The study was conducted to assess heavy metals concentrations in water, sediment and white shrimp (Liptopenaeus vannamei) of Red Sea, Jizan, Saudi Arabia, using ICP-MS. The concentrations of heavy metals in water were above the recommended drinking water standards setup by the WHO/USEPA (World Health Organization/United States Environmental Protection Agency). However the concentrations of heavy metals in sediment and white leg shrimp were lower than the recommended levels proposed by WHO/USEPA, except Cr level in shrimp muscle. The level of contamination degree (Cd) and modified contamination degree (mCd) indicated 'low' and 'very low' degree of contamination respectively. Pollution load index (PLI) of the studied area was lower than unity, indicated no pollution. Furthermore, a toxic response factor was applied to determine the potential ecological risk index (RI) of these heavy metals into the water body. The results of this study exhibited a low potential ecological risk of heavy metals.


In this paper the authors show how potential output can be estimated and projected through an approach derived from the structural vector autoregression methodology. This approach is applied to the Mexican economy. To identify demand, supply and world oil shocks, the authors assume that demand shocks do not have a permanent effect on output and that the international price of oil is exogenous to the Mexican economy in the long term. They then calculate potential output by adding the world oil and supply components to the drift in output. They find that world oil shocks have been an important source of both actual and potential output fluctuations over a sample period extending from 1965 to 1994. However, they also find occurrences of important gaps between actual and potential output.


—The growing of wind generation in Spain has forced its Transmission System Operator (TSO) to release new requirements that establish the amount of reactive power that a wind turbine has to supply to the grid during a voltage dip. Wind turbines equipped with doubly-fed induction generators (DFIG) can regulate easily the reactive power generated in steady state. However, difficulties appear when reactive power has to be generated during voltage dips. Simulations have been carried out in order to check whether DFIG wind turbines can fulfill the reactive power requirements. Protection system commonly employed with DFIG in order to achieve ride-through capabilities including crowbar plays an important role to meet the requirements together with grid-side converter. Resistance associated with the crowbar and its connection duration are crucial at the beginning of the fault. Grid-side converter acting as STATCOM helps to improve the voltage profile sufficiently to permit rotor-side converter reconnection.


We develop a model of adaptive learning in normal form games with social comparisons. Actors in the model adjust their behavior by aspiration-based adaptation: they are more likely to choose actions that recently yielded satisfactory payoffs and are less likely to repeat those that resulted in unsatisfactory payoffs. Satisfaction is evaluated relative to an aspiration level that reflects previous payoffs. Aspirations, however, may depend not only on individual experiences but also on other players' payoffs. Thus, the model captures the effect of an important kind of social comparison, provided by exogenous reference groups. We show that under a variety of simple emulation patterns the presence of social comparisons significantly constrains the set of stable outcomes. In particular, if reference groups are sufficiently dense then in every stable outcome all players receive identical payoffs.


The growth in smartphone usage has led to increased user concerns regarding privacy and security. Smartphones contain sensitive information, such as personal data, images, and emails, and can be used to perform various types of activity, such as transferring money via mobile Internet banking, making calls and sending emails. As a consequence, concerns regarding smartphone security have been expressed and there is a need to devise new solutions to enhance the security of mobile applications, especially after initial access to a mobile device. This paper presents a novel behavioural profiling approach to user identity verification as part of mobile application security. A study involving data collected from 76 users over a 1-month period was conducted, generating over 3 million actions based on users' interactions with their smartphone. The study examines a novel user interaction approach based on supervised machine learning algorithms, thereby enabling a more reliable identity verification method. The experimental results show that users could be distinguished via their behavioural profiling upon each action within the application, with an average equal error rate of 26.98% and the gradient boosting classifier results prove quite compelling. Based on these findings, this approach is able to provide robust, continuous and transparent authentication.


In recent times, gender recognition of facial images has achieved lots of attraction. It can be useful in many places e.g. security, web searching, human computer interaction etc. In this paper, an approach containing both face detection and gender classification tasks has been proposed. In face detection part, Haar features have been chosen to present appearance features along with Ada-Boost technique to target strong and powerful features in cascaded form. For gender classification, Bayesian Classifier has been used where image is analyzed in blocks/patches form. The blocking technique is same as used in DCT approach. Experimental results have shown that proposed approach is effective and robust with changes in pose (some degree), expressions and illumination.


In this paper, we propose a socioscope model for social-network and human-behavior analysis based on mobile-phone call-detail records. Because of the diversity and complexity of human social behavior, no one technique will detect every attribute that arises when humans engage in social behaviors. We use multiple probability and statistical methods for quantifying social groups, relationships, and communication patterns and for detecting human-behavior changes. We propose a new index to measure the level of reciprocity between users and their communication partners. This reciprocity index has application in homeland security, detection of unwanted calls (e.g., spam), telecommunication presence, and product marketing. For the validation of our results, we used real-life call logs of 81 users which contain approximately 500 000 h of data on users' location, communication, and device-usage behavior collected over eight months at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) by the Reality Mining Project group. Also, call logs of 20 users collected over six months by the University of North Texas (UNT) Network Security team are used. The MIT and UNT data sets contain approximately 5000 callers. The experimental results show that our model is effective.


Activation of oocytes, arrested at the meiosis II (MII) in mammals, initiates meiotic release, mitotic divisions, and development. Unlike most somatic cell types, MII arrested female germ cells lack an efficient DNA integrity checkpoint control. Here we present evidence showing a unique checkpoint for DNA integrity at first mitosis after oocyte activation. Mouse oocytes carrying intact DNA cleaved normally after meiotic release, whereas 50% of oocytes harboring damaged DNA manifested cytofragmentation, a morphological hallmark of apoptosis. If not activated, DNA‐damaged MII oocytes did not show apoptotic fragmentation. Further, activated, enucleated oocytes or enucleated fertilized oocytes also underwent cytofragmentation, implicating cytoplasmic coordination of the fragmentation process, independent of the nucleus. Depolymerization of either actin filaments or microtubules induced no cytofragmentation, but inhibited fragmentation upon oocyte activation. During the process of fragmentation, microtubule networks formed, then microtubule asters congregated at discrete locations, around which fragmented cellular bodies formed. Mitotic spindles, however, were not formed inactivated oocytes with damaged or absent DNA; in contrast, normal mitotic spindles were formed in activated oocytes with intact DNA. These results demonstrate that damaged DNA or absence of DNA leads to cytofragmentation after oocyte activation. Further, we found a mechanism of cytoskeletal involvement in the process of cytofragmentation. In addition, possible implication of the present findings in somatic cell cloning and human clinical embryology is discussed. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 62: 277–288, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


A few years ago there were only expensive machineries dedicated to rapid prototyping for professionals or industrial application, while nowadays very affordable solutions are on the market and have become useful tools for experimenting, providing access to final users. Given the digital nature of these machine-controlled manufacturing processes, a clear need exists for computational tools that support this new way of productional thinking. For this reason the ultimate target of this research is to improve the easiness of use of such technologies, providing novel supporting tools and methods to ultimately sustain the concept of democratized design ("fabrication for the masses"). In this thesis we present a novel set of methods to enable, with the available manufacturing devices, new cost-effective and powerful ways of producing objects. The contributions of the thesis are three. The first one is a technique that allows to automatically create a tangible illustrative representation of a 3D model by interlocking together a set of planar pieces, which can be fabricated using a 2D laser cutter. The second method allows to automatically design flexible reusable molds to produce many copies of an input digital object. The designs produced by this method can be directly sent to a 3D printer and used to liquid-cast multiple replicas using a wide variety of materials. The last technique is a method to fabricate, using a singlematerial 3D printer, objects with custom elasticity, and an optimization strategy that, varying the elastic properties inside the volume, is able to design printable objects with a prescribed mechanical behavior.


Objectives: To determine age-specific seroprevalence, risk factors, and risk markers for heterosexually-acquired HIV infection among pregnant women. Design: Cross-sectional study of 12 436 consecutive pregnant women in Lima, Peru in 1996–1997. Methods: Standardized interviews, serologic tests for HIV and syphilis, bivariate and multivariate analysis. Results: HIV seropositivity was confirmed in 58 women (0.5%). Only 22.6% were married, and only 12% of HIV infected women reported ⩾2 sex partners ever. In multivariate analyses HIV infection was associated with: short duration of current relationship; two risk behaviors of women themselves (early onset of sexual activity and number of past sexual relationships); women's perceptions of two risk behaviors of partners (partner is a 'womanizer,' and partner uses illegal drugs); inadequate prenatal care; and four additional risk factors or markers (history of sexually transmitted disease, tuberculosis, or abortion in the women; and diagnosis of HIV/AIDS in a partner). Conclusions: HIV infection was related both to women's own risk behaviors and to the perceived risk behaviors of their sexual partners. Underlying societal factors related to heterosexual HIV infection, including deferral of marriage, warrant further study.


[1] An evaluation is undertaken of the statistics of daily precipitation as simulated by five regional climate models using comprehensive observations in the region of the European Alps. Four limited area models and one variable-resolution global model are considered, all with a grid spacing of 50 km. The 15-year integrations were forced from reanalyses and observed sea surface temperature and sea ice (global model from sea surface only). The observational reference is based on 6400 rain gauge records (10–50 stations per grid box). Evaluation statistics encompass mean precipitation, wet-day frequency, precipitation intensity, and quantiles of the frequency distribution. For mean precipitation, the models reproduce the characteristics of the annual cycle and the spatial distribution. The domain mean bias varies between −23% and +3% in winter and between −27% and −5% in summer. Larger errors are found for other statistics. In summer, all models underestimate precipitation intensity (by 16–42%) and there is a too low frequency of heavy events. This bias reflects too dry summer mean conditions in three of the models, while it is partly compensated by too many low-intensity events in the other two models. Similar intermodel differences are found for other European subregions. Interestingly, the model errors are very similar between the two models with the same dynamical core (but different parameterizations) and they differ considerably between the two models with similar parameterizations (but different dynamics). Despite considerable biases, the models reproduce prominent mesoscale features of heavy precipitation, which is a promising result for their use in climate change downscaling over complex topography.


