Abstract. Long time series of observations of essential climate variables in the troposphere and stratosphere are often impacted by inconsistencies in instrumentation and ambiguities in the interpretation of the data. To reduce these problems of long-term data series, all measurements should include an estimate of their uncertainty and a description of their sources. Here we present an update of the uncertainties for tropospheric and stratospheric water vapor observations using the cryogenic frost point hygrometer (CFH). The largest source of measurement uncertainty is the controller stability, which is discussed here in detail. We describe a method to quantify this uncertainty for each profile based on the measurements. We also show the importance of a manufacturer-independent ground check, which is an essential tool to continuously monitor the uncertainty introduced by instrument variability. A small bias, which has previously been indicated in lower tropospheric measurements, is described here in detail and has been rectified. Under good conditions, the total from all sources of uncertainty of frost point or dew point measurements using the CFH can be better than 0.2 K. Systematic errors, which are most likely to impact long-term climate series, are verified to be less than 0.1 K. The impact of the radiosonde pressure uncertainty on the mixing ratio for properly processed radiosondes is considered small. The mixing ratio uncertainty may be as low as 2 to 3 %. The impact of the ambient temperature uncertainty on relative humidity (RH) is generally larger than that of the frost point uncertainty. The relative RH uncertainty may be as low as 2 % in the lower troposphere and 5 % in the tropical tropopause region.


This article investigates how risk attitudes change over the life course. We study the age trajectory of risk attitudes all the way from early adulthood until old age, in large representative panel data sets from the Netherlands and Germany. Age patterns are generally difficult to identify separately from cohort or calendar period effects. We achieve identification by replacing calendar period indicators with controls for the specific underlying factors that may change risk attitudes across periods. The main result is that willingness to take risks decreases over the life course, linearly until approximately age 65 after which the slope becomes flatter.


OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to establish the safety and efficacy of bilateral subthalamic nucleus (STN) deep brain stimulation (DBS) in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with disabling motor fluctuations performed with an expedient procedure with limited intraoperative mapping. METHODS Bilateral STN DBS systems were implanted in 110 PD patients. Targeting of STN was achieved with T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging guidance and a stereotactic navigation system confirmed by limited electrophysiological mapping. The safety of the procedure was analyzed in all 110 patients. The efficacy of the procedure was assessed in the practically-defined off medication state in the 72 patients who underwent evaluations 3 to 12 months after electrode implantation. RESULTS Adverse effects were infrequent and transient with no incidence of death, hemiparesis, or seizure. In the 72 patients, STN DBS reduced total Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale motor scores at the time of the follow-up evaluation by 47% from 43.4 ± 16.1 with stimulators off to 22.8 ± 11.6 with stimulators on (P < 0.001). The changes in Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale motor subscores improved as follows: rest tremor, 74% (P < 0.001); rigidity, 58% (P < 0.001); bradykinesia, 37% (P < 0.001); pull test, 35% (P < 0.001); gait, 44% (P < 0.001); axial signs, 42% (P < 0.001); and speech, 13% (P = 0.002). The prescribed total daily levodopa-equivalent dose decreased 45 ± 32%. We averaged 1.3 ± 0.9 electrodes passes per lead implantation. The mean operating time from the mounting of the stereotactic frame to its removal was 5 hours 42 minutes (median, 5 h 25 min; standard deviation, 1 h 12 min). CONCLUSION This STN DBS surgical technique for PD is expedient with effective outcomes and low complication rates.


This report presents the results of wind tunnel tests conducted to determine the aerodynamic characteristics of the Clark Y airfoil over a large range of Reynolds numbers. Three airfoils of aspect ratio 6 and with 4, 6, and 8 foot chords were tested at velocities between 25 and 118 miles per hour, and the characteristics were obtained for Reynolds numbers (based on the airfoil chord) in the range between 1,000,000 and 9,000,000 at the low angles of attack, and between 1,000,000 and 6,000,000 at maximum lift. With increasing Reynolds number the airfoil characteristics are affected in the following manner: the drag at zero lift decreases, the maximum lift increases, the slope of the lift curve increases, the angle of zero lift occurs at smaller negative angles, and the pitching moment at zero lift does not change appreciably.


Now available in flexi-cover, this fascinating work examines the relationship between music and painting in Paul Klee's art. A talented violinist as well as a painter, Klee drew much of the inspiration for his abstract art from musical rhythms and structures. Like a composer, he developed and harmonized pictorial themes, weaving a complex series of signs and symbols into his painting. The book focuses on Klee's decadelong tenure at the Bauhaus, where the artist's theories and practices first merged. Illustrated throughout with full-color reproductions of Klee's paintings and etchings, as well as entries from his diaries, this unique study sheds light on an important aspect of Klee's work while providing insights into his development as an abstract artist.


Algorithmic decision making systems are ubiquitous across a wide variety of online as well as offline services. These systems rely on complex learning methods and vast amounts of data to optimize the service functionality, satisfaction of the end user and profitability. However, there is a growing concern that these automated decisions can lead, even in the absence of intent, to a lack of fairness, i.e., their outcomes can disproportionately hurt (or, benefit) particular groups of people sharing one or more sensitive attributes (e.g., race, sex). In this paper, we introduce a flexible mechanism to design fair classifiers by leveraging a novel intuitive measure of decision boundary (un)fairness. We instantiate this mechanism with two well-known classifiers, logistic regression and support vector machines, and show on real-world data that our mechanism allows for a fine-grained control on the degree of fairness, often at a small cost in terms of accuracy.


After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, international studies in historiography gave way to a strong process of critical reassessment. In the same way, the historiography of Enlightenment is currently undergoing a rapid and decisive transformation similar to that which occurred in the West after World War II. The Anglo-Saxon world is certainly at the forefront of this process and even, it seems, guides its destiny: especially the US, where the monumental works of Jonathan Israel provide an example worthy of attention. This paper, nonetheless, aims to discuss Israel's research hypotheses, reductively founded on the primacy of the history of philosophy and on the idea of a so-called Radical Enlightenment dominated by the thought and ideas of Spinoza, in contrast with thirty years of research on the history of culture conducted by major scholars in every part of the world, and in Italy in particular. A history of culture that has long been able to innovate and produce research hypotheses open to the future: from human rights to cultural practices, from constitutionalism to the relationship between art and politics as recognised by the nascent public opinion.


Text mining is a process of extracting information of interest from text. Such a method includes techniques from various areas such as Information Retrieval (IR), Natural Language Processing (NLP), and Information Extraction (IE). In this study, text mining methods are applied to extract causal relations from maritime accident investigation reports collected from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB). These causal relations provide information on various mechanisms behind accidents, including human and organizational factors relating to the accident. The objective of this study is to facilitate the analysis of the maritime accident investigation reports, by means of extracting contributory causes with more feasibility. A careful investigation of contributory causes from the reports provide opportunity to improve safety in future. Two methods have been employed in this study to extract the causal relations. They are 1) Pattern classification method and 2) Connectives method. The earlier one uses naive Bayes and Support Vector Machines (SVM) as classifiers. The latter simply searches for the words connecting cause and effect in sentences. The causal patterns extracted using these two methods are compared to the manual (human expert) extraction. The pattern classification method showed a fair and sensible performance with F-measure(average) = 65% when compared to connectives method with F-measure(average) = 58%. This study is an evidence, that text mining methods could be employed in extracting causal relations from marine accident investigation reports.


The question of why so many developers dedicate time and effort into contributing to Open Source Projects (OSP) is one of the most intriguing questions in OS research. Several preliminary studies have theorized about and empirically examined this challenging question. They suggest a variety of reasons to explain this phenomenon but mostly rely on self-determination theory, with its extrinsic-intrinsic dichotomy, to explain the heterogeneous and complex nature of motivation in OSS. This paper provides an alternative, theory-driven approach, where three different, yet complementary, theories of motivation are combined, to explain the participation and outcomes of developers in OSP. More specifically, our multi-theoretical framework is based upon, social exchange theory, goal-orientation and expectancy theory. An empirical test of the model is provided within the context of SourceForge.net. The results offer new theoretical and practical insights into developers' motivation and how it affects their participation and outcomes.


Currently, the classification criterion of reserves were determined by the scope of the values of criteria such as geological attributes, reservoir phydical parameters and etc., which required all attribute values of one block were just right in the existing range of criteria, otherwise it would be difficult to divide the hard-to-recover reserves into different categories. To solve this problem, this paper combined with Fuzzy c -Means clustering algorithm(FCM) and combination weighting approach to classify hard-to-recover reserves. First we use FCM to automatically search for the optimal category number of reserves based on effect indexes, then establish a combination weighting model aiming at the minimal error-sum of deviation of subjective weights and deviation of objective weights, to decide the weights of attributes and the values of effect indexes, and judge which category each block belonge to, according to the result of FCM. To verify the validity of model, this paper applies it to the classification problem of hard-to-recover reserves from an oil field in the 10th Oil Production Plant of PetroChina Daqing Oilfield LLC, which conducts the rolling development of hard-to-recover reserves.


A skin equivalent model has been used to fabricate tissues with psoriatic and normal cells. Psoriatic fibroblasts can induce hyperproliferative activity in normal keratinocytes. The psoriatic epidermis from lesions continues to proliferate at high rates for at least 15 days in this model, and normal fibroblasts are unable to suppress this hyperproliferation. The primary defect in psoriatic skin may reside in the dermal fibroblast.


