. Moreover, this approach could proactively foster multidisciplinary teamwork synergies and provide enhanced outcomes for respective collaborative participants in detailed design and construction phases.


The work of the late Belgian artist and poet, Marcel Broodthaers, analyzes the institutional conditions of art production at the end of the modernist period and is central to current debates on postmodernism. This book presents a selection of Broodthaers' own writings, interviews with the artist, 90 illustrations of his work, a complete bibliography, and critical essays.This important review and analysis of Broodthaers's work begins with examples of writings front the time of his involvement with the Belgian Surrealist group of the late 1940s to the mid 1970s, when he introduced into his work theories of signification developed by structuralist, linguistics and the critique of institutions formulated by Michel Foucault. The critical essays consider the widely varied mediums of the artist's work, including poetry, books, films, and installations.Benjamin H. D. Buchloh is Assistant Professor of Art History at SUNY, Old Westbury. An October Book.


This title presents a fascinating analysis of how children in their first year of high school feel about their schools, its place in their lives and its role in their futures. This highly topical monograph focuses on how children in their first year of high school feel about school, its place in their lives and its role in their futures. The theoretical context of the study is the focus in educational studies on children's voice and children's active role in education, together with the focus in the sociology of childhood on children as active constructors of their lives and childhood as a subject of serious study. The importance of young people's life plans and the alignment between education and ambitions was recognized in the Sloan Foundation study of American teenagers. In many Western societies there is concern that children from less advantaged social backgrounds have limited aspirations, and are disproportionately unlikely to go to university. This book is highly relevant to understanding the nature of children's engagement with education, the choices and constraints they experience and the reasons some young people fail to take advantage of educational opportunities. "Continuum Studies in Educational Research" (CSER) is a major new series in the field of educational research. Written by experts and scholars for experts and scholars, this ground-breaking series focuses on research in the areas of comparative education, history, lifelong learning, philosophy, policy, post-compulsory education, psychology and sociology. Based on cutting edge research and written with lucidity and passion, the CSER series showcases only those books that really matter in education - studies that are major, that will be remembered for having made a difference.


Objective: To examine the effect of local application of eucalyptus oil on wound healing in the skin of the rats, both histologically and by using laser Doppler flowmetry. Methods: Total 30 male rats used in this study were divided into 2 groups, the experimental group: 15 rats were treated locally with eucalyptus oil, the control group: 15 rats were treated locally with distilled water. All animals were subjected to dorsal skin incision (2 cm) the treatment was conducted every day until the animals were sacrificed to determine histologically the epithelial thickness and inflammatory cell counts. The wound healing was assessed clinically, and blood perfusion scan was performed with laser Doppler. Results: The results revealed that the wound size was significantly reduced in the eucalyptus treated rats, as compared with the control. Blood perfusion was significantly increased with eucalyptus group as compared with the controls. Hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining revealed a significant reduction in the inflammatory reaction and accelerated epithelialization in the eucalyptus group as compared with the control. The result shows a high significant difference (p ≤ 0.01) between experimental and control group regarding all result. Conclusion: The present study demonstrated that the local application of eucalyptus oil promoted remarkable neovascularization and skin regeneration and may lead to novel treatments for skin wounds.


Armenian parliamentary elections were held on 6 May 2012. Five parties and a coalition won seats in Parliament. Three of them are opposition parties, two in the previous legislature were allies of the presidency party, the Republican Party. The latter comfortably won the elections. With 45% votes through the proportional system and 29 seats through the majoritarian one, the Republican Party has the absolute majority of seats, 69 out of 131. So the two main issues in Armenian foreign policy the protracted conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh and relations with Turkey will be addressed in continuity with the policy expressed so far by President Serzh Sargsyan, unless the regional counterparts change their strategies. With the party he chairs being confirmed as the leading political force of the country, Sargsyan will run for his second term in the upcoming presidential elections.