Little research has been conducted with respect to water requirements for wildfire suppression. An exploratory and robust regression analysis was conducted on statistical material extracted from a Swedish database, focusing on data related to the fire suppression. The variables included are the amount of water applied, application rate of water, extinguishing time, flame height, and the total fire area. The results of the analysis with potential relationships are described, discussed, and compared with results from earlier research. After initial outlier detection, a robust regression analysis was performed and relationships developed. It was found that the developed relationships could predict the dependent variable very well; this was especially the case with the extinguishing time as a function of the total fire area. The relationship with the lowest ability to predict the dependent variable was the application rate of water as a function of the total fire area. The large number of parameters and their included uncertainties could be an explanation to the increased inability to predict the dependent variable. When comparing the control times of earlier conducted building fire studies with the extinguishing times of developed relationships, it was found that the control times were much longer than the corresponding extinguishing times. The reason behind was most likely due to the difference in the fire area applied in the equations. The resulting relationships for the grass fuel type were found to have lower ability to predict the dependent variable. The reason behind this is unclear and needs to be investigated further.


Government intervention in the construction sector as a way to boost the economy has been a constant in Colombia for the past 90 years. This paper explicitly tests the impact of the most recent of such interventions: a subsidy to the mortgage interest rate. The results show that the subsidy boosted mortgage loans by around 38 percent. However, it is also found that real interest rates went up by 1. 09 percent, i. e. , there has been an incomplete pass-through of the subsidy to the consumer. The pass-through of this instance of intervention is estimated to be in the range of 65 percent to 74 percent.


How should a player who repeatedly plays a game against a no-regret learner strategize to maximize his utility? We study this question and show that under some mild assumptions, the player can always guarantee himself a utility of at least what he would get in a Stackelberg equilibrium. When the no-regret learner has only two actions, we show that the player cannot get any higher utility than the Stackelberg equilibrium utility. But when the no-regret learner has more than two actions and plays a mean-based no-regret strategy, we show that the player can get strictly higher than the Stackelberg equilibrium utility. We construct the optimal game-play for the player against a mean-based no-regret learner who has three actions. When the no-regret learner's strategy also guarantees him a no-swap regret, we show that the player cannot get anything higher than a Stackelberg equilibrium utility.


America is diverse in its culture of ideas and ways of life. This makes for a complex negotiation of issue positions and justifications when attempting to resolve public issues. It is essential therefore, that organizations not only understand but also cater to and adapt to the variety of cultural expectations and interpretations that may guide their various stakeholder publics when creating messages about controversial issues. One of the most controversial issues our society faces today is affirmative action. The rationales for the different stances people take on this topic vary greatly, revealing both opportunities and barriers to resolve a long-standing, contentious political issue. This thesis describes and analyzes reactions to two 2003 Supreme Court cases that examined the University of Michigan's affirmative action admissions policies: Gratz, et al. v. Bollinger, et al. and Grutter et al v. Bollinger, et al. The cases were the first time the Supreme Court had addressed affirmative action since the 1978 Bakke case. It was also the first time that the Court would debate whether or not diversity is truly a compelling state interest and what constitutes a fair and legal process by which to achieve it. Mediated accounts of the debate were examined in order to offer insight into contemporary interpretations of a recurring issue. By looking at how the media framed the issue, policymakers, politically-involved citizens, public relations practitioners can better understand the political climate in which they work, and thereby allowing them to better craft their communication efforts. Cultural Topoi, developed from Cultural Theory was used as a lens through which to examine the complexity of American political principles in these cases and values in this changing landscape of social expectations and public policy.


Genetic algorithms (GAs) have been applied previously to UML-driven stress test requirements generation with the aim of increasing chances of discovering faults relating to network traffic in distributed real-time systems. However, since evolutionary algorithms are heuristic, their performance can vary across multiple executions, which may affect robustness and scalability. To address this, we present the design and technical detail of a UML-driven, GA-based stress test requirements generation tool, together with its empirical analysis. The main goal is to analyze and improve the applicability, efficiency, and effectiveness and also to validate the design choices of the GA used in the tool. Findings of the empirical evaluation reveal that the tool is robust and reasonably scalable when it is executed on large-scale experimental design models. The study also reveals the main bottlenecks and limitations of the tools, e.g., there is a performance bottleneck when the system under test has a large number of sequence diagrams which could be triggered independently from each other. In addition, issues specific to stress testing, e.g., the impact of variations in task arrival pattern types, reveal that the tool generally generates effective test requirements, although the features of those test requirements might be different in different runs (e.g., different stress times from the test start time might be chosen). While the use of evolutionary algorithms to generate software test cases has been widely reported, the extent, depth, and detail of the empirical findings presented in this paper are novel and suggest that the proposed approach is effective and efficient in generating stress test requirements. It is hoped that the findings of this empirical study will help other SBSE researchers with the empirical evaluation of their own techniques and tools.


This paper provides an analysis of the influence of location on the extent of use and impact of external advice and collaboration on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Britain. The analysis indicates that for private-sector advisers (accountants, consultants, etc.) and collaboration with suppliers and customers, the intensity of use does not vary significantly with location in most cases. Only the input of business friends and relatives is strongly locationally constrained, indicating the importance of personal trust processes operating in a different way from other influences. EU Structural Fund status of an area also has few major effects on use of private-sector advice. However, the impact of external advice and the extent of local collaboration between similar firms are influenced by location, with impact generally increasing with the size of business concentration, density and closeness to a business centre; i.e. there are positive effects of urban location and agglomeration economies. For public-sector support agencies (such as the Small Business Service Business Link, TECs/LECs, enterprise agencies and also chambers of commerce) the reverse is generally true. Levels of use are locationally influenced, but impact is not. Use tends to increase in EU-assisted areas, and in areas with lower levels of business concentration. This applies to most local agents, but for regional development agencies there is an additionally strong effect of highest focus of use and impact in the most rural and peripheral areas. Thus public agents appear generally to be most used and have greatest relevance to SMEs in more peripheral areas where they fill gaps in the market created by agglomeration effects.


Study Design. Retrospective, single-institution review of adult deformity patients who underwent iliac screw (IS) removal placed during fusion to the sacrum. Objective. To demonstrate whether IS removal offered benefit in terms of hip/buttock pain overlying the IS and whether IS could be removed without significant complications. Summary of Background Data. ISs are effective at countering cantilever forces imparted on sacral pedicle screws. Despite the efficacy of IS fixation, pain or implant prominence can lead to elective IS removal. There has been no study about IS removal in adult spinal deformity patients. Methods. A total of 395 consecutive walking adult spinal deformity patients fused to the sacrum with IS fixation and minimum 2-year follow-up met study inclusion criteria. Clinical/radiographical data were analyzed. Because there is no validated pain outcomes instrument specific to this situation, an 8-question IS removal questionnaire was designed and used for the sole purpose of this inquiry, within which a universally accepted numeric rating scale for pain was included. Results. Twenty-four of 395 (6.1%) patients (2 men and 22 women) with mean age of 50.5 ± 10.8 years underwent elective IS removal at mean 2.6 ±1.3 years from index surgery. Mean follow-up from initial surgery was 6.3 ± 4.0 years. Symptoms included hip/buttock pain in all 24 patients and IS prominence in 5 patients (20.8%). Screw removal was bilateral in 18 (75%) patients and unilateral in 6 (25%) patients. Using a numeric rating pain scale (0–10), hip/buttock pain improved after IS removal: preoperative 6.9 ± 1.8, postoperative 2.0 ± 2.7 (P < 0.05). Patients reported hip/buttock symptoms post-IS removal as "much improved" (78.3%), "somewhat improved" (8.7%), and "unchanged" (13.0%). Two of 24 (8.3%) patients sustained complications from IS removal (wound infection, n = 1; coronal/sagittal imbalance, n = 1). Presented with the same set of circumstances, 22 of 24 (91.7%) patients would have their IS removed again, including one of the patients who had a complication. Conclusion. Of 395 consecutive walking patients who had ISs placed during fusion to the sacrum for adult spinal deformity, 24 (6.1%) underwent elective removal. Patients had a statistically significant improvement in hip/buttock pain after IS removal, and a low prevalence of complications after the procedure was observed.


According to Jim Hoopes, the fundamental principles on which business is based-authority, power, control-are increasingly at odds with principles of life in a democratic society-freedom, equality, individualism. False Prophets critically examines the pioneering theories of the early management thinkers, such as Taylor, Follett, Mayo, and Deming, which intended to democratize corporate life yet have proved antithetical to the successful practice of business. Hoopes challenges popular management movements that followed in the wake of these thinkers and accuses today's business theorists of perpetuating bad management in the name of democratic values. He urges executives and managers to recognize the realities of corporate life and learn to apply the principles of power. He also unveils a new management agenda that will be of paramount significance to modern organizations.A rich and lively read, False Prophets provides a refreshingly new and original overview of the history of management in the larger context of the American culture, brilliantly illustrating its evolution-from the ivory tower to the shop floor.