The present study examined several pharmacological and behavioral treatments designed to promote extinction of the responses to rewarding cigarette smoke cues. Pharmacological treatments comprised nicotine skin patches (21 mg/24 hr) and the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor antagonist mecamylamine (10 mg/day), administered separately or in combination. Behavioral manipulations included switching to denicotinized cigarettes, to cigarettes having different menthol flavor, or to ventilated-filter (low tar and nicotine) cigarettes. Smokers were assigned to the various treatments for 2 weeks before they quit smoking. During weekly test sessions, subjects rated the rewarding effects of their usual brands of cigarettes or cigarettes with different menthol content (mentholated vs. nonmentholated). Over the 2-week treatment period, all pharmacological treatments reduced ratings of reward for the usual-brand test cigarettes. Switching to smoking denicotinized cigarettes for 2 weeks similarly decreased rewarding effects of the usual-brand test cigarettes. Subjects also strongly preferred cigarettes with the same menthol content to which they were accustomed. However, manipulating the menthol content of the cigarettes smoked during the 2 weeks of treatment had different effects, depending on whether smokers habitually smoked mentholated or nonmentholated cigarettes. For menthol smokers, removal of the menthol cue hampered extinction of reward ratings for the usual-brand (mentholated) test cigarette. For nonmenthol smokers, addition of the menthol cue did not affect the progress of extinction of nonmenthol smoke cues. These findings demonstrate the importance of sensory cues in determining subjective reward and show that the reward value of these cues can be altered by removal of nicotine from tobacco or by pharmacological manipulations that interfere with the reinforcing effects of nicotine.


The Jan Mayen micro continent is isolated from other continental crust central in the North Atlantic. This master thesis is a seismic interpretation study of the northern part of the micro continent, using 2D seismic reflection data. Broadband seismic surveys from 2012 and 2011 are used together with older data in order to get an overview of the geological history of the micro continent, with emphasis on the continental margins. The method of interpretation was initial observation of the seismic lines, then mapping of the important features such as major truncation-surfaces and strong basal reflectors. Finally, the mapped lines were interpreted and linked to geological processes. Five seismic lines that displayed important features were included in the thesis. The general features displayed on these lines were put together and used to create one profile which displays the geological development of the micro continent. The general development of the micro continent is strongly linked to the continental break ups between Greenland and Eurasia in the Early Eocene and between Jan Mayen and East-Greenland in the Early Miocene. The result of the Early Eocene breakup was a volcanic margin on the eastern margin of the Jan Mayen area. Accumulation space in the Jan Mayen area was filled in with sediments from Greenland as Greenland and Norway drifted apart, identified in a pre-breaking sequence. Subsequently, the area became subject to significant extension. Sedimentation continued throughout the extensional phase, which was identified in a syn-rifting sedimentary sequence. Eventually, the sea floor spreading to the east of Jan Mayen died out, and a non-volcanic break on the western margin of the Jan Mayen area separated the micro continent from Greenland, and a post rifting sequence was deposited. It is suggested in this thesis that an increase in melt production post-break-up lead to an extensive distribution of volcanic intrusions throughout the Jan Mayen Basin, as well as the area above the eastern continent-ocean transition. The intruded areas are thought to have been areas of weakness in the crust, making propagation for the intrusion easier.


BACKGROUND AND AIMS
Crohn's Disease (CD) is a chronic gastrointestinal disease resulting from the dysfunctional interplay between genetic susceptibility, the immune system and commensal intestinal microbiota. Emerging evidence suggests that treatment by suppression of the immune response and replacement of the microbiota through Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT) is a promising approach for the treatment of CD.

METHODS
We obtained stool metagenomes from CD patients in remission and assessed gut microbiome composition before and after FMT at the species and strain levels. Longitudinal follow-up evaluation allowed us to identify the gain, loss, and strain replacement of specific species, and link these events to the maintenance of remission in CD.

RESULTS
We find that FMT had a significant long-term effect on patient microbial compositions, though this was primarily driven by the engraftment of donor species which remained at low abundance. 38% of FMT-driven changes were strain replacements, emphasizing the importance of detailed profiling methods such as metagenomics. Several instances of long-term coexistence between donor and patient strains were also observed. Engraftment of some Actinobacteria, and engraftment or loss of Proteobacteria, were related to better disease outcomes in CD patients who received FMT, while transmission of Bacteroidetes was deleterious.

CONCLUSION
Our results suggest clades that may be beneficial to transmit/eliminate through FMT, and thus provide criteria that may help identify personalized FMT donors to more effectively maintain remission in CD patients. The framework established here creates a foundation for future studies centered around the application of FMT and defined microbial communities as a therapeutic approach for treating CD.


Language understanding involves processing text with both the grammatical and common-sense contexts of the text fragments. The text "I went to the grocery store and brought home a car" requires both the grammatical context (syntactic) and common-sense context (semantic) to capture the oddity in the sentence. Contex-tualized text representations learned by Language Models (LMs) are expected to capture a variety of syntactic and semantic contexts from large amounts of training data corpora. Recent work such as ERNIE has shown that infusing the knowledge contexts, where they are available in LMs, results in significant performance gains on General Language Understanding (GLUE) benchmark tasks. However, to our knowledge, no knowledge-aware model has attempted to infuse knowledge through top-down semantics-driven syntactic processing (e.g. Common-sense to Grammatical) and directly operated on the attention mechanism that LMs leverage to learn the data context. We propose a learning framework Top-Down Language Representation ( TDLR ) to infuse common-sense semantics into LMs. In our implementation, we build on BERT for its rich syntactic knowledge and use the knowledge graphs ConceptNet and WordNet to infuse semantic knowledge.


The growing pace of international commerce has created an increased risk of invasion by alien species, which often take root and thrive in their new environment, often at great costs for the local biota and economy. The risk of introduction of harmful organisms into the United States is increasing exponentially, with costs to the American economy measured in hundreds of billions of dollars. This report offers recommendations to improve biosecurity measures at US ports, as well as a possible funding mechanism based upon the polluter-pays principle.


We analyze the nanotechnology patent applications filed in China from 1998 to 2008 and find that the extraordinary nanotechnology development in China has been primarily promoted by the public sector but not driven by industry and market force. This finding implies that developing countries such as China with public research capacity and commitment to technological development can make rapid progress in basic research of emerging technologies, but it remains uncertain whether and when local industry can benefit from public R&D investment to actively develop indigenous innovation.


The book "The Tail of the Fish" was publised in 1968 and written by a Te Aupouri kuia, Matire Kereama (nee: Hoeft) of the far north of Aotearoa, New Zealand. I grew up with this book as my grandmother would read the stories to me at bedtime. Although my comprehension of each story was very vague and unrelatable to my life at that time, today, I find myself totally absorbed by the historical content and knowledge encapsulated in each chapter.
I completed a Masters of Applied Indigenous Knowledge at Te Wananga o Aotearoa in 2017, entitled; Tales of the singing fish: He tangi wairua. I compsed twelve waiata (Maori songs) of which ten of the waiata was information extracted from ten chapters of the book. The other two waiata were composed specifically for my people of the Te Rarawa tribe, namely, Ahipara.
The great ancestress, Waimirirangi, who is known as 'Queen of Ngā Puhi', had seven children from whom the northern Māori tribes are descended.


Abstract Over 14,000 babies are born in Qatar each year, and it is the State's intention to provide each with a health screen at birth for the timely diagnosis of inborn errors of metabolism. And since the population is characterized by a high consanguinity (estimates vary between 25–70%) from first-cousin marriages, congenital and genetic disorders are responsible for a major proportion of infant mortality, morbidity, and handicap birth defects and are relatively common among the population. Accurate and reliable quantification of amino acid (AA), generally in a plasma sample, allows early diagnosis of disorders such as phenylketonuria, tyrosinemia, maple syrup urinary disease, hyperornithinemia and citrullinemia. A deficiency of cystathionine B-synthase (CBS) can cause an autosomal recessive disorder of methionine and homocysteine (Hcy) metabolism known as homocystinuria which results in elevated concentrations of Hcy in plasma and urine. Clinical symptoms in untreated patients include progressive myopia and lens dislocation, thromboembolism, epilepsy, and mental retardation. Hcy is implicated as a wide variety of natal and other disorders – including Alzheimer's. The aim of this study is to develop novel screens for AA levels – and in particular Hcy - in the blood using novel approaches in capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE). In order to quantify relevant amino acids it is necessary to deplete proteins from a complex biological sample such as plasma. In this investigation two protein depletion protocols were investigated on human plasma containing Hcy by label-free intrinsic imaging in the UV using CZE. As with a majority of amino acids, Hcy has very little or no UV absorption and for this reason analysis of samples were performed on an advanced high performance capillary electrophoresis (HPCE) platform, by multiple-pixel multiple-imaging indirect UV measurements. Two complementary analysis workflows were deployed to take advantage of the time-development of the AAs in the analysis allowing accurate quantification and minimum inherent bias. Studies have been made with pure AAs and also with samples spiked in known quantities in blood which offer real clinical advantages. We have also developed methodologies for the simultaneous detection of several amino acids in plasma samples and limits of detection (LOD) and limits of quantification (LOQ) will be presented. These have been shown to be greatly improved with a pre-concentration technique known as 'stacking'. Work has been undertaken in our labs in Qatar Science & Technology Park and in collaboration with Hamad Medical Center.