Abstract Background Mass-casualty (MASCAL) events are known to occur in the combat setting. There are very limited data at this time from the Joint Theater (Iraq and Afghanistan) wars specific to MASCAL events. The purpose of this report was to provide preliminary data for the development of prehospital planning and guidelines. Methods Cases were identified using the Department of Defense (DoD; Virginia USA) Trauma Registry (DoDTR) and the Prehospital Trauma Registry (PHTR). These cases were identified as part of a research study evaluating Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) guidelines. Cases that were designated as or associated with denoted MASCAL events were included. Data Fifty subjects were identified during the course of this project. Explosives were the most common cause of injuries. There was a wide range of vital signs. Tourniquet placement and pressure dressings were the most common interventions, followed by analgesia administration. Oral transmucosal fentanyl citrate (OTFC) was the most common parenteral analgesic drug administered. Most were evacuated as "routine." Follow-up data were available for 36 of the subjects and 97% were discharged alive. Conclusions The most common prehospital interventions were tourniquet and pressure dressing hemorrhage control, along with pain medication administration. Larger data sets are needed to guide development of MASCAL in-theater clinical practice guidelines. SchauerSG, AprilMD, SimonE, MaddryJK, CarterR III, DelorenzoRA. Prehospital interventions during mass-casualty events in Afghanistan: a case analysis. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2017;32(4):465–468.


What is the impact of foreign bank entry on the pricing and availability of credit in developing economies? The Mexican banking system provides a quasi-experiment to address this question because in 1997 the Mexican government radically changed the laws governing the foreign ownership of banks: the foreign market share therefore increased five-fold between 1997 and 2007. We construct and analyze a panel of Mexican bank financial data covering this period and find no evidence that foreign entry increases the availability of credit. We also find that switching from domestic to foreign ownership is associated with a decrease in non-performing loans and an increase in interest rate spreads, suggesting that foreign concerns bought domestic banks that had been making loans with low interest rates to parties that had a low probability of repayment.


The union of punitive damages and class actions can be aptly described with Samuel Johnson's famous quotation regarding marriage: "The triumph of hope over experience." By most conventional wisdom, there is little future for plaintiffs or defendants who desire to resolve punitive damages claims globally using the procedural vehicle of a class action. From a conceptual perspective, however, there are circumstances under which the union could function. This Article explores those possibilities, not in the spirit of normative support, but in the spirit of exploring theories that may have some prospective vitality. Notwithstanding the chilly reception that punitive damages class actions have received from appellate courts, there are several approaches at the micro and macro levels of analysis suggesting that "hope" is still persistent. By disaggregating the United States Supreme Court punitive damages jurisprudence, it is possible to identify a limited number of factual scenarios where a class action for punitive damages could be successful. These micro-level observations can constitute a road map for navigating the current seemingly insurmountable barriers that have severely limited the use of class actions in punitive damages claims. At the macro level, there are two observations that could lead to a revision of punitive damages class actions: the seemingly undaunted, pragmatic desire on the part of trial judges to resolve similar cases collectively, and the powerful support for an economic vision of punitive damages that leads inevitably to a global, rather than individual, procedural approach.


We introduce a game-theoretic framework to address the community detection problem based on the social networks' structure. The dynamics of community formation is framed as a strategic game called community formation game: Given a social network, each node is selfish and selects communities to join or leave based on her own utility measurement. A community structure can be interpreted as an equilibrium of this game.

We formulate the agents' utility by the combination of a gain function and a loss function. Each agent can select multiple communities, which naturally captures the concept of "overlapping communities". We propose a gain function based on Newman's modularity function and a simple loss function that reflects the intrinsic costs incurred when people join the communities. We conduct extensive experiments under this framework; our results show that our algorithm is effective in identifying overlapping communities, and is often better than other algorithms we evaluated especially when many people belong to multiple communities.


Recently, the use of wireless sensor networks has spread to applications areas that are not viable or cost-efficient to be run on other types of networks. The majority of these applications should be run continuously and reliably without interruption. Hence, the two significant quality factors that should be nowadays taken into account in developing wireless sensor networks applications are 'availability' and 'reliability' of application services. The specific characteristics and constraints of wireless sensor networks require a different interpretation of these two factors when developing applications for such networks. In this paper, we propose a middleware layer mechanism for satisfying these two factors. We propose an event-based middleware service that is specifically designed for wireless sensor networks in which a group of sensor nodes forms a cluster and a replicated service is run on each cluster head. The communication model among cluster members and cluster head is based on the publish/subscribe scheme. We show how the replicated services and communication model in cluster nodes increases the availability and reliability of applications running under the proposed middleware.