The occurence of human myiasis caused by larvae of Cochliomyia hominivorax was registered for the first time in Recife, State of Pernambuco, Brazil. From November, 1999 to October, 2002 were registered, in three public hospitals 24 cases of myiasis in human beings, of both sexes, with age varying from 08 to 93 years old. The wounds infested with screwworms observed in these patients were classified as cutaneous, oral, anal, aureal and ocular myiasis. The inferior members were more frequently attacked (10/24) (41.7%) than the other anatomic areas. In all of the cases, the myiasis were established in pre-existent lesions, and the factors that predispose to this disease were: excoriations of varied nature (10/24) (41.7%); no identified lesions (05/24) (20.8%); diseases of the circulatory system (03/24) (12.5%); tumors (02/24) (8.3%); conjunctivitis, auricular infections, dermatitis and surgical wound (01/24) (4.2%). The factors that predispose to be infested by C. hominivoraxwere the physical and mental weakness, dehydration, inadequate corporal hygiene, diabetes, malnutrition, elephantiasis, schizophrenia, alcoholism, anemia, lice infestation and fundamentally accidental wounds.


Presented herein is a novel approach to vehicle positioning using RFID technology (Vehicle Positioning System, or VPS). By installing in the road RFID tags encoded with road name or other designation, the specific lane, the direction of travel, and the longitudinal distance from a known reference, a vehicle outfitted with an RFID tag reader can determine its position each time it passes over and reads a tag, thus, providing precisely the information needed for many intelligent transportation system (ITS) applications – the longitudinal position of a vehicle in a particular lane on a particular road of the transportation network. Knowledge of lane of travel and distance from a known reference provided by VPS enables many transit applications, including headway control of bus platoons, merge/lane change assistance, rear-end collision avoidance, and bay mark-up applications. For lane assist systems, VPS and a lateral positioning system can augment DGPS in urban areas, providing seamless operation where DGPS accuracy is insufficient for lane keeping. This research focused on designing and building a prototype VPS using existing third party RFID hardware. The hardware was evaluated and characterized to determine if it could be used to create a viable, robust VPS. After the development and characterization of the positioning system, an implementation of a rear-end collision avoidance system was built to demonstrate the use of VPS. Finally, a more sophisticated rear-end collision avoidance system was designed and simulated, after which its implications to the accuracy specifications for VPS were analyzed.


The general awareness of the sustainability challenge and the urgency to act is increasing. However, the actions being taken do not seem to be sufficient, nor the communication about sustainability effective enough, to ensure a sustainable future. For our research, we looked at the work of sustainability practitioners using a scientifically robust framework called the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD). The research focuses on the interaction between the sustainability practitioner and the audience when communicating the FSSD. It is guided by its central inquiry, how the practice of storytelling can support sustainability practitioners in their work context. A literature review and a total of 13 interviews with sustainability and storytelling practitioners comprise the basis for this analysis. Based on our findings we map out the current practices of storytelling used by sustainability practitioners in the field and offer recommendations with the intention of enhancing this practice. Our research showed that sustainability practitioners practice and benefit from storytelling throughout their work in various ways. We consider this research with all its limitations as an awareness raiser and invitation to deepen the conversation and the exchange of experience and knowledge around the topic of storytelling for sustainability.


LA CAVE grew from its humble beginnings as a coffeehouse folk club on Euclid Avenue to become one of Cleveland's most memorable and influential ROCK 'N' ROLL clubs.In early 1962, partners Nelson Karl, Lee Weiss, and Stan Heilburn opened La Cave de Cafe as a coffee house in a 200-seat basement previously occupied by a pool hall. However, their business survived for only a few months. Stan Kain then approached the partners and proposed to revitalize La Cave by bringing in known folk acts to perform. They agreed, placing the business in Kain's hands and making him one of the partners. The first well-known act brought to La Cave by Kain was the African-American folk singer Josh White, whose performances sold out for three straight days. In those early folk days, La Cave presented Simon & Garfunkel, Buffy Sainte Marie, Jose Feliciano, Tom Rush, Ian and Sylvia, Phil Ochs, Janis Ian, Richie Havens, Arlo Guthrie, Judy Collins, Odetta, Tim Buckley, and Tom Paxton. As the music of the 1960s evolved, so did La Cave. Kain introduced local audiences to the rock 'n' roll music of Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, the Youngbloods, the Butterfield Blues Band, the Jeff Beck Group featuring Rod Stewart, Canned Heat, the Fugs, the Hello People, Iron Butterfly, Terry Knight & The Pack, the Stone Poneys, the Velvet Underground, Blood Sweat & Tears, and Pacific Gas & Electric. La Cave's long stairway to the downstairs room, the grubbiness of the decor, and the mismatched tables and chairs created the perfect atmosphere for the explosion of progressive rock 'n' roll in Cleveland.Stan Kain served as the manager of the club for six years, booking the music acts and handling the hiring. Larry Bruner took over as manager for the last year of La Cave's existence. The club's demise was caused by long-term debts, a decline of ticket sales, and legal troubles. La Cave officially closed its doors in July 1969.


Permeable interlocking concrete pavement (PICP) consists of (impervious) manufactured concrete units that form permeable voids and joints, when assembled into a laying pattern. The openings typically comprise 5% to 15% of the paver surface area that maintain high permeability with small-sized aggregates. The openings allow stormwater to enter a permeable stone bedding layer and base/subbase that support the pavers while providing storage and runoff treatment. PICP replaces traditional impervious pavement for most pedestrian and vehicular applications, except high-volume/high-speed roadways. PICP has performed successfully in pedestrian walkways, sidewalks, driveways, parking lots, and low-volume roadways. Key resources for designers are published by the Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute (ICPI), which include a detailed manual entitled Permeable Interlocking Concrete Pavements: Selection Design Construction Maintenance (Smith 2011) and a design software program entitled Permeable Design Pro (ICPI 2009).


Arbetsformedlingen is the Swedish national authority responsible for the work politics, and its main purpose is to create and build a solid and sustainable job market.Economic crises together with changes in the society and in the organization over the past few years mean that the unemployed individuals that come in contact with Arbetsformedlingen are no longer a homogenous group. A lot of effort is put into helping those who may find it difficult to enter the work environment, such as youths (19 – 26 years old), people who have been unemployed or on sick leave for a long period of time, people with disabilities or immigrants who are newly arrived in Sweden.A harder social and economic climate can lead to frustration among the unemployed which mean that security measures at the offices has had to become adjusted. Local offices now have a public area where they have meetings with their clients and a locked open plan office space to which the public have no access. Working within an open plan office environment can cause health problems, mostly due to the constant background noise that comes from people having conversations on the phone, or with each other. The public areas have been furnished from a safety aspect, and different alarm functions are in place. Interviews with employees at the local Arbetsformedlingen in Eskilstuna show that staff safety is a high priority with plenty of guidelines and directions to be followed.There are rules regulating the handling of personal information, and strategies need to be in place regarding the IT-structure that the organization is using.


Cover crops can increase soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) storage and reduce the potential for N leaching under agronomic crops, but little is known about their effect under bioenergy crops whose aboveground biomass is removed either for biofuel production or for livestock feed. The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of cover crops on soil organic C (SOC), total N (STN), ammonium nitrogen (NH4-N), and nitrate-N (NO3-N) contents at the 0 to 30 cm (0 to 12 in) depth under bioenergy sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) crops from 2010 to 2013 in the southeastern United States. Treatments were two sorghum species (forage sorghum [Sorghum vulgare Pers.] and sweet sorghum) as the main plot and four cover crops as the split-plot treatments arranged in a randomized complete block with three replications. Cover crop treatments were legume (hairy vetch [Vicia villosa Roth]), nonlegume (rye [Secale cereal L.]), biculture of legume and nonlegume (hairy vetch/rye), and no cover crop (control). At 15 to 30 cm (6 to 12 in), SOC was greater with hairy vetch/rye than the control under forage sorghum. At 0 to 5 and 5 to 15 cm (0 to 2 and 2 to 6 in), STN was greater with hairy vetch and hairy vetch/rye than rye under forage sorghum and greater with hairy vetch/rye than the control under sweet sorghum. At 5 to 15 cm, NO3-N was greater with hairy vetch/rye than rye in 2011, but was greater with rye and hairy vetch than hairy vetch/rye in 2012. At all depths, NH4-N was greater under forage than sweet sorghum in 2012. Regardless of treatments, SOC and STN increased, but NH4-N and NO3-N varied from 2010 to 2013. Although soil available N varied with cover crops, sorghum types, and climatic conditions from year to year, hairy vetch/rye can conserve and/or increase soil C and N storage compared with vetch or rye alone, or the control under bioenergy sorghum in the southeastern United States. The results can be used to claim C credit, increase N cycling, and improve soil and environmental quality under bioenergy sorghum in the regions with similar soil and climatic conditions.