The long-term use of prescription and over-the-counter drugs can induce subclinical and clinically relevant micronutrient deficiencies, which may develop gradually over months or even years. Given the large number of medications currently available, the number of research studies examining potential drug–nutrient interactions is quite limited. A comprehensive, updated review of the potential drug–nutrient interactions with chronic use of the most often prescribed medications for commonly diagnosed conditions among the general U.S. adult population is presented. For the majority of the interactions described in this paper, more high-quality intervention trials are needed to better understand their clinical importance and potential consequences. A number of these studies have identified potential risk factors that may make certain populations more susceptible, but guidelines on how to best manage and/or prevent drug-induced nutrient inadequacies are lacking. Although widespread supplementation is not currently recommended, it is important to ensure at-risk patients reach their recommended intakes for vitamins and minerals. In conjunction with an overall healthy diet, appropriate dietary supplementation may be a practical and efficacious way to maintain or improve micronutrient status in patients at risk of deficiencies, such as those taking medications known to compromise nutritional status. The summary evidence presented in this review will help inform future research efforts and, ultimately, guide recommendations for patient care.


OBJECTIVE
The concept of polysubstance dependence (PD) has been defined several ways over the years. However, few clinicians and researchers appear to use this label in a manner consistent with any of the major diagnostic manuals. This article evaluates the prevalence and characteristics associated with PD in participants in a large collaborative study.

METHOD
In DSM-IV, PD characterizes people who do not meet criteria for dependence on any one substance but, when all drugs of abuse are considered have experienced three or more of the seven dependence items across the substances. In this study, structured face-to-face interviews were administered to 8,834 men and women as part of the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism. The 198 subjects (2.2%) with a slightly expanded concept of the DSM-IV disorder were compared with men and women with dependence on alcohol, marijuana or stimulants, subjects with substance abuse and those with no substance use disorder.

RESULTS
In this dataset, compared with subjects with a specific substance dependence, those with PD were slightly more educated and less likely to be divorced or separated, and they had fewer substance-related problems. At the same time, those with PD had more substance problems than did subjects who only met criteria for abuse. These basic conclusions were unchanged among the subset of 59 subjects who met the more restricted, classical DSM-IV PD criteria.

CONCLUSIONS
The data indicate that, while relatively rare, subjects with PD might differ in potentially important ways from those with dependence or abuse on specific drugs. A large prospective study of a group with carefully defined PD is needed.


There has been a recent surge of interest in studying permutation-based models for ranking from pairwise comparison data. Despite being structurally richer and more robust than parametric ranking models, permutation-based models are less well understood statistically and generally lack efficient learning algorithms. In this work, we study a prototype of permutation-based ranking models, namely, the noisy sorting model. We establish the optimal rates of learning the model under two sampling procedures. Furthermore, we provide a fast algorithm to achieve near-optimal rates if the observations are sampled independently. Along the way, we discover properties of the symmetric group which are of theoretical interest.


Neurostimulation is a promising therapy for abating epileptic seizures. However, it is extremely difficult to identify optimal stimulation patterns experimentally. In this study, human recordings are used to develop a functional 24 neuron network statistical model of hippocampal connectivity and dynamics. Spontaneous seizure-like activity is induced in silico in this reconstructed neuronal network. The network is then used as a testbed to design and validate a wide range of neurostimulation patterns. Commonly used periodic trains were not able to permanently abate seizures at any frequency. A simulated annealing global optimization algorithm was then used to identify an optimal stimulation pattern, which successfully abated 92% of seizures. Finally, in a fully responsive, or closed-loop, neurostimulation paradigm, the optimal stimulation successfully prevented the network from entering the seizure state. We propose that the framework presented here for algorithmically identifying patient-specific neurostimulation patterns can greatly increase the efficacy of neurostimulation devices for seizures.


The concept of biological control is getting more importance nowadays than the chemicals because of its ecofriendly nature. The most popular bio-control agent Trichoderma spp. is known for its antagonistic property against various soil borne fungal pathogens. By taking these into consideration an in vitro study was conducted with twenty native isolates of Trichoderma spp. isolated from soil samples collected from different locations of Kerala and important soil borne fungal pathogens viz., Pythium aphanidermatum, Phytophthora capsici, Fusarium oxysporum, Sclerotium rolfsii, Ganoderma lucidum and Rhizoctonia solani. The antagonistic efficiency of these isolates was tested by taking two released isolates of Trichoderma spp. viz., T. viride and T. harzianum of Kerala Agricultural University, as reference. The results revealed that all the twenty tested native isolates of Trichoderma spp. were efficient in controlling the pathogens, viz., P. aphanidermatum, G. lucidum, S. rolfsii and F. oxysporum than that of reference cultures. The isolates Tr9, Tr 48 and Tr 52 showed cent per cent inhibition over the pathogen, P. aphanidermatum. All the native isolates of Trichoderma spp. recorded 83.33-100 per cent inhibition on the growth of the pathogen, P. capsici. Except 3 isolates viz., Tr 28 (44.85%), Tr 76 (57.78%) and Tr 114 (58.18%), all showed higher antagonistic efficiency to G. lucidum than that of reference cultures. The native isolates recorded < 50 per cent inhibition over R. solani which was as same as that of reference isolates. All native isolates of Trichoderma spp. showed > 50 per cent inhibition on the growth of S. rolfsii whereas T. viride and T. harzianum showed a per cent inhibition of 28.11 and 35.22 respectively. All except Tr 41, Tr 78, Tr 81 and Tr 118 recorded cent per cent inhibition over F. oxysporum. Among the twenty native isolates of Trichoderma spp. tested, twelve isolates which were able to show higher antagonistic potential than the reference cultures of KAU, can be used for further use.


Parallel line segments are the basic graphical foundation for geometrical field theories such as General Relativity. Although the concept of parallel and curved lines have been well researched for over a century as a description of gravity, certain controversial issues have persisted, namely point singularities (Black Holes) and the physical interpretation of a scalar multiple of the metric, commonly known as a Cosmological Constant. We introduce a graphical and notational analysis system which we will refer to as Integral Geometry. Through variational analysis of perpendicular line segments we derive equations that ultimately result from the changes in the area bounded by them. Based upon changing area bounded by relative and absolute line segments we attempt to prove the following hypothesis: General Relativity cannot be derived from Integral Geometry. We submit that examination of the notational differences between GR and IG in order to accept the hypothesis could lead to evidence that the inability to merge General Relativity and Quantum Physics may be due to notational and conceptual flaws concerning area inherent in the equations describing them.


When a volume of poetry entitled Shake-speares Sonnets. Neuer before Imprinted appeared in 1609, Shakespeare was forty-five and most of his greatest plays had seen several performances. Some of the sonnets, speaking of the begetting of children, mortality and memory, art, desire and jealousy, are addressed to a beloved youth; others are addressed to a treacherous mistress, a "dark lady." Appended to the sonnets is "A Lover's Complaint, " a beautiful poem in rhyme-royal in which a young woman is overheard lamenting her betrayal by a heartless seducer.While Shakespeare's biographers continue their investigations, readers may find the "secret" of the sonnets in the poetry itself. In this spirit John Kerrigan provides an illuminating Introduction to the volume as a whole, together with 258 pages of commentaries on the poems, a textual history, and suggestions for further reading.


Developing a secure image cryptographic algorithm that can be implemented in devices with different hardware structures has remained a problematic issue, particularly for the real time applications. In this paper, we introduce two integer versions of chaotic maps, namely the quadratic chaotic map which is used to generate the paremeters of the system and an integer version of Chebyshev chaotic maps which is used to generate permutations and chaotic sequences of integers. The algorithm applies many rounds, each contains a confusion and a diffusion step in which a permutation is used to shuffle the pixels' locations and the chaotic sequence is used to change the pixels' densities. The proposed method is tested against many security measurements and some kinds of attacks for five standard images. It showed better performance over recent methods from the literature. The paper moreover discusses the performance of the decryption algorithm against the salt & pepper and crop attacks on the cipher image. We found that the decipher image is seriously affected by high levels of noise or crop attacks. To overcome the limitations of the decryption algorithm at high levels of attacks, we proved first that the crop attack has same distribution as the salt & pepper noise attack. Then, an enhancement technique based on the use of median filter is proposed to reduce the effect of the attacks. Simulations showed that the enhancement decryption algorithm can double the image quality in terms of the PSNR.


Objectives: The objectives of this study were to describe the hypertensive population and therapeutic management of hypertension in subjects between 18 and 74 years of age in continental France in 2006. Methods: ENNS was a cross-sectional survey conducted in continental France in 2006–2007. Blood pressure (BP) was measured in a national sample of non-institutionalized adults aged 18–74 years and pharmacological treatment was collected by a self-questionnaire. Hypertension was defined by systolic blood pressure (SBP) ≥140 mmHg, diastolic blood pressure (DBP) ≥90 mmHg, or treatment with BP-lowering drugs. The therapeutic control of treated hypertensive patients was defined by SBP <140 mmHg and DBP <90 mmHg. Results: The prevalence of hypertension was 31.0%. Half of hypertensive subjects reported taking an antihypertensive drug (50.3%) and nearly half of them were treated with a single antihypertensive pharmacological class (44.3%). Overall, among hypertensives, 25.6% had a satisfactory BP control. Conclusions: Our survey revealed a high prevalence of hypertension in continental France, with only half of the hypertensive subjects receiving pharmacological therapy and one treated out of two with BP at goal. More effective measures are needed to improve clinical management of hypertension.