Abstract : This short paper describes a systems biology software tool that can engage in a dialogue with a biologist by responding to questions posed to it in English (or another natural language) regarding the behavior of a complex biological system, and by suggesting a set of facts about the biological system based on a timetested generate and test approach. Thus, this bioinformatics system improves the quality of the interaction that a biologist can have with a system built on rigorous mathematical modeling, but without being aware of the underlying mathematically sophisticated concepts or notations. Given the nature of the mathematical semantics of our Simpathica/XSSYS tool, it was possible to construct a well-founded natural language interface on top of the computational kernel. We discuss our tool and illustrate its use with a few examples. The natural language subsystem is available as an integrated subsystem of the Simpathica/XSSYS tool and through a simple Web-based interface; we describe both systems in the paper. More details about the system can be found at: http://bioinformatics.nyu.edu, and its sub-pages.


This primary research examines the introduction of an innovative health promotion service into the market. Given the assumption that healthcare costs should be part of one's budget, the survey reveals two trends: 1. Health concerns are more observed by consumers having higher social statuses, this means that they are ready to pay money for health preservative services; 2. Health turns into a precious value when we are running short of it. This assumption is well asserted by the finding of the survey that it is those suffering from chronic diseases that would be ready to pay the highest of all sums to buy the service.


This study explored one university's response to the internationalization of higher education. Case study methodology was employed through a review of current and archival documents and interviews with key actors in the international spheres of the university. The historical, current, and future contexts were considered to situate the case study on a time line. Data analysis revealed that there were several points of division among the university community related to the response to internationalization, but also a major point of coherence in the centrality of inter-cultural understanding in efforts to internationalize. Other key findings included strengths, areas for improvement, and future directions of the university's response to internationalization. All of these findings were contextualized in findings related to the history of the university. In addition to these major findings, three themes in relation to the vision for internationalization at the institution were revealed: ( a) intercultural understanding, (b) the comprehensive status of the university, and (c) the financial benefits of internationalization. Recommendations are made for practice at the university in order to clarify this vision to develop a clear foundation from which to further build a response to internationalization that is solidly based on inter-cultural understanding, and recommendations for future research into the process of internationalization at the institutional level in Canada are suggested.


Due to the current, global challenges such as resource depletion and economic crisis, and international societal mega-trends such as multi-internationalisation, we are in transition from conventional methods of production to relatively novel methods that strives to be competitive, satisfy customer needs and have a lower environmental impact. Product-Service System (PSS) method is deemed to be a solid alternative towards this vision. To do that, we are in need of novel approaches to re-envision the current system. Therefore, Innovation methods are the backbone of PSS. Since PSS highly emphasizes the customers' needs and co-creation with them, user-innovation methods are required in order to boost PSS Innovation. Among user-innovation methods, Crowdsourcing seems to be valid option which would enable us to attract a large, undefined network of people to the innovation process. In this research, a success model for crowdsourcing practice is proposed and validated by literature and expert interviews. As a follow-up, based on the success model, a strategic guideline for innovation using open modes of collaboration is proposed. Moreover, we discuss the implication of PSS and sustainability and how these concepts can be empowered by crowdsourcing.


Brittle structures in the upper 200 m of the footwall of the Whipple detachment fault are used to characterize the state of stress under which the detachment slipped. They are younger than or coeval with chloride brecciation, and those that record shear typically are either moderately northeast-dipping normal structures or steep, northwest-striking, southwest-down structures that we interpret as conjugate shears. From this, we infer that the maximum principal stress was oriented 55°-80° from the detachment while they were active. The angle between the conjugate faults averages about 30°, indicating failure in the transtensional regime. During conjugate faulting the effective least principal stress was nearly equal to the tensile strength, the Whipple fault probably had a normal coefficient of static friction, and it slipped under hydrostatic to only moderately elevated fluid pressure. Rapid mineralization in the surroundings of major fault zones allows transtensional failure there and permits differential stress to be higher than if cohesionless friction limits strength. This causes resolved shear stress sufficient for slip on faults severely misoriented relative to the maximum principal stress.