Large-scale neural hardware systems are trending increasingly towards the "neuromimetic" architecture: a general-purpose platform that specialises the hardware for neural networks but allows flexibility in model choice. Since the model is not hard-wired into the chip, exploration of different neural and synaptic models is not merely possible but provides a rich field for research: the possibility to use the hardware to establish useful abstractions of biological neural dynamics that could lead to a functional model of neural computation. Two areas of neural modelling stand out as central: 1) What level of detail in the neurodynamic model is necessary to achieve biologically realistic behaviour? 2) What is role and effect of different types of synapses in the computation? Using a universal event-driven neural chip, SpiNNaker, we develop a simple model, the Leaky-Integrate-and-Fire (LIF) neuron, as a tool for exploring the second of these questions, complementary to the existing Izhikevich model which allows exploration of the first of these questions. The LIF model permits the development of multiple synaptic models including fast AMPA/GABA-A synapses with or without STDP learning, and slow NMDA synapses, spanning a range of different dynamic time constants. Its simple dynamics make it possible to expand the complexity of synaptic response, while the general-purpose design of SpiNNaker makes it possible if necessary to increase the neurodynamic accuracy with Izhikevich (or even Hodgkin-Huxley) neurons with some tradeoff in model size. Furthermore, the LIF model is a universally-accepted "standard" neural model that provides a good basis for comparisons with software simulations and introduces minimal risk of obscuring important synaptic effects due to unusual neurodynamics. The simple models run thus far demonstrate the viability of both the LIF model and of various possible synaptic models on SpiNNaker and illustrate how it can be used as a platform for model exploration. Such an architecture provides a scalable system for high-performance large-scale neural modelling with complete freedom in model choice.


CAPTCHA, Completely Automated Public Turning Test to tell Computers and Humans Apart, it is a one type of test. CAPTCHA is standard internet security they protect online emails and services from being abused by malicious computer program or BOT. CAPTCHA is a one type of test program that protects websites from BOTs on web by generating tests that computer cannot pass but human can easily pass. For web security we are using different type of CAPTCHA. In this paper describe different type of CAPTCHA technique based on drag and drop mouse action because drag and drop mouse action is performed by human not by BOT. This paper is deal with survey and comparison of different technique of CAPTCHA.


Receptors for immunoglobulin G immune complexes (Fc gamma RII and Fc gamma RIII) are expressed on most hematopoietic cells and show much structural and functional diversity. In order to determine the genetic basis for this diversity, a family of genes encoding the human and mouse receptors was isolated and characterized. Humans have five distinct genes for low-affinity Fc gamma Rs, in contrast to two in the mouse. With the use of yeast artificial chromosomes, the genes encoding the human receptors were oriented and linked, which established the structure of this complex locus. Comparison of the human and mouse genes generated a model for the evolutionary amplification of this locus.


Phase shift modulation (PSM) is a commonly used technique for controlling the active power flow in resonant dc-ac and dc-dc converters. Although traditionally developed as an analog modulation scheme, digital PSM is being increasingly used in conjunction with advanced multi-variable digital controllers and online efficiency optimization algorithms. While analog PSM is known not to introduce additional dynamics from a small-signal standpoint, the analysis disclosed in this work indicates that discrete-time, or uniformly sampled, PSM introduces a transport delay of small-signal nature. Furthermore, and in close analogy with the theory of uniformly sampled pulse width modulators, such delay depends on the modulator carrier type as well as on the converter operating point. The paper first clarifies the modeling procedure for describing the small-signal dynamics of uniformly sampled phase shift modulators. Secondly, it provides an extension of traditional phasor modeling to digital phase-controlled converters, allowing to account for the additional modulator dynamics in the design of the closed-loop compensation. Theoretical findings are validated via simulation and experimental results.


Shea butter, derived from the African shea tree, has acquired a pivotal position in global agro-food and cosmetics industries. In Burkina Faso, public and private actors as well as civil society are converging upon the product to boost the incomes of rural female producers. As a result of these trends, the shea value chain is increasingly segmented; shea nuts are sold in a low-return, conventional market and simultaneously enter an alternative, high-value niche market. In the latter strand of the value chain, some producers are improving their prospects by forming an association. Tracing relationships across the two strands, we demonstrate how 'horizontal' relations based on gender, ethnicity, age and geography contribute to shaping participation and benefit capture in the shea value chain. We argue that processes of social inclusion and exclusion operate in parallel, as differentiated actors both cooperate and compete to secure their place within the chain. While collective organizing brings positive social and economic benefits, we show that producers' associations need not be empowering for all women. The significance of collective enterprises, but also their drawbacks must be considered when valorising pathways to women's empowerment. Our study reinforces calls for greater integration of horizontal elements in value chain analyses.


In the current debate about what kind of justice is possible for the new era of globalization, we have basically two views: the one particularistic (Richard Rorty), the other universalistic (Karl Otto Apel, John Rawls). But in truth this opposition between 'universal' and 'particular' in the reflection on justice is far older and deeper. We got important evidences of this right from Xenophanes, Heraclitus and Herodotus. But it was Aristotle who dramatically pointed out how this tension gets truly to the roots of any conception of 'justice'. In my paper I have taken up the matter in three places only, wherein Aristotle's remarks through Thomas Aquinas are conclusive: 1) the relationship between the abstractness of law and the case in point; 2) the so-called by Hegel 'accidental nature of the universal', that is, the inherent insufficiency of law insofar as its actual implementation; 3) the opposite accounts of the reduction of the universal and the multiplication of the universal. The solution proposed by Aristotle to solve this tension is searching for a composition, rather than fixing our attention on the opposition, between universal and particular in terms of a mutual being related. A theory of justice as an account of equity and reciprocity, which respectively establishes justice anywhere the universal is inappropriate and when the foundation of social life is concerned on the grounds of need. An idea of justice still relevant today in that it is very responsive to the problems of globalization, on how to participate in the justice found in the interchange of duties and rights amongst people who do not belong to the same State any longer.


Aim: This cross sectional study was undertaken to identify the major causes of childhood severe visual impairment/blindness (SVI/BL) among students in schools for the blind in south eastern Nigeria with a view to offering treatment to those with remediable blindness. Methods: 142 students attending three schools for the blind in the study area were interviewed and examined using the World Health Organization programme for prevention of blindness (WHO/PBL) childhood blindness proforma. Results: By anatomical classification, the major causes of SVI/BL identified in the children (aged 15 years or less) were lesions of the lens (30.4%), corneal lesions (21.7%), whole globe lesions (mainly phthisis bulbi) (17.4%), and glaucoma/buphthalmos (10.9%). For the young adults (more than 15 years) these lesions accounted for 31.9%, 21.3%, 23.4%, and 8.5% of SVI/BL, respectively. For all the students, the commonest single diagnoses were cataract (23.5%) and corneal scarring (21.4%), of which 86.7% were caused by measles. By aetiological classification, childhood factors (38.6%) constituted the major cause of blindness: 37.0% in the children and 39.4% in the young adults. In 74.5% of all the students, blindness was considered avoidable. Conclusions: A high proportion of childhood blindness in schools for the blind in south eastern Nigeria is avoidable. Development of paediatric ophthalmology in Nigeria to manage childhood cataract and glaucoma is advocated.


The application of differential interferometry to bulk wave measurements can be analyzed using the kinematic formulation of the photoelastic effect. For isotropic linearly elastic materials, a standing longitudinal wave changes the indicatrix from a sphere to an ellipsoid of revolution with axes parallel and perpendicular to the direction of propagation of the acoustic wave. If the probing light is linearly polarized, differential interferometry produces a maximum signal when the polarization of the light is perpendicular to the direction of propagation. This prediction is confirmed by experiment. The case of standing transverse waves can be analyzed in a similar manner.


Isofemale lines (IFL) from single egg masses were studied for genetic variation in Meloidogyne incognita isolates avirulent and virulent to the resistance gene Rk in cowpea (Vigna unguiculata). In parental isolates cultured on susceptible and resistant cowpea, the virulent isolate contained 100% and the avirulent isolate 7% virulent lineages. Virulence was selected from the avirulent isolate within eight generations on resistant cowpea (lineage selection). In addition, virulence was selected from avirulent females (individual selection). Virulence differed (P </= 0.05) both within and between cohorts of IFL cultured for up to 27 generations on susceptible or resistant cowpea. Distinct virulence profiles were observed among IFL. Some remained avirulent on susceptible plants and became extinct on resistant plants; some remained virulent on resistant and susceptible plants; some changed from avirulent to virulent on resistant plants; and others changed from virulent to avirulent on susceptible plants. Also, some IFL increased in virulence on susceptible plants. Single descent lines from IFL showed similar patterns of virulence for up to six generations. These results revealed considerable genetic variation in virulence in a mitotic parthenogenetic nematode population. The frequencies of lineages with stable or changeable virulence and avirulence phenotypes determined the overall virulence potential of the population.


Set on a fictional Caribbean island during World War II and in modern-day Vancouver, "He Drown She in the Sea" is the spellbinding story of two childhood friends reunited late in life. As children, Rose Sangha and her housekeeper's son, Harry, are inseparable, blissfully unaware of the subtleties of class hierarchy until the night Harry is banished from the Sangha home. When Harry and Rose meet again in Canada years later, the gulf separating them is not so apparent. They have a life-affirming affair and Rose dares to reroute their destinies. This is a haunting, sensuous, and suspenseful story about love against all odds, and the sacrifice and euphoria that come with defying the life one is born into.