The effects of steroidal growth implants alone or in combination with β-adrenergic agonist feed additives have not been studied thoroughly in mutton sheep in South African feedlot conditions. This study investigated the effects of a non-steroidal growth implant zeranol (Ralgro®), alone or in combination with zilpaterol hydrochloride (Zilmax®), on growth performance, carcass characteristics, and selected meat quality traits in 160 SA Mutton Merino ram lambs fed in a commercial feedlot. The experimental design consisted of two Ralgro treatment groups x two Zilmax treatments x two Zilmax feeding periods x 20 animals per treatment group. Lambs were randomly allocated to eight treatment groups, of which one half were implanted with Ralgro after arrival, followed by feed supplementation with Zilmax at two Zilmax feeding periods during the finisher phase, compared with negative control treatments (e.g. no Ralgro or Zilmax; Ralgro + no Zilmax; or no Ralgro + Zilmax). All lambs were fed the grower ration traditionally used by the commercial feedlot, which contained 16.89% crude protein (CP) and 2.94 Mcal/kg dry matter (DM). Zilmax was supplemented in the feed at 40 mg per animal per day and fed for 18 days or 25 days, plus three days withdrawal. Lambs that did not receive the Zilmax treatment were fed the basal diet without Zilmax feed supplementation. Ralgro significantly increased average daily gains (ADG) and cold carcass mass (CCM) of lambs. Lambs supplemented with Zilmax during the finisher phase had higher ADG, greater CCM and increased dressing percentage by ca.1.1% compared with those in the control group. Lambs fed Zilmax for 25 days had higher CCM than those fed for 18 days. The duration of the Zilmax treatment also decreased hide weight, fat thickness and shear force values (tenderness). Zilmax increased ADG and CCM in lambs, particularly if combined with Ralgro implants during the growing phase. The results from this study indicate that the combination of Ralgro implants with Zilmax feed supplementation during the finisher phase had additive effects and increased ADG and CCM of feedlot lambs.Keywords: Growth performance, meat quality, South African Mutton Merino, sheep, Ralgro®, Zilmax®


Human environments are challenging for robots, which need to be trainable by lay people and learn new behaviours rapidly without disrupting much the ongoing activity. A system that integrates AI techniques for planning and learning is here proposed to satisfy these strong demands. The approach rapidly learns planning operators from few action experiences using a competitive strategy where many alternatives of cause-effect explanations are evaluated in parallel, and the most successful ones are used to generate the operators. The success of a cause-effect explanation is evaluated by a probabilistic estimate that compensates the lack of experience, producing more confident estimations and speeding up the learning in relation to other known estimates. The system operates without task interruption by integrating in the planning-learning loop a human teacher that supports the planner in making decisions. All the mechanisms are integrated and synchronized in the robot using a general decision-making framework. The feasibility and scalability of the architecture are evaluated in two different robot platforms: a Staubli arm, and the humanoid ARMAR III.


The asphalt pavement analyzer (APA) has been widely used to evaluate hot-mix asphalt (HMA) rutting potential in mix design and quality control – quality assurance (QC-QA) applications, because the APA testing and its data analyses are relatively simple, rapid, and easy. However, as demonstrated in many studies and also experienced by the state of Nebraska, the APA testing is in question due to its high testing variability and a lack of sufficient correlation with actual filed performance. The primary objective of this research was to find critical materials and/or mixture design factors affecting APA test results so as to eventually improve current APA testing program in Nebraska. In addition to that, development of models to predict APA rut performance with given properties of HMA mixture ingredients and mixture design characteristics were also attempted. To find variables affecting APA rut results and the extent of these variables, SP-4 mixture data from Nebraska and HMA mixture data from Kentucky were statistically analyzed using the multiple linear regression method considering six factors (binder PG, aggregate gradation, nominal maximum aggregate size, aggregate angularity, air voids in mixture, and asphalt content in mixture) as probable candidates significantly affecting APA rut results. For a detailed characterization of gradation effects, three indicators (gradation density, fineness modulus, and restricted zone) were considered and each of them was used for each statistical analysis. Analyses results demonstrated that the binder PG was the only variable that always shows significant impact on APA rut results, which is in a good agreement with other studies. Predicting models developed through the results of multiple linear regression analysis and the artificial neural network technique presented a relatively low level of model adequacy which can be observed by the coefficients of determination and crossplots between predicted APA rut values and the measured APA rut data. More data would be helpful to confirm the findings from this research and also to develop a better prediction model.


'Embodiment' need not focus on isolated individuals or group interactions. This article articulates the potential for designs that prompt participants to bring relationships with other people to mind. These can be fleeting relationships between participants and unknown others, or remembered relationships with romantic partners, family members, or close friends who are not physically co-present or digitally represented. In either case, it is possible to generate affective responses that profoundly shape participants' emotional and physical reactions to, and co-creation of, the designed interaction. This article presents existing practices of immersive theatre to frame our exploration of this phenomenon. It introduces three theories—mise-en-sensibilite, narcissistic spectatorship and affect—through which we illuminate both the internally felt and the externally designed experience, whether or not it is explicitly framed as theatrical performance. Through analysis of two immersive performances (one-on-one interactions that could easily be understood in terms of experience design) and two designs of our own, we argue that the affect generated by personal relationships in immersive experiences can both shape and drive participation, and we offer a three-point guideline by which one can design for the affective consequences of bringing relationships to mind.


The Indian Man examines the life of James Mooney (1861-1921), the son of poor Irish immigrants who became a champion of Native peoples and one of the most influential anthropology fieldworkers of all time. As a staff member of the Smithsonian Institution for over three decades, Mooney conducted fieldwork and gathered invaluable information on rapidly changing Native American cultures across the continent. His fieldwork among the Eastern Cherokees, Cheyennes, and Kiowas provides priceless snapshots of their traditional ways of life, and his sophisticated and sympathetic analysis of the 1890 Ghost Dance and the consequent tragedy at Wounded Knee has not been surpassed a century later. L. G. Moses is a professor of history at Oklahoma State University. He is the author of Wild West Shows and the Images of American Indians, 1833-1933.


Light pollution occurs when a disproportionate amount of artificial light from the ground is scattered into the atmosphere, effectively reducing the visibility of stars in the night sky. We measured light pollution by using luminance readings derived from digital photographs and a calibration equation formulated by Hiscocks with the pixel value, aperture, exposure time, ISO sensitivity, and a predetermined calibration constant. Data gathering was done in Baguio City and Manila City at specified times of the night. In conclusion, the method for attaining luminance values is doable especially for young researchers. Additionally, the brightness of the sky reduces as night progresses and the factors cloud cover and artificial light increase luminance. Manila and Baguio, at the specified points in which the data were gathered, rank 8, City Sky, out of 9 levels on the Bortle Scale. We recommend for future studies to collect data over longer time periods so that the factors can be controlled. Further research on the topic may also delve on other fields such as energy, ecology, and human health.


More than hundreds of private wineries have been established since the Taiwan Tobacco and Alcohol Administration Act was enacted on April 19, 2000. It is then essential to screen local wine yeast in order to develop quality wine with unique flavor. Black Queen grape is a main ingredient for red wine brewing in Taiwan. In this study, ethanol productivity of yeasts isolated from spontaneous fermentation of Black Queen grape must (17 and 30 °Brix) was determined. Seven yeasts identified as Saccharomyces cerevisiae by Biolog System with higher ethanol productivity were individually inoculated into Black Queen grape must to undergo fermentation at 25℃ for 14 days. The ethanol contents and volatile acidity in wine were above 15% (v/v) and below 0.7 g/L, respectively. Compared to commercial wine yeasts A, B and C, HP01 fermented red wine contained the highest total ester content, color intensity, taste grade, and overall preference value. On the other hand, HS13 fermented red wine contained the highest ethanol, higher alcohols, fatty acids and phenolic compounds content. The mtDNA restriction fragments profiles of these two wine yeast strains were different from those of other yeast strains. Due to their superiority in oenological characteristics, HP01 and HS13 can be applied in Black Queen red wine brewing to produce red wine with unique flavor.


In every city, the urban spaces that form the public realm, ranging from city streets, neighborhood squares, and parks to public facilities such as libraries and markets—account for about one-third of the city's total land area, on average. Despite this significance, the potential for these public-space assets—typically owned and managed by local governments—to transform urban life and city functioning is often overlooked for many reasons: other pressing city priorities arising from rapid urbanization, poor urban planning, and financial constraints. The resulting degradation of public spaces into congested, vehicle-centric, and polluted places often becomes a liability, creating a downward spiral that leads to a continuous drain on public resources and exacerbating various city problems. In contrast, the cities that invest in the creation of human-centered, environmentally sustainable, economically vibrant, and socially inclusive places—in partnership with government entities, communities, and other private stakeholders, perform better. They implement smart and sustainable strategies across their public space asset life cycles to yield returns on investment far exceeding monetary costs, ultimately enhancing city livability, resilience, and competitiveness. The Hidden Wealth of Cities: Creating, Financing, and Managing Public Spaces discusses the complexities that surround the creation and management of successful public spaces and draws on the analyses and experiences from city case studies from around the globe. This book identifies, through the lens of asset management, a rich palette of creative and innovative strategies that every city can undertake to plan, finance, and manage both government-owned and privately owned public spaces.


Nonalchoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a problem of increasing prevalence and clinical significance worldwide and is associated with increased risk of development of end stage liver disease and cirrhosis, and can be complicated by hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). NAFLD is characterized by physical and molecular changes in the liver microenvironment which include an influx of inflammatory cell populations, fibrosis, changes in gene expression, and cytokine production. To better understand changes to the liver in the setting of steatosis, we used a murine model of diet induced hepatic steatosis and corroborated our results with human patient samples of NAFLD. Among the cellular changes, we identified a significant increase in hepatocellular proliferation in the setting of steatosis as compared to controls. Analysis of inflammatory cell populations revealed increased infiltration of CD11b positive myeloid and CD3 positive lymphocytic cell populations in steatotic livers compared to normal livers. Resident Kupffer cells of the liver comprise the largest percentage of these myeloid cells and appear to be responsible for important cytokine alterations impacting proliferation of cells in the liver microenvironment. Significant alterations in cytokine profiles in the plasma and liver tissue lysates from normal and steatotic mice were detected including leptin, CXCL1, CXCL2, and CXCL16 that were further shown to directly increase hepatocyte proliferation in vitro. This increased hepatocellular proliferation and turnover in the setting of steatosis may play important roles in the progression and complications of NAFLD.