Background: Parents of children suffering from neurodevelopmental disorders, frequently face public stigma which is often internalized and leads to psychological burden. However, there is a lack of data on the perceptions of internalized stigma among parents of children with neurodevelopmental disorders, especially from lower-middle-income countries like India. Aims: This study aims to develop an adapted version of the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness (ISMI) scale for use in parents of children suffering from neurodevelopmental disorders and to explore the factor structure of this instrument through exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Settings and Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted in an outpatient setting in a tertiary care hospital in India. Materials and Methods: A total of 105 parents of children suffering from neurodevelopmental disorders (according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fifth Edition) were recruited for the study after screening for psychiatric disorder using Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview version 6.0. A modified 16-item scale was constructed Parents' Internalized Stigma of Neurodevelopmental Disorder in Child (PISNC) scale and applied on 105 parents of children suffering from neurodevelopmental disorders, after translation to Hindi and back-translation, in keeping with the World Health Organization's translation-back-translation methodology. Statistical Analysis: EFA was carried out using principal component analysis with orthogonal (varimax) rotation. Internal consistency of the Hindi version of the scale was estimated in the form of Cronbach's alpha. Spearman–Brown coefficient and Guttman split-half coefficient were calculated to evaluate the split-half reliability. Results: The initial factor analysis yielded three-factor models with an eigenvalue of >1 and the total variance explained by these factors was 62.017%. The internal consistency of the 16-item scale was 0.91 indicating good inter-item correlation. Approximately 39.4% of the parents reported some form of Internalized stigma. Conclusions: The results revealed that the PISNC scale has high internal consistency and that it is made up of three distinctive factors: social withdrawal and alienation, stereotype endorsement, and discrimination experience. These factors although similar, are not identical, to the factors that underlie the ISMI scale.


There is a widespread acceptance that organising by projects is on the increase. In previous research on the management of projects, the majority of studies have adopted project-centric approaches, downplaying organisation- or company-wide matters even in firms whose performance largely depends on the combined success of multiple projects. In this paper, we focus on the problem of management control and specifically the control modes and control mechanisms used by management in project-intensive R&D units. On the basis of a multiple case study of four R&D units, we suggest a typology of four different kinds of multi-project situations. The typology is based on two dimensions, dependency between projects and project uncertainty. The typology is used to explain differences in management control modes and mechanisms between the firms in our study.


CONTEXT
Eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in health care is an important national priority. Despite substantial research documenting such disparities, this topic has received limited attention in the reproductive health field.

METHODS
Logistic regression was used to test for group differences in three service delivery preferences and five service quality perceptions among a nationally representative sample of 1,741 low-income black, Latina and white women aged 18-34; the data were collected in 1995 and represent the most recent data available for looking at these issues.

RESULTS
English-speaking Latinas and Spanish-speaking Latinas were more likely than whites to prefer a female clinician at their visits (odds ratios, 1.8 and 3.6, respectively) and to highly value clinician continuity (1.7 and 2.2). English-speaking Latinas and blacks were more likely than whites to prefer receiving reproductive health care at a site delivering general health care (1.5 and 1.6). Both groups of Latinas were less likely than whites to give the facility environment or the patient-centeredness at their most recent reproductive health visit the highest rating (0.3-0.5). Blacks were more likely than whites to report ever having been pressured by a clinician to use contraceptives (2.3).

CONCLUSIONS
Efforts to reduce racial, ethnic and language group differences in clients' perceptions of reproductive health service quality should focus on improving client-clinician communication, the service environment and contraceptive counseling. Future research should continue to assess group differences and try to determine their underlying causes.


The movement of multiple groups of refugees and migrants to countries from the touristic macro region of Europe became one of the historical phenomena of the new century. In particular, the refugee stream of recent years has a decisive impact on the demand of touristic services to the Greek islands in northern Aegean Sea. Tourism in Greece is an important source of income by providing more than 9% of the GDP and stimulating the development of other related economic sectors such as trade, agriculture, and communications. It also provides about 30% of the total workforce in the country. Because of their favourable location, near the coast of Turkey the islands of Lesvos and Chios became a bridge to Western Europe for large numbers of refugees and migrants. This study aims to reveal the local impact of the refugee and migrants' crisis on tourism development in Greece and particularly on these two islands Lesvos and Chios.For this purpose a research was conducted based on a representative sample, which includes the survey of 168 hotel managers. The primary empirical data was collected from the local hospitality entrepreneurs and was registered. After processing and analyzing the data, the research results show that there is a significant difference in percentage of reservations between January – February 2015 and January – February 2016 and the same about cancellations. As main reason for this situation the majority of the interviewed show the refugee and migrants' crisis.