Abstract. While there is a clear impact of aerosol particles on the radiation balance, whether and how aerosol particles influence precipitation is controversial. Here we use the ECHAM6-HAM global climate model coupled to an aerosol module to analyse whether an impact of anthropogenic aerosol particles on the timing and amount of precipitation can be detected in North Pacific warm conveyor belts. Warm conveyor belts are the strongest precipitation-producing airstreams in extratropical cyclones and are identified here with a Lagrangian technique, i.e. by objectively identifying the most strongly ascending trajectories in North Pacific cyclones. These conveyor belts have been identified separately in 10-year ECHAM6-HAM simulations with present-day and pre-industrial aerosol conditions. Then, the evolution of aerosols and cloud properties has been analysed in detail along the identified warm conveyor belt trajectories. The results show that, under present-day conditions, some warm conveyor belt trajectories are strongly polluted (i.e. high concentrations of black carbon and sulfur dioxide) due to horizontal transport from eastern Asia to the oceanic region where warm conveyor belts start their ascent. In these polluted trajectories a weak delay and reduction of precipitation formation occurs compared to clean warm conveyor belt trajectories. However, all warm conveyor belts consist of both polluted and clean trajectories at the time they start their ascent, and the typically more abundant clean trajectories strongly reduce the aerosol impact from the polluted trajectories. The main conclusion then is that the overall amount of precipitation is comparable in pre-industrial conditions, when all warm conveyor belt trajectories are clean, and in present-day conditions, when warm conveyor belts consist of a mixture of clean and polluted trajectories.


[1] Hydrographic transects of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) south of Africa are projected into baroclinic stream function space parameterized by pressure and dynamic height. This produces a two-dimensional gravest empirical mode (GEM) that captures more than 97% of the total density and temperature variance in the ACC domain. Weekly maps of absolute dynamic topography data, derived from satellite altimetry, are combined with the GEM to obtain a 16 year time series of temperature and salinity fields. The time series of thermohaline fields are compared with independent in situ observations. The residuals decrease sharply below the thermocline and through the entire water column the mean root-mean-square (RMS) error is 0.15C, 0.02, and 0.02 kg m �3 for temperature, salinity, and density, respectively. The positions of ACC fronts are followed in time using satellite altimetry data. These locations correspond to both the observed and GEM-based positions. The available temperature and salinity information allow one to calculate the baroclinic zonal velocity field between the surface and 2500 dbar. This is compared with velocity measurements from repeat hydrographic transects at the GoodHope line. The net accumulated transports of the ACC, derived from these different methods are within 1–3 Sv of each other. Similarly, GEM-produced cross-sectional velocities at 300 dbar compare closely to the observed data, with the RMS difference not exceeding 0.03 m s �1 . The continuous time series of thermohaline fields, described here, are further exploited to understand the dynamic nature of the ACC fronts in the region, and which is given by Swart and Speich (2010).


The problem of parental child snatching has, for a number of reasons, escalated so dramatically over the last two decades that the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction was drawn up to introduce uniform measures to address this problem. The accession to and implementation of this convention by South Africa is a meaningful step in the fight against parental child abduction but it does not fully resolve the problem. Supplementary measures are required. The Hague Convention deals only with international abductions and fails to deal with interstate abductions and recognition and enforcement of foreign custody orders. While South African jurists should guard against re-inventing the wheel and take note of foreign legal development within this field of law, it is neither desirable nor appropriate for South Africa to simply emulate the approach taken to recognition and enforcement of foreign custody awards and the related problem of parental child abduction by any other country.


We analyse the 'three flaws' to potentially defining a formal Anthropocene geological time unit as advanced by Ruddiman (2018). (1) We recognize a long record of pre-industrial human impacts, but note that these increased in relative magnitude slowly and were strongly time-transgressive by comparison with the extraordinarily rapid, novel and near-globally synchronous changes of post-industrial time. (2) The rules of stratigraphic nomenclature do not 'reject' pre-industrial anthropogenic signals – these have long been a key characteristic and distinguishing feature of the Holocene. (3) In contrast to the contention that classical chronostratigraphy is now widely ignored by scientists, it remains vital and widely used in unambiguously defining geological time units and is an indispensable part of the Earth sciences. A mounting body of evidence indicates that the Anthropocene, considered as a precisely defined geological time unit that begins in the mid-20th century, is sharply distinct from the Holocene.


The Department of Health's (2000) Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and Their Families [Assessment Framework] represents the most significant attempt to aid social work decision making in the UK currently. Its overriding objective is to improve outcomes for children in need through effective assessment and decision making. Yet, since its introduction in April 2000, no empirical research has been conducted exploring the ways in which the Assessment Framework helps social workers in the decision making process. Clearly, if the Assessment Framework is not effective in helping social workers reach decisions, it may not be effective in achieving better outcomes for children in need. This thesis therefore explores the impact of the Assessment Framework on social workers' decision making practice. Documentary analysis of 98 core assessment records in four local authorities was used as a means to reconstruct social workers' cognitive decision making processes and the role of the Assessment Framework within these processes. Follow-up semi structured interviews were carried out with the 50 social workers responsible for completing these core assessments. Particular attention was given to investigating the effects of case, individual and environmental characteristics on participants' decision making strategies and use of the Assessment Framework in order to identify factors that facilitated or obstructed the integration of this tool in practice. The resulting qualitative data was used to reconstruct a trace of the decision making process and to explore any potential causal factors affecting this process. Tests of association and cluster analysis were then employed as a means of exploring these causal connections further. Due to the complex way in which the relevant causal factors interacted Qualitative Comparative Analysis was also used as a method for understanding the causal mechanisms affecting social workers' decision making processes. The findings reveal variations in social work decision making strategies and in the use of the Assessment Framework associated with a range of case, environmental and individual characteristics. Participants identified strengths and weaknesses in the use of the Assessment Framework and confirmed that the Assessment Framework does not always fit with the way in which social workers approach assessment and decision-making. The thesis concludes by providing a number of solutions to this problem.


these incredibly important and noble areas related to people's health. The article provides an overview of the current state of the use of TRIZ in the pharmaceutical industry and our R&D efforts in that area, based on TRIZ and computer mathematical modeling. Drug development is one of the most important research areas, which affects almost every family, and each one of us. However, nobody in the world has used TRIZ as a philosophy of solving problems in such important area as pharmaceutical research and development to develop new efficient medical drugs. The application of the principles of TRIZ in this arena opens up broad prospects in the creation of new classes of drugs that can independently adapt to the patient's body. The combination of contradictions, laws of development systems, algorithms, Su-field analysis, TRIZ principles, deep fundamentals of pharmaceutical industry and pharmacology, modern computer mathematical modeling, in the solution of each of the tasks at once, allows us to achieve extraordinary results and obtain significantly more effective novel drugs. For the first time in the World we have developed dynamic self-organizing, quasi live drugs, based on the principles of TRIZ and computerized mathematical modeling. These are drugs capable of adapting independently both to the human body and to molecular targets, including viruses, cancer cells and microorganisms. We have created 17 new projects, however, in this article we illustrate just 6 examples from our research and developments: 1. Novel fight multidrug resistant microorganisms. Polymyxin nephrotoxicity. drugs: drug Dynamic drugs: antiviral drug Albuvir. Dynamic drugs: Hemostatic Gemma. Applying TRIZ and mathematical modeling in pharmaceutical industry, produces novel and future R&D trends. The proposed new paradigm of combating infectious diseases using TRIZ led to the creation of a unique pharmaceutical composition. The molecular modeling approach led to the intensification of research and for synthesis of drugs based on simulated inhibitor profiles. This increased the yield of novel dynamic drugs. The dynamic drugs can overcome many problems from resistance to the slippage effect, to eliminate the side effects of drugs. This will save millions of lives. We deeply integrated TRIZ and computer mathematical modeling in our R&D. In addition, our approach includes the application of the laws of quantum physics and quantum chemistry; additionally, knowledge of the behavior of molecules in different solutions and their interaction with each other at different temperatures, in the presence of salts and other compounds. Really effective drugs can be developed only on the basis of a systematic approach and in-depth knowledge in the fields of medical, pharmaceutical physical chemistry, analytical chemistry and pharmacognosy, chemistry of natural compounds, plant medicine technology, biochemistry and molecular biology, pharmacology and many other disciplines. Modeling these processes requires a large amount of not only computer time, but also knowledge in a number of broad areas: from quantum physics and chemistry to synthetic organic chemistry, in order to synthesize engineered substances. Despite changes in the concept of drug development: from banal screening (out of thousands of synthesized compounds, only one showed biological activity) to those obtained as a result of molecular modeling (another name is drug-design). (named as drug-design). The approach with the use of molecular modeling led to the intensification of research - to the synthesis of drugs based on simulated inhibitor profiles. This increased the yield of drugs - out of every hundreds of the synthesized substances, one showed the expected activity. The cost of pharmaceutical development software is currently quite high and can even reach tens of millions of dollars. But this is a reasonable amount, which makes it possible to obtain the required pharmaceutical preparations, at least for known target proteins. However, for the design of drugs of new generations at all stages of development - from building a model of a target protein to creating a drug profile and its synthesis, TRIZ has not been used systematically. Pharmaceutical industry is a huge area to be explored by TRIZ.


This project reports on the use of tablet PC technology in the classroom to enhance student learning. It is based on a literature review, action research and reflective practice through the use of peer review. Research suggests that a critical feature of understanding student interaction with in-class materials is whether lecturers/students construct the lecture experience as being based on transmission and receipt of messages or a complex activity that enhances learning through relatively more active and inter-active processes. The empirical study involved two lecturers working with different undergraduate cohorts in lecture contexts within the built environment (quantity surveying and planning). The paper locates the discussion in relationto the use of PowerPoint, presents the two case studies, describes the use of tablet pc technology to increase student engagement, comments on the benefits of peer review in providing constructive feedback, and reflects on the conference theme in terms of the luxury of having pedagogical research space.