A 10‐mer random peptide library displayed on filamentous bacteriophage was used to determine the molecular basis of the interaction between the monoclonal anti‐colicin A antibody 1C11 and its cognate epitope. Previous studies established that the putative epitope recognized by 1C11 antibody is composed of amino acid residues 19–25 (RGSGPEP) of colicin A. Using the phage display technique it was confirmed that the epitope of 1C11 antibody was indeed restricted to residues 19–25 and the consensus motif RXXXPEP was identified. Shorter consensus sequences (RXXPEP, RXXEP, KXXEP) were also selected. It was also demonstrated that the disulfide bond found in one group of the selected peptides was crucial for 1C11 antibody recognition. It was shown that cyclization of the peptides by disulfide bond formation could result in a structure that mimics the natural epitope of colicin A. Copyright © 2004 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Using data from the second and third Cameroonian household surveys, this study analyzes the relationship between access to microcredit, household well-being, and poverty change in Cameroon. It uses a combination of two methods of analysis: the instrumental variable method for controlling the potential endogeneity of access to increased microcredit by correcting for selection bias; and a method for breaking down poverty change into intra-growth, intra-redistribution, and inter-sector mobility components based on Shapley's value. The latter is based on comparison of evidencebased and hypothetical/non-factual distributions. The key findings reveal that access to microcredit: (i) significantly and positively affects the level of well-being of households and financial inclusion, particularly through education; (ii) has an impact on poverty change and that this effect is brought about by the redistribution component and primary sector; (iii) positively and significantly influences the intra-sector redistribution component of poverty change through the intra-sector growth and mobility components.


The last decade witnessed a quantum increase in wind energy contribution to the U.S. renewable electricity mix. Although the overall environmental impact of wind energy is miniscule in comparison to fossil-fuel energy, the early stages of the wind energy life cycle have potential for a higher environmental impact. This study attempts to quantify the relative contribution of individual stages toward life cycle impacts by conducting a life cycle assessment with SimaPro® and the Impact 2002+ impact assessment method. A comparative analysis of individual stages at three locations, onshore, shallow-water, and deep-water, in Texas and the gulf coast indicates that material extraction/processing would be the dominant stage with an average impact contribution of 72% for onshore, 58% for shallow-water, and 82% for deep-water across the 15 midpoint impact categories. The payback times for CO2 and energy consumption range from 6 to 14 and 6 to 17 months, respectively, with onshore farms having shorter payback times. The greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) were in the range of 5–7 gCO2eq/kWh for the onshore location, 6–9 CO2eq/kWh for the shallow-water location, and 6–8 CO2eq/kWh for the deep-water location. A sensitivity analysis of the material extraction/processing stage to the electricity sourcing stage indicates that replacement of lignite coal with natural gas or wind would lead to marginal improvements in midpoint impact categories.


It is sometimes argued that increasing globalisation and openness to trade has exerted downward pressure on inflation in developed countries by, for example, reducing import prices. But, as recent experience of rising commodity prices suggests, globalisation may sometimes be associated with rising import prices. And, even when import prices were falling, the consequences for inflation depended on whether the changes in real incomes brought about were anticipated by households and how monetary policy reacted. Studies that neglect expectations and the role of monetary policy in determining inflation are likely to mismeasure the impact of globalisation on domestic inflation.


In the early 1990's many states tried to devise more robust and coherent instructional policies, in efforts to make teaching and learning more thoughtful and demanding. Policymakers and reformers pressed teachers to help students understand mathematical concepts, to interpret serious literature, to write creatively about their own ideas and experiences, and to converse thoughtfully about history and social science. But these efforts to reform instruction encountered skepticism about the link between policy and pedagogy. Skeptics ask if it is reasonable to expect state policies to steer teaching and learning sharply away from long-established conventional practice, noting that previous efforts to change practice on a large scale had failed. As instructional policy moved to the top of many state education agendas in the late 1990s, interest in the relations between policy and practice has grown. In this issue of CPRE Policy Briefs, we report encouraging findings from an important study that addresses these relationships. We use data from a 1994 survey of California elementary school teachers to probe the classroom effects of state efforts to reform mathematics teaching and learning in California. We report that policy changes did lead both to changed classroom practice and to improved student performance. In this brief, we develop a rudimentary model of the relationship between policy and practice. Student achievement is the ultimate dependent measure; teachers' reported classroom practice in mathematics is an influence on achievement, but practice also is a measure of the effects of teachers' learning opportunities about new math curriculum. We present results which show that teachers' learning opportunities influenced their practice, and that both teachers' learning opportunities and their practice influenced students' mathematics achievement. The results suggest that teachers' practice can change in ways that favorably influence student achievement, and that policy can play an important role in making those changes possible. We begin with a review of the California reform, briefly describe the research approach, and then discuss the major findings. Disciplines Curriculum and Instruction | Educational Methods | Education Policy | Elementary Education and Teaching | Science and Mathematics Education Comments View on the CPRE website. This policy brief is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/cpre_policybriefs/10


Aptamers are in vitro selected oligonucleotides (DNA, RNA, oligos with modified nucleotides) that can have high affinity and specificity for a broad range of potential targets with high affinity and specificity. Here we focus on their applications as biosensors in the diagnostic field, although they can also be used as therapeutic agents. A small number of peptide aptamers have also been identified. In analytical settings, aptamers have the potential to extend the limit of current techniques as they offer many advantages over antibodies and can be used for real-time biomarker detection, cancer clinical testing, and detection of infectious microorganisms and viruses. Once optimized and validated, aptasensor technologies are expected to be highly beneficial to clinicians by providing a larger range and more rapid output of diagnostic readings than current technologies and support personalized medicine and faster implementation of optimal treatments.


Abstract. In the last two decades, significant depletion of boundary layer ozone (ozone depletion events, ODEs) has been observed in both Arctic and Antarctic spring. ODEs are attributed to catalytic destruction by bromine radicals (Br plus BrO), especially during bromine explosion events (BEs), when high concentrations of BrO periodically occur. However, neither the exact source of bromine nor the mechanism for sustaining the observed high BrO concentrations is completely understood. Here, by considering the production of sea salt aerosol from snow lying on sea ice during blowing snow events and the subsequent release of bromine, we successfully simulate the BEs using a global chemistry transport model. We find that heterogeneous reactions play an important role in sustaining a high fraction of the total inorganic bromine as BrO. We also find that emissions of bromine associated with blowing snow contribute significantly to BrO at mid-latitudes. Modeled tropospheric BrO columns generally compare well with the tropospheric BrO columns retrieved from the GOME satellite instrument (Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment). The additional blowing snow bromine source, identified here, reduces modeled high latitude lower tropospheric ozone amounts by up to an average 8% in polar spring.


The Last Dance is a sports documentary miniseries focusing on the 1997-98 NBA champions Chicago Bulls and their star Michael Jordan. Through the lenses of The Last Dance, whose global popularity has been unprecedented for a documentary, we discuss value from a historical, political and cultural perspective. First, this paper provides a concise account of the ambivalent nature of value from a historical perspective. We then discuss the Bulls' General Manager dispute with Jordan over whether the players or the organization win championships; and the Scottie Pippen "injustice" according to which Pippen, a top Bulls player, was underpaid. By addressing these two issues, we show that all value is collectively produced. We argue that all value approaches are imperfect, temporary and context-specific. We thus highlight the need for scholars and policymakers to critically discuss value and point to the commons sphere for more inclusive understandings of value.


As the sharing economy digs its heels in to the American mainstream, it turns the existing regulatory structure on its head. But the law needs to both facilitate innovation while balancing countervailing concerns like safety and cost allocation. While finding the best way to regulate ridesharing platforms is important, tort law plays a crucial, complementary role as well. On the regulation side, regulators need to craft meaningful rules that promote fairness across the industry – to both sharing economy actors and traditional enterprises. But comprehensive federal regulation under the new Trump administration seems like an unlikely solution. And local regulators run the risk of unnecessarily burdening the sharing economy through barriers to entry or other anti-competitive or onerous regulatory schemes.
Tort law is thus a critical legal tool, and the main focus of this article. While regulations provide prospective limits that may stifle innovation, tort law, on the other hand, addresses retrospective harms and deters future bad conduct. Allowing tort law to provide solutions may be key to preventing over-regulation while still promoting fairness. Thus, while propositions to fix the regulatory piece of the puzzle certainly have merit, tort law is also an important aspect to consider.
This article builds off of longstanding cases dealing with taxi or other transportation services and concludes that tort law is already able to handle the seemingly unique liability concerns arising from ridesharing platforms. In particular, it focuses on vicarious liability doctrines, like joint enterprise liability, as the means for achieving important regulatory goals through the tort system. By using tort law to address some of the concerns surrounding the sharing economy, important objectives can be achieved without risking over-regulation.