Abdominopelvic tuberculosis case series with variable gynecological symptoms are presented to highlight its frequency among Pakistani women. The study was carried out at MCH Centre, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Islamabad Pakistan from 1st June 2014 to 30th June 2016. We describe five cases of pelvic tuberculosis, each presented with different complaints. The necessity of suspecting the diagnosis of pelvic tuberculosis in women with various gynecological diagnoses e.g., subfertility, adnexal masses, menstrual irregularities, ascites, persistent abdominal pain etc. is underlined. The first woman presented with complex bilateral ovarian masses and gross ascites with suspected ovarian carcinoma. A second patient was diagnosed during the workup of subfertility. The Third patient presented with irregular menstrual cycles since menarche while the fourth woman was being investigated with suspicion of malignant ovarian mass. Fifth female with tuberculosis presented with secondary amenorrhea and left adnexal mass. It is highlighted that diagnosis of pelvic tuberculosis should be kept in mind with various gynaecological presentations especially in Pakistan where it is endemic.


Like its predecessor, each unit in "More Discussion Starte"rs contains exercises that provide speaking interaction about a central topic or idea, and most require students to work together in pairs or small groups to reach a conclusion about a topic. Though most of the topics in the text are serious (corporal punishment, abortion, and gun control), many others deal with lighter topics (humor and culture). The activities, tasks, and topics chosen for this book are real situations from all over the world. Most of the units in this book introduce a problem or controversial topic at the beginning of the unit. This is then followed by a series of exercises designed to prepare all of the students so that they can express their ideas at the next class meeting. A unit usually includes several kinds of oral fluency activities, such as problem-solving tasks, court cases, "finish the story," role plays, "put the story together," small group discussions, and oral presentations.


BACKGROUND
With the increasing concern for health and nutrition, dietary fat has attracted considerable attention. The composition of fatty acids in the diet is important because they are associated with major diseases including cancers, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. The fatty acid synthase (FASN) and stearoyl-CoA desaturase (delta-9-desaturase) (SCD) genes affect fatty acid composition (1). The expression of SCD and FASN genes is related to an increase in conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) in dairy products, which benefits human health.The aim of current study was to investigate expression changes of SCD and FASN genes that resulted from crossbreeding the local Baluchi sheep with alien breeds.

METHODS
We collected tissue samples from the mammary glands of 24 single-born ewes from local Baluchi and synthetic Iran-Black and Arman sheep breeds in the Abbas Abad breeding center. After RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis, real-time PCR was performed with all samples in triplicate.

RESULTS
The maximum and minimum expression of SCD and FASN genes was in the local Baluchi sheep and the crossbred Arman sheep, respectively.

CONCLUSION
With the highest SCD and FASN gene expression in local Baluchi sheep and relatively less expression of these genes in synthetic Iran-Black and Arman Sheep breeds, it may be necessary to consider the consequences of crossbreeding local sheep and the fatty acid composition of their dairy products.


Soil erosion by water and wind in US rangelands has serious implications for rangeland health and food security and poses significant hazards to human health and communities. Accordingly, understanding how future climate change may impact soil erosion is critical for developing appropriate management strategies that mitigate negative impacts to the extent practical and potentially build resilience. Here, we review potential impacts of climate change on controls of erosion in US rangelands and discuss potential erosion responses. Projected climate changes are expected to have regionally variable effects on important controls of erosion, especially vegetation cover; community composition; frequency, magnitude, and geographical range of fire disturbance; and high intensity, erosive weather events, all of which have the potential to increase rangeland vulnerability to erosion. We identify knowledge gaps relevant to these controls and discuss management considerations to address climate change impacts to soil erosion concerns for US rangelands. In order to improve resilience and the efficacy of climate change adaptation, we recommend that existing monitoring data be used to create assessments of vulnerability, that soil erosion should be explicitly included in management benchmarks and decision support tools, and that no-regrets management options be implemented in anticipation of future impacts.


Over utilization of anti-infective agents is a worldwide problem. The Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification/DDD system is adopted by the world health organization (WHO) for drug utilization research to compare the pattern of drug usage at international level. This is the first study in Palestine that uses this methodology. The study was carried out for 30 consecutive days (23/10/2005-23/11/2005) in the internal wards at Al-Watani governmental hospital in Nablus-Palestine. Data collected included, age sex, diagnosis, anti-infective agents prescribed, dosage regimen and number of doses of antibiotic administered. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 12. DDD/100 bed-days were calculated for the anti-infective agents using the international formula.During the study period, 442 patients were admitted to the internal wards. The patients were 193 females (43.7%) and 249 males (56.3%). Among these patients, 191 (43.2%) were prescribed anti-infective agents. Cefuroxime, ceftriaxone, and metronidazole were the most frequently prescribed with the percentages of 27.8%, 6.1% and 5.7% respectively. The total amount of anti-infective agents prescribed was 38.99 DDD/100 bed days. The DDD/patient/day was 0.4 compared to 1 DDD/patient/day as the optimum. The results of this study reflect a deviation from the optimum use of anti-infective agents. Optimizing anti-infective therapy is necessary.