HTTP Adaptive Streaming (HAS) is nowadays a popular solution for multimedia delivery. The novelty of HAS lies in the possibility of continuously adapting the streaming session to current network conditions, facilitated by Adaptive Bitrate (ABR) algorithms. Various popular streaming and Video on Demand services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Twitch use this method. Given this broad consumer base, ABR algorithms continuously improve to increase user satisfaction. The insights for these improvements are, among others, gathered within the research area of Quality of Experience (QoE). Within this field, various researchers have dedicated their works to identifying potential impairments and testing their impact on viewers' QoE. Two frequently discussed visual impairments influencing QoE are stalling events and quality switches. So far, it is commonly assumed that those stalling events have the worst impact on QoE. This paper challenged this belief and reviewed this assumption by comparing stalling events with multiple quality and high amplitude quality switches. Two subjective studies were conducted. During the first subjective study, participants received a monetary incentive, while the second subjective study was carried out with volunteers. The statistical analysis demonstrated that stalling events do not result in the worst degradation of QoE. These findings suggest that a reevaluation of the effect of stalling events in QoE research is needed. Therefore, these findings may be used for further research and to improve current adaptation strategies in ABR algorithms.


A criticism of diagnostic systems, which are based on the formal foundations of probability and utility, is that their reasoning strategies and recommendations are inflexible and unnatural. We have developed a facility that increases the flexibility of normative reasoning systems by providing multiple human-oriented perspectives on diagnostic problem solving. The method endows a system with the ability to reason about arbitrary classes of diagnostic entities and to control the level of abstraction at which inference occurs. The techniques have been integrated into Pathfinder, an expert system that performs hematopathology diagnosis. We explain the background and approach that we have taken, and describe how we use the techniques in Pathfinder to modulate information- and decision-theoretic reasoning with strategic scripts that are familiar to physicians.


PURPOSE
Disruption of the axonal transport of neurotrophic factors plays a critical role in the apoptosis of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in glaucomatous optic neuropathy. Live-cell imaging in vitro was used in this study, to visualize and evaluate the axonal transport of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in both living and axon-damaged RGCs.

METHODS
Rat RGCs were purified by a two-step immunopanning method. Cultivated RGCs were transfected with a plasmid encoding BDNF tagged with green fluorescent protein (GFP), and the dynamics of BDNF-GFP in the axons and dendrites were analyzed by time-lapse imaging. Changes in the axonal transport of BDNF-GFP were examined after treatment with 1 mM colchicine, and RGC death after treatment was evaluated with ethidium homodimer-1.

RESULTS
The expression of BDNF-GFP showed a vesicular pattern in the axons and dendrites of cultivated RGCs. Time-lapse imaging revealed that the mean velocity of BDNF-GFP in the axons (0.86 ± 0.37 μm/s; maximum = 2.03 μm/s) was significantly greater (P < 0.0001) than that in the dendrites (mean = 0.49 ± 0.19 μm/s). Colchicine significantly inhibited the axonal transport of BDNF-GFP at 2 and 3 hours after treatment (P = 0.003 and 0.0002, respectively) without affecting cell viability; however, RGC death was detected 24 hours after treatment.

CONCLUSIONS
Live-cell imaging revealed the dynamics of the axonal transport of BDNF in living RGCs, which clearly differed from the movements in dendrites. Furthermore, it was possible to confirm the disruption of axonal transport in colchicine-treated RGCs before cell death.


A phenetic analysis of the 12 taxa or operational taxonomic units (OTUs) belonging to the three sections; Genea, Neobromus, and Nevskiella of the genus Bromus was performed. Unweighted pair-group method using arithmetic averages (UPGMA) and weighted pair-group method using arithmetic averages (WPGMA) clustering and factoriel method analyses were used to set the taxa apart. Forty-four characters including 4 vegetative and 38 reproductive characters, the chromosome number and the geographical distribution were considered in this study. The outcomes of multivariate analyses were compared with different conventional classifications. The results show that four major phenetically well-defined groups existed which confirmed the Sale's concept. This finding, however, is in odd with that expressed in Flora of U.S.S.R. The relations between the taxa were discussed, and a key to identify them was presented.


Our society can benefit immensely from algorithmic decision-making and similar types of artificial intelligence. But algorithmic decision-making can also have discriminatory effects. This paper examines that problem, using online price differentiation as an example of algorithmic decision-making. With online price differentiation, a company charges different people different prices for identical products, based on information the company has about those people. The main question in this paper is: to what extent can non-discrimination law protect people against online price differentiation? The paper shows that online price differentiation and algorithmic decision-making could lead to indirect discrimination, for instance harming people with a certain ethnicity. Indirect discrimination occurs when a practice is neutral at first glance, but ends up discriminating against people with a protected characteristic, such as ethnicity. In principle, non-discrimination law prohibits indirect discrimination. The paper also shows, however, that non-discrimination law has flaws when applied to algorithmic decision-making. For instance, algorithmic discrimination can remain hidden: people may not realise that they are being discriminated against. And many types of unfair – some might say discriminatory – algorithmic decisions are outside the scope of current non-discrimination law.
price discrimination, price differentiation, personalised pricing, dynamic pricing, algorithmic decision-making, big data, artificial intelligence, fairness, law, equality, non-discrimination law, human rights, fundamental rights.


Lysosomal cysteine proteases from mammalian cells and plants are regulated by endogenous tight-binding inhibitors from the cystatin superfamily. The presence of cystatin-like inhibitors in lower eukaryotes such as protozoan parasites has not yet been demonstrated, although these cells express large quantities of cysteine proteases and may also count on endogenous inhibitors to regulate cellular proteolysis. Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas' heart disease, is a relevant model to explore this possibility because these intracellular parasites rely on their major lysosomal cysteine protease (cruzipain) to invade and multiply in mammalian host cells. Here we report the isolation, biochemical characterization, developmental stage distribution and subcellular localization of chagasin, an endogenous cysteine protease inhibitor in T. cruzi. We used high temperature induced denaturation to isolate a heat-stable cruzipain-binding protein (apparent molecular mass, 12 kDa) from epimastigote lysates. This protein was subsequently characterized as a tight-binding and reversible inhibitor of papain-like cysteine proteases. Immunoblotting indicated that the expression of chagasin is developmentally regulated and inversely correlated with that of cruzipain. Gold-labeled antibodies localized chagasin to the flagellar pocket and cytoplasmic vesicles of trypomastigotes and to the cell surface of amastigotes. Binding assays performed by probing living parasites with fluorescein (FITC)-cruzipain or FITC-chagasin revealed the presence of both inhibitor and protease at the cell surface of amastigotes. The intersection of chagasin and cruzipain trafficking pathways may represent a checkpoint for downstream regulation of proteolysis in trypanosomatid protozoa.


Critical literature on surfing is concerned primarily with its development as a competitive sport, focusing on 'stand-up' surfing in the USA and to some extent in Australia, resulting in a body of work populated almost exclusively by young white males. However, in Cornwall, forms of surfing including belly and body boarding have been enjoyed for almost a century by all ages and ethnicities, both sexes, at every level from international competition to non-competitive leisure, from daily practice to holiday novelty. The area has developed a distinctive clothing culture stemming from this plethora of surfing activities. This study asks, how has the material culture of bellyboarding and surfing in Cornwall developed historically, and how does the clothing culture in the area relate to the global phenomenon of surf style? The contemporary scene is evaluated by means of a visual ethnography of a Cornish seaside village where surfing is the focus of social events and commercial endeavours. Through an examination of the clothing culture in the area, it explores how gender and sexuality, class and consumption, community and belonging are negotiated and articulated.

The historical and cultural contexts in which this complex relationship developed are discussed with reference to archival material from regional museums, personal collections and interviews with amateur and professional surf historians. Oral histories of surfing, bellyboarding, bodyboarding and beach life compiled for the study and from existing collections are additionally used to interrogate existing narratives of surfing history. Drawing on and extending theoretical perspectives on subculture, taste, consumption, space and place, this will be the first study that investigates how the clothing culture of surfing explores and constitutes, constructs and reconstructs gender, class and regional identity, and how it defines and redefines the region's surfing locales by its visible presence.


Accompanying a focused display at The Courtauld Gallery that will bring together for the first time Pieter Bruegel the Elder's only three known grisaille paintings - the Courtauld's Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery (which is barred from travel), The Death of the Virgin from Upton House in Warwickshire (National Trust) and Three Soldiers from the Frick Collection in New York - this book will examine the sources, function and reception of these three exquisite masterpieces. The panels will be complemented by prints and contemporary replicas, as well by other independent grisailles in order to shed light on the development of this genre in Northern Europe. Despite his status as the seminal Netherlandish painter of the 16th century, Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c. 1525-1569) remains an elusive artist: fewer than forty paintings are ascribed to him. Of these, a dozen are cabinet-sized. These small-scale works offer key insights as they often bear a personal significance for the artist and were sometimes given as gifts to friends and patrons. Presenting these works together for the first time is not only an extraordinary and unprecedented opportunity but it will be extremely revealing, considering their unusual nature in both Bruegel's oeuvre and 16th-century art in general. Monochrome painting in shades of grey was a mainstay of Netherlandish art from the early 15th century, most often present on the wings of altarpieces and preparatory sketches for engravings. In contrast, Bruegel's panels constitute one of the earliest and rare examples of independent cabinet pictures in grisaille, created for private contemplation and enjoyment. This seemingly austere type of painting has often been imbued with religious or political significance. On a purely artistic level, it enabled the painter to showcase his skill by limiting his palette. The publication, which includes a technical investigation of the three panels, will provide the opportunity to reassess the practical aspects of the grisaille technique and the many ways in which this effect was achieved. Indeed, Bruegel's three monochromatic paintings display quite different techniques, raising the question of the painter's intent. This is the latest in the series of books accompanying critically acclaimed Courtauld Gallery displays, following on from Collecting Gauguin (2013), Antiquity Unleashed (2013), Richard Serra (2013), A Dialogue with Nature (2014), Bruegel to Freud (2014) and Jonathan Richardson (2015).