The K supplying power of 17 Ultisols and 6 Oxisols typical of vast areas in the tropics was determined by cropping 181 pots, each filled with 11.4 kg (25 lb) of soil from as many sites, with Pangola grass for 4 consecutive years. During the first year of cropping the soil groups released the following amounts of K: Oxisols, 234 kg/ha (209 lb/acre); Ultisols of the uplands, 260 kg/ha (232 lb/acre); clay Ultisols of the coastal plains, 230 kg/ha (206 lb/acre); and sandy Ultisols of the coastal plains, 90 kg/ha (81 lb/acre). After the first year, K removal dropped off sharply averaging about 50 kg/ha (45 lb/acre) yearly for the Oxisols and clay Ultisols of the coastal plains, 35 kg/ha (31 lb/acre) yearly for the sandy Ultisols of the coastal plains and 90 kg/ha (80 lb/acre) for the Ultisols of the uplands. There was close agreement between various soil K values determined at the beginning and at the end of the experiment and K removal by Pangola grass over different periods. The close relationship between exchangeable K at start of the experiment and K re moved by Pangola grass over the first year of cropping shows that exchangeable K values are a good criterion for evaluating the capacity of these soils to supply K to grasses.


Abstract This paper reports on the latest contributions to over 20 years of research on organic food consumers. There is a general consensus in the literature on the reasons why people buy organic food. However, there is also a gap between consumers' generally positive attitude toward organic food and their relatively low level of actual purchases. Product differentiation based on intangible features, such as credence attributes such as organic, in fast-moving consumer goods categories is enjoying rapid growth. However, there are many difficulties with research in this area, including the errors inherent in research that relies on consumer self-reporting methodologies. Further, in relation to organic food, there is a divergence between consumers' perception of its superior health features and scientific evidence. Fresh fruits and vegetables are of vital importance to the organic sector as they are the entry point for many customers and account for one-third of sales. Further, although there is a small proportion of dedicated organic food buyers, most sales come from the majority of buyers who switch between conventional and organic food purchases. This paper identifies the practical implications for generic organic food marketing campaigns, as well as for increasing sales of specific products. It concludes with suggested priorities for further research.


In recent years, with the progress of the society and sustainable development of national economy, to some extent for the stable progress of urbanization construction, as well as the municipal construction engineering scale and quantification of construction and development have created favorable conditions.  As an important part of the municipal architectural project, its level and quality of the construction management not only concern the smooth implementation of municipal projects, but also reflects the construction quality and construction level of infrastructure in the whole city. Based on this, this article mainly from the perspective of management discuss the present condition of the construction management of municipal construction projects in China at present stage, probes into a series of suggestions to improve one by one, through the summary of the experience, and the quality of municipal engineering in our country overall construction management.


Parkinson's disease (PD) is a debilitating neurodegenerative disease excessively affecting millions of patients. Early diagnosis of PD is critical as manifestation of symptoms occur many years after the onset of neurodegenration, when more than 60\% of dopaminergic neurons are lost. Since there is no definite diagnosis of PD, the early management of disease is a significant challenge in the field of PD therapeutics. Therefore, identifying valid biomarkers that can characterize the progression of PD has lately received growing attentions in PD research community. In this paper, we employ a multi-task learning regression framework for prediction of Parkinson's disease progression, where each task is the prediction of PD rating scales at one future time point. We then use the model to identify the important biomarkers predictive of disease progression. We adopt a graph regularization approach to capture the relationship between different tasks and penalize large variations of the model at consecutive future time points. We have carried out comprehensive experiments using different categories of measurements at baseline from Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) database to predict the severity of PD, measured by unified PD rating scale. We use the learned model to identify the biomarkers with significant contribution in prediction of PD progression. Our results confirm some of the important biomarkers identified in existing medical studies, validate some of the biomarkers that have been observed as a potential marker of PD and discover new biomarkers that have not yet been investigated.


Commercial two-step processes to convert glycerol into epichlorohydrin are more benign compared to the predominant industrial route starting from propene in terms of materials requirements and CO2 emissions. Still, the use of alkali hydroxides in stoichiometric amounts in the second reaction, i.e., the dehydrochlorination of the dichloropropanol intermediate, leads to the formation of large amounts of salt wastes, thus limiting the greenness of the technology. Here, we show for the first time that the latter transformation can be selectively conducted in the gas phase in the presence of a heterogeneous hydrotalcite-derived mixed oxide of Al and Mg. Upon reaction, the lamellar solid is rehydrated to a hydrotalcite-like compound, which can effectively activate the alcoholic group of dichloropropanol owing to its strong Bronsted basic character and moderately high surface area. In-depth characterisation of the porous, compositional, structural and acid/base properties demonstrates that the HCl formed during the reaction causes the progressive exchange of interlayer OH groups by Cl atoms, thus gradually diminishing the reactivity of the material. Facile calcination restores the original mixed oxide structure and is shown to enable three equivalent consecutive reaction runs. Since the HCl evolved along with water upon regeneration can be recycled in the first step of the process, i.e., glycerol hydrochlorination, our approach paves the way for a waste-free and more atom efficient biobased epichlorohydrin production process.


How you do something can often become as important as what you gain doing it. In the Information Age, process has become as important as product. The first emphasis must be on quality in the process. Getting to the market quickly with inferior products and services is, at best, a waste of time and resources. Teaching process to employees is vital. It underlies other basic things they need to do in the workplace to be successful. It is an invaluable discipline that will yield dividends over and over for you (and them), because you will affect the way people approach and solve problems.


Extant research emphasizes that consumers use mass customization toolkits to create products they consider to be unique, and that perceived uniqueness is an important part of customer value. This research investigates the conditions of the customer's quest for uniqueness. It is motivated by the observation that decisions are often driven by others' choices and a desire to fit in, rather than to be distinct. We hypothesize that consumers are more inclined to choose uniqueness for hedonic product attributes but tend toward conformity in utilitarian attributes, and that consumers' need for uniqueness and product involvement moderate the choice. In a series of experiments, we find support for most hypotheses. We introduce conformity as a driver of choice behavior in mass customization toolkits and suggest that mass customization can best be seen as enabling consumers' preferred mix of uniqueness and conformity. Our results also inform managerial practice, highlighting that mass customization toolkits should consider customers' uniqueness and conformity requirements. We suggest reducing the number of utilitarian options while increasing the variety for hedonic attributes.


Herman Bavinck (1845–1921) and Herman Dooyeweerd (1894–1977) were Reformed thinkers—in particular, Dutch "neo-Calvinists"—both professors at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, in the last century; the former a systematic theologian, the latter a philosopher. The term neo-Calvinist refers to a revivalist movement within the Reformed tradition that stems from the nineteenth-century Dutch educator, theologian, church leader, and politician, Abraham Kuyper (1837–1920). Of the two books in review, one is a biography of Bavinck written by pastor and theologian Ron Gleason; the other is a critical, but sympathetic, study of the philosophical foundations of Dooyeweerd's thought on law, politics, and society, written by social and political theorist, Jonathan Chaplin. Eduardo J. Echeverria, "Review Essay: The Philosophical Foundations of Bavinck and Dooyeweerd," Journal of Markets & Morality 14, no. 2 (Fall 2011): 463-483


The role of public authorities in the development of infrastructure is evident. Increasingly, private parties show interest in infrastructure projects, The relationship between public and private parties can take various shapes. From a theoretical point of view, four models of co-operation between public and private parties are discussed, The realisation of the second Maasvlakte, a large scale port expansion in Rotterdam, will serve as an example. The project started in the early 1990s as a traditional (unilateral) port planning procedure. Private involvement enters the picture for the f~st time in 1998, A constructing f~ container handling company and financial institution launched the Binnenmeerplan, This innovative private initiative introduced the concept of a phased construction of the second Maasvlakte, Simultaneously, the Dutch government carried out a study project and the Combination model, which incorporates both the objectives of public parties and of the business community was developed, The Combination model can be perceived as a breakthrough because it demonstrates that solutions for problems such as existing planning procedures and EU directives can be found, Albeit the enthusiasm from both parties was overwhelming, the government exchanged the Combination model for the Parallel model. In this model, the role of central government is restricted to spatial planning and land use, regional and local government will act as project developer. At the moment two arguments in the discussion prevail: innovation and risk sharing. Therefore, parts of the project will be put on tender: Design Build Finance and Maintain (DBFM)-arrangements for the dikes and Build Operate and Transfer (BOT)-contracts for the terminals, However, it is at least doubtful whether BOT-contracts will work in the Hamburg - Le Havre range.


Background: Caesarean section is traditionally done when a vaginal delivery would put the mother or fetus's life at risk. Knowing the indications of the caesarean section will help to have an impression of this common type of the obstetric procedures. The aim of the current study was to examine the indications of caesarean sections which are undertaken in Mosul city hospitals. Methods: A cross-sectional study was done at eight hospitals in Mosul city and a sample of 671 women who were delivered by caesarean section was included in this study. The necessary agreement was obtained from all the participants in the sample. Study period: the study was done during the period from 15 th November 2019 to 15 th April 2020. The information was taken by direct interview with the women who were delivered by caesarean section and from their hospital case sheets. Results: Primary caesarean section was reported in 45.2% of cases followed by previous two or more CS in 32.3% and those with previous one caesarean section with other causes 22.5% with a very highly statistically significant difference (P=0.001). Fetal distress was the indication for primary caesarean section in one-quarter of cases 25.4% with a very highly statistically significant difference (P=0.000) from other causes. Maternal request constituted 11.5% of indications among the participant women and it constituted onequarter of causes among women with previous one caesarean section (P=0.000). Conclusions and recommendations: Primary caesarean section constituted the highest number among caesarean section indications in the current study, followed by previous two or more caesarean section and then previous caesarean section with other causes. Fetal distress was the highest indication in primary caesarean section cases. The study recommends to improve health education to the mother about the risk of caesarean section and possibility of normal delivery after primary caesarean section.