Mechanical processes largely control the along-axis segmentation of continental rifts; however, asthenospheric processes strongly influence the along-axis segmentation of mid- ocean ridges. We examine the distribution of strain and magmatism in the transitional active Main Ethiopian rift. Magmatic construction, diking, and faulting during the past 1.6 m.y. have created ∼20-km-wide, ∼60-km-long magmatic segments with or without axial valleys. Magmatic segments are arranged en echelon within the ∼100-km-wide rift valley bounded by mid-Miocene border faults. Geodetic data show that magmatic segments accommodate >80% of the strain across the rift, indicating that border faults are no longer the locus of extension. Comparison with mid-ocean ridges suggests that magmatic segments, rather than detachment faults, mark the ocean-continent boundary in rifts with a ready magma supply. Magmatic margins, therefore, may contain detachments abandoned during continental breakup. The processes of localized dike intrusion with underplating would produce strips of mafic crust transitional to oceanic crust, but without coherent seafloor-spreading magnetic anomalies.


Low concentrations of contaminants in rainwater is the primary benefit of transforming it as an alternative source of drinking water. However, treatment is necessary as rainwater collects contaminants that are persistent in the environment such as lindane and E.coli. The combination of photocatalysis and adsorption processes was chosen as the treatment method in this study. From the results obtained, photocatalysis treatment process was able to degrade lindane in synthetic rainwater under different experimental conditions such as pH, titanium dioxide (TiO2) dosage, and initial concentration. The photodegradation process of lindane followed pseudo kinetic first order. In adsorption process, the adsorbents used in the process are limestone and laterite soil. The performance of these adsorbents are determined by carrying out an equilibrium batch study.The experimental works show that limestone and laterite soil able to remove E. coli at 99%. The optimum dosage of limestone and laterite soil to remove E. coli from synthetic rainwater is 6g and 2g, respectively. The results were then analysed by developing Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm model. Overall, the processes of photocatalysis and adsorption showed a good performance in removing lindane and E.coli from the synthetic rainwater respectively.


More than 20 years of research has created a large body of ideas, concepts, and theories for model-based development of embedded software-intensive systems. These approaches have been implemented by several tools and successfully applied to various development projects. However, the everyday use of model-based approaches in the automotive and avionic industries is still limited. Most of the time, the engineers work with a predefined set of isolated tools, and therefore adapt their engineering methods and process to the available tools. Today, the industry achieves tool integration by demand-driven, pragmatic, and ad-hoc composed chains of a priori existent commercial tools. Nevertheless, these tool chains are not (and cannot be) seamless, since the integration that can be achieved is not deep enough. This hampers the reuse and refinement of models, which subsequently leads to problems like redundancy, inconsistency, and lack of automation. In the end, these deficiencies decrease both the productivity and quality that could be provided by model-based approaches. To overcome these problems, a deep, coherent, and comprehensive integration of models and tools is required. Such an integration can be achieved by the following three ingredients: 1) a comprehensive modeling theory that serves as a semantic domain for the models, 2) an integrated architectural model that holistically describes the product and process, and 3) a manner to build tools that conform to the modeling theory and allow the authoring of the product model. We show that from a scientific point of view, all ingredients are at our hands to do a substantial step into an integrated process and tool world. Further, we illustrate why such a solution has not been achieved so far, and discuss what is to be done to get a step closer to seamless model-based engineering.


The German Late Triassic archosaur Teratosaurus suevicus is a historically important taxon, being the first described rauisuchian. Unfortunately the holotype is a single element, a maxilla, which is poorly preserved and incomplete. We redescribe this maxilla and identify a single potential autapomorphy. The fragmentary type specimen complicates attempts to refer additional material to this taxon, and other unassociated archosaur and rauisuchian specimens from the Mittlerer Stubensandstein of Germany cannot be referred to T. suevicus with any degree of confidence. The stratigraphically older T. silesiacus, from the upper Carnian of Poland, is represented by a much more complete and better preserved specimen. Comparison of the maxillae of T. suevicus and T. silesiacus reveals that the two are distinct taxa, contra recent suggestions, but also that they do not share any synapomorphies or a unique combination of characters relative to Postosuchus kirkpatricki and other rauisuchians. Thus, the Polish material must be transferred to a new genus, Polonosuchus gen. nov. Both Polonosuchus and Teratosaurus are very similar to Postosuchus kirkpatricki, and the three taxa are likely closely related.


Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) contain considerable amounts of cash and process sensitive customer data to perform cash transactions and banking operations. In the past, criminals mainly focused on physical attacks to gain access to cash inside an ATM's safe. They captured customer data on the magnetic strip of an ATM card with skimming devices during insertion of the card. These days, criminals increasingly use logical attacks to manipulate an ATM's software in order to withdraw cash or to capture customer data. To understand the risks that arise from such logical attacks, we have conducted a risk assessment of an ATM platform that is running in a real banking environment. The result of this assessment has revealed the main issues that are responsible for vulnerabilities of an ATM platform. In this paper, we discuss the findings of our risk assessment as well as countermeasures to mitigate serious risks in order to ensure a secure banking environment. The risk assessment has revealed effective countermeasures and has additionally provided a prioritization of activities for ATM manufacturers. Keywords-automated teller machines; ATM security; embedded systems; risk assessment.


Martensitic phase transformations and magnetovolume effects in iron-nickel alloys are intimately related. The term Invar is widely used to characterize the unusual physical properties accompanying structural and magnetic instabilities such as those observed in the vicinity of the critical composition Fe 65 Ni 35 . We discuss the crossover from bulk iron-nickel alloys to nanoparticles with respect to structural and magnetic behavior. By employing molecular-dynamics and Monte Carlo methods, we find the absence of structural instabilities in defect-free particles, a linear scaling of the austenitic transformation temperature with the reciprocal cluster radius, as well as a decrease of the magnetic transition temperature with decreasing particle size.


It is recognized that non-technical or soft skills are a vital part of the IT curriculum and hence are considered to be core curriculum components, particularly in the USA and Australia and is also an important worldwide issue. An extensive analysis within an Australian university context found a mismatch between employer expectations and the university-based instruction in these skills. However, it was noted that this unpreparedness in soft skills may be because students may not have appreciated the importance of these skills – a result confirmed by this study, which used a questionnaire delivered to project students undertaking a range of IT based courses. Internships are not common in Australia and hence to address this problem guest speakers from industry are now regularly invited to give presentations to project students. Furthermore it was also found that those students who had workplace experience more fully appreciated the role of workplace soft skills than those who did not have such experience. This study clearly indicates the importance of a team based project unit for teaching soft skills. A further implication is that students need to be made aware of the importance of soft skills in the workplace as a part of their studies.


One key question that comes to mind regarding cancer patterns is what factors account for the differentiated distribution of different cancer types in a given population? In other words, why is prostate cancer, for example, more prevalent among African Americans than in Caucasian Americans? Or why do native Eastern Asians record the highest incidence of gastric cancer worldwide? Beyond the commonly accepted genetic polymorphism to cancer vulnerability, this study is an in-depth exploration of the factors underpinning cancer distribution. Using a population health approach, an ecologic analysis was conducted, based on the current knowledge on the most prevalent cancer types. The calcium molecular theory of carcinogenesis, as published in our earlier work and presented at the Paris 2016 World Cancer Congress, served as basis for the analysis. As a result, cancer distribution appears to be shaped by a complex interaction between some key socioecologic determinants. Most importantly, we established that these determinants have a differentiated impact on intracellular calcium concentrations and trafficking. Thus, specific populations will be selectively vulnerable to a certain cancer type through a distinctive effect of their socioecologic characteristics on internal calcium. We conclude that calcium ion, already known as a cellular messenger, is also an environmental messenger. That molecule mediates the effects of external factors and their cellular responses, and this interaction accounts for cancer type distribution in the population at large. The work is published in two complementary papers: the first relates to cancer determinants while the second will discuss their impact on calcium metabolism. Note: This abstract was not presented at the conference. Citation Format: Bernard KADIO, Sanni Hashimi Yaya, Ajoy Basak, James Gomes, Koffi Dje, Christian Mesenge. An integrative model of cancer disparities based on the calcium molecular theory of carcinogenesis [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Tenth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2017 Sep 25-28; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2018;27(7 Suppl):Abstract nr A35.