A number of optimization models have been developed for natural reserve design and reserve site selection. The most common approach seeks to maximize the number of individual species that occur among chosen sites. A number of heuristics and mathematical programming algorithms have been applied to solve this problem. Although attaining maximum overall species representation is important, the relative quality of representation [which could be affected by site attributes such as habitat value, adequate population size, presence of critical resources, existence (or lack thereof) of exotic competitors, etc.] has been absent from most representation models. Yet issues of site quality should be considered in order to have any assurance of long-term species persistence in a reserve system. Here we present a multiobjective optimization model that addresses the issue of balancing species presence with habitat quality. One type of interesting alternative yields more high quality representation at the price of some reduction in overall representation. We present an application using a large dataset from California Gap Analysis to demonstrate this and other tradeoffs. Optimal solutions are attained using commercial integer programming software with very reasonable computational effort.


High sensitivity serum C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) has come into clinical use as a marker of risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). In addition to a role as a marker of disease, CRP has also been implicated in the pathogenesis of CVD. Specific small-molecule inhibitors of CRP have recently been developed with the intent of mitigating cardiac damage during acute myocardial infarction. However, the use of CRP, both as a risk marker and a disease target are controversial for several reasons. Serum hs-CRP concentrations can be elevated on the basis of genetics, female gender, and non-Caucasian ethnicity. It is not clear, in these contexts, that elevations of hs-CRP have any pathological significance. As a non-specific indicator of inflammation, CRP is also not a specific indicator of a single disease state such as cardiovascular disease but elevated concentrations can be seen in association with other comorbidities including obesity and pulmonary disease. In sharp contrast to the proposed inhibition of CRP for cardiovascular disease treatment, the infusion of CRP has been shown to have profound therapeutic benefits for autoimmune disease and septic shock. The balance between the risks and benefits of these competing views of the role of CRP in disease and disease therapy is reminiscent of the ongoing controversy regarding the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for musculoskeletal disease and their cardiovascular side effects. Soon, NSAIDs may not be the only agents about which Rheumatologists and Cardiologists may spar.


An all-in-one reference combining hydrodynamic theory with drilling applications for the design, planning, and optimization of drilling operationsHydromechanical processes underlie the majority of technology operations in drilling and present a crucial concern as the pace and depth of drilling increasesin today's energy-hungry world. Applied Hydro-aeromechanics in Oil and Gas Drilling offers a unique resource for properly modeling and understanding the hydro-dynamic forces affecting a drilling site. Combining hydrodynamic theory with specific drilling applications, this coverage provides readers with a comprehensive reference for designing, planning, and optimizing drilling operations.Featuring the latest technologies and developments affecting the field, Applied Hydro-aeromechanics in Oil and Gas Drilling covers topics including:

 The physics of hydro-aeromechanical phenomena in drilling processes
 Calculation methods for understanding and designing circulation systems for the washing, blasting, and cementing of wellsProblems of interaction between wells and reservoirs
 Problems with the fluid, gas, and liquid-gas mixture flows necessary in designing and building of wells

Presenting an unmatched combination of theory, modeling issues, and concrete, illustrative examples, Applied Hydro-aeromechanics in Oil and Gas Drilling bringstogether formerly widespread technical information to offer a systematic and methodical guide. It is an essential reference for both students and researchers studying fluid mechanics, as well as engineers and other professionals working in the oil and gas industry.


With recent advances in data-as-a-service (DaaS) and cloud computing, aggregate query services over set-valued data are becoming widely available for business intelligence that drives decision making. However, as the service provider is often a third-party delegate of the data owner, the integrity of the query results cannot be guaranteed and is thus imperative to be authenticated. Unfortunately, existing query authentication techniques either do not work for set-valued data or they lack data confidentiality. In this paper, we propose authenticated aggregate queries over set-valued data that not only ensure the integrity of query results but also preserve the confidentiality of source data. As many aggregate queries are composed of multiset operations such as set union and subset, we first develop a family of privacy-preserving authentication protocols for primitive multiset operations. Using these protocols as building blocks, we present a privacy-preserving authentication framework for various aggregate queries and further optimize their authentication performance. Security analysis and empirical evaluation show that our proposed privacy-preserving authentication techniques are feasible and robust under a wide range of system workloads.


The Mediterranean Basin biodiversity hotspot is known to be one of the most biologically rich and complex regions on Earth. The north-western part of the hotspot (the area that covers all of the Iberian Peninsula, southern France, most of Italy and Malta) supports important river, lake, karst and wetland systems critical for the survival of threatened and restricted range freshwater species. Within the north-western Mediterranean region of the hotspot, freshwater Key Biodiversity Areas (i.e., sites of importance for the global persistence of biodiversity) have been identified. The purpose of this report is to help guide and inform policies and conservation actions for freshwater biodiversity in the region.


A power-modulated (pulsed), radio-frequency glow discharge source by atomic absorption spectrophotometry (rf-GD-AAS) atomizer was used to evaluate the roles of applied power, pressure, orifice diameter, duty cycle, and power-on time in the production of gas-phase sample atoms. As expected, the response of the modulated rf-GD-AAS source generally followed the same trends as those exhibited by the more common continuous-powering scheme. The effects of discharge power and pressure on the observed plasma emission and absorbance transients are presented. Use of small duty cycles and higher instantaneous powers, thus keeping the same overall average power as in the continuous mode, was shown to increase the production of ground-state atoms. However, using very high instantaneous powers may more efficiently populate excited states of the atomic species, thus decreasing the observed absorption signal for resonant transitions. Individual pulse transients were shown to be distorted if the plasma "on" times approached periods down to 2 ms. Plasma stabilization times for measurements taken in the "dark" portion of the pulse cycle (i.e., after pulse termination) were comparable to those obtained in the continuous mode (on the order of a few seconds) with the use of the same source and sample. Calibration curves were used to investigate the analytical utility of different temporal regions of the absorption transients with comparisons made between the plasma "on" and "off" portions of the cycle in the quantification of continuous plasma operation.


The relationship between organization and their customers is a critical issue when establishing a long-term relationship. It is not only in Business to Customer (B2C) relationship but also in Business to Business (B2B). To maintenance the long-term relationship, the organization must create a customer loyalty in the business. The importance and benefits of attracting and maintaining loyal customers has arisen because there is a general acceptance that profitability follows customer loyalty. The objective of this research is to increase the understanding of managing and maintaining the relationship between customer and supplier in B2B marketing. Furthermore, the result of this research is to give some recommendations to create a customer loyalty in B2B marketing practice. Qualitative analysis is used in this research since it is the appropriate method to meet our purpose. In order to accomplish this research, one company in mattress industry (PT. Dinamika Indonusa Prima) has been used as an object. Some indicators to evaluate the practice of B2B marketing are: purpose of exchange, nature of communication, managerial intent, managerial focus, managerial investment, and managerial level. The result of this study indicate that the practice of B2B Marketing has done in a good practice and organization must meet the customer need in order to maintain customers and create a customer's loyalty. Keywords: Business to Business (B2B) marketing, maintaining customer, customer's loyalty


Adult (18+ years old) Malawian men and women's alcohol use and social drinking norms were examined. From  31,676 screened households, heads and spouses in 1,795 households with at least one alcohol user were  interviewed. Alcohol use last 12 months was reported by 27.3% and 1.6% of all adult men and women respectively. Male and female alcohol users' mean consumption was 8.05 litres and 1.51 litres of pure alcohol respectively. Spouses reported 55 and 61% higher consumption level for their spouses compared to self-reports. Without  including non-drinkers, drinking norms explained 6.7% of men's and 20.9% of women's alcohol consumption. Prevention efforts could be directed at helping women not to start drinking by supporting their existing  genderspecific descriptive drinking norms. Key Words : Alcohol, same-sex descriptive norms, household survey, Malawi


INTRODUCTION . As online learning increases, making text comprehensible to all learners presents challenges online course designers and teachers. The purpose of this study was to determine the cohesion properties of text from English language arts courses from three large online learning vendors. METHODS . Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to determine congruence between the environments with respect to the five indices in the Coh Metrix 3.0 text measurement tool (Narrativity, Syntactic Simplicity, Word Concreteness, Referential Cohesion, and Deep Cohesion). RESULTS . Vendors may have calibrated their text using traditional tools like the Flesh-Kincaid scale. However, each of the courses had aspects of cohesion that needed improvement to provide an optimal advantage to students with disabilities or who have reading comprehension difficulties. Further, the two biggest factors that explained the variance in this study were Word Concreteness (the degree to which the words can be pictured) and Deep Cohesion (whether the connectives support inference). Importantly, these are also two aspects of texts that present the most challenges for students with disabilities. DISCUSSION . If all students are going to be successful with online courses, then vendors should move beyond simple reading level as a measure of text difficulty and plan course texts for students with more and different kinds of support for students who have reading difficulties that affect comprehension. Future research should perform similar analyses on content areas such as social studies and science. Additional studies should also look carefully and qualitatively at the complexity of the content itself and not just the text. Finally, additional research might look at how students with various reading challenges engage with online course texts using multiple data collection and analysis techniques.