The topic of this study deals with public service motivation and its (potential) relationship with different leadership roles. The impact of leadership on motivation was not that often examined but by looking at the performances of public organizations, it seems that there is a relationship between these two variables. According to the different leadership roles, it would be interesting to have a closer look at the behavior of public managers and their instruments that are used to enhance motivation of public sector employees.
It is problematic to transform the theoretical findings into practices which managers could use in order to improve their employee's motivation. Furthermore, it is not clear how and to what extent leadership influences public service motivation. Therefore, it should be concentrated on how this problem could be solved and which measures have to be taken in order to make it easier for public managers to influence and enhance the motivation of their staff. First of all, the topic will be introduced with its relevance and theories and it will be also explained how the research of this study was conducted in order to get the findings that are needed to conclude and answer the research question.


Leukemias are a group of disorders characterized by the accumulation of malignant white cells in the bone marrow and blood. This study aimed to measurement the hypercoagulability state in Sudanese patients with acute myelogenous leukemia in Khartoum state between November 2015 and April 2016. The study included 80 individuals, 40 of them were Acute Myelogenous Leukemia patients and 40 from healthy individual as control (Same age and sex with patients). Results were as follow: the mean of fibrinogen level 282.73mg/dl in comparison to control group 270.40mg/dl, Prothrombin PT 14.05 seconds in comparison to control 12.70 seconds. Activated partial thromboplastin time APTT 34.70 seconds in comparison to control 34.30 s and thromboplastin time TT 13.943 seconds, in comparison to control 13.945 seconds. There were no obvious effects on patients with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia in most of parameters when compared with control group which show the lack of relationship between the patients with acute myelogenous leukemia and coagulability (fibrinogen; Prothrombin; activated partial thromboplastin time and thromboplastin time)


The SLC26A4 gene has been described as the second gene involved in most cases of autosomal recessive non-syndromic hearing loss (ARNSHL), after GJB2. Over 500 different SLC26A4 mutations have been reported, with each ethnic population having its own distinctive mutations. Here, we aimed to determine the frequency and mutation profile of the SLC26A4 gene from two different provinces (center and west) of Iran. This study included 50 nuclear families with two or more siblings segregating presumed ARNSHL. All affected tested negative for mutations in GJB2 at the DFNB1 locus and were therefore screened for autozygosity by descent using short tandem repeat polymorphisms (STRPs) of DFNB4. Sanger sequencing was performed to screen the 20 exons of the SLC26A4 gene for the families linked to this locus. In silico analyses were also performed using available software tools. Four out of 25 (16%) and 3 of 25 (12%) studied families of Isfahan and Hamedan provinces, respectively. were linked to DFNB4. Sanger sequencing led to the identification of six different mutations, one of which (c.919-2A>G) was recurrent and accounted for 31% of all mutant alleles. One out of 7 (14.3%) families with mutations were confirmed to be Pendred syndrome (PS). The SLC26A4 mutations have a high carrying rate in ARNSHL Iranian patients. The identification of a disease causing mutation can be used to establish a genotypic diagnosis and provide important information to the patients and their families.


We study the influence of Ohmic dissipation on the random transverse-field Ising chain by means of large-scale Monte-Carlo simulations. To this end, we first map the Hamiltonian onto a classical Ising model with long-range $1/\tau^2$ interaction in the time-like direction. We then apply the highly efficient cluster algorithm proposed by Luijten and Bl\"ote for system with long-range interactions. Our simulations show that Ohmic dissipation destroys the infinite-randomness quantum critical point of the dissipationless system. Instead, the quantum phase transition between the paramagnetic and ferromagnetic phases is smeared. We compare our results to recent predictions of a strong-disorder renormalization group approach, and we discuss generalizations to higher dimensions as well as experiments.


SummaryThis paper describes a theoretical and empirical study of the Japanese macroeconomy that focuses on the role of predetermined nominal wages in the relation between monetary policy and aggregate output. The main features of the model are that nominal wage rates set at Shunto are equal to rational expectations of the nominal wage rates that would be consistent with target levels of real output and that firms determine employment and output by equating marginal productivities to real wage rates. The essential implication of the model is that the current deviation of aggregate output from its target level depends only on innovations in inflation and productivity since the last Shunto. The equation derived to implement the model empirically relates current aggregate output growth in a precise way to Past values of output growth and inflation since the last Shunto and includes an explicit specification of a white noise error term. The results of econometric analysis of this restricted model equation are consistent with the hypothesis that nominal wages, predetermined according to Shunto with rational expectations, are important for the determination of real aggregates.


Power amplifiers are nonlinear devices that traditionally have been tried linearized by means of predistortion. The nonlinear impact can be identified by sidelobes in the frequency domain. By accepting a certain sidelobe level, this implies that we also accept a somewhat nonlinear characteristic on the resulting cascade of our transmitter. The main question raised in this thesis is: How is the optimal nonlinear cascade that maximizes transmitted power defined when some given out-of-band spectral requirements are fulfilled? The problem has been limited such that examinations have been done on a single carrier system seen in context to a chosen set of out-of-band spectral requirements. The different nonlinear characteristics have been represented by means of B-splines. Thus, the results obtained are only the best set of parameters in the model utilized, and hence, only a sub-optimal solution to the problem. Results are presented for different spectral restrictions. Simulations performed suggest that a linear characteristic is the optimal, when restrictions are placed within the sidelobe level close to the mainlobe. When the first sidelobe is allowed to grow unlimited, a parameter set using 2-segments B-spline have proved to give the highest average transmitted


In computer graphics, global illumination algorithms take into account not only the light that comes directly from the sources, but also the light interreflections. This kind of algorithms produce very realistic images, but at a high computational cost, especially when dealing with complex environments. Parallel computation has been successfully applied to such algorithms in order to make it possible to compute highly-realistic images in a reasonable time. We introduce here a speculation-based parallel solution for a global illumination algorithm in the context of radiosity, in which we have taken advantage of the hierarchical nature of such an algorithm.


Assessment represents one of the most dynamically developing areas in education in the past decade and a half, within which technology-based data collection has played an increasing role. Most studies on the conversion from traditional paper-and-pencil (PP) to computer-based (CB) testing have focused on the effect of testing medium on achievement, but there is a lack of research on the acceptance of online testing among teachers and children. The aim of this study is to survey this area and specifically to ascertain: (1) the opinions of (1a) teachers and (1b) children on CB testing formed on the basis of their experience to date and (2) the degree of acceptance of the introduction of CB testing among particular school years with respect to (2a) systemwide and (2b) small-scale diagnostic testing. The sample for the research consisted of nearly 10,000 participants, of whom 1,322 were teachers and 8,614 were children in Years 5 to 12. The reliability index of the 75-item teacher questionnaire was α=0.95, while it was α=0.80 for the 45-item pupil questionnaire. The data collection took place in spring 2014 through the eDia online assessment system. The results showed that the computer did not pose a problem as a new medium for the majority of the children and that most of the age group in Years 5 to 12 possess all the IT skills and abilities required to complete a test, recognise tasks, enter responses and navigate between tasks. Those schoolchildren who had had relatively more experience, that is, those who had already participated in electronic testing more than once preferred the spread of and conversion to online testing compared to those who had not had similar experience. A total of three- quarters of the children would support the spread of CB assessment, independent of the weight of the test in question. These trends and the variables behind them were identical for teachers with experience; however, support for technology-based testing is even stronger among teachers. 90% of the teachers were clearly supportive with regard to this question; in fact, they stressed the need to introduce both small-scale and systemwide assessment. In the case of teachers, a link has also been observed such that teachers with relatively greater experience had a more positive opinion of electronic tests and the change in medium than those who had not seen a CB test.


Glial tumors are the largest group of central nervous system tumors and glioblastoma multiforme is the most common form. Glioblastomas are anaplastic forms of gliomas. Their high incidence and malignity have led researchers to work hard to better understand and treat these tumors. It is now known that genetic factors play a role in glioma etiopathogenesis. Of the differences in genetic built, two attract the most attention: oncogenes that lead to cell division and the occurrence of cells that have lost tumor suppressor genes. After realizing that the evolution of surgery and radiotherapy would have no significant value for malignant brain tumors, the trial of potential chemotherapeutic, genetic and immunologic therapy methods in an appropriate experimental glioma model has gained in importance. The C6 rat glioma model is used in these studies because of its similarity to the human glioblastoma. In this study, we used the C6 rat glioma model which has glioblastoma-like effects and tried to understand these tumors better by detecting their tumorigenicity, invasion and migration characteristics in the research laboratory of our clinic.


The legal operationalisation of ecological sustainability concerns all levels of legal control. The ensuring of full biodiversity is an indispensible component of ecological sustainability. At the same time, biodiversity losses continue to be a serious problem in many regions of the world. The international community has responded to this dilemma by strengthening international biodiversity law as well as agreeing upon a particular biodiversity target. The aim is to reduce biodiversity losses at all levels by the year 2010. From a legal point of view this seems unproblematic. When, however, the international legal order is viewed as an overarching control system, composed of several multi-levelled and interacting international and national legal systems (controlling programs), questions on whether the order can actually work for biodi-versity seem inevitable. By applying and developing further environmental law methodology (ELM) the study argues that some fundamental principles of the international legal order are either diminishing or counteracting the possible realisation of ecological sustainabil-ity and the 2010 biodiversity target of halting and reversing the biodiversity loss. This, as will be argued, is due to rule of law and to how the default actually functions in the international legal system. In line with the above, the prime objective of the study is to develop and elaborate a theory framework on which the theory of the significance of the default is based; second, to evaluate and discuss some fundamen-tal principles of the international legal order and international biodiversity law in the light of the theory, and finally to evaluate and discuss the possible realisation of ecological sustainability and the 2010 target. The study's method is to a certain extent pluralistic, but it is basically an adapted version of ELM.


In this paper, we consider a class of finite-sum convex optimization problems defined over a distributed multiagent network with $m$ agents connected to a central server. In particular, the objective function consists of the average of $m$ ($\ge 1$) smooth components associated with each network agent together with a strongly convex term. Our major contribution is to develop a new randomized incremental gradient algorithm, namely random gradient extrapolation method (RGEM), which does not require any exact gradient evaluation even for the initial point, but can achieve the optimal ${\cal O}(\log(1/\epsilon))$ complexity bound in terms of the total number of gradient evaluations of component functions to solve the finite-sum problems. Furthermore, we demonstrate that for stochastic finite-sum optimization problems, RGEM maintains the optimal ${\cal O}(1/\epsilon)$ complexity (up to a certain logarithmic factor) in terms of the number of stochastic gradient computations, but attains an ${\cal O}(\log(1/\epsilon))$ complexity in terms of communication rounds (each round involves only one agent). It is worth noting that the former bound is independent of the number of agents $m$, while the latter one only linearly depends on $m$ or even $\sqrt m$ for ill-conditioned problems. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that these complexity bounds have been obtained for distributed and stochastic optimization problems. Moreover, our algorithms were developed based on a novel dual perspective of Nesterov's accelerated gradient method.


Women entrepreneurs in Malaysia have increased significantly since independence and a handful of them have even succeeded in establishing and managing huge businesses in the country. In line with the government indigenous women entrepreneurship empowerment objectives, the Women Economic Development (WEDA) programme under the Department of Agriculture, Sarikei Division of Sarawak was established to strengthen the entrepreneurial potential of local women. In this study, 30 female participants from the WEDA programme were involved. The CIPP (Context, Input, Process and Product) Model Evaluation was used to assess the programme's effectiveness towards women participants in entrepreneurship, especially those involved in agriculture-based activities. The majority of the respondents was Ibans with the age group ranged from 36 to 45 years. The target component one (Women Entrepreneurs Development) managed to achieve only 35% of the target as measured by the changes in total sales and net profit after participating in the WEDA programme, while target component two (Family Income Diversification) managed to achieve 15% of the set target. The results, however, suggest that participants' drive for success is not raised to a greater extent and there is a lack of effort due to the high cost of operation, weather conditions and marketing problems. However, the participants felt the positive changes especially in business knowledge, skill acquisition and entrepreneurial operations.


Introduction. The role of total ankle replacement (TAR) is expanding in the United States. As the number of ankles implanted increases, undoubtedly the number of failures will increase. Several reports in the literature have dealt with salvage of the failed TAR through various methods. Methods. A retrospective chart and radiographic review was performed on all patients who had conversion from a failed Agility TAR to an INBONE TAR at 2 centers and had been performed at least 12 months prior to the study. Exclusion criteria included any patient converted from a different type of TAR, primary TAR, patients followed less than 12 months, and surgical approach other than the standard anterior incision. Results. Five patients met inclusion criteria. The average age was 65.6 ± 13.6 years (range = 45-79 years). Complicating comorbidities were found with 4 patients. The average follow-up was 17.2 ± 6.6 months (range = 7-25 months). The cause of failure of the original Agility TAR was coronal plane deformity in 3 patients, and 1 patient each failed from extensive heterotopic ossification or infection. All patients presented with pain. In 4 cases, there was component subsidence at the talus, tibia, or both. All patients had adjunctive procedures at the time of the revision, including malleolar screw placement in 4 patients and hindfoot arthrodesis in 2 patients. All patients had either 4 or 5 tibial stem components placed. During the follow-up period, 3 patients required additional surgery, including 2 patients classified as failures (1 transtibial amputation and 1 tibiotalocalcaneal arthrodesis). Discussion. This salvage option is technically demanding. The authors caution against TAR revision by conversion in the place of previous infection and in ankle imbalance not amenable to reconstruction. In all cases the initial deformity was corrected. The early results, however, demonstrate high risk of early failure and positional changes.


The vibration of a highly flexible cantilever beam is investigated. The order three equations of motion, developed by Crespo da Silva and Glyn (1978), for the nonlinear flexural-flexural-torsional vibration of inextensional beams, are used to investigate the time response of the beam subjected to harmonic excitation at the base. The equation for the planar flexural vibration of the beam is solved using the finite element method. The finite element model developed in this work employs Galerkin's weighted residuals method, combined with the Newmark technique, and an iterative process. This finite element model is implemented in the program NLB1, which is used to calculate the steady state and transient responses of the beam. The steady state response obtained with NLB is compared to the experimental response obtained by Malatkar (2003). Some disagreement is observed between the numerical and experimental steady state responses, due to the presence of numerical error in the calculation of the nonlinear inertia term in the former. The transient response obtained with NLB reasonably agrees with the response calculated with ANSYS®.


An investigation on the extent of leachate from a landfill towards the surface
and groundwater pollution was carried out using resistivity imaging survey. Aquifer
parameters determined were porosity, hydraulic conductivity, resistivity and the
associated fonnation factor. The aquifer type was indicated to be an unconfined. It
was covered with a superficial layer of hard materials ranged in thickness between 1
and 2 m with high resistivity ranged from 87 to 1726 Om. The depth to the aquifer
from the surface ranged between 1 and 3 m. The aquifer materials having variable
resistivity values ranged between 15 and 150 Om, and associated porosity values
ranged between 18 and 35%. The aquifer thickness ranged between 14 to 47 m. The
bed rock ranged in resistivity between 48.6 and >9329 Om and has irregular
topography, and its depth from the surface ranged from 20 to 38 m. Resistivity values
of rock samples varied between 39 and 1238 Om, while for soil samples between 9 and 74 Om. The hydraulic conductivity varied between 0.8 x 10⁻⁸ and 11x 10⁻⁸ mlsec
for rock samples and between 5.2 x 10⁻⁷ and 23.1 x 10⁻⁷ mlsec for soil samples. The
subsurface porosity distribution of the fonnation along each line of resistivity survey
was also established. Within the landfill groundwater flow was estimated towards the
downstream area. Leachate production was interpreted from the resistivity survey
lines within the landfill. The leachate migrated following the ground water flow
patterns from east to west and from north to south directions. The leachate movement
towards the downstream as interpreted from resistivity survey lines was supported by
the results of the groundwater chemistry. Chemical analysis of the groundwater
revealed that the pH was slightly alkaline downstream (8.1) compared to acidic pH at
the upstream bore hole. The Na, K, Ca, Cl concentrations and EC were statistically
significant in the downstream area. These results supported the fact of inorganic
pollution in the area. No sign of heavy metals pollution in the surface and
groundwater. The resistivity survey was also used to interpret the IDS distribution
within the landfill and in the regional area. The TDS distribution indicated high ion
(up to 1 5435 mgll) concentration within the landfill. These high IDS amounts
verified the waste decomposition, leachate production and inorganic pollution within
the landfill body. Soil exchangeable bases were significantly higher in the
downstream saturated zone compared to the vadose zone. With the exception of Cd,
the concentration ranges of all trace elements (Cu, Zn, Cr, Pb, and Ni) of the landfill
soils were below the upper limits of baseline concentrations as published from
different sources.


Gain-Enhanced On-Chip Antenna Utilizing Artificial Magnetic Conductor Reflecting Surface at 94 GHz Mahmoud Nafe Nowadays, there is a growing demand for high frequency-bandwidth mm-wave (30-300 GHz) electronic wireless transceiver systems to support applications such as high data-rate wireless communication and high resolution imaging. Such mm-wave systems are becoming more feasible due to the extreme transistor downscaling in silicon-based integrated circuits, which enabled densely-integrated high-speed electronics operating up to more than 100 GHz with low fabrication cost. To further enhance system integrability, it is required to implement all wireless system components on the chip. Presently, the last major barrier to true System-on-Chip (SoC) realization is the antenna implementation on the silicon chip. Although at mm-wave frequencies the antenna size becomes small enough to fit on chip, the antenna performance is greatly deteriorated due the high conductivity and high relative permittivity of the silicon substrate. The negative e↵ects of the silicon substrate could be avoided by using a metallic reflecting surface on top of silicon, which e↵ectively isolates the antenna from the silicon. However, this approach has the shortcoming of having to implement the antenna on the usually very thin silicon oxide layer of a typical CMOS fabrication process (10's of μm). This forces the antenna to be in a very close proximity (less than one hundredth of a wavelength) 5 to the reflecting surface. In this regime, the use of conventional metallic reflecting surface for silicon shielding has severe e↵ects on the antenna performance as it tends to reduce the antenna radiation resistance resulting in most of the energy being absorbed rather than radiated. In this work, the use of specially patterned reflecting surfaces for improving onchip antenna performance is investigated. By using a periodic metallic surface on top of a grounded substrate, the structure can mimic the behavior of a perfect magnetic conductor, hence called Artificial Magnetic Conductor (AMC) surface. Unlike conventional ground plane reflecting surfaces, AMC surfaces generally enhance the radiation and impedance characteristics of close-by antennas. Based on this property, a ring-based AMC reflecting surface has been designed in the oxide layer for on-chip antennas operating at 94 GHz. Furthermore, a folded dipole antenna with its associated planar feeding structures has been optimized and integrated with the developed ring-based AMC surface. The proposed design is then fabricated at KAUST cleanroom facilities. Prototype characterization showed very promising results with good correlation to simulations, with the antenna exhibiting an impedance bandwidth of 10% (90-100 GHz) and peak gain of -1.4 dBi, which is the highest gain reported for on-chip antennas at this frequency band without the use of any external o↵-chip components or post-fabrication steps.