Closeness centrality, first considered by Bavelas (1948), is an importance measure of a node in a network which is based on the distances from the node to all other nodes. The classic definition, proposed by Bavelas (1950), Beauchamp (1965), and Sabidussi (1966), is (the inverse of) the average distance to all other nodes.
 We propose the first highly scalable (near linear-time processing and linear space overhead) algorithm for estimating, within a small relative error, the classic closeness centralities of all nodes in the graph. Our algorithm applies to undirected graphs, as well as for centrality computed with respect to round-trip distances in directed graphs.
 For directed graphs, we also propose an efficient algorithm that approximates generalizations of classic closeness centrality to outbound and inbound centralities. Although it does not provide worst-case theoretical approximation guarantees, it is designed to perform well on real networks.
 We perform extensive experiments on large networks, demonstrating high scalability and accuracy.


Globally gender remains a key factor in differing health outcomes for men and women. This article analyses the particular relevance of gender for debates about global health and the role for international human rights law in supporting improved health outcomes during public health emergencies. Looking specifically at the recent Ebola and Zika outbreaks, what we find particularly troubling in both cases is the paucity of engagement with human rights language and the diverse backgrounds of women in these locations of crisis, when women-specific advice was being issued. We find the lessons that should have been learnt from the Ebola experience have not been applied in the Zika outbreak and there remains a disconnect between the international public health advice being issued and the experience of pervasive structural gender inequalities among those experiencing the crises. In both cases we find that responses at the outbreak of the crisis presume that women have economic, social or regulatory options to exercise the autonomy contained in international advice. The problem in the case of both Ebola and Zika has been that leaving structural gender inequalities out of the crisis response has further compounded those inequalities. The article argues for a contextual human rights analysis that takes into account gender as a social and economic determinant of health.


a Abstract The use of traditional medicine has been increasing. Pharmacists are the most trusted health professionals in medicine usage. They play an important role in managing information regarding the use of both conventional and traditional medicines. This study investigated the attitudes of pharmacists towards herbal medicine and their pharmacological knowledge about the most popular herbs. A questionnaire was distributed amongst 100 randomly selected qualified pharmacists. The mean age of respondents was 35 ± 10.4 years, 92% were employed in the private sector, and the largest group (23%) had between 11-15 years' experience. Most respondents (76%) reported literature as their primary source of herbal information and 47% believed in the benefits of both conventional and herbal medicines. The knowledge of respondents about the indications of herbal medicine was good, but their awareness of mechanisms of action, interactions, contraindications and adverse effects was inadequate. More than 85% did not feel competent to adequately advise patients on the safe, effective and rational use of herbal medicine. It was recommended by 76% of the respondents that pharmacognosy should be incorporated into the curriculum, and continuing education programmes should be supported. The registration of herbal medicine was also considered to be beneficial. This would enable pharmacists to provide competent, effective and holistic patient care.


We assess the economic feasibility of a 10 million gallon per year biodiesel plant that uses canola seeds as feedstock. A Monte Carlo Cash Flow model is programmed using @Risk simulation software. The model is programmed with three output variables: stream of revenues, profits/loss, and the resulting net present value (NPV) over ten year forecast period. The study finds that the likelihood of the NPV greater than zero is 63% on average. This indicates that the plant may be economically feasible, subject to model assumptions. Sensitivity and scenario analyses show that the NPVs were most affected by fluctuations in biodiesel price, canola seed price, and the price of seed meal. Indeed, over the long-term, feedstock price and biodiesel subsidies remain the major determining factors of profitability in biodiesel production. Historically, feedstock prices have been characterized by high volatility. The profitability of the biodiesel plant hinges to a large extent on the assumption that feedstock prices remain low and regular gasoline prices, especially petroleum diesel, remain stable over the forecast horizon. Moreover, the analysis assumes that the current biodiesel subsidy at $1.00/ gallon remains in effect over the period of the study. Thus, removal of the subsidy would also render biodiesel production unprofitable given current feedstock prices.


This article delivered an innovative idea of a magnetorheological (MR) damper for secondary suspension of train bogie. The valve inside MR damper adopted meandering of both fluid flow and magnetic flux for improving magnetization area. In this work, the design and working principle of the MR valve were presented including a mathematical model to predict the pressure drop. In the early stage, the finite element method magnetics software (FEMM) simulation could predict the magnetic flux density across the passages. Based on the amount of magnetic flux, the corresponding shear yield stress could be determined from its basic physical properties. The mathematical model covered pressure drop prediction for both off-state and on-state. The FEMM simulation results showed that the meandering flow and serpentine flux design could improve the effective area of magnetization. Consequently, the pressure drop of the valve could have wider ranges and achieve a high value of pressure differences. This result could be potentially improving the performance of the damping forces of the lateral damper in a bogie train.


We develop a agricultural model assuming that conventional production is causing environmental externalities while more benign alternative production methods generate non-market amenity benefits and obtain a price premium in the marketplace. We analyze policies targeting external benefits and costs to capture interaction effects: polluting input taxes reduce the returns and subsidies needed to induce more benign production. Thus, it is only optimal to subsidize if the additional marginal amenity benefit exceeds the marginal external cost reductions due to the input tax. Terms of trade effects imply that large (land abundant) exporters have strategic incentives to overvalue external costs while large (land scarce) importers have strategic incentives to overrate non-market benefits. The model may serve to explain principal negotiating positions of major players within the WTO agriculture-environment sphere.


Collected data are presented on the aerodynamic characteristics of 17 horizontal tail surfaces including several with balanced elevators and two with end plates. Curves are given for coefficients of normal force, drag, and elevator hinge moment. A limited analysis of the results has been made. The normal-force coefficients are in better agreement with the lifting-surface theory of Prandtl and Blenk for airfoils of low aspect ratio than with the usual lifting-line theory. Only partial agreement exists between the elevator hinge-moment coefficients and those predicted by Glauert's thin-airfoil theory.


Trauma, congenital abnormalities and pathologies such as cancer can cause significant defects in craniofacial bone. Regeneration of the bone in the craniofacial area presents a unique set of challenges due to its complexity and association with various other tissues. Bone grafts and bone cement are the traditional treatment options but pose their own issues with regards to integration and morbidity. This has driven the search for materials which mimic the natural bone and can act as scaffolds to guide bone growth. Novel technology and computer aided manufacturing have allowed us to control material parameters such as mechanical strength and pore geometry. In this chapter, we elaborate the current status of materials and techniques used in fabrication of scaffolds for craniomaxillofacial bone tissue engineering and discuss the future prospects for advancements.


Statin treatment of hypercholesterolemia can lead to chronic myotoxicity which is, in most cases, alleviated by drug withdrawal. Cellular and molecular mechanisms of this adverse effect have been elusive, in particular because of the lack of in vitro models suitable for long‐term exposures. We have taken advantage of the properties of human pluripotent stem cell‐derived mesodermal precursors, that can be maintained unaltered in vitro for a long period of time, to develop a model of repeated exposures to simvastatin during more than 2 weeks. This approach unveiled major differences, both in functional and molecular terms, in response to single versus repeated‐dose exposures to simvastatin. The main functional effect of the in vitro simvastatin‐induced long‐term toxicity was a loss of proliferative capacity in the absence of concomitant cell death, revealing that cytostatic effect could be a major contributor to statin‐induced myotoxicity. Comparative analysis of molecular modifications induced by simvastatin short‐term versus prolonged exposures demonstrated powerful adaptive cell responses, as illustrated by the dramatic decrease in the number of differentially expressed genes, distinct biological pathway enrichments, and distinct patterns of nutrient transporters expressed at the cell surface. This study underlines the potential of derivatives of human pluripotent stem cells for developing new approaches in toxicology, in particular for chronic toxicity testing. Stem Cells 2015;33:2936–2948


Objective: To find out the current practice patterns of Physiotherapists in Phase I Cardiac Rehabilitation of patients following Cardiac Surgery (CABG/Valve Surgery). Materials and Methods: The cross sectional survey included 600 cardio-pulmonary physiotherapists working in Cardiac Care Unit, who filled questionnaires sent to them through e-mail. Results: 252 completed questionnaires were received back, the response rate being of 42 %, with a major portion of responses coming from Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. More than 80 % of physiotherapists assess and treat the patient PreOperatively. More than 90% of physiotherapists performed Cardiac Rehabilitation Post-Operatively. Cardiac Rehabilitation Treatment Techniques predominantly focused on Breathing Exercises (96.7%), Incentive Spirometry (91.1%), Coughing and Huffing (83.3%), Thoracic Expansion Exercises (82.13%), Positioning (71.16%), Percussion and Vibration (63.6%), Modified Postural Drainage (41.2%), active exercises of the upper limb (89.13%), and lower limb exercises (89.3%). Dangling the lower limb (69%) was started on Post –Operative day 2. Room and corridor mobilisation (73.8%) began on third Post-Operative day. 29.4% Stair case climbing was started on fourth post-operative day. 73.8% of patients practiced 6-minute walk test prior to discharge. Most commonly used sternal precautions were Supported Coughing (96.0%) and Lifting Restrictions (82.5%). Conclusion: Phase I cardiac rehabilitation adopted by physiotherapists for cardiac surgery patients involves treatment which mainly focused on cough and huff techniques, breathing exercises and thoracic expansion exercises. On Post-Operative day 2, dangling the lower limb and room ambulation started on third post-Operative day 3. The training for climbing stairs started on fourthpost-operative day. The most commonly used sternal precautions were supported coughing and lifting restrictions whereas 6-minute walk test was use to assess exercise tolerance,prior to discharge